From the ESRB:
This game is rated M for mature, ages 17+ for the following:
Blood and Gore
Drug Reference
Intense Violence
Sexual Themes
Strong Language
Unfortunately that's all that was there. To embellish a bit, this is an extreme game. The sound effects, coupled with the visuals deliver some high level violence. There are a lot of corpses in this game shown crucified, disemboweled, electrocuted, tortured, the list goes on. The whole premise of this game is about a community driven horribly insane from a dependence on newly invented drugs called "plasmids". Plasmids allowed people to reconstruct dna to grant themselves abilities such as controlling electricity, fire, telekinesis, etc. It demonstrates a philosophical view that when mankind is left to it's own devices without regulation and order, the worst is bound to happen. There isn't a curse word left off of the table. Prostitution is present theme in the game, none that you can partake in or view, but it is there in the form of an abandoned bar, dead bodies and it's referred in audio diaries. This is one of those games where it offers a very great story with a deep message for you to walk away with but it only has adults in mind. Bioshock should NOT be played by minors. In my own personal opinion, I'd be more afraid if my kids played this game way before fearing them getting a hold of Grand Theft Auto or Call Of Duty simply because of all the violence in the game and the amount of fear it can cause. Here's a couple video's displaying violence. Some of it can be pretty gory so I'd warn anyone a with weak stomach to prepare themselves before viewing.
Here's the opening for the game that demonstrates a bit of what the game entails:
And here's the actual game in motion:
Monday, December 28, 2009
Bioshock Review for 360, PS3
This game is amazing in practically every aspect. It's amazing that a game's story, gameplay, and graphics can hold up so much over the years. A true masterpiece. If I were you, I wouldn't read this review. The less you know about Bioshock, the better it is. Even knowing what kind of genre is hidden in this game is almost a spoiler in itself. If you never played Bioshock and you really want an immersive, unique, and lasting experience, just go buy it and play it. It's worth any price.
Story
Bioshock's tale takes place in a city under the sea called Rapture. Rapture was created by a man named Andrew Ryan who believed that a man was entitled to his own endeavors. He didn't like the laws and limits posed upon man by governments and authoritative organizations so he decided to create a utopia where all limits and laws were lifted and man was free to pursue his dreams to greater heights than was possible back on the surface. Unfortunately, Rapture fell into chaos and now there is only death and suffering.
You happen to be on a plane that crashes into the ocean leading you to Rapture. When you arrive in Rapture, you are greeted by a man named Atlas who is trying to save his family, free Rapture and help you escape from the clutches of this utopia gone wrong.
+ This game is storytelling at it's best. Not only is the story well-written, there is an extreme effort to immerse you into this crazy setting. People are insane, killing and pillaging, screaming. When they discover you, you want to disappear, you feel threatened. There is almost never a point in this game when you feel safe. Inside of every room, there is a story to tell and every story is relevant to learning of Rapture's downfall and it's denizens. The story is mainly portrayed through audio diaries and static reenactments of tragic events played out by ghosts. You end up feeling sorry for the people who came to Rapture and were exposed to so many terrible acts of crime. It really hits home whenever you're at the scene of a murder and you hear what happened before hand on an audio diary. You feel close to each and every one of the game's characters. And since you're so outnumbered and alone, you almost feel like you need to trust each and every person who reaches out to you. The story starts small in scope at first but it's just a facade. Bioshock's story is deeply philosophical and epic in proportion. It's likely that this is a story that will become a part of you and an experience you won't forget.
Gameplay
+ This is a first-person shooter that does not care to stick to the paved path of other shooters. I'd almost say that this game is a first-person survival horror. You need to act like a scavenger, looking for meds, ammo, weapons, parts, tools; it forces you to search out all of your surroundings. And after it gets you to play into that mindset, it begins messing with you. You'll be minding your own business, looking around, and then the lights just go out, nothing but black. You're now stuck in the middle of a pitch black room, objects falling and rattling around you, people laughing behind your back, completely vulnerable and pissing your pants. I've played this game twice before and most of the time I know what's going to happen, but because this game is so immersive, it doesn't stop me from screaming when something scares me. And it works EVERY TIME.
The other thing that adds to the scares in this game is that fact that all of your enemies always feel like they have an advantage over you, even when they don't. There's just something innately creepy about every creature and enemy that you wish you were alone and never ran into a single living soul. Even at the end of the game, I was stronger than everyone and could deal with anything with mild difficulty but I was still scared. I wanted them to go away and leave me alone.
+ The weapons and plasmids in this game are sweet. Most of the weapon in the game are pretty basic i.e. pistol, shotgun, machine gun, grenade launcher, wrench. The trick is that you get different ammo for every gun making your weapons more all-purpose than they start off as. Ammo is also limited if you don't really dedicate to looking around so it makes for more interesting strategies when dispatching baddies. Instead of, "I want the shotgun because that's my favorite gun in every FPS" you'll think, "I can probably hit him with my last proximity grenade, use the last of my armor piercing rounds in my pistol and hopefully that should be enough to finish with an exploding buck from my shotgun." You also get to upgrade your guns later in the game to make them do more damage, add more accuracy, use less ammo, etc. I enjoyed the simplicity of the weapons and the strategy that came with them. It made me feel super intelligent and it gave every encounter lots of meaning instead of just offing an enemy and forgetting about it after they're down.
When it comes to plasmids, think of X-Men. Plasmids are these powers you fuse yourself with to give you supernatural abilities like shooting lightning bolts, setting people on fire, freezing people into ice, etc. They don't have an extremely diverse variety available to use, just enough to have different choices when strategizing for defeating an enemy. They also have incredibly creative uses too. Instead of just using them directly on enemies, you can use it to greater effect on your environment. The enemy AI in this game is very smart (and I'll work up to talking about that). If you light them on fire, they'll search for water. Instead of just electrifying someone, and you know there's water nearby, set them on fire. They'll run for water and dive in. Then electrify the water dealing much more damage than a straight-up shock. You can shock machines giving you time to hack them without being shot at. Let's say you wanted to hit more than one target with a heat-seeking missile. Light something in your environment on fire, pick it up with telekinesis, toss it between your targets and shoot the missile off. When you hack a machine, there's a little mini-game you have to play that's timed by water. You can actually freeze the object you're trying to hack to slow down the water buying you more time to complete the mini-game. This game will reward you for thinking outside the box and it feels awesome.
The next best part about all the weapons and plasmids at your disposal is that you don't have to think about it either. If you just want to deal with everyone in a straight-forward manner, go for it. If you want, you can be more creative and make encounters easier for yourself but there's nothing forcing you to. Play it your own way.
+ Tonics modify the way your character works. You can use them to make med-packs give you more health, make you invisible to detection when you stand still, hack machines faster and easier, do more damage with certain plasmids and certain elemental damages. There's a large number of tonics in Bioshock and they do a great job of supplementing the way that you want to go through the game.
+ The enemy AI is a delight. They work around problems in their environment in an intelligible manner. They won't sit there and get shot. If you deal too much damage, they'll retreat to use a healing machine. Light them on fire, they'll run for water to put themselves out. The way that they interact with the environment gives them believable life. The setting is supposed to be about a HUGE community under the sea that went stark-raving mad, killing eachother. There's no set amount of enemies in an area. You may have taken down everyone at the moment, but soon, there'll be more scouting the area, looking at dead bodies for supplies, searching their environment for survivors. If there's music playing in the area, they'll whistle along to the tune.This world feel tangible and alive and it's thanks to the great design of the inhabitants in this game.
+ Everything else. You can study enemy behaviors to think of better ways to take them down. You can hack turrets and security cameras to work against your enemies. You can use junk and trash you find to make ammo, tonics, hacking tools, etc. This is just one of those games where, while you're not playing the game specifically for it's gameplay, it still offers more than other games in it's genre and it keeps the game from ever becoming dull as you work your way to the end of it's story. There's tons of fun to be had here.
Graphics
+ The graphics are engrossing and highly detailed. They had a specific team just work on the water in this game and it's still the best looking water to date. There's detail everywhere from run down party halls and blood covered kitchens, to flooded bathrooms and decaying apartments. There's a story to tell in every inch of Rapture. There's some very unique lighting effects that may make you wonder why no one else utilizes shadows and light to the effect that Bioshock does. The textures of the characters are very well done with disfigured faces, scars, and tattered clothing. There is detail in everything and everything tells a story. It's exactly the level of attention that every game should aspire to.
+ The water. The water in this game is gorgeous. There's never a time where you feel like the water is just a part of the background. It almost feels as real and alive as Rapture's citizens. The way it runs down walls, sprays from a leak, gathers into a pool, it's easy to become mesmerized. Kudos to the development team and artists for all of their hard work. It really paid off.
Sound
+ The noises and ambiance in this game with strike you with fear and anxiety. There were times where I would just have to take a break because I kept scaring myself and became too paranoid to make progress. Every item interacts with your body so if you walk into a piece of trash, it will make a sound and you will believe someone is behind you. When walking in water, you can hear your own sloshing to an alarming degree. Listening to audio clues is very important in this game. It's the only way to know what lies ahead and what might be behind you. Unfortunately, Bioshock knows how to make your friend your greatest enemy. Sometimes, you might get so paranoid that you just can't go on. And don't feel bad if that happens. Not only does that mean that you're getting the most out of this game and really living it, it's also happened to the best of us. You wouldn't be the only one.
+ The voice acting is superb. There is dialogue to last for days. Not so much that you won't hear the same thing twice, but it's likely that you could go through the whole game and never hear all that there is to listen to. Insanity is something that is commonly portrayed in this game via dialogue and it's always engaging and believable. There's a lady in the beginning of the game that is rocking a stroller and you can overhear the things that she says. Pretty soon, you realize that everyone is just as crazy as she is, if not more so, and you believe it. Hell, you fear it. It further adds to the immersion of actually being there and feeling that these are real, live people.
+ The sound effects are very punchy with a lot of feel. When you launch a bolt from your crossbow into a skull, you feel the bolt leave the gun and you can hear the bolt insert through the skull with a crack and a gush. The feel is satisfying to no end and you'll want to do it over and over. When you walk on floorboards, wade through water, eat some food, bump into liquor bottles, you feel as though you actually did it. Very detailed work indeed.
Should you buy it?
There's not too much replay value for this game, however, this is a very high quality product. The attention to detail in every aspect of this game is astounding. It's professionally crafted into an experience that you'll carry with you for years to come. The level of immersion is incredibly high. There's so much life in this game that you feel like you're a literal part of it and after the game's done, you'll feel like you need to return to Rapture as though it's your new home. I would never be able to let this game leave my collection, and after multiple play-throughs, it's still worth going back to and revisiting a time you became a momentary citizen of Rapture. I HIGHLY recommend this game as a must-buy. This is a reason to play videogames. It's worth almost any price of admission.
Story
Bioshock's tale takes place in a city under the sea called Rapture. Rapture was created by a man named Andrew Ryan who believed that a man was entitled to his own endeavors. He didn't like the laws and limits posed upon man by governments and authoritative organizations so he decided to create a utopia where all limits and laws were lifted and man was free to pursue his dreams to greater heights than was possible back on the surface. Unfortunately, Rapture fell into chaos and now there is only death and suffering.
You happen to be on a plane that crashes into the ocean leading you to Rapture. When you arrive in Rapture, you are greeted by a man named Atlas who is trying to save his family, free Rapture and help you escape from the clutches of this utopia gone wrong.
+ This game is storytelling at it's best. Not only is the story well-written, there is an extreme effort to immerse you into this crazy setting. People are insane, killing and pillaging, screaming. When they discover you, you want to disappear, you feel threatened. There is almost never a point in this game when you feel safe. Inside of every room, there is a story to tell and every story is relevant to learning of Rapture's downfall and it's denizens. The story is mainly portrayed through audio diaries and static reenactments of tragic events played out by ghosts. You end up feeling sorry for the people who came to Rapture and were exposed to so many terrible acts of crime. It really hits home whenever you're at the scene of a murder and you hear what happened before hand on an audio diary. You feel close to each and every one of the game's characters. And since you're so outnumbered and alone, you almost feel like you need to trust each and every person who reaches out to you. The story starts small in scope at first but it's just a facade. Bioshock's story is deeply philosophical and epic in proportion. It's likely that this is a story that will become a part of you and an experience you won't forget.
