The Grind and the Grinder or One more post before April.

  "Just because High Voltage Software's horror shoot 'em up The Grinder is making the leap to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, transitioning from first-person perspective to top-down shooter, doesn't mean the original Wii version is dead. Far from it.

According to High Voltage's CEO Eric Nofsinger, the Wii version is still a going concern, it just may stick to its Left 4 Dead-like roots when played on a Wii Remote. Nofsinger tells IGN that the developer has "invested more than year into the Wii" version and "we wouldn't want to see that work 'thrown away,'"

The most recent version of The Grinder we played at GDC was of the high-definition top-down variety, akin to the developer's Hunter: The Reckoning games."Kotaku...

 

      To this I ask WHAT?  So your going to take your hot property and split it?  A game that was probably not going to do anything in the first place is now going to have the wonderful world of PR confusion to be added to the list of it's back of the box features.  Most of the folks interested in this game were interested in the original concept that was on the Wii not the get, "get 2, yes 2 games for the price of one."  Concept that High Voltage has managed to push through the preverbal door.  Having seen the new version of the XBOX 360 and PS3 version running on Youtube, I have to say I'm not at all interested or impressed.  The main problem seems to be that it LOOKS like an old game and plays like an old game.  It seems like something that would be on XBOX LIVE ARCADE or PSN.  Not a full boxed product.  However, the original Wii Concept seems to have the potential.

       In other not so much news, it seems that the longer I play through Final Fantasy XIII the more of a grind it becomes.  I honestly am beginning to be reminded greatly of World of Warcraft as I fight my way through the 3rd or 4th version of the same monster.  I really hate it when a developer creates a REALLY long game and can't support it with content.  If I have to keep fighting the same 4 enemies with just different colored skins I think I shall scream.  If you cannot make interesting monsters to populate your 40 hour game, perhaps you should reconsider the length of said game.

     Certainly fighting through areas where there would be similar enemies is one thing.  But when your fighting the same enemies over and over just because they just SO HAPPEN to be where you are, it's a little much.  I am fully capable of dealing with this sort of thing in an Massively Multiplayer Online game; but I play games like Final Fantasy XIII for a finely crafted story and interesting enemies.  Not the same rinse and repeat for hours on end.

    Of course, there are very few if any really long games that do this properly.  Which is part of the reason why the 40 hour game is all but dead except in the case of Fallout or Borderlands where the idea of the game is really to perform a mission and survive the environment by leveling up rather than simply going through a linear story.  Which is, of course, exactly what Final Fantasy XIII is.  The amount of linearity in the game is practically the same as that of Uncharted 2.  Except that the game doesn't have that kind of pacing or even action.  It's more like a half step toward Final Fantasy 12 and a half step back to 7.  Neither one really working very well.  The idea of allowing A.I. to control all but one character is fine in theory.  But in practice there were times when the A.I. just stood there or when they didn't execute the desired actions.  Especially in the areas of the Saboteur and the Synergist where actions are required in a particular way.  When an enemy has a weakness to being slowed, then you have to cast slow, every time.  Not just 4 out 6 times.  The Paradigm system is all right; but it doesn't have the finesse that the battle system in 12 had when you had unlocked all the actions and just simply making everything turned based is even better.  Here you can make whatever mistakes or victories on your own.  The idea that this doesn't work is proved by Dragon Age Origins.  Where you can have incredibly detailed and difficult battles.

      This is not a review, I'm just saying that at 20 hours, which is pretty much where the game is "supposed" to get good; it isn't very good.  If this is the apex of the game, it is truly disappointing.  The tutorial system is terrible and it begs for the player to purchase a strategy guide just to understand how the game is SUPPOSED to work.   Given the severe linearity of the game's structure it seems like the characters could be telling a MORE compelling story.  Certainly this false sense of urgency mixed with the sense that you have no idea where your going or why; is a little ridiculous.  Also the very idea that each battle is scored simply by how much damage you do per second is absolutely the silliest thing I've ever seen in a RPG.  So I intend on finishing the game for review, but it is with little happiness that I must allow FFXIII to remain in my que of games to finish sooner rather than later.  Because at this point, I'd just a soon; not.

