PSP is still grabbing for more games, sounds good to me.

Sony working with Rockstar to get more GTA on PSP: As much as I don't like GTA, this is a good move for Sony.

Lost and the Damed breaks day one DLC records: Seriously, did anyone expect otherwise?

EA: "We didn't make any hits in 2008": EA's gotten so much better...

Tomb Raider Underworld sold 2.6 million: May I just ask something? Why? Honestly, the game wasn't that good, it was still just as broken as it was years and years ago. Aiming still sucks, platforming is still annoying, the camera still hates you, the story is bad, just what made people buy it?

Home gets more content: Oh good, there wasn't much to do at launch, but here comes content, which it needs to stay interesting.

Pre-weekend news, and quite a bit of it.

Today's news...

Killzone 2 "A must have" - Kotaku: Not surprising.

Street Fighter movie review: This is what I expected.

Warhawk Home gamespace is awesome: I need to try this as soon as possible.

de Blob sells well on Wii, which is unusual for a third party game: It's kind of weird, most games sell better on the PS3, which has an audience of two thirds the size.

Person makes IRL BioShock Little Sister needle: That's pretty amazing.

LittleBigPlanet PSP to feature Creation mode, and connectivity to the PS3 game: Sounds amazingly good.

Kotaku talks on why 2009 may be the year of the PSP: Sounds good to me.

Patapon costumes coming to LBP: Yay!

RUMOR: Ready at Dawn making a new God of War for PSP?: Eh, okay..

Joystiq interviews Portal Gun/BioShock needle IRL creator: That's pretty nifty stuff there.

201th post! Also some news.

Awesome Warhawk Home game space opens today: How awesome, I want to try it.

Sam & Max debuting on XBLA with Season 1 & 2: Where's my PSN version?

Metal Gear Online Scene expansion pack trailer: How just, awesome.

LBP DLC includes Helgast, Sev and Kai: Aw, they're so cute!

Driver '76 review

Name: Driver '76
System/s: PSP
Developers: Sumo Digital
Publishers: Ubisoft
Release Date: 5/8/07

I have been a long time Driver fan ever since playing Driver 2: The Wheelman Is Back for the Playstation 1, back when it came out. I dumped hours upon hours into that game, playing it on and off for years. Sometimes I go back and play around in it to this day. After playing Driver 2, I purchased Driver 1: You Are The Wheelman it was more original for it's time, but it didn't grab me like Driver 2 (Which coincidentally the first free roaming game which allowed for large 3D cities, the ability to steal vehicles and walk outside of your car.). DRIV3R came out later, and although it was horribly glichty and unfinished, I put close to the amount of hours I had put into Driver 2 into it. Later Driver: Parallel Lines came out, which had different characters, a different setting, and vast changes to the franchise. I liked Parallel Lines, and dumped many hours in it, but it was a very different game then they previous.

Ubisoft bought the original developers from Atari, who had been responsible for the mess that was DRIV3R, and for miss managing Reflections (The company responsible for Driver). To recoup the cost of the purchase, they released Parallel Lines on PC, and made a spin off for PSP, named Driver '76.

I remember being very excited for Driver '76, because I had wanted a Driver game on PSP, but in the time leading up to release, I had forgotten about it, and only remembered it upon seeing it in a store, and purchased it.

The game follows Ray, a somewhat minor character from Parallel Lines, giving him a little bit more back story, which is hinted at in Parallel Lines. Sadly, the plot itself is the worst in the series, being one of the most generic video game stories I've ever seen. The story doesn't make any logical sense with plot holes, and very 2D characters. It's hard to take the game seriously, even if the game wants you to.


The story is told through comic book style cut scenes, which are similar to Max Payne, or Portable Ops, though in a more Spider-Man ish American style. They are actually pretty well done, with things down to ink dots shown, sadly, the content isn't very interesting, with boring dialog, and cardboard cutout characters. Every twist of the story can bee seen from a mile away, and nothing will surprise you, except how bland Ray's back story is.

The gameplay is pretty much a port of Parallel Lines, but with a confusing control scheme, doubled up buttons, and missing actions. You can no longer look to the sides of you, crouch while on foot, and the camera is horrible to use on foot. In general, it feels like the control scheme wasn't given much thought, and due to that, it suffers. The gameplay is also brought down by controls hampered by non-pressure sensitive buttons, making it impossible to not burn out, or turn slightly. Often you over steer due to the twitchy steering sensitivity. While in general, the core mechanics are good, from Parallel Lines, the controls on the PSP version all but destroy what was once good.



