PuddinPant's GameSpot Friend's Reviews PuddinPant's GameSpot Friend's Reviews PuddinPant's GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Fri, 24 May 2013 21:23:45 -0700 GameSpot PuddinPant's GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:42:28 -0800 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed The Rapid Angel for the PlayStation... http://www.gamespot.com/the-rapid-angel/user-reviews/789462/platform/ps/ ...and gave it a 6.0.

Of all the years I spent gaming, there have been many firsts: playing an action game for the first time, playing a platformer for the first time, chasing a floating ghost in bondage gear down the basement of a mobile home for the first time but, after all this time of being a gamer, I have never got around to playing an import from Japan. With a small ounce of regret, I have played my first Japanese import game with The Rapid Angels.

The story of Rapid Angels is...uhm...uh...er...I have no idea, the whole thing is in Japanese - both in voiceovers and text, which is a shame considering the amount of time devoted to dialogue is considerate, whether through cutscenes or in-game dialogue choices that are, once more, in Japanese. So really, the story has to be tossed aside due to translation issues (meaning absolutely zero translation). Regardless of story, Rapid Angels manages to be a halfway-decent arcadey platformer for various reasons.

First and foremost, there are three characters to choose from, all able to move quickly through the levels by dashing and attacking through enemies, which is clearly the main focus since trying to stop and strike enemies becomes cumbersome and will more than likely result in you getting hit once or twice before being able to land a single hit yourself, making the entire experience more like a hopscotch-over-the-enemies game than a platformer with actual combat in it, bosses aside. In fact, one could say that Rapid Angels is just a bunch of running leading to the next boss battle, all of which are fairly easy to beat at worst, making the entire thing a cakewalk. Sure, the player only gets one life before a game over, but a game over in Rapid Angels merely means that you respawn where you died and your score counter gets reset to 0, meaning that, if you are not concerned at all with how you would score, the game is probably the easiest thing since Lego Star Wars.

Really, there isn't much to say about Rapid Angels, it's just a platformer. Really, nothing interesting at all. In fact, this game would have been so much better if I actually understood the story instead of mashing on circle to blast through dialogue.

Overall, given that this game really is as generic as it could get, it's not really worth the purchase. Just go play Mario or something, I don't know.

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"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed The Rapid Angel for the PlayStation..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:42:28 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-rapid-angel/user-reviews/789462/platform/ps/ Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:24:10 -0700 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Castlevania: Lords of Shadow for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/castlevania-lords-of-shadow/user-reviews/761778/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 5.5.

Castlevania is a series that has gone through very little changes over its lengthy history. Up until now, the memorable brunt of the series pitted players against cIassic horror icons (most notably Dracula) in a challenging mix of platforming and combat. Lords of Shadow, however, sought to break this mold by creating a 3-D brawler and, in the process, created a highly derivative, forgettable entry.

Despite the negatives that will be covered following this statement, Lords of Shadow has one major thing going for it: production values. The environments are stunning in both architecture and variance, providing the highlights of the game. Castles, forests, bogs, caves, wastelands, and more all come together to make Lords of Shadow one of the most impressive-looking games I've ever seen. In addition, the soundtrack is equally as grand, utilizing a full orchestra to punctuate the key moments in story and gameplay and enhancing the overall experience. Thirdly, the voice acting is fantastic, seldom delivering a flat or awkward line, which also attributes to the stellar writing of this lengthy adventure.

Lords of Shadow centers around Gabriel Belmont, a knight of a holy order in the 11th century who is tasked with connecting humanity to the heavens once more after an event caused humanity to lose contact with the divine. The manner in which Gabriel's quest unfolds is through various wonderfully-directed cutscenes that deliver key plot points. However, due to the story's long length, there is a bit of tapering off here and there that causes certain characters to leave almost as suddenly as they are introduced, only to appear much later in the narrative.

Now, with that, there is a laundry list of components wrong with this game.

First, and most apparent, of the issues is the derivative nature of the gameplay. I would go into a lengthy explanation of which aspects are taken from which game, but the short (and painfully true) answer is: this is God of War. No really, it is.

Very, very little of Lords of Shadow refrains from taking ideas from God of War in the gameplay department. Combat controls, ledge-based platforming, quick-time events (though in this the player is allowed to press any button as long as the timing is right), and overall structure of gameplay is carbon-copied from God of War without shame. However, though it is a small part of the game, there are sections in which Gabriel has to scale giant monsters in order to take out certain points on their bodie...oh wait, I forgot to mention it also rips off Shadow of the Colossus from time to time. Compounding the issue of derivative gameplay comes the odd manner in which tutorials are presented.

Tutorials are essential for allowing the player to understand the ins and outs of gameplay as to prevent diving head-first into the fray with no idea what to do. While this is a positive for any game, Lords of Shadow twists it into a negative by not being able to decide if the player is an average human being or a lobotomized chimpanzee.

In the beginning, the game allows for the player to learn the basics of combat, which pans out quite well given the easy nature of the first level. Tutorials are also used when an ability is being utilized for the first time, which is also a positive. Learning to find new paths, scale walls, hit enemies, ride animals, and use special set pieces are all covered quite well in the first chapter...but then the game likes to repeat those tutorials. For example, an action that allows the player to maintain their grip on a ledge when it shakes is explained by the game in a picture of the R2 button and telling the player to hold it. Fine. However, this tutorial shows up EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. THIS. ACTION. IS. REQUIRED. In the end, it becomes a severe annoyance.

On the other side of the coin, sometimes too little is told, particularly with the agonizingly frustrating puzzles. In fact, very little is said at all beyond incredibly vague implication of "turn this thing this way and turn those things that way." As a matter of fact, there are times when the game outright lies to the player about a puzzle. For example, there was a puzzle in which the player had to punch a button to get a gate open. However, whenever I came up to the gate, it closed in my face. Repeat this process ad nauseam until I look at a walkthrough and it appears that I had to combine a type of magic with a throwing dagger to press the button from a distance so I could be close to the door when it opens. Although I fault myself for not thinking of using a throwing dagger, how would I be able to find out about combining it with magic on my own when something like that was never explained to me? This, compounded by far too many similar incidents, had me looking at video walkthroughs far too often.

Speaking of confusion and frustration, the environments tend to draw some less-than-fun moments by looking too complex while requiring a simple path, which can also be attributed to the fixed camera. There are times in which the camera will suddenly shift in the middle of platforming to an angle that barely shows where Gabriel is, forcing me to look sharply at the screen like I'm playing Where's Waldo until I finally spot him in a corner, zoomed off near oblivion. Also, the jagged texture of most surfaces would suggest plenty of ledges to grab on to, but only have a set path of them that can actually be used. The aforementioned problems contributed to countless pitfalls and the only positive about this is that Gabriel only loses a minute amount of health instead of full-on dying.

However, despite all these issues, the one thing that serves to ease the frustration is the frequent save points, sometimes happening during the lengthy boss battles so the same cutscene doesn't have to be seen over and over. However, this small perk does little to detract from the fact that gameplay took a severe blow in favor of everything else.

In the end, Lords of Shadow would be better suited as a movie. The excellent story, voice acting, and variance are astounding to say the least. However, very little attention was paid to the gameplay, making its worthiness as a purchase debatable at best. If you're a die-hard Castlevania fan, go ahead and rent it. For everyone else: play God of War.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/castlevania-lords-of-shadow/user-reviews/761778/platform/ps3/ Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:57:50 -0700 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Resonance of Fate for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/resonance-of-fate/user-reviews/758721/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

When the term "RPG" is thought of, gamers will usually associate it with big names like Final Fantasy, usually also associating the turn-based system it utilizes in most of its titles as well. However, there are entries in the genre that get overlooked by bigger names, and Resonance of Fate is a classic case of this. Coinciding within mere days of the release of Final Fantasy XIII (as well as God of War III), Tri-Ace's Resonance of Fate fell to the wayside. It's a shame this happened, because this game is honestly one of the most unique and refreshing experiences I've had with the genre.

But what makes Resonance of Fate so special? Well, the story is a fantastic place to start. The story of Resonance of Fate takes place in the gargantuan tower called Basel in which humanity is forced to live in after an unnamed cataclysm. Zephyr, Vashyron, and Leanne are three hunters, or guns for hire, who take contracts from the tower's leaders as well as the occasional odd job. The story moves along in an episodic manner, using chapters as a way to structure the story. In fact, the entire game felt like I was running through an interactive action series, which kept me more than interested on what was unfolding.

By far, the largest point in the story's favor is how the characters are written. Each main character displays a wide range of emotion, whether it be anger, sadness, silliness, or Dante-like cockiness. Each character has a past to be revealed and the twists are revealed in a thoughtful manner rather than just abruptly turning the narrative on its head, giving more meaning to what takes place and allows the player to be more attached to the characters. If there are two things I would be confident in saying about Resonance of Fate, it would be that the story and character development are top-notch. Combat, on the other hand, is a bit tricky.

The combat system in Resonance of Fate is a bit quirky, to say the least. In fact, its hard to fully describe in writing, but here is the combat in a nutshell:

Battles take place in a designated area via random encounters or in dungeons. Characters can be equipped with handguns (which damage the target directly), grenades (which do the same as handguns, but can also add status effects for certain types of), and machine guns (which lower the target's defenses so the other two types can deal more damage). Because of this, there's the strange fact that machine guns can't kill anyone. Still, because handguns do so little damage on their own, having someone with a machine gun is essential to pull of a quick one-two combo. Grenades fare a bit better on their own, but still run into the problem of not being able to do that well without having some assistance from a machine gun.

Honestly, trying to explain the details of the combat system in relation to weapon types beyond that would be too convoluted to properly convey in a review without droning on. This leads into the only serious issue I could find with Resonance of Fate: the tutorials. Every tutorial is done through text and, since the game isn't SDTV-friendly, the text is irritatingly small. Because of this, I was forced to figure things out on my own and, after about three hours or so of trying to grasp the combat system, I was left seriously annoyed for a small while.

Instead, a feature of combat that is easy to describe would be hero movement.

Hero movement is by far the most unique aspect of Resonance of Fate. This type of movement is activated by pressing square and choosing a set path to run in. Once all that's settled, the player is treated to some Devil May Cry-styIe gunplay, complete with midair flips, firing over the shoulder, and tossing guns up in the air, catching them, and firing away. The amount of animations for this feature are decently varied and, quite honestly, they never get old. Seriously, this aspect is endlessly amusing.

