First off, let me say I'm a huge BioWare fan. I'm also a Sega fan in general and while Sonic isn't super high on my top lists of titles or franchises, especially lately, I still enjoy the Sega Genesis titles from that series. So while you read this, keep in mind that these impressions come from someone with no particular loyalty to the series but instead, from an RPG fan, a BioWare fan and someone who doesn't get as much use out of his DS for lack of games suited to his tastes. In fact, this is the first DS game I've bought this year.
Now I admit, I was a bit hesitant on picking this up. This is after all BioWare's first title on the DS and also it's first ever handheld title period. Sonic as a franchise seemed almost un-salvageable as a quality series and it has earned some harsh criticism due to it's overall downfall. Don't get me wrong, I was looking forward to it's release, but that's as much from curiosity as it was the prospect of a DS RPG from my favorite developer. In the end it was my faith in BioWare as a developer while owning and loving every game they've made so far that convinced me to take a leap of faith and plunk down the $40.
Remember when a Limited/Collector's/Special Edition of a game meant something? Remember when it was truly "Limited"? It seems now that the industry is torn between rewarding the fans and making a quick buck. It also appears like the beginnings of a gamer "caste system" is in development, where you have "coach", "mid-class" and "luxury", all depending on what your willing to shell out for it.
Oh sure I have my fair share of these "upgraded" editions. In fact I have a dozen or more, mostly from the last couple of years. Some are totally worth it from a fan's perspective. Others I find are just thinly veiled attempts at price gouging. Some have a little of both but at a reasonable price that a game collector can justify indulging themselves. The difference being that the ones I have didn't cost any more than $79.99. Now they've upped the bar and have begun shooting well past the $100 mark, many hitting $150 or more. Are they justified? Well that's in the eye of the beholder.
Now first off, let me say that I'm not really a fan of the Star Wars movies per se. As I drop that nasty bit of flamebait in your lap, let me say it's because it's so empty as opposed to other science fiction franchises I enjoy. The scope of background to draw from and the mythos in it's size and complexity is a far cry from that established for Babylon 5, Stargate, Doctor Who or Star Trek.
Having said that, I've always enjoyed the Star Wars games. I suppose in a way, I see the games as deep as the 90 minute movies they are based on. If you've ever played Rogue Squadron, Knights of the Old Republic, Jedi Knight series, Bounty Hunter and Shadows of the Empire, you know what I mean as they fill in so much more info and back story than the movies ever did.
OK so after I had wrote my last entry on this game, a couple more hours of playing and I had beaten it. Apparently the 3rd chapter is a lot shorter than the previous two. That's fine because it wrapped up the story and allowed me to begin a new game for better grinding and yoinkage. So here's my review of it:
I've enjoyed this game enough now that I have beaten it, that immediately following the ending and credits, I began a new game using the same character under the "Elite" mode which makes all the enemies of the game 50 levels higher than they were previously. So I haven't stopped playing it yet and that doesn't happen often after I beat a game.
The fact that you can grind and that enemies respawn gives this game a deeper depth and more play value. I suppose on one hand it makes the game easy if you level up well past that of the enemies as you progress through the story. Or you can think of it as a bonus for all the time you spent grinding for new items and EXP points.
Compared to the PC versions of Dungeon Siege, this one has a more Dark Alliance/Champions of Norrath feel about it. A bit glitchy at times and not overly complicated, the game has a laid back quality that makes it an easy game to just pick up for a few minutes and do some “yoinking”. Just be patient with the load times, even the 2nd model PSP has a bit of a wait while loading levels.
Graphics and sound are surprisingly good. Even the voice acting is well done and the character animations are fluid. The levels themselves are a bit generic but they are varied and there is a keen level of attention to detail to them.
Leveling up is fun because not only is there level specific loot, but there are many choices for attributes and abilities to put your earned points into. That gives you some flexibility in customizing your character and later on you can augment that with subclasses.
There are also crossover codes used between this game and Dungeon Siege II: Broken World for the PC. These codes unlock bonus items such and armour and weapons.
If I had to wrap up an impression of this game in one sentence, it’d be: “Level grinding & looting without the burden of long story dialogs”.
So a couple of days ago, an article via www.Kotaku.com pointed out a blog entry on "Check Out" which apparently is an official Walmart blog. In this particular entry, many suggestions were listed on how we can make gaming more "green". Now for the most part I agree with the better thought out ones, saving energy is always good. Of course I also snort in derision at the stupid ideas like this:
Quote
Developing software and hardware that allows us to save the game so we do not have to leave it on would allow us to turn it off during a meal break or overnight without loosing our place. Additionally, come clever programming would allow the console to go into a lower power, standby mode when not in use.
It's hard to believe that I've been doing this feature for well over a year now. July 18th 2007 was the date I published the first entry in this feature (Vol.1 Racing Games). Even harder to believe that I've managed to stretch out the most popular or expected genres this long without using them all up. So I thought this time around I'd spoil myself and write a List 'em for my top 5 favorite platforming games of all time.
Now I admit that I had some difficulty in choosing my top 5. Not only because there are so many good platformers out there, but also because sometimes the line blurs on what does and doesn't make a platforming type of game. Rastan is a sword swinging platformer/action adventure of a sort, Contra could be argued as a platformer along with being a side scrolling shooter. So I narrowed it down to games of dexterity with minimal graphic violence and a small amount of puzzle solving or exploration. Of course interpretation is in the eye of the beholder, so feel free to list whatever you feel you think a platformer is and as always, as many or as few as you wish.
Yes that's right, it's time to "gather ye around the fireplace" and swap stories of powerups, gigantic bosses and bonus stages. Or maybe just big rocks you destroyed. You know, asteroids and those types of things.
