Review of Sly Cooper and The Thievius Raccoonus (PS2)
Sly Cooper and The Thievius Raccoonus (PS2)
Release Date: September 23, 2002
Developer: Sucker Punch Studios
Publisher: SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment of America)
Genre: Stealth Platformer
ESRB Rating: Everyone Mild Violence
Intro
People have heard of this notorious thief in some form, but he's still relatively unknown. Sly Cooper was the first title of the newly started Sucker Punch studios way back in 2002. This fun endeavor is a great surprise for a game company's first effort.
For those of you who do not want to watch, Sly quests to recover a family heirloom, the Thievius Raccoonus, from the Fiendish 5. The Fiendish 5 attacked his father and separated the family treasure into 5 disparate segments. Sly, now an orphan, has to go to various foster homes where he becomes inseparable friends with a turtle, Bentley, and a hippo, Murray. Together, they will take on the Fiendish 5 one by one, avenge Sly's father's death, and recover the family treasure; all the while pocketing some loot.
Don't expect it to remain that simple though.
Game play
The player controls Sly as he walks around and uses his main weapon, a cane, and his stealth skills. Over time, Sly can find secondary powers that will help him out by unlocking pieces of the Thievius Raccoonus. Sly's life can only last for 1 hit without a lucky horseshoe that allows him to survive a little longer. Sly cannot swim, but he is adept at many other sneaky activities, which he can perform with the O button where any blue sparks can be found. To avoid monotony, the game has segments with turrets, driving levels, a Geometry Wars style hacking game, and a couple of other variations.
The game is rather forgiving if the player messes up because it has multiple checkpoints and pretty short levels. The game is linear, so variation from the standard path is rare to come by, but some extras do pop up.
All in all, the game play is fun for all ages, if a little easy for players that are more skilled. Don't worry though, you too will experience challenge.
Audio
Some fun audio effects and music make the game worlds come to life. Tons of little touches put that extra polish on the sound design, but it can be annoying when you have to hear the same noises over and over because of specific segments.
Controls
Sly controls well, the controls never out of reach for children, but offer some complexity for more mature gamers. To get all the nuances down, extra time and study is necessary, but dedication is not a chore. Perfecting this game is entirely possible and the controls work extremely well in almost all circumstances. The controls for some stages and segments may annoy you, but trust me when I say, it's not terribly difficult.
Good Aspects
Story, controls, this game has tons of style, voice acting, cheap, audio, varied game play, cel-shaded design, some interesting level design, Master thief sprints (These challenges are designed for the player with a little more expertise. They unlock commentary and videos from the game developers, so this should extend playtime for quite a few players. They are rather difficult in comparison to the regular game because they are much less forgiving.), fun boss fights, good use of stealth, some smart enemy design, and it's really fun. Problems
The enemies will charge into their doom, the extra unlockables are overpowered and make the regular game too easy, the camera can annoy somewhat, some annoying segments, 1 hit deaths are annoying (can be changed though with collection of 100 coins), it is a rather old game for some, and it doesn't last long enough in my opinion.
Summary
Last time I went to my local store, they had this game for 5 $. If you can find this game and want an entertaining experience, I definitely suggest you purchase it. It is a fun game for children and adults with a little more refinement. It has a charm about it that lends itself well to all ages. After you beat this game, I definitely recommend continuing the story with Sly 2: Band of Thieves. Overall, if you have a PS2 or a PS3 capable of playing this game, you should get this game. I guarantee you will enjoy it.
The perfect last minute gift for this busy holiday season.
Sincerely, Randomduded12
PS. I do not offer a money back guarantee. Sorry. Instead, I haz a hugs back guarantee!
Happy Holidays to all and to all a goodnight! __________________ Feel free to repost on other sites or whatever, even if you just want to point out I committed a solecism on page three line 8, you smarmy grammar Nazi. One condition: maintain my username within this review/article under any and all circumstances. Contact me with a PM for information regarding online gaming with me or other accounts I have. Don't hate on videogames, they suck more than they should anyway. "I'm a hypocrite" -Randomduded12 "LOGIC IS GOD!!!11!"
Fire Emblem (GBA)/ Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones (GBA) reviews Fire Emblem (GBA)
Release Date:November 3, 2003
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Tactical Role-playing game (turn based)
ESRB Rating: Everyone Violence
Intro
Fire Emblem, a game that has followed in the footsteps of Intelligent System's previous series, Advance Wars, has been available for half a decade now. The game effectively combines text-based narrative and turn-based RPG game play, but you just want to know if you would like it, right?
Story
Before starting the game, watch the Introduction explaining some relevant historical events from the land of Bern. Keep in mind, this story will involve the events from the introduction in some form or fashion later on, so try guessing what will happen.
Fire Emblem's tale begins with an unknown woman named Lyn caring for the protagonist the player just created. Outside of the abode where Lyn tends to your creation, a few brigands (ruffians, bandits, etc.) arrive and attack. Lyn's hesitancy to defend her property without assistance prompts the protagonist to proffer their help. When Lyn asks what your creation does, she learns that they have served as a tactician before. Thus begins your journey as a faceless wandering tactician, which is not as ridiculous as it sounds. It's actually fairly unique, makes your character have a mercenary feel, and it makes your character essentially the General (HA, first female General in 2008? Wrong, try Fire Emblem fools.) of the various troops you will gather. The narrative for Lyn's struggles is the game training the player on how to play, but after beating her story, the Story continues with a Lordling named Eliwood who needs your tactical expertise. If you have beaten the game before, you can continue the story as a third Lordling by the name of Hector. Trust me, they put some effort into this story. It's freaking epic, long, a little wordy (text-based puns for the win!), and very well translated.
Game play
Essentially, the tactician you create takes control over every friendly unit and moves them with a handy-dandy cursor telling you where you are planning on moving each respective object to. Within each level, there is an objective along with other side objectives, but you have to keep the main three Lordlings alive (Lyn, Eliwood, and Hector all end the game if killed). You can change weapons ( staves, bows, swords, lances, axes, magic, etc. ), healing salves, and various other items with the other characters on the field. Each character has a max of five slots to carry these aforementioned items, but they can discard unnecessary items, and they can only trade if directly next to each other. For the major weapons they follow a rock-paper-scissor's like affair. Swords beat axes, axes beat lances, and lances beat swords and similar concepts with magic. The underutilized weapons have advantages, but not against other weapons necessarily. For example, bows are effective against flying units while staves are mainly used to heal your comrades, but some have other uses such as sleep or light a torch. Weapons have a max number of uses, so you have to keep your team well stocked all the time. To get new weapons you visit shops that sell physical (swords, axes, etc.) weaponry and more spiritual (magic, staves, healing salves, etc.) weaponry respectively. Each character can perform critical attacks, animated based on class and brought about by a high enough skill and some luck.
