9
Aug
2009
Fat Princess Review
Overview
Fat Princess is a $15 game developed by Titan Studios and it’s a PS3 exclusive. The game first shown on E3 2008 and since then there have been a lot of hype and anticipation surrounding the title and it was well deserved.
Controls
The control scheme in Fat Princess is really simple and that’s one of the things that make the game so fun, to perform your basic attack on any class you hit the square button, hit the triangle button and you will change weapons. Also you can lock on your enemies with the L1 button; this is pretty useful, especially when you are using the ranger. With every class you can charge your attacks by holding the square button, this increase the power of your attack.
Graphics
The art style of this game is wonderful, with awesome cel-shaded graphics that make the game look incredible. There are a lot of things happening on the screen and the frame rate will stay very steady. The game is very colorful and looks very nice, and when you see it you think is a kid’s game but suddenly a Warrior comes and kills you and a huge amount blood comes out, this is pretty funny. I must say that this is one of the best looking games on the PSN.
Gameplay
You can find a lot of different modes on Fat Princess, and the single player aspect of the game works like a tutorial showing you all of them. One of the modes is the Snatch n’ Grab, the objective in this mode is kidnapping the enemy’s princess from their castle and carry her to your castle, this process needs to be done 3 times to win the game; an awesome thing that I found on this game was the fact that if you are the top scoring player on the game when the match ends you will turn yourself into “The Death” and be practically invincible and extremely powerful, so you will be able to kill all the remaining enemies with ease.
There are five different classes in the game:
First, we have the worker, this guy needs to collect resources like wood and take them to the base; this resources are used to upgrade the castle or build doors or bridges. Using the worker sounds a little boring because the only thing that you do is collect and build but actually is really fun and important to win the match.
The warrior is the most powerful class in the game, you will be carrying a sword and a shield and will have a lot of health. Basically the warrior is used to kill some enemies or to breach into the enemy castle.
The ranger carries a bow, so it is able to shoot arrows, you can use fire to light up your arrows which will increase the damage done to the enemy. When this class is upgraded you will carry a very powerful shotgun that causes a lot of damage to the nearby enemies.
Now, we have the mage, this class wields a staff that can throw fireballs, also you can charge up your attack holding the square button inflicting damage on the enemies that are near you. If the mage is upgraded you will get a secondary ice attack which slows downs the enemies making them easier to kill.
Finally we have the priest; this class is a support class so you can only heal your enemies recharging their health. If this class is upgraded you will turn into a dark priest, which is the exact opposite of the pries, because you will drain the life of your enemies.
The Bottom Line
9.5/10
In the end Fat Princess is an incredibly fun game, with a very deep gameplay and amazing visuals, very fun to play offline and online with your friends, making it one of the best and most fun games available on the PlayStation Network.
15
Apr
2009
Starhawk: Is Sony Biting off more than they can Chew?
Alright, now with the recent news of SCEA copyrighting the name Starhawk, it seems like the rumors about the next iteration of Warhawk being set in space have been all but confirmed. This game has a lot to live up to, as its predecessor still remains one of the most played games on the PSN, and this is over 2 years after its initial release. Fans of this series are going to expect a lot out of this title, and Sony has chosen to be extremely ambitious by setting this title in space where there is seemingly limitless potential. However, are they shooting themselves in the foot by trying to attempt too much? And what new obstacles does this change in scenery present for this new game?
Let’s start out with what is expected from this new game:
o Better graphics – Considering the size of the maps and the number of players online at the same time, this was a feat to accomplish this in the first generation of games on the PS3. However, now we’re in the third year of its lifecycle, and consumers have raised their standards. The same cartoony graphics just won’t be acceptable for this new game. Expect sharper textures, and GREATLY increased range of visibility on the horizon for both the environments and players.
o Destructible Environments – This one really speaks for itself. Especially with a game that offers so many amazing weapons to choose from, destructible environments would only enhance the game. Not only would you be able to obliterate a squadron of enemies with cluster bombs, but now you also would be able to send the environment to the great beyond along with them!
o Better Dedicated Servers - The outcry from this may have started in response to more and more information surfacing about M.A.G. This game would have the potential to be the “MAG of space”. I’m expecting to see at LEAST 60 player dedicated servers that would allow for all of these players to be in vehicles in the same sector of the map and all visible at the same time. That’s going to require quite a bit of finesse to accomplish, but I have faith that it’ll be doable.
o Single Player Campaign – PLEASE! They teased us with a training mode that was implemented during the trophy patch on this first PS3 Warhawk. Now people want a full blown campaign mode. But the worst thing that the developers could possibly do is to just throw together a half-assed campaign just to say that they had one. People don’t like being thrown into an online-only game without getting to practice first.
