Archive for 'Games'
HALO 3
by Chris on October 10th, 2007 @ 1:22 am - Tag (Games) No Comments. 140 Views
So, two questions might pop into your head.
1. Why not a review of Halo3?
2. Why so long after the games release?
Let me address number one first. The Halo series is so big now and has such a massive fan base that a review from any site would be pointless. Everyone will have already made there minds up months ago whether or not they would buy the game. Even if it was terrible people would still buy it to see why first hand. So i’m not going to do a review, just some thoughts and opinions. 
So why am i bothering to talk about it now so long after the game has been out. I wanted to wait till the hype had died down and people would be a little more open to criticism of one the biggest games of the year. So lets get down to it.
I love Halo and i loved Halo3, the game was great it gave me exactly what i wanted which was more Halo. But…yes i have a but …i do wish Bungie had put more time in to the single player game. While the single player is solid (bar a few parts towards the end) it’s incredibly short. Even on legendary i managed to finish the game in under 7 hours, which by today’s standards is stupidly short. Co-op does expand the on it but sometimes i just want the solo experience. Bungie could of course add more single player game play via xbox live (which is what i was hoping), but as we now know Bungie and Microsoft have kind of gone there separate ways and we’ve all heard the rumours that the film has been canned…again. What does this mean for Halos future?
Bungie might be ready to finish the fight, but i’m willing to bet millions of people who bought the game aren’t.
10,000 Gamerscore
by Chris on September 21st, 2007 @ 5:21 pm - Tag (Games) 1 Comment. 326 Views
I love my 360, i really do. I’m a hard core PC Gamer at heart but the xbox 360 has broken down my fan boy like hate for consoles. It’s become the first console ever to get my full attention. Everything just feels so natural. Maybe this is what Microsoft intended, to get us PC Gamers into another market. If so i think they did a damn good job.
Recently i hit the 10,000 gamer points mark, so i figured i have the clout to now write a little about my opinions on gamer points and achievements. I think achievements are a fantastic idea but they need some solid rules behind them. My idea of achievements is to show gamer skill and accomplishment of a game. An Achievement point for killing 500 people online is ridicules and for most near unachievable within a month or two. This i imagine was added in by the publishers in the hope of prolonging the life of a game. It does not show an ounce of skill at a game, just that you have way to much free time. It helps fuel peoples epenis size. For anyone who hasn’t put a headset on in awhile epenis size is massive on public servers.
KingKong might be a bad example and has without doubt earned the name of Easiest 1000 gamer points, but the achievements are given out to you for completing the game. What it does not do is dictate how you should play the game. For example “Get 100 Head shots with a Pistol”, great so i have to carefully aim 100 shots to get an achievement and most likely miss out on some fun in the game. I might not even want to use a pistol. Achievements should all be achievable from a single play from the start of a game to end, with the expectations of difficulty levels. In fact that leads me onto another point. If i complete a game on hard should it not also unlock the achievement for finishing it on easy and normal? Why should i have to play the game twice more.
It would be nice to see some rules from microsoft on how achievements get dished out and the complete destruction of unachievable points, “Play against the Dev’s” has always been a favourite of mine.
“What about the PS3?” Simple, i can’t afford it. I’m sure it’s an awesome console but the price is out of my range for something that only plays games (as a games pc owner blueray is pointless to me, i stream everything from my PC to my TV).
Games this month
by Chris on September 14th, 2007 @ 1:30 am - Tag (Games) 1 Comment. 88 Views
Looks like it’s going to be a busy month for gaming. Today we have the release of Stranglehold, which is pretty much Max Payne with John Woo’s magic touch, Chow Yun Fat’s voice acting and hardboiled action EPIC WIN.
Next week we have NHL08 and it’s better then ever, the controls are tight and it’s the best looking hockey game to date. Most importantly it now has a decent online mode and customization options. The Demo is available on Xbox Live.
On Monday we have the beta release of Team Fortress 2, I’m still unsure about this one…I’m not all to keen on the style but we will see. But the biggest game this month without question is going to be HALO3… but lets just say after HALO2 they need to pull off something pretty good for me to get my HALO back on. So far the screenshots, trailers and mp beta gace failed to impress…i guess we will see if bungie can turn HALO around for me.
Finally, today Fortress Forever was released…and it delivers :). I’ve been looking forward to this mod or awhile, it’s well worth checking out. The team has done a fantastic job at relighting the TFC fires in my heart >:).
Mafia II
by Chris on September 1st, 2007 @ 4:41 pm - Tag (Games) No Comments. 3 Views
Something of a surprise is the announcement of Mafia II. The original Mafia game was a truly awesome and i don’t think it got the credit it deserved. In some ways it was a head of GTA as far a large living city goes. It’s being produced again by Illusion Softworks and published by 2K Games, who have had a run of great games recently (Bioshock and The Darkness). Anyway check out the trailer. Looks to be a mix of CG and maybe in game render.
Rapture an idealistic society
by Chris on August 23rd, 2007 @ 9:02 pm - Tag (Games) 3 Comments. 164 Views
Today i might have actually found the new best feeling in the world. The sensation of holding an embossed tin case containing my copy of Bioshock…that and having it a day before release while everyone else in the office cried over there estimated delivery date of the 25th.
Now to be fare, i really wasn’t interested in this game till a few weeks ago. I figured it might just be a crappy FPS with an RPG element, then i actually got a chance to play it while in Edinburgh and the demo shortly after. I have to admit, with what I’ve played so far I’m rather impressed. My initial lack of interest is starting to fade and is being replaced by a child like hysteria.
Check back for my little review of the game shortly.
Stranglehold Demo
by Chris on August 8th, 2007 @ 11:19 pm - Tag (Games) 2 Comments. 106 Views
The Stranglehold demo is available to download on LIVE as of today. First of it’s not the longest demo in the world, maybe lasting 15 minutes long. But saying that, i personally think this as exactly long enough to get the adrenaline running and leaving you wanting more. The demo also lets you unlock new abilities by completing each of the difficulty modes, this helps with the replay and should add an extra 20 minutes to the play time.
It plays like exactly like Max Payne but with a few extra touches. Most surfaces in the world you can use to slide, dive or jump across, which lets you pull off some awesome gun play moves. The environment can also be used to take out bad guys and to a degree is destructible. One of the most notable moments for me in the demo, was as i took aim at a gas canister and tapped ‘Tequila Shot’ (slow motion) i let of a few rounds as a goon charged around the corner. The explosion took him side on and throw him directly into a concrete pillar, which exploded into 100’s of pieces leaving only the steal reinforcements standing. It’s these cinematic moments like this that will set the game apart from Max Payne and give you some memorable moments to talk about at the water cooler.
The game is due out in September on X360, PC and PS3.
GTA IV
by Chris on June 29th, 2007 @ 11:21 am - Tag (Games) 1 Comment. 0 Views
Bring on the 19th of October.