Chapter 30: A Part Update/ A Part Review/ A Part Achievements of the Week 10-17 April

- credit chrisjohnbeckett

Steady yourselves people, the title didn't lie.

This is a HUGE update on all things going on with me and my blog. Again I apologise for lack of updates lately, but I have work to do. Work I don't do. Work I continuously struggle to complete.

So let's give you a run-down of all things going on XBox-wise with moi, the blog master.

I am continuing my quest to play as much Call of Duty: World at War whilst at the same time lowering my kill/death ratio as much as humanely possible. It sucks. I'm down to 0.83. Now I know a lot of you may be thinking i'm whining about nothing, but within my group circle, the prestigious K/D Spread is seen as a sign of excellance.

Without it, I am nothing but a mere n00b.

Apart from that I have moved on to a new game. Mr. Dan, my esteemed colleague and housemate has lent me the Robert Ludlem's The Bourne Conspiracy game.

So here comes the review part of this post.

After playing it for an hour last night, i'm quite torn on how much I like this game. On the one hand, it's an awesome movie tie-in that really gives you a sense of being Jason Bourne. The story is mainly taken from the Bourne Identity and the fight scenes are well choreagraphed.

On the other hand, the game is massively flawed. Those said fights, whilst cool at first, soon become repetative and boring, only split up by Bourne's different takedown maneuvers.

The targetting, aiming and shooting systems are all crap. Do you remember Bourne in the trilogy going around with a shotgun picking off baddies like a pissed John McClane? No? Me neither. It happens in this game.

I understand you can't just have Bourne stealth kicking ass through the whole game and some gunplay splits it up. But Bourne only used a gun when required in the films because he rocked the shizz at hand-to-hand. He didn't blow guys heads off at will.

So that's what i've got so far.

Rating: 7/10

Gamerpoints achieved so far: 35/1000


And finally, the gamerpoints for this week.

I would split this up into a seperate post. But again, there isn't many gamerpoints and i'm in the rhythm right now.

16/04/2009- Dangerous Beginning (The Bourne Conspiracy): Completed Dangerous Beginning (15G)

16/04/2009- Homebody (The Bourne Conspiracy): Collected 5 passports (5G)

16/04/2009- Shipyard Infiltration (The Bourne Conspiracy): Completed Shipyard Infiltration (15G)

Total Gamerpoints: 35

Gamerpoints review so far:

• 13-20 Feb: 160
• 20-27 Feb: 60
• 27-6 March: 270
• 6-13 March: 35
• 13-20 March: 530
• 20-27 March: 45
• 27-3 April: 0
• 3-10 April: 25
• 10-17 April: 35

So as you can see we're improving each week. So that's good news.

Anyway, that is the end of my mega super update. I promise more content will be added over the weekend and I won't neglect. Honest.

As normal, comment below with anything you want. As long as it's not mean.

Chapter 15: Retrospective Aladdin (Sega Mega Drive) Review

-credit armadillo444

So as you could probably tell, there was no review on Thursday. This was because I didn't really have an XBox360 game to review, since i'm still working my way through Saints Row 2 and Prince of Persia.

So instead, for every week there isn't a Thursday XBox game review, there will be a retrospective game review on the Saturday. This will mostly consist of SNES and Sega Mega Drive games (These the only old school consoles currently in my residency).

So where better to start than with a game based on the best Disney film ever in the history of ever, Aladdin? (A lot of people will say Lion King is the best, a lot of girls will say Beauty and the Beast, but none of them have Robin Williams on improv mode)

The game on the Mega Drive was created by Virgin Interactive (Richard Branson?) All the games across the different consoles it was released on were different. But the Sega Mega Drive one is widely regarded as being the best.

For a start the gameplay is much better than the SNES version. In the SNES game, you can jump, climb and swing on posts and that is it. When it comes to enemies, you can either jump on them classic platform style or throw apples.

In the Mega Drive version, you get a sword! So instantly it's 10 times cooler (Although when did Aladdin wield a sword in the film?) You can still throw apples as well.

(Why you can throw apples in either game is beyond me. Is this because Aladdin has an apple twice in the film? And can do that cool trick where he flips it off his shoulder? Or when Jafar was eating one out of Jasmine's hands in that perverse scene towards the climax?)

Also rather than just jump, climb and swing, there are a number of ways to get across the levels like flying ropes, moving blocks etc.

