Review your favorite video game
What's your favorite game of all time?
Let's see those writing chops in action.
Review your favorite video game of all time, as long or as short as you're comfortable with writing. Make it intelligent and interesting, not just "OMFGHALO2ROX".
Do it up!
i need sometime with that, btw i think this thread is stupid too but i'm posting this just to help the thread stay at the top to help you out untill i can think of a game to review.
yeah sucks that it requires effort to come up with things to write rather than one line at a time to raise your post count.
I don't really have a review, and it's not my favourite game, but I'm playing Need For Speed Most Wanted right now.
I love the premise and the format, it's really cool, and it's a Need For Speed title through and through, right down to the frustrating way the cars swap the lead-position (agent smith style) every time the lead car scuppers your run.
Generally speaking, as with most racing games, the traffic is hugely frustrating when all you really want to do is draw a nice set of flowing racing lines.
I like the driving model, although it could use more traction, and more accurately simulated suspension (there's a point where arcade qualities basically become a handicap, and I think that Most Wanted is a good example of just that. (For me (knowing a lot of driving/racing theory and being well-practiced) having these things inaccurately simulated just makes things more difficult)). It needs more roll on the suspension, and more traction— trying to get out of first gear, even just by gently squeezing the accelerator can sometimes feel like trying to accelerate on a frozen pond. Plus the cars break automatically if you drop below a certain speed, which when coupled with the first-gear wheel spinning can basically lead to some bothersome frustrations.
Having to trash scenery to qualify in certain exercises breaks frame and is also a real drag.
It would be nice if the resolution was a little higher, but I guess that can't really be helped. Also, ironically, when you try to use the handbreak in a turn there's actually way too much traction— at a point where you should virtually be fighting not to loose the back end, all pulling the handbreak in a turn will do is slow you down, which basically means it's effectively not actually a handbreak at all.
Also (and I'm not to sure if this is the correct arena for these kinds of comments, but) the homoeroticism of the dialogue, character stills and cut-scenes is so pronounced that, viewed in a certain light, it's almost it's own parody. I think that's probably the reason they focus so heavily on the female lead's body in a lot of the cut scenes— basically as a kind of counterpoint that offsets and to a certain extent masks the strong homoerotic subtext (at one point Razor Callahan, when he pats the side of your car, may as well just have patted you on the butt, and as for Taz who's "tough, and a major heat-score" well, given the forum context, the less said about him the better). Okay, so this probably isn't the right arena for that, but there it is.
Last edited by Hatesink; 05-11-2007 at 08:10 AM.
I'm starting to review old console titles (pre PS2) for another blog, I may post my reviews here.
Here's a review for gears of war
Campaign was short.
multiplayer is buggy.
graphics are great.
that's all you need to know, a blunt review for a blunt game. (I promise the other reviews will be longer and more in depth.)
Omikron: The Nomad Soul
Yeah I don't feel like writing up a lengthy one, I don't know why i expected that of the rest of you guysno worries
I'll write one up for my 2nd favorite game, Omikron: The Nomad Soul.
My opinion on it is greatly based on the characters, the music, and the world it's set in. The rest of it actually kinda sucks. Control-wise it's a bit weak.
Third-person view except for when using a gun, then it's really shoddy 1st person view.
This game was awesome for it's time imo, it's packed full of action and fun adventure sci-fi. David Bowie actually does quite a bit of the soundtrack and plays as the character Boz, who lives within the computer networks; as well as plays in a band in the game called The Dreamers.
Post apocalyptic setting when earth has been sectioned off into gigantic domes with cities in them. You actually play yourself...as a "nomad soul" and end up inhabiting several different bodies before the story's ending.
The world is pretty big, lots of places to explore and things to do on your own (such as see Bowie's in-game band play at a little bar).
The futuristic concepts are cool, such as the apartments and the advertising, just that general stuff that gives a cool feel.
Best played on the PC...but also available on Dreamcast.
XIII: (cell-shaded FPS spy thriller starring David Duchovny)
This game at first didn't get my attention. A graphic-novel comic book like presentation in a first-person shooter wasn't the first thing that I thought would be good. However, since it appeared to be the only interesting bundled software with my graphics card. I decided to play it, and it certainly exceeded my expectations
The controls are very well designed and easy to use and the engine is very fun to play and use. The biggest strongpoint of the game is the story, especially if you are a fan of international intrigue and spy games. You wake up on a New England Beach with amnesia and "XIII" printed on your chest. Soon, you realize that you're a secret agent and that everyone thinks you're dead. The ensuing storyline is suspenseful and keeps you coming back for more. You play an agent whose accused of killing the president. The storyline does somewhat resemble the JFK assassination, especially the beginning.
Warning, Story Spoilers Below
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As you go through the game, you find out that there are 20 conspirators who are hiding behind numbers and that the people in the conspiracy are major heads of the government. You also find out you were in a military group known as SPADS. The conspiracy killed the president and eventually wants to impose martial law on the country and impose a totalitarian regime in America. You have to find out each of the conspirators. You also find out that you are not the person everyone thinks you are. Everyone thinks you're Steve Rowland, XIII, but you are actually Jason Fly, a friend of Steve Rowland who was his rival and Jason Fly stole his identity through plastic surgery and putting XIII on your chest.
