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Mini Reviews
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Fred Woogle
- Zombie
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Dr. kitteny berk
- Morbo
- Posts: 19676
- Joined: December 10th, 2004, 21:53
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Bad Company 2 (SP)
Gameplay is similar to CoD4 (though, with a beefier feel), Story is kinda MW2-ish, only coherent, and decent, doesn't take itself too seriously, either.
A few driving sections, A few gunning from vehicles sections. Mostly proper walky shooty combat though. Slightly frustrating in places due to the checkpointy nature of it, but there's no infinitely respawning bad guys, so that's nice.
Good: Decent combat, Coherent story, Amusing in places.
Bad: Checkpoints, no manual saves.
Solid action trash, enough of a story there to keep it moving.
7/10
Gameplay is similar to CoD4 (though, with a beefier feel), Story is kinda MW2-ish, only coherent, and decent, doesn't take itself too seriously, either.
A few driving sections, A few gunning from vehicles sections. Mostly proper walky shooty combat though. Slightly frustrating in places due to the checkpointy nature of it, but there's no infinitely respawning bad guys, so that's nice.
Good: Decent combat, Coherent story, Amusing in places.
Bad: Checkpoints, no manual saves.
Solid action trash, enough of a story there to keep it moving.
7/10
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FatherJack
- Site Owner
- Posts: 9597
- Joined: May 16th, 2005, 15:31
- Location: Coventry, UK
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White Knight Chronicles (PS3)
A Sony JRPG slipped out in the what now seem like seconds before the behemoth that is Final Fantasy XIII drops.
The lines between western and eastern RPGs is getting pretty blurred these days. Apart from the anime stylings, obvious memes like weapon shops, the grandiose cutscenes and singularly linear gameplay this game's meat has more in common with Dragon Age than it does with its Japanese stable-mates.
The combat, which is of course what it is all about is real-time with the rest of your party acting automatically, but rather than button-mashing you select options from a palette you define and mostly wait for cooldowns. Of course there are multiple cooldowns/powerups at play and pre-selecting good combos is key to your strategy. It's quite engaging, though it does have a couple of odd hooks - which while breathing new life into the genre, aren't something I'm sure (yet) should have made it past the concept stage.
Hook 1.
After you've progressed a certain amount (mostly likely completed the main campaign) the game allows you go online and complete quests with other people. While this is...interesting, I can't help thinking it will be more Phantasy Star Online than World of Warcraft. You build your character for singleplayer, yet then are thrust into the online world, where swordfighting/archer/mage/healer Jack-of-all-trades are no real benefit to a proper party. Imagine if you had to take your Dragon Age or Mass Effect character online - all those charm/intimidate points would be completely wasted.
Hook 2.
At game start you create a character, but while this is the persona you will take online, it isn't actually the main character in the game. The titular white knight, who you meet first, gains a transform ability so it behooves you to control him in boss fights. Yet doing so neglects learning the nuances of your own character. Weird choice.
Anyway, I've only played four hours which is nothing for a game like this. No complaints on it so far, just worries about where it will end up. The customisation of characters means any of them can fill any role and it will be interesting if nothing else to see how that works out in the online portion.
A Sony JRPG slipped out in the what now seem like seconds before the behemoth that is Final Fantasy XIII drops.
The lines between western and eastern RPGs is getting pretty blurred these days. Apart from the anime stylings, obvious memes like weapon shops, the grandiose cutscenes and singularly linear gameplay this game's meat has more in common with Dragon Age than it does with its Japanese stable-mates.
The combat, which is of course what it is all about is real-time with the rest of your party acting automatically, but rather than button-mashing you select options from a palette you define and mostly wait for cooldowns. Of course there are multiple cooldowns/powerups at play and pre-selecting good combos is key to your strategy. It's quite engaging, though it does have a couple of odd hooks - which while breathing new life into the genre, aren't something I'm sure (yet) should have made it past the concept stage.
Hook 1.
After you've progressed a certain amount (mostly likely completed the main campaign) the game allows you go online and complete quests with other people. While this is...interesting, I can't help thinking it will be more Phantasy Star Online than World of Warcraft. You build your character for singleplayer, yet then are thrust into the online world, where swordfighting/archer/mage/healer Jack-of-all-trades are no real benefit to a proper party. Imagine if you had to take your Dragon Age or Mass Effect character online - all those charm/intimidate points would be completely wasted.
Hook 2.
At game start you create a character, but while this is the persona you will take online, it isn't actually the main character in the game. The titular white knight, who you meet first, gains a transform ability so it behooves you to control him in boss fights. Yet doing so neglects learning the nuances of your own character. Weird choice.
Anyway, I've only played four hours which is nothing for a game like this. No complaints on it so far, just worries about where it will end up. The customisation of characters means any of them can fill any role and it will be interesting if nothing else to see how that works out in the online portion.
