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My Halo 3 Service Record

• 4Jul 09

  NLU Weekly #79 (07.04.2009) - Not Really Relevant

  Holy crap, let's see if I can even remember how to do this?! Welcome to NLU Weekly #79, Not Really Relevant. It is named such because all the stuff in this entry isn't relevant at this current point in time. Three or four weeks ago, it was but because I love to procrastinate, I'm not sure you will care as much about the info posted here. With that said here is the agenda for NLUW79: Who Ya Gonna Call (Ghostbusters Games Impressions), Irrelevant Snippets and Closing Out. Here we go...
  
  Who Ya Gonna Call (Ghostbusters Game Impressions)
  I don't think I talked about it much on here because I like to keep this blog game centric, but I am a HUGE Ghostbusters fan, okay, I'm not one to dress up in the overalls, but I love the movies (yes, even Ghostbusters 2), so when Ghostbusters: The Video Game was released, I was there... day one. Just to prove how big a geek I am... well look.
  
  
  So I bought two version of the game, now before you say that I am nuts (which I am) the Wii version is fairly different from the 360 version, though the stories and some of the areas are very similar. With that said though the experiences that they give are both different and quite frankly, I think the Wii version is the better game. It's simpler and just easier to enjoy, the 360 game has all kinds of annoying "features" that will make you pretty frustrated. The first thing is the overheating Proton Packs, when you sustain a proton beam or fire shots from the other firing modes your pack heats up... when it gets near overheating, you must press a button to vent the heat from the pack... all this is is a glorified excuse for a "reload" button because they had to give the proton pack a "rocket", a "shotgun" and a "machine gun" mode, when all you really care about is wrangling ghosts with proton beam. Now the Wii version has a temp gauge but as soon as you stop firing the heat automatically dissipates (in a few seconds). The biggest problem with the 360 version is that you will be pressing the "venting" button every 15 seconds...
  
  The other problem with the 360 version is all the ****ing knockdowns... nearly every attack will knock you ragdolling to the ground. There are two states in GB(360), knocked down in which get back up after about 5 seconds and "down but not out" where you have to wait until a fellow Ghostbuster helps you up. Both are painfully difficult to suffer through when all you want to be doing is throwing proton beams, destroying everything in the room and blasting ghosts. The down but not out state wouldn't be so bad, but even on the normal setting it doesn't take more than a few solid hits to put you down (on the ground) waiting for help. In addition to that the AI Ghostbusters are also prone to the small health meter and will go down all the time... you will get bloody sick of Venkman, Stantz, Spengler and Zeddemore shouting for help. It makes the Ghostbusters, these heroic and iconic characters, seem like a bunch of weaklings... it is almost disgraceful and makes what should be a cool experience, fighting alongside them, disappointing.
  
  On the other hand the Wii version has no such problems, you have plenty of health on the normal difficulty and the other Ghostbusters can take ****-load of punishment before going down. The unfortunately introduces a completely different problem with health... you can't tell when you are getting hit by things. While the 360 version shows you the typical red damage direction indicators and makes the screen go all red the ONLY way you can tell if you are getting hit in the Wii version is to watch your health bar out of the corner of your eye and watch for some of the green bars to change to red. It's funny, I mentioned the overheating earlier, but talking about how opposite the games are, in the 360 version you can never tell when your pack is about to overheat you just have a nearly inaudible beep and a meter on the side of your pack that you aren't going to looking at or hear during the chaotic fights. But in the Wii version when your pack is about to overheat the Wii remote rumbles really hard... though it doesn't rumble when you get hit, go figure.
  
