I love the original Crash bandicoot trilogy. Then the games went downhill until last years Crash of the Titans came out and gave the series the reboot it needed. So needless to say I was highly anticipating this newest entry in the series but does it continue with the past games trend or is it more crap?
Thankfully we get some that is almost more of Titans but more open ended and in the scheme of things more flawed. Not saying it's a bad game or unplayable but a few annoyances hinder the game a little.
Unlike the last game this one has an open world interface. You start off outside Crash's hut which worlds as a hub of sorts. From there you have three paths. They lead to new locations. if you've played a platformer before you can guess that a desert theme and ice theme will be found. From those locations you find more.
It's not as open as that because you can only go to the ruins first and from there more spots open and as you gain new monsters to sue you can access the other areas. This means a lot of backtracking and if you're aiming for all 1000 achievement points then you'll become annoyed quickly because some of them are tedious.
A new addition, and one of the few new pluses for this entry is the ability to store a monster. It's a great idea really and makes it slightly easier to access hidden locations, as long as you can find it. See, just like the last game you can jack a monster. Beat it up until a star forms and then you can leap onto it's back and control it. They do major damage and this time around they gain experience, as does Crash when he's solo, and they get stronger. It's a good idea but some of the creatures feel useless and finding any decent spot to advance them will bore you after a while and yes there are achievements linked to levels.
The games biggest flaw though is the constant back tracking which gets tedious after a while. You just know you're running from the right path back to the left over and over and it's always because you don't have that one creature needed to pass an object and the annoying part is once you have fought that creature once it's appears everywhere else in the game as well.
The game does mix platforming and action rather well and despite being more 3D than 2D this time it's still fun and doesn't feel as half assed as past entries. Thankfully the game looks good too and runs smoothly. The locations, while not overly original, are bright and colorful. My favorite thing is the cut scenes which are totally random and use different art styles each time. It's highly amusing and one of the things that kept me going.
The game also has a decent plot with Cortex uses an all-in-one headset to control the world. So it's up to our hero Crash, who is oddly played off as being dumb, to save his friends. It works and the plot adds some nice homages for long time fans.
Control is a little spotty at times and can hinder some of the platforming bits in the later levels. I also found the constant switching between creatures to be tough as you have to really keep an eye on all of it in the middle of a jump.
All in all thought the game is fun. Not too long but it's amusing and offers enough things to distract you for a fw extra hours. Plus it's a "bargain" game since it's retails for $50. Maybe not worth that price but for $30 or so I'd say it's worth picking up. otherwise it makes a perfect rental.
Story - 7/10
Graphics - 8/10
Control - 8/10
Sound - 8/10
Game Play - 8/10
Replay Value - 6/10
Final Score - 8/10
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Zoids Assault
I won’t lie to you. I’ve only seen half an episode of this anime. I’m not a mecha fan but I am a srpg fan and this looked like a quick 1000 achievement points.
Boy was I wrong though and I really wish I hadn’t even bothered. Granted I didn’t read reviews and a friend told me the game was glitched but he’s usually wrong so I ignore his comments.
Well, it isn’t glitched but the game is heavily flawed. The biggest problem is that there is no real rhythm or reason behind what happens in the game. I don’t mean the story either, I kind of ignored that, but the game play feels so disjointed that half the time I had no idea what was going on.
The game is made up of 14 missions I believe, might be a few less but I know there isn’t more. From the little I did play each mission is destroy all enemies and when almost done some more will pop up to be killed. Imagine the fun of that over and over for 14 stages…
Unlike a normal srpg you don’t gain levels during the missions, only after does the experience count and cause you to level up. This makes things harder than need be and trust me, the game is pretty hard,
The biggest flaw is that there are so many mechanics at work it’s hard to just jump into the game and without a proper tutorial I felt lost from the first mission and really, it’s sad when you almost lose the first mission in a srpg and you’ve played many before.
See, I can’t even put into words the problems I ran into. I could attack an enemy and do 0 damage while he would counter attack and does 878 damage or I’d do 200 damage and he would counter attack with 700 damage. It felt entirely random.
Not only that but there is no rhyme or reason behind where you can attack. In true srpg fashion you can move around the grind only so many spots and your attacks only effect specific areas. One would think that it would always be five in front of you if that’s what it is but with long range weapons it’s totally random where your attack areas will be so you end up wasting time hoping from spot to spot to see if you can actually hurt someone.
You also can’t align your Zoid in the direction you want it to but that’s okay because it has no baring with if you counter or not, that seems to be a random trait as well. Facing an enemy whose one space in front of you, you most likely can’t counter attack but hey, the one attack from five spaces, yeah you can counter attack that one. And don’t worth they almost always counter attack you.
