DCEmu Homebrew Emulation & Theme Park News
Shadowblind
by Published on July 13th, 2008 18:43
Unreal Tournament III
Publisher: Midway
Developer: EPIC Games
Players: 1-16
Genre: FPS
ESRP: $59.99
When the original Unreal Tournament debuted back in 1999, it took many multiplayer nuts by surprise. While it wasn't necessarily unforeseen since Quake II made such a bang with its new twitch-action multiplayer, the level of depth to this FPS was almost unmatched. The ideas surrounding it were simple enough; a game made almost solely for multiplayer action. This doesn't mean only against other living players, but also against some of the the best A.I. bots for its time. Well, you can rest assured that the formula for the blockbuster game hasn't changed much, though that may well be the reason for the troubles with this game. Don't jump to any conclusions; I'm not saying its bad or good. Just read on, you'll get it.
The Unreal tournament series has always been known for its mindless run-and-gun fireattatwitch FPS action. Things haven't changed a whole lot in Unreal Tournament III. The insanely fast paced nature of the game has been left in tact, and as per usual, you don't have to do a lot of thinking to know how to win. The main point of UT3 is still to blast the other guy to kibbles before he blasts you. getting killed thirty times every match is the usual, but what might seem a little unusual, is that its USUAL even during campaign mode. In fact, campaign mode is actually one of the few things that sets UT3 apart from its predecessors. For one, the new campaign features actual cutscenes to tell the story. The bad part is that cut-scenes are the ONLY thing in this game that tell the main story. Levels simply consist of a sequence of bot matches that range anywhere from one to fifteen before going to the next chapter, and the next scene. Before each battle, however, you do get a short briefing on your mission that adds a little to the story, but generally feels like a bunch of audio-fillers, so it doesn't have to explain the story. It doesn't really feel so bad at first, but after ten consecutive bot matches without any new story to back it up, it tends gets on your nerves. its not all bad though, as those bot matches constantly feature changing game types, such as CTF, team deathmatch, and a new game mode where you must destroy your enemies core while protecting your own. Still, after all is said an done, the campaign mode feels as though it was only thrown in there because it had to be. At least its something, which is a lot more then Shadowrun did. (If you didn't know, Shadowrun's best and only selling point was its multiplayer. Not even a tiny bit of story-mode.)
I am coming for you
Like I said before, the story was told completely through cut-scenes. Although it wouldn't have hurt to have a little subliminal story telling like most games these days do, if it was gonna be told through anything, it would have best been through these scenes. They look absolutely fantastic. Great camera angles and many high octane adrenaline fueled sections of the rather large scenes gave it almost the same feel as a mix between Halo and Gears of War(Which really shouldn't be much of a surprise, seeing as EPIC made Gears as well). In the end, even though the cutscenes do a great job of conveying what little story in this game there is, it never fills the void completely, and left me feeling like they, too, were thrown in there "just 'cause." Still, even though the cutscenes tell the story well, the best part of these cutscenes is also the best part of the game; that is, the graphics.
Well, be honest here. Did you expect anything except the very best from EPIC? After Gears of War, I can confidently say that it would have been more a surprise had they not made the best graphics around. Even if your playing on a non-HD set up, you'll notice right away that the graphics for this game are top notch detail. The character models seem to have the most detail in the game, but they end up looking a bit funny despite looking so good. the thing is, unlike in most other games, in UT3 you practically are never standing still long enough to notice the graphics, since you'd be shot to pieces if you tried. Smooth animations, though there really aren't that many in the game anyway except for dying and hover boarding. The vehicles in the game look nice, but they tend to all look (and handle) too similarly to one another. Not really bad, just, not really creative. The backgrounds are great as well. Textures all look highly detailed, and are usually very diverse. As far as the game's graphics are concerned, the Unreal 3 engine is working the best we've seen here. The framerate has never dropped as I played it even in some of the most hair-raising nine-on-seven fights. The backgrounds are fairly large too, though they are more of the typical FPS battlefield style, that is, a semi-large usually circular in shape arena. Not ...by Published on July 10th, 2008 15:32
Because my best review yet got deleted before it was even posted.
Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Firaxis
Players: 1-2
Genre: Turn based Strategy
ESRP: $29.99
A revolution for handheld TBS games, in a good way.
