Man it has been a crazy month, I haven't updated since the election due to a busy touring schedule with Phased Orange and family matters... not to mention finals creeping closer than you'd like! Unfortunately my surgery is coming soon which means I am going to be playing HELLA games over the next few weeks, this is due to a no-stress order by Mr. Cardiologist which also means I am not going to be on tour with Phased Orange until after Christmas (hella bummer man!).
I have started many titles though between sessions with the band, and I'd like to share some initial thoughts on them and wrap up a few games:
Not as exciting as it looks...Final Thoughts: Turok
Dinosaurs were never so boring... wait no they were actually.
Besides stating the obvious, Turok for me was a HUGE letdown even for a bargain bin title. The biggest problem with Turok is that it felt like a corridor shooter, but out in a huge field. It's really hard to articulate exactly how bad of a taste it left in my mouth. You try to take Turok seriously when he says anything, but you take one look at the dude's hair and it loses a lot of "cred" yo. Not to mention that I played nearly the entire game by using the knife and it was a one-hit kill for dinos, soliders, and pretty much everything. I can safely say that you can pass up this game no matter what price it is and feel pretty good about it. The bland narrative didn't help either.
Woosh! What were we doing?Early Impressions: Nights: Journey of Dreams
Um....dude what?
So Nights was a game that I was REALLY looking forward to. I used to play the original game at my friend's house when I was much younger during sleepovers and whatnot. I am truly at a loss for words to describe how BAD this game is... really. The flying joker or whatever the hell he/she/it is calls itself Nights. The problem with this is that Nights looks pretty masculine save for the eyes with a distinct lack of breasts or feminine features... however the character is voiced by a girl or a REALLY prepubescent english boy - it's hard to tell. Either way Nights brings little children to the dream world to "dualize" with them (or become one with them). As if that didn't creep you out enough the whole game looks like it was ported from the Dreamcast and the controls are so broken that my cat might be better than me for all I would know.
Not the Banjo we remember!33 Jiggie Impressions: Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
Shiny as ever... and as weird.
So it's pretty good. No really. I entered into this game with zero expectations that Banjo could be properly revived and I was immediately blown away by how true of a remake some aspects of Nuts and Bolts was. The title sequence for instance, has the exact same theme (redone of course) and the exact same layout around Spiral Mountain. What impressed me most was the art style, which was the same kind of bright primary colors you found in the original Banjo title (I didn't play Tooie). The next thing I noticed, was that even though I HATE HATE HATE doing this in games... is that I WANTED to spend a lot of time in vechicle creator and customize my ride for challenges. I found it not only rewarding, but lots of fun. The ONLY thing I wish, is that the revival of the franchise onto the Xbox sparks a truer sequel with platforming as the focus. That said, I haven't finished the title so I am not sure what the state of the ending leaves to be desired.
Next blog: Fallout 3, Dead Space and Gears of War 2
Man it has been a crazy month, I haven't updated since the election due to a busy touring schedule with Phased Orange and family matters... not to mention finals creeping closer than you'd like! Unfortunately my surgery is coming soon which means I am going to be playing HELLA games over the next few weeks, this is due to a no-stress order by Mr. Cardiologist which also means I am not going to be on tour with Phased Orange until after Christmas (hella bummer man!).
I have started many titles though between sessions with the band, and I'd like to share some initial thoughts on them and wrap up a few games:
Not as exciting as it looks...Final Thoughts: Turok
Dinosaurs were never so boring... wait no they were actually.
Besides stating the obvious, Turok for me was a HUGE letdown even for a bargain bin title. The biggest problem with Turok is that it felt like a corridor shooter, but out in a huge field. It's really hard to articulate exactly how bad of a taste it left in my mouth. You try to take Turok seriously when he says anything, but you take one look at the dude's hair and it loses a lot of "cred" yo. Not to mention that I played nearly the entire game by using the knife and it was a one-hit kill for dinos, soliders, and pretty much everything. I can safely say that you can pass up this game no matter what price it is and feel pretty good about it. The bland narrative didn't help either.
Woosh! What were we doing?Early Impressions: Nights: Journey of Dreams
Um....dude what?
So Nights was a game that I was REALLY looking forward to. I used to play the original game at my friend's house when I was much younger during sleepovers and whatnot. I am truly at a loss for words to describe how BAD this game is... really. The flying joker or whatever the hell he/she/it is calls itself Nights. The problem with this is that Nights looks pretty masculine save for the eyes with a distinct lack of breasts or feminine features... however the character is voiced by a girl or a REALLY prepubescent english boy - it's hard to tell. Either way Nights brings little children to the dream world to "dualize" with them (or become one with them). As if that didn't creep you out enough the whole game looks like it was ported from the Dreamcast and the controls are so broken that my cat might be better than me for all I would know.
Not the Banjo we remember!33 Jiggie Impressions: Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
Shiny as ever... and as weird.
So it's pretty good. No really. I entered into this game with zero expectations that Banjo could be properly revived and I was immediately blown away by how true of a remake some aspects of Nuts and Bolts was. The title sequence for instance, has the exact same theme (redone of course) and the exact same layout around Spiral Mountain. What impressed me most was the art style, which was the same kind of bright primary colors you found in the original Banjo title (I didn't play Tooie). The next thing I noticed, was that even though I HATE HATE HATE doing this in games... is that I WANTED to spend a lot of time in vechicle creator and customize my ride for challenges. I found it not only rewarding, but lots of fun. The ONLY thing I wish, is that the revival of the franchise onto the Xbox sparks a truer sequel with platforming as the focus. That said, I haven't finished the title so I am not sure what the state of the ending leaves to be desired.
Next blog: Fallout 3, Dead Space and Gears of War 2
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