The graphics look, for the most part okay, pretty much simplified Parallel Lines toned down. While the graphics are okay generally, there are some strange things, like Lines in the middle of the road being 'off' and buildings not connecting correctly. The character models, and characters animations suck, with less frames then the original game. The car animations still stay intact, which is nice.

The music is pulled straight from the first half of Parallel Lines, with no new songs, and all the bad songs from before, only to skip a song, you now need to pause the game. The soundtrack has a lot of good songs, but they are drowned by a lot of really boring songs that ruin the atmosphere when in a car chase, and just don't belong in the game.

The voice acting, besides Ray and his friend Slink is horrible, like, some of the worst I have ever seen. It sounds like the people had no experience acting and aren't right for the roles they play. One of the chinese people sound like someone doing a offensive chinese accent. It's nice to say Ray and Slink's voice actors return, but they weren't amazing to begin with, and can't save the show. The sound effects in the game are also ripped straight from Parallel Lines, and were good before, and are still good now, nothing really to complain about.

The amazing felony system from Parallel Lines, which was probably the most unique thing about it, has been reduced to rubbish, with instead of meters, you wither have it, or you don't. The felony systems also fails due to the removal of the safe houses, and only way to get rid of on foot felony. The open world with no menus and everything accessed in game has also been put down, in favor of menus, which is a shame.


The collectables in this game do nothing at all, making collecting them utterly pointless. The removal of cheats also puts a dent in replay value. They did add a multiplayer mode, but it has serious lag issues, that make the 2 players playing not experience the same thing. Sometimes one player is alive on his screen and dead on the other players, in general, avoid the multiplayer.

Overall, it's a shame they didn't focus a little harder on this game, because it could have been amazing. Oh well, keep your fingers crossed for a *real* PSP Driver game.


What I liked:

Returning Voice Actors: It was nice to hear Slink and Ray's original voice actors, even if they weren't top notch.

Solid Gameplay Returns: The core gameplay mechanics from Parallel Lines are here, even if not full intact.

Full City From Parallel Lines: Has the complete city from the first half of Parallel lines, which is huge, and amazing on a handheld.

Cutscenes Look Cool: The comic styled cutscenes are cool to look at, it's a shame what was going on was better.

Nice Amount Of Side Missions: There's a nice amount of side missions which include racing, destruction derby, payment collecting, and more.


What I didn't Like:

Horrible New Voice Actors: The new voice actors are so bad, it's painful, it sounds like they are not actors at all, and they are just terrible at playing the roles assigned to them.

Characters Are Not Likable: Even the returning characters aren't very likable, saying bad jokes, and just not being anything but annoying and dumb.

Story Is Generic: The story in this game is just horrendous, not only is it generic beyond words, but there are plot holes, and the overall story is just bad.

Doesn't Use Set Pieces Provided in Parallel Lines: There were a few hints in Parallel Lines to Ray's past, but none of them were used here, making this whole game completely pointless. Plus, the city is pretty much exactly the same between this and Parallel Lines, despite years of time passed.

Multiplayer Is Horrid: Multiplayer is so bad, it's not even worth playing. Not only are the modes worthless with only 2 players, but the lag is so bad, one person can be still diving around on one screen, while dead on the other.

Glitchy: The game is really glitchy, and not in a good way. Sometimes cops see you and don't chase you.

Bad Controls: The controls are not well thought out, and hurt the experience more then almost anything else they did wrong. Not being able to steer slightly, makes you hit things when trying to drive in a straight line all the time.

Missing Features: They took out things that held the formula together in Parallel Lines, like the safe houses to remove felony, and the ability to crouch and look left and right while driving.

Very Little New Content: The game may have most of the content of the first half of Parallel Lines, but it really has very little new content, which is a real shame, and makes buying this almost un-worth it if you've played Parallel Lines.

Very Easy: The Driver series has been notorious for being difficult, with the first three games having a mission the bordered on impossible, Parallel Lines was a lot easier, but still was a little challenging, this game however is far too easy, with only a few missions making me even retry.

Horrible AI: You could almost say there is no AI, since the cops will often drive in the wrong direction after seeing you commit a crime, and the AI doesn't dodge while you shoot at them. In general, the AI is just horrible.

Short: You could beat the game in a few hours, with the main story being like 4-6 hours long. For a free-roaming game that's disgraceful.