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End Spoilers
The game is, quite frankly, awesome. Its suspense employs many different twists and turns that keep you guessing even at the end. Another point of quality is the stealth system used, as it utilizes comic-script text that follows the enemy's footsteps, alerting the player to their position even behind obstruction.
The game, however, does have its flaws. Its very short since you basically identify the members of the conspiracy and in the process find out a lot of interesting stuff and have a lot of "flashbacks", however in one level you identify 10 of the members, which significantly shortens the game.
The ending has a disappointing cliffhanger, considering this game probably wont be optioned for a sequel. You are treated to a huge shock as to who is really the puppetmaster behind the scenes, but you never find out that much about you're past or why you ended up on a beach in New England.
David Duchovny's voicework, well it was serviceable in this title, but I expected more rage towards his adversaries given his predicament.
Wow - first of all, thank you for the tactfully placed spoiler warning. Once I read the first bits, I was so intrigued that i didn't want to read the spoiler because now I HAVE TO PLAY THIS GAME
it sounds awesome. This is why I opened this thread. *applauds wildly*
I don't have much time right now to post mine, but I will later tonight. David Duchovny is one of my favorite actors (X-Files is the best tv series ever) and I loved his work in another video game which was Midway's "Area-51".Originally Posted by Raveness
XIII was a game I never gave the chance too, but after reading your review I might have to go on a epic quest for it,
I never gave it a chance either, hence the 'it came with my video card' circumstance.
Safe to say it blew away my non-existant expectations. The stealth gimmick they employed blew me off my chair:
http://content.ytmnd.com/content/8/a...07da4024b2.gif
On to Half-Life Opposing Force:
Half-Life is one of the best action games ever. No one who has played that game could ever argue otherwise. So how could anyone other than the original design team possibly follow the success and originality of such a classic slice of gaming cheesecake? Well, fortunately for gamers hungry for more Half-Life cake, Gearbox has done a damn good job, though not without a few flaws.
Even though it may seem insignificant, the boot camp (in place of the hazard course of the original HL) is a whole lot of fun. Torn straight from the screenplay pages of "Full Metal Jacket" It's much more interesting than the hazard course. The single player game is excellent, one of the best single player experiences on the PC next to the original Half-Life, utilizing it's parallels with Gordon's story ingeniously. New weapons like the Desert Eagle .357, the teleporter gun, the multiple alien weapons, and my personal favorite, the SAW machine gun, all add a new dimension to combat.
The levels themselves are again very well designed, ranging from outdoor desert areas to the typical underground hallways, all with great architecture and an overall polish that made the original so special.
But Raveness, what flaws? Well, the biggest reason is that there isn't much overall innovation when held up to the original. It doesn't really expand on any gameplay concepts, it merely copies most of the design from the first game. For instance, the tentacles that were so powerful that they required a puzzle to kill them (the test-firing of the rocket). Well, there's another level just similar to it, only with a different monster and a different puzzle. Consider, however, this game probably took half the development time as Half-Life, so there may not have been time to make it longer or add anything significant gameplay-wise. The parallel journey that Shephard partakes in is certainly enough to make the expansion stand out as more than just artificially tacking on levels. Also, the addition of "Black Ops" soldiers seems a bit far-fetched, even in a sci-fi story. The government has also sent them in, and yet they will attack you? Seems a little strange, inconsistent. Maybe Gman is behind something there.
Flaws aside, it is an excellent expansion pack that will provide many hours of fun. It comes with my unreserved recommendation.
Pros:
- Excellent new aliens. From the one-eyed chicken-legged Shocktroopers to the bullish lurching sewer creatures, all new alien strains add plenty of much needed variety. There's plenty of them too, offhand I'd say that there's at least eight or so new enemies.
- Excellent new weapons. The sniper rifle adds a different slant on the large-scale battles and the new alien weapons are great fun.
- The storyline is quite snappy too, with plenty of glimpses of Gman and a few secret conversations that you can eavesdrop on.
- Usual high standard in terms of the graphics and sound (late nineties). The alien noises/voices still make me jumpy when you can hear 'em, but they're hiding somewhere. If you were not expecting the odd scare, this will shock you.
Cons:
- Some people say that it's too short, but for an add-on pack it more than suffices. It has the potential to be cleared in one sitting, I'm good at it and played it on and off for a few days. However, the end monster and actual ending are both a bit of a letdown. The 'final battle' consists of a series of climbing ropes, using mounted laser guns and using your grappling hook over and over and over again. More like the Krypton Factor assault course than a pan-dimensional showdown.
- Poor AI assistance from NPC's carried was magnified here. Any friendly troops that you lead into battle either refuse to follow you, charge straight into gunfire or shoot you in the back. Their average life expectancy in battle is about a minute or so. The bad guys aren't really the sharpest tools in the shed either, following basic patterns or causing you grief by being very fast instead of very smart.
