Tag Archives: review
PlayStation Move Initial Thoughts
When Sony showed off PlayStation Move, I like many other people assumed it was just a Wii HD. That was until I had the chance to play it on release day. Upon playing Move, in my local game store, I left the store utterly bewildered as to how good Move is and how Sony could have essentially let it slip under the radar. Needless to say I bought the Move starter bundle and Sports Champions a week later (they aren’t bundled together here in the UK).
I have been playing Sports Champions almost exclusively since I picked the bundle and game up and I am in love. Although more specifically I am in love with Table Tennis and that is what I have been exclusively playing. I firmly believe that both the Table Tennis game and PlayStation Move together are the perfect way of proving the capabilities of motion control in games. I also firmly believe that until one tries PlayStation Move with Table Tennis, from Sports Champions, then one cannot truly know what Move can do. This isn’t to say that the other games in Sports Champions are not great. They are all brilliant but the Table Tennis is the true stand out of the bunch. Archery is a lot of fun although I personally couldn’t play it for extended periods of time. It’s surprising how fast my arms got tired. The Gladiator battle is also brilliant, especially if you just want to kick the crap out of something.
The small tweaks to Move over the Wii are what make it so great. Having the PS Eye instead of a sensor adds another level of depth to the experience. This is because instead of just registering the controller like the Wii sensor does the camera uses the Move to establish where you are in the room. For example when playing Table Tennis you quite literally have to run back and forth in order to hit the ball. This isn’t all the time however it does make the game incredibly fun when your opponent flicks the ball over the net and you have to run forward in order to hit it back.
I have said it before but I believe that Move is essentially Kinect and the Wii mashed together. Sony has taken the Wii and made it as close to 1:1 as is maybe possible at this time and they have taken Kinect and added buttons. This makes for the best gaming experience when it comes to motion controls available. It obviously may be beaten in November but I don’t see that happening.
As a quick side note I have tried the demos for the likes of The Shoot and Heavy Rain and they control beautifully aswell. So much so that I now plan on picking up Heavy Rain because I prefer the Move controls to the standard controls. How the Move controls work in other ‘normal’ games remains to be seen but so far I am very impressed.
If you are interested in Move (I assume you are if you have read this far) then I strongly recommend you find a store near you that has a demo set-up. Try the Table Tennis.
“L, do you know Shinigami love Apples?â€
I’m usually very wary of movie adaptations of books, comics and anime…and with good reason (I mean, look at the Harry Potter movies). So it was with a bit of trepidation that I watched the first Death Note movie. At that time I hadn’t finished the entire anime so I didn’t quite know what to expect. Yes, certain plot points veered from the anime (much in the same way that the anime veers from the manga) but overall the movie stayed true. Heck, the final scene of that first movie was an epic moment in and of itself. I actually pumped my first in the air when watching it for the first time and cheered.
The second movie “Death Note 2: The Last Name†picked up immediately after the first one and continued the plot line. Again, it veered, but this time in ways that I not a single problem with. Trust me, if you’re an L fan then you’ll love the second movie.
Then a third movie was released and this one I was lucky enough to catch for a one night showing in theaters with the subtitled version. This one was called “L: Change the WorLd†and it also picked up immediately where the previous movie left off. Even with the chatterboxes behind me in the theater, I totally enjoyed this movie that gave us a deeper look into L’s character and mannerisms. (It was also creepy that I saw this in theaters just before the Swine Flu outbreak…if you’ve seen the movie then you’ll know why that was creepy timing.)
The actors that were chosen for the various roles impressed me. I was quite happy with all of the choices and extremely excited that the seiyuu for Ryuk reprised his character. After all, that Shinigami just wouldn’t be the same with a different voice.
I’m also totally convinced that Matsuyama Ken’ichi is the perfect live-action L. He had the posture, the mannerisms and the look completely down pat. Even L’s way of sitting (or “perchingâ€) was perfect.