Technorati Tags: xbox360,PS3,Grinder,FFXIII,Sony,Microsoft,Squaresoft,Finalfantasy

The Witcher 2 first 20 Minutes!

Wiedźmin 2: gameplay, cz.1

Modern Warfare 2 "Stimulus Pack" Aptly Named!

 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at IGN.com

 

You get five maps (three new, two remakes) will run you 1200 MS points or $15.  This is pretty understandable considering what Stimulus is.  You see, in economic terms the Stimulus is where the government gives money to big companies to get them out of financial trouble from taxes that they collect from regular folks who are just struggling to survive.  Well, here, Activision is taking your money and banking it because they had two of their top people leave/fired in the last month or so and this might be one of their last shots to cash in on the franchise.

   While the idea of this really ticks me off.  It doesn't matter too much to me, considering on the same day that the Stimulus Pack comes out I can get the Battlefield Bad Company 2 map pack for free.  Mmmm, $15 or free?  Sorry guys...  Hopefully you guys have moved on as well, but if not just remember that if you pay $15 for this now.  You won't be paying any less for future packs.  And I'm SURE there will be future map packs.

Technorati Tags: MW2. Modernwarfare2,Activision,Modernwarfare,map,XBOX360

Microsoft's Game Room Launched Yesterday! Not all Good, Not all Bad. But Inexpensive...

         Microsoft's Game Room launched yesterday.  It basically lives in the Games on Demand blade of XBOX LIVE MARKETPLACE.   The good news is that Game Room, the application is free.  You just download it.  But then, there are the free game packs, that you MUST download in order for Game Room to work.  These game packs are fine, but why don't they just live on the service as it is a completely separate entity to begin with.  As much as this is a Microsoft Published game application, it seems like they took every step to make sure that Game Room was not and is not a part of XBOX LIVE ARCADE.  Which seems really strange.

      Once you launch the service, Game Room checks the "game server," which I guess is the place where ranked games are posted and challenges are checked on.  The server seems to go up and down a lot.  Every time, I've started the Game Room app, the server has been down.  But while I'm playing it seems to be on and working. at least most of the time.  This whole thing seems very inelegant and it would, I think been better to simply change the interface and structure of XBOX LIVE ARCADE rather than making this whole new thing.

     Once you get into Game Room; you can play a bunch of games; once.  Another words, you can play Tempest as much as you want as long and you just keep hitting reset.  But if you move away from the game then you must either pay per play, which is 40 Microsoft points.  There is the option to buy the game for XBOX 360, that's 240 Microsoft points, and then you can buy it for both the PC and XBOX 360 for 400 Microsoft points.  I think the pricing is pretty good, except that some of the Atari and Intellivision games that are a little more simplistic like Adventure or Outlaw seem like a rip off for that many points.  While some of the Arcade games like Tempest seem like a budget buy.  So I guess they cancel each other out.  But I would suggest to everyone to play the demos for ALL GAMES first before you buy it.

    The games themselves are pretty good.  In fact, most of them are system perfect.  Whether they be from the Arcade or a home entertainment system.  There are Arcade games, Atari 2600 games, and Intellivision games.  All of which are pretty good.  I only purchased 2 games; but if I had more time to burn I would have probably bought 4 or 5 games.  But considering all the games coming out for review, I don't have time to play Game Room games all day.

      You can customize your arcade rooms.  Considering you can place lots of items and change the theme of lots of rooms.  The future of the system certainly has promise.  But the personal Arcade you get has enough room for are 6 rooms.  Which at this point, just makes finding games in the Arcade a pain.  One of my friends didn't place ANYTHING in his Arcade because he felt that there was just too much space and he wasn't going to buy that much stuff.  So he didn't buy anything and has been playing in my Arcade.  Yes, you can; through the Game Room app, you can go to your Friends game rooms and try out games or compete in Challenges that your Friends have sent you.

