31 December 2007

A Few We Missed

On the last episode of the podcast we talked about our game awards for the year. Personally I wasn't extremely prepared for this show, and although I feel I mentioned most of the games I felt were worthy of discussion, here are a few I may have missed.

Best Game Value: The Orange Box
No contest really. AAA all around the board. Five games and pretty much all are worth the price of admission alone. If I made my top 5 gaming moments of the year, 3 or 4 would probably fall somewhere in this package. An inspired multi-player game, a classic retouched and revisited, a fantastic new entry into the Half Life 2 series, and one of the best games I've played in years. Each part may have been mentioned, but since all this can be had for 60 dollars, it deserves special mention.

Best Downloadable: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Xbox 360)
A game so good Microsoft changed their rules for the Marketplace. This is truly one of the best ever and now it has Achievements. Pretty awesome.

Biggest Dissapointment: Lunar Knights (NDS)
This Kojima Studio's game is the spiritual successor to the cult hit GBA series Boktai. Although there is no light sensor in the game this time around, Lunar Knights is often considered a blend between 2d Zelda and Castlevania. Kojima, Zelda, and Castlevania all appear in some form on my top 10 games of all time yet I really do dislike Lunar Knights. The combat and controls were way clunky and imprecise. To say I was disappointed is kind of an understatement.

Best Game No One Played: Worms: Open Warfare 2 (NDS and PSP)
It's pretty obvious why no one bought this game. Open Warfare 2 was very very bad. Terrible actually. A different developer worked on this version and it's a shame they didn't give the game a new subtitle. Many consider this the best Worms game on a console since the PS1 titles. It's classic Worms gameplay with all the strategy and humor remains intact. The online play is also great. If you are even remotely a fan of the series you must pick up this game. The PSP version looks nice, but the DS version has some really cool touch screen games modes that surprisingly don't suck.

-Brad

Podcast #043 - The 2007 Awards Show

Brad's finally made it to Austin and and to celebrate that we had our 2007 Awards Show. Granger and Nick join in for some pretty meaningful and un-meaningful conversation. We talk about the what we're playing and our awards for the year. Tune in to find out who wins game of the year, We promise it's not a first person shooter or is it?

[Podcast Archive]

Thanks for listening,
We'll see you next year for the 2008 Preview Show.
David

28 December 2007

Fenix Wong - *Spoilers* Maybe?

So I've really liked the Fenix Wong series. I loved the first one all though the last DS only add-on case was entirely too long and complicated. I've been playing the second game now on and off all year. I'm on the final case and I just want to put the game down. Even if I end up finishing this one, I don't see myself wanting to pick up the next Fenix game ever. I love the story and the characters. I even picked Fenix and Myah as one of my favorite duos. But the trial and error game play has no room for growth. I can't see where there's any room for improvement in the series. The first few missions in both games were fun but still made you think. I could see that being the case in the third one. But the last mission I could see just being a headache. I understand that the difficulty in games have to ramp up. But how can you effectively make logic more difficult with out making it confusing or frustrating? I wish there was just more than selecting a choice and then being told whether it was wright or wong.

I'll try to give my example without spoiling the story here, if you are worried about spoilers then skip this part. I'm basically in a case where I have to delay the trial until valuable evidence arrives. I don't know what the evidence is but I know it will help me somehow. Unlike reality, me delaying the trial does not have anything to do with actual time, so I don't really feel like I'm delaying anything. It's cool that the developers tried to use this mechanic to freshen up the the game play but it's turns out just being a perfume to mask the fact that you're actually just doing the same thing you've always been doing. It's tricky cause your witness is on a radio testifying (don't ask me how this is even legal in a courtroom). If you badger him too much or say something he doesn't like, he'd going to take off and that's basically the end of the trial but you need to get the truth out of him as well. So it becomes a game of question A, yes or no. If you select the correct answer, you move on to more yes or no questions. If you select select the wrong one, start over. Again, there's multiple point in his testimony you can do this and eventually you have to present evidence which I have no clue which one to do.

I've come to the point where I just want to finish the game. Whenever I hit a small hiccup I just want to look up the answer and move on, even if I can work it out by thinking about it. If not for Granger giving me the video game integrity speech, I'd be finished and wouldn't be posting this. As you can see from my last two post, I've been up pretty early so maybe I'm just cranky from lack of sleep. Plus my bowel movements are all screwed up. So I guess thanks for listening.

David

PS - One question that came to mind. Is the series this confusing in Japanese? I mean maybe all this makes sense in Japanese. Certain things can't get translated perfectly so they just have to do the best they can and that's where some of the difficulty and confusion sets it?

Randomness

1.) So if you didn't already know, there is going to be a Live Action Street Fighter Movie, apparently Smallville's Kristen Kreuk is going to play Chun-Li. Lame.

2.) The trailer for the new Resident Evil CG movie looks rather interesting. [Link]

3.) Why are people so fascinated with posting footage of people playing Guitar Hero/Rock Band on Youtube? I just wasted 5 minutes of my life watching a this guy get 99% on Tom Sawyer on drums on expert. Yes, it's nice you got 99% but it's honestly it's not impressive when you compare it to Neil Peart the actual drummer from Rush actually on drums. Drums Zero vs Drum Hero. See what I mean?

4.) Konami is working on a new Arcade Rhythm game called Jubeat. It's very cube shaped. [Link]

5.) I don't like how the new Street Fighter looks.

6.) January looks to be a slow month for games, which is good cause I'm already way behind.

7.) Looks like my Import PS2 is having Disc Read Error problems. F'ing Fantastic. Sony, you are amazing. I was going to order the Guitar Freaks Arcade Replica Controller for the PS2 but looks like theres no reason is my PS2 isn't working.

That's all for now,
David

24 December 2007

Podcast #042 - Nick's Christmas Special

So we just got done with Nick's Christmas Show. Overall we had a lot of fun. It's been a great year and I'm really glad to have Nick and Granger on the show. Plus Brad is coming up this week so it'll be interesting to see where next week's End of Year Awards show goes.

This we we talk about Final Fantasy XI, My Sims, Phoenix Wright, and the future of East vs West.
Check out the Archive for the new show.

David

22 December 2007

On the Eve of Our Christmas Show

So here I sit, 24 hours until our much talked about Christmas podcast which has somehow transformed into "Nicks's Christmas Eve Show". David and Elle both seem to have something up there sleeve... this has me worried. So the question is, what can I do to retaliate against whatever crazy gift he has planned? I'm not sure, but I will take some notes out of David's "Gift Giving Guide" post and see where it takes me. Mwa ha ha... Tomorrow will be one weird show. I can't wait.

Peace!

Nick

21 December 2007

Top Five Video Game Duos (Part 1 of 3)

So I've posted my top five video game duos. It's good to get that section back up and running again, I hadn't realized it had been long since we did one. Check the Top Five link to the side to read up on it. Hopefully we'll start putting these out every week again. Nick and Brad's top fives should be up by the end of today.

Thanks,
David

Reviews?!?!

Yes yes, we haven't given up on the review sections. Now that we're on holiday from school Nick's been a good little boy and wrote up some reviews. You can find them in the review section under Nick's section. Thanks for the hard work Nick!

We'll be sure to give you a great Christmas Gift.

20 December 2007

Podcast #040 & #041

Without any more further delays, here are the two new shows from this week.

Show #040 - Nick's Christmas Eve Show

Show #041 - The No Music Show

[Check the archive]

Thanks Guys,
David

PS - Tune in next week for the Nick's Christmas Special

19 December 2007

Multiplayer is an Art

I spent most of my day today playing multiplayer. I started with a good 3 hours of Final Fantasy XI that allowed me to jump from level 5 to level 7 and obtain some pertinent information and items. After that, I moved on to playing Call of Duty 4 for a good 3 or 4 hours with my roommate. This is actually my second time playing COD4 online but the first time, the game didn't last very long. Todays excursion however, allowed me to jump from level 3 to level 11. COD4 has really got me to start thinking about multiplayer as an art form. Let me say this, Halo is ok... but Call of Duty 4 is an example of what a good, wait... make that great, multiplayer experience should be. Most games stick with the normal deathmatch and team deathmatch but COD4 makes those very basic modes so fresh and new that it is hard to dream of playing anything else. Infinity Ward did an amazing job of improving on a very old, tired formula. For those who haven't played, let me explain. COD4 allows the player to create their own classes by allowing them to select a primary and secondary weapon along with 3 perks. Perks are additional abilities and advantages such as claymores, faster reload times, deeper bullet penetration, etc. Some of them are really amazing such as the last stand which basically allows you to drop to the floor on your back and draw your pistol for a last chance at killing your attacker before you die. When I first started, I sucked but this game is crafted in such a beautiful way that after several games, you start to realize the importance of your radar and picking your shots. If you fire a gun without a silencer, you will actually appear on your enemies maps as a red dot so it is wise to think before you shoot. Of course, IW also added more by allowing players who have achieved multiple kills to either unlock better radar or an airstrike which are incredibly satisfying considering the fact that you receive credit for every kill your helicopter or jet fighter gets. On one last note, IW did an absolutely amazing job at designing their maps. Their aren't too many right now but they are all awesome in their own way. Overgrown, Downpour, and Backlot are among the most detailed multiplayer maps i have ever seen. Anyone who wants a seemingly flawless multiplayer must play this game.