If you loved the anime series (especially if you loved the first half best or are a giant L fan) then you’ll adore the films. Even if you loved the second half of the anime (and I’ll forgive you for that) you’ll still enjoy the films. They’re even a good starting point for folks who haven’t seen the anime and aren’t sure when they’ll have time. The movies are good as stand alone sources for the series and yet compliment it extremely well when you’ve been able to watch it all.
Any thoughts or opinions? Favorite parts of the movie? Hated them with a passion? Drop a note!
Van Redd Reviews: Limbo
Darkness and Light are two of the simplest forms of artistic expression, and yet for all time they have been the most powerful. The subtext is easy to understand…quite primal in fact. Limbo plays to this strength and is one of the most haunting games I have ever played.
Haunting is quite apt as your character, a young boy, looks like a lost spirit. His form is black save for his dots of light eyes. The world he traverses through is a mix of shadow and light, the forms of trees and buildings just faintly apparent. From the very beginning you feel as if things are not right. You are made to feel weak and helpless; one hit will send you to your doom. Death lurks at every corner in this world and can come at you unexpectedly. From a huge spider and brain controlling slugs to environmental hazards like electric lines and buzz-saws. Each death is a very VERY gristly end for your little companion.
Limbo is actually a rather simple platformer. The controls are as simple as it gets; you use one button to run, one to jump and one to activate/push/pull. While this seems easy the trick to this game is in how devious the game becomes in timing what to do with when to do it. Limbo requires you to be creative and think outside of the “Mario Box”. You will not be jumping on enemies heads, instead you must lure them into traps, avoid them, or take advantage of a weakened foe.
Later in the game you will face devious gravity puzzles, be required to backtrack, and your brain will be stretched to figure out just how to get to your goal. Your goal, though, is not made very clear. You get a small indication that you are after a girl, your sister according to promotional materials. You are never told how you came to be in the forest; actually your never told anything. There are no cutscenes to really speak of, no dialogue, and no text to read. A highly subjective ending awaits you that I will in no way spoil, all I can say is that you will have to make your own mind up about this story of this game even more so than in Braid.
I was able to power though this game in a marathon six hour session, so be aware that this is not a game that is going to take up a huge amount of 
time. I do not regret it and I do need to go back though and pick up some of the hidden orbs you can find. While I do enjoy the art style and minimalist approach, it does feel this was made as a “games are art” game merely for the sake of it.
BOTTOM LINE: While Limbo is a exciting, beautiful, and haunting experience the price tag is rather high. I totally recommend playing it but be aware that your only going to get about seven total hours of this game unless your into replaying it again and again.
Van Redd Reviews: Crackdown 2
If you can’t guess Crackdown 2 is the sequel to the original Crackdown. Unlike the original this game does not have a Halo Beta to coast on for sales, not to mention a lot of behind the scenes drama over it’s development. You see Crackdown 2 was not developed by Real Time Worlds, they are too busy with making A.P.B a massively multiplayer failure. Instead, Ruffian Games picked up the slack but only after Microsoft seemed to flip flop on making the game to begin with.
Ok now that the history lesson is over with let’s get down to the nitty gritty truth. Crackdown 2 is really just an upgraded Crackdown 1 with a few additions and oddly a few subtractions. While you lose vechiles that chagne as your driving skill improves, you gain helicopters, pinging for orbs (like Infamous), and a niffty wing suit to glide around in. Gone are a series of gangs and bosses to fight, they are replaced by a terrorist group known as Cell. A second antagonistic faction are the Freaks, the mutants who come out during the cover of night. The main crux of the game is to power up beacons to destroy these Freaks. You do this by taking over things called Absorbtion Units that are scattered thoughout Pacific City. You have to usually power up three of them in an area before you can do a beacon misson, which are bascially the “boss” fights of the game.
