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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 08.24.07 by skintari @ 1:49 pm
I know this is an update post to my Gamefly situation, but it seems as tho they care about it’s consumers more than most companies. After a conversation with Julie at Gamefly, she indicated that she was very sorry about the past month and half experience that I’ve been having. Although all the issues with the queue may not be addressed in the immediate future, she assured me that they were working out ways to try and get us better notice of what’s available. I must say, I really wasn’t looking for a handout, just some answers to my questions. I think she did a pretty good job and she listened to my concerns and suggestions in how to make things a bit better for us as an end user. I’m going to give them the benefit here and see what happens in the next couple of months. Julie was kind enough to give me a free month (which I didn’t ask for, so that was a nice gesture). And I hope they really do heed my advice as it could have potential as a service to gamers like us. Oh, and the fact that she contacted me is a definite plus for them! Filed under: General Comments: 4 Comments |
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Posted on 08.23.07 by skintari @ 1:33 pm
Hey-o fellow readers, I come here to provide you all on the extreme ineptness of one online entrepreneur: our friend, Gamefly. What do I have against Gamefly? Well, for starters, their customer service. But before I get into that, let me describe the past 3 months of my Gamefly service. The first month went rather well, I would get the games that were available in my queue, also receiving the first game I requested even though it was unlikely to ship. Hmm, since I was new, I had priority over everyone else I suppose. Yay me, or so I thought. Fast forward about a month/month and a half. I notice that I’m getting games that are ranked in the bottom tier of my queue. Now, I know their rules about availability of games, but they were legitimately skipping over stuff that was listed as Now. Not just one or two spots, but it skipped over 5 that were ready to go, per their online system. How do I know this, I started making a spreadsheet to track how screwed over I was getting. All the while, a Referee who shall remain nameless was able to get the new releases as they came out. No doubt that person will have problems in the very near future. Anyhoo, onto the other issue…Customer Service. Here is my initial email to them: “Hello, I also have a few complaints about the Gamefly service… 1. The games that are sent to me are generally from the middle or bottom part of my queue. It seems like there is no effort at all to send me any games I that I want “now”. I’ve reordered my queue in hopes of getting games that are coming out or recently released and this has proven futile. And I know that this isn’t because these newer games have medium or low availability as I’ve personally kept track of how many currently available releases have been skipped over to get me something that was 26th in line. Not to mention the fact that I referred somebody and they were able to get a game (the darkness)at the same time I was given the 15th choice in my queue. 2. Fast Return. Why does this not work all the time? It seems like once a month I have games that are applicable for the Fast Return Program. I am seriously getting the feeling that because I rent a higher volume of games, I’m being penalized for it. I find that absurd and a poor business model. If it’s not a constant offer, then it shouldn’t be offered at all. Or is it just a selective service that you offer users once a month? 3. I’ve only been a member for a few months and I really hoped that this would be a great experience. But so far, this has been a huge disappointment. I’m still hanging hope that this may change in the future.” What’s their response? Nothing. Just an auto response that tells me how to claim a game as not received by them. Whoop-te-do. That doesn’t answer all of my questions. So what do I do now? “Dear Gamefly, Since you failed to respond to my last email within the 24 to 48 hour response time, I feel it’s only fair that you cancel my account. Poor customer service is no excuse and I will be passing the word that Gamefly really doesn’t care about consumer questions or concerns. Thanks for a disappointing experience.” Yeah. I’m quitting my Gamefly. As of today. Ain’t no Netflix, that’s for sure…. Filed under: General Comments: 19 Comments |
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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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