A slight downside to everything that's offered in the game play department is the overall difficulty. Without warning, the player might be unable to use all three characters and the curve of how monsters strengthen is erratic. At times, there are instances in which the level of the monsters will be double that of the characters, but at other times the monsters will be laughably easy. The progression certainly has its fair share of brick walls, but it turned out to be nothing a little grinding and planning couldn't fix. Still, the difficulty is one of the largest issues that anyone will have when playing this game. However, it's not horrible enough to be a deal breaker.

On the other hand, another point in Resonance of Fate's favor is the soundtrack. The music, in all regards, is amazing. The orchestral score is highly varied, switching between songs for both day and night. Combat music is even better, mainly due to the fact that it will suddenly ramp up when hero movement is activated. I wouldn't be opposed to buying the soundtrack if it weren't about six discs long, but regardless; Resonance of Fate has one of the best soundtracks in gaming to date.

Overall, Resonance of Fate is a RPG gem that is more than worth picking up. However, finding it in stores seems to be a near-impossibility so buying online would be the best course of action. If you enjoy the RPG genre and crave for something different, or at least something good, Resonance of Fate is the right way to go. With enough patience, it's more than worthwhile.

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"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Resonance of Fate for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:57:50 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/resonance-of-fate/user-reviews/758721/platform/ps3/ Thu, 10 Mar 2011 11:20:35 -0800 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Silent Hill: Origins for the PSP... http://www.gamespot.com/silent-hill-origins/user-reviews/757977/platform/psp/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

Silent Hill has been on a long and winding road for the past years. Whether it be going in the hands of developers or having major staff changes, the people behind the series has been shifting more and more over the past couple years. One example of this shift is Silent Hill: Origins, an installment in the psychological horror series that was handed over to American developer Climax and released it on the PS2 and PSP.

I played the console version first, and my opinion of it was not favorable to say the least. I utterly despised the whole thing, ragging on the level design, lack of constant psychological elements, and reliance on jump scares. Sadly, this is still apparent in the portable release but, for some reason, is a more enjoyable experience when all is said and done. This might be due to the fact that Origins teeters on a strange line in which it comes off as far too short for a console title, but also a little bit lengthy for a portable one. Thus, the pacing is different due to the pick-up-and-play atmosphere that goes hand-in-hand with portable gaming. Differences between version aside, the story of Origins is not half bad (though low quality considering other games in the series).

Origins stars a lonely trucker named Travis who arrives on the outskirts of Silent Hill when he thinks he hit someone in the road. Upon going up the road to see what exactly is going on, he sees that a house is burning down with someone trapped inside. This leads to Travis's descent into the beginnings of the cursed town. As a whole, the story is paced much better in portable format and the various notes left around, a mainstay in the series, gives a good amount of backstory without being too taxing on the player. Although the entirety of the game ties into the rest of the canon fairly well, it does come off as incredibly straightforward in comparison to entries like the second one in which interpretation and suggestion was highly utilized. Still, the story is about at the same level of quality as the gameplay.

Playing Origins on a PSP feels more natural than on a console, perhaps because this was the intended system. The controls are mapped out in a way that takes little to no effort to get a hang of and there were rarely any instances in which I pressed the wrong button. Moving around was the only major flaw in the control scheme due to the consistently awkward camera angles that caused Travis to run in a circle before I found the correct orientation to make him go forward. In fact, this caused at least one death since an enemy was between angles and I couldn't find a way to target him without running in a circle and getting beaten to death. This has been a problem for me in previous games in this series, but since avoiding enemies altogether is the best course of action, it can be forgiven. On top of the usual features and issues one would expect in a Silent Hill game, Origins throws a couple major ones in the mix...with varied results.

One thing that's interesting about Origins is the breakable weapons system, a first (and only use so far) in the series. This pertains to melee weapons, so firearms retain their quality no matter how many uses they go through. Things like pieces of wood, pipes, hooks, wrenches, lamps, and even a toaster are available to either throw at or bludgeon foes to death with. While this adds a small bit of realism to the experience, that is quickly taken away by the fact that Travis is able to store an infinite amount of melee weapons on his person, which can get truly annoying when you have to go to the pause menu and spend at least a solid minute trying to dig out the right weapon. There is an option to simply use the D-pad to change weapons, but since it's done in real time you'll most likely get killed before you find the best weapon you can manage. Punching is another option, but Travis's hooks and jabs are fairly weak in comparison to the various melee items found throughout the town.

Another unique feature is the ability to go between worlds, which is a severe negative. Having control over when and where the worlds switch via mirrors takes the oppressive undertone that I so loved in the previous titles away. In the end, it becomes more of an annoying requirement and find an excuse to have the player backtrack the entire map with a different layout of which doors can and cannot be opened. Although this might have sounded like an interesting idea on paper, it takes away far too much from the experience to call itself psychological.

One large gripe I have with this game is it's reliance on jump scares. In previous Silent Hill titles, things would bang on walls, shuffle along, and make creaking noises. However, whatever made that noise would either be invisible or just out of sight. In Origins, the monsters come running at Travis like someone rang the damn dinner bell, taking all anticipation away from the formula. The worst part is that the monsters are incredibly predictable concerning when and where they'll pop up. I swear that every time you get an item for a puzzle, a monster is waiting just outside the room regardless if you killed everything along the way. It comes off as cheap and lame, to be honest.

Overall, while Origins does not succeed in creating an ideal psychological experience like its predecessors, the entirety of the experience is tolerable on a portable system. If you're a fan of horror games and have a PSP, picking this up at a used game store or wherever you can find it under $10 wouldn't hurt.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Silent Hill: Origins for the PSP..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 11:20:35 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/silent-hill-origins/user-reviews/757977/platform/psp/ Wed, 19 Jan 2011 21:43:15 -0800 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Superman for the Nintendo 64... http://www.gamespot.com/superman/user-reviews/753054/platform/n64/ ...and gave it a 1.0.

What can I honestly say about Superman for the Nintendo 64 (shorthanded as "Superman 64" for those lucky enough to not know the game well enough) that hasn't been said? Everything from the controls to the horrible graphics and everything in the middle of this turd sandwich has been picked apart, (justifiably) insulted, and singled out. In fact, who in their right mind would even consider buying a game this notorious beyond the reason to torture themselves and/or "friends"? You know what, the hell with it; here's what I have to say about the blight upon electronic entertainment that is Superman 64.

The story (in the loosest sense of the term) consists of Superman trying to save his friends from the clutches of Lex Luthor, who has trapped innocent folks inside a virtual realm in which challenges must be completed in order to get closer to saving the captives. What challenges are present, you may ask? Do you have to punch your way through legions of baddies? Stop a skyscraper from falling on innocent people? Defeat iconic villains from the series? **** NO, YOU HAVE TO FLY THROUGH RINGS! Yes, I am aware that there are more objectives than simply going through ring mazes, but consider the following: would you, after (somehow) beating all the challenges in the first level, want to continue harming yourself by playing through the rest of the tripe this game has to offer? Would you, really?

Don't say "yes" just because you're defiant, you know you wouldn't.

In any case, the controls in Superman 64 are to playability as dysentery is to a dehydrated adventurer: they absolutely kill it. To say the game is "playable" beyond the fact that you can press buttons to have something happen is giving it far too much credit than it deserves. Pressing a button only to have nothing happen is a constant problem this game has, making it the definition of unresponsive. There's issues on the other side of the spectrum as well, such as the flight controls being far too responsive and forcing Superman to headbutt the pavement instead of fly in a straight ******* line. This becomes an immense issue when trying to get through the forced ring sections, handing out the majority of the game overs due to missing two or three rings because Superman wanted to fly in the opposite direction even though the player only slightly nudged the analog stick. Fighting is not as bad (although it's hard to out-horrible the flight controls) but it still has serious flaws, mainly because of the choppy fighting animations and tendency to have Superman stupidly flail his arms ten feet away from the enemy's face.

In the graphics department, Superman 64 is just about as horrible as people say it is. The draw distance is painfully short, giving the player little insight into what obstacles lie ahead and the environments are as bland and uninteresting as a manila envelope...wait, no...MANILA ENVELOPES ARE MORE INTERESTING TO LOOK AT! Nothing in the game world has even the most minute hint of effort, forcing me to come to the conclusion that the folks over at Titus spent the majority of development time wasting all the money they had on pizzas and sleeping whenever actual work had to be done. I can't fathom how someone could make a game look this bad, but Titus made it a reality...I guess that could be considered an accomplishment.

In conclusion, this game is worse than Big Rigs. You know, even though there was really nothing that made Big Rigs look like a structured game, at least you were guaranteed to win. In Superman 64, you're stuck with Superman in limbo trying to figure out how to negotiate some of the most frustrating controls in video gaming history. If you see a copy of this game, smash it...No, that's too good for this game...burn it...

I loathe this game.

I loathe it so much it hurts.

**** this game.

**** the people who made it.

**** the families of the people who made it.

**** the guy who gave this game the green light.

Just...just...****....

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"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Superman for the Nintendo 64..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Wed, 19 Jan 2011 21:43:15 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/superman/user-reviews/753054/platform/n64/ Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:21:35 -0800 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Killer7 for the GameCube... http://www.gamespot.com/killer7/user-reviews/752890/platform/gamecube/ ...and gave it a 10.0!!!

Killer 7 is, by all means, one of the finest examples of a game being developed as a creative endeavor rather than a run-of-the-mill action game. If anything, Killer 7 is the antithesis of your stereotypical action title, offering up a deep, interesting narrative while also not focusing solely on action by breaking up the shooting with quirky and creative puzzles. Grasshopper Manufacture struck gold by combining elements of third-person adventure, puzzles, light gun shooters, and rail shooters into a single, wonderfully engaging package.

The story of Killer 7 takes place in the near future in which global peace has been established among the nations of the world, leaving terrorist organizations to be the main antagonists. One group in particular utilizes deformed, chuckling suicide bombers called "Smiles" to instill fear across the world. The only group capable of stopping the Smiles is a small, seven-person team of assassins called the Killer 7, all bearing "Smith" as a last name. The progression of the story has a lot of enjoyable twists and turns, though the heavily political tone might wear on players who aren't fans of stories along the lines of Metal Gear Solid, which Killer 7 emulates not only in political messages but also headache-inducing intricacy. Nevertheless, the story of Killer 7 is definitely above-average and makes playing through levels enjoyable (though there are points in which the material gets incredibly disturbing, even for a game of it's kind), giving more than enough motivation to keep playing just to see what nutty extreme the story will go next.