Freezing And Slow Down: The game freezed on me a number of times while I played through it. Often the game just stops while you are driving for a few seconds, and you think it's crashed, when everything starts moving again. This doesn't happen only once in a while, it happens more like at least once a mission, and that's unacceptable. Often with very little acting on screen, the gameplay slows down to extremely choppy framerate, making it harder to play.

Collectibles Are Pointless: There is no reason to collect the collectables, as they do nothing at all. It's sad that there's a whole multiplayer mode for trading them, since there's no reason to even have any.


Overall Scores:

Presentation - 6/10: The cutscenes are cool, and the menus work, but from then on, it's downhill.

Sound - 6/10: While there's a lot of good music, and the sounds are great, the voice acting is so bad it's painful, and there's also a lot of music that doesn't fit.

Gameplay - 6/10: Though the gameplay itself is alright, the controls, and gltiches bring it down a large amount.

Lasting Appeal - 4/10: The single player is only a few hours long, and the multiplayer is not playable. The only saving grace is Take a Ride, but even that is broken.

Overall Fun 4/10: I just felt like the whole game was wasted, the whole way through, everything about it could be done better, but as it stands, it's really just bad. Nothing about it is good enough to set it aside as anything other then garbage.

Driver '76 is not recommendable by Jon God.

This week's Yahtzee is...

Alright

Oh Tsk Capcom, I thought we were over this..

I thought Capcom swore off console exclusives, and went completely multiplatform? I can deal with that, it's fine. Then they ported Dead Rising to the Wii.... It was now on every platform but PS3. Now they are making Lost Planet 2 for 360. Weren't we over this?

Lost Planet 2 being developed for 360: At least it's not the best game, I'm still sad that Dead Rising 1 didn't make it to PS3 though...

FFXIII on track for 2009 release in Japan: Uh, cool...

Barack Obama mentions games, says they are no excuse for good parenting: Hmm. Hmmmm.

1up's Quick impressions of Resistance: Retribution: Sounds good to me. :)

PlayStation Network at 20 million subscribers: That's amazing!

RUMOR: PSP2 is real, has no UMD drive: Gimme a second analog stick....

How big is the downloadable games market?: Smaller then I thought.

The Day of the PSP

Man, today, the PSP get's it's day.


LittleBigPlanet coming to PSP: How very awesome. :)

Assassin's Creed coming to PSP: Sounds good, I'll see how it turns out.

Rock Band coming to PSP: Wow, I dunno how this will work, but interesting.

MotorStorm coming to PSP: I saw this coming.

Briad coming to mac: Awesome, I'll heave to try this now.

Noby Noby Boy hits moon, unlocks new levels: Sweet, I want to try them!

Warhawk Home Space coming this week: Awesome.

Square-Enix releasing titles on Steam now: Where's my TLR PS3 version?

Noby Noby Boy "review"

Name: Noby Noby Boy
System/s: PS3
Developer: Namco Bandai
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Release Date: 2/19/09

I love Katamari, I found the series when looking at the demos on a demo disk I had gotten. After my first play of Katamari, I was weirded out, and stopped playing. Later I showed some other people the demo, and we all actually got into it. From then on, I rented, then got the game for myself, later I got the other games in the series too.

The Katamari games are so bizzare, that when playing I often have to remind myself, that you just can't question Katamari, it's just in it's own world, where things make no sense. The more you play them, the more it's apparent. Yet they had such charm, and were really unique as games go.

When I heard the Katamari creator was making a new game, I was excited, and have been waiting for it since. The first videos of the game were shown, and no one could understand it, it seemed to make less sense then his first games. More videos were shown, and things still didn't make sense. Finally the game is out, and there were very few, to no official reviews, so I just had to wonder if it was any good.

I have to say, this game is weird, weirder then Katamari, or any other game I've played. There's no objectives, no enemies, no time limit, no way to lose, and no way to win. It's hard to even classify this as a game, more like a toy, or interactive art piece, because although it's not really super pretty or anything, it definitely has it's own art style.



The gameplay consists of the player controlling the 'Boy' (a worm like creature with a face on one side, who looks like a worm with 2 pairs of legs) who is controlled by both analog sticks (One controlling each pair of legs), and eating things, similarly Katamari, you can only eat things that are around the same size, or smaller then you. Eating things takes up space in your body, and you will poop it out if you don't have the room to fit it. To solve this problem, you stretch the 'Boy' longer, so he can fit more inside him. The more you eat, the bigger you get, meaning you can eat bigger things. Depending on what you eat in the game, when you poop it out, it can rip your butt off, which you will have to eat to fix, otherwise things come out the hole left in you.

