Friday, January 9, 2009
Skate 2 Demo Thoughts - rabbit221
Okay. When you tell me party mode, I think "XBL Party, that must = Online play." Tricky, tricky Skate 2. *sigh* Where to begin on this utter disappointment of a 2nd installment. First of all, the only things that are new in this demo that weren't in the first one are 1. You can finally walk. They kind of make a joke about it when they introduce it but seriously, why was this not included in the first one? I feel like the developers of this game are currently laughing at me. 2. You can move objects around to set up lines such as moving a ramp in front of a rail to do a grind or moving a ramp to get to a higher spot as they show you in the demo. That's it. Nothing else is introduced. How do you expect people to be amped about a second installment when all you show them is a few ramps, a little skate park and two new things that don't entirely change the way the game is played. I feel like they patched the first one, downgraded the graphics and threw it back to us. The graphics are horrible compared to the first one. I remember skating around in the first skate just to take in everything and admire how good it looks. Now I play the second skate and the graphics have somehow devolved. Alot of people are commenting on how good it looks in HD. Guess what. I don't have an HDTV. Also, I HATE games that are developed for HD so us suckers with non-hi-def tvs have to squint and kill our eyes by trying to read their goddamn text. It looks like a mediocre Xbox game; Chronicles of Riddick has this game beat by miles. The demo didn't even introduce me to any new moves even though they show some in the video. The create a character they introduce you too also has to be one of the most slap-dash create-a-whatever I've ever seen. No matter how you much you work on your character, you're gonna look fuck-ass ugly. You can even create chicks in the new skate, but trust me, I tried, you don't wanna see that. Anyway, over this demo is pretty disappointing. I think I'll stick to my first skate, where I don't forget I'm playing a 360 game.
Skate 2 Demo Quick First Impressions - rabbit221
Coming from someone who played the SHIT out of the first skate, I have to say it seems like the create a character that they give you in the demo is awful slap-dash. I know, I know it's a demo but damn. I can't help but feel this game looks WAY shittier than skate. I feel like they've given us a game worthy of the first Xbox. More to come later. Just thought'd I throw my immediate thoughts out there.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
God of War 3 Trailer Impressions- Jaws98
God of War and God of War 2 were masterpieces. They were the best looking games at the time, had both great gameplay and fun puzzles, and contained an amazing story of Kratos and his revenge against the gods.
I have beat both of them and scrounged the Internet for any information on the third installment. After I beat God of War 2 I was extremely disappointed by the cliffhanger ending. It left many questions unanswered. So when I heard the news of a trailer being shown on Spike's Video Game Awards I was looking forward to finally see what changes have come to Kratos on his debut on the PS3. So when the trailer was finally online I analyzed it frame by frame just to see what some might have missed.
The God of War 3 debut trailer
00:14- Kratos seems to be fighting a centaur with a spear. If you have missed this I would also like to point out that he walked on the wall. It didn't look like a cutscene so maybe its a new feature? I also noticed that this time he actually pulled out his blades. In past games the blades of Athens just appear in his hands when he is using them. But in this he actually pulls them out.
00:17- He is fighting a giant rock monster. Maybe the ones from God of War 2? It could just as easily be a different type of Cyclops. It looks like its not a quick time event. In the background you see a mountain. Maybe its Mount Olympus?
00:19- It looks like he is smashing a barrier with power fists with lions on them. And it looks like its part of a boss. If you pause the video and look in the background you should see a animal like creature. Maybe in the game you have to get the weapon to actually get through that part?
00:20- It looks like Kratos is climbing a moving tree (maybe a big boss) and the harpies are its lifeline. Also you should notice that before Kratos jumped he was hitting a soft spot. Maybe you can actually link attacks by hitting different enemies without the need for a quick time event.
00:22- Kratos is standing with his 'power fists'. It looks like they just leveled up.
00:23- Kratos is fighting a giant cyclops (bigger then the older ones) with a club. Kratos didn't attack its eyes like the older God of Wars. So maybe this is a different type of Cyclops as well. The handlers from God of War 2 are missing. Maybe they have found another creature?
00:24- Kratos is fighting over 20 skeleton monsters (the ones you can't destroy until you actually perform the finishing move). He manages to throw them all away using a special move. Maybe a different type of Rage of the Titans or Gods move? If you just pause it on 00:26 you should see that Kratos is using the 'Power Fists'.
00:27- Kratos throws away the Harpies wings.All together I noticed that the background was all gray clouds and bland forests (maybe it has been cut for the trailer). Also I noticed that in the beginning Kratos says "My Vengeance is everything". It sounds like that he has been betrayed by someone (and I'm not just talking about Zeus). I was wondering where all the titans are. Since he supposedly has allied himself with them they should be helping him. Maybe the Titans betray him. In the end Kratos says, "Everything must come to an end". It sounds like what David Jaffe (developer of God of War 2) about how God of War 3 will explain why there are no more Greek myths was true. The graphics have been amazingly improved and this trailer was from a year before. So expect a more beautiful game in 2009.
This game looks amazing. Hopefully they don't change anything about the gameplay since that is near perfect.
I have beat both of them and scrounged the Internet for any information on the third installment. After I beat God of War 2 I was extremely disappointed by the cliffhanger ending. It left many questions unanswered. So when I heard the news of a trailer being shown on Spike's Video Game Awards I was looking forward to finally see what changes have come to Kratos on his debut on the PS3. So when the trailer was finally online I analyzed it frame by frame just to see what some might have missed.
The God of War 3 debut trailer
00:14- Kratos seems to be fighting a centaur with a spear. If you have missed this I would also like to point out that he walked on the wall. It didn't look like a cutscene so maybe its a new feature? I also noticed that this time he actually pulled out his blades. In past games the blades of Athens just appear in his hands when he is using them. But in this he actually pulls them out.
00:17- He is fighting a giant rock monster. Maybe the ones from God of War 2? It could just as easily be a different type of Cyclops. It looks like its not a quick time event. In the background you see a mountain. Maybe its Mount Olympus?
00:19- It looks like he is smashing a barrier with power fists with lions on them. And it looks like its part of a boss. If you pause the video and look in the background you should see a animal like creature. Maybe in the game you have to get the weapon to actually get through that part?
00:20- It looks like Kratos is climbing a moving tree (maybe a big boss) and the harpies are its lifeline. Also you should notice that before Kratos jumped he was hitting a soft spot. Maybe you can actually link attacks by hitting different enemies without the need for a quick time event.
