tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89978532277197309432024-03-13T04:01:53.659-07:00Videogame MusingsJulianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-53335820375183924572010-08-05T09:37:00.000-07:002010-08-05T12:35:17.442-07:00List of Video Game Reviews and Previews.Welcome to my crowded review round-up.<br /><br />First a note: I score reviews based on price rather than a numerical score. I do this not just to differentiate myself from other reviewers but because I feel it simply is a better measurement. Prey as an example was a pretty horrible $60 title. At <a href="http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=41812">$3.99 a Gamestop</a> it is well worth picking up. Many games that were to short or simply to flawed to be a decent full priced title simply become a fun experience at a lower price point. Not worth a dollar games on the other hand are not just not worth the money but more importantly are not worth your time.<br /><br />I often include qualifiers such as if you made it past the first level on the demo or if you are a Mega Man fan in my actual reviews, so please feel free to click on said reviews for clarification.<br /><br /><br />A final note some people have written in to ask what is an Indie Game. Go to Game Marketplace on Xbox Live scroll up till you see indie games and you will find over a thousand games priced between $1 and $5 waiting for your love. 90% of them are awful mind you so please note my reviews carefully.<br /><br />Previews are games I plan to buy and have not yet played fully. The preview score is the price at which I would purchase said game.<br /><br />Happy gaming.<br /><br /><br />REVIEWS:<a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/deal-of-week-after-burner-climax-review.html"><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">After Burner Climax: Live Arcade: Score Score $3</span></a><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/videogame-round-up-7082010-blacklight.html"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Blacklight: Tango Down: Live Arcade: Score $3</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/crackdown-review.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Crackdown: Xbox360 Disc: Score $25</span></a><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/deal-of-week-death-by-cube-review.html"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Death by Cube:Live Arcade: Score Not even a dollar</span></a><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/indie-game-review-helico-hero.html"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Helico Hero:Indie Game: Score not even a dollar.</span></a><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/random-game-impact-of-towers.html"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Impact of Towers: Indie game: Score $1.50</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/random-game-japanorama.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Japanorama: Indie Game: Score Not even a Dollar</span></a><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/just-cause-2-review.html"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Just Cause 2: XBOX 360 Disc: Score $80</span></a><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/indie-game-review-leximo.html"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Leximo: Indie Games: Score $1</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/dow-mega-man-10.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mega Man 10: Live Arcade: Score Not even a dollar</span></a><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/indie-game-review-metaelectric-guitar.html"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">MetaElectric Guitar: Indie Game: Not even a dollar</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/indie-game-roundup-myband.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">MyBand: Indie game: Score Not even a dollar.</span></a><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/n3ii-ninety-nine-nights-review.html"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights: Xbox360 Games: Not even a dollar</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/deal-of-week-scrap-metal-review.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Scrap Metal:Arcade Game: Score $3</span></a><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/deal-of-week-south-park-lets-go-tower.html"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!:Arcade Game: Not even a dollar</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/indie-game-review-stack-of-bricks.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stack of Bricks: Indie Game: Score $1</span></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />PREVIEWS:<br /><br /><h3 class="post-title entry-title"><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/indie-game-preview-aphelion.html"><br /></a></h3><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/indie-game-preview-aphelion.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Aphelion: Indie Games: Score $10</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/xbox-games-update-july-07th.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Crackdown 2: Xbox360 Disc: Score $10</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/videogame-round-up-7142010-deathsmiles.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Deathsmile: Xbox360 Disc: Score $5</span></a><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/xbox-games-update-july-07th.html"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Duke Nukem Manhattan Project:Live Arcade: Score $7.50</span></a><br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/xbox-games-update-july-07th.html"><br />Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge: Live Arcade:Score $7.50</a><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/naughty-bear-preview.html"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Naughty Bear: Arcade Game: Score $5</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/indie-game-review-radiangames-crossfire.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Radiangames Crossfire: Indie games: Score $10</span></a>Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-9897484507055586612010-08-04T08:20:00.001-07:002010-08-05T12:01:52.612-07:00Videogame Roundup 8/4/2010... Collector's EditionWell the big news this week is Starcraft 2. It looks good and I expect Korea will shut down for August. For those that have more money than sense, (Your faithful blogger definitively fits in this category as well) there is a collector's edition which is currently available<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B002I0JMB8/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&qid=1280936972&sr=1-2-catcorr&condition=new"> second hand on Amazon</a> for a low $126 dollars.<br /><br /><img src="http://xdc.xanga.com/127f701a13330270530622/b215779566.jpg" alt="Videogame Roundup 842010 Starcraft 2 collectors edition" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />Who would spend such coin on a collector's edition? Well it is very nice as can be seen on<a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102360-StarCraft-II-Collectors-Edition-The-Unboxing"> this video</a> from The Escapist, where guest star Wolverine mangles one. (Even I cringed as he manhandled the comic book that comes with it... it is a strange feeling when your inner geek shows itself.)<br /><br />Not all collectors editions are so dear of course. For example Bioshock 2 came out with a massive collectors edition. (Seriously its the size of the Beatles Rock Band box) and by the sheer number of dust covered copies still available at various stores I have visited (Best Buy, Gamespot, Fredrick's of Hollywood) they haven't exactly been flying off shelves. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/BioShock-2-Special-Xbox-360/dp/B002I0HEZ4/ref=sr_1_4?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1280937747&sr=1-4">In fact Amazon has it for $69 dollars</a> new which obviously is only $10 more than the game cost by itself at launch. I have a feeling that many brick and mortar stores have reduced Bioshock 2's collector edition even more than Amazon, just so they can free up some shelf space for a large screen television or crotchless panties display.<br /><br /><img src="http://xef.xanga.com/f90f621a13333270530617/b215779561.jpg" alt="Videogame Roundup 842010 Bioshock 2 collectors edition" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />On the Xbox360 launch front we have a new Xbox360 that has 4GB of internal memory and no hard drive. Yay?... Alas there are no actual new games to speak of (<a href="http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=78584&loc=360slider1">Gamestop</a> has the sexy stratagy RPG Record of Agarest War as a launch title this week but everyone else seemed to have gotten that one back in April.)<br /><br />On the XBOX Live Arcade, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair is this weeks launch title and well they all can't be winners can they? I will have a proper review of Castlevania: Harmony of Despair later on but initial reports are it's Castlevania dumbed down for co-op. Since all co-op is evil and doubly so on the Xbox Arcade, (I'm looking your way<a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/deal-of-week-south-park-lets-go-tower.html"> South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!</a>) I have the feeling my review will not be a positive one.<br /><br /><img src="http://x9e.xanga.com/2f2f6a1170132270530619/b215779563.jpg" alt="Videogame Roundup 842010 Castlevania" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />On the Deal of the week front Forza 3 cars and tracks went on sale and yours truly snatched them all up despite the fact I have more time under the hood on indie games such as Armor Valley than Forza 3 and my current car collection in Forza 3 could be best described by the number 5.<br /><br />Needless to say, I've been meaning to get back to that game.<br /><br /><img src="http://x9e.xanga.com/7c3f741150130270530623/b215779567.jpg" alt="Videogame Roundup 842010 Forza 3 DLC" style="width: 795px;" /><br /><br />What I have been playing is Dragon Age. I am currently sporting 42 hours which puts it at the front of my<a href="http://raptr.com/dashboard"> Raptr</a> chart (which has been keeping track of my gaming since May). That is an amazing number for what has been about eight days. Not just is it more time than I spent with Red Dead Redemption and <a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/just-cause-2-review.html">Just Cause 2</a> (both completed mind you) it is actually more time than I spent at work or with loved ones over the last week.<br /><br />Speaking of loved ones my girlfriend popped in on me at two in the morning last night while I was playing said game. I turned off Dragon Age (mainly so I wouldn't have to hear "do you find a French accent sexy" and "Should I dress more like Morrigan?"). Not to mention the fact I feel a little dirty playing a fugly dark elf mage seducing various wenches and witches. (At least when I have an audience. This is what has always bothered me about Fable 2's co-op. While one player is having sex with his wife what exactly is the other player supposed to be doing?)<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xb4.xanga.com/342f461613331270530620/b215779564.jpg" alt="Videogame Roundup 842010 Fable 2 wives" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />So I quickly popped in Assassin's Creed 2 which I picked up for $20 at the <a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/adventures-with-gamestops-power-saver.html">Gamestop Sale</a> and had not had a chance to actually play yet. I figured I would show off some Italian Renaissance fashions (My girl loves the costume dramas). Alas I only seemed to play some expository warehouse level ( all the while listening to my girlfriend ramble on about <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082416/">French Lieutenant's Woman</a> of all things). What is strange is I managed to get two achievements (Arrivederci Abstergo and The Birth of an Assassin) simply by walking down a hallway into a car trunk and participating in a couple of quick time events... and honestly achievements that cheap also make me feel a little dirty.<br /><br />Well the doldrums of summer seem as good a time as any to catch up on some indie games. In addition I might actual reach the Landsmeet in Dragon Age. Assuming I can stop creating new characters and just finish with the one I started with.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x35.xanga.com/e84f611a13333270530627/b215779571.jpg" alt="Videogame Roundup 842010 French Luetenants woman" style="width: 800px;" />Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-71414756598874178662010-08-03T09:58:00.001-07:002010-08-05T12:00:59.192-07:00N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights Review.N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights:Xbox360 Game:Developer:Q Entertainment, Feelplus: Publisher:Konami<br /><br /><img src="http://xce.xanga.com/802f9b1114c35270494794/b215751725.jpg" alt="N3II Ninety-Nine Night Tackling Violent Crime Act" style="width: 567px;" /><br /><br />N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights is a Dynasty Warriors spin-off. Dynasty Warriors has developed a very poor reputation over the last few years. Notice I didn't use any modifiers in that last sentence such as undeserved or unfair. Truth is Dynasty Warriors has a well deserved poor reputation. N3II does nothing to improve that.<br /><br />How bad is N3II? Try Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 bad. First of all, there is your primary "foe" the mooks. I put foe in quotes because these faceless clone warriors don't actually attack you per se. They basically stand around waiting for you to spam the x and y buttons and cleave them in half. There are literally thousands of them waiting patiently for you to walk up and kill them. This is not so much a strategic medieval battle, as it is a grass cutting simulator.<br /><br /><img src="http://xf4.xanga.com/a9bf851114c34270494789/b215751720.jpg" alt="N3II Ninety-Nine Night 1 fois 5" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />The whole thing reminds me of a quote from a gaming magazine (for you young-ins out there, magazines are like blogs but on paper) reviewing the quite fun <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/strategy/armymenrts/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary%3Bread-review">Army Men: RTS</a> for the Playstation 2. Commenting on the serious lack of aggro shown by your opponents the Tan Army, he noted that it felt as if the Green Army had found itself in combat against UN Peacekeepers. In N3II I felt as if I had stumbled upon a sluggish group of Terracotta warriors.<br /><br />Normally this would be the time I would discuss the plot. N3II however doesn't seem to have one... seriously.<br /><br /><img src="http://xd4.xanga.com/08ff610714c33270494790/b215751721.jpg" alt="N3II Ninety-Nine Night Duchess Sibylle of Saxe-Lauenburg" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />Now the reviews for Ninety Nine problems and gameplay are all of them were pretty vicious. While a <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/n32ninetyninenights?q=">Metacritic score of 47</a> is pretty damning in and of itself, the fact that none of the usual suspects were willing to stick there head out and actually recommend this game is even more so.<br /><br />N3II has some good points. The graphics are nice and some of the character designs are well done. (Yes that is code speak for fan service.) Unfortunately that is about it.<br /><br /><img src="http://xc6.xanga.com/f3df650514c32270494791/b215751722.jpg" alt="N3II Ninety-Nine Night Fulgerata River" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />It is possible to make a good Dynasty Warriors game. Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires<br />wasn't that bad after all, but the spin-offs... oh god the spin-offs. No story, lacking power-ups and checkpoints, confusing and yet monotonous controls, ridiculously monotonous gameplay, cheap bosses and it's thirty hours long.<br /><br /><img src="http://x06.xanga.com/38bf930b14c32270494792/b215751723.jpg" alt="N3II Ninety-Nine Night Ryan Monro" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />Did I play the full game? No. So who knows, maybe the game turns into a Bioware RPG or a Gears of War tactical shooter halfway through... but somehow I doubt this.<br /><br />Score. Not worth your time let alone your money less than a dollar. (If you are a die hard Dynasty Warriors fan I would still wait till this hit the $10 bargain bin.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xe7.xanga.com/478f850701234270494796/b215751727.jpg" alt="N3II Ninety-Nine Night Transport in the United Kingdom" style="width: 800px;" />Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-74094549204426599882010-07-31T08:04:00.000-07:002010-08-05T11:58:49.859-07:00Naughty Bear Preview<div><br /><br />Naughty Bear:Xbox360 Game:Developer:Artificial Mind and Movement: Publisher:505 Games<br /><br /><br /><img style="width: 566px;" alt="Naughty Bear (3)" src="http://xd0.xanga.com/9d0f640224433270482437/b215741944.jpg" /><br /><br /><br />I want a <a href="http://cinematicdiversions.blogspot.com/2010/05/friday-13-2009-mother-did-it-need-to-be.html">Friday the 13th</a> game. I picture a modern HD setting where each level corresponds to a film from the series. In the single player you get to play as Jason's mother in the first tutorial level then upgrade to Jason by the second. I figure you could get the original actors to voice the various camp counselor victims (I'm sure Kevin Bacon is free) and extra achievements for using the original weapons (hello spear gun) as well as killing them in the original order. Heck you could have a multiplayer mode where one person plays Jason and everyone else plays well armed fodder (extra points for skinny dipping after finding your friends dead.)