My thoughts on the gaming world.

• 24Sep 09

  Brutal Legend Demo Impressions

  So I'll admit, I haven't been much of a fan of this game from the get go. Many compared it to the likes of God of War and Ninja Gaiden, neither game fitting my tastes. However today when I logged into Xbox Live to get the Forza 3 demo, I saw this one and downloaded it as well.
  
  First and for most, I find the game to be rather interesting, I'm a metal and rock fan, so the music taste definitely appeals to me. I also like some of Jack Black's stuff, including Tenacious D. So it doesn't seem like a bad mix, however the gameplay was what was worrying me.
  
  The gameplay isn't bad, combat flows well and doesn't feel stiff. Right away you are given access to both your axe and your guitar. The axe is obviously used for melee attacks and your guitar is used for magic attacks. You can also combo them up together to do a massive power chord which throws enemies that are close to you into the air and flings them across the room, or you can combo them together to knock an enemy into the air, give them a jolt, and then bash them away from you.
  
  The voice acting was fairly good, Jack Black doesn't seem to be forcing it and I got a chuckle out of a few lines. The female character who is with you seems alright as well. Jack Black chimes in now and then as you play, though you don't hear the same old boring lines over and over again.
  
  The demo lasted for about 10-15 minutes, not including the intro video that wasn't bad and actually made me laugh. The concept overall is rather interesting still to me, and I do want to see more.
  
  The graphics were great, though they aren't going for anything realistic, they did a great job at bringing you into this metal world and the enemies looked fairly good as well.
  
  - - - - - - - - - - Spoilers - - - - - - - -
  
  The demo starts off shortly after Jack Black's character is killed during a tween metal wanna be concert where Eddie acts as the bands roadie despite hating every moment of it. You are given your choice during the opening cutscene on whether you want the curse words bleeped out and if you want to see gore or not as well. I went with swearing and gore obviously.
  
  Upon his death, the metal gods seem to summon him to land made entirely for Metal. He awakens to find himself in what appears to be the concert hall but now it seems like Tim Burton has redecorated slightly.
  
  Quickly you realize that things are going bad when three demon type things draw their swords and come after you. Thankfully there is an axe in the middle of the room that you get and quickly dispatch said demons with it. Another wave of enemies is brought in and this time you return to the stage to reclaim your guitar where Eddie decides to make sure it is still in tune and discovers the lightning abilities it now has.
  
  From there you are taught about your power chord move I covered earlier, which causes the building to collapse around you. After killing off a few more waves of enemies an evil nun looking thing arrives and it acts as a mini boss fight which is easily won. From there you ride on this weird looking spider thing down from the mountain of bones which you were on and get a pretty impressive view of the land around you.
  
  Upon reaching the base you quickly meet your female sidekick who gives you a quick run down that some Emperor is on his way to claim the axe you already have. A few more battles and you find yourself at the door leading away from this place, but you realize that the emperor isn't about to let you leave.
  
  Then you discover an ancient text that goes into a Zelda type play screen (think Ocarina of Time) where you belt out a solo that summons the parts to build your car. Eddie quickly assembles the car together in seconds flat and off you go.
  
  Flying down a path and running over plenty of enemies you found out about humanities struggle for freedom and asked to join the fight. However before much thought can be given to that you run into a massive closed gate where your female sidekick springs into action to open the gate leaving you to deal with the enemies at the base of it. You can either run them over with your car (my choice here) or simply jump out of your car and do work on them with your axe.
  
  After that you are greeted with the first boss fight of the game that is rather simple. A massive worm looking thing is in the middle of the circular room and you drive in circles waiting for it to smash its head into the ground. Once it does this you simply swing back around and summon your nitro powers to ram it at top speed. Once you have done that a few times your sidekick once again appears to challenge the beast at the gate entrance.
  
  With the beast distracted you slip off the side, use your power chord, and bring the gate down on top of the beast. After a quick video you discover the beast isn't dead as it jerks it head out and brings the entire gate structure down on top of you.
  