Now you may be wondering why I’m making such a big deal out of the game being in space? It’s because there is not set ceiling for any of the environments. Not only that, but in space there is not set floor, or walls, etc. How do you make an environment that is supposed to be limitless into the size where players will be forced to interact with eachother. It’s a very delicate balance.
What I am hoping for (but I doubt that I’ll ever happen) is for a space fighter game in the style of the old LucasArts game Tie Fighter. I’m hoping that Starhawk could become the 3rd person version of this, and if that’s the case, it would live up to all of my expectations. Long story short: SCEA has their hands full with taking on such an ambitious game as this. Not only do they have their current player/fan’s expectations, but they also have the difficulties of being able to develop in an environment where they are trying to limit a limitless 3d/no gravity area. I think they can do it, but they have their work cut out for them. Look forward to hearing more about this title at E3 2009 in June.
13
Apr
2009
Top 5 Games That Need to be Announced
I know everyone is excited about the games that are slated for release this year, and looking forward to the developers showing them off at E3. Let me name a couple: Halo ODST, Uncharted 2, Mass Effect 2, and Bioshock 2. But enough about these games, let’s talk about the ones that the developers haven’t talked about yet. What are the Top 5 titles that NEED to be talked about, and need to be announced, because we know that they’re in the works:
5) Warhawk PS3 Sequel – Everyone knows that it is in the works, there was even mention of the sequel being set in outer space. But besides that and some prerendered sketches, what is known about it? Nothing! Warhawk is and still remains one of the most popular online games on the PS3, for a game that’s nearly as old as the console itself, it has a dedicated fanbase to say the least.
4) Black 2 – Before you judge me, play the first game! This is a rarity that I will actually admit that EA did a really good job with this game. That’s true in regards to everything except the marketing of it. This was one of the best FPS singleplayer experiences out last generation, yet there wasn’t a lot of publicity behind it, so it slipped between the cracks of the media. However, if they were able to create fully destructible environments, and retain very fun gameplay in a lastgen title, I fully expect them to give this title a graphics overhaul to even try to give Modern Warfare 2 a run for their money. Look for this title!
3) Killer Instinct 360 – We’ve been waiting… and waiting… and waiting. It seems like it’s been 3 years now that there have been rumors in the works about this game. But the fact is that this title is as important to the Xbox franchise as Tekken was for the Playstation brand. Rare needs to follow through and answer the calls of their fans that are demanding the release of this fighter. I fully expect Killer Instinct to at least be on par with SFIV in the graphics and gameplay department. That’s not asking for too much, is it?
2) Team ICO Game - This has been going on for too long. We know that something is in the works, but everyone has remained silent about it. Shadows of the Colossus was one of the best games last generation along with ICO, and they have had this “new project” in the works since. However no one can tell you any information about what it is or when it will be released. There have even been rumors regarding PS Home Xi and how it is related to the release of this new game. (These are all vicious lies) ICO just needs to announce something soon, and E3 sounds like the perfect venue.
1) Metal Gear Solid 5 – Sorry 360 fans, this one’s going to be a PS3 exclusive. MGS4 was exclusive and took potshots at the 360’s DVD9 format in the game, so that almost guarantees that this will remain on the PS3 only. For everyone that sat through the 10 hours (or more…) of cinematics in MGS4, it is obvious that the franchise can’t just end on that note. The rumor mill has been even talking about Raiden being the playable character in the next title. That would be a nice throwback to the days of MGS2. I’m not saying that this is going to be another system seller, because I believe that the days of games holding that much influence over the market are over, but if there is a teaser for this game at E3 as I have heard rumors of, then it should blow anything else that we’ve seen so far out of the water.
What are your thoughts, opinions? What should have made the list and didn’t? Leave a comment and let me know!
