Review: God of War 3
- Graphics are amazing. The scale of some fights are phenomenal. The titan fights were extremely fun. I enjoyed how in battles you notice how Kratos gets bloodier and bloodier.
- Battle system overall (spanning games, I mean) is over-done, but still done very well in this game. I wish there were more fighting … and there was a lot of it.
- This game is gory, no doubt about it. It feeds that sick part in you that loves to see things ripped off of people and used as a weapon (or item)
- The ending seemed fitting but I don’t think what happened after the credits was necessary. (It was hinting that there may be a God of War 4) It’s a good series, but generally it’s time to end it after the third installment. (Or the sixth installment if it’s Final Fantasy. Instant Rim Shot!)
- The music fit the game and was very strong in some points. Sound effects were done very well.
- The game offers some form of replayability through challenge rooms but honestly, I just want to play through the game again. Despite the issues listed in my negative points, I really enjoyed playing God of War 3.
- The game’s platforming was terrible at some points. Many jumps should have been made but weren’t. I kid you not, there was one point where I had to make a blind jump because the camera didn’t properly shift.
- The controller input seems broken at some points. Many times I’d go for a double-jump but it wouldn’t do the double-jump, killing me. In my opinion, it’s one of the worst I’ve experienced this generation. Whether or not it’s broken, it needs to be addressed.
- I died too many times for stupid reasons. A double-jump that didn’t happen or just trying to figure out puzzles that aren’t hinting very well. I’d easily say that 75% of my overall deaths were through platforming and not through the fights.
Positive Points: 6 | Negative Points: 3 | Overall Score: 3
Update: It appears GoW has just received a patch. Comments on the article state that they hope the controller issue is fixed, so it looks like I’m not the only one experiencing the crappy control input.
Would you pay for longer, better demos?
From what I gather from this Kotaku article (Link) Electronic Arts are thinking about charging you for glorified, longer demos before a game comes out.
Honestly, I’m amazed this is even a thought and it goes to show how much game companies are jumping on the micro-transaction trends. I don’t like the idea that I can play a longer demo of a game for a quarter or the cost of the entire game. I don’t see any other reason for doing this other than getting more money from you. Because … $10 to $15 isn’t much, right?
Now, if EA’s strategy is to then deduct that amount when the full game becomes available (which raises more questions as to HOW they’d do that unless it was a digital download) then that’s one thing. But chances are, that’s not the case. Chances are you play a longer demo, then maybe go and buy the game from a retail store, making that game now $75 instead of $60.
And based on the following quote, I’m led to believe I’m right. Quoted from the article …
One of Electronic Arts strategies will be to release what they call “premium downloadable content” on the Playstation Network and Xbox Live for $10 to $15 and then later release the full game for a full price, EA Group General Manager Nick Earl told Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter during the recent meeting.
Now, as I write this, there hasn’t been an update since Kotaku has tried to contact EA, so I may be blowing this out of proportion … but seeing as how everything is jumping to DLC/micro-transactions, my guess is that EA is just downright thinking about charging for their demos now.
I did see one commenter note that this would be a good idea to reel in pre-orders, which would be a good idea. Remember the Wind Waker pre-order bonus of a Gamecube version of Ocarina of Time including the second-quest version? That hooked me in.
So I guess it’s in EA’s court to elaborate on this, whether they mis-spoke and intended it to be considered part of the overall purchase, or if this is a blatant attempt to get more money out of gamers. Unfortunately, based on what I’ve read, I believe the latter.
Worst of all, they’re considering this even with the common sense of knowing that this would prevent people from trying out their games. Remember, demos need to be free so we can get a taste of the game. The moment you start charging for them, you lose potential sales.
Final Fantasy just doesn’t do it for me anymore.
I gave FF13 a shot. I gave it about six to eight hours of my time. Unfortunately, that’s about 9 hours less than when I was told it’d become interesting by various people. Let me say, that this isn’t a review – so there won’t be any spoiler for those who haven’t been able to play it yet.
BUT.
I’ve played this game the same amount of time it takes for me to clear other games, and I admire Square’s ability to string out a game to a near 60-hour level. But it’s sad that you have to play through a quarter of the game before it gets interesting.
