Near perfect sandbox of crime

Posted : 4 weeks, 1 day ago on 16 September 2008 04:16 (A review of Grand Theft Auto IV)

Being a big fan of the GTA franchise when I heard GTA4 was coming it was both inevitable and a joy to hear.
Now that I've finally finished it, I am not disappointed.

GTA4 revolves around Niko Bellic, a immigrant from Bosnia trying to start his life over in Liberty City. But later on in the game Niko explains that his coming to Liberty City wasn't just to start over but to find who he thinks betrayed his former army unit.
On the way Niko makes friends and finds work with lots of different interesting people; from a Russian loan shark, a Jamaican arms dealer, a loud mouth (slightly gay) steroid user, to a family of Irish mobsters.

Graphics are pretty stunning and have forgone the cartoony look for a more realistic look and it pull that off really well.

Sound is a big plus in almost every aspect. The voice work on all the characters sound perfectly matched, the sound FX's are spot on, and the radio is full of tunes and talk stations that anyone is sure to find one or two that like.

Gameplay is fairly the same as the other GTA's as far as missions go but the rest has taken a major overhaul since the last GTA.
Shooting is a lot better with the lock-on system being really good at picking the dangerous targets before random passer-by and also the manual aim with the PS3's new triggers felt really natural.
The cover system is also new for the series and while not original or the best out there it's a welcome addition as with previous GTA's you almost had to have armor on all the time when fighting and the cover system gives the player a better chance against multiple enemies.
One of the more radical changes is the driving as there is now a physic engine and so driving doesn't feel as arcady and now more realistic and takes time to get used to.

Overall the game is great and near perfect and should be picked up by any 360 or PS3 owner.

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I know the Creed... now what?

Posted : 2 months, 2 weeks ago on 30 July 2008 04:21 (A review of Assassin's Creed)

The Crusade's, parkour, stealth, and assassinations all sound great and Assassin's Creed promised all of those things and that sounded great but after playing the game it fell a little short.

You play Desmond Miles, a man from 2012 AD, who is kidnapped and forced to entered a machine called the Animus that searches a persons DNA and extract memories from the users ancestors. Well one of Desmond's ancestors turns out to be a member of the Assassins Order during the Third Crusade named Altaïr.
Altaïr is tasked to help stop the Crusade by killing 9 leaders on both sides of the war. As he continues to kill the men, Altaïr finds out why he was sent to kill them and also why Desmond was kidnapped.

In order to assassinate the leaders, Altaïr must gather information by pickpocketing, beating a confession, eavesdropping, or helping a Order informer on the target that is in a sector and then get approval from the Order leader in the city with the information.
Also he can do a couple side missions by saving citizens that go can help getting into a place with scholars or having vigilantes that while hold on to guards as Altaïr gets away.
All of this is the real problem with the game as getting the information is all the same in every level of the game and gets really boring fast.

Visually the game looks great even on a standard def TV and I bet looks better on a HDTV.
Controls are tight most of the time and only feel loose when fighting but not so loose to be killed too many times.
But another fault is that story is weak as its pretty confusing and a bit convoluted.

Overall the game is a good game and worth borrowing to play but its seems like the game needed a little more work in some areas that could have make it a great game.

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Another WWII FPS with a twist

Posted : 7 months ago on 18 March 2008 12:56 (A review of Brothers in Arms: Road To Hill 30)

Oh no, another WWII based shooter!
Well this game isn't bad and should be played.

Based on a true story, set during the famous airdrop before the invasion at Normandy, where Sgt. Matt Baker and his squad of 101st Airborne Paratroopers are scattered over the French countryside.
There are 20 chapters to play through and with the action and story, you'll really want to know whats going to happen next.

Controls are easy enough for anyone who has played FPS on PC but it does have a little bit a getting used to. Why? Because player not only controlling Baker, but the squad thats with him. Player control two fire teams and can place one team to place covering and suppressing fire while Baker and the other team flanks the enemies. The game does have a tutorial build in so that player can learn to lead their brothers to victory.

Music in game is the pretty standard fare of orchestral but the sound FX of the gun fire and squad members yelling at the player were so life like and is really immersive.

The game just looks great as every house, plant and character are all textured wonderfully and bring the game a gritty realistic feel.

The only draw back is that the team AI isn't smart enough sometimes and continually says that they can't see or shoot a target and don't move to get a better shot and sometimes gets shot and dies so the strategy part is mandatory most of the time.

Really the game is fast, furious and a blast to play and the story is compelling to continue to the end.

