Gungrave – Completed

Taking a quick break from my 360 and whore what Halo 3 achievements I can. I went to a friend’s house to sit in her living room in case her son woke up. It was only an hour and a half so she could play softball so I grabbed a few PS2 games and headed over.

This was a bargain bin game I picked up since I enjoyed the anime. I assumed that it would resemble “Gungrave Overdose” which I never beat but enjoyed playing. This assumption was completely wrong. The game is short, and were not talking short like a bungie game, I mean it only took me 1 hour and 11 minutes to beat.

The game play is strictly run and gun, there are a few dodging movements, however there is no mechanism for blocking (like in over dose). The graphics will not very detailed seem very lax compared to a wide range of PS2 games, there was also a slight hint of cell shading. The cut scenes were almost a saving grace as they were very well done.

I give it 3 out of 10, ask me if you want to borrow it. Not even worth renting.

Halo 3 – Completed

If your reading this your either my friend or value my opinion on video games. So what I will tell you right now, is that unless you want to play online you need to put Halo 3 down and buy Bio Shock.

What I expected from the hype and advertising of Halo3, an epic battle to save all life in the universe. What did I get? I got the exact same game play as Halo 1 and 2 with some new weapons and vehicles. Oh and that master chief is still apparently the most bad ass human to show is face on the earth, that is of course because this is earth is in a alternate dimension where Gordon Freeman does not exist!!!

There really is not much to say, looks a little shinier, plays pretty much the same, and its pretty neat in the first cut scene how master chief looks retarded after he lands on earth. Seriously don’t waste your time, play the master piece which is Bio Shock or wait a few weeks and pick up Half life 2 episode 2. It’s a much better expenditure of your money.

Halo 2 - Completed

If you took the time to read my previous post you will see why I am playing Halo 2. The graphical difference between the first halo and the second halo almost looks like a generation gap. Now both games are decent looking but Halo 2 set a new standard. I can only assume Halo 3 will push the limits and give us something pretty to stare at for hours on end.

There are some new elements that I can really appreciate. Duel wielding and a melee weapon were nice additions. This seems to allow you to input some strategy into how you assault and what weapons you take. Though I was sorely disappointed that the stock rifle from Halo did not make it into the 2^nd, it was definitely me weapon of choice. The new energy sword proved to be a great weapon that provided some entertainment.

The story in the second game is much more involved and gives you a greater sense of danger. It’s also funny to watch the people blindly worship a object that was created to wipe out all life in the universe. Now the game looks great, plays well, and really is a enjoyable experience I would recommend to anyone with a 360. Because if you cant play Halo 3 after the Halo 2 ending, you will be one angry cookie. It was not to upsetting to me, as I can play Halo 3 today if I choose. But after years of waiting for Halo 2 to get that ended, had I been an avid fan I would have wanted to kill someone.

Halo - Completed

Once upon a time long before the Xbox Moose showed me a trailer of one of the first online multiplayer games to have vehicles, I was in shock in awe. Then the day came when I found out this game would only be on the Xbox. I was upset but went on playing half-life as I did back then. This was also the time of my life where I was boycotting Microsoft and to this day have not owned an Xbox (but gladly take one if anyone is giving them out). The game was then ported to PC and I gave it a shot only to find one of the worst console to PC ports I have ever seen. No matter the caliber of my machine it never seemed to run correctly. So countless years later, a few red vs blue episodes and purchasing a Xbox 360. I allowed my self to be pulled into the hype of Halo 3 and there ad campaign.

Not ever finishing halo made me think that I might be at some disadvantage and so I asked Draccuu if I would borrow his copy. He gladly let me and in two days I had powered through Halo. Is it a good game? Yes I think it is a good game. Is it a great game? Sorry Morgan Freeman puts master chief to shame. Which brings me to my next point, what is with all the master chief fanboys? Were they not graced with an opportunity to play half life? Was this the first FPS worth playing on a console that didn’t include james bond? Was halo the first inception into multiplayer gaming for a lot of young men who never had the PC’s to play quality FPS’s? What ever it may be, I suggest to all of you who hold this game so high to play some half life.

There is not much to be said about the game that you have not already heard before. I think it would be smart to play through it if you plan on playing Halo 2 or 3. Things will just make more sense.

G.R.A.W. - Completed

My pops bought this for on my birthday and after falling asleep during the tutorial I waited a long time before giving it a second look. The original ghost recon was a great game that was involved with many of LAN parties, my assumption was this one would meet my expectations. The flaw in my logic is that game is a few years old and my expectations have grown, games from yesteryear no longer are capable of the fulfillment they once provided.

