The cold calculating killing machine returns for the first time in 6 years, and the developers did a great job of keeping the Hitman feel but improving the game and mechanics so that it didn't feel like rehash. I of course bought the collectors edition and it was not worth the extra scratch. This is the last "special edition" I'll ever buy, no fault of the core game, just fault of the "extras" which was just a gunpack you can unlock by playing the game anyway, and a behind the scenes DVD. The case was pretty baller though.
The "story" goes that your handler , Diana Burnwood went rogue for no apparent reason so the agency hires you to do the deed. When you pop her, she tells you to save a little girl named Victoria. Any more that than and it's spoiler central. Now while the story isn't Pulitzer prize winning it's enough to keep you going. I havent gotten to the end yet but I do kinda want to see how it all turns out.
Challenges are really the bright spot of this game. It sort of artificially extends the game by getting you to replay the same missions in different ways. In example, in the first real mission you can poison your target's cocaine and kill him, or you can poison his coffee to kill him, or you can poison his food to kill him. All 3 of those ways are a challenge and doing all 3 is in itself is a 4th challenge. Completing challenges increases your score multiplier and getting a high enough score unlocks new abilities for Mr.47 like decreasing damage taken or reducing recoil and reload times. So you'll run each mission a few times in an effort to make your abilities better to make the latter levels just a little easier.
Another innovative feature is the "Contracts" mode. This is where you can pick any completed mission and pick out your own targets and kill them in your own way. Once you complete the mission, and you have to escape the level for it to count, you can save it and upload the mission. The method of killing (weapon), outfit worn, hiding bodies, not getting caught are all factors it tracks. In china town you can kill cooks, cops, or vendors and not bother dealing with the kingpin or the drug dealer; so its very refreshing to play the same levels in new ways. You can also save the challenges you make and have a competition with your friends, unfortunately Im the only guy I know who has the game. Best part? NO ONLINE PASS
I'm still working my way through the campaign mode, the learning curve is pretty steep, even on normal difficulty. If you get caught there is a very small window of opportunity to get away without having to pull your guns and clean house. The way disguises work is a little suspect. If you take a cops outfit other cops can tell you arent a cop, and that totally makes sense to me, I guess there are no rookies on the force in Chicago, heh. I just dont see how if you wear a street vendor's clothes all the other , but I digress. Once you understand how the game works, you can deal with it. SOme of the missions have a suit only challenge and for some I just dont see how its possible, but I suppose when Im going for all the other challenges I'll find a way (or I'll google it). I can tell Im getting near the end because not only are the levels getting redonk but both sides of the story are coming together.
Up over 93,500 gamercore, hopefully I can finish up this game so I can go back and finish AC3, but Connor is a dooshbag :(
till next time
~Malenko
Friday, November 30, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
The harder you push it on me, the more I'm going to resist.
Halo is a lot like anal sex, if you're forced to do it as a kid, you wont really enjoy it much as an adult. Ok that's a re-purposed lima bean joke, but you get my point.
Last time I played Halo, it was the first one, on the first XBOX. I thought it was neat but I had better games to play and didn't think much of it. Halo 2 came out, and I don't think I ever tried it. I heard good things and the game looked really neat, but for some reason I never picked it up. Just not my cup of tea I guess.
Halo 3 came out, again heard good things, even bought a used copy but never actually put it in and played it. I almost went and got another used copy, but then it hit me. I don't think I really want to play the game. Fanboi elitism is probably the worst on that game, so I cant blame microsoft entirely for that. It feels like every time I go into gamestop/ebgames whatever you want to call them, they try to sell me a Halo game. I mean I went in there to pick up need for speed and its like "oh you like racing games? try Halo for a change of pace", I go in to get Saints Row 3 and I hear "Well if you like shooting stuff, try Halo", I even picked up a 3DS for Bonnie and I got "Im guessing this pink 3DS is for your girl, why don't you pick up Halo so you have something to play while she's on her 3DS?" Maybe I like pink, homophobe. Sides, everyone knows handhelds are just replacements for newspapers and magazines in the bathroom. EVERYBODY POOPS!
So now, I go into the gamestop in the mall and I pick up AC3 and they pitch me Halo 4, I just can't get away from them trying to sell it to me. I went back and picked up my Hitman Absolution but I beat them to the punch this time. I walk up and say "Man can you believe people buy that shitty Halo game? All I got was confused stares and my fucking game. So yeah I don't hate Halo, but I don't like or care about it either. You have your Master Chief and Cortana I have Agent 47 and Diana Burnwood.
Time to go kill shit and not have a neon orange glowing sniper rifle to do it either.
~Malenko
Last time I played Halo, it was the first one, on the first XBOX. I thought it was neat but I had better games to play and didn't think much of it. Halo 2 came out, and I don't think I ever tried it. I heard good things and the game looked really neat, but for some reason I never picked it up. Just not my cup of tea I guess.
