Tuesday 29 September 2009

Purchase Power



I went to Game today to buy the new Dead Space: Extraction for some more light gun based shenanigans on my Wii.. however it's on the shelves at £40 and there's just no way I'm paying that kind of money for a Wii game. Third Party titles seem to tumble in value and I'll be very surprised if I can't pick it up in a couple of months for under £20.

So instead I spent £15 on Afro Samurai for 360.

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
Prince of Persia
No More Heroes - Real Ending
GTA: Chinatown Wars
Silent Hill 2 - (4 star rating, Leave ending)
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - DS
Silent Hill 3 - (5 star rating)
Little Big Planet - Story Mode
Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Killzone 2
WET
Halo 3: ODST - (Legendary)

There's been no update on my progress on this for several reasons. Firstly it's short. With four players in co-op, even on Legendary, we clocked the game in just under 5 hours. Secondly I pretty much hated it all. I don't think I've ever disagreed with an EDGE review more. It's like Bungie have learnt nothing in the previous games. The hub City is dark, repetative and dull. Occasionally someone would ask if we hadn't already done this bit.. The last couple of levels are made up of identical corridors and rooms.. and there's the same old bad guys (or so it seemed to me) without even the flood turning up. However it was fun playing with friends.

Mostly I feel though it represents terrible value for money. Yes it comes on two discs.. but did it really need too? I don't have any of the DLC for Halo 3 and I still feel ripped off. The Firefight mode uses levels from the main game, Some of some the new maps are from Halo 2 (Which in one way is fine cos they're better than the levels in Halo 3 but I begrudge paying for them again).

Tuesday 22 September 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
Prince of Persia
No More Heroes - Real Ending
GTA: Chinatown Wars
Silent Hill 2 - (4 star rating, Leave ending)
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - DS
Silent Hill 3 - (5 star rating)
Little Big Planet - Story Mode
Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Killzone 2
WET



WET has hints of Max Payne and Stranglehold too it but the game it reminded me most of was Ninja Blade (although without the stupidly hard boss battles).

First off Rubi is a very likeable heroine. She's one dimensional but it's a great dimension. She's cool but she's also pissed and impatient... There's a cut scene where one of the crime lords is explaining how they're aren't enemies but they'll never be friends and she's all like yeah whatever.

The demo doesn't really do it justice which is odd cos it's basically the opening level but you've actually got less powers. Somehow it flows better.

I just loved it all really. The uber cool blood mode where Rubi goes into some kind of Rage mode and everything is red with black enemies and white blood and you just rampage through. I liked the story, I liked the grindhouse style, I loved the little cinema style trailers, I liked the action and I even liked the cool over the top QTEs that popped up now and then. I even liked the speed runs through Rubi's hideout that get your familiar with new weapons.

It doesn't out stay it's welcome and at any other time of the year I'd of probably had multiple play throughs to get the most out of it (Me being the cack handed flid that I am was just getting the hang of making Rubi look cool when it was all over). As it is I'm going to trade it.

Friday 18 September 2009

Purchase Power

So now we must be firmly in the silly season. I've some bad stuff about Need for Speed: Shift from a trusted source whose had hands on experience so decided to give it a miss.. Maybe pick it up cheap?

I wasn't blown away with the demo of Wet but still really wanted too play it.. After the awesome dollhouse I'm hot for all thins Dushku related at the moment. I liked the grindhouse style presentation and I enjoyed Stranglehold so if this offers more of the same I'll be more than happy.

Also it was only £35 in Game so hopefully I'll be able to trade it for something in a couple of weeks.

Wednesday 16 September 2009

Currently Playing: DiRT 2

First off the bad news. Ken Block and his X game American cohorts yelping and hollering is annoying. As is the games instance on battering your senses with menu selections and unlocked events hammering into place every few seconds. You get the feeling that our American Cousins will be loving being told their awesome after every event by the AI. It's just not something we, more reserved, Brits appreciate.

You've got to look past the surface sheen. Or even enter into the spirit by talking back to them (sample exchange: Ken Block "Woo.. Alex.. There's enough room for both of us!" Me "Eat wall you idiot!" having just punted him off).

The career mode is immense. While there's only 2 or 3 tracks per country there are a lot of countries and they're all nicely diversive in an organic way (They feel like countries and not a generic 'this is a jungle and this is a snow level'). The graphics are sublime. As the car crosses the line (complete with pyrotechnics) there's a super slow mo which never gets old and you can really see the love that's gone into it.

Of course any driving game lives and dies on it's handling. Initially DiRT 2 disappoints feeling over arcadey and with a tendency to be too oversteery on the limit. Perservere though (especially with the brilliant bonnet cam) and it all starts to come together and it reveals the depth that allows you to start taming what at first felt impossible.

