BBB: 2010

Wednesday 8 December 2010

The "Complete" List

Firstly apologies for the lack of updates, It hasn't been for lack of either game playing or buying them. Some how I've managed to not complete much recently.

Anyhow I recently completed Professor Layton & The Lost Future. The third sequel in the popular franchise. So what's changed? The most important feature is a new super hint that pretty much always saves you from being too stuck or having to check a FAQ by giving you a more obvious hint to a particular puzzles solution.

Otherwise we have the same high production values, the same cute characters and relationships, An increasingly bonkers plot (not just bonkers for the series but bonkers as it goes along), A slightly more worrying relationship between The Prof and Luke and, if we're really honest, a feeling that some of the puzzles are rehashed, some are plain bizarre and some just aren't that good.

Still there's nothing more satisfying than a puzzle solved.

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Comment

In my world you're only good as you're last sale. In American TV you're only as good as you're last episodes ratings.. In games it's not much different. Still it's a sad day when Bizarre Creations are canned after lacklustre sales and reviewer reception of James Bond: Bloodstone

Of course the writing was kind of on the wall when Blur bombed at retail despite me having a lot of love for it.

It's difficult to pin down where it all went wrong. Leaving Microsoft? Diminishing returns with the Project Gotham franchise.. Or was it even The Club?

Personally I despair a little for my fellow gamers when Activision can have the biggest opening day of sales with Call of Duty: Black Ops and yet people wont buy something as intensely good online as Blur.

Of course as Michael Jackson once sang I should probably start with the man in the mirror. I had sworn to buy James Bond:Bloodstone to support my favourite developer but a combination of New Vegas and poor length of the campaign put me off.. so I guess I should've supported them. I did buy Blur on launch and it's still my go to game for some knock about online fun.

A sad day,

Monday 15 November 2010

Purchase Power: Quarter IV 2010

A combination of a huge amount of time being spent on Fallout: New Vegas (over 40 hours so far fact fans) and perhaps one or two big titles being out slightly earlier than normal has meant that there hasn't been such a glut of huge games coming out this time of year as normal.

Having said that we are starring down the barrel of the christmas now. I've decided to give CoD: Black Ops a miss for the moment. I don't enjoy the multiplayer component of it so much and so for that reason I'll see if it gets any cheaper. Fable III is also going to have to wait a bit. I'll definitely pick it up at some point but again it'll need to be cheaper.

So where does that leave us? Gran Turismo 5 will finally launch this month after the mammoth wait and seeing as my PS3 only gets used for these kind of genuinely exciting PS3 exclusives I expect I'll be picking it up.

Otherwise I've narrowed it down to Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. I really enjoyed the second game and as this is a direct sequel I'm looking forward to more of the same and seeing how the story of Ezio pans out.

That just leaves Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit on pre-order. I have utmost faith in Criterions ability to deliver a fun action packed racer. I'm also intrigued by the Autolog feature that brings to the forefront was has in the past been the secret pleasure of online friends list leaderboards.

Tuesday 2 November 2010

Currently Playing: Fallout - New Vegas.

Fresh from completing Enslaved on Normal difficulty and with a new found wealth of RPG experience I decided to man up and play this on Normal difficulty (rather than the easy mode that I seem to remember completing Fallout 3 on).

Suffice to say it's making for a far more challenging experience. I'm going through stimpacks like water. I've managed to get full on near death radiation sickness twice (Don't think I ever got it bad enough to warrant visiting a doctor in 3.) and weapons and armour break like they're sponsored by Primark.

Part of this might be due to it being simply a more hardcore game not just the difficulty. Also this time I've focused my levelling up on Speech, Lock Picking and Stealth rather than just full on attacking skills as before. I got fed up with not being able to open doors or unlock speech options during the campaign on Fallout 3.

Still despite the game's engine starting to creak a bit these games are all about the atmosphere and in this respect New Vegas delivers in spades. It's nice to be wandering the wastelands again.

The "Complete" List

The eagle eyed Blog reader will notice that I completed this on Normal difficulty. A step up from my normal level of challenge to be sure. Regular readers will also remember that I pretty much hated the demo.

It's like Ninja Theory decided to make a game just for me. Yes it's a bit slow to get going but once it does get going it's really good. It helps of course that it's a very pretty game. Obviously the all star input in acting and script writing helps draw you in. Then the solid action kicks in. The combat is solid and chunky and doesn't require the memory of a million strings of combos but it isn't button mashy either.

The platforming is reminiscent of the Prince of Persia reboot, Anything that Monkey can jump too is highlighted so there's not much in the way of frustration. Your AI companion Trip soon stops being annoying and the relationship between the too is genuinely interesting.

For me there's definite hints of Jak & Daxter too and seeing as that's my favourite 3D platformer of all time that's got to be a good thing.

I even enjoyed the frankly bizarre final, gameplay free, chapter. Looking forward to the sequel.

Friday 8 October 2010

The "Complete" List

Who'd of thought making a sequel to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time would be so hard? The two direct sequels lost their way chasing market share and the recent reboot was a tad disappointing too.

So here we have a direct sequel that follows on directly. So no more Nolan North and no more Emo prince either. In fact so hard do Ubisoft try to evoke the feeling of the original game that the presentation and menus are almost identical.

Sadly the game falls some way short. On the plus side the combat is the best ever in a PoP game. Following in the footsteps of Batman:AA hordes of enemies attack at once and you can slash, kick and vault over them with acrobatic ease dealing out death and context sensitive finishing moves. A range of powers can be unlocked but don't add much.

I don't really remember the end of SoT but apparently the Prince must have lost the Dagger that provided his time based powers because here a new amulet allows him to rewind time. It no longer allows him to slow down time though so that particularly pleasing element is gone. In it's place he has the power to freeze and unfreeze water. While this allows for some challenging platforming later in the game it's not quite as good.

What really let's the game down though is the level design. It all looks very nice but there's nothing that's particularly challenging or as huge or multi-teared. You enter a room the camera pans around and it's always fairly obvious where to go. There's nothing that takes the breath away or stumps you for very long. It's very linear. Also gone are the flashbacks that hinted at what needed to be done and where far superior to the camera pan.

Having said that the game is a joy to play. The controls do a reasonable job of making everything work. There's a lot less hand holding than the reboot and you do feel like you're pulling off all the cool moves yourself. At the sametimes it's been streamlined just enough that you can pull off long sections of platforming without having to stop every few moves to readjust the camera (which is also very good most of the time).

Overall I enjoyed it then but it doesn't come anywhere close to scaling the heights of the original.

What can I say about Mafia II. It's certainly better than the 4 it scored at Eurogamer. Hot off the heels of enjoying Season One of The Sopranos I was looking forward to living the life of a Mafioso.

A lot has been said about the lack of side missions, collectables and things to do outside of the main story. Personally I didn't mind the linearity of it. The story is well told with a very high level of presentation maintained throughout the cutscenes and conversations.

The problem is there's only 15 story missions and while the best of them are very good a lot of them are forgettable and dull. There's a bit set in prison where all you do is walk about and have a few fist fights. A missed opportunity. The mission that was in all the previews prelaunch where you have to set a bomb in a hotel posing as window cleaners is a high point but it's also a high water mark. Nothing comes close to scaling it's heights again. Which is shame.