Halo 3 came out, again heard good things, even bought a used copy but never actually put it in and played it. I almost went and got another used copy, but then it hit me. I don't think I really want to play the game. Fanboi elitism is probably the worst on that game, so I cant blame microsoft entirely for that. It feels like every time I go into gamestop/ebgames whatever you want to call them, they try to sell me a Halo game. I mean I went in there to pick up need for speed and its like "oh you like racing games? try Halo for a change of pace", I go in to get Saints Row 3 and I hear "Well if you like shooting stuff, try Halo", I even picked up a 3DS for Bonnie and I got "Im guessing this pink 3DS is for your girl, why don't you pick up Halo so you have something to play while she's on her 3DS?" Maybe I like pink, homophobe. Sides, everyone knows handhelds are just replacements for newspapers and magazines in the bathroom. EVERYBODY POOPS!
So now, I go into the gamestop in the mall and I pick up AC3 and they pitch me Halo 4, I just can't get away from them trying to sell it to me. I went back and picked up my Hitman Absolution but I beat them to the punch this time. I walk up and say "Man can you believe people buy that shitty Halo game? All I got was confused stares and my fucking game. So yeah I don't hate Halo, but I don't like or care about it either. You have your Master Chief and Cortana I have Agent 47 and Diana Burnwood.
Time to go kill shit and not have a neon orange glowing sniper rifle to do it either.
~Malenko
You shouldnt always let they lie
Sleeping Dogs that is. This title was originally True Crime : Hong Kong and I'm really glad Activition dropped it, so that some other more talented developer/publish combo could do something with it.
First and foremost I have to stress this is not a Grand Theft Auto clone at all, it honestly doesn't even feel that sand boxy either. While GTA focuses more on the weapons SD focuses more on hand to hand combat, yeah theres tire irons and guns, but its more batman arkham then Nico liberty city.
One little hidden extra AWESOME bonus? If you have a Just Cause 2 savegame on your hard drive, you get to wear Rico's outfit, which lets you stunt hijack from further away and looks baller as fuck.
The game is not much of a challenge, you'll die more from getting stuck or your car losing control far more often then from enemies. Out side of the main story its still a grind fest and an item hunt. One thing this game does right for the item hunt is give you ways to unlock all the locations on your map. The only bad part about that is the found (light grey) and not found (dark white) icons look almost exactly the same. Even after beating the game I still lacked the money to buy all the cars and clothes and enough "triad" experience to get that achievement, which is why Im prety much going to be locked at 770 cheevie points instead of 1000.
Theres also "real world" events that you just happen to come across, unfortunately I didnt find them all and I cant really be bothered to walk around an entire city and hope I meet the unknown magical conditions for triggering them. A neat idea but the execution is just a bit off.
All in all its still a good game, was worth the $40 I spent on it, its like a GTA with less guns, less walking, less humor, but more quick time button mashing.
~Malenko
First and foremost I have to stress this is not a Grand Theft Auto clone at all, it honestly doesn't even feel that sand boxy either. While GTA focuses more on the weapons SD focuses more on hand to hand combat, yeah theres tire irons and guns, but its more batman arkham then Nico liberty city.
One little hidden extra AWESOME bonus? If you have a Just Cause 2 savegame on your hard drive, you get to wear Rico's outfit, which lets you stunt hijack from further away and looks baller as fuck.
The game is not much of a challenge, you'll die more from getting stuck or your car losing control far more often then from enemies. Out side of the main story its still a grind fest and an item hunt. One thing this game does right for the item hunt is give you ways to unlock all the locations on your map. The only bad part about that is the found (light grey) and not found (dark white) icons look almost exactly the same. Even after beating the game I still lacked the money to buy all the cars and clothes and enough "triad" experience to get that achievement, which is why Im prety much going to be locked at 770 cheevie points instead of 1000.
Theres also "real world" events that you just happen to come across, unfortunately I didnt find them all and I cant really be bothered to walk around an entire city and hope I meet the unknown magical conditions for triggering them. A neat idea but the execution is just a bit off.
All in all its still a good game, was worth the $40 I spent on it, its like a GTA with less guns, less walking, less humor, but more quick time button mashing.
~Malenko
Monday, September 17, 2012
Done-ablo
I know , I'm SERIOUSLY behind the times on game releases. I got Diablo 3 on launch Day, and much like the rest of the world I started playing it a few days later, lol.
I finally beat Diablo 3 on inferno, it was after they nerfed inferno so I dont get much nerd cred from the picture below:
And right after that I had Bonnie hop on her Demon Hunter and I pretty much solo'ed Diablo again to get the co-op achievement and to get her the achievements and banner sigil unlocks.
I'm not going to have a long drawn out post about the game just a quick summary. Diablo 3 doesn't feel like Diablo. I played the ever loving crap out of D1, D2, and D2 Hellfire just fun games. A vast array of builds, self stat assignment , skill trees and creepy awesome levels and just generally a lot to do. Now not to take anything away from Diablo 3 it was quite a fun game, the first three times you run through it (this was pre-inferno nerf) but some of the mixes of elite mobs we just a gear check had nothing to do with skills or player ability. Now that they eased the gear check people are complaining the games too easy, when in fact the game isnt too easy unless you have the exact build for your class the developers wanted you to have.