Last edited by Raveness; 05-11-2007 at 03:33 PM.
yeah, i read some stuff about this game recently, and the way it was set out, to do with assassination, someone that has 1337 skills, but can't remember anything, and has a key to a safety deposit box in a bank...
know what this reminds me of? the bourne trilogy of novels/movies (3rd one pending)
anyway.. a series of games that I love very much I shall succinctly review right now:
the castlevania series of games (for GBA and NDS), including (in order of release):
-"circle of the moon" - GBA - my rating: 8/10
-"harmony of dissonance" - GBA - my rating: 6.5/10
-"aria of sorrow" - GBA - my rating: 8.5/10
-"dawn of sorrow" - NDS - my rating: 9.5/10
-"portrait of ruin" - NDS - my rating: 9.5/10
what to say...
Good graphics for the low-res screen they're played on. lots of variety.
platformer RPG adventure games (you kill things in a platformer-style, but you gain exp for kills), its kinda like mixing metroid with an rpg game.
i really can't pick favourites with these games because they are all so well done IMO (even the first GBA one, which has been retconned for story reasons). the NDS ones have REALLY great music, and a storyline that pulls you in so you experience emotions when things happen
an example is:
SPOILER START:
when mina hakuba, the protagonist's girlfriend is killed by the antagonist, in front of the protagonist's eyes. this made me almost cry. then i found out that it was a doppelganger of mina that had been killed. this was in dawn of sorrow DS.
SPOILER END:
sooo, definitely get these games and play them. probably the one that's not as great as the others is "harmony of dissonance".
Zombies Ate My Neighbors (Genesis/Super Nintendo)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...GEN_Screen.gif
Overview
This game is basically an overhead shooter with B movie themes. I love cheesy horror movies (Toxic Avenger FTW!) so this game was a fit for me when I first got it. You go through the various levels trying to save your neighbors. If a zombie/alien/chainsaw maniac touches them, they die. If you save all the neighbors, the same amount appear on the next level, but if you only save 5, only 5 will appear on the next level. When there are no more survivors, then you lose.
Gameplay
D Pad controls movement, there is a shoot button, and equipment button. There is a button to cycle weapons, and one to cycle equipment. At each level, you have a little radar that tells how many neighbors are still alive, and if you're close enough, it tells how close they are. After you find every neighbor that isn't dead, a door opens leading to the next level. There are doors that can only be opened with keys hidden around the maps, along with various power ups. The reason that this game shines is Co Op. Invite a friend and have a good laugh with him/her about the game.
Level Design/Power Ups
The levels vary in location. There is the standard yards, supermarkets, graveyards, and hedge mazes to name some. Each level has the same concept, but with different enemies or some environmental differences. The yard levels have trampolines to jump over walls with, along with swimming pools. The shopping mall has escalators and crazy axe wielding enemies, etc. There is lots of dark humor everywhere. Your weapons aren't real weapons. 6 packs of soda explode on impacting, making them grenades, Your main weapon is a squirt gun, there's a fire extinguisher that can freeze enemies and much more. You can also find potions that turn you into hulking beasts that resemble powered-up Rampage characters. This form allows you to punch through walls, letting you get to places without keys.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...wkerz/zamn.gif
Overall Rating
I game is very hard, even with co-op play. This can turn many gamers off to it (especially with recent games being so easy.) Everyone who appreciates a challenge will like this. The game is full of memorial moments, and is best enjoyed with a friend. The graphics are clean, and there are no pixilation issues because everything is simple. The soundtrack is great as well, spooky, yet kind of off tune and sometimes upbeat in the way that carnival music is. Here's the bottom line numbers
Single Player - 70%
Co-op - 85%
CALL OF CTHULU.
its not often that a game draws you in and then hooks you, in the first few moments of play.As you enter the shoes of Jack walters in C.O.C what strikes you immediatley is just how real this world feels.The wonderfully decrepid and ominous streets,buildings and occupants of Insmouth are alive and full of character.
The gameplay at times,walks an unsteady tightrope of classic exploration/adventure and fully blown FPS.It doesnt always work,but for the most,its well balanced and rewarding.
Most games have one or two outstanding set pieces,but for me C.O.C outshines them all by a mile,featuring some of the most exhilirating sections of gameplay I've ever experienced.From the heartstopping chase across the rooftops,A gargantuan battle at sea with an unspeakable monstrosity,to the final stirring sections at the games climax.The action never flags,the game never ceases to interest or hypnotize or challenge the player.
A masterpiece and an essential addition to any fan of discerning,intelligent gaming. 9/10
Last edited by splicer; 05-14-2007 at 12:57 AM.
I have both good things and bad to say about this game, so I want to make sure you get the right idea: I recommend Call of Cthulhu, Dark Corners of the Earth, but some of that feeling is due to my Lovecraft bias. In spite of the bad things, I liked it, and wished I could simply play it straight through with out pause for rest or real life. It has a great mix of challenging puzzles and action sequences, and there were times when I was so scared I had to remind myself it was just a game. The story is great, world interaction is pretty good, and the lack of any heads-up display adds a new element of realism. The fact that you can only save when near certain "magic" symbols (or when the game autosaves at a key point) was a mixed bag. It made the stakes higher, and the victories sweeter, but sometimes it got really tedious revisiting the same part of a particular sequence because you kept flubbing on the last villain.