00:22- Kratos is standing with his 'power fists'. It looks like they just leveled up.
00:23- Kratos is fighting a giant cyclops (bigger then the older ones) with a club. Kratos didn't attack its eyes like the older God of Wars. So maybe this is a different type of Cyclops as well. The handlers from God of War 2 are missing. Maybe they have found another creature?
00:24- Kratos is fighting over 20 skeleton monsters (the ones you can't destroy until you actually perform the finishing move). He manages to throw them all away using a special move. Maybe a different type of Rage of the Titans or Gods move? If you just pause it on 00:26 you should see that Kratos is using the 'Power Fists'.
00:27- Kratos throws away the Harpies wings.All together I noticed that the background was all gray clouds and bland forests (maybe it has been cut for the trailer). Also I noticed that in the beginning Kratos says "My Vengeance is everything". It sounds like that he has been betrayed by someone (and I'm not just talking about Zeus). I was wondering where all the titans are. Since he supposedly has allied himself with them they should be helping him. Maybe the Titans betray him. In the end Kratos says, "Everything must come to an end". It sounds like what David Jaffe (developer of God of War 2) about how God of War 3 will explain why there are no more Greek myths was true. The graphics have been amazingly improved and this trailer was from a year before. So expect a more beautiful game in 2009.
This game looks amazing. Hopefully they don't change anything about the gameplay since that is near perfect.
I Want a Sega Mega Drive For Christmas! - rabbit221
TIME Magazine's Top Ten Videogames of 2008 VERY Laughable - rabbit221
Yes. You read that right. TIME. When I think about TIME magazine, oh yeah, I fuckin' think videogame gurus. Yeah, just take a look at that list and you tell me they should do that every year. What the FUCK was this guy smokin' when he came up with this list (or at least about the second part of it). Spore? An iPhone game???
See for yourself.
See for yourself.
House of the Dead: Overkill LOL - rabbit221
Wow. I must be behind the times on this one, although I thought I heard about it on TalkRadar. The Wii continues to amaze me by getting away with graphics WORSE than the N64. This is the least next-gen console ever to be called "next-gen." If anything, it seems as if Nintendo took a step back in time with this poor excuse for a console. I believe I heard this trailer on one of the episodes of TR but I had no idea it was THIS BAD. It honestly sounds like a preview for a bad porno. And if they're trying to pitch this to you as a good thing. . . . Nintendo has lost their goddamn mind.
But then again we already knew that. Case and point; Wii Music.
Trailer courtesy of GT as you can see. (I don't know if this is bad for me to be ripping off their trailers but I guess it's free addy for them, right? Right?)
But then again we already knew that. Case and point; Wii Music.
Trailer courtesy of GT as you can see. (I don't know if this is bad for me to be ripping off their trailers but I guess it's free addy for them, right? Right?)
Quick LOTR Conquest Tidbit - rabbit221
Water will kill you. Water up to your knees. Water in a cup. Water from a faucet. Even the goddamn TROLL will die if a molecule of water touches it.
Whoever decided this should be castrated and fired. In that order.
Whoever decided this should be castrated and fired. In that order.
LOTR Conquest: Multiplayer Rant (This Game Is Horrible) - rabbit221
So I was finally able to pull myself away from the multiplayer of this demo to sit down and write about it. I know, I know, we talked about how awful the game is and how awful the voices are and how it looks like the PSX shit and then pitched it to EA and Pandemic. Thankfully, you don't have to deal with the voices as much while playing the multiplayer portion. But that's where it stops. The awful, unbalanced gameplay is still there and so are the awful, AWFUL graphics that belong the PS2. But. BUT. For some reason, playing this with other humans while bitching about how terrible the game is while being complete assholes to everyone else is quite entertaining. Clearly though, that's not what the game was made for.
The multiplayer portion lets you play on two maps; one is some sort of castle/keep deal and the other is a hobbit village of sorts (I'm not a huge LOTR fan so if those are important places or have names, I apologize). The maps are decent but nothing spectacular. Clearly, though, nothing in this game is all that great to look at. A major issue for me is that on these maps, Ents and Trolls are supposedly placed in certain spawn points, and all you have to do is walk up to them and it prompt you to take over. Too bad that the game doesn't tell you ANYTHING about this and you have to figure it out yourself, usually in the way of getting stomped or having your face smashed in by one or the other. Once you find them and learn how to use them, you realize that they are far, FAR overpowered. While they have two powerful hit attacks, the A button will heal yourself, and if used correctly, these things become practically invincible. You best bet at taking them down is with 2 or 3 scouts climbing onto its back in quick succession, that is if you don't get taken out by one of the Ents/Trolls massive arcing swings. That can possibly kill you in one hit if you have anything but full health.
On to the actual multiplayer game play. Running around acting like an asshole is always fun. But, I did actually try to play the game the way it's meant to be played. It's not that great. The game's biggest problem is that the classes are WAY unbalanced. A warrior can run into any fight and pretty much be guaranteed a kill or two. It's an extremely overpowered class and if you find yourself fighting one, there IS no hope. The mage is another unbalanced class. You can put up a shield that deflects any ranged attacks, and you can heal yourself and others. The archer is a fairly decent class. With a mix of ranged attacks, you can deal a fair amount of damage, but your close range combat is limited to a puny ass kick. The last class that's available is the Scout. This is possibly the worst class to play, but the most fun to be an asshole with. You have the ability to cloak, although it's extremely limited and for a very short amount of time. Your only attack worth a shit is the one hit kill from behind while cloaked. That is if you can find the millimeter of space behind an enemy where the attack actually WORKS. Your other pro is that you're the only person that can climb atop an Ent or Troll and deal some serious damage to it.
Another thing that makes the game almost unplayable are the ridiculous camera angles and the positions the camera will take sometimes, making it impossible to see your enemy and 9 times out of 10 resulting in your death. And it's been discussed plenty of times before but the graphics. . . . Why can't people HARNESS the power of the 360 and PS3? It would seem like an easy enough task. This is another game that will go down the shitter and hopefully be forgotten by anyone who's ever played it and will teach EA and Pandemic a lesson. Throwing the name of something popular on a game does not make up for a shitty and lackluster experience. If they intend to charge $60 for this game, I'll be very, VERY surprised.
