Well I haven't had the opportunity to write anything on this blog in a long time.  But I'm back and I'm ready for a little post-Christmas game mini-review extravaganza.  Gonna keep this brief.  Case studies to work on...

Anyway, so it's good to be back amongst the living as far as blogging.  i got some games for Christmas, and a couple afterwards.  So I'm gonna chat them up a little.

Gears of War 2:  So yeah you can't own an xbox without eventually grabbing some Gears and some Halo's, i would imagine.  Gears 2 continues on with the same atmosphere and playing mechanics as the first game.  And while I do see a few things that look better, I still believe Gears 1 had a darker, grimier appeal.  This game looked brighter and I'm not sure I cared for that.  I mean ***plot spoilers start***  this war is literally destroying the planet, I don't imagine clear skies and stuff being a part of that.  Also the blood effects are much brighter too.  The lancer, while still the greatest video game weapon...EVAR, has like these smokey tracers after the bullets...what's the deal with that?  Also the chainsawing is like, not quite as intense as the first game.  So those are my complaints.  As for what it does right?  It nails the intensity and action that we've all come to know and love from these types of games. 

Far Cry 2:  I have not been so pleasantly surprised by an underrated, underadvertised FPS in a LONG time.  This game just sucked me in to its African landscape, where apparently everyone HATES YOU.  Even the dude's you're working for will shoot you on site.  You literally have to fight your way through every checkpoint station every time you pass it!  It's intense, it's fun, the action is great and the jungle environments are amazing!  There's nothing quite like opening up on your enemies with a jeep mounted machine gun that is just tearing up the trees and bushes and buildings alike.  It really is a fantastic experience.  And yes, most reviews complain about the driving and the distances to stuff, it IS a bit annoying, but not to the point I don't want to play it anymore.  In fact, what makes it unique is the feeling that you are in this alone.  You treat your own wounds by digging out bullets or setting broken bones, you fix your own vehicles by pulling out your trusty rusty tools and reparing radiators etc, you have to take care of your guns or else they will jam...AT THE WRONG TIME.  These concepts give the game a personality unlike other shooters out these days.  Another example would be back to that jeep with the gun.  Sure it would be cool if you had a buddy back there shooting while you drive, but it's still just as satisfying to see your enemies driving up to get the jump on you, so you hit the gas full speed, slide under the roll bar into the machine gun turret and take them out before they get into range, slide BACK into the driver's seat and cruise right on by their desimated car.  All by yourself.  Awesome.

Rock Band 2:  So yeah, Christmas day and the following days my family and I got into some Rock Bands.  This game is just as fun as the first.  But before all of the fun part, I had to get my 20 free (meh) songs AND get my $5 ticket to load my RB1 tracks onto my hard drive.  So that was kinda rough Christmas day due to everyone and his brother being on XBox Live.  Anyway, what is there to say about these games that hasn't already been said?  They rock!  I love the new songs.  I was able to remake my awesome character, Chaz, rather easily.  I love the songs and how they made the main game the world tour this time around.  My only issue there is I've played the same songs seemingly over and over again.  Which is great for the fun ones, but when I'm trying to unlock a city and need like 2 more stars and all that's left are these really tough, long songs.  Well, that gets a little annoying.  heh heh  But overall, a great sequel and a great game.  Also EA, thanks for showing a little love to us Dylan fans by including Tangled Up in Blue.  Never thought that would work in a game like this, but whatevs!  Keep it up!

Operation Darkness:  So this is one I bought used because the concept of Nazi zombies and turned based strategy go together like ninjas riding velociraptors.  You CAN NOT LOSE with either combination.  This game tells a strange story of supernatural vs. history in a way I've never seen before.  I just can't tell whether it's totally rad or just really really weird.  hmmm...  Can't decide right now.  I like the idea we have real WWII footage mixed in with the werewolves and zombies and such, makes it a little bit more fun.  So the actual gameplay is rather basic, turn based strat standard.  Very simple game design, kinda screwy camera, but the controls work well for a console RTS.  I like it, haven't got too far in yet, but I look forward to some serious time with it after this semester is behind me.  It's not one you just pick up and play.  It requires a time commitment to get anywhere with it.

Last for now, but certainly not least is a game I got back in November and shouldn't even be on this list, but it's still my current next gen fave and I can not get enough of this game.  That's right.  LittleBigPlanet.  I have never played a game like it.  I'm having a blast just playing the story modes over and over to collect stuff and see how they've built these awesome contraptions.  The Metal Gear pack dropped the week of Christmas and changed EVERYTHING.  Now you can have paintball games in your custom levels, which is great!  Also now that the search engine is a little better, I have found it much easier to access the awesome custom levels available online.  LBP is certainly a growing/evolving entity that I think even a smaller more devout crowd will keep alive for a long while.  Since it didn't sell the way they expected, I only hope the audience they did hook sticks with it and keeps up the good work.  There are some amazing things going on in there.  Currently I've only published two levels that have not really picked up much traffic, but that's ok.  haha  I'm working on improving with every one I make and hopefully some day I'll have my "Dino Island" or "World of Color."  Both of which everyone should check out if they haven't already, because those levels are already classics.

So that's it for now.  I'll get back onto my "What's wrong with gaming?" series of blogs when I get time to think about it somemore.  The last one got some great comments that I appreciated very much!

Enjoy your game time!