I've been a Civilization series fan since the release of Civilization: Call to Power. Funny that I thought it was so great, since critics didn't. But I wasn't alone as it seemed, since it ended up being one of the best selling Civilizations of all time and...well never mind that. Point is that the turn-based Civilization series has always had a place in my gaming psyche. Civilization Revolution actually seems in a way like a step backward from the Civilization Revolutions out on the PS3 and 360. But that's easily to be expected from a handheld iteration of the game that was always speculated to just be a crappy console port like most DS games that are cross-console seem to be. Well rest assured Civilization fans that they didn't screw the DS version up. However, they did take it down a notch on features, as you could imagine(Did you really think that a handheld version of console game could possibly be as good?). The end result of these changes makes the game feel a whole lot like a mix between Civilization IV and Civilization II. You'll find out why in a minute.
Like past Civilization games, the point of the game is to build a Civilization from scratch, and win the game through either a Cultural, Military, Scientific, or Wealth Victory. Any one of these will lead you to Victory, though all of them take time to accomplish. About time. Previous Civilization games often took many, many hours, and often, days to win the game through some form of victory. It was practically impossible to beat it in an afternoon, much less a few hours. Civilization DS doesn't follow that same formula. I probably beat the Free mode, which was "The Game" for past Civilizations, in about 2-3 hours. That doesn't mean your through though, it practically means you haven't even begun. Each map in Free mode is randomly generated, so it has an infinite amount of ways your Civilization can go. This, combined with the ability to choose from a host of Civilizations, leads to not only a wasted afternoon, but a possible wasted month, depending on how much you like it. I mentioned how you can choose from many Civilizations to start your game. This isn't just for looks like the Civilizations of old used to have them. Each Civilization has its own skill about them that makes it more or less good or bad at whatever. The thing is, through out my play, the skills I had for my Civilization didn't seem to make much of a difference in the least, it didn't seem to help my opponents in the game very much either. I guess its to keep it as equal as possible, but that's where "honing your strengths" comes in. About knowing your strengths and weaknesses...this game has a pretty iffy learning curve.
It looks pretty complicated, but you'll get used to it fast.
Most Civilizations in the past had a fairly steep learning curve to them, and while Civ Rev is no exception, it does seem to be a bit less complicated this time around. Having played Civ Rev on the console and Civilizations in the past, I was able to jump in quickly to the games more sophisticated points,(government, science, city management blahblahblah) but I soon found that most of them feel like they've had a downgrade to them. Not a downgrade in features so much as the game does more of the annoying stuff for you.(This may be why it is so much easier to play through the game so fast) For example, after almost everything that happens, an advisor pops up and gives you a hint as to what to do next. However, you can disable this from the option menu. When that's taken away, you soon figure out that the reason it feels more downgraded is because the menus are so simplified. Each thing tells you exactly what they do and how they do it, whether they be wonders, building, units, etc. Rather then this ending up being annoying, it becomes helpful, and allows the game to progress more smoothly. Now something that hasn't been simplified at all, or maybe its been OVER simplified, is battling.
Probably the biggest part of any Civilization game are the battles. if your a fan then you know most of the issues already: Weaker enemies constantly beating stronger enemies, defensive terrain sometimes counting for nothing, and the oh-too-often knight destroying the helicopter.(Yes, it does happen. Still.) But Civ Rev gets a little extreme on it. At one point in the game I was attempting to take over an enemy city. They had a single archer defending it and I had about 7 legions, 8 riflemen, 2 knights, and 3 cannons standing at ready to be thrust in fierce battle. As I send each of them, the battle animations take place, and my ...by Published on July 5th, 2008 04:34
I'm in between reviews at the moment, so I'm taking a little review break with another review. It makes sense to me at least. (I can't find another game to review right now...this should be relieved by at least July 8.) Besides, I've been a Hellboy fan for a bit of time.
Hellboy: The Science of Evil
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Chrome Studios
Genre: Action
Players: 1
This game is currently being used as a coaster.
In Hellboy: Science of Evil, you take the role of Hellboy, a demon operative of a secret underground group who hunt down all things supernatural. You play through 6 chapters following the villain Von Brampt to try and stop him from accomplishing his evil goals.
There's nothing to write here.
