Blast From The Past-The Thing

27 years ago The Thing was released in theaters and while it wasn’t as big as E.T. it soon grew a cult following and made it one of the best Sci-Fi horror films of all time and basically is the grittier of the two alien films. Several years ago after the film celebrated it’s twentieth anniversary a game based on the ‘82 horror fest was released on the PC, Xbox,and Playstation 2.  It deals with the military going in and attempting to clean up the mess made by the Norwegian team and the American team. The game does feature the last two characters of the film, Childs and MacReady. And the alien life forms from the film are featured showing what their base form is.(Something John Carpenter didn’t want to show)

The gameplay is built on a fear and trust system reminiscent of how things were in the film with people refusing to go with you unless you give them a weapon to defend themselves. Also the shooting is part strafing and part Resident Evil style stopping to shoot.  The game features guns ranging from pistols to shotguns,grenades,and flame throwers to defeat the Thing beasts.

Now that I have told you guys all this how about you get the game and play it. Here’s a trailer for it.

MLB 09: The Show Review

BASEBALL!

It’s baseball season and that means one thing, games based on America’s pastime. And I’ll say this, 09 is hands down better than the not so good 2K9 from Take Two. Another way to look at these two games is to compare them to games of another sport. Wrestling. MLB 2K9 represents TNA iMPACT while MLB 09 represents Smackdown vs Raw. 2K9 is a game with very little customization options while 09 has deep customization options.

Best Looking Baseball Game

As expected from SCEA this game looks amazing. When you are playing an afternoon game you will be in awe of how beautiful the stadiums look, the surrounding environments,and the players. Even when you zoom in on a player’s face it will be as if you are watching a CGI baseball game.

ROIDS! ROIDS! ROIDS!

Some people will like that instead of playing a game of chance with your players on offense(Contact,Power,Bunting Ability,etc.) or defense(Arm Strength,Arm Accuracy, Speed,Blocking Ability) you can boost their attributes essentially Roid-ing them into oblivion. But the other people will scoff at the improbability of someone having a 99 Power,Speed,and Contact skill.

Franchise,Career,Manager,Exhibition,and Online

Off the top of my head the features I can list are Franchise in which you take a franchise either to the summit of the sports world or back home hoping to win next year, Career where you start as a rookie and end up as a Hall Of Famer, All Star,Legend, or A Sultan Of Swat,Manager mode is exactly what the title implies, you make all the decisions in the game without actually taking part in the game offensively or defensively,Exhibition basically is a standard game against any one regardless of American or National League. And Online (Sports Connect) has lobbies to face off against people online, MLB Headline News, and Downloadable Rosters even updates to the current rosters.

Closing Comments

MLB 09: The Show is the best baseball game I have played since All-Star Baseball 2005 on the Xbox 5 years ago. 09 is possibly the best baseball game I ever will play.

Hits

• Astounding Visuals
• Great Presentation
• Authentic MLB Feel
• Cool Online Community
• Roid-ing Players Can Sometimes Work

Misses

• No Misses

I Give This Game A 10 out of 10

Game History-Interplay

Interplay is one of those companies just like Atari that was big back in the day and is now a shadow of it’s former self. Interplay had many IP’s including Earthworm Jim, MDK, Decent, Bard’s Tale,Baldur’s Gate, Clay Fighter, and Fallout. With all those games it seemed like Interplay would be on top of the world. Interplay was founded in 1983 by Brian Fargo (Now at InXile Entertainment). Interplay soon made a name for itself by creating great CRPG’s with The Bard’s Tale and Wasteland. Interplay also had a similarity with Bethesda, they both loved making Star Trek games. About 14 years after Interplay began, they released one of the greatest role-playing games of all time, Fallout. Which was the spiritual successor to Wasteland (EA had the rights to Wasteland so a sequel could not be done at the time) the mix of retro-futuristic elements and the post-apocalyptic setting made Fallout a smash hit. But not one of Interplay’s big IP’s. That was Bladur’s Gate a D & D game developed by Bioware.

In 2001 Interplay just like Atari was purchased by a French publisher, Titus Interactive. This led to many bad things including the departure of founder and President Brian Fargo. They then shed most of their publishing functions and made a deal to have Vivendi Universal (Now Activision) publish all their games. Interplay then went and is still in a dark place full of debt and bad luck.

To avoid bankruptcy Interplay had to sell its Fallout IP to Bethesda Softworks for  $5.75 million. After the transaction Interplay restarted in- house development announcing sequels to MDK, Earthworm Jim, and more. Hopefully Interplay can reclaim their former glory.