Ok, let’s be honest. The game is very repetitive, almost insanely so. Having played games enough I can see why Ruffian went with this model of gameplay. Someone can drop in your game at anytime and not miss out really anything. A player can drop in your game and know what they need to do with no real backstory needing to be explained. If you drop into a Coop game of Gears you could be at any point in the story and have no clue what the hell is going on, not so in Crackdown. Now I am NOT saying I agree with this choice, merely that I kind of see what they were thinking.
Speaking of repitiion, you will recognize most places as you are in the same old Pacific City. Now to be fair the city is ten years older and much MUCH worse for the ware. Buildings are in flames and/or falling over, most sections are warzones, and after dark a sea of mutants roam the streets for blood. Many will deride Ruffian for copy and pasting the city, but if you played the first game it is kind of neat to see how the city has changed. I think they should have done a lot more to make the city feel different, but in and of itself being in the same city is not a deal breaker at all.
The dealbreaker for this game is all in how you intend to play it. If you intend to play this game mainly as a single player game you will HATE it. It is repetitive, boring, and devoid of engagement with you. If you have a good group of friends to play Co-op with, you are going to have a really great time. The saving grace of this game is just how much fun it is to gang up with three other friends (double the last game’s number) and cause as much havoc as you can. Lonely orb hunts become treasure hunts with friends. Having someone to talk and goof around with really is a huge amount of fun and has kept me going back long after I completed the game.
The game is not without a large share of bugs, which to be fair all sand box games are. My friends and I have run into numerous bugs with most of them being centered around the helicopter. I have had it explode for no reason on the helipad to a being on it when a friend took off and it appearing in my game that we were still sitting on the pad. I have had abilities seemingly not level up only to leave the chopper to gain a new level. I have struggled to make my agent climb up to a hidden orb on a tricky ledge only for him to decide to ignore me so he can fall to his death. I have even had a friend get knocked into a type of first person mode which is how we got this choice gameplay shot.
Bottom Line: I honestly think Crackdown 2 would have benefited from being a $40 game. If you are more of a solitary gamer, or if your friends don’t plan on getting this game then you are better off renting. If you know that some of your friends are getting it then I feel good about recommending it to buy. Just goofing off with some buddies has been some of the best times on LIVE I have had. Just know what you really want out of the game before you commit to anything.
Final Fantasy XIII: A story in pictures!
Hey there champ! Did you just get your brand new copy of Final Fantasy XIII for your system of choice? Well you’re in for a time buddy let me tell you! Did you know you can break down the average user experience of someone who plays Final Fantasy XIII into six simple stages? Let’s take a look at them now!
STAGE ONE: Happiness (Hours 1-5)
Here you are fresh from your store of choice. You just spent a hefty chuck on of change or traded in some really treasured games on FF. You loved all the others…even Nine…hell even Final Fantasy X2. You sit down and open up your system and with trepidation and excitement you put in your disc. The game loads up and you begin. You’re first few hours are really slow and seem odd but hey, your just getting started and a little hand holding is expected right? I bet your thinking it’s going to pick up really soon.
STAGE TWO: Confusion (Hours 6-20)
Well you would be wrong! In fact, dead wrong! You’re going to be going straight hallway after straight hallway with only two members of your team for a long…long…LONG time. Oh and you best get used to nothing making a bit of sense. You see in past Final Fantasy games too much time was wasted on explaining things like plot…or why the characters decide to take the actions they take. FFXIII is far to concerned with making speeches that don’t really make sense but try to illicit emotional responses that are unearned.
STAGE THREE: Anger (Hours 21-55)
At this point your getting pretty steamed. Even though the game was nice enough to give you a small bit of fun when you finally get to do some side missions, your fleeting joy saddens when you realize that eventually your going to have to go back to the pointless story. They combat is so fun, yet they never give you a break from it so you can savor it and take a breather. The characters you enjoyed at first, then later put up with, are now gnawing on your last nerve with their stupid stupid over dramatic dialogues.