As these characters fight, they gain experience and level up based on probabilities for each character. They have a max level cap of 20, but anytime after 10, they can essentially "evolve" through the use of special items similar to evolving Pikachu with a thunder stone. Also, as they fight, they gain experience with the weapons they use, so they can use higher quality weaponry.
What's so great about this game play is that it rarely results exactly the same unless one of your Lordlings dies, in which case, yeah it will repeat the same death and game over sequences. I liked the game play, but to play this game you have to be willing to think and plan, so don't really rush this game or else you will die over and over.
Audio
If you have ever played Smash Brothers, you have heard some of the audio of Fire Emblem. The tracks sound very dramatic or very lighthearted depending on the situation, but they all sound great. Also, the dialogue in this game is solely text-based, so no worries about poor voiceovers. I personally enjoyed the audio and most gamers will too, but if you don't you can always turn down the volume.
Controls
Directional pad: move cursor/unit to location, navigate through menus, trading, and pretty much everything related to navigation or moving an object. A button: open up option menu when on just the generic map, select unit, weapon, item, perform action, continue text, etc. Pretty much the generic action button. B button: cancel, return to previous status, and speed up movement of cursor that's about it from what I recall. L button: moves cursor to next unused unit. R button: provides information on your units, enemies, terrain obstacles, etc. Start button: skip text/cut scenes, display overview map. Select: open map menu, turn info window on or off. Can use Start, Select, A, B all at the same time to restart the game. Creates a save based on where you quit though.
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Good Aspects
Great story, no translation issues, some amazing bosses that you need to cluster attacks on just to hurt more than they will heal, great animations and backgrounds, great value (my average complete play through is somewhere around 30 hours, but that could easily be shortened through some techniques and not abusing the various exploits), options allow the player to drastically speed up the game should they desire to, huge cast of characters, game play is never the exact same, multiple stories, multiple difficulties, semi-realistic portrayal of death, some great exploits (Coming from Intelligent Systems, I'm sure some of these were intended to help the player.), hidden chapters, a multiplayer mode (requires multiple games and systems. Each player builds teams from their current saved games and take on their friends choices with standard weaponry), extra features (Sound test, battle history, support history (supports occur between characters of similar affinities, this mode allows the player to view or watch these conversations whenever.) ), tons of side quests, extremely fun, and challenges the player to consider their situation before making a hasty move.
Problems
Characters that you spent inordinate amounts of time training can die and you only have one chance to regain these lost souls, but you probably won't want any of the possible characters that badly. The game calculates what happens based on a random number generator (RNG), so very good stuff can happen or very bad stuff can happen at the snap of a finger. Ex. I had a 99 % hit rate while my opponent had a 20% hit rate, I missed twice, they hit once. I died. The RNG can screw the player over, but typically it won't. I always wanted to do what I do in other RPG games: save before every battle so I could get the best stats and retain them, but this is not allowed because of the save system's design. It makes the game harder, so perhaps it's a good thing, but restarting because a character failed or got terrible stats is an easy method to add time to your rank and thus lower it. Some characters are so fruitless that it's better to train a weaker character and replace them. Most pre-promoted units have terrible stats. Some characters are terribly annoying in their dialogue. There are random fortresses everywhere and the characters can just run through or stay and get healed (This doesn't make sense. Trees do, Mountains do, this doesn't.). Enemies are rarely specified with names, enemy models reused just recolored, bosses can be idiots or wimps, and AI can fail sometimes especially in defend circumstances, but in general it is smart. (Except on hard mode, then the game screws you over on a highly regular basis by clustering attacks on the weakest character you have.) Money gets around rather quickly (Unrealistic portrayal of money isn't that big of a flaw, but you know with a game this good, they could have given a little more thought.). Multiplayer is pretty boring, but at least it is offered and it can include up to 4 simultaneous players. If you start Hector's story, in the first chapter, the characters can move without a tactician, but the same controls are proffered to the player. Whom is the player serving as in this instance? God? That's about all I can think of, but there are probably a couple more that could come to mind if I thought terribly long about the game.
Summary
Fire Emblem is a great game that tests its players and it should be tried by anyone willing to devote time to thinking. I like to think of it as a highly advanced form of chess for a frame of reference. If you have a Game boy advance (any version at all), a GBA player for your GameCube, or can find this game on Virtual GBA for the PC or something. Play it! I'm going to go continue my 6th play through now.
I called this thread a review of both the first American Fire Emblem and its sequel, so now I will add a little clarification on some differences between the first and second games. Sacred Stones has added new unit classes (evolutions, whatever you want to call them), some balancing changes between classes, completely new characters in a completely new setting, a new story, new weapons, some new bonuses, multiple storylines, new side quests, etc, but they still rely on the same style of game play. It's essentially the first game with some major updates.
It's a bit easier than the first because of infinite monster fights around the country, but it mostly retains the first game's style and challenge. If you do get this game, make sure to keep two separate save files for each of the related stories. I would recommend playing them both, but if you have to pick one, the first game is a better experience in my opinion because of the added difficulty and it is probably cheaper now. In any case, both are games worthy of adding to your collection and I guarantee you will want to come back one day and experience the challenge of Fire Emblem anew.
Sometime’s it takes a video game a full soundtrack to set the mood, tone, and atmosphere needed to evoke a certain feeling in the player. Other times, by luck or talent, composers need only a single song to capture the entire essence of a game and its characters. It could be three minutes or fifteen seconds, a repeating melody or a lyrical track played over the end credits. Attached to a single character, they can add layers to the psyche that would take hours of cut scenes to put to words. In the background of a level, the tune can remain etched in the player’s memories, keeping the feeling of what it was like to play it long after the console is off. Each generation of games had its masterpieces, narrowing it all down was almost impossible. Needless to say you’ll disagree with us, but we love that, inspiring response and forcing people to explain why we’re wrong and they’re right gets them thinking of the songs they choose, and on video game motifs themselves. Quiet in the audience, the orchestra is warming up. These are The Top Ten Video Game Themes in all of Video Game History.