No witty comment. Not approving or disproving remark before this paragraph about this games story. The title just about explains it all. The "story" here, if you can even call it that, is the same thing as taking 15 different, totally unrelated ideas and shoving them together and using scotch tape to make them stay together. Alright, enough of that. The story in Hellboy: Science of Evil can hardly be called a story. Its composed of 6 broken and terribly composed chapters, almost all of which have an ending even before the climax. An example can be seen as far back as the first level. You find yourself as Hellboy in a distant cemetery in the-devs-only-know-where chasing down a witch who has stolen a great deal of precious artifacts, and killed all the people who tried and stop her. Now let me stop for a minute to explain something about the cut-scenes these messages are conveyed through. At first glance you may well see a stylish cut-scene, almost even a little bit reminiscent to the comic book. Now just wait until it starts moving. the poorly thrown together, no-voice acted cutscenes are the epitome of a bland and inexcusable attempt at piecing together a comic book style presentation. Characters look extremely different in style from one another, almost as though half of each cutscene was drawn by a different artist. The small feat they do manage to accomplish is get at least a little bit of the point of each scene across, but for the most part they simply cause more confusion. Now back to where we were, with the witch and the cemetery. The entire level basically changes course, and only follows Hellboy as though he's bent on escaping rather then catching the witch. And even after you complete the entire level, the last scene shows you overlooking a village and falling off a cliff, without so much as even a mini-boss fight. Wanna take a wild guess at level two? Probably not, since your most likely wrong. None your fault, though, as you somehow wind up in Japan, where you've apparently entirely forgotten anything about a witch and death and mayhem and blahblahblahblah. This games story is the most broken I've seen since Ghost Rider the game.
Prepare to fight these guys, over and over and over and over...
Hellboy has never looked worse
The strangest thing about the fact that this game looks depressingly terrible is that the original movie actually got many awards for its great cinematography and costume design. The comic book has gotten many awards for great artistry. So you'd think, at least by a little, that the devs here would have at least put a bit more effort into the graphical component to this game. Well besides story, this is easily its worst part. And what better way to explain then by example. Textures disappearing: I walked past a door at one (or more) points in the game, only to find the door wide open when I couldn't access it. So I walk back three steps to go in only to find that the door never moved in the first place. So I ended up just having to leave the ghost door in place, without ever knowing if it was opened or closed. Clipping issues: When throwing or finishing off enemies, they have strange tendency to clip straight through the floor and fall under the level. Also, when thrown they also sometimes go straight through a solid wall. Fence posts and the such move back and forth straight through the ground as you go away and to them. Bland menus: The death screen isn't an extra screen at all. It simply brings up a menu no different then the main menu and asks me if I want to start checkpoint over. All menus look exactly the same. Back to normal style graphics section explanations. The HUD actually doesn't look all too terrible. the colorful bars of health and Rage bar offset an often boring and repetitive background. About backgrounds, each level does sport a different background, for a while at least. The problem with each is they tend to be bland and overall are extremely linear. They also share the exact same pale color pallet, which looks nice for a while, but loses its small charm before the first level is even over. The different levels do have a little ...by Published on July 3rd, 2008 00:19
Because Ninja Gaiden on DS = Awesomeness. At least the idea does.
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword
Publisher: Tecmo
Developer: Team Ninja
Genre: Action
ESRP: $39.99
Ninja Gaiden Lite.
Once again, you must take up the role of famed ninja Ryu Hayabusa, one of the last remaining of the Dragon Lineage. The Greater fiends plot to envelope the world in darkness and chaos, and Ryu is the world's last hope.(again.) Fight through a multitude of levels from tombs to volcanos as you battle to stop the fiend's ambitions.
A Ninja's story. Rated PG.
Ninja Gaiden isn't known for its amazingly in-depth storylines, or just about anything pertaining to the story. Rather, its known by its console versions for having absurd stories, that are often so wacky that they become good. Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword isn't so easy to classify. Unlike the console versions Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is aimed at the younger age group, obviously in response to the DS main customers. This means that the story won't be bloody, or nasty, or violent, or erotic, or whatever the normal Ninja Gaidens tend to do. Bare in mind though, that this isn't necessarily bad. The story itself isn't near as random as the other NGs, and its character design shows a good bit of cartoon influence. The characters each look as though they came out of an anime rather then the normal getting-to-realism look that Team Ninja primarily does. Still, some of the story is linear and you-saw-that-coming-miles-away, often during parts that are supposed to surprise you. As far as a 6-14 year olds game goes, though, the story is perfectly fitting. Cartoony characters combines with the classic 'caring' hero(I'll be honest with you. I do NOT see Ryu Hayabusa caring about pretty much anything but his duties. This game thinks otherwise.) with, while its still a bit unique, a linear and stereotypical story makes for a very well marketed NDS game.
