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Written by Gavin Greene
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Thursday, 04 September 2008 00:00 |
9.04.08
Yo,
Stopping in for a bit to keep the creative juices from clogging with a few initial feelings towards the more anticipated titles coming out in the near future. Thanks goes to user pt1493 for the inspiration to do this type of thing, as he is already an expert at doing so. Check out his blog and see for yourself, while your there comment/rate/befriend and all that jazz. The dude got a hard hit a few days ago when Gametrailers.com shat on him by taking down all of his previous user movies, so the guy needs some love.
 
If there is an IP of the near future to get me interested in the shooter genre, it would be this one. The story is definitely an intriguing one, disregarding the space marine/WWII dichotomy for a newer spin: you opened Pandora's box under contract, and now are attempting to rectify the mistake while being chased by multiple factions with varied interest in the Box and yourself. Although I am not a graphics whore, the game does hit a little on the underwhelming side with blocky textures and unrealistic monster design. The level design palette and monster AI seem to make up for it though, and the quasi-magical ability you inherit (zaps energy from fallen foes, turns it to health) adds a bit more intrigue to the package. From the gameplay videos I have seen, the levels do seem designed to box you in, though, and with the agressive enemy AI I'm unsure if that is a good idea. Definitely worth a look though.
I am a Tekken man, have been since the PSX originals and will be even after the franchise dies out. But with the recent arcade expansion to the sixth title dragging an American-side release till next year, I look to the latest with Chun Li and Ryu for expectations. From what I've seen, it looks like the best of both worlds: the old Street Fighter aesthetic of half comedy half seriousness plus a newer sense of balance and design. I have to say I like the female models of older games in comparison, but I understand the look they were going for, and for all extensive purposes it holds up. From what I could play at Comic Con (one match, got my ass handed to me), it feels just like an arcade version of 2, which should keep the old and faithfuls happy. All in all the title looks solid, if not the grandoise of replayability that the Mishima clan have put their name on (Tekken reference), I'll be renting at the very least.
I've never played the original NES classic nor have had the system/time/money to spring for the Rearmed downloadable, but one thing keeps me willing to give this bastard a chance, and that is the gameplay feeling of the Spider-Man games (2 and Ultimate, at least) with a post-apocalyptic vibe that actual has a sense of vibrancy to it, not the washed out cliche of Gears of War. Interested, but waiting for a bit more before rendering a final decision.
Unless something has changed since I watched the developer documentary on this, the game is free to play. That, and the cartoon design choices ala Team Fortress, have gauged my interest enough to merit a download of the thing. It seems like just a fun game, without all the flair and gratuity most big-budget releases seem to tack on by contract. Other than that, not much to say on this baby, just looks like a nice escape in between real life excursions.
Never been a fan of God Games, and most likely never will be. But I can recognize when a lot of effort has gone into a project, and Will Wright has made it a habit of taking his name onto such IPs. Its nice to watch someone playing the game, especially in the creature creator mode, as the enjoyment always manages to become visible as they tack on limbs and eyes. Sure, I'll be surprised if it takes longer than a literal minute for the user submitted planets to contain solely penis and vagina monsters, but isn't that the holy bloody point? To relish a sense of impish immaturity in creating virtual life, to take the philosophical irresponsible role for once and just play for that laugh reflex? I think so.
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
My soi bruddah, Bennett the Sage, just put a review of this IP up on his page on Revver, and for the most part I agree with him based on what I've seen. Story sucks, tank controls are pitiful, but the chaotic fun is intact (especially in co-op). Usually, I'm a man that likes to give a shit about the characters he's playing, and that usually requires at least a backbone of story. But, I find myself still drawn to this title, probably for the same reason I am drawn to the Postal series. This IP belongs in a great, respectable series of steam titles. No, not the Valve-hosted web client on PC, games that are specifically designed for you to put in after a hard day and blow off steam. And in this one, you make things splode. And they splode pretty. And they splode loud. And sometimes, even with the glitches, that's all you need.
