As of right now, it would seem that neither Rock Band 2 nor Guitar Hero World Tour are faring well in the drum quality department. This guy made a video documenting most of the RB2 drum issues, and how to spend over $100 to make an awesome bass pedal, if you feel like dropping a bunch more money to play Rock Band a little better. The video quality is pretty horrible, but the information is good, definitely worth watching if you're into the drums.
I have Iron Cobra Jr. double bass pedals on my real set, so I can say first hand that they're awesome. Not sure if they're worth the price if you're just going to scab some rock band electronics on them though... might be better off going for another $100 or so for the ION drums. At least they work as an electric kit on their own.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
James Bond - Quantum of Solace (X360)
I've heard a lot of good things about this one. People seem to be of the opinion that it will be the best Bond game since Goldeneye. They may be right.
The game follows a pretty straight duck and cover format, very similar to games like Gears of War, except that you're in first person when you arent in cover. Unlike Gears though, there's a good amount of stealth gameplay, where studying enemy movements and dispatching of them quietly is going to give you an advantage. Your watch gives you an overhead map of the area, so you've always got some intel in addition to what you observe straight up. This is a little bit more realistic than a heads up minimap in the corner, since Bond doesn't have any ocular implants or anything. Being spotted, heard, or seen on camera in these stealth modes will bring elite guards down on you.
Throughout the game, you can find cell phones that give you intel on the level as well. Perhaps it's a voicemail or a text message with the location of some ammo or a sweet gun, or a picture of an upcoming area. Collecting these gets you achievements as well, so keep an eye out for them (or an ear, they ring when you're close by).
The graphics are gorgeous. This being coupled with some Hollywood style deaths (enemies flailing their arms, shooting wildly as they fall) and action (explosions actually deforming buildings, perhaps a bell on a building under construction is persuaded to fall on some enemies) and you might actually mistake the game for a movie every now and then. Daniel Craig's face is modeled extremely well, so that adds to the realism, since you're looking at his mug every time you're in cover. I also found it pretty cool that his hair looks realistically wet in rainy levels. The game seems very polished, obviously a lot of effort went into making it seem like a real movie.
The story line bothered me a bit though. It starts off in the new movie, but then flashes back to Casino Royale for at least 75% of the game, before returning to Quantum of Solace. They make an effort at explaining it, but it just seems a bit weird. It also doesn't give me much hope for the new movie, if its namesake game spends most of its time on Casino Royale. If you ignore the timeline warps though, the story telling is done very well. You get your futuristic computer display which constantly cross references pictures, video, audio, etc. while M talks to James and other MI6 people, which is cool. Daniel Craig and Judy Dench do the voices for Bond and M respectively, so that makes a big difference as well. Games such as Force Unleashed that use imitators just leave a bad taste in my mouth (ears?).
However well told the story is though, it ends way too soon. I think I spent 5-6 hours on the single player, and that's just not long enough at all for $60. It's really a great game too, and with two movies to pull from, its a shame they didn't make it longer. The replay value isn't terrible though, since there are multiple difficulties with their own achievements, and of course all the cell phones to find.
What may save the brutally short single player from massive ridicule is the multiplayer. It looks pretty sweet, as it offers some customizations that you can purchase with money that I assume you win from online matches. Unfortunately I haven't been able to play it, as there is NO SPLIT SCREEN MULTIPLAYER, ahem, but it does look like it will be excellent online. On that note, why is split screen multi dying out? Is it that hard to implement? Games like this and Pure are both lacking it, but offer excellent online play - I don't get it. Those of us with real friends shouldn't be punished here!
The achievements are exactly what achievements should be in a game like this. You get some for beating levels and beating the game, and stupid things like hacking every locked door that you're gonna do anyway, but just about every level has something extra to shoot for, like going through undetected or only using the pistol. Those type of achievements can add a lot of replay value, and this game really needs that.
So in closing, this is an excellent game that suffers from a bit of a length problem. It's probably worth the money when multiplayer is considered, but I just can't say at this point. Absolutely pick it up if you're a Bond fan, but you're not going to be able to invite friends over to play like the Goldeneye days.
