New stuff for the second half of October. I already finished some of these games if you check my blog daily. ;)

Got:
Uncharted 2 (PS3) - Such an amazing experience.
Brutal Legend (360) - Great story, okay gameplay.

Uncharted 2 LEs (PS3) - Special thanks to Pete D. for the UK version and my other contact for the Aussie version. :D

Tekken 6 Wireless Stick Bundles (PS360) - Gamestop.com didn't ship my preorder bonuses. I had to call to get replacements. They're not here yet as of this post. The one pictured was from a local Gamestop. The guy gave me one simply because I asked. Best B&M Gamestop in my area.
Forza Motorsport 3 LE (360) - Great game.
Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time (PS3) - I need to play the previous two first, lol.

Transformers 2 (BD) - The one with the IMAX scenes. Best cover out of all of them too, imo.

PS3 Charger - Definitely needed one.

Dead Space and Halo ODST figures

 

Finished Brutal Legend (360) on Normal over the weekend. This may be my least favorite game from Tim Shafer. I've loved every game he's done even with their flaws, but something about Brutal Legend didn't hit that note for me (pun not intended). I'll have to side with people who complained about the gameplay. The whole game felt clunky and wasn't much fun to play. On the other hand, the story and characters were great. I also loved the world it's based in. And even though I'm not a huge fan of metal music, I was enjoying the music in this game quite a lot. Anyways, I'm just gonna list my impressions.

Liked:
-Characters - Very likeable cast with lots of personality.
-Humor - Lots of funny moments.
-Designs - Love the character designs.
-World - Interesting motif and very unique.
-Music - Pretty solid soundtrack.

Disliked:
-Sidequests - Repetitive and boring.
-RTS section - I love RTS games but this was clunky and frustrating. Should've been more streamlined or not included at all. Not fun at all.
-Audio loops - The characters repeat the same lines over an over again in the open world. Also, certain long conversations actually repeat themselves in less than 5 seconds. What the?
-Graphical issues - Some framerate issues here and there and minor popup.

Overall, I found the game alright. It was enjoyable simply because the characters and writing was so good. I kept playing for the story and not the gameplay. I would've liked it if they fleshed out the story more because it goes by pretty fast and made the overall game pretty short. There were some moments that felt like they didn't flow that well. For example, I found the characters talking about something that wasn't mentioned before in the main story later in the game.

This made me think I was missing some important backstory info because I skipped most of the secondary stuff. Which reminds me that they also relegated some very cool backstory for the world to these Legendary statues that you need to find to unlock them. BIG mistake because they added a lot to the story. I wish they made these things easier to find or made them story-related in some way during my first playthrough. I didn't bother finding them until I was near the end of the game cuz I had no clue what they did. Btw, I only found two so far and I'm looking forward to finding the rest soon.

Anyways, recommended for Shafer and Metal fans, but I think everyone else should give it a rental at least.

Also started playing Demon's Souls (PS3) after I finished Brutal Legend. Good news is I managed to beat the infamous 1-1 level on my first try with no problems. I killed Phalanx without too much trouble. I didn't face the issues most people had complained about in various podcasts. BUT, after I passed that, I'm pretty much stuck in level grinding mode right now. The rest of the game ramps up in difficulty quite a bit. For some reason, I'm pretty addicted to trying to get my character up to a point where I can take on more guys without too much trouble.

Great graphics, stellar voice acting and tough enemies definitely make this a dungeon crawl winner. It's very moody and works on many levels. Anyways, I might update again when I make some more progress. But for now, it's been an interesting (and punishing) experience.

 

I completed Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3) on Normal mode last night. WOWOWOWOW. What an awesome adventure. Everything you've heard is true. This is one of the best games this year! The production values are through the roof. Uncharted 2 basically takes everything that was good from the first Uncharted and ramps it up ten-fold.

The graphics are absolutely gorgeous. I found myself staring at the locations and examining everything. The water effects are some of the finest I've ever seen. The lighting and explosion effects are top notch as well. But Naughty Dog really improved the character models substantially. If you thought the first Uncharted was good looking, the sequel does it even better. The faces have much more detailed textures and they animate even more realistically. There are tons of subtle facial animations when you're watching the in-game cutscenes. The motion capture and acting is also incredibly well done. When you're playing the game, Drake and his buddies responds to everything around him which adds to the realism and immersive nature of the game.

The audio is equally impressive. I played with the 7.1 LPCM option and it's FANTASTIC. Very nice surround effects with lots of ambient noise all around me. The voice acting is pure excellence. If you loved the first game's voice performances, the sequel does it even better. Everyone is perfect including all the goons and grunts you face. They should win an award because without such amazing voice work, I don't think I would've enjoyed the story as much. Btw, the music is also amazing. It's a beautiful soundtrack with lots of really nice ambient tracks. It's on par with any movie out there, imo.

