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Posted on 09.11.07 by skintari @ 8:13 am
Pool Party. How do I describe thee??? Let me start off by saying that I didn’t have high hopes for this game. As with a majority of Wii games I have played lately, I’ve noticed that they really are the product of a “new” console. The controls and game play just seem a bit off to me. Pool Party is no different. It suffers from awkward camera angles, odd game physics, and too much controller function. What should have been a relatively straightforward “point and shoot” gets dulled down by the many functions of the button schemes. What I mean is, just because the Wii has ten controller buttons, you don’t have to assign a function to each one. At one point, I actually had to contort my hand to place the ball when it was in hand. It was overkill for me and made me want to quit playing right there. I did persevere and I can’t say I was really rewarded or let down. The game itself was fun enough playing it 2 player, but on the single player, it got to be too much. The A.I. was stupid for the first 4 or 5 balls that were sunk, then it became a professional trick shot artist on me. There’s no way someone can bank the ball back and forth off of 4 rails across and have the ball go in. No way. But of course, the physics of the game will let the computer do it. The other thing is that there was no “slop” rules. Which meant, in a game of 8 ball, you could just hit the stack of balls and whatever dropped, you got credit for. I’m not a purist of the sport, but c’mon, you gotta have some kind of rules to govern that! Otherwise there is no skill and therefore, no challenge. Another thing that was lacking in this game was the effects of English. The game would allow you to hit the q-ball in different spots, but that would just angle your shot. There was really no true backspin or topspin that you could put on there. In fact, it was hard enough to work the point of impact on the q-ball as it was. Anyway, a pool game without English is pretty much useless as there was no real way to give yourself a good leave or even to avoid scratching on close shots. The only thing that would really help you was if you used max power to hit the ball. The q-ball would stop on impact then, but you had to be extremely accurate (and with the camera angles, that was near impossible). Overall, this game really could have been a solid, fun game. There is a pretty hefty amount of games on there…Snooker, 8-ball, 9-ball, and several different variants of each. But they became after thoughts as the difficulty of making good shots and the unevenness of the A.I. really brought the game down. I would have given this game a lot more because the 2 player was fun, but just not enough to get me to enjoy it. So, 1.5 stars out of 5. Hopefully, someone will read this and make a pool game that we can really enjoy! Filed under: Review and Wii and skintari Comments: 1 Comment |
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Posted on 08.07.07 by skintari @ 4:39 pm
Sorry for the lack of posting, but I have been consumed lately (pardon the pun). To make up, I’ll make this a double post! Yay! First game is Bust a Move for the Wii. We received this game on Saturday and had it beat by Sunday. It is that easy. And repetitive. And boring. If you’ve played the online or any of the previous console versions, you know exactly what you’re getting. Aim your little pointer at the like colored balls and press a button. That’s it. No more, no less. The controls are extremely twitchy. My girl sat down next to me and it actually caused the aim to dart all across the screen. That means you have to sit perfectly still and hold the wii-mote with both hands to even play this. That is not good. Secondly, was the constant music that played throughout the game. There are 5 different “8-bit” tracks (one song for each 50 puzzle level). These songs play continuously through the level. And then continues on in your mind a good half hour after you quit playing. It’s that bad. And I won’t even get into the lack of a decent multi-player section. My rating: 1.5/5. This game was fun for about 2 minutes. After that, it sucks the life out of you…. Speaking of (see what I did there!)….The Darkness. This game is good. Very good, in my opinion. Although the length of the game is rather short (it can be beaten in less than a week if you really try), it provides quite a punch from what’s on the market currently. I am going to refrain from any real “details” of this game because it was a joy to uncover powers on my own and I don’t want to spoil it for you. Let me start this review by stating that I had not previously read the comic before I played this, so it was a fresh storyline for me. However, I have started reading it and the storyline really stays true as far as I can tell. At least moreso than most of the other comics to games that are out. So the gameplay gives you control of the main character, Jackie, and his “demons”. This is surprisingly intuitive considering that you play as both, and at the same time no less! The controller scheme is mapped in a convenient way so you can use your dark powers while maintaining a fire fight with your enemies. This also leads to some very graphic and up close “kills”. I won’t spoil the different ways you can tear your victims apart, but let me just say that none of them ever get old! Now the look of the game is also very detailed. Seeing the faces of these people that you have to interact with gives you the feel that you’re back in an old timey mob setting. In fact, there were a few times that I would just admire my character in a mirror. It was surreal to me to see your reflection as clear as day in-game. The only real problem I had with this game (outside of being short) was the camera angles. Quite a few times the camera would get hung up corners or as you controlled the creeping death. This was frustrating at times, but not nearly enough to make me not want to play it! All in all, I give this a 4.5/5. I hear that the multiplayer is “broken”, but as a campaign, I thoroughly enjoyed this from the beginning till the end. I also recommend that you rent or gamefly this as it can be beaten in a relatively short time. Filed under: Review and Wii and Xbox 360 and skintari Comments: None |
