Mass Effect (Xbox 360)
Overall: 9.5/10
Pros: Beautiful graphics, great gameplay, amazing story, really great conversations...and graphics...and did I mention the awesome story?
Cons: Elevators, some combat situations, and your squadmates-sometimes.
The first time I saw this game I practically freaked-Bioware, the makers of the greatest Star Wars game ever, creating their own IP with their own ideas and story and characters. Add that scenario in with absolutely brilliant graphics, interesting characters, a unique and revolutionary conversation system, and your own starship, and you have a recipe for science fiction greatness.
I ordered the Limited Edition of the game off of Gamestop.com on Thanksgiving night, and when it arrived on Teusday, I couldn't stop playing. My final playthrough logged in at around 11 hours (I hated the fact that the game didn't outright tell you how long you played it once you beat it) and I didn't even crack the surface of what was possible in the game. I simply followed the story quest, pursuing two or three optional assignments maximum.
First off: the story and setting. The setting in the twenty-third century is superb, and is highly enhanced by the awesome art style and graphics. The environments everywhere are breathtaking and amazingly inhabited by the aliens within them. These environments and inhabitants help to give the story a breath of fresh air, as it simply provides context to everything that you do, and every situation that you find yourself in. The story itself is amazing, spanning several planets and situations to find yourself in, and the scale is just awe inspiring.
I just traveled laong the main pathway this time around, sticking to those planets that you absolutely need to go to in order to complete the game, and sticking to the order that you are supposedly supposed to visit those planets. That main quest alone took eleven hours of my time, and that eleven hours in four days was completely worth it.
I just loved the exploration and main quests that you have to partake, even though on some planets there are extended sequences where you just run from person to person until you can progress in some other way. This was sort of annoying, but in the end it just didn't matter because it always made you feel like you were progressing, which is the most important thing. Then, when you started to get going and really progress in a visible and quick manner, then you just love it even more.
The combat was extremely smooth and easy, playing a lot like many FPS games, albeit from a third-person perspective, and it was really, really fun and cool. The actual encounters, except for a few that I can think of, were extremely easy and simple to get through. However, that only strengthens the game. The combat, really, if you think about it, is simply overlaid over top of an epic and amazing story. It just doesn't matter in the long run. It is simply a vehicle to get you from place to place in order to progress the story-and that's what I really liked about it. Plus, even though you do level up, it doesn't feel like you absolutely need to spend hours and hours in order to upgrade your character, which is something that I hate about most RPG's. It really plays well in that you can simply play the game like a shooter-going from place to place doing what you need to do in order to get the game over with, and you can beat the game that way. That is very unlike most RPG's where you have to spend a massive amount of time leveling and working towards beating the game, leveling up every character that you could possibly have in your party, keeping everyone balanced. Also of note-you didn't have to keep switching characters in order to get certain things done. I beat the entire game using only two characters in my party: Ashley and Liara. Obviously Liara came into the game late, but after I acquired her, she was the only character that I used along with Ashley and myself-Commander Shephard.
This idea of using only two characters was interesting in that it provided me with insight into two interesting things: what makes a great game brilliant, and what makes a great game simple while at the same time being complex. What I thought was brilliant was that using this constant party, my Tech powers were never leveld up at all. That meant that I never got to hack into many of the crates and lockers and supply-giving areas in the game. This meant that except for around 5-10 crates maximum, I didn't pick up any new equipment or powers or items. I also only visited one store in my entire playthrough-and I still beat the game! I think that all games, not just RPG's need to be made like this. They need to be made while giving you the ability to beat the game with a minimal amount of work. You don't need to collect everything to get through the game, you just need to work at it minimally. You don't need to be an expert, you just ned to be a fan. And as for what makes a great game simple while at the same time being complex: guided freedom. I'm not a big fan of the sandbox genre, and I hate that 'go anywhere do anything' mantra. It just annoys me. I like to finish games and get a complete understanding of the story. If that takes me forty hours because I wasn't sure what was really going to progress the plot or help me out, then that sort of dampens the experience. The ability to visit literally dozens of worlds in Mass Effect is very cool and unique, and eventually I'd like to visit many of those optional worlds and discover what they have to offer, but if you really just want to get through the main plot and understand that aspect of it completely, than you can and it is extremely easy and fun to do so.