The game play of Killer 7 is difficult to describe, though I will say that the end result is enjoyable. Movement takes place on set paths, meaning that exploring and entering new areas takes place on forks on the designated paths. With this styIe of movement, the controls are simplified by only having a single button to run along with a 180-degree turn to change direction on a straight path. Combat feels slightly similar to light gun games because of being required to stop dead in your tracks and aim in first-person view. The wide variety of enemies offers up a fresh, challenging experience with every level, most of the time introducing multiple new types per stage. Though each type of Smile has a specific method that needs to be applied in order to defeat them, all types have two things in common:

First, all Smiles have to be "scanned" in order to be seen, which means that a button has to be pressed while in shooting mode in order to expose the Smile. Thankfully, all smiles will chuckle when they are in the same area as the player, so being the victim of a sneak attack is rare. Each type of Smile has their own unique chuckle, which allows the player to anticipate what kind of enemy awaits them, making combat far less obtuse and more enjoyable.

Second, every Smile has a one-hit kill mark. However, the one-hit kill mark is randomized for most types of Smile so multiple scans (usually just two) may be needed to pinpoint where exactly it is. Even so, hitting the point awards the player with more "thick blood" (or experience points) to use toward upgrading the abilities of one of the seven characters. Thin blood is also collected from enemies, which can be used for either special attacks or healing.

Speaking of characters, the seven Smiths each have their own unique weapons such as a scoped handgun, throwing knives, a massive revolver, hand held grenade launchers, twin pistols, and so on. Every Smith makes themselves useful in environmental puzzles (which are more often than not character-specific) and when defeating particular types of Smile. One large plus to the multiple character system is being able to change at any time, eliminating a lot of potential backtracking and also easing up the consistently hard difficulty by giving each character their own personal health bar. However, when one character dies, the player will have to resort to using Garcian Smith, a man who takes the severed head of the deceased character and, through the power of wizardry (and button mashing), brings them back to life. Skilled players won't have much trouble getting through the game avoiding death (in most instances) but those new to shooting games might find the constant running back and forth to revive characters a little tiring. Thankfully, most points in which a character can die are close to a continue point, so the trek is fairly short.

Sound is an aspect in which Killer 7 excels, offering up a subtle soundtrack most of the time and blasting techno or alternative rock sparingly. The music is fairly enjoyable and, to be honest, I would like to pick up the soundtrack for this game if I found it. The voice acting, however, is a little spotty at times. The worst offense in voice acting comes from the one-liners the characters spout every time a one-hit kill occurs. Sure, they can be fairly entertaining for the first ten or so times but then every other time you'll feel like lines such as "this is too easy..." or "hurts, doesn't it?" will be stuck in your head for eternity. Still, it never gets old for the characters who swear in their one-liners and, if the players does get tired of the one-liners, they can switch over to the mute Kevin Smith.

In conclusion, Killer 7 is a game that any person who feels that video games can be creative should pick up. Chances are, you've never played a game like it, what with all the obtuse characters, intriguing choices in direction, and original game play elements. Indeed, patience is needed in order to fully enjoy the time you will spend with Killer 7 but anyone who has played through games like Resident Evil and Metroid in which backtracking is central will not find running through the stages too tiring. If you find a copy of this game in a bargain bin or a used media store, pick it up. It's well worth the investment.

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"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Killer7 for the GameCube..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:21:35 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/killer7/user-reviews/752890/platform/gamecube/ Sun, 14 Nov 2010 14:35:49 -0800 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube... http://www.gamespot.com/tales-of-symphonia/user-reviews/745004/platform/gamecube/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

Role-playing games have certain rules they tend to abide by: a level-up system, a long story (preferably with good writing), and some form of combat system to make the first rule relevant. Tales of Symphonia follows the first and third rules but, unfortunately, falls victim to a cliche-ridden story with predictable plot twists. Regardless of the story, Symphonia still manages to present itself as a wonderful blend of action and role-playing that stands out from the crowd in the departments of art design and multiplayer.

The story of Tales of Symphonia certainly suffers from plenty of cliches but, at the same time, there are plenty of story elements to prevent the entirety of the narrative from being confusing. One major point in Symphonia's favor is that the story has excellent pacing, revealing enough information in the beginning to avoid in media res and providing new hints toward future plot points in small, easy-to-understand amounts. That being said, one glaring weakness in Symphonia's story is the by-the-books way everything unfolds. Even casual RPG players will notice which direction the story will take, making twists obvious in the process. Perhaps if the writing were more subtle this could have been avoided, but anyone who has played games in the Final Fantasy series will certainly be treading familiar narrative ground.

What saves Symphonia's story is the consistently good voice acting that keeps the story emotional enough to care about what's going on but, at the same time, will not make the experience stick with you long after it has ended. Dashes of humor every now and then (usually through small events called "Z Skits") give a little more personality to the characters as well, making Symphonia more than bearable to anyone looking for an RPG with a decent story.

A unique aspect of Symphonia is the combat system. Instead of using a turn-based system a la Final Fantasy, Symphonia uses an action-driven flow that allows each player to act on their own simultaneously without constantly being required to sift through menus to select a command. Allowing each character to hot key actions for immediate use allows players to go through battles with few hang-ups. On the other hand, the AI for enemies is fairly sub-par, succumbing to a few different types of moves before they even have a chance to attack. The fairly poor AI is even worse when the player gains a knack for knowing which moves will always work, making battles more of a minor annoyance than an actual challenge. On the other hand, being able to avoid the battles due to enemies being visible in the field (and having to touch them to initiate combat) counters this, although avoiding combat for an extended period of time will make future boss battles a real pain.

Speaking of unique components, the ability to have up to four players participate in battle simultaneously adds a great deal of depth to the combat system. Cooperating with buddies is certainly better than trying to pre-program AI partners (though there never seems to be a penalty for ignoring that feature due to the game's low difficulty) and adds immense replay value for those who have friends who enjoy fighting through an RPG while also experiencing a lengthy story. By setting characters to "Manual", players will be able to hot key actions to certain buttons like everyone else and, in all likelihood, will make battles much easier than they already are. However, playing cooperatively can become tiring given the samey nature of the battles which makes Symphonia good in small doses in the realm of multiplayer.

In all, Tales of Symphonia has a sub-par story that is saved by consistently good voice acting and occasional dashes of humor. Combat (albeit lacking challenge) is enjoyable, and multiplayer is a blast in short sessions. If you own either a Gamecube or a Wii and enjoy a decent RPG every now and then, Tales of Symphonia is worth checking out.

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"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Sun, 14 Nov 2010 14:35:49 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tales-of-symphonia/user-reviews/745004/platform/gamecube/ Fri, 29 Oct 2010 05:48:24 -0700 visionary reviewed Enslaved: Odyssey to the West for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/enslaved-odyssey-to-the-west/user-reviews/742782/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

The term escort mission has undeniably received quite a bad rap over the years amongst gamers; it's one of those uncomfortable gameplay methods that can bring some of the most uncharacteristically vindictive hisses and curses from behind the hilt of a controller. Much like another irritating system known as backtracking, few titles have managed to unitize these gameplay concepts without falling victim to the associated flaws that make them weak by design. So it was a surprise to find a developer ballsy enough to base a videogame entirely around this much stigmatized genre.

Straight from the beginning of the game, it was clear that Enslaved was not going to waste time setting up the major backbone that would hold the two main protagonists together throughout the journey. It was the simple words "I die, you die" uttered by the technically minded and cautious female named Trip, to the more brawny and mile tempered fighter named Monkey, that helped illuminate why two completely opposite personalities would have to rely on each other under less than ideal circumstances. You immediately got the sense that character development was being paid with a lot more thoughtfulness than the surrounding plot – a refreshing take when compared to the plethora of games that put too much stock on telling a decent back-story.

Since most readers upon finding this review likely familiarized themselves with the basic storyline, it isn't necessary to repeat information in regards to the overall story arc. However, it's the world surrounding the two fictional characters that needs recounting.

You quickly find out that the depressive locale that Trip and Monkey reside in is actually a New York City set one hundred and fifty years into the future, within a world that has gone through one too many wars to the point where near human extinction is a reality and robotic creatures are the stereotypically dominant species. Despite the all too familiar scenario, it's important to note that visually, it isn't the rusty metallic visual look we'd often come to expect from most post-apocalyptic settings, rather it's a game that sports a surprisingly lush and green aesthetic. One of the very first visual highlights you notice is a dying world that ironically seems teeming with life – Broken down buildings with rich green foliage, a sky that seemed surprisingly blue; along with some unique character design choices all brought a certain beauty to an otherwise bleak world.

It all makes traversing throughout each mission all the more easier, and you'll definitely be doing a lot of that throughout your journey. Due to the fact this is mostly an escort mission, making use of each character's unique abilities comes into play. Trip, despite her frailty, doesn't fall under the same guise that makes so many escorts a frustrating pain, in other words, she isn't completely useless. Her abilities naturally coincide with your own (that being Monkey), she can use her tech savvy gadgets to sway enemy fire in her direction, or alert you of potential traps. However, much of her skills are defensive in nature which makes her particularly vulnerable to any sort of combative danger. But this is where Monkey's natural strength and agility comes into play.

The symbiotic relationship works so well between the two characters that you often feel like it's your obligation to protect Trip rather then it feeling like a forced task. On the combat end of things, Monkey is capable of handling most of the dirty work without a sweat, which is a great thing until you realize that this trend continues throughout the game. It's just too easy.

While you're given the ability to upgrade certain moves, enemies hardly put up a challenging fight and they usually sport the same move sets per encounter. The fixed camera angle usually present during a fight also adds a welcome cinematic flare to the action and works well, most of the time. The problem comes from a view point that normally remains fixated on your character throughout the action, which ultimately hampers your view of potential sneak attacks – a big no no for an action title.

