According to N4G, Resident Evil 5 has a HUGE install on the PS3. Now, I'm sorry wasn't this the same thing they said about Devil May Cry 4 that turned out to be wrong. Possibly it would be good to wait until the game ACTUALLY comes out before we start talking about install amounts.
But it's not the art design or the music that is the problem in Afro Samurai and even the combat in the game is top notch. The problem is one that seems like, with all these other things handled so beautifully a little insane. Level design....
What do I mean? Well, there are invisible walls. Lame platforming. And an endless stream of enemies that seem kind of on the superfluous side. In general, the bosses are well designed. I certainly enjoyed playing until the combination of unclear objectives and even worse the incredibly horrible platforming stopped me. This game had everything that I would show would be designers when learning how NOT to make a game. Like the fact that on one level it actually wraps around so that if you fall in the right place you are right back where you started again.
Every level was made longer by a combination of horrible platforming and too many enemies. Aside from bosses, there were only around 5 types of enemies in the whole game and everyone of them you see countless times. They aren't fun or interesting, in most cases they are just stupid.
It was as if two totally different developers worked on this game. One that designed the music, art, and combat and another that designed everything else. I would love to say that if your a big fan of Afro Samurai that you should at least rent this game. But given the horrible problems in the game, I can't even say that. Don't buy or rent Afro Samurai. Unless you have a lot of time on your hands and nothing to do, I would stay away from this game. But unless your stranded on a desert island or in prison I can't imagine you having that much time.
Update:
Sorry for this but a friend saw the review and decided that I wasn't clear enough about my feelings about this game. So here it is....
I loved the combat, graphics, and sound on this epically BROKEN GAME!
If you REALLY like frustration from around 8 years ago, buy the game!
If you have a life and other good games to play, DON'T!
Simple....
-Devilsalias
So here is the Dead Space Review I promised. I've been playing this game practically daily for the past few days and I decided to write up a review to bring up a few key elements. So here they are:
The game itself is a wonderful mix of Survival Horror and Futuristic Space movies. It's like Aliens. Which certainly would make most people totally flip. Which I suppose I would have if it was explained that way to me. Rather than Bioshock in space. Which I absolutely rejected out of hand like a bad reaction to old cheese or something.
The game does have the atmospheric horror that Bioshock has and it seems the creators also seemed to steal the audio log idea from Bioshock as well. Which is all right even if some of the dialogue was uneven and in some cases completely pointless. But hey, some of the Bioshock recordings were as well I suppose. I have the PC version on download, I'll get back to you on that one. It's been too long since I played the 360 version for me to say definitively.
But where Bioshock had plasmids this game has some silly telekinesis and statis abilities. Which while they made puzzle solving interesting in some cases. I could have lived without them. I would have been happy enough going around dismembering enemies and searching for survivors. I might have even been willing to throw a few switches to get the ship up and running but the puzzle solving here seemed a little pointless to me. Also more zero gravity and space combat with enemies would have been welcome and fun as well. The game gives you tantalizing tastes of this but never really flips the switch.
The overall design of the game was mostly stellar and I only found myself from time to time wondering what I was supposed to be doing or where I was supposed to go. There were one or two spots where I got stuck but then I guess that happens in every game. The easiest way out of most confusion was to simply hit the directional hint button. Which illuminated a glowing pathway to your next objective. This was great, considering many of the halls looked exactly the same and one could have easily gotten lost.
The three dimensional HUD that showed you everything from real time video to your inventory on a floating screen before your character was a real innovation and hopefully other similar games will take advantage of this idea.
All the weapons were upgradable and very interesting. Especially the Plasma Cutter which you start with and seems to be the best weapon once upgraded fully. Another standout was the wonderful Ripper that shot out a flying saw blade that would slice your enemies into ribbons. Your Rig or suit was also upgradable and made the whole game seem like maybe if you played twice and upgraded different things your game might change at least in some small ways if not significantly. Let me know about that one, I'm busy I can't play this again. I have WAR, Wow, and Warhammer Dawn of War 2 to play.
Dead Space certainly has wonderful atmosphere and a good story told directly through some real time video, cutscenes, and some audio recordings. Also there is a prequel movie(not included with game), which is probably more interesting after you play the game than it would be before. I would certainly like to see more stuff from this universe. But if the folks that made this game decided that it was just a one off. Then bring on the next game, because if this is your intro I can't wait to see the main event.