The conclusion, however, is just a little bit odd. It does leave room for the rest of the planned trilogy, albeit a little bit wierdly, but really it just makes me want to play throug the game all over again.
Now, onto the only three bad things that I can think of.
#1: Combat and Squad
Sometimes the combat is a little unbalanced and difficult. I mean it is fun and easy to play with, it can sometimes be a little overwhelming and odd. Now, in terms of the squad, this was my one major complaint. Your squad, while most of the time helpful, can at times be extremely stupid. One particular incident comes to mind where I realized that one of my squadmates was way, way behind me and wasn't moving at all. I had to go backtrack all the way back over there to get to Liara, the squadmate in question, and then I had to screw around for another five minutes until I finally got her to come with me and help to finish the mission.
#2: Odd Dialog Choices
The dialog is my absolute favorite part of the game. I could sit for hours on end and just go through the many sorts of conversations in the game. My major complaints with this system isn't with the system itself, its more with the delivery. Some of the lines are delivered in a sort of sarcastic or serious or even angry manner when they are supposedly the 'nice' lines. The characters react in the desired way, but the delivery is just a little bit wierd. At the end, one of the dialog choices suddenly makes you like whip around in another direction and walk off while spouting a few more lines. It isn't bad or game killing, it's just a little odd.
#3: Bugs
I don't play games to find bugs. With Halo 3 and the Forge, yes, I do screw around some and try to find glitches and things like that that help to make the game fun in a different kind of way, but with Mass Effect, my entire desire in playing the game was just to do that: Unfortuantely, my experience was marred by two bugs that I found while just doing what any player would normally do. The first one was me just simply walking along a walkway right next to the railing, and all of a sudden I was stuck and couldn't move at all in any direction whatsoever. It would play walking animations, but I couldn't move. I couldn't figure out any way to get out of there, and so I had to load my last save point and do about fifteen minutes worth of playing over again. The second bug happened while I was in the Mako. I went over a rock and flipped the thing. The Mako ended up falling through the geometry of the level and then ended up hung from its cannon. I could move the cannon, but the Mako itself was still stuck underneath. While these bugs were technically game killing, and I was mad about them, I didn't mind them overall, because the rest of the game was so good that it just didn't matter.
Overall, if you love either shooters or RPG's, get this game and play it to its full extent. It is amazing and extremely fun to play. I really loved the game and can't wait to continue on with the story.
Concept: Create an amazing RPG, and an amazing science fiction universe while incorporating amazing tactical gameplay and an awesome conversation system to create one of the greatest video games ever overall.
Graphics: The in-game environments are amazingly beautiful and detailed, and the character models are awesome. However, the character models that are used during the conversations and cinematics are the true show-stealers, showing off nearly five million polygons at once. They are amazingly detailed and show of the real power of the Xbox 360 and next generation machines as a whole.
Sound: The main draw for sound-the voice acting, is absolutely perfect and exquisetly superb-mostly. See my section up above for the full story. The music was also really, really amazing. I didn't expect it to be as good as it really was, but it was amazing-inspired by the electronic soundtracks of the 70's and 80's. It was one of my favorite features of the game in the end-and I wasn't even expecting it. What a pleasant surprise it was.
Playability: Combat is awesome and smooth. Exploration is fun, although a bit jumpy, and conversations play like video games were invented just for that system.
Entertainment: It is extremely fun and offers a massive amount of entertainment, and you don't really have to look for it. It is all right out there on the surface and aching for you to come in and play with it.
