February 11, 2009By: Adam Blue Category: Editorial
I picked up my 360 today from UPS. Unfortunately they only deliver during my working hours, so I had to drive out pretty far to get it. I think that’s crap. Anyway, being a little under the weather today, I only had a chance to try a few of the demos I missed. BTW, it is a brand-new console and they included a free 1-month gold subscription.
RE5: Awesome. The most incredible looking game I’ve seen, and totally fun. RE4 was great for me, so I just want more of the same. And I can forgive the limiting control scheme versus Dead Space. Dead Space allows such a free range of movement that the ’survival-horror’ aspect is lost. But it’s still here with RE5.
Fear 2: I’m a fan of Monolith but the first Fear game was kind of boring. I loved the fire-fights when they appeared…but for me it wasn’t enough. This demo felt the same unfortunately. Great Graphics though.
Halo Wars: I could go on forever, but as an RTS fanatic, it didn’t do it for me. But, as an RTS fanatic, I will play through it, disappointed all the way. What else can I say? It’s a console RTS.
But right now I really want to play some Dawn of War 2. It’s just freaking addicting. But as I said, I’m a little sick…I need to get back to bed.
Oh…Podcast news. I got an Acer Aspire One, which included the one thing I needed to get the Bluecast rolling: XP. Brace yourself for the Bluecast come-back episode…that is, if I’m feeling better.
So I started a new career which will give me the time I need for this site. With this extra time, I’ll explain what I’ve been doing:
Red Alert 3. I’ve spent so much more time with this game in the past week, it is just amazing. At first I wasn’t impressed, but after a little more time I can see what it’s doing. It is also totally a co-op game. Every aspect promotes co-op play.
Dawn of War 2 Beta. I was afraid of the changes that could be made for this sequel, but after playing the Beta, my love was right back where it needed to be. It’s less of a base-builder, which is how I prefer my RTS’s, but it still has the base-building mechanic, so I totally dig it.
My 360 died. Yeah, it RRoD’d. I sent it out on Tuesday and just got the confirmation that repair is complete. Halo Wars and RE5 demo, here I come.
Graphics look great, but very jaggedy. I guess the screenshots and videos we see are with AA turned up. With the graphics smoothed out, it would be the best looking FPS. The controls are ok. I think it’s odd how they give you some options…but leave others out. Very awkward…and speaking of which, the dual analog setup for the DS3 is just annoying. The ‘C’-shape required by my thumb and pointer finger puts too much of an unnatural strain on my hand. Remember, the original pad was designed before analog…they should have done a redesign with analog sticks.
But playing it was fun. Like what has been said, it’s your normal generic run-n-gun FPS. That’s not bad, but it’s not going to stand out. I think the cover system worked well too. A similar system was used in Shadow Ops.
I see no reason to give this a bad score despite controls. It’s not doing anything wrong really, and it seems to be a fun title.
In the past few months my PC gaming time went down. This was due to my Gateway P6860FX overheating and just shutting off. So, after a long time of research I came across a laptop cooler. ZALMAN ZM-NC2000 B Notebook Cooler. Not only does my PC no longer shut down, but my in-game improvement has sky-rocketed. I clearly get more frames in-game, and I can even now use higher AA than I could stomach. So, I was able to improve my laptop’s gaming performance without even upgrading the CPU to the $300 intel I plan on using in the future. This laptop was definitley worth the price.
Bluecast. This should start back up soon. I was hoping to do one last weekend, but PowerGramo won’t work correctly on my system, which I attribute to Vista64. I don’t have an XP system to use, but I’ve been eyeing a netbook lately, and I now have a reason to jump on one.
With Gamefly, money is not really an issue anymore when wanting to play all the Fall releases. The Fall release schedule sucks every year. There’s just no time to get into what I’d like. And some things I have to hold out on, which hurts when some people want to start discussing a game I haven’t really got into yet. Here’s what I’m really wanting to play. Bolded titles are ones that I will buy….or will hopefully.