8
Apr
2009
WipEout HD Review
Overview
WipEout HD developed by the masterminds over at Sony Liverpool is another title of the classic WipEout franchise, which is known for its excellence and quality. The game is a downloadable only title but it has enough content to be a full retail title; with 8 tracks, online modes and a decent lasting campaign, this game offers a great package for just $20.
Controls
The developer gives you two ways of controlling your ship, you can use the Sixaxis or the analog sticks, obviously it is much easier to play with the analog stick, it is far more responsive. You can use your weapons with the square button and use your airbrakes with L2 and R2, this comes very useful when you need to take really tight turns at high speeds. Overall, the control configuration of WipEout HD is really good and the motion controls are one of the best in the PS3.
Graphics
The Wipeout games are known for the quality of their graphics and this does not change in this version, supporting native 1080p resolution and 60FPS, the game features stunning graphics that can be compared and may even surpass most full retail games. This game renders high resolution textures combined with beautiful backgrounds. While you are racing you can see a lot of things happening on the screen, missiles exploding in front of you, ships flying on the background, an impressive quantitiy of lights and a tracks full of colours. All of this makes WipEout HD one of the most visually stunning game not just only on the PSN but on the PS3.
Gameplay and Story
The graphics are not the only good thing in this game, the gameplay is great, with intuitive controls and a decent camera. For many people the difficulty of this game is going to be tough, so it requires a lot of practice to refine your skills and advance in the campaign mode. In the campaign mode there are 8 grids, each with different types of events, like Tournaments, Single Race, Speed Lap and Time Trial. In each grid you need to earn a specified number of points to advance to the next grid, sometimes this becomes tedious because you might not have sufficient skills to earn more points. In “tournament” and “single race” you will face other opponents and you will have a lot of different weapons to take them down, you can also refill your energy lost by absorbing the weapons instead of using them against the enemies. There is also the option to race online with your friends or other people from around the world. (it works really well) It has a lobby system where you can setup your own games with a lot of options to customize.
The Bottom Line
9.0/10
WipEout HD is an awesome experience that every PS3 owner should play, it has enough content to be a 60 dollars game. It comes highly recommended by me.
3
Apr
2009
Midnight Club: Los Angeles Review
Midnight Club: Los Angeles
Rockstar Games for the PS3/Xbox360
Overview
What can I say about this game that hasn’t already been said. Let me preface by saying that I am from Los Angeles and was excited about this title coming out so that I could race around my hometown without getting a ticket like I normally do. However (and I’ll just come out and say it) this game let me down. Whether it was because nothing in this game was believable, from the storyline, the characters, the voiceacting, anything?!?! Or for various other reasons, this game was a struggle to complete and get through.
Controls and Gameplay
Thank God that you could change the default controls. I would have set this game back immediately if I had to use the right stick to accelerate and brake for the entire game. However, because they allowed me to change the settings, I can’t hold that against them too much. As far as the rest goes, it handles like a standard racer, you can tell the difference in how tuners handle compared to muscles and exotics. But what really through me for a loop were the bikes. They might as well call this game “Use a bike if you want to win”. Owning a maxed out Kawasaki Ninja is like unlocking God Mode for any other game. Physics does not apply when you hit a wall with the motorcycle. If you hit a wall from any angle besides head-on then you simply avoid crashing… As if the accident never even happened. It barely even hinders your speed. This is a major flaw in the game, and is evident in online play, as you can tell that EVERYONE uses motorcycles.
Graphics
“meh”. That’s all that really needs to be said. Sure, that graphics are okay… But is that what we’re aiming for now when we’re making games? Mediocrity? They built the city of Los Angeles decently well, but there are some major glaring flaws in the simple structure of the city. First of all, the LA River: This is a site that is used time and time again in the game to race through, everyone knows this structure. They didn’t even build it the way it is in real life! There is no water running through the middle. There is no canal through the center. It looks merely like a long running half-pipe with bridges over it. Sure, if they put the canal in it may hinder racing. How do you think people race through it now!?!?!? If your goal is to make a lifelike representation of a city, please don’t half-ass it, because people like me who live there will call you out on your bullshit. Essentially the game looks GTAIVish, without the details and close attention paid to building the city.
