Sorry for the lack of posts through June. Especially after the effort I put in during May.
Time to update you on some purchasing action.
I was recently away in London where I picked up a new copy of Army of Two for a tenner. I still feel robbed having gotten back and had a go. I tried to purchase a copy of FUEL from ASDA for the bargain price of £25 only to have to wait holding up the checkout getting evil stares while I waited for them to get it from the stock room. Sadly it was such a good price they didn't have any stock left.. I slunk out with a consolation box of cheap beer.
Next stop eBay. I had a hankering to play.. erm.. Rumble Roses XX having downloaded the demo recently. Astonishingly it's extremely rare.. There wasn't a copy to be had on 360 on eBay first time I looked. However some diligent searching (what can I say.. it's a good demo) eventually saw a solitary copy turn up. I was expecting to have to pay silly money. However my first, and as it turned out the only, bid secured it at £9.99. Job done.
I also decided that I wanted to play Okami again but this time on Wii. Either that or Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess. I really enjoyed Okami, and made a fair amount of progress, but I think it's paintbrush and combat would really suit the Wii-mote. Sadly I couldn't find a copy in town. I was shocked to find that even used, after all this time, LoZ:TP was still making £30.. Needless to say I came home empty handed.
Tuesday 30 June 2009
Monday 15 June 2009
The "Complete" List
Resistance 2
Mirror's Edge - 360
Quantum of Solace - 360
House of the Dead: Overkill - Story & Directors Cut
Fable 2 - Story Mode
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot - (Liquid Easy)
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
Saints Row
Race Pro - Career Mode
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (Easy) - 360
Conan (Easy) - PS3
GTA IV - 360
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Manhunt 2
First off nice to see no stupid subtitle on a sequel.
Overall I enjoyed it. It wasn't as innovative as the first one. I suppose fairly obviously. There's a new story but it tries to retread most of the sick elements of the first one without doing it all quite as well. That's not to say it's not fun to play cos it is. It took me a while to get to grips with the mechanics but when it all comes together the Wii controls add a bit of fun in the slaying.. until halfway through when it switches to a lot more gun based combat. It's an ok shooter when you've got time but it's can be hard to pull of headshots cos the slightest twitch of the Wii-mote before pulling the trigger will mean you miss the crucial one hit kill and cranium explosion. It can get hard to take on multiple enemies too. There's some fun missions and it does mix it up between stalking in the dark silently killing too all out shooting and there's a nice mixture of weapons too play with. The story does enough to keep you interested. There where a couple of difficulty spikes and it's very annoying when you have to restart and watch an un-skippable cutscene before you can get back into it. It's a solid game.
Mirror's Edge - 360
Quantum of Solace - 360
House of the Dead: Overkill - Story & Directors Cut
Fable 2 - Story Mode
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot - (Liquid Easy)
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
Saints Row
Race Pro - Career Mode
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (Easy) - 360
Conan (Easy) - PS3
GTA IV - 360
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Manhunt 2
First off nice to see no stupid subtitle on a sequel.
Overall I enjoyed it. It wasn't as innovative as the first one. I suppose fairly obviously. There's a new story but it tries to retread most of the sick elements of the first one without doing it all quite as well. That's not to say it's not fun to play cos it is. It took me a while to get to grips with the mechanics but when it all comes together the Wii controls add a bit of fun in the slaying.. until halfway through when it switches to a lot more gun based combat. It's an ok shooter when you've got time but it's can be hard to pull of headshots cos the slightest twitch of the Wii-mote before pulling the trigger will mean you miss the crucial one hit kill and cranium explosion. It can get hard to take on multiple enemies too. There's some fun missions and it does mix it up between stalking in the dark silently killing too all out shooting and there's a nice mixture of weapons too play with. The story does enough to keep you interested. There where a couple of difficulty spikes and it's very annoying when you have to restart and watch an un-skippable cutscene before you can get back into it. It's a solid game.
Currently Playing: Shinobi.
Sega have released some more of their "classic" arcade and Mega Drive games on Xbox Live Arcade. Not normally something that interests me as I'm boycotting Xbox Live Arcade now the prices have started to get a bit ridiculous.