Replay Value: So high it is impossible to come up with any kind of words to describe how high the replay value is.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
First Impressions: Oblivion and Mass Effect
Yesterday I bought The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Collector's Edition from my local Gamecrazy for $25 (Plust tax). Today I received in the mail a game that I ordered on Thanksgiving day: the Mass Effect Limited Edition.
Now, I'm not great at RPG's, even though I love them, and I have to say-so far, I love both of these games a phenomenal amount. So here is what I think of them so far:
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360)
I was very nervous about buying this game. First off, the world of Tamriel is a world that will take anyone literally hundreds of hours to explore to its full extent like I am so fond of doing, and second off, I was extremely worried about how first-person sword combat would work.
The world is so beautiful that the first part is something that I shouldn't be worried about; it's begging to be explored. As far as the side missions go...they look cool, but I doubt that I'll complete very many of them, I'm just going to stick to the main quest. But everything, and I mean everything, is rendered in such beautiful detail that the exploration parts of the game, or the optional exploration parts, are actually incredibly fun.
And the sword combat works surprisingly well. I was primarily worried that they had only made one attack animation for the sword combat, but thankfully they've made a really cool system with numerous animations and combos and all sorts of things like that. It's really just awesome.
The game overall so far (About an hour of playing) has been extremely fun and detailed and I can't wait to invest more time into it.
The Collector's Edition special features are brief, but nice. The trailer is awesome, and what is really the only other major feature on it: a 45-minute documentary about the making of the game, is extremely well done and it is really fun to watch. The packaging for the Collector's Edition is awesome, and the book that comes with it is really cool to read and just look at, beign exquisetly designed and crafted.
Mass Effect (Xbox 360)
This is the one game that I really, really wanted this year. In all the trailers it just looked absolutely spectacular and like it was going to be something amazing to experience, and so far (About 3 hours) it has been one of the most amazing RPG experiences ever.
The combat, while not perfect, is really more fun than I thought that it would be, and the laser pistols and weapons really feel a lot like normal FPS and 3PS weapons, which is something that I really appreciate. The squad controls are nice, especially with the allies that you meet up with, and the graphics make the whole thing just a joy to experience.
However, the thing that I mostly have to commend in the game is its conversation interface. Really, it sounds stupid, but that is really one of my favorite parts of the game. The usually tedious task of conversations and information finding are replaced with something that is a joy to experience in every single way possible. It is just awesome.
The Limited Edition is really, really spectacular. It is in a Gears of War-style case, and the bonus features and bonus books are just really fun to watch and read. They had a whole ton of information to the game world and just make an already spectacular game even more immersive than it already is.
Overall
Overall...I have to pick out Mass Effect as the better game so far. But that is not to say that I don't like Oblivion, its just that I've had more time to play Mass Effect and more time to see what it really has to offer. That's something I haven't done with Oblivion so far, so...my opinion on that matter doesn't really count.
Three days till my birthday!
Now, I'm not great at RPG's, even though I love them, and I have to say-so far, I love both of these games a phenomenal amount. So here is what I think of them so far:
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360)
I was very nervous about buying this game. First off, the world of Tamriel is a world that will take anyone literally hundreds of hours to explore to its full extent like I am so fond of doing, and second off, I was extremely worried about how first-person sword combat would work.
The world is so beautiful that the first part is something that I shouldn't be worried about; it's begging to be explored. As far as the side missions go...they look cool, but I doubt that I'll complete very many of them, I'm just going to stick to the main quest. But everything, and I mean everything, is rendered in such beautiful detail that the exploration parts of the game, or the optional exploration parts, are actually incredibly fun.
And the sword combat works surprisingly well. I was primarily worried that they had only made one attack animation for the sword combat, but thankfully they've made a really cool system with numerous animations and combos and all sorts of things like that. It's really just awesome.
The game overall so far (About an hour of playing) has been extremely fun and detailed and I can't wait to invest more time into it.
