Just updating my opinion of Tomb Raider Legends after completing a water and vehicle section, both of which were none too impressive.

The swimming controls are rediculous, one button to swim up, one to swim down, one to go forward and one to go forawrd fast. It might be fine on a side scrolling platform game but it feels extremely un-natural in full 3D. It would have been easier to simply have the swim movement decided completely by the movement thumbstick, and then have the two speeds of swimming like in the old game. You get used to it eventually, having to swim to certain depths in order to go through tunnels or press buttons, but it took me a good half hour of floundering around to get even basic control.

The vehicle sections is fair shocking as well. The bike has almost zero handling, its like trying to control a slippery brick. The original games had excellent vehicle control so its a real shock to see how much they've ballsed it up.

Other than that the actual tomb raiding is great, and the updated movement system is really nice. After seeing the vehicle sections I think I'd rather they left them out. The new score is 8/10.

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Ham and Jam Contributor
http://www.hamandjam.org

'Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!'

Time for a few freeware games:

Samorost
Cute flash adventure game you should try out. Really something different.

Liquid Wars
A strategy game where you fight a war with... liquids. It's hard to explain but this game has Tetris qualities. I heared of that new gameboy with a touch screen. Would be ideal for it.

If you got Vapour (the alternative Steam with mod support) then you can download this in the stand alone games section. Also has a multiplayer.

kkrieger
You might have heared of that one. Actually it's a really bad FPS but the whole game has only 96 kb! 96 kilobytes! Another Vapour release. Check it out for the couriosity value.

Played Silent Hill 3 on the 'ol PS2 (well, up to the amusement park)... really good art, the voice acting was wowowowow horrible, the gameplay I'll refer to as "lacking" because it might just be that there's a way to specifically swing your melee weapons downward and I don't know how. I didn't find it that scary either, maybe it's an unscary game of the series or maybe I knew what to expect (more or less) from watching the movie.

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One day you'll know what you're talking about, I can hardly imagine

Maps! - Audio blog!

I bought Far Cry Instincts/predator for my 360 and so far it seems to be holding my interest. I am well into the predator stage now, with my acute senses and quick physical attack skills, It definitely adds some variance to the gameplay.I am Playing on the highest difficulty level(as I always do). It seems as though the AI has been dumbed down from the PC version( there were a couple of times when my opponent just stood there ducking and cursing at me without any weaponry, and I could not kill him with any weapon), and I actually got stuck under a boat dock in one level, alittle dissappoinment there, as I was very near the end of the level.

Also, the controls are alittle sloppy. Most of the times I get fragged are when I am trying to aim with the joystick. Very slow and laggy, but then when it does start to move it's too fast and you overshoot your mark.

All in all, alittle less satisfying than the PC version, but a beautiful looking game with some very good gameplay at times.

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Quote from Nietzsche....God is dead
Quote from God....Nietzsche is dead

Been playin' MGS3. I just love grabbing people, interogating them, then cutting their throat. Kind of a twisted thing to love? mehbeh....

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o

I just played a demo of Shadowgrounds. I suggest you do the same. It's pretty cool. (You can find it through steam)

It has dynamic shadows and such as well. It seems to be hl2 based, but I'm not sure. It's top down, very reminiciant of postal 1. The plot seems crappy.

But, check it out.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I also have played the Shadowgrounds demo. The controls are a lot like an FPS (wasd), which is good, but I would have liked more freedom in aiming (all you get is yaw, no pitch). Overall I think the demo was pretty good, but I wouldn't buy the full game for any more than they're asking. It's pretty cool, I'd agree with Crono on the "check it out," you might like it a lot. :smile:

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o

I've played the full version of Shadowgrounds. Quite nice game. A bit
repetitive on the monster side later in game, but still worth the cheap
price.

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''Everyone wades in s**t until they're competent enough to walk on it. Jesus style.''
Dystopia - Empires

I is playing Robin Hood: Legend of Sherwood. Good fun.

Played the Shadowgrounds demo, but didn't have much luck. First time I played it, it crashed almost immediately when I tried to use a computer :sad: I launched it again and everything seemed fine, but after getting the pistol, killing a couple of aliens, and jumping in the jeep to go off to the water plant or whatever, it crashed again :sad: Was there anything after that in the demo? Didn't seem like there had been enough combat so I assume there is. Dunno if I can be bothered trying again though.

Seemed like not a bad game, given the budget price tag. I reckon it would be fun in coop.