Again--damn, Ninjas look good
Dragon Sword did for the DS what Team Ninja does for just about every console and game--created great looking character models with very fluent animations. Ryu looks spectacular, and even in his fast flurry of attacks you can see some very nice animation if you look closely enough.(Animation in a game has always been my favorite graphical part. If animation looks crappy, then...no.) Enemies are a bit different. While still sporting some decent looking Character models, compared to Ryu, Momijii and the bosses, they don't look as good. Mainly spider-ninjas and ware-wolves, but all around they do still look nice. Just not great. Enemy animations are still in tact though, as you can relate each one to its root animations in Ninja Gaiden Xbox. Most, anyway. Backgrounds are diverse and colorful, but interaction is non-existent. Unless there is a puzzle or a door, there is zero interaction with the environment. The freestyle running of the Ninja Gaidens has been taken out. There is a reason for this though. The backgrounds look 3D, but don't be too fooled, too fast. Most backgrounds, with a few exceptions, are fully 2D textures. That doesn't stop them from LOOKING 3D though, and to this day, the look has always been what matters most, not the technical ideas in place. As for technical stuff, even in the biggest battles I have never experienced a framerate drop. Clipping is very rare, and the whole engine is rather solid. Seems most DS game engines are that I've played. Ninpo effects are actually sprites(most of them), but they all look well done, and do give you the feeling that you have a little control over nature itself.
Insert Rocky Balboa Music here.
Ninja Gaiden Black, sound off
Sound. The music mostly consists only of music from the original NG. Some lighter hearted songs were added in, probably because of the games younger audience. These are mainly in the Hayabusa village and other non-action parts of the game. But lets get something straight--it may be recycled, but that doesn't mean its all too bad. Annoying to my nerves, simply because I've played NG black before, but to most, it will seem like a decent and well placed soundtrack. Nothing amazing, but it certainly works for what it does. Sound effects also have been recycled, but there are a good bit of new ones in there. All dialogue is text; no voice acting. While it may be a shame to have no voice acting considering the job of the voice actors in the first NG it may or may not be so bad. You decide.
Young Ryu? Nope. Nintendo Ryu.
A furious fighting action title
To let out a summery of whats to come: This game rocks. Gameplay. The core gameplay is just like the console NGs, i.e., slashing bashing and dicing enemies, while enjoying some light platforming puzzles. One may thing at first that Ninja Gaiden, being a usual button-masher game wouldn't fit well at all on the DS. Errrrr. ...by Published on July 2nd, 2008 00:39
With an a new "card" for my DS, I have been inspired to go back to my forsaken DS and try out more DS games. Safe to say you can probably expect more NDS game reviews from here on out.
Dementium: The Ward
Publisher: Gamecock
Developer: Renegade Kid
Genre: Survival-Horror FPS
Players: 1
ESRP: $29.99
An ideal example for later Horror games on DS. Sort of.
Game Summary
In Dementium: The Ward, the take the role of an unnamed admitted patient to a mental hospital. After awakening in a daze, you find yourself one a blood-soaked bed in one of the rooms. Thats not the only blood-drenched feature you find in the hospital, as you soon realize that this may either be a hospital, or a butchery. Fight with up to 8 different weapons against a myriad of horrific monsters as you strive to understand the secrets of Dementium: The Ward.
You wake up in the hospital...