Even moderately geared you can take down every story boss super easily (and almost all the elite mixes without too much difficulty) using this build:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Malenko-1139/hero/3404414
Now that Ive beaten D3 on inferno with my barb I really dont see myself getting the other classes through inferno, and that's just a testament to how repetitive this game is. Each act can be beaten in under an hour, but I'll never get that achievement or the hardcore ones.
~Malenko
I finally beat Diablo 3 on inferno, it was after they nerfed inferno so I dont get much nerd cred from the picture below:
I'm not going to have a long drawn out post about the game just a quick summary. Diablo 3 doesn't feel like Diablo. I played the ever loving crap out of D1, D2, and D2 Hellfire just fun games. A vast array of builds, self stat assignment , skill trees and creepy awesome levels and just generally a lot to do. Now not to take anything away from Diablo 3 it was quite a fun game, the first three times you run through it (this was pre-inferno nerf) but some of the mixes of elite mobs we just a gear check had nothing to do with skills or player ability. Now that they eased the gear check people are complaining the games too easy, when in fact the game isnt too easy unless you have the exact build for your class the developers wanted you to have.
Even moderately geared you can take down every story boss super easily (and almost all the elite mixes without too much difficulty) using this build:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Malenko-1139/hero/3404414
Now that Ive beaten D3 on inferno with my barb I really dont see myself getting the other classes through inferno, and that's just a testament to how repetitive this game is. Each act can be beaten in under an hour, but I'll never get that achievement or the hardcore ones.
~Malenko
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Rubberband AI at it's best!
Anytime you hear the term "rubber band AI" you should immediately think of Electronic Arts. Their AI has been doing that forever, and by "forever" I'm talkin back to the days of Road Rash on the Sega Genesis.
That being said I cant help but still enjoy "Need For Speed: The Run". Its a racing game with no circuits, it's all variations of point to point racing. Certain stages require you to pass X number of cars before the finish, in others you need to beat a certain rival or two (or three!), and yet in other stages you just have to hit all the checkpoints before time expires. I'm not super far in but there is plenty of variety and I cant say that I haven't had a blast playing. But to reference the rubber band AI above its really frustrating when you pull an EPIC dick move and wreck the #2 car into an 18 wheeler, get an 22 second lead then see that same car pass you right at the finish line.
One of the things that really seems to be missing is an upgrade system. It'd be nice to earn points/money/whatever to change out transmissions (or at least gear ratios), motors, turbos, nos, tyres,etc. Its feels very incomplete that car you get is the car youre stuck with until you hit a gas station or story marker and the game makes you swap out cars instead.
Speaking of swapping out cars, I cant imagine how much money Shell paid EA to make every gas station in the game a Shell Station , like with V power logos and all. I mean I guess its ok since gas stations on a road trip make sense, even if your car never runs out of gas. You'll just be racing along then you can pull into a gas station and change cars. My only gripe with this is, THAT'S THE ONLY TIME YOU CAN SWITCH CARS. You have to start a race, then go into a shell station and change cars. There's no pre-race menu and thats just dumb.
Speaking of dumb, the story is pretty terrible. Now dont get it twisted I wasnt expecting a heart wrenching tale of love and and overcoming obsticles, but this story is cheese to the extreme. You play a racer who got into debt with the mob and they tried to kill you..... by duct taping your hands to the steering wheel of your Porsche. Why not club you in the noggin and dump your body in a station wagon, then sell the Porsche? Guess that's why mobsters get caught doing crime (and they leave their keys in the car and dont shoot their guns at you till you get in the car and drive away)
Im not racing through the game for the story, even though some cut scenes aren't skip-able and for some reason EA thought it'd be a swell idea to put quick time events in the cut scenes. Overall I cant say this game wasnt worth the 25 I spent on it in hell, I mean EBGames. And I lucked out, the online pass in the game was still valid, which unlocked some cars I cant use, but was still neat.
That being said I cant help but still enjoy "Need For Speed: The Run". Its a racing game with no circuits, it's all variations of point to point racing. Certain stages require you to pass X number of cars before the finish, in others you need to beat a certain rival or two (or three!), and yet in other stages you just have to hit all the checkpoints before time expires. I'm not super far in but there is plenty of variety and I cant say that I haven't had a blast playing. But to reference the rubber band AI above its really frustrating when you pull an EPIC dick move and wreck the #2 car into an 18 wheeler, get an 22 second lead then see that same car pass you right at the finish line.
One of the things that really seems to be missing is an upgrade system. It'd be nice to earn points/money/whatever to change out transmissions (or at least gear ratios), motors, turbos, nos, tyres,etc. Its feels very incomplete that car you get is the car youre stuck with until you hit a gas station or story marker and the game makes you swap out cars instead.
Speaking of swapping out cars, I cant imagine how much money Shell paid EA to make every gas station in the game a Shell Station , like with V power logos and all. I mean I guess its ok since gas stations on a road trip make sense, even if your car never runs out of gas. You'll just be racing along then you can pull into a gas station and change cars. My only gripe with this is, THAT'S THE ONLY TIME YOU CAN SWITCH CARS. You have to start a race, then go into a shell station and change cars. There's no pre-race menu and thats just dumb.