There are trophies in the game to get, which are the only real objectives while playing around. Otherwise it's up to you, to do what you want to do. Like I said before, this is more of a toy then a game; something you can play with in whatever way you want, but there is no 'right' way of playing with it. Overall there is the communitive effort: For every meter you stretch, you can upload it online, which adds to a global length (Which is represented by the 'Girl'). Once the global length hits a large enough size, the 'Girl' stretches to the moon, and new levels will be unlocked for all players of the game.



There's a large amount of content in the game, with randomly generated levels that are better then any I've ever seen. I went through probably thirty levels, and they looked like they had been made specific, rather then random, which says something. I don't know how they got such a good randomizer, it it helps the game a huge amount.

The graphics look like they could be pulled out of Katamari almost, they are colorful, and things are done in the same style. The people aren't square anymore, and it's much higher resolution, but otherwise, could pass for Katamari graphics. This isn't a bad thing by any means, just a comparison.

Katamari was noted for having really good, quirky music, so it's a shame this game has only one song, and it's just a guitar playing. The song is really not that great, just kind of ambient. Luckily the game allows for custom soundtracks, which can allow for great pair-ups. In addition, a hidden mini-game has a song which is catchy as all heck.


There are a lot of little details about the game that are amazing, so many little things, like, pressure sensitive buttons allowing for the amount the Boy's mouth opens, to being able to eat the manual and credits. There are so many little details that will make you laugh and smile.

It's nice the game has a fun tutorial, but it really doesn't tell you everything, which had us playing for four or so hours trying to figure out some simple things that went unexplained.


What I Liked:

Simple, yet catchy: The game is very simple, yet someone who enjoys more complex games will find some fun in this catchy game, it's just catchy, you play it once, and you want to play it more.

Creative: Again, a game like nothing else, really, it's hard to compare it to anything else, it's just so off the walls weird.

Artsy: You can tell the person that made this has his own art style, sure it may be simple, but that's where the charm comes from.

Weirder then anything: You are guarantied to be weired out the first time you play this, and you will be able to weird out any of your friends with it. But in a good way.

Creates great quotes: The quotes this game produces are so amazingly wonderful, I can't even begin to tell you.. "Where my butt go?!" "I need to grow longer" "Eat your butt quick!"

Something that will last a long time: This is a game you will come back and play every once in a while, for years to come, it's just one of those games.

Community effort is awesome: I love the idea of the community working together towards something, and I would love to see it used in more games.

Price is right: No one can argue with a $5 price tag, it's low enough, that even if you don't like it, it's not a huge risk.

Lots of content: For the price you pay, you get a LOT of content, it's amazing just how much is in the game.

Colorful: In they current days of the grey and black shooters, it's nice to see a colorful game grace our industry, this game has more color then a a few games put together.

Details: There are a ton of small things to notice, find and laugh at, be it secret mini games, or being able to spin a roof with motion sensing.


What I didn't like:

Perhaps TOO simple: Unlike Katamari, there's no objectives, which makes this a 'you never win' game, which can turn people off. I'm not surprised, yet I feel that way with games and enjoyed this, so you might too.

Music wasn't good: The background song is really 'meh' and grades on you after a while, it's a shame it didn't have a great soundtrack like Katamari.

Tutorial doesn't explain everything: It took hours of playing to find out some things not explained by the tutorial. Also to find out some things, I had to go online. Not good design.

Camera sucks: Ugg, the camera control is really difficult, and even once you've gotten used to it, it's still clunky and clumsy.

Controls could be better overall: Doubling up buttons, and overall control scheme could be a lot better.


Overall Scores:

Presentation - 8/10: Though almost everything works, there's a few problems, overall.
Graphics - 8/10: They are simple, but done exactly how they are supposed to look, which is very silly.

Sound - 6/10: The music sucks, and there's not a lot of sounds, though they are fine in general.

Gameplay - 8/10: The core gameplay is great, though the control issues bring it down.

Lasting Appeal - 9/10: You'll be playing this for quite some time, perhaps even years.

Overall Fun - 9/10: Even with the problems, I had a lot of fun with this, and can't wait play it more. Bravo!

Noby Noby Boy is available from the Playstation Store for $5, go get it now!

Lost Planet 2 Announced

Lost Planet, the avrage game that no one made a fuss over, is seeing a sequel, which instead of taking place in the snow, will take place in the jungle.

woot....

