I have finally placed another dent into the void that is my backlog of games. This last week I tackled God of War 2. This particular title was shaming more than many of the others due to my resounding love for the first game. I can say with certainty that I enjoyed God of War 2 better than the first. It is much more difficult to describe why.
You see, God of War 2 hasn't exactly improved much over it's predecessor. The battles fall into the same pacing, the puzzles have approximately the same difficulty and the story is still epic. What's different here is I feel like the developers listened to the largest gripe about the original God of War, namely that there were not enough bosses. The boss battles in the first game were so well crafted and large in scope that it left me wanting more. God of War 2 delivered on that complaint in a really big way. No only where more bosses present in this iteration but they felt larger and more ominous than before. The boss battles were like puzzles themselves because a simple hack and slash strategy would often enough get you killed off. All of these experiences were so satisfying that I could barely contain my desire to yell "That's right bitch!" at my TV whenever one was complete.
If you combine the number and scope of the bosses with beautiful environments and nearly zero load time you have yourself a great game. I was often shocked by the draw distance and environments in this game because the disc was in my PS2, not the 360 or the PS3. It is so beautiful in fact that my non-gaming fiance would take time out to sit and watch me play.
My only complaint is a single element of the final boss fight. I was so aggravated with the small amount of time allotted for the quicktime event in that fight that I nearly threw my controller at the TV. This complaint aside God of War 2 is an excellent purchase with it's grand environments, riveting story, varied puzzles and epic boss battles. In simpler words, go get it now.
Next, I shall finally finish Twilight Princess so I don't feel like such a failure as a person.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
This is all a big joke right?
The official word has finally come down about FASA Studio's Shadowrun. The game is going to drop for both PC and Xbox 360 on May 29th. The really appalling part about all of this is the pricing. PC owners will be getting the game for $49.99 while 360 owners will have to pay a ridiculous $59.99.
My frustration with this news is two fold. The first problem I'm having is that this game is being priced so high and it is shipping with only 9 multiplayer maps and absolutely no single player campaign at all. After seeing what went down with Epic and Gears of War I think it's far to assume additional maps are going to cost us a big chunk of MS Points. I mean seriously?! At least Gears had a single player campaign even if you could cruise through it in a really short amount of time. This price tag is discouraging because it could indicate a growing trend of getting half games at full price. This is not a trend I intend to support so this game won't be getting any of my dollars until the price comes down to a number more suitable to what's on the disc.
My second issue is that the PC game is actually going to cost $10 less than the 360 title. I mean we already pay a yearly premium to play games online and you want to charge us more than our PC counterparts who can play games online for free, make use of mods (for most games), and they get to use the standard shooter configuration of keyboard and mouse. I would really like to know who's genius idea this pricing scheme was.
While we are on the topic of brilliant decisions, why in god's name would this game be released in the middle of the Halo 3 beta? A much smarter move might have been to push the release one week when folks were done with the beta and salivating for more. Players might pick this up to get their fix and alot more copies could have been pushed out on release day. Releasing it on May 29th is going to give reviewers and internet loudmouths, like myself, plenty of time to complain about the lack of content and that may sway a lot of folks not to pick up the title.
I would love to know who is responsible for these crackpot decisions. Perhaps we should give them half the salary and twice the hate mail.
My frustration with this news is two fold. The first problem I'm having is that this game is being priced so high and it is shipping with only 9 multiplayer maps and absolutely no single player campaign at all. After seeing what went down with Epic and Gears of War I think it's far to assume additional maps are going to cost us a big chunk of MS Points. I mean seriously?! At least Gears had a single player campaign even if you could cruise through it in a really short amount of time. This price tag is discouraging because it could indicate a growing trend of getting half games at full price. This is not a trend I intend to support so this game won't be getting any of my dollars until the price comes down to a number more suitable to what's on the disc.
My second issue is that the PC game is actually going to cost $10 less than the 360 title. I mean we already pay a yearly premium to play games online and you want to charge us more than our PC counterparts who can play games online for free, make use of mods (for most games), and they get to use the standard shooter configuration of keyboard and mouse. I would really like to know who's genius idea this pricing scheme was.