Gameplay
+ This is a first-person shooter that does not care to stick to the paved path of other shooters. I'd almost say that this game is a first-person survival horror. You need to act like a scavenger, looking for meds, ammo, weapons, parts, tools; it forces you to search out all of your surroundings. And after it gets you to play into that mindset, it begins messing with you. You'll be minding your own business, looking around, and then the lights just go out, nothing but black. You're now stuck in the middle of a pitch black room, objects falling and rattling around you, people laughing behind your back, completely vulnerable and pissing your pants. I've played this game twice before and most of the time I know what's going to happen, but because this game is so immersive, it doesn't stop me from screaming when something scares me. And it works EVERY TIME.
The other thing that adds to the scares in this game is that fact that all of your enemies always feel like they have an advantage over you, even when they don't. There's just something innately creepy about every creature and enemy that you wish you were alone and never ran into a single living soul. Even at the end of the game, I was stronger than everyone and could deal with anything with mild difficulty but I was still scared. I wanted them to go away and leave me alone.
+ The weapons and plasmids in this game are sweet. Most of the weapon in the game are pretty basic i.e. pistol, shotgun, machine gun, grenade launcher, wrench. The trick is that you get different ammo for every gun making your weapons more all-purpose than they start off as. Ammo is also limited if you don't really dedicate to looking around so it makes for more interesting strategies when dispatching baddies. Instead of, "I want the shotgun because that's my favorite gun in every FPS" you'll think, "I can probably hit him with my last proximity grenade, use the last of my armor piercing rounds in my pistol and hopefully that should be enough to finish with an exploding buck from my shotgun." You also get to upgrade your guns later in the game to make them do more damage, add more accuracy, use less ammo, etc. I enjoyed the simplicity of the weapons and the strategy that came with them. It made me feel super intelligent and it gave every encounter lots of meaning instead of just offing an enemy and forgetting about it after they're down.
When it comes to plasmids, think of X-Men. Plasmids are these powers you fuse yourself with to give you supernatural abilities like shooting lightning bolts, setting people on fire, freezing people into ice, etc. They don't have an extremely diverse variety available to use, just enough to have different choices when strategizing for defeating an enemy. They also have incredibly creative uses too. Instead of just using them directly on enemies, you can use it to greater effect on your environment. The enemy AI in this game is very smart (and I'll work up to talking about that). If you light them on fire, they'll search for water. Instead of just electrifying someone, and you know there's water nearby, set them on fire. They'll run for water and dive in. Then electrify the water dealing much more damage than a straight-up shock. You can shock machines giving you time to hack them without being shot at. Let's say you wanted to hit more than one target with a heat-seeking missile. Light something in your environment on fire, pick it up with telekinesis, toss it between your targets and shoot the missile off. When you hack a machine, there's a little mini-game you have to play that's timed by water. You can actually freeze the object you're trying to hack to slow down the water buying you more time to complete the mini-game. This game will reward you for thinking outside the box and it feels awesome.
The next best part about all the weapons and plasmids at your disposal is that you don't have to think about it either. If you just want to deal with everyone in a straight-forward manner, go for it. If you want, you can be more creative and make encounters easier for yourself but there's nothing forcing you to. Play it your own way.
+ Tonics modify the way your character works. You can use them to make med-packs give you more health, make you invisible to detection when you stand still, hack machines faster and easier, do more damage with certain plasmids and certain elemental damages. There's a large number of tonics in Bioshock and they do a great job of supplementing the way that you want to go through the game.
+ The enemy AI is a delight. They work around problems in their environment in an intelligible manner. They won't sit there and get shot. If you deal too much damage, they'll retreat to use a healing machine. Light them on fire, they'll run for water to put themselves out. The way that they interact with the environment gives them believable life. The setting is supposed to be about a HUGE community under the sea that went stark-raving mad, killing eachother. There's no set amount of enemies in an area. You may have taken down everyone at the moment, but soon, there'll be more scouting the area, looking at dead bodies for supplies, searching their environment for survivors. If there's music playing in the area, they'll whistle along to the tune.This world feel tangible and alive and it's thanks to the great design of the inhabitants in this game.
+ Everything else. You can study enemy behaviors to think of better ways to take them down. You can hack turrets and security cameras to work against your enemies. You can use junk and trash you find to make ammo, tonics, hacking tools, etc. This is just one of those games where, while you're not playing the game specifically for it's gameplay, it still offers more than other games in it's genre and it keeps the game from ever becoming dull as you work your way to the end of it's story. There's tons of fun to be had here.
Graphics
+ The graphics are engrossing and highly detailed. They had a specific team just work on the water in this game and it's still the best looking water to date. There's detail everywhere from run down party halls and blood covered kitchens, to flooded bathrooms and decaying apartments. There's a story to tell in every inch of Rapture. There's some very unique lighting effects that may make you wonder why no one else utilizes shadows and light to the effect that Bioshock does. The textures of the characters are very well done with disfigured faces, scars, and tattered clothing. There is detail in everything and everything tells a story. It's exactly the level of attention that every game should aspire to.
+ The water. The water in this game is gorgeous. There's never a time where you feel like the water is just a part of the background. It almost feels as real and alive as Rapture's citizens. The way it runs down walls, sprays from a leak, gathers into a pool, it's easy to become mesmerized. Kudos to the development team and artists for all of their hard work. It really paid off.
Sound
+ The noises and ambiance in this game with strike you with fear and anxiety. There were times where I would just have to take a break because I kept scaring myself and became too paranoid to make progress. Every item interacts with your body so if you walk into a piece of trash, it will make a sound and you will believe someone is behind you. When walking in water, you can hear your own sloshing to an alarming degree. Listening to audio clues is very important in this game. It's the only way to know what lies ahead and what might be behind you. Unfortunately, Bioshock knows how to make your friend your greatest enemy. Sometimes, you might get so paranoid that you just can't go on. And don't feel bad if that happens. Not only does that mean that you're getting the most out of this game and really living it, it's also happened to the best of us. You wouldn't be the only one.
+ The voice acting is superb. There is dialogue to last for days. Not so much that you won't hear the same thing twice, but it's likely that you could go through the whole game and never hear all that there is to listen to. Insanity is something that is commonly portrayed in this game via dialogue and it's always engaging and believable. There's a lady in the beginning of the game that is rocking a stroller and you can overhear the things that she says. Pretty soon, you realize that everyone is just as crazy as she is, if not more so, and you believe it. Hell, you fear it. It further adds to the immersion of actually being there and feeling that these are real, live people.
+ The sound effects are very punchy with a lot of feel. When you launch a bolt from your crossbow into a skull, you feel the bolt leave the gun and you can hear the bolt insert through the skull with a crack and a gush. The feel is satisfying to no end and you'll want to do it over and over. When you walk on floorboards, wade through water, eat some food, bump into liquor bottles, you feel as though you actually did it. Very detailed work indeed.
Should you buy it?
There's not too much replay value for this game, however, this is a very high quality product. The attention to detail in every aspect of this game is astounding. It's professionally crafted into an experience that you'll carry with you for years to come. The level of immersion is incredibly high. There's so much life in this game that you feel like you're a literal part of it and after the game's done, you'll feel like you need to return to Rapture as though it's your new home. I would never be able to let this game leave my collection, and after multiple play-throughs, it's still worth going back to and revisiting a time you became a momentary citizen of Rapture. I HIGHLY recommend this game as a must-buy. This is a reason to play videogames. It's worth almost any price of admission.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for Xbox 360, PS3
Everyone's pain can finally end, Modern Warfare 2 is finally here! I believe it set a new entertainment industry record for sales in it's release week. They sure do deserve it.
Gameplay
+ It's still the same as Call of Duty 4. I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it. They DID however polish it much much more this time. The guns all feel very unique and purpose-built. They added a map onto the HUD so you can see enemies as red dots when they attack you. I didn't have anywhere near as much trouble with the grenade indicator as I did in the last game. It still could be improved upon but it didn't burn me as much as before. The AI finally helps you on the harder difficulties. They fixed a whole lot in this game to just give it a better feel. I can say at least I appreciated it. A lot.
+ The level design was wonderful! It had a feeling of every level being an open environment when in reality, it was extremely linear. I never had the feeling that I was lost. The game feels a bit easier but I think that it's because the level design had more thought put into it and mission objectives had more clarity this time around.
+ Every level in the campaign felt like it's own set piece. Every scripted event felt more natural, not like it's something forced. There are tons of moments to remember for years to come. In some of the AAA games that I play today, they seem to go for the whole "the action never stops!" deal and it actually makes me tired of the rinse and repeat gameplay they use. MW2, however, knows exactly how to pace the game to make it all feel refreshing and new all the time. Way to go guys!
+ Multiplayer is back. It's the same affair that it was before. It's still just as addictive. Every weapon has it's own unlocks and attachments. There are challenges for every weapon and action in the game which helps extend it's replay value a TON. There are new killstreak rewards. Depending on how many kills you score without dying, you'll be rewarded with some helpful equipment such as radar upgrades, supply drops, AC130 kills, HINDs, tactical nukes, and plenty more where that came from. And from as much as I played, I don't think you need to worry about killstreak rewards harming the experience. I never felt like it decided the game when someone got a killstreak. It did make it much more interesting though. There are also titles and avatars to unlock to go next to your gamertag to brag about something you've done or just to give that little touch of personality to your name. Expect to spend weeks on this.
+Spec Ops is a new and VERY welcome addition. Spec Ops is a set of, well, special operations that range from races, to demolitions, eliminations, score attacks and more. All of them are quite exciting, just delivering that perfect bit of rush to make you feel like you're the hardest soldier out there. You can also play these ops with a friend for some added help. I had a lot of trouble finding people to play this with simply because all of my friends were already done with the ops, other people were too hooked on multiplayer, and some people just had no patience or communication skills to finish the missions. I finally found someone who stuck with me the whole way through and it was a blast to do. Either playing by yourself or with a friend, it's fun.
= There's no co-op campaign to go through. It's not too big of an issue for me but I know some people were really looking forward to this feature. I don't feel like it really has an impact on the overall experience that's already here though.
- The infamous No Russian level was kind of lacking for me. I found it boring and I didn't feel like it was executed as well as it could have been. I'm sure there could have been a way to make it a much more emotional experience but I just wasn't feeling it with the way it is now.
- There's no matchmaking in Spec Ops. When a mode emphasizes team work as much as Spec Ops does, it doesn't really make sense when there's no matchmaking.
Graphics
= Just like Call of Duty 4 before it, Modern Warfare 2 is also just normal looking. The textures, while vastly improved, still look blocky and pixelated up close. The special effects still look just as mediocre as they used to. The character models however have been totally revamped with lots of detail. Otherwise, the graphics, while still an improvement over it's predecessor, still don't rise above mediocrity.
Sound
+ The music score in this game is very emotional and heartfelt. The themes throughout this game can really stir something sentimental in you. They also help liven up the battles you encounter by adding pressure or anxiety to what's already a fast-paced action-fest.
+ Sound effects are still going strong in this series. The guns sound unique from one another. You'll be freaked out every time you hear a ghillie snipe you. Explosions pack a mighty punch. It's all very high quality.
- Sometimes it's really important to listen for enemies in your surroundings and that can be very hard to do when the music in the background won't stop playing. Unfortunately, you can't toggle with the sound settings to turn the music down or off so you'll have to rely on your sight instead.
Story
= I wouldn't expect too much in this dept. It only does what it needs to when it comes to supporting the action but not much beyond that. It does have some cool references to the first Modern Warfare but I wouldn't say you need to play it to enjoy this game. It still managed to make me care about what was going on. I also felt like this game really introduces the horror of warfare on our own land which I think is something this generation needs. Wars don't need to be glorified, they need to be shown for what they really are. This game happens to execute that very well. So once again, it did more than it's predecessor, but not much more than what was required of it.
Should you buy it?
YES! Stop being that person who ignores these kinds of games and play it now. It lives up to the hype that proceeds it. Not to mention, you could play this game for months and it'd still be just as addictive. The campaign is worth a couple revisits, Spec Ops is a good test of your mettle with time attacks to boot, and then you have the multiplayer which is completely solid and always fun. It's worth the full retail value. You'll be glad you bought it.
Gameplay
+ It's still the same as Call of Duty 4. I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it. They DID however polish it much much more this time. The guns all feel very unique and purpose-built. They added a map onto the HUD so you can see enemies as red dots when they attack you. I didn't have anywhere near as much trouble with the grenade indicator as I did in the last game. It still could be improved upon but it didn't burn me as much as before. The AI finally helps you on the harder difficulties. They fixed a whole lot in this game to just give it a better feel. I can say at least I appreciated it. A lot.