  As usual I start with the bad stuff but there is some great stuff in the Ghostbusters games. In both versions when you are throwing proton beams, setting ghost traps and slamming and wrangling ghosts into them, the game is a dream. Again the different versions have different ways of dealing with ghost fights. In the Wii version you have to first drain the ghost's green meter of health by blasting it with your weapons, then when that is gone you can contain the ghost with the proton beam, now a red meter appears and you have to jerk the Wii Remote in the direction the indicator on screen says to. Now the ghost is stunned, you hold the Z button and emulate a trap throwing motion with the nunchuk and drag the ghost to the trap, capturing it instantly. In the 360 version things are a bit different, first you have to blast the ghost to weaken it then you can manually attempt to fire the containment beam and wrangle the ghost. If you blast away all the ghosts health it will automatically be captured by the beam, the real reason for the manual containment beam button is so that you can move certain objects or slam stone gargoyles. Anyway, one you have the ghost it is a matter of pulling the right stick in the opposite direction to build up the slam gauge, you then press LT to slam the ghost around until it is dazed, the more dazed the ghost is the easier it is to trap. This is where the 360 version's ghost trapping is more interesting, the ghosts aren't automatically captured if you pull them through the trap beam, you have to keep them centered in the trap cone (emitted from the open trap) until they are sucked right in. It's more involved and rewarding, but the Wii version has a more tactile feel thanks to Wiimote.
  
  As for the story to the games, it is kind of a bit of a bummer, while it makes for a nice closure to the Evo Shandor and Gozer storyline (from the first movie), because it is a game and as a player they know you want to fight the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man and Slimer the game recycles a bit from the first movie. But one the other hand fighting Slimer in the ballroom of the Hotel Sedgewick is awesome and fighting through the library and getting "shooshed" by and catching the Grey Lady ghost is also a nice touch. Unfortunately, that is the biggest problem, in their effort to provide epic fan-service they lost a lot originality that could have been part of the third Ghostbusters story. The game is also not quite as funny as you would hope, there are a couple of "lol" moments but there aren't any memorable lines that you will be reciting verbatim for 25 years (which I avoided doing in this review on purpose). The original cast is back and they reprise their roles well enough, though Bill Murray sounds really sleepy for some reason, but even so he is still great as Peter Venkman. As for your character, you play a nameless/voiceless rookie, which I think was a fine choice allowing the player to not only role-play a bit more, but keeping the stars in the spotlight... though it would have been sweet to be able to create your own character and customize his look.
  
  In the end the both games could have been better, but they are enjoyable to play for the most part and if you are a fan you'll enjoy the characters and busting ghosts. I recommend them, they'd probably make a good rental, as the Wii version is about 5-6 hours and the 360 version is about 7-8 hours.
  
  Irrelevant Snippets
  I picked up the Wii version of Tiger Woods 10 with the WiiMotion Plus and it plays really well and WiiMotion Plus is what the Wii Remote should have been like in the first place.
  
  As much as I love Call of Duty 4 (and to a much lesser extent World at War) I have got to stop playing it. It takes up time that I could be using to finish many of the other games that I have yet to finish.
  
  Fallout 3's latest DLC pack arrived, Point Lookout and it was a pretty cool addition, it provides a pretty big land mass, but there isn't all that much to do and I wasn't that impressed.
  
  I was messing around with Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection and decided that I wanted to play the Phantasy Star series, so I started with the first game and it is pretty good, except the sound effects when the monsters attack... they sound like modems or something.
  
  Closing Out
  I think that about covers the last little while for me in gaming. I'm not going to bother promising when I will write again, but hopefully sooner than the last time. Later. Loading Complete!
  • Posted Jul 4, 2009 1:04 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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• 8Jun 09

  Now Loading Update (06.08.2009) - The Games of E3 2009 and More

  E3 was over on Thursday, but I again procrastinated on writing my thoughts and now its Monday... oh well, I now present my thoughts on E3 2009. First off, I didn't really watch the Nintendo or Sony conferences, so I can't really comment on them too much. In fact because of that I'm not really going to comment on what I saw in the Xbox conference either, even though that was a pretty good presentation. What I am going to talk about mostly is what games that I enjoyed seeing the most; since I was not there these are based off what I saw during GameSpot's live E3 stage demos. So here is a list in not particular order with comments on each game that I was impressed by.
  
  Split/Second
  This looks like an interesting arcade racer, it is made by the same team that made the exciting "PURE" last year. The coolest aspect is obviously the ability to set off big explosions that cause obstacles to come down on the track. We'll have to see how it turns out come Q1 2010.
  
  Splinter Cell: Conviction
  I never really tried a Splinter Cell game, but then again I never even really like Metal Gear Solid, so stealth action isn't really up my alley. But this new SC game looks like it is much different and way more $tylish than the first 5 games. It piqued my interest in the very least which is a good start.
  