The multiplayer portion lets you play on two maps; one is some sort of castle/keep deal and the other is a hobbit village of sorts (I'm not a huge LOTR fan so if those are important places or have names, I apologize). The maps are decent but nothing spectacular. Clearly, though, nothing in this game is all that great to look at. A major issue for me is that on these maps, Ents and Trolls are supposedly placed in certain spawn points, and all you have to do is walk up to them and it prompt you to take over. Too bad that the game doesn't tell you ANYTHING about this and you have to figure it out yourself, usually in the way of getting stomped or having your face smashed in by one or the other. Once you find them and learn how to use them, you realize that they are far, FAR overpowered. While they have two powerful hit attacks, the A button will heal yourself, and if used correctly, these things become practically invincible. You best bet at taking them down is with 2 or 3 scouts climbing onto its back in quick succession, that is if you don't get taken out by one of the Ents/Trolls massive arcing swings. That can possibly kill you in one hit if you have anything but full health.
On to the actual multiplayer game play. Running around acting like an asshole is always fun. But, I did actually try to play the game the way it's meant to be played. It's not that great. The game's biggest problem is that the classes are WAY unbalanced. A warrior can run into any fight and pretty much be guaranteed a kill or two. It's an extremely overpowered class and if you find yourself fighting one, there IS no hope. The mage is another unbalanced class. You can put up a shield that deflects any ranged attacks, and you can heal yourself and others. The archer is a fairly decent class. With a mix of ranged attacks, you can deal a fair amount of damage, but your close range combat is limited to a puny ass kick. The last class that's available is the Scout. This is possibly the worst class to play, but the most fun to be an asshole with. You have the ability to cloak, although it's extremely limited and for a very short amount of time. Your only attack worth a shit is the one hit kill from behind while cloaked. That is if you can find the millimeter of space behind an enemy where the attack actually WORKS. Your other pro is that you're the only person that can climb atop an Ent or Troll and deal some serious damage to it.
Another thing that makes the game almost unplayable are the ridiculous camera angles and the positions the camera will take sometimes, making it impossible to see your enemy and 9 times out of 10 resulting in your death. And it's been discussed plenty of times before but the graphics. . . . Why can't people HARNESS the power of the 360 and PS3? It would seem like an easy enough task. This is another game that will go down the shitter and hopefully be forgotten by anyone who's ever played it and will teach EA and Pandemic a lesson. Throwing the name of something popular on a game does not make up for a shitty and lackluster experience. If they intend to charge $60 for this game, I'll be very, VERY surprised.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
LOTR: Conquest (DEMO) - zabu_san impressions
Okay, first things first, I have no experience with The Star Wars Battlefront franchise or its developer Pandemic. Although, I am aware that the Battlefront was a big seller and a rather well received series by critics, I have never played the games. So when I heard about "Lord of the Rings: Conquest" (LOTR: Conquest) and its premise, I was reluctant to play it until I remember the LOTR licensed games, "LOTR: The Two Towers" and "LOTR: The Return of the King" that were released in time with the movies a few years ago. They were surprisingly solid games and supremely well done. Developed by EA with incredibly high production values and with use of the movie license, EA created an extremely, well put together movie tie-in game, a very rare feat in this industry.
So with all this in mind, I fire up the demo of LOTR: Conquest expecting the same greatness the last-gen games brought me. At the main title screen we have 2 options, Single Player (Campaign) and Multiplayer (split screen/online). Neat, online multiplayer in a demo, not the first time I have seen this available in a demo but cool nonetheless. More on this mode later though. So I click single player and see a few modes available: Training, War of the Ring, Rise of Sauron, and Instant Action. Only having access to the Training mode at this time, I proceed to enter and begin my play test.
What welcomed me was a rather bland introduction sequence introducing the back story of Sauron and the one ring. The scene is taken straight from the first movie. Then we are thrust into the world and told to choose a class. So I rotate the analog stick and press the dpad to find only one class is available at this moment, The Warrior, a rather uninspired name for the swordsman of the game. With special abilities ranging from axe throwing to a whirlwind sweep with his sword, he seems to be able to hang with the best of them right?
Well, yes and no. As the first waves of enemies are introduced, our hero is bombarded with tips from the tutorial on how to slay the beasts. After wiping those enemies out, you are given your first combo sequence, which you must complete repeatedly for the tutorial; I mean “training” to continue. Now you are given the ability to use your axe as a long range weapon. Next we reach a capture point. What lies in wait here? Oh, after gaining the control point, you’re given the option to choose a new class: Archer! I loved Legolas in the films so let’s see how this class plays.
Now as I aim for the first orc archer arrows are flying with great speed and the orcs are dropping faster than you can say, “power off.” We are treated with a slew of different arrows for the archer to play around with, fire, multi, and poison. After a short time with him we control another capture point and a new class is unlocked, a scout. Wait, a scout? Were they in the films?
Okay so I choose the scout and notice the option for “cloak”. I envelop with a mist and as the enemies draw close, they pass by and I backstab them to take them down in one hit, like it really matters. The melee combat with the scout is surprisingly quick and fun. Next you are in the middle of a huge battle between the two warring factions. As you fight to gain control a new capture point you soon find a new class, the mage.
Yes, Gandalf is in the game, so to speak. After briefly controlling the mage, I was unimpressed by the game play of the mage. He seemed incredibly overpowered and I wanted to go back to playing the scout. As you rally back to the capture point, you are greeted by none other than Sauron himself. Here you are given the option to play as a hero from the book and film, Isildur who plays like a warrior but more powerful. Once Sauron is defeated, the demo ends and you are treated to an in-game cut scene of different playgrounds and enemies you will face in the main game coming this month.
SO what was my experience with LOTR: Conquest, not very good Pandemic. I expected way better for number of reasons. This was just an absolute stinker of a video game. The graphics were sub-par, the voice were atrocious, the game play was awful (no lock on option?), and the fighting itself was weak.
With light, medium, and heavy attacks mapped to the square, triangle and circle buttons respectively, you soon come to find out, you really only need to hit with square because the enemies will die in ONE HIT!! And that’s not all; the enemies will die by one hit with ANYTHING!! What’s this, one hit with your axe kills an orc? Now I understand if they took a hit in the head, which results in a “Critical Hit” they could die in one hit, but in the leg, arm, abdomen? Unacceptable! As I started with the archer I thought to myself, surely one arrow in the leg won’t kill him, WRONG! He drops like a ton of bricks, as do the several orcs that follow. The combos are unnecessary and the projectiles as the scout or warrior are unnecessary due the one hit statue set by their power. Why are the enemies so weak?
