But I’ll admit, it was a pretty fun game. It wasn’t overly complicated or frustrating. You pretty much followed the plot of the movie so there wasn’t the need for looting, upgrading items, etc.. It was just simply play through the movie. Most of the puzzles involved finding handles to turn cranks that opened doors, clearing brush with fire to get at certain areas, and having Kong move obstacles out of doorway (man there are a lot of doors in the jungle!). Not too hard. Sometimes they changed some of the puzzles up by adding a waterfall that would extinguish your burning stick – so you had to find another way (usually by throwing it to the next section and running to get it). Occasionally you get to play as Kong and smash the crap out of stuff like villagers, T-Rexes, and other smaller dinos. And yes Kong still dies – so it’s very anticlimactic.
The game is dark (as in the amount of light), however that’s how I’d expect the jungle to be. It does add to the atmosphere. As for graphics, nothing to write home about but I did like the brontosauruses and the Kong fight sequences.
Overall a fun game but I’d have felt cheated out of $60 to complete it in about 5hrs with virtually no replay value. It’s been out long enough and if you have a friend that still has a copy – 1000 gamerscore points can be yours in short order.
]]>Anyways, just some quick observations from the first 2-3 missions;
I didn’t have too much time last night to get too far into the game but from what I saw I liked. Just thought it was funny I had no legs.
]]>Wow. Just wow. What a bunch of underwhelming, no-name, blah, mundane bunch of songs. I think I 5 stared Paranoid on the first try – I know I at least got two achievements (250 note streak, 250k+ score). I’d say 90% of the songs are power-chords and simple strumming. No cool guitar licks or grooves. That Sonic Youth song and Story of My Life; what the heck are those?! Wow, they blow.
I remember reluctantly selecting the next song in the list knowing that it’s the only way I can move forward. I don’t know what Activision, Neversoft and Red Octane were thinking when these songs were selected. There’s absolutely nothing exciting about them nor is there much of a challenge.
That being said, I’ll plod through, but there better be a more than a handful of fun songs to play otherwise the replay value, for me, will be slim. Even with multi-player – if the songs suck… that wouldn’t even be fun.
Man, I was really looking forward to this. But it’s no fun when you just want the song to end.
Let’s just say I’m seriously looking at picking up Rock Band.
]]>A quick review of N3:
I admit that I had to go to the Xbox.com forums and get some tips to complete some parts of the game. It wasn’t cheating as there are no cheats involved, but there are strategies which I desperately needed.
Overall, I’m pretty proud of the fact that I not only completed my first 360 game, but achieved all 1000 points from the title as well. Before I was okay with just finishing the game, but the achievement revolution that the Xbox 360 created makes me want to push farther and extend the life of the game. Will I push through every title I have like that? Maybe. Maybe not. Some titles may not be worth it.
I was an achieving fool Saturday and Sunday. After completing N3, I cracked off achievements in Gears of War, G.R.A.W., and Lego Star Wars II. My Xbox even blogged about it. On to the next milestone. What is that? About 500 more points to net me a little prize for raising my gamerscore by 1500 by April 22.
]]>After reading some other people’s impressions, it was suggested to start out on Hardcore mode instead of Casual just to prepare for multi-player action and to make the game a bit more challenging.
I will say this, Hardcore is challenging and it makes you think a bit more, but it still feels like I’m flying through the game. I don’t like the feeling that I’m blazing through a game so fast. I want the sense that this is a struggle and not just doing a level at a time. Granted, I’ve only played a few minutes so maybe that feeling with disappear.
I died several times, mostly after reaching the top of the stairs from the prison. The “grubs” were flanking me and I just couldn’t react fast enough. It’s frantic action, and I’m still getting used to the controls which is part of the problem. One dig here, and this “rule” will go on my “game developer’s commandments” post I’m thinking of writing, is “Let me skip the dang cut-scenes”. I’ve seen it once, don’t force me to endure it again every single stinkin’ time I die and reload my checkpoint! This is the next-gen people, I want control!
A couple of nice things I noticed:
Overall I liked what I saw and enjoyed what I played. The game looks and feels great and is by far one of the most spectacular looking games on the 360 or any other console for that matter. I wouldn’t mind doing some Xbox Live co-op at some point either as I think that’d really amp up the excitement. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time during vacation.