<br /><br /><img style="width: 800px;" alt="Naughty Bear (1)" src="http://x8b.xanga.com/203f7606d7630270482434/b215741941.jpg" /><br /><br />Sorry I got carried away there for a minute... anyway Naughty Bear promises me that Friday the 13th game play albeit with cute, poorly rendered teddy bears rather than topless nubile teenagers. Well you take the hand that is dealt to you.<br /><br />Naughty Bear takes place on Perfection Island. You play the titular bear who apparently snaps after not being invited to Daddles' birthday party. As a result you stalk the various bears on the island beating the stuffing out of them (literally), setting traps, and frightening them into committing suicide. As a side note, since this is done with teddy bears the game is rated teen. If anything proves the arbitrary silliness of the ratings board this would be the game.<br /><br /><img style="width: 800px;" alt="Naughty Bear (2)" src="http://xab.xanga.com/5d1f7a04d7633270482435/b215741942.jpg" /><br /><br />Now there have been other games that allowed you to indulge in your serial killer fantasies with a controller in your hand, the infamous Manhunter being the most obvious example. (As a rule you can not mention Manhunter with out using a qualifier such as infamous or notorious.) Alas, Manhunter is hardly alone. The Hitman video games certainly allowed one to set elaborate traps and stalk one's prey. There was a Playstation game where you could set traps in a house and defends it against attackers of which I bought the sequels and enjoyed very much and for the life of me cannot remember the name of despite an exhaustive search of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_1_games">Playstation games on the Wiki</a>, and no it wasn’t Home Alone.)<br /><br /><img style="width: 800px;" alt="Naughty Bear (4)" src="http://x17.xanga.com/a56f9202c4432270482438/b215741945.jpg" /><br /><br />In fact one of my favorite builds in open world RPG’s (Oblivion, Fallout 3) is that of the serial killer. Ramp of the stealth, put on the black hat (and hockey mask), and then go to town. On the surface it appears Naughty Bear appeals to my game play style. Alas there is a fly in this dark ointment… the reviews.<br /><br />With no demo and gameplay videos that are both uninformative and unimpressive, I am forced to listen to those other voices out there in the ether. And those voices say nein. Naughty Bear got some ugly reviews. While a <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/naughtybear?q=naughty">Metacritic score of 42</a> is pretty damning by itself, the similitude of the complaints is the most jarring. The reviews complained of game (and Xbox) breaking glitches, repetitive environments, repetitive gameplay, and an overall lack of good programming.<br /><br /><img style="width: 800px;" alt="Naughty Bear (5)" src="http://x44.xanga.com/447f760ad7630270482441/b215741948.jpg" /><br /><br />While I will occasionally ignore reviews and jump into the pool anyway (Duke Nukem Manhattan) I take this wall of warnings with a heavy heart.It seems like Naughty Bear is a decent concept very poorly implemented. I am still curious enough to pick it up in the bargain bin, but I have no illusions of it being very good.<br /><br />Final Preview Price $5<br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://naughtybits23.blogspot.com/2010/08/naughty-bear-preview.html?zx=a2ece13cd287a914"><br />Due to the adult nature of the Stinger please click here to view.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-637022740306375622010-07-29T07:45:00.000-07:002010-08-05T12:09:34.314-07:00Crackdown Review.Crackdown: Xbox360 Game: Developer:Realtime Worlds<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Crackdown came to prominence due to Microsoft's decision to package the Halo 3 multiplayer trial with the game. To everyone's surprise the actual Crackdown game turned out to be a very fun (if somewhat flawed) open world action game.<br /><br />In Crackdown one plays a genetically enhanced super solider called The Agent for an organization called The Agency run by a disembodied voice known as The Director. Through both your actions and the collection of orbs you increase your powers to the point that you are a true bad ass jumping around the city (surprisingly not called The City, naming things not being Realtime Worlds' strong suit).<br /><br />The game's city consisting of three islands each controlled by a different gang with your headquarters on a forth smaller island in the middle. The gangs are Los Muertos (<a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheCartel">Your standard South American Drug Cartel</a>), The Volk (<a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMafiya">Your standard Russian Mafia</a>), and The Shai-Gen Corporation ( which represents<a href="http://www.sony.com/index.php"> Sony</a>).<br /><br />The graphics are a colorful cell-shaded affair that fits surprisingly well with the chaos and the ever more outrageous powers you will achieve. The sound (with one notable exception detailed below) is also quite good with the hum of the agility orbs almost being hypnotic (and<a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheTetrisEffect"> yes you will see agility orbs in your daily life and hear the hum in your sleep.</a>)<br /><br /><img src="http://x8b.xanga.com/a8bf425012031270313176/b215607131.jpg" alt="Crackdown" style="width: 564px;" /><br /><br />There are a couple of bits of genius in Crackdown. The first and most obvious is the combining of item collection and powers. The powers are more than mere stat boosts as there are both visible (You crackle with electricity when you level up a core power ) and quite fun (You can roundhouse kick a mack truck and leap from skyscraper to skyscraper).<br /><br />The other brilliant move is the structure. In the game you are tasked with taking out the three gangs as you see fit. Each gang consists of a boss and various sub-bosses that specialize in various tasks for their boss (Such as training bodyguards or providing weapons). By taking out the sub-bosses you weaken a certain part of the bosses defenses therefore making him an easier target. It's a brilliant structure that gives a real sense of accomplishment in a open world environment.<br /><br />The game also doesn't skimp on weapons with the harpoon gun and the five shot at a time homing grenade launcher being particular favorites.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xa1.xanga.com/cd1f734469130270313179/b215607133.jpg" alt="Crackdown (3)" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />It is a good thing that Crackdown is such well structured and fun game, because the game certainly has a bunch of flaws that easily would be game-breakers in almost any other adventure.<br /><br /><br />For starters there is combat. There is a reason my Agent maxed out his punch people in the face ability first. Now hand to hand combat has its own set of issues. (Mainly facing the wrong way and missing enemies outright while jamming the B button.) Compared however to the auto-aim on guns, hand to hand combat is of a Street Fighter II Turbo caliber.<br /><br />Auto-aim has two favorite targets: civilian vehicles and dead guys. Crackdown loves shooting dead guys, perhaps as a forerunner to the zombies in Crackdown 2 one might muse. Getting your targeting off the dead guy and onto the guy with a rocket launcher is surprisingly challenging. In addition Crackdown allows you to target specific parts of a person or vehicle. The game in theory allows one to blow up a car with a well aimed shot to the gas tank. Getting the cursor to the gas tank part of the car however seems to be a case of random hit or miss. Often the game simply won't let you target that part of the vehicle even if you a clearly facing it.<br /><br />Fortunately the above mentioned homing grenade launcher renders many of these problems somewhat mute towards the end of the game. Though they still seem to pop up every once in a while.<br /><br /><img src="http://x3e.xanga.com/6a7855f548028270313181/b215607134.jpg" alt="Crackdown (4)" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />Part of the games challenge is making seemingly impossible jumps to grab onto a distant ledge. Unfortunately sometimes a ledge looks like a ledge, quacks like a ledge and yet your agent proceeds to plummet eighty stories to his demise. While the parkour in Crackdown is fun, and one of the games selling points, it isn't what I would call fine tuned.<br /><br />Speaking of both out of tune and poorly tuned we have the vehicles. Driving is one of your abilities in Crackdown and in theory when one reaches the highest level ones car becomes a super powered monster. I say in theory because there is actually no need to power this up to defeat the game. In fact once your all important agility power has a few stars under its belt, cars are simply superfluous since you can now jump from rooftop to rooftop.<br /><br />And thank God for that. For such a relatively small map Crackdown's streets are a confusing labyrinth. To add to the mess the in-game map has no custom waypoints. Strangely, The Agency claims they want you to capture enemy vehicles and bring them back to headquarters. However the entrance to headquarters is unmarked on your map, almost impossible to find and is disguised on top of that like the Bat-Cave entrance from the caped crusader's sixties TV show.<br /><br />In addition the way you increase your driving skill is by winning races (easier said than done and hardly a fun pastime in this particular game) or running over gang members. Gang members however seem to metamorphosis into Cirque du Soleil performers the minute one points a car in their general direction.<br /><br /><img src="http://x8f.xanga.com/a31f454449130270313178/b215607132.jpg" alt="Crackdown (2)" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />The final nail in the driving coffin is the in game radio. One of the joys of open world games is simply cruising around the city listening to the radio. I would purchase a downloadable version of GTA Vice City right now (Hint hint Rockstar) just to cruise the streets of faux Miami in a red convertible listening to the tunes.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crackdown">Per Wikipedia</a>: Music supervisor Peter Davenport was in charge of selecting the music for the game, over 100 tracks of electronica and sample-based music by a number of independent and video game musicians, a task that took three years to complete. Per Videogame Musings: it is the worst collection of "music" I simply have ever heard. Each song is worse than the last and if I would have to guess Peter Davenport's IPod is currently the torture device of choice at various CIA black prisons around the world.<br /><br /><img src="http://xfb.xanga.com/97ef714429330270313187/b215607139.jpg" alt="Crackdown (5)" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />Thankfully, despite the control problems, some features either missing or broken, and a soundtrack from the depths of hell, Crackdown scores high in that hard to define fun factor category and when it comes to games that is always the deciding factor.<br /><br /><br />Final Score $25... so pick it up if you don't own it. (and from what I have read certainly pick it up instead of its sequel)<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x53.xanga.com/2d5f93eb62132270567336/b215807592.jpg" alt="Crackdown dubai towers" style="width:620px" />Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-73987202873452922962010-07-28T08:59:00.002-07:002010-07-29T06:15:46.545-07:00Videogame Round-up Thursday July 29thTwo weeks ago in my last videogame round-up I made a lot of promises (reviews, articles, pictures of scantly clad woman), unfortunately due to a combination of laziness and computer issues I manged only a <a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/just-cause-2-review.html">Just Cause 2 review</a> and a <a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/adventures-with-gamestops-power-saver.html">rather lengthy description Of a Gamestop Sale</a>.<br /><br />Undoubtedly my readers are still waiting with baited breath for my Deadliest Warrior the Game preview. I have learned my lesson however and I am steadfastly refusing to put a list of upcoming reviews (sans one... see below). Also my too review list has mysteriously burgeoned to an unlikely 104 games in what I am hoping is another computer issue.<br /><br /><a href="http://media.photobucket.com/image/deadliest%20warrior%20the%20game/Bohica173/Spetsnaz.jpg?o=1" target="_blank"><img src="http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/Bohica173/Spetsnaz.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The exception that proves the rule is Crackdown which I actually manged to finish last week. To give away the plot, I score it at $25 which based on current used game prices makes it a must buy.<br /><br />I am, as a result of finishing Crackdown, currently playing Dragon Age again with the goal in mind to actually finish the damn thing this time. (Like Fallout 3 I keep changing my character in some strange OCD perfection gambit.) Add in the fact Microsoft kindly made the Deal of the Week Borderlands DLC, rather than say twenty Sonic games, I hope to get to some indie and arcade game reviews over the next seven days (notice the word hope.)<br /><br /><img src="http://x5f.xanga.com/6f0f654615032270304889/b215600482.jpg" alt="Videogame Round-up Thursday July 29th" style="width:800px" /><br /><br />Speaking of Dragon Age, Game Informer's latest issue claims they are releasing Dragon Age 2 this spring (YAY!) in two separate versions (Huh?) with the Xbox360 version being dumbed down for the stupids. (OH God The Horror.) Hopefully this is yellow journalism and not Civilization Revolutions all over again. (Not that Civilization Revolutions was all that bad mind you but still.)<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xa6.xanga.com/d3df4144c8231270304890/b215600483.png" alt="Videogame Round-up Thursday July 29th" style="width:800px" /><br /><br /><br />Speaking of dumbing down, Madden 2011's latest new feature is play-calling for the not so bright. A feature I could have sworn I remember from Madden's past. (Wasn't it called Ask Madden or something?) Apparently it is now streamlined and will undoubtedly be the first thing that any gamer with an ounce of self respect turns off. Another new feature is the Jets don't suck this year (A first for the franchise I believe). That new feature might place a new Madden football game in this household for the first time this generation. Anyway a proper preview will be forthcoming.<br /><br />Well once again thanks for your patience and I due sincerely hope this weeks production will make up for all it.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xaf.xanga.com/95cf454ac8230270304891/b215600484.jpg" alt="Videogame Round-up Thursday July 29th (2)" style="width:619px" />Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-4305489877287316732010-07-26T09:57:00.000-07:002010-08-05T11:45:08.500-07:00Just Cause 2 ReviewJust Cause 2: Xbox360 Game: Developer:Avalanche Studios Publisher: Square Enix<br /><br /><br />Sequels for video games have a better reputation than say movie sequels. Many of the most innovative games ever made (Mario 64, Grand Theft Auto 3, Final Fantasy VII) were of course sequels. Indeed in this generation we have seen many sequels improve upon their original outing (Assassins Creed 2, Mass Effect 2). These games succeed by fixing many of the niggling issues, that made the first game less than perfect, while still keeping the tone of the original piece.<br /><br />Even among these improved sequels Just Cause 2 stands out. The original Just Cause could neither be called beloved nor all that terribly well received. Calling the first Just Cause a flawed open world game with some fun bits would be the kindest of labels. Nobody certainly seemed to be clamoring for a second go. When Just Cause 2 was delayed from an Christmas 2008 release date to 2009 and eventually 2010 there was no gnashing of teeth. Many expected it to never be released or at the very least, to be an under the radar, by the numbers rehash.<br /><br />So when Just Cause 2 was finally released it was a jaw dropping shocker. Here was the open world Michael Bay movie we all wanted (even if we didn't know it). In fact Just Cause 2 nails two factors with such perfection mere words simply cannot do it justice.<br /><br />The first is the open world itself. In the somewhat crowded field of open worlds to explore the island of Panua is simply a standout. In fact it is simply the best open world ever designed. (Knocking Oblivion and Grand Theft Auto IV out of the top spots). It is huge. It has everything from snow capped mountains to rally style deserts to Tarzanesque jungle to coral reefs. What is more impressive is that it is truly three dimensional. Unlike many open worlds you can fly anywhere up to a mile high or dive anywhere a few hundred feet below the surface. The travel is seamless and the graphics are jaw dropping gorgeous.