As you progress you gain new equipment and skills but you learn quickly that the emp skill will save you every time, once you learn how to use it but again the game gives almost no direction for that task.
The game does offer some decent, if not a bit grainy, anime cut scenes. It’s all dubbed over though so don’t go in expecting Japanese dialog. The game has so-so music, it may or may not be lifted from the anime but as I said before, I have very little experience with it.
The game is one fugly mother though. The textures are non-existent, the landscape is barren or has some nasty PS1 trees. All Zoids look the same no matter what you do to them and the menu system couldn’t be more generic.
I remember playing a bargain bin srpg for the PS1 called “Eternal Eyes”. Yeah, it’s better than this game. It’s really sad that not only did Atlus port this poor title over but they had the nerve to charge the full $60 retail price for it.
If you’re willing to stick with it, repeat missions to spam levels then you may get the 100 points, 650 are for just beating the game. If I see you with the points I’ll congratulate you because they are well deserved for the suffering this game imposes upon the player.
I don’t recommend this game in any shape or form. Don’t rent, don’t buy and don’t even borrow. Fans may get a little enjoyment from it but I doubt it. As a rpg collection I doubt I’ll be adding this to my collection because then it means I’d have to actually beat it.
Story – 6/10
Graphics – 2/10
Sound – 5/10
Control – 6/10
Game Play – 3/10
Replay Value – 4/10
Final Score – 3/10
Boy was I wrong though and I really wish I hadn’t even bothered. Granted I didn’t read reviews and a friend told me the game was glitched but he’s usually wrong so I ignore his comments.
Well, it isn’t glitched but the game is heavily flawed. The biggest problem is that there is no real rhythm or reason behind what happens in the game. I don’t mean the story either, I kind of ignored that, but the game play feels so disjointed that half the time I had no idea what was going on.
The game is made up of 14 missions I believe, might be a few less but I know there isn’t more. From the little I did play each mission is destroy all enemies and when almost done some more will pop up to be killed. Imagine the fun of that over and over for 14 stages…
Unlike a normal srpg you don’t gain levels during the missions, only after does the experience count and cause you to level up. This makes things harder than need be and trust me, the game is pretty hard,
The biggest flaw is that there are so many mechanics at work it’s hard to just jump into the game and without a proper tutorial I felt lost from the first mission and really, it’s sad when you almost lose the first mission in a srpg and you’ve played many before.
See, I can’t even put into words the problems I ran into. I could attack an enemy and do 0 damage while he would counter attack and does 878 damage or I’d do 200 damage and he would counter attack with 700 damage. It felt entirely random.
Not only that but there is no rhyme or reason behind where you can attack. In true srpg fashion you can move around the grind only so many spots and your attacks only effect specific areas. One would think that it would always be five in front of you if that’s what it is but with long range weapons it’s totally random where your attack areas will be so you end up wasting time hoping from spot to spot to see if you can actually hurt someone.
You also can’t align your Zoid in the direction you want it to but that’s okay because it has no baring with if you counter or not, that seems to be a random trait as well. Facing an enemy whose one space in front of you, you most likely can’t counter attack but hey, the one attack from five spaces, yeah you can counter attack that one. And don’t worth they almost always counter attack you.
As you progress you gain new equipment and skills but you learn quickly that the emp skill will save you every time, once you learn how to use it but again the game gives almost no direction for that task.
The game does offer some decent, if not a bit grainy, anime cut scenes. It’s all dubbed over though so don’t go in expecting Japanese dialog. The game has so-so music, it may or may not be lifted from the anime but as I said before, I have very little experience with it.
The game is one fugly mother though. The textures are non-existent, the landscape is barren or has some nasty PS1 trees. All Zoids look the same no matter what you do to them and the menu system couldn’t be more generic.
I remember playing a bargain bin srpg for the PS1 called “Eternal Eyes”. Yeah, it’s better than this game. It’s really sad that not only did Atlus port this poor title over but they had the nerve to charge the full $60 retail price for it.
If you’re willing to stick with it, repeat missions to spam levels then you may get the 100 points, 650 are for just beating the game. If I see you with the points I’ll congratulate you because they are well deserved for the suffering this game imposes upon the player.
I don’t recommend this game in any shape or form. Don’t rent, don’t buy and don’t even borrow. Fans may get a little enjoyment from it but I doubt it. As a rpg collection I doubt I’ll be adding this to my collection because then it means I’d have to actually beat it.
Story – 6/10
Graphics – 2/10
Sound – 5/10
Control – 6/10
Game Play – 3/10
Replay Value – 4/10
Final Score – 3/10
Sunday, September 21, 2008
TNA Impact
So many words can be used to describe the rage that this game gives me. It's so many different things rolled into one that creates a game that is perhaps the worst game to grace this generation of gaming.
