• 3Sep 08

  5 Overated Games

  Once again plagerising SemiMaster (sorry again Casey!) here come 5 games I consider overated. Guarenteed to cause a nice healthy dose of controversy.

  Oh and for the sake of fairness I've only included games I've actually played.

  5) Disgaea

  

  I'm sure some of you saw this coming like a huge train with headlights on and horn blaring out of a tunnel, it's well documented how much I hate this game which has a huge cult following. Disgaea was the first SRPG I played and while I mistakenly gave others a chance I can only reach the same conclusion that the genre is rubbish. I don't care if I can level up and customize a huge amount, I don't want to spend hundreds of hours levelling up myself, weapons, optional hordes of team-mates and staring at jailbait characters like Etna. Yes the story is quirky, it's even funny at times but that dosen't compensate for the fact the game plays like your running through a vat of cement while sinking at the same time.

  Oh and Prinnys are only good if theyve had a trip to a taxidermist.

  4) Gran Turismo III

  

  Ah what a fool I was, back in the days of the PS2 I was still in the phase where I thought other peoples opinions on games other than my own actually mattered. Sure reviews are usually still good even now to get a general consensus but as a rule my opinion on a title and how it looks pre-release is what reigns supreme. But I digress.. back in these days I hung on reviewers words so after hearing about the awesome realism and greatness of GT3 I rushed out to purchase it. Shortly after I reached one conclusion. Realism in games and me isn't a match made in heaven, I can't recall even winning one race on this piece of dross and it was sold soon after purchase, and I secretly hoped the disc in question would sit alone, unpurchased for years to teach it a lesson.

  3) Super Smash Bros Melee

  

  Ah Super Smash Bros, how I hated thee on the N64 and how I hated you even more on the Gamecube (seriously I'm not sure there was any game I ever wanted on the Gamecube, ever) but I was lured over to a freinds house to play this and take part in "Nintendo's Best in 4 Player Action" (which is kind of like saying Squaresoft's best in first person shooters.. but you get my drift). I could never "get" why the original Smash Brothers was liked and even more so with this one it seemed to be a case of "Oh wow it's Mario, Pikachu, Bowser... and that smaller pokemon who looks like a yellow turd.. and erm some guy from a game that I dont actually know.." etc rather than a focus on the games quality from people. I found it dull, totally not fun and I can never get why its hallowed as a great beat em up series other than the shiney Nintendo stamp on the front cover.

  2) Halo

  

  Personally I think one of the main tasks "Mythbusters" should take up should be "why do people consider Halo to be a good a game" because I think it may actually be one of the greatest issues to ever face humanity. I have spent hours and hours meditating on this in secluded isolation and can only reach the conclusion that everybody who played it and liked it hadnt actually ever played Half-Life, Or Goldeneye or Quake III or Quake II or Doom or Wolfenstein 3D or Pong... well you get the point. Halo was unoriginal, bland and dull with rubbish driving sections thrown in like vast turds floating in the sea of its toiletness. I still to this day can't understand why the series is popular and I never will. Hopefully God shall enlighten me when I die.

  1) Metal Gear Solid II

  

  I often marvel at Hideo Kojimas storytelling, time after time I sit back and muse "how can one man throw so much homoeroticsim into one storyline" while at the same making it such nonsensical garbage. My opinions of MGS as a franchise are well documented but I perhaps feel most cheated by MGS2 as once again lured by silver tongue reviewers I actually purchased it. Oh how I laughed as Raiden slipped in bird poo, Oh how I joked when there was naughty pictures inside the lockers, oh how I wanted to imbed my skull in the TV screen every time ANOTHER lengthy cutscene interuppted gameplay and we were subjected to more crotch grabbing hilarity. I actually did finish MGS 2 then promptly went to make a cup of tea as the end cutscene played, it was far more interesting than the actual story.

  Yeh I was harsh, but I enjoyed it *insert mad laughter here*

  • Posted Sep 3, 2008 2:06 pm PT
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• 30Aug 08

  Gaming Update II

  This week on my regular gaming update, FF XII review and the force is with me.

