Posted by Ryan at Wednesday, November 19, 2008 | 0 comments read on
Mirror's Edge Review
Holy shit, that was awesome!
Those are the two main thoughts that were racing through my head throughout every stage of Mirror's Edge. Mirror's Edge is a first person platforming game in the vain of the Prince of Persia series. You are tasked with running across rooftops, corridors, and air ducts, trying to find out who framed your sister for murder.
The game is beautiful, when it wants to be. The city and rooftops all look fantastic when you can see them in the background as you're running. The same goes for the saturated and color filled offices and corridors. However there are many textures in the game that just come off as awkward. You constantly get glimpses of Faith's (the main character) hands as she grabs onto ledges and swings from poles. Every time her hands came into the frame they just looked muddled with dull textures that almost looked like they were from the PS2 era. It's odd because the city is dazzling with color and rich textures, but once her hands came into the scene it looked like you were controlling an 80 year old women with wrinkled old man hands.
I have two main problems with the game. First, I found it hard to figure out the best spot I could grab next, wishing I could just continue my string of jumps and tucks that were getting my adrenaline pumping. A perfect example of what I'm talking about is Sonic the Hedgehog. There are always times in those games where you're zipping along going super fast, only to hit a wall, or some spikes, or a poorly placed enemy. It brings the speed to a halt and you forced to go very slow to jump over the spikes, or jump up a wall, then continue your speed run. I got the same exact feeling from Mirror's Edge. I would be jumping and swinging along having a blast, then I'd hit some weird area where it wasn't obvious where the developer wanted me to go and I had to walk around trying to figure out what I could grab or duck under. It completely ruined the feeling that Faith was a pro at this and with a few button presses she'd be able to run and jump wherever she wanted. There were times in every level where I was brought to a screeching halt, making me urge for a level where I could run and platform for more than 2 minutes without being stopped.
My second complaint about this game is that it always felt the need to force you into combat situations. The combat in Mirror's Edge does work, it's just not as good as most shooting games. This is understandable, after all you are a runner, not a shooter, so it makes sense that you wouldn't be able to aim very well, if thats what they were going for. I mainly have a problem with the combat because it ties back into the first problem. I just wanted levels where I could run for the length of the level and see if I can string together a ton of jumps without falling or missing a ledge. The combat does nothing more than to take you out of that gameplay that makes the game so great.
When the platforming and running segments do shine through, the game is an absolute blast to play. I was getting pretty frustrated at the end of the game from constantly having to break my streak to figure out where to go, but when I got to the last section in chapter 8 they really gave me what I was looking for. I won't say anything to spoil it but all you need to know is that you're tasked with getting to the roof of a building. There was no one in my way and for about 25 minutes it was nothing but great platforming, jumping, running, tucking, wall running, and ledge grabbing. That's what I was waiting for! If only the entire game could have been made out of sections like that, I would have liked it a lot more. Those section are what make the game truly special, and accomplish something that hasn't been done before. Being able to platform like that in a first person view was a fantastic experience, I just wish there were more lengthy segments like that last bit.
The story is pretty much non existent, it's told through poorly animated "E-Surance-esque" cutscenes. They really don't make you care about any of the characters and don't do a very good job of fleshing out the plot. The sound in the game is great, the music and ambiance come through very well and really set the tone for the dystopian city you're running in. The sound effects when Faith runs and jumps, and hits a ledge are fantastic. The sound of your heart and breath when you get going really fast can be very exhilarating.
Mirror's Edge: 7.5/10
Ultimately Mirror's Edge was a fun game, but like the Sonic games, I hated when it broke up my running streaks and left me wondering what I had to grab onto or duck under. I constantly wanted sections where I could run for the entire level without interruption, and they only came towards the very end. The combat was wonky at times and really only bothered me because they broke up the running sections. The reason Mario Galaxy is so good is because it sticks to what it knows, platforming. If Mirror's Edge had just stuck with the running aspects of the game, EA and DICE would have had something amazing on their hands. I'm not trying to sell the game short, there are sections of the game that are unbelievable and very new, they are just buried under other sections filled with wonky combat and frustrating level design.