And thats as near close to a story as you get in this game. The storyline is one thing thats not a major seller for Dementium. As far as interaction with others in this game, you get absolutely none, which makes you depend on various notes and clipboards in the mental asylum to figure out the story. Even then, even after you pieced everything together, you'll find yourself thinking "Oh...really. Well thats a twist...I think." Suffice to say, the storyline never goes beyond a single idea to make it good, and even that idea is a bit overused. I think I should back up a bit and talk about the beginning. The Prologues in games are usually one of the single most important parts of the storyline, where it sets the setting, most characters, and the general idea and gist that the game was trying to make its players feel. Not this one. The beginning is literally just you being rolled in a wheelchair through a blood-and-guts filled hospital with demonic little girls and zombies in it. This lasts about 15 seconds. Next thing you know, you wake up on your nasty bed, and go to beat up some monsters. Now this game does have cut-scenes(surprise.), but for the most part, they are only there to introduce you to new monsters, or to fight a boss. There is almost no spoken dialogue in the game, and the written dialogue is usually just confusing. If you get horror games for the often-superb storyline, then well, this game isn't for you.
Gore - Now in 3D
And I'm not talking about the tree hugger. Dementium is one of the few games to sport a high res 3-dimensional engine on the DS. Enemies too are fully rendered in 3D, and they are probably the high point of the 3D engine in Dementium. The enemies, although they may look at sometimes more funny then scary, are very well done for a DS game, and look even better then most N64 game enemies. Sometimes the enemies can look downright stupid, though. Take for example the screaming heads, or "banshees". Scary, sure, but not because of how they look. They look more similar to a cats head with madusa snakes then a decapitated woman's head. Regardless of a few fimply dumb looking enemies, Renegade Kid showed devs that full 3D is not only possible on the DS, it can be made both good, and solid. By solid, I mean that there are little to no clipping issues, glitches, textural errors, framerate issues, or pop-in. The engine is about as hard as a rock. Anyway. Environments are mainly texture based, as just about every wall and floor in the game is the same white wall with blood on it. Courtyard levels prove a little more varying, with some walls looking decrepid and old, and others having rusted surface on it. Now about the darkness. Renegade Kid went beserk when it comes to shadowing areas. To put it simply, when you fire at most enemies, you won't know whether you hit them or not. The flashlight illuminates these areas, but to shoot your gun you have to switch back to a gun, thus making you basically blind for far enemies. It has a severe case of Doom 3-itus to it, except you can't even melee with it this time around. But to be truthful, this game really wouldn't be scary at all without every room being dark as hell. Still, it becomes very frustrating, especially when fighting zombies that spit acid further then you can see. Environments are littered with, well, litter, among other things. Blood splashed trash cans, hospital beds, medicine cabinets and many other hospital-esqe appliances pervade, and often impede, the world of Dementium.
The 3D engine at work. And it does some good work.
Creek...creek...*piano solo*
Sound. The music is one of the major defining features to make this game a horror game. Creepy organ and piano music plays while grunts of zombies and screams echo the hallways. There is an option to turn off the music though, in which case the game does became a good deal less scary. Though the scariest thing here is that most of the music all sounds ...by Published on June 24th, 2008 05:31
Because I'm stuck in boring WV with nothing else to do, and this game saved me from total boredom.
Prey
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Venom Studios
Genre: FPS
ESRP: $9.99
In PREY, you take the role of Cherokee-by-genetics Tommy, or Domasi, as you and the ones you love get abducted into an alien ship. There you must battle your way to your girlfriend and try and get off the ship. During this time you must learn to use your special Cherokee powers--or die trying.
A Cherokee Classic
In todays world of thousands of developers spewing out FPS like fireworks on Chinese new year, it becomes a chore to find one with a good storyline nowadays. Prey's horror-action-sci-fi-love story gives fans what they really want in a FPS story--the same thing as they want in an RPG. Great character development, an engrossing sci-fi love story, and all around high-budget production makes this FPS a story-side winner. Whats more, its based around the ideology of the Native Americans and they're stories. This game will make you think Cherokees are even cooler then you already did. The story is well done, through both its voice actors and presentation. The environment, while it tells a subtle tale about the aliens and they're culture, it really isn't a major part of the storyline. The inclusion of legendary radio host Art Bell into the telling of the story from Earth's view really helps to tell about the effects that Tommy's experience is having down on gaia as well. To be blunt, this is the kind of imaginative creative ideas that we want to see in FPS games; like Bioshock or Half-Life 2.