  Forza Motorsport 3
  I loved Forza 2, it took up the gaming time of all of June 2007. I loved the paint shop (aka livery editor) and the gameplay was enjoyable. This game looks to be bigger (400 cars, 100 tracks) and better (new graphic, even more physics) than the second game... I'll be there the second it hits October 27th, 2009.
  
  Modern Warfare 2
  What really needs to be said about MW2? The first game (CoD4) stole 336 hours (14 FULL days of time) from my life since December 2007 and I am still playing it. I am hoping that I can continue to waste my life away with MW2 come November 10th, 2009.
  
  Assassins Creed 2
  I have a copy of Assassins Creed (1) that I haven't even played yet... the stage demo of AC2 has given me a reason to do so.
  
  Mass Effect 2
  I loved the first Mass Effect, but it had some issues that kept me playing through it the multiple times that I thought I would... bad MAKO controls, lame unexplored planets, texture loading issues... all of which are fixed in Mass 2. I couldn't ask for more in early 2010.
  
  Singularity
  I hadn't put any mind to Singularity, but it looks surprisingly good and has cool unique concepts in regards to time travel. Sometime in 2009 I will be able to put it to the test.
  
  Closing Out
  That covers E3, but I have been doing a few other things, first I finished X-Men Wolverine (for the 360) and that was a fun, but repetitive action game, which is probably one of the better movie licensed games out there (though that isn't saying all that much.) and I also started messing around with UFC 2009 Undisputed and while the gameplay is really fun and deep, I find the career mode to be mind numbingly boring and this coming from a guy that plays JRPGs. All you do is navigate a convoluted menu system, spar for 2 minutes, click some more menus and then have a match once in a while. If you are going to play this game do so with another person, it's sooo much better.
  
  Finally, I have been playing Codemaster's 2008 racing game GRID (or RaceDriver GRID in other regions) and while I am enjoying it a bit, I have quickly remembered why I stopped playing it... the CPU cars are reckless. Sometimes it is not uncommon to get spun out by them on the first corner of the race and have to restart. The best thing to do is get to the front as fast as possible and never look back.
  
  I am probably going to pick up a couple of things this week, Prototype looks to be interesting and I am going to buy the Big Surf Island for Burnout Paradise and I will talk about those on Saturday in NLU Weekly #79. I have said my piece and now I am outta here. Hey buddy I caught up! Loading Complete!
  • Posted Jun 8, 2009 2:28 pm PT
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• 29May 09

  NLU Weekly #78 (05.29.2009) - Bionic Fail and More

  I have been playing a ton of games and ignoring the crap out of this blog... remember when I used to post every week, even if it was pointless? Remember when I used to post at times multiple times a week? Remember when this blog didn't suck? Okay, okay, that was a bit extreme, but point is I have to attempt to write in this sucka, it's not like I don't have anything to talk about. Turns out since I procrastinate like the dickens (whatever that means) I have a TON to talk about, so this is an EPIC blog warning... oh yeah, remember when I used to write 1,700+ word blogs?
  
  On today's agenda: Twitter-itis, Bionic Suckage (Finished: Bionic Commando), Finished: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, Playing Mediocrity: Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, Klonoa (Wii) Impressions and Closing Out. This is bound to be EPIC, like I said, so let's get to blogging: Now Loading s.tyle!
  
  Twitter-itis
  One of the reasons that I haven't blogged as much was because I started using Twitter. Now, I don't update as much as I should, but I plan to start using it more often. I also post links to my latest blogs on there so you can get my latest updates quicker. If you would like to follow me, my twitter address is: http://twitter.com/alpha99. Enjoy the tweets.
  
  Bionic Suckage (Finished: Bionic Commando)
  So on Saturday (May 23) I picked up Bionic Commando for the 360 and spent the week playing it (between other games) and finally finished it yesterday (May 28.) and holy ****, that development house GRIN just cannot develop a decent game. Between Wanted: Weapons of Fate" and Terminator Salvation, Bionic Commando is another development disaster. While those first two games clock in at a grand total of maybe 10 hours combined, Bionic Commando (BC) takes about 10 hours to complete alone, which I guess is an improvement, but that would only be if it was 10 hours worth playing. BC over-stays its welcome with boring lackluster gameplay, brutal level design, artificial restrictions on freedom of play and its hammy all too serious melodramatic and cynical story and voice acting.
  