The Top Ten Video Game Themes
#10: Contra - Jungle Theme
In the olden days of cheat codes and coin-operated gaming systems, an arcade measured its worth by how loudly and how often you heard this little ditty. It was not only the theme of one of the most challenging arcade experiences, but it also stood for the entire second generation of arcade gaming, of blistered thumbs and the fervent searches for that one quarter deep in your pocket as the Continue? timer ran down. But beyond the metaphysical nostalgia, it’s just a damn rocking tune, fit for the millions of covers done with electric guitars over the years since. You knew as the first level loaded and your commando fell onto the jungle terrain that you were in for the undeniable fun of spread shots and huge bosses. The rest of the soundtrack packed the same punch, but its this first track that takes us back to laser-sighting our focus and cracking our fingers above the trigger button in readiness for the first wave of enemies.
#9: Duke Nukem – Megadeth Theme
This little ditty is badass in the way that Black Sabbath’s opening riff to “Iron Man” made the trailer for the superhero movie badass. Within the first few opening notes, you know shit is about to go down, a prologue of epic manliness. Toss in the Duke spitting one of his famous sound bites, “Come Get Some!” and there is no way someone could mistake the game to count for anything other than violence in glorious gratuity. With the 3D interation of this franchise being reborn on Xbox Live, a whole new generation of Halo-ites and Gear(s)Heads can return to a time of media-driven rebellion, back when First Person Shooters were good. When the Duke ruled alongside “Doom” and “Castle Wolfenstein”; a generation of gamers that found solace in gore after the world around them just didn’t understand the bloodlust. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, maybe its just badass. Ya know what? That works too.
#8: Guilty Gear XX #Reload - Megatona Furioso
Kicking someone’s ass has always been an activity made better by kickass tunes. It just makes the impact of fists and groans of defeat that more ego-stroking. Never is this more apparent than in Guilty Gear games, Megatona being the most lauded example. Hard hitting riffs complemented the sheer machismo that oh so often comes with the supreme combo execution. It was the character Potemkin’s theme, but the hardcore track soon became synonymous with the series itself, giving it a reputation for a wicked anime aesthetic that permeated from its character animations to its menu screens. It may not have the sales of “Soul Caliber” or the sophistication of “Tekken”, but no one can deny Guilty Gear its rocking style. Naysayers are called to look up Furioso as exhibit A.
#7: Mass Effect – M4 Part II
The completion of any role-playing game, even without side quests and ultimate weapons, bears a sense of accomplishment, especially at Mass Effect’s length. These feelings of elation at one’s ability are made even better with a triumphant ending theme, something that puts a cap on your contentment. Mass Effect's opens with a guitar riff halfway between the latest alternative rock single and the victory theme from Top Gun, acting as a modern take on the “epilogue montage” moment that often accompanies the main credits, with a little bit of a electronic ambiance thrown in to prevent it from descending too much into Kenny Loggins-levels of cheese. This piece makes it on the list for the moment when we first hear it, in addition the song's own merit. More so than any other credit music, this primped, Emo-esque ballad caters to the feeling of finality and accomplishment felt at the end of an adventure only a role-playing game could provide. It doesn’t hurt that Part II follows one of the best games of last year, either.
#6: Silent Hill 2 - Theme of Laura
The Silent Hill series is unrivaled in atmosphere. The game’s uncanny ability to maintain a state of constant tension and unease was always aided with a claustrophobic level design and, more importantly, Akira Yamaoka’s score. His predilection towards sounds both weird and alluring was never more beautifully demented than in this tune. Despite the soothing melody, there is something unnerving crawling beneath this tune's surface. This theme epitomized the series’ motto of “simultaneous attraction and repulsion;” a perfect medley of an electric and acoustic guitar, with a haunting undercurrent of echoed strings and computerized sound effects, not to mention the famous mandolin of the series's opening. Not quite gothic, not quite horror, the song bleeds atmosphere and haunting beauty; everything that makes Silent Hill the ultimate series of survival horror.
#5: Chrono Cross - Time Scar
It was buried under its popular brother, Chrono Trigger, but not for lack of quality. In fact, many fans’ cite the sequel’s soundtrack as just one of the ways this RPG is superior to Trigger, offering up Time Scar as evidence. It’s not difficult to see why this one song could be held up to such a standard, being one of the most self-contained musical pieces in the genre. It begins as a light and airy piece, a relaxing Celtic melody, useful for gameplay in towns and inns. Without hesitation, it slips into a string-heavy, fast-paced drumbeat set, exceptional for combat and exploration gameplay. It’s the game itself set to melody, a poetically paced narrative coupled with a deep and rewarding combat system. If Square's smart, gamers that made the mistake of passing this one up will be playing Time Scar re-made for this generation.
#4: Legend of Zelda - Overworld Theme
If ever there was a tune that embodied the word, “classic,” here it be. For most of us, this song is synonymous with our first fun video game experience, and it hasn’t gotten any less powerful with time. It’s an upbeat and jaunty tune that makes all who hear it want to go out on their own adventure, sword and shield in hand. It symbolized the pure fun one had when playing the game, whether it was in the first few minutes or the last hour. Link has been forever tied to the song since, and developers have carried the mantle with pride, reinventing it each generation with new orchestration. But its the classical tune that will ever be immortal, embedded in minds and hearts of any gamers that long to quest.
#3: Final Fantasy VI - Terra's Theme
“I don’t think I have what it takes to make a good action game. I think I’m better at telling a story.” This was Hironobo Sakaguchi’s response to what type of game would be made with the last of - then-failing - Square’s money. The first Final Fantasy was published under that credo, and each one after it pays respect to Sakaguchi-san’s original vision. For many fans, nowhere is Hironobo’s idea embodied more perfectly than in Terra’s Theme in Final Fantasy VI. This is the perfect song to complement the words “once upon a time.” It’s a sense of weighted whimsy; a folkloric lightness coupled with a dramatic foundation. It’s the first six games of the series brought into a single tune, a reflection on where the series has been with an acknowledgement to what it hoped to accomplish in the future. It’s modern Shakespeare, the perfect prologue to an adventure of Team Fantasy’s standards.
