Review: God of War II(PS2)

This is why I play video games.

Genre: Action
Rating: Mature - graphic violence, nudity

God of War II is the sequel to the incredible action game, God of War, which was released in 2005. The player takes the reigns of Kratos a once mortal, now god who defeated the legendary original god of war, Aries, in the original. Kratos wrath knows no bounds as he leads thousands of warriors the world over to victory against hundreds of civilizations. The other gods of Olympus have taken notice and Zeus the most powerful of all gods has had enough.

You’ll start the game with all of your powers at max, but will quickly lose them and have to build them back through about 9hrs of gameplay. GOWII is one of the most satisfying action games ever produced. The combat system itself is taken straight from the original. Kratos will unleash incredible combos with the mere touch of two attack buttons. GOWII doesn’t feature as fluid a combat system as it could have. Attacking enemies causes their animations to stop and allows the player to refocus their attention on a single enemy. While every enemy will attack at the same time their attack patterns are predictable with practice. How the player fares against the difficult enemies is determined by how much stamina they have. The player will destroy various mythological beasties on Kratos’ quest to regain his powers and destroy Zeus.

The combat system features four different weapons and four different magical abilities. For the most part the only weapon you need use is Kratos’ blades on chains. Not that the other weapons aren’t worthwhile, but they are good for very specific enemies which will only be faced occasionally. The combat system also features various quick button mini-games which dispense massive amounts of carnage against enemies.

This game is difficult. If you haven’t played the original then play that one first. It may be the only way to prepare yourself for what you’ll be facing here. Thankfully, there are various difficulty settings to chose from. Enemies are unrelenting and you’ll often be greatly outnumbered with multiple enemies with varying strengths and weaknesses. The unprepared player will be wasted in a matter of seconds. Blocking is a must and is used to great effect in GOWII. One magical item that is picked up about half way through the game actually catches magical attacks and throws them back at the enemy. Save points and checkpoints are very well placed and if you die you will always restart close to where you died.

As great as the original GOW was GOWII takes things to the next level. Graphics, while very similar to GOW, have a nice polish and overall look better than most any other game on the last generation consoles. Great detail in the enviroments and character designs keep things fresh and interesting. Boss characters which are numerous, range in sizes from massive titans that quake the earth when walking to badass player size fighters.

Sound design is outstanding. The score parallels the original perfectly and makes the player feel like a god. Strong vocal and orchestral pieces create a sense of epicness when fighting enemies. Voice work, is great and every character has their own distinct personality and motives which is put through in their performance. Kratos himself is a true badass.

Graphics - 9…massive sense of scale, clear, vivid, and lush environments, distinct character designs, many reused enemy templates from original

Sound - 10…powerful and smart orchestral music, makes the player feel like their in an epic movie, voice work is perfect

Gameplay - 9…destroying the various enemies is immensely satisfying, boss fights are epic and the player feels like they have accomplished something grand, quick button mini-games can get frustrating, some trial and error

Value - 10…one of the best action/combo games ever created, 8 to 9hr quest is the perfect length, large amount of unlockables and increased difficulty modes add replay value

Overall - 9…Great game well worth the money, buy it

Review: 300

Holy Shit!

Genre: Action/Epic Battle
Run Time: 1hr 58mins
Rating: R - graphic violence, nudity, too many bare chested men

Talk about a testosterone filled movie. 300 excels at visceral action.

First off, don’t go into this movie expecting realism or historical accuracy. 300 is based off of a Frank Miller graphic novel which follows the real world battle of 300 or so Spartan warriors thousands of years ago against a massive attack from a determined enemy. That’s all the background one needs to know before going into this movie.

300 is about warriors fighting an impossible battle and the joy of the fight. More people are utterly destroyed in this movie than I have seen in years. The action scenes, while not as epic as in The Lord of the Rings, get a persons blood pumping and are jaw dropping in their execution. Violence is the name of the game here; limbs fly and blood sprays. The computer graphic work in this movie gives it a comic book style reminiscent of Sin City.

In terms of story, there isn’t much here but then again there doesn’t need to be much story in a movie like this. 300 is a battle movie about determined buff manly men trying to save their home from an army of countless enemies. There is treachery, love, and maniacal man gods but none of that is overly important.

This is a mindless bloodlust movie that does what all of the promotional material says it will do. Keep the viewer entertained for 2 hours and wanting more. If you have the option, see this movie in the theater to be rocked out of your seat.

Story - ?…this isn’t the kind of movie you go to for story so I’m not rating it

Visuals - 9…beautiful epic scope, intense battles and over the top characters expertly crafted, looks and feels like a comic book which is a good thing

Sound - 9…familiar epic score but it works , excellent sound design with all of the clashing swords and shields, battle crys and manly booming voices are a joy

Overall - 9…sheer fun and bloodthirsty violence, what man wouldn’t like this movie?

Review: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2(X360)

Genre: Military Tactical Action Shooter
Rating: Mature - realistic action violence, profanity

Is this a sequel or an expansion pack? So, I picked this up last week after I beat Twilight Princess. For $60, I was expecting a bit more than 4 1/2 hours of gameplay.