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x40.xanga.com/782f7176c2d30270235543/b215548195.jpg" alt="Just Cause 2 F" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />If the open world is the star of the show the dual-grappling hook is the love interest. Words again simply fail to describe the eventual joy one gets from use of this tool. With a grappling hook one can tie enemies to trees, fling oneself through the jungle like some parachute wearing Tarzan, hijack any vehicle in the game (including 737 passenger jets), and fulfill your Spider-man fantasies than any Spider-man game can.<br /><br />Alas like any Michael Bay movie the plot itself is a throwaway. You play Agency Agent Rico Rodriguez being dropped into the South-east Asian island nation of Panau. Panau has taken over by Kim Jong Il doppelganger Baby Panay, who assassinated his father, institutes a hilariously propaganda filled regime and cuts off all ties to the US in favor of eventually revealed evil foreign powers. Your mission is to oust Panay from office, as well as track down your mentor from the first game Tom Sheldon, whom the Agency fears has gone native while on the island. To achieve all this you ally yourself with the three dominant criminal gangs on the island: the Roaches, the Reapers, and the Ular Boys.<br /><br /><img src="http://x10.xanga.com/e50f4b70c2d30270235542/b215548194.jpg" alt="Just Cause 2 E" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />In other words you blow stuff up to unlock criminal gang missions (which honestly consist of blowing stuff up)to finally unlock Agency missions (which also consist of blowing stuff up).<br /><br /><br />Fortunately blowing stuff up (like shooting super-mutants in slow-mo while playing Fallout 3) simply never gets old. In fact the game gets more enjoyable the longer one plays it. As one becomes more comfortable with the grappling hook-parachute mechanic, learns which cars to avoid, and realizes that the <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything">developers really did think of everything.</a> The Island of Panua becomes an increasingly enjoyable experience.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Nitpicks</span><br /><br />Anytime I gush uncontrollably about a game it only seems fair to point out those few niggling problems that others may have noticed.<br /><br /><img src="http://x02.xanga.com/4fff7677c2630270235535/b215548192.jpg" alt="Just Cause 2 D" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://petera94.co.cc/justcause2/vehiclelist.php"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Vehicle Control</span></a>: With over a hundred vehicles in the game it is no surprise some are better than others. With cars one will find their comfort zone between the Tuk-Tuks that can't seem to make it up hills and the overpowered Titus ZJ Cabriolet sports cars that cannot seem to go two hundred yards without flipping over. Cars in general handle well as do motorcycles and boats. Helicopters in particular are a joy to control... and that is an awfully good thing to since planes are the definite fly in the vehicle ointment.<br /><br />For some reason developers decided to control planes with only the left stick. How does one fly a vehicle in three-dimensional space with a two dimensional control? Very poorly it turns out. Fortunately, outside of one mission where your jet fighter has to shoot down a rocket in flight, this really doesn't come into play if you do not want it to.<br /><br /><img src="http://xf6.xanga.com/519f4575c2630270235531/b215548188.jpg" alt="Just Cause 2 A" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o0XOFrFOVI">The Story and Voice Acting</a>.</span> I finished the main story without really finishing the game. In fact I was only 22% done when the final credits rolled. (In the games defense It did take me 33 hours to get to that point.) Needless to say many of the Easter eggs, Mile High nudie bars, Japanese WW2 soldier encampments and the island from the TV show Lost will have to wait till my next play through.<br /><br />While clearly Just Cause 2 has an insane amount of content (There is an achievement for 75% completion but none for 100% ) I do wish the story had been a little more... well there. The criminal gangs you do missions for could have also been a little better drawn as they all seem to blend together (Think the gangs in Saints Row 2 as an example of gangs done right).<br /><br />The voice acting is universally awful. If it is so bad its good is truly a personal judgment. (I vote for no). Who gives the worse performance in Just Cause 2 is a game one can play with ones friends. The popular choice around here is Bolo Santos' G-Man like Singaporean accent as leader of the Reapers, but I am inclined to give the prize to Tom Sheldon's massacre of a Texas drawl.)<br /><br />Ironically even though you are forced to play with a fixed character throughout (A common complaint I have with Rockstar open world games) the sheer lack of story and personality actually negates my usual complaint of being unable to "roll my own".<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x06.xanga.com/944f4473c2631270235533/b215548190.jpg" alt="Just Cause 2 C" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />Some others have complained about the lack of ammo (and general difficulty) in the beginning of the game, the loose gun-play (which once you get used to it works rather well) and the fact they want a pony.<br /><br />Generally these complaints (outside of the pony one) are negated as one gets used to the controls, upgrades their weapons, and discovers the myriad ways one can use the dual-grappling hook. The game really does improve with time and I am chomping at the bit to try another go (at a higher difficulty level no less.)<br /><br /><br />Just Cause 2 is in the running to be my Game of the Year (against some pretty hefty competition) and is simply a must by for any action fan.<br /><br /><br />Final Score: $80 buy it now.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x1d.xanga.com/c1ff736b09430270235532/b215548189.jpg" alt="Just Cause 2 B" style="width: 800px;" />Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-50233346586443977472010-07-23T19:34:00.001-07:002010-08-05T11:42:43.665-07:00Adventures with Gamestop's Power Saver Sale.Every once in a while a retail outlet has a big game blowout: to raise cash, create space, fund terrorism; you know, the usual suspects.<br /><br /><br />My two favorites are Best Buy's Top Secret $10 sale and Gamestop's Everything Must Go Please Feel Free to Pre-order Something While you are Here Sale.<br /><br />Best Buys Top Secret $10 sale involves new games being sold, one day only, in an very unannounced and unmarked sale for $10. It is popular with Best Buy employees and E-bay entrepreneurs and if you get there at opening you can pick up some decent $30 games before the only thing left is Command and Conquer, survival horror, and 40 copies of Infinite Undiscovery<br /><br /><br />Gamestop's Everything Must Go Please Feel Free to Pre-Order Something While you are Here Sale on the other hand tends to run for a few weeks, have a nice display, and can be a minefield of pain if you don't know what you are doing.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x09.xanga.com/974f47f322531270157121/b215487549.jpg" alt="Gamestop Super Saver Sale G" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />This post is about Gamestop's current sale whose actual promotional name is <a href="http://www.gamestop.com/gs/landing/powersaver/product_xbox.aspx?loc=360flash1#all">Power Saver Sale</a>. An unfortunate moniker seemingly a step below Homer Simpson's spy alias Max Power which, it should be noted, Homer came up with after looking at a hairdryer. The Power Saver Sale runs till August 8th. It consists of both new and used games and it is of note because, like the Best Buy Top Secret $10 sale, many of the prices will still be a bargain six months from now.<br /><br /><br />So the first question one should ask oneself is do I really need to go buy new games with all the $60 goodness coming out only a few months from today?<br /><br /><br />First look at the number of games you have that you need to finish (I have 10). Then look at the number of Indie, Arcade and Disc titles that you currently own that you haven't even played yet (My number an embarrassing 22).<br /><br />And at that point feel free to say screw it, I want to load up on some bargain love.<br /><br /><br />First I will identify the games you may want to pick up in the sale then I will give some specific advice about shopping at Gamestop which can be intimidating especially when it comes to used games.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xa3.xanga.com/762f74f322533270157126/b215487554.jpg" alt="Gamestop Super Saver Sale I" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br /><b>NEW GAMES</b><br /><br /><br /><b>No Brainers...</b><br /><br />Mass Effect 2 for $30<br />Assassins Creed 2 for $20<br /><br /><br />If you don't already own Mass Effect 2 then run, don't walk, to Gamestop. Mass Effect 2 may eventually settle down at the $30 price point, but it will take a while. In addition because of the Cerberus Network DLC (Included free in the new game, $10 in a used copy), Mass Effect 2 is one game that is often cheaper to pick up new rather than used.<br /><br />Assassins Creed 2 at $20 is an outright steal. In addition, the somewhat lambasted Assassins Creed 2 DLC is currently Xbox Live's Deal of the Week , which means you can pick up the full package for under $30 total.<br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xbc.xanga.com/c93f40f322531270157111/b215487539.jpg" alt="Gamestop Super Saver Sale B" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br /><b>Benchwarmers</b><br /><br />Bayonetta for $20<br />Darksiders for $20<br />Sacred 2 Fallen Angel for $20<br />Divinity 2: Ego Draconis for $25<br /><br />Bayonetta may be Devil May Cry with a fethishized gun toting witch, but it was a surprisingly well reviewed Devil May Cry with a fethishized gun toting witch. Certainly at $20 it falls comfortably into the really good bargain category.<br /><br />Darksiders is a slightly less well reviewed, God of War style game which also came out earlier this year. Like Bayonetta above the $20 price point is certainly attractive.<br /><br />Sacred 2 Fallen Angel and Divinity 2: Eco Draconis are the outliers in this category. Sacred 2 is a buggy dungeon crawl that reviewers seemed to like despite the fact it was a buggy dungeon crawl. Divinity 2 was a completely ignored combination of Eargon and Oblivion which wouldn't have made the list had the demo not reminded me a lot more of Oblivion than it did Eargon.<br /><br /><br />Technically I should have picked up all four of the above games since they fell at or under my preview price points but I was trying to keep the total tab under a hundred dollars with at least 10 games purchased. I ended up with 12 (or 14 depending on how you count) and the tab was a $97 and change before tax. Needless to say, I would have blown my whole wad on the new games alone had I decided to pick them all up.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x15.xanga.com/c68f43fb45731270157120/b215487548.jpg" alt="Gamestop Super Saver Sale F" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br /><b>The rest of the pack.</b><br /><br />If you were already in the market for say Just Cause 2 or Fallout 3 GOTY Edition the $40 price points are excellent buys, but in reality I am looking for bargains. All games eventually fall to forty dollars in a reasonable time period. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the sale games currently priced at $40 dollars or higher kept that price point after this sale. There were also couple of out and out landmines in the new games section.<br /><br />For example having FIFA World Cup 2010 priced at $40 is a bit nuts. The World Cup is over and that title has future resident of the bargain bin written all over it. Pure for $20 also makes little sense since one can buy a promotional two disk set of Pure and Lego Batman for ten dollars next door in the used section.<br /><br />And as always a bad game is never a bargain (cough Dark Void cough)<br /><br />I ended up with Assassins Creed 2 for $20 (I already owned Mass Effect 2) and Divinity 2: Ego Draconis for $25 (which is only five dollars off admittedly, but what can I say I am a sucker for open world RPG's). My gut unfortunately tells me that the next Best Buy Top Secret $10 dollar sale will feature, along with the Command And Conquer and survival horror, 40 copies of Divinity 2: Ego Draconis. So I am two games in and already I have buyers remorse. Yeah that is par for the course in these sales.<br /><br /><br /><b>USED GAMES</b><br /><br /><br /><b>No Brainers...</b><br /><br />Perfect Dark Zero for $2.50<br />Gears of War for $5<br />Conan for $5<br />Assassin's Creed for $6.50<br />Lego Indiana Jones/Kung Fu Panda for $4<br /><br /><br />With used games price matters. A game that is a hell no at $60 becomes an attractive buy at $2.50. Perfect Dark Zero is a fine example of this. It is dated, flawed and the online is presumably non-existent but for $2.50 its well worth picking up. (The most important criteria of any game is that it is worth your time to play and overall Perfect Dark Zero certainly is).<br /><br />Gears of War for $5 is a great bargain for those who never got around to buying it and those of us whose disk mysteriously got scratched and need a replacement.<br /><br />I would have a hard time defending a Conan game purchase at $40, but I have no worries promoting the hack and slash joy at $5.<br /><br />Assassin's Creed may not be as good as it's sequel, but at $6.50 it is another Great example of an outright steal for those that don't currently own one.<br /><br />Lego Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda were included as in game discs in Xbox360s sold in a bundle promotion. As a result the market is flooded with these and you can pick both games for a total of $4. Surprisingly, Kung Fu Panda may very well end up being the stronger game of the two. Again, at two dollars each, this purchase is a no brainier.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xfe.xanga.com/0b3f43f745731270157113/b215487541.jpg" alt="Gamestop Super Saver Sale C" style="width: 566px;" /><br /><br /><br /><b>Benchwarmers I picked up</b><br /><br />Lost Odyssey for $12.50<br />Army of Two for $7.50<br />Dark Sector for $3.50<br />Viking Battle for Askard for $6.50<br />Lego Batman/Pure for $10<br />Frontlines Fuel of War for $5<br /><br /><br />Lost Odyssey is considered by some to be the best JPRG on this generation of consoles (And if that isn't damning with faint praise I don't know what is. It is like being voted best Dynasty Warriors spin-off.) Digressions aside, it is a meaty game on four disks with a novel for a instruction booklet. If you like RPG's (in particular JRPG's) it is a bargain at this price.<br /><br />Army of Two is a silly co-op action game. And for $7.50 I don't mind a little silliness (even if I do think that co-op is the devil's work.)<br /><br />Dark Sector is also a silly action game. It got some lambasting when it first came out, but all reviews agreed decapitating foes with a three bladed boomerang never got old. At $3.50 I certainly can think of worse ways to occupy my time.<br /><br />Viking Battle for Askard is basically Conan but with Vikings instead of Barbarians., Mixed reviews keep it from the No Brainer category (observant readers will note that Conan has the same Metacritic score a yet it managed to land in the No-Brainer catagory... What can I say I am a Conan fan.)<br /><br />Lego Batman is the best received Lego game behind Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy and the new Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4. Lego Star Wars isn't on sale however and Harry Potter is still $50. In addition one receives Pure which got very good reviews and will fill that extreme sports void in my collection. (Of course I have an extreme sports void in my collection because I really don't care for those games. So we shall see how this works out.) Think of it as Batman Arkham Asylum for kids. (Heck it has the same plot... come to think of it most Batman games, comics and movies have the same plot.)<br /><br /><br />Frontlines Fuel of War is a pure flier for me. I picked it up for the single player action since the multi-player, one can assume at this late date, is dead as a doornail. The reviews were decent and the single player campaign got some praise. Truth told, I have no idea how I ended up with this instead of perhaps one of the Tom Clancy games.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x2e.xanga.com/4f4f75f3c2533270157117/b215487545.jpg" alt="Gamestop Super Saver Sale E" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br /><b>Benchwarmers Still Sitting There. </b><br /><br />Condemned for $4<br />Rockstar Games Table Tennis for $2.50<br />Forza Motor Sports 2 for $2.50<br />NCAA Football 2008 for $2.50<br /><br /><br /><br />I personally didn't care for the Condemed games. But I recognize when a game is good and for some unknown reason my personal preference blinds me to a bargain. So for $4 the first Condemned is a good bargain for survival horror and action fans looking forward to getting hopelessly lost while impotently fending of zombies with a pipe. (Did I mention I really didn't like Condemned)<br /><br />I don't particularity want a Ping Pong game either; but if I did, $2.50 cents for Rockstar Games Table Tennis seems to be the correct price point.<br /><br />The brilliant Forza Motor Sports 3 may be an improvement on its predecessor but seriously an giant Gran Turismo style game for $2.50? Forza Motor Sports 2 may be the best buy of the entire sale assuming you don't already own 3 and are not looking to pick it up anytime soon.