Speaking of dumb, the story is pretty terrible. Now dont get it twisted I wasnt expecting a heart wrenching tale of love and and overcoming obsticles, but this story is cheese to the extreme. You play a racer who got into debt with the mob and they tried to kill you..... by duct taping your hands to the steering wheel of your Porsche. Why not club you in the noggin and dump your body in a station wagon, then sell the Porsche? Guess that's why mobsters get caught doing crime (and they leave their keys in the car and dont shoot their guns at you till you get in the car and drive away)
Im not racing through the game for the story, even though some cut scenes aren't skip-able and for some reason EA thought it'd be a swell idea to put quick time events in the cut scenes. Overall I cant say this game wasnt worth the 25 I spent on it in hell, I mean EBGames. And I lucked out, the online pass in the game was still valid, which unlocked some cars I cant use, but was still neat.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
long time no post.... Toooooooooooooooony Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawk
Been lost in the mix, working long hours and wasting too much time playing Diablo 3 (more on Diablo another time).
So Ive had some points just sitting on my live account, nothing has really caught my interest lately, then I saw Tony Hawk HD and I started flashing back to the old school Tony Hawk days on PS1 and Dreamcast. Saw the price at1200 points and I had my reservations on dropping $15 on a remake of a game I bought multiple times (all the tony hawks on PS1, DC, PS2, and even THPS2 remix on XBOX aaaaand underground 2 on PSP)
So I plopped down the points and downloaded the game. Figured since this is old school mine as well remake my old skater with the red hair, brown cargo pants, and green t-shirt with no logo but.... there's no create a skater, if you pick "you", you get your xbox360 avatard. While the idea is neat, your character looks really odd in the enviroment.
It ends up kinda looking like a nintendo Wii-tard skating around an xbox game. I can live without a character editor, but it just doesnt feel right in this day and age. Lets get on with the other problems with this title.
The major, major, MAJOR "UGH WTF" factor is the physics in this game. It just plays horribly. Collision detection is pretty bad, to the point where you'll bail on the half pipe and the game will stand you up in the ramp and you instantly fall again. I thought maybe I was looking at the past through rose colored glasses so I fired up the old Dreamcast and kicked some ass, then fired up the PSP with a PS1 emulator and kicked even more ass.
The Level selection is also suspect. Only 7 levels from the first 2 games, and while they Got some right, like the School II and the Hanger, they also included the Warehouse which is just just a little too similar to the Hanger to justify having both. I wouldn't mind it if they had more levels but why not include better levels like New York or redoing one of the "lost levels" like the construction zone?
Over all the levels arent too bad, the mall is still relatively fun despite the aforementioned shotty physics.
I'll take a break from the bad and mention the good, the sound track. Its a really good mix of the old tracks and the new tracks really fit in, only minor gripe is no "Del the Funky Homosapien" track but I'd be lying if I said I didnt really dig the music. The other good thing about the music is, when you restart a run or just do another run, it doesnt just end the track and go to the next it keeps playing, so its not so annoying. What is annoying however is every time you restart or just start a run at the school II it rings the bells, so by the time you finish all the goals and cash, you''ve heard that fucking thing ring like 500 times.
Last thing to really gripe about is the levels themselves. The just look a little weird with textures they have and the developers tried a little too hard with some things, for example pigeons and pigeon poop, flying newspapers, things of that nature. They should have focused more on how the game played then trying to slather icing on what is otherwise just a mediocre cake.
To summarize, if you loved the old tony hawk games, dont waste your money on this one. It doesnt let you relive the games like they used to be its more like some kids tried to remake the game and didnt quite get it right. If youre new to the tony hawk world and thought about buying this to get your feet wet, you'd be better off taking your $15 to a garage sale and picking up a PS1 and both tony hawk games. I'd give it a 4/10 just because I'm still feeling nostalgic about THPS
~Malenko
So Ive had some points just sitting on my live account, nothing has really caught my interest lately, then I saw Tony Hawk HD and I started flashing back to the old school Tony Hawk days on PS1 and Dreamcast. Saw the price at1200 points and I had my reservations on dropping $15 on a remake of a game I bought multiple times (all the tony hawks on PS1, DC, PS2, and even THPS2 remix on XBOX aaaaand underground 2 on PSP)
So I plopped down the points and downloaded the game. Figured since this is old school mine as well remake my old skater with the red hair, brown cargo pants, and green t-shirt with no logo but.... there's no create a skater, if you pick "you", you get your xbox360 avatard. While the idea is neat, your character looks really odd in the enviroment.
It ends up kinda looking like a nintendo Wii-tard skating around an xbox game. I can live without a character editor, but it just doesnt feel right in this day and age. Lets get on with the other problems with this title.
The major, major, MAJOR "UGH WTF" factor is the physics in this game. It just plays horribly. Collision detection is pretty bad, to the point where you'll bail on the half pipe and the game will stand you up in the ramp and you instantly fall again. I thought maybe I was looking at the past through rose colored glasses so I fired up the old Dreamcast and kicked some ass, then fired up the PSP with a PS1 emulator and kicked even more ass.