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

i am currently at 42% on the Shadowgrounds demo
will give input when i have gotten it completely downloaded

Here's some links to downloadable versions seperate from steam for ShadowGrounds:

Demo 1: (I have no idea what this is like!) http://megagames.com/news/html/demos/shadowgroundsdemo.shtml
Demo 2: (The one currently featured in steam) http://megagames.com/news/html/demos/shadowgrounds-demo2.shtml

Nice to see a stand alone. While steam is great and all ... it's a lot of overhead.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I wasn't sure where else to put this so:

Apparently, this week Ageia Physics cards went up for sale. The only card I can find at the moment is a PCI slot card by BFG and is clocked at $299 USD. However, it's boasting that it's the "first", so I'm sure more cards with better prices will come soon.

Now, I'm sure you, as I was, are wondering "What the hell will use this thing?" It turns out that there are already titles out that can utilize the PhysX card! They also have normal ingame physics, so if you don't have it, it isn't a big deal. Two "big hitters" that are already out that use it are City of Villians and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (PC only). Also, it's pretty set in stone that Unreal 3 will take advantage of the card too. (A lot of tech demos are using the U3 engine)

On Ageia's site there are some side by side comparison videos, it really seems like this will add some nice effects to gaming :smile:

Also, there is a demo out for CellFactor, but an Ageia PhysX card is required to play, in any case, here's a link: http://www.ageia.com/physx_in_action/cellfactor.html
(You have to fill out a form though)

Looks exciting.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Nvidia should be releasing one soonish as they have been working with Havok on one. I think it will be a graphic and physics card.

I've been looking forward to these since I read about them in PCFormat acoupple of weeks ago. Its also nice that the cpu can be freed up abit when playing those games, not to forget the fun of more physics being used in the games.

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Tinterweb site
Deviantart

Human knowledge belongs to the world

Just played and finished SiN Epesode 1: Emergence. I really liked it, it was alot of fun. quite hard in a few places.

One thing I really liked about it and couldnt stop checking was the stats I dont know why but I just wanted to know how many people I had set light to and how many I had decapitated.

If you didn't pre-order it I would highly recomend that you do get it just on that its a bloody good game. I carnt wait for Epesode 2.

[EDIT]

Here's a few screenshots I took.

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Tinterweb site
Deviantart

Human knowledge belongs to the world

Killer 7

Yesterday, I was at Fred Meyer and picked up Killer 7 for $14. I was waiting for the price to go down for awhile because people said the game was "alright"

I think it's a fantastic game. I got it on the GameCube, by the way. The controls are smooth and incredibly fluid for being as obscure as they are.

The only thing I wish was present was the ability to back up without turning around. That would be absolutely invaluable.

The controls have a learning curve of about a minute. They're pretty intuitive.

As for the game's plot. It's pretty screwed up ... as I imagine they wanted to convey through the control mechanisms too.

I'm not particularly aware of the overall plot, since I haven't played it very much (yet), but, basically, there are murderous enemies ... transformed from humans by this guy (Kun Lan). They move a lot like some Silent Hill enemies, stumbling towards you, they have camouflage, you can see them by "scanning" and as they get closer to you the faster they'll get. These group of enemies are dubbed "Heaven Smile". When they die a very eerie laugh is let out and the blood streams to all sides of the screen ... as, I assume, you collect the blood.

Also, you have "helpers" throughout the game, one seems to be a holographic image of a man putting a finger up to his lips and waving his hand signaling "stop". He's in a red dominatrix outfit ... no eye holes but designed to show a face.

As for the First Person aspect, it's really well done. I had absolutely no trouble controlling it. There is an auto-aim button, but this generally aims at the abdomen, you can move around the cross-hairs normally of course. Now here's the weird part. They don't die unless you do a specific amount of "damage" there are critical areas which can kill them in 1 shot ... but, you gain blood by spilling theirs. You want to shoot their head and appendages before taking them out to get the most blood possible ... which you can then use for special attacks (weird enough yet?) Things like blowing their face off (which is literally done) won't put them down for good.

The sound is fairly good. I can't really think of anything wrong with it. It's obviously off beat to fit with the game, and there is little to no music, which I think compliments the gameplay. Again, not that far to see how it pans out.

If you don't like cell shading ... forget the game, this wont be the one to change your mind :smile: The biggest downside (as far as game-play goes, I'm not going to go into story) is the "back-step" inability I mentioned earlier. The one thing that IS nice, is when you reload, it's a little cut scene (not really, but you don't have control) and it pauses enemy movement. The environments are pretty simplistic, I think, it serves the game well, but in some areas it's too simple. Objects populating the areas would help the game out a bit more. I'm curious if that changes later on though ... or if anything happening in the game is "real".

