Sunday, September 26, 2004
As the predicate predicts
It seems like there's been a lot going on recently in the industry, but it's probably just because I've been playing more games than usual. Not so much more per hour, but a larger variety of games. Burnout 3, Fable and Katamari Damacy have been the order of the day so far, with a solid evening of X-Men Legends a couple of days ago with Tom and Scott.
As for X-Men, it's a pretty good game with even better intentions, and a few unfortunate blemishes holding it back. The atmosphere, the characters, and the general X-Men vibe are all very well done, and there is a ton of fan service to mess around with. Trivia, playable flashbacks to famous missions, items named after relatively obscure characters (Black Tom's Cane, Sunfire's briefs), etc. etc. etc. I'm not a huge fan of the cel-shading/toon-shading/line-shading/whatever technique that they chose for the graphics, but each character still comes across well and besides some spotty voice acting (Gambit sounds like a redneck, at best) stays mostly faithful to the source material. The problems start arising a bit deeper into the gameplay; it's undoubtedly an Action/RPG, but only the action half of it can hold it's own. Churning through the more linear levels is lots of fun, tearing down walls and infantry alike. Even the bosses are well done (and challenging, thankfully). The enjoyment comes from the chaotic battles, which sees everyone trying to use all of their mutant powers effectively, manage their health and energy (power meter), and attack the most opportune enemy (some are resistant to physical attacks, etc.). I can't vouch for the single player game, but co-op was definitely fun when it was flowing. Unfortunately, as I said, the RPG elements really bog things down. The larger levels that require "exploring" (or escorting) can be a bit of a headache if you miss the tiniest detail, talking to NPCs is informative but interrupts the action a bit too frequently, and the stats/item management is just ass. Not only do you have to sit through a loading screen to pull up your inventory (I assume the GC and XBX versions don't have such a thing), but only one person can manage things at a time. I'm not sure why they didn't just adopt the fairly intelligent Norrath interface, where the other players can always mess with their stuff while you're doing your own. In general, everything outside of the bulk of the action made me wish for the spit-shined polish of Norrath. The license really does add a lot (more so than most any game I can think of, in fact), and will reward X-Fans top to bottom, but if you didn't at least watch the cartoon, I'd say wait for Champions: Return to Arms if you're into this type of game.
Man, everyone needs to watch the new San Andreas trailer. It's way better than the last one (the trailer, not the game), and makes me start to believe that this ridiculously ambitious game just might be pulled off (and that I might indeed end up sinking 130 hours into it, like they say). It's tough to imagine it won't be game of the year at this point, but you never know.
Another couple of new trailers that DEMAND watching are Okami (from the minds of the Viewtiful Joe crew) and Wanda and the Colossus (the follow-up to Ico). The former is a very inventive action/adventure game set in a gorgeous mythical landscape, the latter is a very inventive action/adventure game set in a gorgeous mythical landscape. Oh, and one has you playing as a perpetually flaming wolf, the other a small boy who scales giant rock monsters. I'm hoping that the pedigree behind both games is enough to bring them to our friendly shores, but you never know. In the meantime, I implore you, watch and worship these trailers.
All I will say about the PSP is that while it may just be a portable PS2, any handheld that can do this deserves everyone's respect. Moving on...
Goldeneye: Rogue Agent is finally starting to look decent. I have no doubts that it won't live up to it's previous namesake, but it should turn out to be a quality FPS good for a playthrough or two. I suppose they could always surprise me with some fantastic multiplayer, but I will be sincerely shocked if it ends up being half as good as Halo 2's. It's one thing for EA to fuck up a movie license, which they rarely do, but another thing entirely to fuck up a revered name in gaming. While it might not be the perfect sequel (or really, not much of a sequel at all), I'll bet it turns out pretty well.
And on a massively unrelated note, go see Shaun of the Dead now that it's finally out. And if you don't like it, stop reading our site because you're a boring asshole.
As for X-Men, it's a pretty good game with even better intentions, and a few unfortunate blemishes holding it back. The atmosphere, the characters, and the general X-Men vibe are all very well done, and there is a ton of fan service to mess around with. Trivia, playable flashbacks to famous missions, items named after relatively obscure characters (Black Tom's Cane, Sunfire's briefs), etc. etc. etc. I'm not a huge fan of the cel-shading/toon-shading/line-shading/whatever technique that they chose for the graphics, but each character still comes across well and besides some spotty voice acting (Gambit sounds like a redneck, at best) stays mostly faithful to the source material. The problems start arising a bit deeper into the gameplay; it's undoubtedly an Action/RPG, but only the action half of it can hold it's own. Churning through the more linear levels is lots of fun, tearing down walls and infantry alike. Even the bosses are well done (and challenging, thankfully). The enjoyment comes from the chaotic battles, which sees everyone trying to use all of their mutant powers effectively, manage their health and energy (power meter), and attack the most opportune enemy (some are resistant to physical attacks, etc.). I can't vouch for the single player game, but co-op was definitely fun when it was flowing. Unfortunately, as I said, the RPG elements really bog things down. The larger levels that require "exploring" (or escorting) can be a bit of a headache if you miss the tiniest detail, talking to NPCs is informative but interrupts the action a bit too frequently, and the stats/item management is just ass. Not only do you have to sit through a loading screen to pull up your inventory (I assume the GC and XBX versions don't have such a thing), but only one person can manage things at a time. I'm not sure why they didn't just adopt the fairly intelligent Norrath interface, where the other players can always mess with their stuff while you're doing your own. In general, everything outside of the bulk of the action made me wish for the spit-shined polish of Norrath. The license really does add a lot (more so than most any game I can think of, in fact), and will reward X-Fans top to bottom, but if you didn't at least watch the cartoon, I'd say wait for Champions: Return to Arms if you're into this type of game.
Man, everyone needs to watch the new San Andreas trailer. It's way better than the last one (the trailer, not the game), and makes me start to believe that this ridiculously ambitious game just might be pulled off (and that I might indeed end up sinking 130 hours into it, like they say). It's tough to imagine it won't be game of the year at this point, but you never know.
Another couple of new trailers that DEMAND watching are Okami (from the minds of the Viewtiful Joe crew) and Wanda and the Colossus (the follow-up to Ico). The former is a very inventive action/adventure game set in a gorgeous mythical landscape, the latter is a very inventive action/adventure game set in a gorgeous mythical landscape. Oh, and one has you playing as a perpetually flaming wolf, the other a small boy who scales giant rock monsters. I'm hoping that the pedigree behind both games is enough to bring them to our friendly shores, but you never know. In the meantime, I implore you, watch and worship these trailers.
All I will say about the PSP is that while it may just be a portable PS2, any handheld that can do this deserves everyone's respect. Moving on...
Goldeneye: Rogue Agent is finally starting to look decent. I have no doubts that it won't live up to it's previous namesake, but it should turn out to be a quality FPS good for a playthrough or two. I suppose they could always surprise me with some fantastic multiplayer, but I will be sincerely shocked if it ends up being half as good as Halo 2's. It's one thing for EA to fuck up a movie license, which they rarely do, but another thing entirely to fuck up a revered name in gaming. While it might not be the perfect sequel (or really, not much of a sequel at all), I'll bet it turns out pretty well.
And on a massively unrelated note, go see Shaun of the Dead now that it's finally out. And if you don't like it, stop reading our site because you're a boring asshole.
// posted by Nick @ 5:31 PM 
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]