I know that sounds harsh but come on. It's a wrestling game, how do you screw that up? Well ask the makers of this title because they some how not only screwed the game play up but wasted the unreal engine as well.
The character creator is one of the worst I've seen and every character comes out feeling more generic than a real life wrestler. The arenas all look the same. The one blood spot is in the same spot on every stage, the only difference is the backdrop. What's up with that? Granted you can unlock and use new moves by playing the game more but it's a slow process and they don't do much until you have the best ones anyway.
The games biggest flaws come from control and the game play itself. If I'm knocked to the ground and I hit left on the left analog stick to roll left, why is my guy rolling right? it doesn't happen once or twice but all the time. As if my guy is rendered useless by some head trauma except my head is still green in the stat area, as is rest of my body so why am I unable to go in the direction I want to go in?
To add insult to it all is the reverse option. Hit RB when it pops up to reverse a move, if it's reversible. So unless the AI character has all non-reversible skills then I want to know why I reverse once out of every 20 or so tries. Sure, you wouldn't always pull off a reversal but the AI does. It will reverse you every single time and I've even had them reverse my reversal. Huh?
The game features a bounty of modes but it's all wasted by the game play. See, not only is their the control issue and the horribly cheap AI but the games pin system also feels broken. An AI character can break out of anything, even if his body is all red but you can lose with all green. See, the problem is that you need to waggle the analog sticks left and right to break out of it but unlike other games you ened to be slow and methodical about it except you don't have time for that so you will most likely fail.
Failure should be the theme of the game. While the story mode is long, it becomes monotonous. Chapter 3 (there is 6 total) is nothing but tag team after tag team. How boring. Yes it's fun at first but really it's the same thing over and over and never does the game offer much variety in it's events and it would rather beat each one to death before giving you a new one.
The load times are downright terrible as well. Each character intro must load up and with tag team battles it equals to about 6 or 7 load screens to even get the fight going. Matches can last a =while though and hey, maybe you will win one once in a while. Don't expect easy achievements though as some are glitched, some are crap (top of the leader board) and some can only be obtained by preordering the game from Amazon. Thanks Midway!
One would think on-line would at least be fun and less chepa but it isn't. There is never anyone on and the game is fairly new. Not only that but it's laggy as hell and you know something is up when the leader board #1 spot is 311 wins and 0 loses... Really? oh that's because they quit out of matches when they are losing to avoid any penalties... It's 2008, shouldn't we have restrictions put in to negate this abuse?
I can't even recommend this game for a rental ebcause it's so mediocre. The graphics are as bland as they come, the control is often questionable and the AI is so abusrd that it isn't even worth the frustration. But hey, some people love the game, despite it's many flaws and broken game play mechanics. Either way, it's easily one of the worst made games to come out in a while.
Story - 3/10
Graphics - 6/10
Sound - 5/10
Control - 3/10
Game Play - 4/10
Replay value - 2/10
Final Score - 3/10
I know that sounds harsh but come on. It's a wrestling game, how do you screw that up? Well ask the makers of this title because they some how not only screwed the game play up but wasted the unreal engine as well.
The character creator is one of the worst I've seen and every character comes out feeling more generic than a real life wrestler. The arenas all look the same. The one blood spot is in the same spot on every stage, the only difference is the backdrop. What's up with that? Granted you can unlock and use new moves by playing the game more but it's a slow process and they don't do much until you have the best ones anyway.
The games biggest flaws come from control and the game play itself. If I'm knocked to the ground and I hit left on the left analog stick to roll left, why is my guy rolling right? it doesn't happen once or twice but all the time. As if my guy is rendered useless by some head trauma except my head is still green in the stat area, as is rest of my body so why am I unable to go in the direction I want to go in?
To add insult to it all is the reverse option. Hit RB when it pops up to reverse a move, if it's reversible. So unless the AI character has all non-reversible skills then I want to know why I reverse once out of every 20 or so tries. Sure, you wouldn't always pull off a reversal but the AI does. It will reverse you every single time and I've even had them reverse my reversal. Huh?
The game features a bounty of modes but it's all wasted by the game play. See, not only is their the control issue and the horribly cheap AI but the games pin system also feels broken. An AI character can break out of anything, even if his body is all red but you can lose with all green. See, the problem is that you need to waggle the analog sticks left and right to break out of it but unlike other games you ened to be slow and methodical about it except you don't have time for that so you will most likely fail.
Failure should be the theme of the game. While the story mode is long, it becomes monotonous. Chapter 3 (there is 6 total) is nothing but tag team after tag team. How boring. Yes it's fun at first but really it's the same thing over and over and never does the game offer much variety in it's events and it would rather beat each one to death before giving you a new one.
