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Posted on 03.26.08 by skintari @ 12:42 pm
Ha, I’m guessing you are curious about that title and exactly which game I’ve been playing! That’s right, Mass Effect. The game that the “think-of-the-children” crowd would like you to believe is more about sex than anything else. Oh, but they would be wrong. Mass Effect, in my opinion, is a game that really gets you to react as if you were the lead character him/herself. Not just as an extension of your personality, but as if what you say and do has an actual impact throughout the game. As an RPG, it touched on some moral angles and issues that really brought your own character into the game. From the first part of setting up your character traits and looks, all the way to each individual discussion that you had with others, you basically direct the story line to your way of thinking. The first time I played it, I was acting the part of the typical good guy hero/team player. Encouraging others and making choices that I felt would “save humanity”. This second time through, my attitude is more of the hardcore marine who is more interested in saving his own skin. And the dialogue really does adapt to your conversation, whether good, bad, or indifferent. The game play was pretty typical of a 3rd person shooter. Based on your character traits, you are able to upgrade skills and use a variety of weapons. This made for a lot of choices when assembling a team. The skill sets of your AI compatriots were also upgraded throughout the game as well, so you could mix and match your 3 man crew to complete technological missions while still having a weapons guy to lay cover fire. The one thing I did notice is that a few of the people were really focused in one skill set (such as technology) so I rarely used them. I tended to go with the more multi-tool characters in order to have a better balance. The game itself seems to be quite vast as you explore several solar systems. Each system has up to a half dozen planets that are open for you to scan for elements or to physically visit for story and side missions. There were even a few “abandoned” ships that you could land at and search. This made for a very open environment, although, it was hard to keep track of where you had already been to. Now, the part that had all these people thinking that the game was soft core pornography….It isn’t. I know, it sounds disappointing, but in all actuality, it really gave a human feeling to the game. It was your decisions and how you directed conversation that led to an intimate cut scene. Not to mention the fact that you had to play through about 3 quarters of the game to get to this part! Alright, that’s out of the way now…Let’s talk about some of the bad in Mass Effect. First off, the steering for your land vehicle is horrible. Since you spend a majority of discovering planets, it requires you to be in the wet sock of a vehicle quite a bit. It does get a little better the more you drive around. But really, I don’t think it would have been that difficult to give it just a base movement structure instead of having the machine follow your point of view. The other part of this is trying to maneuver around hills and mountains. By the look of the machine, you would suspect that it would be easy to traverse a mountain (especially when you are forced to drive up the side of one to accomplish a goal). This is not the case. It’s easily frustrating and the maps do not give any type of hints to get to where you need to go. My other complaint is that once you beat the game, there doesn’t seem to be any way to go back and find things that you missed. This is especially true with the new downloaded content that recently came out. If they are going to make on open RPG like this, you should still have the option to go back and complete previous missions. Although, I’ll get to do them with my new character, there were a few accomplishments that I would have liked to obtain already. Overall, I felt Mass Effect could be the beginning of a new style of gameplay. One that tailors the game around the attitude of the actual player, much like Bioshock does with the Little Sisters but on a grander scale. I welcome this sort of immersiveness and feel that this could easily get people that aren’t traditional RPG fans involved. My Rating for this is 4.5/5. I learned to deal with the few downfalls, but overall, it’s a beautifully rendered game and had me interested throughout. And that’s no easy feat! Filed under: General and Review and Xbox 360 and skintari Comments: 2 Comments |
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Posted on 03.18.08 by skintari @ 9:16 am