In conclusion, this demo/game sucks; it is the second worst demo I have played following Sonic Unleashed which I will not even honor with an impression topic. Why Pandemic decided to work on this rather than a next-gen Battlefront 3, is beyond me, probably money and contractually obligated, to, not sure, either way, they should have put the manpower and money towards a better franchise and game! As for the "more on this mode later mentioned above," I refuse to play this game any further; it was at my great behest I played it 3 times for this impression...sorry I will let BHT or Jaws provide their impression.
Lord of the Ring Conquest Demo Impressions by Jaws98
Seriously, this demo is just terrible. LoTR Conquest is just another crappy looking hack and slash game and when I mean crappy graphics I mean gamecube worthy graphics. That is not good for a current generation game. Some might think that the gameplay would make up for the bad graphics. They would be wrong.
The demo had a few classes. Warrior, Mage, Scout, Archer, and Hero (The hero is a warrior with a different face). Lets start with the Warrior. The Warrior as expected has a sword. In my opinion this class is way too powerful since I could have played the entire demo on the hardest difficulty with this character and come out safe. The Warrior has a few special attacks that 'look' cool but they are as stated before, way too powerful. I just kept on repeating the same attack and managed to kill the boss as well as a few dozen goblins. I will do the Hero class as well right now since in the demo its the same thing. The Hero was just a warrior with a different face. He came in towards the end to fight the boss which was way too weak.
Now lets talk about Mage. He is practically invincible since he can revive himself as well as the NPCs soldiers, which you wouldn't since they are mentally retarded. The Mage has a lightning attack which is pretty bad. He also has a staff attack which is like a sword swing. The graphics for the Mage's are slightly better but its still pretty bad.
Scout. You might think this would be a fun class since you can backstab enemies for one hit kills and turn invisible. Again you would be wrong. The normal attacks for the Scout are way too weak which is expected. But the backstabs are way too complicated. You have to be exactly behind the enemies to perform it and you can only kill one at a time. The invisibility helps but its extremely short and the Scout has very low health.
Archer. This is probably the worst class of all. I am guessing most gamers have played Gears of War once in their life. Well think of the archer as playing Gears of War. Except when you aim you are so zoomed in you can't see anything except the person you are shooting at. But there is a concept of Fire arrows, Multi arrows, and Poison Arrows Sure they look cool but they do barely any damage. The normal attacks are better. You would hope for the poison arrows to slowly kill the enemies. NO. The only thing it does is slow your enemies and make them green.
Now the graphics. This game looked great in screenshot. I wasn't expecting Gears of War or Killzone 2 jaw dropping graphics but I wasn't expecting GTA3 Graphics either. But I got worse than GTA 3 graphics. Which is pretty bad. I may be over exaggerating but this game looks horrible. XBL or PSN titles will and have looked better.
Voice Acting. Few words can describe it. Horrible. Just horrible.
In conclusion this game is going to be a fail. As one of my friends have said how can they expect us to pay $60 for this game? Unless they manage to completely revamp the game. I would not consider buying this.
The demo had a few classes. Warrior, Mage, Scout, Archer, and Hero (The hero is a warrior with a different face). Lets start with the Warrior. The Warrior as expected has a sword. In my opinion this class is way too powerful since I could have played the entire demo on the hardest difficulty with this character and come out safe. The Warrior has a few special attacks that 'look' cool but they are as stated before, way too powerful. I just kept on repeating the same attack and managed to kill the boss as well as a few dozen goblins. I will do the Hero class as well right now since in the demo its the same thing. The Hero was just a warrior with a different face. He came in towards the end to fight the boss which was way too weak.
Now lets talk about Mage. He is practically invincible since he can revive himself as well as the NPCs soldiers, which you wouldn't since they are mentally retarded. The Mage has a lightning attack which is pretty bad. He also has a staff attack which is like a sword swing. The graphics for the Mage's are slightly better but its still pretty bad.
Scout. You might think this would be a fun class since you can backstab enemies for one hit kills and turn invisible. Again you would be wrong. The normal attacks for the Scout are way too weak which is expected. But the backstabs are way too complicated. You have to be exactly behind the enemies to perform it and you can only kill one at a time. The invisibility helps but its extremely short and the Scout has very low health.
Archer. This is probably the worst class of all. I am guessing most gamers have played Gears of War once in their life. Well think of the archer as playing Gears of War. Except when you aim you are so zoomed in you can't see anything except the person you are shooting at. But there is a concept of Fire arrows, Multi arrows, and Poison Arrows Sure they look cool but they do barely any damage. The normal attacks are better. You would hope for the poison arrows to slowly kill the enemies. NO. The only thing it does is slow your enemies and make them green.
Now the graphics. This game looked great in screenshot. I wasn't expecting Gears of War or Killzone 2 jaw dropping graphics but I wasn't expecting GTA3 Graphics either. But I got worse than GTA 3 graphics. Which is pretty bad. I may be over exaggerating but this game looks horrible. XBL or PSN titles will and have looked better.
Voice Acting. Few words can describe it. Horrible. Just horrible.
In conclusion this game is going to be a fail. As one of my friends have said how can they expect us to pay $60 for this game? Unless they manage to completely revamp the game. I would not consider buying this.
NHL 09 and NHL 2K9 - rabbit221
Once again I'm plagued by insomnia at 4 A.M. so I feel I need to take a second and explain why both NHL 09 and NHL 2K9 fail to capture the essence of hockey for me. For me, it's all about the atmosphere. The fans. The announcers going a little wild when their team scores a goal or comes back to win from behind. The horn BLARING when the home team scores a goal. The crowd going nuts when they're team is doing good.