      While Game Room seems like a good idea.  It also seems like we have seen all this before.  I didn't buy Tempest on XBLA, because it was 400 points so I bought it on Game Room for 240.  But I'm not going to buy another version of Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, etc...  Because the versions on XBLA are great.  The Atari and Intellvision games could have been put out in a XBLA bundle for 1,000 points and call it a day.  There really doesn't seem to be a NEED for this service; even if it's pretty good.  It's not connected enough to XBOX LIVE and if we have to rely on this "game server."  What is going to happen on the weekend or when there are 100 games out there instead of 20-30?  I kind of like the execution of the Avatars in the Arcade space.  But I would have REALLY liked to see an XBOX LIVE ARCADE version, rather than something where the customer must pay all over again for games they all ready have.  Add me to your Friends lists(HadesTimer) and visit my Game Room anytime, I have Tempest and Centipede.  Hopefully the concerns I have will be fixed in the future with some killer games.  More Arcade games, folks that is what will get me to spend some money.

Technorati Tags: Arcade,Atari,Intellivision,Konami,Atari2600,Cabinet,GameRoom,Microsoft,XBOXLIVE,XBLA,XBOXLIVEARCADE,XBOX360

Some Live Super Street Fighter IV Fightin!

Gamereplays drops some CC4 Knowledge on us!(PC)

Command and Conquer 4: Tiberium Twilight(PC Review)

 

      In the interest of full disclosure, I love Command and Conquer.  I've played the past 3 versions that have come out and I was in the beta for #4.  This game is supposed to be the end of the series dealing with Tiberium and Kane.  But instead of a great story and traditional gameplay, your going to find something completely different.  But not all bad...

       The campaign is no big interest, there are plenty of traditional type missions for you to play on both Nod and GDI.  The cutscenes and in game cinematics are all right but nothing like Red Alert 3 or even Kane's Wrath.  I would have preferred if EA had gone the traditional route on this one in terms of storytelling.  Joe Kucan as all ways is great as Kane.  I really DO love the way he plays him.  I wish this wasn't the last one.  Maybe he will be back.  That would be sweet.  The biggest drawback to their new non-professional actor storytelling is the lack of punch to the cheesy performances and in most cases it leaves the player really not caring what happens to the characters.  The essence of the story is that the world is being destroyed by Tiberium and Kane has offered to join forces with GDI to stem the spread of Tiberium and eventually dwindle it.  This premise is fine but without the Scrin, I was all ready less interested in the campaign when I began.  Unfortunately this didn't get better.  The tutorial missions are pretty terrible and while the average player will probably fly through them at a break neck pace.  There will be some of you that feel the intensely guided nature of them; is just too annoying to fathom.  It's too bad they cannot be skipped.

    The gameplay here has changed.  There are no more resources and your army hasn't gotten ALOT smaller.  You won't be building structures or dropping your favorite units into a mad rush against the enemy.  No, you have one structure; it's called a Crawler.  This structure allows you to build a small number of units and pit them against your foes in control point type battles.  There can be as much as 10 people playing in mulitplayer either on the side of Nod or that of GDI.  As a Commander you earn XP either in the Campaign or in the Multiplayer.  This XP moves you up in the ranks and gives you new units and new technology.  This allows you to be more effective.  However, in the beginning your going to need to play it really low profile so that you don't just become a target for someone with a more developed tech tree.  You must move up that tech tree by grabbing crystals and dropping them back into spawn zones.  If your Crawler is destroyed, you do respawn after a few minutes.  But your team is going to lose some major points to your opponents; so you might not want to do it too often.  Spawning, whether it's the first time or the fourth you can choose between three different classes: Offense, Defense, or Support.  These different classes give you different powers and units.  You can make a go of any of the classes.  My limited experience is that you might not want to make a habit of changing classes mid-round.