The game follows a pretty straight duck and cover format, very similar to games like Gears of War, except that you're in first person when you arent in cover. Unlike Gears though, there's a good amount of stealth gameplay, where studying enemy movements and dispatching of them quietly is going to give you an advantage. Your watch gives you an overhead map of the area, so you've always got some intel in addition to what you observe straight up. This is a little bit more realistic than a heads up minimap in the corner, since Bond doesn't have any ocular implants or anything. Being spotted, heard, or seen on camera in these stealth modes will bring elite guards down on you.
Throughout the game, you can find cell phones that give you intel on the level as well. Perhaps it's a voicemail or a text message with the location of some ammo or a sweet gun, or a picture of an upcoming area. Collecting these gets you achievements as well, so keep an eye out for them (or an ear, they ring when you're close by).
The graphics are gorgeous. This being coupled with some Hollywood style deaths (enemies flailing their arms, shooting wildly as they fall) and action (explosions actually deforming buildings, perhaps a bell on a building under construction is persuaded to fall on some enemies) and you might actually mistake the game for a movie every now and then. Daniel Craig's face is modeled extremely well, so that adds to the realism, since you're looking at his mug every time you're in cover. I also found it pretty cool that his hair looks realistically wet in rainy levels. The game seems very polished, obviously a lot of effort went into making it seem like a real movie.
The story line bothered me a bit though. It starts off in the new movie, but then flashes back to Casino Royale for at least 75% of the game, before returning to Quantum of Solace. They make an effort at explaining it, but it just seems a bit weird. It also doesn't give me much hope for the new movie, if its namesake game spends most of its time on Casino Royale. If you ignore the timeline warps though, the story telling is done very well. You get your futuristic computer display which constantly cross references pictures, video, audio, etc. while M talks to James and other MI6 people, which is cool. Daniel Craig and Judy Dench do the voices for Bond and M respectively, so that makes a big difference as well. Games such as Force Unleashed that use imitators just leave a bad taste in my mouth (ears?).
However well told the story is though, it ends way too soon. I think I spent 5-6 hours on the single player, and that's just not long enough at all for $60. It's really a great game too, and with two movies to pull from, its a shame they didn't make it longer. The replay value isn't terrible though, since there are multiple difficulties with their own achievements, and of course all the cell phones to find.
What may save the brutally short single player from massive ridicule is the multiplayer. It looks pretty sweet, as it offers some customizations that you can purchase with money that I assume you win from online matches. Unfortunately I haven't been able to play it, as there is NO SPLIT SCREEN MULTIPLAYER, ahem, but it does look like it will be excellent online. On that note, why is split screen multi dying out? Is it that hard to implement? Games like this and Pure are both lacking it, but offer excellent online play - I don't get it. Those of us with real friends shouldn't be punished here!
The achievements are exactly what achievements should be in a game like this. You get some for beating levels and beating the game, and stupid things like hacking every locked door that you're gonna do anyway, but just about every level has something extra to shoot for, like going through undetected or only using the pistol. Those type of achievements can add a lot of replay value, and this game really needs that.
So in closing, this is an excellent game that suffers from a bit of a length problem. It's probably worth the money when multiplayer is considered, but I just can't say at this point. Absolutely pick it up if you're a Bond fan, but you're not going to be able to invite friends over to play like the Goldeneye days.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Guitar Hero: World Tour (X360)
Mixed feelings on this one. It's great to have new tracks, but there's really a lot more they could have done with it.
First off, instead of your straight through progression from all the other GH games and RB1, you have sets to play. It's sort of a middle ground between the straight through list and the world tour - you have to play multiple songs in one sitting, but you only have to do each set once, and you don't have to do all the sets to unlock the later ones.
Many of the new tracks are awesome - the inclusion of a decent amount of classic rock really made me happy. Steely Dan finally enters the GH arena with "Do it Again" after making their Rock Band debut with "Bodhisattva." Guitar battles against Ted Nugent and Zakk Wylde, followed by encores of "Stranglehold" and "Stillborn" respectively really made my day. But then you get to some really lame sets, with some unlistenable music. For example, the baffling inclusion of Dinosaur Jr.'s horrific "Feel the Pain." It's already in Rock Band 2, so I'm not sure why this pile of crap needed to be on this one as well. Also, it's not the only repeat from RB2 - a good amount of songs are going to give you some déjà vu. The good song to crap ratio seems a bit better than RB2 overall, but with RB1 songs exported, GH:WT kind of pales in comparison.