Napoleon: Total War (PC)
After many years of waiting CA finally got around to releasing what we've all been asking for: a Total War game based on the Napoleonic Wars. It's got all the bits that make previous Total War games so engaging and there are a number of refinements to the previous game in the series. Most notable are the extended diplomacy options, the advent of attrition, replenishment and supply lines on the campaign map depending where you armies are stationed, even prettier graphics (smoke during an extended battle actually has a considerably tactical impact) and the inclusion of 3 story driven mini campaigns.
The speed of battles has been increased considerably (unit movement, attrition rate etc) and one or two other touches give the tactical battles much more of an RTS feel and less of the slug fests that were the norm in Empire. This may appeal to more casual players, but to me it just makes it feel a bit arcadey.
The same can be said for the Campaign Map. The 'Grand Campaign' is limited to 4 factions in the European Theatre. India and the Americas have gone, as have the foreign trade routes. While this focuses things some, it takes all of the epic feel out of the game that was the great attraction of Empire.
Verdict: If you've already got (DarthModded) Empire, think very carefully before parting with your cash. This is little more than a full price expansion pack.
After many years of waiting CA finally got around to releasing what we've all been asking for: a Total War game based on the Napoleonic Wars. It's got all the bits that make previous Total War games so engaging and there are a number of refinements to the previous game in the series. Most notable are the extended diplomacy options, the advent of attrition, replenishment and supply lines on the campaign map depending where you armies are stationed, even prettier graphics (smoke during an extended battle actually has a considerably tactical impact) and the inclusion of 3 story driven mini campaigns.
The speed of battles has been increased considerably (unit movement, attrition rate etc) and one or two other touches give the tactical battles much more of an RTS feel and less of the slug fests that were the norm in Empire. This may appeal to more casual players, but to me it just makes it feel a bit arcadey.
The same can be said for the Campaign Map. The 'Grand Campaign' is limited to 4 factions in the European Theatre. India and the Americas have gone, as have the foreign trade routes. While this focuses things some, it takes all of the epic feel out of the game that was the great attraction of Empire.
Verdict: If you've already got (DarthModded) Empire, think very carefully before parting with your cash. This is little more than a full price expansion pack.
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FatherJack
- Site Owner
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- Joined: May 16th, 2005, 15:31
- Location: Coventry, UK
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Yes, it is a bit cheeky - it really does feel a lot like a reskin of Empire and only being set 100 years after it, there's not a massive difference in the weaponry.friznit wrote:This is little more than a full price expansion pack.
I like the inclusion of a campaign tutorial, which showed me how to do piracy, but with the other continents missing there's not as much to pirate.
Also, it appears Napoleon was French and it feels a bit odd not to be kicking them in at every opportunity.
I thought the trailer was very nice. Excellent animation and character on Naps:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7RHiyWHuV0[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7RHiyWHuV0[/media]
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HereComesPete
- Throbbing Cupcake
- Posts: 10249
- Joined: February 17th, 2007, 23:05
- Location: The maleboge
Metro 2033
The game was good with the little touches like new gas mask filters and charging the flash light with a hand dynamo.
Didn't feel utterly linear despite being so. Possibly because the last linear shooter I played was bioshock 2 and that's so linear it's as obvious as a dead hooker in a swimming pool.
Felt utterly lost on a couple of occasions and the map/compass thingy was fucking useless most of the time.
Ending was rather abrupt and made very little sense to me in terms of bigger picture, I'm expecting a sequel or I'll be wanting a bit more in the way of answers from somewhere.
Guns feel quite meaty, baddies are fucking annoying to kill, unless they're human in which case they're stupid and slow. Fire in dx10+ looks bloody lovely, shame the flamethrower is a toy used for scant seconds.
Atmosphere is okay, doesn't feel particularly gloomy or claustrophobic to me which I thought it should.
Worth full price? No, but for a £19.99 type game it's a good ten hours of well made shooter.
6.5/10
The game was good with the little touches like new gas mask filters and charging the flash light with a hand dynamo.
Didn't feel utterly linear despite being so. Possibly because the last linear shooter I played was bioshock 2 and that's so linear it's as obvious as a dead hooker in a swimming pool.
Felt utterly lost on a couple of occasions and the map/compass thingy was fucking useless most of the time.
Ending was rather abrupt and made very little sense to me in terms of bigger picture, I'm expecting a sequel or I'll be wanting a bit more in the way of answers from somewhere.
Guns feel quite meaty, baddies are fucking annoying to kill, unless they're human in which case they're stupid and slow. Fire in dx10+ looks bloody lovely, shame the flamethrower is a toy used for scant seconds.
Atmosphere is okay, doesn't feel particularly gloomy or claustrophobic to me which I thought it should.
Worth full price? No, but for a £19.99 type game it's a good ten hours of well made shooter.