Resident Evil 5 Review

Resident Evil 5!!!!!

Resident Evil 5 has been 4 years in the making since Resident Evil 4 debuted in 2005. Rather than continuing Leon’s story your placed in the shoes of Chris Redfield, the hero from the first Resident Evil game. Which means that Albert Wesker is involved. Also RE5 innovates the series with cooperative play locally and over Xbox Live or PSN. Plus the game takes place in Africa very controversially. And it is the first Resident Evil game to appear on a Microsoft system.

Better Than Resident Evil 4?

No. Resident Evil 5 albeit visually stunning is not on par with the much better Resident Evil 4. A comparison can be with the two latest James Bond movies, Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace. Casino Royale was the first James Bond movie to change the theme of the series from cheesy,over the top,and unrealistic, to intense,gritty,and real. Resident Evil 4 turned what was a horror game that was mainly a zombiefest into a horror game that was a moodyfest. Quantum of Solace was just nonstop action. Resident Evil 5 is just nonstop action.

C0-Op?

That’s right! In Resident Evil 5 you and a friend can team up and destroy the Las Plagas. Just like in Resident Evil 4 and Left 4 Dead you need to have your teammates’ back and make sure they don’t bite the dust. Rather than some games that have co-op as an element of the game RE5 is built on Co-Op. There are specific areas that need co-op like having your partner shoot a lock off a door and you cover them and  help them avoid death.

QTE’S!!!!!!!!!!!

Resident Evil 5 is full of quick time events and sometimes the game will look so good that it’ll make you forget about the qte’s and to quote Aerosmith “you’ll soon end up dead”. An example is if you forget to hit a button your partners head will get snapped.

Closing Comments

Resident Evil 5 is not as good as Resident Evil 4 and is a complete disappointment and I personally do not like where they went in this rendition of the RE franchise. Hopefully they go back to the old Resident Evil formula.

Hits

• Stunning Visuals
• Sometimes Fun
• Great Game To Play With Friends
• Fun Guns

Misses

• Horrible Story
• Horrible Enemies
• Huge Disappointment

I Give Resident Evil 5 A 7 out of 10

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Review

Movie/Game Lost In Translation

Movie games don’t have the best track record with the masses. Mainly negative ones with games like Wanted: Weapons of Fate and The Incredible Hulk which are abysmal and are poor excuses for next-gen games. However XO: Wolverine could be a movie/game that is actually good.

Wolverine Uncaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wolverine is probably one of the goriest movie games I have ever played. It is actually the first Marvel game to have an M rating, I can now see why. The smart thing is that Wolverine Uncaged is different from the Wolverine game on the PS2 for example because there is less violence on the PS2 than PS3 which means kids can play a not so violent Wolverine game and teens/adults can play an ultra gory God Of War/Ninja Gaiden clone.

Better Than The Film?

Yes. Wolverine Uncaged is better than the movie. Since the game actually has the story set up better than the movie. Because you are flashing from the present to the past.

Repetition Repetition Repetition

This game suffers from repetitive enemies and you can basically predict what’s going to happen. Maybe if they did something like Dead Space where they introduced a new foe whenever something was going to be stale there wouldn’t be repetition.

Genuine Voice Acting

Wolverine has the voices of Liev Schreiber,April Stewart,Will.I.Am, and Hugh Jackman giving it the feel of a movie or basically the Wolverine movie done right.

General Gameplay

The general gameplay is button mashing just like the aforementioned Ninja Gaiden and God Of War so you basically are tearing your enemies apart literally. You can actually impale people which some sadists out there will love. There are also abilities you can use like increased rage which if you didn’t know increases your damage and makes you like a Juggernaut.(Wink.Wink)

The Subtle Things

The small things like Wolverine looking at his claws or the way he is when he retracts them is nice. Also after a fight when Wolverine’s wounds are healing you see them start to heal, and if you get smashed up you can  actually see Wolverine’s skeleton. These little things make it feel like you are in there with Logan fighting Stryker’s men.

Closing Comments

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition is actually a pretty decent movie/game but it is basically the same thing level after level boss fight after boss fight. Hopefully the guys over at Raven Software can improve with a different Marvel character like The Hulk or Iron Man.