Link

Flower review

Name: Flower
System/s: PS3
Developer: Thatgamecompany
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: 2/12/09

To start off, I bought Thatgamecompany's last game, Fl0w, and didn't enjoy it that much. It wasn't that it was a bad game, or that it was much a game in general, but that it just didn't grab me, the concept worked, but I got bored of it quickly, and couldn't get the hang of the motion controls. When I heard Thatgamecompany announced a new game, I was excited, but didn't really have any expectations.

Fast forward a year or so, a few days before release, I was surprised at all the good reviews it was getting, and was lucky enough to have a friend buy it, and be able to play it.

I will start by saying: This game is pretty. Sure, Killzone 2 is pretty in it's own way, but this is pretty in a way not seen very often in games. When playing this game, your eyes will be treated to fields that stretch as far as the eye can see, with grass sawing in the wind, and flower pedals blowing away.

The graphics are clean and detailed, with each blade of grass a 3D object, and with millions of blades of grass per level, as stated before, stretching on into the horizon. The landscape itself is smooth and shows no jagged lines, or straight edges, it all looks natural, not artificial. The effects and lighting also are top notch with nothing about the graphics taking you out of the experience which is extremely rare.


The gameplay itself revolves around the wind blowing flower pedals around, and picking up more, while opening new flowers, there is no time limit, no enemies, and you can't lose. It may sound simple, but it manages to stay feeling fresh through the game, with a few twists, I wont reveal thrown in. The controls would seem a bit awkward by reading them, but in practice they work surprisingly well, with motion control for steering and any button to go faster. The motion control is done better then any other PS3 game I've played, being responsive and accurate, moving about feels natural just about right away, and is simple enough that almost anyone can pick it up.

Another surprise to those who haven't played this game, is that it has a story, and a quite good one at that. The story is told through cutscenes, and gameplay, but has no voice acting or characters, which makes it feel extremely unique. All in all, it feels a bit like a extremely well done animated short, only you're the one making things happen. I wish I could go into more detail, but really, it's something I don't need to spoil for anyone.

The music helps set the mood, with soft orchestrated music, that's context sensitive, so it changes depending on what is going on. Opening flowers and exploring the area will yield different musical sounds which will weave their way into the soundtrack, and sounds like it belongs there.


The only complaint I could find with the game is it's length, lasting a few hours at most, and besides trophies you probably wont continue to play it. As I said before, anyone can enjoy this game, so if you buy it, expect to be able to share it with family members and friends.

The game is designed to hit your heart strings in the same fashion a movie would, and it succeed on doing that for me, which is rare, especially since I've played so many games. Flower, is, simply put, not like any other game, it's a work of art, an interactive work of art.


What I Liked:


Organic: Usually when you see outside areas in games, they look manmade, even the fields and meadows, this breaks that trend and looks very natural.

Beautiful: This game has both wonderful graphics, and just a style that you can't help but to think as beautiful.

Immersive: I wont lie to you, this is one of the most immersive games I've ever seen, the graphics, music, sounds, and just everything sucks you in, and there's nothing that will pull you out of the experience.

Good motion control: Most PS3 games that make use of the motion control are not known for it, and most of the time, it's laggy and inaccurate. Flower uses the motion controls, and does it better then any other game on the PS3.

Great soundtrack: The music in Flower is wonderful, it completely sets the mood, and could not have been done better. Just wonderful overall.

Original: In a time with so many shooting games, it's nice to see something truly unique, and this is it. A game unlike any other games.

Easy to play: The controls and difficulty is so simple, just about anyone can play it, that includes your family.

Touching: The game is very touching, seeing the flower pedals move about in the wind, it feels like the wind is blowing around inside you while you play the game.


What I didn't like:

Length: It's not very long, being only a few hours overall to finish it. The few hours are wonderful though,

Replay value: Besides trophies and the urge to come back and play it again sometimes, there's not a whole lot to do in the game.

Overall Scores:

Presentation - 10/10: There's really nothing wrong with the way this game looks or sounds, everything is done right here.

Graphics - 9/10: I wished there was a few more objects, though I know this is only taste, a lot of people might think it would ruin the atmosphere.

Sound - 10/10: Excilent music, sounds, and ambiance, no complaints.

Gameplay - 9/10: Simple yet done right, something that will appeal to both hardcore, and casual gamers.

Lasting Appeal 6/10: A playthrough is only a few hours, and the trophies are also only a few hours, but you'll probably come back and play it from time to time.