The sound effects and music were awesome, graphics gritty even if underwhelming. Environmentals such as rain and fog were also pretty well done, and the levels were intricate and intriguing.
Also intriguing was the less abstract way in which damage and healing are handled (you may find yourself having to treat a broken arm or leg with a splint, for example, and if you leave a major wound untended for too long, you might bleed to death).
Be prepared for some very frustrating (sometimes idiotic) drawbacks. Also, be warned: the weapon and combat engine is rather poor compared to the rest of the game. Bullets sometimes pass through things they should hit, hits don't always do the damage you expect, and all the terrestrial guns are about the same in terms of range vs accuracy/damage. It's not horrible, per say, but you shouldn't buy this game if your main interest lies in the shooting aspect; UT or Quake would probably serve you better there.
For these reasons, the game only got four stars. It's a totally awesome puzzle game with a great horror element, but it looks like the programmers might have slacked off a bit in some areas (a few never even got paid by the now defunct Headfirst Studios).
ah yes i spend alot of my time on my snes emu playing this game it is worth 10/10
I wish I could throw in my two cents about CoC: DCotE but it keeps crashing on me after the beginning scenes in the Arkham Asylum.
I played through it about half way on my old computer and I have nothing to say but good things.
Well executed except for the semi-buggy controls at times.
Wow did you even play the game?
Campaign is a good length for a game like gow, even better if on highest difficulty. Also can be played in co-op which makes it seem new again.
Multiplayer is very addictive unless you are a silent person and same with other people in the server. Donno what your talking about buggy. I personally havent seen anything and only have heard minor things which have been or being fixed.
and graphics are the best you can find on a released game now.
From what I've read Gears' multiplayer is the buggiest I've come across, I've seen tonnes of bugs like chainsaw/shotgun, gliding, one called "paradropping" in which you do something and the game suddenly respawns what looks like 1000 feet over the map and you just plummet to the surface (and survive impact).
In either case, gears a fun game with flashy graphics, but that's about it.
I was really dissapointed with gears,I loaded it up at around 4 one afternoon,and by 10pm Ramius was on his knees and the credits were rolling! BooFEAR had pretty much the same problem.
Last edited by splicer; 05-14-2007 at 03:50 AM.
I'd review DOOM 3, but I'm tired already of being openly and piteously criticized just for saying that I like it.
Dont feel like that,please,go ahead and say whatever you like(as long as its legal)
Forums should be about freedom of expression.
Last edited by splicer; 05-14-2007 at 04:40 AM.
Lets keep things civil please guys.
It just really irks me when there are these "longest sentence" and similar threads where they require basically zero thought to post and all they are good for is raising your post count. I can't speak for the moderators but something's telling me they don't entirely think those threads are constructive or have any point in the scheme of things.
if you can't see that then I can see why you would keep getting pissed at me. I just don't think it's necessary on here...and I'm kinda protective of this forum. We've got enough of one person flooding it up the wazoo *cough*splicer*cough*
Chill out or get out. I'm doing nothing but stressing proper behavior on this forum, I don't disprove of things for no reason. Forums are for topic related discussion. At least this one is.
Last edited by Bioshock_FTW!; 05-14-2007 at 06:50 AM.
One of my favorites was X-COM: UFO Defense:
http://www.ufopaedia.org/images/thum...ing_screen.png
(otherwise known as UFO: Enemy Unknown)
In it, you take control of X-COM, a global response to alien invasion.
This was a turn-based strategy game which at the time I wasn't very familiar with. It blew my mind. I could set out the actions of every single member of my team for each turn and then just chew my nails as they carried out those actions and the aliens rained living heck back down upon them. Did I mention that this game was HARD??
The game was funny as well. Not only did they use known aliens from UFO-lore (greys, reptillians, etc.; I'm a conspiracy/UFO nutbag. I should know) but they used humor as well - such as setting many of the attacks in farmhouses and cornfields, or using weapons such as the 'probe'.
That would have been cool in itself, but here's all the bonus tweaks it let you do - for an old school game this is HUGE. Hell, I don't see anyone giving me this much detail and control now-a-days. It is an OCD person's dream:
* You rotate the globe in realtime and try and prevent attacks over the ENTIRE EARTH! Send out interceptors to prevent attacks or a landing party if it's too late (which is where it switches into turn-based).
http://www.ibiblio.org/GameBytes/iss...views/ufo4.gif
* Build/layout your own bases (research labs, training, barracks, defensive measures, etc.) - up to 8.
http://www.ibiblio.org/GameBytes/iss...views/ufo1.gif
* Your base can then get attacked by the aliens and you find yourself roaming the halls that you laid out protecting your asses and assets!
* Hiring soldiers based on their stats, naming them, and watching them either raise in rank - or die in glorious battle. *tear* (umm... why are they all blonde?)
* Finding alien technology on the bodies of dead aliens and sending back to your scientists to research - eventually giving you glorious new weapons and gadgets to play with.