The load times are downright terrible as well. Each character intro must load up and with tag team battles it equals to about 6 or 7 load screens to even get the fight going. Matches can last a =while though and hey, maybe you will win one once in a while. Don't expect easy achievements though as some are glitched, some are crap (top of the leader board) and some can only be obtained by preordering the game from Amazon. Thanks Midway!
One would think on-line would at least be fun and less chepa but it isn't. There is never anyone on and the game is fairly new. Not only that but it's laggy as hell and you know something is up when the leader board #1 spot is 311 wins and 0 loses... Really? oh that's because they quit out of matches when they are losing to avoid any penalties... It's 2008, shouldn't we have restrictions put in to negate this abuse?
I can't even recommend this game for a rental ebcause it's so mediocre. The graphics are as bland as they come, the control is often questionable and the AI is so abusrd that it isn't even worth the frustration. But hey, some people love the game, despite it's many flaws and broken game play mechanics. Either way, it's easily one of the worst made games to come out in a while.
Story - 3/10
Graphics - 6/10
Sound - 5/10
Control - 3/10
Game Play - 4/10
Replay value - 2/10
Final Score - 3/10
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Facebreaker
Facebreaker is one of those games that came out of nowhere and my OCD is the only reason I even rented the game.
At a young age we're told not to judge a book by it's cover and the same thing could be said about this game because it has one ugly cover that doesn't do the game justice. Actually, it does do the game justice as the poor art work shows how much effort went into making this game.
So many things are wrong with this game but it is able to do a few things correctly. The create a character this a little above average. You can use a pic of yourself via the internet or if you have the Camera for the 360 you can take the pic that way, you upload those and make a boxer that kind of looks like you.
It's a fun feature because it's cool to think that anyone who breaks your face will always have your head on their wall. There's also a ton of downloadable characters and you can always upload your own.
The problem is that the basic stuff is very limited and it isn't as indepth as a fighting fan would want. Wait, you thought this was a boxing game? I guess at it's core it is but the fast action and the combo system makes it a fighter more than a boxing game. If you want real boxing then get the new Fight Night due next year, this is all about the fighting.
Visually the game has a cartoon look to it, most likely to keep the game at a T rating. It looks pretty good and the animations run smoothly. The characters in the story lack originality but still look good. Arenas feel a bit drab and lame.
The game offers a quick player feature, a story mode and an on-line mode. Nothing much else to do which kind of sucks I guess. The achievements are mostly story based and shouldn't take anyone more than a day to net 600 or so, once you learn the games mechanics.
See, the game has an odd fighting style to you. The B button throws your opponent. The A button is a light attack and the X button is a heavy attack. Once you build up your meter you can hit Y to instigate a super attack, if landed it opens up the chance to break their face. The game never says this but you have to random mash buttons here or you will just allow them to continue to the fight.
You can block with the right trigger and if you hit A when they are attacking with a low attack you can parry. You can also dodge but I have no clue how. The game kind of throws you into the ring and it's a tough battle.
The AI feels too cheap and even on the easiest setting I found myself having a lot of trouble very early in the game. If this was a little more like the other arcade boxer back on the PS2 and Dreamcast then it might have been fun but it becomes frustrating, not fun.
The on-line mode seems fairly lively for just coming out and not being a AAA title. I did notice there is a lot of lag depending on who hosts the match and there is a delay from when you hit a button to when the character performs the action on-line.
The game offers a lot to unlock but most of it has to do with create a character so if that isn't your cup of tea then there isn't much to do besides aim for the achievements. The story mode is fairly short, if you're able to finish it.
At $60 this game isn't worth it at all and even if it was $10 I'd be hard pressed to even think about buying it. If you like the demo then rent the game because it most likely won't be what you're looking for as I see the target audience for this game to be almost non-existent.
Maybe I'm being harsh with the game but it isn't exactly fun, except on-line, and even that has problems. Even the EA servers crashed this morning and we pay for this kind of service via Xbox Live... For $10 it might be worth buying but right now I'm going to have to say to just pass this game over because it doesn't have enough to warrant the price tag and what you do get isn't very good either.
Story - N/A
Graphics - 6/10
Sound - 5/10
Control - 7/10
Game Play - 4/10
Replay Value - 3/10
Final Score - 4/10
At a young age we're told not to judge a book by it's cover and the same thing could be said about this game because it has one ugly cover that doesn't do the game justice. Actually, it does do the game justice as the poor art work shows how much effort went into making this game.