I recently rented a copy of Call of Duty 4 (or, affectionately known as COD). Now, I should start this post by stating that I’ve grown out of the war based, military FPS genre. It was fun 5 years ago, but everything seems to be the same to me. Either that, or I find the controls too clunky or confusing, ala Rainbow Six. That’s not to say that I won’t play them, they’re just not very high on my list. Call of Duty though, took me a bit by surprised. Obviously, the details were fantastic. Realistically, when you shoot through a wooden box, the person on the other side gets a piece of the shrapnel. I felt that this is the first game I’ve played that really utilized that. The other thing that really impressed is how immersed I felt in some of the environments. I’ve been in the Middle East (not the war torn parts, but enough to know what it looks like), and some of the levels really captured the essence of those territories. In fact, I commented on how one of the levels really reminded me of Black Hawk Down (the book and the movie). So COD gets a plus for the look and realism, what about the controls? Well, I actually thought the controls were very easy to use. There didn’t feel to be a dependency on the D pad and most of your actions could be done with little movement, mostly using the trigger buttons and bumpers. I liked this fact a lot as most military games over-utilize the D pad to control your squad and to use peripherals. COD gives you a squad that knows where they need to go and how to get there so you could focus on eliminating the enemy targets. The other plus with COD is the fact that you don’t play the game as just one guy. You actually go through the story as several different characters and even a few different takes on certain situations (I’m not going to say any more as there was one level that was really , really, cool!). But all these different characters ultimately lead up to the same objective which tied the game up nicely. It also kept the game fresh as you didn’t just run through and blast everyone. So the game looked and played good, and it didn’t rely on the same old FPS strategy, so what’s not to like about it? It’s way too short! I beat the game in just under a week of playing. Granted, I put a good amount of time into it, it just didn’t take me very long. I’m sure that there will be downloadable content in the future, but I didn’t feel as there was enough to make me want to replay it. I’m sure people will disagree, but that’s just me. The multiplayer never seemed to work for me the few times I tried it so I won’t even comment on that. From what I hear, it’s pretty good though! So my rating for COD4 is a 4.5/5. I really enjoyed everything about the game and would encourage everyone to give it a try. My guess is that this is much better suited as a purchase than a rental as the opportunity to download additional missions is there. But even if you rent it, you’ll certainly get your enjoyment out of it! Filed under: General and Review and Xbox 360 and skintari Comments: None |
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Posted on 01.29.08 by skintari @ 10:47 pm
So I traveled into the world of Adult Swim video games recently. I still can’t decide if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but here is my reviews, nonetheless! The first game on my agenda was Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Zombie Ninja Pro Am. At first glance, this game was very “rude”, even by PS2 standards. After awhile of game play, I understand why. ATHF: ZNPA is not supposed to be pretty and that’s what really gives it character. The voice overs, cut scenes, and even the menu pages give you that feeling the Frylock, Master Shake, and Meatwad really made the game. Even Carl contributed some! This game is definitely relying on the voice actors transition from tv to interactive entertainment and I think it succeeds. The actual game play can be cumbersome as a standalone golf game, and the amount of enemies you have to face while walking to wherever your ball is sometimes never-ending. But the fact that it’s sprinkled with characters from the show keeps it entertaining throughout the repetitiveness. The biggest flaw, however, lies with the ability to hit a ball where you want it. Using the old three button hit technique (push button to start swing, push button at top of swing, push button at end of swing). This made it difficult to judge exactly where the ball was going to land and it took away any real challenge of making accurate shots. You pretty much just hit away, and if you land in water, you hit it maybe a little bit softer. If they could have allowed you to hook the ball or put some spin on it, a lot of the trial and error shots would have been a bit easier to solve. Instead, I’d end up with double or triple bogies because my shot would just sail straight away and land in a lake. The other problem was the actual physics. How could a shot on the moon travel the same distance as a regular golf course? Then again, the faults are all forgotten once Cybernetic Ghost starts speaking in between rounds! My overall score here is going to be biased by the fact that I am an avid fan of ATHF. The 3.5 I’m giving it isn’t because it’s a particularly