6.5/10
Plain Sight
Absolutely chaotic deathmatch game. The basic concept is that suicidal robot ninjas fight in an arena, you can kill an opponent by charging him, if he dies, you claim his energy plus any he collected from others. To bank the energy, you need to detonate yourself (and you get multipliers by any opponents hit by the detonation), if you simply die, you lose it. It's fun and all that, but for some reason, it generates way more rage than any other game I played before.
Now let's see - the arenas are fine but the gravity is horrible to handle, it's probably physically correct but translates to plain weird. The netcode doesn't seem to be tailored to handle more than 12 players at a time, because sometimes it just collapses into a lagfest after that. The upgrades system gives leading players a huge advantage over the others, so it's very hard to dethrone someone after they got a fair bit of points.
Well, apart from the flaws, it's still fun, I believe it would work as a 5punky game, not permanently, just for 1-2 sessions of destroying your hardware not properly bolted to the ground.
7.5 / 10
Absolutely chaotic deathmatch game. The basic concept is that suicidal robot ninjas fight in an arena, you can kill an opponent by charging him, if he dies, you claim his energy plus any he collected from others. To bank the energy, you need to detonate yourself (and you get multipliers by any opponents hit by the detonation), if you simply die, you lose it. It's fun and all that, but for some reason, it generates way more rage than any other game I played before.
Now let's see - the arenas are fine but the gravity is horrible to handle, it's probably physically correct but translates to plain weird. The netcode doesn't seem to be tailored to handle more than 12 players at a time, because sometimes it just collapses into a lagfest after that. The upgrades system gives leading players a huge advantage over the others, so it's very hard to dethrone someone after they got a fair bit of points.
Well, apart from the flaws, it's still fun, I believe it would work as a 5punky game, not permanently, just for 1-2 sessions of destroying your hardware not properly bolted to the ground.
7.5 / 10
AOP2 COAS CM LOTLA
Age of Pirates 2 City of Abandoned Ships Combed Mod and Lots of Three Letter Acronyms.
In soviet Russia, games play you. This got utterly slated in reviews, mainly because you actually have to think a bit and that made console softies go emo. Admittedly it has a clunky interfarse, graphics are pretty ancient and some bits of the vanilla game are a bit broken. That's where the Combined Mod comes in: it fixes a lot of the broken bits and adds a bunch of fun stuff as well. In a nutshell this is a cross between Oblivion and Mount & Blade, but with more sea. It's a sandbox RPG pirate game with a surprising amount of depth to it. It's not on steam, so unless you find it gracing the bottom of your local Game bargain bin, sweeping is pretty much the only option. Fun for those who liked Sea Dogs, enjoy the open ended RPG thing and can hack a fairly batshit learning curve. Have some completely arbitrary stars:
In soviet Russia, games play you. This got utterly slated in reviews, mainly because you actually have to think a bit and that made console softies go emo. Admittedly it has a clunky interfarse, graphics are pretty ancient and some bits of the vanilla game are a bit broken. That's where the Combined Mod comes in: it fixes a lot of the broken bits and adds a bunch of fun stuff as well. In a nutshell this is a cross between Oblivion and Mount & Blade, but with more sea. It's a sandbox RPG pirate game with a surprising amount of depth to it. It's not on steam, so unless you find it gracing the bottom of your local Game bargain bin, sweeping is pretty much the only option. Fun for those who liked Sea Dogs, enjoy the open ended RPG thing and can hack a fairly batshit learning curve. Have some completely arbitrary stars:
Uncharted 2 (PS3)
The game looks great, with the lush jungles, battered rural areas and dilapidated ruins. All garnished with great detail. The Tomb Raider leaping and puzzle sections are on the whole a lot of fun. The solutions not too obviously or challenging, just right. The combat, although fairly basic, works well and there's a good variety of weapons and plenty drop, so you shouldn't get stuck with no way to fight. The story, characters and voice acting are perfect for the genre and style, filling out the whole package. I lolled more than once.
However there were times when I couldn't work out where the game wanted me to go and the lack of anti aliasing can make for some obvious jaggies. But on the whole it's an almost perfect treasure hunters adventure, old school. This is what the new Indiana Jones should have been like, instead of the embarrassment it was.
9/10
The game looks great, with the lush jungles, battered rural areas and dilapidated ruins. All garnished with great detail. The Tomb Raider leaping and puzzle sections are on the whole a lot of fun. The solutions not too obviously or challenging, just right. The combat, although fairly basic, works well and there's a good variety of weapons and plenty drop, so you shouldn't get stuck with no way to fight. The story, characters and voice acting are perfect for the genre and style, filling out the whole package. I lolled more than once.
However there were times when I couldn't work out where the game wanted me to go and the lack of anti aliasing can make for some obvious jaggies. But on the whole it's an almost perfect treasure hunters adventure, old school. This is what the new Indiana Jones should have been like, instead of the embarrassment it was.