+ The level design was wonderful! It had a feeling of every level being an open environment when in reality, it was extremely linear. I never had the feeling that I was lost. The game feels a bit easier but I think that it's because the level design had more thought put into it and mission objectives had more clarity this time around.
+ Every level in the campaign felt like it's own set piece. Every scripted event felt more natural, not like it's something forced. There are tons of moments to remember for years to come. In some of the AAA games that I play today, they seem to go for the whole "the action never stops!" deal and it actually makes me tired of the rinse and repeat gameplay they use. MW2, however, knows exactly how to pace the game to make it all feel refreshing and new all the time. Way to go guys!
+ Multiplayer is back. It's the same affair that it was before. It's still just as addictive. Every weapon has it's own unlocks and attachments. There are challenges for every weapon and action in the game which helps extend it's replay value a TON. There are new killstreak rewards. Depending on how many kills you score without dying, you'll be rewarded with some helpful equipment such as radar upgrades, supply drops, AC130 kills, HINDs, tactical nukes, and plenty more where that came from. And from as much as I played, I don't think you need to worry about killstreak rewards harming the experience. I never felt like it decided the game when someone got a killstreak. It did make it much more interesting though. There are also titles and avatars to unlock to go next to your gamertag to brag about something you've done or just to give that little touch of personality to your name. Expect to spend weeks on this.
+Spec Ops is a new and VERY welcome addition. Spec Ops is a set of, well, special operations that range from races, to demolitions, eliminations, score attacks and more. All of them are quite exciting, just delivering that perfect bit of rush to make you feel like you're the hardest soldier out there. You can also play these ops with a friend for some added help. I had a lot of trouble finding people to play this with simply because all of my friends were already done with the ops, other people were too hooked on multiplayer, and some people just had no patience or communication skills to finish the missions. I finally found someone who stuck with me the whole way through and it was a blast to do. Either playing by yourself or with a friend, it's fun.
= There's no co-op campaign to go through. It's not too big of an issue for me but I know some people were really looking forward to this feature. I don't feel like it really has an impact on the overall experience that's already here though.
- The infamous No Russian level was kind of lacking for me. I found it boring and I didn't feel like it was executed as well as it could have been. I'm sure there could have been a way to make it a much more emotional experience but I just wasn't feeling it with the way it is now.
- There's no matchmaking in Spec Ops. When a mode emphasizes team work as much as Spec Ops does, it doesn't really make sense when there's no matchmaking.
Graphics
= Just like Call of Duty 4 before it, Modern Warfare 2 is also just normal looking. The textures, while vastly improved, still look blocky and pixelated up close. The special effects still look just as mediocre as they used to. The character models however have been totally revamped with lots of detail. Otherwise, the graphics, while still an improvement over it's predecessor, still don't rise above mediocrity.
Sound
+ The music score in this game is very emotional and heartfelt. The themes throughout this game can really stir something sentimental in you. They also help liven up the battles you encounter by adding pressure or anxiety to what's already a fast-paced action-fest.
+ Sound effects are still going strong in this series. The guns sound unique from one another. You'll be freaked out every time you hear a ghillie snipe you. Explosions pack a mighty punch. It's all very high quality.
- Sometimes it's really important to listen for enemies in your surroundings and that can be very hard to do when the music in the background won't stop playing. Unfortunately, you can't toggle with the sound settings to turn the music down or off so you'll have to rely on your sight instead.
Story
= I wouldn't expect too much in this dept. It only does what it needs to when it comes to supporting the action but not much beyond that. It does have some cool references to the first Modern Warfare but I wouldn't say you need to play it to enjoy this game. It still managed to make me care about what was going on. I also felt like this game really introduces the horror of warfare on our own land which I think is something this generation needs. Wars don't need to be glorified, they need to be shown for what they really are. This game happens to execute that very well. So once again, it did more than it's predecessor, but not much more than what was required of it.
Should you buy it?
YES! Stop being that person who ignores these kinds of games and play it now. It lives up to the hype that proceeds it. Not to mention, you could play this game for months and it'd still be just as addictive. The campaign is worth a couple revisits, Spec Ops is a good test of your mettle with time attacks to boot, and then you have the multiplayer which is completely solid and always fun. It's worth the full retail value. You'll be glad you bought it.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for Xbox 360, PS3
This game has really made it's rounds. It's been around for years and it's sold tons upon tons of copies. A new copy of the game still will run you for about $40-$50 as of the time of this review. Now, for me, I never played any of these war-time shooters. They're a bit too mainstream for me and I've always been too much of a snobby gamer to care. I've sat and watched people play Medal of Honor, past Call of Duty games, etc. I just never saw a point to the games. They seemed way too repetitive with almost no story backing them up. It seemed more like a cash-in on kids who fantasize about kickin' ass in a war only glorifying the act further in the process. However, everyone always raved about Call of Duty 4 being this beast of a game. And with Modern Warfare 2 on it's way, with myself wanting to become a reviewer, what kind of credibility would I have if I never played as many games as I could, let alone the most popular one of the last few years? So yes, I played it, beat it, beat it again on Veteran, and toyed around with the multiplayer. So was it all hype or was it just your everyday war game?
Gameplay
+ It plays the same as most shooters in it's genre so there isn't much that's new to pickup or understand. In the end, it relied on the experience it could deliver instead of introducing something new and innovative. The game had a way of really immersing you into what was going on around you that played out thanks to it's scripted events. It always made sure you were in the middle of all the action all the time. Paired with some really tight mechanics, the game was quite the adventure. There are some moments I don't think you'll ever forget.
+ The online versus mode however, that's where the game shines. It has a level system that unlocks different skills for your soldier. These skills enable you to create something that would let you play the game the way you want to. If I like running like crazy and knifing people, you can make your guy run faster, be invisible to radar, and you can give him a larger melee range. If I wanted to gun people down in close-quarters encounters, I can increase his bullet fire speed, damage, and accuracy. It makes the multiplayer affair addictive and refreshing.
- The game is pretty thin after you beat it. Unfortunately, the scripted events were one too many and some of them pretty faulty.
-The weapon variety was meager and most of the guns felt the same. Most of the differences were pretty slim and it didn't feel like it really mattered which gun you had.
-The grenade indicator was RIDICULOUS. It had caused the majority of my deaths in the game. The game will tell you where a grenade is by showing you where it is via a little picture on your hud. If it's at the top of the screen, it means the grenade is to the front. At the bottom, it means the grenade is behind you. So on, so forth. Here's what happened a number of times:
"There's a grenade over there."
"Alright, I'll just run away from it."
*runs away*
"Yeah, about that grenade, sorry. It wasn't over there. It's actually in front of you...."
"WHA-"
*BOOM*
Yeah, it was not exactly the best of times.
- On the harder difficulties, the friendly AI was basically playing the role of being your worst enemy. They would not help you at all but they would stop you from advancing by blocking doorways and cover. They also enjoyed pushing you out of cover into 100% accuracy bullet walls of death.
- Flash grenades. If I'm correct, flash grenades blind people and make a big disorienting bang. It can't necessarily affect them the same way it would if they looked at it compared to if they didn't look at it. So why was it that it would have a harder time doing it's job from the front of the enemy? How does tossing the flash behind the enemy blind them?
-The game wasn't super clear on what you needed to do all the time. I felt like I was guessing most of the time and the destination marker seemed to act up at times, telling me to go the wrong way when I was on the right path.
This game could've really used SOME polish.
Graphics
= I guess at the time the graphics were awesome but they were just mediocre to me. All of the textures were low resolution if you took time to notice it. Most of the effects, like fire and smoke, were just revolving 2D images. Most of this game just used what it needed to get the job done and no more than that. I don't see why everyone clamors over how great the graphics are when there's a LARGE number of games that put in much more effort to make beauty bloom in their game. It was by no means an ugly game. It just wasn't anything pretty either.
Sound
+ The sound effects in this game are really where it's at in this game. You play a VERY large chunk of this game without music so all it comes down to is you and the sounds of the battlefield. The explosions were punchy, the guns felt like they were tangible. Let's see you not get freaked out when bullets start whizzing past your head and you run into a claymore. It felt like a lot of attention went into this department.
Story
- I never felt like there was a story, at least not one that had any weight to it. Throughout the entire game, you play as someone else every mission like some war edition of musical chairs. Because of this, you don't really get attached to any of the characters, making all of the slightly emotional "Oh my god!" moments fall flat. They were still cool to watch and be involved in but it just felt like the game was trying to get some kind of sympathy out of you whenever something shocking happened without really giving you a reason why you should care.
- It felt more like there was a war going on just because there was one instead of really delving into the reasons of why there was one. Modern Warfare basically showed you who that bad guys were and that they should go down just because they were marked as the bad guys. I got more of a sense that the game was trying to show how awesome a war was instead of showing the real sacrifice that both sides have to make in a war. Modern Warfare's plot seemed shallow at best.
Should you buy it?
No, I don't think it's worth the purchase. The initial run through the campaign can be a cool experience at times, and the multiplayer is great fun. However, the campaign is short and you could become a bit more cynical towards the experience if you go through it multiple times. Multiplayer is also lacking currently since the release of Modern Warfare 2. It was hard to get a really good room going although I happened to be playing around MW2's release. Don't spend the $40-$50 people are asking for this game. Infinity Ward and Activision only put the minimal amount of effort required into this game. It only deserves the minimum amount of what it's worth which I would say is somewhere around the $5-$15 mark. I suggest renting it if you really want to play it to get some of the references in MW2 although, personally, I don't think it's really necessary to play this before the sequel.
Gameplay
+ It plays the same as most shooters in it's genre so there isn't much that's new to pickup or understand. In the end, it relied on the experience it could deliver instead of introducing something new and innovative. The game had a way of really immersing you into what was going on around you that played out thanks to it's scripted events. It always made sure you were in the middle of all the action all the time. Paired with some really tight mechanics, the game was quite the adventure. There are some moments I don't think you'll ever forget.
+ The online versus mode however, that's where the game shines. It has a level system that unlocks different skills for your soldier. These skills enable you to create something that would let you play the game the way you want to. If I like running like crazy and knifing people, you can make your guy run faster, be invisible to radar, and you can give him a larger melee range. If I wanted to gun people down in close-quarters encounters, I can increase his bullet fire speed, damage, and accuracy. It makes the multiplayer affair addictive and refreshing.
- The game is pretty thin after you beat it. Unfortunately, the scripted events were one too many and some of them pretty faulty.
-The weapon variety was meager and most of the guns felt the same. Most of the differences were pretty slim and it didn't feel like it really mattered which gun you had.
-The grenade indicator was RIDICULOUS. It had caused the majority of my deaths in the game. The game will tell you where a grenade is by showing you where it is via a little picture on your hud. If it's at the top of the screen, it means the grenade is to the front. At the bottom, it means the grenade is behind you. So on, so forth. Here's what happened a number of times:
"There's a grenade over there."
"Alright, I'll just run away from it."
*runs away*
"Yeah, about that grenade, sorry. It wasn't over there. It's actually in front of you...."
"WHA-"
*BOOM*
Yeah, it was not exactly the best of times.
- On the harder difficulties, the friendly AI was basically playing the role of being your worst enemy. They would not help you at all but they would stop you from advancing by blocking doorways and cover. They also enjoyed pushing you out of cover into 100% accuracy bullet walls of death.
- Flash grenades. If I'm correct, flash grenades blind people and make a big disorienting bang. It can't necessarily affect them the same way it would if they looked at it compared to if they didn't look at it. So why was it that it would have a harder time doing it's job from the front of the enemy? How does tossing the flash behind the enemy blind them?
-The game wasn't super clear on what you needed to do all the time. I felt like I was guessing most of the time and the destination marker seemed to act up at times, telling me to go the wrong way when I was on the right path.
This game could've really used SOME polish.
Graphics
= I guess at the time the graphics were awesome but they were just mediocre to me. All of the textures were low resolution if you took time to notice it. Most of the effects, like fire and smoke, were just revolving 2D images. Most of this game just used what it needed to get the job done and no more than that. I don't see why everyone clamors over how great the graphics are when there's a LARGE number of games that put in much more effort to make beauty bloom in their game. It was by no means an ugly game. It just wasn't anything pretty either.