Much like PoP:TFS I enjoyed what was there but felt that it could've been so much more.

Tuesday 28 September 2010

DLC round up.

First up was Quantum Theory on 360. A sort of poor mans Gears of War but with the usual bonkers Japanese slant. I kind of enjoyed it and it's on my 'bargain bin' list despite a terrible review from EDGE

Next up was Enslaved:Odyssy To The West. Frankly I find just the thought of Andy Serkis annoying and I still have bitter memories of Heavenly Sword where initial delight turned into hating the boss battles. Still it's a very odd level to pick for a demo. Basically Chapter One of the full game it does the basics of tutoring you in how to play the game but is completely linear for the first half. When I say linear I mean it's an actual straight passage. Not inspiring. It's not without potential but I failed to see the Uncharted 2 comparison OPM where bandying about.

Regular readers may remember that Top Gun is my favourite film ever so naturally I was excited about the PSN Top Gun game. Especially as the films script writer was on board. While accessing PSN I thought I may as well download my free DLC to Heavy Rain.

This resulted in abysmal service from PSN. My PS3 was switched on for hours over a course of three days as it struggled with the basics of downloading things. It was slow when it was working and then for reasons unknown it would end up waiting.. for what I never found out. Considering the slick, smooth service from XBL on the same internet service I'll never understand it.

As for the results? Top Gun was very underwhelming and I felt a bit ripped off with the Heavy Rain: Chronicles. There are several endings but basically only one real location, not much to do (apart from open empty cupboards) and it really showed up the limitations of the format.

Much better was the half price offer of The Passing. A new campaign level for Left 4 Dead 2. A decent slab of content and of course shot gunning zombies with mates is always entertaining. Having not played the first game meeting the original survivors didn't mean much, and as yet I haven't finished it but it's everything you'd want from DLC, More of what you enjoyed, a decent length and a cut price. Oh and it downloaded the day it started which is always a bonus.

The "Complete" List

A happy coincidence of the holiday arrangements at work meant that I ended up taking the week off of release. I got stuck straight into the solo campaign on Normal and I really enjoyed it. For me it's the best ever Halo campaign. It's free of The Flood, annoying repetative levels and the kind of gimmicks that brought down Halo 2 and ODST (a second playable character and the city levels respecively).

It's also the first one that really gets the most out of the 360 with great draw distance and some stunning levels and architecture. There's also a lot of variety to the levels and action too (I wont say any more on this for fear of spoilers).

As you'd expect the Multiplayer provides a great slab of entertainment. Subtly rebalanced weapons wise there's a reasonable selection of levels out of the box and the selection of power ups is nice. As is the way post Modern Warfare nearly everything you do gives you XP for ranking, which is nice, and customisation of your Spartan which is frankly pointless.

I then made a stab at completing it on Heroic. I really had to up my game for this. It's brutally hard. Not helped by some unforgiving checkpoints. There was a couple of points where I had to put the pad down, have a deep breath, a smoke a drink and a ponder and come back to it. I do feel though it helped my improve my skills in general and there's been a marked improvement in my multiplayer skills. At least I think so.

I also had a great time completing the campaign in co-op on Legendary with Lee and Geoff. The advantage here is that as long as one person stays alive you're not sent back to the last checkpoint when you die which makes progress a lot less frustrating.

Overall a great campaign and a generous package. A fine last Halo Hurrah from Bungie.

Purchase Power Update

Here's a bit of a round up of my recent acquisitions.

First up I swapped Wolfenstien for Nier with a member of one of my regular forums. It turned up in very good condition and as I'd only paid £10 for Wolfenstien it was probably a fair trade.

Obviously Halo: Reach was a must. I got it in HMV for £40 with the usual 800 free MS points which seemed the best deal in the choice of two shops here on the day.

I ordered F1 2010 from shopto.net at the bargain price of £32 but apparently they now only give free recorded delivery with pre-orders (Which is the only way to guarantee that something will arrive next day here and even then it's not foolproof) so I paid £6 for next day courier delivery. It arrived on the thursday and was still £2 than in the shops here. Not a bargain for sure but I was very excited about getting it.

I found Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands brand new for £12 in HMV and that seemed like a must have. It's obviously been heavily discounted fairly quickly as there was a succession of reduction stickers underneath the latest offer.

Wednesday 15 September 2010

The "Complete" List

As regular readers will remember I started off really hating this.. This summer has been quite a dry spell (happily coming to an end now) and so I decided to give this another chance. Installed to my HDD seemed to make quite a difference and it ran and loaded a lot quicker which made for a smoother experience.

Started with The Ballad of Gay Tony which I ended up really enjoying. The cutscenes where laugh out loud funny. The missions turned out to be action packed. It was perhaps a little bit limited by being DLC. I didn't enjoy The Lost & The Damned quite as much. It wasn't quite so over the top.

I did like how both stories interwove with GTA IV although it did seem an excuse for R* to reuse a lot of teh assets from the first game. All in all though a great package. Liberty CIty is always great to visit and it's a shame that R* haven't released more episodes.

Sunday 29 August 2010

The "Complete" List

Beat the Tiger Challenges, Won all four Majors and Won the Fed Ex cup.

I'd been watching the Open at St. Andrews and decided it might be nice to play a round on the course myself. Apparently I must have traded 09 and I wasn't going to bother going up in the loft to find 07 which meant it would have to be 08 which I didn't really like at the time.

Of course St. Andrews needed unlocking which meant starting the Tiger Challenge, Once the addictive nature of levelling up my avatar had kicked in I was drawn to complete the career mode too.

A couple of complaints. The Live servers have been switched off so there was no chance of earning all those achievements and I don't have a 360 Camera thingy so there was no chance of getting those achievements either.

Wednesday 25 August 2010

Not Currently Playing: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

It happens fairly regularly in this hobby of ours. You've been watching a big title for months, reading previews and such like (I subscribe to OPM and EDGE. Read 360 when ever they feature one of my musings in their magazine and follow a variety of websites on a daily basis) and then the reviews drop and it's inevitably a disappointment.. but there's always the thought in the back of your mind that after all that potential can it really be that bad?

I came across a copy of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men for £3 minus cover and green box but complete with manual and disc so how bad can it really be?

Well the answer has to be fairly bad. It's core shooting mechanic isn't that great. You often feel like you can't shoot guys until the game wants you to even if you've got them plumb in your sights. They hide in cover too with bits sticking out but you can't hit them and then to make matters worse they switch through 180 degrees when you line up a shot. The cover system doesn't work too well and it's just generally frustrating.

To make matters worse you can see the potential the game has. The characters are interesting and about a third of the way in (after a dreadful nightclub mission) it turns into a kind of Michael Mann style caper heist that despite the aforementioned complaints is still enjoyable. Despite the lack of online co-op.

And then? Then it all goes horribly wrong with a mission that makes you wonder whether it was ever play tested. I got so frustrated with it I removed the disc from the machine and snapped it in half and threw it in the bin never to darken my console again. It seemed better than braking anything that cost me more than £3.

