REVIEW: SiN Episodes: Emergence

May 27, 2006

Finished SiN Ep1 a couple days ago. I didn't like it all that much when I started it, but it got better towards the end. I guess my main gripe about the game is that I really had no idea what the hell was going on... well I sorta did... I guess... but not as much as I would of liked. I don't know if that was the goal for the game or what, but I guess it didn't do it for me. What also didn't help is that there would be times when some one would be talking, right in the middle of a firefight, and I miss everything they just said. The least they could of done was maybe lower the sound when someone was talking... but oh well, maybe I could go through it again with the subs on.

Also what I didn't like is why they had Blade pretty much silent thoughout the entire game. Blade should be Blade.... not Gordon Freeman. Gone were the one liners and the wise-cracking guy you all got used to in the first game, and now all you get is "Come in 'so-and-so'" or some other three word sentence. Also what didn't help was that I didn't even know how to contact anyone until maybe half way through the game. So unless I missed some story there, I don't know.

Anyway, with that being said, I did feel the game did get better towards the end. It was fun just trying to lay on the destruction as much as I could, but with only 3 guns, you could only do so much. Luckily you had nades and there always seemed to be the explosive barrel placed right where you wanted it. There were some pretty fun boss fights, and it was ridiculously easy to bunny hop, so it made running circles around people very easy.

Anyway, while it was alright, I am not all to sure I would throw down money for another Episode. Hopefuly, with the way they are able to look at stats you can upload, and just general feedback from the community, they can adjust the game to make it even better. Guess we will find out. :)

NEWS: Infinium Tries 'Phantom' Name Change

Yup.. I avoided posting anything Phantom related for a while, but I thought this was funny...

However, the recent indictment of former CEO of Seattle-based Infinium Labs Timothy Roberts for running a scheme to artificially inflate the company’s stock may have contributed to the company's wish to change the company's name from Infinium Lab, Inc. to Phantom Entertainment, Inc. According to the filing: "The Board of Directors believes that the name change would be in the best interests of the Company because the new name better reflects the long-term growth strategy of the Company."

Honestly, I don't think they could of picked a better name. This whole half-assed attempt at a new console has been damn entertaining.

LINK

REVIEW: Peter Jackson's King Kong

May 25, 2006

Just beat King Kong. Pretty good game. It not my Beyond Good & Evil sequal, but it was still very good. Second best movie game to date so far... Riddick being number one... although thats not really based off the movie... ehh whatever.

I really liked the way this game did things. There was no HUD what so ever. You pretty much had to rely on your gut feeling if you thought you were just about to die, or maybe needed to reload your gun. Sure there were audio cues when you wanted to know how much ammo you had, or when might be a good time to reload, but it was a nice change of pace of just looking down at a number the whole time.

Voice acting was great as well as the music. The gameplay, was alright, but I found my self wanting more and more just to play as Kong rather than do the normal on foot action. It was just awesome to kick the crap out of everything with the big guy. Oh well! :)

So on a side note.... BG&E2 plz k thx bye.

REVIEW: SiN

May 20, 2006

Just beat SiN. (The first one... not SiN episodes).

Ehhh.. not the greatest FPS in the world, but it was alright. It was nice to have a "fast" game instead of what seemed like a slow pace with NOLF. When I say fast, I mean more running and gunning rather than the stealth style of gameplay I had with NOLF. Some really frustrating parts though. There were times where I would find my self up against a boss or something, only to find out that I have almost no health, or almost no ammo. It would take me more than a few times to get past it, but it seemed to get easier as I got further through the game. Maybe it was just my Quake 2 skills coming back to me or something, but it was great to have that feeling again.

Anyway, not much else to say really. I wanted to play SiN before SiN episodes, just so I could "get" the story, but after playing though SiN, I am not all too sure I would of missed the story anyway. Not a whole lot of depth to it. Oh well, moving on...

REVIEW: Killzone

May 13, 2006

Killzone has been killed!

As I have said to grayscale when I was playing it, this game was the "meh" heard around the world. It was an alright game, but there were just some serious problems with it that just kept on bring it down. It seemed like after every mission, I would just be like "eeeeeehhhhhhhh" and then just continue with the game. Nothing like "oh man that mission was so sweet" or something. It was just "meh" over and over again.

First off, a "Halo killer" this game is not, and I don't even like Halo. It just felt like a pretty bland FPS with a pretty crappy story. To be honest, I didn't really understand the story until I had to look it up on GameFAQs. Before that, it was pretty much just killing who ever got in the way. Come to think of it... the only FPS that has a story that really interests me is the Half-Life series, but this about Killzone, so lets just move on.