First off, instead of your straight through progression from all the other GH games and RB1, you have sets to play. It's sort of a middle ground between the straight through list and the world tour - you have to play multiple songs in one sitting, but you only have to do each set once, and you don't have to do all the sets to unlock the later ones.
Many of the new tracks are awesome - the inclusion of a decent amount of classic rock really made me happy. Steely Dan finally enters the GH arena with "Do it Again" after making their Rock Band debut with "Bodhisattva." Guitar battles against Ted Nugent and Zakk Wylde, followed by encores of "Stranglehold" and "Stillborn" respectively really made my day. But then you get to some really lame sets, with some unlistenable music. For example, the baffling inclusion of Dinosaur Jr.'s horrific "Feel the Pain." It's already in Rock Band 2, so I'm not sure why this pile of crap needed to be on this one as well. Also, it's not the only repeat from RB2 - a good amount of songs are going to give you some déjà vu. The good song to crap ratio seems a bit better than RB2 overall, but with RB1 songs exported, GH:WT kind of pales in comparison.
One thing they got right this time around is instrument compatibility. Though I have no idea why anyone would choose the Rock Band guitar, it's good to know that it will work. GH3 wouldn't even let you to the title screen if you had a Rock Band controller plugged in at all. While we're on the subject of peripherals, what I'm reading about the new GH drums is a bit less than stellar. I was really looking forward to the drumkit, but apparently they are extremely flimsy and have almost a 95% breaking rate. The things that break are the actual drumpads as well, so it's a bit harder to fix than a simple snapped bass pedal. The ball has really been dropped on this one I fear.
All things considered, and I hate myself for saying this, I'd take Rock Band 2 over Guitar Hero World Tour. This is doubly true if you own RB1 (or can borrow a friend's for ten minutes) - only five dollars to export all but three songs from the original, plus all your DLC transfers for free. RB2 just feels a lot smoother and less cheesy. Features like the difficulty meter for all instruments and song info right on song list are really nice to have. On top of all that, Harmonix has a pretty excellent track record for releasing DLC, so there's more hope for a Dethklok DLC album someday.
All things considered, and I hate myself for saying this, I'd take Rock Band 2 over Guitar Hero World Tour. This is doubly true if you own RB1 (or can borrow a friend's for ten minutes) - only five dollars to export all but three songs from the original, plus all your DLC transfers for free. RB2 just feels a lot smoother and less cheesy. Features like the difficulty meter for all instruments and song info right on song list are really nice to have. On top of all that, Harmonix has a pretty excellent track record for releasing DLC, so there's more hope for a Dethklok DLC album someday.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
World of Goo and Mega Man 9 (Wii)
These games are awesome.
I was not expecting this sort of fun and quality from a WiiWare game, since everything but "My Life as a King" is pretty horrible. Both these games are really worth the price of admission though.
World of Goo has you building bridges and towers out of goo balls. It's like the West Point Bridge Designer with cartoon faces, awesome music, and brilliant art styling that remind me of a Tim Burton movie (Edward Goohands?)
The levels go from "heh that was a bit tricky" to "holy crap this is impossible" to "I have an engineering degree and I can't get more than halfway through this game." As you progress through the game, you're given all sorts of different goo balls, with different properties for each. For every goo you collect over the minimum for beating the level, a goo is added to a free building level, where you build a tower that is ranked against the world over the Nintendo WFC.
Mega Man 9 follows a similar difficulty scale, though I don't think it even gives you the benefit of a few training levels. Right from the start (if you're following the boss order) this game is just brutal. The game is compeltely retro styled, to the point that you might not even realize that this isn't a virtual console game. The only thing that gives it away is the item shop, a feature clearly not available in Mega Man 1, 2, or 3. Truly an old school difficult game.