Tuesday 24 August 2010

The "Complete" List

Despite being almost as old as gaming itself I missed out on the birth of the first person shooter so Wolfenstein holds no special affection in my gaming history.

I spotted it for £10 brand new in GAME and figured it had to be worth a punt at that. There's hints of Halo ODST in the open world hub level and FEAR and, bizzarely, Prince of Persia: SoT in the time manipulation powers that unlock soon into the game. But mostly it's refreshingly old school.

For a start you can carry as many weapons as there are. Which is nice. Levels have a pleasing flow to them with enemies being seen off for good (none of this Modern Warfare respawning nonsense) and whilst it's not a particularly long game it doesn't outstay it's welcome.

There's a few simple puzzles but mostly it's a question of blowing a bizzare selection of Nazi's back to hell. It took me about 8 hours to complete and my only complaints would be that the achievements are very multiplayer focused (which I always think of as rather cheap way to generate interest) and sometimes it can be a bit fussy about lining up with switches. Other than that a solid game.

Wednesday 11 August 2010

The "Complete" LIst

Limbo should be approached with as little prior information as possible for the best experience so this will be a very short post. It plays like a dream (almost literally) and is a stunning experience. Go download now.

Tuesday 10 August 2010

The "Complete" List

Another one of those titles that showed intial promise that didn't review well enough for a full price purchase that I've picked up cheap to fill the summer void. £10 brand new in game.

Presumably no developer sets out to make an average game. One assumes it comes down to budget or time constraints or possibly both. Not everyone has Polyphony Digitals unlimited time and seemingly budget to reach for perfection.

Here things start off really well. There's a definite whiff of Uncharted, Not just because Nolan North voices our hero but also the jungle based opening levels and the cover based gunplay. There's also a similar 50s adventure serial feel to it. Especially when the rocket pack gets introduced a couple of levels in.

There's a mission soon after where your flying through the sky, landing on giant structures, fighting through them to destroy them from the inside out and then flying away on a wing and prayer and you think this could be a really great game.

However the aforementioned time and budjet constraints conspire to spoil it. The rest of the areas are fairly small and so you end up flying through very small areas fighting the same ships over and over again. Then before you know it the games pretty much over.

Fun while it lasts, looks nice enough, lots of potential but, much like my school reports, should of tried harder.

Sunday 8 August 2010

Currently Playing: SIlent Hill: Homecoming

Regular readers might remember that I played through Silent Hill 2 and 3 in preparation last year for this. A slew of average reviews and I decided to wait until it was cheap. Spotted it in HMV for £15 and picked it up.

It certainly just as horrifying as it's classic predecessors but perhaps not for all the right reasons. For a kick off there's no option to adjust the camera. Which means if, like me, you like to have the Y axis inverted you're going to spend a lot of time looking at the floor. Secondly there's no autosave. Which means you're back to wandering around looking for saves spots and a large chunk of replaying if you happen to die.

Oh and it's hard. Properly hard. I played the previous games on Easy. There's no easy option here and even on the default difficulty items are scarce on the ground. There's very few health packs and not a lot of ammo. Oh and there's monsters.. lots and lots of monsters.. it's not rare to stumble across five vicious nurses in a pack. Which means a lot of combos and lots of dodging.. which for someone whose timing is as bad as mine means a lot of dying.

I've just had to replay about three hours of game (thankfully a keep five saves on the go but I had to go back to the earliest one to get to a point where I hadn't already wanked away all my health and ammo) because I arrived at a Boss battle with half my health and no health items and no ammo. I'd just played through about an hours worth of game without a pick up in sight.. Oh and then I had to sit through an unskippable conversation before I could have another bash.. Enough for one day.

Saturday 31 July 2010

The "Complete" List

Expectations weren't too high for this. Average review scores combined with my own experience of Pandemics last effort and the fact that poor sales meant that EA closed studio weren't a good indicator.

However I have to say it's the most enjoyable game I've played all year. War torn Paris is a great location. The Nazi oppressed city is portrayed in stark black and white with huge swathes of Nazi Red flags and uniforms combined with splashes of resistance blue make it eye catching and it's really well designed. From the city itself to the rural out skirts and coastal villages make it an interesting place to explore.

The core aspects of shooting, movement and driving are rock solid. Compared to the cluster fuck that was running, shooting and cover in GTA IV the saboteur himself (Sean Devlin for that is his name) is a joy to control. The selection of weapons is meaty and most of them have a use (although I quickly settled on my favourites). The driving is also brilliant. Pandemic understand that we want to feel like we're driving on the edge of control without the frustration of actually being out of control. Theres plenty of satisfying tyre screech as you handbrake around corners without ever feeling like you're fighting the cars. They also have a lovely authentic look to them.

There's plenty to do as well. One of the nice things about the freeplay targets is that it actually helps out in the main body of the story, Take down some of the tanks and sniper towers and your escape will be easier. The story itself doesn't really get going until about half way through when the missions get much much better in both size and scope and whilst the story is a little on the short side (I spent just over 12 hours clocking it) I went on to spend nearly the same amount of time again in freeplay.

It's also chock full of humour, both intentional and not so intentional. Sean's accent is a bit none more Oirish but it works in the frame work of the game. He has so many saying that I was still hearing him exclaim new things right up to the end.

Probably the most fun I've had with a sandbox game since GTA III.

Saturday 17 July 2010

Unboxing the 360 Slim

So I got my new X-Box 250Gb Slim home yesterday. To be honest it's still quite a heavy wee beasty in the box. Thanks to the staff at GAME for giving me a bag so big I could've carried the store home!

First thing of note. The box is much nicer to open and closes properly after you've taken everything out. I really hated the stupid flappy design of the last one.

It's actually not that much smaller. The PSU is smaller but probably just as thick. Other than that it looks nice. The shiny black effect isn't quite up to the quality of my original PS3 but it's nice enough.

Having plugged it all in I was able to use the transfer cable to copy all my saves and games across to the new machine from my old 20Gb HDD (Big shout out to Geoff who made this possible!) and it was soon up and running.. One problem here was that the new on off switch is so touch sensitive I managed to turn the 360 off by accident whilst plugging in a USB device (in this case said transfer lead) which could be annoying if you lost game progress whilst trying to plug a second controller in.. but I can't see it cropping up to often.

I was soon up and running and wirelessly connected to my new (Stylishly Black) Netgear Router. I tested Blur and Forza 3 and had absolutely no problems at all. No noticeable lag or lack of performance compared to the wired connection of my old 360.

Talking of which, if you'd asked me yesterday morning, if my old 360 was noisey I'd of said that when I have the TV on at a reasonable volume and my hi-fi playing I can barely hear it. Turns out I'd of been wrong and I'd of just gotten used to the background hum. Even running a game off the DVD drive the new console is spookily quiet.. so quiet in fact that it's a bit un-nerving. I even ended up turning the TV way down. The PS3, even sat idle on the XMB, sounds noisey in comparison and I'd of sworn that ran silently before.

My only other complaint would be that the disc drive tray itself is still a bit cheap although this is offset by the lovely touch sensitive eject button and the wee noise it makes to let you know it's working.