You can also be expected to perform quite a bit of traditional plat-forming as hinted by the character's nick name, Monkey. For the most part, plat-forming within Enslaved provides more eye candy than actual challenge. Much of the appeal comes from watching the wonderfully animated Monkey effortlessly traverse the environment but it's a visual flare that comes at the cost of over simplification. Simply positioning monkey in the right direction and pressing a single button will always get you where you need to go without much effort – it's literally impossible to fall to your death. This is unfortunate since so much of the game provides you with the sort of death defying moments that would normally cause your heart to skip a beat, but with the prior knowledge of invincibility; it only takes the thrill out of the plat-forming segments.

Despite these various weaknesses, Enslaved never allows the gamer to focus on one element for too long. Thanks to some great pacing, It's a game that provides the player with some clever and memorable moments throughout. At one point you may be trying to evade bullets while Trip comically attempts to handle a vehicle without knowing how to drive, or you may find yourself trying to run away from an unstoppable mechanical forty foot dog with Trip hugged onto your back. It's a great method of pacing, and it also lends itself well to the game's greatest strength, the story telling.

Now you may be surprised when it's said that the plot isn't all that original or new, in fact it's mostly based on a ancient tale, and so, much of the back story would seem derivative regardless. This isn't where its strength comes from; it's the subtly handled relationship between Monkey and Trip that sets it apart from most story driven titles.

Thanks to some cleverly handled facial animations carried on from Ninja Theory's previous title, Heavenly Sword, every nuance of emotion can be seen between the two protagonists without a single word having to be spoken. You'll notice fear, distrust, curiosity, jealousy, humor, disappointment and anger without the robotically awkward expressions that often plague other titles. The great script also lends itself well to the overall story.

When it's all said and done, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West stands as a beautifully told tale that helps it excel as a cinematic joy ride, but with a few glaring flaws that ultimately prevent it from being truly excellent as a videogame. If you're one of those gamers that gains more value in a richly told character driven plot, than you should definitely give Enslaved a try.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"visionary reviewed Enslaved: Odyssey to the West for the Xbox 360..." was posted by visionary on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 05:48:24 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/enslaved-odyssey-to-the-west/user-reviews/742782/platform/xbox360/ Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:17:14 -0700 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Jeanne d'Arc for the PSP... http://www.gamespot.com/jeanne-darc/user-reviews/730586/platform/psp/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

History and fantasy tend to mix together in society. Exaggerations, dubious claims, and even outright lies can make it into the history books. However, providing an alternative to what we already know opens paths for exciting adventures, and Jeanne d'Arc is an example of such a method done right.

The story of Jeanne d'Arc takes place in an alternate version of 15th France during the Hundred Years' War between it and England. In this, the titular character bands together with friends from her recently razed village to defend France against England's invading army. On paper, this game seems like typical medieval fantasy fare but, due to mixing European fantasy themes with Japanese-styIe animation, the narrative winds up being surprisingly engaging. As a whole, the story is told very well and will motivate the player to press on through the various challenges that pop up along the way. In addition, every character has his or her own distinct personality while not coming off as cookie-cutter stereotypes. Each ally has a blend of dreariness, anger, happiness, and other basic emotions to exceed the level of quality usually seen in it's genre.

On the subject of gameplay, Jeanne d'Arc exceeds in making an addictive, albeit basic, experience. Although most of the required levels are fairly easy to overcome with some training via Free Combat in conquered stages, stipulations in certain areas make every other level a challenging change of pace. Aside from the typical "kill all enemies before they kill all of your troops" scenarios; escort missions, context missions (needing a character who can build bridges, for example), and "kill the leader" missions, as well as many other types exist for creating new obstacles for the player to overpower. However, there is one type of mission that has one of the cheapest ways to lose in video game history: the "getting to the other side of the map" missions.

In Jeanne d'Arc, every battle has a set amount of turns not unlike a time limit. In any battle besides the one I have a grievance with, simply killing all enemies is sufficient. However, the cheap mission type only ends after all the player's troops have made it to the other side of the map. Forcing such rules upon the player results in unfair scenarios in which all enemies have been killed but, to the dismay of the player, at least one troop is too far away to make it to the goal in time and, as a result, is a game over. Thankfully, such missions are sparse but still exist within the required missions. Issues with the one mission type aside, there are plenty of small details to reward patient users.

Combining bonuses called "skill stones" allows the player to mix together magic spells, combat abilities, passive effects, or a mix of two of the three into a new skill. Experimenting with different combinations is actually quite fun given how many different possibilities lie in the massive list of existing abilities. Everything from a little more HP to being able to immediately counter the enemy before it has a chance to strike is possible, giving a ton of depth to the whole experience. However, each character has a finite amount of possible slots for skill stones so, as a result, some thought is put into each character before an engagement.

Overall, Jeanne d'Arc is well worth your time. If you are a fan of Final Fantasy Tactics, this game is right up your alley. With an enthralling storyline, deep strategy, accessible difficulty level, and budget price of $15 (US), it certainly is more bang for your buck.

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"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Jeanne d'Arc for the PSP..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:17:14 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/jeanne-darc/user-reviews/730586/platform/psp/ Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:48:06 -0700 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PSP... http://www.gamespot.com/metal-gear-solid-peace-walker/user-reviews/724252/platform/psp/ ...and gave it a 10.0!!!

The Metal Gear series has a strange relationship with portable gaming platforms: whether its a card battle game or a cIassic-styIe iteration with nuances via RPG elements, Kojima's series has taken a few left turns on the PSP. However, Peace Walker is the first game to be developed in earnest by Kojima Productions, resulting in one of the greatest games to ever grace Sony's portable console.

Peace Walker bridges the gap between the prequel, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and the first Metal Gear game created for the MSX. Throughout the experience, the story of Big Boss's slow descent into isolation and the creation of Outer Heaven (the stronghold featured in the debut title of the series) during an effort to preserve peace in Central America. By the time of the story's initiation, Big Boss has assembled a non-governmental organization called Militaires Sans Frontieres (Soldiers Without Borders) to distance himself from the United States. However, a ploy to help Central American Rebels takes Snake on a long trek through the region, all the while explaining how Big Boss became the villain in the first title. The cutscenes explaining the story are mostly done through beautiful hand-drawn art a la Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops as well as brief in-game cinematics. However, the cutscenes have been adjusted in a manner unseen in the series.

What has been done to tweak the enjoyment of cutscenes is the addition of quick-time events, which add a level of depth that adds some decent replay value (if only to see what happens when a button is missed). Although the addition of quick-time events in Metal Gear cutscenes mitigates a small portion of the lengthy exposition, the appearance of some can take the player by surprise and, due to the small window of time required for each press, will most likely be missed on the first try in the more abrupt prompts. Even so, the actual penalty for missing an action ranges from nonexistent to very small; resulting, in worst occasions, simply doing the specific press over again without having to sit through what has already been said. The difficulty of the prompts does increase after a while but the curve is fairly steady with no noticeable rough edges.

When reviewing a Metal Gear game, the story is usually what gets analyzed and criticized first, mainly due to the series being the archetype of a cutscene-heavy experience. Surprisingly, Peace Walker averages in at about 5-6 minutes per cutscene (with the exception of incredibly crucial plot points), which is very small compared to the series standard of 15-30 minutes. The artistic presentation of the lion's share of cinematics as well as only occurring in the beginning and end of a mission (if at all) serve to make Metal Gear more accessible to impatient players. Also, the story, though a little corny at times, is not nearly as convoluted thanks to only being required to explain the plot of only one previous title: Snake Eater. What is also surprising about Peace walker is how easy the controls are to learn, given how many actions are available.

A large concern of many who played the demo was actually controlling Big Boss and, in the full version, the controls feel a lot more eased to compensate for the lack of buttons between a PS3 controller and the PSP. Aiming is assisted automatically at close ranges, honing in on vital body parts when focusing hard enough. Also, the utilization of face button-aiming (aka using Triangle, Square O, and X as the right analog stick) makes combat easy enough for a system which lacks a second stick. Firing weapons is accomplished by holding the L button and hitting the R button, which works out quite well considering the series has always had this type of feature to simplify switching between hand-to-hand and weapon-based tactics. However, rolling (done by tapping R only while running) seems to work 50% of the time and, even after completing the game, is still difficult to figure out. On the bright side, rolling doesn't come in handy for many situations beyond boss fights which (more often than not) have enough cover scattered over the map to make rolling a second thought. In addition to the new control scheme, Peace Walker has gone through many improvements since Portable Ops.

By far the greatest improvement in Peace Walker is the soldier recovery system. In Portable Ops, it was a royal pain to slowly drag the soldier to the home truck, resulting in many time-consuming missions which were more frustrating than enjoyable. In Peace Walker, dragging an soldier to a certain point for recruitment has been completely taken out of the equation with the Fulton Recovery System which, essentially, ties a balloon to the incapacitated foe and whisks them away to Mother Base. Though the number of times this can be done per mission is limited, using Fulton balloons is infinitely more enjoyable than a 3-minute drag across the map. Besides improving on the recruitment system, Peace Walker has also made tweaks to the inventory system.

Selecting items from the inventory is done in real-time, meaning the action still happens as the player digs out a weapon or item. Although this feature is frustrating at first, half because the button layout takes getting used to and half that the enemy can land a cheap hit, enough practice will make changing equipment at vital times a bit easier, though it still results in a few annoying moments. An actual pause exists, a major improvement over the demo, and allows the player to view maps and confirm mission objectives without having to worry about the enemy landing a cheap shot. Using the codec is done through the pause menu (or the Select button when options are adjusted), offering advice in a few instances and, sadly, resulting in useless information the rest of the time. Although most missions are easy enough to figure out without any outside assistance, it would have been better to have a greater amount of helpful information. Even so, there are still more positives to drown out the negatives, mainly the base management system.

Using a simplified formula with self-explanatory jobs, managing Mother Base is enjoyable without ever being frustrating. Assigning competent staff to each occupation (Mess Hall, Combat, Intel, Medical, etc.) allows for more equipment and weapons to be developed. Developing weapons is as simple as a press of a button, provided enough staff and money is present to create, and the finished product comes out after doing one or two missions depending on the degree of the invention. Shields, SMGs, handguns, rifles, improved rations, radar equipment, and more can be developed to make missions easier which is vital considering the difficulty.