Dead Space
Far Cry 2 Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia Quantum of Solace
Gears of War 2 Call of Duty 5 (zombie mode won me over)
Mirror’s Edge
Resistance 2
Left4Dead Metal Slug 7
Sonic Unleashed
Prince of Persia
And this is being lite on the titles. There are many others I would like to try. MK vs DC for instance, but luckily with the recent edits, I can push this aside for later. Other games I’m interested in but may have to wait out on:
End War
Banjo-Kazooie
Castlevania Judgment (Hey, I’m just a CV fan)
King of Fighters Collection
Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force (That just sounds fucking awesome)
Spiderman: Web of Shadows
Another problem I’m having is with Far Cry 2. The game will run like cinnamon butter on my system, but with all the work and playtime involved, I would almost rather get it on the 360 for comfort (gamepad, sitting in front of LCD) and achievements. I can Gamefly it on 360, or download it via Steam. Cheaper than a console copy plus I’ll have it on my Steam account - I like that shit.
And then I think of Fracture…it’s fun. The battles are crazy, the graphics are great, and the music is excellent. BUT, I can see myself pushing this aside for now. I just feel there are other titles out there that I’d like to get my hands on. Like, Dead Space is spoken as GotY.
Well, Red Alert 3 ships tomorrow. That is the one game I’m anticipating the most. And if in case you didn’t know; PC version, Premier Edition.
I had to upgrade my GameFly service to TWO games. There’s some downtime between sending out titles, and I’d like to get some gaming done during that time. But this just had to be done, as all the titles are flooding in. I received Mercs2 as a gift, which is totally worth $60. Through Gamefly I rented Too Human, which is a fun game but just could not keep my attention for too long. I might play through that some time next year in co-op. I’ve recently been playing Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway. I never really got into the previous titles, but this one has a certain mechanic to it that’s pretty fun. Let’s get into that.
The game is basically a FPS-Puzzler. Each action scene is a progressing map with enemies strewn about behind cover. The objective here is to suppress, move out, suppress, move out, and kill along the way. Each situation is just given a different layout in which you have to navigate correctly. This is fun really, but as tactical as it seems, it is shallow. There are a few problems I’ve encountered that really piss me off: Sometimes when moving a squad to a certain location, they might circle the cover exposing themselves to the enemy, and inevitably die. I hate loosing my Bazooka guy early on. But really these are minor complaints, but with how ’simple’ the game really is, I would hope more time would have been focused on refining a revolutionary A.I. Another problem I have with the game is somewhat subjective as I feel I’m in the minority here. Story. I like Band of Brothers and would watch it through again many times. The problem with BiA is I’m trying to play a game, but will lose interest during the many drawn out cut-scenes. I just don’t care about this while I play. I skipped the cut scenes in Too Human as well. But again, I know many gamers love story. But I’d rather keep that for movies or books.
But all in all, BiA is definitely worth your time. I haven’t even touched multi-player yet, which I would love to do.
So Dead Space is out and the verdict is in. I’m currently listening to my brother playing it over XBox Live, and all I hear are good things. Here’s the thing about Dead Space though…and I’ve never seen this spoken about but could be wrong: It looks like EA just wanted to create their own Bioshock - which I have no problem with. The game has an empty, creepy vibe to it, and while you weren’t a Big Daddy in Bioshock, they were very popular and very recognizable. The Dead Space protagonist has that same look. I see no problem with any of this, I just like seeing EA recognize success and trying to go beyond it, which IMO they have. I wasn’t a fan of Bioshock, but Dead Space seems to be more action oriented which is what I’m looking for.
Anytime soon I should be getting Dead Space, Fracture, and Silent Hill from GameFly, so stay tuned for impressions of those games.
My brother got me a CoD: World at War beta key. I played a little of it, but just got bored. It really just is more CoD4 which I liked, but got bored of very fast. It really just is the same thing over and over again. But I will play this for the campaign.
On the PC front I tried out the Quantum of Solace demo, which was horribly short. I really can’t believe that was the demo. But I liked what I played, and as a James Bond fan, I’ll be purchasing this. Though, this looks to be a console title for me…
September 18, 2008By: Adam Blue Category: Editorial
Alright, so through the month of August I played through TimeShift. I mentioned this before, but simply, if you enjoy FPS’s then TimeShift is a game you need to play. It has great graphics, great controls, and the time mechanic works well. You will love the explosive crossbow.
Explosive crossbow.
