Currently Playing

No, the Mass Effect Review isn't done.  There, I said it.

Anyway, as of the last little while, I've been dumping hours into two games on *gasp!* my PS3:  Dynasty Warriors 7 and Syndicate. 

Yes, I'm well aware that they are both available for the 360, but at the time, Syndicate was on sale for the PS3 only at a local shop, and Dynasty Warriors 7 XL isn't available for the 360 because Koei thinks that Mixjoy is a relevant feature.

Now, I think  all of you know about me and Dynasty Warriors:  I'm a jaded fanboy.  By the way, that said, Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires is sounding frigging awesome; you'll want to go to Koei Warriors when you get a chance and check out the skinny on the forums.

So, first up:  I finally conned K (girlfriend) into playing a Dynasty Warriors game; 7 to be exact.  Not working on XL yet; once I have the story mode scompleted, I will though.  Anyway, contrary to how she thought she might feel about it, she actually liked it.  I set her up with Yue Ying, although using the ge, not the staff.  She preferred the twin swords, though.  However, she bored of it fairly quickly as I had ass-raped everything on the field before she had a chance to fight;  Oh well, chance favours the prepared mind.

As mentioned, I've also been playing Syndicate.  What can I say about Syndicate?  Well, nothing that hasn't been said before; the single player experience is okay, the multiplayer experience is better.  Actually, it's not just better; it's awesome.  Unfortunately, it feels stunted.  While it's great that Starbreeze was kind enough to display zones using the classic Syndicate world map, there's only 9 levels; not 50 like in the original.  And there's no.  D.  L.  C. 

I kid you not.  What a wasted opportunity!

At any rate, for those of you who do play Syndicate online, my PSN handle is Rabbi_Voody, just like my XBL one.  I have started a Syndicate and am happy to welcome others within my ranks; we're (well, I'm) called Canuckorp, and the tag is CKP.

Okay, enough plugging my Syndicate (which, let's be honest, is a clan), I should probably gush about the stuff I like because it sounded like I was giving the game a back-handed compliment.  The multiplayer is fleshed out much better, and plays exactly as I was hoping it might; like a super-high-tech and brutally violent Rainbow Six (not that R6 isn't already brutally violent) - except you're all super-soldiers.  A huge portion of the mode is using and combining "breaching" (hacking) skills to attack, heal and manipulate the environment. 

Your abilities include damage buffs, kill hacks (everyone has a computer chip in their head, after all), self-resurrection and many other buffs or abilities, plus the ability to interact with objects that you just have to screw with, like lowering an enemy's shields are screwing with their special armour. 

The weapons are also fairly creative for a lot of run-of-the-mill standards such as pistols, assault rifles and shotguns.  Of course, plenty of other weapons such as the classic minigun are also available; you'll have to play more to see more.

Now, being that there are so few levels, there are luckily a lot of incentives to keep playing.  The first is the score; how you score will do two things; it will level you up and it will carry your research. 

Research is how you improve the weapons you can choose from as well as weapons that you may find in the world that are not available for selection.  To unlock these items, you earn tokens from killing heavies and wiping out enemy agents.  All in a days' work.  Now, research encompasses weapon modifications as well as breaching abilities, so it's definitely worthwhile to invest in.  Further, as you rank up, you can buy character modifications, which are unquestionably worth the investment.

The levels are actually very well done, although the variety is basically "total annihilation", "assassination" and theft (which also involves defending the get-away vehicle).    But it's so well-done, that I just can't put it down.  Oy.

Oh, and I finally acquired a copy of The Peace Keepers (SNES) for less than $30, so I'm really proud about that.  Fantastic game.  One of my favourite sellers on EBay,  Pedro's, is no longer with us, but I was able to get it from another seller, snesbrosauce.  If you're looking for good cartridge buys - especially SNES games, look him up.  It'll be worth your while.