Online is a huge leap for Codemasters, both from the previous game and GRiD. There's a Jam mode where, at last, you can have a host and pick exactly what you want to do as well as the Pro mode which is similar to previous efforts (no host and a random track and vehicle selection which you can veto) which works fine. It's nice and snappy and there's no waiting around while people chat and no idiot picking a car that's too good. It's better than before because of the wider scope of disciplines now availabe online.

If this is, as has been hinted, the last game to feature McRaes name then it's a fitting send off.. Just remember to tell Block to fuck off from me.

Friday 11 September 2009

Purchase Power

After two visits to GAME I managed to get myself a copy of Colin McRae:DiRT 2. I got £25 as part of a special offer for my copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum which soothed some of the pain of having to pay £45 for it.

Tuesday 8 September 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
Prince of Persia
No More Heroes - Real Ending
GTA: Chinatown Wars
Silent Hill 2 - (4 star rating, Leave ending)
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - DS
Silent Hill 3 - (5 star rating)
Little Big Planet - Story Mode
Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Killzone 2

Obviously PS3 fans are desperate to have a FPS that is a Halo beater. Or the PS3 magazines are. I'm also not entirely sure why this game received so much hype. It's really not healthy.

It is a stunningly gorgeous game. When I played the demo I wondered what all the fuss was about. Everytime I fired the game up I wondered why all games didn't look this amazing. The character models are especially gorgeous having none of the waxy sheen that the Unreal Engine seems to give to everything.

Having said that, to me at least, Killzone 2 feels like an FPS Gears. You've got the same space marines who think helmets are for fools, A cover system, A rubbish story and a similar chunky feeling to the movement..

It's far from perfect though. As fun and hectic as the fire fights are the cover system can feel a bit arbitary in what it will fix too. In standard configuration the PS3 pad feels far from comfortable either for extended peroids.. Having to hold 'L2' to fix to cover, 'L1' to aim down the sight and 'R1' to fire combined with both sticks gave me terrible hand cramp.

The story is forgettable. The AI of your team is, for the most part, terrible. In fact I was quite pleased too discover that you could shoot him to death yourself to get past him when he was happily blocking your path and he'd come back to life automatically at the next checkpoint.

There's a lot of fun to be had though. It really does feel like war. At it's best the combat is intense and action packed with hundreds of bullets ripping through the dust and smoke and the Helghast (the games evil enemy) pouring in..

Also, like Gears it doesn't outstay it's welcome. Even on the easiest setting though I found it incredibly tough. Granted I'm not the worlds best FPS player but the Helghast are incredibly tough soaking up huge amounts of bullets, This combined with guns that require frequent longs slow reloading means that to make any kind of progress on the higher levels you'd need the kind of discpline I just don't possess.

I'm glad I didn't pick it up new, But at £20 I'd say it was an essential PS3 purchase for anyone with a passing interest in shooters.. It'd certainly be the game I loaded up to show off what PS3 can do. If I still had friends (in real life™) that would be interested.. but that's another story.

Friday 4 September 2009

Purchase Power

I've just bought Dragons Quest IV: Hand of the Heavenly Bride from eBay for £6.25 in my quest to play as much DS as possible. I'm not a huge fan of Japanese RPGs but coming off the back of Zelda I'm fired up with enthusiasm! Just £6.25 including P&P too! God bless eBay.

Thursday 3 September 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
Prince of Persia
No More Heroes - Real Ending
GTA: Chinatown Wars
Silent Hill 2 - (4 star rating, Leave ending)
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - DS
Silent Hill 3 - (5 star rating)
Little Big Planet - Story Mode
Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Batman: Arkham Asylum

There'll be absolutely no spoilers here. This is the first essential purchase of the year for comic and game fans alike.. Presumably if you like both you've bought it already.

I completed the bulk of the game on 'Normal' but couldn't seem to beat the second but last boss battle. It seemed I hadn't unlocked the best abilities for it.. and of course it was tougher than anything prior to that which had already tested my meagre skills too the limit. There was nothing else for it but to start again on Easy.

Of course it was a much quicker play through second time although I did get more out of it. I got a better grip on the combat system, solved more of the riddlers puzzles and found more of the secrets which awarded me a lot more Exp to spend on upgrading stuff... A third play through on Normal should see me beat it.. but my hands are like claws I've played this for so long.

It's something of a shock that something that I think we all thought had no chance can turn out so brilliant. The production values are huge, the gameplay is immense and it is an absolute joy too play from start too finish and chock full of bits you'd love to share.. Everything else coming is probably going to raise it's game!