REVIEW: SSX On Tour

June 4, 2006

So I stopped playing SSX a while ago. Not all too sure why it took so long to write anything. I guess with Issue 7 for CoH/CoV, time can vanish pretty quick. To be honest, I can't even remember when I stopped playing... the 4th is sorta just "around that time."

Anyway, just like other racing games, I really see no "end" to them, so when finish it, I got to a point in the game where I can say that I have "beat" the game to a point... and yeah whatever... I think you get the idea.

SSX On Tour was a huge let down. They went from the awesome and fantastic SSX3, and they took like 10 steps backwards. They took everything that made SSX3 great and either got rid of it, or "update" it by making that feature worse. The two best examples is the online and the customize feature.

SSX3 had some awesome online play. Rarely any lag, always some one to play with, fun fun fun! So you think if it was that great they would put it in On Tour right? Wrong. No online play. HUGE mistake. Not only did they just get rid of one of the best parts of the game, but now I can't show grayscale how much I own him. ;) What was their reason for getting rid of it? The new shit-tastic create a character.

First off, I don't want to waste my time and make my own character. Second, if you do feel the need to shove it in everyone's face, the least you could have done is not make it a slap in the face to everyone who has enjoyed the previous games. Terrible UI and customize feature. I don't know why I feel SSX3 had a much better system, even though I think they were pretty much the same in terms of how to put shit on. It just feels like trash in On Tour.

This whole game just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I could go into greater detail on what they fucked up, but I rather just forget that On Tour even happened, and just stick with SSX3 when I need a fix.

REVIEW: Half-Life 2: Episode One

June 2, 2006

Finished HL2: Ep1 a couple days ago. Awesome, awesome, awesome. I think it is better than HL2 to be honest. It was pretty much non-stop action from start to finish, and it was one of those games where I knew I wanted to take a break and maybe get something to eat, but I just HAD to keep on playing because I wanted to see what was next. It is very rare for games to have that effect on me nowadays.

My only real gripe that I had with the game is the way the flashlight and the oxygen when you are in the water share the same "power source" so when you add that with the new pitch black levels, things can be a pain in the ass pretty damn quickly.

Other than that, not all to much to say other than it was money well spent, and I can't wait for the next one.