Sound
+ The sound effects in this game are really where it's at in this game. You play a VERY large chunk of this game without music so all it comes down to is you and the sounds of the battlefield. The explosions were punchy, the guns felt like they were tangible. Let's see you not get freaked out when bullets start whizzing past your head and you run into a claymore. It felt like a lot of attention went into this department.
Story
- I never felt like there was a story, at least not one that had any weight to it. Throughout the entire game, you play as someone else every mission like some war edition of musical chairs. Because of this, you don't really get attached to any of the characters, making all of the slightly emotional "Oh my god!" moments fall flat. They were still cool to watch and be involved in but it just felt like the game was trying to get some kind of sympathy out of you whenever something shocking happened without really giving you a reason why you should care.
- It felt more like there was a war going on just because there was one instead of really delving into the reasons of why there was one. Modern Warfare basically showed you who that bad guys were and that they should go down just because they were marked as the bad guys. I got more of a sense that the game was trying to show how awesome a war was instead of showing the real sacrifice that both sides have to make in a war. Modern Warfare's plot seemed shallow at best.
Should you buy it?
No, I don't think it's worth the purchase. The initial run through the campaign can be a cool experience at times, and the multiplayer is great fun. However, the campaign is short and you could become a bit more cynical towards the experience if you go through it multiple times. Multiplayer is also lacking currently since the release of Modern Warfare 2. It was hard to get a really good room going although I happened to be playing around MW2's release. Don't spend the $40-$50 people are asking for this game. Infinity Ward and Activision only put the minimal amount of effort required into this game. It only deserves the minimum amount of what it's worth which I would say is somewhere around the $5-$15 mark. I suggest renting it if you really want to play it to get some of the references in MW2 although, personally, I don't think it's really necessary to play this before the sequel.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Assassin's Creed for Xbox 360, PS3
I remember when Assassin's Creed came out. I was really excited to play it since it was done by the same team who worked on Prince Of Persia. I pictured it to be this really slick looking game with the great gameplay Prince delivers in all of his games. I was so wrong. You held two buttons down, pushed forward and there he went, climbing, jumping, doing everything for you. Then there were the guards who would hunt you down for going faster than an old man on a dialysis machine and the fact that you could block indefinitely in battle and just counter any attacks coming your way. Not only were you essentially immortal, Altair would do everything for you. If the game just essentially plays itself, why sit through it?
I sat through it for a couple reasons. I wanted to play Assassin's Creed 2 so I figured I should know the story since this game series is supposed to play out in a trilogy and I wanted something monotonous to do while I listened to music. Life has been a bit stressful for me and nothing heals me more than a romp through a game while I blast my music as loud as I can. AC delivered on what I needed from it and then it gave back a bit more. Because I didn't truly expect something specific from it, I couldn't be disappointed by it. Take note that this is the third time I've tried to go through this experience and it's the first time I didn't hate it's guts. The first assassinations were a tad on the boring side; This is a bad guy, kill him, I killed him, now kill this guy. There wasn't too much motivation to go do these killings and it didn't help that Altair came off as such a conceited A-hole. And look, I normally like those kind of characters but this is the first time I hated one because of it. Then the game starts rolling with the plot.
Mysteries occur that are left for you to decipher, the assassinations gain greater meaning, Altair changes into a humble person and then the obligatory plot twist occurs. While the story is on the predictable side, I always wanted to get to the next assassination to progress the story and learn more about this world. Why do I feel like I'm talking about No More Heroes? Anyway, In the end, I felt rather rewarded for all the work I did and I'm anticipating the second in the series just that much more.
Is It Fun?
It depends. If you want something structured and the feeling that the game is really doing it's best to convince you that it's worth it to play it to the end, this is not that game. Assassin's Creed is one of those games where it doesn't seem to care much about you. It is what it is and it knows what it has to offer, and if you don't like it, then it doesn't care if you play. You get back what you put into it. It never tells you to toss fifteen guards off of a three story building or to assassinate every annoying little beggar that comes your way. You do it because it entertains you and you thought about how the game would be more fun for you. I could block and parry all day during a battle or I could make it interesting and actually go on the offensive just to see if I can, even when there's no incentive to.
It should also be noted that the climbing, jumping and scaling in the game was a great idea but it needed A LOT more work. I can't count the number of times where I'd reach the top of the roof or needed to scale to the next object and Altair would just sit there as if he had instantly become an invalid. It's not like he couldn't do what I wanted him to, because he certainly was capable of the task. He just wouldn't do it. And that happened through the whole game.
Do I Get My Money's Worth?
The game is a one-shot kind of experience. Once you beat it, it's likely you won't touch it again unless it's to refresh yourself with the story. Should you decide to do everything in the game (collect flags, kill templars), it could last you a bit. It took me 4-5 straight days to beat it entirely. I'd say Assassin's Creed is worth $10-$15 but I don't know if I could justify a higher price than that.
I sat through it for a couple reasons. I wanted to play Assassin's Creed 2 so I figured I should know the story since this game series is supposed to play out in a trilogy and I wanted something monotonous to do while I listened to music. Life has been a bit stressful for me and nothing heals me more than a romp through a game while I blast my music as loud as I can. AC delivered on what I needed from it and then it gave back a bit more. Because I didn't truly expect something specific from it, I couldn't be disappointed by it. Take note that this is the third time I've tried to go through this experience and it's the first time I didn't hate it's guts. The first assassinations were a tad on the boring side; This is a bad guy, kill him, I killed him, now kill this guy. There wasn't too much motivation to go do these killings and it didn't help that Altair came off as such a conceited A-hole. And look, I normally like those kind of characters but this is the first time I hated one because of it. Then the game starts rolling with the plot.
Mysteries occur that are left for you to decipher, the assassinations gain greater meaning, Altair changes into a humble person and then the obligatory plot twist occurs. While the story is on the predictable side, I always wanted to get to the next assassination to progress the story and learn more about this world. Why do I feel like I'm talking about No More Heroes? Anyway, In the end, I felt rather rewarded for all the work I did and I'm anticipating the second in the series just that much more.
Is It Fun?
It depends. If you want something structured and the feeling that the game is really doing it's best to convince you that it's worth it to play it to the end, this is not that game. Assassin's Creed is one of those games where it doesn't seem to care much about you. It is what it is and it knows what it has to offer, and if you don't like it, then it doesn't care if you play. You get back what you put into it. It never tells you to toss fifteen guards off of a three story building or to assassinate every annoying little beggar that comes your way. You do it because it entertains you and you thought about how the game would be more fun for you. I could block and parry all day during a battle or I could make it interesting and actually go on the offensive just to see if I can, even when there's no incentive to.
It should also be noted that the climbing, jumping and scaling in the game was a great idea but it needed A LOT more work. I can't count the number of times where I'd reach the top of the roof or needed to scale to the next object and Altair would just sit there as if he had instantly become an invalid. It's not like he couldn't do what I wanted him to, because he certainly was capable of the task. He just wouldn't do it. And that happened through the whole game.
Do I Get My Money's Worth?
The game is a one-shot kind of experience. Once you beat it, it's likely you won't touch it again unless it's to refresh yourself with the story. Should you decide to do everything in the game (collect flags, kill templars), it could last you a bit. It took me 4-5 straight days to beat it entirely. I'd say Assassin's Creed is worth $10-$15 but I don't know if I could justify a higher price than that.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Left 4 Dead 2 Review for Xbox 360
"Smoker's on me- WAIT! Hunter is ripping my face off... awww Boomer got me... Would you guys hurry up and save me?!"
"Yea, we're coming. I'll throw a molotov to get the zombies off of you."
"No, DON- awwww... Well, isn't that nice.... I'm on fire now... Great... Wait, Is that a Spitter?"
*Spitter spits acid on the incapacitated survivor*
"Now I'm on fire AND I'm bleeding out in a puddle of acid... See you guys..."
*Survivor dies*
"Not on my watch!"
*Revives dead survivor with defibrillator*
"WHY WOULD YOU BRING ME BACK!?"
*Charger grabs revived survivor and runs off of a 5 story building, killing the survivor... again...*
Sorry, I felt like writing a skit and sharing a personal experience at the same time. Left 4 Dead 2 has arrived and I sure am glad it got here in one piece what with all the petitions and complaints against it. A lot of people felt like this game was a rip-off when it was first announced. They hated the characters, they hated the daytime cycles, and they felt that anything new was stuff that should be coming out in small little packages of DLC for Left 4 Dead. If you ask me, it's just a bunch of whining from gaming snobs that are, for once, being paid attention to, getting results from requests and then saying it's not enough. Well I'll tell ya, it certainly IS enough.
L4D2 is essentially the same as the first but with everything upgraded and improved upon. There are five new campaigns to go through this time around and they all have their own distinctions from one another. In one map, you'll have to deal with a zombie infested swamp, in another you need to work your way through a mall to get to a car on display, fill it with gas, and catch a ride outta town. My favorite was the Hard Rain campaign. There was always something different going on in that campaign and you always found yourself dealing with something different in every chapter. I'd like to say as little as possible so as not to spoil it's awesomeness but I thought it was a creative idea with VERY convincing effects. All of the campaigns felt like a good amount of thought went into them to make sure not a single one was just a throw-away or felt like filler just to make a longer game.
Another thing that makes the campaigns and other modes more interesting are the inclusion of new "uncommon infected". When Valve made L4D, they didn't like how people would sit in a corner in a high-tensity situation and just kill everything without taking any damage at all so all of these newcomers were made with the thought of dispersion in mind. The Jockey will jump it's target and guide you around like he's riding a horse, dealing consistent damage at the same time. The Charger, my favorite, accelerates to a shocking speed, and rams everyone in his path, sending them into the air and in different directions. If he hits someone while charging, he'll grab them and run away with them. The only thing that'll stop him at that point is a wall, and when he reaches that wall, he will use the survivor as a cushion and proceed to pummel them into the ground until they die. He's a pretty intimidating guy and I ALWAYS get shocked when attacked by him. Finally, the Spitter will shoot out a projectile of acid which will, in turn, create a large puddle where it lands. If you ever get caught in those acid puddles, I think you'll find that they do A LOT of damage too. One last thing, when you kill the Spitter, she also leaves behind a small patch of acid to further damage you. All of the new infected work very well with the Hunter, Boomer, and Smoker and there's a lot to like and hate about each one. Definitely look forward to using them in versus and scavenge as well. They're simply a blast.
Yes, I did mention another new thing. There is now a mode called Scavenge. You play in two teams of four, like versus, a human team and an infected team. The humans are tasked to gather cans of gas to fill a generator and the infected need to prevent that from happening. The humans lose if they run out of time or if they all become incapacitated. You're given one minute and twenty seconds to collect gas with every can you turn in netting you another twenty seconds on the clock. If the clock hits zero, you can stop the game from ending if you have a can in your possession, but should you drop it before turning it in, you lose. The infected lose the round if the humans collect and turn in sixteen cans successfully. Each round consists of both teams taking a turn as the infected and human sides and the winner is decided by whoever collected the most cans in that round. If the same amount was collected, the team who gathered it the fastest is the winner. This mode takes teamwork. Don't just walk into a game and expect to be the MVP or neglect your teammates, that's a sure way to lose. Scavenge is about keeping an open mind to suggestions, working together, and communication, even more so than what you would normally encounter in the game. It's also a place where strategy can REALLY be applied and greatly add to your chances of winning.
There are also a few more new inclusions to the game such as new support items, weapons and one last new mode. In addition to med packs and pills, there is adrenaline, deployable ammo caches, and defibrillators. Defibrillators will revived deceased survivors, ammo caches can be deployed to supply the team with incendiary and explosive rounds, and adrenaline will make all of your actions, except reloading, noticeably faster. There are now melee weapons in the game and they're life-savers. The end up taking the place of what always used to be reserved for your pistols and I'd say you should go for the exchange. Since there's now a limit of how often you can push zombies away from you, the limitless use of the melee weapons will make dealing with surrounding swarms of zombies that much quicker and easier. And also, if you are incapacitated, it still gives you a pistol to use specifically for when that happens, so no worries if you do trade your pistol for something more melee oriented. There are new guns but I haven't found them differ from what's already offered aside from aesthetics. There is a grenade launcher, but I haven't found it incredibly helpful. Finally, there's also the Realism mode that modifies the difficulties for the campaigns to make them even more challenging. The game will not point out weapons, healing items, partners, zombies, etc. You're left to keep track of eachother and search out helpful items yourself. Zombies also have more health so the only real effective way to kill them is with headshots. Yeah, it's a little hard, heheh...