Again, having a gun in a game doesn't really do it for me, but for reasons unknown, watching gameplay videos for this title makes me want to play it with a desperation I haven't felt since my initial runthrough of Goldeneye on my daycare center's 64. The event of a zombie apocalypse has always interested me, even if it wasn't enough for me to actually watch zombie movies or read zombie comics, and the co-operative play seems like a damn fun time, and a great way to dive into the brain-feeders realm. I'll only pick this up if I can get some of my friends some copies, as I hate online play with people I don't know (all my run-ins have been with people whose vocabulary resemble transcripts from the Jim Crow Era). But damn dude, this looks like fun.
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
It takes a lot of balls to go back to a project at this depth. The original game looked amazing to me, a veteran of the Baldur's Gate and Diablo franchises, and with the added content it has quickly become a must buy. A quick story overview, as we have come again across a game ballsy enough to contain one: you play as Geralt, an extremely powerful monster hunter for hire known as The Witcher, who goes about a medieval-esque world for bounties and to figure out an identity lost to you at the start of the game. Yeah, I don't like the amnesia plot device either, but the rest of the story seems more than enough to draw me in. The story takes place based off a line of Polish fantasy novels, and has a branching narrative arch dependent on actions taken by the player (always a plus.) The combat looks a bit rigid and the NPC design appears lazy in execution, but the score is eloquent and lush (I went ahead and streamed a couple tunes offline), and all in all looks like a more mature version of Fable, sans the cartoony look. Definitely on my buy list.
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
This one's a toughy for me, although not as tough as the upcoming Sonic Unleashed, but more on that later. I don't doubt Bioware's ability to create an RPG, I'm just wondering how well the Sonic universe lends itself to the role playing elements. The world excursion aspects look especially dull in the released videos, and combat looks like standard fare with little to no deviance from the standard elements. Chao raising doesn't appeal to me, hell Chocobo raising didn't, but I have always been a Sonic fan before and after it made sense to be. The comic book cutscenes are not the direction I wanted to see, but in looking back on how previous teams handled a vocal Sonic and crew, that may not be a bad thing. But hey, this decision is made easy by my lack of ownership of a DS and a lack of desire to ever own one. Problem solved. I do hope people give this one a chance, even if only to keep the brand alive until someone with the talent to bring the Hedgehog back to the glory days gets on board.
It all looked good up until the werehog. It looked like a return to form, with hardly never-decreasing speeds and a camera that couldn't keep up with you. With whacky levels of loops and hairraising turns, with enemies blasted out of the way by your speed and spikes. With trampoline buttons and ring collecting galore. Then came the fucking werehog. I don't remember him from the comics, the shows, and definitely not the games. I have no idea where the motivation to slow Sonic down and turn his game into a standard action beat-em-up. Not that I have complaints on how they handled it after the gameplay turn, I'm just questioning the gameplay idea itself. I know Sonic has had a history of terrible games, but I do not think this is the direction we need to turn to get the rodent back on the wagon. The game might be worth it for the day levels alone, when its just you, no sidekicks, no humans, just speed. Maybe someone just needs to finish Sonic Xtreme as a downloadable tie-in title, like Bionic Commando Rearmed, already.
- I seem to be all set for Irvine, registered for an advising session so I can finally register for classes (four days before the deadline, can't wait for all my choices).
- Someone asked me what my rent was for the house in Tustin, I would like to remind you its the one room and the shared bathroom, and its 575 a month, with utilities included, which is not bad for the OC.
- As always, check out my best friend for-longer-than-forever, Bennett the Sage on Youtube at his new contributing position at thatguywiththeglasses.com or alongside myself on Gamepartisan
- Found this list that IGN did awhile back, on the top 25 PSX titles of all time. Thought it was worth a look, maybe you will too.
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There is a project to finish the game up, supported by Chris Senn, the project director for the old Sonic Xtreme game. You can find more info here: http://www.senntient.com/forum....php?id=24
(Yeah, I'm kinda an old school Sonic fan)
Good article BTW. We share basically the same opinions, so I have not much more to comment on.