STAGE FOUR: Hate (Hours 55-85)
You get to the end of the game and have had enough. The harsh realization that your never getting all of that $60 back begins the eroison of your soul that the idiot characters chip away at all though the game. Things you like about the game fade, like the combat, fade into the mist of your white hot rage. You have had enough of Snow whining like a bitch, enough of Vanille sounding like she has diarrhea every battle, and you certainly can’t take any more jackassery from the plot that refuses to go anywhere.
STAGE FIVE: The Reckoning (HOURS N/A)
You are now a slavering beast. Things like conscious though, showers, and hygiene are meaningless in your new world of blind venomous rage. You slam on the eject button, rip the DvD (or Blu-Ray) out and proceed to do things to it, that if it were a person, would land you some serious jail time. Your at the point that you print photos of the characters just so you can burn them and stomp them to bits of ash.
STAGE SIX: Catharsis (HOURS N/A)
The evil vanquished at last you begin to go about your life again. You will never be what you once were. The scars will always sting. You have been forced to bear a greater weight then even Frodo. Your only recourse is to clense your spirit wish something that can sooth your pain, but only one thing can make you believe in good JRPGs again…..
Van Redd Reviews: Metro 2033
Metro 2033 is a weird game. It is rare in the sense that it is based on a novel rather then a comic book or movie. I’m not sure if this works in favor of the narrative but for better or worse I had some memorable experiences. It gets stranger as the novel in question is from Russia and came out in or around 2005.
This game really feels like the Russian counterpoint to Fallout as you exist as a young person in a ruined world. Life as we know it has been burned away by nuclear fire and all that is left is a mutated wasteland with the buildings serving as tombs. I think Metro actually upstages Fallout as it makes the surface world seem like an absolutely horrible place and you ARE risking your life anytime you go up to it. You see the air itself is poison so you have to wear a gas mask at all times when outside, and too bad for you that the mutated life that survives up there is not going to just let you waltz by. Neither are the various factions that control various areas just going to let you go by. Life for the most part exists underground in the old Metro stations. You get the feeling that Russia did not have a Vault program so this is the best they could do. Life is cramped and bleak but people are trying to make the most of it.
Your character will only speak in monologues between levels and realism is at a premium here. You get no map, there just aren’t any. You get a flashlight you have to manually pump up with a generator. Money is worthless, you buy things with bullets. Your gas mask can break, and if it does you either find another or you will die. It gives it a very Half-Life you against the world vibe that I sort of dig.
If that sounds harsh don’t worry, it never is too much to bear and the game seems to know just when to let you take a breather to recharge. These little things really help immerse you in the world of the Metro in the end and make for a unique experience.
The game also takes from Bioshock in a way as there is a mysterious “other” faction that seems to speak to you. Something supernatural is going on while all the human vs. human vs. mutant drama goes on. I found it mostly uninteresting though and ultimately this thread never gets quite enough explanation to really make much sense.
The graphics for the game are passable, but nothing is going to WOW you here. This is not to say the game looks bad it is just that nothing really looks that good either. Character models look very much the same and have “dead eyes” like some games from last gen. The lighting effects are nice and the texture work is good, but again, nothing is going to knock your socks off.
The voice acting is pretty good buy WHY do Russians always have to sound so stereotypically Russian in games. I salute games like Metal Gear Solid 3 for not doing what Metro does. The main character is not so bad but you literally will feel like you are talking to the spies from Rocky and Bullwinkle at points of this game. The pacing is excellent. but I was hampered by some very unclear objectives at certain points but nothing even close to game breaking. The game is fairly short though, and once you beat the game there is little reason for a repeat play. The game has a very weird morality system that never seems to come into play enough to make any sense and really should have probably just been scraped.
Bottom Line: Metro 2033 offers some great atmosphere and some unique takes on realism without being annoying, but the short length and general “Meh” -ness of the graphics places it in the rental category.
Apple Podcast
CasualTerror Twitch
Facebook
GeeksFTW Discord
Google Podcasts
Podcast Feed
Twitter
WillPlayGames Twitch
YouTube
Open Forum Radio
PantlessSteve Twitch
YoHambo Twitch