The story isn't entirely original and there are some twists that I can see coming from a mile away, but the way the story unfolds is very well paced with some action-packed moments. Naughty Dog faithfully captured the feel and epic nature of those old adventure serials and the Indiana Jones movies perfectly. All the characters are likeable and their interactions are fun to watch. It's a superb script with plenty of well written dialogue. The characters feel real and you really care about them. Uncharted 2 is a true epic that even movie fans will enjoy. It's that damn good! I loved it.

Finally, the gameplay. Everything has been improved over the original. The melee combat is actually fun this time and easy to pull off. There are a TON of various animations depending on the environment and how you approach an enemy. The stealth attacks are also fun to watch and execute too. The gunplay is more fair as well. Enemies no longer soak up a bunch of bullets anymore like in the first game. They actually die with a few shots but I did notice that headshots are a bit wonky with most semi-automatic guns. Anyways, I had so much fun with the combat that I wish Naughty Dog could somehow implement these fixes to the first game so I would want to replay that game with the improvements from the sequel. Oh well. The exploration is just as good as the first one so if you loved it in the first game, you'll enjoy it just as much here.

Btw, I did encounter a few bugs/glitches which isn't a big deal. One time, Drake fell into the middle of a wooden platform which forced me to restart a checkpoint cuz I could not escape. I also encountered a graphical glitch when I was on a train and the rest of the location didn't load out for 5 seconds so the train was running on the water which was funny looking. And the worst was when my game froze so I had to turn off my PS3 to reboot the game. Weird stuff but they didn't dampen my enjoyment. They only happened once each so it's probably just a fluke.

Overall, Uncharted 2 is a must play for anyone who likes a good action-adventure game. The story is great, the characters are excellent and the gameplay is fun. If you loved the first game, this one is even better. It's awesome from start to finish. Great job Naughty Dog! I want a sequel already!

 Got an email from MS that my Live account has been returned to me intact! YAY! There was no suspicious activity in my account so they simply gave it back. They actually emailed me at the end of last week but I didn't check that email so I had no clue I had it back over the Columbus Day weekend. I guess they should've called me but they didn't. O well. Anyways, glad to have my account back, now I can play a day of Live before Uncharted 2 arrives this week, lol.



I started playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (PS3) over the weekend. I'm playing Way of the Warrior and boy is it EASY! Hell, Warrior mode in Sigma 2 is easier than Acolyte mode in the 360 version. I wish the harder difficulties were unlocked already so NGII veterans like myself could get some challenge. I was able to sail through most of the game easily and I didn't even need to use my health items that much. The only issues I had were with the new bosses since I had to learn their patterns (which wasn't too hard after one or two retries). I'm slowly taking my time with the game.

Oh yea, I miss the gore alot. The new glowing effects are nice but the lack of blood makes the Ultimate and Obliteration techniques less exciting to watch. They also took out some enemy moves and attacks to make the game way easier as well. This version definitely feels much tamer than the 360 one. The lack of blood sorta reminds me when I first played MK on the SNES. Meh.

Anyways, there are lots of nice improvements to the gameplay that makes the game less frustrating. For example, you now have unlimited arrows for your bow. It's good to not look for arrows or buy them anymore. BUT they took out the ability to charge up which BLOWS CHUNKS! It was fun charging up my arrows to take out some bosses strategically but I guess if you have unlimited arrows, why include this feature? Guh.

I enjoyed playing the new characters like Momoji and Rachel too. They added some variety to the game and expanded the story a bit. But the level design for these characters are simply retreads with some new sections which turned out kinda boring. But at least you got some new stuff to lengthen the gameplay. And I don't mind being able to look at some hot video game chicks once in a while.

So far, the game is fun but I don't think I'm enjoying it quite as much as the 360 version because of the easy difficulty. I can't wait to beat the game on Warrior mode and jump into the higher difficulties later. I need the challenge when I play Ninja Gaiden and Sigma 2 is just not doing it for me. I'll do a more detailed 360 vs PS3 comparison later when I finish the game. But with Uncharted 2 coming this week, I'm not sure when I'll post that blog. ^^;;

 

Still waiting for my Live account to return to me. It's only been a week but I think I'm in withdrawal already. I haven't felt like playing my other games at all. Anyways, just one more week to go! Although I'll probably be busy with a lot of PS3 games by the time I get it back (yes, it's ironic).  I forgot to post my Sept stuff so I included them in this month's post...

Got:

Wacom Intuos4 Tablet - My major purchase from last month. My old Intuos' software kept crapping out on me so it was worthless. Not even the "upgraded" software from Wacom worked. I finally upgraded. Digital art, I am back!

Samus Phazon Suit Statue - Paint job ain't perfect but the light-up feature is sweet.

*PEW PEW!*

Games and Movies - Pics will speak for themselves.