<br /><br />The same philosophy also strikes with NCAA Football 2009 at $4. If you just want a football game, and are not worried about online community, you certainly would have a hard time finding a better deal.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xd6.xanga.com/5edf47f545731270157114/b215487542.jpg" alt="Gamestop Super Saver Sale D" style="width: 567px;" /><br /><br /><br /><b>The rest of the pack.</b><br /><br /><br />There are actually plenty of used games that I simply am not familiar enough with yet to put on my buy list. Ninja Gaiden 2, Turok, and Timeshift are all examples of this. There were also some used games that simply fell through the cracks, such as Soul Caliber 4 and Rainbow Six Vegas. Anytime you restrict yourself, as I did, to 10 games at $100 you will leave some good games behind.<br /><br />I also managed to once again not buy Quantum of Solace. I have watched that game make a long and somewhat humorous journey from $60 in the wrapper to a price of $7.50 used. My local Costco for example still has the exact same thirty copies of the game it possessed in late 2008 and each now dinged and dusty box has ever more desperate price tags as it continues to be marked down. I said I would wait till it was five bucks when it initially was released and I am sticking with those guns.<br /><br />I also avoid buying Two Worlds as well. Though the siren call of the open world RPG was very strong at $2.50, I remembered my mantra: a bad game is never a bargain.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xdd.xanga.com/f36f42f145731270157122/b215487550.jpg" alt="Gamestop Super Saver Sale H" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br /><b>A Few Words About Shopping At Gamestop</b><br /><br /><br />First of don't buy used games online and don't shop on Friday evenings. Game stores are very busy after gamers get their paycheck and the chance of you walking out with a mistake are much higher.<br /><br />My second rule is when you buy a new game at Gamestop is to demand a factory sealed version. Gamestop has an annoying habit of selling pre-opened new games and that is a recipe for problems. I actually prefer to buy my new games at Best Buy for this very reason.<br /><br /><br />Finally always get a rulebook and the original box. You are paying good money for a used game there is no reason to accept anything less. If your local Gamestop doesn't have a your used game in that condition simply choose not to buy it that afternoon.<br /><br /><br />Rulebooks in particular are sticking point. While for many games they may seem spurious, it amazes me that people would buy a copy of say Lost Odyssey without the sixty page tome that is included. Anyone who has rented games on a regular basis has certainly come across a time when a rule book would have come in handy. Even in pure action games it is useful if only to have the controller set-up in front of you so you can learn that L3 allows you to breathe fire or some such nonsense.<br /><br />Demand clean game disks. The first copy of Lego Indiana Jones/Kung Fu Panda I was given looked like it was last used as a cat toy. The second copy was pristine to the point I doubt it ever was opened. And while I can excuse some things because they were busy, both Gamestops had an annoying habit of giving me different boxes sans rules on my purchase. It was if they had a game of thimblerig going on back there. So post purchase I had to stand there at the counter saying in a friendly but firm voice can I have the rule book for Dark Sector please, you know the one that was in the box I just gave you?<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x75.xanga.com/bd7f76f3c2530270157107/b215487535.jpg" alt="Gamestop Super Saver Sale" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br /><b><br />Final Verdict</b><br /><br /><br />Despite spending $25 on Divinity 2: Ego Draconis and $20 on Assassins Creed 2 my final take was 14 games at about $100. Prices below also reflect the Edge card discount which I highly recommend getting.For one thing it does have a nice magazine subscription attached (Game Informer) to it and, unlike many discount cards, it will pay for itself if you buy used games.<br /><br /><br />Conan -- $3.99<br />Army of Two -- $5.99<br />Dark Sector -- $2.79<br />Lost Odyssey -- $9.99<br />Divinity 2: Ego Draconis -- $24.99<br />Assassin's Creed 2 -- $19.99<br />Viking Battle for Asgard -- $5.19<br />Lego Indiana Jones/Kung Fu Panda -- $3.19<br />Frontline Fuel of War -- $3.99<br />Lego batman/ Pure -- $7.99<br />Gears of War -- $3.99<br />Assassin's Creed -- $5.19<br /><br />Total Cost -- $97.28<br />Total number of games -- 12 boxes 14 games.<br /><br /><br /><br />Well I hope that was helpful or at the very least a good read. I am headed back to Gamestop today... no not to exchange Divinity 2 with Bayonetta, I stand by that = wrongheaded decision. No I am headed back because they somehow gave me a Perfect Dark Zero rulebook instead of a Dark Sector rulebook, even though I handed them a Dark Sector box with the Dark Sector rule book conveniently located inside. Oh and Viking Battle for Asgard refused to work. Which brings me to one last rule. Test all you purchases when you get home . Clean looking used games can be deceiving.<br /><br /><br /><br />Happy Hunting.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xe9.xanga.com/2a4f94f460435270157984/b215488263.jpg" alt="Gamestop Super Saver Sale K" style="width: 581px;" />Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-49180490675438817872010-07-15T07:16:00.001-07:002010-08-05T11:41:45.502-07:00Deal of the Week: South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play Review<h3 class="post-title entry-title"> <a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/deal-of-week-death-by-cube-review.html"><br /></a> </h3> <div class="post-header"> </div> South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!: Xbox Live Arcade: Developer: Doublesix<br /><br />South Park games have a long and ugly history. <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/n64/driving/southparkrally/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary%3Bread-review">South Park Rally </a>, <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/n64/puzzle/southparkchefsluvshack/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary%3Bread-review">South Park: Chef's Luv Shack</a> and the titular <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/n64/action/southpark/index.html?tag=result%3Btitle%3B2">South Park</a> all poisoned the well on the Nintendo 64. (Gamespot gave them scores of 2.6, 3.9, and 5.8 respectively.) So one can see, even by the standards of licensed games for the N64, South Park reached its own particular level of abominable game play.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://s1029.photobucket.com/albums/y352/Videogame_Musings/?action=view&current=SouthParkLetsGoTowerDefensePlayF.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y352/Videogame_Musings/SouthParkLetsGoTowerDefensePlayF.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Possibly because of this dubious history, it has been a fairly long time since the South Park license appeared on the consoles. One rightfully wonders what Trey Parker and Matt Stone have in store for us after all this time. Did they license Rockstar's RAGE game engine to create GTA IV in the town of South Park? Did they go the Heavy Rain route, where you play as four separate characters, solving the mystery of who killed Kenny? Or did they finally fulfill every childhood fantasy by filling the gap in the long neglected tower defense co-op tradition?<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xf9.xanga.com/8a7f715279030269832162/b215230247.jpg" alt="South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play E" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />Well as you might have gathered from the title, it was the latter game style they choose after nine long years in the gaming wilderness. As South Park's very own Darryl Weathers might say W.T.F.?<br /><br /><img src="http://x83.xanga.com/994f4b4a79030269832161/b215230246.jpg" alt="South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play D" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />Well it so happens I do like South Park and I like Tower Defense games (if my hard drive is any indication), and yet I have to admit trepidation. So is this game a perfect fit? Well let me answer that in the old fashioned game we call The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xdb.xanga.com/accf674046633269832158/b215230243.jpg" alt="South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play A" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">THE GOOD:</span><br /><br />Well for starters it definitely could have been worse. This isn't shovelware. There are 15 playable characters all with separate special abilities (16 with a promotional code), 15 types of enemies all with special vulnerabilities, Bosses, different towers, you name it. The game captures the look of South Park perfectly down to Eric Cartman's little wobble when he walks.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">THE BAD:</span><br /><br />While the game captures the look of the show it certainly doesn't capture the feel of the show. Catchphrases are repeated endlessly; and since they are out of context they are barely funny the first time they are used. Ginger kids and Mongolians might be funny enemies in the context of an episode, but do nothing here. One would have hoped the South Park team would have taken their crude wit towards videogame conventions (As many of the Simpson's games did a generation ago), but alas all they provide is series of fuzzy unlockable clips and unfunny gags.<br /><br /><img src="http://x2e.xanga.com/8c8f6b4066632269832159/b215230244.jpg" alt="South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play B" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">THE UGLY:</span><br /><br />This is not a terribly good tower defense game. Actually as a one player tower defense game it is basically broken. Tower defense games are a little like Breakout. They are the kind of games you play to relax when no-one else is around. Now let us say that somebody came out with four player Breakout co-op. Yes that does sound stupid as all get out, but follow along with me.<br /><br />Now in four player Breakout you have four colored paddles and four colored balls. (And much like my idea for a <a href="http://cinematicdiversions.blogspot.com/2010/04/anaconda-4-trail-of-blood-so-cosmo-says.html">Syfy movie where the shark has bear claws</a>, I will hunt anyone down who actually makes this.) Now imagine that the one player version of the game still had the four colored paddles and four colored balls and made you switch between paddles to play... yeah that would get ugly real quick.<br /><br />And South Park Let's Go Defense Tower does get ugly quick. Unlike other co-op games, such as Left 4 Dead, the computer does not take over the role of the other three characters in solo play. In addition, unlike say Borderlands, there is no option to just play with just one character. As a result you have to spend an inordinate amount of time switching between characters in single player. If you have even a passing affinity with Tower Defense games, you will know that there is enough running around as it is, with the upgrading of towers, putting up walls, excreta. Throwing four player controlled characters into the mix makes early levels difficult and later levels impossible.<br /><br />The idea that four friends would pick a tower defense game over say Left 4 Dead, Borderlands or Hungry Hungry Hippos strains credulity. This is simply a party game with one rather difficult party. On that note if you and your friends are tower defense fanatics, South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play provides the first (and God willing only) co-op tower defense game experience.<br /><br /><br />My Score: not even a dollar unless you are hankering for four player tower defense than I say go for it at $5<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://s1029.photobucket.com/albums/y352/Videogame_Musings/?action=view&current=SouthParkLetsGoTowerDefensePlayC.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y352/Videogame_Musings/SouthParkLetsGoTowerDefensePlayC.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a>Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-50282938149050046582010-07-14T08:31:00.000-07:002010-08-05T11:38:33.172-07:00Videogame Round-up 7/14/2010 Deathsmiles revealed...Well I finished my adventures on the Island of Panua. Yes story mode complete in a mere 30 hours. Did I reach one hundred percent completion you ask? Would you believe 22.8%...<br /><br />I will have a complete review of Just Cause 2 later in the week, but in the meanwhile a helpful hint it is a must buy and in the running for game of the year. Another game that I completed was Aquarium HD which is a fish feeding simulator and the best use of Microsoft points since I bought my avatar a pair of white slacks. (this would be sarcasm though I admit the pants do look nice.) Needless to say Aquarium HD is not in the running for game of the year.<br /><br /><img src="http://xf0.xanga.com/0d2f8b7557434269759960/b215173269.jpg" alt="Just Cause A" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />A correction on <a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/videogame-round-up-7122010.html">Monday's Videogame Roundup</a>, Magic the Gathering is not on the Deal of the Week list after all. Another correction, is that it isn't Lady Gaga's Poker Face that went on sale as a downloadable tune but the Eric Cartman version from South Park... which honestly sounds like a better listen.<br /><br />In fact Monday's post was full of misinformation. I still have Crackdown 2 at a rent or $10 wait for the bargain bin recommendation and have no plans for another preview. In addition Castlevania for Dummies as of 11:47 EST has not been released on XBOX Live Arcade as part of a very special start of the Summer of staying home and sitting on your ass promotion. I did however find out what a 'Deathsmiles' was.<br /><br /><img src="http://xa1.xanga.com/df1e0b6b63c36269759958/b215173267.jpg" alt="Deathsmiles A" style="width: 645px;" /><br /><br />Before I reveal my heavily researched top secret Deathsmiles information below, let me give a proper preview of this week's game reviews, previews and features that are on tap.<br /><br />Features<br />"When demos go bad a story of Too Human, Afro Samurai and Earthworm Jim HD."<br /><br />"How not to release your game: a story about Alan Wake, Blurs and Split Second's May sales."<br /><br />XBOX<br /><br />Just Cause 2<br />NCAA Football 2011<br />Deathsmiles<br />N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights<br />Naughty Bear<br />Singularity<br />Sniper: Ghost Warrior<br />LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4<br /><br />Xbox Live Arcade<br /><br />Deadliest Warrior the game<br />Deathspank (not to be confused with Deathsmile)<br />Ancients of Ooga<br /><br /><br /><br />Xbox Live Indie Games<br /><br />Aquarium HD<br />Bombs Away<br />Sleepwalker<br />UFO Commando<br />Decay 2<br />7strains The Infection<br />Lumi<br />Comet!<br />MusicNow!<br />Jurassic<br /><br /><br />Okay now that you have digested all that; Deathsmiles is a 2D side scrolling shooter featuring a Japanese <a href="http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/xbox360/deathsmiles">“Gothic Lolita character design"</a>. In other words it is a very Japanese game. Deathsmiles is also a straight arcade port from a few years ago and as a result not in HD. Expect lots of colorful sprites, endless waves of bullets and fan service upskirt shots. Or you could just play Aegis Wing while watching <a href="http://cinematicdiversions.blogspot.com/2010/06/ikki-tousen-romance-of-three-kingdoms.html">Ikki Tousen</a> on a separate set. BTW chances of me accidentally interchanging Deathsmiles and Deathspank in my commentary are running about one hundred percent. And yes those are actual cosplay Deathsmiles characters below.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xfe.xanga.com/ca3e316b03c36269759959/b215173268.jpg" alt="Deathsmiles B" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/eurogamer-net-podcast-26-blog-entry">Eurogamer.net Podcast #26</a> is out and it is an interesting listen. Yes the sound quality on the Eurogamer podcasts is still pretty spotty, yes it often sounds like the B-roll for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds is playing in the background (For some reason there are a lot of seagulls and England doesn't have windows that block sound) and yes they use those cute foreign terms and references. Their very special guest this week was Ignition Entertainment's Jamie Firth to talk about <a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/videogame-round-up-7082010-blacklight.html">Blacklight: Tango Down</a>. Since <a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/blacklight-tango-down-review">Eurogamer gave that game</a> almost a worse thrashing than<br /><ahref="http: com="" 2010="" 07="" html="">I did I do admit I was disappointed in the lack of a <a href="http://gawker.com/5585736/real-housewives-of-new-jersey-the-curious-incident-of-the-dogs-in-the-nighttime">Real Housewives of New Jersey weave pulling fisticuffs</a>. Instead they talked about the poor sales for certain games that were stupid enough to come out around Red Dead Redemption's release date as well as the upcoming Dragon Age 2 (YAY!). All in all a good listen this week. </ahref="http:><br /><br />A special note: <ahref="http: com="" 2010="" 07="" html="">Mr. Firth wisely points out that as European producer he had nothing to do with the actual game Blacklight. (The old it's all the Americans fault gambit). The Eurogamer podcast does make a nice companion piece to my first feature this week "How not to release your game: a story about Alan Wake, Blur and Split Second's May sales."