If you’re on-line and see me playing this coming week, shoot me an invite, I’ll be glad to jump in any game we have in common.
]]>I’m not going to go too in depth about the game as you can find many other, well written reviews other places, but just want to give my two bits.
Jade Empire is an original title by Bioware. The same guys that brought you the most excellent Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (I loved that game too, which reminds me, I have to play through KOTOR II one of these days). The setting is ancient China where everything is very fanciful, mysterious, and astounding. You start off choosing your character of varying combat classes (balanced, speed, strength, magic), male and female. I choose to play as the Sprit Monk (an extra character included with the special edition).
The game style is adventure role-playing with real-time combat. You choose your own path through the game making decisions that will affect your outcome. Some choices are minimal, some are far reaching. Conversations are frequent. You don’t have to listen to everything, but it adds to the history, back-story, and furthers the illusion. During these conversations you have the opportunity to respond and during these responses (ether good or bad) your character’s face will change depending on the mood of the response; something I noticed late in the game.
I think it was stated that there were over 20,000 lines of spoken dialog – some characters speak in another tongues other than english. One dig against the game was that they didn’t use accents for the characters. I’d think it’d bring greater credibility to the story if everyone spoke in the proper dialect rather than plain American. Don’t get me wrong, the voice acting is top-notch, but it kind of breaks down the illusion of being in some foreign land when everyone sounds like you’re at home.
Similar to KOTOR or Fable, you have the opportunity to be good or evil depending on how to react to situations or behave toward others. In this case it’s the path of the Open Palm (good) or Closed Fist (bad). I went the way of the Open Palm. Many times in these type of games, I don’t see a major benefit of following the dark path since the outcome has to be generally the same and there’s little motivation to do so – other than just to be bad. I’m still waiting for a game that pushes you to one side or the other. Maybe Fable 2 will do a better job at that.
Each path has it’s own special attributes, rewards, and abilities. Since I did Open Palm, I was rewarded for selfless deeds and humble responses. I was always presented with Closed Fist responses which would have brought instant gratification, but I seemed to be better off going the meek route in the long run. Maybe I’ll play through again and follow the Closed Fist to see what transpires.
Throughout the game you’ll learn many styles of combat; martial arts, weapon, magic, transformation, and support. Once thing I realized toward the end of my journey was that I somewhat wasted a lot of experience points on styles I barely used, but you just never know how that new style’s going to help out later on. I felt compelled to level up my styles to some extent. I managed to get one or two styles up to around level 10 wile others were in the sixes and sevens.
You can have 4 styles mapped to your d-pad and swap them out at any time if whatever you’re fighting isn’t responding to what you’re using. This comes in handy when fighting ghosts or any other host of baddies. Each style has a standard, heavy and area attack. And with that, you have the opportunity to fire off a Harmonic Combo. This usually starts with a magic or support style and then quickly switching to a martial style. A timer shows under your opponent in which you have to complete the combo. Combos can rage from petrifying someone then smashing them to bits, or shocking them and then splatter (and I mean splatter) them all of the place (very fun). There are many. I didn’t really catch on till the latter half of my play through which was somewhat of a bummer, it would have been handy.
A gripe about the game-play was that switching styles wasn’t too exact. There were a number of times where I found myself spanking the direction of the style I wanted to switch to and it’d either stay where it was or switch to something else. That was a bit frustrating - especially in the heat of some battles where you’re swarmed with HUGE beasts and just about every style you try, they’re immune to attack from.
Another dig would be that my character missed a lot when fighting. I’d paralyze someone, and then try to whack them, but only to find I was a bit too far away and by the time I managed to move closer the effect wore off or my guy wasn’t facing the right direction. Sometimes it resulted in my dying and trying again.
You also have Chi (magic) and Focus modes. Your magic styles draw upon your Chi, so you have to manage that carefully if you’re one to use lots of magic (like myself) as Chi can also be used to enhance your martial styles as well as replenish your health. Magic soon became a hot commodity for myself so I’d heap on the Chi when leveling up toward the end of the game. I realized that I needed it more than health or focus.
Focus allows you to go in to slow-mo and decimate your opponents. Only drawback here is that weapons typically draw on focus, so you had to watch that. Although my weapons were fairly good, I didn’t rely on them that much since there did little against ghosts and other things roaming the land.