So with this much needed quality boost in WiiWare games, we are given two amazing games that will make you pull your hair straight out of your head. Both games are available on the Wii Shop Channel. For those who can't find a Wii, Mega Man can be found on Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network, while World of Goo can be downloaded from Steam. I highly suggest you get both, on whatever system you can.
Mega Man 9 has achievements, which are obviously mostly meant for the 360 version, but are listed in the WiiWare version as well. As if the game wasn't hard enough, try beating it three times in a day, or once every day for three days. It's really just hilarious how difficult things get. DLC is also rumored to be on its way, in the form of two HARDER difficulty levels. I can't wait to see how absurd they are.
I was not expecting this sort of fun and quality from a WiiWare game, since everything but "My Life as a King" is pretty horrible. Both these games are really worth the price of admission though.
World of Goo has you building bridges and towers out of goo balls. It's like the West Point Bridge Designer with cartoon faces, awesome music, and brilliant art styling that remind me of a Tim Burton movie (Edward Goohands?)
The levels go from "heh that was a bit tricky" to "holy crap this is impossible" to "I have an engineering degree and I can't get more than halfway through this game." As you progress through the game, you're given all sorts of different goo balls, with different properties for each. For every goo you collect over the minimum for beating the level, a goo is added to a free building level, where you build a tower that is ranked against the world over the Nintendo WFC.
Mega Man 9 follows a similar difficulty scale, though I don't think it even gives you the benefit of a few training levels. Right from the start (if you're following the boss order) this game is just brutal. The game is compeltely retro styled, to the point that you might not even realize that this isn't a virtual console game. The only thing that gives it away is the item shop, a feature clearly not available in Mega Man 1, 2, or 3. Truly an old school difficult game.
So with this much needed quality boost in WiiWare games, we are given two amazing games that will make you pull your hair straight out of your head. Both games are available on the Wii Shop Channel. For those who can't find a Wii, Mega Man can be found on Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network, while World of Goo can be downloaded from Steam. I highly suggest you get both, on whatever system you can.
Mega Man 9 has achievements, which are obviously mostly meant for the 360 version, but are listed in the WiiWare version as well. As if the game wasn't hard enough, try beating it three times in a day, or once every day for three days. It's really just hilarious how difficult things get. DLC is also rumored to be on its way, in the form of two HARDER difficulty levels. I can't wait to see how absurd they are.
Fable 2 (X360)
I'm really torn on Fable. On one hand, it's fun to play, gives you a ton of play style options, and is fairly open ended. On the other, it has a great deal of shortcomings, and really doesn't meet my expectations. At times I can only describe it as a "Kiddie" or "Fantasy" Fallout but I'm not sure if that's quite correct.
I think the game really struggles with what it wants to be, and that's why I'm struggling to make up my mind about it. You've got this incredibly simple combat system, which while it is pretty fun, doesn't provide any sort of challenge for a core gamer. Each style of attack has one button - sword is X, gun is Y, magic is B. You earn some new abilities as you gain XP, which make you do such challenging combinations such as "hold X to block, and release for an unblockable flourish" or "hold Y to aim." So obviously it's meant for kids, right?
Well it certainly seems that way for a while. The graphics are reminiscent of World of Warcraft's cartoony style, you get an incredibly annoying dog pal that spots treasure for you, and the bloodless combat is simplistic enough for a four year old. You're given an array of actions to impress or belittle people, such as dancing, farting, whistling, or threatening. There's nearly no penalty for death, just the loss of some experience points that you haven't spent (no skill loss) and you are revivied on the spot within a couple seconds. So challenging.
Well if that's the case, why do fat whores proposition me for sex in old town? When I beat down someones door to use their bed for fulfilling this business arrangement, why am I given the option of protected or unprotected sex? Why do I get bonus points for sacrificing my wife at the evil temple, or given missions to slaughter an entire town of innocent people? When I'm caught breaking the law, why am I allowed to skip out on my community service over and over again (just like real life)? Certainly not a kids game then. So what is it?
