• 16May 08

  Barrier to entry

  I've been spending the last few nights trying to get into the COD4 multiplayer on Xbox Live. Kind of a steep learning curve.

  There's no doubt that COD4 is one of the most well-rounded multiplayer shooters out there, the core gameplay elements are outstanding and the presentation is excellent. But getting into a shooter on Live six months after everyone else, especially a shooter that requires a high number of kills before you have access to the top class weapons that everyone is kicking your ass with. All the time. Just the thought that I'm going to have to spend three more solid nights online before I unlock the ability to plant claymores, just may be enough to turn me off completely.

  I just bought my 360 in December, and I haven't really played much online since the days of Unreal Tournament on the PC. I might be dating myself here, but I can't seem to remember being called f****t ass n***er b*tch twenty times a night back then. Charming.

  The gameplay's got me hooked, though - and I haven't played anything other than team deathmatch yet, so I might stick around a few more nights to check out some of the other modes. Still, being cursed out and not having the skills or equipment to respond on the battlefield kinda sucks.

  • Posted May 16, 2008 12:12 am PT
  • Category: Games
  • 0 Comments
  • Tag
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Digg
• 20Feb 08

  Cheap thrills

  I recently picked up Burnout Revenge, Sega Rally Revo and Ridge Racer 6 from the bargain bin at one of the local electronics stores. I haven't played Sega Rally yet, though it seems from the demo that it should be an enjoyable enough arcade racer. After sinking my teeth deep into Virtual Tennis 3 and DiRT side by side, it just seemed like the logical next step.

  I've tried and failed to get into Ridge Racer, though. I must admit to being biased towards somewhat realistic car physics, and after careening all around the countryside in DiRT, being whipped on rails around hairpin turns and crashing thirty times into a brick wall over the course of five seconds is a tad off-putting. Drifting is fun, but the first twelve or so races in the exploration mode all feel so slow. Even when you're using the nitrous boost (which at this stage is roughly once per lap), things really don't seem to be going very fast.

  I did go online and cut my teeth on some higher level cars, and that was a great deal faster, though I kept getting my ass whipped. Apparently, Ridge Racer 6 is still hot in China, and I'm not gonna spend enough hours with this game to beat the crazy drifting masters of Beijing. Also, what the hell is all the points? I've made myself a t-shirt stating the sad fact that "I spent six hours playing Ridge Racer 6, and all I got was 10 lousy achievement points."

  So I switched to Burnout.

  Holy mother of crap.

  I've never played any of the Burnout games before, but from what I gather, Revenge isn't the worst place to start. Sure, the last-gen roots shine through in places, and there's a somewhat unflattering launch title feel to the presentation (though not as jarring as when I put in PGR 3 for the first time after playing DiRT for an afternoon), but by God this game is just so much fun!

  Burnout Revenge deserves to be played as loud as possible, and I've been doing just that. It just feels more dangerous and irresponsible the louder you go, and I'm loving it. It took me all of three minutes to get hooked, and I'm having a real hard time putting this game down. Though at times it feels as much like a puzzle game as a driving game, the driving mechanics and sense of speed are so mind-blowingly excellent my recently re-awakened gameplayer brain almost can't stand it.

  If Ridge Racer was explosively fast, and gave you all sorts of mad boost for dodging oncoming traffic and taking down other cars, I'd totally dig it.

  • Posted Feb 20, 2008 9:15 am PT
  • 0 Comments
  • Tag
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Digg
• 13Feb 08

  DiRTy

  So I finally got down to finishing DiRT.

  I love the rally races in DiRT almost as much as I hate the non-rally races. Over the course of the career mode, you'll spend roughly one third of the time racing non-rally type cars like trucks, big rigs and buggies around dirt tracks. I expected as much, given that this was, in fact, DiRT, and not plain old Colin McRae Rally 2007.

  What I didn't expect was how boring these dirt races could be. Sure, they're nice to look at, and the physics are impressive, but it can't really be called "racing" when it feels that slow, can it? In the Rally Raid races, the framerate dips dramatically as soon as there are multiple cars onscreen, and seeing as those cars don't really fly along the track in the first place, that makes the Raids a real chore.

  It's really too bad, because most of the real rally racing in DiRT is straight up excellent. The stages are all over pretty well-designed, the best ones keep you on the verge of total carnage every turn and jump of the way, especially on the hardest difficulty. The graphics are amazing, the opposition AI is pretty strong, and the force feedback is done just right.

  As for replay value, I don't think I'm ever gonna put myself through full-on career mode again, but I will be checking in on my favorite rally stages every now and again. The guys topping the online leaderboards with their fancy Lancia Deltas had a six-month head start on me, so I'm not gonna obsess over that the way I would have if I'd bought the game when it came out.

  • Posted Feb 13, 2008 1:43 pm PT
  • Category: Games
  • 0 Comments
  • Tag
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Digg

See Previous Blog Posts »