The wait after many months comes to an end with the release of Allen Wake. The highly anticipated mystery thriller game that after watching the trailers and gameplay demos captured the attention of numerous gamers. After quickly picking up the game at my neighborhood Hastings, I dove right into the game to see how it was. I expected crazy random, heart pumping action, but what I got was well lets just say my expectations were just a little to high.
Just like the demos and gameplays we are treated to wondrous graphics and a beautiful environment. Oddly though are the characters who seemed to miss out on the graphics patch that came with the rest of the game, apart from that the characters also seem to occasionally fall out of synchronicity with what they say and the movements of their mouths. Nothing to big but still it takes away from the suspense.
In the beginning it take awhile to finally get to some actual enemies, but I figure that builds for anticipation just like any good novel, and right hear I would like to point out is where this is a problem. See unlike reading a novel or watching a movie a game needs to be interactive and passive so up until you actually start fighting, the game kinda sucks and is boring.
Well getting back to the enemies once you find some they really start throwing them at you. This would be find in most shooters except you are always running out of ammo and having to run, except you character can not run more than 10 feet at a time and then walks as his persuers mercilessly barrel you down and make mincemeat out of you. Your dinky flashlight is of little help until you finally get upgrades and even then it only slows them down not really all that helpful when facing 5-10 enemies at a time.
The story in the game consists of many paragraphs that you collect to help continue on the story, not bad really except that most experienced games are kind of use to the stuff that happens in this game. To be painfully blunt ghostbusters the newly released game has both black goo, objects that fly at you, haunted areas and wickedly crazy level designs all which this game has but well not as well done.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Blood Rayne 3 a game that may never be!
Morbid violence and a dark, twisted reality to play in gave the original first Blood Rayne a horror fantasy to play in that was both a play off of history and a dynamic play ground that was unique. That being said the second Blood Rayne or Blood Rayne 2 was quite possibly the biggest blunder in all of video game sequel history. So what should they do and not do in order to create an awesome and redeemable Blood Rayne 3, lets review and rant shall we.
Blood Rayne 2 not only took everything you liked about the first one and shat on it, it also did everything in it's power to make every possible mistake it could in it's construction. So where to begin? Well lets start with some basics, basics being the gameplay. Apart from the slice your enemies being for the most part the same, the ridged movements of Rayne swinging her blades around is both frustrating due to lack of range but also lack of effectiveness. In the original you sliced enemies with easy and of coarse later on it became harder but more on that later.
Blood sucking to be blunt is far less fun as you always jump on enemies rather than sitting on top of them and really getting into the mood of that your a vampire not some weird monkey, the simple fact that enemies dont really sound all that stressed out that your drinking there blood and cry out for help, except with the occasional "hey get her off me" really detracts from the mood.
Yet another thing that is frustrating is that fact that your guns are some strange blood draining guns that turn blood into bullets!? Though you do get to see them, the simple fact is that when you get a shotgun or grenade launcher you want to see a fucking huge kick ass weapon not some dinky little handguns.
In the original BR if you used a cheat you could see her covered from head to toe in weapons you picked up all in logical to carry places. Of coarse you got to see her use all the giant kick ass weapons, but alas no more thanks to so stupid weird and often useless, yes useless handguns. Since your enemies seem to be super natural in nature with abundant health it really does not make sense to have them. This is especially true when most of the time they are immune to your guns.
The next point I would like to make it that your enemies for being all powerful vampires seem to be incredibly stupid, wanna be punk, wanna be biker idiots that have no real characteristics of vampires. To make a point of how stupid this is you have clown face paint wearing vampires in a giant mansion that have handguns, not machine guns, or body armor or super powers of any kind except for being able to get hit a lot and you expect the player to except all of this?
Apart for your, clown/biker/masochist/bondage/goth stupid as fuck vampire squads you are given a small taste of what could actually be considered enemies. You have bulls and crushers or bigger monster like vampires that look like a bull or have a giant hammer they swing at you. Then there are dampires or half vampires like you, who dress rather plainly compared to everyone else and have none of your powers.
Next is the trained vampires that are really, really old use shotguns/powerful machine guns and sword, these guys are actually a little tough to kill and can fight back. Last we have some bosses, they are either so stupid and easy to kill they should be considered mini-bosses at best or they require some gimick to either weaken them or cause a cut scene.