So many things are wrong with this game but it is able to do a few things correctly. The create a character this a little above average. You can use a pic of yourself via the internet or if you have the Camera for the 360 you can take the pic that way, you upload those and make a boxer that kind of looks like you.
It's a fun feature because it's cool to think that anyone who breaks your face will always have your head on their wall. There's also a ton of downloadable characters and you can always upload your own.
The problem is that the basic stuff is very limited and it isn't as indepth as a fighting fan would want. Wait, you thought this was a boxing game? I guess at it's core it is but the fast action and the combo system makes it a fighter more than a boxing game. If you want real boxing then get the new Fight Night due next year, this is all about the fighting.
Visually the game has a cartoon look to it, most likely to keep the game at a T rating. It looks pretty good and the animations run smoothly. The characters in the story lack originality but still look good. Arenas feel a bit drab and lame.
The game offers a quick player feature, a story mode and an on-line mode. Nothing much else to do which kind of sucks I guess. The achievements are mostly story based and shouldn't take anyone more than a day to net 600 or so, once you learn the games mechanics.
See, the game has an odd fighting style to you. The B button throws your opponent. The A button is a light attack and the X button is a heavy attack. Once you build up your meter you can hit Y to instigate a super attack, if landed it opens up the chance to break their face. The game never says this but you have to random mash buttons here or you will just allow them to continue to the fight.
You can block with the right trigger and if you hit A when they are attacking with a low attack you can parry. You can also dodge but I have no clue how. The game kind of throws you into the ring and it's a tough battle.
The AI feels too cheap and even on the easiest setting I found myself having a lot of trouble very early in the game. If this was a little more like the other arcade boxer back on the PS2 and Dreamcast then it might have been fun but it becomes frustrating, not fun.
The on-line mode seems fairly lively for just coming out and not being a AAA title. I did notice there is a lot of lag depending on who hosts the match and there is a delay from when you hit a button to when the character performs the action on-line.
The game offers a lot to unlock but most of it has to do with create a character so if that isn't your cup of tea then there isn't much to do besides aim for the achievements. The story mode is fairly short, if you're able to finish it.
At $60 this game isn't worth it at all and even if it was $10 I'd be hard pressed to even think about buying it. If you like the demo then rent the game because it most likely won't be what you're looking for as I see the target audience for this game to be almost non-existent.
Maybe I'm being harsh with the game but it isn't exactly fun, except on-line, and even that has problems. Even the EA servers crashed this morning and we pay for this kind of service via Xbox Live... For $10 it might be worth buying but right now I'm going to have to say to just pass this game over because it doesn't have enough to warrant the price tag and what you do get isn't very good either.
Story - N/A
Graphics - 6/10
Sound - 5/10
Control - 7/10
Game Play - 4/10
Replay Value - 3/10
Final Score - 4/10
Monday, August 25, 2008
Too Human
Too Human is brought to us by the fine folks at Silicon Knights. Don't know who they are? They are behind Eternal Darkness and the Metal Gear Solid remake on the Gamecube. Both titles have their own following but wind up being hit or miss with gamers. You'll either love those games or hate them (MGS is due to changes and not quality).
I was very interested in Too Human. Maybe the hype machine got me, who knows. I remember downloading the demo and hearing how bad it was so I never actually played it, figured I'd give it all a fresh chance without reading any more into the game.
Fans of the hack n slash dungeon crawler might feel like rejoicing because it's rare for a console to get one of these. Not sure of the genre? It's like Baulder's Gate on the PS2 or for those PC gamers out there, it's like Diablo.
This means you wander around a dungeon, hit attack over and over, collect their dropped money and items and continue along your way.
Too Human is a promised trilogy (that or I'm getting it confused with all of the other planned trilogies out there). Either way the plot is fairly crappy. You're some cyber god and you have to stop this chick/thing called Hel... Yes, it's that original. What's great is that it involves a ton of Norse mythology. Problem is, if you don't know any or very little the plot, despite being paperthin, just might confused you more than it should.
Playing on-line and not seeing the story progress? Well that's because all story elements have been removed from the co-op experience. This is good and bad. I'd rather it being up to the player to decide how they want to see the story unfold.
Speaking of the on-line play I find it to be the only way to enjoy this game. The single player is boring and hectic all at the same time. By this I mean that it gets tiresome dying a lot. I know, I must suck at the game. However there is no penalty for dying, you respawn either where you died (which can be a problem) or the last checkpoint (which is another problem when it's a two minute empty hall walk.
There are maybe 6 types of enemies in the game. Most are prone to the four different level types. You have the normal drone enemies that fall quickly, a tougher drone that requires a good combo and then you have what one would consider mini-bosses if it weren't for them being every couple of minutes.
Once you learn how to take an enemy down you should progress safely, for a while. The games largest flaw is the equipment system and the leveling system. They go hand in hand actually.