Quake 4 and Doom 3-esqe
PREY is a very pretty game. Think Quake 4 with slightly enhanced graphics that runs at a constant 60fps. This game has nearly no glitches whatsoever graphically(or technically, for the most part.) and no clipping issues. Enemies models and textures are a mix. While the Hunters and Elite hunters look rather boring, just about all the other enemies look awesomely Quake 4-y. That is, they look like mutant demons from the deepest spawns of hell itself. Particularly worth noting are the part human-part scythe-part elephant mutants that hop around and slash at you with huge razor-sharp claw(s). If it wasn't so dark most of the time the enemies would be even more disgustingly pretty. Which brings us to the lighting. PREY runs on the Doom 3 engine. If any of you remember, Doom 3's lighting was the worst part of the game. While the severity of the lighting problems have been taken care of, PREY still suffers from overly dark corridors and black hallway ends. Unfortunately, your little pissant lighter does little to help the darkness problem. still, its a minor problem because unlike Doom 3, its totally bearable. Theres only one part in the entire game as dark as Doom 3's issues, and its only one enemy to fight. The backgrounds pop out at you, and the messiness of each room looks of sci-fi gloriousness. Everything in PREY is alive, both metaphorically and literally. Even your living guns look great, the art direction in this game is awesomely unique. For a sci-fi FPS, this one is sure different then the rest of the crop.
THIS is a puzzle!
Splatter of alien guts. Now in 5.1.
Lets not beat around the bush here. PREY sounds awesome. Lets start with voices. The voice acting starts off a little weak. Jen and Tommy seem to be a little hesitant with they're lines while Enisi starts and stays strong through the whole thing. Withing a few minutes of the game though, the character pick up they're talent and don't lose it. Especially during the last few levels, where Tommy's rage peaks. The voice acting is almost natural with Tommy and Enisi. Jen, although becoming stronger as the story continues, never really gets to the level of realism the other characters do through the story. All of them do great voiceovers though. Sound effects. Sound effects make PREY's sickeningly twisted alien world come to life. The weapon fire is good, though a little uninventive, but the sounds the weapons MAKE are great. The aliens chatter and the sound of portals opening and closing are high-budget SFX. The music is made by the same man who made the music for Oblivion and Guild wars. So suffice to say its professionally made. Music comes in at off times but it comes in nonetheless
So this is what an alien school looks like
Inventive and new ideas come together like PB&J
PREY is a prethera of inventive ideas. Everything from Deathwalk to living guns screams LOOK! IM A NEW IDEA! AND IM WELL IMPLEMENTED! PREY's gamelay revolves primarily on the nature of all FPS, that is, with awesome weapons and action. But its neat new innovations allow for some really intelligent and mind blowing puzzles as well. Also is the inventions of portals and the ability to change gravity itself. Thats right, this game ...by Published on June 24th, 2008 03:07
Old game(mid-2007) but many people have no clue about it.
Shadowrun
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: FASA Studios
Genre: FPS
Players: 1-16
ESRP: $19.99 (For Value rating)
Shadowrun is a game that is like its Sega genesis brother in name only. Unlike its RPG roots, Shadowrun for Windows and Xbox 360 is a fast paced FPS that makes you rely on more then just your weapon. To defeat your opponents, you must also make use of 5,000 year old magic powers. As a member of either the RNA, a huge corporation wanting control of this newfound magic, or the Lineage, an ancient order trying to keep the magic at its natural roots.
So much story potential. None of it used.
Shadowrun does has a story. The RNA, a global organization and the Lineage, ancient tribes, are feuding over a magic that could change the course of history itself. A neat story isn't it? Well, it could have been. Thats just it, though, COULD being the key word. Shadowrun has about as much storyline as Wolfenstein 3D. That is, no story at all, but a great setting. However, setting is only a small part of a grand storyline. Shadowrun has a huge potential for a storyline; it features everything from dwarves to elves to trolls, all set in a futuristic world where culture is still a very important part of life. What potential. But this game is all about its multiplayer, and it shows. The only "storyline" it has is 6 ten minute tutorials showing you how to use all of the magic, weapons and classes as an RNA combatant. Beyond that, even characters are perfectly lifeless. Commands in multiplayer don't even have actual human voices. Its a robot for every class and every team. Honestly, this game busts here.
Guess which one will win. Go on, guess.