Posted by Ryan at Wednesday, May 28, 2008 | 1 comments read on
What I've Been Playing
After I beat GTA I pretty much started playing every other game I have but haven't had the time to enjoy. First I started with Uncharted: Drakes Fortune for the PS3. The game is like a big budget action movie, a perfect game to play in the summer that feels just like a good time at the movies. You are constantly running and jumping around a beautifully lit jungle, in between epic gun fights and jet ski chases. It feels like a breath of fresh air after playing a heavy RPG like Jeanne D'Arc.
Second on the PS3 is Assassins Creed. I bought this because it was $18 at Gamefly and I had a $5 off coupon for their store. So I pretty much couldn't lose. Assassins creed is a lot of fun when you are running and jumping on rooftops. Where it can get a little sketchy sometimes is the combat. In the beginning I found the combat to be pretty hard and I would constantly die. However, after I learned the counter move I found the combat to be a little too easy. There was no balance. The game looks beautiful and it is tons of fun running around the open city. I'm looking forward to spending some more time with it.
Last on the PS3 is Skate. I've been interested in Skate ever since I first heard about it, I just didn't have a console to play it on yet. Once I got the PS3 I got the Skate demo and have been playing it nonstop. I tracked down a cheap copy of the game on ebay and have been enjoying my time with it. It looks amazing and really feels like I'm playing in a skate video. The camera is down low and it is easy for you to set up smooth lines. The city is huge and as of now I cannot keep from getting lost. Hopefully soon I'll get a feel for where the good spots are.
A few weeks ago my girlfriend and I loaded up Mario Kart Wii and went online with it, like we always do. We didn't realize that after a few races, two of our friends had joined us. Now I know this is typical fair for most online games, but this is not how things usually work on a Nintendo system. It was nice to see that they could effortlessly join us without forcing us to back out and accept their invitation or something like that. Our competitiveness was instantly boosted and it really made the already fun online racing a lot more intense.
I also recently found a program called Crossover which lets you emulate Windows software on a Mac or Linux based machine. I downloaded the free month long trial along with Steam, a windows application for digitally distributed games. Steam installed and worked perfectly so I immediately purchased one of the games I have been waiting to play for a a long time: Portal. glaDOS's narration and the puzzle game play are fantastic. It plays like an FPS but is really a puzzle game where you use Portals to get to hard to reach areas. I can't wait to finish this one so I can finally understand all the inside jokes on Digg.
Along with Portal I purchased Team Fortress 2. I didn't want the entire Orange Box because I already have Half Life 2 on the XBOX and also don't have much space on my Mac. TF2 is great and I really love the cell shaded look. Everything about it has a comical feel to it and the games can get pretty intense. It is a team based multiplayer online shooter. You can pick from different classes of characters including Medic, Heavy, Engineer, Solider, Scout, Demo-man, Pyro, Spy, and Sniper. I found that I got the most kills with the Solider as he has a rocker launcher, but I also really enjoyed setting up sentry guns to mow down opponents with the Engineer. Each class has it's own benefits and I have yet to figure out which one I like the best.
Finally on the handheld front I have been playing Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow on the DS and Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles on the PSP. There is a new Castlevania game coming out for the DS (and potentially Wii) in the near future and I wanted to brush up on the series. Dawn of Sorrow on the DS looks great and is really well animated. It's been a while since I have played a classic 2D sidescroller but I found it really fun and actually pretty deep. I never realized that the Castlevania games have pretty in depth inventory systems. The PSP game is a different story. I found the pace to be painfully slow as your character cannot run, and it can be difficult to land kills as you whip doesn't always hit the enemy when you think it will. I only really bought the PSP game because it contains as a bonus feature what I've heard to be the best Castlevania game ever: Symphony of the Night. I will probably stop playing the main game and jump into that after I beat the DS version.
I plan to review all of these games, eventually, as I beat them. A lot of them are fairly short and shouldn't prove too hard. Metal Gear 4 also comes out on June 12 so look forward to a review for that after I beat it, but that could be a ways down the road.