I guess the only way it fits is as an adult casual game. Grown men and women who are so busy with their "lives" that they can't learn a combat system that takes more than one button, or can't be bothered spending their leisure time in a serious game. So is this really where the intention lies? The RPG equivilent of Wii Sports? I'll pass.
Moral dilemmas aside, it is a fun game to play. You can hack up just about anyone you come across, buy and rent houses, whistle and fart in front of girls until they want to marry you (and then sacrifice them to the dark lord), or just murder guards over and over until you have massive horns growing out of your face (just like real life). The story isn't super interesting, but there's plenty of side quests and jobs to take along the way.
The co-op is pretty terrible. It's great to be able to play with a friend, but it's severely limited by bad camera control, and only the hosting player gets to use his actual character, the other player is just a "henchman." I believe xp and items carry over, but it just seems pretty cheesy.
Achievements are given out for just about everything. I think in four hours of playtime (co-op) we got about 25 achievements, mostly worth 5g each.
I'm not wholly disappointed in Fable 2, as it is a good time, but I think the features that make it fun are found in other, better games. I would check out Fallout over Fable, unless you're really big on the casual style play or the fantasy setting.
If you do pick this up, going full evil might be better saved until later in the game, as things can get weird when the entire town runs away screaming when you walk by. You get a few discounts and things for being feared, but I imagine items are even cheaper when you're just well liked.
I think the game really struggles with what it wants to be, and that's why I'm struggling to make up my mind about it. You've got this incredibly simple combat system, which while it is pretty fun, doesn't provide any sort of challenge for a core gamer. Each style of attack has one button - sword is X, gun is Y, magic is B. You earn some new abilities as you gain XP, which make you do such challenging combinations such as "hold X to block, and release for an unblockable flourish" or "hold Y to aim." So obviously it's meant for kids, right?
Well it certainly seems that way for a while. The graphics are reminiscent of World of Warcraft's cartoony style, you get an incredibly annoying dog pal that spots treasure for you, and the bloodless combat is simplistic enough for a four year old. You're given an array of actions to impress or belittle people, such as dancing, farting, whistling, or threatening. There's nearly no penalty for death, just the loss of some experience points that you haven't spent (no skill loss) and you are revivied on the spot within a couple seconds. So challenging.
Well if that's the case, why do fat whores proposition me for sex in old town? When I beat down someones door to use their bed for fulfilling this business arrangement, why am I given the option of protected or unprotected sex? Why do I get bonus points for sacrificing my wife at the evil temple, or given missions to slaughter an entire town of innocent people? When I'm caught breaking the law, why am I allowed to skip out on my community service over and over again (just like real life)? Certainly not a kids game then. So what is it?
I guess the only way it fits is as an adult casual game. Grown men and women who are so busy with their "lives" that they can't learn a combat system that takes more than one button, or can't be bothered spending their leisure time in a serious game. So is this really where the intention lies? The RPG equivilent of Wii Sports? I'll pass.
Moral dilemmas aside, it is a fun game to play. You can hack up just about anyone you come across, buy and rent houses, whistle and fart in front of girls until they want to marry you (and then sacrifice them to the dark lord), or just murder guards over and over until you have massive horns growing out of your face (just like real life). The story isn't super interesting, but there's plenty of side quests and jobs to take along the way.
The co-op is pretty terrible. It's great to be able to play with a friend, but it's severely limited by bad camera control, and only the hosting player gets to use his actual character, the other player is just a "henchman." I believe xp and items carry over, but it just seems pretty cheesy.
Achievements are given out for just about everything. I think in four hours of playtime (co-op) we got about 25 achievements, mostly worth 5g each.
I'm not wholly disappointed in Fable 2, as it is a good time, but I think the features that make it fun are found in other, better games. I would check out Fallout over Fable, unless you're really big on the casual style play or the fantasy setting.
If you do pick this up, going full evil might be better saved until later in the game, as things can get weird when the entire town runs away screaming when you walk by. You get a few discounts and things for being feared, but I imagine items are even cheaper when you're just well liked.
Gears of War 2 (X360)
I know a lot of you are really excited for this game, so I will happily give you a review three weeks early.
