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
Sunday, September 21, 2008
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
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)