Posted by Ryan at Monday, May 19, 2008 | 0 comments read on
Grand Theft Auto: IV Review
This is the first GTA game I have ever completed. That statement is going to ring true with a lot of people out there. I beat it in 31 hours with 60% of the game completed, 60% being the full story. A lot of gamers who play the GTA games are used to going into the city, getting a ridiculous amount of weapons, and causing havoc until they either get killed or busted. This process is then repeated for hours on end. I can't comment on the story for the other GTA games, I've heard they are good, but sometimes don't suck you in enough. The only other GTA game where I started to follow the story was Vice City Stories on the PSP. I played about 20% through the story before I got bored and just started messing around again.
GTA IV is a different beast, and I have a feeling that a lot of people will agree with me. No longer is the focus of the game to own every piece of property and build your empire. You now play as Niko Bellic, a eastern European immigrant who is trying to survive in Liberty City (inspired by NYC). Yes Niko wants money, but he has no interest in controlling the mob, or telling other people what to do. He has a back story and a reason to be in Liberty city. He takes various jobs in return for information about someone he is searching for. This is what sets GTA IV apart from the other games in the series. Niko has his own agenda. The story plays out less like a mobster movie with a guy trying to make it big, and more like a best picture nominee with underlying themes and principles guiding Niko.
Often times the player is forced to choose between two different scenarios in the game. You will be asked to either kill someone, or walk away and let them live. Sometimes this affects the dialogue between other characters and sometimes it affects the story of the game. What makes this interesting is that I found myself pausing the game, and asking my girlfriend to help me decide who to kill, or who to let live. You grow attached to Niko and start to think of what Niko Bellic would do instead of what you, the gamer, would do. Sure I just want to blow the heads off of people and run over everyone I see, but the game pulls you in and forces you to make decisions as Niko, not yourself. Niko may be a killing machine throughout most of the game, but he always has a motive. It becomes a WWND situation (What Would Niko Do). Would he really kill this person just because he was asked to? Or does this person deserve a second chance? Sometimes the answers are more obvious than others, but it can be tough.
The graphics for this game are incredible. Although they are not the best for the system, the sheer amount of stuff going on and the fact that it is a living, breathing city is amazing. Like a lot of reviewers said before this, the city really feels "lived in" it doesn't feel like it was made just for this game. From the conversations on the street to the traffic, roads, and buildings, the city really feels alive. Adding to that, the PS3 version had a mandatory install that allows for almost no loading in the game itself. You can drive all the way from Queens, through Manhattan, to New Jersey with no load times at all.
The replay value on GTA games has always been amazing. You can go into the city and cause mayhem all you want, but now you don't have to do it alone. Multiplayer has been added this time around along with a variety of game types. The only one I got to try out was free mode, which drops you in Liberty city with a number of other players and lets you roam around on your own.
Grand Theft Auto: IV: 9/10
GTA IV really makes you think about the characters, and choices you make in the game. This is the first video game I've played that really had a cinematic feel to it. I actually cared about the characters and based my gameplay and decisions around them. I have no interest in going back to play the stories of past GTA games after this. However, I am greatly looking forward to the future games in the series. I took off one point because sometimes the controls would get a little wonky. Rockstar has crafted the franchise into a storytelling masterpiece, and I'm sure they will only get better from here.
Posted by Ryan at Tuesday, May 06, 2008 | 0 comments read on
Mirror's Edge Footage
Above is new footage for the upcoming EA game Mirror's Edge coming out on PS3, XBOX 360, and PC. The game looks beautiful, taking place in a bright sun filled city. What interests me about this game is that it is emphasized as a first person adventure game, not an FPS. It looks to have all the great platforming moments from a game like Prince of Persia, or Mario Galaxy, but played through a first person view. Interesting. Here is a quote from an IGN preview for the game:
"The team at DICE continued to hammer home the point during their presentation that the feeling of momentum and fluid movement was very important to the gameplay dynamic within Mirror's Edge. As Faith made her landing on the adjoining rooftop she immediately sprinted toward a fence, vaulted it, slid under a set of pips and then began traversing a thin metal pipe to yet another building. It all felt like one continuous movement, similar to cycling between pieces of cover in Gears of War only a bit more natural."