Story
WTF were they thinking? The story is just lame. Half the time you have to wait for people to call you on your phone for the actual storyline to progress. Waiting is not my idea of having fun playing a game. Unlike games like GTAIV where you have to wait for the story to progress, there are not “side-missions” that you can do to continue moving forward in the game. The extra missions are pointless and accomplish nothing in the grand scheme of the “story”. The characters are ethnic sterotypes and honestly kind of bothered me. The voiceacting is atrocious to say the least. The only comparison I can think of for how bad the voiceacting and dialogue is would be the new Price of Persia. It is full of nonsensical one-liners that make you groan and return the game to get a refund.
The Bottom Line
7.1/10
Do not buy this game if you are expecting Burnout. The online mode leaves much to be desired, and the single-player is lacking in all aspects. This game is trying to be what Burnout Paradise accomplished years ago, but didn’t even come close. Go out and buy a copy of Burnout instead of wasting your money on this game.
3
Apr
2009
Noby Noby Boy Review
Noby Noby Boy
Namco Bandai 2009 for the PS3
Overview
I have been trying for about an hour now to think of some coherent way to describe this game. As many of you know, this is a title from the creator of the surprise PS2 hit Katamari Damacy. However, as if that title wasn’t strange enough, Keita Takahashi (the mad genius behind the game) has taken all structure and semblance of plot away form this title and left of with this… Noby Noby Boy. There are no missions; there are no time frames to worry about. It is only you, Boy, eating everything in your path to try to aid your friend, Girl. (I’ll try to explain more under the Story section… but bear with me…)
Controls
Not exactly the best control setup I’ve ever seen in my life, but it gets the job done. Essentially you can control both the head and the back end of Boy with each joystick independently. While this seems simple enough, they decided to throw a wrench into the mix by making practically every other control in the game hinging on one single button, L2.
L2’s functionality:
Holding L2: Boy grips the ground around his head, causing more friction and making movement slower and more restricted
Tapping L2: Boy’s front half jumps/Boy opens his mouth to eat what is in front of him. How can you differentiate between the two of these commands, you can’t! Sometimes you eat when you want to jump, and vice versa. Now the question is, with about 10 different programmable buttons on the PS3 controller, why would there every be a need to double up on the same button?
Graphics
These are glorified PS2 graphics, let’s just be honest. But then again, this is Takahashi’s style. I’m not going to dock points from him because he didn’t change who he is as a game designer. If you look closely, despite the rigidity of the shapes as first glace, there is actually a great bit of detail that went into each character and every one of the 50+ stages that was created. He took the graphics from his hit, Katamari Damacy, and updated them with a little bit smoother corners.
Story
This is where you’ll need to bear with me as I attempt to explain this. Let me just be brief: There is no plot to this game. I’m not even sure if I can truly call this a game, because there is no real point to playing it. There is no endgoal to be accomplished, only a tally of your points which is added to the cumulative total of everyone in the world who has logged into the game online. However, this is where the interesting part comes into play. You as “Boy” stretch and grow, then give the points of how many meters you grow to a sort of highscore. The visual representation of this is “Girl”, a giant pillar jutting out of the Earth. As of right now, there is only one playable planet within the game (with 50 some odd maps), but when Girl becomes the length of the distance between the Earth and the moon, Takahashi has stated that he would release an expansion containing “moon levels”. This will continue on as Girl grows and reaches more planets within the solar system as well. Considering I couldn’t make out what is going on within this first version of the game, I have no clue what to expect from an expansion or further updates.
The Bottom Line
7.6/10
This is a great way to waste time without truly thinking at all. It is mindless fun with a creepy and quirky worm-like character that defies physics. The lack of structure in the game hurt it a little in the end, but the main thing that took away from this PSN game was the camera. This is quite possibly the worst camera in a game I’ve ever seen to date (yes, worse than Lair). Very hard to control, it is supposed to follow the Boy around the map, yet having it do so can often be more trouble than its worth. There are some obvious flaws in the game, but for the price of $4.99, it is definitely worth downloading this title to see what all the fuss is about.