       Mulitplayer is by and large the main reason you will want to pick this game up.  During the beta, tons of people started fresh and plenty of people had to start over with square one units.  Anyone who had earned their higher rank, easily schooled others who had not.  Because of this, the game is perhaps more balanced and more in depth than the previous Command and Conquers.  Because you can no longer tank spam, or solider rush your opponents it forces the player to understand the few units they do have and how they work.  Also, not concentrating on one class throughout your experience with the game can also hinder your proficiency with all the units.  By the definition of this result the game seems to be deeper than the previous versions.  However, the general strategy is much simpler here. 

    The problems with mulitplayer are pretty simple to explain.  No automatch, it just doesn't work.  No, way of finding a match other than to look at them and pick one.  No dedicated servers and you MUST be connected all the time or your progress doesn't count.  Considering how stable the game client is, this can be a challenge.  But what I've found is that the game just crashes completely rather than knocking me offline.  So I guess that's better, right?  Not really.  But all in all, the multiplayer is fun and I could put up with the problems for now.  Hopefully a patch is incoming.  For fans of games like Warhammer 40K 2 Dawn of War and Company of Heroes they will certainly love this game.  However, for fans of the previous game, they will find very little of what they love about the brand.

       EA has managed to bring some beautiful graphics and some descent audio.  The orchestral tracks, while I rarely listen to them, are certainly fitting for this game.  I did enjoy around half of the FMV scenes.  So it wasn't a total loss on the campaign side.  I do truly love the multiplayer side of the game.  The game is incredible, but they probably should have gone for a purely multiplayer game.  Perhaps leaving the campaign for an add-on  or something when it was completely ready or not at all.  It's a tragedy that this package is such a mixed bag.  I truly love the multiplayer, but I'm not sure I can recommend a $50 game for only half of it.  So take my review for what it's worth.  I love the multiplayer, but the rest... See you on the battlefield Commanders...

Technorati Tags: commandandconquer,CC4,EA,electronicarts,PC,Nod,GDI,Kane,multiplayer,RTS,Warhammer

 

EA's unannounced Premium Content Service. But that doesn't mean it isn't coming, right?

 

    "March 22, 2010 - Electronic Arts plans to offer extended downloadable demos for a price to players prior to the release of the full, packaged game, according to analyst Michael Pachter's latest investor report. 
      EA's Chief Operating Officer Nick Earl revealed the company's latest premium downloadable content (PDLC) strategy during a recent investor visit at its Redwood City studio, which includes charging a small price for an early look at upcoming titles.
"The PDLC would be sold for $10 or $15 through Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, and would essentially be a very long game demo, along the lines of 2009's Battlefield 1943," Pachter said. "A full-blown packaged game would follow shortly after the release of the PDLC, bearing a full retail price. Mr. Earl believes that the release of the PDLC first limits the risk of completing and marketing the full packaged version, and serves as a low-cost marketing tool."
           In a follow-up conversation with IGN, Pachter says these paid "demos" will act as a sort of beta test for the company, saying feedback received will shape the final retail product.
          "Think about Battlefield 1943 as the prototype, so a full (but short) game experience for a reasonable price," he said. "At the same time, an expanded version of the game will be under development for release as a packaged product."
"However, the idea is that if the PDLC gets favorable reviews, it will build word of mouth for the boxed product. If the PDLC has issues, they can tweak the packaged product to address those issues, improving the final product before release," he added.
Pachter said he wasn't sure if EA plans to include the PDLC content with the packaged game, adding that the content could be a "prequel" to the full game so it can continue to be sold separately. The strategy is expected to launch during the company's fiscal 2011 year, which begins on April 1, 2010.

            Update: Electronic Arts has responded to Pachter's report. The company told IGN it has not officially announced any pricing details for any projects, and that traditional free game demos will remain free.
     "EA is working on a number of projects for delivering premium content to consumers before, during, and after the launch of a packaged-goods version of the game," said Jeff Brown, VP of Corporate Communications. "EA SPORTS, EA Games and EA Play are each experimenting with download strategies that deliver fresh game content in formats players want to experience."