I also got Mercenaries 2 and have really been enjoying it. It is totally fun, but here are a few issues: The game looks like ass. Just Cause is a game that came out much earlier, and pretty much looks a lot better and also plays better. That doesn’t mean Mercs2 is bad, it means JC is just fucking awesome. That was the first game that I got all 1k achievement points. I loved it. Sequel should be hitting sometime soon…right? Anyway, Mercs2 adds in co-op which works exceptionally well and is the first time I’ve actually enjoyed co-op since Syphon Filter: Omega Strain. I usually play co-op because everyone else wants to, but it never really pulls me. Mercs2 is a light version of what SF offered for co-op; each player takes on their own tasks to complete the mission as a whole. Like I said, Mercs 2 is a light version of that, but it’s there.
Other than that, Mercs 2 does have its bugs. A few times I’ve been stuck; wedged between a couple rocks. After a few moments of frantically nailing every button on my gamepad, I’ll eventually get out. Oh, and apparently you never die. I’ll fall out of an exploding helicopter, fall off a mountain, get pummeled by artillery, and run over by a car. Yet, my health will still be at 2-6%, and gradually work its way up. But honestly it works well in this game. When you play it you’ll understand. Definitely worth $60.
The Force Unleashed just came out earlier this week, and I am enjoying myself. First of all, it’s a poorer version of God of War. It even makes Conan, a game I love but recognize its flaws, look really good. The thing that TFU has going for it is Star Wars. It has the music, characters, environments, and force-resistant stormtroopers - what? Yeah, but I guess it being a game, they have to add in some challenge for the player. Yeah, and I’m playing on the hardest difficulty - it’s hard as hell.
Things I like about TFU:
-Physics
-Darth Vader
-That pilot chick (why would I need to know her name?)
-Force grip
-Throwing a jawa with said force grip
-Can I force remove that pilot chick’s clothing? Eh…that might be rape. Oh, “You want to remove your clothes”. *waves hand* That would work.
Things I don’t like about TFU:
-Loading into menus. Yes. When I go into my upgrade screen, it has to load. Same with getting out. Lame.
-Non-Star Wars stuff. Imperial Guards with lightsabers? Was this explained in some expanded-universe story that I missed? Giant stormtroopers. Did they recruit tall aliens? Use Wookies? And just the enemy weapons in general. They were all equipped to fight the sith apparently.
-In-game cutscenes. You know, when you die and have to replay the small part where the camera zooms in ahead of you showing enemies walk into the foreground. One: yeah, I know. Two: I just want to fucking play.
-Lightsabers take multiple hits to actually kill someone.
-The whole upgrade system is just wacky. I like the ability to do this stuff, but it’s as if these developers have never
played GoW or Conan…or any other game that allows stat upgrades.
And that’s about it. The game is great, not sure if it’s worth $60 for all, but it was to me. Just one final thing: This is the Star Wars I.P., and Lucasarts should have done a better job with it.
My mailman didn’t pick up my Gamefly disc for THREE days. He finally did today. WTF!
So because of my job, recent engagement and other plans, BlueGamer.net hasn’t been updated in a while. Not only that, but we haven’t seen a podcast in a while.
I have my PAX badge. I’m even getting the media emails where I could set up interviews for some great content.
But because of other things, I won’t be at PAX this year.
Things will change though, and here’s what’s going down:
By October (most likely), I’ll be in Brazil. My gaming will be limited to my 360, PC Gaming, DS, PSP, and PS3 remote access (and possibly a PS2). I’m not sure how easily I’ll be getting the newer games for each platform, but, TecToy was a huge distributor in Brazil for Sega from the Master System to the Dreamcast. I’m thinking I’ll be able get my hands on these products. Not only do they have a badass portable Genesis, but there were some games produced exclusively in Brazil. Also, word yesterday is that Microsoft is introducing an Asian/Latin America only gamepad with a modified D-pad. So really, I don’t see my gaming habits dwindling too much, but I’m obviously going to try to be out often to enjoy my stay in Brazil. Really. It’s all about Brazil.
While there, I’ll keep this blog updated about my gaming experience in a foreign land. But when I get back, the site will get an over-haul. I’ll be using new software and trying my darndest to make this place look slick. Along with that, we’ll reintroduce the Blucast as well as a Videocast. And my goal is to attend as many gaming cons as possible. My life will be very different at this point, so I should have the time for this - but who knows, things change.