Also, I have pre-ordered Borderlands 2 for the 360 (it is my dominant system), so for any of you who enjoy Diablo With Guns (aka Borderlands), I will definitely be up to killing bandits and mutants come the middle of September.  You have my handle (which was so subtley dropped at the beginning of this post).

What can I say, I'm a sucker for co-operative punishment.  Misery does love company, after all.

Now Playing May 8th, 2011

Currently Playing: Winback: Covert Operations

 

System: Nintendo 64

Impression:

I first played Winback back in...I dunno, maybe 2001, 2002? I thought it was pretty cool for its time with its cover system and combat. It was also pretty innovative for it's time, and it's clearly influenced the gunplay in many tactical third-person shooters from Kill.Switch to Gears of War to Mass Effect.

What is in my other game systems:

Old Windows PC (P3 1Ghz): Diablo

I've already gone over this guy. Originally thought to be the next review, but due to a tie and a coin toss, that changed to Winback. I'm currently on level 5 using the Warrior class.

DOS PC: The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall

I haven't played much of Daggerfall since the last iteration of the article. I'm going to build a new character because I tend to go with pure combat, and frankly, that's a pretty boring way to play this game.

XBox 360: Mass Effect

Mass Effect is BioWare's latest sci-fi series. It's a combination of a third-person squad-based shooter and a Role-Playing Game. It takes place in a universe where humans have discovered how to travel to other worlds, and how that has introduced them to alien species and the events following this. You take control of Commander Shepard, a human soldier who finds himself sucked into intergalactic intrigue on a mission that will not only jeopardise the fate of humanity, but all sapient life in the galaxy.

While many of the story concepts are ripped off from the Star Trek, Star Wars and Revelation Space universes, the story is told very well through the characters that inhabit it.

Unfortunately, Mass Effect and it's sequel (and just about every RPG developed by BioWare now) is subject to planned DLC being released “along-side” the game instead of actually being put in it, which is why I no longer buy their games new. The next and final game in the series, Mass Effect 3 is said to be scheduled for release sometime next year.

XBox: Serious Sam 2

Serious Sam 2 was developed by Croteam for the PC and Xbox. It's a first-person shooter that sort falls into a similar gameplay vein as Smash TV or Total Carnage in that you fight off waves of opponents in what might be perceived as open arena after open arena.

Unlike the first Serious Sam game (which was split into two parts, The First Encounter and The Second Encounter), Serious Sam includes not only several powerful weapons, but new vehicles, too. While The First Encounter garnered much critical praise, Serious Sam 2 did not. In fact, my own initial reaction was pretty hostile, and I wrote an equally hostile review to reflect that. After a second play-through, though, I developed a new appreciation for it, and I actually like it very much. But it still doesn't compare to the original.

SNES: Ys 3: Wanderers from Ys

I haven't actually even touched this one. I'm still in the first dungeon, and I'm probably no further along than level 2 or 3.

What can I say, I've had more compelling titles to attend to. Furthermore, I've actually been testing some stuff on my 360, and I've learned that the Megaman Anniversary Collection for the XBox is supported.

NES: The Guardian Legend

Like Ys 3, I really haven't gotten anywhere with this guy, although I'm much further along in it. I think I'm on the 8th or 9th boss fight. I've kind of lost track there, but I have my password saves! Hopefully I can get back to this one soon as I actually like it quite a bit.

New Article - Now Playing: Now Playing, Apr. 25th, 2011

Hey guys, I've decided that I'm going to put together a new "article", "Now Playing".  I think it's only fitting, after all.

Without further ado, the very first "Now Playing" article:

Currently Playing: Dynasty Warriors 7

 

System: XBox 360

Genre: Beat-'Em-Up

Impression:

So far, I like it. The game has two main modes, Story and Conquest. Story mode is excellent, much better than in the previous entries. Conquest mode, not so much - especially since it lacks some of the gimmicks that make store mode so enjoyable.