The final boss, their are no real spoilers is extremely cheap and vastly more powerful than you are, luckily to make it so you can actually win there is a large fountain of blood that will continuously heal you and the boss. So keep him out and you win? Wow that wasn't the most anticlimactic boss fight in the entire series.
Well apart from the bad game and horribly boring music and corridor driven level design, which be the way was not at all like the original for the most part the game still sucks. The unlockables you get them all the instant you win the game. Oh and be the way there are no difficulty settings congratulations you just beat a horrible game with lame costumes and no challenge. So in short just ignore the entire second game and try again using as many ideas as you can from the first game.
Sources, Blood Rayne and Blood Rayne 2, the actual games, or check them on youtube.
Blood Rayne 2 not only took everything you liked about the first one and shat on it, it also did everything in it's power to make every possible mistake it could in it's construction. So where to begin? Well lets start with some basics, basics being the gameplay. Apart from the slice your enemies being for the most part the same, the ridged movements of Rayne swinging her blades around is both frustrating due to lack of range but also lack of effectiveness. In the original you sliced enemies with easy and of coarse later on it became harder but more on that later.
Blood sucking to be blunt is far less fun as you always jump on enemies rather than sitting on top of them and really getting into the mood of that your a vampire not some weird monkey, the simple fact that enemies dont really sound all that stressed out that your drinking there blood and cry out for help, except with the occasional "hey get her off me" really detracts from the mood.
Yet another thing that is frustrating is that fact that your guns are some strange blood draining guns that turn blood into bullets!? Though you do get to see them, the simple fact is that when you get a shotgun or grenade launcher you want to see a fucking huge kick ass weapon not some dinky little handguns.
In the original BR if you used a cheat you could see her covered from head to toe in weapons you picked up all in logical to carry places. Of coarse you got to see her use all the giant kick ass weapons, but alas no more thanks to so stupid weird and often useless, yes useless handguns. Since your enemies seem to be super natural in nature with abundant health it really does not make sense to have them. This is especially true when most of the time they are immune to your guns.
The next point I would like to make it that your enemies for being all powerful vampires seem to be incredibly stupid, wanna be punk, wanna be biker idiots that have no real characteristics of vampires. To make a point of how stupid this is you have clown face paint wearing vampires in a giant mansion that have handguns, not machine guns, or body armor or super powers of any kind except for being able to get hit a lot and you expect the player to except all of this?
Apart for your, clown/biker/masochist/bondage/goth stupid as fuck vampire squads you are given a small taste of what could actually be considered enemies. You have bulls and crushers or bigger monster like vampires that look like a bull or have a giant hammer they swing at you. Then there are dampires or half vampires like you, who dress rather plainly compared to everyone else and have none of your powers.
Next is the trained vampires that are really, really old use shotguns/powerful machine guns and sword, these guys are actually a little tough to kill and can fight back. Last we have some bosses, they are either so stupid and easy to kill they should be considered mini-bosses at best or they require some gimick to either weaken them or cause a cut scene.
The final boss, their are no real spoilers is extremely cheap and vastly more powerful than you are, luckily to make it so you can actually win there is a large fountain of blood that will continuously heal you and the boss. So keep him out and you win? Wow that wasn't the most anticlimactic boss fight in the entire series.
Well apart from the bad game and horribly boring music and corridor driven level design, which be the way was not at all like the original for the most part the game still sucks. The unlockables you get them all the instant you win the game. Oh and be the way there are no difficulty settings congratulations you just beat a horrible game with lame costumes and no challenge. So in short just ignore the entire second game and try again using as many ideas as you can from the first game.
Sources, Blood Rayne and Blood Rayne 2, the actual games, or check them on youtube.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Super Mario Crossover
Ever wonder just what it would be like if your favorite old school characters could get hop on over to the original Super Mario Bros. on the NES? Well wonder no more because someone actually went and made what we all dreamed of back in grade school. Pavlina and others decided to get together and create Super Mario Crossover now playable on Newgrounds.
Mario, Link, Samus, Bill, Simon and Megaman are now able to team up to kick Bowser's or in old school King Koopas butt. Each of the characters has her or his own special abilities, run speed and jump. As you might have guessed they also all have the same amount of life 1 to 3 hits and each gets the same power ups.