Peace Walker's difficulty is unusually high considering the past few entries. Instead of being able to select the level of difficulty, the challenge is adjusted on a mission-by-mission basis Monster Hunter-styIe. Although the curve is a nice, steady increase, the average difficulty level is a solid "hard." Dying is fairly easy due to having little defense and means for escape but, since Metal Gear is a stealth series, its befitting to the experience. However, missions which stay in alert mode become quickly infuriating as hiding from enemy bullets is nigh-impossible. A good way to get around such difficulties is to simply return to Mother Base and complete some of the optional missions until enough confidence (as well as gear) is obtained to give it another go.

The optional missions in Peace Walker have some decent variety to them: Defending bases, protecting prisoners, recovering a soldier for recruitment, fighting (and hopefully obtaining) armored vehicles, and a few more types of activities combine to create the massive amount of optional missions. As with the story missions, each optional endeavor has its own difficulty and thankfully coincides with the curve of the main story. Benefits gained from completing an optional mission are satisfying; from new uniforms to new equipment specs for development, the rewards gained are always a treat. On top of base management and optional missions, Peace Walker also has some fantastic new features which are much-wanted firsts in the series.

===========================================
SPOILER! SPOILER! AVERT THINE EYES!
===========================================

At a certain point in the story, Big Boss is allowed to construct a Metal Gear for his forces. Accomplishing such a feat requires taking parts from mechanized bosses and piling up enough materials to create each portion of the walking tank (legs, head, power cell, etc.) and can be painted in a decent variety of colors...even hot pink. Although the Metal Gear can only be activated late in the experience, using it on the battlefield via the Outside Ops activity adds some much-needed "oomph" to deployed forces.

===========================================
SPOILER HAS ENDED! LOOK BACK AT THE SCREEN!
===========================================

Being able to deploy forces around the world adds a small bit of thought to base management, if only to decide whether or not risking troops is worth the pay. To be honest, defeating enemy units in Outside Ops is ludicrously easy and, even after how much of it I've played, not one unit, troop or otherwise, has been lost. Maybe its because of recruiting almost every soldier in my path, but Outside Ops feels more like an easy source of capital rather than a legitimate challenge. Speaking of which, there are a couple major issues that need to be addressed.

One noticeable problem that comes up from the get go is the size of the install data, which takes up 330MB for a standard package and 880MB for a complete version. Although a lot of data is required for either install, the results are worth the space; adding sound to codec calls, making the frame rate buttery smooth, solving nearly all graphical issues, and making very short work of load times lets the player know that the space was well-used. Also, the system data contains reserved space for add-ons which, presuming they work out the same as in Guns of the Patriots, will be free and up some time in the near future. Although the install data issue has a legitimate reason for existing, the Co-Op issues do not.

The largest flaw in Peace Walker is the construction of the much-publicized Co-Ops, which can only be done via Ad Hoc. Why no wifi is present is beyond me but, being a person who is not too concerned with multiplayer gaming, this feature is inconsequential to my interests. Although it is certainly a disappointment to multiplayer-oriented folks, I am more concerned with the single-player experience at hand.

In all, Peace Walker is an amazing experience that no PSP owner should be deprived of. Boasting beautiful graphics, a deep story, and an excellent fill between the prequel and the first game, there are so many positives in Peace Walker that any legitimate complaints are snuffed by the overall level of enjoyability. With the multitudes of content and massive replay value, the latest in Kojima's long-running series is worth every single last cent of that $40 (US). If you own a PSP and have been itching to play something that will last you a long time, Peace Walker is the best answer.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PSP..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:48:06 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/metal-gear-solid-peace-walker/user-reviews/724252/platform/psp/ Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:07:38 -0700 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Bayonetta for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/bayonetta/user-reviews/723234/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Bayonetta is a special sort of game, and the definition of the word "special" varies depending on which aspect of the game is being discussed. While the gameplay elements are "special" in a kind of enjoyable, highly addictive sense; the narrative is "special" in the same way that its level of confusion rivals that of an intricate movie saga, but packed into a single incoherent title.

Yes, the story of Bayonetta is far too ridiculous to be taken seriously and, at the same time, has so many things going on that are explained crudely through mostly stop-motion cutscenes. As for the full-motion cutscenes: they are (for the most part) reserved for anything but story purposes, and are instead intended to show off some incredibly "adult" situations which makes one question how this title did not receive an AO rating upon release. To be honest, I'm convinced that Bayonetta was not necessarily made to have an engaging story but rather to be a test of how much sexual content a developer can get away with before the dreaded AO rating is slapped on the front of the box. In any case, the interactive portion of Bayonetta is much more easy to understand than the ridiculous story.

The sound design in Bayonetta has some interesting variety. Although there are only a few battle themes (all of which are these bubblegum pop songs and a happy pop remix of Fly Me to the Moon), there are some remixes of cIassic Sega songs as well. In fact, there are plenty of cIassic gaming references within Bayonetta, specifically from Sega. The execution of the references prevents them from feeling intrusive and, in most cases, actually adds a great deal of value to the whole. Another aspect of Bayonetta which feels fantastic, save for some flaws, is the gameplay.

Controlling Bayonetta (the titular character) is very similar to the Devil May Cry series, which should come as no surprise due to the fact that it was made by the exact same people. However, unlike Capcom's stylish action series, Bayonetta provides a main character who can strap guns to her feet as well as dual-wield firearms on her hands. With the aforementioned change in character type comes some interesting combat options, such as being able to attack in a 360-degree radius by turning the left stick in a circle and hitting either the punch button to fire off from the hands or the kick button to do a handstand for more acrobatic results. Also, being able to hold an attack button while dodging and then continue the interrupted combo afterward takes a lot of frustration out of the gameplay, resulting in a smoother, more engaging challenge. Torture attacks add even more depth to the experience, allowing Bayonetta to dispose of foes via guillotine, pulley, chainsaw, and much more. Pulling off a torture attack feels satisfying each time, giving the player more incentive to learn the ropes of the deep combat control system. With a wide variety of weapons ranging from the standard handguns to a katana and plenty of other awesome tools of destruction as well as being able to combine weapons to both the hands and feet for different results makes for a system which can be utilized by both the casual player and the seasoned veteran. However, as with any title in the 3D Beat-'Em-Up genre, there are some portions which feel cheap.

Cheap hits are common in Bayonetta, and this is mostly due to one quickly apparent flaw: There's far too much going on to pay attention. Particle effects litter the screen like dust clouds, obscuring the movements of enemies and making it incredibly difficult to adapt to the rhythm of enemies and environmental effects cause the camera to be obscured by bits of whatever of the environment is flying around. Also, enemies can sometimes be at just the right distance to block the camera altogether, essentially giving the enemy a great chance for some free hits.

A few select enemies also contribute to the cheap factor, mainly an enemy named (probably as a joke by the developers) Fairness. Fairness is a four-legged creature who seems to have absolutely no foreseeable attack pattern, unlike every other enemy in the game. The erratic behavior of Fairness makes it nearly impossible to dodge over half of what is thrown at the player. What makes the creature even worse is that it has an unavoidable roar which stuns Bayonetta long enough to score a free hit, which resulted in innumerable deaths.

One last cheap bit, although not nearly as horrible as the last two, is the quick-time events. The timing for each event needs to be perfect, but is made harder by not being given enough of a heads-up on which button needs to be pressed in order to avoid an instant-kill death, giving only a split-second to react. Thankfully, the difficulty of such occurrences is slightly toned down by the amount of checkpoints given and, to make it even less frustrating, most quick-time events occur right after a checkpoint.

In terms of overall difficulty, Bayonetta may have its cheap aspects but the entirety of the experience feels like an honest challenge if enough patience is applied. The grading system is harsh (giving you the worst reward for dying even once) but being able to go back to any chapter before starting the next one gives a great chance for getting used to the flow of battle. Special missions, much like in the Devil May Cry games, are insanely difficult but they can be seen as more of an afterthought until experiencing enough of the main game, giving incentive to train in past chapters and adjust to the combat system.

One last note that has not been picked up on by Gamespot: The loading issues are gone. A patch has been released which allows data to be installed on the hard drive which cuts the loading times down significantly to the point of ceasing to be an issue. Also, the frame rate dips are hardly present due to the same patch and makes Bayonetta every bit as enjoyable as its other version.

Overall, fans of the Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe series will have just as much fun with Bayonetta. However, those new to the Beat-'Em-Up genre should not play on the normal difficulty. Although I have played all the Devil May Cry games and some of the Viewtiful Joe titles, Bayonetta's challenge lies between insane and crazy the first time through. If anything, Bayonetta should be a rental at the very least, just so you can gaze at the "scenery."

Get the full article at GameSpot

"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Bayonetta for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:07:38 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bayonetta/user-reviews/723234/platform/ps3/ Tue, 18 May 2010 10:16:21 -0700 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Ape Quest for the PSP... http://www.gamespot.com/ape-quest/user-reviews/720909/platform/psp/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

The Ape Escape series has taken many left turns in its lifespan. From the original ape-nabbing formula to the Warioware-esque minigame presentation, the chronicles of the cute little monkeys have been filled with variety. Ape Quest serves to expand the reach of the series by throwing in some incredibly basic RPG elements into an otherwise solid collection of minigames.

The story of Ape Quest starts off with the prince of an ape-ruled kingdom who investigates the sudden disappearance of three spirits who have kept the land peaceful. Progression in the story is done via quests from a quest guild and, to be completely honest, the story does not have much in the way of dialogue or cutscenes to make the narrative worthwhile. Instead, the gameplay will take up most of the intrigue.

Playing Ape Quest teeters between being dull and entertaining depending on what happens. Moving in the maps requires the player to take preset paths which have random encounters, minigames, or occasional special events. Fighting enemies in the random encounters is inexcusably easy, dull, and monotonous. I swear that every single one can be solved by pressing X to win and move along. Although some enemies require more hits than the character's health can allow, the Ape-Team option which allows the player to attack with the various allies encountered results in being able to deal enough damage to instantly take down any foe. The only catch to using the Ape-Team function is that it uses up money but money ceases to be an issue about a couple hours in due to both the high amounts of money dropped by enemies and how inexpensive the option is. The turn-based random encounters are a letdown, but the action-RPG stages are even worse.

Some of the boss battles are played via an action-RPG flow but, as with the turn-based encounters, the difficulty is considerably low. The moves of each boss is so ludicrously predictable and slowed down that it takes little to no real thought to best even the toughest of the tough. In fact, some of the boss battles tend to repeat themselves, sometimes resulting in being required to face off against the same creature two or three times, showing a lack of creativity in the character design. Another area in which Ape Quest lacks creativity is, sadly, the statistics for the player character.