#2: Tetris - Main Theme
Think about how much of your life has been spent playing Tetris. On the Gameboy, the PC, your cell phone, the NES and all of its other incarnations. Think of how long you spent on each playthru, how long it took to beat each level. Add that up over your lifetime, and for many people the total runtime is longer than what it takes to beat all of the Final Fantasies put together. You may have hated it, loved it, or never gave enough notice to it as you watched the blocks drop. But however you thought of the song, one thing is for sure, it didn’t stop playing once the power button was turned off. It was lodged in your head for at least a few days, coming out as humming or whistling or just having it play over and over in your mind as you go about your day. That alone gives it a spot. It’s one of the most remix-able songs in history, it’s a repeatable tune that doesn’t have that snag at the end when the track starts over, and its one of the first tunes we as a generation remember in terms of gaming. It. Will. Never. Leave.
#1: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – Theme
Harry Gregson-Williams, of the Hans Zimmer filmmaking studio, was tapped by Kojima for the score of Sons of Liberty. Although he produced an intense and cinematic soundtrack for the project, it is this main theme of the game that has become instantly identifiable with both the series and its creator. The orchestral piece has an intense emotional arch, beginning in a traditional covert military style with computerized sound effects and a strong bass, but with a steady speed: strings are added, with their ascending crescendo. A sense of strength and power are built, only to be crushed seconds later as the entire song falls into a silence. Then, from the ashes of the first set comes the slow rise of the familiar tune, the sense of power replaced with a more somber tone as they play out their stanza. The strings are slowly added, also at a slower pace, with triumphant vocals sewing the orchestration together. The sense of strength found in the first set replaced with one of hurt pride; what was loud and chest-thumping returns at a humbled, poetic pace, only to finish with the highest point in the theme, an ultimate triumph after sobering defeat. Intense, emotional, inspirational and patriotic, it acts as a perfect abbreviation of the series, a microcosm of Kojima’s fiction and storytelling capabilities, and a summary of Snake’s philosophical journeys. If ever you find yourself trapped in life, a situation seemingly too difficult to complete, play this tune, just once, and regain back your strength. Remember what’s it like to be moved, to be empowered, to be human. Its a remarkable achievement to capture such essence and depth within just a few moments of music, but Gregson-Williams resounding success, and the powerful feelings across the world that its caused, makes its placement easy to bestow. This is the greatest theme in the history of video games.
When Bungie made Halo 1, they had a finished product. Granted, there were issues and some flaws, but the majority of the game was fun and worked pretty well. On the other hand, Halo 2 exacerbates issues from Halo 1 while adding all new issues. Halo 2 follows the same style as its predecessor, with a familiar mix of semi tacticular combat and staged battles, but they also add several major features to the mix. First off, Master Chief and the second playable character, the Arbiter, can both duel wield smaller weaponry. Second off, the story diverges drastically from its original form by splitting the events in the storylines between Master Chief and the Arbiter. Third off, several new weapons make their arrival, but some of these additions were present in the PC version of Halo 1 and don't make much improvement over previous versions if at all. Fourth off, Bungie included some extra replayability through the form of hidden skulls designed to challenge skilled players on Legendary difficulty. Fifth off, Halo 2 kick started the Xbox LIVE phenomenom and remains one of the most played games on the service.
Story: Master Chief has returned triumphantly from his deadly trials on the original Halo. However, this time the Covenant are bringing the battle Earthbound instead of the other way around. Missions will alternate between Master Chief and the Arbiter with an eventual meeting point between the two opposing heroes. Some people claim that the Arbiter's story and continual presence weaken the game. I disagree, the Arbiter's story is far more intriguing than Master Chief's and the Arbiter feels more human than our armored hero. Also, the Arbiter has one major advantage over the Chief: he can turn invisible for short periods of time. I do not plan on ruining the story for you, but if you haven't heard by now the stories about Halo 2's terrible ending, you need to pay more attention to the world around you.
I'm not going to rehash the controls, gameplay, etc. segments, so if you want a more in depth idea about what Halo 2 is like to play, go to the Halo: Combat Evolved review I linked to.
One brief note about the sound: quite a bit of the music comes from rock groups instead of the previous Gregorian Chant, but its presence can still be heard. There's nothing particularly bad about it, but it feels repetitive after a while.
Problems: (some rehashes, but some new ones too) AI(friendly and enemy) is still terribly retarded even on the hardest difficulties or the extreme opposite of retardation, enemy and friendly units do not waste ammo when they fire (they can shoot continuously for at least an hour, while my max utilization period for a completely full weapon would be about 2 minutes tops. After one hour, I got bored and killed them, so it is feasible they run out of ammo at 1+ hours in, but no one will ever waste their time proving this.), again no change to co-op mode to accomodate 2 Chiefs or 2 Arbiters, gameplay feels stale by the time you finish the game, some glitches and hackers, remaining continuity errors, took out some of the unique melee animations to replace with a generic one, some incredibly laughable voice acting, the Arbiter and all of the Covenant have the stupidity to design weapons where they can not reload/refill should they run out of energy (Plasma pistol, Plasma rifle, Plasma Sword), story's ending could have been written better by allowing seals to randomly pick idea balls from a tank filled with the like of 4chan, final boss is incredibly lame, some circuitous level design, and relating to Master Chief remains harder than some Halo fanboy erections (Do not look up that last word even with safesearch on).
Bias from media and public opinion: I will say one thing, I didn't listen to previews, reviews, or play demos, I played the game at a friend's house and decided to eventually buy the game. Maybe these external influences change people's opinions dramatically, but I didn't complain about an E3 tech demo not staying within the game or bit*h about the Arbiter's presence, so maybe some oversensitive players should disregard information about any game as it will discolor your true opinion. However, the one thing that I do agree with the majority of public opinion is the climax to the story. The story's end is lackluster at best and leaves some gaping holes within the player's mind.
Good: (some rehashes, but again some new ones) Interesting new character, easy to relate to Arbiter, some interesting religious statements hinted at, increased variety in enemies, somewhat smarter AI, new weapons, online multiplayer works well, many people still play this game, co-op mode, LAN parties still feasible, some interesting easter eggs, more replayability with skulls, some minute balancing changes are good while others can ruin your favorite weapons, ability to take weapons from friendly AI, kill friendly AI and they will eventually retaliate, new modes of gameplay, return of all voice actors for better or for worse, and finally, simple and easily accessible gameplay.