This leads me to one more topic. Multiplayer has become an art form now a days by challenging developers to bring as much originality to the table as they do in their single player modes. Eidos had something with Kane and Lynch despite the fact that the game turned out to be a flop. Their bank robber scenario was fresh and original and probably would have turned out to be a lot better had they left the game in the "proverbial oven" a little bit longer. Like I said before, Halo is good but why can't every game released have a multiplayer just as impressive as Halo and COD4? What lies ahead for multiplayer in the year 2008? This really makes me want online multiplayer for other games that so far show no signs of having any. Some games that I am really excited about seem like they could translate to really original, really cool, multiplayer modes. Games like Ghostbusters have great cooperative multiplayer potential. Another game currently in development is The Bourne Conspiracy, based on the character in Robert Ludlums famous spy novel and the big budget hollywood trilogy. The movies do an amazing job of creating intense chase and fight sequences which would could make for really cool multiplayer experiences. Imagine if one player was Bourne while the other 3 or 4 players were other assassins and the object was to chase Bourne through a detailed map until you finally catch him and engage in an intense hand to hand or fire fight. These kinds of original multiplayer modes would really take online gaming to whole new level and give me a profound new respect for multiplayer gaming in the future.

Peace!

-Nick

17 December 2007

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas...

Hey guys, it is finally time for the holiday break! Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week are my first 3 days off in a row in awhile. As my first day off comes to a conclusion, I am happy to say that it has been quite fruitful. My xbox spent most of the day downloading and updating Final Fantasy XI so I have spent most of my time playing Uncharted: Drakes Fortune on the PS3 which I just finished. The game took me approximately 7 or 8 hours total but was an amazing game overall. Naughty Dog knows what they are doing, that's for sure. The game had a great story, great characters, and an extremely satisfying presentation to boot. I can't wait to see where Naughty Dog takes this IP in the future. It is certainly going to be in the running for my Game of the Year Award. My full reviews for Assassin's Creed, Silent Hill Origins, and Uncharted should be finished and posted by Wednesday. As for FFXI, I intend to hop on tonight and get started with Granger. My character is a Mithra Red Mage female named Evee. I will be working on a journal type section to keep everyone posted on our adventure soon. Anywho, i'm off to begin my journey into Vana'Diel. Peace, everyone!

-Nick

16 December 2007

DS fans click. 2008 lineup.

Part1

Part2


Impressive


-Brad

15 December 2007

Final Fantasy XI

This is my Third attempt on this game. The furthest I have ever gotten in this game would be a level 12 Elvan Monk. You could see how I lost interest though.
This time is for real, all the other times were for practice. This time, with a group of friends (who better be installing this game right now) I am going to put at least 20 days into this game. And for once I am going to play some end game.
Server: Titan
Name: Mascbuny
I am a red mage looking for a party, someone please party with me...

10 December 2007

Video "Gamer" Awards

So last night the 2007 VGAs were aired. Being a Videot, I wasn't too interested. Awards for Most Addictive game "Fueled" By Mountain Dew? Best Individual/Team Sports Games? Couple that with blatant commercialism and you have a gamerz dream. I'm sure they're happy watching the MTV bands, presenters who know nothing about the games they are presenting and half dressed women, but personally I prefer a little more substance. I mean the ads are about the only thing truthful because they do what they're intending to. The awards and the performers are just more ads dressed up in a way to make you think their not. I also realize that someone could go out there and make a video game awards show that was serious and industry relevant, but the mass population would be bored out of their minds. But when I see Halo 3, Bioshock, Madden, Call of Duty 4, and Skate all win awards, I feel it's very hard to keep my mouth shut. I mean don't you gamerz get tired of falling into the same (hot girl + video game = excited) formula? Challenge yourself and want something more for goodness sakes.

I know I'm going to get a lot of the "David is bitter person and only loves Nintendo." And I'll be honest and say there is some of that. But when did playing video games games become cool? When did the geeks, nerds, and socially inept lose the part specifically that was their own? I feel this is very similar to America (dare I say White America) embracing rap music. It all feels very strange and I feel like I've lost a piece of myself. As a member of the minority we got pushed to the edge, out of the "cool" people circle. We embraced being different and even made it cool. Now that its acceptable we're getting lumped in with people who just put on the 1-up shirt. Having a Nintendo and a Sega means they are "old school." Having a Playstation, 360 , and Wii means they have "all" the systems. It's fine for people to have video games. I would never want to keep something that's been a positive influence on my life from someone else's. But just as there is a difference between Coke and Pepsi, there is a difference between a Gamer and a Videot. I just want people to acknowledge that.

Still a Videot,
David

If you need help understanding the terminology between Gamers, Gamerz, Videots, and Vidiots I'll post a helpful guide in the following days.

Also I found it hilarious that Halo 3 won most Addictive game "Fueled" by Mountain Dew. How else could that award have turned out. I mean we saw that Master Chief on Mountain Dew merchandise all fall. But Thank goodness Halo 3 didn't win game of the year.

09 December 2007

On Hold With Microsoft Again

Apparently it's okay for Microsoft to make you wait long periods of time on the phone as long as they play the Halo theme song.

More details later.
David

Gift Giving Guide

I'm a little late with this post, but I couldn't remember the password to our flickr account, But finally here it is.

So, my birthday was a few weeks ago and Brad sent me a gift through the mail. It was taking a while so I was getting worried that I gave him the wrong address or that someone took it. Turned out to be a different problem.

[Brad makes me feel special]

So I thought I'd make it help people out not only for buying gifts for me, but for others as well. And of course these are just personal opinions so take them however you like.

For me personally, I like getting gifts that I wouldn't get myself. Everything I really want I've gotten myself, but that doesn't mean there aren't things that I want but just choose not to spend the money on. I find those to be the best gifts because they end up being surprises. I wrote them off as not being possible to get and all of a sudden I'm surprised with them. I've been told and I'd like to think that I'm a pretty good gift giver. I think this has to do with just me listening to people talk, being willing to somethings a little crazy, and a little creativity. I really hope people don't think that money is all gift giving is about.

For example, a few years back, I really wanted an N64 rumble pack. I didn't buy Star Fox 64 or Donkey Kong 64, so I didn't get one of the free ones packed in. It retailed at 24.99 and I just could not warrant that kind of money for just a little rumble add on. For that years' birthday my friends chipped in for N64 games and even a Dreamcast, but my favorite gift was the rumble pack because it was so sudden and unexpected. I'll never forget the gift or the person who gave it to me because they paid that much attention to what I had said during the course of the school year.

With that said, Happy Gift Giving.
David

Oh yeah, by the way, Thanks Brad

08 December 2007

Podcast #039 - The Gamer's Show

Here's the new show recorded last night. Nick and I talk about Galaxy and Galaxies, Dracula X Chonicles, the loss of continues, high scores, and extra live, and also we talk about some rumors such as marketing ploys and the Dreamcast 2.

Check the archive for the show. [Podcast Archive]

I'm off to work. Nick'll be there too.
David

Also, Patapon will make me buy a PSP again.

A Devil May Cry 4 Preview Video

1up discusses the latest version they played. Looks awesome.

Video

I can't wait for this game.


Oh and something for David I guess.

Video


-Brad

A Brad Update

Brad who?

Yeah, it's been awhile. It's been a combination of lots of crap, but whatever. Here is some... of what I've been playing lately. Expect impressions or whatnot in the coming week for some of these games.

Mass Effect
Guitar Hero 3
Rock Band - game only =(
Call of Duty 4 - single player
FF12 Revenant Wings
Geometry Wars DS
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Several Puzzle games (working on something here)
Crush
Final Fantasy Tactics
Much more.


I've been watching shows as well:
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
The Wire
The Office


The outfits Top 5 is postponed for now. Looking for pics takes time and it's a busy gaming season right now. David brought up the idea of Top 5 Video Game Duos and I like it a lot. It doesn't have to be an "official" duo I suppose. Any two characters that have a strong bond in a game should work. Like partners or close friends or whatever. For Example, Cecil and Kain from FFIV could work. I'll post mine up on the blog next week.


I have some other stuff to post, but expect more in the coming days.

06 December 2007

Ubisoft, I Have Faith

A couple podcasts ago, David and I discussed my feelings about Assassin' Creed. One thing that I mentioned was a bizarre glitch that basically froze Altair in mid air after playing the game for a couple of minutes. The weird thing was that after resetting the game, I could play for hours on end without any more interruptions. This has really bothered me recently because I hate the idea of having to mess around until the game freezes and then reboot so I can play for real. That just sounds lame doesn't it. Being that I am writing my full review right now, I feel pressured to dock some major points for this glitch. Fortunately however, Ubisoft is currently working on the problem. After only matter of seconds online tonight, I discovered that many people have had this same problem with the PS3 version of the game and some think it has to do with the latest firmware update 2.0.1. However, I didn't have this firmware when the problem started. Luckily Ubisoft is working on a downloadable patch as we speak that will fix this annoying problem sometime soon. I must say that I loved this game and it would be a shame to see one of this years brightest gems in gaming, flop because of a stupid glitch. Knowing that they are working on the problem makes me feel loads better and I can't wait to be able to download the patch and move on with my life. Ubisoft, I have faith.

-Nick

P.S.- Jade Raymond, I don't blame you. Your magnificence could never betray us.

02 December 2007

Afrika? Isn't it spelled Africa?

Since the PS3's release, we have been teased or taunted with teaser trailers for this mysterious game called Afrika. I have yet to hear any concrete details concerning the gameplay mechanics. The trailers have been full of beautiful scenery and majestic animals wandering the plains of Africa but what the hell is Afrika??? Could it be a much better, much more mature version of Pokemon Snap, or is it something more? Who knows, but apparently a new 4 minute long trailer has been released which once again leaves us wondering what it is even though it states that the game will be released in the 2nd quarter of 2008. If you want to check it out, look for it on youtube, or game trailers, or gamereports.com. It looks interesting and I want to say that I will pick this up for no other reason besides... its mysterious. Anywho, check it out.