In an RPG there's hit points, strength, defense, and agility to outline some of the character's most basic variables. Ape Quest follows this formula by having all of the listed but does not venture beyond the basic RPG formula. There are two statistics which stray a bit from the usual aforementioned numbers: glory points and royal ranking. However, the actual relevance of said statistics in combat or minigames is trivial, offering no noticeable difference in anything other than the statistic itself. Perhaps the glory and royal ranking are simply meant to motivate the player but there seems to be no other reason for their existence other than that. Trivial statistics aside, there are a few aspects which stick out, mainly the Smithy who will allow the player to combine any two pieces of equipment regardless of type to (hopefully) create an improved weapon, shield, or suit of armor. Its amusing the first few times to see the monkey smith at work but being required to view the smith working on a new piece of equipment eventually makes the affair bothersome and dull. Also, the largest flaw of the Smithy is that there seems to be no clear definition of what will improve or ruin something, seeing as strong equipment coupled with strong equipment usually results in one of the original ingredients and adding in a weaker piece to the mix has random results. Thankfully, the minigames present in Ape Quest serve to make up for its woes.

The minigames in Ape Quest are insanely varied, ranging from shooting down pirates in a 2-D sidescroller format a la R-Type or rushing to the bathroom in order not to make a mess in your pants. Honestly, the creativity present in the minigames is flat-out awesome. What makes the minigames even better is that the Bannanals option gives the player the ability to play any previous played minigame and set high scores for each one. Although some tend to repeat themselves in the actual game, most of them are entertaining and simple enough to warrant multiple plays without inducing frustration. Outside of the Bannanals mode, completing a minigame grants experience (which varies depending on its difficulty) or penalizes with lost health for failure. The amount of health taken away is not that great of an issue since the amount of healing items picked up along the way instantly remedy any slip-ups.

Overall, Ape Quest is an interesting collection of minigames but the RPG elements present feel half-baked and tossed in for the sake of padding the gameplay. The full game goes for a price of $20 (US) and, if you're a fan of Warioware or the previous Ape Escape minigame collections, Ape Quest is worth checking out if you don't mind the underdone RPG elements.

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"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Ape Quest for the PSP..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Tue, 18 May 2010 10:16:21 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/ape-quest/user-reviews/720909/platform/psp/ Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:07:47 -0700 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Devil May Cry 4 for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/devil-may-cry-4/user-reviews/717686/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Devil May Cry is a series that has gained a great deal of prestige throughout its lifespan. From the groundbreaking styIe of the first installment to the various nuances added in the sequels, experimentation with the original Devil May Cry formula has been met with, for the most part, fantastic results. The fourth installment in the series continues this tradition, though with less gusto, and is ultimately a worthy addition to the series.

The story of Devil May Cry centers around Nero, a young man who looks nearly identical to Dante (save for the color scheme of clothing and weapon design) and seems to have the exact same type of personality. Nero is a member of the Order, a religious group which worships Dante's father, Sparda, as a deity. Dante is also heavily involved in the story, even though less than half of the missions allow him as a playable character. What ensues is an intertwining story between new characters and old favorites alike which will please fans of the series.

In terms of game play, Devil May Cry keeps up its reputation as an excellent stylish action game, complete with all of the aspects which made the series so enjoyable in the first place. Style rankings, devil trigger mode, RPG elements, taunting, beautifully designed gothic architecture, amusing progression of boss battles, pleasing sound design, and the hilariously arrogant persona of Dante remain intact; all of which combining to make a prime base for Devil May Cry 4 to add some new elements.

The newest addition to the series comes from the new playable character Nero who utilizes a demonic grappling arm and a sword with a built-in motor to vanquish foes. Using the arm is easily the most fun one can have when playing as Nero, allowing the player to slam, swing, and outright brutalize any being unlucky enough to come too close. Grappling feels easy enough to execute at first, what with simply tapping the O button to grab an enemy but complications arise when another ability which allows the player to grab enemies from afar is unlocked. In the new ability, the player is required to hold the R1 button to lock-on to an enemy creature and then press circle to draw them in closer. However, holding R1 will disable the grappling moves which actually do damage, resulting in far too many instances of accidentally grabbing an enemy with the hardly-damaging long-range move more times than needed. Also, it can sometimes be difficult to properly gauge the true distance of an enemy due to the camera (which, for better or for worse, retains the same traits from previous titles), which amounts to guesswork at times and missed opportunities. Using Nero's sword is equally as easy as using Dante's default weapon, but the revving feature which increases the power of attacks of the sword feels awkward in most combat situations, which amounts to ignoring the feature altogether to avoid damage. Even with all of Nero's negatives, combat still feels as slick and rewarding as ever.

Using Dante is a noticeably different venture, mainly due to being able to use the combat styIes from the third installment (which replaces the controls formerly used by Nero's grappling arm) and the much wider array of weaponry at his disposal. Being able to switch between styIes on the fly gives a much faster-paced, deep feel to combat, opening up an impressive range of options for stylishly disposing of enemies. However, the central disappointment with Dante (other than not being able to use him throughout) is the lack of depth in the leveling system for the various weapons and styIes. StyIes are the biggest letdown since, although they are entertaining to use, the differences between each upgrade can sometimes seem to subtle to warrant purchasing an enhancement. Couple the aforementioned issue with only a slideshow with no text outlining the changes brought upon by each increase and experimentation becomes essential to learning the newer ropes to each styIe. Regardless of flaws, playing as Dante is a blast, though backtracking can be a real pain.

Repetition is one of the greatest flaws of the entire experience, especially when it comes to boss battles. Most bosses will be fought literally three times in a single playthrough with little or no difference between each encounter. On top of repeating bosses, the environments have to be revisited in reverse order at a certain point, which was a flaw in the third game but seems even more of a chore in this installment.

Another aspect of Devil May Cry 4 that proves to be bothersome is the wild difficulty curve. In the first half of the game, bosses in general seem fairly easy and the regular enemies, for the most part, give plenty of elbow room for the player to flex their creativity to deliver complex combos. However, around the halfway mark the difficulty suddenly spikes sky-high in a boss battle that is a truly ridiculous challenge due to the sheer unpredictability of its behavior. I, for one, attempted to beat the boss roughly twenty times before caving in and resorting to easy mode. If you are to doubt my ability, let it be noted that I've played every other game in the series and found them far easier than the ludicrous fight in Devil May Cry 4. In any case, practice and patience is needed as always but, as anyone who has played the third installment has known, the difficulty curve of Devil May Cry games has been notorious for such erratic behavior.

Overall, Devil May Cry 4 is an easy recommendation for fans of the series and newcomers looking for a challenge alike. Though it may not be as deep as 3 or as innovative as the original, Devil May Cry 4 is able to place itself comfortably in a series which styIish crazy action is the norm.

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"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Devil May Cry 4 for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:07:47 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/devil-may-cry-4/user-reviews/717686/platform/ps3/ Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:02:14 -0700 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Illbleed for the Dreamcast... http://www.gamespot.com/illbleed/user-reviews/716292/platform/dreamcast/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Horror has been done before in video games with varying results. From the passive-aggressive, puzzle-based pacing of psychological horror to the action-packed, tension-filled madness of action games, games have found multitudes of methods to frighten gamers. However, there are titles that come along every once in a blue moon to break the mold and establish themselves as a genre in their own right. Illbleed is one example of a game filled with unique ideas gone right.

The story of Illbleed centers around a group of high school students in a horror club who are invited to stay at a horror legend's theme park for the night for a chance to win a massive cash prize. Seeing this as an opportunity to make big money, every one of the characters (with the exception of the main heroine) gleefully make haste to the horror land. However, the dangers in the park are real, leaving each one of the students in serious danger. The progression of the story is done via levels which are all centered around spooky campfire stories and, to the game's credit, each one of them present their own special kind of personality.

The game play in Illbleed is truly something else. Instead of what traditionally encompasses the horror games (i.e. having weapons, enemies that are foreseeable from a visual perspective), the lion's share of the game play is done through trial-and-error. Using the five basic senses (as well as a sixth sense), the player character is able to slightly foresee dangerous obstacles. However, the problem is that a special item called the "Horror Viewer" is needed to be able to disarm each trap which quickly elevates the value of such an item to a necessity. Even though the horror viewer adjusts to potential spots automatically, the largest issue is that items will also trigger the senses, making it unclear whether a marked spot is either a trap or a harmless item. Such an issue is slightly worsened by the fact that the amount of spots that can be marked are limited due to the adrenaline gauge, which only replenishes when a trap is correctly marked. Such a feature hints to a trial-and-error-styIe presentation which isn't all that frustrating if enough patience is allowed and the scares given off by the traps are surprisingly effective. Along with the syIe, the manner in which player characters take damage is also unique.

In Illbleed there are three ways to die: complete loss of health, bleeding out (as the title lightly implies), or a heart attack. Every instance in which damage is taken decreases the health bar while also increasing both the character's heart rate and degree of bleeding. Of course, an increased heart rate allows for the bleeding bar to fill up faster but there are items for each stat that can makes matters better. However, there is nitpick I would like to address: some of the instances which cause more bleeding are flat-out silly. It may be strange to say, but how can I bleed more from an annoying bell ringing for two seconds? It may seem trite to complain about such occurrences but there are so many strange things that make the bleeding bar increase. In any case, combat is not nearly as pleasantly interesting as the rest of the experience.

Combat, sadly, is the lowest point of the game. Each fight (save for the bosses) has a random encounter feel to them since the spots in which they take place are not clearly defined. Not being able to see the places in which fights take place is a major issue given the trial-and-error pacing and the enemies, for the lack of a better word, are punishingly difficult. Each one takes quite a few hits to kill since the attacks are so weak (with the exception of one character) and the enemies are able to deal quite a bit of damage. To make matters worse, items are unusable in a fight, meaning that entering a battle with low health is grounds for reloading the last save since there are no checkpoints to speak of. Such features undoubtedly increase the overall difficulty but not being able to predict the random battles, especially when they are difficult and clunky, comes off as unfair.

In the end, Illbleed is an interesting experiment with the horror genre that's worth checking out if you have a Dreamcast. With its unique pacing, surprisingly effective scares, and creative use of character statistics, Illbleed is certainly worth at least one playthrough. Be warned, though: combat in Illbleed demands patience.