Plot-wise, the game follows the plot of the film and also throws in a couple of random levels. (Remember when Aladdin just decided to take a stroll in the desert? Or when he went into Genie's lamp? No? Me either)

Graphically, the Mega Drive version looks a lot crisper than the other versions. Musically, it sounds better too. The 16-bit music in Aladdin is one of the best in any Mega Drive game in my opinion. Some levels have standard generic music but other levels feature 16-bit versions of 'Friend Like Me', 'Arabian Nights' and 'Prince Ali', which is awesome.

The game is relatively short which is a problem. We, by which I mean my housemate Scott, completed the game in around 80 minutes. Another small nitpick I have with the game is that the SNES level where you're on the magic carpet escaping the Cave of Wonders is a lot superior to the Mega Drive. The Snake Jafar boss fight is a lot cooler on SNES too. It is also seems very easy to gain extra lives, which could be good or bad however you look at it.

Overall though, this game is brilliant and if you own a Sega Mega Drive or plan on getting one, you want to get this game. Along with the Lion King game, it's arguably one of the best Disney games ever on any console. (Kingdom Hearts may be up there though)

Pick it up, play it and savour it. This is a game you will thoroughly enjoy playing. And unlike some games, you will want to pick it up and play it all over again in the future. Simply a classic.

Rating: 10/10

Gamerpoints achieved so far: N/A

Chapter 10: Prince of Persia Review

As you can see i've decided to drop Roman numerals in my blog titles. Mainly because I don't know 10 onwards. Also, it was a pain.

Anyway, after a week of Mega Drive shenanigans, it's back to XBox matters at hand.

This week's review is Prince of Persia. Now I never played the previous instalments in the series, even though according to Ben Croshaw, the Sands of Time trilogy were the best games on PS2.

I was given this by Dan to play and decided to give it a bash. Now bear in mind, 5 weeks later, Saints Row 2, SFIV and a Mega Drive have disrupted me playing this game properly so i'm about quarter of the way through. So my review is purely on what i've seen so far.

The game plot is something along the lines of evil prisoner is freed, covers the world in black goo and you (Prince of said Persia) and a magical assistant have to go around to each area defeating baddies and making the grass grow once more. Meh, the plot is weak and thin but is enough to get the gaming moving.

Personally, I feel this game is one of those you play when you want to relax, when you can't be bothered with anything too heavy. I think it's the parkour element. You cannot die because when you are about to plummet to certain doom, magic lady pulls you back. So it's casual and easy.

The parkour is good in the game, although sometimes I press the wrong button and the Prince decides to jump onto well...nothing. That's frustrating. Also, sometimes my brain can't work out the simplest of routes from A to B and so the Prince contiunously has to be bailed out of meeting Beezlebub. I can safely say I won't get that achievement for being saved less than 100 times.

The fighting aspect is easy too. Press X, Y and B during a battle and you'll thrust your sword forward, throw Elika at the baddie or throw him in the air and go Ryu on him temporarily. Nothing too it really. The baddies i've fought so far haven't been too challenging, but as I said i'm in the early stages.

Graphically the game is good for 360 and is colourful and vibrant. A problem I do have with the game is that the main character is a dick. He sounds American and speaks like an arrogant dick most of the time. It's annoying. Why you would ever want to play as someone like that is beyond me. Unless the game was Skins and you could play as Cook.

Another problem I have is that after about 20 mins of play I start to get bored. It's all good and well parkouring your way through the levels every now and then. But doing it every time you want to get somewhere gets monotonous. Maybe it's my lack of adventure but I couldn't play this game for hours straight.

Overall, Prince of Persia is a decent game. I think if you're not a fan of the series already, or a fan of parkour, then a rent is probably best. I've been told the game is around 8 hours complete so you could do it in a weekend. I'll continue to play it off and on but it'll never be a game that encaptures me for days on end.

Rating: 7/10

Gamerpoints achieved so far: 160/1000

Chapter VIIII: Sonic & Knuckles is Insanely Hard

Its been a slow week so far on this blog. On Thursday, there will be the weekly review. This week's is Prince of Persia, so stay viewed for that.

Meanwhile, I'm still eternally struggling with the Mega Drive. Being a SNES kid, I find the pace of Sonic ridiculous, and the lack of Goombas disturbing.

Arrogantly, I've by-passed trying to solo complete Sonic 1 & 2 (I completed Sonic 2 in Mallorca on my cousin's Mega Drive when I was 14. Who needs sun and sea when your holiday home has a 90s game console?), and instead decided to give Sonic & Knuckles a bash.

While it is fun being Knuckles and gliding everywhere, the difficulty curve is all over the place. Act II, Flying Battery Zone is insanely hard. I cannot get past it. I tried with about 4 lives and 2 continues and just could'nt do it. Stupid game.