All in all, Left 4 Dead 2 isn't a radical change from what we had last year but they didn't just cut and paste elements into the game either. There's plenty to get excited about and play. I've been playing L4D for a long time and this was just the kind of refresher I needed. All the improvements you could want without ditching what made the game great in the first place.
Is It Fun?
If you never liked the first Left 4 Dead, you most likely won't care for this one either. I also wouldn't recommend it for anyone who's looking for a good game to play by themselves. This is very much a multiplayer-cooperative affair. Otherwise, there's tons of fun to be had. If you're looking for a game that'll bring you closer to friends, create memories that last a lifetime, and give you tons of hilarious situations to talk about and reflect upon, this is the game you're looking for. And if you liked the first one, definitely give this one a try. I think there's a bit here for you to sink your teeth into.
Do I Get My Money's Worth?
If you haven't played the first one, it most DEFINITELY is. Stop reading this and go get it right now. If you played the first one, try to see if you can get this for somewhere in the $40-$50 range. I think it's still worth the $60 but it'd be much sweeter for a cheaper price.
I played the first game from when it released to the release of Left 4 Dead 2. It was addictive and rewarding, a total and complete pleasure to play. After playing L4D2, I don't know if I could ever go back to the first one. I'm just as addicted now as I was then and I see myself playing this game for a long time to come. I could play Scavenge alone for ages. Add in all the other modes and things to do, the re-playability of this game is limitless. It's worth the cash for sure.
"Yea, we're coming. I'll throw a molotov to get the zombies off of you."
"No, DON- awwww... Well, isn't that nice.... I'm on fire now... Great... Wait, Is that a Spitter?"
*Spitter spits acid on the incapacitated survivor*
"Now I'm on fire AND I'm bleeding out in a puddle of acid... See you guys..."
*Survivor dies*
"Not on my watch!"
*Revives dead survivor with defibrillator*
"WHY WOULD YOU BRING ME BACK!?"
*Charger grabs revived survivor and runs off of a 5 story building, killing the survivor... again...*
Sorry, I felt like writing a skit and sharing a personal experience at the same time. Left 4 Dead 2 has arrived and I sure am glad it got here in one piece what with all the petitions and complaints against it. A lot of people felt like this game was a rip-off when it was first announced. They hated the characters, they hated the daytime cycles, and they felt that anything new was stuff that should be coming out in small little packages of DLC for Left 4 Dead. If you ask me, it's just a bunch of whining from gaming snobs that are, for once, being paid attention to, getting results from requests and then saying it's not enough. Well I'll tell ya, it certainly IS enough.
L4D2 is essentially the same as the first but with everything upgraded and improved upon. There are five new campaigns to go through this time around and they all have their own distinctions from one another. In one map, you'll have to deal with a zombie infested swamp, in another you need to work your way through a mall to get to a car on display, fill it with gas, and catch a ride outta town. My favorite was the Hard Rain campaign. There was always something different going on in that campaign and you always found yourself dealing with something different in every chapter. I'd like to say as little as possible so as not to spoil it's awesomeness but I thought it was a creative idea with VERY convincing effects. All of the campaigns felt like a good amount of thought went into them to make sure not a single one was just a throw-away or felt like filler just to make a longer game.
Another thing that makes the campaigns and other modes more interesting are the inclusion of new "uncommon infected". When Valve made L4D, they didn't like how people would sit in a corner in a high-tensity situation and just kill everything without taking any damage at all so all of these newcomers were made with the thought of dispersion in mind. The Jockey will jump it's target and guide you around like he's riding a horse, dealing consistent damage at the same time. The Charger, my favorite, accelerates to a shocking speed, and rams everyone in his path, sending them into the air and in different directions. If he hits someone while charging, he'll grab them and run away with them. The only thing that'll stop him at that point is a wall, and when he reaches that wall, he will use the survivor as a cushion and proceed to pummel them into the ground until they die. He's a pretty intimidating guy and I ALWAYS get shocked when attacked by him. Finally, the Spitter will shoot out a projectile of acid which will, in turn, create a large puddle where it lands. If you ever get caught in those acid puddles, I think you'll find that they do A LOT of damage too. One last thing, when you kill the Spitter, she also leaves behind a small patch of acid to further damage you. All of the new infected work very well with the Hunter, Boomer, and Smoker and there's a lot to like and hate about each one. Definitely look forward to using them in versus and scavenge as well. They're simply a blast.
Yes, I did mention another new thing. There is now a mode called Scavenge. You play in two teams of four, like versus, a human team and an infected team. The humans are tasked to gather cans of gas to fill a generator and the infected need to prevent that from happening. The humans lose if they run out of time or if they all become incapacitated. You're given one minute and twenty seconds to collect gas with every can you turn in netting you another twenty seconds on the clock. If the clock hits zero, you can stop the game from ending if you have a can in your possession, but should you drop it before turning it in, you lose. The infected lose the round if the humans collect and turn in sixteen cans successfully. Each round consists of both teams taking a turn as the infected and human sides and the winner is decided by whoever collected the most cans in that round. If the same amount was collected, the team who gathered it the fastest is the winner. This mode takes teamwork. Don't just walk into a game and expect to be the MVP or neglect your teammates, that's a sure way to lose. Scavenge is about keeping an open mind to suggestions, working together, and communication, even more so than what you would normally encounter in the game. It's also a place where strategy can REALLY be applied and greatly add to your chances of winning.
There are also a few more new inclusions to the game such as new support items, weapons and one last new mode. In addition to med packs and pills, there is adrenaline, deployable ammo caches, and defibrillators. Defibrillators will revived deceased survivors, ammo caches can be deployed to supply the team with incendiary and explosive rounds, and adrenaline will make all of your actions, except reloading, noticeably faster. There are now melee weapons in the game and they're life-savers. The end up taking the place of what always used to be reserved for your pistols and I'd say you should go for the exchange. Since there's now a limit of how often you can push zombies away from you, the limitless use of the melee weapons will make dealing with surrounding swarms of zombies that much quicker and easier. And also, if you are incapacitated, it still gives you a pistol to use specifically for when that happens, so no worries if you do trade your pistol for something more melee oriented. There are new guns but I haven't found them differ from what's already offered aside from aesthetics. There is a grenade launcher, but I haven't found it incredibly helpful. Finally, there's also the Realism mode that modifies the difficulties for the campaigns to make them even more challenging. The game will not point out weapons, healing items, partners, zombies, etc. You're left to keep track of eachother and search out helpful items yourself. Zombies also have more health so the only real effective way to kill them is with headshots. Yeah, it's a little hard, heheh...
All in all, Left 4 Dead 2 isn't a radical change from what we had last year but they didn't just cut and paste elements into the game either. There's plenty to get excited about and play. I've been playing L4D for a long time and this was just the kind of refresher I needed. All the improvements you could want without ditching what made the game great in the first place.
Is It Fun?
If you never liked the first Left 4 Dead, you most likely won't care for this one either. I also wouldn't recommend it for anyone who's looking for a good game to play by themselves. This is very much a multiplayer-cooperative affair. Otherwise, there's tons of fun to be had. If you're looking for a game that'll bring you closer to friends, create memories that last a lifetime, and give you tons of hilarious situations to talk about and reflect upon, this is the game you're looking for. And if you liked the first one, definitely give this one a try. I think there's a bit here for you to sink your teeth into.
Do I Get My Money's Worth?
If you haven't played the first one, it most DEFINITELY is. Stop reading this and go get it right now. If you played the first one, try to see if you can get this for somewhere in the $40-$50 range. I think it's still worth the $60 but it'd be much sweeter for a cheaper price.
I played the first game from when it released to the release of Left 4 Dead 2. It was addictive and rewarding, a total and complete pleasure to play. After playing L4D2, I don't know if I could ever go back to the first one. I'm just as addicted now as I was then and I see myself playing this game for a long time to come. I could play Scavenge alone for ages. Add in all the other modes and things to do, the re-playability of this game is limitless. It's worth the cash for sure.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Borderlands Review for Xbox 360, PS3
First off, I'd like to state that this review will be referring to the Xbox360 version. With that said, I was actually pretty lucky to be able to play this game. My friend loved it so much that she bought it for me so we could both share in the Borderlands love. And boy, is there a lot of love to give.
Borderlands is essentially this: A first-person shooter set up with MMORPG-like elements. Every gun you pick up will have it's own unique stats referring to areas such as power, rate of fire, accuracy, bullets fired per shot, scope zoom, etc. In MMO's, there's always a certain hierachy within certain groups of creatures like mushrooms, black mushrooms, rogue mushrooms, king mushroom and so on and so forth. Borderlands does this with it's creatures as well but also diversifies them in more ways that actually matter instead of just changing the name and color of any given creature. For example, you first run into Pup Skags. They die pretty easily and even more-so with a critical hit chance if you happen to hit them in the mouth when it's open. Then you eventually get to Spitter Skags that spit acid at you that drains a good chunk of your shields. And then from there, you'll run into skags with much more armor around their front which makes criticals a must and skags that are powered up with elemental damage. Eventually, as you level up, the classes of your enemies become very diverse and they, ultimately, never end up being boring.
The guns are vast and plenty. When you first get into the game, some of the stats may make your head spin. Because the game randomly generates these guns, you might wonder to yourself, "Well if this gun is like that, then is it better than the gun I have now?" Honestly, you probably won't understand why they gave you a super powerful shotgun with 0 accuracy and why it should matter to you when your shotgun has 80% accuracy or why the rocket launcher with 1000 attack power does less damage than your sniper rifle with 300 attack power. But the more you play the game, the more guns you use, you start to get a very good sense of what a gun can do and how it differs from others. Eventually, the prospect of finding new guns is enough to make you drool and when you do find them, you'll automatically find yourself attached to them. It's akin to the way swords are set-up in Muramasa for the Wii.
You can choose from four different classes to play through the game. I didn't really feel that they differed from each other much aside from their skills though. For instance, the game let's you know that the hunter prefers magnums and sniper rifles. From what I've experienced, that doesn't necessarily mean he'll use those weapons better than others or that he can only use those weapons. I see it as more of a recommendation of what to use based on his skill set and how he levels up. It's the skill set that seems to dictate more of what you should use. Because the hunter doesn't gain many skills to up his defense or health, you'll find some trouble in dashing into a firefight.You'll need to use snipers to get critical hits from afar and magnums for their high damage output and accuracy in case you get caught in a close quarters scuff and you need to make a quick exit. Otherwise, it all comes down to each class' distinct abilities and skills that differentiate them and their play styles from each other.
Another aspect of the available classes is that they all seem to have at least two different paths to go down, even though there are three specific sub-classes to level up for each class. For example, a berserker can level up his brawler, tank, or blaster sub-classes. Since the level cap is set to level fifty, you'll only have enough points to complete two of those sub-classes. Tank, will give you a bunch of health and defense. Brawler, will upgrade your berserk ability which is based around melee attacks and it'll upgrade your normal melee attacks. Blaster, will help you become an absolute star with rockets. Now, I can pretty much choose one that's really important to me and then one to support that choice. I could be a guy who outlasts everyone else and goes to save people in the firefight which would make my berserk and melee skills important. Or you could be good with rockets, then the other sub-class would be your preference. In my opinion, I kinda wish there were more skills to choose from and more ways to play the classes but what they have is still very good and very well thought out.
The game is set at a good pace and length. You'll always have many quests to do at once and you'll always be given cool rewards for what you complete. Borderlands also doesn't have any difficulties to choose from per se, but the enemies level up with you so that the game is never too easy or too hard. It still has hard and easy areas but you'll never find yourself having to grind to get something done. If you do play single-player, it can be a very rewarding experience. However, the game also lends itself to it's cooperative play. When you have a lot of the classes working together, it feels really good. I don't think I could say that it's on the same level of coordination as Left 4 Dead, but there are strategies to apply to combating certain enemies that really adds to the game as a whole. Overall, I'd say the game took me a day and a half to two days to complete on single player and I pretty much took my time the whole way through. Borderlands does have a mode called "playthrough 2" to get through which gives you some VERY cool guns with MUCH TOUGHER enemies. And if you manage to beat playthrough 2 and try it again, the enemies will be even stronger still. If there weren't so many good games to play right now, you could easily stick with this game for quite some time.