Later,

-Nick

Podcast #038 - The Shitty Games Show

What's going on guys? Show #038 is up. We talk about our holiday picks, the games we're playing such as Imagine Babies, some rumors and theres some discussion topics in there. There's some other stuff in there but just listen to find out.
[Podcast Archive]

Also here's the link for the Review at the end of the show, so you know what we're laughing at.
[Big Rigs Review]


David

30 November 2007

Living Under A Rock

I can't believe I missed this story. I've really been neglecting my game duties. First off, I cannot believe Jeff Gerstmann was let go. I heard today that they let go of some reviewer, but I had no idea it would be Jeff Gerstmann. Secondly, while I'm not as fired up as Bradford is but I think if the rumors are true about him being let go because of his Kane & Lynch review, then video game journalism is going down the toilet. GameStop already lost Greg Kasavin and Bob Colayco to better job opportunities. And now to dismiss Gerstmann, they're lost all the credibility they had.

I don't know what to say except that it sucks, but I'm sure Gerstmann will be able to bounce back. With his credentials and experience I'm sure there are plenty of openings for him. Hell, there's an open spot here at EvW [WorkingTitle].

Kudos to Gerstmann for doing the right thing. Let him be an inspiration for us all.
A fan,
David

29 November 2007

Fucking Boycott GameSpot

Jeff Gerstmann has been fired. It has been strongly rumored it has to do with his Kane and Lynch review. His video review has been removed from the site but you can check it out on YouTube. It's pretty bad. If you look at the site it's obvious GS had ad space from Eidos and probably a deal for the review. The forums on that site are absolutely exploding.... it's tragic. If all this turns out to be true then this is a dark day for game journalism. This should be inspirational to the rest of us though.

Fuck Cnet
Fuck Eidos
Fuck GameSpot
Fuck The Man

LOL The Eidos forums are getting rapeded. Link

edit: Dont go to those forums. It has sense been raided by lots and lots of people posting images one will never forget. LOL




-Brad

28 November 2007

Busy Busy Busy

Hey everyone, i've been very busy lately with school and surprisingly enough... playing lots of games! In the past few days I completed Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty 4, and Silent Hill Origins. I went ahead started playing Super Mario Galaxy which so far seems to be a lot of fun despite it's disorienting game play and easiness. Its sad to think that the game that I waited 2 years for and purchased 2 PSP's to play has finally come out and is already over. I am of course speaking of Silent Hill Origins which turned out to be everything I wanted it to be except long. I'm currently writing the reviews for both Origins and Creed so expect those to be posted soon along with my way overdue review of Bioshock. I also would like to add that I shortened my review process and simplified it in an attempt make it easier for me to get these reviews out in a timely manner. Friday brings employee appreciation day at my store and I plan to make my 2nd largest purchase of the year. I'll be picking up the following and playing them throughout the holidays:
- F.E.A.R. (PS3)
- Mass Effect (XB360)
- Final Fantasy Tactics (PSP)
- Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles
- Uncharted Drakes Fortune (PS3)

Thats it for now so check back later.

Peace!

-Nick

25 November 2007

Podcast #037 - The Crowded Show

Here's the new show from last night. We're official forming a Rock Band. We even had a couple of groupies on the show providing extra giggles and laughs. Also you may notice a female's voice on the show. We've added another person to the show in the form of the Halo playing Dutchess of Texas. We've started talks to make a documentary of the Dutchess vs. the RANGER with a G. On the show we talk about Elle's interests, Mass Effect, the new Ghostbusters game, Mario Galaxy, Rock Band, and we spoil the hell out of Assassin's Creed. We also go on to some discussion topics such as difficulty in games. As we all know, Nick likes Easy Mode.

[Podcast Archive]

Thanks
David

Mass Effect

To add to our last discussion, Genre. I have found what it is that makes it a bad thing.
What do you think of immediately when i say first person shooter? If it's not Halo, it's Golden Eye.

What do you think of immediately when I say RPG? Final Fantasy

Adventure? Zelda
Platformer? Crash or Mario
Genre "system" has not only minimized the ideas of people, But made it to where we start to think of one game for one genre and never get off of it.

(David will like this) "Bio Shock is awesome, because its just like Halo, but also a little bit of Condemned and Half-Life."
"Forza is awesome, its just like Gran Turismo, but with Nascar kind of feel."
"Virtua Fighter 5 is Great, now it's more fluid like dead or alive, but still sticks to its roots."

whatever the case may be, we have all done it before...
we should never do this, we should never compare a game to another game like this because when we do this we are helping in selling out of video games. destroying what we have loved all our lives. Making it easier for EA or Activision to take advantage of us and games. when we live off a memory and stick into another game for the sake of that memory, we destroy that game, the games future, the makers of the game, who (hopefully) put their heart and soul into the game, and their future.

People like us killed Shadowrun, are killing Viva pinata, are attempting to kill the wii, (and because of it we are helping them live), supporting call of duty while destroying medal of honor, forgetting about DDR and guitar freaks, and beat mania and EVERY other music game for rock band/guitar hero.
The "gamers" of the world are destroying what they love because they can't let something they love stay that way. Instead they would rather see something they love reborn in a basterdized version of Fallout: brotherhood of steel.
I've done this, I'm going to stop, have been trying to stop.
I've been watching since the next-gen consoles have come out... and this whole time i've been watching, i have also been repurchasing all my old systems and games because i still enjoy my memories more than i enjoy the shit that comes out now.
so putting that all aside, when a game like mass effect comes out, i am happy.
I could talk about the differences and similarities between KOTOR and mass effect.
or i could just play the two separately and enjoy them both. they are both amazing games and have both earned their fame. i don't need to go back to prove to you mass effect is a good game because KOTOR was. Mass effect is a good game because... its a damn good game.
as always, my thoughts are spread out and somewhat confusing. I see holes(and grammar mistakes) in my argument as i reread it. But that is besides the point. I hope i brought some points up for the next podcast, and if you find holes Email me about it. I would be more than happy to talk about it.

-Granger

Granger

23 November 2007

Another Notch

Hey everyone, I just finished Assassins Creed so I plan to have my full review up by Sunday or Monday. Thats about it for now.

Peace!

-Nick

P.s.- Thank you Jade Raymond....

21 November 2007

Podcast #036 - The Unknown Show

So I found that a lot of the best conversations Brad and I have are when we're preparing for a show. And we always wish we had the conversation on tape for the show. So this weekend I was talking to Brad on the phone and I decided to turn the recorder on without him knowing. I apologize for the quality as he is on speaker phone, but remember this is Brad at his purest for. We also go off on some tangents as it is a normal conversation. I tried to do this with Nick once but you can't really record someone unknowingly when they're in the room with you.

[Podcast Archive]

David

20 November 2007

Teh Win

Link

19 November 2007

Podcast #35 -The Spoiler Show

Hey everyone, Nick Here. David was a jerk and forgot to inform everyone that the new Podcast is up and ready for Download so it has been up for 3 days without anyone knowing about it. Anyways, this week David and I talk about Davids impressions of Super Mario Galaxy and my Assassin's Creed Impressions as well as some of the usual stuff like what we have been playing. Slight warning though, I tried to avoid it but in order to explain the intrigue behind Assassins Creed, there are some minor spoilers. I'll say this, if you have been living under a rock and don't know what the underlying twist of the game is, then don't listen to that section. With that aside, enjoy the show and we will be back with another show on Saturday of this week.

Peace!

-Nick

15 November 2007

Impressions - Contra 4cking Hard

Remember me whining about how hard Dracula X Chronicles was? Shame on me. It seems Konami is trying to make me feel like a very small infant child this year.

This is pure old school Contra plain and simple. The two screens perspective is actually pretty neat and game looks and runs smooth but ZOMG the game is hard. This game isn't just hard in the "OMG enemies and bullets everywhere" way, but it actually has a crappy "no-save, beat in one play-through" system.

This is trying to make the game too much like the old Contra games which realistically fails in a modern setting. This system is the number one reason why I don't bother with a lot of shmups most of the time. Believe it or not, you can have a hard game of this old school genre and still allow saving after each stage. Rondo of Blood does this and the game is still extremely difficult. The thing is... I will eventually beat that game because I'm actually gaining progress over time, while in this game I have to restart each time.

Well sort of.... The game does have a system where if the player decides to turn off the DS in the middle of a play sessions the game auto-saves. If the player chooses to resume from that level they can at the cost of a continue. This isn't terrible, but I have a feeling they are making the save system intentionally unforgiving in order to extend the life of the game. The problem with the set up is that the game forces the player to constantly replay levels they have already beaten to get back to the point they were at before. The problem here (and with a lot of shmups) is that the player needs to memorize level layouts to get to the later levels w/o wasting lives or continues. I hate games that have an equal amount of weight on level memorization as it does on twitch based skill. I'm looking at you F-Zero.

With that said... the game is still awesome. It's fast paced Contra action that is a ton of fun to play even when dying repeatedly. The first stage if very standard Contra as is the second stage, but there is an occasional twist or new trick that is new to the series. Most of these involve the second screen and the nifty grappling hook. Let me tell you this though. I'm currently stuck on the boss of stage 2 and I got those old school "shakes" today. This hasn't happened to me since maybe Devil May Cry 1 or certain secret Castlevania bosses. It happens when I'm on a very very hard boss and I'm actually on a good run, but then I make a mistake and I get so nervous that I start making more mistakes. From there it's full tilt and I usually lose the fight. I was so nervous fighting this boss today that I couldn't stop the DS from shaking. It was hilarious and pathetic all at the same time.

This game has put me in my place so to speak and I do respect it for that.

-Brad

What's Japan been smoking?

It was very strange to hear that the latest weekly (yes weekly... not for the year) numbers coming out of Japan had the Xbox 360 outselling the Ps3. Not only had this never happened before, but the Xbox360 had never even been close to anything but last gen handhelds. This push in sales for the 360 was attributed to Japan's love for the Ace Combat series. I shrugged when Sony lost exclusivity for this franchise, but apparently it meant more than I thought.

