Well. Apologies to all nonexistent readers. Exams and other trials and tribulations have left me with little time to do anything, let alone blog.
However, in amongst the chaos, I discovered a gem of a game in the form of Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst.
First, the bad. A difficulty curve that is purely vertical, leading to me and my force character dying more times than Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Also, a targeting system that cannot actually target anything whatsoever, when you are phased by a simple walk to the left, it hasn't been thought through. Third is an almost communist approach to items, i.e. we have none, at all. The final complaint is a predictable one, a camera that just loves to zoom in on butterflies and flowers and other irrelevent things whilst big scary monsters come to eat me. Big scary monsters that strafe.
Now, the good. Combat is fun when not aimed at rocks and other scenery, (if scorchmarks stayed on the server, the walls would be blackened). The story is actually rather good, if you pay attention to it. But the main reason for it's greatness is that it is an MMORPG not inhabited by amoral assholes that superimpose little target signs on characters with levels lower than themselves. Playing it online with Sprite has been a joy. There is little lag (except on my home connection, but given that both of my connections are usually torrenting. This is acceptable.) My main joy is the price. Free. Because I subscribe to a private server, I don't have to pay for the game, and because it's downloadable free, my wallet stays healthy from those costs too.
Now, this next bit deserves a drumroll, because it leads into a description of the most...annoying...bug...EVER. Sega made it a closely guarded secret that to input your username and password, you have to press control and F11, but only on randomly selected machines! The rest function fine. I imagine at this very moment, small Japanese SEGA employees are being chained up and flogged to death due to this particular bug.
Still, it's a fun little game, and well worth it if you like the MMORPGness without the assholes and the n00bs. If you want the private server details...check it out in the SnesOrama forums.
If you do decide to join, I'm called Lightmare and I usually use female force characters, check. I haunt the RaGoL ship. See me around.
Friday, 26 January 2007
Wednesday, 17 January 2007
Wii Play
So I have the square root of bugger all to do, and given that Red Steel is busy being played by a friend, I look through my Wii Library. Wii Sports...no (would require me to tidy room,) Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess...no (would require me to give a damn,) and Wii Play...no (would require me to do stuff.) So, I ask Sprite to put a game into the Wii and lo and behold - Wii Play.
Now this game deserves 100% for Value, as it came for a measly sum of £5.
It's a good game, I'm busy gold ranking everything (as per usual) so I can get that "just completed game" glow.
I have to say, it seems to be more of a how-to guide on Wiimote controls than an actual game, I'm finding the Wiimote controls a lot more natural now, after a good solid hour of intensive training.
However, I can't help but feel like it's far too short. There is hardly anything to it. And I'm finding the instructions on the Where's Wally ripoff a bit vague.
Oh well, for a fiver, it's a bargain.
Now this game deserves 100% for Value, as it came for a measly sum of £5.
It's a good game, I'm busy gold ranking everything (as per usual) so I can get that "just completed game" glow.
I have to say, it seems to be more of a how-to guide on Wiimote controls than an actual game, I'm finding the Wiimote controls a lot more natural now, after a good solid hour of intensive training.
However, I can't help but feel like it's far too short. There is hardly anything to it. And I'm finding the instructions on the Where's Wally ripoff a bit vague.
Oh well, for a fiver, it's a bargain.
Tuesday, 16 January 2007
Sonic Heroes
Sprite's brother was playing Sonic Heroes, still is I think, and that compelled me to write about that game here too.
It's one of those "if only's". If only they hadn't added some awkward bits with huge drops. If only they hadn't made Big so annoying. If only they hadn't diminished Team Chaotix's levels into mind numbing "go-fetch" levels.
Still, this game has what I've found most Sonic games do, charm. It makes me want to get every emblem, unlock every mode. It appeals to the perfectionist gamer in me.