All in all, so far, this game is pretty badass. And for $14 (normal price now, I believe) it is definitely worth picking up. The game is also on PS2 and Xbox, but I have no idea what it handles like ... based on how smooth the GCN controls are ... I would imagine the other consoles might be a little clunky.

As for other features, I know you have seven personalities, and the initial one (Garcian Smith) you are is the only personality that can communicate with the real you, Harman Smith. The others can die (except Garcian, if he dies, it's game over). The Garcian personality has to go where the other personality died and collect their head and body bag to resurrect them. This is important in the game also, because every personality has different abilities!

Flat out awesome.

Anyway, I like it. Maybe I should post up games I've played that I think are terrible so it doesn't look like I love everything I come across :smile:

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Lost Planet demo on the 360... fan-effing-tastic. Best visuals I've seen on the platform so far, awesome style, great combat... looks like it should be a great game.

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www.button-masher.net

Well what do you know, I just went and bought myself a 360 today to celebrate my final day at uni :smile: Just been playing the rather lovely PGR3 so far - doesn't hold up on a standard TV as well as I had maybe hoped after playing it in store on an HDTV, but I'm still loving it. Also bought GRAW and Ridge Racer 6, and have Amped 3 (yeah I know it's meant to be s**t, but I love the series) so have a fun few days ahead of me!

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

I want Amped.

GRAW and PGR3 are by far 2 of the best games on the console, I can't
stop playin' them. And if you think you know CoD2 from PC, trust
me, it's way better on 360.

I can't imagine COD2 being any better than the PC version. I just suck at the controllers though, it always seems much more dynamic on the PC.

The nice thing about the console is that there's never any lag. I
know on my PC when there are a lot of people, my comp starts to drag,
but everythings full speed on a console.

Uh ... how does that make it better on console exactly? It runs fine on mine. Granted, I don't max it out. But, playing it on a friend's computer is just fantastic. I can't wait for the expansion or CoD3 :smile:

Also, Advanced Warfighter wont even run on my computer, it doesn't render the world objects properly.

I'd like to see how that game looks with a PhysX card too. It has the support.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I've seen comparison clips and it wasn't much improved to be honest. All it does is create somewhat nicer explosions, and even then all it is doing is creating more chunks of debris and particles. I've read in a few places that having the PhysX card actually hurts performance in the game too, but thats probably a bug or something rather than the general state of affairs. The game is a real hog in general though - my computer eeked out a grand total of 10fps at best, and neither of my flatmates could run it at all. Seemed like a good game too, so its a shame. But I'm sure the 360 version will do me just fine - I prefer 3rd person games a whole lot these days :wink:

Played some Ridge Racer 6 tonight - good game but I kinda prefer the PSP Ridge Racer. Dunno why exactly. The 360 one doesn't really feel next-gen, probably due to being such tried and tested gameplay, and not striving for any sort of realism. Graphics are sharp and the framerate is glorious, but it doesn't have the wow factor of PGR3. Oh and the course that it shares with the PSP version - Downtown Rave City - it really seems to share. It looks as if they added high res textures with nice shader effects and called it a day. I really don't think they did much at all to the structure, which leaves it looking bland.

By the way, dunno if you heard Crono but COD3 is consoles only. Infinity Ward are instead making a non-WWII themed entry in the series for the PC apparently.

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

I saw the side by sides, I was curious what real gameplay was like with it.

http://pc.ign.com/objects/750/750597.html

Relatively sure that'll be CoD3 and be a variation like there was between CoD2 and CoD2 Big Red One or something as such.

I'm not really concerned about What title comes out on PC ... just that it does. In addition I know that the Infinity Ward team will be working on it ... while the console versions are being produced by Treyarch, who made the expansion, United Offensive, I believe.

Whatever new series they start I'd be more than willing to play. Some amazing games came from that team, I wouldn't mind seeing what they'd do in another field besides WW2. (MoH:AA, CoD, CoD2) Even a different style game would be bad ass.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

The branding of COD with regards to that is a bit of a mess. I think they could have saved a lot of trouble by eliminating numbers from the equation. i.e. COD2: Big Red One is not COD2 anything. Should just be COD: Big Red One. COD2 could have its own subtitle, COD3 another one, etc. Medal of Honor style, all that jazz.

Finished off everything in Burnout Revenge last night - Perfect everything, yay! Now just need to finish off the last few signature takedowns and challenge targets... Pretty stellar game, I have to say. Much more my style of racer.