9/10Witcher, The
Did anyone actually review this? I don't recall seeing a thread. It's a pretty regular bioware rpg with swords. Voice acting is fine, story is engaging enough and combat - despite what the reviewers said - is actually lots of fun. The pace is fine and the quests varied enough that I never got bored. In fact my bro found the story interesting enough to tear him away from Civ4 and watch me playing for a bit, which is pretty rare. In all I rated it up there with Dragons Age for the level of entertainment it gave (approx 60 hrs according to Steam as opposed to around 80 hrs for DAO). If you liked DAO and Baldurs Gate/NWN, this is your cup of tea. Looking forward to Witcher 2, The. I will most definitely buy. Stars:
Did anyone actually review this? I don't recall seeing a thread. It's a pretty regular bioware rpg with swords. Voice acting is fine, story is engaging enough and combat - despite what the reviewers said - is actually lots of fun. The pace is fine and the quests varied enough that I never got bored. In fact my bro found the story interesting enough to tear him away from Civ4 and watch me playing for a bit, which is pretty rare. In all I rated it up there with Dragons Age for the level of entertainment it gave (approx 60 hrs according to Steam as opposed to around 80 hrs for DAO). If you liked DAO and Baldurs Gate/NWN, this is your cup of tea. Looking forward to Witcher 2, The. I will most definitely buy. Stars:
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I
You know what? I though Sonic 3 & Knuckes was the best Sonic game there is... and I was right. This is a piss-weak imitation of what made Sonic the Hedgehog great. The worst thing is, I had such high hopes for this game. It was hyped up to be such a return for Sonic in the format that made him brilliant, and they fucked it up completely. It seems that since making Sonic 3 and this poor iteration, the laws of physics, in particular the ones related to conservation of momentum, have completely ceased to function. You can be running along at a squillion miles an hour and think "ooh, i'll just slow down by lifting my thumb off the d-pad for a short while", as it always used to be. In that microsecond, Sonic just stops. He JUST FUCKING STOPS. Maybe he lives on a planet made of rubber. Pisses me off. What's worse, the iPhone version of this game looks crap because you can't see what's going on. I think the developers want you to be looking at Sonic all the time, it's so damn zoomed in on him. This means that for some tricky sections where you have to hit multiple enemies to get across gaps, where you have to be in exactly the right place to get Sonic to do his homing attack, it takes 5 attempts to do it because your thumb is in the way. Granted, I've only played it on the iPhone so far, but I don't see the PS3 version being much better. It was so bad I got to the middle of the fourth act and though "you know what? I just don't care" and turned it off.
I honestly don't know what Sonic Team were smoking when they came up with this rabble. I'm going to go play Sonic 2 again and calm down.
I'm giving it 2 out of 10, but I'm not an unreasonable man. I'll play the PS3 version when it's out next week and if that's half-decent I might give it more.
RANT OVER.
You know what? I though Sonic 3 & Knuckes was the best Sonic game there is... and I was right. This is a piss-weak imitation of what made Sonic the Hedgehog great. The worst thing is, I had such high hopes for this game. It was hyped up to be such a return for Sonic in the format that made him brilliant, and they fucked it up completely. It seems that since making Sonic 3 and this poor iteration, the laws of physics, in particular the ones related to conservation of momentum, have completely ceased to function. You can be running along at a squillion miles an hour and think "ooh, i'll just slow down by lifting my thumb off the d-pad for a short while", as it always used to be. In that microsecond, Sonic just stops. He JUST FUCKING STOPS. Maybe he lives on a planet made of rubber. Pisses me off. What's worse, the iPhone version of this game looks crap because you can't see what's going on. I think the developers want you to be looking at Sonic all the time, it's so damn zoomed in on him. This means that for some tricky sections where you have to hit multiple enemies to get across gaps, where you have to be in exactly the right place to get Sonic to do his homing attack, it takes 5 attempts to do it because your thumb is in the way. Granted, I've only played it on the iPhone so far, but I don't see the PS3 version being much better. It was so bad I got to the middle of the fourth act and though "you know what? I just don't care" and turned it off.
I honestly don't know what Sonic Team were smoking when they came up with this rabble. I'm going to go play Sonic 2 again and calm down.
I'm giving it 2 out of 10, but I'm not an unreasonable man. I'll play the PS3 version when it's out next week and if that's half-decent I might give it more.
RANT OVER.
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Dr. kitteny berk
- Morbo
- Posts: 19676
- Joined: December 10th, 2004, 21:53
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Monday night combat:
50% Tower Defence, 50% Shooter.
Fucking great fun in coop.
There's MP too, I have no desire to try that.
50% Tower Defence, 50% Shooter.
Fucking great fun in coop.
There's MP too, I have no desire to try that.