If you look at this aspect in NHL 09, it's very bland and boring. Once you've played one game, you've heard just about all the announcers have to offer. And the crowd? Total humanoid sausage fest, not a SINGLE woman in sight. Not that that matters but come on, at least LOOK like you attempted to put some effort into the audience. After playing NHL 09 for awhile I feel like the games that I play online are boring now. Goal celebrations don't seem all that great either. It's almost always the same animation. I don't feel like it captures what it's like when your leading goal scorer fires one home to put your team ahead. Another thing that bothers me is a. the music selection for the games and b. the music you hear in the arena throughout the game. I honestly feel like the playlist includes only 3 songs. I mean, how much effort does it take to watch a few NHL games and compile a list of songs that can be played during breaks in the game. Sure the organ/piano pieces are fine, you hear those at games all the time. But the songs they play in the arena just don't feel like they belong at a hockey game. If you're going to go through the trouble getting all the horns right, why not do it all right. Recreate the ENTIRE arena, not just the goddamn ice rink. Get signature songs that teams play for certain events. You're EA for cryin' out loud. It's not like you can't afford some of this shit. Even when I look at other EA Sports games, I feel like NHL gets shit on and it's at the bottom of the resources list.
Let's talk about improvements. Like I said earlier, I would LOVE to see a variety of announcers for the different teams if possible. If that's not possible, at least SOME variety. By the end of the first month of playing this game I'm sick of hearing the announcers they have in-game. They just seem so lifeless. If I play a baseball game or a football game, it's clear there was a lot of work put into the voices of the announcers. But when I play NHL 09, I can't help but feel like they've shortchanged me. As I said before, I would love to see the atmosphere amped up. REALLY put some effort into bringing the crowd alive and making look like it's full of REAL people. This is the 360 for fuck's sake, not the PSX. Bring each team's arena ALIVE. Make the people who play as the teams they root for proud. If you're gonna call this game NHL, concentrate on the NHL. Don't half ass a bunch of foreign leagues that 1/4 of your target audience is going to play. When I play as the Blue Jackets, I want to know without a doubt I'm playing in Nationwide Arena. I want to see the arena and go, "Hey I saw that when I was there!" If a baseball game can include the ENTIRE park recreated WITH the city skyline and some of the immediate surroundings behind it, there should be no reason why developers cannot recreate an entire ice hockey arena. Even do the shots from outside like MLB 2K9. Do SOMETHING to make me feel immersed.
Another area I feel needs MAJOR improvement is the collision detection and puck movement. The puck is NOT a magnet and player's sticks are NOT made of metal. I would love to see some real physics applied to this game if possible. I would love to see more variety in dekes and the way players move the puck. They seem so stiff in NHL 09, put some LIFE into those fuckers, make them look closer to REAL than a fucking manequin standing with a puck. The only time the players seem to resemble ACTUAL people is when they're in animations or cut scenes.
And for the love of God, IMPROVE THE GOALIE A.I. I don't even know where to begin on this one. How many times have you seen an NHL goalie deflect a shot with his blocker, only to sit there staring into space, wobbling like a fat kid who needs to shit, while the puck floats over his back and into the net. TAKE NOTES FROM NHL 2K8. That was some of the best goalie A.I. I've ever seen. How many times have you seen an NHL goalie drop down on his side when a player just comes close to the post? I don't know who you've got doing your goalie A.I. EA but FIRE HIM IMMEDIATELY.
I'm looking forward to NHL 2010 with cautious hope, hoping that they actually listen to their fanbase and choose to make this game better. Or even better, scrap it and start from the ground up. NHL 2K9 did it and they made some progress. Not the best NHL game ever, but goddamnit if they didn't improve over their last one. EA just put out the same bullshit as last year hoping no one would notice.
They did patch it though, so there's light at the end of this dark, dank tunnel.
If you look at this aspect in NHL 09, it's very bland and boring. Once you've played one game, you've heard just about all the announcers have to offer. And the crowd? Total humanoid sausage fest, not a SINGLE woman in sight. Not that that matters but come on, at least LOOK like you attempted to put some effort into the audience. After playing NHL 09 for awhile I feel like the games that I play online are boring now. Goal celebrations don't seem all that great either. It's almost always the same animation. I don't feel like it captures what it's like when your leading goal scorer fires one home to put your team ahead. Another thing that bothers me is a. the music selection for the games and b. the music you hear in the arena throughout the game. I honestly feel like the playlist includes only 3 songs. I mean, how much effort does it take to watch a few NHL games and compile a list of songs that can be played during breaks in the game. Sure the organ/piano pieces are fine, you hear those at games all the time. But the songs they play in the arena just don't feel like they belong at a hockey game. If you're going to go through the trouble getting all the horns right, why not do it all right. Recreate the ENTIRE arena, not just the goddamn ice rink. Get signature songs that teams play for certain events. You're EA for cryin' out loud. It's not like you can't afford some of this shit. Even when I look at other EA Sports games, I feel like NHL gets shit on and it's at the bottom of the resources list.
Let's talk about improvements. Like I said earlier, I would LOVE to see a variety of announcers for the different teams if possible. If that's not possible, at least SOME variety. By the end of the first month of playing this game I'm sick of hearing the announcers they have in-game. They just seem so lifeless. If I play a baseball game or a football game, it's clear there was a lot of work put into the voices of the announcers. But when I play NHL 09, I can't help but feel like they've shortchanged me. As I said before, I would love to see the atmosphere amped up. REALLY put some effort into bringing the crowd alive and making look like it's full of REAL people. This is the 360 for fuck's sake, not the PSX. Bring each team's arena ALIVE. Make the people who play as the teams they root for proud. If you're gonna call this game NHL, concentrate on the NHL. Don't half ass a bunch of foreign leagues that 1/4 of your target audience is going to play. When I play as the Blue Jackets, I want to know without a doubt I'm playing in Nationwide Arena. I want to see the arena and go, "Hey I saw that when I was there!" If a baseball game can include the ENTIRE park recreated WITH the city skyline and some of the immediate surroundings behind it, there should be no reason why developers cannot recreate an entire ice hockey arena. Even do the shots from outside like MLB 2K9. Do SOMETHING to make me feel immersed.
Another area I feel needs MAJOR improvement is the collision detection and puck movement. The puck is NOT a magnet and player's sticks are NOT made of metal. I would love to see some real physics applied to this game if possible. I would love to see more variety in dekes and the way players move the puck. They seem so stiff in NHL 09, put some LIFE into those fuckers, make them look closer to REAL than a fucking manequin standing with a puck. The only time the players seem to resemble ACTUAL people is when they're in animations or cut scenes.
And for the love of God, IMPROVE THE GOALIE A.I. I don't even know where to begin on this one. How many times have you seen an NHL goalie deflect a shot with his blocker, only to sit there staring into space, wobbling like a fat kid who needs to shit, while the puck floats over his back and into the net. TAKE NOTES FROM NHL 2K8. That was some of the best goalie A.I. I've ever seen. How many times have you seen an NHL goalie drop down on his side when a player just comes close to the post? I don't know who you've got doing your goalie A.I. EA but FIRE HIM IMMEDIATELY.