Hits

• Fun Tearing Guys To Shreads
• Good Subtle Effects
• Nice Visuals
• Authentic VO
• Impaling (For Sadists)
• Nice Easter Eggs
• Better Than The Movie
• Best Marvel Game
  

Misses

• Can Be Very Repetitive
  
• Ninja Gaiden/ God of War Clone

I Give This Game An 8 out of 10

Blast From The Past-Max Payne

About 8 years ago on the PS2, PC, and original Xbox Remedy and Rockstar released the cult classic Max Payne and what followed was the sequel, “The Fall Of Max Payne” which was criticized for it’s length and the lack of replay value. Next was the inevitable movie starring Mark Wahlberg and that movie failed due to bad directing. And in 2010 Max Payne 3 will be released for the Xbox 360, PS3,and PC. So now I am taking a look back at Max Payne 1. If any of you have ever played Max Payne you will know that he is largely based off of The Punisher since he is a cop who’s family is murdered and is hunting the people who took his family away from him. Also rather than having cutscenes most of the story in the game is presented in the style of graphic novels and even film elements. For instance when you are going through a building you take out a group of drug dealers and as you are killing them from afar it goes to a ceiling cam and it shows the bullets hitting them in slow motion.

So basically this was the only way to unleash your inner Punisher/Vigilante on the gang-bangers and druggies(Until The Punisher game came out a few years later).While the graphics may not hold up to Killzone 2 or Gears 2 the gameplay is better than alot of games in todays generation of consoles. Another cool aspect of the game was the interaction between the player and the world. Some examples are turning on a TV, or opening a dresser, or flushing a toilet. It just showed how grounded you were in this character rather than some spikey haired JRPG character who could shoot lightning out of his eyes. Basically what I’m saying is that Max Payne albeit a Punisher copycat borrows from films,graphic novels,and John Woo. This kind of game should be made more rather than games like “Guitar Hero: Van Halen”. Hopefully Remedy gets this game out quick unlike Alan Wake. So if any of you are interested in checking out this game again it is available on Xbox Originals for 15 dollars. Or for free on torrent sites, not that I condone that type of distribution or have any affiliation with media pirating.

P.S. I apologize if this post seems confusing I haven’t written an article in over a month.

Quick Hit Review of Shellshock 2: Blood Trails

Back in 2004 a game was released for the PS2, Xbox,and PC titled Shellshock: Nam ‘67 developed by Guerrilla Games the same developer of Killzone 1 and the most recent Killzone 2, and published by Eidos of Tomb Raider and Hitman fame. Much like Killzone, Nam ‘67 was hyped as a gritty,realistic,war game. Just like Killzone the game didn’t live up to the hype due to clunky gameplay and bad cutscenes. It is now 2009 and Eidos is attempting to redeem the woes of the first game.

                “What do you mean a different developer?”

Since Guerrilla Games was too busy working on Killzone 2 Eidos enlisted Star Wars:Renegade Squadron and supposed Star Wars: Battlefront 3 developer Rebellion to make the sequel to Nam ‘67 titled Shellshock 2: Blood Trails. All I have to say based off of their performance on this game is that I am worried for Battlefront 3.

        “The Equivalent Of A Straight-To-DVD Movie”

If you have ever seen an awesome movie and then seen the straight-to-DVD movie where the plot sucks, there are no ties to the original film,and it is just ridiculous in a bad way. This game is the equivalent of a straight-to-DVD movie.

            “Survival Horror? You’ve got to be fu*#@ing kidding me”

The first Shellshock was a war game and if you pick up this game without having checked online sources like IGN or GameSpot you will be sorely disappointed with what you find in this game. Shellshock 2 Blood Trails is not at all a war game but a survival horror game. Wait survival horror WHAT THE FUCK! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME! Well you play as some army dude who’s brother is among the ravening zombies who are tearing everybody in Nam apart whether they are GI or Cong. And there is this whole operation Whiteknight and nobody cares. This game is a piece of steaming crap. It is BS that there is a game on the 360 that is uglier than Dead Rising a game that came out three years ago. There is not a single good thing about this game. It so bad that I am ending the review now.

This game gets a 1.0 out of 10 this piece of crap should be avoided at all costs.

Quick Hit Review-Lord Of The Rings: Conquest Review

“One Ring To Rule Them All“

Pandemic Studios the development studio behind Star Wars Battlefront 1 & 2 (and possibly 3) is back to the Battlefront type of game with Lord Of The Rings: Conquest for the PS3 and 360. Conquest is basically like Battlefront 2 in that you can play two campaigns, one is a light campaign and the other is a dark. With the light side going through the three movies and the dark side goes through an alternate storyline of if Frodo never destroyed the ring.