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"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Illbleed for the Dreamcast..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:02:14 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/illbleed/user-reviews/716292/platform/dreamcast/ Sun, 28 Mar 2010 17:35:24 -0700 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/f-e-a-r-2-project-origin/user-reviews/714652/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 5.0.

Video games and horror have been proved to mix quite well if done correctly, creating a highly involving experience that stays with the player throughout the course of the game and, if of high enough quality, even after it has ended. However, creating a action-based horror game is not an easy task seeing as barraging the player with high-octane sequences does little to increase tension but rather cause a feeling of adrenaline. FEAR 2 is a case in which pacing is sacrificed for the sake of simply running and gunning, leaving little to stress over other than the occasional more difficult firefight.

The story of FEAR 2 takes off at roughly the same time as when the first game concludes, but with an entirely different protagonist (as the back of the box implies). Lacking knowledge of the first game, however, leaves a great deal of the story feeling muddled without much explanation other than there was a super soldier experiment gone wrong and the protagonist is the only one on the face of the planet with the power to stop its horrible aftermath. To its credit, FEAR 2 does have one or two incidents in which the story is interesting (such as the ending of the first level and the beginning of the second) but, sadly, the overall plot is easy to overlook underneath the near-constant barrage of shootouts.

Gameplay in FEAR 2 is fluent but lacks personality. Save for the bullet-time mechanic (which I have heard has been done in the first installment), the game as a whole brings absolutely nothing new or interesting to the table. That being said, the shooting controls are fluent and there are a handful of firearms to choose from beyond the mandatory weapons (harpoon gun being the most entertaining) but the ammo for the more unique weapons is sparse, leaving generic choices such as the pistol or assault rifle more favorable if only because ammo is never in short supply. Enemies range from the stereotypical soldiers to heavily armored enemies with some sneakier foes to add a bit of variety. The AI for a great deal of the enemies, on the other hand, is horrible and can be outsmarted with little to no effort but such an issue is slightly understandable given how many enemies are thrown in your direction in most levels. However, although FEAR 2 is passable as a normal first-person shooter, the large, crippling issue with the entire experience is the lack of actual fear.

With horror being a finicky genre, its difficult to adequately scare the player throughout an entire playthrough. However, FEAR 2 aims in an entirely different direction and misses the mark entirely. Nearly all of the scares to be had in the experience take place during cutscenes in which horribly predictable and cliched scares do little to startle the player, such as the opening scare after the opening portion of the game. Later attempts at horror take shape in quick-time events which is slightly startling in its first appearance but becomes so routine and stale that it seems unnecessary to even have such sequences. A great portion of the lack of horror lies in the bullet time ability, which slows enemies down to a crawl, allowing the player to run straight up to some of the most threatening enemies of the game and unload on them before the gauge runs out. Regardless of the bullet time ability, there are a few instances in which genuine tension is present, usually in the few levels in which the player is not being constantly harassed by enemies. Even so, the scares feel too generic to be passable, such as the flickering lights bit and the occasional bloody hallway accompanied by flickering lights. By far the least scariest aspect of FEAR 2, and quite possibly any other game in the horror genre, is the sequence in which the player is allowed to pilot a giant mech and turn all the enemies in their path into red blood clouds with little to no threatening enemies beyond other mechs which are incredibly easy to destroy when you have missiles, a Gatling gun, and regenerating health.

In terms of online play, there is little to enjoy. Although the lack of players is a major issue (given the title's age, it comes as no surprise), the overall feeling is slightly more generic than the single-player experience, mostly because of the lack of story. Even though online play is not required to have any story at all, there is little variety beyond the mandatory deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture-the-flag modes. In fact, the online play portion of FEAR 2 feels like an afterthought and is not needed when so many more titles with much more varied, well-done online multiplayer modes are in existence.

Overall, FEAR 2 is a passable game for those who are not expecting a horror shooter but rather a fast-paced action title. However, with the title spelling out FEAR its impossible to forgive the game for its shunning of scares. Come to think of it, given the generic feeling of the experience it will fail to please both shooter and horror fans, leaving the player to consider more interesting titles as the experience drags on through a muddled plot and unsatisfying horror conventions. In short: FEAR 2 is a generic shooter that should be avoided, if only to play more interesting and inventive titles in the genre.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/f-e-a-r-2-project-origin/user-reviews/714652/platform/ps3/ Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:33:24 -0700 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Galerians for the PlayStation... http://www.gamespot.com/galerians/user-reviews/714293/platform/ps/ ...and gave it a 5.5.

Horror: A genre that has become one of the most popular in video games had some growing up to do before reaching its modern status. Although, in the beginning, horror games did not have impressive graphics until pre-rendering came into effect they still managed to terrify gamers. Today, graphics have certainly been improved in comparison to the ancestors of interactive horror but there was a halfway point for the genre. Galerians seems to be the definition of such a point, in which unique concepts were added to titles but, due to poor planning, suffered from a highly confusing amount of backtracking. Even so, the story of Galerians is worth noting.

In Galerians the player takes on the role of Rion, a boy who has undergone experiments to mold him into a walking psychic death machine. However, something went wrong in one of the experiments and he is set free, leaving him with no memories and explosive psychic abilities. CG cutscenes are used extensively throughout Galerians, resulting in the need for 4 discs and, by late Playstation standards, they are passable. However, the same cannot be said for the voice acting which, although has its highlights of quality, still manages to suffer from the common issue of poor acting that so many other horror games of its time showed. With a unique story, Galerians seems promising but, sadly, the gameplay is not as enjoyable.

The basics of gameplay for Galerians is familiar to those who have played survival horror games on the Playstation: the 3-D controls are applied to compensate for set camera angles and aiming is a little tricky to effectively learn. However, unlike other games of its time, learning to use weapons (psychic powers in this case) against enemies feels like much more of a chore than it should be. Mainly, the need to charge each attack does not work well with a 3-D control scheme and results in far more deaths than necessary. Gauging each enemy type's attacks takes quite some time (save for the scientists at the beginning) and the attack patterns of enemies with firearms are unfairly fast-paced, resulting in being attacked roughly 3-4 times before being able to score a significant hit if you don't take the target by surprise. In fact, simply bypassing the enemies altogether (when allowed) is a much smarter option and, at the very least, most enemies are easy enough to outrun. Other than controls, the pacing in Galerians also suffers from some issues.

In playing Galerians, it should be kept in mind that there will be an immense amount of backtracking to be done. Of course, such methods could be forgiven since many other fantastic games used backtracking in an enjoyable manner. However, backtracking in Galerians feels far too punishing, mainly due to the pseudo-time limit that is set in place. More specifically, the "time limit" is a bar that fills up gradually over time and, when attempting to use powers while its filled, will cause Rion to go berserk and slowly lose his health while shuffling along. To be fair, enemies are incredibly easy to defeat since even being near them in this mode will cause their heads to explode but the largest problem with the bar is that, due to lack of proper explanation, you will initially not know how to exit this mode. I myself died roughly eight times before I figured out there was an item in my inventory that completely depleted the bar, allowing me to return to normal. Even after figuring out the cure for the berserk mode, the bar still fill every 30-40 minutes. Couple the aforementioned issue with the high amount of backtracking as well as the amount of time it takes to solve its occasionally cryptic puzzles and its bound to cause nothing but misery.

By far, the most troubling issue with Galerians is that it lacks the "horror" element of "survival horror." Although the concept in itself is slightly creepy, Galerians refuses to properly utilize either jump scares or sufficient psychological elements. Instead, enemies can be, more often than not, spotted before they react to you and the overall design is not atmospheric, leaving Galerians to be more like a 3D adventure game with frustrating combat controls and far too much backtracking.

Overall, Galerians has a fairly interesting concept with characters that are interesting enough to keep select people roped in for its duration but the amount of gameplay issues detract far too much from the experience. Although plenty of patience is mandatory, imposing a time limit that results in severe consequences at a fairly high occurrence rate is unacceptable. For those who desire something different in a survival horror game and have played quite a few already, Galerians is slightly recommendable. However, for those who are fairly new to slightly seasoned in the survival horror genre: there are far better titles to be played.

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"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Galerians for the PlayStation..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:33:24 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/galerians/user-reviews/714293/platform/ps/ Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:39:22 -0800 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed flOw for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/flow/user-reviews/707321/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

In the world of gaming there are a wealth of games which are easy to cIassify such as shooters, RPGs, and so on. However, there are select titles whichare difficult to pidgeonhole into a single genre and flOw is one of them. Elements from RPGs and puzzle games seem to be present, but never feel like too much of one extreme.

What will strike players first about flOw is its incredibly calming soundtrack. Heavenly choirs sing out in the background while scores of violins softly compliment the gameplay. Couple the outstanding sound design with the strangely mezmerizing graphic styIe and flOw can be easily reccomended to gamers who perfer a more artistic presentation over anything else.

The gameplay in flOw is unique and, at the same time, is fluid. Controlling the direction and speed of player character is done entirely through the Sixaxis sensor, which sounds like a complicated idea on paper but works surprisingly well after about five minutes of practice. The face buttons are used for special actions that each character type can utilize to better advance through stages, such as boosting or guarding. Advancing the character is done by eliminating other creatures and consuming various organisms that are left behind. The gradual evolution of each character model is highly creative and begs multiple playthroughs in order to find out how complicated creatures can become.

With its superb sound design and graphics, flOw still has some notable flaws, the most prominent being the criminally short length. flOw takes roughly 2-3 hours to complete depending on individual learning curve but at least all the stages can be replayed via the title screen. Even so, flOw is a title that is meant to be played for special occasions, such as impressing friends or finding a calm escape. Still, the lack of sufficient substance leaves something to be desired.

Overall, flOw is a unique game that will undoubtebly please anyone seeking a highly artistic adventure through an evolutionary playground. Though the short length will leave many players displeased, the journey is still adequately enjoyable. Also, with a price tag of absolutely free (in the US at least), flOw is worth a look, if only for a single playthrough.

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"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed flOw for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:39:22 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/flow/user-reviews/707321/platform/ps3/ Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:15:23 -0800 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Krazy Ivan for the PlayStation... http://www.gamespot.com/krazy-ivan/user-reviews/706113/platform/ps/ ...and gave it a 4.0.