good game. It’s just fun to listen to those three constantly go at it and to hear some of the great secondary characters chime in with their own two sense! The second game in the same vein is Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law. The other Adult Swim contribution that also banks on the ability of the voice actors to make the game. This one, in my opinion, works a lot better than the previous. The style is on par with the Phoenix Wright games, without as much attention to detail. It’s your basic sleuth around and ask questions to get info and profile your “suspects”. Once that’s completed, you head off to the courts. Here, you get to interact with all the characters, including Mentok and Hiram Mightor. The court cases are not that difficult and it’s more about presenting the right evidence at the correct line of the witness’ statement (I got stuck on that part a couple of times). But you generally have ample chances to make a mistake here and there. The ability to skip through a lot of the cut-scenes really works in the game’s favor if you end up having to restart a level though. I really don’t have anything bad to say about this game except that it could have been a little more challenging. But once again, I’ll take a simpler approach if it means that I get to listen to all the innuendos and double entendres thrown out there by those lads at Sebben & Sebben! My rating for this one is an easy 4. It may not be hard to play, but you are Harvey Birdman! Filed under: Review and skintari Comments: None |
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Posted on 12.20.07 by skintari @ 11:11 pm
Well, sorry for the lack of missives as I’ve recently found employment (albeit, temporary) and with all of the end of year holidays, it’s hard to keep up on some of the little things. Although, I’ve found enough time to play my share of mostly bad games lately. I’ll still keep this post short, but I will give you all a tad of what’s been filling up my limited spare time. Geometry Wars: Galaxies (Wii) - I am a big fan of the 360 arcade title, but this game doesn’t even come close. The idea is there, to use the controllers “handy-wavey” technology, but it just doesn’t flow well. Trying to do a full circle onscreen ends up making you look like you’re putting yourself in a sleeper hold. Plus, downgrading the graphics to the Wii version takes away a lot of the luster that the Xbox brings. I do like the idea of additional levels, but not enough to save this game. 1.5/5 Carnival Games (Wii) - Yet another Wii title that could have been a lot more fun. It was great to play some of the old carney games that I remember (ski-ball, clown-head-balloon-pop, ring toss, etc) and it was definitely fun. For about 20 minutes. Once I played all of the games, there wasn’t any incentive to keep playing. Some of the single player challenges were so ridiculously hard that it wasn’t worth the time to even try to beat them. I guess just like real life! 2/5 (just because ski-ball!) Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (Wii) - Exact same as the DS version. Except the graphics and the controls are bad. .5/5
Timeshift (360) - I liked this game at the beginning. In fact, things were awesome once I got the exploding arrows. But, like any puzzle incorporating FPS, there is always a point where you just give up because the developers decided to make life more complicated than necessary in order for you to advance. That is the point that I promptly took it out of my Xbox and sent it back to gamefly. Why do you have to have stupid puzzles ruin a perfectly good time of blowing people up? Oh, and I might be the only one, but I enjoyed the time freezing and slowdowns. Especially when it meant you could walk up to an enemy and just unload a barage of shotgun blasts at him in slow-mo! 3/5 Clive Barker’s Jericho (360) - This game started out bad and quickly got worse. I wanted to like Barker’s signature on the game and the darkness and creepiness was evident. But if it takes an entire clip to kill one of these freaks, then it’s overkill (no pun intended!). Not to mention that your AI buddies routinely walked into the line of fire and quickly found themselves a bloody heap in the middle of you and several monsters. Of course, then you had to go back and “heal” them just to do it all over a few minutes later. Oh, and somebody should have told them that the game should be dark (as far as storyline) but not dark (as in “I can’t see a friggin’ thing!”). 1/5 Well, I hope all of you don’t get any of these games (except Battalion Wars) for Christmas. If you do, maybe you can exchange them in and get yourself Rock Band or something! Filed under: Review and skintari Comments: 5 Comments |
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Posted on 10.16.07 by skintari @ 11:29 am