  First the gameplay, sure the swinging is kind of fun, but because of a few reasons it is rendered a gimmick. Most levels are coated in blue radiation, which is just the game's excuse to artificially limit the range of the levels, GRIN may as well of put flashing red walls all around the levels. Some buildings have a blue tint and you can't grapple those and then there are flatout clouds of radiations that will kill you in seconds if you get to deep in to it. You know what, **** all this talk, the biggest thing that makes BC not fun to play is how easily you can die. Some enemies can kill you in two hits on Normal difficulty, there are bottomless pits (represented by water (you can't swim because of your heavy bionic arm and iron boots) and blue radiation cloud pits) all over the place where one missed swing can send you back 10 minutes of gameplay and it takes 15+ seconds for your health to fully regenerate. The checkpoints can be brutal (most of the time they are pretty nice), there are few long sections where if you die (which is easy) you can be set back 10 - 15 minutes or more.
  
  In terms of enemies there are these "Biomechs" which chase around areas, have a jumping smash attack that takes away half your health, they are impervious to bullets except on their tiny weak point on there back, usually come in pairs and later in the game shoot blue balls of energy at you (which in a clever touch throw at you using a "hadoken" animation). It becomes a stupid cat and mouse game, where you run for your life (they are capable of killing you in two hits), hope to get a explosives based weapon or buy enough time to throw something at them. It is a pain in the ass and not fun in the least, exciting and thrilling yes, fun, no.
  
  Speaking of weapons, what a boring lot. The default pea-shooter pistol and the other weapons you get like 8 shots for and then discard when a new weapon drop appears. If all that didn't prove how much Bionic Commando sucks ass, it basically boils down to this... Kill enemies, hack node, checkpoint, walk into a tunnel, loading screen, kill enemies, hack node - disable minefield, checkpoint, kill all enemies, hack node, checkpoint, cut scene, checkpoint, fight mechs for an unessicary 10 minutes, miss a swing, game over, loading screen, kill mechs over again, exit area, loading screen, next area... repeat all steps for 10 hours. Though you might want to add a few more game overs in to those steps. There are areas that are five minutes long and they are separated by loading screens... you make a game about swinging and you close off the world to the degree that GRIN did... epic fail.
  
  That's not even mentioning the decent voice acting which is destroyed by a terribly forced script that has characters being all melodramatic and cynical about the world using forced "badattitude" s.tyle too many cigarettes s.tyle voice acting. I'm stopping now because this is becoming too ranty... I will say before I leave this alone I really enjoyed the music, but other than that one good point, I'll probably NEVER play Bionic Commando ever again and you should never play it at all, its not worth your time.
  
  Finished: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
  About two weeks ago I finished Tales of Symphonia 2 (ToS2) and had mixed feelings about it. If you read my thoughts about the game in NLU Weekly #77 (see post below) I was pissed about how the story was written with the main characters from the first game being portrayed by the two new main characters as being the enemy. Turns out you get to have everyone from the first game in your party in the last few hours of the game, that still does make up for the fact you can't play as them except in multiplayer. The dialog in this game is insipid and annoying... full of ****ty made up words like Ratatosk and the word that is bound to make even the most professional voice actor sound like a dumbass... GINNUNGAGAP (Gi-nung-ga-gap). The gate blocking out the demon world is called the Ginnungagap... ****ing Ginnungagap!
  
  Continuing on with insipidness, the relationship between Emil and Marta is probably the most fake-ass, immature, forced and obnoxiously Japanese "romance" in history with Marta's clingy, annoying teenage-s.tyle idolizing behavior towards Emil. It is enough to make you sick. "I LOVE YOU EMIIIIL!" God, just saying doesn't make it true, though in game's reality all you have to do cling on to someone and squeal "I love you!" enough and by the end of it all you will get to have a kiss after the end credits. GIVE ME A ****ING BREAK! I'm going to puke just thinking about that absurdity, there is just not enough character development to deserve such an ending.
  