Also finished GRAW last night... good overall, but plenty of cheap moments - I'm not looking forward to replaying it on hard where one hit kills :razz: so pissed at the lack of audio balance, too, between my TV, busted left ear, and 360 fan noise I can't hear a thing and when I crank it I just make the gunfire and explosions deafening but dialogue is still a blur... I'd kill for subtitles or a freakin' volume slider.

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www.button-masher.net

Amped 3 is a big disappointment. The graphics aren't really much improved from the second game, but the real shortfall is the trick system, which they have just completely destroyed. You used to have to prewind tricks and make gentle movements on the analogue sticks and triggers to earn style points, but now they have just thrown all of that away in favour of an new "approachable" system. That means you just press the direction you want to rotate once you are in the air, and they will automatically make one rotation in that direction - LAME. Grabs or alternate grinds are done by pressing the face buttons - no style system or anything like before :sad: On the plus side, it does still feature a rather mammoth looking soundtrack, so should hopefully introduce me to some good new bands just like the previous ones did. It also has a really nice progression system where you can cruise around the moutain as you like doing challenges and furthering the story. All of it goes without loading once you have loaded up the mountain, which is a very welcome addition. The way the game is presented is apparently a bit hit or miss, given most reviews I saw slated it, but I've found it quirky and fun and ultimately it adds to the charm.

Played a smidgen of GRAW too - yum yum, that is one sexy game! Controls seem a little awkward but I'm sure I'll get used to it in time. I also found it to be really rather tough - its been a while since a first level (proper level - not the training) took me a good few retries on the standard difficulty. Will need to play it more before I can pass too much judgement on it, but first impressions are damn good, as expected :smile:

PGR3 is just several shades of awesome. I have only three concerns with the game. First, it could stand to feature more tracks. Well, maybe "more" is a poor word; more varied is better. I know MSR had only 3 cities, but each had 3 distinct areas which weren't much smaller than the cities in PGR3, and it resulted in a lot more variety. PGR1 and 2 built upon this to offer loads of places to drive. This time around feels like quite a step back in the drivable area, but then the art standards have been raised somewhat and as a launch title, maybe it's understandable. Second, I'd have liked some slower cars. I know they found a lot of people disliked the slow vehicle classes in PGR2, but I liked the variety. PGR3's focus on supercars means that most drive fairly similar - fast and well :smile: There are plenty of cars, just not as much variety as I'd like. Give me my Mitsubishi Eclipse, RX7, Lancer Evo, Civic Type-R, etc... Okay, so basically I just wanted some Japanese sports cars :biggrin: My final complaint is the soundtrack, which is pretty small and unimpressive compared to the mammoth one provided with PGR2. Don't get me wrong, there are some good tunes in there across a fairly wide range of styles, it just hasn't introduced me to more than one or two bands, while the others have always introduced me to dozens. I'll need to get ripping some tunes onto my 360 for custom soundtracks I think. Everything else about the game is incredible - it just fuels my desire for a widescreen HDTV :sad:

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

Indeed, the PGR3 soundtrack was bad, so I just plug in my MP3 player every time I play and pump what I want. That's one thing I really love abot 360.

I've been playing Hitman Blood Money for the last few days. I've played
the first game in the series a little, only the demo of the second
game, and never the third, so I can't compare this one to them.

Anyway, I do like this one. The game is fun, and there's more than one
way to beat the levels. Sneak through the maps and leave no traces, or
kill everything that moves. It's up to you. Also, you gain money after
every completed misson that can be used to upgrade your equipment,
which is fun. I also like the way the story is told. However, I feel
there are a few bad things about the game, and one of them is that the
AI controlled characters aren't very smart (at least not on
normal difficulty). Also the game has crached quite a few times and my
computer has even frozen at some occasions, but I've kept playing, so I
suppose I'd say it's worth a try!

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What the Snarkpitters listen to!

They've never been that smart in the entire series Otz, seems to be the way they do it. I picked up blood money for the 360, and after a very worrying and linear first level (2nd and 3rd games were great, 2nd is the best), the game swung back around to its usual multi-option style. Improved graphics, more weapons, more options, more physical attacks and the ability to hide bodies properly has made the game pretty sweet so far. Nothing funnier than walking straight up to a guy and whipping the gun straignt out of his hands before he figures out your not really a south-american drug lord henchman. Then giving him the old sailors salute and throwing his knocked out ass off a cliff. Pure gold without a moral conscience :biggrin: .