Shmups, specifically spaceship based ones, have a long and illustrious history. From games like Spacewar! in 1962, to Galaga Legions and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, we've had the pleasure of playing these games for 46 years. Imagine that, in four years Shmups will be celebrating their Golden Anniversary!
With 2008 being another big year for Shmups with games like 1942: Joint Strike, Aces of the Galaxy, Galaga Legions, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, Ikaruga (re-release), Space Invaders Extreme, Thunder Force VI, shumps seem to have started yet another re-birth for new systems. Not to mention the dozens of great indie-made ones and even those that can be found on our very own Arcade here at RF Generation!
So as usual, feel free to share your list of favorite shmups or your criticisms of them for everyone else to read and comment on. This is and has always been, a group feature! Without further ado, here's my top 5 space shmups in no particular order:
For those of you who haven't seen these videos yet, here's a trio of great performances from artist Guillaume Reymond and his GAME OVER Project. These are stop motion videos of popular classic games by using people in an auditorium with colour coded t-shirts. You can find more of these via Youtube, or through the groups official website at: http://www.notsonoisy.com/gameover/
I highly recommend the Space Invaders video as well, excellent choreography and a surprisingly accurate interpretation. Below is the Tetris video, enjoy!
There was a time seven or eight years ago, when PC gaming occupied most of my leisure time. Windows ME was new, USB controllers were taking over from game port ones and optical mice were replacing ball. All in all it was a great period for PC gaming technology as precision and accuracy was better than ever.
During those early years of the Millennium, the rigorous demands of the games I had played, in particular Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance, killed many joysticks from many different brands. It seemed like every month I was returning a broken stick back to the store I bought it from. I always took good care of them but they just couldn't take the hard use. Plastic buttons snapping, broken levers, sometimes the drivers just simply sucked. It was a widespread problem that was quite common for players of that particular game. My favored tool of attrition at the time being the Microsoft Sidewinder Precision 2 and the Logitech Wingman Extreme series.
Then one day as I was returning yet another broken stick, a shiny gold and black monster was sitting on the shelf in the Saitek selection, catching my eye and begging to be held. I had never really seriously looked at a Saitek before and that should speak volumes for it's first impressions.
Here are three videos courtesy of GameTrailers.com, showcasing the gameplay of the Wii Sports sequel Wii Sports Resort. Included in these three are the sword dueling, jetski and frisbee gameplay clips. The sword dueling uses the new WiiMotion Plus add-on, to enhance gameplay and bring the Wii closer to a true 1:1 experience.
Special note of interest to those of you who are big fans of Wave Race, as this is touted to be the spiritual successor to that franchise and besides using your Miis, is supposed to be a deeper and more intuitive game.
Wii Sports Resort is expected to be released in Spring 2009 and it has been indicated that it will include as many as 10 different games in the compilation.
According to an interview with Electronic Arts president John Riccitiello, BioWare and LucasArts have teamed up for a Knights of the Old Republic MMO aimed exclusively at the PC market. A market EA analysts expect to grow from 33% currently to 50% of the total gaming marketshare by 2011.
"Increasingly, people are going to be talking about direct-to-customer in our business," said Riccitiello. "I think we'll be talking about it louder than most."
No details have been revealed about the game or it's release date, but EA is expected to use this as one if it's major products to appeal to foreign markets in particular the growing Chinese gaming industry. I just hope they include a single player game as well. Robbing us of KOTOR III is just cruel, making it online only, well that would be just bloody sadistic.
So yesterday in the midst of the Microsoft Press Conference, The Track list for Rock Band 2 was unveiled. While only a few names were mentioned and the screen too small for most public viewers who watched the conference to see the list, staff at Kotaku who were in attendance kindly posted the list on their site. Besides the fact that the 360 version has the capability to download the entire original game's song list into the 2nd game seamlessly, every song in this huge list is a master track!!. So here's the list, enjoy!
First off, let me say I'm a huge BioWare fan. I'm also a Sega fan in general and while Sonic isn't super high on my top lists of titles or franchises, especially lately, I still enjoy the Sega Genesis titles from that series. So while you read this, keep in mind that these impressions come from someone with no particular loyalty to the series but instead, from an RPG fan, a BioWare fan and someone who doesn't get as much use out of his DS for lack of games suited to his tastes. In fact, this is the first DS game I've bought this year. 
Now first off, let me say that I'm not really a fan of the Star Wars movies per se. As I drop that nasty bit of flamebait in your lap, let me say it's because it's so empty as opposed to other science fiction franchises I enjoy. The scope of background to draw from and the mythos in it's size and complexity is a far cry from that established for Babylon 5, Stargate, Doctor Who or Star Trek.
OK so after I had wrote my last entry on this game, a couple more hours of playing and I had beaten it. Apparently the 3rd chapter is a lot shorter than the previous two. That's fine because it wrapped up the story and allowed me to begin a new game for better grinding and yoinkage. So here's my review of it:
Yes that's right, it's time to "gather ye around the fireplace" and swap stories of powerups, gigantic bosses and bonus stages. Or maybe just big rocks you destroyed. You know, asteroids and those types of things.
There was a time seven or eight years ago, when PC gaming occupied most of my leisure time. Windows ME was new, USB controllers were taking over from game port ones and optical mice were replacing ball. All in all it was a great period for PC gaming technology as precision and accuracy was better than ever.
According to an interview with Electronic Arts president John Riccitiello, BioWare and LucasArts have teamed up for a Knights of the Old Republic MMO aimed exclusively at the PC market. A market EA analysts expect to grow from 33% currently to 50% of the total gaming marketshare by 2011.