The Level selection is also suspect. Only 7 levels from the first 2 games, and while they Got some right, like the School II and the Hanger, they also included the Warehouse which is just just a little too similar to the Hanger to justify having both. I wouldn't mind it if they had more levels but why not include better levels like New York or redoing one of the "lost levels" like the construction zone?
Over all the levels arent too bad, the mall is still relatively fun despite the aforementioned shotty physics.
I'll take a break from the bad and mention the good, the sound track. Its a really good mix of the old tracks and the new tracks really fit in, only minor gripe is no "Del the Funky Homosapien" track but I'd be lying if I said I didnt really dig the music. The other good thing about the music is, when you restart a run or just do another run, it doesnt just end the track and go to the next it keeps playing, so its not so annoying. What is annoying however is every time you restart or just start a run at the school II it rings the bells, so by the time you finish all the goals and cash, you''ve heard that fucking thing ring like 500 times.
Last thing to really gripe about is the levels themselves. The just look a little weird with textures they have and the developers tried a little too hard with some things, for example pigeons and pigeon poop, flying newspapers, things of that nature. They should have focused more on how the game played then trying to slather icing on what is otherwise just a mediocre cake.
To summarize, if you loved the old tony hawk games, dont waste your money on this one. It doesnt let you relive the games like they used to be its more like some kids tried to remake the game and didnt quite get it right. If youre new to the tony hawk world and thought about buying this to get your feet wet, you'd be better off taking your $15 to a garage sale and picking up a PS1 and both tony hawk games. I'd give it a 4/10 just because I'm still feeling nostalgic about THPS
~Malenko
Monday, April 9, 2012
Back into the Wasteland Part C
Greetings from Jacobstown. Im still chuggin and pluggin away at Vegas. I picked up SFxTekken and Soul Calibur 5 yet I'm still playing this, so that tells you something.
So updates from the last post. I found a 4th Casino, the Atomic Wrangler didn't take long to hit the jackpot limit there either so again, I felt a little jilted that I spent so many points on luck for a game based in Vegas. I did get to take my winnings over to the doctor and get a few implants. Adamantium bones, self re-genning health, and tougher skin; I'm all about damage reduction and being like Wolverine. Ive also done some side faction stuff but I cant figure out if I should dump the floating robot eye and get rex, or keep the improved enemy finding. Ive also read I can get the other sniper from Novac to join me and he'll do it even if rex or ED-E is with me.
There have been a TON of Fallout 1 and 2 references linking this game to the past much better than Fallout:DC did. I meant yeah DC had the tree guy Harold, but it wasnt the same. Take a funny ghoul with a tree growing in his head and make it a lame tree with a suicidal ghoul stuck in it, Fail-tastic. Now in this one, Marcus is Marcus and he FEELS like the Marcus of old. Even has Michael Dorn (Lt.Worf from Star Trek TNG) doing the voice acting in this one too.
And hes not just there for show, he has things for you to do and the things he wants done fall in line with the Marcus of old, I was legit impressed, much more so than the passive mentioning of older Fallout people and places, and even Tandi being an answer to the trivia question in a side quest for the king. This is definately the game Fallout:DC should have been. Ive got an old bomber to get out of Lake Mead, hopefully the deathclaws wont rape my candy ass again. I would have loved to find a hedge stone or something for the "Chosen One" or even a broken GECK or waterchip.
Till next time,
T
PS Gamerscore is OVER NINEty THOUSANNNNNDDDDDDD
So updates from the last post. I found a 4th Casino, the Atomic Wrangler didn't take long to hit the jackpot limit there either so again, I felt a little jilted that I spent so many points on luck for a game based in Vegas. I did get to take my winnings over to the doctor and get a few implants. Adamantium bones, self re-genning health, and tougher skin; I'm all about damage reduction and being like Wolverine. Ive also done some side faction stuff but I cant figure out if I should dump the floating robot eye and get rex, or keep the improved enemy finding. Ive also read I can get the other sniper from Novac to join me and he'll do it even if rex or ED-E is with me.
There have been a TON of Fallout 1 and 2 references linking this game to the past much better than Fallout:DC did. I meant yeah DC had the tree guy Harold, but it wasnt the same. Take a funny ghoul with a tree growing in his head and make it a lame tree with a suicidal ghoul stuck in it, Fail-tastic. Now in this one, Marcus is Marcus and he FEELS like the Marcus of old. Even has Michael Dorn (Lt.Worf from Star Trek TNG) doing the voice acting in this one too.
And hes not just there for show, he has things for you to do and the things he wants done fall in line with the Marcus of old, I was legit impressed, much more so than the passive mentioning of older Fallout people and places, and even Tandi being an answer to the trivia question in a side quest for the king. This is definately the game Fallout:DC should have been. Ive got an old bomber to get out of Lake Mead, hopefully the deathclaws wont rape my candy ass again. I would have loved to find a hedge stone or something for the "Chosen One" or even a broken GECK or waterchip.