But on to the gaming…
There are an amazing amount of great GBA games I’ve been meaning to play through. The other day I noticed my GBA Micro sitting on the ‘handhelds’ shelf. He’s a cute little guy - I miss using him. So, I set off to Gamestop to see what they had. I picked up Sigma Star Saga, Gunstar Super Heroes, and Blackthorne. All for a total of $15. Sweet, eh? But there are more I’m looking for:
Sonic Advance 2/3
Ninja Five-0
Guardian Heroes
…
Ok, I had a huge list in my head…I guess I need to write this stuff down (or just update it here).
I had Too Human next on my Gamefly queue, but instead got TimeShift. I must have been too late making Too human the only game on my queue… Anyway, Time shift is great. Graphics, Story, Gameplay…great game. But you know what made it underrated? The constant delays and apparently an entire re-design. It turned out great IMO, but you know how game reviewers are with this games. This is one game that I suggest everyone try.
Bionic Commando: Rearmed. Holy crap. I barely remember playing the original, but the game play in this just felt so familiar. So punishingly familiar. TimeShift threw me of course, but I should be back into this one soon enough.
Next gaming plan? Well, my birthday is the 30th. Maybe I can talk my family into getting me Mercenaries 2?
There are a lot of changes going on with me, so I am unable to blog about my gaming as much as I’d like. You see, it takes time to game then to talk about gaming. In order to get these “other” things done, I have to cut one thing out. And I can’t cut out gaming, because then I couldn’t talk about gaming. See how that works?
I’ve been playing a lot. I got Geometry Wars 2, Braid, Geometry Wars DS, Contra 4, Sonic Rush 2, Nanostray 2, Soul Calibur 4, er…some other titles but I’m at a loss. I’ve been playing the Red Alert 3 and Red Faction Betas. Pretty fun. Not much to say yet though.
Braid. I played the demo and didn’t dig it. It turned out to be a clever puzzle game rather than an actual side-scrolling platfomrer. The art and music is fantastic. But…the demo didn’t do it. But I was ridiculed. I didn’t think actually paying $15 just to see what it was like (because apparently the demo wasn’t good enough?) was worth it, but I kept getting crap for it. I was told not to go by the demo. But it’s the fucking demo…it’s what is used to determine the purchase of a game. But I bought it, and I’m still disappointed. People have pointed out that the $15 is nothing…that we buy crap all the time. But most of this crap is stuff people want. How do we know if we like Braid beside the indie hype of a game with a different style than the norm? Does that automatically give it a free ride? This game being cheaper, or just plain free would have been a better idea. More exposure for J. Blow. But this contraversy that has started worked FOR him. So, from a business standpoint, pure genius. Next game of his? I won’t be so quick.
It took the community a long time to figure it out, but people are figuring out that Evil Avatar has been overrun with D-bags. When I used to get crap for speaking up, people are now leaving to start a community elsewhere. I don’t totally blame Evil himself. The community just got too big for him, but I put most of the blame on the community. They took Evil too seriously and didn’t know when to shut up. I mostly feel sorry for BAPenguin. He has done so much for the community…he is a community leader. And he’s actually a gamer, compared to most that run sites. Will he be leaving EvAv? Will all this eventually cool down? For now, most of us our at my sister-site Immortal Machines.
I have some minor site news for my next entry. Stay tuned.
Ninja Gaiden on the original XBox is a masterpiece. The game is just perfect in every way. People complain about the camera…yet, it’s the best camera I’ve experienced in a 3rd person action game. A quick squeeze of the ‘R’ trigger resets the camera behind you. How can you get it any easier than that? So, Ninja Gaiden 2 came out earlier this month and I was pumped. I’ve been playing through it little by little, and no not because of time, but because it’s boring. Let me break it down to you.
I’ve mastered the original, so of course, starting out in this one may be a little simple (Warrior mode). But, I seem to have a lot of health all the time. …And the fights are boring. NGII is just too easy. Now, I’ve come across a few pain-in-the-ass bosses, but all in all, this is easy. Unfortunately it’s so easy that I don’t play it often. It bores me. But, that doesn’t stop it from being a badass action game. I think I would enjoy it more If I hadn’t played the original. And you can’t really fault Team Ninja. They got shit for making their last game difficult. It’s too bad that nowadays the gaming community is made up of a bunch of pansies (didn’t I make a post about this?). And you’ve probably heard by now, but Itagaki left Tecmo over some legal issues and has apparently brought over some of his people from Team Ninja to start a new development team (MS, snag ‘em up). Maybe Tecmo pressured Team Ninja into making NGII into a different game than they wanted - easily accessible by anyone? Who really knows for sure, but hopefully we’ll be hearing from Itagaki soon.