Overall Fun 9/10: Despite the length, I find it hard to think that anyone couldn't find at least some enjoyment out of this game, it's so well done, just overall, that everyone should have a chance to play it.

Flower is available on the Playstation Network for $9.99, go buy it.

News quips

Jeez, what's with all the awesome news lately?


Rumored PS3 update 2.7 features: With these features, the PS3 would be almost next to the 360 in terms of online features.

Unreal III getting expansion pack for PS3, includes 16 new maps, 2 new gametypes, 2 new weapons AND SPLIT SCREEN!: This makes me very happy. I really wished for split screen before.

New American McGee's Alice game coming: Creepppyyy...

Today's PSN update: Darn it all, I wish I had my PS3 back...

30 Second Killzone 2 ad shows some sweet graphics: Wow... Wow....

Killzone 2 developer mentions DLC Co-Op: Split Screen, please, I would pay for that!!!!

Fallout 3 DLC looks amazing: Damn Microsoft for making it PC/360 only....

RUMOR mill, Wii Brutal Legend BFIII: Uh, hmmm I dunno if I believe this.

This week's Yahtzee is....

Excellent

If we could live in a world without fanboys...

LINK

This is so cute and wonderful...

New quips

There's a bit of news today.


Noby Noby Boy receiving new content in coming weeks: How awesome, be free please.

New MGO expansion pack includes Vamp, Raiden and 3 new maps (Screens at link): Pff, I still need the second expansion pack...

Braid listed as PC game: Oh good we might be seeing PS3/Mac versions soon.

Namco announced list of puzzle games for DS, one includes wasted Katamari license: Okay, seriously, why?

DSi comes out April 5th: My care-o-meter is hitting the high zeros.

Ubisoft takes over the Wheelman: Uh, alright.

Street Fighter IV, Gamespot review: Interesting, with so much praise, I will need to at least *try* this.

(Follow up) Jonathan Blow, lowers PC braid price to $15: How very nice of him.

Hedio Kojima receives SECOND lifetime achievement award, at age 45: Props to him.

DragonBall: The Movie: Game: Wow, just... wow.

Rock Band coming to casinos: That's actually not a bad idea.

Oregon Trail coming to iPhone: Hahahahahahahahaha, ahem, hahahahahah.

News Quips

Some more, news quips.

Street Fighter IV 1up review: Perhaps this is actually quite good, I'd like to try it, but alas, I'm not one for fighting games anyways.

StarCraft II in home stretch: Wow, Blizzard only took a few years, I expected a few more.

Three new Final Fantasy XIII characters revealed: It's nice to see that the style has varied a bit more, hopefully these characters will be fun though...

Rumor: High Impact Games making new PSP game: *Please* be Sly.

Some more new quips

Newsy wewsy


Grand Theft Normal Boring Life: Episodic content review: Bleah.

GTAIV DLC brings male nudity: I just want to say, so? Why does that have any baring on anything?

Microsoft opening retail chain: "Oh boy, let's go to the Microsoft store and look at the.... Zunes..."

That 13 year old dad... plays Saint's Row II: Ah, yeah.... Uh, wow.

Max Payne Movie review

Name: Max Payne
Format: Movie
Director: John Moore
Publisher: Twentieth Century Fox
Release Date: 10/17/08

Confession: I didn't play Max Payne when it first came out, I played it first only a year or two ago. That doesn't make it any less of a special game to me; I found it to be one of the best Third Person Shooters I've ever played.

The game, Max Payne was very cinematic, and was basically movie ready. It contained great action scenes, lots of dialog, good direction, and a really good story. I thought it screamed "movie," so when I heard one was being made, I was excited, if just a little. I thought I wouldn't see the day of it's release though, so I was surprised to see it finished.

The movie starts off a little differently then the game, and as it goes along, it becomes less and lees like the game, with larger portions removed, characters changed, and pointless changes. This movie has cuts you'd expect see in the Harry Potter movies, just really stupid choices.

A large portion of the story was cut out to make is simpler I suppose, but instead makes it feel a lot more generic and shallow. It has less clever writing and plot twists, and most of action is excluded, leaving a generic action movie, but with only a small bit of action, with everything else just being mediocre. Cliché. That's a good word to describe this movie, with most of the plot twists taken out, there's nothing that sets it apart.

Not only did they change the plot a lot, but the characters were also changed making it feel not like Max Payne. It is sad, because the only thing the movie has going for it, is the name, which feels almost completely wasted here.