An example in it's charm, or indeed the example lies in Team Chaotix. Just when you've gotten used to everyone taking themselves seriously, Team Chaotix stumbles in, tripping over the mat and crashing the best china in the process. There's what would appear to be a 3 foot bee on crack, whizzing around at a pace just inside recognition of the human eye, rattling on in his 6 year old voice quips that serve only to confuse. Then there is Vector, a significantly larger creature with the boorish arrogance of the stereotypical macho-male. The game was almost worth it when he approached the so-self-conscious-it-hurts Rouge with the line "Who's this broad"
Classic.
Espio is a return to typical Sonic form, an overly skilled, overly self-confident ninja who you can tell is going to be wallflower material. He runs away from the spotlight screaming like a little girl.
The other three teams are standard Sonic affair, Team Sonic (or Team Old Skool as they might as well be called,) are the 16 bit Old-Timers. Team Dark are the new-generation devil worshipper kinds. All of them are about as morally adjusted as the average whore-house, and are not indisposed to destroying everyone/thing/etc. in their quest to find "the truth". Good luck to them.
Finally Team Rose. God damn whose idea was that. Take the three most annoying voice actors in existence, multiply their annoyance for all being concentrated into one place. Then add pink fluff by the articulated truckload, compress into the forms of a schoolgirl hedgehog, an even younger rabbit and a retarded cat with an IQ off the scales (in the other direction) and who really really should be looked into by the police. He's a grown man (er thing) hanging out with 2 girls with a combined age of roughly the same. Did Sega not think this through?
The gameplay is mixed, half the time it's awesome, the other half it's Team Chaotix. I hate, hate, hate having to search the beach for bloody hermit crabs. What does that have to do in the large scale of things?
The other problem is the usual carry on of glitches and poor design, coming off the rails to landing underneath metal boxes. I shudder.
All in all though, It's a good game, more difficult than your standard Sonic fair, but enjoyable nonetheless. Just if you play as Team Rose, mute the sound.
It's one of those "if only's". If only they hadn't added some awkward bits with huge drops. If only they hadn't made Big so annoying. If only they hadn't diminished Team Chaotix's levels into mind numbing "go-fetch" levels.
Still, this game has what I've found most Sonic games do, charm. It makes me want to get every emblem, unlock every mode. It appeals to the perfectionist gamer in me.
An example in it's charm, or indeed the example lies in Team Chaotix. Just when you've gotten used to everyone taking themselves seriously, Team Chaotix stumbles in, tripping over the mat and crashing the best china in the process. There's what would appear to be a 3 foot bee on crack, whizzing around at a pace just inside recognition of the human eye, rattling on in his 6 year old voice quips that serve only to confuse. Then there is Vector, a significantly larger creature with the boorish arrogance of the stereotypical macho-male. The game was almost worth it when he approached the so-self-conscious-it-hurts Rouge with the line "Who's this broad"
Classic.
Espio is a return to typical Sonic form, an overly skilled, overly self-confident ninja who you can tell is going to be wallflower material. He runs away from the spotlight screaming like a little girl.
The other three teams are standard Sonic affair, Team Sonic (or Team Old Skool as they might as well be called,) are the 16 bit Old-Timers. Team Dark are the new-generation devil worshipper kinds. All of them are about as morally adjusted as the average whore-house, and are not indisposed to destroying everyone/thing/etc. in their quest to find "the truth". Good luck to them.
Finally Team Rose. God damn whose idea was that. Take the three most annoying voice actors in existence, multiply their annoyance for all being concentrated into one place. Then add pink fluff by the articulated truckload, compress into the forms of a schoolgirl hedgehog, an even younger rabbit and a retarded cat with an IQ off the scales (in the other direction) and who really really should be looked into by the police. He's a grown man (er thing) hanging out with 2 girls with a combined age of roughly the same. Did Sega not think this through?
The gameplay is mixed, half the time it's awesome, the other half it's Team Chaotix. I hate, hate, hate having to search the beach for bloody hermit crabs. What does that have to do in the large scale of things?
The other problem is the usual carry on of glitches and poor design, coming off the rails to landing underneath metal boxes. I shudder.