“Almost Exactly Like Battlefront II”

The only difference between this game and the two Battlefront games is that it’s Lord Of The Rings. But that’s not such a bad thing since Battlefront I and II are great games. One of the best things about this game are the two campaign’s mostly due to the fantastic VO from Hugo Weaving, also as in BF 2 there are cutscenes from the films in between missions. In addition to that there are hero’s you can play as if you get a certain amount of kills or are the MVP of the game, there is the Instant Action mode in which you can play any game type on any map.

“Repetivo”

One of the flaws of this game is that it gets repetitive pretty quickly so this is not a game that should be played for a long period of time.

Closing Comments

Lord Of The Rings Conquest is a fun game that is repetive and sometimes frustrating that could’ve been better than it’s Battlefront counterparts. The only people who should get this game are fans of the Franchise. I give this game a 7.5 out of 10

Hits

• Fun Game
• Great VO
• Evil Campaign FTW
• Killing Hobbits is a Blast.

Misses

• Game Gets Repetitive
• Sometimes Frustrating
• Embarassing Multiplayer

That’s How We Roll In The Shire.

Blast From The Past! Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex

In Blast From The Past I play an old game and see if it can stand the test of time. Today I am looking at Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex from Vivendi Universal and Travellers Tales the same guys who do the Lego games. Originally the first two games were done by Naughty Dog the development house behind Jak and Daxter, Crash Bandicoot, and Uncharted: Drakes Fortune and soon Uncharted 2. Crash 3 :  The Wrath Of Cortex places you in the role of Crash Bandicootthe protagonist of the series and your facing off against Crunch who is the “secret weapon” of Dr.Cortex the main antagonist of the series. This game is alot like Mario 64 since you are collecting items and then facing off against Crunch in the boss battle in every set of levels. This game though fun, is not as deep as Mario or Jak. You can beat it easily in a weekend, one of the things this game is good for is the gameplay. Although the graphics are last-gen they can stand up  to games on the PS3 and 360. In some cases they look better than a few 360 games and they look better than most of the Wii titles. Another of the things this game does well are the vehicles you operate/use. You go from using Jeeps, to scooters, you use a submersible, and you even operate a mech. Throughout the game you do things that have been done in other games for example you do some dirt racing, you do some snowboarding, you pilot a space ship and you are in an Asteroids like level, and they throw in a bit of gameplay from Super Monkey Ball. Even though games like Hellboy:Science Of Evil and Jackass The Game rip off successful games badly what Crash 3 does is simply an homage to these games. Overall Crash Bandicoot The Wrath Of Cortex is a fun platformer for the last gen systems. For those who may have missed out on this game you can get it on Xbox Originals for 15 dollars, and you can get it for cheaper if your still buying games for your PS2 or even less likely your GameCube.

Gears Of War 2 Review For The Xbox 360

In 2006 a game was released for the Xbox 360 and it became the killer app for the 360. It was also the game that went head to head in the console wars with Sony’s PlayStation 3’s Resistance Fall of Man. Many people thought that this game was going to be the new Halo for Microsoft and it was a great game but wasn’t quite a Halo type game. But it introduced players to the Locust. An alien like race that lived deep in the planet Sera which is the Earth of the Gears universe. It also introduced a mini-game called the active reload, it was basically pressing the right bumper and you have to hit the bumper when the line gets in the white zone of the reload bar. If done correctly you get unlimited ammo for the amount of ammo you have when reloading, and it adds more damage. Also introduced were the chainsaw bayonet which let you cut your enemies in half, and the curb stomp which had you stomping a downed enemies head off. A year later Gears Of War for the PC was released and it had a Brumak boss battle which you encounter only in a cutscene on the 360 version. At the Game Developer’s Conference in Febuary it was announced that Epic Games the developer of Gears Of War was working on Gears Of War 2 and it promised more gore,better story, a massive amount of enemies, and an awesome Geometry Wars meets Smash TV mode called Horde. Its apparent that they delivered on everything.

         Six Months Later……Are We Winning The War?