Oh, and finally got around to picking up Swat 4 and Quake 4 the other day, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they're like.

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Ham and Jam Contributor
http://www.hamandjam.org

'Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!'

SWAT 4 is tons of fun, if you like the stealth thing. I can play it in small bursts, but after awhile the pace of it bores me, so I'll play something fast.

But yeah, great game :smile:

I recently got a Nintendo DS and some games, so, here we go.

New Super Mario Brothers
First off, this is a fantastic game. I love it. It has great levels and gameplay that is unique, but also fitting with mario. It is a wonderful game and everyone who owns a DS should own this game too. So, just to make it clear, I love the game.

Now here's what's wrong with it:
Too easy. Most levels can be beaten in one go. The only time I had IMMENSE difficulty was in world 8, on the last small castle before the final castle. That level was just piss you off hard. Everything else could have been spiced up. However, I haven't gone back and tried to do everything or go everywhere, so I'm sure they're much more difficult when trying to do that.

The power ups are the biggest disappointment ever. There is no awe inspiring new power up in this game, as far as I know. There are only three news ones: big mushroom, mini mushroom, and koopa shell.

The only one that is utilized at all is the mini mushroom and that is to get into small areas to get remaining coins or something as such.

The others serve no purpose other than the novelty. There is no section made for an enormous Mario, there is no section made for a koopa Mario.

In fact, you don't even get the big mushroom inside a level past the first couple levels in the first world. Novelty. It serves no game play purpose other than just stomping through the level to get to the end and possibly earn 1ups ...

The koopa shell is even worse. You'd think this thing would be f**king amazing. But it isn't. It's poorly done, sadly. First off, you'd think you'd get a running start ... then hit down to go into the shell and begin richoceting everywhere, right? Wrong. Once you begin running (which there is no visual indication, such as in mario 3, which was incredibly useful) you just go into the shell and start bouncing around, you can jump while in the shell, and you can let go of dash to come out. While in the shell you are invulnerable to fire ... why nothing else? I don't know. You'd think it'd act like a shell in other respects, but it doesn't.
On top of this ... it isn't in ANY level. The only way to get it is to either kill a hammer brother (which is tromping around random levels on the world map) or it might be in a random red flying '?' box. Which moves from level to level too. Again, there is no level or part of any level that is made for this power up, as far as I've seen, which is very INCREDIBLY disappointing. I mean. Super Mario World, for example, only modified a Mario 3 power up and yet still managed to add so much more (possibly because of the inclusion of Yoshi as well). It was imperative at times to get the cape. Or even in Mario 3. There were so many things to get: feather, tankoon suit, hammer suit, frog suit. They all served a purpose to make SOMETHING easier or to be able to get somewhere. As it stands, in New Super Mario you'll spend almost the entire game as fire Mario.
Now, if you're a fan of Super Mario, more than any of the other games, this might be fine and dandy for you. Personally, Mario 3 and Mario world have had me completely spoiled into "3 levels of power ups" As it stands, a mini mushroom weakens you (you die in one hit and you can't even jump on some enemies, which does spice things up), the big mushroom is temporary, and the koopa shell is illusive and a bit of a pain in the ass when you do get it.

There is no decent power up inclusion this time around. I am sad.

The bosses are more of a variety than 3 or world, but there aren't as many and they are all the same almost. They also lowered the standard "three hits" to kill to two for these bosses as well. Why? To make Mario easier.

So, what saves this game? The design of the levels. There are some levels that will absolutely piss you off, because some of these are not that great and make you just want to blow through them. There are some levels that are fantastic and make you wish there were more like them. (there are two distinct ones in world 8. One of which has volcanic rock falling down and igniting bombs. A really great level) But, there are things that are included that the game could really do without.

Mario's moves:
Okay, so they adapted some of the 3d Mario moves into the 2d game. So, now, you can attack from above and do double jumps (I can't seem to do a triple). But these are almost never used! All they do is make things easier in tight situations (like getting coins in a multi-coin block) I think the only good addition that is absolutely wonderful is wall jumping. It actually makes things harder in some areas, since you HAVE to use it (such as on a moving platform that has no bottom to stand on)

Other things added that don't really fit are the propeller pads (I can't think of another name for them) which shoot you into the air and allow you to float down or drill down. They're rarely useful, unless they're put there to make the level go up ... still feels like a gimmick though. Pipes that shoot you out. This feels too much like donkey kong, which is okay ... but there are pipes that shoot you out at all different kinds of angles too.