Having ran it all night I noticed that the left hand vent on the console (the side that's next to my Sky+ Box (also black fact fans!) was very cool. Possible cooler than ambient temperature. The vents in the top and the right where running quite hot. I guess that means it's cooling itself very effectively? Although I do worry that the huge vents in the top will let a lot of dust in and that could be a console killer too. Only time will tell.

Overall I'm very happy with the new machine.

Wednesday 14 July 2010

The "Complete" List

Left 4 Dead 2 - (All Campaigns)
Mass Effect
Lego Rock Band - Story Mode
Darksiders - Easy
BAYONETTA - Easy Automatic
Lego Batman
Call of Duty: Classic - Normal
Fracture - Casual
Dragon Quest: The Hand of the Heavenly Bride
Heavy Rain - Medium
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - Normal
Yakuza 3 - Easy
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All
Professor Layton and Pandora's Box
Mass Effect 2 - Normal
Peggle: Dual Shot - DS
Splinter Cell: Conviction - Realistic & Co-op - Realistic
Dead Space - Easy - 360
Alan Wake - Normal
Split/Second - Career
Blur - Career/Level 50 Multiplayer
Red Dead Redemption
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle - Sweet
Everybody's Golf 2 - PSP

I've been playing Everybody's Golf games since the very first one on PSone. The title is somewhat misleading though. Sure enough the games are very inclusive and easy enough to learn without really having to have much of a grip of real golf. But the combination of some killer courses later in the games, The steady increase in the amount of buttons you'll have to press to pull of the kind of shots required at the higher level and some very fine golf by your AI challengers means it can get very tough towards the end.

After struggling with the platinum run of events for quite some time ( A combination of my general rubbishness, The brutal courses and wind and somewhat incosistant ball physics IMO) the game took pity on me and introduced an 'EASY' level pretty soon after picking it up again for another bash... It turns out it's still fairly challenging (the events with special rules i.e. +2 for bunkers or +2 for rough could see my score for 9 holes come in at +20).

I eventually managed to win enough cards across a combination of events to challenge the final boss character and despite some riduclously good shots from him (combined with a fair amount of rubbish ones it has to be said in comparison to EG:World Tour where the last but one character nails every shot) I managed to beat him on the second time of asking and, for the first time ever, saw the credits roll on an Everybody's Golf game.

Tuesday 13 July 2010

The "Complete" List

Left 4 Dead 2 - (All Campaigns)
Mass Effect
Lego Rock Band - Story Mode
Darksiders - Easy
BAYONETTA - Easy Automatic
Lego Batman
Call of Duty: Classic - Normal
Fracture - Casual
Dragon Quest: The Hand of the Heavenly Bride
Heavy Rain - Medium
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - Normal
Yakuza 3 - Easy
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All
Professor Layton and Pandora's Box
Mass Effect 2 - Normal
Peggle: Dual Shot - DS
Splinter Cell: Conviction - Realistic & Co-op - Realistic
Dead Space - Easy - 360
Alan Wake - Normal
Split/Second - Career
Blur - Career/Level 50 Multiplayer
Red Dead Redemption
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle - Sweet

Regular readers will probably remember how much I enjoyed the first No More Heroes game. In fact it's probably my favourite game on Wii. So I was very excited at the prospect of playing the sequel.

Normally in the world of video games it's easy to sum up sequels as "Bigger, Better, More". This being a Suda 51 game of course nothing is as straight forward.

Of course he's not turned it into a Kart racer. It's still similar. But things have changed in Santa Destroy. Not least of which being the nature of your friend Bishop's head's relationship with his shoulders. Out goes the open world nature, Out goes paying entry fees, Out goes the 3D side quests and jobs, Out go drunk russians, Out goes the adorable telephone conversations via the wii-motes speaker and in it's place?

Well that's the thing. In this case less is.. well less. I finished the entire game, including playing with my cat and enough side jobs to buy all the beam Katanas in just under 8 hours. Not a bad length in this day and age and there's certainly a degree of replayibility.. but not as much time as I spent enjoying all the side quests and bits and bobs in the first game.

So what is new? Well bizarre cut scenes with some woman in a booth behind glass on a telephone (a bit like in American Prison Films) and some extra playable characters. Shinobu who Travis spared in the first game. I liked her bits. She's fun to control and because she has a jump control the levels have a vertical element which adds some variety.

Basically the crux of the sequel is that it's been streamlined down. I wrote in my Blog last time that "It's basically ten boss fights in a row". Well this is 'X' boss fights in row. That's it. You can do the 2D side missions but there's a reason we don't play 8 bit games anymore. These seem to have been designed with rubbishness in mind too. The only one I liked was the steak cooking one and that has one button which you press once.

Still the game remains incredibly stylish. The cut scenes and dialogue are both gripping and hilarious in places. The combat, which again is fairly repetative throughout, never gets boring. So there's substance too.

In fact if they convert it to PS3 it'd probably make me buy Move just to play it all again in HD.

Friday 2 July 2010

The "Complete" List

To be honest I've had a bit of like/hate relationship with Red Dead Redemption which is why I've resisted writing about it until I finished it.

There's no doubt that Rockstar have created a stunning world complete with amazing eco system for you to play in. The first time you see a sunset or a herd of buffalo or stumble across a grizzly bear are some great moments..it's just everything else that let's it down.

Well not quite everything else. There's been some improvements since GTA IV. Mid-mission checkpoints for story missions ease frustration. The auto targetting mostly selects the right target and the 'Dead Eye' bullet time mode stacks the odds in your favour.

However lots of other things are starting to feel a bit dated. Compared to something like Assassin's Creed 2 or Uncharted 2 it all feels a bit clumsy. Running is still consigned to the (A) button. Meaning no matter how far I push my analogue stick I still walk at a snails pace. Moving from cover and trying to line up with ladders and doorways is still comically rubbish most of the times but frustrating when you're trying to complete missions.

Horses just aren't as fun as cars. Whilst the wild west is an impressive sight there's no getting away from the fact that there's only so many paths and trails you can travel down compared to say Liberty Cities warren of streets. This means that a lot of journeys boil down to galloping along the same stretch of country back and forth over and over. You can quick travel but of course being Rockstar first you have to find somewhere to set up a camp and then select the map and then quick travel.

My biggest gripe is that after four 3D GTA games I'm starting to get a bit bored of travelling from a to b to accept a mission and then from b to c to start. Most of the missions revolve around killing a load of bad guys and by half way through it had all started to turn into something of a grind. Rockstars writing just isn't as good or interesting as they think it is and I really couldn't of cared less about the plot. Come the last section I was skipping cut scenes and just desperate to get it all over with.

Tuesday 29 June 2010

Purchase Power

I was disappointed to read that the Publishers behind No More Heroes weren't going to invest in any more new IPs. Whilst you can see their point when traditional gamers fail to support innovative, adult (I use the word in the loosest sense to indicate child unfriendly) software on the Wii it's still something of a shame when those games have been receiving good reviews. From my point of view these sort of titles seem to head bargain binward very quickly.. presumably cos they're not selling well. It's a chicken and egg situation that I don't pretend to know the answer to.