* Vehicles - ships, tanks, etc.
Kudos to the gameplay and the sound effects. A true masterpiece with very high replay value. This guy's review is better than mine. In fact, I stole all of his graphics.
Actually, I think STEAM (my arch-nemesis that I removed from my computer immediately after beating Half-Life 2) has re-released the 2nd version of X-COM (which takes place UNDERWATER) recently, X-COM: Terror from the Deep!
http://members.tripod.com/uselink13/screens/xcom.jpg
Big daddy anyone?
Last edited by FreshLaundryX; 05-14-2007 at 07:28 AM.
And since I'm waxing old skool, I have to give a nod to the absolutely ahead-of-its-time (and also, dual named):
OUT OF THIS WORLD
(also known as: ANOTHER WORLD)
It was a 2-D platformer, but the first game I had ever seen which used vector graphics. The intro was just STUNNING to a kid with an Amiga who had never seen a real 3-D intro like that. I knew the game was going to be special as soon as that intro sucked me in.
The game came with little to no instructions and no explanations or background story so you truly did feel like you were in another world, learning along with the character. As the alien creatures you encountered spoke another language, you'd have to interpret what they were saying the best you could. (At times I actually thought I could translate it pretty well!)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...er_World_1.PNG
Wiki Entry
For this must watch intro, click here.
I can't explain how revolutionary that was at the time. Hell, it still looks good now.
This is what happens when the game creators have SOUL.
Here's a review of the game I wrote for another occasion:
Another World took brave steps into unknown territory when it first came out back in 1991. It was visually adventurous and tried things with gameplay that few games nowadays try to emulate. It's graphics style is quite unique, employing an interesting vector-based style that give the game a distinct look. The wisdom of basing the graphics on this alternative design proved its merits when the game was to be re-released for its 10th Anniversary recently; the game was easily upscaled to modern resolutions, allowing it to look as impressive as ever.
The game centers around a young professor named Lester, whose science experiment goes awry and sends him to an alien world. There isn't any distinction between the opening sequence and the start of the actual game, and you are immediately immersed as you take over control of Lester and traverse the other-wordly surroundings. The game appears to play as a platformer, and most descriptions of the game usually include the words adventure and action; however I personally think of it as a puzzle game. Each screen has some puzzle aspect to it, and more often than not actions to progress in the game are unique, ie. there's only one part of the game where you jump off a ledge and grab a vine to escape a monster. This makes for varied gameplay and fresh puzzles. What is especially endearing is that the game always plays like a cinematic, there are no giveaway HUD items on the screen and all the time that you are playing it feels like your playing out the story.
Having said all that, the game isn't as great as most people like to remember, at least as far as actual gameplay is concerned. The controls are atrocious; the response time as well as the movement capabilities of Lester are quite bad, and makes the game extremely frustrating. Most of the time the apparent difficulty is due not to solving a problem, but executing it. The game makes uses of passworded checkpoints, so it eases a little of the pain of replaying sections, which you will be doing very, very often. Maneuvering Lester is quite cumbersome as it becomes hard to judge jump distances, and even defeating enemies can prove challenging because the gun and the shield are effected by the same button. While the game's simplicity is its strength in general, it doesn't help the controls which should be tight and responsive, something the game's spiritual successor, Flashback managed to pull off perfectly. Ultimately, once completing a particular checkpoint, the feeling of relief and triumph quickly washes away all the preceding frustration, especially if you are rewarded with a cut sequence; so it is hard to be mad at the game for long. If it weren't for some points that were ridiculously hard beyond belief, this game would deserve full marks. The bottom line is that the game must be tried, if only to see the beautiful integration of presentation and interaction. The 10th Anniversary edition has been out for a while and is highly recommended.
Aaaand since I'm here I might as well post the only other review I wrote at that time.
Flashback
http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.c...hback/logo.png
Flashback is one of the first games I bought when I got a PC, and it remains a game that I return to time and time again. The things that appealed to me then still appeal to me now, and I think this demonstrates its sound game and visual design principles. The game follows the journey of Conrad Hart, a scientist who races to save Earth from an alien invasion.
The first thing that attracted attention to the game was its presentation, which still holds up today. The game oozes a stylish, gritty science fiction vibe that is illustrated beautifully by its lush graphics and expanded in its engaging story. The gameplay is interspersed with various cutscenes that are animated in a very cool vector-graphics style that looks good even by today's standards, and while there are only 7 levels each area has a distinct look very deliberately and painstakingly designed around the rich backstory (some of which is covered elsewhere like in the manual), which adds to the overall atmosphere. The animation of the main character was innovative back then, being based on rotoscoping techniques that allowed for very fluid and life-like movements.
What makes this even better is that the controls are extremely responsive, and quite intuitive; this makes for entertaining gameplay even after years of playing the game. Navigating the various environments is always fun, unlike some of its spiritual predecessors such as Another World. The gameplay involves solving spacial puzzles (some spanning numerous screens), finding and using various items, as well combatting against all kinds of enemies of human, alien and robotic origin. Despite the game having only 7 levels, some of them, such as the second, are quite long and involve a variety of tasks that keep the gameplay fresh and engaging. There is no hard-save function; the levels each can be access by means of a password, but some levels offer a mid-level save facility. This allows for some challenge, and only the very last areas are particularly difficult. All in all this game is highly recommended, it should be remembered as one of the best platform games of all time.