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Posted on 07.27.07 by skintari @ 8:15 am
So, I gambled and picked up a copy of Touchmaster for the DS. I really haven’t read too much about the games that were on it, although I knew that they were all based off of those monitor games (also called Touchmaster) that sit at the end of the bar. Being a fan of the bar version, I figured this would be worth the money to plunk down. Let’s just say I wasn’t totally correct. Yes, it does feature 23 games that can be found while imbibing on your adult beverage of choice. But that’s where the similarities ended for me. For those of you that are unaware (or underage), Touchmaster uses a touch screen to perform actions. Checkers, Tri-peaks (and other various card games), as well as a spin off of Othello, and a few others. The touch screen does work well for this, but that’s not the problems I had. My problem lied with the games themselves. Instead of getting 3 plays for 50 cents, you get one play for free. This makes some of the games very uneven, as you should get rewarded for progressing through a game. A few of the games are close to never-ending if you use logic, and some of them end abruptly because you have to rely on the luck of the AI. This can be extremely frustrating. Especially when you rack up a million points and then the AI gives you a situation that is impossible to win. The other thing I notice is that I tend to restart games when I realize that the “computer” is going to end up screwing me soon. Now, even with that major fault, I still find a few of the games very enjoyable. There isn’t any longevity for this game, but it’s something to do when you’re at a commercial break while watching tv! I rate this one a 2.5. If you can find it for 15-20 bucks, it’s worth it. But I definately wouldn’t pay the $30 asking price now that I know! Besides, you can save that extra 10 bucks and get yourself a nice pint of Guinness while you play this at the bar! Filed under: Nintendo DS and Review and skintari Comments: 1 Comment |
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Posted on 07.24.07 by skintari @ 8:06 am
Well, this isn’t entirely true. See, I got the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider DVD game. It’s billed as a game for your dvd player and that’s exactly what it is. Tomb Raider for yet another platform. Now the game isn’t bad if your a hardcore, gotta have everything that is even remotely related to TR. The controller is the dvd remote and it functions as well as one would think. You get to a gate and a menu pops up for your next move. You push the corresponding arrow and yay, you’re in! Although I found that common sense would let you finish this movie-game with ease, it is a pretty neat concept. I think we may have a new genre of games on our hands if they can get some of those games that are like a choose-your-own-adventure types. Dragons Lair, anyone? Anyways, I’ll give this a rating of 2/5 only because my disk froze after the first chapter! Filed under: General and Review and skintari Comments: 2 Comments |
Being a gaming site and dealing with gaming things, I figured this would be an opportunity to tell you about a game I recently rented from Netflix. I know! Netflix has games?|
Posted on 07.17.07 by A 47 Danger @ 5:07 pm
Koala will take over as the senior vice president of IEB at Microsoft, effective July 30. Koala are broadly similar in appearance to the wombats (the closest living relatives), but has a thicker, more luxurious coat, much larger ears, and longer limbs, which are equipped with large, sharp claws to assist with climbing. Koala have an unusually small brain, with about 40% of the cranial cavity being filled with fluid. In February 2007, koala began working with the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft as an external advisor. “Peter has contributed enormously to the games business since joining Microsoft in 2003 and we are sad to see him go,” said Robbie Bach, president of Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “Since that time, he presided over the global launch of the Xbox 360™, spearheaded a revitalized and rebranded Games for Windows business, and helped steer the console’s ascent.” Moore has decided to return with his family to Northern California, where they lived until he took the position at Microsoft. Moore will remain at Microsoft to assist in the transition through August and will then return to the San Francisco Bay area. “While Peter will certainly be missed, we are delighted to have one of the industry’s most talented and passionate veterans on board to lead the business,” Bach said. “Koala were hunted almost to extinction in the early 20th century, largely for its fur. In recent years, some colonies have been hard hit by disease, especially chlamydia.” The origins of the koala are unclear, although almost certainly they descended from terrestrial wombat-like animals. “Over the past two decades, and the past few months in particular, we’ve worked closely with many of Microsoft’s top leaders and we’ve always been impressed by their talent, passion and commitment,” said koala. “We’re thrilled to join an already strong team that’s delivering truly amazing gaming experiences to customers around the world. We’ve never been more excited about the future of the industry, and firmly believe Microsoft will lead the next great innovations in gaming.” Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Filed under: A 47 Danger and Humor and Xbox 360 Comments: 1 Comment |
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