Anyway I happened to spy a mint pre-owned copy in Game for £20 which (less my £2.50 reward points) seemed to good an opportunity to miss.

I also pre-ordered a new 360 Slim. The main reasons being that my 360's disc drive seems to be playing up and that I'm still using my original 20Gb HDD which is struggling to keep up. I only have 2Gb free and I'd like to be able to install games that I'm playing a lot. Also anything that makes for a bit more room under the TV and runs quietly has got to be good right? I'm going to donate the old one to charity too so it's win win.

Wednesday 23 June 2010

The "Complete" List

This game has sucked up so much of my time that I've not really had time to play much else*. Initially it's a little underwhelming. The career is nothing more than a series of events and boss battles. The game is also quite unforgiving with a fairly steep learning code. No sooner are you trying to juggle racing, learning circuits and juggling the power ups than the game is throwing fan demands, fan runs and each boss has a series of demands before you can face off with them and, I can't type this without cringing, win their ride.

However a bit of practice and patience and it all starts to make sense. There is a lot going on but it's all the more exciting for it. The boss demands not only add variety to the way you race but teach you valuable techniques as well.

It's online however where it really shines. There's a reasonable selection of events to attempt and it adopts the Codemasters style of lobby system where everyone votes on a choice of two courses and then there's a 30 second countdown to pick cars and mods (more of which later) which keeps the action rolling along nicely without being at the mercy of a host keeping you waiting for ages before starting things off.

Where it really scores though is in it's adoption of a Modern Warfare style persistant online XP system. As you level up new cars and mods are unlocked but crucially it's well balanced. You have three mods from a selection of 24 in 3 catergories to help make life easier. These range from better shields to a lazer sight to earning extra fans. None feel over powered and while I settled into a regular set of favourites thert's plenty to choose from to suit you style.

While I found that the better mods helped me win more it's crucially still possible to be competitive right out of the box. It doesn't fall into the trap of the new player getting hammered continuually until they've grinded for hours.

The most vital bit though is that actually winning isn't everything. No race feels like a lost cause and slipping past the car in front with a cheeky power up to leave him in last is almost as exciting as getting on the podium.

I had faith that with Bizarre Creatings online pedigree they'd deliever but they've really stepped up with this. There maybe better driving games released this year (Hello GT5 I still want you) but I doubt there'll be a better sensation of racing.

Thursday 3 June 2010

The "Complete" List.

There's obviously a very fine line between success and failure in all good video games... Split Second turns it up to 11. For me it's possibly a touch to harsh. I like to win. Having said that it is punch the air exciting when you pull off the right moves.

It's a fictional futuristic ultra violent TV show yadda yadda... The presentation is slick but it doesn't really need to hang a narrative on it.. the action speaks for itself. There's just enough variety in the tracks and events to keep you going. More importantly the AI puts up a good fight.. Don't let the Disney label fool you, like it did me, that it's going to be a walk in the park.. from the second episode on every win feels hard fought..

There's a bit of a difficulty spike around the middle where I hadn't unlocked a good enough car to progress any further and then had to grind a touch but otherwise it's almost perfectly pitched.. Really enjoyed it. It's pure arcade racing action.. testing my drifting skills like they haven't been tested since Ridge Racer 4 and my reactions like.. well like they don't seem to bother these days since rewinding became en vogue.

Thursday 27 May 2010

Purchase Power

I somehow managed to forget that I'd pre-ordered this from Shopto.Net so I was somewhat surprised when my phone beeped yesterday with news of it's despatch. A pleasant surprise none the less as I'd already decided not to trade in Split/Second after all.

I was even more surprised when the Isle of Man Post Office actually worked out that signed for next day delivery should actually mean next day and not 'when they can be bothered' and for the first time in living memory I actually have a new game the day before official release.

That it should happen with one of the games I'm most excited about is the kind of serendipty that just doesn't happen to me very often.

Friday 21 May 2010

Purchase Power

I got a nice Split/Second: Velocity postcard from GAME through my letter box offering me an extra 1000 reward points if I bought said game from them.. Now their loyalty scheme does seem a bit random with amounts popping up at the checkout with scant regard for what I've been spending in there.. However on arrival at my local branch, having taken a late lunch, they didn't appear to have their stock in once again.

So I went to HMV where I picked up Split/Second: Velocity for £35 and Red Dead Redemption for £40 along with 800 Microsoft Points free (always handy) and a unique code for the Armour Horse.. Overall I thought I'd done quite well for high street purchases.. Especially since there appears to be a lack of supermarket discounting on RRR.

Wednesday 19 May 2010

The "Complete" List

There's no doubt a game as relatively straight forward as this one that's been in development for nearly five years has probably lost it's way. In some ways Alan Wake is dated even before it's been released. It's also caught between genre's. It's neither full on Survival Horror but it's not a straight action title either.

The core mechanics are all solid. The bulk of thee game is a battle between light and dark and Mr Wake carries a torch to ward off the dark. Mapped to the right stick along with the camera this works really well. The game is set in the town of Bright Falls which could of come straight from the pages of a Stephen King novel and whilst the visuals may not be state of the art they are certainly packed with atmosphere and a tremendous draw distance which more than makes up for it.

The setting isn't the only debt it owes to the great Mr King and, as if in tribute, he gets several name checks throughout. To be fair King has explored the art of writing and an authors effects on his world in many of his books. (Several of his novels features writers). The plot is solid though and there's a lot of intereting characters Wake meets in his travels which makes the journey as enjoyable as the gameplay.

So whilst it does nothing new and, as the EDGE review mentions there's nothing really in the way of development in either enemies or weapons past the opening couple of chapters what there is enough to sustain the game, and your interest, until the end.

I particularly liked finding the radios and TV sets littered through Bright Falls. In fact the game is coming down with incidental information and asides.

It's a very good, if not great, game.

Tuesday 18 May 2010

Currently Playing: Split/ Second Demo

I initally downloaded this for 360 (It's still easier to use X-Box Live.. things download faster and there's no need to install) and was underwhelmed.. It does look amazing but the handling is very simple.. bags of understeer until you tap the brake and then huge amounts of drifting over steer.. It also seemed a bit random as I was in last place with a couple of corners to go on the last lap and then suddenly in first place..

I downloaded the PS3 version and it's (as far as I can tell) technically identical.. However repeated plays of the demo track did start to give me a better feel for it. There's a certain Ridge Racer-ish skill to balancing the drift to get the best line and maintain momentum.

Then it just seemed to click. I think the reason for the simplified driving is so that you can concentrate on the actual race.. Three races in and I was still seeing new parts of the course and experiencing different short cuts and power plays.

There's so much going on that the driving model gives you time to avoid the carnage, concentrate on earning the ability to use your power plays by drifting and drafting and then unleashing them at the best time..

All the reviews suggest a lack of longevity but with Blur around the corner I'll be happy if it gives me a weeks worth of roller coaster thrills and excitement.