While we are on the topic of brilliant decisions, why in god's name would this game be released in the middle of the Halo 3 beta? A much smarter move might have been to push the release one week when folks were done with the beta and salivating for more. Players might pick this up to get their fix and alot more copies could have been pushed out on release day. Releasing it on May 29th is going to give reviewers and internet loudmouths, like myself, plenty of time to complain about the lack of content and that may sway a lot of folks not to pick up the title.
I would love to know who is responsible for these crackpot decisions. Perhaps we should give them half the salary and twice the hate mail.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Epic Backlog, Round 1: Crackdown
Due to my excessive consumer whoreism I have amassed a backlog of games that can only be described as epic. I've made it my summer goal to tackle this head on and make as much of a dent in the ridiculous pile as possible. The first step of this venture is to create a stack of 5 of the offending games at a time right next to my TV. This serves as a sort of a reminder of my horrible game ADD and helps to keep me focused and not distracted by someone playing with a shiny quarter in my apartment. The next step of the venture is to, you know, actually play all this shit. My adventure beings with Crackdown. I know, LOL you are teh late! Regardless of my lateness in playing this title I'm going to blog about it anyway. You may proceed to send the hate mail I'll turn on my defensive shields.
I think Crackdown does a lot of things right. Ever since the GTA days I've been pining for a sandbox game that actually lets me run around as the good guy. This game takes that concept to another level. You get to hop around like fucking super cop and it feels amazing. I spent the better part of my time with the game jumping from building to building and flexing my digital muscles. I was absolutely floored by the draw distance in this game. While the art style is a bit dull for me I'm glad they choose this style in order to allow me to shoot a rocket from the top of a skyscraper and watch it blow things up in the distance. Running, jumping and fighting my way around the city felt awesome and the three distinct areas of the city had very different feels which provided a sense of scope.
The problems I'm having with game are in the main story line. Fighting the gang leaders in this game is horrendously repetitive (like walking on a treadmill in a white walled room). Some of the fights are frustrating because the camera fights you a good half the time you are trying to maneuver in the game. The camera is especially problematic in the indoor environments and you'll spend a great deal of time in the third area navigating through indoor spaces. Also, as I mentioned earlier the art style is kind of boring for me. I understand the desire and even need for the cell shaded style but the neon colors and weird lines around the characters just get irritating to the eyes after a few hours.
With the exception of the camera all of my grievances are just nit picky though. There is so much you can do in this game and the online coop with a buddy is fun as hell to dig into. The achievements are varied and interesting and encourage creativity in the world after the game is done. If you didn't already snag this bitch for the Halo 3 Beta I'd at least recommend giving it a rent. I had a ton of fun with it but I was pretty done after the 10-15 hours I played.
One game down, next perhaps I'll hit God of War 2.
I think Crackdown does a lot of things right. Ever since the GTA days I've been pining for a sandbox game that actually lets me run around as the good guy. This game takes that concept to another level. You get to hop around like fucking super cop and it feels amazing. I spent the better part of my time with the game jumping from building to building and flexing my digital muscles. I was absolutely floored by the draw distance in this game. While the art style is a bit dull for me I'm glad they choose this style in order to allow me to shoot a rocket from the top of a skyscraper and watch it blow things up in the distance. Running, jumping and fighting my way around the city felt awesome and the three distinct areas of the city had very different feels which provided a sense of scope.
The problems I'm having with game are in the main story line. Fighting the gang leaders in this game is horrendously repetitive (like walking on a treadmill in a white walled room). Some of the fights are frustrating because the camera fights you a good half the time you are trying to maneuver in the game. The camera is especially problematic in the indoor environments and you'll spend a great deal of time in the third area navigating through indoor spaces. Also, as I mentioned earlier the art style is kind of boring for me. I understand the desire and even need for the cell shaded style but the neon colors and weird lines around the characters just get irritating to the eyes after a few hours.
With the exception of the camera all of my grievances are just nit picky though. There is so much you can do in this game and the online coop with a buddy is fun as hell to dig into. The achievements are varied and interesting and encourage creativity in the world after the game is done. If you didn't already snag this bitch for the Halo 3 Beta I'd at least recommend giving it a rent. I had a ton of fun with it but I was pretty done after the 10-15 hours I played.
One game down, next perhaps I'll hit God of War 2.
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