Till next time,
T
PS Gamerscore is OVER NINEty THOUSANNNNNDDDDDDD
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Back into the Wasteland Part B
Well, I didn't expect to be in Vegas like 8 minutes after I wrote that last post. The main story is moving along, and a good portion of the side quests are well thought out and make you actually WANT to complete them. The multiple courses of action I loved so much from FO1 and FO2 (and that were pretty much absent from FO3) are thankfully back this go `round. I plotted and schemed with a cohort of my enemy to ambush my would be killer in his room but ended up running into him on the Casino floor and my plans went to shit. I decided to go kill some time at the tables before leaving the one area of the game I was really looking forward to getting to.
I was a little disappointed that there are only 3 casinos, and that after you win like 10,000 caps they wont let you gamble anymore. That sort of foiled my plan to blackjack my way into having killer gear, but I got a pretty swell piece of armor "on the house" for being a high roller. I have yet to win a single game of Caravan , despite me buying and looting every card that comes my way. I just want to win 3 for the stupid cheevie cheeve :/
I'm back off into the wastelands, headed for Caesar and Fortification Hill....I had to kill even more feral zombies , I mean Ghouls, yeah, they are nothing like zombies. I still plan to do as much as I can before the pending faction choice comes up (spoilers?) Hopefully I can play from that point and see all the endings before doing operation "achievement clean up" I'm strongly considering the expansion packs for this gig (and the ones for Saint Row as well!) and not just for cheevie points.
I was a little disappointed that there are only 3 casinos, and that after you win like 10,000 caps they wont let you gamble anymore. That sort of foiled my plan to blackjack my way into having killer gear, but I got a pretty swell piece of armor "on the house" for being a high roller. I have yet to win a single game of Caravan , despite me buying and looting every card that comes my way. I just want to win 3 for the stupid cheevie cheeve :/
I'm back off into the wastelands, headed for Caesar and Fortification Hill....I had to kill even more feral zombies , I mean Ghouls, yeah, they are nothing like zombies. I still plan to do as much as I can before the pending faction choice comes up (spoilers?) Hopefully I can play from that point and see all the endings before doing operation "achievement clean up" I'm strongly considering the expansion packs for this gig (and the ones for Saint Row as well!) and not just for cheevie points.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Back into the Wasteland Part A
I know what youre thinking "Didnt this game come out in oh ten?" it did. This "review" is for the people like me, who had a bad taste in their mouth from F3 and may have other wise passed over this title.
And back to the west coast, where Fallout belongs. First things first, the title of the game is deceptive, I'm over 10 hours in and Vegas is still off in the horizon. I'm on my first play through so I'm trying to do as much as I can on the initial play through, so I know what I can skip next time. I'm sure if I lowered my head, holstered my guns, and ran full speed, I could be losing all my caps at blackjack as we speak.
Let me start by saying this game *FEELS* more like Fall Out , much more so than Fall Out: Washington DC. My MAJOR gripe with FO:DC was the zombieeeeerrrrrr Feral Ghoul population, Im pretty sure I single-handedly cleaned out every single one from the subway tunnels (with almost no gun skills but man was a smooooooooth talker). Thankfully there have been a relatively small number of "Feral Ghouls" to dispatch this go `round, I killed more of those in DC than Ive killed zombies in all the Resident Evil games combined.
The writing, dialog, everything feels more Black Isle Studios. I've done a little reading at No Mutants Allowed ( http://www.nma-fallout.com/ ) and found out the reason for this is some ideas from Van Buren and some people from the real Fallout 1 and 2 teams worked on this game. I suppose this is the closest we'll ever get to a real sequel. If only the instruction book was the same style as the first two games, bound like an old ledger book from grade school
So now some minor complaints. Keep in mind I really like this game so far, so none of this stuff bothers me all that much. First off, the graphics. The seem a little bland and unpolished, and all the interiors of everything seem to look alike. The game is massive so I'm OK with quantity over quality and nothing looks terrible but this game doesn't live up to some of the other 360 titles. Weak mapping and confusing building layouts are counter productive, I ended up drawing maps on paper to find my way around. The one-two punch of the bad layouts is you frequently need to traverse the same floors multiple times, like the REPCONN building.
SAVE FREQUENTLY. Srsly. I was messing around and tried to pick pocket Davison (no spoiler on who/what he is) and I didnt save first, so when I reloaded the save it was firefight central, and I hadn't saved for a good 30 minutes before that. You can save pretty much anytime anywhere so theres no reason not to. This saving mechanic makes it easier to goof off, lets you play in as small of chunks as you want....the downside is it makes the game a tad easier.
A ton of DLC has been released, I may wait until I finish then see if I can pick up a complete collection game cheap or just just get the DLC ala cart. So far Im not hating this game even if I didnt get a poker chip or lunch box with purchase.
I will follow this up after finishing the game or at least getting into the Casinos. Until then, Im out.
~Malenko
PS Operation 100k still isnt done, heh
And back to the west coast, where Fallout belongs. First things first, the title of the game is deceptive, I'm over 10 hours in and Vegas is still off in the horizon. I'm on my first play through so I'm trying to do as much as I can on the initial play through, so I know what I can skip next time. I'm sure if I lowered my head, holstered my guns, and ran full speed, I could be losing all my caps at blackjack as we speak.