To level up is utterly pointless. The enemies level up with you and the highest level is 50. Once reached it's where equipment will make the game more playable.
That's the other problem though. You need to be a specific level to equip some items. Once that level is reached or passed it doesn't matter. The flaw in this is that the equipment wears out and needs either recharged or switched. You can augment the equipment to suit your playing style but that makes the equipment more worthwhile but a lower level means it becomes outdated quickly.
This means that no matter how good you are at the game, it all boils down to your equipment and god forbid you're in the middle of a boss battle and all of your equipment fails at once. You barely do any damage and I'm not even sure if you can go shopping in the middle of a boss fight.
The co-op experience on-line makes this a little more enjoy. Except we pay for a service where you get kicked for not being a high level or the connect is randomly lost. It also became a problem finding people who actually talked and played. So while you're playing with someone it might as well have been a robot as the other person sat mute.
I did find myself enjoying the game a little more as I played on-line. It wasn't as frustrating and not nearly as boring but there are some other flaws that hinder the experience as a whole. I experienced lag a couple times during more hectic areas and it's something I shouldn't get on a game, while new, that doesn't seem all that popular.
The graphics can also be hit or miss. The first area is one I found to be impressive. The transition between cut scenes and actual game play was smooth and sexy. The robotic creatures looks great and shiny. Things went downhill after that as we ventured into an ice forest, some lab and then a fiery place. Did we run out of original ideas or what?
I even found the sound to be a bit of a let down. The music did nothing for me and think for a game where you wander areas forever there would be a little better music than what we get. The sound effects did nothing for me either and I really can't remember anything about them.
The games largest fall comes from the control setup. Shooting your gun is easy, as is using your special skills. The problem is that the melee combat is put onto the right stick. I works great for the most part, once you spend some time with it but it leaves one major problem. There is no camera control. You can hit the left bumper to center it but I constantly found myself without a good view to the action and then I'd be dead.
The game is rather short as well. It took me 10 hours to beat the game but I replayed the second and third areas 9there's only 4) twice so I'm sure it would have been more like a 7 hour experience. For an action game that's an okay time but not for a rpg.
There isn't even much post game to do but raise your level and get new equipment. No real secrets besides some battle areas. We do get achievements but I got half of those in one play through. The one saving grace is two endings, all determined by your choice before entering the second area.
The one aspect I did love was the tree of skills. Think the Sphere board from Final Fantasy ten but more simple. You have a tree with three paths that ultimately end at the same area. You get some variety here and with each level up you can put 2-3 points toward a skill, which may open up new ones. What you see is what you get though as there are no hidden branches. Upon completion of the first area you make a choice. Once that choice is made you can venture into the second tree by hitting the right trigger, most don't know this thought because the game doesn't offer a tutorial at all and throws the gamer to the wolves. This second tree is smaller but the skills are better. These skills depend on your choice though.
I could sit here and say Too Human is the best dungeon crawler ever but it isn't. It isn't the worst either. Too Human falls into a gray area for me. I'm okay with having played through it once and maybe the word "suffer" pops into my head but I don't think I would ever recommend this game to anyone. It has some flaws but ultimately it does nothing new or interesting for a genre that's kind of meh at the moment. Maybe SK should have spent more time with the game and created more for a player to do so let's hope there is some downloadable content down the road because this is one game that needs it.
Story - 6/10
Graphics - 8/10
Sound - 5/10
Control - 7/10
Game Play - 6/10
Replay value - 5/10
Final Score - 5/10
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Alone In The Dark
My first exposure to the Alone in the Dark series was back on the original Playstation with the Curse of One Eyed Jack or some lame subtitle like that. It was a horrid game that I could barely advance in but back then I didn't have a guide or anything to help me with it.
Next came The New Nightmare on the PS1 as well. I thought the game was slightly better than that original one but ultimately it was still a steaming pile of crap. Over shadowed by the awesomeness that is Resident Evil and Silent Hill.
I will admit to being excited over this new title.This new generation of gaming has been lackluster when it comes to the survival horror genre. I think Dead Rising is the only game to even fit the genre thus far. But thankfully we have this disjointed turd from Atari so we now have two whole survival horror games.
Alone in the Dark tries so damn hard to be good and different and just a master piece. It's faults lie in the fact that it's too ambitious for its own good. Instead of allowing the player to immerse themselves into this awesome world we are forced to do mundane tasks with our equipment to solve mediocre puzzle.
Not until around chapter 3 will this really kick in but it's so boring to hunt for some tape, a bottle, a clothe and some bullets to create a Molotov cocktail to blow up a wall to advance. Yes, it's a great idea but do we really have to make it so tedious and really, what are the chances of finding all o those in a storage room in a sewer?