The best part is that the video is all in game footage. It looks like a game I'll be keeping my eye on. Below is a screenshot of the city.
Posted by Ryan at Thursday, April 24, 2008 | 0 comments read on
Prince of Persia: Trademarks of Time
It was discovered that the creator of the Prince of Persia series has trademarked a new name in the franchise: Prince of Persia Prodigy. The POP team's last effort was Assassins Creed which came out to mixed reviews.
I recently picked up Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for the original XBOX and am about 75% of the way through it. I have to say that coming from the Mario and Nintendo brand of platforming, this game is a lot of fun. It's very enjoyable to run the Prince along the walls, jumping off at the crucial moment to catch the next bar or pole. They really nailed the platforming aspects on the head. My main gripe with the game is that the fighting sequences could have been a little more polished. The game's emphasis is on platforming so you can't fault it too much. However, most fight scenes lock the Prince into a fighting pose and it can be difficult to back up or run away from a group of surrounding enemies. You are constantly stuck in this fighting pose which has different movement mechanics than if you were just running around, making the Prince control like a tank. Those types of sequences are few and far between but can prove frustrating.
Super Mario Galaxy is the last major platformer I played, and loved to a great extent. I was excited to play POP but my expectations weren't that high. I have to say that I was somewhat surprised when I found huge rooms and elaborate puzzles all based around the Prince's movements. It was very well done and very fun. I've heard many things about Assassins Creed, that it is fun at first, a visual splendor, and the platforming elements are great. I have also heard bad things about the combat and redundancy of the game. If anything I will at least try to rent it. I remember seeing a screen shot for the game in some magazine a while back and thought to myself that I would get a next-gen system just for this game. I owe it to myself to at least try it, especially after how much fun I'm having with POP. Below is a screen shot from Assassins Creed.
I'm looking forward to a new Prince of Persia game, hopefully the team will take the criticism from Assassins Creed and somehow work it into this game, if it needs it. After seeing how gorgeous Assassins Creed looks, I can only imagine what a new Prince game will look like. Below I posted some pictures from another Ubisoft game, Rayman Raving Rabbids, for Wii. Part of their marketing campaign included these pictures of the star bunnies in various other Ubisoft games, including Assassins Creed, I know they're old, but still pretty good stuff.
Labels: Commentary, Microsoft, Nintendo, Previews, Reviews, Sony
Posted by Ryan at Wednesday, April 23, 2008 | 0 comments read on
The Earthworm Cometh
After Interplay sold the rights to their post apocalyptic MMO franchise, Fallout, to Bethesda, they were able to start funding some new projects after being out of business for a couple of years. They announced yesterday that they will be bringing back one of their most celebrated franchises, Earthworm Jim, with Earthworm Jim 4. They also announced that the game will appear, along with Clay Fighter, on the Virtual Console.
Normally I would pick these up in a heartbeat, but I just acquired an SNES emulator for my computer and one of the first games I've been playing through, along with Earthbound, and A Link to the Past, is Earthworm Jim. The game is a known for it's unique level design and graphical style, looking more like a cartoon than most other shoot em ups. Speaking of cartoons, the game was spun off into a series for television in the mid 90s. I remember both the game and the show very well, and cannot wait for a new entry in the series. There was supposed to be a 2.5D remake of the original game for the PSP back in 2006, which I was unaware of at the time. Now being a proud PSP owner I am a little disappointed to learn that it was cancelled also in 2006. With Interplay's new footing in the industry hopefully they'll bring that game back along with the new entry.
The upcoming game was confirmed to be Earthworm Jim 4, and not a remake, however it is still unknown what platform(s) it will be on. I'm not sure I can see Jim running around in a fully 3D world after the disaster that struck the N64 in Earthworm Jim 3D. I would love to see something along the lines of the new Sonic Unleashed, again a 2.5D game, where the character's and levels are in 3D but the game plays on a 2D plane. That would be amazing, we'll have to wait for more news to find out.