Purchase Power

I had decided that I wasn't going to purchase any more, so called, Limited Editions.. But this Alan Wake one looked like it had had some thought put in to it. Instead of the usual, and annoying to get into, metal tin it comes in a nice hard back book effect (Mr Wake is an author you see) magnetic opening box, contains a lovely hardback box with slip cover that actually seems to be packed with information, the sound track CD and a bonus context disc as well as a nice black DVD box for the game for every day use ensuring that the Limited Edition needs minimal opening and can be stored on my shelf.

I traded in Splinter Cell: Conviction. As Nish mentioned recently the RRP on some games is taking a real pounding at the moment (Even God of War 3 is now available in GAME for £25 which really shocked me) so no doubt I can pick it up later for buttons if the DLC turns out good.

Which brings me nicely on to how packed Mays release schedule has become in what would traditionally be the lead in to the quiet summer months and so I'm looking at working out a purchase schedule in a sort of Q4 type manner.

Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands and No More Heroes 2:Desperate Struggle are both likely to get heavily discounted and there's only so much time for games now I'm a married man so there on the 'Wait until it's cheap' list.

Alpha Protocol: The Espionage RPG initially sounded promising but has now gone on to the 'Wait for the review' List.

Which leaves Split/Second and Red Dead Redemption as 'Day One' purchase and I'll probably trade Split/Second for Blur the week after as that's my other essential purchase.

Wednesday 12 May 2010

The "Complete" List

I guess having only spent a tenner on it there was no need to try and play it on the hardest difficulty setting.. or I've just reverted to type. Either way there was a lot to like here.

Even with out a kick ass surround system (or indeed any kind of surround system) the audio definitely warrants a mention.. all the clunks and out there noises combined with some awesome graphics gave the game plenty of atmosphere. I also really like the way the game needed no HUD. I can't remember now whether this came before or after Bioshock but the way the protagonist's suit projected all the audio files really added a lot of depth. Personally I'd of rather I'd been able to manage my inventory without being attacked but it certainly added to the survival horror.

All in all a very enjoyable game.

The "Complete" List

I did the first three missions with a friend and while neither of us where showered in glory we managed to do it all on Realistic difficulty.

I've pre-ordered Alan Wake for Friday though so I was keen to get the Co-op finished so I could trade this. That meant trying to find a random to do the last mission with. Which shouldn't of been to hard..

The first guy that match making brought up had no headset and insisted on trying to shoot the three guards at the start of the level despite being warned at the start that we weren't allowed to raise a single alarm.. He wasn't even trying to take them down with headshots.. just firing away with his pistol. Causing us to fail three times in a row without even moving.. So I quit back to the lobby.

The second guy also had no headset but was obviously some kind of pro gamer as he fired his EMP and ran through the first bit.. leaving me to get caught by the angry guards left in his wake.. the second time he left me!

The third guy (as it turned out a non-English speaking Japanese gamer) had no headset either but was fairly proficient and we made it all the way through to the final part of the level without too much trouble. The last checkpoint took us an hour and ten minutes to complete. Very satisfying though when we finally strung it all together (with out any communication) and made it to the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed the co-op campaign... Probably more so then the main story. It works really well.

Sunday 9 May 2010

The "Complete" List

So there was A LOT OF RESTARTS.. some of the checkpoints (I Know this is my usual bugbear) where rubbish.. But generally I really enjoyed it.. The Mark and Takedown function works really well and never gets old. The story is tight and the whole game rocks along with plenty of pace. I wasn't a fan of the new goggles.. I liked the old ones better. But generally a great game and one well worth exeperiencing.

Friday 30 April 2010

Purchase Power

Well it's that time of year again when I get a bank holiday without the Mrs.. so I'm planning another 24 hour gaming marathon.. Lord only knows that when I turn 40 I'm not going to be able to do it anymore.

Looking back at last years thread I didn't appear to enjoy it an awful lot. All I seem to do is complain about various parts of myself hurting.. I do vaguely remember a euphoric sense of achievement (although that might just be wishful thinking or the Stella I had afterwards) so this time I'm going to try and look on the bright side.

Anyway with that in mind I thought I'd take a trip to game and pick up another batch of cheap games that I've over looked with which to entertain myself. So I picked up...

Dead Space: Extraction - £12.99
Dead Space - £9.99
Mercenaries 2 - £7.98
Virtua Tennis 3 - £4.99

The girl in GAME asked if I was a fan of Dead Space. Of course having not played either yet I'm not yet sure. I did seem to make her day though by pre-ordering the Limited Edition of Alan Wake. The one time she didn't ask me if I wanted to pre-order anything.

You'll be able to keep track of my progress via either Facebook or indeed the above link to the 360 forum.

Tuesday 27 April 2010

The "Complete" List

In contrast to my play through of the original Mass Effect I was determined to get the most out of the sequel. To that end I started on a harder difficulty and took care of my own stats and abilities as well of those of my crew.

It's a better game in almost every way. Certainly the opening sequence is a credit to Bioware being fantastically presented and very exciting. A complete contrast to the rather dull opening session of the last game.

I imported my character, which as I really warmed to Commander Shepard, was nice although I have to say a lot of the incidental detail that carries over was lost on me but I enjoyed welcoming him back all the same.

I spent over 30 hours completing as much of the game as I could find and I have to say I enjoyed every minute of it.. Obviously at this early stage of 2010 it would be ridiculous to claim it as GOTY. But the bar has been raised very high.

Currently Playing: Forza 3

Inspired by Sundays second round of the BTCC I fired up Forza Motorsport 3 for some racing action. I originally completed all the seasons required for the achievements but that did leave a long list of events left for a 100% completion. Maybe for the time too long.

However with a bit of a gap my enthusiasm has returned. I'll now try to complete all the events so I can add it the The "Complete" List in more bite size chunks and I'll try and pick cars that make for tight close racing to keep it enjoyable rather than just steaming away from the pack to complete the events for the sake of it.

Of course it's still getting regular Friday night Live outings with the EDGE forum crew where it continues to provide a rock solid entertaining evening with a couple of beers and some lively chat.

Monday 12 April 2010

The "Complete" List

In contrast to Phoenix Wright I really enjoyed everything about Professor Layton's latest adventure. The olde worlde charm of the Professor and his assistants adventures are whimisical and charming and there's a good selection of head scratching puzzles to work through. I particularly enjoyed the camera and hamster side quests and was pleased to have assembled the camera and got the hamster up to full fitness. At just under 12 hours I completed 109 out of the 110 puzzles I found. Heartily recommended to all DS owners.

Thursday 8 April 2010

The "Complete" List

This has to be the most long winded game I've ever played. It's almost criminally lacking in actual game play and what game play there is is almost entirely 'trial' (aha! Bad Pun alert!) and error as although you acquire evidence during the invesigation stage you've no idea really how the story is going to unfold during the following 'in court' stage.

It had some entertaining dialogue and stories (Although the last case is far and away the best) but it also has more than it's fair share of annoying characters and worst of all there's no way to skip through the reams of text faster than it appears, letter by tedious letter, on screen (unless it's the second time through and even then it doesn't clear as fast as you'd like).

Not devoid of entertainment but a game I'd find hard to recommend.

Thursday 1 April 2010

Purchase Power.