  The demo ends with you and your sidekick flying through the air in your car, apparently ramping to safety before being crushed (again) by massive falling debris. You are then treated to a brief montage of video clips from the game and are given a better idea of how you haven't seen ____ yet of the game (the game literally tells you this lol).
  
  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Final Thoughts - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
  
  Overall I'm still not sold on the game, however I am abit more interested now. The gameplay felt alright, and if it gives you abit more room to run, bigger lands to explore that I could see during the ending video, I'll scoop this up at a later date once the price comes down abit.
  
  Gameplay was solid, graphics were good, voice acting was spot on, I just worry that it'll get stuck in that God of War/Ninja Gaiden kill wave of enemies, move to next area, wash, rinse, and repeat. If this can become a hybrid of God of War and Zelda, then I'll definitely be down. However if it is setup in levels and no overall free roaming, I think I'll just pass on this one.

  • Posted Sep 24, 2009 5:29 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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• 24Sep 09

  Forza 3 Demo Impressions

  Just fired it up here and so far I'm impressed I have to say.
  
  Only 5 cars, one tracks, and 2 laps so it is rather short, but I wasn't expecting anything else really.
  
  The cars look, feel, and handle extremely well. The graphics are great, but not on the level of GT5 though, however everything else is spot on.
  
  When I first jumped into a race I used the GT3-RSR right away. I blew through the race quickly and drove rather aggressively the entire time. The AI responded well, some backed off of me right away while others tried to crowd me and even nudge me off the road a few times in the tight turns. I ended up taking first because I wasn't worried about damage too much and then restarted the race to see how much damage I could do.
  
  Right off the bat I flipped around and headed in the wrong direction on the track, about half way through the course I met the pack head on and watched as my car was tossed into the air and pushed to the side as the others piled up. My front end was extremely beat up, a few pieces from other cars were in the middle of the track, and I just sat there and watched as the others pushed and forced their way back onto the track. The cars that lagged behind the pack slowed and avoided the wreck altogether while the others limped away at a crawl. I gave it some gas and was surprised to see that my engine seemed to be unaffected by the wreck.
  
  The gears were grinding each time I shifted, my car pulled to the right, it could barely turn left, my acceleration was down abit but overall I was unaffected by the wreck. So I got up to 80 mph and hit a wall head on, still no engine damage. I rammed a few other cars, still no engine damage. At this point everything else was well beyond broken in my car but my engine was still in the green. I was starting to wonder if they left it out for a reason when I suddenly rear ended by a car doing around 90 mph and found myself being shot off the road, my rear spoiler flying off my car, and my engine suddenly damaged.
  
  Then it hit me, the engine is mounted in the rear of vehicle, not the front. I'd been focusing all my damage on the front and I'd had no impacts to the rear. I felt rather foolish and from that one wreck alone my car was pretty much done.
  
  The rewind feature is cool, and will definitely help out for those long races when you find yourself making a stupid mistake at the end that costs your the checkered flag. The car damage isn't anything amazing, but your paint gets jacked up, body gets banged up, some parts will fly off, windshield and other windows get busted up, however there is no damage visible in the cockpit view. The main thing with the damage though is how it affects the performance of your car and how that changes how you drive your car entirely.
  
  Right now my GT3-RSR is sitting on the track, unable to move because the engine is so far gone.
  
  The graphics look really good, though the cockpit view could look abit better, however this is a demo. Based on what I'm experiencing here, this is a day one purchase for me, no questions asked. I'm not looking for a visually stunning game, though the graphics are really good. I'm looking for a solid racing simulation and that is exactly what you get here.
  
  Damage is spot on, car handling is excellent, the track feels amazing, and I can't wait to try out some of the other features and really start tinkering with the cars.
  
  Final Thoughts: Great demo for a great game, my only complaints are rather minor and don't affect the gameplay in any way. Graphics inside the cockpit feel abit lack luster, no damage visible inside the cockpit either, damage could be abit more visual but it still affects the car and that is all that really matters to me. Beyond that I can't really think of anything else to complain about, and it is mostly visual things, however the game does exactly what it is meant to do and is doesn't seem like Turn 10 got caught up on things that didn't add to the gameplay.
  