As I was playing through it … the battle system was pretty simple and the game was extremely linear (I mean, the first “chapter” you were basically running in a line). While the game was beautiful, I just kept thinking to myself, “Why did the series go in this direction?”
When I think of Final Fantasy … I think of the days before Final Fantasy 7. Final Fantasy 4 and 6 were the big ones I played and I’ll argue that Final Fantasy 6 is – without a doubt – the best Final Fantasy of them all. Those who say Final Fantasy 7 is the best probably jumped onboard with video games when it originally came out.
When I think of Final Fantasy, I think of massive lands with medieval magic with castles and mythical creatures. I think of when I’ll be able to get an airship so that I can check out every forest, mountain or body of water to see if there’s something hidden that I have yet to discover. Back then, the games were very open and suggested exploration. With FF13, it’s literally Point A to Point B. I have read that the game opens up after awhile, but that’s near the end of this 60-hour long game.
Even the storytelling has been destroyed. Almost all older games had a relatively interesting storyline that sucked me in and kept me in. After playing FF13 for roughly eight hours, I didn’t even know who was fighting who, what we were doing and why we were doing it. All I knew is that we were trying to save someone who fulfilled their focus.
Now, I’ll argue that Kefka (from FF6) is still one of the most sadistic, evil bad guys in video gaming history – and Square was able to pull that off with 24-bit graphics and text – no fancy FMVs or audio dialogue. So clearly, you don’t need fancy graphics to tell a good story.
On top of that, the party feeling is completely destroyed. Instead of five or four party members, you’re stuck with 3 … and you can only control one. To add to that, they suggest the auto-attack, which basically has the game choose what to do for you. The only real option of choice you have is who to attack and what “stance” to be in. (I call it that because I forget the term)
Back in my day, you controlled four or five party members and you were responsible for ALL of them. If one died, you had three or four opportunities to revive them, beef your party back up and go back on the offensive. When I returned FF13, none of my characters had a revive spell … which meant that not only was I the only person who would use a Phoenix Down, but if I died, the game is over … my team-mates won’t revive me.
There’s no Uematsu with FF13 either. He’s kinda’ synonymous with the series in my opinion (and to prove it, he’s working with FF14). But I don’t recall hearing the “official Final Fantasy” theme or any fanfare. Nothing. Just some quiet, background music that I had to remind myself was playing. And I’ll also add that the series’ traditional, “Uh,” “Oh,” and “Ahs,” (you know, the various sounds they make during the cutscenes?) are in the game and done a bit too much. And I really don’t like it when I basically hear Vanille make those sounds, when the game implies that she’s a young girl … maybe around 13? (Update: Okay, I actually looked it up and I guess she’s 19? Man, she acts like a little kid to me.)
As with all my posts where I basically “bash” big games, if I do get a flood of comments telling me how stupid I am, I hope someone can vouch that there are moogles in the game, along with Biggs, Wedge and Cactuar – you know, characters who are recurring through the series (although Cactuar was renamed later on)? I know moogles have been a bit of a hit-and-miss … but I’m predicting that FF13 has none of the consistent Final Fantasy characters who appear in almost every Final Fantasy game (with the exception of Cid).
So what happened? Why did Square opt to go this route? In my mind, this game almost completely destroys the name of “Final Fantasy” to me because this is NOTHING like the older games that I grew up with. I would also say that this game wouldn’t get nearly as good reviews as it did if it wasn’t a Final Fantasy game.
I may sound like I’m nerdraging here … but to me, Final Fantasy WAS a great series. The games that I played leading up to FF10 I thought were great, kept my attention and – in one way or another – stuck to the roots of the older games. Final Fantasy 13 seems to have nothing in-common with the games before it. And unfortunately, I hear that FF13-2 is a possibility.
No thanks, I’ll pass. And while I will give future Final Fantasy games a chance, I’ll hold no hopes that the series will capture my interest and imagination like it used to, and I definitely won’t expect it to entertain me like they used to.
Farewell, WoW … for the 10th time
Yeah, I’m sure nobody who knows me is shocked to hear that I’m quitting WoW, yet again. I’m not going to get into the details about it – I’m just gonna’ say I got tired of the drama, and raiding once or twice a week didn’t merit $15 a month when … (and here’s the point of my topic) … Blockbuster let’s you do a Netflix Deal – called GamePass – for $22/month.