I'm looking forward to NHL 2010 with cautious hope, hoping that they actually listen to their fanbase and choose to make this game better. Or even better, scrap it and start from the ground up. NHL 2K9 did it and they made some progress. Not the best NHL game ever, but goddamnit if they didn't improve over their last one. EA just put out the same bullshit as last year hoping no one would notice.
They did patch it though, so there's light at the end of this dark, dank tunnel.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Legendary: The Demo - rabbit221
Well. That was interesting.
At first, when I loaded up the demo, I thought I had accidentally clicked on some sort of music video instead. Seriously. To my horror, the music actually played throughout the demo. I had to turn it off. Let's start with the gameplay shall we? Seems a little off. I don't know what it is but I could never seem to get my aim right. I would be looking around and then pull up the ironsights on someone and my view was roaming all over the place. I guess their idea of default sensitivity is for someone with severe ADD. The demo really gives you nothing to go on as a premise for the game. You're thrown into a firefight in the streets with a machinegun and a vauge understanding of the controls. Then, werewolves come crawling across the rooftops to drop right in your face and scratch your goddamn eyes out. That's when you find out there's no melee attack button, which means you have to sit there point blank and lay about 50 shots into this asshole until it goes down. Then you have to blow his head off to make sure he doesn't get up again apparently. I can't understand why they wouldn't include a melee attack. It would make encounters like that much more intense. Punch the werewolf back, lay into him, punch him back again, blow his head off with the shotgun. Come on. That should be a standard feature in any FPS. Also. Legendary does one of the things that completely kills a game for me. It doesn't let you skip cutscenes. There's one in the demo, and it's the most pointless cutscene ever, and no one EVER needs to see it more than once. But you can't skip it, and what is really like 10 seconds feels like an eternity. Why do you have to see it over and over you say? Because they throw a goddamn minotaur at you and you have no idea what you're supposed to be doing. Your waypoint says a locked gate, but no, you can't shoot the lock and get through, uh uh, you have deal with that asshole until he's dead. You get no help whatsoever. Your first thought is, "I guess I just shoot him 'til he's dead." Then 5 minutes pass. Then 10. And he's still not dead. The best part is no matter how you try to dodge him or get out of the way, he's fucking autolocked on your ass so get used to dying until you figure out how to kill him. Then there's the way the demo ends. Nothing dramatic happens. No big cliffhanger to reel you in. You walk up some steps. Then it's over. What the fuck.
I wasn't interested before. I'm still not.
At first, when I loaded up the demo, I thought I had accidentally clicked on some sort of music video instead. Seriously. To my horror, the music actually played throughout the demo. I had to turn it off. Let's start with the gameplay shall we? Seems a little off. I don't know what it is but I could never seem to get my aim right. I would be looking around and then pull up the ironsights on someone and my view was roaming all over the place. I guess their idea of default sensitivity is for someone with severe ADD. The demo really gives you nothing to go on as a premise for the game. You're thrown into a firefight in the streets with a machinegun and a vauge understanding of the controls. Then, werewolves come crawling across the rooftops to drop right in your face and scratch your goddamn eyes out. That's when you find out there's no melee attack button, which means you have to sit there point blank and lay about 50 shots into this asshole until it goes down. Then you have to blow his head off to make sure he doesn't get up again apparently. I can't understand why they wouldn't include a melee attack. It would make encounters like that much more intense. Punch the werewolf back, lay into him, punch him back again, blow his head off with the shotgun. Come on. That should be a standard feature in any FPS. Also. Legendary does one of the things that completely kills a game for me. It doesn't let you skip cutscenes. There's one in the demo, and it's the most pointless cutscene ever, and no one EVER needs to see it more than once. But you can't skip it, and what is really like 10 seconds feels like an eternity. Why do you have to see it over and over you say? Because they throw a goddamn minotaur at you and you have no idea what you're supposed to be doing. Your waypoint says a locked gate, but no, you can't shoot the lock and get through, uh uh, you have deal with that asshole until he's dead. You get no help whatsoever. Your first thought is, "I guess I just shoot him 'til he's dead." Then 5 minutes pass. Then 10. And he's still not dead. The best part is no matter how you try to dodge him or get out of the way, he's fucking autolocked on your ass so get used to dying until you figure out how to kill him. Then there's the way the demo ends. Nothing dramatic happens. No big cliffhanger to reel you in. You walk up some steps. Then it's over. What the fuck.
I wasn't interested before. I'm still not.
Dead Space's Impossible Difficulty: The Way To Go - rabbit221
I feel the need, even now when Dead Space has been out a few months, to explain to you why you should play through it on Normal, and THEN play through it again on Impossible. Sure, this game will still scare the SHIT out of you on Normal, but think about it. You're never really scared on Normal are you? Running through blasting necromorphs left and right because you have an abundance of ammo, multiple guns, plenty of money, several health packs and probably more than enough air cans. On Normal, you probably don't care less about the different types of necromorphs, you just wanna blast them all to hell. Even the Brute doesn't strike terror in your heart like it should, you just think "Stasis, shoot it in the ass. Repeat."
Well, you can forget about that shit when you step it up to Impossible.
Impossible is, in my opinion, THE best way to play this game. Only when you step it up to this difficulty does this game truly, TRULY turn into a "horror"/survival game. Even your basic, four armed crazy-ass necromorph will make you quiver in your space boots. You know, the way a four armed necromorph SHOULD. Everything is limited on Impossible; less money, less ammo, fewer power nodes. With that in mind, even powering up your suit becomes a struggle. With less ammo and money, the secret rooms that can only be opened with power nodes become like little oasis' in the desert. When you're running low on ammo and money these little rooms can be a goldmine. So instead of blowing all your power nodes on health bars and weapon powerups, you might think twice before using them. The fact that things are somewhat rare and hard to come by really give you the feeling of being desperate and hopeless.
Now, let's talk about trying to kill things on impossible. And those things killing you. With ease.