I bought the game the day it came out, and played the multiplayer for months. After the first update, the multiplayer because garbage so I decided to play single player. I beat the whole game in one day. That was on insane. Check my achievements if you don't believe me, see when my first one was unlocked for gears...
There are tons of glitches/bugs, I know cause I still pop in to play with friends every now and then. Now the walls are too sticky and melees don't do ☺☺☺☺ anymore. I could go on listing the faults, but instead I'll just keep playing games like Rainbow Six Vegas that are more rewarding and fun online.
What a great thread this turned out to be. X-COM, Another World and Flashback!
Well done all
Now we just need a System Shock review too
Ahhh, Morrowind. I can not stress my love for you in words, it is that deep.
http://www.ascn92.dsl.pipex.com/morr...owind_logo.gif
No but srsly, I love this game with a passion. I haven't played it in ages due to having a widescreen 1680 x 1050 monitor (anyone wanna sell me a 15"-17" 1024x768 or 1280x1024 LCD?), I can't find a decent working hack for the FOV. Kinda sucks.
You'll have to mind my ☺☺☺☺ty review, because as anyone who has played it knows, it's huge and hard to put into words.
The realm of Vvardenfell is gigantic and the main quest is intriguing, all of the rank quests for the different guilds are a blast and there's a decent amount of them. If you run out of stuff to do, there's plenty of downloadable content to add on to this stuff.
The towns and cities are my favorite part of this game, Balmora, Vivec, Sadrith Mora, Caldera, Gnisis, Tel Vos, ahhh...I love them all, as they all have their own simple charm and styles. Each race has it's own unique architecture and buildings; which is very cool and something Oblivion didn't continue with at all.
I could wander around them forever...and I often did.
Modding the game is very simple and there's TONS of user content out there on the web to download, much as there is for Oblivion. Modding tends to bring new everything, weapons, characters, quests, buildings, cities, you name it. So this game is endlessly fulfilling in that sense, you can mod it as long as your computer can handle all the data.
The expansions were cool too. Sorta. That's all I have to say about that.
That's all I have to say...I think I might get a tattoo of the logo. My love for this game is that great. Does anyone have a vector of the logo by any chance? The ones I've found online kinda stink because they just kinda winged the middle part that's normally covered by text.
cliff racers ftl
Role-playing games, as well as Star Wars, usually cater to a specific group of people. Good RPG's put an emphasis on quality storytelling, subplots, supporting characters, and the unraveling of mysteries. KOTOR carries on this tradition, while adding great graphics, quality sound experience & excellent special effects, all taking place in the Star Wars Universe. I actually end up caring deeply for several of the characters, especially the player character you control, and that is a sign of a good RPG.
You start off picking 1 out of 3 classes: Soldier, Scout or Scoundrel. Each class has a male/female variant, so in reality, you have only 6 choices, and you are restricted to a human character for the duration of the story. You'll eventually become a Jedi, and that is where the fun really kicks off!
Any Star Wars fan should get this game, simply because this game illustrates a Jedi's lifestyle, different worlds and eclectic cultures so well. During combat, your Jedi character will occasionally reflect blaster shots with his/her lightsabre, trick enemies to think you're invisible, and use force speed to attack at a blinding pace. You can also effectively utilize darkside powers popularized by Darth Vader and Palpatine, such as telepathic choke holds and lightning. The combat in the game is easy to learn, but somewhat difficult to master. On normal I had fair difficulty on the first play-through, and then it was easier after that - it seemed to fluctuate with the right level of difficulty.
Most important in this game, though, is the non-combat experience.
Depending on how you play it, about half the game is non-combat, and this is where KOTOR distinguishes itself from most games. The amount of characters, quests, replayability, and non-linear gameplay is astounding. Even if there are certain things that must be done, there are many that are voluntary and the required ones can be done basically in any order. The characters available to be in the party are deep and uniformly humorous in their own ways. Having conversations with these characters yields interesting conflicts or, alternatively, amusing tidbits. Two of the characters (Jolee Bindo and HK-47) were always great for a laugh, and two others (Carth Onasi and Bastila Shan) were very multi-layered with their own reasons for joining the fight. The characters, specifically the latter two mentioned above, fit very well into the plot, which is an achievement in itself for Star Wars fiction. Depending on the player-character's gender, there is an available romance. The light-side male romance with Bastila particularly resonates with the plot-ideas of redemption. It's seldom that I actually care what happens to NPC's, but this game managed it better than most motion-pictures, notably Lucas' prequels.
The graphics are beautiful and environments are filled with small touches like swaying trees, realistic shadows, and NPC's hustling and bustling about. The characters aren't anything to scoff at, either; granted, KOTOR wasn't a technical achievement, but the fact that characters eyes can follow things around without turning their heads makes the visuals more than adequate for the time period of late 2003.