There seemed to be a big problem with the graphics in this game. There were some huge texture pop in going on, and even then, the texture looked muddy as hell. There is something to be said when during the last level, you can't even tell where the hell bullets are coming from because the enemy BLENDS IN with the back ground they are against. This was indoors on a space station, so I don't think they were going for a camouflage thing, but it was really stupid to see a gun that seemed to be floating in the air. Plus, if you ran up too fast to an enemy to maybe pistol whip them, they would look like a big lego piece until the game was able to catch up and make him look right. This also happened with your team mates as well... even if you are standing right next to them. I don't get it.

The A.I. for the most part was alright. There were some parts where it was pretty dumb, but for the most part, they put up a decent fight. When I started playing though, I was just getting my ass worked by it. This is mainly due to the fact that this was the first time I have played an FPS using a controller in a long time. I was just wishing I could of hooked up my keyboard and mouse, but I got back in the swing of things, and I was able to deal with it. Although, now that I think about it, they were very stupid if you did a melee attack on them. What would happen is when you started your melee attack, all his teammates around him would stop shooting their weapon while they just watch their buddy get a huge gun right in their face, and then start to fire to a second after the attack was finished. So there would be times where I could be a room with a ton of enemies, and then just attack them one at a time and not even use any ammo or lose any health. This was a great way to cheese through most of the game when things were looking bad, but really, you shouldn't have been able to do this. Plus it was really funny when some one was standing too close to a wall and I was able to attack them THROUGH the wall. Awesome.

Moving on, this so for all you people that might make a FPS in the future.... when I see something that looks like cloth, such as a tent or something. I expect to be able to shoot through it, and vice versa for the enemy. I don't know how many times I had my ass saved by the little cloth tents that you would find along the way because nothing would get through them. 5 guys shoot at you? Saved. Rockets? Not even a dent. Huge ass artillery strike? Did I just hear something outside? Come on people... get with the program. Plus it doesn't help when one of the characters you can pick has a version of the M60/L.A.W. in BFV before it was patched. 800 round machine gun with a rocket launcher built in, AND I can take damage like a tank? Hell yes I will hit that shit! But ooohhh still can't shoot through that wall.....

After all that though, there are a few things I did like about the game. The voice acting was pretty decent, nothing fantastic, but it fit the characters well. The music on the other hand was great. Really epic sounding stuff although you never really heard any of it until you got to a cut scene. Never the less, it gave a nice mood to the game although I wish the gameplay would be just as epic.

REVIEW: Daxter

May 10, 2006

And Daxter is down. Beat it last night. Man what a great, great, great game. I think out of all the Jak & Daxter games, this one might just happen to be my favorite. Great graphics on the PSP, great gameplay, great music, great everything. I am so glad that Ready At Dawn as able to get the whole Jak universe perfect on a handheld, and I am interested on what their next game might be. I would definitely one of the best games on the PSP, and I would highly recommend it if you are into platformers.

The PlayStation Wii

The controller for PS3 has been created by refining and improving the world's most popular PlayStation controller that has shipped more than several hundred million units worldwide, while inheriting its basic concept and design. The controller for PS3 employs breakthrough technology of high-precision, highly sensitive six-axis sensing system that does not require any devices other than the controller itself for seamless interactive operation, thus eliminating additional settings to TVs. With this technology, ways to enjoy PS3 will be further enhanced by accessing PS3 through the network, while retaining the six-axis sensing capability. In addition to the "3-posture-axis" of roll, pitch and yaw, "3-dimension acceleration information (X, Y, and Z)" can be detected in high-precision and in real-time. In addition to standard key input available in existing controllers, more natural and more intuitive play will become possible as if the controller has become part of your body.




LAWL.

Assassin's Creed Trailer 2

While I wait for the Sony Press conference to start:



Awwww yeah!

E3 E3 E3!

Well, with E3 less than a week away, and the chance that I won't be going this year, I guess I will just kick it at home and keep this site updated with all the great news from the floor. So far, there have been two games that have stood out that got me really pumped.

Assassin's Creed


From the studio behind Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia? B-B-B-B-B-B-boner!



Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway


Even though I am pretty damn tired of the whole World War II genre, there just something about this game that looks fucking bad ass.

God damn it... doesn't ANYONE have an extra passes to E3!?