Let's start with the regular baddies. On Normal these guys go down with 2 to 3 shots, cut off the legs and they're done. Impossible? Yeah, 6-7, if you're lucky, with no powerups to your weapons. Then you've got the creepy-crawly guys. Those mother fuckers are a pain in the ass. You basically HAVE to cut off the arms otherwise you'll just be wasting ammo shooting the body. If you've played through on Normal, you'll remember those little bastards that bust out of a pregnant necromorphs stomach if you kill it wrong. You didn't have to worry about them on Normal as long as you can mash the A button fast enough. But, on Impossible, if they get ahold of you? Forget about it, you're as good as dead. It's nice to play a survival/horror game where at some points you're actually like, "FUCK! I should run!" The necromorph babies aren't too much different on Impossible, just shoot off the tentacles and they're pretty much down. And the Brutes. Oh ho. . . These bad boys will make you shit your pants the minute they come through the wall. Even with health upgrades these motherfuckers will take you down real fast if you're not careful. Then you have the guys with the explosive sacs for arms. On Normal you wouldn't think twice before shooting the sac and watching his remains scatter across room. I did this the first few times on Impossible and found it was better to switch up my strategy and cut off the explosive sacs and use the telekenisis to hurl them at the other baddies. Saves ammo, trust me.
Then you have the boss battles. If you thought these were nail biting affairs before, you have NO idea. It really makes you rethink your line of attack. Finally, you've got the psycho asshole's impossible to kill necromorph. If you were going to cower in fear from anything in impossible, THIS would be the creature to fear.
Seriously though. I strongly recommend playing through Dead Space on Impossible. It's infinitely more suspenseful and scary. There's plenty of "scary" moments throughout the game, but Impossible mode is the only time I've ever had a game get me tense and worked up, actually creeping through and thinking about what I was going to do next instead of running around blasting necromorphs left and right. Nothing like having a yellow health bar, 7 shots left, and hearing the skittering of two necromorphs, knowing that one of them will kill you.
Well, you can forget about that shit when you step it up to Impossible.
Impossible is, in my opinion, THE best way to play this game. Only when you step it up to this difficulty does this game truly, TRULY turn into a "horror"/survival game. Even your basic, four armed crazy-ass necromorph will make you quiver in your space boots. You know, the way a four armed necromorph SHOULD. Everything is limited on Impossible; less money, less ammo, fewer power nodes. With that in mind, even powering up your suit becomes a struggle. With less ammo and money, the secret rooms that can only be opened with power nodes become like little oasis' in the desert. When you're running low on ammo and money these little rooms can be a goldmine. So instead of blowing all your power nodes on health bars and weapon powerups, you might think twice before using them. The fact that things are somewhat rare and hard to come by really give you the feeling of being desperate and hopeless.
Now, let's talk about trying to kill things on impossible. And those things killing you. With ease.
Let's start with the regular baddies. On Normal these guys go down with 2 to 3 shots, cut off the legs and they're done. Impossible? Yeah, 6-7, if you're lucky, with no powerups to your weapons. Then you've got the creepy-crawly guys. Those mother fuckers are a pain in the ass. You basically HAVE to cut off the arms otherwise you'll just be wasting ammo shooting the body. If you've played through on Normal, you'll remember those little bastards that bust out of a pregnant necromorphs stomach if you kill it wrong. You didn't have to worry about them on Normal as long as you can mash the A button fast enough. But, on Impossible, if they get ahold of you? Forget about it, you're as good as dead. It's nice to play a survival/horror game where at some points you're actually like, "FUCK! I should run!" The necromorph babies aren't too much different on Impossible, just shoot off the tentacles and they're pretty much down. And the Brutes. Oh ho. . . These bad boys will make you shit your pants the minute they come through the wall. Even with health upgrades these motherfuckers will take you down real fast if you're not careful. Then you have the guys with the explosive sacs for arms. On Normal you wouldn't think twice before shooting the sac and watching his remains scatter across room. I did this the first few times on Impossible and found it was better to switch up my strategy and cut off the explosive sacs and use the telekenisis to hurl them at the other baddies. Saves ammo, trust me.
Then you have the boss battles. If you thought these were nail biting affairs before, you have NO idea. It really makes you rethink your line of attack. Finally, you've got the psycho asshole's impossible to kill necromorph. If you were going to cower in fear from anything in impossible, THIS would be the creature to fear.
Seriously though. I strongly recommend playing through Dead Space on Impossible. It's infinitely more suspenseful and scary. There's plenty of "scary" moments throughout the game, but Impossible mode is the only time I've ever had a game get me tense and worked up, actually creeping through and thinking about what I was going to do next instead of running around blasting necromorphs left and right. Nothing like having a yellow health bar, 7 shots left, and hearing the skittering of two necromorphs, knowing that one of them will kill you.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
A Word About "William F." Guile
Fuck him right in his stupid flat top. Guile is an asshole. The way people use him online in SSFIITHDR can only be described as "assholish." Every time I play someone who is good with Guile, I picture a bunny with his ass towards the TV stomping repeatedly on the jab button. Every time I fight someone as Guile they spam the jab button, jump at me and do the air kick + low kick combo and then continually pull flash kicks and sonic booms with ridiculous speed. It's just ridiculous.
Another thing, un-Guile related. In a player match, there is no need, NO need to use the same character over and over again, unless you and someone else are having heated matches with the same characters. If you keep picking the same person and the other person is changing characters while you defeat them every time, I have no choice other than to label you an arrogant bastard. Seriously. The other night we were in a player match and a random guy jumped in and ruined the fun by picking Guile over and over and being a dick about it.
Well, that was kind of Guile related.
Another thing, un-Guile related. In a player match, there is no need, NO need to use the same character over and over again, unless you and someone else are having heated matches with the same characters. If you keep picking the same person and the other person is changing characters while you defeat them every time, I have no choice other than to label you an arrogant bastard. Seriously. The other night we were in a player match and a random guy jumped in and ruined the fun by picking Guile over and over and being a dick about it.
Well, that was kind of Guile related.
"Why can't it be Left 5 Dead???" - rabbit221
EDIT! The name of this post comes from the game we were playing last night. Brett posed that question when all four of us were already in a game and another friend logged on. EDIT!
EDIT2! I'd just like to point out that the Director can be HUGE dick at times. EDIT2!
