With the game release season fast approaching I wanted to share my thoughts on some of the games coming out this holiday that have caught my attention. That is not to say that I will be buying all these games, they just looked interesting or have been on my wishlist for a long time now.
Fable 2
Promises, promises.I considered the original Fable to be a very fun game. Perhaps it was because I didn't listen to all the hype Peter Molyneux was spouting, or maybe I just didn't care. Though now that I think about it, it was more likely that I was less of a critic back then and didn't mind all of the game downfalls. Anyway, once I heard the announcement of Fable 2 I immediately put it on my wishlist. My anticipation of this game has wavered a bit, partly due to the influx of other, dare I say better, games over the years. Of course, as before, Peter has been making promises of Fable 2's greatness. As to whether he'll deliver, it's uncertain, but I hope to be at least entertained by what this sequel has to offer.
Little Big Planet
Until recently I had no real excitement for Little Big Planet. I didn't like all of the cutesy......uh......stuff, and the first trailer I saw had music from a fifth grader's recorder recital. It wasn't until I viewed the newest trailers that I became really intrigued by all the possibilities. The amount of creativity needed to build a functional level seems pretty daunting, but it should be interesting to see what your average LBP fanboy can come up with. And though I usually despise pre-order bonuses, having a little sackboy Kratos running around in-game is a nice gift.
Tom Clancy's Endwar
Shit, you're not supposed to see this. LOOK AWAY!The only reason I'm looking forward to Endwar is because I took part in the private beta test held back in June. I still can't say much since I signed an NDA, but I can tell you that the voice controls worked better than I expected and the units and battlegrounds were surprisingly well detailed. I only had two big complaints; the first being the poorly positioned camera and the other being the rock-paper-scissors style of combat. I still don't think this will change the way RTS games are made for consoles, but it's a step in the right direction.
Gears of War 2
Ch3k m4h sw33t h4t br4h!I'm going to buy Gears 2 for the same reason I bought Halo 3, because everyone is going to play it. Sometimes going with the crowd is mandatory, at least in my mind. To tell you the truth I didn't enjoy Gears 1, but a friend of mine loved it so I decided to give in and buy myself a copy. It seems history will repeat itself once again and I'll end up playing this with a friend, and then never playing it again.
Left 4 Dead
It's a zombie game! What more is there to say than that. Hordes of the undead running full speed into your fire can only lead to enjoyment. As with Castle Crashers (which I am thoroughly enjoying at the moment), if anyone else is excited for this game and ever needs another person to play with, hit me up. I'm hoping the 360 version is released this year but if not, take all the time you need Valve, take all the time you need.
Fallout 3
It all just seems too familiar.Sadly I never played Fallout 1 or Fallout 2. Now that Bethesda has control of the license, I'm a little concerned that Fallout 3 won't have the humor that I've heard so much about. I'm also concerned about how much it reminds me of Oblivion. From videos I've seen recently I've found that talking to an NPC still zooms in and freezes any action in the background. Also combat, even though you carry guns instead of swords, still looks so similar its a bit disheartening. Now don't misunderstand me, I like Oblivion, but I was expecting Fallout 3 to have a different look and playstyle. This won't keep me from playing though, and I'm still really looking forward to being the Hero of Kvatch.....oops.....I mean of some post-apocalyptic town.
Honorable Mention
Resistance 2
Still have the original, and really like the thought of squad-based 60 player battles.
C&C: Red Alert 3
I liked Command & Conquer 3, and it has Tim Curry, George Takai, and that Cosmonaut from Armageddon.
COD: World at War
I still can't see why there was so much hate for COD3. Of course it wouldn't be good, it's a Call of Duty game that wasn't made by Infinity Ward, but that doesn't mean is was horrible spawn of Satan. From what I've seen of World at War, it looks like Treyarch has done a good job with this one, even though it's still set in WWII.
Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway
This damn game has been sitting on my wishlist for 2 years now. I have prayed to every deity in the known Universe for this fucking mythical beast to not to be delayed again. Sure I'll probably be severely disappointed by the finished product, but I don't really care at this point. 5 Comments
Hey guys, just wanted to update since I haven't posted in a few days.
First, I've been playing quite a few Live Arcade games this week. Geometry Wars 2 has been a nice distraction and if you want to add me to your leaderboard my gamertag is in my bio. I usually play Sequence, Deadline, and Evolved.
Turn that frown upside-down, Buddy!I also played (and promptly beat) Braid a few days ago. I'm still a little torn as to whether I like it. The puzzles were creative and the solutions were usually in plain sight, and if you collect all the stars (if you knew about the stars) there is an alternate ending for you to see. My one problem with Braid is that it's too pretentious for my taste. While I admit that there are many artistic elements in Braid it's hard for me to see this game as a work of art. To make sure don't start any fights between Braid lovers and haters I'll stop now.
On Wednesday I bought Bionic Commando: Rearmed and have been loving it. My only frustration is the d-pad on my 360 controller is terrible. Now I know I'm supposed to use the analog stick but it just feels better, for me at least, to use a d-pad. I downloaded the demo on PSN and found the dualshock d-pad to be much better. I don't use my PS3 very much, except for a Blu-ray player, but this game might change my mind.
Yeah, I know it's not Conquest, but it's hard to take pictures when getting shot.Besides arcade games I haven't played much else. I played a little Conquest in Battlefield: Bad Company yesterday and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. After reading some forum threads saying it was garbage I was really surprised by how much I liked it. It's definitely a nice diversion if I get bored with Gold Rush.
Lastly, I've been wanting to get back into Call of Duty 4, but haven't really found time. It's been a month or so since I last played and I miss the fun that I used to have. I'm a little rusty but if anyone needs an extra player in their group I'd be willing to join. Just send me a friend request and if I recognize you I'll accept.
That's about all I've been gaming for the last couple days, but I'm wishing that time would speed up so I can play Castle Crashers. I heard there was co-op, so I guess you could send me a FR if you want to play that too (damn, I sound desperate).
3 Comments
I'm going to keep this short, but just a little over two hours ago I completed a task that took over a week to accomplish. What is that momentous task you ask? Well I'll tell you patient reader, I just got the Smile achievement in Geometry Wars 2. EDIT: For those who don't know, the Smile achievement is earned in the game's Sequence mode. In Sequence there are 20 grids that each must be cleared in under 30 seconds. To unlock Smile, you must fail grids 2, 4, 11, 15, 17,18, and 19. The grid overview at the end should look like this:
O X O X O O O O O O X O O O X O X X X O
Oh and sorry, the link I put up earlier did not serve its' purpose so you'll just have to trust me.
Since I covered 3 Xtreme in the first installment I think it would be a good idea if I commented on its predecessor, 2 Xtreme.
If there is a 1 Xtreme please tell me.I’ll just start this off by saying that 2 Xtreme isn’t really a bad game. The problem is that it’s not a great game either. Even when I was younger I knew this game wasn’t very good. So yesterday I decided to put the disc in my PS3 and take a trip down ol’ memory lane. Expecting to feel the same frustration as I did in my early years, I was not surprised when the race started and every other player took off like they had jets on their shoes while my character and I accelerated ever so slowly. Once my skater finally reached top speed we celebrated by slamming into a row of barrels, knocking my player off his feet with a wonderful ‘thud’ sound. After my little skater was back on his feet and further down the course, the camera decided to move suddenly and cause my character to be teleported several feet to the left. This then caused him to hit a wall, which had not been there a moment earlier, and was lucky enough to become stuck against that wall for a few seconds.