Anyway, when I played through there were two worlds I didn't go to ... not sure why, I'm going back to see how to get to them and play them. (this also made the game feel much shorter. Because it was) I know there are other things added in like pounding down on one pipe makes another grow.

Anyway. one thing that they nailed was atmosphere. It's all fantastic. I think I listed all the gripes I really have. I also haven't tried the MP yet. I will as soon as a friend gets a DS.

Yoshi Touch and Go

So, I thought this was going to be a platformer and it wasn't and I was devastated. Until I really started playing it. This simple game is incredibly addictive. I wouldn't suggest picking it up for list price (if you can find it) which is ~$30, because there isn't much game play for that price ... but it is worth owning.
There are two modes, ground and air. Ground is when you play as Yoshi. Air is when you play as baby Mario ... kind of. The entire game is stylus controlled. You draw clouds and make paths for the characters. You're able to draw circles around enemies and objects to put them in a bubble ... which will get you points. You can tap quickly to make Yoshi fire an egg, trying to hit enemies on the top screen. These very simple sounding semantics get pretty complicated when many enemies and hazards are on screen. And to the game's merit ... it never makes you angry. It's a very "one more try" type of game. It is also set up like an arcade. You just turn it on and play trying to beat a high score. No story or worlds or levels even. They're all randomly generated.
It's pretty sweet.

Sonic Rush

I haven't been able to play this much, just because it moves so damn fast. It's rather difficult to keep track of what's going on as well, since sonic can follow paths that go to the bottom or top screen. However, the screens scroll slightly, so you keep forgetting that fact. Otherwise it's like many other sonic games, but perhaps far more complex in level design. It doesn't seem to have the nice flare sonic 2 had.

Lunar Dragon Song

So f**king disappointing. I read the reviews. I was warned by the clerk. But everything I had heard said that this was just okay for a Lunar game. So, I expected nothing like original Lunar story, but at least expected a capable RPG ... man was I wrong. I'm not even sure this classifies as an RPG, seriously.

You can run ... but it drains hp, fast! (this is just walking around normally, even in areas you can't get into battle)
When you fight and you select "attack" ... that's it. You don't get to choose who you attack. There is also no defend option.

What the f**k?

An RPG is only as strong as its characters and battle system. This game lacks both. I think I might sludge through it just to see if it gets better, but my initial impression is that I'm f**king sorry for buying it.

One of the most disappointing games ever.

I'm still trying to get my hands on a copy of Castlevania, because castlevania is sweet. Other than that, I'm only interested in a few more titles right now: Mario and Luigi 2, Super Princess Peach, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart, and Metroid Hunters. That is until later this year when an Orgy of games comes out on the system.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Has anybody played the demo of Prey yet. I read a review of it on Somethingaweful and they actually enjoyed it.

Has anybody played the demo of Prey yet. I read a review of it on Somethingaweful and they actually enjoyed it.

I played through most of the 360 version last weekend. Visuals are excellent, and the walking on walls/ceiling element means enemies can and do attack from every possible angle.

The actual combat itself felt pretty generic, though they were just the first few levels. Also the portals that open into different areas have given the devs an means to spawn blokes behind you etc so it seems to have a bit of Doom3's "monsters in closets" vibe.

Condemned: Criminal Origins.Just started it, about an hour into it. Very satisfying visually, and the melee focus is unique.

I got this as part of my 360 package. Quite a good game; I like the Se7en-esque visuals and presentation a lot. The forensic gadgets aren't used too often though unfortunately, and seeing as though the game is mainly all about melee combat it's incredibly hard to actually block attacks.

Bought Fight Night 3 for the 360 too. Really awesome; plays great, looks great. No button mashers here that's for sure. I've taken Ali back to the heavyweight crown. :smile: Shame they haven't got Tyson in it though. :sad:

However I've probably spent more time playing Geometry Wars than even the full price 360 games. So addictive, but so damn difficult too!

Recently finished Loco Roco on PSP. Crazy Japanese game in which you've gotta tilt the landscape to guide little singing blobs with tufts of hair to the exit. :smile:

I'd definately recommend it, though it's a bit on the short side (40 levels each taking about 5 mins.)

http://www.locoroco.com

Whats your Live username mate? I'm reno84, add me up sometime so I've somebody else to compete with over Geometry Wars :razz: I've beaten everybody on my list, but I'm still under 500,000 points. Once those thousands of tiny blue things start appearing I tend to lose it :biggrin: What a great game that truly is.