Halo 2 is what I call a game at an unpassable crossroad. The game proceeds along pretty well, but it continues to lose track of where to go. If you haven't played the game, you probably have a good reason, but if you don't, try the game and enjoy a prime example of rushed games that still turned out ok. If you like Halo 1 or can stand console shooters, this game is worth at least a rental. For most of us, a purchase remains a little excessive unless you plan on playing the multiplayer frequently.
What did you think of my review? Any concerns you would like to bring up or complaints against my review other than the fact that I'm reviewing a game that no longer needs reviewing?
Sincerely, randomduded12
Note: I don't think polls are the way to go. So few people respond, it seems futile. __________________
Feel free to repost on other sites or whatever, even if you just want to point out I committed a solecism on page three line 8, you smarmy grammar Nazi. One condition: maintain my username within this review/article under any and all circumstances. Contact me with a PM for information regarding online gaming with me or other accounts I have. Don't hate on videogames, they suck more than they should anyway. "I'm a hypocrite" -Randomduded12 "LOGIC IS GOD!!!11!"
[IMG] [/media] [/media] [/IMG] Halo: Combat Evolved Release Date: November 15, 2001 (Xbox in North America)/ September 30, 2003 (PC in North America) Developer:Bungie Studios (Xbox)/ Gearbox Studios (PC) Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios Genre: First-Person Shooter ESRB Rating: Mature Blood and Gore, Violence
Intro
Halo: Combat Evolved, a game that has been called the best game on the Xbox by multiple gaming sites and magazines, has been available for about 7 years now. It has also been available for the PC for about 6 years now. This edition has also recieved rave reviews. The game effectively combines narrative and frenetic combat into a cohesive game, but is it overrated?
[IMG] [/IMG] You will fight against multiple opponents with various UNSC or various Covenant weaponry.
Story
Halo's story begins with an alien invasion of a Naval space ship called the Pillar of Autumn. To counteract the assault, one man and one AI chip have to rise up to the challenge and overcome all odds. The characters have believable human emotions and take actions that will come back to haunt them later, but the story, in my opinion, is a little contrived. The generic superman complex, the overcome all odds theme, and the alien storyline all seem fairly weak looking back. Most of the characters are well portrayed and believable; human emotions are expressed through simple cut scenes and dialog, but rarely will the player see or learn of his feelings. As this super soldier proceeds across "Halo", a mysterious ring the Pillar of Autumn crash landed on, he will discover unknown secrets and have to deal with the consequences. Perhaps I'm a little biased because I read the novelization before playing the game, but I never felt satisfied with the provided story. There's nothing inherently wrong, it just seems like so many other plots before it.
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Vehicles take a large part of the game play in Halo, but a soldier can always take one out with enough skill and a little luck.
Game play
The game play is what I call standard first-person shooter game. There are two main types of guns: Covenant (alien) and UNSC (human). Within each section, there are further subgenres with side arms, rifles, anti-vehicle weaponry, etc.. The game tries to vary the objectives throughout its approximately 9 hour storyline, but the generic objectives will remain very similar. You have to kill N amount of enemies or create a path to this point by going up to here and activating light bridge number 1. To progress through the story, you will have to improvise with the weaponry on hand while listening to your Computer AI, Cortana. Master Chief or John-117 can only carry two main weapons with him without utilizing a glitch of some sort, but he can always carry up to 4 of each kind of grenade (plasma or fragmentary). Plasma grenades will stick to an enemy if thrown correctly and consequently kill most of the enemy types. Fragmentary grenades will explode and injure or kill opponents depending on the type and the damage they have previously sustained.
The types of enemies (beware, some spoilers will occur): Grunt ( basic enemy/weak), Jackal (moderate enemy/ average), Elite (leader enemy/ strong), Hunters (rare enemy/ extremely powerful), Flood infection forms (weak), Flood carriers (weak, but will explode), Flood combat forms (varies, but in general strong).
In addition to ground combat, there are multiple vehicles available to the Chief at various points in his struggle. Each vehicle has its advantages and disadvantages, so they remain somewhat fair to all players and opponents. Master Chief will endure quite a few blasts, but he can survive thanks to a high tech suit called the MJOLNIR armor. This suit will form a refillable shield against all attacks, but John can also heal himself through health packs scattered throughout Halo. The game play won't win any awards from me, but it works and remains fun for the majority of the time spent in game. Besides, explosions are fun no matter how many times you create them.
Audio Halo's music is the kind of music everyone should aspire to. The music enhances any emotions you experience during the course of the game. It is energetic, well timed, incredibly immersive with the world, and just plain amazing. The voice acting is admirably done with only a few lines I was chuckling at, but usually they were meant to create a sense of humor. Some incredible production values really show how much effort the sound designers gave. There are no annoying lyrics, just an inspired track list that seems to sound akin to Gregorian Chant. The music maintains the caliber of high quality movies and will intensify enjoyment for most players.
Controls
The controls for this game utilize the standard first-person shooter controls for both available versions, with camera control/aiming handed to the mouse or right analog stick. [IMG] [/IMG] For the pc controls, go to
The controls are responsive, tight, and in general placed well. On the Xbox controller, the flashlight and switch grenade buttons are a little annoying to hit, but everything else seems to work fine.
Good Aspects The controls, story isn't bad, some amazing user mods/hacks on the PC, multiple profiles running through campaign and multiplayer, multiplayer community still alive, fairly long and interesting campaign, great maps, interesting characters, varied weaponry, chat box on PC, information displays in both campaign and multiplayer are well designed, multiple vehicles, some amount of balance, multiple difficulties that can unlock some small bonuses, multiple multiplayer modes, melee is fun and brutal, editions for both PC and Xbox, free online multiplayer for PC, free PC demo with some multiplayer content, AI is in general intelligent, some hilarious extras, well designed enemies, system link on Xbox for more than 4 player LAN parties, and cooperative play on Xbox.