I've completed 3 Metal Gear Solid games but I can't get past Act 2 of Sonic and Knuckles?

Pah.

Feel free to comment below on a) how i'm terrible generally at games b) how Sonic and Knuckles is actually easy or c) why this blog is now talking about Mega Drive and not XBox and is totally defeating the object.

Normality will resume tomorrow. I promise.

Chapter VI: Street Fighter IV Review

So along with my achievements update every Friday (i'm dreading this week), Thursday's are looking to be a staple day for me to do a game review. I don't know how long this will last, after all I don't buy new games every week (maybe retrospective reviews?) But dammit, I will do my very best.

So this week's review is Street Fighter IV. It is the first numbered Street Fighter game released by Capcom for the arcades since 1999. As a background for the game, not much is really needed. It's Street Fighter. The ultimate fighting game. The series that really paved the way.

The game has been in my house for around two weeks and my first impression was that it is easy to get into, hard to master. Some people have complained that the game was not designed for noobs. I disagree. If you've never played it before, it's easy to choose Ryu, learn the basic kicks, punches and hadoukens and have fun. However, mastering the super and ultra combos is a different story.

They are hard, really hard. As I write this, I've never performed an ultra combo. I've tried but the controls are a ball ache. The XBox stick is not a good device to pull off moves. You have to be so precise with them, and obviously in arcade mode you don't have time to faff about. That's the main problem though in a very good game. If you're naturally good at games and fighting in particular, this is probably not a problem.

The graphics of the game are beautiful. The cartoon-like drawings of the characters look immense. It's stylish and really draws you in. The backgrounds react to elements of the battle, crates drop, water ripples and it's lovely to watch.

As for the characters, the usual gang are all there. There are new ones added, a fat ninja dude, a little girl, Bruce Lee. Most you have to unlock though.

Story-wise, there is very little. But why would you want that? You just want to hurt people. Although the back-stories given are done in beautiful anime style.

The modes are alright, I haven't been online yet in fear of being reduced to tears but i've heard positive things. Little amount of glitches, although expect to face Sagat as he is the character of choice i've heard.

Overall, I love this game. Sure i'm terrible at it but that's because it's me. This is the ultimate fighting game. Everyone should pick up a copy. Will Tekken 6 compete when it is released? Who knows. For it's genre this is a 10/10, generally, and only because of controls, it gets a 9.

Rating: 9/10

Gamerpoints achieved so far: 20/1000 (Pathetic)

Chapter I: Saints Row 2 Review

So here it is, my first game review on this very blog. I am going to review the latest game bought into my collection a couple of weeks ago. If you haven't guessed you're stupid. It's Saints Row 2, duh.

Now to be honest I didn't play the first game. It kind of passed me by as when it was released I never owned an XBox360. A couple of times in the games store, I saw it cheap and pre-owned but never took the gamble. I've always been a GTA fan and it appeared like it was some terrible clone.

However, I was convinced (or maybe peer-pressured) into buying the game by my housemate Dan (who you will no doubt hear more about). He is a gaming addict, buys every game ever released and hates Mario Kart. He is effectively the villian of the piece.

The biggest reason I purchased the game was because of the on-line co-op mode, where I can system link with Dan and we can go through the campaign together (There is also the benefits of extra achievements for completing all missions co-op).

So the game itself.

Well it is set 5 years after the end of the first game where your character is apparently exploded or something. You are in a coma in jail when you finally awake and the character customisation begins.

The customisation itself is brilliant. You customise every aspect of your character from taunts to the delightful language setting. You can be American or English, and the English accent one is hilarious. Think posh cockney.

The game in comparison to GTA4 is so much more fun. The serious tone of GTA which at times hampered the game, is non-existant. This game is balls to wall fun. It's ridiculous in the plot and cut scenes.

The plot itself is wafer-thin, you resurrect the Saints and have to take down 3 gangs to take back the city. I haven't completed it yet but 2 gangs are done. To open up certain missions you have to do activities scattered around the map. These include things like 'Fight Club', 'Escort' and 'Demolition Derby'. Of course all aspects of open-world sandbox gameplay are included.

For me the music in this game is much much better than GTA4. Culture Club, The Rakes, Duran Duran are all there, including lots of Hip-Hop from artists I don't know.

Overall i've thoroughly enjoyed this game so far. Don't get me wrong GTA4 was awesome too, but at times it was boring and too serious for its own good. Definately pick up Saints Row 2 though if you have the cash and time, it's fun, unforgettable and ridiculous.

Rating: 8/10

Gamerpoints achieved so far: 170/1000