• 12Nov 06

  F.E.A.R. of a Guitar Hero

  Recently finished F.E.A.R. for the 360. The most impressive thing about the game to me is I think it's the smoothest running 360 game I've ever played. There was no slowdown, no screen tearing, etc. So it's good to know that such a thing is possible for a really demanding game like this. I'm not a big fan of FPSs, even though I play a lot since so many are released and I would be playing a far fewer games if I didn't. Anyway, the AI is as impressive as every one says and the combat is exciting and intense, which is good considering it's a shooter and all, but sometimes those things tend to be neglected. I had a lot more fun with this game than Prey, which I had to push myself to finish because I found it really boring despite its short length. One of the most interesting aspects about F.E.A.R. is how it switched gears in the end and went from very combat based to very scripted in the last level with lots of effects, planned events, and story elements. It was almost like the last interval was from an entirely different game.
  
  In terms of negatives, I felt the level design was fairly boring; lots of office spaces and industrial complex surroundings, and my sense of direction sucks, so I kept getting lost in hallways that looked generally the same. This is one of the main reasons I don't like FPSs. But whenever there were firefights it was great, unfortunately all the time in between the shooting caused the game to drag in parts.
  
  I got Guitar Hero II, my fiancée played through the entire game on the normal mode in one sitting in less than 3 hours straight with no retrys. She's much better at the game than me and thus likes it much more. My hands would have fallen off if I tried to do that and I know I just wouldn't be able to do a lot of the songs. Anyway, she'll be doing hard next and I'll just watch.
  
  One problem I had with this game is the covers don't feel as well done this year, with some being particularly painful like "Killing in the Name Of." I knew they were going to take out the classic "F--- you I won't do what you tell me" X 20 plus section but I was hoping they just wouldn't put vocals there. And the vocals on that song are horrible, it's like they went out of their way to find the most whitebread midwestern guy to perform that song and of course no one can make their guitar sound like Tom Morello's, so the guitar parts are really off compared to the original. Also the sound quality and general mixing didn't seem as good for a lot of songs this time around, when it was uniformally excellent for the first Guitar Hero. On the other hand, it's great to have actual songs by Primus and Jane's Addiction in the game, especially considering they are two of my favorite bands and I like the song selection, it was especially nice to see Rush, Thin Lizzy, Rolling Stones, Cheap Trick, Anthrax, Alice in Chains, and, of course, more Sabbath. The ending of the game, which I won't spoil, was inspired and made a great crescendo. I may eventually try to play through it all myself, but for now I'm just playing multiplayer with her and of course she always wins.
  
  Gears of War and Viva Pinata are coming in the mail next week from Gamefly. The sad thing for me to admit is I'm more excited to play Viva Pinata. I think it's because of the candy spills and the romance dancing. I kind of wish the two games were combined because pinatas using chainsaw guns on each other and thus causing massive candy spills would be awesome. I haven't really been paying much attention to the massive Gears hype so hopefully the game will suprise and thrill me based upon its own merits rather than just because I bought into the hype. We'll see. In other news, I still need to play some Final Fantasy XII and Okami continues to be neglected as well...someday...someday...
  
  • Posted Nov 12, 2006 7:22 am PT
  • Category: Games
  • 1 Comment
  • Tag
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Digg
• 3Nov 06

  Wiitastic.

  Yesterday I pre-ordered this:
  

  
  
  
  Yeah it's the Frys' 9 games bundle of death and despair. I wasn't even that excited about the Wii but I got really caught up in the hype of a new system like always. I missed out on the amazon "mistaken" pre-orders and my cart went wonky on the walmart pre-order, but this one went through. And the pre-order on this money sink only lasted about 40 minutes. Guess I'm not the only insane person.
  
  At least I got my fiancee to pay for half of it, so me and her will both suffer the consequences of trying to sell half the games on ebay for reduced profit and the possibility of wrist pain and gimmicky casual games. It's one step better than getting ripped off on ebay at the end of the day, but I have a sinking suspicion that I will be able to find the Wii everywhere at launch.
  
  Now where are those PS3 bundles?! I know I can lose at least $1200 on one of those!

  • Posted Nov 3, 2006 11:52 am PT
  • Category: Games
  • 1 Comment
  • Tag
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Digg
• 2Nov 06

  Xbox revival.

  Anyway, I'll get straight to the important stuff. I finished Bully, Splinter Cell: Double Agent for the 360, and Tales of the Abyss. All good games. I enjoyed how Bully played like an awkward teen coming of age movie, it had a great mood and atmosphere to it. Unfortunately, it still had all the frustrations of GTA and The Warriors when it came to controls and camera. Splinter Cell was Splinter Cell, but that's okay for me. It was a lot easier than any of the other SC games and the story was pretty hokey. I just found out today that the Xbox version of Double Agent is completely different than the 360 version, so I'll need to try that out because you can never have enough Splinter Cell. Tales of the Abyss was fun and pretty long, I liked the changes they made to the Tales battle system and the story and characters were serviceable. I feel bad that I haven't played more than an hour of Okami even though I got it weeks ago. Shame.
  
  In other news, I bought a new Xbox since my old one died and there were too many games I owned and wanted to buy that were not backwards compatible on the 360. My new used Xbox has a Samsung drive so it should be more reliable than my launch Xbox that had the dreaded Thompson drive.
  
  I bought these Xbox games for under 100 dollar used. Some I've played before but didn't own, others I just missed the first time around:
  
  Otogi
  Panzer Dragoon Orta
  Jet Set Radio Future
  Shenmue 2
  UFC: Tapout
  Guilty Gear X2 #Reload
  Arx Fatalis
  Splinter Cell
  Splinter Cell: Pandora's Tomorrow
  Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
  The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay
  Unreal Championship 2
  Crimson Skies
  Red Dead Revolver
  Conker: Live and Reloaded
  
   All I've been doing with my new/used Xbox is playing through Morrowind again. Once that game gets its hooks in you it won't let go. But I need to play these new games I bought in the near future, but it will be most likely the late, late future when I do. Also I acquired FF XII for 26 dollars through Gamefly and I plan to start that very soon. Sometimes it's hard having enough games for three lifetimes.
  
  • Posted Nov 2, 2006 9:03 pm PT
  • Category: Games
  • 2 Comments
  • Tag
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Digg

See Previous Blog Posts »