Problems Locations of certain functions don't fit well, lag on PC version, AI can cheat (they can waste ammo forever, but they never seem to run out unless you kill them. Fancy that?), continuity errors (Sergeant Johnson appears throughout the campaign, but even if you purposely kill him during the campaign or unlock the bonus video on Legendary for the PC (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ-EKBf85iI) , he shows up in Halo 2. Just keep him alive while he is shown to me, it's not that hard), no cooperative modes on PC other than team death match, ammo can pop up in the most unlikely places, game feels stale now, certain weapons are somewhat overpowered, health packs (Health depletes far too quickly), no adaptation to multiple Chiefs for coop mode (some change or recognition would be nice), the energy shield takes a long time to recharge, your military teammates that join the Chief on his journey are moronic to the highest degree, and in my opinion the plot never really lived up to the novelization's version.
I could go on, but I feel I have written enough.
Summary
Halo is definitely a good game, but it is nowhere near the best Xbox game or shooter game. If you want a solid FPS (first-person shooter) experience, you can definitely do worse than either of Halo's versions. However, the corollary is that you can easily find better games. If you haven't tried Halo, I would recommend a rental for the Xbox and at the very least to try the PC demo if not purchase it for the PC. No one will really care about the Xbox edition, but the PC one is still thriving, at least until Vista becomes the standard operating system and everyone can play Halo 2 five years after it released on the Xbox.
I'm not going to give game scores anymore simply because the reader and I will never agree completely and our various forms of hierarchal ranking will differ drastically depending on our experiences with the subject.
Thank you for reading! Make sure to check out my user page to find other reviews from me and if you want to, subscribe to me on any of my sites.
Sincerely, randomduded12 __________________ Feel free to repost on other sites or whatever, even if you just want to point out I committed a solecism on page three line 8, you smarmy grammar Nazi. One condition: maintain my username within this review/article under any and all circumstances. Contact me with a PM for information regarding online gaming with me or other accounts I have. Don't hate on videogames, they suck more than they should anyway. "I'm a hypocrite" -Randomduded12 "LOGIC IS GOD!!!11!"
I've held off on presenting this for quite awhile, basically because I wanted to start up a challenge to the gamers to come up with what they thought would make for an original game. Then supposedly I would blow everyone away with mine.
But given recent events, I think it's time to just come out and show what I've got.
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For George Carlin.
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I call this one......"Bad Baby!!"
You play the role of a 47-year-old semi-retarded alcoholic that has an adult-baby fetish.
After an accident drinking tainted breastmilk, this freak manbaby has the oddball superpower to crush his enemies with his sonic manbaby-cry. Secondary weapons would involve a lead rattle, beer bottles painted white to look like baby ba-ba's, toy horsey Shurikens, a touch-activated talking teddy bear, and his own loaded diaper.
The controls can be simplified to the classic TMNT style of jump and attack, but to really take advantage of the extended attack options, a third attack button would let you you use whatever was in your sub-weapon slot at the time, and a fourth would let you use your charged-up sonic manbaby cry. Controlling the Manbaby can be as easy as using either the D-pad or the analog stick.
Levels would include:
* Generic street level with hordes of disgusted citizens and lowly cops on the beat.
* A drunken rage at a local biker bar.
* Brawling with security on the set of the Spring Jerringer Show.
* A drug-induced stroll through a very colorful land of candy (Which turns out to be another generic street level after completing it).
and
* A local gun-toting militia consisting of, surprisingly, rival manbabies with the sole intent of taking you down.
Bonus games would involve getting burped by a very embarassed hooker, attempting to use cuteness to get out of a public indecency arrest, picking the perfect mother to breastfeed with, and scaring real babies at a day-care center by making faces with the analog sticks, face buttons, and the shoulder buttons.
My lack of experience with the Xbox 360 can only leave me to wonder if there's ways of using the x360 headset to send voice commands into the game itself (like Lifeline and the SOCOM games for the PS2). If so, then there could be room for even more insane shit.
There could be a cheat code screen where you only see the Manbaby staring at the player, and the analog sticks control which way his hands rub his fat hairy manboobs (Clicking the analog sticks would squeeze the manboobs), and if you do the proper motions while saying certain phrases or talking a certain way in the headset, you could unlock various cheats. But the method would be so disturbing that, well, why would you WANT to?
The cheat code entry would also be recorded and sent to XBox Live for contest purposes of who can make the funniest and/or most disturbing variation of a cheat code entry.Obviously, you have to reward the winners with something, so give them Microsoft Points. They earned it.....sick fucks.
Direct all hate-mail to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
:-D
Castlevania, Contra, Metal Gear, Lone Ranger. You look at Konami, and you think "Oh yeah. Greatness." But did you know that Konami was also a bunch of assholes?
Now before you scream for MY severed head on a stick (http://www.screwattack.com/node/4393), I'll explain this line of thinking:
-----Contra----- Lack of arcade ports when the hardware was available. Granted, the NES games were superb, and still hold to this day. But it took them twenty years to bring the arcade originals to the home consoles? I can understand not doing it with the NES and Super NES with the limited hardware, but the Playstation was more than capable, and maybe even the N64. The previous-gen consoles have enough space to put all of the contra games (Arcade, NES, SNES, and Genesis) onboard, as well as more than enough processing power to handle it. Konami just didn't want to give it to us.
-----Gradius----- We never got the real sequel to the franchise, and instead got a Gradius-hacked version of Salamander called Lifeforce, with the levels re-arranged, and with new boss characters. Gradius 3's Super NES port was simply rushed, and never got rid of the slowdown bug. Obviously they had to chop out some of the content to save space. Plus for some reason, when the Gradius 3&4 collection was released for the PS2, they chose to ONLY release 3&4 on the disc. Were they trying to cut costs with the CD-ROM format? Release the whole goddamned series on a disc! THERE'S MORE THAN ENOUGH SPACE ON THE DISC. Gradius, Gradius 2, Gradius 3, Gradius 4, Salamander, and even Salamander 2. Hell you could even fit the Parodius games on the disc as unlockable extras! Konami just didn't want to give it to us...........wait, it's on the PSP? Oh fuck you, Konami.
-----Metal Gear----- Oh Jesus, this one hurts. You have a butchered NES port, a completely-DIFFERENT sequel that even Kojima despised, and a story that was given the tentacle rape treatment because Ultra Games thought they could do it better. Us Yankee folk were forced to buy the Playstation 1 & 2 games twice because the Japs give themselves additional features after bringing the single game to our shores. Either release the full experience from the start, or suffer the backlash. Take your pick, pricks.