However Shinobi was always a favourite of mine and at only 400 points it's almost a certain purchase. I downloaded the trial version to make sure it was the one I remebered enjoying in the Arcade and not the disappointing Revenge of Shinobi (or whatever it was called) that I didn't like on Mega Drive.
It's arcade perfect and just as I remembered it and it plays nicely on the 360 pads with the shurikens having the same satisfying feel to wizzing across the screen. What I wasn't expecting was the brutal difficulty. As a relatively poor kid I always used to consider continuing a bit of a cheat and poor value. Better still to start from the beginning and get better. I can clearly remember the first boss battle and the between level first person bonus level.. But now it's brutally hard. Consider I had five lives per go compared to the three back in the day and I still had to continue several times just to finish the first level (where the trial version ended). I am now rubbish at games? Are the reactions not what they where?
Compare and contrast to modern ninja actioner Ninja Blade, which to be fair I suppose has countless lives and continues, but it way more complicated in terms of controls and what it expects you to be able to do. I've concentrated on doing a mission a day and I'm onto the last mission now having completed several, what I had thought where, brutal boss battles along the way and was quietly thinking that I did still have the skills..
Shinobi has left me in doubt.. Are even modern games with all their complexities and controls strolls in the park? Are my reactions just not what they where? Was it the countless practice I was prepared to put in on a Friday afternoon with my school dinner money? Answers on a postcard..
However Shinobi was always a favourite of mine and at only 400 points it's almost a certain purchase. I downloaded the trial version to make sure it was the one I remebered enjoying in the Arcade and not the disappointing Revenge of Shinobi (or whatever it was called) that I didn't like on Mega Drive.
It's arcade perfect and just as I remembered it and it plays nicely on the 360 pads with the shurikens having the same satisfying feel to wizzing across the screen. What I wasn't expecting was the brutal difficulty. As a relatively poor kid I always used to consider continuing a bit of a cheat and poor value. Better still to start from the beginning and get better. I can clearly remember the first boss battle and the between level first person bonus level.. But now it's brutally hard. Consider I had five lives per go compared to the three back in the day and I still had to continue several times just to finish the first level (where the trial version ended). I am now rubbish at games? Are the reactions not what they where?
Compare and contrast to modern ninja actioner Ninja Blade, which to be fair I suppose has countless lives and continues, but it way more complicated in terms of controls and what it expects you to be able to do. I've concentrated on doing a mission a day and I'm onto the last mission now having completed several, what I had thought where, brutal boss battles along the way and was quietly thinking that I did still have the skills..
Shinobi has left me in doubt.. Are even modern games with all their complexities and controls strolls in the park? Are my reactions just not what they where? Was it the countless practice I was prepared to put in on a Friday afternoon with my school dinner money? Answers on a postcard..
Sunday 7 June 2009
The "Complete" List
Resistance 2
Mirror's Edge - 360
Quantum of Solace - 360
House of the Dead: Overkill - Story & Directors Cut
Fable 2 - Story Mode
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot - (Liquid Easy)
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
Saints Row
Race Pro - Career Mode
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (Easy) - 360
Conan (Easy) - PS3
GTA IV - 360
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Not a first time completion. Although I had help with the final boss level last time and did it all myself this time. Still stands up as a cracking game. Looks great. Plays a dream. If a little short. I clocked it at just over 6 hours this time.
Mirror's Edge - 360
Quantum of Solace - 360
House of the Dead: Overkill - Story & Directors Cut
Fable 2 - Story Mode
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot - (Liquid Easy)
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
Saints Row
Race Pro - Career Mode
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (Easy) - 360
Conan (Easy) - PS3
GTA IV - 360
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Not a first time completion. Although I had help with the final boss level last time and did it all myself this time. Still stands up as a cracking game. Looks great. Plays a dream. If a little short. I clocked it at just over 6 hours this time.
Wednesday 3 June 2009
First Look; Ninja Blade
I really should hate this game. It's full of boss battles (I counted four during the second mission), It's chock full of QTE's and there's a huge range of swords and weapons to upgrade and things to collect oh and there's no mid level saving either.