Gears Of War 2 picks up six months after the lightmass bombs explosion. Since then the locust seemed to stop, but it turns out that the lightmass didn’t wipeout the locust, it made them angrier. All of a sudden the Locust start sinking whole cities into the ground. So you resume playing as Marcus Fenix (or Dom if you are playing Co-Op). When you start the game you see alot more Locust and COG soldiers than you did in both Gears Of War and Gears Of War PC. You are also introduced to some new faces and you even find the female who is driving the Locust (hint hint she’s not human) some of the people you run into are Benjamin Carmine brother of Anthony Carmine from Gears 1, next is Tai a COG soldier who served with Marcus in the Pendulum Wars, Dizzy a COG soldier who drives Betty, who you will find out more in the game, and Skorge a.k.a RAAM 2.0 since he makes RAAM look like a wretch. There are even new baddies for you to face. There are tickers which are explosive Locust and can be used as time bombs, the Cyclops which you chainsaw duel when both chainsaws are clashed, there is a mauler which is a boomer with a shield and an explosive flail,there are both flame boomers and flame grenadiers, they can easily be taken down when you shoot the tanks that make them go boom. There are bloodmounts which are grenadiers riding on a Locust beast and it is the most annoying enemy in the game and in horde. There are theron guards that have torque bows as well.

   “God Damnit I’ve Lost Her Again!”

A big part of this game is Dom’s search for his wife Maria who has been M.I.A. since E Day. Throughout the entire game the only thing that Dom cares about is finding Maria. At the beginning of the game she was at the hospital you are but left shortly after you arrive. Near the end of the search for Maria Dom has a flashback to a day before the war where he is home with Maria and it shows how much he loves her and cares about finding her. But what happens when Maria is found is very dark and disturbing.

   “The Locust Are Breaking People. They were going to process me. Whatever the hell that means.”

When you and Dom are strapped into your capsule Skorge tries to kill you, but Tai and Dizzy hold him off while you and Dom go underground. When you Cole, Dom, and Carmine go on one of the Locust ships and find out that they have been taking prisoners. When you go on the second ship you make a shocking discovery, you find Tai who has been tortured beyond repair. As you attempt to help him something happens that is again dark and disturbing. As for Dizzy he is M.I.A. When you and your team get into a precarious situation your team size goes back to four. It also shows how sick and twisted the Locust are. There is alot more that occurs in the story but I won’t spoil the entire campaign.

    Time To Horde The Horde!!!!!!

One of the things Cliff Bleszinski talked about for this game was Horde mode which he described as “Geometry Wars meets Smash TV”. It is five players taking on wave after wave of Locust seeing how far they can get without dying. There is actually an achievement for beating the 50 Waves of horded cleverly entitled “Horde The Horde.” Just like in Co-Op when you get downed by an enemy your teammates have to revive you before you die of blood loss but in Horde your enemies can do executions while you are down like curb stomps,punching you, taking you as a meatshield, and there are executions with other guns as well. Of course you can do this to the Locust and again you get an achievement for doing all the special executions. But the bloodmounts are just downright annoying because they take so many shots and they can kill you with one hit.

             As Bad As The Mako

There are also parts of this game when you operate and drive a vehicle like the Mako from Mass Effect. The unfortunate thing is that it controls as horribly as the Mako. When you drive the vehicle the handling is awful, the driving is disgusting and shouldn’t have been in the game. During a sequence that happens twice where you must drive across a frozen lake that is getting pounded by the Locust and it is very frustrating  when your vehicle’s back wheel gets in the water and your whole vehicle blows up. Which Im guessing is due to the fact that the water is in fact the acidic blood from the Alien movies.

     Mixing in a Brumak and some Panzer Dragoon

As the title says you indeed drive a Brumak. All I have to say to describe it is Epic. You feel so great when you are shooting rockets and machine gun fire at the Locust. As for the part about Panzer Dragoon, there is a part where you and your team take two reavers and its on rails like Panzer Dragoon and it is a great thing to see. Since Panzer Dragoon: Orta came out for the original Xbox.

        Hits

• Amazing Story
• Great Graphics
• Using The Brumak And Reaver Are Very Fun
• Alot Of New Faces
• The Twists Are Unseen

   Misses  

• What Happened To Dizzy?
• Some Parts Are Dark And Disturbing
• Tank Parts Were Terrible
• BloodMounts Are Very Annoying
• Texture Pop-In

Closing Comments

Gears Of War 2 is an amazing game and beats its predecessor in every category. I didnt like that most of the new characters were either killed off or never heard from. But the guys over at Epic did a fantastic job on this game and from the way things go near the end of the game it is definite that there will be a Gears Of War 3. I recommend this game to people who liked the first game but the multiplayer over Xbox Live is still not everyones forte. So mainly the Call Of Duty freaks will stay away from this game.

I give this game a 9.5 out of 10