Sure, $7 more than World of Warcraft – but you’re options are much more open. You can rent any games without the “renter’s guilt,” keep it for as long as you want, and when you want to return it, just swap it out for another game (or in my case, a movie as well).
Hell, if I wanted to, I rent Modern Warfare 2, play the hell out of it, clear it and then return it that same day for another game. The only downfall of this service? To my knowledge, they don’t mail games – you have to go into a store.
Because the rumors are that Blockbuster isn’t doing so hot, I really, REALLY wish Blockbuster would promote this service more because when you really look at it – it’s a pretty sweet deal and the only real competition with this kinda’ service is GameFly, which apparently is a sucky service. Considering PS3/360 games are $9/rental, if you rent more than two games, then you’re spending more than this 24/7 access to a video game rentals.
While there will be a few things I will miss about WoW – there’s no denying that playing on a system that offers superior graphics (over WoW), different genres and varieties of games that can be viewed on your LCD (yeah, I know CPUs can output to LCDs, but I’m lazy) is worth the extra $7/month.
So, I welcome you back with open arms PS3. Originally, I had to push you away because those $40-$60 price tags were too much, but with Blockbuster’s GamePass, I can finally pay the amount of attention to you that you deserve.
Had you not known about this service and there’s a Blockbuster near you, either visit them and see if they GamePass, or just click here for more information overall. Tell them InvaderDem sent you! You won’t get anything … but you can see what kind of reaction you get.
Patch Updates: Looking at both sides
Yep, here’s another World of Warcraft-related post. Keep in mind that this was a draft from a few weeks back and the beginning of it was written the day after Patch 3.3 came out.
So, when Patch 3.3 came out, I was curious if they had gotten their act together and finally gotten the common issues that they normally have worked out. Unfortunately, no, they didn’t. But, lucky for me – someone who tries to see things on both sides – I can understand why people freak out over extended realm maintenance and I can understand why Blizzard runs into the same issues that they do.
Review: Assassin’s Creed 2
I generally strayed from Assassin’s Creed 2 just because the first one didn’t get great reviews. And because I am a sucker for stealth/assassination games, I didn’t want to be disappointed. So, recently I gave in and decided to give Assassin’s Creed 2 a try, and I’m glad I did.
- The presentation of the game is really well done (despite its slow start) and the design of the character is excellent. I love how your weapons are seen at all times – they don’t disappear when you sheath them.
- The game’s sandbox feel gives the game a big replay value – assassinations, various forms of races, large areas to explore, assassin’s tombs, etc.. Simply put, there’s a lot to do here.
- With roughly 13 chapters (two available as DLC, which don’t affect getting your Platinum trophy) the game can take some time to finish, especially if you plan on upgrading everything.
- Controls are difficult at first until you figure them out, then they become second-nature to you. (I find myself using AC2′s control schemes when playing Uncharted 2)
- The cut-scenes were really unique to me, using actual non-American dialogue at some points really gave it a feel that you were in Italy.
- With the ability to steal weapons, there are many different ways Ezio kills their enemies while in combat. He doesn’t stick to the same method each and every time.
- It was refreshing to play a game in an era that isn’t used much – the Renaissance era. And I like how they incorporated actual people from that era into the game.
- Some of the things were hard to believe. Leaps of Faith and the fact that you could blend into crowds despite your very unique attire.
- Game can be a bit too easy – Combat can be very simple. Just wait for someone to attack, counter and it’s an instant kill.
- While there is a lot to do, many of it is – more or less – the same that can be done the same way each and every time.
- The final boss battle started out fun, but ended up disappointing. I was eager to kill the man I’d been “hunting” for years, only to have it end in a rather blah way, with little challenge.
Postive Points: 7 | Negative Points: 4 | Total Score: +3
It’s always the video games, isn’t it?
I generally don’t comment on articles that say Video Games are the tool of the devil or that it’s for losers who will never see the light of day, but when my friend send me this video, I was immediately irritated and found the video to be very one-sided, despite how much he didn’t make it sound like it was.
To prevent from spoilers, I’m going to discuss my issues with this video after the jump. I ask that you watch the video first. Or, if you don’t want to … then just click on the jump.