3
Apr
2009
F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin Review
F.E.A.R. 2 Project: Origin
Monolith Productions 2009 for the PS3/XBox360
Overview
So, I’ve been on a sort of survival-horror binge lately. F.E.A.R. 2 played right into that hand for me. There was a lot that I liked about this game, but there were also a couple key elements that detracted a lot from the overall experience. Essentially this game was like a video-game version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Every time I felt like I was really getting immersed in the story and game as a whole, some glaring glitch or terribly animated monster would pop up, and immediately the illusion was broken, “Oh wait… Only in video games do they have frame-rate crashes like this.” So, it really is a love-hate relationship between a game that I really wanted to like, but detracting factors that got in the way.
Controls and Gameplay
The controls were nothing to complain about. Coming out of 2008, if I don’t know how a standard FPS operates, then there’s something seriously wrong with me. However, I’m going to complain about the (triangle) button: reflex mode. Pressing the triangle button allows you to slow down time and gain the reflex advantage over any enemies that are near you. Sounds about fair, right? This really isn’t necessary in the easier difficulties on the game, however during my playthrough on “hard” I found that I was relying on this technique more than my own skill. By gathering all of the “reflex injectors” from around the game, you can double the time you can stay in the slowed down state so that it becomes almost too easy to obliterate any enemies that ever try to slow you down. In otherwords… To enable God-Mode, simply press triangle.
Apart from that obvious difficulty deterrent, the game played and controlled well. The environment reacted to you well, however the enemies did not. The AI in this game was probably my biggest grievance. They were entirely too predictable, and worse yet, their movement animations seemed rushed and incomplete. Especially with the creatures called abominations. Some people have suggested that this was intentional to make them seem more “unnatural”, however when I’m seeing them glitch and lag, so their movements are strangely reminiscent of me playing counter-srike on a 56k connection, then I hope to god that it wasn’t intentional. The scariest part of this game was not that the creatures popped out at you, it was how poorly they were animated.
Graphics
Continuing on from where I left off… The environments were made very well made, and fit the type of emotions the creators were trying to pull out of the gamer. The colors were very dark and rich, and it felt like half of the time, the only light in the scene was that weak beam radiating from your flashlight. (HINT! To heighten the gameplay and make the experience scarier and harder, drop the brightness down a notch or two) This is were my praise for the graphics end. As far as I’m concerned, Monolith has no clue how to texture a moving object. The times that you’d think they’d pay particular attention (during the close-ups) seemed to be the weakest display of their graphics potential. It really left me wanting a lot more. Polygons and broken textures really aren’t that scary, just in case you were wondering.
Story
I’ll admit it, I’m a bad person, and I haven’t played the original F.E.A.R. However, in this case, it gives me an outside perspective and the ability to say that they did a very good job of not alienating people like me. I felt like there wasn’t much that I missed by not playing the first title, probably because this is an alternate story arch from the character that was playable in the first installment. Other first person shooters need to take notes from the single-player campaign. There were 14 different chapters, and each of them taking at least a good 10-15 minutes to get through. I guarantee that no one will finish this game just to exclaim, “That’s it?!?!”
The game has its obvious twists and turns in the plot, nothing too out of the ordinary, but I won’t take points off for being a little predictable. The only thing that really got under my skin though was how they deliberately set the game up for a sequel with the ending. I won’t give away any specifics, but when the credits roll, you’ll be in good company if you’re thinking, “Well, looks like there’s going to be a F.E.A.R. 3.”
Multiplayer
Now, this part of the review just makes me sad. Through no fault of their own, the multiplayer in the game is lacking. Not lacking in terms of type of gameplay, weapons, options, or even vehicles that you can tear up the map and eachother in. It was lacking in the number of people that were playing it online. You were lucky if you could find one game in each of the 6 different gametypes at any given time. As I said, you can’t really blame the company because no one is using their product for online gameplay, because the servers are top notch, and work very well. The game just had the unfortunate launch timing to be released within a week of Killzone 2 in a field of competition that is already saturated with online FPS’s.
The Bottom Line
7.9/10
I enjoyed playing through this game twice in the single player campaign, and even the desolate multiplayer was fun when I could find enough people to start a match. But in the end, the shoddy animations and weak enemy AI were just a little too much to bear. Thus resulting in the score that doesn’t give justice to what this game could have possibly been.