The Collector's Edition special features are brief, but nice. The trailer is awesome, and what is really the only other major feature on it: a 45-minute documentary about the making of the game, is extremely well done and it is really fun to watch. The packaging for the Collector's Edition is awesome, and the book that comes with it is really cool to read and just look at, beign exquisetly designed and crafted.
Mass Effect (Xbox 360)
This is the one game that I really, really wanted this year. In all the trailers it just looked absolutely spectacular and like it was going to be something amazing to experience, and so far (About 3 hours) it has been one of the most amazing RPG experiences ever.
The combat, while not perfect, is really more fun than I thought that it would be, and the laser pistols and weapons really feel a lot like normal FPS and 3PS weapons, which is something that I really appreciate. The squad controls are nice, especially with the allies that you meet up with, and the graphics make the whole thing just a joy to experience.
However, the thing that I mostly have to commend in the game is its conversation interface. Really, it sounds stupid, but that is really one of my favorite parts of the game. The usually tedious task of conversations and information finding are replaced with something that is a joy to experience in every single way possible. It is just awesome.
The Limited Edition is really, really spectacular. It is in a Gears of War-style case, and the bonus features and bonus books are just really fun to watch and read. They had a whole ton of information to the game world and just make an already spectacular game even more immersive than it already is.
Overall
Overall...I have to pick out Mass Effect as the better game so far. But that is not to say that I don't like Oblivion, its just that I've had more time to play Mass Effect and more time to see what it really has to offer. That's something I haven't done with Oblivion so far, so...my opinion on that matter doesn't really count.
Three days till my birthday!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
First Impressions: F.E.A.R.; Quake IV; Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
So, on Black Friday I took some money and went down to the local Gamestop, where they were having a 'Buy Two Get One Free' sale, and so I bought three games. These are my impressions of them.
F.E.A.R. (Xbox 360)
Okay, so far, this is probably my favorite of the three games. It has solid FPS action, a creepy atmosphere, and so far, a good story. Now, that is not to say that it is without faults. It is definitely a little bit repetitive, having you basically traverse through a little bit of a maze, just killing the guys that come at you while simply trying to progress to the next story point. So, that kind of gets old. As far as everything else goes...I can't really complain. The graphics are nice, although a little lo-res or low detail at some points, and the enemy AI is a joy to fight against, especially with the slow motion. The horror moments are cool, albeit not very scary, and so far the story has been brief and spread thin but still enjoyable.
My favorite part of the whole package for this game so far has been the slow motion ability. First off, it's just a cool feature on paper, but the way that it is implemented, with all of the visual effects and super cool filters, make it just plain awesome. The best part about the slow motion: the blood sprays. The blood is just streaked across the screen, and it just looks awesome. The best gameplay addition to the slow motion: the shotgun. It is just absolutely amazing to see an enemy cut in half using that powerful shotgun, showering the area in a massive amount of blood and what is left of the enemy's body. There are very few greater feelings in video games today.
Overall 1st Impression: 8.5/10
Quake IV (Xbox 360)
I bought this title simply because I absolutely love id Software. All of their games have been groundbreaking and have pushed the industry forward as a whole, especially in the graphics department, and Doom 3 and Quake IV were no different. Sure, Quake IV wasn't developed by id, but it was made using the Doom 3 engine, and so I think that that sort of links them together in a way, and if they aren't linked by graphics then they are sure linked by gameplay.
I beat Doom 3 on the Xbox (I'll have to post a review some time) and that was a very fun game. It wasn't great, but it was good, with solid action, albeit sucky level design, and interesting creatures. The game delivered, even with an extremely weak story. So far, Quake IV looks to be the exact same thing. The levels seem very industrial and Doom 3-esque, and all of them are cramped and while they are interesting to fight in, they just get a little old after a little bit. Now I know that you get to fight outdoors and that you are eventually transformed into a Strogg, but from what I've seen so far, the game isn't all that spectacular.
Now, my favorite part of the game so far has to be the opening sequence. It opens on a marine that looks like he's floating through space. It looks like it could be a dream, but then the camera pulls back and shows you that he is floating through space, and that his body has been ripped in half and is showering the space around it in blood. It is just awesome.
