Thursday, September 1, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Review: LA Noire (360)
+'s
-outstanding facial animations (best I've ever seen in a video game)
-good graphics and sound
-great sense of what you would imagine LA was like in the 1940's
-gutsy move to go in such a different direction than most games
-'s
-gameplay issues (trying and failing to jump a fence repeatedly, etc.) that plague most Rockstar games
-horrible action sequences (Team Bondi even made them skippable with no penalty)
-extremely receptive (talk to your superior, take your partner to the crime scene, walk along the crime scene, tap the A button whenever the controller vibrates, repeat until the music changes, interrogate the person on the scene, go to the next scene, rinse and repeat)
-case of a game almost being too long (I actually wanted to stop playing about half way through)
-story really isn't as strong as it needs to be to support such lackluster gameplay
-side quests are very quick, but take an EXTREMELY long time to reach (especially later on as more and more of the city is opened for exploration)
-the game tends to DRAG ON (i.e. certain cases are far too long and repetitive, etc.)
Neutrals
-interrogation mechanics are hit and miss (I'm still not sure why the game says certain questions are Lies and others are Doubts)
-the 360 version was just fine (there were some reported performance issues compared to the PS3 version, and there are 3 discs on the 360, but neither were an issue for me)
Overall, this is a very, very well made game that just isn't very much fun. I say it a lot, but Rockstar's open world games could do well to be much more focused (like Assassin's Creed for example) to eliminate the tediousness. Just because you can run around aimlessly in 1940's LA doesn't mean you should want to. I'd advise you make sure you are very much in the mood for this type of game. Even as a rental, this is a game that you need to be in the right mood for.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Review: Brink (360)
+'s
-deep customization for weapons and characters
-weapons and abilities seem very balanced
-satisfying progression to unlock XP and abilities
-very cool graphical style
-very customizable game types (co-op, versus, offline are all drop in/drop out)
-well thought out classes, abilities, and XP values lead to great co-op play when there are people playing
-SMART is outstanding--this should be the standard for FPS movement
-'s
-no counter to tell you how many people are playing each game type (after only a week, it's hard to find anyone else playing)
-very limited and disapointing campaign story (very brief mini-cutscenes before each mission. Missions seemed strung together without much focus or reasoning. Very hard to follow what is supposed to be going on)
-Challenges are supposed to teach you the game, and completing them unlocks weapons and upgrades. They are EXTREMELY cheap and poorly designed. It shouldn't be so frustrating to unlock upgrades, and they must be done solo to unlock them (a very strange decision when everything else in the game can be done co-op seamlessly)
-content seems lacking for a $60 game ($30-$40 seems about right)
Neutral
--This game is structured somewhat like the Left 4 Dead series, with more robust features, ,but still manages to be not quite as good
Overall, Brink is a dissapointment mainly due to Bethesda's tendancy to overpromise and underdeliver (see my Fallout 3 review for example). They made a huge deal about how they were revolutionizing how the campaign and multiplayer integrate, but really there isn't much of a campaign at all. The game was fun for about a week, but the lack of story and repetitive missions make $60 much too high to recommend. This is very much a game for players that want to jump into a co-op experience here and there and don't care about story.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Review: Enslaved-Journey to the West (360)
+'s
-very good story and character development
-witty dialogue
-interesting relationship/partnership development between Monkey and Trip
-very good graphics (character models and scenery are very, very good)
-great voice-acting (Pigsy and Trip in particular are great)
-'s
-combat is frustrating more often than not
-only 3 real characters and 6 or so types of enemies
-repetitive gameplay (Trip will tell you you need to go here, get this, fight these people, etc.)
Neutral
-very simplified platforming (game does a good job showing you the routes most of the time)
-Level up system is basic but useful
-Cliffhanger ending
Overall, this is very much a game worth playing for Action/Adventure fans, but I wouldn't necessarily make it a priority. It will keep you entertained for about 12 hours, and is already very cheap (I bought it new from Amazon for $15).
Note: I do NOT recommend Pigsy's Perfect 10 (the DLC) it is EXTREMELY repetitive and drags on at about 6 hours. It adds nothing to the main game's story and is even a bit depressing.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
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