The soundtrack is absolutely fantastic, filled with the best that John Williams' orchestral theme has to offer. As you cross the galaxy in search of the items that will let you save or rule it, the score will fill your ears in an altogether pleasant way that never seems overly dramatic. The sounds are classic Star Wars fare, from blaster fire and chirping druids, to the distinct hum of lightsabres, aurally you really feel immersed in George Lucas' universe.
The dialogue itself is performed through numbered responses. For instance, if you decided to save an Ithorian from xenophobic humans, and then give him a medpac without asking for a reward, you'll get points pushing you to the light side of the Force. On the other hand, if you decide to participate in a death match against an aging combatant for the sake of credits and fame, chances are you'll find yourself on the path to the dark side. These moral dilemmas are, admittedly, pretty black and white, but they add an interesting spin to the game, and depending on what you say, you could find yourself going down a completely different story path than someone else.
As for negatives, my biggest gripe is that the game can really discourage you from being evil. Among the total of 9 supporting characters, only 2 of them are intrinsically evil. Hence whenever you do something bad, the other 7 will give you a hard time. Bioware could have evened it out by providing a couple more neutral or evil-sided characters. That way, you can have a decent supporting cast to endorse evil deeds.
Also, the combat is manageable, but isn't really exciting, and tends to get derivative after awhile. Essentially you click on what kind of attack, ability or item you want to use and wait until the enemy dies. There isn't an extreme amount of fighting when you're in the field, so it doesn't get too annoying like it can in some RPG's.
I agree pretty much entirely with the above KOTOR review, would like to add that a heavier lean to real time combat would've made the fight immersion match the general game immersion, the quick menu system could still be utelized to select "force powers" on the fly and I generally think that would've worked a lot better. I also dislike greatly games that do not allow me to jump outside of combat, I feel heavy and stuck alot of the time and it's disheartening to come across a 2 inch incline which you cannot traverse.
For it's time it was an astounding game (1 and 2) and I would snatch up a third release in a heartbeat, especially if it was given to a next gen console (360 specifically) and built to be a next-gen game. KOTOR via Mass Affect would make my millenium.
those were two great reviews, and altough I never finished kotor or morrowind, I speant a lot of time playing them (I never owned Kotor, and my xbox broke. I miss my 100+ hour morrowind file)
I think that morrowind can be described as this:
Your first time playing, you may be overwhelmed by the amount you can do... So overwhelmed that you decide to steal everything in site, and when gaurds come to arrest you, you simply can not allow that, allowing you to be killed easily within 10 minutes of playing.
It's okay. [Starting the game the] gameplay is pretty simplistic and there could be more information on goals and what it is that the player should be doing, where they should be going etc. Whistling for the zombies is a bit hit and miss and I'm not sure if that tactic is going to be important in completing the game (I'm hoping not, since it seems to be a bit of a drag trying to keep them with you).
Also, they could have made more of Stubb's entrance. He just kind of appears out of the ground in a public park and that's it, you're in the game— they could have made a lot more of his introduction and back-story (there are a few paragraphs in the manual, about his 'origin', but that's all. Nothing in-game and no sequence to introduce Stubbs or tell you anything about him.
There's not much of a story either. You are Stubbs, Stubbs is a zombie, as a zombie you do what zombies do (i.e. eat brains). The only real story seems to be that of the police in trying to catch Stubbs. In that respect Stubbs doesn't even seem to be an anti-hero.
The aesthetic is fun, as is the game, but the Retro futuristic fifties styling could be a bit more subtle. There doesn't seem to be much depth to the gameplay (or at least I'm hoping not, since the zombie management dynamic feels like it could get pretty frustrating pretty quickly if relied upon heavily).
I've heard that Stubbs the Zombie is quite short, and from what I've played I'd imagine it would have to be (since there doesn't seem to be the depth of gameplay to hold the imagination for much longer than the duration of that of the shortest shorter titles). All in all it's quirky and fun with some humorous moments here and there, although I can see it becoming pretty repetitive pretty quickly.
Edit: There's a section where Stubbs pulls his arm off and you play as the hand scuttling around the place. If you climb onto the ceiling you get the option to 'posses' other characters. I've been walking around as a Cop (with Stubbs' arm attached to the cop's head somehow 'controlling' him). As a cop I can walk around unchallenged and/or use the cop's revolver. Playing as a possessed cop also gives me the option to 'strangle', but I'm not sure how effective a tactic that is for thinning the numbers that it seems I ultimately have no choice but to shoot through, as every time I've used it I've had an NPC come running seemingly from out of nowhere and firing at me.
Edit: The gameplay is actually deceptively deep. There are definite strategies that have to bu utilised to progress. Using cover can be problematic since the collision detection isn't perfect when it comes to the scenery. All in all it's a fun and engaging play.
Last edited by Hatesink; 05-16-2007 at 10:07 AM.
Its hard to pinpoint a particular favourite game.
Im constantly switching between Deus Ex, System Shock, Metal Gear Solid, Baldur's Gate(or any other infinity engine game), and Half-Life as my favourite games.