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I don't need coffee to have fun

Posted : 7 months ago on 18 March 2008 12:26 (A review of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Special Edition))

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the 6th game in the series and one of the best.

The player takes the role of Carl Johnson, an ex-gang member that just heard that his mother was killed and comes back for home for answers. He is almost instantly brought back into his old gang and for the rest of the game he goes on trying to take over his neighborhood and later that whole state.

Players that have played GTA3 or GTA: Vice City know what the game is like; killing, shooting, racing, and just running a muck. And nothing really has changed since the previous games other then a couple little things like the player is able to swim and not die instantly, flying is easier and parachutes are added, lock on isn't perfect but better then before, and the game adds a fat-fitness part where the player has to watch what Carl eats and exercises so that he isn't too fat and slow or too skinny and weak.

One major thing over previous installments is the shear size of the state of San Andreas which it is about 2 to 3 times as big as Vice City's layout and is full of things to do.

The music is a mixed bag for me as most of the soundtrack is full of rap/hip-hop and the only stations I would listen to was the talk and rock stations and sometimes those got boring so I was glad I could mute the game and listen to my iPod.

The voice acting in San Andreas is awesome as all the characters from Carl to Officer Tenpenny all sound like they are real people in this faux world.

Now unless someone was living under a rock for the past couple years, San Andreas came under fire for having a "hidden" sex game but was only unlockable if the player owns a cheat device or has the PC version and unofficially patched the game so really the game got a little more heat than it should have. And in this edition that part of the code has been removed totally so players wanting to see the "hot coffee" are out of luck.

Added into the special edition is The Introduction which chronicles the events leading up where the game starts.

In whole the game is a blast to play and if you own a PS2 you shouldn't be caught dead with out it.

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I don't need coffee to have fun

Posted : 7 months ago on 18 March 2008 12:25 (A review of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas)

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the 6th game in the series and one of the best.

The player takes the role of Carl Johnson, an ex-gang member that just heard that his mother was killed and comes back for home for answers. He is almost instantly brought back into his old gang and for the rest of the game he goes on trying to take over his neighborhood and later that whole state.

Players that have played GTA3 or GTA: Vice City know what the game is like; killing, shooting, racing, and just running a muck. And nothing really has changed since the previous games other then a couple little things like the player is able to swim and not die instantly, flying is easier and parachutes are added, lock on isn't perfect but better then before, and the game adds a fat-fitness part where the player has to watch what Carl eats and exercises so that he isn't too fat and slow or too skinny and weak.

One major thing over previous installments is the shear size of the state of San Andreas which it is about 2 to 3 times as big as Vice City's layout and is full of things to do.

The music is a mixed bag for me as most of the soundtrack is full of rap/hip-hop and the only stations I would listen to was the talk and rock stations and sometimes those got boring so I was glad I could mute the game and listen to my iPod.

The voice acting in San Andreas is awesome as all the characters from Carl to Officer Tenpenny all sound like they are real people in this faux world.

Now unless someone was living under a rock for the past couple years, San Andreas came under fire for having a "hidden" sex game but was only unlockable if the player owns a cheat device or has the PC version and unofficially patched the game so really the game got a little more heat than it should have. And in this edition that part of the code has been removed totally so players wanting to see the "hot coffee" are out of luck.

In whole the game is a blast to play and if you own a PS2 you shouldn't be caught dead with out it.

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Solid artful game

Posted : 7 months, 2 weeks ago on 4 March 2008 01:46 (A review of Shadow of the Colossus)

When I played Ico I thought it looked nice but really disliked most of the experience because of Yorda. So when I heard that Shadow of the Colossus was being made by the same thing I wasn't really wanting to pick up this game but finally did due to critics exulting the game.
While so while the game is a better then Ico, it still wasn't my cup of tea but still enjoyable.

The main character is a young man named Wander; aided by only his sword, bow, arrows, and his trusty steed Agro, must explore a vast map trying to find sixteen colossi in order to restore the life of a dead girl.

Fighting each one of the colossi is great as each one are huge and have different ways of scaling them in order to defeating them and finding out how is like figuring out a good puzzle and very rewarding when finally vanquishing the colossus.

Visually the game is great even with the PS2 now limited power and somewhat muted colors both the landscape and the colossi look great and give the game a artful look, much like Ico did.

Controls felt a little loose but not so much that I was throwing my controller trying to basic tasks.

Music outside of colossi battles are almost nonexistent but when fighting a colossus the music kicks in and makes the conflict feel epic.

What I didn't like was that while the game is pretty open to explore there wasn't much to see or do other then finding the next colossus to defeat. Also lack of story was a turn off because I never felt really engaged with why I was fight the colossi other then to try and get to the ending and see why and even that was a less cryptic.