                "To date, there is no set pricing strategy for the entire EA portfolio. And many of the proposals include free-to-play content on models similar to Madden Ultimate Team, Battlefield Heroes and Battlefield 1943,

"None of the proposals call for charging consumers for traditionally free game demos."

" he added."IGN reports...

             I had mixed feelings about this, when I read it.  A demo of more than a couple of hours would be nice.  But $15?  That seems like a lot of money for a demo; considering those people who opt-in for the demo DO NOT get to pay $15 less for the game.  In that case, I would say, wonderful.  After all, if your thinking seriously about buying a game to begin with and then when playing this LONG demo you decide,

      "Hey I would like to buy this."  You should be rewarded for doing so. 

           In EA's defense however, I think that if this is happening; and there is NOTHING saying that it is.  It is probably not exactly as described above.  I would guess that perhaps pre-ordering the game will get you this demo or you can pay the $15.  EA lately, seems interested in rewarding customers for buying new and penalizing people who do not.

          I think all consumers are getting worried about paying extra for things they don't need or hidden costs for products they do need.  Also, I think publishers and developers are looking for new ways of getting paid.  I understand all of this, but we must not jump on a bandwagon either for or against something before we have ALL the facts.  I would certainly love to see some more information on EA's proposed plans, which I hope to see at E3.  Until then, don't worry be happy.

Technorati Tags: EA,ElectronicArts,DLC,demos,XBOXLIVE,PSN,PS3,XBOX360,Microsoft,Sony

Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing (XBOX 360 Review)

 

        The idea of a new kart racing game seems a little crazy in these days.  After all, there is Mario Kart for the Wii and Mario Kart for the DS.  What do we need with another kart racing game?  Well, if you don't own any Nintendo products, you might not have played a kart racer before.  Crazy, I know.  But Sega thinks that it's true, in fact they think so, so much that they have come out with Sonic and Sega All Star Racing for every console(including the Wii).

        Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing is an kart racer game.  The modes in the game are pretty standard.  There is a Time Trial mode, a Missions mode, a Grand Prix mode, and a Mulitplayer mode.  All of these are pretty much what you would expect.  The player is allowed to play with eight characters to start with and can unlock up to around 20 or so.  The mission mode also gives the player a tour of some of the locked tracks and characters.  All be these brief and repetitive tours, as there are around 50 misisons and only around 5 different variations.  The carrot on the stick, are Sega Miles which allow the player to unlock new characters, tracks, and soundtracks.  The player earns the miles by doing just about everything in the game.

        The actual racing is pretty standard, the player drifts by pulling a trigger and the player activates any power up they might pick up by hitting the A button.  There are superstar power ups that appear in the power up pods randomly.  These do change things for those lucky one or two that might get these over the course of the race.  But all in all it's a standard kart racer.  Which by no means is a bad thing.

      Sonic and Sega All Star Racing is probably one of the best kart racers that doesn't have a Nintendo logo on it.  But things aren't all roses; as great as the game can be.  In general there are far too many random elements in the game.  The fact that the player has to unlock the balance of all the tracks to get the time trial achievement.  Which basically means that the player is going to be playing quite a lot of Sonic and Sega All Star Racing.  Which is certainly fine; but the repetitive nature of all this playing would probably get to just about anyone.  Also, considering there is no REAL difference between an online race and a single player race as far as miles are concerned it's much easier to just get these miles through offline low difficulty play.  Finally, today, Sega seems to agree with my estimation of the situation because for 400 Microsoft Points the player can unlock all the characters and tracks.

       Sonic and Sega All Star Racing is a great kart racer.  I certainly loved playing with all the historic racers in Sega's library.  I also feel like perhaps in the future there could be new tracks or new characters although there doesn't seem to be any anchors for downloadable content.  Sonic and Sega All Star Racing probably wouldn't be the first game I would pick up this time of year.  I would probably look at this as a discounted game or perhaps an extended rental.  But I think that most people would get around 10-20 hours of fun out the game.  So if you have some time to kill with some crazy and somewhat adolescent fun.  Go for it.