If you've played the first Gears of War, you'll be able to jump right into this one. The controls are the same, the weapons are the same, the strategies are the same - wait, this is a sequel?
Gears of War 1.5 won't disappoint if you're a fan of the first, provided all you expected from it was another single player experience. That said, the new levels are pretty awesome. It's still fairly linear, with the same "you go left, I'll go right" sort of splits. The bosses aren't quite as good in my opinion - there seems to be a lot less figuring out what to do, and more shooting. The final boss isn't difficult at all, I probably could have done it with my eyes closed. The weapons are all the same, with a few additions. There's a mortar gun, which is pretty cool for the few times you use it, a flamethrower, and a minigun that's fun to mow people down with. The Hammer of Dawn seems to only appear once. As you have probably seen in trailers and videos, you also get to ride some Locust vehicles, which are definitely fun.
My main concern with Gears of War, the first one, was the lack of character exposition. They drop you into a prison and tell you to start shooting. After beating it, I looked up some back story online, and found out that a 30 second cutscene could have explained everything. Just a quick little exposition to tell me why I give a crap about these aliens, which would really help me enjoy curb stomping a whole lot more. It's all there too... the story is actually pretty cool. They just don't bother to tell it to you.
A few of the questions that the first one leaves you with are answered here, but its largely the same sort of thing. As I said before, I know a lot of people are looking forward to this, so I won't spoil anything. What I WILL say is that Cole doesn't get nearly enough lines in this one. As a huge fan of the Terry Tate series, I looked forward to every Cole line in the first. "Can't stop the Train baby! WOO WOO!!" and "The Train's at home on the RAILS." literally made me reload the last checkpoint to listen again. However, in 2, I don't think I heard a single mention of the train. His lines were much more serious, when he got them at all, to the point where I wasn't even sure if it was the same guy.
I haven't gotten around to playing multiplayer, since I value my ability to connect to Live. I wouldn't expect many sweeping changes there though.
As for achievements, you get your standard 10g for each level, one for killing enemies in 15 unique ways, killing X number with the flamethrower, mortar, and minigun, and a whole slew of multiplayer achievements. "Seriously 2.0" involves getting 100,000 kills, which will take you quite some time. The collector achievement, the closest to the COG Tag collection in the first one, only consists of 5 items, and they're all more or less handed to you. The hardest one to find is probably the first, which is located on your assault platform dealie. Instead of running straight up to the turret to shoot the Reavers, go backwards, and it's a sign on the wall.
One more bit about achievements - there is a new achievement tracker, which shows your progress toward an achievement. For example, every time you pick up something for the collection achievement, your progress toward it is shown in a little box with a progress bar. Pretty handy for the achievement junkies out there.
So in closing, if you want new single player levels for Gears, and you don't mind spending the $60, I say go for it. If you'd like to play something groundbreaking, I suggest passing on this one.
If you've played the first Gears of War, you'll be able to jump right into this one. The controls are the same, the weapons are the same, the strategies are the same - wait, this is a sequel?
Gears of War 1.5 won't disappoint if you're a fan of the first, provided all you expected from it was another single player experience. That said, the new levels are pretty awesome. It's still fairly linear, with the same "you go left, I'll go right" sort of splits. The bosses aren't quite as good in my opinion - there seems to be a lot less figuring out what to do, and more shooting. The final boss isn't difficult at all, I probably could have done it with my eyes closed. The weapons are all the same, with a few additions. There's a mortar gun, which is pretty cool for the few times you use it, a flamethrower, and a minigun that's fun to mow people down with. The Hammer of Dawn seems to only appear once. As you have probably seen in trailers and videos, you also get to ride some Locust vehicles, which are definitely fun.
My main concern with Gears of War, the first one, was the lack of character exposition. They drop you into a prison and tell you to start shooting. After beating it, I looked up some back story online, and found out that a 30 second cutscene could have explained everything. Just a quick little exposition to tell me why I give a crap about these aliens, which would really help me enjoy curb stomping a whole lot more. It's all there too... the story is actually pretty cool. They just don't bother to tell it to you.