Overall Shadow of the Colossus was a solid game and experience that if asked if someone should play I would have to say yes if the person asking was into artsy games.

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Better Tetris and now portable

Posted : 8 months, 2 weeks ago on 2 February 2008 04:58 (A review of Super Puzzle Fighter II)

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is a great game on the consoles and arcades which took Tetris and threw in some cool graphics, Capcom Street Fighter characters, and tweaked some of the core gameplay mechanics and became a even more addicting game. Well Super Puzzle Fighter II for the GBA take all that and puts it in a portable form.
In Tetris blocks fall and when the player makes a line of blocks that line disappears but in Puzzle Fighter gems are dropped and can be built up to make bigger gems until the player can drop crash gem which destroys the gem and send a attack of counter gems to the opponent who is trying to do the same.
Players can pick some of their favorite Street Fighter characters which each have different drop patterns for counter gems.
Sound is the same as the original.
Graphic on the this version seems to be better then on the PSX giving the game a even brighter feeling.
In the end taking Puzzle Fighter and putting in a portable version makes this version even better.

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Tetris but better

Posted : 8 months, 2 weeks ago on 2 February 2008 04:51 (A review of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo)

Back in the 80's the most played game was Tetris. Well Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo takes Tetris throws in some cool graphics, Capcom Street Fighter characters, and tweaks some of the core gameplay mechanics and become a even more addicting game.
In Tetris blocks fall and when the player makes a line of blocks that line disappears but in Puzzle Fighter gems are dropped and can be built up to make bigger gems until the player can drop crash gem which destroys the gem and send a attack of counter gems to the opponent who is trying to do the same.
Players can pick some of their favorite Street Fighter characters which each have different drop patterns for counter gems.
Sound is great with all the sounds and music from Street Fighter making it really feel like a true Capcom fighter.
And graphic are a real treat as the blocks are nice and bright and the characters are miniature and cute versions of their Street Fighter counterparts.
At the time Tetris was the most addicting game out and while it's still addicting today I find Puzzle Fighter so much better.

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WarGames the game

Posted : 8 months, 2 weeks ago on 2 February 2008 04:29 (A review of DEFCON: Everybody Dies)

As a geek one of my favorite movies is WarGames where a hacker breaks into a military computer and starts playing a game of global thermal nuclear war with a advanced AI computer that the computer later trys to make real.
Well DEFCON is that game.
The game was a really simple premise pick a side at the start and progress through the defcon levels setting up for when defcon 1 is reached and nuclear fallout begins.
Defcon 5 is were players start setting up radar, bases, silos, airfields, and the naval fleet. Defcon 4 the radar starts to work. At Defcon 3 players can't build anymore but by then they should be trying to explore a little with the navy and find out the best places to attack when Defcon 1 is reached and players can finally deploy nukes. Single player Defcon gets really old fast but playing multiplayer can be really fun as players can make alliances with friends and attack their enemies together or turn on one another in the midst of conflict.
Multiplayer also has some great alternatives to play like Office mode where the game is played in real time so it can take 6+ hours to finish and also if the player need to hide the game from the boss they just need to press Esc and the game is minimized and a word document is opened. Speed mode is what is sounds like as the game can finish in under 30 minutes and Diplomacy mode is where all players are on the same team and can see everything until one breaks off and attacks.
Graphics are minimal but really stylish in bringing a real life WarGame game.
Sound is really simple and subtle that is makes you feel like the player isn't really playing game but playing real nuclear war.
Overall the game is really good and can be found for under $20 some places so it's also a great buy.

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Great hyper realistic game

Posted : 8 months, 2 weeks ago on 2 February 2008 03:47 (A review of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare)

I'm a big CoD fan and found the first and second game great experiences and when I heard that CoD 3 were console only I was bummed but now that I found out it wasn't developed by Infinity Ward and this is what they were working on I'm okay with it.
The main reason that I enjoy the CoD games is the single player story and while CoD4's is a little short I still found it throughly enjoyable and ended spectacularly.
Gameplay is a really solid while on rails but still feels big enough that I didn't feel too constricted. Every rifle, pistol, grenade, and other weapons feeling like I'm really shooting them. AI didn't fell dumb and gave me a nice challenge.
Sound wise in respects to voice overs, effects, and music it is top notch with everything sounding as it should.
Graphics are what every AAA title is today, awesome.
Now I know some people are put off because of the settings of the game because of the operations in Iraq and terrorism but I think they should get over it and play this awesome game.

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