Amazing magic effects vs. Sub-par character models
Let the fight begin. I'll start off with the good. Effects for magic are simply amazing. The light show is great, and for the most part, magic is all about the lights and pretty colors. Teleport is a flash of orange blur that brilliantly lights up with a bit of red and blur. Summon magic creates a monster of either yellow or flourescent blue that sparks to life and beats the living crap out of the enemies. Strangle spawns shining blue or orange gems on the ground with a great shining effect. Even the absorbing power of the dwarves looks radiant when its in effect. Now magic is nice, and I've probably made that overly clear by now. Back to the other stuff. The character models are boring. Interesting at first, trolls and elves and ect. lose their interest factor after you've killed about 3 of them. They all look the same, and even when they are dead they have the exact same face expression as when they first spawned. To be fare, the Lineage do look a bit unique, with an art direction like that of Native Americans. But the RNA are just bland, basic and boring. Gun models are all uninspired; they work. But they are just average. No interesting ideas or art direction went into these weapons. Backgrounds are pretty well done, especially those of the Lineage-based levels. Which comes to make one realize that while the Lineage have a great artistic ideas about them, the RNA are boring, right down to they're RNA-themed levels.
Mars probably has more life in it then Shadowrun. Music-wise anyway.
Shadowrun doesn't have any music. If t does, I don't even remember because it must have been too boring. To its credit, music probably wouldn't have helped too much anyway. Still, some nice action themes would have added a bit more to its credit here, and the total lack of music is purely, mind-numbingly annoying. Its annoying because, without music, only sound effects are present to clear the sound of that extremely annoying AI that serves as the voice for all of players in the game. Which brings me to that point, possibly the only thing more annoying in the game then the lack of music is the robotic female voice that says all of your and your teamates commands. Blahblahblahblahblah. Other sounds. Gun sound effects, while just as inspired as the weapons, do what they are supposed to. No big awesome booms or anything of the such, but they work. Magic and Tech sound off like the 4th of July. They have varied and wide sounds to each of them(for the most part) and sound above average, though still not anything amazing. Shadowrun is rather dead when is comes to all things sound-wise.
Look at me! I look like everyone else!
Magic and machinery DO go well together
Shadowrun relies primarily on one thing to get its point across--and thats its combination of magic, tech, and weaponry. In Shadowrun, you get Tech upgrades and Magic upgrades that you buy from a menu at the start of each game like Counter Strike. From this menu you also buy weapons and ammo, from Shotguns to katanas. ...by Published on June 23rd, 2008 01:04
This review is gonna be a bit different from usual. Although I'm reviewing an amazing piece of homebrew, to be able to fully play it you'd need two files from the actual game, which is roughly still 10 USD. Since its still technically a commercial game...
Also, seeing as this is a homebrew release of a rather old game, this review will be more reminiscient of past Miniviews. My normal reviews won't be this small.
Quake
Producer: id Software
Developer: id Software
Genre: Revolutionary FPS
Port by: Elaun
Download: http://dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=115909
Proving that one of the best shooters ever can be remade, and still be fun today.
One of the original fully rendered 3D shooters
Ok, lets get one thing straight; this game was released in 1996. Naturally then, by today's standards you can't expect much. But comparatively speaking, this game had THE best graphics for its time. Fully rendered 3D models and environments were both new and unseen by the time. Everything from weapons to monsters are fully rendered in #d with bloody haunting textures that seem to be id's passion with their FPS genre. The textures are made to be freaky and scary, and at the time, they were the freakiest thing you've ever seen. Quake looks better then most PSX games easy. Water effects are plain and simply, basically just a texture you can move through. Gun fire effects are part of the guns themselves, which are actually all 3D models themselves. Blood effects and splattering were exceptional for its time in '96, and also controversial (OHZES NOEZ! BLOOD! CALL JACK THOMPSON!) In other words, Quake looks even better then a NDS, Wiiware, or XBL game these days. Heck, it even looks better then most PSP games.
If you saw this when it first came out in '96 you woulda crapped yourself.
BLAARRRRGGGGG
Back in the days of the blood-curtling splatter of enemies that have just been turned into blood and piecemeal, Quake existed and set part of the standard. Enemies moan and grunt as they take damage, and everything from zombies to yetis splatter in a glorious SPLAT! sound. Even Mathew Kain (the player) groans and screams from time to time as you take damage. However, sound effects were the best part of sound effects. Voice acting doesn't exist, and music is only decent. When it comes down to it, while the haunted-house style music is fitting and definately works, its a far-cry from the masterpiece soundtrack that id produced with its classic Doom. Whatever works I suppose...