The direction in the movie sometimes really fails, making you scratch your head, thinking "What is even going on in this scene?" I often was left wondering why events were happening, and some scenes were just face-palm embarrassing.

The acting was aright overall, though often dipped below what I'd consider passable, as in, not good. Mark Wahlberg, the actor playing Max Payne, doesn't really fit the role very well, he looks it a little, but he sounds far too whiny, and young to play the role very well. Mark isn't alone in this, with a lot of the characters feeling like they just don't belong in the roles, which makes the cast feel really bland, and just bad a lot of the time.

I can't completely complain, as some of the actors were quite perfect for the roles, but sadly, it was some of the lesser characters, it's too bad the casting wasn't better.

What I Liked:


Max Payne throwbacks: I'm glad the makers of this movie did reference the game in some ways, like graffiti that showed up in the game, and a few other things. Though this didn't forgive everything else, it was nice.

Some parts are spot on: Some parts of the movie are pretty much the game in movie form, which is great, it's too bad they are surrounded by parts that are not. Still it's great to feel like it's actually Max Payne sometimes.

Some lines are done well: Max Payne does say some lines that sound like they could have been from the game, which is good, I just wish it was all his lines.

Some cool artistic shots: There were a few shots in the movie which I thought were done quite well, at least from an artistic standpoint.


What I didn't Like:


Bad Actors: The acting in the movie was really under par, and it hurt the movie a lot, it's sad that just better actors could have taken it quite a ways.

Lousy plot: With the best parts of the plot absent, you're left with a pretty by the books action movie, and considering what they had to work with, it's sad.

Didn't use Max Payne theme: I love the Max Payne theme song, it was one of the staples of the game, but it wasn't used throughout the whole movie, and that's a crying shame.

Where is my action at?: For how much action was in the game, it seems a waste to only have a few real action scenes, leaving waay to much other stuff.

Bad Direction: This movie is badly directed, I don't think anyone could say otherwise, it just wasn't well done.

Terrible cuts: They cut a lot of things they didn't need to, a lot of it was really important to the story, and leaves things stretching it.

Who Cast this?: Who really thought Mark Wahlberg could play Max Payne? And Ludicris as the police cheif? Did the casting director even see the game it was based on?

Cliché: With the plot so abridged, the story is left to bare bones action, with cliché action, characters and all.

Drugs: Honestly, the drugs effect in the movie is a really stupid plot device, and was much better done in the game.

Just bad: This isn't a movie I could see anyone coming out of truly happy with, not players of the game, nor people seeing it for the first time, it's just not good enough.


Overall Scores:


Presentation - 7/10: It's a standard action movie, and I've seen worse, but it's still not good. As a Max Payne movie, it spikes a few times, but generally stays terrible.

Production Values - 8/10: It's a Hollywood movie, it looks fine, I just wish the movie was worth watching.

Acting - 6/10: Some characters really work, but they are the side characters, while the main cast falls short.

Music - 7/10: It's kind of average, it fits, but it's nothing special.

Story - 5/10: They butchered the masterpiece of the original story, it's barely recognizable, and much more cliché.

Value - 4/10: Something you will watch once, and remember as a waste, just not worth it.

Overall fun watching - 6/10: It was hard to make it through the whole movie, as it does it's best to stray from what made the original game amazing, it's really too bad, and a waste.

Activision sucks, End of story.

Link

Seriously, what a S**** company.

Some interesting new quips

Some interesting news quips.


Video game disk art, the best of: Some of these I really agree with, others, meh.

If Street Fighter was done with the unreal engine: *hint* Huge muscles.

Without Guitar Hero, there may have been no Brutal Legend: And again, Harmonix did something else right, not even on purpose this time.

Okay, this is awesome.

Awesome, and with a taint of 'too-much-free-time'

Link

This week's Yahtzee

LINK

His reviews aren't nearly as funny when he likes the game.

Some news

Again, this is not starting up news opinions, it's just some news I want to share with you.


Dead Rising 2 confirmed, and multiplatform: I know someone who will like this news. :)

Flower 1up review, Flower Joystiq review: Oh good, this sounds like it will be great!

David Jaffe: "LucasArts, call me about making a Indiana Jones game": You know, I think he could probably do better then what LucasArts could do.

Home Support expands: Well, this is what will make or break home, depending on how much there is to do in it, it will not stay popular.

Red Faction: Guerilla preview: I say, hear ye, hear ye, give me a demo.