All in all though, It's a good game, more difficult than your standard Sonic fair, but enjoyable nonetheless. Just if you play as Team Rose, mute the sound.
Monday, 15 January 2007
Red Steel
So I recently got back into Red Steel (Wii). It's one of those games that feels part baked, like if they had put more effort into it, it could have been a classic. Now I'm not naive enough to believe that they could achieve 1 to 1 sword play, on a launch title, that would have been an amazingly awesome feat, but I was expecting something a little more...involving. Swordfighting feels like a chore, like it could have been removed and the quality of the game would have been improved. The games "On Rails" approach to using the sword is an annoyance, I know several circumstances where it would have been preferable to using the hand cannons available, but alas.
Speaking of firearms, I couldn't help but feel they were limited somehow. In terms of practicality, only two have a major use, the trusty Shotgun (included in every FPS since Doom itself. Anyone can find an exception to this, I'd be grateful), which mows through close up enemies with startling efficiency, and the Sniper Rifle, (another FPS fave), which is great for anyone who isn't immediately dispatched by the Shotgun. All the others are fun, but just simply put, not as good.
Anyone can tell that Red Steel is aiming for the Japanophile market, and in it's way it succeeds. Halfway through the second level(I think), cheery JPop accompanies the sounds of shotgun blast after shotgun blast. At that moment, a symbiosis between the rediculous andf the sublime occurs, and you can forget the games shortcomings.
Apparently, the game suffers from glitches, but these must be some minor ones, as unless they are really "In your face" (the camera in the Lost World level of Sonic Adventure), I appear to avoid them. I've had the occasional Exorcist moment, such as when I motioned for a dude to surrender and he did. Floating 4 feet above the ground.
My final jibe is against the consistency, the lack of it is frustrating as hell. Not being able to shoot NPC's is one, I unloaded an entire clip into the unmentionables of Sato Snr, and was suprised to see him stand there with the inane grin that follows him everywhere. The same applied to the guy in the bar, why didn't he do anything?
The same applies to the background, some glass shatters with a satisfying crash. Other bits are made out of kevlar.
All in all, I've found it best to take this game as a Japanese Die Hard. Enjoy the smashy glass, the swordfights and the banter between the main characters and it's an awesome experience. But like Die Hard, don't expect it to be amazingly gripping.
Speaking of firearms, I couldn't help but feel they were limited somehow. In terms of practicality, only two have a major use, the trusty Shotgun (included in every FPS since Doom itself. Anyone can find an exception to this, I'd be grateful), which mows through close up enemies with startling efficiency, and the Sniper Rifle, (another FPS fave), which is great for anyone who isn't immediately dispatched by the Shotgun. All the others are fun, but just simply put, not as good.
Anyone can tell that Red Steel is aiming for the Japanophile market, and in it's way it succeeds. Halfway through the second level(I think), cheery JPop accompanies the sounds of shotgun blast after shotgun blast. At that moment, a symbiosis between the rediculous andf the sublime occurs, and you can forget the games shortcomings.
Apparently, the game suffers from glitches, but these must be some minor ones, as unless they are really "In your face" (the camera in the Lost World level of Sonic Adventure), I appear to avoid them. I've had the occasional Exorcist moment, such as when I motioned for a dude to surrender and he did. Floating 4 feet above the ground.
My final jibe is against the consistency, the lack of it is frustrating as hell. Not being able to shoot NPC's is one, I unloaded an entire clip into the unmentionables of Sato Snr, and was suprised to see him stand there with the inane grin that follows him everywhere. The same applied to the guy in the bar, why didn't he do anything?
The same applies to the background, some glass shatters with a satisfying crash. Other bits are made out of kevlar.
All in all, I've found it best to take this game as a Japanese Die Hard. Enjoy the smashy glass, the swordfights and the banter between the main characters and it's an awesome experience. But like Die Hard, don't expect it to be amazingly gripping.
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