Castlevania series:
-----Haunted Castle----- For those that look for the ultimate Castlevania challenge, the first one is the biggest one. Yes, Haunted Castle was a remake of the first game, and to really screw with you, they only give you one life. Try to take that in. Seriously. One life. It's hard enough to play through the first NES game without continuing at least once, let alone DYING just once. This game deserves to be on XBox Live, if and any just for the achievement points and leaderboards.
-----Rondo of Blood----- I'm very pissed about Konami only releasing this game on the PSP. I'm not buying a PSP for this. Fuck you, Konami. You had a GOLDEN opportunity to please the fans when the Playstation homebrew project was underway.
Believe it or not, much like Final Fantasy 5, a group of developers were working on an unofficial port of Rondo of Blood for the PS1, until Konami shut it down. Despite the fan-interest, there was no official port on the PS1, not even in Japan. Konami just didn't want to give it to us. You notice a pattern here?
===================================== =====Unreleased Arcade Greatness===== ===================================== The Japanese got a Konami Classics collection for the Playstation and Saturn. Us Americans had to wait for the Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, and PS2 to get the 1980s arcade games. Here was some arcade greatness of the 80s and 90s that you may not have known about, but kicked serious ass.
-----Ajax----- Konami's Gradius-esque answer to Xevious, but with a special take: Lots of powerups to utilize, and an alternate flying machine of death for between levels. What other game lets you point an F-15 straight down at a battleship and not crash the damn thing? Classic.
Seriously, skip to 3:25 and see for yourself.
-----Crime Fighters----- You can never have too many four-player beat-em-ups, you also can never have too many games where the overall goal was to save twice as many girls as there are limits on the amount of players (Who doesn't want a girl on each arm?). The only complaint I have with this game is that you only have one life, and you gotta keep pumping quarters to keep your strength up.
-----Devil World----- This was a nice attempt to merge Gauntlet with Gradius. You have two characters, an Indiana Jones-esque archeologist and a Barbie-doll reporter who were sucked through a portal into a world of demons. Luckily, there are powerups all over the place that increase your speed, give you shields, flamethrowers, lasers, and even sticks of dynamite. Unfortunately, when the game was brought to the States, the name was changed to Dark Adventure (eh), a third player was introduced (yay!), the players now only have melee combat (hmm), the Gradius powerup system was removed (huh?), the level layout was randomized (the fuck?), and the boss monsters were removed (wait a minute!), making the game unwinnable whereas Devil World had an ending (Oh fuck you!). This hits a little close to home for me, as I used to play Dark Adventure at the local Big Lots......and came to regret it.
Unfortunately, there's no existing video of Dark Adventure, so here's Devil World:
-----G.I.Joe----- This game reeks of awesomeness. What other G.I.Joe game out there was simply about a small squad of Joes rushing the most fortified of Cobra's fortresses, and blasting the shit out of EVERYTHING? This was worth every wasted quarter, and the time spent blowing up the weapons factory. This is what G.I.Joe was about, plain and simple.
Duke, Scarlett, Roadblock, and Snake Eyes, the original wrecking crew(tm).
-----Guitar Freaks----- Make no mistake, Guitar Hero and Rock Band are great games, but don't kid yourself: They are knockoffs. Konami started the movement with Guitar Freaks, along with Drum Freaks, Beatmania, Keyboardmania, and Dance Dance Revolution. Will the originator please stand up and claim the throne?
November Update: I know that Konami decided to go the same route as Guitar Hero and Rock Band with their own version, but it's just too late.
-----Iron Horse----- Nothing like a train robbery to make for a good game plot. Yes, for the first time in gaming, you get to be the evil cowboy train robber. Just simple fun.
-----Jail Break----- Same graphical style as Iron Horse and Green Beret, only now you're one of the present-day city's finest, aiming to stop the outbreak of escaped prisoners from a maximum security prison, and save a few hostages while at it.
-----Lightning Fighters----- The video speaks for itself:
-----M-I-A----- For those who played Rush'n'Attack or Green Beret, this is the sequel to both games, and it shows. The same mechanics, but now there's hidden areas, and new dangers to avoid. Veterans of the original games are in for a surprise with this one.
-----MX5000----- This is an interesting vertical shooter. Much like Xevious, this also has a bomb-launching button, but in this game, it crawls along the ground, a-la Gradius, and explodes on contact with an enemy. The boss battles have an interesting take that hasn't seen seen again until Star Fox 64: All-range mode. During boss battles, you're not limited to facing and firing upwards. You can face and fire in eight directions.
-----Simpsons----- Not much needs else to be said. It's the TMNT game with upgraded mechanics and replaced with a different trademarked license. But awesome nonetheless.
-----Solar Assault----- Gradius meets Star Fox. I only got to play this in the arcades once at the local Wal-Mart, and was blown away by how fast and smooth the controls were.
-----X-Men----- The only time Konami got to make use of the X-Men license, and they made it memorable. It was the first time I had ever seen a game with two screens, and six players. Unfortunately, I only ever saw the 6-player cabinet at places like Cedar Point in Ohio.
But hold on: Konami was not always flawless with their arcade titles.......
Arcade Exceptions:
-----Monster Maulers----- Dear god. Just......no. The gaming concept makes for a refreshing take on the classic 2D-Fighter, but most likely, the chick will be the most-chosen character to play as. Anyone who chooses either of the dudes will have their sexuality SEVERELY-questioned. No doubt about it.
Konami, what the fuck?!
-----Mr. Goemon----- The origin of the Goemon/Mystical Ninja series, not much can really be said about it. The Super NES game was neat, but I just can't get into the series in general. That's just me, though.
-----Violent Storm----- Typical beat-em-up plot: Girlfriend gets kidnapped, and you bring your friends along to help rescue her. The only problem I have with this game is: Which game are they trying to be a ripoff to?!
* Large characters: Final Fight. * Crudely-detailed characters: Streets of Rage. * Special moves: Street Fighter 2.
This one has 'em all!
In conclusion: I know Konami has made some great games over the years, but much like Nintendo, they chose to screw us over by letting some of their games rot than allow us to play them on a home console. Fuck the handhelds, these deserve to be played on a TV. Until Konami gets the message, I'm whipping out my Xbox version of MAME, and flipping them the finger.