<br /><br /><br /><br /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="VideoPlayerLg47315" width="480" height="418"><param name="movie" value="http://g4tv.com/lv3/47315"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://g4tv.com/lv3/47315" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" name="VideoPlayer" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="382"></embed></object><div style="margin: 0pt; text-align: center; width: 480px; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(255, 155, 0);"><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/trailers/" style="color: rgb(255, 155, 0);" target="_blank">Game Trailers</a> - <a href="http://g4tv.com/e32011" style="color: rgb(255, 155, 0);" target="_blank">E3 2011</a></div><br /><br /><br />G4's feedback above features special guest Geoffrey Zatkin who's <a href="http://www.next-gen.biz/news/game-reviews-have-causal-link-to-sales-%E2%80%93-eedar">scientific study </a>proves that game reviewers matter. Expect Zatkin's research to be trumpeted by the review crew till the sun turns into a white dwarf and the earth becomes frozen lifeless hulk. Between the self congratulatory coverage the panel also touches on the sales numbers from May and one of my favorite topics comes up, the importance of demos. Which leads into my second article planned for this week "When demos go bad a story of Too Human, Afro Samurai and Earthworm Jim HD."<br /><br /><br />On Metacritic this week NCAA Football 2011 has gotten some good notices, along with the usual is it worth buying if you already own NCAA Football 2010 hand wringing. I will have a full report soon.<br /><br />Crackdown 2, Blacklight: Tango Down and Ancients of Ooga continue to take a light pummeling from critics. Gamers that plunged their fifteen bucks into Blacklight seem to be taking it pretty hard... while reviewers of Crackdown 2 strangely enough kind of wish it had been a fifteen dollar DLC itself. Ancients of Ooga seems to suffer from being too nice and too easy. (It is an awfully good looking and charming game.)<br /><br /><img src="http://xc1.xanga.com/1fae076b43c37269759957/b215173266.jpg" alt="Ancients of Ooga A" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />Well as you can see from that giant list above we have our work cut out for us this next week. Will all those reviews, previews and articles get done in the next seven days? Nope... but we should take a good chunk of them out and try to keep it witty and informative. Meanwhile back here at headquarters we are looking forward to starting up Crackdown. (No not Crackdown 2, Crackdown... lets just say I am running a tad behind on my games)<br /><a href="http://naughtybits23.blogspot.com/2010/07/videogame-round-up-7142010-deathsmiles.html"><br /><br />Due to the adult nature of the Stinger please click here to view.</a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></ahref="http:>Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-32482137052002453582010-07-13T09:22:00.000-07:002010-07-13T10:35:34.314-07:00Indie Game Review: LeximoLeximo: Xbox Live Indie Game: Developer:Ninth Planet Games<br /><br /><br />First off Leximo has some of the best game music I have heard in a Indie or for that matter any video game. I feel like I am listening to a French chanteuse wearing a red dress while I down my 30 year-old whiskey while she tugs my heartstrings with every melodious note. <br /><br /><img src="http://x04.xanga.com/3a6f8bfa40434269718289/b215140836.jpg" alt="Leximo C" style="width: 584px;" /><br /><br />Which is a good thing cause the game itself caused me to question my sanity. Leximo is a combination of Tetris and Scrabble. I hate Tetris games and honestly Scrabble has never been my strong suit but I went in with a open mind nevertheless.<br /><br /><img src="http://x01.xanga.com/515f87fbc0434269718288/b215140835.png" alt="Leximo B" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />Leximo has an board six diamonds long and eight diamonds high on which you are supposed to spell words from the letters that drop Tetris like from above. I would like to meet the person who actually passed the first level. The letters move at a fairly good clip and the playing field gets crowded fairly quick. Like Scrabble you often end up with more vowels than you need and trying to get the letters in the right space with the diamond shapes is a challenge of its own.<br /><br /><img src="http://xd2.xanga.com/fb5f6afbc0232269718306/b215140847.png" alt="Leximo F" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />Letters don't disappear when a match is made so the field is limited to a maximum of 144 letters. Since letters get buried uselessly at the bottom and the game ends when a letter touches the top of the screen realistically one has about eighty letters to spell words with. Now try to spell 25 three letter words with eighty letters. Now imagine doing it in a Tetris style game.<br /><br /><img src="http://xaf.xanga.com/37af7660d3d30269718302/b215140844.png" alt="Leximo E" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />One other strange note is that the game is a huge fan of<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet"> 1337 speak</a>. Which strikes me both as bizarre for an intellectual word game and an irritant along the lines of those video games that ruin perfectly good snowboarding and skating titles with an overdose of 'tude.<br /><br /><img src="http://xd6.xanga.com/b85f9062d3132269718294/b215140840.png" alt="Leximo D" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />Leximo is a game with nice sharp graphics and a fantastic soundtrack. Perhaps I should be wearing a dunce cap, but I found the difficulty level off the charts.<br /><br /><br />Score: $1 if you play the demo and mange to get past the first level. Otherwise simply buy the soundtrack.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://cinematicdiversions.blogspot.com/2010/04/index-of-reviews-and-art.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of Movie Reviews , Actress Profiles and Videogame Musings</a><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xed.xanga.com/fa3f9360d3732269718284/b215140832.jpg" alt="Leximo A" style="width: 800px;" />Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-33956381925538465462010-07-13T08:29:00.000-07:002010-08-05T11:34:18.711-07:00Indie Game Review: MetaElectric GuitarMetaElectric Guitar: Xbox Live Indie Game: Developer: Jordan Mews<br /><br /><br />MetaElectric Guitar is yet another music simulation utility on the Xbox Indie service. Apparently the Xbox360's ability to make sounds is fascinating to indie developers.<br /><br /><img src="http://x0c.xanga.com/660f4a6263d30269714041/b215137283.jpg" alt="MetaElectric Guitar A" style="width:584px" /><br /><br />The first thing that will strike you about MetaElectric Guitar is that the interface (as can be gathered from the screen shots below) has all the panache of a microwave oven door. There are literally only two screens in the entire game. One a menu screen and the other witch looks like a countdown clock attached to a particularly incompetent bomb. There is no guitar, no playing, <a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/indie-game-roundup-myband.html">no giant Twinkies on stage being cheered by a fake audience</a>. <br /><br /><img src="http://xd5.xanga.com/7d4f7bf4c0333269714044/b215137286.png" alt="MetaElectric Guitar D" style="width:800px" /><br /><br />You simply adjust some numbers and push the "twang" button" and your Xbox squeaks out a somewhat tinny version of that guitar note... that's it.<br /><br /><img src="http://xcd.xanga.com/984f746663d33269714043/b215137285.png" alt="MetaElectric Guitar C" style="width:800px" /><br /><br />Of all the music utility "games" I have reviewed I believe this very well may be the laziest and most useless of them all... and that is quite an accomplishment against such stiff competition.<br /><br /><br />Score: Not even a dollar.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xdb.xanga.com/7b8f706063d30269714042/b215137284.jpg" alt="MetaElectric Guitar B" style="width:696px" />Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-7494915139149820162010-07-12T11:08:00.000-07:002010-08-05T11:30:42.122-07:00Indie Game Review: Helico HeroHelico Hero: Xbox Live Indie Game: Developer: Cobalt270<br /><br /><br />Have you played that game where you have a Moon landing vehicle nicknamed Eagle or something; and instead of landing on a nice flat crater bed, the game has you maneuvering your awkward craft among cliffs and through tunnels to land on a piece of dirt two pixels wider than your spaceship?<br /><br />Helico Hero is that game but with a helicopter. It doesn't take place on the moon but in one of those side scrolling cities that Rampage loved to feature. (It later moves on to forest and desert locations)<br /><br /><img src="http://xc8.xanga.com/8bee13f407534269709488/b215133466.png" alt="Helico Hero E" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />If I was one of those hip, profane reviewers this would be about the time I would point out that helicopter looks and controls like ass. Of course that very well might be the point, after all if the helicopter was easy to control then the game would have to come up with greater challenges than the current "try to fly a helicopter".<br /><br />The controls are simple enough with the left Stick handling forward momentum and the right stick controlling your throttle. One pushes the A button to turn your engine on or off while the Y button flips the direction you are facing.<br /><br /><img src="http://x89.xanga.com/ae1f956010435269709484/b215133463.png" alt="Helico Hero D" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />Like the lunar landing games above, your helicopter is often fighting forward momentum, which seems somewhat contrived for a game featuring a helicopter. After all it is a vehicle known for its ability to stop and hover at a moments notice. Indeed, despite rather strong sound effects, this simply doesn't feel like a proper helicopter game. For one thing, most helicopters can fly more than a city block or two without requiring refueling.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xd6.xanga.com/d5cf926610432269709480/b215133459.jpg" alt="Helico Hero C" style="width: 584px;" /><br /><br />Graphically the 2d scrolling cityscape looks fine. The helicopter on the other hand is a disappointing collection of sprites. Disappointing and misleading, as your helicopter will often explode on contact with a building even though your lying eyes will swear they didn't actually touch. That round ending explosion by the way is easily the worst effect in the game; a simple and embarrassing orange cotton ball of fail.<br /><br />Indeed you will get to see that pathetic explosion effect often as your Helico Hero is apparently made of hydrogen filled balloon animals coated in gasoline, which also may explain all the mysterious drifting during flight.<br /><br />Your first mission involves flying from home base picking up a patient on a nearby building (do not follow the games actual directions by the way. the game will tell you to land <span style="font-weight: bold;">near</span> the pick-up, but alas this causes everyone to look at you as if you are on drugs. Apparently near is a euphemism for right on top of.) Then after you pick up said patient return to base to refuel (I am sure he will be okay ) and then proceed another four buildings to the hospital.<br /><br /><img src="http://xb0.xanga.com/585e11f436c34269709479/b215133458.png" alt="Helico Hero B" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />There are apparently racing missions later on, but since your helicopter moves with the speed of a turtle skateboarding up a steep incline I can only imagine the heart pounding action that is in store for the player.<br /><br /><br />I like flying helicopters in video games. In fact in my current avocation Just Cause 2, helicopters are my transit of choice (admittedly because planes in that game handle worse than the helicopters do in Helico Hero). Overall, Helico Hero simply isn't fun. The helicopter moves too slowly and simply doesn't feel like a helicopter should. Contrived challenges such as ridiculously limited fuel and flash paper vehicles feel like the artificial game contrivances that they are. What the game desperately needed was George, Lizzy and Ralph to come in and liven things up. (Who are respectively the King Kong-like gorilla, the Godzilla-like dinosaur/lizard and the 20 story giant werewolf from Rampage)<br /><br /><br />Score: Not even a dollar.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x2b.xanga.com/c29f87f476c34269709477/b215133456.jpg" alt="Helico Hero A" style="width: 632px;" /><br /><br /><br />.Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-82749056371695770312010-07-12T10:06:00.000-07:002010-08-05T11:29:29.086-07:00Videogame Round-up 7/12/2010Well I am continuing my adventures on the island of Panua in that expansive sand box Just Cause 2.(Which, while I don't have a review up, it is a buy at $60). I am currently at twenty something hours in and twenty something percent completion and to answer the question I get most... no blowing things up hasn't gotten boring yet.<br /><br /><br />On tap for this week we have seven new Indie reviews.<br /><br /><br />Helico Hero, Metaelctric Guitar, Leximo, Bombs Away, Sleepwalker, UFO Commando, and the long awaited sequel to that indie hit Decay. <br /><br /><br />We will have reviews or previews of the Deals of the Week games South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play and Magic: The Gathering. We will not review Lady Gaga's hit "Poker Face" for Rock Band which is also for sale. I am guessing if you can say Lady Gaga and the phrase "rock" or for that matter "band" in the same sentence and keep a straight face you already own this.<br /><br /><br /><br />On Wednesday we will have a another proper preview of Crackdown 2 (hint rental) and we will try to figure out exactly what a Deathsmile is. As well as our usual review round-up. In addition on Wednesday Microsoft starts off a new Summer of the Arcade with a version of Castlevania for Dummies... At least that is the inside scoop I have gotten. However considering how much trouble I am having with Castlevania SOTN at the moment (a game I beat over 10 years ago) maybe Castlevania for Dummies will be right up my alley.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x2c.xanga.com/273f93f307032269679305/b215110178.jpg" alt="Castlevania for Dummies" style="width:611px" /><br /><br /><br />And lest I forget RIP Harvey Peckar (If you don't know who he is get off my damn lawn. (Or at the very least watch the movie American Splendor)<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x4c.xanga.com/918e15fb32c37269679869/b215110620.jpg" alt="Harvey Peck RIP" style="width:607px" /><br /><br /><br />.Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-22269291508298398882010-07-11T09:51:00.000-07:002010-08-05T11:27:49.735-07:00Deal of the Week: Death by Cube ReviewDeath by Cube:Xbox Live Arcade Developer:Premium Agency Publisher:Square Enix<br /><br /><br />Is Death by Cube the worst game on Xbox Live Arcade? Well as long as Discs Of Tron is still available for download, Death by Cube should be safe. It is however one of the most misguided games I simply have ever played.<br /><br /><img src="http://xa1.xanga.com/b12f44e615630269640133/b215078060.jpg" alt="Death by Cube A" style="width: 583px;" /><br /><br />Death by Cube is a twin stick shooter. Now I know that I mentioned a few days ago in my <a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/videogame-round-up-7082010-blacklight.html">Blacklight: Tango Down review</a> that online death match was an awfully crowded field, but compared to dual-stick shooters online death match are a Montezuma Orchid.<br /><br />On XBOX Live arcade alone one can choose from such varied dual-stick shooters such as Geometry Wars or Zombie Apocalypse, but it is on the XBOX Indie service that dual stick shooters have mushroomed. It is really common sense after all. Robotron 2084 was released all the way back in 1982 and the tech for your average dual-stick shooter is certainly in reach for the basement developer. In addition, unlike say <a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/deal-of-week-scrap-metal-review.html">top down racers</a>, dual stick shooters are as much fun now as they were back then.<br /><br /><img src="http://xdb.xanga.com/5c9f92e022432269640139/b215078066.jpg" alt="Death by Cube D" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />Well twin stick shooters are as much fun as Robotron 2086 if they are done right. Death by Cube developer Premium Agency didn't seem to get the memo from 1982 that twin stick shooters were about fun, usually fairly mindless fun admittedly, but fun nevertheless. Death by Cube on the other hand seems filled with some sort of anti-fun element. For one thing the game constantly spams you with enemies appearing under your "feet" causing an instant kill. This means that surviving every level is as much a matter of chance as it is skill. To combat this the game introduces special moves that randomly shoot you across the board and stun a few enemies. An advancement in dual stick shooting game play I personally guarantee we will never see again.