My Personal Blog

• 30Sep 08

  Now I'm not his alien.

  Still playing Pure. Still loving it.

  Well not long now til Phoenix Wright 3, one of the very few games I want this year (the others being Professor Layton and Fallout 3 (for PS3 of course)), gets released With the arrival of Wednesday tomorrow, it's only one step closer to that game. I'm also getting some Wii points to purchase Super Mario RPG on the Virtual Console. Or maybe not because I have so many games to finish. I'm still on Chapter 1 in Dragon Quest 4. Still on Chapter 2 in Sonic Chronicles. Not completed Kirby Power Paintbrush yet. My time has been spent on Pure. It's still a class act game and I'm still really enjoying. I'll get a review of that up soon, along with another review on some other game that I forgot I was going to do. I may also start doing some top tens. I think the first one I'll do will be the best TOP TEN DS Games. Or I may do point and click. Or Platformer. Or all three because this is my blog and not yours. Mwhahahahahahahahahaha.

  Err. Not else to report on. I'm not really blog person because my opinion is something I can't really get across well. Unless it's my hatred of all football games and realistic racing games. Then I can do that quite well.

  Did I ever mention that I got Uncharted? Well I have now. It's alright. Some bizarre technical hiccups though, like texture popping in and screen tearing. And I also find it worrying the game's only selling point is the "Submerge Nate partially in water and only a bit o' Nate will be wet". True, the game has no orignal ideas but it's still a good old fashioned romp. I was surprised to see Amy Hennig in the game's credits. She wrote the incredible Legacy Of Kain series and I was surprised just how basic and Jerry Bruckheimer this all was. I always regard the Legacy Of Kain series of having the best script in any game series.

  So thats it folks

  So glad I don't do this writing malarkay for a living.

  • Posted Sep 30, 2008 1:46 pm PT
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• 27Sep 08

  I feel so Pure. So guess what I bought.

  For my newly accquired PS3, I purchased Pure. And boy is this game fun. I remember when games used to be entertaining and silly. So with that obvious statement, Pure does that and much much more.

  I'm not going to lie. I was disappointed with Burnout Paradise. Sure it's Burnout, all but name. You see, it pains me to admit it, but the open world aspect was weak. I got so bored with finding races, re doing races and wandering around. This is not how a racing game is supposed to be. A racing game is suppose to be fun, with reality left at the door. It should have some tight track design that evokes thrills, excitement and exhaustion. Burnout 3, F-Zero GX and Mario Kart have this. And now I can confidently add Pure to that tiny list.

  I can easily recommend Pure to anyone who is into fast, arcade style racing. Or people who like tinkering with vehicle stats and parts. Or any gamer really. The controls are intuitive, the graphics are some of the best I've seen for a racing game and the whole thing just works so well. Granted, the game isn't wholly original. But neither is Gran Turismo, 2, 3, 4, so many of the prologues, and the eventual arrival of 5. The game is such a pleasure to play and look at. The track design is awesome with some amazing looking hairpin turns, ridiculously high ramps and a horizon that expands some way into the distance. Racing and pulling off tricks is equally balanced and effective and the sense of speed is exhilirating. I love it.

  Also Samba De Amigo for the Wii. It's okay. It's not really moved on from the Dreamcast original, it's more or less copy and paste. It's fun, don't get me wrong and for people who haven't played the original will have blast. But there's far too many better music games. The game is weak compared to them. But as always, multi player saves the day.

  Wii Fit. The hardest game to find in the UK at the moment. I got that today as well. 70 pounds for the heaviest accessory I have ever come across. I haven't really gotten into yet because the whole family is in on it at the moment. But from what I have seen and played, it's cool. It's definitely gimmicky and a novelty. But will it be an effective workout regime? I will have to wait see.

  Sega Rally. Awesome, underrated racing game. I like how the track gets altered as the race goes on. Plus the actual handling of the cars is also great. Sweet.

  • Posted Sep 27, 2008 10:31 am PT
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• 26Sep 08

  Paper Sonic: The Dark Brotherhood of Nod

  So I definitely got Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Bioware's first foray for the DS and Sonic's first proper RPG outing. Many people will be expecting many great things about this but I am afraid that many will be slightly disappointed.

  The story is the same old flair of a big enemy coming and Sonic and his annoying pals (Post Tails and Knuckles) come to the rescue to save the day. So it's hardly amazing. There's no humour that made the Mario RPGs so charming, and the attitude that Sonic is suppose to have is missing. I've managed to get to Chapter 2 so far and I'm close to rescuing Knuckles. Hey people, I do have to work!!?!

  If an RPG can't find a comfortable place with the story then the gameplay NEEDS to make up for it and again, in this it feels a little weak. Navigation is fine for most of the time. You point where you want to go like in Phantom Hourglass. The trouble is the perspective that Bioware picked. You have slight trouble distinguishing what is passable, what you're able to walk behind and so on. Things are eased with context sensitive buttons, such as Sonic being able to go through the loop the loop or Tails flying. It works fine and the character swapping for certain navigation segments is seamless and not at all frustrating. Menu navigation is also simple and the Bioware Conversation Trees System(TM) makes an appearance in a somewhat basic and shallow way. I have no real complaints in the overworld controls. It works, let me put it like that.

  The battling system is both conventional and non convential. The conventional is the turn based core mechanic and the non conventional is the way you execute special moves and evading certain moves. If you've had any experience with Elite Beat Agents you'll instantly know what to do. You either follow a circle over a dotted line or tap a singular circle when a wireframe circle just about covers it. The problem is the fact it never changes each time you do the attacks/evasion. And the slow down corrupts the flow of the battle. You also have moments when the enemy tries to escape and you play this mini game to try and catch up to them. You have to avoid boxes you take damage and they eventually get away. It's an okay distraction but it does become slightly annoing after a while. And what is also bizarre is the transition from overworld to the battle screen. There's no music or fading. It just pauses and goes straight to battle. In a way that's cool, but if you're an avid RPG fan this feels strangely alien. The chao system is similiar to the badge seen in the Mario RPG games. You find eggs, they hatch in the Chao garden and you equip them and they do special status effects for the chosen character. Equipping, using and selling/buying work the way you expect them to.

  The graphics are nice, but some of the music is quiet and some bizarre sound effects that sound so old school (I mean old school, like Atari 2600). Also, in the opening sequence most of the artwork is embarassingly pixallated. I was amazed at how bad it was. Okay that may be a slight exaggeration but there's too much of it not to go un-noticed.I haven't encountered any audio glitches though that was mentioned in some game reviews from IGN etc.

  Sonic Chronicles had the potential to be a truly excellent Sonic RPG. And you would expect Bioware, apparantly the greatest RPG makers ever, to have done better with the source material. Whether it was anything to do with the conflicts of culture and ideas between Bioware and Sonic Team is open for debate. But I can't help but feel that Bioware could have made a bigger splash with an original RPG. I have to say Sonic Chronicles is far above average and is far better than the majority of the RPGS for the DS at the moment. Just don't be expecting an RPG on the same kind of quality that the glorious Super Mario RPG exhibited. It is for Sonic fans mainly, and if you're fed up of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Zelda all the time.

  • Posted Sep 26, 2008 9:23 am PT
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