Now we have the numbers for the second week of November in Japan and it got even weirder. Xbox went back to selling a few dozen consoles, but the Playstation 3 actually outsold the Wii. This happening the week after Mario Galaxy is insanity. What's even crazier? Not only did the PS3 sell about 10 times more than the 360, but that sold about 20,000 more units than the Wii. Not only did they finally outsell the Wii.... but to nearly double it in sales so shortly after it lost to the 360 is astonishing.

Another oddity is the PSP also outsold the Wii by about 20,000 units as well. I fully expected the PSP sales to drop off after the release of FF7: CC but they have actually been consistently closer to the sales of the Nintendo DS.

Is Japan starting to re-embrace Sony again? Unfortunately, I doubt it. What it sounds like is Japan has damn good advertising and every time a new game comes out the people go crazy and buy its respective console. Ok maybe not... but something weird is definitely going on here. Just what the hell came out over there on the Ps3 anyway?

-Brad

Podcast #034 - The Disappointing Show

So Miles Granger and I got together last Sunday. It's surprising how talkative he can be when he's not being quiet. We talk about Call of Duty 4, Zack & Wiki, Our Disappointments, Used Games, and Final Fantasy XI.

Check out the Podcast Archive for the show.

Have a good one,
David

Left Behind

It looks like I'm the one lagging behind this week. So here's a little house cleaning.

I started Super Mario Galaxy. So far it's very Mario and very polished. The camera takes getting used to. And the soundtrack is surprisingly epic. So far it's very good, but the weak story may be the only thing hold it back from becoming one of my favorites.

Ontamarama and Contra 4 both came out for the DS. It makes me really wish I still had mine. Contra 4 got an 8.0 from IGN which is surprising. I thought they were going to have huge camera issues with the dead space in between the screens. Ontamarama I'm excited about because it's a music game for the DS. The last time I tried out a DS music game, I added Ouendan to my Top 20.

I had a slight craving to play a PSP. I wanted to play a little Gunpey, but the feeling quickly vanished. At this rate I'll probably pick up the PSP Slim when Patapon comes out.

I'm looking into getting a Wii Hori Arcade Stick. It's just coming out and I'm curious as to how well it works. It's semi-wireless because it's just a shell and plugs into the Wii Remote. Also I know that it works on games supported by the Classic Controller, but I really want to know if it works on GameCube games. I'm got my copies of Ikaruga and Soul Calibur II just itching to be played with a good arcade stick.

Need for Speed Pro Street came out this week. It's out for PS3 but delayed a few days for the XB360 version. Congratulations Sony for finally getting a game out on their system before Microsoft. Too bad no one cares about it. Remember when Need For Speed was a title that people got excited about and waited around in line for? Boy did EA run that franchise into the ground. My Prediction, in four years, is that Guitar Hero will suffer same fate as NFS and another Activision published game involving licensed music and extreme sports.

The Check Mii Out channel will be over looked but for the target it's aiming for, it's dead on and another great fit for the Wii.

I heard there's a DS remake in the works with a bigger screen and no GBA slot. It's intriguing since I just lost my DS, but damn "do I really want"/"should I have to" to buy another upgrade. I'm just terrified of a Nintendo Wii remake.


Well that's about it.
David

14 November 2007

Nick's Assassins Creed Impressions

There has been an awful lot of hype and concern surrounding Assassins Creed for a long time. So far, the reviews have been ranging from 7 to 9 out of 10 and i've heard some pretty valid complaints with the game. I have played only about 1 hour of the game so far and I noticed some of these issues but overall, I want to say that none of the problems have subtracted from the overall enjoyment of the game. Some people have complained about the twist of the game being revealed in the opening sequence.... is this a problem? My answer is no. The twist was meant to shock the player assuming that someone didn't leak the twist onto the net. So surprise, surprise, the twist isn't that surprising. However, if the surprise hadn't been spoiled ahead of time, I am sure that most people would have really enjoyed that aspect of the story. I won't spoil anything but I really intrigued so far by the premise of the game (which is actually quite different than what you might expect). I am playing the PS3 version and I have noticed a few tears and pop ins but overall, this game is an absolute beauty to behold. This game gives Gears of War a run for its money. Considering all of the concern about bugs and graphical glitches in the past few months, the developers really did do a pretty good job of eliminating most of it. None of the remaining bugs are ever too noticeable. Now for the puppeteering controls. At first I thought these would be unnecessarily complicated but they are actually quite simple to get the hang of and a lot of fun to use overall. The combat is a lot of fun so far and the amount of space to explore is mind blowing. Unfortunately, eavesdropping and pickpocketing is about as complex as the investigations have become so far. Thats not to say that it won't get more complex but I've heard that the investigation aspect is not as fleshed out as it should have been. The only noticeable annoyance, and thats all it is, an annoyance, is that the enemies that aren't engaging you in combat wait their turn to be slaughtered instead of attacking you while you are preoccupied. This would have made combat a bit more challenging and added a bit more depth. But then again, thats what sequels are for, and trust me, their will be sequels. Overall, I love Assassins Creed and have only a few minor complaints so far. The complaints many people have given it are justified but I don't find them to be as noticeable or annoying as they seem to think. I will post my full review after I complete the game so be on the lookout for that. Also, I might add that this and Bioshock are my two main contenders for Game of the Year so far but the year isn't over yet.

-Nick

Who Ya Gonna Call?

I am such a nerd. This is by far the coolest news I've heard in a long time. Apparently GameInformer will be unveiling the new Ghostbusters Video Game for the PS3. I have been a Ghostbusters fan since I was like 5 and I have always wanted to see a follow up to the second movie. Luckily for me, a new developer is working on what will serve as Ghostbusters 3.... in video game form. This is not to be confused with the game footage that appeared on youtube a couple months ago. This is completely new and will apparently not suffer from much of the negative aspects of Licensed games. The best news of all is that Dan Akroyd, Billy Murray and Harlold Ramis are all going to be reprising their roles. I can't wait to read this article and see what the game will actually be like. It seems like i'm the only member of East vs. West that is willing to give licenced games a chance but 2008 seems like it's going to be a good year for licenced titles. I'm already fairly excited about the Bourne Conspiracy and LOST and Ghostbusters makes 3. 2008 is DEFINITELY going to be a great year for gaming.

Peace

-Nick

Learn To Spell

For Goodness Sake Nick, it's spelled Definitely.
There's no 'A.' I mentioned it on about 5 of your posts.
Don't let an Asian correct your spelling or grammar.

David

13 November 2007

Things Could Be Looking Up.

Well this holiday season is definately going to be one to remember no matter what system you play. For Wii owners who have been itching for a really solid 1st party title, Super Mario Galaxy comes out today and is sure to be able to keep you busy for weeks. Assassins Creed ships today on Next Gen Consoles and so far the worst score i've seen is a 7.7 while most others are atleast giving it a solid 9 out of 10. Scores like that might seem disappointing at first but with the amount of skepticism and worry that has been surrounding the title, it is actually quite a relief. Assassins Creed is already confirmed to be the first of a planned trilogy so Ubisoft's first attempt to break new ground definately seems to be a success. Mass Effect will obviously be gracing Xbox 360 consoles in about a weeks time so RPG fanatics should get their fix and of course Guitar Hero 3 and Call of Duty 4 will sell well throughout the coming months. The PS3 will also see its share of exclusives such as Uncharted: Drakes Fortune and Haze so PS3 owners shouldn't have much to complain about either. Handheld gamers will have plenty of new titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the DS and Final Fantasy Tactics for the PSP among others. Overall, this looks to be one the best holidays for gamers in a long time.

O yeah, I managed to connect to Xbox Live and play some Call of Duty 4 last night so my aspirations to play online more may be looking up to. Final Fantasy XI, here I come!

Peace!

-Nick

Some Monday Thoughts and Update.

- Well. My fears about Assassin's Creed have been somewhat realized. 1up (a group of people I respect) gave the game a 7.0 out of 10. After reading the review it definitely seems like issues that could have been prevented with more time. Graphical glitches, repetitiveness, a somewhat unfinished story, and a ton of AI issues. I knew Ubi would fuck this up... So much potential. Luckily... I'm still excited about the game. It got good reviews elsewhere and the concept still looks pretty brilliant. Btw... all that free running looks nice but it's all pretty much done automatically.

- Mass Effect has me worried a little bit as well. As you know the street date was broken a few days ago and K-Marts everywhere have been selling the game. Of course all the K-Marts in my city have been shut down so FU world. Nothing has been too negative about this game, in fact some sources have been extremely positive. I believe the reviewer from OXM said something crazy like "the greatest game he has ever played." It was very very positive. What worries me is the games length. This isn't a long game. Well not RPG long at least. A gamer set on beating the game for story and not set on exploring (which is a large part of the game) can beat the game in about 15 hours. This sucks... sort of. Realistically I see myself getting about 25-30 hours out of this game. Luckily I know Bioware will deliver on the story and lesbian sex scenes.

- I beat Half Life 2: Episode 2 and something happened that I was not expecting at all. It hit me fast and it hit me quick. I've been so overwhelmed with so much to play lately but when I saw the credits roll I became quite sad. I was wanting to play nothing in the world but Half Life 2: Episode 3. This is now my most anticipated game and I'm going to go crazy waiting for it to come out. I just played hours and hours of Half Life and I want much much more. God I love this series. David... you must play this game.

- I don't know if you guys picked it up yet. But if you buy Mario Galaxy from Toys R Us you get a free $25 gift card. You can't beat that.

12 November 2007

New Channel: Check Mii Out

Nintendo put out their new channel for the Wii. It's called Check Mii Out. Honestly Nintendo is hitting their market great. I think out of the big three, they have the firmest grasp on what their consumers want. I know there are people who are going to complain that there are no games for hardcore players, but honestly we're not their target audience anymore. Also it's not like their getting any less games out. If anything I'd say the game drought from Nintendo has stayed the same.

