Archive for the ‘Video Game Reviews’ Category
It’s become a tired crutch for console manufacturer’s to force mascot party games onto the public. Usually they try to capitalize on each franchises individual success while piggy backing some other “thing” in hopes it gets some of the residual cred. In this case, that “thing” is the PlayStation Move and the mascots are the characters from famed franchises Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank and Sly Cooper. I’ve said before that I’m a big fan of motion controls and the prospect of evolving the tools with which gamers can experience games, but this is not the way to do it. PlayStation Move Heroes is a functional game, but not a good one. And to clarify – nothing about it tells me it’s even even a party game – go figure.
Whether you’re a fan of Ratchet, Clank, Sly, Bentley, Jack or Daxter you’ll be hard pressed to find this a worthy entry for any of them. The game is broken up into fifty levels across four worlds; Paris, Metropolis City, Haven City and the lone planet developed for the game, Planet X. Each level lets you select one group of three characters, either the hero or the sidekick, to play one of the numerous mini-games. You’ll use throwing discs, whips, bowling balls, melee combat and ranged combat to complete all of the different objectives. But it’s always the same, at least in some form. You’re protecting, collecting and freeing Whibbles, little alien creatures that need your help. Though it appears like there’s a lot of levels, the truth is most are done in under five minutes, and most often substantially less. But that’s the rub; you wouldn’t want to play any of the levels any longer than they’re designed but when the game totals only four hours (being generous) it’s hard to justify paying full price.
As we all know, Rockstar revolutionized the open world format with their Grand Theft Auto games. Interestingly enough, I also recently played Mafia II, which was basically designed to be similar to GTA, so plugging into L.A. Noire felt like plugging into an old familiar friend. Although this is the better friend, no questions asked. This is the same time period (late 40?s/early 50?s), but the game environment is much more detailed and the city of Los Angeles comes alive at your fingertips.
Unlike most Rockstar games, you actually play the good guy in this one, a police officer with the LAPD. This cop (who later becomes a detective) is making his name on the hard streets of 1950?s L.A. And L.A. is absolutely stunning in this game. It’s almost like being there. The environments are impeccably detailed and driving around the city feels extremely realistic. Every detail has been thought of, from billboards to landmarks to street lights to people getting in your way when you’re trying to answer a call.
When you arrive at the crime scene, you go into detective mode. You search the area for clues. When you find them, you look them over carefully. Any important details are written in your notebook for later use.
But the most interesting thing about crime scenes? You get to interview witnesses. And based on their facial expressions, you have to determine if they’re lying or not.
I don’t think any other game has gone this far with the AI. Fortunately, the facial expressions are so well detailed and animated in-game that if you know the little things people do when they lie, you will have no problem making sure you ask all the right questions during an interview or interrogation.
Treyarch’s latest kick to the top of the hill for the best First Person Shooter Game in their ever so amazing Call of Duty Franchise is here, Cal of Duty: Black Ops is the most recent installment in the franchise and is the eighth release since the first Call of Duty back in 2003. Now, it’s not a secret how the Call of Duty Franchise fairs in the video game industry. It has been the leading online-multiplayer FPS Video Game for quite a few years now, every release is anticipated and improvements and advances are being made at each and every release of Call of Duty which started it roots at a World War II setting and has now grew into a huge franchise, which now set in modern, more technological warfare.
However, Call of Duty: Black Ops released after one of the best FPS game ever made thus far, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Had its work cut out, and most players feel that this game was more of a rendition to Modern Warfare 2 rather than to be a full blown sequel. You can’t really argue much with that case because, with what Modern Warfare 2 had that pleased every gamer who has ever played the game. It would be extremely hard to spin out of the setting and the features of the previous installment. Although, there are still significant changes with Black Ops, and is very much enough for it to be merited a league of its own. The game involves numerous tweaks and small improvements rather than any kind of reinvention of the franchise.
For example, multiplayer mode now awards players currency (“CoD Points”) that they can use to purchase perks, weapons, and other accessories. A new Combat Training mode has been added to help beginners, and there’s also more player customization than ever before, and a new emphasis on sharing video highlights of your games with your friends in Theater Mode.
After spending over a decade in development, Duke Nukem Forever has finally been released to a public eager to see the return of one of gaming’s greatest heroes. Hardcore Duke Nukem fans will likely enjoy the game’s crude sense of humor, as their hero tosses back beers, visits the strip club, and delivers enough one-liners to make Bruce Campbell proud. The game does an adequate job in capturing the funhouse mirror feel of Duke Nukem’s world- a world chock full of innuendo, and enough rude and crude jokes and advertisements to keep fans of the South Park style of humor giggling. Having Duke bench press 600 pounds, hit a high score in his own “Balls of Steel” pinball machine, admire himself in the mirror, and many other activities all add a maximum bonus to Duke’s health or “ego” meter, which functions much like the shield in Halo. While these “ego” boosting activities are good for a few laughs, they aren’t really given at a set pace and end up feeling random and out of place.
Sadly, this is where the good aspects of Duke Nukem Forever end. Unfortunately, it seems that the painfully long development cycle seems to be one of the game’s biggest problems, as much of it feels like it should have been released 10 years ago. Gamers wanting the next big FPS to tide them over until Modern Warfare 3 or the next Gears of War get released might want to skip this one, as this game plays much like an old school PC shooter with a few modern gaming concepts awkwardly tacked onto it.
El Shaddai Ascension of the Metatron exudes all that is good regarding Japanese gaming. From the wild creative art style to its fast paced Devil May Cry/ Bayonetta esque gameplay. El Shaddai of the Metatron definitely has a identity of its own when talking about Japanese action videogames. The demo itself was good and lasted plenty of time giving the gamer a good idea of what to expect from the full retail game.
You take the role of protagonist Enoch in this action beat em up whose ultimate goal i never had a chance figured out. A few things are apparent however, Enoch can take enemies weapons from them and use them with his powers creating powerful attacks. There are items, weapons and collectibles to be had in the demo. Flame of Power and Light of the Blessing are defense and health items Enoch collects as he defeats enemies. I played the demo on my Playstation 3 and the Duel Shock 3 layout is as follows: L1-steal weapons, LS-move, Square-attack, R1-guard and X-jump. The controls are good but not in the same ballpark as say a Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. I did like the controls during the 2D section jumping etc.
The demo of El Shaddai Ascension of the Metatron takes you to a beautiful artistically designed world but not only in 3D but also 2D. I cannot emphasize how unique the visuals are in this game. The only downside graphically regarding this game would be the facial detail during cutscenes. Otherwise this game has real pleasing art design thats unforgettable. The enemies looked similar to Enoch with names like, Ezeka-H or Ezeka-Z etc. I know, kinda weird names but Japanese developed videogames has always had a charming quirkiness about them to western eyes. As Enoch takes damage his armor is ripped from him. The difficulty was challenging especially the boss battles. And yes, i actually had it on the easy difficulty settings.