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xc4.xanga.com/58af60e062433269640137/b215078064.jpg" alt="Death by Cube C" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />And of course we don't want to let the players get big-headed with success, so Death by Cube lets you advance (and buy useless upgrades) with points that are dolled out like Bumble the Beadle serving orphans their daily gruel. So the drudgery of playing the same level eight or nine times quickly comes apparent. (One of the reasons we like to beat levels is so we don't have to actually play them again. Something clearly not grasped by the good folks at Premium Agency.)<br /><br /><img src="http://x4a.xanga.com/111f76e062430269640142/b215078069.jpg" alt="Death by Cube F" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />As if this horse wasn't dead enough, the story and visuals chop off its head and leave it in the players bed while they are sleeping. The plot is that you are an amnesic robot (I swear Japan must have some sort of amnesia plague if video games from there are any indication. Perhaps it is from collectively forgetting all those war crimes during the forties. By the way, when I say "the plot is you are an amnesic robot". I don't mean the plot is you are an amnesic robot and then you save the princess or invent a new use for squid. I mean the entire plot is simply that you are an amnesiac robot.) The setting is a cross between Wall-E and Portal. Both yourself and your cube adversaries are apparently robots of some sort. So why does the playing field look as if your battling zombie jelly donuts with a chainsaw in a blood bank?<br /><br /><img src="http://xfa.xanga.com/a54f44ea15630269640140/b215078067.jpg" alt="Death by Cube E" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />This bloodbath, despite making it harder to see what you are doing it, adds a distasteful what the hell to game play. All this blood letting serves seemingly no purpose at all. Even more bizarre, every time you die the game splashes the fourth wall with even more blood. It's as if you showed up to the Red Dead Redemption Thanksgiving table and John Marston is carving the turkey.<br /><br />I like dual-stick shooters quite a bit and in my wildest dreams I never thought anyone could cock it up quite so thoroughly and still get published. I guess that is one thing the developers at Premium Agency can hang their hat on.<br /><br /><br />Score: Not even a dollar<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xc8.xanga.com/4e7f7af215633269640136/b215078063.jpg" alt="Death by Cube B" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />Now usually I leave the commenting on other reviews to my review round-ups but glancing over some of the Metacritic scores I feel the need to call some folks out. Now I understand that I dislike some game that other may enjoy. I may not like that particular genre, I found the game to easy or to hard, or perhaps I am not a pedophile and enjoy adults in my JPRGs.<br /><br />In any case I usually give the benefit of the doubt (Glass houses and all that). Death by Cube however simply doesn't fit the "benefit of the doubt criteria" I like the genre and am reasonably skilled at it. In addition Death by Cube is such a misguided affair I had to wonder about the reaction from other critics.<br /><br /><br />Well the bottom of <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/deathbycube?q=Death%20by%20Cube">Metacritics board</a> is filled with the big boys (IGN, Gamespot, 1up Eurogamer) are all under 50. <a href="http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/63219/death-by-cube/review/">G4 television network which wasn't listed gave it a fairly damning two stars in a vicious review</a>.<br /><br /><br />At the top of the Metacritic board is <a href="http://www.xboxaddict.com/Staff-Review/13208/Death-By-Cube.html">Xbox Addict review </a> who manged an 82 and sounds like a freakin press release (They praise the fact it has a story), though in their defense they did mention the progression issues.<br /><br /><a href="http://reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1840/Death-by-Cube/p1/">TeamXbox</a> found the graphics both cute and leaving a lot to be desired. They were however fascinated by the limited and punishing upgrade system so perhaps a Mechwarrior game might make a good Christmas gift for the review team.<br /><br />But the winner for worst review easily goes to <a href="http://blog.gamer20.com/2010/01/review-death-by-cube-xbox-360/">Gamer 2.0</a> who manages to trash the game completely in the written review "DBC is fun for a good thirty minutes, and after that you are better off putting it down, which is not worth the 800 Microsoft Points ($10) to download. Just go for the trial version." and then giving it the third highest score. Having ones cake and eating it too I see. If the game isn't worth downloading how can you then give a score that recommends purchase?<br /><br />In all fairness Gamer 2.0 is hardly the first review site to giveth with the score and taketh with the review (half the reviews of<a href="http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/crackdown2"> Crackdown 2</a> seem guilty of this), but this is a practice I will continue to expose in my own tilting at windmills kind of way.Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-55772699327688760302010-07-11T07:34:00.000-07:002010-08-05T11:25:38.009-07:00Deal of the Week: Scrap Metal ReviewScrap Metal: Xbox Live Arcade:Developer: Slick Entertainment<br /><br /><br /><br />Scrap Metal is an old-school top down racer. Boy that takes me back; it has been a couple of years since I played a top-down racer... (at this point your Blogger racked his brain for an actual top down racer he played on the Xbox or PlayStation 2 or even original PlayStation.)<br /><br />Okay maybe its been a more than a couple of years. Grand Theft Auto 2 was top down but it really wasn't a racer...Spy Hunter was sort off a combat racer but it's on a straight track... Auto Racing for the Intellivision? Hey I think we have a winner.<br /><br /><img src="http://xf2.xanga.com/9a4f95eb71235269633967/b215073130.jpg" alt="Scrap Metal A" style="width: 565px;" /><br /><br />Okay so it has been since 1980 that I played a top down racer and in all fairness to Scrap Metal, it is more an isometric racer that a straight top down deal. So how do these two games compare? Well Intellivision Auto Racing has an actual open world where you can travel off-road between tracks and even to a hidden drag strip. Other than the ahead of its time (and somewhat accidental) sandbox features, I do have to give the edge to Scrap Metal in the battle of top down racers.<br /><br /><img src="http://x4f.xanga.com/576f90ea71d32269633973/b215073135.jpg" alt="Scrap Metal D" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />There is a reason top down racers were abandoned in the scrap heap of video game history relativity quickly. One of the problems with top down racers is steering. When your car is facing the bottom of the screen and one needs to make a left turn what direction do you point your controller? From the cars point of view you would push left but from the players point of view the car is turning to the right.<br /><br />Intellivision Auto Racing faced this same quandary. Initially the programmers went the realistic route and players had to push the disc left to turn right when their car was facing south. There was some consternation from the public at this control scheme, so Mattel actually changed the cartridges halfway through production so that newer versions of the game had a more player friendly arcade steering. Scrap Metal using modern delivery methods and the lessons of the last thirty years has decided to allow both steering options right from the get go.<br /><br /><img src="http://xbf.xanga.com/7c9f63e771233269633970/b215073133.jpg" alt="Scrap Metal C" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />Unfortunately the arcade control scheme is dumbed down to the point of silliness. There isn't even an acceleration button. The RC "hardcore version" does have acceleration but you will take more wrong turns than Mr. Magoo at a Baja Rally.<br /><br /><br />Not that the cars in Scrap Metal would control well with even the best of schemes. The tracks seem to be covered with black ice, the cars turn like a 1978 Cadillac Fleetwood Broughams and the track is littered with jetsam that hangs up your vehicle on a regular basis. Even stranger it doesn't really seem to matter which car you have. They all seem to control about the same whether they are muscle cars or Wagon Queen Family Truckster.<br /><br />With controls this hit or miss, combat basically consists of keeping the machine gun on and hoping someone wanders in front of you. Online modes wisely fill the dearth of human competition with computer controlled players so one should always find a game. (A nice feature some other games could do well to emulate.)<br /><br /><img src="http://x7d.xanga.com/2f2f87e2d8034269633969/b215073132.jpg" alt="Scrap Metal B" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />Though Scrap Metal manged to best it's nearest competition (Intellivision's Auto Racing) it pales against more modern fare. And by more modern I mean 1996's Twisted Metal 2 which honestly blows this game out of the water. Even the Demolition Derby minigame in Saint's Row 2 (Located inside the university of all places) offers better thrills and more tactile victimization than this effort.<br /><br /><img src="http://x6c.xanga.com/7f4f94e2c8335269633974/b215073136.jpg" alt="Scrap Metal E" style="width: 583px;" /><br /><br />So if you miss Micro Machines or are desperate for an R.C. simulator, Scrap Metal may fill the bill alas with some disappointment. Everyone else should view this as a lesson on why some game genres (even if done well and bluntly this one could have been done better) belong in the foggy nostalgia of the last century.<br /><br />Also as a side note while Scrap Metal did best Intellivision's Auto Racing head to head (though the competition was much closer than it should have been ) Scrap Metal was however quickly defeated in the next round by the vastly superior Spy Hunter(1983).<br /><br /><br />Score: $3 (mainly for the fact you can put a large doughnut on your car and paint it in Simpson's colors.)<br /><br /><br /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="VideoPlayerLg43619" width="480" height="418"><param name="movie" value="http://g4tv.com/lv3/43619"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://g4tv.com/lv3/43619" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" name="VideoPlayer" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="382"></embed></object><div style="margin: 0pt; text-align: center; width: 480px; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(255, 155, 0);"><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/index" style="color: rgb(255, 155, 0);" target="_blank">Xbox 360 Games</a> - <a href="http://g4tv.com/e32010" style="color: rgb(255, 155, 0);" target="_blank">E3 2010</a> - <a href="http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/63133/scrap-metal/index/" style="color: rgb(255, 155, 0);" target="_blank">Scrap Metal</a></div><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x42.xanga.com/559f85e2c8334269633979/b215073141.jpg" alt="Scrap Metal F" style="width: 600px;" /><br /><br /><br />.Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-69290132226011611202010-07-09T12:55:00.000-07:002010-08-05T11:22:36.642-07:00Indie Game Review: Stack of Bricks ReviewStack of Bricks:Xbox Live Indie Games: Devoloper:Rafaro<br /><br /><br />I can only imagine the meeting at conference room at Rafaro. I picture a shiny cherry table with a gaggle of high priced executives and their minions gathered around. The wall is adorned with analog clocks announcing the time in such far-flung ports as Singapore and Buenos Aries. A plasma television lowers silently from it hidden recess in the ceiling and on it appears their latest masterpiece, already in action.<br /><br />And the best name they could come up with is Stack of Bricks?<br /><br />Fortunately despite the quotidian title this is not a Tetris clone. I hate Tetris clones. Instead this is a Breakout clone. I love Breakout clones. In fact I currently own five Breakout clones of various quality. So needless to say Stack of Bricks will have to do something to break out of the pack no?<br /><br /><br />Well simply not screwing up the simple game of Breakout is enough for me. My breakout clones are all basically the same. I just like the slightly different takes the various companies have on the classic. I mean it is Breakout after all, how can you screw that up?<br /><br /><br />Well for one thing you could make the screen slightly isometric so the bricks seem far far away. Another thing is you could do is make the ball very very small even on a large screen high definition television (I could only imagine trying to play this on a standard set.) Rafaro does seem to muck up a sure shot. Even if none of the design flaws are game breakers in and of themselves the entire package is not a good representation of Breakout..<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x17.xanga.com/fe0f921470332269574407/b215025581.jpg" alt="Stack of Bricks A" style="width: 584px;" /><br /><br /><br />Rafaro does have some nice window dressing for a Breakout clone with a good steampunk feel and detailed paddle (complete with shooting flames). Unfortunately their artistic vision really doesn't seem to improve gameplay. I would compare it unfavorable to fellow indie Breakout clone Bricks4ever's neon nightmare visuals.(Which at the very least invoke seizures in otherwise healthy individuals therby making the game more challenging.)<br /><br /><br />What does effect the gameplay however are the two above faults and the remarkably leisurely pace at which the game takes place. This is quite noticeable when one is hunting down that last brick with no energy or urgency present.<br /><br /><br />Overall, with some small reservations, I recommend Stack of Bricks at the dollar price point. (If just to feed my addition to Breakout clones.) Strangely enough though Rafaro has placed this at the three dollar price point which seems a bit dear for a flawed breakout clone.<br /><br />Review Score: $1<br /><br /><br /><object width="660" height="405"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_KbtjAV8JFw&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&hd=1&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_KbtjAV8JFw&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&hd=1&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="660" height="405"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xef.xanga.com/f10f960ac7132269574408/b215025582.jpg" alt="Stack of Bricks B" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />.Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-40697954514931593962010-07-09T11:18:00.000-07:002010-08-05T11:21:00.053-07:00Indie Game Review: Radiangames CrossfireRadiangames Crossfire: Xbox Live Indie Game: Publisher <strong></strong>Radiangames<br /><br /><br />Well hell has frozen over, pigs have taken flight and Duke Nukem Forever must be available in stores now cause the XBOX Live Indie Games service has produced two games in a row that don't feature zombies, bodily functions or avatars. Whats more both games look and play like ten dollar arcade titles.<br /><br />The first game <a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/indie-game-preview-aphelion.html">Aphelion I just previewed </a>while the second is the titular Radiangames Crossfire.<br /><br /><img src="http://xad.xanga.com/e31f941148035269566990/b215020385.png" alt="Radiangames Crossfire E" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />Crossfire is a take on Space Invaders/Galaga game with a twist. You can switch from the bottom of the board to the top and the aliens stay in the middle. Most aliens in the beginning only face and shoot one way so switching is a simple strategic choice.<br /><br /><img src="http://x80.xanga.com/cd4f8b1648134269566986/b215020382.jpg" alt="Radiangames Crossfire A" style="width: 584px;" /><br /><br />Soon however aliens are shooting both directions, Alien Saucers are cruising where your ship lies and ammo needs to be collected so switching becomes more much manic as the game progresses.<br /><br /><img src="http://x70.xanga.com/3d6e1b0435637269566998/b215020393.png" alt="Radiangames Crossfire B" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />The graphics color, speed and techno soundtrack are all spot on. It is the controls that create a game full of win. By making the right trigger the "switch button" you soon are instinctively switching without thinking all the while blasting away. Rarely has a game felt so comfortable in such a short period of time.<br /><br /><img src="http://x17.xanga.com/f61e1004d5634269566994/b215020389.png" alt="Radiangames Crossfire C" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />If there is any fault in the game it is the individual levels start off hard and become progressively easier. Once you clear a few columns you give yourself a little breathing room to snipe the other aliens no matter what direction you or they are facing. I am not sure that is the way the designers meant me to play their game. It feels a little like when in Gran Turismo I would use the opponent cars as cushions in tight turns (sending them into the dirt naturally.)<br /><br /><img src="http://xab.xanga.com/a41f821748035269566991/b215020386.png" alt="Radiangames Crossfire D" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />That quibble aside this is an instant arcade classic... excuse me Indie Game classic. My rating $10 of course they will only charge you $3.