Don't let tall buildings tell you what you can and cannot play, and on what.
The release date for Sonic Unleashed, the latest adventure of video game's only blue, spiny, hyper-kinetic mammal is but a few days away, and Sonic fans have their hopes high that this could be the return-to-form that Sega had been hyping over and over. Let me address those Sonic fans directly for one moment:
Stop it.
Speaking as someone who hasn't enjoyed a Sonic game since he left the 2nd dimension, let me say that while I'm intrigued by the return to 2D gameplay, mark my words, this ISN'T the return to form that you've been waiting for. There's a very good chance that this game will be just as bad as Sonic 2006.
Okay, maybe not THAT bad, but still...There's not much cause to get your hopes up as high as you're getting them.
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HERE'S HOW I KNOW:
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1. The Humans Are Still There
I can't begin to fathom why there'd be humans in a Sonic the Hedgehog game. Sure Dr. Robotnik sort of resembles a human, (And it IS Dr. Robotnik if you're American. If you call him Dr. Eggman you are a whipped, Japanophile pansy, and I invite you to go stick some pocky up your ass.) but I thought that it ended there.
Surely I wasn't the only one getting a "Nature vs Humanity" vibe from the first few games, as though the anthromorphic creatures were defending the habitat of their slightly less evolved bretheren. If they had any sort of sense, shouldn't the rest of humanity be seen as some sort of antagonist?
But no, instead we've got humans associating with giant bi-pedal animals as if there's nothing wrong. Ridiculousness aside, the inclusion of humans and human cities has added NOTHING to the gameplay. (It's taken plenty away however, in the form of moronic side-quests in Sonic The Hedgehog 2006.)
2. The Music Still Sucks
This is more a personal hatred than anything else, but I can't stand how just about every level in the 3D Sonic games are filled with chunky guitars and shrill-voiced pop-punk vocalists. I think it takes away from the game when the background music barely fits the stage scenario, and sounds extremely annoying.
While not a lot of info has been leaked in regards to the music, after hearing what HAS been available on YouTube, and the godawful theme music, which features of all people, the guy from Bowling For Soup. (Never a good sign.) I can honestly say they're doing it all over again.
I've never liked the soundtracks of any of the 3D Sonic games. They're just completely unpleasant to me. The last Sonic-related song I genuinely liked was when Green Hill Zone was remade for Super Smash Brothers Brawl. That was pretty cool, because anyone who's a Sonic fan pretty much considers Green Hill Zone to be THE signature Sonic song. (Okay, there's the intro to the original, but that's barely more than 7 seconds long.) Lately though it seems as though Sega's been trying to distance itself from its old and BETTER soundtracks from it's Genesis/CD heydays. And that's a really bad idea.
3. Sonic Gets Turned Into A Were-Kratos
I'm sure much of the video game community, Sonic fan or not, all raised a collective eyebrow of confusion upon the discovery that Sonic Unleashed would include a strange new feature in which Sonic can transform into a were....thing...that was stronger, slower, and had impossibly elasticine arms.
I watched many videos of gameplay footage of that, never sure what to think until Yahtzee Croshaw summed it up best during an episode of the Australian Gamers Podcast, when he compared the new gameplay style to God of War. (Prior to that, I thought it looked more like Wario World.)
Whatever the case, it's not a good omen. Everytime Sega has had to introduce new elements of gameplay to Sonic games as means of "mixing things up", it generally means one thing: You don't get to play a genuine Sonic game.
What is a genuine Sonic game? Really really inhumanly fast platforming. It's not a God of War-style brawler. When you drive a wedge in the game to block off what people EXPECT from the game, I have found that the hypothetical player enjoying the game now hates you for it.
4. More New Useless Characters
Think back long and hard. When was the last time that you truly embraced the introduction of a new character in the Sonic franchise? Sonic 3, right? When Knuckles was introduced. After that it was just one long trip towards expanded universe Hades.
If there's one thing that Sega likes to do more than shoot its own hardware in the foot, and release its entire Genesis library on Greatest Hits packs, it's add more completely superficial characters to the Sonic franchise, and Unleashed at least holds back a little bit, with only two new characters; an extremely annoying sidekick thing, (Because Tails apparently wasn't enough.) and a new villain, which is unacceptable considering how long it's been since Dr. Robotnik hasn't been a complete joke.
I wouldn't mind the introduction of all these new faces so much, (Heck, the Super Mario RPGs do it all the time.) but Sega is always carrying these characters over into the main canon, and it gets to the point where they have as many characters as The Simpsons. WHO THE FUCK IS G.U.N., and more importantly WHY SHOULD WE CARE?!
Which is another point I ought to bring up: Sega just keeps adding and adding and adding to their already expansive castlist inconsequential character after another. I defy you to name one person who is a fan of "Marine The Raccoon." You can't name any, can you? Am I right? I'm right, aren't I. 9_9
5. 3-D
While I'm ever so slightly optimistic about the "seamless 3D-to-2D" system of camera switching that Sega has been hyping so much, and I'm genuinely pleased that they're making something of return to Sonic's 2-D roots, I shudder thinking about the 3-D portions.
Why? A while ago I played Sonic Adventure 2 which I had lying around, just because I hadn't played it in a long time, and as I played it the game was made far harder than it should have been because their camera system is one of the WORST ONES I'VE EVER SEEN IN A VIDEO GAME.
Regularly I found the camera getting stuck behind walls, (Leaving my character completely obscured from view.) switching to dramatic angles at the least opportune moment, (Which is another thing I dislike. the pretention that the game was some sort of dramatic epic.) and the sudden perspective switch, where I suddenly find my character turning around in the opposite direction, into the oncoming truck I was supposed to run away from.
This god-awful camera system carried into Sonic 2006, which was one of the worse games of the year, and if Sonic Team didn't learn from their blithering mistake then I shudder to think.
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These are just MY perceptions of what I've seen so far. Who knows? Once Unleashed DOES come out, the game might be a glimmering gem of good game design, they might have fixed up the camera angles, and they might have gotten a better writing staff and voice actors that don't always sound like they're reading their lines out of context. It could be good, but heed my words, and take caution.
videogame
Review of Sly Cooper and The Thievius Raccoonus (PS2) 
"I'm a hypocrite"