The graphics have been given a significant boost, although generic soldiers still look really mediocre. The gameplay has been both simplified and improved. The combat system has been reverted to what it was prior to Dynasty Warriors 6 (this is a good thing) but has been made much more customisable by dint of the fact that each character can equip two weapons at once from 35 choices (34 weapons anyone can use and 2 gender-exclusive).  Furthermore, you can swap out any of the two that you always have equipped from the pause menu.

People who are experiencing the series for the first time will actually find a lot to like, as will people who have every previous entry. Much better than Dynasty Warriors 6 from a gameplay perspective, and much better than Dynasty Warriors: Strike Force period.  The game also supports offline and online 2-player multiplayer in Conquest mode exclusively.

What is in my other game systems:

Old Windows PC (P3 1Ghz): Diablo

DOS PC: The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Xbox: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

N64: Jet Force Gemini

SNES: Ys III: Wanderers From Ys

NES: The Guardian Legend

Diablo is kind of a given because it's most likely going to be the May review. Plus I had to test it to make sure that the game was playable on my P3 (I ran into problems before). Diablo is an action-RPG that's also a graphical take on NetHack. NetHack is the original PC dungeon crawler, and I believe was originally made with ASCII characters. Ghetto graphics aside, it has a huge cult following. Diablo adds the graphics and Battle.Net. That I have not yet tested – I don't know if the servers are up and running, but it's worth finding out because it's free to play online. Just watch out for bastard cheaters.

For those who have read my short...um, dissertation on The Elder Scrolls, Daggerfall is my favourite in the series. Mostly because of the instant death spells and the ability to climb sheer walls. Actually, I also really liked the combat system. As an action RPG, Daggerfall broke so many boundaries it isn't funny, and I have yet to play an RPG that comes as close to realising a character development system that is as deep as it is. Of course, this created a system that could be exploited all to hell, but it's FUN just to see how far you can take it.  And you can now play it for free!

I just got Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring because my girlfriend and I recently did a LotR Marathon. The game was received poorly, but I wanted to give it a shot. It's pretty interesting, and the music is very nice. Graphically, it's quite ugly. Unlike The Two Towers and Return of the King, Beat-'Em-Ups which were released by Electronic Arts, Fellowship (released by Black Label Games) is actually an adventure game, so I expect to get more than five hours out of it. For those who are interested, Two Towers actually covers the major battles from both Fellowship and Two Towers, so EA had no need to license a game based off of Fellowship.

Jet Force Gemini is an action-adventure title by Rare which is a combination of exploration and blowing up giant ants (that's about as far as I've gotten). The game is cute and quirky, but it doesn't do a very good job of telling you where you are and where you need to go. Quite fun, though. It's one of the few N64 games that I know of that supports surround (Dolby 4-speaker), but it does well enough with my 5.1 system. I don't really have much to say about it because as much as I like shooting up giant ants, I don't like running around in circles, so the game has been collecting dust. Not one of Rare's best adventure titles on the 64.

Ys III is a side-scrolling action-RPG. It's actually pretty straight forward, and fairly short...well, by today's standards at any rate. You play a warrior who, of course, starts off by saving the village from critters in a mine. Like many JRPGs of just about any stripe, there's a lot grinding involved. Aesthetically, it's actually aged surprisingly well, considering it's from 1991. Unfortunately, the gameplay has not. 

And finally, Guardian Legend. Guardian Legend is one of the earliest cross-genre titles, and you have to play it if you are into classic gaming even a little. And not just for its historic value. The gameplay is surprisingly good for a game that's 23 years old. Why? Because it's played in two formats: Exploration and Shoot-'Em-Up. I kid you not. The exploration mode is like Zelda with guns, more or less. I don't think I need to go into how a Shoot-'Em-Up mode works. It's one of those games you have to see to believe. It's like The Legend of Zelda had a bastard child with Galaga. And it works.