I played the Loco Roco demo at last just yesterday - such a charming little game :smile: I keep losing all my little guys in one or two places, but I keep hearing the game in general is too short and easy so I must really suck! Ah well, I think its gonna be impossible to resist its charms so it will join my collection soon. Just got Wipeout Pure (OMG - most stunning handheld game ever?! I thought Ridge Racer looked good, but this...) and have Exit on its way to me now since it was ultra cheap. My PSP was sat unused for a good while, but now I'm travelling to work everyday it has a new lease of life. Really looking forward to Field Commander, even if it is a massive rip off of Advance Wars!

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

My Live username is keved. :smile:

My best so far on GW is around 730k, though apart from that I've only got above 500k twice. No idea how some people are getting near to 100 million!

Those tiny blue things; I haven't worked out a tactic to deal with them yet. I usually get hemmed in by them and resort to using up a smart bomb. :smile: The red pac-man things can be really nasty too if the screen is full of enemies and there's nowhere to dodge them, though my pet hate are massed purple shapes (the ones that split into two tiny enemies.)

As for Loco Roco, the emphasis seems to be entirely getting a better score. Progressing through the levels is pretty much a formality; the challenge is in finding & reaching everything and getting to the exit quickly for a big score.

Wipeout Pure is a great game, an essential PSP purchase. I played through most of it earlier this year. Make sure you download all the extra tracks and stuff too. :smile:

Looking forward to Field Commander aswell since I've played all 3 Advance Wars games to death.

I guess my taste in games has changed of late, because I got SWAT 4 and really enjoyed it. WHen the demo came out I hated all the sneakiness and tactics, but I'm really enjoying it now. Great game for Splinter Cell fans, and it's great how different the game can be if you choose a different kind of bullet, really a thinking game :smile:

Picked up some new games for my 360 recently - couldn't resist a bit of a spending splurge.

Tomb Raider: Legend I had meant to grab for a while after deciding to wait until I got my 360, but it took a sale featuring it for ?35 before I finally picked it up. It's a really good return to form for the series, so if you liked early Tomb Raider, you'll probably also like this. I'm getting a bit annoyed at the prevalence of other humans in the tombs though - it makes it feel a whole lot less special to be raiding these ancient tombs when there are already dozens of mercenaries in there. That said, the fights against the wildlife are really pretty dull, so what options did they have? The 360 version is pretty nice visually despite being a port - its certainly one of the more spirited efforts to take advantage when moving it to a more powerful system. Croft Manor in particular looks stunning and is really atmospheric - a damn sight better than the blocky old thing from the original games :biggrin:

Dead or Alive 4 isn't all that much of an improvement over DOA3, but it's still a fabulous game. Combat in the DOA series is really unlike that in most other beat em ups, and is far more fast paced and aggressive. While in something like Soul Calibur or Tekken fights can take quite some time as people use block a lot, in DOA blocking is almost never used. All comes down to the prevalence of countering moves really, which is what DOA is all about. Thankfully they've made it really rather more difficult to pull of counters in this new one, shortening the timing window by a fair amount. Does make it significantly more difficult to play though - I was pretty good at DOA3 but even story mode on medium difficulty has me pulling my hair out once I reach the end boss!

I also picked up Perfect Dark Zero, seeing as it was only ?25 in a sale. I've yet to actually play it, as I've been busy at work lately and so haven't had much gaming time, but I'll post my thoughts once I have.

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

Oof, PDZ is the only 360 game I regret buying. :sad: And I've bought a lot of them :razz:

For the little blue guys, this works best with the slow/fat shots as opposed to the fun one, but just pick a corner and go right for it along the edge of the screen. You can burn a pretty big hole through them and live to see another wave :wink: Tricky, but doable!

There's some video somewhere of a guy breaking 4 million; I picked up a few hints from that. Of course, I can still barely top 400k...

I also give a very high recommendation to Prey on either platform.

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www.button-masher.net

Played a smidgen of GRAW too - yum yum, that is one sexy game! Controls seem a little awkward but I'm sure I'll get used to it in time. I also found it to be really rather tough - its been a while since a first level (proper level - not the training) took me a good few retries on the standard difficulty. Will need to play it more before I can pass too much judgement on it, but first impressions are damn good, as expected

I've also found it quite difficult. I'm playing on easy and it's much harder than most games I've played on normal. It's really frustrating that you can't quicksave. I always find myself doing great at a checkpoint, start moving forward, take out about ten guys flawlessly, slowly start sneaking up on someone over a hill, and have them come running at me shooting and within a second I'm dead. It's just so frustrating. I can never give these checkpoints a reload in the same day... if I die I get so pissed I just want to throw my f****** PC out the window.. so I just exit. :smile: I haven't touched that game now in about a month. I'm probably 4-5 levels in... hard to say. On that one that takes place at night and you have to go blow up this target that scrambles the airwaves or something. It's quite a "cool" game.. visually great, lots of cool things about it, but I wish the difficulty level wasn't so hard.. give us either quick-saving, or ramp the difficulty down a bit! :\

Also playing Prey. Got it a few days after it came out, really liked the demo. Quite cool with the wallwalking and gravity-shifting, although I haven't played it in around half a week. Several hours in. I'll play more today.