There are some negatives to mention. The invisible walls in this game were not so greatly designed in this game. They tend to limit your exploration of the world and sometimes even lock you into it. There were one too many times where I accidentally fell into an "invisible-wall hole" and I couldn't get out unless I restarted the game or got my party to go to another area. The game runs well in single-player but there can be some EXTREME slowdown in co-op. The driving in the game is also pretty bad. It's not like Grand Theft Auto 4 where everyone was complaining that it sucked because it had a learning curve, it's just straight up bad. There are delayed responses to turns, the collisions with other cars, the environment, and other objects can cause your car to roll over easily or go somewhere completely arbitrary to where you should be heading and the cars also have a nasty habit of getting stuck on EVERYTHING. The effects you can add to your attacks, like electricity, corrosion, fire, most of them didn't feel like they were doing too much for me. Most of the time, they didn't feel like they worked the way that they should. Corrosive weapons are recommended for shielded enemies but I never felt it gave me any more of an advantage than I already had. I also had some audio problems with some of the dialogue in the game. Some of it would be out of sync, it would randomly restart, overlap other audio tracks, sometimes it would just straight-up cut out. Most of these things can be overlooked but they really should have put more work into the driving and the physics of the car. Hopefully it can be worked on in the sequel.
Borderlands is a very charming game with a unique look and interesting characters. I don't think you'll ever find yourself as deep into the game as Fallout 3, which is a game that it's compared to very often, but, rather, I think you'll enjoy what comes off as a love letter to Fallout and other first-person shooting franchises.
Is It Fun?
It's fun. You could spend a lot of hours finding guns, shootin' skags, trading equipment online, working with a team, starting a new character, there's lots to do to keep you occupied. Borderlands has some very rich characters as well, especially the quirky little claptraps. The only thing that ever got me mad was the driving but that was easy to overlook with such a great game in front of me.
Do I Get My Money's Worth?
You bet you do! This game really is worth the $60 especially with some DLC coming it's way. This game has plenty of re-playability and I don't think you'll question if you made a good choice to invest in this game. Go out there and get it.
Borderlands is essentially this: A first-person shooter set up with MMORPG-like elements. Every gun you pick up will have it's own unique stats referring to areas such as power, rate of fire, accuracy, bullets fired per shot, scope zoom, etc. In MMO's, there's always a certain hierachy within certain groups of creatures like mushrooms, black mushrooms, rogue mushrooms, king mushroom and so on and so forth. Borderlands does this with it's creatures as well but also diversifies them in more ways that actually matter instead of just changing the name and color of any given creature. For example, you first run into Pup Skags. They die pretty easily and even more-so with a critical hit chance if you happen to hit them in the mouth when it's open. Then you eventually get to Spitter Skags that spit acid at you that drains a good chunk of your shields. And then from there, you'll run into skags with much more armor around their front which makes criticals a must and skags that are powered up with elemental damage. Eventually, as you level up, the classes of your enemies become very diverse and they, ultimately, never end up being boring.
The guns are vast and plenty. When you first get into the game, some of the stats may make your head spin. Because the game randomly generates these guns, you might wonder to yourself, "Well if this gun is like that, then is it better than the gun I have now?" Honestly, you probably won't understand why they gave you a super powerful shotgun with 0 accuracy and why it should matter to you when your shotgun has 80% accuracy or why the rocket launcher with 1000 attack power does less damage than your sniper rifle with 300 attack power. But the more you play the game, the more guns you use, you start to get a very good sense of what a gun can do and how it differs from others. Eventually, the prospect of finding new guns is enough to make you drool and when you do find them, you'll automatically find yourself attached to them. It's akin to the way swords are set-up in Muramasa for the Wii.
You can choose from four different classes to play through the game. I didn't really feel that they differed from each other much aside from their skills though. For instance, the game let's you know that the hunter prefers magnums and sniper rifles. From what I've experienced, that doesn't necessarily mean he'll use those weapons better than others or that he can only use those weapons. I see it as more of a recommendation of what to use based on his skill set and how he levels up. It's the skill set that seems to dictate more of what you should use. Because the hunter doesn't gain many skills to up his defense or health, you'll find some trouble in dashing into a firefight.You'll need to use snipers to get critical hits from afar and magnums for their high damage output and accuracy in case you get caught in a close quarters scuff and you need to make a quick exit. Otherwise, it all comes down to each class' distinct abilities and skills that differentiate them and their play styles from each other.
Another aspect of the available classes is that they all seem to have at least two different paths to go down, even though there are three specific sub-classes to level up for each class. For example, a berserker can level up his brawler, tank, or blaster sub-classes. Since the level cap is set to level fifty, you'll only have enough points to complete two of those sub-classes. Tank, will give you a bunch of health and defense. Brawler, will upgrade your berserk ability which is based around melee attacks and it'll upgrade your normal melee attacks. Blaster, will help you become an absolute star with rockets. Now, I can pretty much choose one that's really important to me and then one to support that choice. I could be a guy who outlasts everyone else and goes to save people in the firefight which would make my berserk and melee skills important. Or you could be good with rockets, then the other sub-class would be your preference. In my opinion, I kinda wish there were more skills to choose from and more ways to play the classes but what they have is still very good and very well thought out.
The game is set at a good pace and length. You'll always have many quests to do at once and you'll always be given cool rewards for what you complete. Borderlands also doesn't have any difficulties to choose from per se, but the enemies level up with you so that the game is never too easy or too hard. It still has hard and easy areas but you'll never find yourself having to grind to get something done. If you do play single-player, it can be a very rewarding experience. However, the game also lends itself to it's cooperative play. When you have a lot of the classes working together, it feels really good. I don't think I could say that it's on the same level of coordination as Left 4 Dead, but there are strategies to apply to combating certain enemies that really adds to the game as a whole. Overall, I'd say the game took me a day and a half to two days to complete on single player and I pretty much took my time the whole way through. Borderlands does have a mode called "playthrough 2" to get through which gives you some VERY cool guns with MUCH TOUGHER enemies. And if you manage to beat playthrough 2 and try it again, the enemies will be even stronger still. If there weren't so many good games to play right now, you could easily stick with this game for quite some time.
There are some negatives to mention. The invisible walls in this game were not so greatly designed in this game. They tend to limit your exploration of the world and sometimes even lock you into it. There were one too many times where I accidentally fell into an "invisible-wall hole" and I couldn't get out unless I restarted the game or got my party to go to another area. The game runs well in single-player but there can be some EXTREME slowdown in co-op. The driving in the game is also pretty bad. It's not like Grand Theft Auto 4 where everyone was complaining that it sucked because it had a learning curve, it's just straight up bad. There are delayed responses to turns, the collisions with other cars, the environment, and other objects can cause your car to roll over easily or go somewhere completely arbitrary to where you should be heading and the cars also have a nasty habit of getting stuck on EVERYTHING. The effects you can add to your attacks, like electricity, corrosion, fire, most of them didn't feel like they were doing too much for me. Most of the time, they didn't feel like they worked the way that they should. Corrosive weapons are recommended for shielded enemies but I never felt it gave me any more of an advantage than I already had. I also had some audio problems with some of the dialogue in the game. Some of it would be out of sync, it would randomly restart, overlap other audio tracks, sometimes it would just straight-up cut out. Most of these things can be overlooked but they really should have put more work into the driving and the physics of the car. Hopefully it can be worked on in the sequel.
Borderlands is a very charming game with a unique look and interesting characters. I don't think you'll ever find yourself as deep into the game as Fallout 3, which is a game that it's compared to very often, but, rather, I think you'll enjoy what comes off as a love letter to Fallout and other first-person shooting franchises.
Is It Fun?
It's fun. You could spend a lot of hours finding guns, shootin' skags, trading equipment online, working with a team, starting a new character, there's lots to do to keep you occupied. Borderlands has some very rich characters as well, especially the quirky little claptraps. The only thing that ever got me mad was the driving but that was easy to overlook with such a great game in front of me.
Do I Get My Money's Worth?
You bet you do! This game really is worth the $60 especially with some DLC coming it's way. This game has plenty of re-playability and I don't think you'll question if you made a good choice to invest in this game. Go out there and get it.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Katamari Forever Review for PS3
Oh, Katamari... When you first rolled up into our lives, you ended up rolling into our hearts too. Aren't puns fun? Katamari's back! It's also the same it's ever been, meaning that everything that's been good or bad about the series up to this point is still good and bad. Of course, for those of you who haven't played the Katamari series yet, it's a game where you roll a ball called a katamari and you try to pick up miscellaneous objects that range from thumbtacks, dice, fruit, pencils to cars, buildings, continents, suns and other crazy things. Honestly, there's no substitute for explanation after you see the game in motion. People have referred to it as a puzzle game and it is in a sense. You need to find a good path of items within any given level so that you can make your katamari as large as possible as quickly and effeciently as you can since you are to make the katamari a specific size in a set amount of time.
In Katamari Forever (which will be referred to as KF for the rest of the review), the King of All Cosmos is in a coma and Prince makes a Robo-King to take his place for the time-being. Unfortunately, the new king destroys all the stars due to a malfunction. Given the coma and the destroyed stars, your goal throughout the game is to restore the King's memories to wake him up and to make large katamari's to replace the stars. The game plays out like a greatest hits using We Love Katamari levels for the King's memories sections and Beautiful Katamari levels for the Robo-King's sections. Robo-King's levels are more the straight-forward roll-your-katamari-this-big-in-x-amount-of-time gameplay we've been used to. The King's are more goal-oriented like, "Roll up hot objects" or "Roll up a bright katamari to help a student do some late-night studying".
The whole game, I felt, was paced extremely well. It never sticks you to too many King or Robo-King levels at once so the gameplay never feels especially old. It also has a good length rounding out at 31 levels, 17 for each king. The new features of the game also help to freshen it up a bit. You can now jump by pressing R2 or L2 (you can also use the sixaxis to jump but it's not very reliable at all). Throughout the levels, you'll find Royal Hearts which act as magnets either sucking up objects around you as you roll for a short amount of time or vacuuming everything in a wide area into your katamari instantaneously. It also has some off-line multiplayer but nothing too great. The music in the game consists of remixes of popular songs from previous games in the series. The songs don't really come off as great at first, but over time, they really stick to you. Overall, I felt the game was very well put together with some great humor and well-thought-out presentation.
Is It Fun?
Yeah, tons of fun. I personally haven't played Katamari since Beautiful Katamari and I was really turned off by that game. All the levels felt bland and the game didn't really feel put together. This game feels very cohesive with lots to do. In fact some of my favorite levels in this game happened to come from Beautiful Katamari; It must have been the presentation. It's just hard to hate much about the game. It does still have some camera issues and the occasional control problem but nothing that truly sours the experience. There are also new modes, Eternal and Drive, that unlock after you beat the game and meet certain quotas for each level and both of them are great. Drive gives you a super fast katamari to go around with and it's a BLAST! It really made me want to replay every level it was so fun. Eternal mode lets you run around the level for infinite amounts of time which really serves to answer the question, how big can you REALLY make a katamari? There are also minigames from past games' credits and there's also a new punishment minigame and those are fun every now and then. Finally, you could spend days collecting every cousin, present, and object in the game. KF is definitely BIG on fun.
Do I Get My Money's Worth?
I'd say that it's worth the cash. It was released as a budget priced title at $50. I still think it's a little on the high side but if you can get it for $40, GET IT. Otherwise, it has a good replay value and decent length. If you're a newcomer to the series, it's a must buy. If you haven't played Katamari in a while and you remember it being really fun, not only will it validate your nostalgia, you'll feel that you got your money's worth. If you never liked Katamari, this game probably won't change your mind. In the end, KF is a great game at a great value and is worth the price any day.
In Katamari Forever (which will be referred to as KF for the rest of the review), the King of All Cosmos is in a coma and Prince makes a Robo-King to take his place for the time-being. Unfortunately, the new king destroys all the stars due to a malfunction. Given the coma and the destroyed stars, your goal throughout the game is to restore the King's memories to wake him up and to make large katamari's to replace the stars. The game plays out like a greatest hits using We Love Katamari levels for the King's memories sections and Beautiful Katamari levels for the Robo-King's sections. Robo-King's levels are more the straight-forward roll-your-katamari-this-big-in-x-amount-of-time gameplay we've been used to. The King's are more goal-oriented like, "Roll up hot objects" or "Roll up a bright katamari to help a student do some late-night studying".
