Monday, January 10, 2005
A soldier, a plumber, a little green alien
WHAT has happened to G-Pinions in the new year? WHY have we posted so little thus far? WILL we continue to provide you with ridiculous and wonderful commentary on the videogame industry and it's resulting games? Nothing, don't know, and hell yes.
First of all, is there anyone who doesn't want a PSP right now? Wait, hold on. Watch this video, recently shown at CES. Done? Alright, now is there anyone who doesn't want a PSP right now (besides Tom)? I was excited when they announced it, but not so much since due to the lack of original games (and doubts about the price). After the relatively recent revelation that it would go for $185 in Japan (and did, at launch), things started to sound a bit better. Especially considering things always sell for less here - are we looking at a $150 price point here? Either way, below two hundred is great, and must have Nintendo shifting in their seats a bit more than usual. Since then, announcements of new games have trickled out, and after seeing footage, however brief, of some of them, I can certifiably say I greatly desire this gadget. This Norrath-style launch game Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade looks like the perfect portable game, as does Twisted Metal: Head on, which seems to be a best-of the series (complete with wireless multiplayer Paris level from TM2, drool....). Then there's Mercury, which looks like a tech demo actually worth playing (I loves me some puzzle games), and of course, my always-desired Lumines. And considering a lot of the games are remakes/ports, some of them looks like they'll still be a ton of fun to play; Tony Hawk and Untitled Basketball Game look stunning on the system, and apparently control well. I think it's safe to say that the DS is currently considered a flop amongst gamers (obviously not sales) until more good games come out, so Nintendo better have some huge stuff ready come March. I don't need any more games, nevermind a portable system (the last one I bought was a GBC), but it's going to take every ounce of my consumer will not to buy this thing.
Next on the agenda, I recently played one of the worst games ever - Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. How can a game, nevermind one from an otherwise-great series, be this downright awful in this day and age? I watched several videos of the creation process of this game before it came out, and it looked like they were busting ass to make it the best MOH on consoles yet. I know that was the point of the videos, but christ, the early animatics for the game looked more entertaining than the final product. Forget the awful graphics, forget the boring level design, forget the predictable objectives - it just feels terrible to handle your gun. So much so, that even after trying several different sensitivity levels I couldn't hit an enemy standing four feet away on my first shot. Headshots are near impossible, and still a crapshot as to whether they'll kill a guy or not. You can't see your grenades explode half the time, and they have about a six inch radius of damage. Oh, and each guy you kill has several seconds worth of death animations, making it so you waste bullets at every encounter, never knowing if they're dead until they fade away. It's one of the most wholly inaccurate games I've ever played, and dishonors the series completely. Ugh.
On to much better things - like Mario Party 6! Yay! I don't see how some people can crap on this series as much as they do; the games might not change too much year to year, but they're consistently the best non-Halo games to play with more than one other person. Six has some great new mini-games, as expected, involving, for example, monkeys carrying pies. And way less lame games based purely on luck. The night/day gimmick doesn't really affect things much (stars are different prices at night), but it's a decent extra to have around. And what of the mic? Well, you'll rarely use it unless you're specifically playing the 'mic games' mode, but it's surprisingly fun yelling "toadette!" as loud as possible or "run, run, run, run, run, run!" for three minutes. The voice recognition is way spotty, but I can't complain too much about a bonus peripheral when the game doesn't cost any more. Mario might be the whore of Babylon these days, but his games haven't become any less entertaining, yet.
Wrapping things up, for the time being - NEW PICTURES FROM 'EVERYONE LOVES KATAMARI DAMACY!' Man, that underwater level and candy house are exactly the kind of crazy shit I was hoping for. I'm hoping it's still $20, but I'll pay whatever it takes. Man, the thought of a new KD soundtrack alone has my ears salivating...
First of all, is there anyone who doesn't want a PSP right now? Wait, hold on. Watch this video, recently shown at CES. Done? Alright, now is there anyone who doesn't want a PSP right now (besides Tom)? I was excited when they announced it, but not so much since due to the lack of original games (and doubts about the price). After the relatively recent revelation that it would go for $185 in Japan (and did, at launch), things started to sound a bit better. Especially considering things always sell for less here - are we looking at a $150 price point here? Either way, below two hundred is great, and must have Nintendo shifting in their seats a bit more than usual. Since then, announcements of new games have trickled out, and after seeing footage, however brief, of some of them, I can certifiably say I greatly desire this gadget. This Norrath-style launch game Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade looks like the perfect portable game, as does Twisted Metal: Head on, which seems to be a best-of the series (complete with wireless multiplayer Paris level from TM2, drool....). Then there's Mercury, which looks like a tech demo actually worth playing (I loves me some puzzle games), and of course, my always-desired Lumines. And considering a lot of the games are remakes/ports, some of them looks like they'll still be a ton of fun to play; Tony Hawk and Untitled Basketball Game look stunning on the system, and apparently control well. I think it's safe to say that the DS is currently considered a flop amongst gamers (obviously not sales) until more good games come out, so Nintendo better have some huge stuff ready come March. I don't need any more games, nevermind a portable system (the last one I bought was a GBC), but it's going to take every ounce of my consumer will not to buy this thing.
Next on the agenda, I recently played one of the worst games ever - Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. How can a game, nevermind one from an otherwise-great series, be this downright awful in this day and age? I watched several videos of the creation process of this game before it came out, and it looked like they were busting ass to make it the best MOH on consoles yet. I know that was the point of the videos, but christ, the early animatics for the game looked more entertaining than the final product. Forget the awful graphics, forget the boring level design, forget the predictable objectives - it just feels terrible to handle your gun. So much so, that even after trying several different sensitivity levels I couldn't hit an enemy standing four feet away on my first shot. Headshots are near impossible, and still a crapshot as to whether they'll kill a guy or not. You can't see your grenades explode half the time, and they have about a six inch radius of damage. Oh, and each guy you kill has several seconds worth of death animations, making it so you waste bullets at every encounter, never knowing if they're dead until they fade away. It's one of the most wholly inaccurate games I've ever played, and dishonors the series completely. Ugh.
On to much better things - like Mario Party 6! Yay! I don't see how some people can crap on this series as much as they do; the games might not change too much year to year, but they're consistently the best non-Halo games to play with more than one other person. Six has some great new mini-games, as expected, involving, for example, monkeys carrying pies. And way less lame games based purely on luck. The night/day gimmick doesn't really affect things much (stars are different prices at night), but it's a decent extra to have around. And what of the mic? Well, you'll rarely use it unless you're specifically playing the 'mic games' mode, but it's surprisingly fun yelling "toadette!" as loud as possible or "run, run, run, run, run, run!" for three minutes. The voice recognition is way spotty, but I can't complain too much about a bonus peripheral when the game doesn't cost any more. Mario might be the whore of Babylon these days, but his games haven't become any less entertaining, yet.
Wrapping things up, for the time being - NEW PICTURES FROM 'EVERYONE LOVES KATAMARI DAMACY!' Man, that underwater level and candy house are exactly the kind of crazy shit I was hoping for. I'm hoping it's still $20, but I'll pay whatever it takes. Man, the thought of a new KD soundtrack alone has my ears salivating...
// posted by Nick @ 1:49 PM 
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