My first post! Anyway. So last night was my first serious foray into Left 4 Dead's versus mode. I must say, I don't know why I don't play this mode more often. It was way more fun than the regular campaign at many points. Versus mode pits four players playing as the special infected (Hunter, Smoker, Boomer and Tank) while the other four play as the survivors. While you can play as long as you have one person playing the infected and one person playing as the survivors, the survivors playing with A.I. teammates puts the people playing as the infected at a severe disadvantage. The A.I. survivors are probably ten times more deadly than a regular player seeing as they tend to have pin point accuracy. A few times during our versus campaign this happened to us and it was clear who was a player and who was A.I. Nothing ruins the experience of versus more than hiding behind a tree in the Blood Harvest campaign only to have an A.I. survivor blast you without seeing or hearing you.
ANYwho.
Back to our campaign. We played through the No Mercy campaign (No Mercy and Blood Harvest are the only two you can play through). Let me just state first that your best bet at having a good time is making sure you know your teammates. I was playing with two guys on my friends list and I think we had a fourth guy jump in at one point. Each chapter, one team plays as the infected while the other team plays the survivors and tries to make it to the safe room or get as far as they can before dying. Then the teams switch. You get points based on how far you got, how hard the chapter was, how many people survived (if you make it to the safe room) and such. Based on our game last night, you get MAD points for actually making it to the safe room, and if one team does and the other doesn't, there is a HUGE gap in points.
Let's start with playing the infected side. Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING is more satisfying then setting up an ambush for the survivors and then effectively getting them all down and out. Also, each chapter at some point one person gets picked to become the tank, and since versus is played on the normal difficulty, that means total ass kicking is about to ensue. On the shorter chapters, like the opening ones, the infected have to get to work immediately since there's not much time. On other chapters, like 2, 3, the longer ones, setting up ambushes and using the different infected together is a better strategy. Usually you get spawned as each kind so there's a variety but sometimes you all get spawned as a certain kind. But when you're all different kinds, having the boomer vomit on all four survivors while a smoker snags one and then a hunter jumps on the survivor trying to save the one the smokers got, all the while zombies are everywhere because of the vomit. . . oh, it's fantastic. Teamwork is still the key even on the infected side. A word of advice for those who picked as the tank; it IS possible to hit your infected teammates. It was awesome learning this on the No Mercy finale, when my teammate as the tank uppercutted one of the survivors I was trying to jump on as a hunter and I effectively got thrown off the roof, limp body cartwheeling through the air all the while.
Now, let's talk about playing the survivors. While playing a normal campaign consists of several, "Let's do this. . . OH SHIT!" moments, these are probably doubled on versus. Since the infected are being played by actual people, their ambushes are far more effective. Nothing like climbing up a ladder only have multiple hunters bombard you at once. Also, staying together is FAR more important in this mode. One person straying by themselves is almost certain death if you don't know the people you're playing with. The parts where you must alert the horde are also twice as bad. Nothings worse than having to fend off an already a large horde and then you get vomited on by a boomer bringing out even MORE zombies. Good times.
I'd have to say though, if I can get my friends on here as a regular thing, versus mode may take precedence over my futile attempts at beating the campaigns on expert. As a final thought, this game is perfect for anyone who happens to be an achievement whore. This games got achievements out the ass if you play it right.
EDIT2! I'd just like to point out that the Director can be HUGE dick at times. EDIT2!
My first post! Anyway. So last night was my first serious foray into Left 4 Dead's versus mode. I must say, I don't know why I don't play this mode more often. It was way more fun than the regular campaign at many points. Versus mode pits four players playing as the special infected (Hunter, Smoker, Boomer and Tank) while the other four play as the survivors. While you can play as long as you have one person playing the infected and one person playing as the survivors, the survivors playing with A.I. teammates puts the people playing as the infected at a severe disadvantage. The A.I. survivors are probably ten times more deadly than a regular player seeing as they tend to have pin point accuracy. A few times during our versus campaign this happened to us and it was clear who was a player and who was A.I. Nothing ruins the experience of versus more than hiding behind a tree in the Blood Harvest campaign only to have an A.I. survivor blast you without seeing or hearing you.
ANYwho.
Back to our campaign. We played through the No Mercy campaign (No Mercy and Blood Harvest are the only two you can play through). Let me just state first that your best bet at having a good time is making sure you know your teammates. I was playing with two guys on my friends list and I think we had a fourth guy jump in at one point. Each chapter, one team plays as the infected while the other team plays the survivors and tries to make it to the safe room or get as far as they can before dying. Then the teams switch. You get points based on how far you got, how hard the chapter was, how many people survived (if you make it to the safe room) and such. Based on our game last night, you get MAD points for actually making it to the safe room, and if one team does and the other doesn't, there is a HUGE gap in points.
Let's start with playing the infected side. Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING is more satisfying then setting up an ambush for the survivors and then effectively getting them all down and out. Also, each chapter at some point one person gets picked to become the tank, and since versus is played on the normal difficulty, that means total ass kicking is about to ensue. On the shorter chapters, like the opening ones, the infected have to get to work immediately since there's not much time. On other chapters, like 2, 3, the longer ones, setting up ambushes and using the different infected together is a better strategy. Usually you get spawned as each kind so there's a variety but sometimes you all get spawned as a certain kind. But when you're all different kinds, having the boomer vomit on all four survivors while a smoker snags one and then a hunter jumps on the survivor trying to save the one the smokers got, all the while zombies are everywhere because of the vomit. . . oh, it's fantastic. Teamwork is still the key even on the infected side. A word of advice for those who picked as the tank; it IS possible to hit your infected teammates. It was awesome learning this on the No Mercy finale, when my teammate as the tank uppercutted one of the survivors I was trying to jump on as a hunter and I effectively got thrown off the roof, limp body cartwheeling through the air all the while.
Now, let's talk about playing the survivors. While playing a normal campaign consists of several, "Let's do this. . . OH SHIT!" moments, these are probably doubled on versus. Since the infected are being played by actual people, their ambushes are far more effective. Nothing like climbing up a ladder only have multiple hunters bombard you at once. Also, staying together is FAR more important in this mode. One person straying by themselves is almost certain death if you don't know the people you're playing with. The parts where you must alert the horde are also twice as bad. Nothings worse than having to fend off an already a large horde and then you get vomited on by a boomer bringing out even MORE zombies. Good times.
I'd have to say though, if I can get my friends on here as a regular thing, versus mode may take precedence over my futile attempts at beating the campaigns on expert. As a final thought, this game is perfect for anyone who happens to be an achievement whore. This games got achievements out the ass if you play it right.
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