That isn't the only thing that the game tries but fails at. The combat is done via the right analog stick. Anyone who has read any of my reviews knows how much I hate this. Granted, it isn't too bad in this game and it opens up some variety in how to take the enemies down but we also need to use it to solve a puzzle so it really sucks that you need to use a pipe to hit a wire out of the water and it just isn't catching correctly.
The biggest flaw in the combat is that to kill the vamps or humanz you need to use fire or knock them off a ledge. So you can waste a ton of bullets to open up a wound to attack with fire or to even knock them down. You can combine flammable liquid with a bullet to make fire bullets but it takes a few shots still to hit the fissure in the enemy and light them up. So even that is glitchy.
The entire game is a glitchy mess though. The driving segment, which are some of the worst in a video game to date, are full of annoying glitches. Rules are ignored that are told to you in chapter 4, in chapter 2 I would constantly get stuck on objects or the games physics would work against me or the game would just stutter along as it couldn't handle this totally awesome segment that is ruined by sloppy and loose controls and bad programming.
Story wise the game falls into the cliched amnesia plot line. Fine but we know who the main character is. Why should be pretend to know nothing for the first 4 chapters and while the twist is nice around that point, I just couldn't feel bothered to deal with rest of the game. This is also the first game I've ever played where I could skip to anywhere but the final 3 areas from the start and without a cheat device. Kind of silly really.
Even the graphics are a let down. Our hero looks kind of ugly and resembles the guy from Prey. The locations, while awesome (it's New York based) they also lack some details. Animations are good thought but the frame rate drops at times and things do look a bit generic as well.
What makes this even more annoying is that the atmosphere is totally here. The music is so fitting and awesome, some of the best I've heard in a while and everything else in the game seems to be working against it.
A quote from the film "Brokeback Mountain" was stuck in my head while playing this game "I can't quit you". It's funny but despite all of the blatant flaws and game play issues I wanted to play because it would get something almost right and it was damn cool. Hell, I even considered buying it now from gamefly but in the end I couldn't bring myself to finish the game, let alone by it. The flaws really out weighed it in the end and it's a shame because it could have been good and frankly it should have been because the market is dead and in need of some love for this genre and us fans have gotten the shaft yet again.
So maybe we can be happy with the up coming Sire episodes on the PS Network or Resident Evil 5 on Friday the 13th of 2009. For now we have Alone in the Dark and while a rental or bargain price would seem fair, just be warned that it is full of flaws and tough to really love.
Story - 6/10
Graphics - 6/10
Control - 6/10
Sound - 8/10
Game Play - 6/10
Replay Value - 2/10
Final Score - 5/10
Next came The New Nightmare on the PS1 as well. I thought the game was slightly better than that original one but ultimately it was still a steaming pile of crap. Over shadowed by the awesomeness that is Resident Evil and Silent Hill.
I will admit to being excited over this new title.This new generation of gaming has been lackluster when it comes to the survival horror genre. I think Dead Rising is the only game to even fit the genre thus far. But thankfully we have this disjointed turd from Atari so we now have two whole survival horror games.
Alone in the Dark tries so damn hard to be good and different and just a master piece. It's faults lie in the fact that it's too ambitious for its own good. Instead of allowing the player to immerse themselves into this awesome world we are forced to do mundane tasks with our equipment to solve mediocre puzzle.
Not until around chapter 3 will this really kick in but it's so boring to hunt for some tape, a bottle, a clothe and some bullets to create a Molotov cocktail to blow up a wall to advance. Yes, it's a great idea but do we really have to make it so tedious and really, what are the chances of finding all o those in a storage room in a sewer?
That isn't the only thing that the game tries but fails at. The combat is done via the right analog stick. Anyone who has read any of my reviews knows how much I hate this. Granted, it isn't too bad in this game and it opens up some variety in how to take the enemies down but we also need to use it to solve a puzzle so it really sucks that you need to use a pipe to hit a wire out of the water and it just isn't catching correctly.
The biggest flaw in the combat is that to kill the vamps or humanz you need to use fire or knock them off a ledge. So you can waste a ton of bullets to open up a wound to attack with fire or to even knock them down. You can combine flammable liquid with a bullet to make fire bullets but it takes a few shots still to hit the fissure in the enemy and light them up. So even that is glitchy.
The entire game is a glitchy mess though. The driving segment, which are some of the worst in a video game to date, are full of annoying glitches. Rules are ignored that are told to you in chapter 4, in chapter 2 I would constantly get stuck on objects or the games physics would work against me or the game would just stutter along as it couldn't handle this totally awesome segment that is ruined by sloppy and loose controls and bad programming.