Anyway, I don’t dislike NGII. I just don’t see myself putting much time into it because it is slightly boring. I’m not stopping you from playing it though - you really should.
I beat Conan right before the release of NGII. That was a very fun game, and the last boss was just downright insane. Any gamer should probably go through that game just to play against the last boss. There was no mercy. It took time to figure out what to do…and some of it was just patience and timing. The other portions though…It had to be luck.
In a day or two (or maybe a week), I’ll be writing about the new gaming laptop I got. The Gateway P-6860FX.
I stopped playing GTA IV. I’m sure you understand how I feel from my previous post, so we’ll leave it there. What I was playing instead, is Viking: Battle for Asgard. This game is a lot of fun. It has great combat controls and some intense mega-battles. Like Dynasty Warriors and Ninety-Nine Nights. It’s a game with obvious flaws, yet completely satisfying. Totally worth playing. I actually got it through Gamefly. A rental service I just started using, first with Dark Sector. Here’s a plug:
Now I’m working on Conan and it is a great 3rd person combat game. What I really like about it is the way the combo system works. As your attacks land you then press the next button in the combo. Instead of dial-a-combo it works as combos should. I’m about to finish it, and need to for Ninja Gaiden 2 on Tuesday…
I like how the reviews for NG2 have been so far. People brutalize it for the camera, which confuses me because I think it’s one of the greatest 3rd person action game cameras. Especially with help from the Right Trigger. But most of it falls into my reviewer rant: This time, the game is just so frustrating that it is easy for the reviewer to bash its camera.
GTA IV has some great reviews. Not greatly written, but everyone pretty much slobbered all over the game with more love…than Ocarina of Time. Didn’t see that coming, did you? I’m having a lot of fun with GTA IV, but there are some serious flaws. And right now, before I go any deeper, let’s discuss these flaws.
Controls. It controls like a GTA game. This wasn’t bad five years ago, but things have changed. There are many sand-box style games that have come out since GTA, namely Crackdown and the True Crime series, and they have both introduced some amazing controls. I’m assuming Rockstar just rests on the name, spending their time creating a huge world, but no time refining how you spend your time in it.
True Crime allowed me to tackle people I was chasing. It also offered a robust hand-to-hand combat system. You could pick up melee weapons, use holds, and unlock special moves to be used later on for the tougher enemies. GTA’s h2h combat system is just laughable. I know some of this can be opinion…but I would hope people would grasp the controls of the True Crime series and understand that future GTA’s need to evolve with that refinement in mind. Now, the controls could still be bad in GTA, but my main gripe is options of manipulating my character in the sand-box world.
The thing is, GTA is out now. It’s the biggest and deepest sand-box style game we have right now for the next-gen consoles. Anyone will jump on it. But that doesn’t mean it should be getting almost perfect scores from all the big-name reviewers. GTA IV is far from perfect. But, I am having a lot of fun with it. It truly is fun. It just feels way too primitive. And this is where it all comes together.
The gaming world is different. Reviewers review based on what’s generally accepted in the gaming world. And this acceptance is largely made up of that casual gaming population that buys games, but doesn’t necessarily get into them. GTA became popular because it revolutionized. These other sand-box games step in to refine the genre, yet without the GTA name, this largely casual gaming market doesn’t care. They don’t know how much better they can have it. So over time, this market is what most developers and publishers have been developing for. The big name publications review games with this market in mind. This might be how the “machine” has to work, but it sucks.
But back to the reviews. GTA IV in no way deserves perfect scores. Yes, it is a fun game with a fantastic and deep world, but the actual game play experience is missing behind it. Now I could be getting into opinion territory here, but basically, GTA is simple and easily accessible. That’s fine, but I enjoy deeper game play, and maybe now it’s all about simplicity. That’s why it has perfect scores. Name and simplicity. But as a hardcore gamer, that sucks.
At this point, there’s nothing I can do. I feel like I’m regurgitating what I said in my Turok reviews piece, but gaming is changing. Deep and engaging game play is now most certainly being put aside by the looks of GTA IV’s review scores.