Getting a mushroom gives all characters an up grade to their current weapons and a slight alteration in costume. The fire flower does same thing only the costumes are cooler and upgraded weapons now are far more powerful. For the characters that shoot even with out the fire flower upgrade their fire power has been greatly reduced to help balance the game.
The game apart from the new cameos is exactly the same, well perhaps nearly the same would be a better description. Being able to go back to the left was always a gamers worst nightmare in the original, luckily they forgot or didn't put that in. Another thing that is different is the the level not having a floor and falling to certain doom occasionally when starting a stage.
Being able to choose between characters between stages is also new, back in the old days you had to take turns with someone else or the other controller to play Luigi, that or kill off all the Mario lives off. That's another thing you get infinite continues, hell you actually get continues though it would have been nice to be able to start at any stage not just the beginning of a world if you die, curse you world 8.
Super Mario Crossover
Mario, Link, Samus, Bill, Simon and Megaman are now able to team up to kick Bowser's or in old school King Koopas butt. Each of the characters has her or his own special abilities, run speed and jump. As you might have guessed they also all have the same amount of life 1 to 3 hits and each gets the same power ups.
Getting a mushroom gives all characters an up grade to their current weapons and a slight alteration in costume. The fire flower does same thing only the costumes are cooler and upgraded weapons now are far more powerful. For the characters that shoot even with out the fire flower upgrade their fire power has been greatly reduced to help balance the game.
The game apart from the new cameos is exactly the same, well perhaps nearly the same would be a better description. Being able to go back to the left was always a gamers worst nightmare in the original, luckily they forgot or didn't put that in. Another thing that is different is the the level not having a floor and falling to certain doom occasionally when starting a stage.
Being able to choose between characters between stages is also new, back in the old days you had to take turns with someone else or the other controller to play Luigi, that or kill off all the Mario lives off. That's another thing you get infinite continues, hell you actually get continues though it would have been nice to be able to start at any stage not just the beginning of a world if you die, curse you world 8.
Super Mario Crossover
STREET FIGHTER LEGACY a good SF movie!?!
After all the years of waiting in deep anticipation, past the comedy of the first one and trying to clean the blemish that was the Chun Li street fighter comes a shimmering light. Street Fighter Legacy although it may be only a small budget movie, it give the most accurate depiction of what the game series has brought through to it's fans.
Ryu, Ken, Akuma and a few more faces make their appearance in this short film. Like all good street fighter themes the plot is simple and deals mainly with the characters trying to out do themselves. A guaranteed fight between Ryu and Ken is quickly revealed in the first of two trailers for the movie. There are also a few pics to browse through Joey Ansah's website hyper linked below.
Of course there remains a few concerns from this Street fighter blogger mainly the fact that in the trailers we are never witnessed to any special effects. One Haduken would be nice to see so we know it won't be a repeat of the yellow garbage we saw in Chun Li's movie. Even worse would be a repeat of the Dragon Ball live action movie. Though I doubt they would look like this I can't help but wonder.
There are no major actors in this film, but the actors they picked so far could not have been better. They look fairly decent as Ryu and Ken with those crazy eye brows being spot on the mark and costume design is finally accurate as opposed to the silly get up that we saw in the original street fighter movie. Set design looks like it was filmed out in the forest which gives it a spectacular sense of realism compared to sets which have the unfortunate problem of feeling fake and cheap.
STREET FIGHTER
Ryu, Ken, Akuma and a few more faces make their appearance in this short film. Like all good street fighter themes the plot is simple and deals mainly with the characters trying to out do themselves. A guaranteed fight between Ryu and Ken is quickly revealed in the first of two trailers for the movie. There are also a few pics to browse through Joey Ansah's website hyper linked below.
Of course there remains a few concerns from this Street fighter blogger mainly the fact that in the trailers we are never witnessed to any special effects. One Haduken would be nice to see so we know it won't be a repeat of the yellow garbage we saw in Chun Li's movie. Even worse would be a repeat of the Dragon Ball live action movie. Though I doubt they would look like this I can't help but wonder.
There are no major actors in this film, but the actors they picked so far could not have been better. They look fairly decent as Ryu and Ken with those crazy eye brows being spot on the mark and costume design is finally accurate as opposed to the silly get up that we saw in the original street fighter movie. Set design looks like it was filmed out in the forest which gives it a spectacular sense of realism compared to sets which have the unfortunate problem of feeling fake and cheap.
STREET FIGHTER
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