  The other problem of that ToS2 suffers from is cutscene-itis. I would almost believe it if you told me there are more cutscenes than game. It's like they shoved the cutscenes for a 60 hour RPG into a 30 hour RPG. It also over uses the exposition to other characters fade to black. Characters rejoin the party and ask current characters what happened... well let us tell you... fade to black... oh, I get it. Sure it saves you having to go over exposition that YOU (the player) just experienced moments ago, but I have never seen it so many times in one place. In fact he final cutscenes of the game including the final fight and credits are nearly an hour long (with the fight maybe being 10 minutes of that hour). I complained there was too little story in Final Fantasy 12, but there is too much story in ToS2.
  
  The thing I did enjoy about the game is the battle system. Similar to the usual Tales battle systems with the free movement button and massive combos this one has a little touch that makes it one of the best of Tales franchise. AERIAL COMBAT! Not only can you start off an enemy with your standard 4-hit ground combo you can use the 5th and final hit of that combo to launch the enemy up in to the air for a 7 or 8 hit aerial combo finished by using one of your aerial special artes and you can get a total of 15 or 16 hits. The best part of launching a monster is that it does not die until it hits the ground so you can really set up some brutal overkills if you time things right. As usual the battles are short, the game listed my average battle length as around 22 seconds. The original Tales of Symphonia is a GameCube c.lassic, this pseudo sequel is not really worth your time unless you can stomach the worst of kiddy anime romances and cutscenes up the ass.
  
  Playing Mediocrity: Sacred 2: Fallen Angel
  I went in to Sacred 2 not knowing what too expect really, I haven't played too many Diablo/Neverwinter Nights type PC RPGs before... turns out this is not really a good one. There is a pointless main story and about 600 side quests to do it Sacred 2, but before you get too excited out of those 600 quests... please realize there are about three types of them: get item, kill certain amount of specific monster (variation collect items from killed monster) and escort. That's it... you grind and grind and grind on three types of missions, slog through boring ass combat (you just hold down an attack button and feed yourself health potions) and listen to terrible voice acting. You have to be careful though this questing can suck you in... stuff like that is the exact reason I avoid all MMORPGs like the plague because I would become hopelessly addicted to completing quests and grinding the next level. Unfortuately for Sacred 2 the loot collecting and quest grinding has really worn on me and I am not sure I really care to play any more after 50+ hours. Don't PLAY THIS GAME.
  
  Impressions: Klonoa (Wii)
  Damn, I haven't had much luck with videogames over the past couple of weeks, but we are finally getting to one that is worth your time and that IS fun to play. Klonoa (Wii) is a remake of the first Klonoa game for the PS1. I never played the full game, though I did try a demo I had on an old US OPM Demo Disc and the first two levels are identical at least in layout to the Wii version. There isn't too much that needs to be said about Klonoa, it is a c.lassic side scrolling platformer with super tight controls and fun gameplay. The problems that I have found is that the game is really easy and really short... I just hit "Vision" 6-1 which means I have only 2 stages left. I also have 25 extra Klonoas... The other thing I don't like is Klonoa's short damage recovery time, it's not unusual to take two hits from a mistake... oh and he says what sounds like "hung-yah" every time he gets hit. With that said though, YOU SHOULD PLAY THIS GAME. It's charming, cute, fun and even has a neat little story too it.
  
  Closing Out
  That should do it for this epic blog entry, it only took two hours to write, but hopefully you enjoyed it. I also have been playing Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and it is growing on me... some of the Wii controls are cool (activating mechanisms and using your grapple beam), but I really could do without the "point to aim" controls, it takes a toll on your wrist to hold the Wii-Remote up like that. I also finally caved and got a new Xbox 360... not because it RROD or anything, but because the DVD drive just became a pain. I finally realized how busted it was since getting this new system... it's a pleasure to play games again without having to worry that the games are going to lock-up or get dirty disc errors. I got an arcade system ($200 cdn) and just stuck my harddrive to it, worked like a charm, though I will have to remain online at all times or deal with DRM issues (until I feel like messing with microsoft's DRM transfer tool). I gave my old system to my dad, he can play stuff like Pac-Man, Tetris and Bejeweled without using the DVD drive, so he should have fun with that.
  
  I think that about covers all I needed to say, so I will talk to you later, hopefully next week with the next edition of NLU Weekly. Nathan "Rad" Spencer sums up his own game: "This **** is starting to piss me off!" Loading Complete!
  • Posted May 29, 2009 5:55 am PT
  • Category: Games
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