A few of the questions that the first one leaves you with are answered here, but its largely the same sort of thing. As I said before, I know a lot of people are looking forward to this, so I won't spoil anything. What I WILL say is that Cole doesn't get nearly enough lines in this one. As a huge fan of the Terry Tate series, I looked forward to every Cole line in the first. "Can't stop the Train baby! WOO WOO!!" and "The Train's at home on the RAILS." literally made me reload the last checkpoint to listen again. However, in 2, I don't think I heard a single mention of the train. His lines were much more serious, when he got them at all, to the point where I wasn't even sure if it was the same guy.
I haven't gotten around to playing multiplayer, since I value my ability to connect to Live. I wouldn't expect many sweeping changes there though.
As for achievements, you get your standard 10g for each level, one for killing enemies in 15 unique ways, killing X number with the flamethrower, mortar, and minigun, and a whole slew of multiplayer achievements. "Seriously 2.0" involves getting 100,000 kills, which will take you quite some time. The collector achievement, the closest to the COG Tag collection in the first one, only consists of 5 items, and they're all more or less handed to you. The hardest one to find is probably the first, which is located on your assault platform dealie. Instead of running straight up to the turret to shoot the Reavers, go backwards, and it's a sign on the wall.
One more bit about achievements - there is a new achievement tracker, which shows your progress toward an achievement. For example, every time you pick up something for the collection achievement, your progress toward it is shown in a little box with a progress bar. Pretty handy for the achievement junkies out there.
So in closing, if you want new single player levels for Gears, and you don't mind spending the $60, I say go for it. If you'd like to play something groundbreaking, I suggest passing on this one.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Dead Space (X360)
I was really surprised by this game. I had only seen a few random screen shots before last week, so it never really appeared on my radar. What I did see was some dude in a goofy helmet bashing some zombie things.
However, this game is probably one of the finest examples of what a 360 game should be. The graphics are tremendous, the sound is incredible, and it really feels like they spent an inordinate amount of time polishing this game. The real killer for me is the game play in a vacuum environment. All the outside sounds become muffled or silent, so almost all of what you hear is the stomping of your boots and your heart beating. The color scheme looks so much colder, it's almost hard to keep from shivering. When enemies jump out at you, there are no terrifying orchestral cues as there are in air filled environments, just eerie silence. Zero gravity areas have you jumping from wall to wall, constantly changing your view of the room, shooting at aliens who can jump just as well as you can. I really can't say enough about how well the environments are represented in this game.
The HUD is pretty unique for a shooter, largely because there isn't one. Your health is displayed by a meter of blue light on your suit (RIG), next to a meter showing your remaining stasis energy. All messages are displayed as pop up displays that float semi-transparently over the rest of the environment. All of this really helps you feel like you're right there, hanging over Isaac's shoulder, through all of it.
The weapons are really cool as well. You start with the fusion cutter, which is great all through the game for the task of severing limbs from zombie demon alien thingies. This is great, because unlike most games, the limbs are where you can inflict the most damage - body shots aren't as effective. This makes for a uniquely gory experience of limbs and heads rolling around the floor, as well as floating through the zero gravity environments. Other weapons you obtain include a standard laser assault rifle, the "Ripper" which fires a remote controlled buzz saw (awesome), a flamethrower, a spartan laser style weapon called the contact beam, a force gun that repels enemies while doing damage, and the line gun, which fires a wide beam of mines. On top of these guns, you also have stasis, which slows down objects and enemies, and kinesis, which picks up and launches items, body parts, whatever.
Throughout the game you can find stores and benches. The use of stores is pretty obvious - buy and sell weapons and items you've picked up, and store items in a safe if you're running low on inventory. During the game you can find schematics, which will be downloaded at the store and allow you to purchase new items. Benches are also sort of obvious, as they are used to upgrade your equipment. Throughout the game you find "Power Nodes" that you can use here, or for unlocking the occasional room that requires one.
The upgrade system is sort of strange. When you select a weapon, ability, or your RIG to upgrade, you'll be shown a map of what I imagine is supposed to represent your nano-circuitry or whatever. You can place nodes next to nodes that have already been added, but not every node gives you any bonus. You may have to spend three nodes or so just to get any sort of benefit out of it. While I enjoy that it isn't a straight forward system like most games, I do get a little frustrated wasting a bunch of hard earned nodes for one upgrade.