Story wise the game falls into the cliched amnesia plot line. Fine but we know who the main character is. Why should be pretend to know nothing for the first 4 chapters and while the twist is nice around that point, I just couldn't feel bothered to deal with rest of the game. This is also the first game I've ever played where I could skip to anywhere but the final 3 areas from the start and without a cheat device. Kind of silly really.
Even the graphics are a let down. Our hero looks kind of ugly and resembles the guy from Prey. The locations, while awesome (it's New York based) they also lack some details. Animations are good thought but the frame rate drops at times and things do look a bit generic as well.
What makes this even more annoying is that the atmosphere is totally here. The music is so fitting and awesome, some of the best I've heard in a while and everything else in the game seems to be working against it.
A quote from the film "Brokeback Mountain" was stuck in my head while playing this game "I can't quit you". It's funny but despite all of the blatant flaws and game play issues I wanted to play because it would get something almost right and it was damn cool. Hell, I even considered buying it now from gamefly but in the end I couldn't bring myself to finish the game, let alone by it. The flaws really out weighed it in the end and it's a shame because it could have been good and frankly it should have been because the market is dead and in need of some love for this genre and us fans have gotten the shaft yet again.
So maybe we can be happy with the up coming Sire episodes on the PS Network or Resident Evil 5 on Friday the 13th of 2009. For now we have Alone in the Dark and while a rental or bargain price would seem fair, just be warned that it is full of flaws and tough to really love.
Story - 6/10
Graphics - 6/10
Control - 6/10
Sound - 8/10
Game Play - 6/10
Replay Value - 2/10
Final Score - 5/10
Monday, May 5, 2008
NBA Ballers: Chosen One
I don't know why I torture myself with these games. I really don't like them, I have no real interest in them and yet I play them and suffer. Maybe if someone loaned it to me I wouldn't mind so much but this was a painful experience.
The last Ballers game really wasn't too horrible. It wasn't great but no where near as bad as this. The coolest feature is a story mode, that has no story and instead is more of a challenge mode. This is a boring chore more than anything else. When you get to one of the later chapters you need to beat someone without allowing them to score. How is that a story? it's a disguised challenge mode with lame challenges.
The game offers some one on one, some two on two and some one on one on one. It all plays the same and the AI tends to be amazing. The game allows for slick moves and exciting dunks but without a manual (this was a rental) I was unable to figure out half of the stuff.
It became more of a chore than anything else really. The game does offer some super easy achievements if you're willing to play through the entire game. Besides that the game also offers some on-line play. No one seems to play it. I ran into two people in one hour. The entire on-line boils down to you picking the best player with perfect stats, walk and shoot a three pointer that has a 98% chance of landing and just see who scores the most. You will almost always win if you steal the ball once.
The entire game is just a bore. The only thing it does well is provide some nice visuals. Character models look great and the courts are both interesting and unique. Well, unique in the sense of something out of an episode of Cribs.
Maybe you will like this game but I haven't met anyone who has liked this game as it's a big ole snorefest. One of the worst games to hit in 2008 and this so far has been the worst year of gaming in a long time with only one real title worth picking up so far for the consoles.
Story - 0/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 7/10
Control - 7/10
Game Play - 4/10
Replay value - 3/10
Final Score - 4/10
The last Ballers game really wasn't too horrible. It wasn't great but no where near as bad as this. The coolest feature is a story mode, that has no story and instead is more of a challenge mode. This is a boring chore more than anything else. When you get to one of the later chapters you need to beat someone without allowing them to score. How is that a story? it's a disguised challenge mode with lame challenges.
The game offers some one on one, some two on two and some one on one on one. It all plays the same and the AI tends to be amazing. The game allows for slick moves and exciting dunks but without a manual (this was a rental) I was unable to figure out half of the stuff.
It became more of a chore than anything else really. The game does offer some super easy achievements if you're willing to play through the entire game. Besides that the game also offers some on-line play. No one seems to play it. I ran into two people in one hour. The entire on-line boils down to you picking the best player with perfect stats, walk and shoot a three pointer that has a 98% chance of landing and just see who scores the most. You will almost always win if you steal the ball once.
The entire game is just a bore. The only thing it does well is provide some nice visuals. Character models look great and the courts are both interesting and unique. Well, unique in the sense of something out of an episode of Cribs.
Maybe you will like this game but I haven't met anyone who has liked this game as it's a big ole snorefest. One of the worst games to hit in 2008 and this so far has been the worst year of gaming in a long time with only one real title worth picking up so far for the consoles.
Story - 0/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 7/10
Control - 7/10
Game Play - 4/10
Replay value - 3/10
Final Score - 4/10
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