Somehow though (and I should say so far.) I'm loving it. From Software have excelled themselves in the production values and graphics. The game is a lot of fun to play. Anyone whose played a modern action game of this sort will know what too expect. Yet it's not as annoying as it should be.
For a start there are loads of checkpoints so you're never left repeating huge sections if you fail. Each QTE is signified with a close up of your eye so you know it's coming. There's a large window for you to react and like Guitar Hero it scores how well you did. Nice for those who excel. Even better for sausaged fingered people with incredibly slow reactions like me. If you fail one you simply restart. None of this annoying "oh well you've missed a button lets give the boss another huge chunk of energy before you can have another go" marlarkey. Frustration is kept to a minimum.
Most importantly the combat makes sense to me (Again, so far) There's close attack on 'X' and ranged attack on 'Y'. There's your regular sword, There's two lighter swords for fast enemies and there's a heavy sword for amoured baddies.. None of this rubbish having your attacks blocked for ages.. Get out the big sword, smash his shield then smash him. The camera works great on the right stick and Right Trigger allows a quick dash. To either get back on with cracking skulls or to avoid an attack. It's simple but there's plenty of scope.
Secondly there's some great Prince of Persia style platforming with wall running and swiging on beams and that general feeling of covering large and complicated areas with the minimum of fuss and feeling like a ninja. Of course it's totally over blown and over the top. The end of one boss battle saw me riding a motorbike along the top of the cars and busses it was throwing at me and at the same time the QTEs keep you feeling involved in the cool stuff.
So far I'm really enjoying it. £15 well spent.
Somehow though (and I should say so far.) I'm loving it. From Software have excelled themselves in the production values and graphics. The game is a lot of fun to play. Anyone whose played a modern action game of this sort will know what too expect. Yet it's not as annoying as it should be.
For a start there are loads of checkpoints so you're never left repeating huge sections if you fail. Each QTE is signified with a close up of your eye so you know it's coming. There's a large window for you to react and like Guitar Hero it scores how well you did. Nice for those who excel. Even better for sausaged fingered people with incredibly slow reactions like me. If you fail one you simply restart. None of this annoying "oh well you've missed a button lets give the boss another huge chunk of energy before you can have another go" marlarkey. Frustration is kept to a minimum.
Most importantly the combat makes sense to me (Again, so far) There's close attack on 'X' and ranged attack on 'Y'. There's your regular sword, There's two lighter swords for fast enemies and there's a heavy sword for amoured baddies.. None of this rubbish having your attacks blocked for ages.. Get out the big sword, smash his shield then smash him. The camera works great on the right stick and Right Trigger allows a quick dash. To either get back on with cracking skulls or to avoid an attack. It's simple but there's plenty of scope.
Secondly there's some great Prince of Persia style platforming with wall running and swiging on beams and that general feeling of covering large and complicated areas with the minimum of fuss and feeling like a ninja. Of course it's totally over blown and over the top. The end of one boss battle saw me riding a motorbike along the top of the cars and busses it was throwing at me and at the same time the QTEs keep you feeling involved in the cool stuff.
So far I'm really enjoying it. £15 well spent.
Tuesday 2 June 2009
Comment: E3
So there'll be very few updates from me on any breaking news.. You can get it so much better elsewhere.
The Microsoft news seems to have gone down very very well with the internet though.. Both my main forums are alive with news, discussion and speculation.
Personally I'm excited about the none to surprising news of an October release of Forza 3. The rest doesn't do a lot for me.
It'll be interesting too see if Sonys announcements get as much excitement going.
Personally as big a fan as I am of Video Games E3 doesn't do a lot for me.. I prefer my news in more fun sized announcements and I really can't stand all the puff and hot air that goes along with it.
The Microsoft news seems to have gone down very very well with the internet though.. Both my main forums are alive with news, discussion and speculation.
Personally I'm excited about the none to surprising news of an October release of Forza 3. The rest doesn't do a lot for me.
It'll be interesting too see if Sonys announcements get as much excitement going.
Personally as big a fan as I am of Video Games E3 doesn't do a lot for me.. I prefer my news in more fun sized announcements and I really can't stand all the puff and hot air that goes along with it.
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