The achievements are varied and will give you some little extra motivation to change up your gameplay a bit. There is an achievement for using each of the guns to score over 30 kills, hacking off 50, 500, and 1000 limbs, 20g for completing each chapter, as well as a bunch of secret and ability specific ones. There's also an achievement for going through the game using only the fusion cutter, which doesn't sound too difficult.
So in closing, if you're a fan of survival horror games such as Resident Evil 4, definitely pick this one up. If you've played Doom 3, it's easy to describe the game - Replace the Mars moon base with a giant space ship, slap a flashlight on your guns, jack up the graphics and polish by a generation, and swap a space marine with a bad ass armored engineer. And turn some lights on every now and then :)
However, this game is probably one of the finest examples of what a 360 game should be. The graphics are tremendous, the sound is incredible, and it really feels like they spent an inordinate amount of time polishing this game. The real killer for me is the game play in a vacuum environment. All the outside sounds become muffled or silent, so almost all of what you hear is the stomping of your boots and your heart beating. The color scheme looks so much colder, it's almost hard to keep from shivering. When enemies jump out at you, there are no terrifying orchestral cues as there are in air filled environments, just eerie silence. Zero gravity areas have you jumping from wall to wall, constantly changing your view of the room, shooting at aliens who can jump just as well as you can. I really can't say enough about how well the environments are represented in this game.
The HUD is pretty unique for a shooter, largely because there isn't one. Your health is displayed by a meter of blue light on your suit (RIG), next to a meter showing your remaining stasis energy. All messages are displayed as pop up displays that float semi-transparently over the rest of the environment. All of this really helps you feel like you're right there, hanging over Isaac's shoulder, through all of it.
The weapons are really cool as well. You start with the fusion cutter, which is great all through the game for the task of severing limbs from zombie demon alien thingies. This is great, because unlike most games, the limbs are where you can inflict the most damage - body shots aren't as effective. This makes for a uniquely gory experience of limbs and heads rolling around the floor, as well as floating through the zero gravity environments. Other weapons you obtain include a standard laser assault rifle, the "Ripper" which fires a remote controlled buzz saw (awesome), a flamethrower, a spartan laser style weapon called the contact beam, a force gun that repels enemies while doing damage, and the line gun, which fires a wide beam of mines. On top of these guns, you also have stasis, which slows down objects and enemies, and kinesis, which picks up and launches items, body parts, whatever.
Throughout the game you can find stores and benches. The use of stores is pretty obvious - buy and sell weapons and items you've picked up, and store items in a safe if you're running low on inventory. During the game you can find schematics, which will be downloaded at the store and allow you to purchase new items. Benches are also sort of obvious, as they are used to upgrade your equipment. Throughout the game you find "Power Nodes" that you can use here, or for unlocking the occasional room that requires one.
The upgrade system is sort of strange. When you select a weapon, ability, or your RIG to upgrade, you'll be shown a map of what I imagine is supposed to represent your nano-circuitry or whatever. You can place nodes next to nodes that have already been added, but not every node gives you any bonus. You may have to spend three nodes or so just to get any sort of benefit out of it. While I enjoy that it isn't a straight forward system like most games, I do get a little frustrated wasting a bunch of hard earned nodes for one upgrade.
The achievements are varied and will give you some little extra motivation to change up your gameplay a bit. There is an achievement for using each of the guns to score over 30 kills, hacking off 50, 500, and 1000 limbs, 20g for completing each chapter, as well as a bunch of secret and ability specific ones. There's also an achievement for going through the game using only the fusion cutter, which doesn't sound too difficult.
So in closing, if you're a fan of survival horror games such as Resident Evil 4, definitely pick this one up. If you've played Doom 3, it's easy to describe the game - Replace the Mars moon base with a giant space ship, slap a flashlight on your guns, jack up the graphics and polish by a generation, and swap a space marine with a bad ass armored engineer. And turn some lights on every now and then :)
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