For once I have a happy GAME buying experience. Picked up God of War 3 from the shelf and at the counter was offered a pre-owned, but still shrink wrapped, as new copy for £35. Combined with the, what I thought was very high, £25 for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 in p/x I parted with just £10.

Of course she did have to ask me if I wanted to buy any PSN points and tell me that I could trade it in when done.. but you can't have everything.

Tuesday 30 March 2010

The "Complete" List

Perhaps the least complete of anything on the list.. My final tally lands at just over 26 hours play time and 13% complete. There'll be no story spoilers in this blog post at all. The story, whilst bonkers, is half the joy of playing. Lavish cut scenes are augmented with in game engine chat. The brilliant japanese dialogue adds lots to the authentic feel of the game. Of course this also means you have to read a lot (and when I say a lot, I mean a lot) of dialogue but mostly it's well written and fun to follow.

I think for me, being more used to western games recently, is that your left to your own devices most of the time to find all the sub quests and and activities on offer by exploring the world. However the map isn't entirely useful. Even in game the mini map goes against normal convention of the map revolving around you. You really have to explore and learn the layout of the areas to get the most out of it.

For instance i found I could pick up girlfriends at the local burger joint, take them on dates and that owuld eventually lead to side missions and experience. However the game itself gives you little in the way of pointers to where these sorts of activities are. Even when you've found them they don't show up on the mini map.

Overall though I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the experience.. I'll be hanging on to it for another play through with all my cash and experience intact (At least that's what I think it meant at the end).

Friday 26 March 2010

Currently Playing: Splinter Cell: Conviction - Demo

As a long term Splinter Cell fan I'd been worried at the lengthy development time for this reboot so I was interested enough to down load the demo and give it a go.

After a short interrogation bathroom scene (Reminiscent of both 24 and the prologue of Casino Royal) you're into the meat of the demo proper.

Powered by the Unreal engine it's a solid, if not spectacular, looking game. What is very striking is the way Ubisoft have projected all the information you need onto the enviroment. It looks really amazing and so obvious that you wonder why no one (Well at least I can't think of anyone) has done it before.

This new game shows a more action orientated Fisher. More concerned with results than remaining undiscovered. That's not to say being stealthy doesn't pay off. I tried guns blazing and the enemy call for re-inforcements making it tougher to get through. Much better to use an unarmed takedown and then make use of the new mark'n'shoot (or whatever they're calling it) where you can paint up to three targets before popping out of cover and taking them down Bauer style. Very cool.

Colour me impressed.

Wednesday 24 March 2010

Currently Playing: Yakuza 3

My first Yakuza experience doesn't seem to have been held back by not knowing what went on in the previous two. The starting menu does have the option for an over view of the earlier installments but following Eurogamers advice I got stuck straight in. After all 'Reformed Gangster tries to go straight but gets dragged back into the shady underworld' (I'm assuming the later part as I'm still happily running my orphanage in hawian shirt and fetching cream slacks but more on this later.) is as old a story as boy meets girl.

I really shouldn't like it. It's chock full of old school text conversations, Starts off a bit slow and unlike most video game enthusiasts I have no interest in Japan..

However the story really does drag you in.. It goes to show that you don't have to divorce game play from the experience or feature nude shower scenes to have the player bond with the characters or generate emotion. What you need is well written characters and involving situations. David Cage could learn a thing or two here.

Of course orphans are always going to tug the heart strings but there's something strangely compelling about investigating the every day problems of a bunch of small kids mixed in with a large dose of kicking ass and taking names.

As interesting as the main story is though the real depth and enjoyment comes from actually exploring and living the life. I've drunk the best whisky the town has to offer and then spent the afternoon getting in fights because of it. I've taken girls out on dates doing everything from darts to eating out. I've played some golf and soft ball with the kids and enjoyed wandering around just seeing what's to see. It's a very interesting change of pace from western games and I'm appreciating that sometimes the more you put in the more you get out.

Sunday 14 March 2010

Currently Playing: Resident Evil 5

Picked this up for £17.50 in Game.. The last new non-Gold Edition copy left in the shop.

Fortunately I had a happy real life partner. Less fortunately I got stuck playing as Sheva.. Now I didn't really enjoy the more action orientated Resident Evil 4 on Gamecube but, I think due to the co-op action, this is much more fun.

At first we struggled with the opening section. There's a lot of zombies (I know they're called something else but they'll always be zombies to me) and not much ammo.. but eventually we made it through and after that started making solid progress.

The whole game is obviously designed around the co-op and with a real life partner it ramps up both the excitement and the need to swap ammo and health. Lee was handy with the shotgun and I concentrated on upgrading my pistol.

Overall I enjoyed the graphical spectacle and the solid gameplay.

Friday 12 March 2010

Purchase Power

I bought Yakuza 3 from Game for the princely sum of £39.99. I've not played a Yakuza game before but I enjoyed the demo.. However most of what spurred me on to a full price release day purchase was all the rabid fanboys bemoaning SEGA for cutting some features from the original Japanese release.

As far as I can see it's a simple case of economics. The franchise isn't a big seller over here and there's obviously a limit to what can be spent on localisation.. Those boycotting it are surely shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to the fourth part of the saga coming to these shores?

I traded Darksiders as I noticed there where already a large number of second hand copies on the shelves of my local GAME meaning it's value is probably going to plummet. I got £20 for it which I was quite pleased with seeing as they where retailing it for £29.99 a couple of weeks ago.

Thursday 11 March 2010

The "Complete" List.

There's been some smack talk around these parts about the difficulty level that I've been finishing some games on.. So I thought I'd man up and take this one on in Normal rather than Easy. Glad I did.

Regular readers might remember that I thoroughly enjoyed the first game. So much so that I completed it twice on the bounce. This second chapter has a slightly different feel. Less comedy gold chasing and more Modern Warfare influence.

It's still a great game though. DICE's Frostbite engine returns and with it the destruction of most of the enviroment. Teamed with chunky weapons and a great sound track to the shooting end explosions it feels much less scripted and bombastic than MW2 whilst in the most part now being just as linear.

There's lots of great moments along the way with out the feeling that DICE are trying to hard. One particular highlight involves making your way down a frozen mountain.. the screen steadily whites in as you get cold meaning you have to dash between either houses or explode things to make nice warming fires.. all the way being assaulted by chummys. One of my favourite bits is using [RB] to melee attack wooden doors. You're dashing to the next house, barely alive, smash the door down, burst in, pull out an SMG and nail a couple of goons before having a quick recon and then you're off again. Exciting!

The particle effects are particularly note worthy. One mission features some desert based action and the sand whipping through and around makes for an interesting mission as you struggle to see.

Overall a pulse pounding adventure that feels exciting for the things your doing rather than for the things it's showing you. Recommended.

Tuesday 9 March 2010

Currently Playing: Blur Beta

I wouldn't normally bother with a Beta. However I managed to grab a code from Eurogamer and I'm a huge fan of Bizarre Creations Project Gotham series. I never thought the online component of the 360 versions matched the, to my mind, peerless PGR2 but this new franchise of battle racing could be worth a look.