Posted by Ryan at Monday, March 24, 2008 | 0 comments read on
The Adventures of Last Gen Consoles
Story time:I do stupid things. Let's face it, we all do. One of the stupider things I have done, on more than one occasion, is get rid of/sell my consoles sometimes before they are even near the end of their life cycle. I have also been known to do the less damaging practice of selling back games when I'm done with them. Yes you lose money, but let's be honest, am I really going to play Phantom Hourglass again after doing the god damned ocean temple 5 times in a row. No, I'm not. But let's not get too far off topic and keep this post about consoles.
I have always been a Nintendo fan so it may come as no surprise that the first console I bought with my own, hard earned money was a Gamecube. I bought it for the new Mario, Zelda, and Metroid games. I brought it to college and had a blast with it there playing through Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, and Zelda: Wind Waker (still one of the best looking games, in my opinion). One of my roommates, having no other choice as it was the only console in the room, also had a great time playing with the Gamecube. Somewhere down the line probably around my junior year of school a little game called Halo 2 came out. I had always played shooters, just not much on the Gamecube, so I hadn't played one in a while. Let's just say that I have never played past the first level of single player in Halo 2, but managed to log over 100 hours in multi player in a very short period of time. One of my roommates was obsessed with the game and would request we play with him every instance possible, which we easily complied to.
As time passed I got bored with the XBOX not being able to see any other game I wanted to play on it besides Halo 2, and I had been bored with the Gamecube for a while as nothing good came out for it after the Metal Gear Twin Snakes, which is a great game, but technically a remake. So I decided to buy a PS2, seemed like a great idea at the time. Best selling system in the history of games with an epic library of great games. You can only guess what I did. I got Metal Gear Solid 3, beat it, and sold the PS2 back for half the price. I know, dumb move. I make very quick and very dumb decisions very often. I never bothered to look into other games, even older ones for it. I saw that there was nothing on the horizon and got rid of it. I never bothered to play games like ICO, Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear 2 even, and again was left with just my Gamecube and XBOX.
After graduating college I stopped playing games for a while. The Gamecube was done with the official announcement of the Wii, which I was very excited about, and the XBOX was done with the release of the 360. I had no money saved up after college and video games are very expensive, so you can see why I stopped. It wasn't until I got my first real job and first couple of paychecks that I started getting back into gaming, around the Fall of 2006. I sold my Gamecube (which I didn't regret because I knew I'd get a Wii at somepoint), sold all my games for it (which I'm regretting now as I'd love play me some Wind Waker and Luigi's Mansion) and bought an XBOX 360. I loved it, although I loved my Gamecube and everything Nintendo, I realized that I was missing out on some great games and gaming genres, specifically shooters. I picked up Gears of War when it came out, and loved it, played me some Halo 2 again, Rainbow Six Vegas, it was great. Then I began to realize something. I missed Nintendo. The games for 360 started to seem generic and rehashed concepts from the original XBOX, sure they looked great, but the game play mechanics were all the same. I missed the cartoony and unique style of Wind Waker, the classic platforming from Mario Sunshine, and the amazing recreation of the Metroid franchise. I hit a wall. I stopped playing the 360 altogether and cried myself to sleep every night in lament over my sold Gamecube. I had betrayed it, it was gone, someone else was having the fun I could only dream of.
You can only guess what I did next. I sold my 360 on ebay, I did manage to make a good sum on it though, still ended up losing money, but a lot more than selling it back to Gamestop. I had nothing, no games for me. I was a goner. I went with no consoles from March of 2007 until the end of August 2007 when my girlfriend bought me a Wii. I was back! It was fantastic, all the games and characters I loved were all mine once again. I started getting some Gamecube games again and playing through those. Ahhh, it felt damn good.
I am now two years older than my college self and have come to appreciate gaming for the gameplay, and more stylized and unique games, over the graphical powerhouse games. This led me to think about the games I had passed up on the XBOX and PS2. There were tons of classics I had completely bypassed. By this time my brother had gotten his own 360 and had managed not to get rid of the original XBOX. He mailed it to me and I began to get some, very very cheap, games for it. Games I had never known even existed for the XBOX like Halflife 2, and games I had only heard of but never played like Fable, Max Payne 2, Metal Gear Solid 2, and Black. I can't imagine myself enjoying any 360 games more than I'm enjoying regular XBOX or Wii games. I recently finished Black and man, what a fun game. I know it's not 360 graphics but I really can't believe how they got some of the visuals and effects in there on the original XBOX, pretty impressive stuff.