Also, I love the fact that id and Activision included a bonus disc with the game. It's got a few cool documentary things, but the coolest part is definitely the inclusion of Quake II. That game was just awesome (It wasn't my era but I've played it) and it's really a blast using a gamepad, since I really don't like PC controls.
Overall 1st Impression: 7/10
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Xbox 360)
I bought this game mostly just because of how awesome it looked. The graphics are just absolutely beautiful. Now, playing it on the other hand is a little wierd. The controls are fine, and everything about it is great except for two major things:
1) The aim speed. It would be really hard to play this as anything other than a really slow tactical shooter. The look speeds are just so slow it's unbelievable, and every single encounter practically turns into a sniping encounter whereas they might have been a really awesome assault encounter.
2) Why can I not save when I want too!? Why!? I absolutely hate this. Especially when I get called away and I don't have time to finish what I'm doing. I had to do most of one mission twice before I got a message that saved "Saving..." and then I shut the game off. Still, I'm not even sure it actaully saved it.
My favorite part so far...........I dont' know, I'm still looking for one.
Overall 1st Impression: 7/10
So there you have it!
F.E.A.R. (Xbox 360)
Okay, so far, this is probably my favorite of the three games. It has solid FPS action, a creepy atmosphere, and so far, a good story. Now, that is not to say that it is without faults. It is definitely a little bit repetitive, having you basically traverse through a little bit of a maze, just killing the guys that come at you while simply trying to progress to the next story point. So, that kind of gets old. As far as everything else goes...I can't really complain. The graphics are nice, although a little lo-res or low detail at some points, and the enemy AI is a joy to fight against, especially with the slow motion. The horror moments are cool, albeit not very scary, and so far the story has been brief and spread thin but still enjoyable.
My favorite part of the whole package for this game so far has been the slow motion ability. First off, it's just a cool feature on paper, but the way that it is implemented, with all of the visual effects and super cool filters, make it just plain awesome. The best part about the slow motion: the blood sprays. The blood is just streaked across the screen, and it just looks awesome. The best gameplay addition to the slow motion: the shotgun. It is just absolutely amazing to see an enemy cut in half using that powerful shotgun, showering the area in a massive amount of blood and what is left of the enemy's body. There are very few greater feelings in video games today.
Overall 1st Impression: 8.5/10
Quake IV (Xbox 360)
I bought this title simply because I absolutely love id Software. All of their games have been groundbreaking and have pushed the industry forward as a whole, especially in the graphics department, and Doom 3 and Quake IV were no different. Sure, Quake IV wasn't developed by id, but it was made using the Doom 3 engine, and so I think that that sort of links them together in a way, and if they aren't linked by graphics then they are sure linked by gameplay.
I beat Doom 3 on the Xbox (I'll have to post a review some time) and that was a very fun game. It wasn't great, but it was good, with solid action, albeit sucky level design, and interesting creatures. The game delivered, even with an extremely weak story. So far, Quake IV looks to be the exact same thing. The levels seem very industrial and Doom 3-esque, and all of them are cramped and while they are interesting to fight in, they just get a little old after a little bit. Now I know that you get to fight outdoors and that you are eventually transformed into a Strogg, but from what I've seen so far, the game isn't all that spectacular.
Now, my favorite part of the game so far has to be the opening sequence. It opens on a marine that looks like he's floating through space. It looks like it could be a dream, but then the camera pulls back and shows you that he is floating through space, and that his body has been ripped in half and is showering the space around it in blood. It is just awesome.
Also, I love the fact that id and Activision included a bonus disc with the game. It's got a few cool documentary things, but the coolest part is definitely the inclusion of Quake II. That game was just awesome (It wasn't my era but I've played it) and it's really a blast using a gamepad, since I really don't like PC controls.