The whole game, I felt, was paced extremely well. It never sticks you to too many King or Robo-King levels at once so the gameplay never feels especially old. It also has a good length rounding out at 31 levels, 17 for each king. The new features of the game also help to freshen it up a bit. You can now jump by pressing R2 or L2 (you can also use the sixaxis to jump but it's not very reliable at all). Throughout the levels, you'll find Royal Hearts which act as magnets either sucking up objects around you as you roll for a short amount of time or vacuuming everything in a wide area into your katamari instantaneously. It also has some off-line multiplayer but nothing too great. The music in the game consists of remixes of popular songs from previous games in the series. The songs don't really come off as great at first, but over time, they really stick to you. Overall, I felt the game was very well put together with some great humor and well-thought-out presentation.
Is It Fun?
Yeah, tons of fun. I personally haven't played Katamari since Beautiful Katamari and I was really turned off by that game. All the levels felt bland and the game didn't really feel put together. This game feels very cohesive with lots to do. In fact some of my favorite levels in this game happened to come from Beautiful Katamari; It must have been the presentation. It's just hard to hate much about the game. It does still have some camera issues and the occasional control problem but nothing that truly sours the experience. There are also new modes, Eternal and Drive, that unlock after you beat the game and meet certain quotas for each level and both of them are great. Drive gives you a super fast katamari to go around with and it's a BLAST! It really made me want to replay every level it was so fun. Eternal mode lets you run around the level for infinite amounts of time which really serves to answer the question, how big can you REALLY make a katamari? There are also minigames from past games' credits and there's also a new punishment minigame and those are fun every now and then. Finally, you could spend days collecting every cousin, present, and object in the game. KF is definitely BIG on fun.
Do I Get My Money's Worth?
I'd say that it's worth the cash. It was released as a budget priced title at $50. I still think it's a little on the high side but if you can get it for $40, GET IT. Otherwise, it has a good replay value and decent length. If you're a newcomer to the series, it's a must buy. If you haven't played Katamari in a while and you remember it being really fun, not only will it validate your nostalgia, you'll feel that you got your money's worth. If you never liked Katamari, this game probably won't change your mind. In the end, KF is a great game at a great value and is worth the price any day.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
For the Parents
Why Aegis Reviews?
I'm an employee of a game retail outlet and everyday I hear parents tell their kids they're not allowed to play whatever game is in question just because they don't really understand what the ESRB states is in the game or even try to see what might be in the game their child wants. A lot of parents I talk to tend to think that "Partial Nudity" means sexual encounters in a game. Some parents just look at the cover of a game and come to the conclusion that there's no benefit to playing a game that looks extremely violent when it's not.
Sometimes the news makes a goal to scare the public when there's nothing to be frightened of. The last incident I can recall was when a kid was bought an xbox for Christmas along with a copy of Halo 3. He got really into it and started playing it night and day. He wouldn't sleep, he wouldn't go to school, he'd just play and play. The parents didn't know how to handle the situation so they took the Xbox away. The kid rebelled and ran away from home. They didn't hear from him for days and ended up finding their child dead. And it's at that point in the story that the news shows how harmful videogames are to society.
Another example is when Grand Theft Auto 4 was released. Gaming isn't just for kids and this is a good example of it. It's an "M" rated game which means it's for a mature audience which the ESRB feels are kids that are the age of 17 and up. KIDS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO PLAY THIS GAME. It holds a lot of mature themes; strippers, dating, assassinations, crime. For an older audience, this is a rather deep game story-wise where it shows a man who's done many bad deeds in his life and he's trying to get away from trouble and be a better person. Unfortunately, he's forced into many situations he doesn't want to be in, and so on and so forth. The news said that you're rewarded points for smashing hookers into rocks and that the more you kill, the more you're rewarded with. They also stated that this game shows kids how to drive drunk. All in all, The news has stated from every angle that this game will turn your child into a cold killer.
Now, I am not a parent. I do not have a degree in Psychology, I am not a doctor, but I can't sit back anymore and let these horror stories ruin the image of my hobby. There have been countless studies on the effects of videogames on children. None of them have conclusive evidence that videogames have either a good or bad result in the long run. The reason being because not everyone is a copy of someone else. Believe it or not, it depends on how we're raised and what ideas we're introduced to which leads us to be different than one another. And because we're all different, it's impossible for videogames to affect us in only one way.
Was it really the Xbox's fault a kid ran away from home leading to a terrible fate? I personally don't think so. It was a terrible case and there are some cases much worse. There are, however, more factors to these situations. Was the child mentally stable, how much were the parents involved in that child's life, how was that child brought up, did he or she grow up in a positive environment? Most of the time, there's more than just one thing to blame. From my experience, people I've conversed with, and the way I was brought up, sometimes all you need to do is just check in with your kid, making sure that what they're doing is something you approve of. If it is, let them know. And if you don't approve, put down some rules. If those rules aren't followed, it's punishment time. Your Xbox, Playstation, DS, PSP, no videogame system is a babysitter and should never be used as one. Videogames exist for entertainment purposes and are occasionally used for education. Now, even some consoles have parental settings. You can set what games they can play based on ESRB rating, you can set how long they're allowed to play per day, there are a good number of ways to help you, as a parent, to supervise what your kids do on their system.
Now, about GTA4 (Grand Theft Auto 4). A VERY large group of people actually believe what the news states about this game. People don't even realize that the people reporting about it have never even played the game, let alone even ever TOUCHING a controller. In GTA4, choices are given to you. As the player, you can do whatever your imagination allows within the guidelines of that game. There is no "score" or "points" in the overall game of Grand Theft Auto. GTA4 never encourages ramming a hooker against a rock for points. You can do it if you want, but you'd only do it because you thought to do so. And if you do, have fun while you can because a TON of police are going to be trying to take you down and put you in jail. You can try to lose the cops but then you're "Wanted Rating" will climb higher, especially if you kill people in your getaway attempt, which leads to it being harder to get away and stay alive.
GTA allows you to drive drunk. If you do, the cops will pull you over because it's more than likely you're going to hit another car or swerve into some other object. When you are drunk, you'll most likely have a friend of your character with you encouraging you to NOT drive drunk and to call a cab to get home. The game does not reward you for driving drunk, it does not simulate real drunk driving, you can only do it because the developers of the game did not want to restrict your imagination. They wanted to create a world that encourages you to try things you would never do in real life since in the real world, there are so many heavy consequences for some of these acts. Most of what the news has reported on concerning that game, and many other games as well, has been based on complete farces coming from people that have never played a single game in their life.
Videogames have been devices for great stories, stimulating entertainment and a fun way to learn new things. I finally got around to building this site because I want to help parents become more informed in this section of life because videogames are a constantly growing trend and it's more than likely here to stay. I want to help you understand that videogames are not evil, they're not focused on making your kids into hoodlums. They're primary goal is to entertain, give you an experience you could never have in real life, challenge your mind, and offer a brief moment of escapism. Try thinking of games having more in common with movies. Would you let them see the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre, an R rated movie? If not, you probably shouldn't let them play Dead Space, a M rated game. Base what your kid plays on how mature you think they are. Sometimes it's the more mature games that hold a greater sense of morals and really teaches the difference between right and wrong and that could be an invaluable lesson that your child keeps with them for life.
I don't have too much more to say than just a couple things I couldn't get to in my little soapbox speech. Some games that are rated M are now coming out with features that disable gore and expletives. Fat Princess is a game on the PSN that has a very kiddy look to it but is pretty gratuitous with blood and gore. There is however a feature to turn that mature stuff off. Then, when you defeat another player, candy confetti comes out of them instead of blood and body parts. Not only is it less violent, it's actually a lot more funny.
On this site I want to inform you on everything an experienced gamer knows, which is a whole LOT more than the news, the esrb, or the box of a game can tell you. I want to help you learn about the console you have in your home. Kids are tricky and they can easily lie to you about something you know nothing about. I'm sure some of you have wanted to restrict game time only for their kid to taunt that there isn't any way to do that, or some other similar issue. Just come here for information and if you have any questions about something that isn't on the site, just contact us and we'll answer you directly. If we get a lot of the same questions, we'll just post the answers on the site so EVERYONE knows. I hope you guys get a lot out of this site and I hope you enjoy being knowledgeable about something that may be very foreign to you. Good luck everybody!
Ashton
Site Moderator, Reviewer
Site Moderator, Reviewer
Who Are You?
This is the gamer bio for, your host of Aegis Reviews, Ashton Adams:
XBL - Aegis Ornus
PSN - AegisEverto
Favorite Games - Devil May Cry series, Okami, Psychonauts, WET, Fallout 3, Street Fighter series, Final Fantasy 8 and 12, Vectorman, Prince of Persia and the Prince of Persia Trilogy, Metal Gear series, Sonic 2, Braid, ALL of the Oddworld series, Mischief Makers, Bionic Commando (Rearmed and the next-gen reboot), Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Bioshock, No More Heroes... This list could go on for a bit....
Favorite TV shows - Dexter, Rurouni Kenshin, Lost, Gungrave (I like those games too...), Outlaw Star, The Legend of the Seeker, Buffy, Angel, Castle, Firefly, Gankutsuou, Clannad, Soul Eater, Dollhouse, Jericho, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, I think now's a good place to stop...
Favorite Movies - Mr. Foe, Cashback, White Noise, Shoot'em Up, Sin City, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Children of Men, 300, Letters from Iwo Jima, No Country for Old Men, Unforgiven, Seven Pounds, The Air I Breathe, Baraka, Crows: Episode Zero.
Favorite Books - Illusion's: Messages From A Reluctant Messiah, The Dream Weaver, Interworlds, The Phantom Toll Booth, Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
Favorite Bands - Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Gomez, Modest Mouse, The Pillows, Hypnophonics, Cave In, Queens Of The Stone Age, School Food Punishment, Them Crooked Vultures, Yoko Kanno.
Life Background - I've been in CA my whole life. I'm an only child to a single mother. I've been gaming a long time and I'm damn proud of it. I've always been a really sick kid and I actually never made it to school all that much. I ended up taking the California High School Proficiency Exam in the middle of the 10th grade so that I could move on to college and stop dealing with the public school system. Whenever I wasn't playing videogames, I was normally watching anime and listening deeply to my music collection. My games, anime, and music actually cultivated me into a pacifist. I always look for verbal solutions before physical ones. That is, unless I'm playing games, then you bet I'm gonna give you a beating.
I am, however, not a stereotypical guy's guy. I'm pretty shy, quirky, physically weak, I always seek out a more personal relationship with people. I believe I can talk out my problems rather than scream and storm off, and I'm not very fond of people that feel they need to brag about every little detail. Most of those people I tend to run into in racing and fighting games. I'll always be real quiet, making me the target of harassment, and they'll tell me how good they are and how I'll never surpass their achievements. Then I beat them over and over and before you know it, they're praising me and warning everyone else that I'm the real deal. I know that would make me the braggart in this situation but come on, at least I'm not a scrub and I don't rub my "skills" in your face 24/7.
Growing up, I've always tried to help other people. I was the one helping all sorts of kids with their problems. Lots of girls came to me with relationship problems, guys came to me with depression. Somehow I became this go-to guy when it came to personal problems. It did open up a lot of doors for me though and I essentially fit into every social circle in high school because of what I did for others. I figured since I was helping people so much, I would want to go into Psychology. Then I remembered how much I suck at science and math. I have a very interesting sense of logic that works and makes sense for me and no one else which leads to confusion when I try to understand the logic of numbers. I like writing a lot so I'm going for my English major. I want to be a gaming journalist, a novelist or an English teacher. I figure I can still be lots of help to people in any of those areas and utilize my knowledge and experience with games at the same time.
I'm not a good out-of-the-box thinker. I work better with known limits. Tell me what I got to work with and I'll use it in an efficient manner.
Gaming Background - I've been gaming almost since birth. My cousin, who was living with me around the age of 2, had purchased a SNES and was in love with it. I remember sitting and watching her play it and being in awe of all the colors and fun music (I'd be referring to Super Mario World, of course). She finally got me involved by sitting me in her lap and putting my hands around the controller. Not much later, I was playing on my own and my experiences with gaming have been growing ever since.
I still own the majority of all the systems I've bought which range from the days of the NES to the entire line-up of the current generation. My favorite console so far has been the Sega Dreamcast. Sega was always really ahead of it's time when it came to consoles but unfortunately their marketing and timing was never the best... Sadly, now they're only a shadow of their former self... Unless they want to maybe revive Shenmue 3, make a next-gen Vectorman, Online Powerstone, and then sweeten the deal with another Jet Set Radio.... Please?