Let me start by saying this game *FEELS* more like Fall Out , much more so than Fall Out: Washington DC. My MAJOR gripe with FO:DC was the zombieeeeerrrrrr Feral Ghoul population, Im pretty sure I single-handedly cleaned out every single one from the subway tunnels (with almost no gun skills but man was a smooooooooth talker). Thankfully there have been a relatively small number of "Feral Ghouls" to dispatch this go `round, I killed more of those in DC than Ive killed zombies in all the Resident Evil games combined.
The writing, dialog, everything feels more Black Isle Studios. I've done a little reading at No Mutants Allowed ( http://www.nma-fallout.com/ ) and found out the reason for this is some ideas from Van Buren and some people from the real Fallout 1 and 2 teams worked on this game. I suppose this is the closest we'll ever get to a real sequel. If only the instruction book was the same style as the first two games, bound like an old ledger book from grade school
So now some minor complaints. Keep in mind I really like this game so far, so none of this stuff bothers me all that much. First off, the graphics. The seem a little bland and unpolished, and all the interiors of everything seem to look alike. The game is massive so I'm OK with quantity over quality and nothing looks terrible but this game doesn't live up to some of the other 360 titles. Weak mapping and confusing building layouts are counter productive, I ended up drawing maps on paper to find my way around. The one-two punch of the bad layouts is you frequently need to traverse the same floors multiple times, like the REPCONN building.
SAVE FREQUENTLY. Srsly. I was messing around and tried to pick pocket Davison (no spoiler on who/what he is) and I didnt save first, so when I reloaded the save it was firefight central, and I hadn't saved for a good 30 minutes before that. You can save pretty much anytime anywhere so theres no reason not to. This saving mechanic makes it easier to goof off, lets you play in as small of chunks as you want....the downside is it makes the game a tad easier.
A ton of DLC has been released, I may wait until I finish then see if I can pick up a complete collection game cheap or just just get the DLC ala cart. So far Im not hating this game even if I didnt get a poker chip or lunch box with purchase.
I will follow this up after finishing the game or at least getting into the Casinos. Until then, Im out.
~Malenko
PS Operation 100k still isnt done, heh
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Habitual Line Crosser (Street Fighter x Tekken)
So, while Capcom and the Internet hotly debate the meaning of words like "value" and "customer" and "entitlement", the game; Street Fighter x Tekken has finally been released. Against the cries of all my convictions I bought it because frankly, it just looked too damned fun to miss. The catch is that in doing so I pat Capcom on the back for practices that previously caused me to relegate their games to Gamefly only status, but I'm not the one on trial here, they are!
So, the simple truth is, despite its turmultuous development cycle and release, SFxT is a suprisingly solid game. Being a crossover, it won't exactly be winning any awards for creativity or innovation, but it does manage to mash together a couple mechanics from the core franchises with some new goofy ones to create an enjoyable wholesome punching people in the face type-environment.
The flow of battle itself is most akin to SF4, with footsies and safe jump-ins playing the pivotal roles. Where Tekken comes in is the wealth of moves that are now designed to stun or juggle or even bound on counter hit or when pumped up to EX with a meter of super. All those situations in SF4 where you were like, I should be able to tack another move on the end there, now you can... except for all the times you can't. While the engine is pretty flexible, the game does seem to have some rather arbitrary rules on what juggles when and how. I'm sure with time it will become second nature what works and what doesn't, but at this point I am frequently mystified when even a super passes clean through an enemy floating helplessly through the air.
The other major deviation from its parent series is the tag mechanic. On paper its a minor rewrite of Tekken Tag's "2 guys 1 ko" system with some mandatory tagging when certain moves are used, but without a hit there's no safe (or free) way to tag out, so a good bit of strategy is just waiting for your enemy to press the panic button and putting him in traction for it. As a result, the team emphasis is heavier on complementary characters than just guys you're good with. That big damage tag combo you put together isn't really meaningful if you have no good way to get in or out of the match without eating one yourself.
Fortunately the (current) cast is pretty well rounded so whatever your fighting game archetype of choice is, you got a few options for team mates. Pixies, shotos, grapplers, zoners, they're all in there. If you wanna call the SFers easy mode you can because their movelists are pretty straight forward, fireballs, uppercuts, and rekkas. The Tekkens are at least a little wilder on the surface, as they all have a bunch of canned strings and chains in addition to a selection of heavy hitting moves buffed up to SF style specials. The lines are certainly blurred here and there with characters like Juri getting almost Tekken style combo freedom and mix ups while Jin has been granted weird space controlling fireballs, so there's no guarantee a love / hate of a character will be carried over but I wouldn't say at this point anyone has been done injustice. Boring Tekken characters like Julia and Ogre have been animed up to where they actually stand out from the cast, while SF fossils like Ryu and Zangief can use stuns and bounces and the games weird charge up super mechanic to really spice things up.