Technorati Tags: sonic,sega,allstarracing,kartracing,nintendo,mariokart,xbox360,microsoft

     

Heavy Rain: when it rains it pours! (PS3 Review)

          I should start by saying that I really didn't want to even like Heavy Rain.  The concept of doing nothing but a bunch of quick time events over the course of a many hour game, to me is pathetic.  My problems with Heavy Rain turned out to be quite different.  I also have to give the story a demerit for being wholly a SAW movie rip-off.  But before I go and spoil everything for you; let me tell you that this review WILL contain SPOILERS!  Sorry, if you haven't all ready played Heavy Rain or seen a bunch of reviews. then maybe you shouldn't read any more.

           The biggest thing that might strike you upon first playing Heavy Rain are the graphics.  They are incredibly uneven.  The main character models are pretty good, which are what Heavy Rain has tried to tout from the beginning.  Although some of the animations can be clunky and mechanical.  Also, the kissing looks like two plastic dolls smacking on each other.  It's like Barbie on Ken.  I found that most of the environments, objects, and most of the non-main characters look awful.  Also, the characters seem like they are all ways snatching things out of the air, out of space, or off surfaces.  Close-ups on all most anything reveal some pretty muddy textures and of course there are moments of complete pop-in.  Besides that the first 3-4 hours of the game are plagued by screen tearing.  As far as raw graphical power, both Uncharted 2 and Bioshock 2, blow Heavy Rain away. 

       The actual gameplay consists of a combination of quicktime events that work pretty well.  They are by and large done very well, although in some instances where there are many in a row; the events don't all ways register.  Which for the most part doesn't matter.  Now this could be considered a brilliant move on the part of the developers but if one were to be playing the game on a harder setting perhaps these events would become more important.  But the biggest problem with Heavy Rain, surprisingly, are not the quicktime events but the lack of them in some places.  The whole game could have been SO MUCH better had it not been for all the mechanical and annoying gesture movements you must do.  These book ended by clunky. horrible walking and moving controls and you have a rather annoying game about 45% of the time.  What is even worse, is when the gesture you must perform are hidden by the character themselves and you can't change the camera angle to see it.  If only Quantic Dream had seen fit to simply use the quicktime events and nothing else.  We might be looking at an incredible achievement.  But the clunky controls are the most pronounced when the player takes more control.  These take the player completely out of the experience and smack them in the face with the fact that they are playing a game and not an "interactive movie" or "interactive entertainment experience."  It seems that Quantic Dream found the limits of what they could do and went there anyway.

     There are plenty of experiences in the game that are exciting and satisfying but most of them take place in the 2nd half of the game.  The beginning of the game goes from boring to unbelievable to boring and then right back to unbelievable again.  If I hadn't been playing this game for review, I would have quit LONG before the Heavy Rain; "got good."  It seems this was done in the name of length, which is why most movies do this type of thing.  But the heavy handed dramatic structure of the beginning of the game; just rubs in the fact that this is SO FAR removed from realism that it stops becoming realistic and ventures deeply into the territory of the cinema style art house flick.  Without the art house underpinnings in this case.  Rather with thriller underpinnings which is about as shallow as the average episode of CSI, which aren't going to win any awards for original storytelling.

       Heavy Rain is a storytelling achievement and for that, it should be played for the experience.  But the rest of the entire game is not even close to being worth it.  Certainly not worth $60 for what amounts to a cross between SAW and some b-rated thriller that you see the end coming a mile away.  Not that the end is predictable, more that it seems manufactured.  As if there was no way that the evidence would point to that conclusion unless made to do so.  Which in a game where you are actually made to collect evidence; kind of urks you in the end.  Even when the game tries to convince you that it's ending is correct.  The player still has that annoying certainty that their initial impression was correct and not the one the game wants you to believe.

    So Heavy Rain is great, and it's an important piece in the industry and probably in the history of video games.  But rent it first, and don't buy it until you are sure your OK with playing this clunky art house piece more than once.

Technorati Tags: heavyrain,quanticdream,thriller,CSI,videogames,Sony,PS3,PSN,storytelling