Today, its Half-Life.
It started as an intangible feeling in 1998.
Somewhere amidst the ambience of the opening scene, I was introduced to a new form of First Person experience.
The cold automated voice of a woman, echoing around me as I moved through an underground tram headed to work. The ominous background music suggesting there is some element of mystery in the unfolding events.
I had been cast into the role of Gordon Freeman, a scientist.
He works in a gigantic top secret underground research facility.
It seemed like it could have been a normal day in the life.
My fellow scientists would greet me, the security guards would joke with me.
My role in this computer generated world started to bare some weight.
Then ☺☺☺☺ happened.
Our latest experiment went horribly wrong.
The how and why of the problem arent easy to grasp, but the effect is quite apparent. Weird dimensional rifts thrust you into different worlds, until you land right back into the Research facility. The place has a new explosive makeover. The whole facility is in a volatile state.
Theres the setup. Your left in a bloody mess, and you have to try and escape with your life. This issue becomes complicated by a number of factor's.
First, your deep underground, and the tram you used to get into the facility is derailed. You need another way.
Second, a wide variety of strange life forms are being teleported through the forementioned 'dimensional rifts' into the research facility.
They arent really too happy about it.
Third, the government seems to want to contain the situation and prevent all knowledge of the incident from leaking out. They send in some marines to take care of all hostile alien life forms, and kill all the remaining survivors.
With all the things that make Half Life so brilliant, none have anything to do with its premise however.
Aliens, Marines, and Scientists are not the grounds for an original masterpiece. There is barely even an inspiring piece of dialogue in the game to reflect its brilliant story arch.
The brilliance lies in the experience that is created, and how well composed it is. The story lies in the remarkable situations in which you find yourself, and how the pacing captures the high's and low's of a brilliant action movie, while retaining a credibility and dignity that most of those films tend to lack.
It doesnt hurt at all that the gameplay itself is among the best composed in the genre, and struck a fine balance in weapon design, aswell as the innovation of friendly artificial intelligence in first person shooters.
Half Life shifted how we looked at a genre. It put the player at the centre of an experience, and raised the bar for real time event based story telling.
Kudos to Splicer for the reminder:
There are so few adventure games out these days, so it was understandable that Fahrenheit won adventure game of the year for 2005. But if you try to compare it to games overall...it's an above average one that suffers from problems that get progressively worse as the game nears its end.
To cover the selling points: The graphics are more than good enough for the genre (I imagine it could've been better, but many adventure game players aren't "hardcore gamers" enough to buy the latest video cards), and the voice acting & music are superb.
The same can usually be said about the character animations, except when interacting with objects slowly; the interface for interacting with objects goes about halfway towards where it wants to be. It mostly succeeds in immersing the player, but if you take its selling point suggestion of "move the mouse/analog stick slowly to feel like you're really performing the action," animation frame jerking suddenly becomes quite noticeable.
The big problems are with the plot. The balance between player choice and linearity is handled very well for the first two acts of the game. But as the game goes on, a few characters are introduced, and of these new characters, one is a character you may have seen before, but paid little attention to, thinking "this character won't have much part in the storyline," when in fact that character has more influence than you thought; this naming of a previously-minor character is something I consider good writing.
By contrast, the character I have a complaint with is introduced equally suddenly, but has had no previous indication of participation in the storyline; this character jumps from being nigh-upon nonexistent to being as primary an influence in the game's endings as the player character.
By improperly writing in this character I have a complaint with, the makers of Fahrenheit are able to add at least 2 extra possible endings to try and get at the end of the game, but in doing so, they made all of the endings less plausible. It hurts the final impression of a game that otherwise deserves high praise for trying something different and (mostly) succeeding.
Regardless of the story falling apart in the last act, Fahrenheit comes across as a thinking man's journey of a character pushed into a scenario of gods & prophecy. Thumbs up.
I have to agree with Raveness KOTOR is one of the best and even the second one in the series was good maybe even better im not going to write a review im just not that good at it
I can't wait to put a review for Too Human up here. Raveness and Splicer reminded me of the adventure game industry and how I've been longing for a good solid adventure game lately, can't wait for too human.
This game has to rank as one of the coolest FPS games out there. Its not perfect by any stretch, but it is truly beautiful, with awesome artwork, decent weapons and good action. The cutscenes are masterful, Vin Diesel is better in this than in some of his movies, namely the Chronicles of Riddick movie this game coincided with.
Really good voice acting in fact, not just Vin but lots of others too that you know. The scenery is amazing, the riddles to figure out are somewhat intruiging. I did find that I would get somewhat exhausted from getting lost, until the second time through where it became more intuitive. It is definitely somewhat of a maze for sure, and to some extent, its hard to figure out what to do the first time through, until you started to understand what the designers had in mind when they drew this thing out.
Starbreeze, the studio that build this is clearly very talented. There's an elegant complexity to what they've constructed here. Great art, wonderful concepts, neat images, and a good overall story. Developer Commentary for the PC version added that extra touch to make it an all-time great.
damn... foiled again
nice comback lol
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