  Final Fantasy XII

  Theres not a huge amount to say on the Final Fantasy front this week other than I have played a huge chunk this week and am now about to conclude the game and take on Vayne. It's been a highly enjoyable ride and today I've put together my review of the title. I'm not a huge FF fan myself, I never played VIII which I know most people sing as one of the best in the series but VII and IX were pretty dull from what I played of them and it wasn't till X and X-2 I started enjoying what I played. So from a non-fan of the series please read my

  Final Fantasy XII Review

  

  Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

  Got around to playing the demo of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed this weekend and I must say it's pretty damn fantastic. I always enjoyed the Jedi Knight games and this makes the whole experience a lot more realized than before especially in terms of force powers and atmosphere. This is no KOTOR alike follow up mind and steps squarely in the footsteps of Jedi Knight, Jedi Knight II and Jedi Academy.

  So far my favourite parts of the game (other than the jaw dropping visuals) have been blowing doors off their hinges with the sheer power of force push, hurling enemies around the screen with a variety of powers and generally causing destruction on a previously unknown level for a Star Wars game. Everything works extremely well (apart from the rather fiddly combos when fighting the boss at the end of the demo, but I can adjust to that) and it's already looking polished enough to be released now (but I suppose I can wait till the 19th). The plot looks to be one of great depth too and I'm looking forward to see if the title can compel a deep story with it's excellent gameplay too.

  Other Stuff..

  Just playing about on a few arcade games, Symphony Of The Night etc.. . I also replayed a bit of the original Fable which may take up my next week of playtime while I wait for Infinate Undiscovery to arrive at my door and become my next main gaming project.

  • Posted Aug 30, 2008 9:19 am PT
  • Category: Games
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• 28Aug 08

  Putting The Time In

  A topic that I've seen discussed a fair bit recently on forums and the like has been game length. What is an appropriate length for a game? Should a game offer replayability? Can a game be too long? And questions to a similar effect. With the upcoming relese of Tri-Ace/Squaresoft's new RPG "Infinite Undiscovery" on the horizon I've noticed that quite a few people are unhappy it's 20-30 hours in length which to be fair is short for a Japanese RPG.

  
  

  This got me thinking, is 20-30 hours really that short? I myself have expressed that personally unless a game is REALLY good thats the ideal length for me. I'm no longer a teenager and have a lot more responsibility I did back then thus far less gaming time and to be fair, I don't want to spend as much time on games as I did back then due to things I enjoy more like my relationship etc.. . Currently I'm playing FF12. It's good, but way too damn long and things are starting to grate as it's been a month now and after 60 hours I'm getting a bit bored. For me I think 50+ hours is where the borderline of fun becomes that of tedium.

  Of course I'm talking about single player RPG length here as it's mainly what I play, but what about other genres out there? On the MMORPG front it's not abnormal to have approaching hundreds and hundreds of days playtime, yet to a casual FPS or Sports Game fan even 10 hours may sound like a major timesink. We have to obviously conclude that what's appropriate for one genre in length isn't appropriate for others. A FPS may have a 7 hour main story which I would consider abysmally short yet at the same time people may get 40+ hours from the multiplayer aspect that I wouldn't have interest in. Likewise someone who likes to shoot or drive predominatly in their gaming would have probably leapt into the bath clutching a toaster after a non-interactive 20minuite cutscene in an RPG yet alone 60 hours playtime.

  Problems seem to occour more when genres step outside their safety zone with lengthy FPS being named repetative and "short" RPG's being deemed to not have enough depth. We as gamers as always are usually a bunch fairly set in our ways and don't like change. If Squaresoft are as it seems moving to target a more western market for example then perhaps RPG's will shorten in length causing hardcore fans who demand a possible 100 hour sink to be annoyed. I suppose we shall have to wait and see what the future holds for game length. In the past titles used to be about 1 hour in length yet extremely hard so repetition was demanded to learn patterns and progress, gaming length and the way it is approached by developers will as it always has done continue to change (slowly im sure) and there really is no right or wrong way to go about it.

  • Posted Aug 28, 2008 11:43 am PT
  • Category: Editorial
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