The channel is like a lot of things from Nintendo, charming. From a game player perspective it's just another one of those quasi-non games for Wii Owners, but from a consumer of innovation and creative ideas standpoint, I think it's wonderful. It's an extension on something that developers didn't do before.

09 November 2007

Audition Dance Commercial

So here's a Commercial for Audition Dance Online. It's not Japanese, it's Thai.

[CM]

Things to look for:
A. Mic Guy.
B. Cowboy Hat Guy.
C. Leopard Print Tights Guy.

Have fun.

Thanks Casey for the link.

08 November 2007

Very Long Call Of Duty 4 Online Impressions

Yeah, this is and FFT is what I've spent most of my time playing lately.

This game gets many things right and pulls from each of the online shooters I've played lately and some I haven't. I find this game more enjoyable than both Halo 3 and Team Fortress multi-player.

First of all... the online works great. They have a matchmaking system that is nearly as quick and as smart as Halo 3s. It works a hell of a lot better than the mess that is Team Fortresses lobby system. I've had no lag and speedy matches. Which is impressive considering...

The game looks amazing. Halo and TF2 definitely have their unique style, but this game is honestly in a class of its own. It's not just that the graphics are technically impressive, but it's the fact the the maps are so huge with so much grass, leaves, ruble, and other war torn artifacts. A sniper sitting in a bush can be amazingly hard to see even at close range. The game is detailed on an intimidating level. Never before have I felt so strongly that the people playing on large HD TVs probably have a decided advantage. The maps are not just nice to look at but also extremely well conceived. There are 16 maps and many have very unique feels to them. Yeah, you might have your "Black Hawk Down" looking level here and there, but I was surprised to see some of the venues I was placed in the middle of in some of these matches. When you play a map in TF2 or Halo or many other shooters.... it really does feel like just a "map." In this game it I'm immersed in these different environments, and the notion of map boundaries rarely crosses my mind.

The pace of the game is amazing. It's a very realistic shooter in the sense that only a few shots from any gun will take your opponent down. But unlike some other realistic shooters like Rainbow Six, the gameplay is fast and furious. When you die in a Team Deathmatch fight you can respawn instantly. You can get immediately get back into the fight or watch the quick kill cam clip which cleverly shows your death from the point of view of the person who killed you. This is useful not only because you see how the enemy outsmarted you or where he was attacking from, but it also lets you see what weapon he was using and what abilities or "perks" he had equipped.

And that is where this experience truly shines. The customization you can have for your character borders on RPG depth. As you level up in rank you unlock new weapons and new game modes. I think it's really cool that when you are level 1 you can only play team deathmatch, and as you level up, more objective based game types become available. This is a clever way at getting newer players used to combat before they start messing around with trickier strategic based objective modes. Also as you level up you unlock new perks and challenges. Perks are essentially abilities that you gain to customize your character in battle. This is a class based game, but after you hit level 3 (i think its 3) you are able to start creating your own classes. By customizing your perks you can fine tune new classes to your play style. I have one class made that uses heavy machine guns and perks set up so I can take more damage, have better wall penetration, and even rockets as backup. You get a ton of perks as you level up and can really get crazy. One of my favorites is "Last Stand" in which when you get shot and "killed" you fall onto the ground as if dead; but instead of dieing you use your last few seconds of life and can pull out your pistol and try to finish off the enemy that just killed you. It's very sneaky since you on the ground and appear somewhat dead. I can't wait till I get "Iron Lung" for my custom sniper class which lets me hold my breath longer while steadying my aim for snipe shots.

But there is more... really the game is so deep. You unlock these personal challenges as you level up in the game. These challenges are often specific to the many weapons in the game. One may say "get 25 headshots with this gun" and doing so might give you a nice new scope for easier targeting or a silencer preventing you from appearing on the radar when you shoot. You can also get other cool attachments and even new paint jobs. I've picked up some really badass weapons laying next to corpses of enemies and allies on the battlefield.

Bleh... just a little more. One of my favorite aspects of the online play is the streak reward system. In other games, if you go on a kill streak, you often just get rewarded with medals that don't mean much or nerd points that also don't mean much. Going on a kill streak in this game lets the player reach a battle high that needs to be experienced to be believed. If you get 3 kills w/o dieing you get a UAV (I think it's called that) which when deployed basically shows you where all the enemies are on the (extremely well done) player map. This gives you quite the advantage because normally you only see where the enemy last fired on the radar. Getting up to 5 kills will give you the ability to summon an air strike. You pull up a map and can basically choose where you want the planes to attack. Naturally a well placed air strike will get you more kills and when you hits a streak of 7 kills you have to ability to summon an attack helicopter which basically flies around the field and causes mass hysteria for the other team. By this time you are racking up insane kills and feel like quite the hero. My record as of now is about a 18 kill streak and it was far more rewarding than anything I ever achieved in Halo. OMFG bodies everywhere >>>>> "Killtacular!!!"

I know this sounds more like a review but I'm only Level 14 and feel I've only scratched the surface. My only complaint about the game so far is that there is no saved film feature. It's tragic that some on the moments I've had in the game were only seen by me and the killcam of the people I've killed.

I will go as far as to say that so far this is the best online shooter I have ever played. You people must must must get this game. Gamertag: King Hyral.

My Worries Continue to Decline.

Ok so I just wanted to talk about 3 quick topics.

1.) I just saw the first U.S. review of Assassins Creed on Gamepro.com. They gave it a great review and said that nobody should worry about the technical status of the game. According to Gamepro, the past few months since it's last showing at E3 have really worked out the vast majority of the glitches and overall given the game the last bit of polish needed to put this game up there with the greats. I can't wait!

2.) I played the demo of Turok for the xbox 360 last night. The game seems to be on track to rejuvenate Turok. Overall, the game is very solid with great atmosphere, beautiful environments and character design, and heart pounding gameplay. There are a few slight flaws but they hardly detract from the fun factor of the game. For instance, Turok doesn't seem to run very fast and sometimes I feel like that has been the reason for my early death.

3.) Lastly, I picked up Call of Duty 4 for the 360 yesterday and am already very impressed by the game. It is easily better than Halo 3. It is not perfect of course, sometimes the action is so crazy that it becomes hard to tell who is who and where I should be firing. However, the situations you are thrust into are intense and so much fun to play.

O yeah... Silent Hill Origins is awesome. Well worth the wait and the money I invested in my PSP.

Peace!

-Nick

Podcast #033 - The Brad Loves Alex Show

Hey guys,

So here's the show from this weekend when Brad and I met up. We talk about Guitar Hero III, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, Capcom, Halo vs Gears, among other stuff.

Absolute Best Quote of the Week: "I Never Said That, You Piece of Shit" - Bradford Whittley

Check the Archive for the new show.
[Podcast Archive]

The Quest for a Good Wii Game

Super Mario Galaxy is entering our atmosphere and will be here early next week. Hopefully we'll finally have a solid Wii game to play. My system has been nearly motion-less for the last 3 months, but recently a new game has me waggling the Wii Remote again.

Zack & Wiki by Capcom is an point and click style adventure game. I know, that type of game play can be lame and slow-paced if not done correctly. But so far I love the game. The controls aren't anything super spectacular. They're all basic motion controls but the point it that if this game were done with a regular controller it would be very boring and tedious. The gameplay is very engaging, the items are neat and fun, and if you're into a good puzzle game, it's great.

I've heard complaints about the voice/sound effects. But I was stoked because although the characters don't speak, you can tell they didn't change the Japanese language track. I know "hardcore gamers" are going to complain about the cartoon look, but honestly I don't think this kind of gameplay will suit them anyways. I think there might be too much thinking involved for them to play this one.

The only other complaint I heard was about the story but I'm a big One Piece fan. It's an anime about pirates and the main character's quest to be the Pirate King. Zack is out to become the best Pirate ever and there's a lot of similarities with th anime so immediately I had something to relate to. So, I'm good on story.

It's a great game and it's a shame that it will do horribly in sales. I'm glad that Capcom brought it over here and for 39.99 it's a welcome price cut. I have high hopes for Galaxy, and Miyamoto will probably deliver but if not, Zack & Wiki will probably win some Wii awards from me at the end of the year.

David

07 November 2007

Complaints Cont.

Last night I said a few things about GHIII that I wasn't too happy about. I've got a few other points to elaborate on, but this doesn't just apply to Guitar Hero. These ideas can be applied to other games as well.

First, the songs must be fun to play. I've played a large amount of music and rhythm games. A lot of my top 20 are from that genre. I'm not nearly finished with GHIII, but I have to comment that my opinion on the music selection is that it is poor. So far the songs just aren't very fun to play. I don't know who or why they chose the songs they did. A song shouldn't necessarily be chosen because it's popular or catchy. It should have a quality either from the note placement or rhythm that makes a player want to play it again. If you look at Guitar Hero II and Sweet Child of Mine. Yes, it was a popular song and everyone knew it, but a lot of it's success comes from how the guitar parts fit with how you play them. I love the intro to the song and it just build up to the solo making it a great fun song to play. In GHIII I've found some songs where you sit there for 5-10 seconds not playing anything because there's no guitar part, just a bass line in the background. It just really breaks up the action and makes the song less fun. The current song list has bands that could have had much better songs selected.

My question is "What is influence behind the songs that are selected?" Sure some of it is personal preference. Maybe my music tastes differ so I just can't relate to the songs chosen. I'm sure there's some of that mixed in there. But I'm more worried about how much licensing costs come into play when making song lists. I'm sure some unknown C-list song is going to cost a lot less than a song everyone knows, loves and has the all the lyrics memorized to. If the cost of licensing certain songs is going to mess with the budget for development, that's going to factor directly into the quality of the songs and then the game itself. Take for instance Konami, a lot of their Bemani franchise's music is original music. They have their own in house artists making different genre's of music and then they share it around to all the other music simulation games. They do license songs for their rhythm games but a bulk of the songs are owned by them. So there's not all the other channels to go through. If they need a song, they simply make it. I believe that's one of the reasons why their music games have been so successful.