Overall 1st Impression: 7/10
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Xbox 360)
I bought this game mostly just because of how awesome it looked. The graphics are just absolutely beautiful. Now, playing it on the other hand is a little wierd. The controls are fine, and everything about it is great except for two major things:
1) The aim speed. It would be really hard to play this as anything other than a really slow tactical shooter. The look speeds are just so slow it's unbelievable, and every single encounter practically turns into a sniping encounter whereas they might have been a really awesome assault encounter.
2) Why can I not save when I want too!? Why!? I absolutely hate this. Especially when I get called away and I don't have time to finish what I'm doing. I had to do most of one mission twice before I got a message that saved "Saving..." and then I shut the game off. Still, I'm not even sure it actaully saved it.
My favorite part so far...........I dont' know, I'm still looking for one.
Overall 1st Impression: 7/10
So there you have it!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
This Holiday's Video Game Dilemma
In just four days (and counting) many of us will be sitting down to Thanksgiving, a celebration of friends and family and (some would say most importantly) good food. That day is the day that I will be celebrating my 15th birthday, even if the real thing isn't for another week, and so I think that I'll have the money to go and buy one game. The trouble is, I can't pick between Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed or Call of Duty 4. So, I've decided to rate them by their own merits.
Mass Effect
Pros: Awesome story, amazing graphics, cool gameplay
Cons: I suck at RPG's, heavily stat based
Concept: Take the team that made one of the best Star Wars games ever and let them make their own amazing idea. Also, start amazing trilogy of games.
Graphics: Right up there with the best of the best. Especially great facial animations and things like that.
Sound: Well, I'm not sure about all of this, especially the music. But right now it looks like it will have hours and hours of voice acting that is going to be just absolutely spectacular, so...
Playibility: RPG's are always a little hard to control, and from what I've seen it appears that combat is somewhat squad based, albeit real-time, so...I'm not sure how that's gonna play out.
Entertainment: Oh the entertainment will be there, just hopefully you won't have to level an insane amount to get at it.
Replay Value: Hopefully high, but then if it takes 200 hours to get through, do you really want to have to do that all over again?
Assassin's Creed
Pros: It looks like it'll have a great story, interesting characters, interesting gameplay.
Cons: It looks a little to sandbox and open-ended for me.
Concept: Prince of Persia for the next generation with a better plot and all that.
Graphics: Well, the environments look really amazing so far, but they really haven't showcased what they are doing about the nitty gritty details yet, so I'm not sure how it looks at street level so to speak.
Sound: I don't really know. They haven't really talked about that all that much and I haven't really experienced anything that gives me an impression of what the sound will be like, so I can't really tell. What I do know is that it looks like the sound, music, and acting will be pretty good.
Playibility: From what I've heard, the controls are great and work well, but are kind of hard to learn.
Entertainment: It looks like a great adventure that will last for hours on end. The trouble is, Im not sure if I want to invest that many hours into it. I'm sure it'll be great and spectacular, but will it be fun?
Replay Value: Hopefully high, but it looks kind of medium to me.
Call of Duty 4
Pros: Graphics that make my jaw drop, perfect FPS action, fun to play.
Cons: Since I'm primarily a Campaign player, the six hour long campaign that many gaming magazines report makes me want to cry.
Concept: Take Call of Duty is a whole new direction and make it absolutely awesome and perfect.
Graphics: The best that we've seen so far in this generation. Seriously, it makes me think that in the next generation of game consoles we will see truly photorealistic graphics. Meanwhile, this is as close as we're gonna get...maybe.
Sound: From what I hear, awesome. Sound effects look to be awesome, and most war games have really great orchestrated music, and hopefully this one does too.
Playibility: The controls are great, supposedly, and the 360's controller is great for FPS games, so that combined with a Halo 3-esque control scheme will have me smiling from ear to ear.
Entertainment: Supposedly non-stop thrills and amazing experiences, this game has it all. Trouble is, it looks to be too short to play through more than a handful of times, so...I'm not sure if that is something I'll really like.