Beside the mechanics, you have many quests to complete to further your path. Main storyline quests and side quests for miscellaneous people along the way. Each quest has a potential bonus; a power-up, money, or furthering your walk in Open Palm or Closed Fist. I typically took advantage of every quest I could do. You don’t have to, but you usually benefit from doing so.
I loved the look of Jade Empire. Bright, colorful, dark, moody all describe the look. I loved the atmosphere. Sometimes it was misty, some forests were spooky. Ghosts or spirits glowed. Just a great looking game.
A note to 360 owners with HD Widescreens; in order to view the game in widescreen format, make sure to reduce your HD output to 480p on the 360. It’s a bit of a pain, but it only takes 5sec. Otherwise, you’ll get the game in 4:3 output.
I thoroughly loved playing Jade Empire. So much, that I may play it again. Not right now since the games way to fresh in my mind, but I could see playing through again and see what the path of the Closed Fist is all about.
I was surprised on how deep and wide Jade Empire is. Many times in the final 10hrs of play I thought I was going to finish up, but the story continued to press on and the little twists in turns to storyline, although somewhat predictable, the method of arriving there was very cool. As I look back at the journey it was amazing to realize the progress that was made in my character.
The only global complaint I had was that I waited so long to play, but I’m glad I was able to play it widescreen and in HD (even if it was in 480p). It’s an experience I won’t soon forget.
I give it a 9 out of 10
[edit: updated with score]
]]>So far I’m having fun with it. However, due to the strict 72hr in-game time limit (it’s shorter than that in real-time – your character only has so much time to figure out what’s going on), situations become very tense and stressful. You have a feeling of urgency and although the desire is there to roam around, find little secrets, and splatter zombies with whatever I can pickup and use as a weapon, I know if I dilly-dally too much, I’ll miss out on some cool storylines and potential points. So it very much feels like hurry-up-and-go.
I have run into the infamous “save issue” that most reviews point to. You can only save in bathrooms and safe areas – which are few and far between in this huge mall. Oh yeah..you only have one save spot. So for save-hos, like myself, there’s no way to create a couple separate saves as backups to potential screw-ups. Stray too far or get lost (very easy to do) and get brain-munched by a zombie and it’s back to where you last saved. Sucks.
On the flip-side, you can restart the game (from scratch) with your character at the level you ended with. That’s OK I guess, but it won’t make up for having re-do certain things.
Apparently there’s also an “infinity mode” where there’s no time limit and you see how long you can survive. Sounds fun.
I’m not sure if I’m going to invest a ton of time into this game at this moment, since I’m currently playing through Jade Empire (finally) and will be getting a couple new games in the next few weeks.
Overall, Dead Rising looks pretty fun. I’m glad I got it. More whenever I beat it.
]]>There are million reviews of this game so I’ll keep this post just to my thoughts.
Psychonauts is mainly an adventure-platformer. You’ll jump, double-jump, bash things to find goodies, flip switches to unlock other areas, etc… pretty standard stuff. However, a number of psychic abilities add some extra spice to this game. You gain powers such as psi-blast, levitation, telekinesis, clairvoyance, shield, invisibility, etc… You earn these powers over time and you’ll upgrade these powers as you collect arrowheads and psi-challenge markers and your character levels up.
The game takes on a very ugly (but cute) cartoonish look. Nothing is in proportion. Characters have bulging eyes, mis-shaped heads, just odd looking; but it works perfectly. The voice acting and storyline are top-notch.
Humor is riddled throughout and I found myself laughing out loud many times. At one point in the game I’m projected into a very ugly lake monster’s mind (to free it from someone’s evil grasp) and while in its mind, I’m a giant within a city with all these little lake monsters running around, screaming like I’m Godzilla; but they call me Gargalor. The comedy that ensues from actions I take like crushing buildings and such are priceless. Another time I have to defeat some wrestlers and after defeating them they’re found tending to a garden. Walking up to them and talking my character says (in a very polite tone); “I just want to say that the way you took that ass kicking I handed you really shows how how much you care.” (or something like that). Very funny stuff.
For the most part, the controls are great. Jumping, blasting, bashing all work well. At times, however, it is difficult maneuvering your character due to wonky camera controls or you just may not be able to see your next objective. I found the worst moments during the end of the game; so much so I thought I’d have a conniption – maybe I was just having a bad day then – but man it was extremely frustrating performing some of these moves or reaching a certain goal.