Microsoft says something smart for once: Microsoft is agreeing to making new IPs, even in the economic situation.... Wow.

Oh wow.

This guy(girl?) is amazing, s/he does pictures that show scenes from old games, done in a painting style, and it's amazing.

Link

Colbert plays his own song in Rock Band

Link

Woot, that's awesome.

Rumored Dead Rising 2 trailer leaked

Link

Interesting.

Mother****ing ****.

Okay, so yesterday, both my PS3 and 360 died, how's that for a ****y day.

Killzone 2 Demo preview

Name: Killzone 2
System/s: PS3
Developer: Guerilla Games
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: 2/27/09

Okay, first off, I need to say this: I loved the first game, sure it had it's problems, but I really enjoyed it. The gaming media destroyed the first game, with scores like 5-7/10, which I found completely unfair. Last time I checked my single player time along spent in that game was like 120 hours or something.

I bought Killzone: Liberation for the PSP, and liked it as well, it wasn't as good, but still quite a bit of fun. I only beat it once, but it took me quite a while, and I found all the secrets while beating it.

When the first Killzone 2 trailer was shown, I was amazed, but I already knew it was not real, because I got into Killzone after the trailer for the second was released. The developers said to wait, and that we wouldn't be disappointed, and then after some years of silence, during E3 2007, the first real trailer was shown, and it blew everyone away. Since then numerous vidoes, screenshots and info has come out about the game, but a few months ago, I cut myself off from all the info, because I'd rather be surprised.

I was a bit worried about Killzone 2, because they took some changes to the formula of the first game, which I liked. Also, reviewers didn't like the first game, so I was worried this wouldn't do well critically, and disappoint the people who liked the first, however, now that I have my hands on the demo, I will say what I feel about it.

First off, I will try to get this out of the way. The game is pretty. So pretty, like so so so very pretty. Try to imagine that, and it's better then you are imagining. The game wowed me a lot more then Gears of War, and Metal Gear Solid 4, which is saying something, considering those are the best graphic'd games that I've played so far. The graphics are just, really good, like unbelievably good.

Not only are the graphics good, but so is the art direction and atmosphere. I loved the gritty feeling of the first game, and although it's a little less gritty, it still has the same feeling, which is good, also, the Helgast return, as one of my favorite game villains ever. The atmosphere is like no other game I've played, unlike almost all FPSes, it feels like you couls die at any moment, and you're not a super-hero. you're just some guy, and when there's twenty guys that are trying to kill you, it doesn't feel like you can just rush them, instead, you really feel in danger. If you thought you've played an intense FPS before, you haven't seen anything.

The gameplay doesn't quite feel like the first game, as it is a lot smoother, (The first game felt like a train ride, in terms of jerkiness) and the guns no longer have secondary fire. Also, you can punch and jump, which is a new. But overall how does it feel? Satisfying, this is one of the most satsifying games I've played in a long time, with gunshots actually feeling like they mean something, ragdoll physics working perfectly, and hit reaction being second to none. The gunplay works really well overall, though I haven't gotten use to not just going into fully automatic when shooting, because it really lowers your accuracy. In generally, I could find little to complain about, save the 2 weapon system; in which you get one infinite ammo pistol, and whatever other weapon you want. I wish you could pick and choose 2 different weapons, but alas.

Musically, it does justice to the other games in the series, with it's orchestrated soundtrack, which fits perfectly, and sound even better then the first 2 game's soundtracks. Other sounds, like gunfire, and explosions are exactly what you want to hear, feeling as satisfying as they should, and perfect for how they are used.

The voice acting however was the worst section in the demo, with a lot worse voice acting then the previous two games, and a different voice actor for one of the main characters, which didn't sound very similar. The characters sound generic, and bland, which is a shame, because it could have been a lot better. However, on the plus side, they don't sound like they are, for some reason, having a great time, while being shot at. (Haze, Gears of War, Halo)

The AI from what I saw was really good, surprising me with flanks and other strategies, it will be fun to see it in other circumstances. The friendly AI wasn't as good as enemy AI, but wasn't completely useless either. Nothing more to say really.

It was hard to get a grip on what was going on in the short demo, but knowing the first two games, it will be a pretty good sci-fi story, and I look forward to playing through it.

Killzone 2 has pretty extreme hype, and from the demo, I feel it has more then lived up to it for me. I can't explain the game better then just saying "Find a way to play it yourself"


I wish my PS3 was working, so I could enjoy the game when it comes out...