Replay Value: I want to say high, just because the game looks so awesome, but with a really short campaign mode, it looks to gravitate more towards medium.
So there you have it, my thoughts on the latest and greatest console video games. The trouble is I have my thoughts down...and I still don't know which one I'm going to buy.
Mass Effect
Pros: Awesome story, amazing graphics, cool gameplay
Cons: I suck at RPG's, heavily stat based
Concept: Take the team that made one of the best Star Wars games ever and let them make their own amazing idea. Also, start amazing trilogy of games.
Graphics: Right up there with the best of the best. Especially great facial animations and things like that.
Sound: Well, I'm not sure about all of this, especially the music. But right now it looks like it will have hours and hours of voice acting that is going to be just absolutely spectacular, so...
Playibility: RPG's are always a little hard to control, and from what I've seen it appears that combat is somewhat squad based, albeit real-time, so...I'm not sure how that's gonna play out.
Entertainment: Oh the entertainment will be there, just hopefully you won't have to level an insane amount to get at it.
Replay Value: Hopefully high, but then if it takes 200 hours to get through, do you really want to have to do that all over again?
Assassin's Creed
Pros: It looks like it'll have a great story, interesting characters, interesting gameplay.
Cons: It looks a little to sandbox and open-ended for me.
Concept: Prince of Persia for the next generation with a better plot and all that.
Graphics: Well, the environments look really amazing so far, but they really haven't showcased what they are doing about the nitty gritty details yet, so I'm not sure how it looks at street level so to speak.
Sound: I don't really know. They haven't really talked about that all that much and I haven't really experienced anything that gives me an impression of what the sound will be like, so I can't really tell. What I do know is that it looks like the sound, music, and acting will be pretty good.
Playibility: From what I've heard, the controls are great and work well, but are kind of hard to learn.
Entertainment: It looks like a great adventure that will last for hours on end. The trouble is, Im not sure if I want to invest that many hours into it. I'm sure it'll be great and spectacular, but will it be fun?
Replay Value: Hopefully high, but it looks kind of medium to me.
Call of Duty 4
Pros: Graphics that make my jaw drop, perfect FPS action, fun to play.
Cons: Since I'm primarily a Campaign player, the six hour long campaign that many gaming magazines report makes me want to cry.
Concept: Take Call of Duty is a whole new direction and make it absolutely awesome and perfect.
Graphics: The best that we've seen so far in this generation. Seriously, it makes me think that in the next generation of game consoles we will see truly photorealistic graphics. Meanwhile, this is as close as we're gonna get...maybe.
Sound: From what I hear, awesome. Sound effects look to be awesome, and most war games have really great orchestrated music, and hopefully this one does too.
Playibility: The controls are great, supposedly, and the 360's controller is great for FPS games, so that combined with a Halo 3-esque control scheme will have me smiling from ear to ear.
Entertainment: Supposedly non-stop thrills and amazing experiences, this game has it all. Trouble is, it looks to be too short to play through more than a handful of times, so...I'm not sure if that is something I'll really like.
Replay Value: I want to say high, just because the game looks so awesome, but with a really short campaign mode, it looks to gravitate more towards medium.
So there you have it, my thoughts on the latest and greatest console video games. The trouble is I have my thoughts down...and I still don't know which one I'm going to buy.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Movie Review #7: Next
Next
Overall: 8/10
Pros: Great story, great action, great movie overall.
Cons: Some bad writing and horrible special effects.
Please don't take this score wrong. This has absolutely become one of my favorite movies ever. Based on a short story by one of my favorite authors Philip K. Dick, the movie plays out the basic idea of the story in a grand fashion, showing off all of the smarts and style that Mr. Dick had while changing the setting and making it more relatable to the viewer.