As I’ve mentioned before in some of my other game reviews, I’m a save-aholic. Psychonauts has a generous save system that allows for 3 profiles and about 8 save slots per profile. Saving can be done at any time and if you’re in the middle of a long mission and croak, chances are you’re able to pickup at an invisible checkpoint (very helpful during the last phase of the game).
Speaking of the save system. It has the coolest interface I think I’ve ever seen. The setting of the game is a camp and when you go to create your profile for the first time, you pick a bunk, you character jumps up on the bed, grabs the chalkboard from the foot of the bed and you key in your name. As you’re keying in your name, your character writes on the board. When reloading your game, you choose your bun, you guy jumps in the bed and your name appears on the board. It’s nice touch.
There’s only one difficulty level and I’d say it was sufficient. As I mentioned, there are some rough spots that made some portions overly frustrating. My 9 year old finished it and he didn’t even level up as far as I did. Apparently top level was 100 but I finished the game around level 65. I can’t remember what level Jonah was at, but I think he was in the 50′s.
As I stated before, the game takes on this very odd, mis-shaped look. The environments are very nicely detailed. Everything is very imaginative and different looking. It fit the tone of the game perfectly. I can’t imagine it looking any other way.
I fully enjoyed playing Psychonauts. I could have done without the extra-frustrating ending, but overall it was great experience and one that never got dull. Replay value isn’t there, however. I’m sure you could play through again and try to get ALL the items scattered throughout the game, as there are many, but finding those items only really make your character stronger or upgrades his skills so I don’t see a major need to go back.
By the game’s timer, I finished in just under 20hrs. I’m one to wonder around and find everything (although I was unable to). I don’t like rushing through. I spend good money (albeit cheaply as possible) on my games and I want to enjoy the experience and I think I got my money’s worth here.
I would love to see Psychonauts 2 as they did leave you with an open-ending (of which I won’t spoil). However, even though the game received critical acclaim, it apparently did not sell as well as they hoped. So I’ll keep hoping to see Psychonauts 2 some time in the future on my 360 - but I’m not holding my breath. If you find this little gem in a bargain bin, pick it up, you won’t be sorry.
I’ll give Psychonauts a 9 out of 10.
I’m not sure what I’m going to play next. I tried getting into Enclave, but grew very frustrated with the controls and game-play, so I’m ditching that. I also tried picking Spider-Man: The Movie back up, but man, my controls were really wonky and I just couldn’t get the swing-of-things (pun intended). Maybe I’ll pickup Oddwold: Munches Odyssey. I’ll have to look over my library again. Still plenty left for me to play.
]]>Reviews of N3 are a mixed bag citing shallow, monotonous, repetitive game-play, crappy voice acting and plot. Whoopty-doo!
Playing for probably 6hrs, I’ve enjoyed it so far. I concur with some folks about the seemingly long missions only to croak toward the end and with no checkpoints, forcing you to replay the mission. Granted this game is not very difficult so playing the mission over gives you the chance to rethink your strategy and approach. I can deal with that.
I love hack-n-slash games and N3 delivers. At times you’re literally laying waste to hundreds of on screen enemies. As your character levels up, new combo moves, weapons and items open up for you to open a fresh can on the encroaching baddies. Once you leveled enough goblins or orcs, your orb meters max out and you can unleash some major carnage; almost flattening the entire battlefield. It’s very satisfying and pretty to watch. However, strategy comes into play farther down the road as a bigger, deadlier battle may be approaching and you may want to save that orb attack when you’re in pinch. I found myself a few times wishing I held off using it.
Overall, I’m enjoying this game. It’s easy to sit down and pickup. It’s not so involving that if you leave it alone for a few days or weeks and come back to you you won’t know what’s going on; unlike playing Oblivion or Morrwind. It’s just good, mindless fun.
]]>Otogi 2 starts off with a disturbing scene of 4 Generals summoned by a sorceress (Seimei) to resurrect Raikou (our hero from Otogi 1). In order to do so, these 4 warriors commit suicide releasing their ki and allowing Raikou to come back from the dead. It’s very spooky and like I said – disturbing. However these generals are not really dead, they’re just in “limo”.
I’m not going to pretend that there’s a great story or plot here because there really isn’t. Maybe it’s lost in translation from Japanese to English but the overall story’s lost on me. Apparently there’s this nine-tailed fox and our sorceress chick stole one of his tails and later on you acquire this orb-of-power that the fox wants back. During the game your generals get captured (however that happens) and you have to free them to get them back.