Video games released in the early-mid 90s usually had certain traits, mainly live-action cutscenes (FMVs) with horrible actors and graphics that blended 2-D and 3-D with varied, but usually eye-straining, results. Krazy Ivan gleefully builds most of its content upon these features, resulting in an incredibly short, easy, but slightly humorous package.

In terms of story, Krazy Ivan has a ludicrous premise to say the least. The manual contains a bit of backstory that can easily be summarized as so: Ivan, pilot of the player's mech, is a documented claustrophobic paranoid schizophrenic who is entrusted to save the human race from alien invaders, going so far as to describe Ivan as "the perfect candidate" for such an intense burden. It may go without saying, but this premise seems flawed from the start. In any case, the story is told through cIassic live-action cutscenes with all the horrible acting one can expect from mid-90s video games. However, the low acting quality coupled with a ridiculous script somehow makes every cutscene slightly humorous, if only for the first time.

Gameplay is where Krazy Ivan falls short of expectations, especially in terms of moving the first person camera. Although this game might have been made before the analog controller, the button mapping is inexcusably cumbersome. While moving is accomplished through the directional buttons as always, tilting the camera up and down is done by pressing the L1 or R1 buttons. The stiffness of the camera, as well as its ridiculous sensitivity, will usually end up dealing out a few cheap deaths over the course of a playthrough. Weapon variety is also an area in which Krazy Ivan falls short, boasting only a small handful of weapons in its arsenal. What makes the weapon selection worse is that the last two weapons will kill nearly every enemy in around 20-30 rounds, which means that the already easy difficulty becomes even more of a cakewalk.

Enemies in Krazy Ivan take little to no skill to eliminate. Although there are some slight differences in the various boss characters that must be cleared to advance to the next level, such as fast-moving foes and airborne adversaries, the method needed to dispatch each is brainless: simply strafe constantly and shoot until it explodes. Speaking of strafing, it is accomplished by tapping the R2 or L2 buttons. However, unlike most games in which the button only needs to be held, the strafe buttons need to be tapped constantly or else simply holding the button down will cause a slight jerk in either direction. The need to constantly tap these buttons in order to avoid attacks is difficult to get used to and feels far too clunky.

By far the most disappointing aspects of Krazy Ivan are the ultra-short length and lack of environmental variety. In fact, a single playthrough of the entire story takes little over an hour with no real difference in level design. Each location is the same hilly, featureless landscape with only color schemes to differentiate one zone from another. Such lazy design makes navigating through some of the later levels not only headache-inducing, but also mind-numbingly dull. Although there are bits of foliage (trees, mainly) along the levels, there are so few of them that the entire game seems like a series of mindless engagements across variously colored deserts.

Overall, Krazy Ivan is a game that's best played through once and forgotten, if only for the cutscenes. Although the said scenes have some humor to them, there's nothing to miss that other, much more interesting titles can provide. In fact, given that somebody has probably uploaded all the cutscenes on a video hosting site, there isn't any real reason to play Krazy Ivan at all.

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"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Krazy Ivan for the PlayStation..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:15:23 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/krazy-ivan/user-reviews/706113/platform/ps/ Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:16:34 -0800 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Fallout 3 for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/fallout-3/user-reviews/703310/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

Before I begin my review, let me first state that Fallout 3 provided many hours of enjoyment for me and, in lieu of the Game of the Year Edition, I bought four of the five expansions (Operation Anchorage being the only one not downloaded). With that being said, Fallout 3 is a game that, while boasting a sizable lifespan in terms of game play hours, suffers from an immense amount of bugs and glitches that can make the entire game nigh-unplayable at certain points. However, this will be elaborated on further later; for now, the story.

Fallout 3 has a deep, engrossing story that spans the entire Capital Wasteland and then some. Voice talent from notable actors such as Liam Neeson and Ron Pearlman set the mood for the nuclear war-ravaged post-apocalyptic wasteland that was once the United States capital. Plot lines branch and evolve starting from birth and reaching a stunning resolution that is entirely dependent on the player's actions, whether they be good, evil, or somewhere in between. Expansion content takes the story even further to new areas in the Northeastern United States and even more, providing a plethora of goodies well after the main story is completed, such as new characters, weapons, clothing, and so on. A fantastic story is not only complimented by a great variety of extras but also easy-to-learn game play.

The game play in Fallout 3 is fairly easy to comprehend for anyone who has played a shooter in the past 4 or so years. A standard aiming mode with a crosshair is present and the over-the-shoulder precision aiming mode is also accounted for, making combat for every type of range easy enough for those fairly new to the genre. Exploring is also a breeze with clear descriptions of items along with a nice, time-saving feature that informs the player if a container is empty before opening. Also, character statistics, vital health information, mapping, quick select customizing, and item categorizing are done through an intuitive, wrist-worn device called the Pip-Boy 3000 which can be easily accessed with a touch of a button.


By far the most interesting and innovative aspect of the game play is the V.A.T.S. targeting system which allows the player to target individual parts of an enemy's body with a percentage indicating accuracy and a small bar underneath indicating limb health. Crippling a body part has different results, such as staggering with a crippled leg and dropping a weapon with a crippled arm. In all, Fallout 3 offers an accessible control scheme that can be worked with ease.

The sound design for Fallout 3 is truly something else, offering a highly atmospheric experience that sets the perfect tone for any situation the game presents. Whether lurking through destroyed sewers, sprinting across the Wasteland, and everything in between, the background music fits the mood perfectly. Most notably, the tense sneaking segments (when electing to play in such a way) are accompanied by some truly haunting music, making each encounter more dreaded than the last. It would not be beyond me to say that there were plenty of frightening instances resulting from a surprise encounter with an enemy. Even with all its positives, Fallout 3 is not without issues.

The most notable negative aspect of Fallout 3 is, by far, the persistent and often crippling technical issues that continuously break up the action or, in surprisingly frequent cases, freeze altogether. Even after downloading patches, the amount of slowdowns, freezes, and glitches were unbearably frequent, especially in downloadable content areas. Point Lookout seems to suffer the most from freezing, seeing as the game froze an average of twice per hour, causing me to pause the game when slowdown happened to allow the system to catch up. Even in other areas of the game there were constant frame rate issues and strangely misplaced enemies (such as multiple Raiders being stuck halfway into the ground) which drove me to the point of controller-throwing madness.

There were oddly specific areas of the game that caused the entire game to freeze up when traversing them (and yes, I checked for scratches on the disc and there were none), which is definitely one of the stranger complications seen in years. Even in conversations there are glitches, the most common being one that rapidly skips through dialogue automatically, resulting in multiple choices of the same speech option (when available) in order to fully understand what has been said. But what is the most frustrating, without a doubt, is the constant lag that covers the game. The system rarely keeps up to appropriate speed during most action, leaving combat a little less satisfying and leaving a perpetual fear of freezing looming over the experience.

In conclusion, Fallout 3 has a truly engaging story, easy-to-learn controls, and enjoyable extra content but is a technical nightmare. Even so, most are able to overlook the bugs and freezing issues and find a truly enjoyable experience that will last for well over 50 hours. If you haven't bought it yet and the Playstation 3 version is your only option, Fallout 3 is still a blast.

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"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Fallout 3 for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:16:34 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/fallout-3/user-reviews/703310/platform/ps3/ Sun, 10 Jan 2010 08:50:56 -0800 THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Saints Row 2 for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/saints-row-2/user-reviews/701865/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 10.0!!!

The Grand Theft Auto series, particularly the third installment, has spawned a wealth of sandbox-style titles throughout the years with varying quality. While there have been a great deal of low-quality games based on the sandbox formula, Saints Row 2 is a true breath of fresh air for the astounding amount of freedom bestowed upon the player. While there is a massive amount to do in the game, the story is fairly decent.

Story-wise, Saints Row 2 has its high and low points. While the overall story rarely takes itself seriously (attributing to plenty of hilarious scenes), attempts at being serious never really seem to click. In any case, the gist of the story is that the player character (who is created and customized with mind-numbingly deep variety) starts from nothing and grows to greatness. Development of the plot comes through both pre- and post-mission cut scenes as well as spoken dialogue in mid-mission. However, with the game play being so enjoyable its easy to forget about the story.

Game play is where Saints Row 2 truly shines. The polished, smooth combat system rarely causes frustration and precision shooting is accomplished through the ever-popular over-the-shoulder perspective which works like a charm. Driving is also enjoyable, slick, and easy to negotiate for all vehicle types, even motorcycles. The addition of activating cruise control by tapping L1 makes shooting while driving, a pain to execute effectively in almost every other title in the sandbox genre, notably easier. However, there are control issues with boating and flying, mainly that the water physics can make steering more difficult than it should be and flying jets takes too much time to get used to respectively. Although the aforementioned issues are minor (especially with jets since helicopters are more abundant), several missions will take multiple tries due to these problems but will never cause frustration. Even so, the missions are still supremely entertaining.

Missions in Saints Row 2 have the strangest, boldest variety of any game in recent memory. From the usual "see all, kill all" missions to some truly bizarre goals (e.g. going wild with a septic truck) and everything in between, there is no lack of variety. By far the most enjoyable activity is Insurance Fraud in which the player character takes dives and lets the physics engine go into overtime by flinging the player to and fro like a rag doll. Such activities take such a long time to get boring that the player will most likely be playing it over and over for hours on end. Even better, the amount of activities listed in this review only scratch the surface of what is a truly varied title. However, even with all the previously stated positive aspects, there are still some minor issues to address.

During certain aspects of the game in which there is a massive amount of action going on at the same time, the frame rate may suffer and, though rarely, freeze altogether. Also, and this may be a pet peeve, there is no option for the use of custom soundtrack (although the in-game music is listenable as a whole). Lastly, the sixaxis controls for boats and planes can get incredibly frustrating but, thankfully, there is an option to switch the sixaxis controls off. In all, though, any issues presented in Saints Row 2 are sufficiently silenced by its enjoyability.

Overall, Saints Row 2 is a must-own title for anyone with even the slightest interest in sandbox-style game play. In fact, anyone looking for a varied, well-balanced, and just plain entertaining experience will not be disappointed. With its wealth of positives, including a cheap $20-30 price tag, Saints Row 2 should not be missed.

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"THE_DRUGGIE reviewed Saints Row 2 for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by THE_DRUGGIE on Sun, 10 Jan 2010 08:50:56 -0800
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