  Forza 3 will be all about the gameplay, and if my only complaints stem from a completely new feature to Forza 3 (cockpit view) then that bodes well for the rest of the game. Turn 10 seems to have done a top notch job here and I can't wait to get my hands on the real deal in a few long weeks.

  • Posted Sep 24, 2009 4:47 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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• 18Sep 09

  Halo: ODST

  So it seems Halo: ODST is a rather hot button topic right now. Many are claiming that it isn't bringing anything to the table and is over priced, others are saying it'll be good but not great. It seems that everyone is kinda against this game and doesn't want it to do good. Even if the game does score a 9.0 and deserves it, people will just say that the reviewer was too afraid to flop it or whatever.

  Now I haven't been much of a Halo fan, I skipped the first 2 and finally picked up the third because alot of my friends play the multiplayer side of things. I have very little idea about the story line and don't overly care about it either, however I will say that Halo: ODST is the first Halo game that actually has me interested in the single player side of things. I think it is taking an interesting new direction and perhaps is for the best, Master Chief's story has been told, now let's see who else has a story to tell in this universe.

  When I hear people complaining about graphics, or how it started off as an expansion, or how it reuses Halo 3's multiplayer, and this and that, I just can't help but laugh for several reasons.

  1.) Why is it bad that this started off as an expansion? Half Life 2 Episodes are merely expansions but are absolutely amazing, so an expansion isn't always a bad thing.

  2.) If Bungie was truly trying to cash in, they'd have completely redone the multiplayer for this one. That way all the Halo multiplayer fans would have to jump into this one to keep up with the latest and greatest, thus generating millions of sales simply on that fact alone. If Halo 3 just used Halo 2's multiplayer, I'm rather sure sales wouldn't have been as good as they were.

  3.) Graphics don't make a game, and unless this game looks like a NES game, I doubt it will be much of an issue. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare uses sub HD resolutions and I hear people constantly talking up the graphics on that thing. Other games that have so so graphics are still great games. There is more to games these days than graphics people.

  4.) What is wrong with including Halo: Reach beta? I think it is cool that developers are giving more people a chance to try games out before hand and give their feedback before the game comes out. If you aren't interested in Halo: Reach beta, then just don't be part of the beta, it is that simple.

  5.) No Master Chief = Failure? I didn't realize Master Chief made the game here, I thought for sure gameplay is what made the game. Granted Halo started off following the Master Chief, but there is alot more going on than just him. So what if you can't jump as high or don't have regenerating health? Plenty of great games out there don't have either of those two things and they are hailed as amazing games (See Half-Life 2).

  6.) Fire Fight = Horde Mode, why is this a bad thing? Horde Mode was a blast on Gears 2 and one of the few things I enjoyed about the game. It takes people out of the competitive mindset and puts them into a co-op mindset really quickly. They seem to have put alot of time and effort into this mode and though it is a drag that it doesn't support match making, I'm sure we all have enough buddies to get plenty of rounds in rocking a 4 man team.

  Personally I think this game will score well, probably between an 8.5 and a 9 would be my guess. The campaign seems new and original, the gameplay tweaks leave the game feeling familiar enough for vets to pick up and play but makes it new enough that it doesn't feel tired but true, Fire Fight mode is a welcome addition in my book and even if it is based off of Horde mode it'll still be rather fun, the multiplayer of Halo 3 means you can still battle it out with everyone plus you get to enjoy 3 new maps, Halo: Reach beta looks like it could be a promising first look at Bungie's last installment in the Halo universe, and just overall the game seems to be shaping up well.

  I won't have this one on day 1, but I will within the following weeks after I pickup Borderlands and Forza 3. I think this is definitely worth a look for most and shouldn't be written off as a quick cash in.

  Edit Update: So I woke up today to find that Halo: ODST got a 9/10 here on Gamespot and it already recieved a 9/10 at IGN. All I have to say is this:

  Called it.

  • Posted Sep 18, 2009 4:00 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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