And that's all very good news, because despite its big boasts, the game is certainly missing some polish. Out of the box (lets re-read this review in 9 months, shall we?) SFxT has a number of features that should be really impressive, but compared to its major rivals there's lots of cut corners that mire its potential. It is one thing to wave off the preschool writing in the arcade mode, no alternate costumes and a record low # of palette swaps. But the fight request is woefully inadequate (even to SF4 and MvC3), and the couch co-op mode (which only works on PS3, mind you) barely accomplishes what MK did just as well a year ago. Some olive branches have been extended when it comes to extraneous single player content but the trials and missions and tutorials are still inferior to KoFs, there's nothing at all to unlock, and the games singular unique feature (gems) are equal parts complex and inneffectual in actual application. Certainly, the pros will turn out some fantastic youtubes by its hand, but for the regular joe gamer it just doesn't hold your hand anywhere near enough to get you interested, and it doesn't engage you enough in battle to make you want to stay for dinner.
That being said, for a fighting game put out by Capcom post-SF4 it is a remarkably rewarding experience to play. The extended feature set has a bit of an after taste, and you may outright vomit if you spend any time at all researching the dlc situation, but it has a damned fine engine running under the hood and a lot of new toys for a cast of characters that have grown tired and antiquated in their host series'. I've had the opportunity to work with it against the cpu, local vs, and online vs and I can't honestly say any of it was a bad experience, which is a damned good sign for gameplay no more ambitious than punching people in the face. So I say keep your internet blinders on and enjoy the ride.
-F.
So, the simple truth is, despite its turmultuous development cycle and release, SFxT is a suprisingly solid game. Being a crossover, it won't exactly be winning any awards for creativity or innovation, but it does manage to mash together a couple mechanics from the core franchises with some new goofy ones to create an enjoyable wholesome punching people in the face type-environment.
The flow of battle itself is most akin to SF4, with footsies and safe jump-ins playing the pivotal roles. Where Tekken comes in is the wealth of moves that are now designed to stun or juggle or even bound on counter hit or when pumped up to EX with a meter of super. All those situations in SF4 where you were like, I should be able to tack another move on the end there, now you can... except for all the times you can't. While the engine is pretty flexible, the game does seem to have some rather arbitrary rules on what juggles when and how. I'm sure with time it will become second nature what works and what doesn't, but at this point I am frequently mystified when even a super passes clean through an enemy floating helplessly through the air.
The other major deviation from its parent series is the tag mechanic. On paper its a minor rewrite of Tekken Tag's "2 guys 1 ko" system with some mandatory tagging when certain moves are used, but without a hit there's no safe (or free) way to tag out, so a good bit of strategy is just waiting for your enemy to press the panic button and putting him in traction for it. As a result, the team emphasis is heavier on complementary characters than just guys you're good with. That big damage tag combo you put together isn't really meaningful if you have no good way to get in or out of the match without eating one yourself.
Fortunately the (current) cast is pretty well rounded so whatever your fighting game archetype of choice is, you got a few options for team mates. Pixies, shotos, grapplers, zoners, they're all in there. If you wanna call the SFers easy mode you can because their movelists are pretty straight forward, fireballs, uppercuts, and rekkas. The Tekkens are at least a little wilder on the surface, as they all have a bunch of canned strings and chains in addition to a selection of heavy hitting moves buffed up to SF style specials. The lines are certainly blurred here and there with characters like Juri getting almost Tekken style combo freedom and mix ups while Jin has been granted weird space controlling fireballs, so there's no guarantee a love / hate of a character will be carried over but I wouldn't say at this point anyone has been done injustice. Boring Tekken characters like Julia and Ogre have been animed up to where they actually stand out from the cast, while SF fossils like Ryu and Zangief can use stuns and bounces and the games weird charge up super mechanic to really spice things up.
And that's all very good news, because despite its big boasts, the game is certainly missing some polish. Out of the box (lets re-read this review in 9 months, shall we?) SFxT has a number of features that should be really impressive, but compared to its major rivals there's lots of cut corners that mire its potential. It is one thing to wave off the preschool writing in the arcade mode, no alternate costumes and a record low # of palette swaps. But the fight request is woefully inadequate (even to SF4 and MvC3), and the couch co-op mode (which only works on PS3, mind you) barely accomplishes what MK did just as well a year ago. Some olive branches have been extended when it comes to extraneous single player content but the trials and missions and tutorials are still inferior to KoFs, there's nothing at all to unlock, and the games singular unique feature (gems) are equal parts complex and inneffectual in actual application. Certainly, the pros will turn out some fantastic youtubes by its hand, but for the regular joe gamer it just doesn't hold your hand anywhere near enough to get you interested, and it doesn't engage you enough in battle to make you want to stay for dinner.
That being said, for a fighting game put out by Capcom post-SF4 it is a remarkably rewarding experience to play. The extended feature set has a bit of an after taste, and you may outright vomit if you spend any time at all researching the dlc situation, but it has a damned fine engine running under the hood and a lot of new toys for a cast of characters that have grown tired and antiquated in their host series'. I've had the opportunity to work with it against the cpu, local vs, and online vs and I can't honestly say any of it was a bad experience, which is a damned good sign for gameplay no more ambitious than punching people in the face. So I say keep your internet blinders on and enjoy the ride.
-F.
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