Wesman

I have a few ideas why the Japanese developers are struggling maintaning their grasp on the industry and the audience.  I'm not claiming I'm right and I encourage debate, so don't be all hateful and stuff, ok? 

Here I'm gonna cover one factor where Japanese developed games always dominated in the past:  Graphics.

This used to be the driving factor for most games.  Who could make what game look better than it's competition.  Each system offered more memory which meant better graphics.  This went on for years, but has sorta died down in this generation.  It used to be we looked to the Metal Gears and such to set the standard for graphics.  Gran Turismo's and the like helped make games a little more believable with each iteration.  I just think this is less of a factor today, considering the amazing graphics all of the systems can pump out.  I constantly hear gamers complaining about everything being brown and gray with games these days, and I agree with some of that.  I see games that look crisp and clear and things that would be shiny in real life are shiny in games.  I see things that look rough and course look the same in games these days.  Translation:  They all basically look the same, but in a GOOD way. 

Some games have more DETAIL than others.  This is true, no doubt.  Games like Gears of War and LittleBigPlanet stand out for their polish and amount of details in the game, but none of them are really making people stop and say "wow" anymore. 

Bigger concerns I hear about these days include load times, control issues, or game length, just to name a few.  These things are a universal complaint, no matter what system or genre, I see these same things popping up.  Have we moved past simple eye candy?  Are gamers overall actually starting to dig a little deeper under the surface and wanting better quality as well as wanting the big "S" ?  Story?

Well, tell me what you think.

It's late.  I'ma continue this later.


Wesman

Found this over at Kotaku.  Thought some of you might be interested if you haven't seen it already.  Others, like, say, fans of Dragonball?  Yeah, you all may want to cry.  Get some tissues ready.


I honestly thought this was fan made for a little bit.  I'm sorry.

Wow.  I have to say for the first time....ever.  I am very excited about Atari's lineup this next year.  Chances are they will be getting a lot of my money!  Chronicles of Riddick was great, and I can't wait for that new one to be released.  Ghostbusters looks equally great and getting back the original cast to perform their parts and even the same writers!  That's exciting that even the old guys in showbiz are starting to see that Video Games are where their fans are!

That's all this time.  Just thought I'd make a note. 

Ok, where to start?  I'll go in order, I guess.  Here's the stuff I've said I was gonna write about but didn't.

So I probably mentioned this a few places on GB, but I ordered the Survival Edition of Fallout 3 Exclusive to Amazon, blah blah blah yada yada yada.  I love it.  Anyways, rewind a bit.  I get an email from Mr. Amazon a few weeks before the game drops.  He says in a cute email  (featuring Vault boy giving me the "thumbs up")  that I can now get release date delivery, that's right, delivery on the same day it hits store shelves.  I agree to this since it's only $5 and I was already getting the free shipping.  So fast forward to release day.  I go to class.  I check my email.  I get my tracking number, I see it is delivered.  "Sweet," I says to my friend sitting beside me, "at lunch I'll be in post-apocalyptic bliss."  She gives me that weird look, the one non-gamers give us when they have no idea what we're talking about.  Kinda like this:  o_O

I go back to my apartment.  No Box.  I call Amazon, who WON'T let me speak to the delivery truck driver even though THEY did.  They decide the box was delivered somewhere else and they are going to refund me since they couldn't guarantee a replacement at the time.  Great, right?  No, wrong.  I can't get my pipboy 3000, which I had paid for, ANYWHERE else, also I'm pissed because they screwed this up so bad.  So my other friend who is a gamer is driving to the closest Best Buy because coincidentally he got screwed over on his LittleBigPlanet Preorder from Gamestop.com.  So I hitch a ride and pick up the lunchbox edition of Fallout 3 at Best Buy.  hahaha, Victory!  When I finally got home @ 10 that night, I start into it and I haven't let up since.  The End, right?  NO

2 days later...**knock knock**  Guess what is sitting at my doorstep?  lol

*       *       *

Story Number TWO:  Metal Gear Online


Press Start


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loading.........


I'm going to be offering additional add-ons to this blog for $14.99


update downloading.........



If you read all of that, and paused at the ellipses like you were supposed to, you have some idea what it's like to try and play Metal Gear Online for the first time.  I pop in the disc, start installing all the updates, and after that, I start in making up user names for all these sites I have to log into to get playing.  (I'm nekkid_snake by the way, if hell freezes over and I decide to attempt this game again, we should totally play a match)  yeah, it's a pain.  And yeah, that entire concept is ridiculous and not fun really, but what makes me even more angry is the fact they're wheeling out download packs to PURCHASE. 

So you have a game that is struggling and people all around the nets are complaining about it and how awful the servers are and all these problems and how do you thank the fans that have hung in there and stuck it out and still attempt to play your game?  You charge them for extra character slots, and for extra characters and content packs.  You can play as a chick for $14.99, people.  You're welcome.  :-) 

I am and have always been a HUGE Metal Gear fan, but this online setup is terrrible.  And shame on Konami for attempting this.

So there's my 2 stories for now.  If you made it this far, congratulations.  Now since it's a no-exam kinda week, I'm gonna take in a batman graphic novel and perhaps some FF Tactics or Chrono Trigger later, before finishing off the evening with LBP level editing work ( That's for you, Metal_Gear_Sunny, or should I say for your Sackboy so he's not mad at me anymore.  lol )  and Fallout 3 leveling up.

Hope you all have a great day, and play something good!


Wesman