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-- midkay

If you have an Xbox 360 I highly recommend you get Condemned, Saints Row, and Far Cry. I played all three games this week over at a friends house and they were all awesome. The Far Cry on 360 has a really nice level editor as well.

I don't have a 360, but I can certainly vouch for Far Cry - very good game. :smile: Kind of interesting, quite fun, beautiful.. varied.. a bit tough in some spots, esp. towards the end, nevertheless a must-play. :smile:

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-- midkay

How did you play Saints Row spartan? I've not seen any demo of it on the Live Marketplace yet, and I'm pretty sure the game hasn't slipped out onto the shelves anywhere yet has it?

Condemned is near the top of my list of games to buy, but I figure since it was a launch title it won't be too long before it sees a price drop, so I'm being patient :smile: Far Cry is also something I'd consider if I saw it for a good price, especially given that I never played the original on the PC.

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

If been playing Stronghold Crusader lately.
Ah, love that game! I love the amount of detail, accuracy, complexity, and just so damn well made!

Recently played: War Rock

It's a korean copy of BF2 with a mix of CS. :smile: Free to play. The trick
is that if you want better stuff you have to pay money. You can buy
better guns with Dinars(ingame currency), which you get by playing. :smile:

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''Everyone wades in s**t until they're competent enough to walk on it. Jesus style.''
Dystopia - Empires

I dont have a 360 :sad: but hey i still have a game review

Silent Hill This is probally the third or fourth time ive played these ive already beat it twice and i simply love the level design in the game its freaking awesome. Not to mention this is my favorite in the entire silent hill story thing blah. I cant help say that its a joy playing with a xbox controller on a pc with full anti aliasing 2x sai and high resolution makes the game look much cleaner.

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Why Do we all have to wear these ridiculous ties

I'm going back in time right now, and have been venturing through the worlds of Grandia 1 for the playstation. This is truly the best RPG, or perhaps game, I've ever played. Exciting worlds (ahem based on 1997 standards SNEEZE), the characters are funny, witty, and this is the only game I've played where I've found myself "feeling" for the characters :smile: I also enjoyed how "upbeat" the game is, in comparison to most other RPGs. The music is fabulous to :smile: On a side note, I didn't just recently purchase this game -- I've had it sitting my game collection since 1999, but I got stuck on a boss and couldn't finish it. So here I am, replaying the game, and going farther and deeper into it then I ever have :smile:

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Breaking the laws of mapping since 2003 and doing a damn fine job at it

Everyone says the original version on the Saturn blows the PSX port away.

I wouldn't know since it was never released in English or in the US. :sad:

I just got finished upgrading my computer with some new found funds. It's badass.

The video card came with a full copy of King Kong, which includes the "High-Res" version. I still have to check it out.

Got some killer deals recently:

Drakenguard
Drakenguard 2
Dragon Quest VIII
Resident Evil Outbreak File #2
Romancing Saga
Mortal Kombat Deception
Suikoden IV
Baten Kaitos
Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones
Fzero GP Legend
Meteos
Black & White 2: Battle of the Gods

Dragon Quest was the most expensive at $30. Everything else was at least $10 cheaper.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I've heard there are some differences between the Saturn and PS1 versions of Grandia, but most are so trivial that its only the stubborn "must have the original" crowd that would care. I'm sure it woulda been nice to have the original Japanese VA, but thats almost certainly the defining factor for those who prefer the Saturn version. Personally I'd prefer to be able to know what the f**k was going on story wise and put up with the horrible English VA :biggrin: I agree G.Ball that the upbeat story is what makes me love the game - no overblown drama or grumpy heroes here, it's just completely innocent and naive adventuring with some kids, and results in a really uplifting experience. That said, I've yet to finish the game! Figure I must be near the end though, so should really get around to it :smile:

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

I completed the game last night. My God, what a beautiful game :smile:

I think I see life differently now

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Breaking the laws of mapping since 2003 and doing a damn fine job at it