Unfortunately without a multiplayer, I have to give this game an 8/10. But if you love playing single player games over and over. Then this game is a definite BUY! If not, rent it... You will really love it.
-Devilsalias
First I want to link you to the Press Release on this in case I miss something. I am relatively used to big changes and big additions because I play World of Warcraft. But this new Warhammer Online Age of Reckoning Release is a little more than I was ready for when they were simply; in the beginning, going to give us two new classes.
This is, as the Release states:
"The Call to Arms live expansion, set to roll out for free in early March and running through the beginning of June, will also include three in-game live events, a new Realm vs. Realm™ (RvR) Scenario, added functionality to the Realm Wars section of the WAR website, the opening of the official WAR Forums, and a new free trial version of the game"
This is all incredible stuff and not to be a jerk or anything. I was really expecting them to fix what is out there rather than adding more to it. But hey who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth.
The sheer amount of stuff that they are adding, everything from a new zone to new scenarios. Also the two classes will be connected to a Live Event. This is all wonderful. But as I said, I just thought they were going to add two classes to the roster. Able to be played on Sunday or Monday.
Finally, Murder Night Live Event(February 6th through the 15th) where people on both sides are going to be marked for death by Khaine or Lob Noggins. I was certainly excited to hear about the specifics of the event. The hints this event through various blogs were certainly fascinating enough; but the facts were even better.
There is just SO MUCH here to be excited and interested about, but I was really hoping this stuff was going to happen sooner than later. But I should have known that this isn't the way Mythic does things. So I can wait and REALLY want to know what updates, fixes, and patches that are going to occur between now and then.
So I have to say this was really the coolest thing that could have been sent to me; except maybe the confirmation that I'd be able to play a Choppa or Slayer tomorrow rather than in March. But hey, good things come to those who wait. For even more info on the Event and the new classes head over to Pauls Video Blog. I'm sure he has a lot more to say and in a more entertaining way than I've been able to, here.
-Devilsalias
I've been playing the Beta for a while now and having a really good time. The game looks beautiful and certainly has some interesting and entertaining features. I would really love to play a little of the campaign before really making a statement about how good or bad the game is, but let me just make a couple of comments.
First and foremost, I don't like the fact that my hero unit is the end all and be all for the game's strategy. It's fun in Soulstorm because there are other units that are still usable and durable but in this game it seems like 60% of your other units are just cannon fodder.
Second, I really like the multiplayer capture system and especially the team games which are incredibly cool. I love having a bunch of different races playing against each other in an all out throw down. All the matches are 2v2 or 3v3 and are incredible fun. Just connecting with a bunch of people you don't know and fighting it out to the death when no one knows who's better is awesome.
Third, I really do like the way all the units look and play. I would really like to see more upgrades for your hero unit if they continue with the idea of focusing so much importance on it. A few of the current upgrades seem like throwaways and some seem like they take too much requisition or energy to get. Currently I love playing Orks and Tyranids. But I have played Space Marines in Team Battle to great success. It seems like all the races are well balanced and fun to play.
I honestly can't wait to see how many maps the game ships with and what the community does once a map editor is released. Currently the map selection is good, but I would really like to see more.
So go get the game, it's free to play the Beta right now. It may take a little bit for you to get the hang of how to play and what different units do; but hey we are all learning.... Hopefully the final product will be even better than the Beta.
-Devilsalias
Joystiq just reported a story about Future Magazine company not having too much success last year in the United States. Future publishes magazines like Playstation Magazine, Official XBOX Magazine, and PC Gamer. They also run and maintain the Gamesrader website.
While this is somewhat unsurprising with the recent closure of magazine Giant and industry hallmark Electronic Gaming Monthly. But what it is saying is that the business model that magazines currently have must be broken. There can be little other reason why these video game magazines are failing when other magazines that serve a much smaller audiences are still going strong.
There certainly was a time when there were FAR TOO MANY videogame magazines. But in recent years just about everyone of the magazines that are not closely affiliated with a bigger business model have failed wholly. Gameinformer Magazine for instance is closely affiliated with video game retail giant Gamestop. This relationship I'm sure has kept them a float when they would have otherwise failed. Also, keeping the size of the magazine down to a minimum doesn't hurt either.
Has the sun set on the day of insightful video game reporting in print? Has the internet wholly replaced print media in the video game industry? Only time will tell. But I hope not, hopefully all this tumult will result in a stronger, smaller, video game print media. But I guess we are also hoping the recession will do that to our economy; and that isn't going so well.
-Devilsalias