My favorite parts of the movie were those involving looking ahead. There was just something about those sequences that made you feel like you knew something special. You knew that everyone else who was watching the movie knew the exact same thing, but for some reason, you just felt like you knew the main character's secret, and then when you found out that you didn't know the secret, that you didn't really know what was going on, you weren't mad or anything like that, you were amazed and enthused at the new direction the movie was going. The acting was pretty good, and that combined with the story and script just made the whole thing a joy to watch. However, it wasn't without it's faults.
The writing, while good on a technical and story level, was at times a little wierd on the personal level. There are a few lines that just seem to stick out as a little strange or awkward, and while it doesn't make the movie stink, it just seems a little odd. The other thing that brought me out of the movie were the special effects. They looked good, but you don't even have to concentrate on them very hard to see that they don't really hold up all that well. Everything that was digital just looked digital. It looked like early 90's films or budget TV films today, where it looks good, but it just doesn't look great.
So, really, my complaints were small and overall insignificant. However, they do make the film a little bit worse than it would have been otherwise. Still, I recommend this movie to anyone interested in science fiction and looking for a good, twist-filled plot.
Overall: 8/10
Pros: Great story, great action, great movie overall.
Cons: Some bad writing and horrible special effects.
Please don't take this score wrong. This has absolutely become one of my favorite movies ever. Based on a short story by one of my favorite authors Philip K. Dick, the movie plays out the basic idea of the story in a grand fashion, showing off all of the smarts and style that Mr. Dick had while changing the setting and making it more relatable to the viewer.
My favorite parts of the movie were those involving looking ahead. There was just something about those sequences that made you feel like you knew something special. You knew that everyone else who was watching the movie knew the exact same thing, but for some reason, you just felt like you knew the main character's secret, and then when you found out that you didn't know the secret, that you didn't really know what was going on, you weren't mad or anything like that, you were amazed and enthused at the new direction the movie was going. The acting was pretty good, and that combined with the story and script just made the whole thing a joy to watch. However, it wasn't without it's faults.
The writing, while good on a technical and story level, was at times a little wierd on the personal level. There are a few lines that just seem to stick out as a little strange or awkward, and while it doesn't make the movie stink, it just seems a little odd. The other thing that brought me out of the movie were the special effects. They looked good, but you don't even have to concentrate on them very hard to see that they don't really hold up all that well. Everything that was digital just looked digital. It looked like early 90's films or budget TV films today, where it looks good, but it just doesn't look great.
So, really, my complaints were small and overall insignificant. However, they do make the film a little bit worse than it would have been otherwise. Still, I recommend this movie to anyone interested in science fiction and looking for a good, twist-filled plot.
Movie Review #6: Gone in 60 Seconds
Gone in 60 Seconds
Overall: 8/10
Pros: Good action, pretty fast paced.
Cons: Cheesy at times, just really not that good.
So, I watched this movie simply because it didn't look too bad. It looked all right. I wasn't very excited to see the movie, and I didn't have high expectations. Thank goodness, because otherwise I would have been disappointed.
To be fair, the movie isn't bad. It's actually pretty good. It's good everything a good drama needs, a good story, interesting characters, tons of action, but then it also has some things that no good drama should ever have: sometimes lame and way too spectacular special effects, gimmicks, and just some dumb elements overall.
So, I know that this review is kind of short, but that's all I really have to say about the movie. It just wasn't spectacular or amazing in any way. It was just...adequate.
Overall: 8/10
Pros: Good action, pretty fast paced.
Cons: Cheesy at times, just really not that good.
So, I watched this movie simply because it didn't look too bad. It looked all right. I wasn't very excited to see the movie, and I didn't have high expectations. Thank goodness, because otherwise I would have been disappointed.
To be fair, the movie isn't bad. It's actually pretty good. It's good everything a good drama needs, a good story, interesting characters, tons of action, but then it also has some things that no good drama should ever have: sometimes lame and way too spectacular special effects, gimmicks, and just some dumb elements overall.
So, I know that this review is kind of short, but that's all I really have to say about the movie. It just wasn't spectacular or amazing in any way. It was just...adequate.
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