I finally got a copy of the BIGS, and let me tell ya, I like it! I played the demo several times and found the controls to be confusing and un-smooth (no, that’s not a word, but it fits here). Anyhoo, I got it this weekend and decided to pop it into the ol’ 360 yesterday. What I found was a very good, arcade-y game. As a baseball fan and having the playoffs upon us, I thought this could really get me hyped about watching a Rockies and potentially Cleveland World Series. I started with the Home Run Derby. Actually, there’s 2 of them. One is your traditional fare. First one to 10 homers wins basically. But the second one is a home run pinball game. It sets you in the middle of Times Square and lets you have at it with all the marquees and obstacles that comprise of downtown N.Y. That was fun. A lot of fun. It took a bit to get accustomed to the aiming, but once I got it down, I was hitting signs all over the place! My next objective was to check out this rookie challenge. You create your own rookie and assign him to the team your going to play as. The downfall is that there aren’t a lot of customization choices, but as you continue through the game, you can add sunglasses, a theme song, and several other options which gives your player a little added depth. I was happily surprised by this and it kept the interest in my player growing. The other thing is that as you go through games, situations, and scenarios, it adds points that you can apply to your rookie stats. You can bulk up and make him a power hitter, give him speed, or make him a better fielder. The options of how you do it is completely up to how you spread the points around. This made me decide early on how I wanted to develop my player. I made him a speed/power combo and am working on his contact. Another great thing about this game is that it IS an arcade game. It doesn’t have the set 180 + game schedule, but rather, it assigns games as you progress. My first couple of games were against the Royals and Tampa Bay. As I completed those, it unlocked Seattle and Detroit. Besides that, you don’t necessarily play traditional 9 inning games. In fact, it gives you a few different options when going to an opposing ballpark. Like in Seattle, I had to play a best of three, three inning games. The next objective was to be in the bottom of the ninth and hold the lead. In Tampa Bay, I had to get a hit with my rookie player in a five inning game and then had to beat the Rays in a five inning game. The last challenge at each stadium is the “steal” challenge. You beat the team in a five inning game and you get to steal a player and add him to your own roster. My Chicago White Sox now has the following order….Vernon Wells, my rookie character, David Ortiz, Paul Konerko, A-Rod, Joe Mauer, Alex Gordon, Tad Iguchi, and Dye. My pitching staff is just as sick! The cool thing about stealing players is that you only get 10 steals throughout your “season”. This gives a little strategy to who you want and how to rebuild your team. You also only have 3 starting pitchers and 3 relievers, so it provides a good balance while still loading up on playmakers and superstars. The gameplay is really fluid in my opinion. I am not a fan of the current MLB game that is out as I find it to be clunky. I prefer to have a timing pitching/batting sequence and the BIGS delivers on that. The one fault I find with the gameplay is the quirkiness of the runners. To select a runner, you tap the button that displays above them as they are running the bases. The problem is when a runner is about to reach 2nd, the button will change from the “B” to the “Y”. Once you do select them, you have to hold the LS in the direction of the base they are going to. The other issue that I have with that is it’ll look like they are standing on 3rd in the hud, yet are not on the base. I have been thrown out more than a few times when this has happened. The other problem I have with the actual play is that the computer is more apt to make a “great play catch” than you are. Many times have I hit the ball well only to have the A.I. rob me. This happened exactly five times in a row, so I know it’s not just randomness. Overall, this game was something that I thought I’d like in small spurts. Instead, I find that I’ve played it so much that I’m actually forming a blister on my thumb. With the different challenges and the achievements to strive for against each team, I want to keep playing so I can build up my rookie and my team for the post season. I haven’t enjoyed a baseball game as much as this since the old Triple Play series! Oh, and it helps that the game does look good too! And as I initially stated in my opening, once I went through the tutorial (which isn’t on the demo), the controls made a lot more sense. Hence, don’t always put stock into the good and bad of demos! So my rating for this is a 4.5 out of 5. If they can fix the baserunning errors by next season, then I wouldn’t hesitate to give this a 5! Filed under: Review and Xbox 360 and skintari Comments: None |
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