The atmosphere of the game is very mysterious with lush destructible environments, weird, fanciful characters, and spooky Japanese music. All those elements really get you into the proper mindset.
The gist of the game carries on the same great smash everything mantra from Otogi 1. The only real twist is that you’ll now be able to play 5 additional characters. They all have their strengths and weaknesses and varied moves, attacks and weapons. Before embarking on a mission, you’re shown who would be the best choice. If you use one of the characters in one mission, they may not be available for a latter mission. I’ve never ran into a problem with this “rule”, but I’m did find that one character did perform better than others under certain circumstances.
As I mentioned before, you can literally smash anything you see; houses, bridges, rocks, trees, ice, glass, etc… and it all explodes in very cool Japanese-style. Updated in Otogi 2, the heavy-attack ads a little “zoom” effect when you smash something, giving you the sense that you’re really whackin’-the-heck out of something. I loved this. I’m one to smash everything I see because you never know what you’re going to find; power-ups, hidden items, etc… That’s all stymied a bit by your magic meter which essentially acts as a timer. Run out of magic, you start to die. I found myself a failing missions because I spent too much time playing “let’s level-the-town”. So in those instances I had to restart, and rush to my objective and come back on a replay to clean things up.
Some downfalls are the somewhat crappy camera control. I don’t know how many times I was trying to aim at an enemy and throw something, I was thwarted because I couldn’t maneuver my camera fast enough and there’s no option to speed it up.
Aiming in general is pretty tough. There’s a lock-on feature so you can blast magic, or dash toward and enemy, but trying to bat an enemy in a certain direction is a lesson in futility. It’s just too hard to get lined up right. Both of these issues are compounded during boss battles too.
I enjoyed the graphics from Otogi 1; and Otogi 2′s is just as good. There’s particles-a-plenty when things explode, but when you’re sending 20+ enemy flying and smashing into objects, the game starts to choke brining the frame-rate to its knees – but it still looks cool. It’s a fantasy Japanese game so everything looks cool and weird. It’s not meant to be lifelike.
Don’t get me wrong, Otogi 2 is as fun as Otogi 1. That being said, I was frustrated a number of times when I was thrust into a boss battle without warning after trudging 10-15min through a level only to die within 10sec of confronting the boss. There are no checkpoints during levels so it’s back to the beginning. I don’t need a save point before a boss, but a restart from checkpoint would have been nice.
I loved the ability to smash everything, it may be repetitive or monotonous to others but I love it. If I could have, I would have leveled everything I saw but I was limited to the amount of magic my character had.
Overall I didn’t think the game was all that hard. Sure there were moments of frustration and confusion that caused me to do a little puzzle solving, but I managed through it. Even the boss battles weren’t that difficult, especially the ending (surprisingly easy). So although there are some challenging moments, missions, bosses, Otogi 2 isn’t tough to beat.
There is a second play option after you finish the game which allows you play through the game again with all the acquired attributes and items from your first run-through. However, I doubt I’ll invest any more time into it.
Apparently there’s an alternate ending depending on how you complete the last two levels. I won’t spoil it for anyone, but I don’t think I’ll invest time into completing it. Look it up on some game FAQ site if you’re curious.
There is a “havoc mode” which is basically a series of missions where you can use any character to compete the objective. Usually it’s a timed event to accomplish something; smash all the arches, prevent ships from passing the bridge, etc… I did a few but most are fairly difficult and I didn’t really see a major point in doing so. It’d be better if there were more destruction modes. Did I mention I like to destroy things?
Otogi 2 was a fun game that I enjoyed. The effects in the game are spectacular and always made me try cause the greatest amount of damage to my surroundings. Generally, the game isn’t too tough. At times it was frustrating and others, down-right simple. The controls and game play were lacking in some respects but you can typically figure a way around those limitations.
I’m not holding my breath for Otogi 3 because I just don’t think there’s a demand for it from the gaming community - which is a shame.
I’ll give Otogi 2: 8 out of 10.
I’m not sure what my next game will be. I’m trying to blow through all the non-backwards compatible Xbox games right now. I’m leaning toward Phantom Dust, Crimson Sea, or Psychonauts.
[Update 8.25.06: I'm going to play Psychonauts.]
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