<br /><br />Review Score: $10<br /><br /><br /><object width="660" height="405"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uEaBHWmxtXo&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&hd=1&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uEaBHWmxtXo&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&hd=1&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="660" height="405"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xf4.xanga.com/4b2f9a1675d35269567928/b215021050.jpg" alt="Radiangames Crossfire F" style="width: 768px;" />Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-89310431269816605532010-07-09T10:15:00.000-07:002010-08-05T11:19:01.738-07:00Indie Game Preview: AphelionAphelion: Xbox Live Indie Game: Publisher <strong></strong>Lunatic Studios<br /><br /><br />Aphelion is the point on its orbit when the Earth is farthest from the sun. It is also a 5 hour sci-fi themed turn based combat JPRG.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x19.xanga.com/ae0f810b09735269564982/b215018970.png" alt="Aphelion B" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />Could this be the cure I have been looking for. Ever since I played the JPRG that cannot be named (okay fine Infinite Undiscovery) I simply have not been able to play a JPRG. My controller filled hand shakes at the mere notion. Between the night sweats and the terror filled dreams, where I am hopelessly lost with only an Easter colored child to guide me, my PSTD is in full swing.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x32.xanga.com/405e060406537269564978/b215018966.png" alt="Aphelion C" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />Aphelion might just be the homeopathic remedy I have been seeking. Between colorful crisp graphics and catchy tunes I think I am ready to get back on the horse. And at only $3 it is the cheapest cure around.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x32.xanga.com/554e1b0426537269564949/b215018937.png" alt="Aphelion D" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />My observations from the demo is that there is no shortage of random encounters and the loading screens are too short. (Which has to be the strangest complaint I have ever had about a game. The loading screens contain story exposition and attractive pictures yet even this speed reader gets a sentence in and they disappear.)<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x7d.xanga.com/25cf850446534269564946/b215018934.png" alt="Aphelion A" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />Overall this looks and plays like a full fledged arcade title and a ten dollar one to boot. I am definitively going to check it out and cure myself of this JPRG phobia.<br /><br /><br />Preview Score: $10<br /><br /><br /><br /><object width="660" height="405"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HpMtvOus6Ao&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&hd=1&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HpMtvOus6Ao&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&hd=1&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="660" height="405"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x7f.xanga.com/a44e140446537269564976/b215018964.bmp" alt="aphelion fairy tale" style="width: 776px;" /><br /><br /><br />.Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-76885587972425025682010-07-09T08:08:00.001-07:002010-08-05T10:58:18.641-07:00Deal of the week: After Burner Climax ReviewAfter Burner Climax is a decent game with a few flaws that keep it out of my library.<br /><br />First of all this is not a flight simulator. Sure you get a choice of three actual aircraft (F/A-18E Super Hornet,F-14D Super Tomcat, and F-15E Strike Eagle) beautifully rendered and available in various paint schemes, but the planes all act the same and no modern aircraft would fire 75 missiles in a mission all at targets about a thousand yards away. Climax is to modern air battles as Joust was to medieval warfare.<br /><br /><img src="http://x62.xanga.com/3f0f6b0529232269560336/b215014987.jpg" alt="After Burner Climax E" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />Nope this is an on rails shooter. All the aircraft and opponents are simply window dressing. Change the background to a moonscape and all the aircraft to space ships and the game would play exactly the same.<br /><br />The window dressing is a strong point for Climax however as your aircraft and your opponent's planes are all beautifully rendered. In addition the explosions are healthy, the ground underneath is gorgeous and the whole kit and caboodle moves at dizzying speeds.<br /><br /><img src="http://xbb.xanga.com/90ef7113c2c30269560332/b215014983.jpg" alt="After Burner Climax D" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />The main complaint about the game from other reviewers was that it was shallow... Well it is an on rails shooter; so shallow often comes with the territory. Indeed there is nothing wrong with a shallow game every once in a while. That said After Burner Climax does take shallow to a new depth.<br /><br />Still the deal breakers for me had nothing to do with a lack of story (or goal or boss fight or real conclusion for that matter) Nor did my frustration that no there still isn't a decent modern flight for the consoles enter into the fray. No the deal breakers for me are the controls and the view.<br /><br /><img src="http://x71.xanga.com/8a7f4b0bc2c30269560331/b215014982.jpg" alt="After Burner Climax C" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />There are four control schemes available in Climax and all of them are somewhat awkward. For a game that requires you to shoot guns and missiles about three times a second putting such actions on the face buttons or the bumpers seems unwise when there are nice big fat triggers I could be pressing. The triggers are instead used for accelerating and decelerating which honestly could be handled by the left analog stick. For that matter It is an on rails shooter already moving at a high rate of speed I am not sure why I would want to accelerate anyway.<br /><br /><img src="http://xb3.xanga.com/224f6b17c2c32269560329/b215014980.jpg" alt="After Burner Climax B" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />The other bogey is the lack of a cockpit view. I know this isn't a simulator and the planes are beautifully rendered, but the darn things take up way too much screen real estate and often block the view of your targeting reticule. Indeed an in cockpit view would also give one a better feeling of speed and more immediacy in battle.<br /><br /><img src="http://xfb.xanga.com/f8af7b0579333269560324/b215014976.jpg" alt="After Burner Climax A" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br />Overall After Burner Climax isn't a bad game. It is a decent and pretty on-rails shooter with a few niggling flaws that keep me from wanting to play it more than once. At five bucks its maybe be a decent value for you... My score $3<br /><br /><br />Now I had planned to give a long talk on the lack of decent flight simulators on the modern consoles but alas I have more reviews than time right now so here is a synopsis.<br /><br />Modern planes don't translate well to video games because of their annoying habit of firing missles at enemies over the horizon instead of manning up with a dog fight. The only current modern fighter on my to play list is Ace Combat 6; which despite being a relatively old game is still quite dear price wise and is saddled with a Japanese story that could only be described as well Japanese.<br /><br />Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII and Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions are my runners up for WW2 flight simulators with the horribly named IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey being the strongest WW2 contender. All three are on my to play list.<br /><br />I would also be remiss to ignore our World War 1 candidature Snoopy's Flying Ace which seemed fun though it is understandably arcadey.<br /><br />So that is the short if you want to pick up a flight simulator IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey is your best bet.<br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x7f.xanga.com/c44f6505c8332269561406/b215015968.jpg" alt="After Burner Climax F" style="width: 800px;" />Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-34889563277746387382010-07-09T07:27:00.000-07:002010-07-09T07:43:25.141-07:00Videogame Round-up 7/09/2010 After Burner and Indie GamesGood Morning,<br /><br />Well we continue our somewhat delayed round-up of Xbox Live's Deals of the week this week with After Burner Climax. A review which I expect to quickly degrade into a discussion on the poor state of flight sims on this generation's consules.<br /><br /><br />In case I don't get to them all before the sale is over here is a quick rundown of the deal of the week games.<br /><br /><br />Mega Man 10: Only if you played the other nine, are legally deaf and still wear Rockman underwear<br /><br />After Burner Climax: Cheesy Arcade thrills well done but not everyones cup of tea.<br /><br />Scrap Metal: No<br /><br />Death by Cube: Hell NO<br /><br /><br />We also have two Indie games on tap Aphelion and Crossfire.<br /><br /><br />Well let me get on with it before I start ranting about top ten lists or co-op.Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-29127439582798191472010-07-07T22:55:00.000-07:002010-08-05T10:18:56.711-07:00Videogame Round-up 7/08/2010 Blacklight: Tango Down review and online conundrum.So I am playing Just Cause 2 and during my escort mission (Pulling a Jeremy) my drug addicted government informer refused to get into the nice helicopter I provided for transport and instead is acting like a suicidal lemming.<br /><br />So I surfed my casual games list and couldn't help notice that Xbox had added a new arcade title called Blacklight: Tango Down late in the evening... so I did what any red blooded American gamer would... I took it for a spin.<br /><br /><br /><br />Blacklight: Tango Down is an online only shooter. Blacklight's main hook is that it offers you customizable weapons. Apparently instead of just getting better weapons as you go up in rank, you can tune your weapons like an engine in Forza 3. From what I have seen the developers took the realism route so there is no way to upgrade oneself to say a land shark gun or photon rifle which immediately strikes me as more than a whiff of missed opportunity. (Since Armed and Dangerous I have been jonesing for a land shark gun and am willing to pay top dollar for any game willing to feature one.)<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xe2.xanga.com/26ae073bd3d36269516929/b214979839.jpg" alt="blacklight tango down F" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />Blacklight's other main "feature" is that it has no mini maps but instead allows you to switch to Predator vision. In theory this works great (to see this theory work great use the Batvision from Batman Arkham Asylum.)In reality you cannot reliably shoot from this mode (unlike Batman where one seriously wonders why you would ever turn the damn thing off). In addition, the information it imparts is that your enemy (marked by fuzzy orange blobs) is in front of you somewhere (knowledge I had possessed before turning it on).<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x0a.xanga.com/9fee163b03234269516926/b214979837.jpg" alt="blacklight tango down E" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />I played team deathmatch. My team wore a bluish gray while the bad guys wore a tanish gray. The entire set mind you was bathed in corridor gray and more than once myself and an enemy stared at each other trying to ascertain whether we should be shooting or not.<br /><br /><img src="http://x5e.xanga.com/cb5f840516c34269516924/b214979835.jpg" alt="blacklight tango down D" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />Not that I could hit anything with my weapon of choice. You are allowed to pick one of five weapon kits in the Demo, and helpful hint here, don't pick the sniper rifle. Rarely have I seen such a mismatch between location (narrow corridors) and weapon choice. The game doesn't allow you to change your kit when you respawn so I invariably spent the first minute of each new life waiting for a teammate to die so I could pick up a useful gun.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xff.xanga.com/4bcf960316c32269516921/b214979832.jpg" alt="blacklight tango down C" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />The corridor we were playing in was also very unimpressive. There are stationary vehicles and gun placements but they appear to simply be window dressing as none allowed for any interaction. You also receive two grenades (one standard and one Digital Flashbang) which I set off quite frequently in my attempts to find the button that allowed me to take cover (There isn't one as far as I can tell). Despite the presence of grenades the game appears fairly explosion free and interaction of gunfire and the environment is nil.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x0b.xanga.com/008f923b16c32269516920/b214979831.jpg" alt="blacklight tango down B" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />As if the game needed another nail in its already closed coffin the entire experience seemed a bit distant. I never felt I was shooting a real gun and the graphics along with the predator vision gave the distinct impression I was playing someone who was watching the action on a second television screen. Kind of the difference between playing a jet fighter pilot and playing a guy in a Nevada bunker controlling a Predator drone.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xe3.xanga.com/86ae160516c34269516919/b214979830.jpg" alt="blacklight tango down A" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />In the very crowded online shooter market Blacklight feels like a throwback in all the worst ways. Chances are you already own much better online shooters and even if you don't there are plenty out there (Orange Box, Battlefield 1943) that can also be picked up for less than twenty bucks and are vastly superior to this offering.<br /><br /><br />Score: Three dollars but honestly worth neither the time nor the hard drive space.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Had Blacklight been a good game I might have been in a bit of a quandary. You see I really don't really need another online shooter. If I want team death match I have Team Fortress 2, if I want open level shooter with hard to control planes I have Battlefield 1943, and if I want to pass spy secrets with no chance of discovery I have the complete silence of Prey online.<br /><br />Online shooters are a different animal than single player games. As my Prey example above shows they have a definite half life that starts ticking the moment you put them in your console. The Xbox live arcade already has a few examples of online shooters where the lights are still on but no-one is home.<br /><br />Add to the fact that most of my single player games have online modes as well (though some like Fable's bizarre co-op are basically for achievement whores only), and even a small game collection has plenty of online options.<br /><br />This is simply a time factor. When I am in the mood for an online shooter do I try a new IP or do I attempt to get a better horse than the concentration camp victim I am currently riding in Red Dead Redemption Online. Why bother with some strange team deathmatch when the well oiled machine of Team Fortress 2 is calling me up at three am saying we don't spend any time together anymore.<br /><br />I occasionally have pangs of regret spending $10 on Battlefield 1943. It is a great game mind you but I simply haven't had the time to put the effort in. I feel like I am cheating on it when I try out the online mode of some new shooter that everyone is playing this month.<br /><br /><br />There are a few stalwarts that will always have a vibrant and active online community (Battlefield, Halo, Modern Warfare) realistically however all the other IPs need a solid first person experience because online only works if there are people to play against and for most IPs after the first month or two the fields of battle are lonely places indeed.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x33.xanga.com/783f920102532269519612/b214981672.jpg" alt="Empty corridor videogame" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />.Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-53416824102306863482010-07-07T08:31:00.000-07:002010-07-07T11:10:12.355-07:00Xbox games update July 07thWell it's that summer season again. The news is filled with the top stories kidnapped blond children and blond celebrities being thrown in jail. (Other news such as the ecological disaster in the gulf, two wars and an economy that doesn't seem to be recovering all that well; apparently that will have to wait)<br /><br />On the video game front it is also silly season.<br /><br /><br />First there is a new Arcade game for Xbox live <a href="http://www.lucasarts.com/games/monkeyisland2/#/home">Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge.</a> Now this undoubtedly will go on my to buy list so I will refrain from giving it a half assed review. However I admit I am buying this game for all the wrong reasons. (And when I say buying I mean I will put it on a spreadsheet to remind me to pick it up when it goes on sale during one of Microsoft's Deals of the Week)<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x4c.xanga.com/69bf9a3643c35269479402/b214949843.jpg" alt="Monkey Island 2 SE LeChuck's revenge A" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />The reason for my hesitation in picking up this game is somewhat complicated. First I understand that LeChuck's Revenge <a href="http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3180274&p=4">"is one of the most tightly-designed, brilliantly written, timeless adventure games out there"</a> and to not own it would make me one of the uncool kids. Now to be a really cool kid I would have had to have played it back in the day. But alas back in the day I played quite a few adventure games and honestly hated them pretty much across the board.