The game is not horrible by any means, the graphics are well done and I will give them kudos for a decent story. But two major things affected how much I enjoyed the game. The first would be the HUD. This is a 3^rd person shooter and unlike a FPS where your focus is on the center of the screen, you have to user the area in which the player is not sitting to take in your environment. With the hub covering ¼ of the outer edge of the screen and your persona on the screen taking up the center portion, it makes it difficult to turn and track enemies. The second issue is the control scheme, constantly jumping on the ground on accident with a subtle click of the left analog. Attempting to zoom in with a scope with out moving your sites proved difficult. I think they could have found a much better scheme for the default controls.

The game is 6 out of 10, take into account I played 0 multiplayer games.

Condemned: Criminal Origins – Completed

This game on Meta critic was rated fairly well and was pretty cheap on eBay. My assumption is the game has been out for a while and the price did not reflect the quality of the game. So I snatched it up and gave it a go. This game has gratuitous violence and its fair share of gore and situations that would give some adults nightmares. I strongly recommend heeding the M rating when considering it as a purchase.

The idea is you are a FBI agent/detective, your character goes to crime scenes of serial killers and goes through the scene collecting evidence to try and catch the killer. My assumption was each level would essentially be a case you had to solve and I was far from being right. There is a plot that flows through the entire game linking all the events together. One thing you should know is that you never get closure to the story line, the end only makes you assume what is going on and never clearly tells the player. Though I did find it intriguing enough that I wanted to play through the entire game.

When it comes to levels and game play it is extremely linear. There is no real variation in game play and it holds your hand to each goal. One level is a library where you have to find certain things through out, yet all the shelves are blocks in order to create the look of a maze yet it is just a straight path. In my general opinion this could have been more dynamic and given the player an opportunity to prove his worth and find there own way. The combat in the game has two variations melee weapons and guns. I was slightly annoyed to find out your only able to carry one weapon at a time as well as only being able to use the bullets that are in the gun when picked up, there is no extra ammo. The element of realism is understandable, yet I still think it should allow you to carry one extra clip of some sort as the character does have pockets. They do give you a tazer that temporarily stuns enemies and can incapacitate weaker foes with one or two hits, this allowed you some strategy while fighting.

All in all the game for me was 7 out of 10. Nothing to out of the ordinary and very linear, controls are solid, achievements not overly difficult, and graphics were on par.

Earth Defense Force 2017 - Completed

Sometimes you want to just shoot stuff. This game lets you shoot hordes of enemies relentlessly with well over 75 variations of weapons. The sad part is you only get to shoot the same monsters over and over. When purchasing the game I was under the assumption that you would play as one of those futile little guys who shoots a bb gun at Godzilla. The idea intrigued me and my imagination went bounds thinking of all the great monsters I will have to best with practically my bare hands. The first level started out very promising, there are giant ants attacking Tokyo, we must save the city and destroy the menace. But when I got to the 50^th level where I was fighting ants, spiders, and a few scat giant robots which all represent the same faction it started to feel quite repetitive. The terrain would slightly change and occasionally you would fight in the mountains. But there is not real strategy involved with the process of killing. You run backwards and fire away till you die or they do.

Now they did include the use of vehicles, four different types. You can run a motorcycle, mech, tank, and helicopter depending on which is included on your current level. The motorcycle is fast but lacks greatly in damage. The mech takes quite literally 5 minutes to turn around, how does anyone think this is plausible? You give them mech jump jets so it can fly but the blasted thing cannot turn around, this made no sense to me. The tank has a single fire mode and did well against a single target, yet it was hard to drive and maneuver. Finally the helicopter, I crashed more times then I was capable of killing the enemy. If your going to include vehicles in a game make sure there useable. This seemed to me as the biggest programming flaws in the game. Which leads me to another silly aspect of the game, one of the unlocked weapons is a turret gun. Stands alone and tracks enemies with cameras while firing away. Now your little fellow with not so much as a back pack has unlimited ammo. Yet the turret guns run out of ammo and disappear after a few hundred shots. Its not as if you can sit back and let them fire on forever to beat a level, the tracking systems require the enemy to be very close in order to be fired upon. Yet they choose to give this stand alone gun with an ammo canister larger then my characters torso 200 shots or so, seems a little silly to me.

When I was tired of the monotony I scoured all the weapons and found a missile launch with 30 some on missiles that homed in. I found that if I backed off a ways and fire the homing missiles would fly completely across the level to the nearest target and destroy it. For about the last 5 levels I would be reading or what not and just pushing the button to fire as it auto reloaded. Not sure if this be considered a flaw, but if I choose to get anymore achievements from the game you can be sure this is how it will be done.

The game was 5 out of 10. Playability was sub par, graphics where nothing special, story was stale, and the monotony was killer.