Basically, the player takes over the role of a captain in an advanced squad of soldiers in the near future called Ghost squadron. The game takes place along the US-Mexico boarder where tensions are high after what occurred in the first GRAW game. Scott Mitchell is the player character and has control over multiple advanced weapons including attack helicopters, unmanned vehicles, and the other members of his squad. Controlling all of these is just as simple as in the first and the beginning tutorial does a great job of getting you up to date with the controls of the game. If you a vet of GRAW, GRAW2 has few control changes.

The graphics are crisp and clean with bright photo-realism. Character models and environmental details are top notch and have been noticeably cleaned up from GRAW. As a technical marvel this game looks brilliant especially with all of the explosions and vast draw distances.

Audio and sound design are just as perfect as in GRAW. Strong orchestral tracks play during tense situations and really help make the player feel like a badass. Voice acting is predictable with a lot of yelling and soldier boy like talk. “I want it done SOONEST son!’ ‘Get your ass over there Mitchell.” One interesting thing about your squad mates is that they will actively tell you useful information all of the time. So, say you enter a new area and don’t see any enemies yourself. Your teammates may have, and if they did they will yell out the enemies position and numbers. Very nice touch, and something that other games should think about.

Gameplay wise, this is the same game as GRAW except what seems like many hours shorter. You’ll command various vehicles and squads as you experience increasingly difficult and unlikely situations. It’s unfortunate that while your teammates often tell you where enemies are that you as the player will have to take out a vast majority of them. This isn’t because your teammates can’t do it by themselves, but because they are incredibly slow in delivering out death. It’s possible to take down an enemy tank, and 13 soldiers by yourself before your squad mates even kill one enemy. I guess this is more an issue with how you like to play games than with the squad not being able to do a good job. If your patient and take things slow and tactically then I could see your squad doing just as much damage to the enemy as the player, but that isn’t how I play my games. Not that I don’t find tactics fun, but when I have to wait ten minutes for my squad to kill a guy behind cover I really get bored. Why should I wait when I could just run over there myself and take him out? Anyway, if you played GRAW then this game is more of the same great action.

Graphics - 9…incredibly detailed environments jump off the screen with photo realism

Sound - 9…heavy, but great use of powerful orchestral music and fantastic realistic sound effects, voice work is not only helpful it makes you feel like a soldier

Gameplay - 8…more of the same great tactical action, you’ll do most of the heavy lifting, nothing really new to the formula

Value - 7…$60 for a 4 -5 hour game, multiplayer is fun and can suck hours away, but it’s nothing drastically different from the original

Overall - 8…Very Good, but if you don’t like multiplayer… rent it

Review: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess(GC)

Genre: Adventure
Rating: Teen - mild violence, Midna’s voice will make your ears bleed after 30hrs

I just completed Twilight Princess for the Game Cube today. I made it a goal to complete the game before Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 comes out tomorrow. I have played nearly every one of the Zelda games and consider Ocarina of Time to be the best game in the series. To say the least I was disappointed with TP. I was just expecting more from the overall gameplay than a rehash of what has come before.

I know the Zelda formula and it is used without pause throughout TP, but they stick to closely to that formula. Explore dungeon, fight mid-boss, acquire new item, use new item to reach boss, use new item to defeat boss, rinse and repeat for the next 8 dungeons. Its the same old thing we have been doing in every Zelda since the first. Give me something new. I’m not saying that formula doesn’t work, but after so many iterations of the same game it starts to get old. Especially, for such a big fan of the series as me.

 

In terms of story, the game is very straight forward without any big twists along the way. Midna is an excellent partner throughout the adventure even though she adds little in terms of new gameplay. Transforming into the wolf is the biggest change TP takes from other Zelda games. While it’s fun and leads to some interesting puzzles it’s under used and the tasks involved get repetitive.

TP has an outstanding artistic graphical style that they really put a lot of attention on. It’s far more reminiscent of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask than it is of Wind Waker. While the graphics have jaggy’s and appear blurry compared to the more next gen graphics we have come to expect of games it doesn’t hurt the eyes at all and makes the world seem nostalgic.

I chose to play this on GC instead of the Wii because I don’t like the Wii’s control scheme. I tried out TP on a Wii for a few hours before I decided to get it for the GC. I don’t need nor want to move my controller all around the place when I can just push a button that does the same thing. Call me lazy, but the Wii’s controls will never be my preferred method of play for this kind of game.

Following in the footsteps of Wind Waker with a more realistic looking game like TP wasn’t as big a step for Nintendo that it needed to be. Wind Waker proved that the Zelda franchise can change in nearly every way an still be a great game. TP, while a very good game suffers from too much nostalgia and shows Nintendo’s unwillingness to push things too far away from the standards they have set with their legendary series.

Graphics - 9…highly artistic visual style that works well

Sound - 8… nostalgia, updated tunes of old favorites, only a few new tunes, but nothing great

Gameplay - 7…same old formula that any Zelda fan will instantly get into, but overall lacking in terms of anything truly new or innovative, logical puzzles work, but battle is simplistic

Value - 8…a new Zelda game that works like all the rest, lengthy 35 hour+ adventure with multiple side quests

Overall - 8…Very Good, buy it if you love Zelda games

Obligatory first post

Hello World!

I find myself with a lot of spare time to spend. So, I have decided to tryout a blog to keep a journal of my activities. It will be a quite random blog with posts in multiple categories. Whether or not you agree with what I say I would still appreciate hearing your comments. Alright then, lets get this started.