<br /><br />In fact right now on my Xbox360 hard drive is the first Monkey Island Adventure game which I plan to finish (okay start) any time now as soon as I finish up on the island of Panua with Rico. (And maybe play a few other games I have been meaning to well start/finish.)<br /><br />So you can see my quandary, on one hand we have a game considered brilliant by the gaming press and public alike and only a philistine would not own. On the other hand my previous experience with the adventure gaming genre has left such a bad taste in my mouth I have the first version sitting unplayed on my hard drive with little will to actually play the darn thing.<br /><br />So I will pick this up when it goes on sale. Will I have finished (okay started) the original Monkey Island by this time. (smart money is on no.)<br /><br /><br />Speaking of sequels to games I own but have not started/finished, Crackdown 2 is out this week and the reviews are in... and unfortunately for fans the<a href="http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/crackdown2"> current Metacritic score is a lukewarm 73</a>.<br /><br />The metacritic score is actually the good news. Even those that gave good scores seemed to damn it with faint praise. Planet XBOX360, who is top of the scores with a 90, claims <a href="http://www.planetxbox360.com/article_11056/Crackdown_2_Review">"It can be repetitious at times and the plot is not only ridiculous, but it feels far too forced. It’s great to have a basis for the game, but Ruffian should have either implemented an arching story or left it out all together rather than dampening the value of the game with the out of place cut scenes "</a><br /><br /><br />Many of the reviews call it Crackdown 1.5 or Crackdown expansion pack and these are the happy people. The unhappy people take direct aim at developers Ruffian. Apparently either Ruffian were innocent lambs with only eight months and no game making experience and gosh darnet they meant well. (The leave Lindsey alone defense)<br /><br />Gamershell.com "<a href="http://www.gamershell.com/xbox360/crackdown_2/review.html">Though I'm sure the timetable may have been tight and the work not easy, especially with a newly formed studio, to make this sequel, it's simply disappointing to see such light fare being passed off as a new SKU." <em></em></a><br /><br /><br />or Ruffian spent two days putting an ugly mod on the first Crackdown and breaking the ledge mechanics and spent all of Microsoft's money and time on hookers and blow. (The throw Lindsey in jail crowd).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.destructoid.com/review-crackdown-2-178186.phtml">Destuctoid ". However, has it "ain't broke, don't fix" approach been a boon or a curse? Just how far can a game provide "more of the same" before it feels like an unnecessary title? What's the difference between a similar experience and a straight up carbon copy?</a> <p><a href="http://www.destructoid.com/review-crackdown-2-178186.phtml"><i>Crackdown 2</i>, to its discredit, answers all these questions, while leaving one completely unanswered -- exactly what has Ruffian been <i>doing </i>with itself for the past twelve months?"</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Overall I really won't have a good idea whether I am going to pick this one up till I start/finish the first Crackdown. So time will tell. (But it definitely feels like a bargain bin title)<br /></p><br /><img src="http://x27.xanga.com/5f3e113241534269481856/b214951894.jpg" alt="Crackdown 2 A" style="width: 800px;" /><br /><br /><br />There may be a few blokes out there wondering how the hell I have gone the last few years and not played Crackdown. Well funny story there, it turns out that there are three Xbox360 games that are must buys for all Xbox360 owners that somehow I missed. Now in my defense I did spend 200 plus hours riding my horse around the Province of Cyrodiil (speaking of games I need to finish). In addition, I am easily distracted by bright shiny objects.<br /><br /><br />The three games in question were Crackdown, The Orange Box and Bioshock. (I know I know reason #4 I will never be a real gaming journalist) However I have now picked up both Crackdown and Orange Box and Bioshock is next on my must buy list. (In fact I would own Bioshock, and maybe even played Bioshock, had I not been distracted by the adventures of Mr. Marston and Mr. Rodriguez.)<br /><br /><br />Last weeks arcade titles have gotten their reviews in, and Puzzle Quest 2 unsurprisingly garnered positive notices across the board. Apparently I am the only person who found the stained glass artwork to be the fugliest thing I have ever seen in a video game since the hookers in San Andreas. (And yes Puzzle Quest 2 is a buy)<br /><br />Another buy is of course Duke Nukem Manhattan Project which has a current <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/dukenukemmanhattanproject?q=">Metacritic score of 150</a> (if you add the three scores together) and a very generous demo on Xbox live. The general consensus is that the game is ugly (it is), it is easy to get lost (also true) and this is no Shadow Complex (it isn't). All critics also agreed that the game rules and will hold one over till the new Duke Nukem game comes out any day now (Or at least till the release of Gran Turismo 5).<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x23.xanga.com/0f7f663532d33269483332/b214953084.jpg" alt="Duke Nukem Manhattan Project A" style="width:800px" /><br /><br /><br /><br />Five smaller games sneaked in last week Deathsmiles, N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights, Naughty Bear, Singularity,and Sniper: Ghost Warrior. I plan to have review round-ups on all five games soon (in the case of Deathsmiles I kinda have to wait till someone bothers to review it.)<br /><br /><br />In the meantime outside of an hour with Glitner, Assault Heroes, and Crazy Wizard in Creepy Castle it's been all Just Cause 2 here at gaming central. I expect at my current pace to reach 100% completion sometime in 2011. (I however also expect to pop Crackdown in at some point before then so I can bring you all up to the minute reviews from 2007)<br /><br /><br />Well back to Deal of the Week... next up Afterburner Climax.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x53.xanga.com/561e173154c37269484249/b214953848.jpg" alt="Lindsay Lohan Videogame" style="width:594px" />Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-37008493638746718702010-07-06T09:36:00.000-07:002010-08-05T09:50:56.994-07:00Deal of the Week: Mega Man 10 reviewEvery Week Xbox Live puts some of their arcade games on sale. Some recent weeks have been very tough on both my budget and my unplayed games que, as Microsoft has put some great Arcade games, that I had been meaning to pick up, at half price. (Shadow Complex, Castlevania SOTN, Peggle)<br /><br />Fortunately for my budget, and my current adventures on the island of Panua, Xbox Live's offerings this week are shall we say a bit light in the must buy category.<br /><br />This weeks theme is Action Arcade. Included are Mega Man 10, After Burner Climax, Scrap Metal (which I swear was on sale only three weeks ago), and Death by Cube.<br /><br /><br />Let's Start with Mega Man 10<br /><br /><br />Honestly how does one review a brand new Mega Man game that is 8bit?<br /><br />Well for starters a couple of confessions are in order. I have never played a Mega Man game. (Blasphemer... Heretic... Tool of Satan) and as a result I have exactly zero nostalgia for the series (Reason number #2 I will never be a real games journalist)<br /><br />Another confession is that while I will put up with dated graphics, (for example Duke Nukem games and Doom) I am a bit of a graphics whore. (Harlot... Strumpet... Tramp.) Personally if you are going to put a game on the Xbox live arcade I don't see the harm in a fresh coat of HD paint.<br /><br /><br />Okay now that I have my heretical confessions out of the way what did I think of our little blue friend. Well the game play was simple, tough and not exactly good at explaining what I should do next. I found myself relatively quickly trapped in a room with floating fists and no clear vision on how to shoot my way out. I tried switching characters (read I accidentally switched characters in a attempt to shoot up.) but alas this seemed to be of no help.<br /><br />Now normally I would have spent more time puzzling this out but Mega Man's Achilles' heel was striking at my very nerves.<br /><br />The music.<br /><br />8 bit graphics are one thing; I don't know from whatever musical Abaddon these tunes were emanating. all I know is that I was being sapped of my will to live.<br /><br />Any attempt by myself to describe this shrieking cacophony are clearly in vain but like any Lovecraft hero it was only my sheer will to keep my sanity and the fact I was stuck on the first level of the game that saved me.<br /><br /><br />Score: Not worth even a dollar.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br />And now a quick Q and A on my Mega Man review.<br /><br /><br />Q: You Suck!<br /><br />A: I'm sorry is that a question?<br /><br />Q: No F*ck You. You Suck. You get stuck on the demo and you f*ckin decide to review the game and give it a sh*t review.<br /><br />A: Yup... Look I understand your frustration but the music sucks and I simply don't want to try to figure out what I am doing wrong with that noise in my head. I don't mind kicking it "Old School" hell I am currently stuck on the first level of Castlevania SOTN with the stupid fish-men and I beat that game ten years ago, but Castlevania doesn't place a drill to my head and push the start button.<br /><br />Q: The game doesn't need to give you directions. That's cause you are a stupid.<br /><br />A: Look do you remember the frustration at playing Dead Rising where you kept getting killed after leaving the cafeteria and crossing the park and the stupid game only gave you the one save slot and you finally somehow made it to the clown and he chainsaw you in half. And then years later you find out the developers meant for you to die often and restart the entire game as a stronger character but the never actually passed that relatively important piece of information to the gamers themselves?<br /><br />Q: No man I don't play that game. That's for graphic whores like you. I keep it real. Serves you right spending sixty dollars on a broken game. Mega Man aint broken and it's on sale for 5 bucks this week. Man you disgust me I bet you don't even play Bomberman.<br /><br />A: Reason #3 will never be a real games journalist<br /><br /><br />Q Oh My God... You Suck! Mega Man Rules...<br /><br /><br />A: So tell me what is it you like most about the Mega Man series is it the simple graphics and gameplay or the homoerotic box art?<br /><br /><br />At this point the Q and A session ended abruptly with the sound of a kerfuffle ensuing. Indeed Q was not able to pose to A a question on how other real critics, who actually may have played the full game and have a passing knowledge of the previous nine (on correction sixty-four including such dynamic outings as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Man_Soccer">Mega Man Soccer for the SNES</a>) Mega Man outings liked the blue bomber. Well <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/megaman10">Metacritic </a>gave it a healthy 79% with most gaming sites promoting the nostalgia angle to the hilt. It is for Mega Man fans seemed to be theme. Some sites also praised the inclusion of an "easy" level an addition I also appreciated (For all the good it did me).<br /><br /><br /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="VideoPlayerLg43362" width="480" height="418"><param name="movie" value="http://g4tv.com/lv3/43362"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://g4tv.com/lv3/43362" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" name="VideoPlayer" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="382"></embed></object><div style="margin: 0pt; text-align: center; width: 480px; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(255, 155, 0);"><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/ps3/index" style="color: rgb(255, 155, 0);" target="_blank">PS3 Games</a> - <a href="http://g4tv.com/e32010" style="color: rgb(255, 155, 0);" target="_blank">E3 2010</a> - <a href="http://g4tv.com/games/wii/63073/mega-man-10/index" style="color: rgb(255, 155, 0);" target="_blank">Mega Man 10</a></div><br />Warning music included in above clip.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xec.xanga.com/f7af8b2644134269448665/b214925069.jpg" alt="Mega Man 10 D" style="width: 800px;" /><br />Megaman uses his Bubbles of Justice against the one-eyed rocket shooting thingie.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x1e.xanga.com/09ff953147335269448662/b214925066.jpg" alt="Mega Man 10 C" style="width: 800px;" /><br />Quick name a more pathetic name for a weapon than "Thunder Wool"<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xb9.xanga.com/43ae1127c4134269448659/b214925063.jpg" alt="Mega Man 10 A" style="width: 800px;" /><br />"I Beat the 8 Master Robots" Try saying that five times fast without sounding dirty.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x48.xanga.com/9d5f6b2b47332269448660/b214925064.jpg" alt="Mega Man 10 B" style="width: 604px;" /><br />I am not sure about you, but that isn't exactly how I pictured Mega Man "In real life"<br /><br /><img src="http://xa6.xanga.com/0b5e133047234269448668/b214925071.jpg" alt="Mega Man 10 E" style="width: 595px;" /><br />You know with 64 different games I am sure there is room for a Mega Man dating simulator... in HD no less.Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997853227719730943.post-23464783136126725382010-07-06T08:12:00.000-07:002010-08-05T09:47:46.991-07:00Indie Game Roundup: MyBand ReviewMyBand: Xbox Live Indie Game: Publisher: Kydos<br /><br /><br />There are dozens of music utilities on Xbox live indie services however MyBand is fairly unique. For one thing, it allows you to play the violin in the band so attempts at recreating eighties europop will not be in vain. In addition, it allows up to four players at a time and allows you to record your musical creations. The graphics are simple yet colorful and the game supports most musical peripherals.<br /><br />But alas this isn't Rock Band for a dollar. The game itself has no prerecorded music and as far as I could tell there was no way to download tracks either. So anyone hoping to add a violin solo to Megadeath's Hanger 18 will be out of luck.<br /><br />This is a true utility program, push a button and the corresponding note, on whatever instrument you chose, plays. There are no lines of X's or A's to push. There isn't even simple public domain sheet music.<br /><br />There is only a free play button mash option and the audience goes wild whether you are Eric Clapton or Ashlee Simpson. All of which brings up a simple quandary. Why would one want to use this on an Xbox360?<br /><br />Obviously a similar program on a home PC would be more fun. And certainly make it much easier for you and your friends to share tracks over the internet. In fact much more powerful music programs are available as freeware for most windows based systems.<br /><br />All this "Come to Jesus" talk is a bit of a shame because developer Kydos certainly did a fine job. However without a game at its core this is simply a utility that is overshadowed by much better software on much more appropriate platforms.<br /><br /><br />Score: Not worth even a dollar.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://videogamemusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/list-of-video-game-reviews-and-previews.html"><br />Please click here to go back to the index of all Video Game reviews and previews.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xf4.xanga.com/0ddf8b33d1734269441995/b214919563.jpg" alt="Myband E" style="width: 584px;" /><br />I like to think they are Twinkies but some people in the room are saying bananas.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x31.xanga.com/7d3f8325d1735269441993/b214919561.jpg" alt="Myband D" style="width: 800px;" /><br />Nothing says I have no friends and I need to clean my television as much as this screen capture. (Not my screen capture by the way. You can tell because it is in focus)<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://x7e.xanga.com/3e1f802008535269441991/b214919559.jpg" alt="Myband B" style="width: 800px;" /><br />Live out your inner Spinal Tap with our Stonehenge set. (Dwarfs not included)<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xf6.xanga.com/2d2e122008534269441986/b214919554.jpg" alt="Myband A" style="width: 800px;" /><br />Record your button mashing for posterity. No word whether you can stream your creations to other games soundtracks.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://xdc.xanga.com/c86e152028537269441997/b214919565.jpg" alt="Myband F" style="width: 800px;" /><br />I always wondered why no-one has yet to put out a Rock Band style game with a groupie minigame. Honestly it is like releasing a GTA game where you have to buy all your own cars.<br /><br /><br /><br />.Julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172548520981404961noreply@blogger.com0