Now I don't doubt for a second that there are fantastic games for the 360 but when you have limited funding, and want to play some great games, older systems are the way to go. In this gaming rebirth, if you will, that I have gone through I've been playing some great games on the virtual console, Dreamcast, and XBOX. Every system has it's share of great games, and if you don't mind dated visuals, you can have a really great time for not that much money. So the moral of the story is to really think hard about selling your old consoles and even games, because if you're like me, you'll eventually get to the point where you just want to play that one level from Metroid real quick, have one more go at Ninja Gaiden Black, or actually play through the single player of Halo 2. The virtual console has been a godsend for this because you can get a lot of the games you (or at least me) grew up on for a very small price, all bundled nicely into your Wii.
So play older games, they're fun.
The end.
Posted by Ryan at Monday, March 24, 2008 | 0 comments read on
Develop a Following
There are many people who play a game from a certain developer/publisher, like it a lot, and go find out what else that developer has done to play their other games. There are the obvious developers that a lot of people follow like Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft. People are always going to play and probably get the most enjoyment out of the first party titles for each system, thats what I usually do. I've always followed those bigger studios, but recently I have been playing some games by lesser known developers and it's made me look more carefully at who is developing or publishing the games I'm playing.I've always done this to an extent with companies like Rockstar (GTA, Max Payne, Manhunt, Red Dead Revolver) and Capcom (Street Fighter, Mega Man, Zack and Wiki, Resident Evil), but every once in a while I'll play a game that I enjoy so much only to come to the realization that I have no idea who made it. The first instance of this came with the EA game Black. EA is the publisher of Black and it was developed by an in-house studio called Criterion. Criterion is responsible for the Burnout games. I've always loved those games, they have fantastic production value and are completely polished, and that's the same way I felt about Black. Once I found out it was developed by Criterion it just made sense, and I thought hmm I'll pretty much play any game they put out if they are all this good. You can tell the games a developer has worked on, they all have the same feel.
Another company I just discovered is Level-5. They are the developers of a game I'm playing right now on the PSP called Jeanne d'Arc. It is a Strategy RPG, the first one I've every played, and I'm completely loving it. It seems like a breath of fresh air after only playing shooters and platformers (which I will always love). This made me look at Level 5's track record and realize that they are the developers for another game I'm pretty interested in for the Nintendo DS: Professor Layton, a word puzzle type game. That is a game I probably would have picked up anyway because it just looked fun. I also noticed that they are working on a PS3 project called White Knight Chronicles, a game I probably would have bypassed, but now that I know it's Level-5 I might check it out.
I've been playing a lot of PSP lately which is how I found Level-5, and this next developer: Ready at Dawn. I bought the PSP slim pack that came with a copy of the game Daxter. It is a really fun platformer with some great graphics for the PSP. Being more interested in developers I decided to again look up what else they have worked on. Sure enough they are the developers behind another great game I have been waiting for on the PSP: God of War. This is a game I probably would have bought no matter what, it will be a system seller for a lot of people. Seeing now that it was developed by Ready at Dawn, who have already proven themselves with Daxter, made it a no brainer. But wait, there's more, not only are they behind God of War for PSP, but they are also behind another game for my other favorite system: Okami for Wii. Okami is a game I missed on the PS2 and have been looking forward to on the Wii, specifically using the Wii remote as the brush. Once more, seeing that a really great developer is behind it only heightened my excitement.
If I hadn't looked up who developed certain games I would have missed some other really good ones. It's also good to know that if you really liked a game, you have another one by the same team that you can get excited about. It's the same way with music. You always look forward to a new album by your favorite band. Even with movies, you look forward to a new film by your favorite director or actor. Now I can look forward to a new game by my favorite developer, I can follow them and support them, and hopefully it will lead to more great games in the future.