Also, I'm beginning to think that Achievement Points are stupid. It was definitely a smart move on Microsoft's part. It's made me buy a few games on XB360 over PS3 but I'm finding the whole point whoring and the actual achievements themselves annoying. Take for instance Guitar Hero III. A bulk of it's points are from collecting things and beating certain songs of various difficulties. But I don't really care about buying every damn guitar, outfit, character from the game. And I'm not going to go out of my way to do those things for the points either. I guess I just like to get points for playing the game and I can see how trying to get all the points could make the game worth every penny you paid for it. But when I look at an achievement that says, "Fail a Song 90% through" I'm disgusted. I mean, I don't fail songs, at least not on purpose. I'm not sure how the points should be set up. Should it be where you actually have to sit there and practice and do a number of times until you're good enough to get the achievement? Or should it be something that happens because you did something, sometimes even accidentally. In the example of the 90% fail, it would be a nice consolation when I did fail a song that far in, but then I can't see that happening to me anytime soon and I don't plan on going on a mission to fail 90% into a song just to get five measly points. I'd probably fail the song and the screen would read 89.99% completed.

David

06 November 2007

Where is Episode 3?

Well I just finished Half Life 2: Episode 2 and I find myself really excited at the prospect of a third and hopefully final episode. The game was full of action, story telling, and amazing character development. The final act ended in one hell of a cliff hanger and it is impossible for me to imagine not having a third installment. At this point however, it would definately make sense to just name the next entry Half Life 3. If you play episode 2 and see where the game is taking them, then you will understand what I mean. I have been keeping my ears peeled for info from Valve about a follow up but I haven't heard anything at all! How could this be?! I must say that it would be a pity for Valve to make just another 4-5 hour episode considering how long we must wait for it so hopefully the next installment (if it is in fact, in the works) will be a full game that ranges from 10 - 12 hours like the original Half Life 2. I can't wait to see what Valve has in store for us next.

-Nick

Quick Update

- I can't stop playing Final Fantasy Tactics. I'm over 40 hours in and recently got Balthier. The man is a beast. I've been surprised by this version so quite a bit. That lag issue I was bitching about before is seriously a non issue now. People overreacted about it and I nearly forgot it was there a few battles into the game. The game really shines in it's new script. Not only that but they added all these new scenes and battles that really helps fill in the story. You get these intimate scenes and missions with just Delita and Ovelia and it helps the player understand their bond and the inevitable tragedy in a way the ps1 version never was able to. I truly love this game and consider it a better version than its PS1 release. My favorite game of all time has actually gotten better.

- I'm about a third or half of way through Half Life 2: Episode 2 and this series (HL2 collection) is becoming one of my favorite games ever. I've recently experienced something playing this game that I haven't felt since early ps1 days. I can't explain more because I don't want to give anything a way. But the pacing of this series and the way it builds up and really hits the player hard is amazing.

- I bought Call of Duty 3 and 4 for a total of about 6 dollars today. I got a pretty amazing deal last weekend as well on few games for about 8 bucks each. Without going into to much detail, let me just say that this site never lets me down. Expect me online on COD4 too.

- I'm playing so many great games this season that I've actually temporarily stopped playing series like Zelda and Castlevania. More is to come and I'm becoming a little overwhelmed. I am feeling a little like I did back in the day when I didn't play Mario 64 when it first came out. Although I'm kind of glad I don't have a Wii or PS3 right now. This might be the best gaming year since 1998.

05 November 2007

Back To Work

After a nice weekend at home, I'm back in Austin and playing games. And since I'm now posting, it must be that I have something to complain about. I'll get right to the point and say, the Guitar Hero Boss Battles are trash. It's cool that they got a couple big name guitarist to come in and create original guitar tracks just for the game, but I'm can't but all the flash and I can see right through the smoke and mirrors.

First off the system is entirely broken. You switch off playing guitar parts while trying to earn power up attacks. You use these attacks to make the opponents lose life and cause them to fail. Some of these attacks are very balanced like the Amp Overload which makes the notes flash and harder to see. A good player will be able to read through those and still be able to keep their combo. There are others like the Double notes and Difficulty which just make the game harder and those are alright. The problems I have are with the Broken String and Whammy Bar. They cause you to miss notes regardless of how well you play the game and there is no way around them so you're basically screwed at least for a couple notes.

The problems arise because of the way you obtain these power ups. You get them by successfully hitting a series of notes that are denoted by their unique shape. If you miss hitting the combination successfully, you don't earn a power up. The game ends up becoming a battle of who can get a power up and use it to mess up the other player right before their power up series of notes comes. With attacks like the Broken String and Whammy Bar, you are forced to miss notes and the advantage stays with the player who first used the attack. They are then able to go through their series without any distractions and if they are able to obtain another attack power up, you can foresee the chain of events that can follow. The focus of the game is then shifted to getting the power ups and using them at the appropriate times instead of your guitar playing prowess. It actually becomes more advantageous to sit their and miss notes so that you can time an attack with your opponent's screen. This shift is a huge mistake.

Personally, I find this frustrating in career mode as I've been stuck on Slash now for a few days. Now I realize he's Slash and he an amazing guitarist. But the only way you can make the CPU miss notes is by using an attack. When you mess up and don't get the power up, it becomes the computer's fun time where it'll keep getting power ups and using them on you until the end of the song. I won't die, but there's no way I can progress because the CPU will just not miss notes and fill it's life bar. I really wish they would have made the boss battles optional or that you didn't have to beat them to progress. Or even made them so that you just had to survive the crazy difficulty that they threw at you. Neversoft tried to make a battle system that had some complexity and depth so that it wasn't the same old Guitar Hero formula of getting to the end of the song, but all this shows me is that they really don't know what they're doing in making a music game. It's harsh, but this is problem that should have been noticed the first time someone play tested it and it should never have been allowed to be put in the final version of the game.

David

Could This Be the Start of a New Trend?

Over the years, games that have launched multiple sku's by throwing in some worthless figurine or making of dvd and tacking on 10 extra dollars have really been a waste of money and time. However, 2007 and 2008 seem to be taking the trend in a new direction. First, Final Fantasy XII launched with what is in my opinion a beautiful collectors game case (from gamestop) and an interesting dvd that took a look at the history of the series. Then came Bioshock which launched with a more conservative game case and an actual Big Daddy model along with a making of featurette and a short but sweet soundtrack. In the coming months we will see collectors editions of Assassins Creed and the jam packed Collectors Edition of Grand Theft Auto IV that comes with a lock box and duffle bag. It seems to me that Collectors editions are starting to look up. What prompted this blog you ask? Well they just announced what will be included in the upcoming Devil May Cry IV collectors edition and I must admit that I fully intend to switch my reserve. Here is what it is said to include:

-Limited Edition Case (obvious)
-A DVD featuring the first 4 episodes of the Devil May Cry anime series
-Yet another DVD that will feature a making of featurette, music from the soundtrack, a digital art book, wallpapers, icons, and screensavers

The only downside, is that these nicer, flashier collectors editions are charging $20 more than the regular version which means it will sell for a retail price of $79.99. It is definately nice to see a little extra something that is actually worth the extra cash.

Peace.

-Nick

03 November 2007

Nick's Weekly Update

-I finished Jericho the other day. I really enjoyed it for the most part but I do have some complaints, including the incredibly abrupt ending but i'll mention that later. It took me about 5 hours total to beat it so it is a rather short game but I am sticking to my guns by saying that this was a much better game than Lair.

-Started Half Life Episode 1 today and am loving it so far. I can't wait to see what the game has in store for me. On a side note, Alex is now somewhere on my top 5 of video game crushes but i'm not sure who she is replacing. I have to think a bit longer.

- I have decided that starting in early 2008 as part of my new years resolution, I am going to really start Final Fantasy XI. I have tried this several times in the past but I keep getting side tracked. But I plan to make a section of my own on the site documenting my adventures in Vana'Diel as I quest to become a summoner. So keep an eye out for that.

- I am glad to hear that Assassins Creed and Super Mario Galaxy have both recieved great reviews but I really need to hear it from more than one source before my worries are put to rest.

- Call of Duty 4 and Silent Hill Origins both come out this week for me. I'll give everyone one guess as to which one I will be playing more of in the coming weeks. Can't Wait! This means I have to finish Phantom Hourglass ASAP which shouldn't be much of a problem because all that remains is the final showdown! I think i'll go do that right now!

Peace!

-Nick

02 November 2007

Some Brad Thoughts

- I'm starting to feel a little better now. Assassins Creed got a 37/40 from Famitsu. This is pretty nice especially since the game is from western developer Ubisoft. But it is Famitsu.... and they seem to give Gundam games scores this high sometimes. So we will see, but my fears are being eased some.

- I had a very vivid and very odd dream last night about the upcoming game Alan Wake. I don't know anything about the game except that it's very mysterious. My dream was as equally mysterious but didn't actually have anything to do with the game itself. It involved a very strange and compelling film I was watching (and very much into) and the whole time I was trying to figure everything out. It had something to do with two very lost kids or something. All I know is they were alone the entire movie and when they finally saw someone all that person said was "Alan Wake". The movie (in my dream) ended there and for me (in the dream) everything made sense. The dream goes on from there but I kind of forget the rest. This is undeniably bizarre since I'm not even following this game and there is little to no info about it. Just thought I'd share... lol. Maybe it's a sign or something.