The Beta version is a generous slice of content. There's a handful of tracks and about ten cars that can be unlocked as you work your way up the ranks (Capped at 10 for the demo) as well as upto four racing modes for you to try.

Of course being a Beta there's only online racing but as of last night there where plenty of people playing and I didn't have any problem getting a lot of racing action in.

Said action is as solid as you'd expect from BC with hints of PGR in the mix but it's certainly all new. The tracks branch with different routes and, no doubt, short cuts to be found. The handling is perhaps a little understeery for my liking and I miss the feedback when drifting that the escalating Kudos score gave you in PGR. Here you get a score at the end but it's difficult to tell how you've earned it.

Mind you that's the least of your problems once the action commences. The Beta features a rolling start which eases, but doesn't totally do away with the first corner lottery that was always PGR's online calling cards as the other racers seemed to forget they've got brakes and just cause huge pile ups in the first corner. Once you reach the first set of powers ups it almost complete carnage from beginning to end.

That's not to say it's not fun.. Because it is. Eye popping, palm drenching nail biting fun but there's frustration there in equal measure. Presumably once handling the up to three power ups at a time on the fly becomes second nature and courses have been learnt there'll be room for strategic play but at the moment it's a *ahem* blur of lightning strikes, mines, missles and shunts causing absolute mahem. Suffice to say if you're looking for a technical racer look elsewhere.

Overall though a tempting taste of how it could turn out.

Monday 1 March 2010

The "Complete" List

Left 4 Dead 2 - (All Campaigns)
Mass Effect
Lego Rock Band - Story Mode
Darksiders - Easy
BAYONETTA - Easy Automatic
Lego Batman
Call of Duty: Classic - Normal
Fracture - Casual
Dragon Quest: The Hand of the Heavenly Bride
Heavy Rain - Medium

Sadly I ended up finishing the game less than impressed (Especially as I got an error code signing me out of PSN which apparently is affecting lots of 'Fat' PS3s across the country and causing some kind of Trophy problems although I was able to carry on playing).

The 'reveal' of the Origami Killer feels contrived and doesn't really fit in with the rest of the story to date apart from focusing on the most unlikely suspect to keep it from being guessed one supposes.

Most importantly though the gameplay doesn't really develop or deepen. There's nothing more to it than whats gone before in the early hours. The story isn't great and it's full of cliches.. I get that it's supposed to be inspired by Hollywood but it ends up feeling lazy. I fortunately missed out on the love scene and the shower scene but there didn't appear to be anyway to avoid another uncomfortable scene later on.

It wouldn't of been so bad if the story had managed to keep you hooked but several bits are just laughable or plain unlikely. Come the end several things just aren't explained. Most disappointingly though it feels like there's no real challenge. It was a brave decision to not let the player die until the final chapters of the game but unfortunately it leaves little challenge and there's no risk/reward dynamic and thus no reward for playing well.

I didn't feel like my decisions where effecting the story in any meaningful way and the rare ocassions when they did it didn't seem to actually matter. When one character missed a particular item the police arrested him. Took his explanation at face value and let him go on his way.

I will, Playstation willing, have another play through on the hardest difficulty and make different decisions to see how it plays out (there's talk on the EDGE forum of only seeing about 50% of the game per play through but it sounds a bit unlikely to me) but my gut feeling is that it's an experiment failed.

Saturday 27 February 2010

Currently Playing: Heavy Rain

This will be a completely spoiler free post and as such I can't really say too much about it. But I want to say something about it. I picked up the special edition in HMV for £45.

For once I opted not to play my iPod but to instead allow the games music to do its thing. I'm rather glad I did because it certainly adds to the experience.

I'm a little disappointed with the characters movement. The head turning and press [R2] to move mechanism smacks a bit of early Resident Evil and occasionally it's hard to get him to line up with things you can interact with. I can't see for the life of me where a direct control scheme mapped to the left stick wouldn't of been better.

I enjoyed both the prologue and the opening titles.. very high production values. I noticed from the titles that David Cage wrote the story. I wonder whether he wrote just the story or all the dialogue? It may have been worth having it polished by a 'proper' writer because just ocassionally it's a little clunky in places.

Mostly though I'm really enjoying it. It's very atmospheric. The game looks and sounds mostly amazing (although some of the characters look more realistic than others) and its certainly not a whole string of QTEs. I'm fairly well versed in the Dualshock pad and so I'm finding the rest of the control scheme very intuative.

So far then I'm very impressed.. I haven't even been introduced to Madison yet.

Thursday 25 February 2010

The "Complete" List

I completed this, my first ever JRPG completion, in just over 30 hours with the help of a very well written and indepth FAQ. Thanks Mr Threeman!

I've started and given up on a few JRPGs in my time and this is the first time that I really enjoyed one and, more importantly, got a good handle on the mechanics of play. I soon got into the swing of visiting the shops in every new location and upgrading my party. I also, eventually, got the hang of using the magic effectively both when exploring and in combat.

Of course random battles are frequent and often brutal. Especially when exploring the many dungeons. Here though, rather than see them as a chore, I found myself excited at the prospect of levelling up and unlocking new spells. The wide variety of enemies and the chance, later in the game, to recruit monsters to your party all help to keep things interesting.

It'd be unfair to spoil any of the epic story or the set pieces along the way. Suffice to say that despite the fact that it's all told in game with 2d sprites and text chat it's a compelling narrative. The dungeons are good and there's a fair few interesting puzzles.. One particular highlight involving mine carts.

The last RPG I completed was also on the DS but this couldn't be more different. There's no use of the DS's touch screen, microphone or anything particularly innovative, as you'd expect from an old SNES game but the graphics are, if not state of the art, very atmospheric.

Similar to my Mass Effect play through it was pretty much a speed run (I spent a couple of hours grinding on a couple of occasions, missed out the board games, Casinos and a couple of optional quests and of course I had the benefit of the FAQ which showed me exactly where to go) but every single hour was enjoyable.

Tuesday 23 February 2010

The "Complete" List

Left 4 Dead 2 - (All Campaigns)
Mass Effect
Lego Rock Band - Story Mode
Darksiders - Easy
BAYONETTA - Easy Automatic
Lego Batman
Call of Duty: Classic - Normal
Fracture - Casual

Picked this up in HMV, brand new, for £5. It probably provided almost exactly five pounds worth of entertainment. It's an old school 3rd person shooter with the added gimmick of being able to raise and lower certain areas of terrain (I seem to remember this being derided in reviews but you can raise or lower almost any dirt/earth area and not concrete/metal which seems like a fairly consistent rule).

There's almost too many weapons and enemies introduced in what is a very small game so weapons and powers get introduced and you barley have time to use them before it's on to the next. If you're not hunting achievements, like me, you end up relying on one particular weapons with a decent zoom and large capacity of ammo and just using the others when you have to to over come certain puzzles.

Other than that it's very generic, The hero, called Jet, has the standard space issue armour, no helmet, bald head and scar and could of come out of any sci-fi shooter. The plot is forgettable and the game is very short. It's a bit like a late period Arnie action.. the ingredients are all there but you feel his heart isn't in it.

Wednesday 8 December 2010

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