Growing up, I played a lot of games. I normally played every game available at whatever Blockbuster or Hollywood Video was around. The games that I was always addicted to though were the ones that kicked my butt i.e. Abe's Oddysee, Megaman, Street Fighter 2, Starfox64. I played those games until I was the only one I knew that could do it better than anyone else.
So What Games "Float Your Boat"? - I tend to like all types of genres but let's try to boil it down.
Games with difficult mechanics. I think I first realized it when I played Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening. This was before Special Edition, when it was kickin' butt and taking names. I learned how to mash buttons so fast from that game that my arm was constantly popping from the tension and speed. And, no, I don't mash with my thumb, I don't have that kind of coordination. I have a method that uses my whole arm. What's the difference? I'm building muscle and making myself susceptible to arthritis and you're not... But I digress. I love games that kick my butt, but let's be more specific - I like games that lead me to blame myself for sucking at the game rather than the game being so difficult, the enemies cheat just to be harder. So games that I enjoy for their difficulty and mechanics: Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, Bionic Commando, God Hand, Viewtiful Joe.... Okay, let's just sum it up and say mostly Capcom titles.
Games that have GREAT story and characters. Bioshock was exploding with twists and immersion making me always want to play just to see what happens next. Silent Hill 2 had such a deep, psychological story, I discuss it with people who don't even play videogames. Prince of Persia made me weep and it really offered a great story between two strangers with ongoing dialogue that never ceased to entertain. I'm normally very empathetic so I really get into games with deep characters that can offer something outside of gameplay. When a game makes me think outside the box with it's story is another thing I love. One example would be Metal Gear Solid 2. It was so philosophical with really large twists. I played it many times over just to hear the dialogue and plot, picking up new parts of the story and even ideals and morals I could place into the real world. So sometimes I can almost completely overlook the gameplay if the game's got a great story to tell. I think you'll get a better idea of what I mean when you read my reviews.
I do encourage people to request what they want to see reviewed. I'm running off of gamefly currently so I can get a few of the newer games but I'll be putting in some reviews on older titles relating to what's coming out i.e. Yakuza since Yakuza 3 is almost here and Yakuza 4 is on it's way over in japan. And I'm sure I'll just put out reviews of whatever I got and I do have a lot. But we'll keep the site rolling, we'll see what keeps, what doesn't. Let's hope for the best!
Ashton
XBL - Aegis Ornus
PSN - AegisEverto
Favorite Games - Devil May Cry series, Okami, Psychonauts, WET, Fallout 3, Street Fighter series, Final Fantasy 8 and 12, Vectorman, Prince of Persia and the Prince of Persia Trilogy, Metal Gear series, Sonic 2, Braid, ALL of the Oddworld series, Mischief Makers, Bionic Commando (Rearmed and the next-gen reboot), Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Bioshock, No More Heroes... This list could go on for a bit....
Favorite TV shows - Dexter, Rurouni Kenshin, Lost, Gungrave (I like those games too...), Outlaw Star, The Legend of the Seeker, Buffy, Angel, Castle, Firefly, Gankutsuou, Clannad, Soul Eater, Dollhouse, Jericho, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, I think now's a good place to stop...
Favorite Movies - Mr. Foe, Cashback, White Noise, Shoot'em Up, Sin City, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Children of Men, 300, Letters from Iwo Jima, No Country for Old Men, Unforgiven, Seven Pounds, The Air I Breathe, Baraka, Crows: Episode Zero.
Favorite Books - Illusion's: Messages From A Reluctant Messiah, The Dream Weaver, Interworlds, The Phantom Toll Booth, Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
Favorite Bands - Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Gomez, Modest Mouse, The Pillows, Hypnophonics, Cave In, Queens Of The Stone Age, School Food Punishment, Them Crooked Vultures, Yoko Kanno.
Life Background - I've been in CA my whole life. I'm an only child to a single mother. I've been gaming a long time and I'm damn proud of it. I've always been a really sick kid and I actually never made it to school all that much. I ended up taking the California High School Proficiency Exam in the middle of the 10th grade so that I could move on to college and stop dealing with the public school system. Whenever I wasn't playing videogames, I was normally watching anime and listening deeply to my music collection. My games, anime, and music actually cultivated me into a pacifist. I always look for verbal solutions before physical ones. That is, unless I'm playing games, then you bet I'm gonna give you a beating.
I am, however, not a stereotypical guy's guy. I'm pretty shy, quirky, physically weak, I always seek out a more personal relationship with people. I believe I can talk out my problems rather than scream and storm off, and I'm not very fond of people that feel they need to brag about every little detail. Most of those people I tend to run into in racing and fighting games. I'll always be real quiet, making me the target of harassment, and they'll tell me how good they are and how I'll never surpass their achievements. Then I beat them over and over and before you know it, they're praising me and warning everyone else that I'm the real deal. I know that would make me the braggart in this situation but come on, at least I'm not a scrub and I don't rub my "skills" in your face 24/7.
Growing up, I've always tried to help other people. I was the one helping all sorts of kids with their problems. Lots of girls came to me with relationship problems, guys came to me with depression. Somehow I became this go-to guy when it came to personal problems. It did open up a lot of doors for me though and I essentially fit into every social circle in high school because of what I did for others. I figured since I was helping people so much, I would want to go into Psychology. Then I remembered how much I suck at science and math. I have a very interesting sense of logic that works and makes sense for me and no one else which leads to confusion when I try to understand the logic of numbers. I like writing a lot so I'm going for my English major. I want to be a gaming journalist, a novelist or an English teacher. I figure I can still be lots of help to people in any of those areas and utilize my knowledge and experience with games at the same time.
I'm not a good out-of-the-box thinker. I work better with known limits. Tell me what I got to work with and I'll use it in an efficient manner.
Gaming Background - I've been gaming almost since birth. My cousin, who was living with me around the age of 2, had purchased a SNES and was in love with it. I remember sitting and watching her play it and being in awe of all the colors and fun music (I'd be referring to Super Mario World, of course). She finally got me involved by sitting me in her lap and putting my hands around the controller. Not much later, I was playing on my own and my experiences with gaming have been growing ever since.
I still own the majority of all the systems I've bought which range from the days of the NES to the entire line-up of the current generation. My favorite console so far has been the Sega Dreamcast. Sega was always really ahead of it's time when it came to consoles but unfortunately their marketing and timing was never the best... Sadly, now they're only a shadow of their former self... Unless they want to maybe revive Shenmue 3, make a next-gen Vectorman, Online Powerstone, and then sweeten the deal with another Jet Set Radio.... Please?
Growing up, I played a lot of games. I normally played every game available at whatever Blockbuster or Hollywood Video was around. The games that I was always addicted to though were the ones that kicked my butt i.e. Abe's Oddysee, Megaman, Street Fighter 2, Starfox64. I played those games until I was the only one I knew that could do it better than anyone else.
So What Games "Float Your Boat"? - I tend to like all types of genres but let's try to boil it down.
Games with difficult mechanics. I think I first realized it when I played Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening. This was before Special Edition, when it was kickin' butt and taking names. I learned how to mash buttons so fast from that game that my arm was constantly popping from the tension and speed. And, no, I don't mash with my thumb, I don't have that kind of coordination. I have a method that uses my whole arm. What's the difference? I'm building muscle and making myself susceptible to arthritis and you're not... But I digress. I love games that kick my butt, but let's be more specific - I like games that lead me to blame myself for sucking at the game rather than the game being so difficult, the enemies cheat just to be harder. So games that I enjoy for their difficulty and mechanics: Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, Bionic Commando, God Hand, Viewtiful Joe.... Okay, let's just sum it up and say mostly Capcom titles.
Games that have GREAT story and characters. Bioshock was exploding with twists and immersion making me always want to play just to see what happens next. Silent Hill 2 had such a deep, psychological story, I discuss it with people who don't even play videogames. Prince of Persia made me weep and it really offered a great story between two strangers with ongoing dialogue that never ceased to entertain. I'm normally very empathetic so I really get into games with deep characters that can offer something outside of gameplay. When a game makes me think outside the box with it's story is another thing I love. One example would be Metal Gear Solid 2. It was so philosophical with really large twists. I played it many times over just to hear the dialogue and plot, picking up new parts of the story and even ideals and morals I could place into the real world. So sometimes I can almost completely overlook the gameplay if the game's got a great story to tell. I think you'll get a better idea of what I mean when you read my reviews.
I do encourage people to request what they want to see reviewed. I'm running off of gamefly currently so I can get a few of the newer games but I'll be putting in some reviews on older titles relating to what's coming out i.e. Yakuza since Yakuza 3 is almost here and Yakuza 4 is on it's way over in japan. And I'm sure I'll just put out reviews of whatever I got and I do have a lot. But we'll keep the site rolling, we'll see what keeps, what doesn't. Let's hope for the best!
Ashton
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Welcome to the site!
Hello, and welcome to Aegis Reviews. My name's Ashton Adams and for the time being, I'll be the sole contributor to the site. Before I let you know about me, let's talk about the site's ambitious goals.
As gamers, we're really tired of the news butchering our favored hobby. When Grand Theft Auto 4 was released, not only was there LOTS of excitement among the gaming community, there were even more groans as we all watched every news network talking about how it trains your children to be killers and encourages irresponsible or violent behavior.
I tend to also think that most of us are having trouble with reviews now-a-days. There are a couple of fears or problems that seem common; Game reviews don't really help parents find out what kind of content is really in the game. They also don't tell you if it's worth all the cash you'd be shelling out for it. And then there's the fear that's been growing in gamers as of late that is if our favorite review companies are being paid off for better review scores on games.
Here's why Aegis Reviews exists:
Parents
- There are plenty of ways now to advise what games your children are playing and also how long. I have a job at a gaming retail outlet and I'm shocked at how many parents don't take the time to know about what they're getting their kids and how to control it. Games are really moving in as an entertainment staple, it's likely they'll never go away. Now, I know that there isn't enough time in the day to supervise EVERYTHING your kids are doing but that's part of what this site is for. We're going to take all of your problems and make them easier to deal with helping you be the best parent you can be when it comes to your kid's gaming hobby.
- Do you want to know what "Suggestive Themes" or "Partial Nudity" means on the ESRB ratings? Did you know they don't mean the same thing for every game? Sometimes words aren't enough or words can't describe as well as pictures and videos. We'll have those here for you. You don't have to search, you don't have to think about the stress of looking around the vast internet. Just come here, it'll be there just for you. And if you don't find what you're looking for, all it takes is an email - "I heard there was a lot of violence, blood, skimpy outfits, etc. in this game but I don't see anything about it on your site." - Since this is important to you, we'll do our best to research it and put it on the site. Right now, since I'm the only one contributing to the site, I'll get to the ones that are more in demand. Otherwise, it's first come, first served.
- We'll also have guides on how to set your parental controls on systems that you own. These controls include how long your child is allowed to play, what game ratings they're allowed to play, how they can access online gameplay and more.
My Fellow Gamers
- We want you to have good reviews to look at. When I go to gaming sites, there are a lot of reviews I tend to disagree with. We're also tired of the numerical scores, aren't you? Don't you just want to know if the game is fun, or an experience to remember and if you should buy it? That's what we want to do. We want to play the game, tell you how everything came together within that game,what overlasting experience we walked away with, and if it's worth your money because, let's face it, this is an expensive hobby.
- When I look at reviews, I want to know if I'd like it, not if the person reviewing it liked it. For me, nothing sucks more when I want to know how great Ninja Gaiden is only to find out that the person playing it hates that kind of genre and thus gave it a lower score or they just didn't understand the content so it didn't score as high as it could. The goal right now is to get a good number of gamers with different gaming backgrounds with a biography for you to read on each gamer. We want you to look at the bios, find someone who games like you and read THEIR reviews. And if they haven't reviewed that game, you can email for an opinion from your favorite reviewer guaranteeing you always get an opinion from the one gamer you trust.
- Something else that's been going on is gaming companies are giving money and the right to post an early review to reviewers who give it a higher score so it scores better. How do you know who you can trust? Trust US! We're doing this for YOU! For FREE! Use it! Be a part of it! Start spending money on games you know you'll love and enjoy for a long time instead of spending money on a game you'll play once and put away.
- Now, let's get this straight, we might end up adding this somewhere down the road but we have no current plans to make guides or walkthroughs. But hey, we all get stuck. I'm sure we can add parts at the end of reviews for tips on how to get past general difficult parts of games. We'll see...
Ashton
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