- FU Nintendo. Shortly after Nintendo decides to release their first Turbo Duo game for the Virtual Console they announce they will be porting Ys Book 1 and 2 to the DS. These games received an English translation for the Turbo Duo and they could easily have been VC downloads. No, instead.... like with the upcoming Fire Emblem 1 remake... they will make us pay 35 dollars for it on the DS. I was really excited about Sin and Punishment because I thought it was a sign Nintendo was going to finally start releasing these rare or previously Japanese games on the VC; but it seems they would rather instead sell them for top dollar and keep pumping out overpriced crap noone wants on their download service.

- Metal Gear Solid 4 got delayed till Q2 of 2008. I know Nick and David had a bet so I thought I'd let everyone know.

- I was pleasantly surprised when I heard (from watching On the Spot) that Final Fantasy Tactics A2 will not suffer from one of the major problems that made the first game suck. There will still be a Law system with certain randomized skill and magic restrictions in each battle. But instead of being penalized or even jailed for "breaking the law" you instead just get rewarded by following it. This totally flips things around and turns a system previously annoying and tedious into one that is actually quite compelling. Now I can restrict myself when I choose when going for these bonuses but decide to forget them if the situation becomes dire. This actually adds more fun with the strategy because the player is forced to weigh the costs and benefits of his actions in battle in a meaningful way. I'm officially excited about this game again.

30 October 2007

I have been "Invited"

Hey, my first post!!! So to make things interesting, I'm am going to steer clear from my impressions of Guitar Hero III, and instead give you my impression of a smaller game.
Just got ManHunt 2 today, and I know I got what I payed for. Another Rockstar game that got too much attention because of some "explicit content". While I am sure Rockstar always has this in mind when they create a game, they certainly used it to their advantage this time. This game, which would of most likely plummeted in sales if it weren't for that AO rating it achieved earlier this year, didn't really live up to anything, including the first Manhunt. The camera, while not awful, gives you a worse feeling than Twilight princess does; Less control. The only time you can choose where the camera is is when you are in first-person and stationary. There is a targeting system, but only usable when targeted on something, unlike that of Twilight princess where you can press Z at any time to face forward.
The Graphics were low, even for Wii standards. I was expecting at least something two thirds as good as Metroid, instead we got good ol' 64 bit graphics reminding me of Golden Eye oddly enough. Where you would expect them to make a jump for higher standards, for what violence is worthy of an AO if it has shitty graphics, instead you can't tell whether or not the sledgehammer you are about to pick up is even there, or the killing scenes which is supposed to be the "high point" of the game is so watered down where the only thing you can see clearly are the instructions for the Wiimote and Nunchuck. While I might be sick for wanting to see these disgustingly realistic deaths, knowing they are going on and not able to know... whats going on is more confusing than sickening.
Humor in this game is dark and witty, enjoyable overall. Though three levels in i have not been able to really hear all the jokes. But, the time i have spent in this sick and twisted asylum (and surrounding areas) just sitting and listening to the characters search for you can bring up some humerous dialect... which i forget right now which one made me actually laugh. Must of been empty.
The Wii controls are stable and enjoyable. While it is a little frustrating not to be able to change camera angles, or lift your hands to block, the combination system the Wii version introduces takes over a lot of that empty gameplay. Keeping you on your toes and a little more stressed out than usual.
Could of been better. Wasn't. Oh well, naruto comes out tomorrow.
Fortunately, bought an amazing game along with ManHunt 2.
Bleach: Blade of Fate
A simple fighting game. so simple, that the combinations that characters can dish out can be used either by button combos, or by touching the touch screen. Both have their advantages of course, when doing the combos yourself you are able to really understand which card you can use and its effect (did i mention card elements?). with the touch screen open for combos, everything is smaller and you are not completely sure what you are doing with the card system, which can be a major tide turner in a battle.
Story mode is unnecessary at some points, making you re battle certain people with certain objectives in mind; such as, not using any reiatsu, killing teams in certain orders, whatever. But on the bright side, by doing this the game elongates that which is already too short.
Unfortunately, I beat the main story in under an hour.
Fortunately, soon after i realized there are 20 or so more story lines where you play other as other characters. so along with this Big story line, consisting of many, many hours of game play, there is a challenge system, arcade, versus, training, and a shop to collect many things from the show, including music.
if you love bleach, pick it up. Try not to be disappointed with how they tell the main story.
if you have not even heard of bleach, pick it up, it is a fantastic, light-hearted fighting game that sure to bring hours of entertainment for one or multiple people. (download play)

thats all, hope my misspelling and misuse of grammar wasn't too distracting
-Granger

29 October 2007

New Week, New Games - Guitar Hero

First off, let me apologize for not getting a new Cover Art up last night. I'm having computer problems and Photoshop is not saving or allowing me to edit images. I'm trying to find a quick fix so I can just get this weeks up real quick. Now on to business.

Back a few months ago, I was saying that I wasn't excited about Guitar Hero III. Harmonix had been sold off to MTV and Activision had put all the responsibility of making the sequel to Neversoft. Plus I had been a little disappointed by GHII because of how mainstream it had all of a sudden become and I didn't pick up Rock the 80's for fear of oversaturation. I was one of the few who took a chance with Guitar Hero by buying it day one and I got to see Guitar Hero grow into the beast it is now from ground level. The new game came out and honestly I was about to pass on it or just pick up the PS2 game only but when I found out the bundle came with a wireless guitar, that was the selling point for me.

With that said, the best thing about GHIII by far is the guitar. I completely underestimated the importance of RedOctane in the success of the franchise and their ability to make quality peripherals. The new guitar (I have the 360 version) is near flawless. It's wireless without any extra attachments or dongles and sports a nice port on the bottom for the headset. The biggest improvement has to be the strum bar. The Xploder's strum bar was trash and that's one of the reasons I didn't pick up the XB360 release of GHII. I like to really get into the game and I often make large exaggerated movements. With the old guitars, I had problems with a term I call kickback. I would make a hard finishing downstroke but old strum bar would pop back up from the force and would make a second registering therein misreading and ending a combo or breaking a hold. Now with the new guitar, those problems are alleviated. This of course makes me extremely worried about RockBand. I'm not hearing good things about the peripherals and that will only make the gameplay and the fans suffer.

Now that I've gotten the compliments out of the way, I can really sink my teeth into the game. My biggest complaint has nothing to do with the game itself, but more of with how the game looks. The characters look bad. The main male singer just creeps me out when I look at him singing. He basically doesn't have a face and is just huge chin. They put way too much detail on the inside of his mouth and teeth. The character movements are very robotic and janky. Everytime I see the drummer I think I'm watching a bad Chuck E. Cheese performance. If you've seen the GHII 360 commercial or started playing career mode in GHIII, you've seen the anime-inspired look. It fits the game wonderfully and I wish they would have completely gone to that look for this game, but I guess that's just a personal preference.

I've said it multiple times before, the most important part about a music game is the songlist. I'm about halfway through the game the first time through and I have to say, the music is a disappointment. I wasn't expecting too much from GHIII and I'm still very disappointed. In the first GH you had these songs that were made by their guitar solos. You'd play through a difficult song and then just completely get owned by the solo. It sucked because you'd have to play the whole song over again to get to that part just to die again. That culture was mainly preserved over to the second game. But now in the third, there's this feeling that the song selection a bit out of place. There's some dead space in songs where you're not doing anything because theres only a bass line. The boss battles are a new addition. I'm a big fan of Tom Morello and it's awesome to have his uniqueness added to the mix, but honestly the battles aren't exactly fun, mostly because you're battling a computer. I have yet to try it online (I don't know if it's even possible) but I could see that getting interesting. I'll have to wait and see what else is left, but so far it's anything new or exciting.

Finally, I want to comment about the popularity of Guitar Hero. It's become this big thing where the fan base is spreading out beyond video game nerds and music game fans. There are parents, kids, and girlfriends buying this game. Along with that so go the nicheness of the game. It won't be a cult hit anymore. It'll be open to commercialism, as we can see with the licensing of guitars and product names. The store in GHIII is actually called Guitar Center and sports the logo and everything. Of course there are good things that come out of this, such as songs that sound good and aren't covers. (I was disappointed however, when I looked at the RockBand song list, I found a few that are in GHIII as well. I'm not talking about Artists but actually the same songs.) I'm worried about the future of the guitar franchise because I can see it becoming this cash cow where micro-transactions and online downloads flood the market and make it not fun anymore. People like me will avoid buying them in a semi-boycott but as long as there are people buying up products, as useless as they may be, the people making money off it will keep producing. I just really hope that the series doesn't get run completely into the ground and become a shadow of their former self like another Activision/Neversoft game.

Why does only the RockBand XB360 Bundle come with a wired guitar? Thats Crap!
David

Oh, one last thing, I'm using the new Japanese female guitarist, Midori, as my character in GHIII.
As if you couldn't have guessed.

28 October 2007

What I'm Sure You Were All Waiting For...

First let me say sorry for my lack of updates, i'm currently working on a speech for class and it is taking a lot of my time. On a side note, my speech topic is about the evolution of the video game industry so at least my time is being kept relevent. But my real intention with this post is to give my impressions of Jericho now that I am about 3 hours into the game. Brad and David both seem to be very turned off by this game and David apparently thinks it funny that I enjoy games that have recieved somewhat negative scores. But here goes:

First off, let me start by saying that game sites like 1up.com have really trash talked this game on a ridiculous level by pointing out a lot of its faults. Heres the thing though, while their complaints are mostly justified, the faults they point out are not as severe as they make them seem. On the other end of the spectrum, game magazines like Play have rated it higher than it deserves as usual. So heres my take on it. First, ill point out that this game is a hell of a lot better than Lair. That is saying something right there. On the other hand, the game does suffer from things like weak weapons, repetitive enemies and environments, and chaotic battle mechanics that usually show themselves when attempting to change characters mid battle. However, these are usually not so bad that they distract from the thrill of exploration and discovery. The game does have a rather creepy feel and look to it and the creatures are just downright disturbing. One thing I hated about other reviews, is that they wouldn't shut up about the terrible voice acting.... but the voice acting isn't terrible! It may be a bit bland at points and repetitive during gameplay but it is far from terrible. On another note, I do like the premise of the story and the characters even though they aren't developed as well as they should have been. My main complaint is that some points in the game just get ridiculously hard to survive. I can't give my final score right now, but i'm predicting around a 6 or 6.5 out of 10. I will say this, I am thouroughly enjoying the game despite it's faults and I am happy with Barkers vision that he was trying to portay.