Once the Little Skater-guy had freed himself, I ‘coasted’ him over to a power-up gate. The word “SPEED” was written at the top, implying that this power-up will increase your SPEED for a short duration. Luckily another skater had just hit a gatepost in front of us, and as he began to accelerate it seemed like a perfect opportunity to activate SPEED. Much to my surprise, using the SPEED ability did not make my player move faster, and the skater we were tailing quickly faded into the distance. After trying the other power-ups I realized that these abilities were useless and tried to make Skater-guy dodge them for the rest of the course. This might be LAS VEGAS 3, maybe.The bumbling continued until we reached the finish, in 10 place and a full minute behind everyone else. “Well, it’s only the first race,” I said as the loading screen for the next course appeared. It was cleverly named LAS VEGAS 3. What followed was a feeling of déjà vu as the same barrels, useless power-ups, and camera changes caused us to finish last, again. With a long sigh I tried to console myself with the happy thoughts of better games. Finally, after several more attempts to win a race, with each attempt failing miserably, I decided that no amount of perseverance or swearing would make me enjoy this game.
Now that doesn’t mean this game is bad, it’s just not good. The controls are poor, the camera shifts too often, and there are too many damn obstacles for the amount space on the course. Apparently some people out there like 2 Xtreme (average score: 7.2/10), but I’m not one of them.
When I was younger I was just like any other child. Distracted by even the most mediocre toy or game, anything my parents bought me would turn into a joy filled experience until said toy or game would inevitably break into a heap plastic. That all seemed to change when my mom and dad bought me my first real gaming system: A Sony Playstation. This incredible gift from the heavens was infallible, not a single game was boring and no time while playing was misspent. Of course, these were all just childhood delusions.
While looking through my old games recently, trying to find ones that needed pages or subs for the site, I realized how many mediocre and just downright bad games were in my collection. Most of these "bad" games were bought by my parents during my initial gaming years, but there are several of these games I'm embarrassed to say I bought because I thought they were cool. This first game that I found was sadly bought by myself, and what's even worse is I liked it (when I was 9). WARNING: Some of the following content might be exaggerated, maybe.
*sigh*If the nonsensical title leaves you with a headache, don't worry, that's a normal response. This abomination is the sequel to 2 Xtreme, a game which I have always considered average at best. So what does the sequel to an average extreme sports game have to offer? Nothing. It's a cheap knockoff and deserves to be used as a clay pigeon, or shot into space. Though if it were shot into space there could be the chance that some advanced alien civilization might find it, try to decipher it to gain knowledge of our culture, interpret that our culture has no knowledge beyond jumping ramps and crouching through gates, and savagely destroy and/or enslave our world with impunity. The graphics look bad (even for games of its' time), the gameplay consists of fighting the controls just to turn, and the fact that grinding on rails makes seem to move at half speed are just a few reasons why I think every copy of this game should have been packaged with small trash bag and a hammer.
Believe it or not, he's actually moving!The sense of speed is not great either. You can go so fast that you can't see what's around the corner and then hit a gate/wall/big orange rectangular block, or you move just slow enough for everyone else to pass you. The sound effects range from grunts and moans to the overly annoying sounds of grinding and gate-passing. The one aspect of this game that is almost decent is the music. Mostly Grunge and Metal, but House and Techno are thrown in for good measure. Of course, as is everything else with this game, the music is too repetitive (or for some reason I fail to distinguish the difference between each track). I have a hard time figuring out why I bought this game. I guess I could contribute it partly to my childhood stupidity, or the fact that it had "Xtreme" in the title. Nevertheless, I really wish I had never played this game.
OK, perhaps that last statement went too far, and maybe I'm being too harsh on this little turd. But with 3/10 from IGN, 2.7/10 from old GS, and a whopping 2.2/10 from EGM, I'm not the only person who thinks this game is awful. 1 Comments
Ugh............4 hours of moderating pics and my back hurts, my eyes sting, and the coating on my LMB is starting to disappear. Hopefully that will quicken the pace for the approval of MY pics.
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