O yeah, I really want to pick up Guitar Hero III......

-Nick

Brad's been busy

Been playing:

Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles - The game is hard, very hard. I've come to a realization that old Castlevania games (this one came out in 1993) were difficult because the controls and movement were sluggish. I do enjoy the challenge of the game, but it takes quite some time to get used to the old style of play again. Nick, if you picked this up I have no doubt you find Rondo of Blood way too hard, but you don't have to beat the game to unlock SotN. It's only 3 stages in and you don't even have to beat that 3rd stage. Just look up how to unlock it because it will be totally worth it. You will also gain a lot of respect for Koji Igarashi since he basically made CV what it is today when he made SotN. I've been playing through SotN as well. I just love the game so much. They added a new playable character for SotN too. Just have to beat it once to unlock her.

Orange Box - I'm almost done with HL2: Episode 1. It's pretty great. You spend the game fighting along side Alyx Vance and it's amazing how well you become attached to this character. Valve revolutionized real time story development with the original Half Life and now it seems they are doing some really cool things with character development. Her AI is actually really awesome too. You will be surprised just how many time she will save your ass.

Final Fantasy Tactics - Yep, still the greatest game ever. Better now actually. The story is terrific.

Halo 3 - Beat it with David. Still don't get why the last few missions were so bad. There were some moments in the middle of the game that were pretty amazing. I just don't get it. Multiplayer is still really amazing and have been playing a ton of it lately. Bungie needs to stick with multiplayer only games.

Front Mission 1st - This was a SNES games and it still looks like one. If you can get past that you will find a great game that started a pretty amazing and underplayed series.

Jericho - Just kidding. This game got a 3/10 from 1up so I'm hoping to read Nick's impressions soon. Can it really be that bad?

Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - Haven't really played it in awhile. Nothing against it really, just been busy playing other games.

Demos Demos Demos - I had no idea you could download PSP demos off the net. I found this website that has a ton in both Japanese and English. The demo for the new Warhammer game actually seemed pretty cool. It's a pretty cool turn based (but not grid based) strategy game with destructable environments. Gurumin also surprised me a little since it ran rather smoothly for a PSP game and the animations looked nice.

Best Week In A While

This was probably the best week for me probably in the last two years for playing video games. I finished Gears of War at the beginning of the week. Phantom Hourglass during the middle. And just wrapped up Halo 3 right as it's turning the new week. I have to say though, I was disappointed in all three. I never thought Gears was as amazing as everyone made it out to be, thank goodness for Co-op mode or else I wouldn't given it any more thought at all. The Co-Op mode is far superior to Halo 3's and it's in my opinion that the game itself is better too. All three games started out very strong but towards the middle to end they just all seem to lacking finishing power. It was just nice to have a week where I didn't really get bogged down by a game and also spend the week really excited about playing when I got off work. I'll post a checklist for the games I'm going through. Keep an eye out for that.

Going to sleep,
David

27 October 2007

Today's Final Thought

Assassin's Creed went gold this week and is coming out November 13th. I'm honestly terrified this game is way too early. I heard there were still a lot of bugs at E for All. Why didn't they just push it back? Ubisoft is known for shipping games ridden with bugs and glitches, and I'm worried they might have made a mistake here. Don't get excited until you see the reviews guys.

Sorry for my lack of posting lately, I got sucked back into Halo and have been playing mad hours in matchmaking. Expect daily postings and weekly top 5s start next week again.

26 October 2007

Quick HL Update

Just wanted to give a quick update. I just finished Half Life 2 (the main game). It took me approx 12 hours and was a blast all the way through. The game is definately one to be remembered. Like I said, I picked up Jericho yesterday so I think I will go ahead and play through that before I come back and play through episodes 1 and 2 for the sake of not getting burnt out on HL. Now, if I could just finish Phantom Hourglass and get out of that damn Eternal Sonata dungeon...

-Nick

25 October 2007

Where has Nick Been?

Hey everyone, its been a while since I could post. I've been really busy with school this week but I have finally finished a lot of what I had to work on. So here is whats been on my mind lately (since I haven't actually had time to play anything!):

- Almost finished with Phantom Hourglass, I will hopefully finish it this weekend along with Half Life 2.

- Picked up Jericho today for the PS3 and i'm really excited to play it. It will be next on my list once I complete HL episodes 1 and 2.

- F&#^ that damn dungeon in Eternal Sonata!

- I just realized that our store will be having an employee appreciation day, so some of the titles I have chosen to temporaily hold off on will be picked up then: Including Final Fantasy Tactics (PSP), Final Fantasy Revenant Wings, Castelvania Dracula X Chronicles and FEAR.

- Assassins Creed went gold today... this means one of two things:
1- They worked out all the bugs and are about to release one of the best games on a next gen console
or
2- They rushed it out without fixing all the bugs in order to get it out in time for the holidays which will make it one of this years biggest disappointments.

I'm fairly confident that they have worked out most of the kinks but the second possibility will be in the back of my mind until I have played the game first hand.

- I actually played Guitar Hero III a few days back... making that my first time playing a guitar hero. I played on Easy because it was my first time but I was actually quite impressed. I might actually pick this one up.

Thats all for now. Ill be back in the swing of things in the coming weeks.
Peace!

-Nick

Theater Mode a.k.a Let's Play Halo 3

So as I said this morning in my post, Brad and I played quite a bit of the campaign co-op last night. One of the coolest things about Halo 3 is that it saves your game play so you can go watch it later in your own free time. So while playing online last night there were a few funny parts that before Halo3 theater mode were only kept alive in our memories. But now we can rewatch them and share them with friends. The only problem is that in campaign mode you can't rewind or save on the XB360. You can only do that in Multiplayer mode (and possibly forge mode). So I apologize about the quality as I had to record it with my digital camera. Also I like higher quality video so I choose to upload the videos to stage6 which is a divx video based site so you may need to install divx player if you don't already have it.

Part 1 [Link]
Part 2 [Link]

David

Loose Ends

So Brad and I just got done with our Halo session tonight. I was surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. As the same with Gears, I think it was more of the Co-Op play that made me enjoy it than the compelling storyline or enthralling gameplay. I find it sad that cooperative play has been dwindled down to FPS and splinter cell.

Zach & Wiki for the Wii, I've been watching that game for months now. It looks very "kiddie" a word many gaming elite are so damn paranoid about. I'm about 85% sure I'll pick it up tomorrow after work. It's been getting good reviews which is not a lot of my quirky picks tend to pull off. More importantly this got me thinking to what games I should really be buying this holiday season and in the future. There's Galaxy that I must pick up. But then after that I honestly could pass on everything else. Rock Band sounds great but that's another 200ish bucks. If I had the money I'd try Mass Effect, Ratchet & Clank, and Assassin's Creed. Same goes for Guitar Hero III and a slew of games that I have reserved but still don't have the money to pick them up. But then I got to thinking. Even if I had the money, why would I pick them up? I don't physically have the time to play all these games. As much as I love games, I can't play them every second of the day. I don't want to either. I want to hang out with friends, exercise, work on other projects and hobbies. I've got so many games I don't know what to do with them. I could not buy another game for the next year and still have plenty to play. So I keep asking myself the question, why buy more? It's something that's really troubling me. I'll have to get back to you on that one for the answer....

David

**Oh yeah, after having a 360 since launch day, I've finally broken 1000 Gamer Score. Hooray.

23 October 2007

Gears of War impressions

I've been doing a lot less posting and a lot more gaming lately. Hopefully we all get back into the normal routine of things.

David and I beat Gears of War over the weekend. It was my first time playing and was happy to get it finished so quickly. Overall the game was pretty good. I haven't played any multiplayer yet, but me and David gave the game an honest effort, and I'm not getting the "OMG greatest game ever" syndrome a lot of other people seemed to have experienced. I think a lot of it had to do with how amazing the game looked. The game did have very satisfying gunplay and it felt really nice when you landed a well placed shotgun blast to the face. I just wish there were more weapons and more ammo for the better weapon as I spent nearly the whole game using just the chainsaw gun and the shotgun.

The teamwork aspect is really cool. The way the game keeps tension high with the teammate spawn system is pretty awesome. The best moments were when I was dodging rockets and torque bolts trying to get to David in time to save him in time. Although he was doing most of the saving I guess since I prefer the "Rambo" style of gameplay. In contrast, the worst parts of the game were when we were split up and one death meant we had to go back to a checkpoint. It became very much a trial-and-error game where we had to figure out at what points we should be helping the other teammate. It became borderline ridiculous in one part when we were literally like 10 feet from each other but our rocky paths were separated by a small gap and therefore one death meant game over.

One more noteworthy part of the game had to be enemy AI. There was rarely a moment to breath in the game because the enemy was always advancing on us. Much like the players, the enemy uses cover to its advantage in both combat and sneaking up on the player. Nothing is more terrifying than the sound of an enemy chainsaw or the orange glow of the enemy torque bow. The enemies aggressive nature was pretty refreshing.

Overall it was pretty enjoyable as it seemed the last two acts really cut down on the splitting up and David and I really started to develop our combat skills. I'll try to get a full review up when I try out the multiplayer.