Zombies. The original splattering enemy.
Wiimote control? In Quake? ****ING AWESOME!
Quake has always been a great classic shooter that set a new standard with its revolutionary ideas and gameplay. But for decades the style of playing the classic FPS has held many a game down in the way of gameplay style. But no longer, and that fact has been ripped to shreds by even the gaming community itself with Elaun's amazing port of Quake to the Wii. For me especially (being a huge long time Doom and Quake fan) this port is the extra twist I've and many other FPS fans have always wanted from this golden-age classic. The Wiimote control works great; the sensativeity is well tuned and the amount of force it takes to turn the screen is almost just right. Although it could take a little more fine tuning, the implementation of motion control in Quake has been professionally done (at least in my opinion. This beats Red Steel's crappy POS control by a mile.) Beyond the great new motion control, Quake is back and just as good as its ever been. With the exception of slightly long load times, Quake has been ported almost perfectly. Minor errors such as the screen-to-HUD ratio exist, but the are easily overlooked. Quake still features its super-actiony bloody shoot-em-up adventure that fans know and love. Featuring a huge cast of weapons to combat an even bigger cast of enemies, Quake is just as good as it ever was. Gun mechanics work perfect (as usual for id. They invented it!) and the autoaim helps the wiimote control to work even better. Powerups such as Quake dmage and the enviro suit help you to blast some mayhem to the monsters. 4 episodes and tons of levels and puzzles for each, this is a game that will hold you a good long time. Not as long as Doom, mind you (start minding!) but its still a long and fun time while your at it.
Well, very small review, but lets finish it up, ay?
Major Selling Points:
◄ Great Wiimote support
◄ An amazing classic, remade for the present
◄ A trip back to the 90's best.
Major Breaking Points:
◄ Aging classic
◄ Little to no story
Story: 3/5
Quake does actually have a subtle story about a decent story of a marine fighting the early Strogg in order ...by Published on June 12th, 2008 20:51
Ninja Gaiden II
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Team Ninja
Player: 1
Genre: Action Adventure
The famed Ninja that makes Kratos look like a teletubbie is back.
In Ninja Gaiden II, you are once again Ryu Hayabusa, the fastest, most badass Ninja killing machine ever to walk the earth. You are called one last time by CIA agent Sonia to put a stop to the archfiend's plot to rid the world of humans forever. With a host of melee and ranged weapons, as well as magic ninpo attacks, you set out to save the world yet again.
Story? Are you ****ing joking?
First things first: I'm not even sure there IS a story here. Actually a better way to describe what I mean is I'm not sure there is a story in this that is better then one in the Ninja Gaiden 2 for the NES. While the story makes sense and is technically a very average story (for an 8-bit game), the story never goes beyond a paper-thin make up of the original Ninja gaiden story. That basically explains it. The story is there, but is fit for, at most, a lame N64 game. Character development exists only in your imagination. The characters don't change at all, either in personality or anything else you can think of. The only possible "change" would be of Muramasa the shopkeeper, when he enters a room and mows down tons of spider ninjas. So beyond the WTF factor of that scene, Muramasa, like all other characters, is the same persona throughout the game. Although, the wacky plot does have some benefits to it. The plot actually successfully justifies the constant travel to cool and unusual places in the game. It takes you anywhere from a futuristic Tokyo to Venice to Hell. Interesting stuff there. Bland, generic, interesting stuff.
Damn Ninjas can look pretty good
Starting with characters. Character models are extremely detailed, from the top of their face plate to the bottom of their feet. Ryu Hayabusa is one of the best main character models of any game, anywhere. Sub-characters are spared no detail either. Everything about the characters is fantastic. Art direction looks like it came out of a 1960's comic book, but the game IS based on a rather old game after all. Take Genshin for example. Claws, pointy masks, electric swords--he's straight out of a Marvel comic book. The same goes with most of the enemies (and some allies, i.e. Sonia). Most all the bosses look like enemies that Superman would fight. That said, none of that is bad. They are so well designed and animated, 1960's or not, they look great. Fiends and common enemies aren't overlooked either. I defy you find an enemy that doesn't look great in the game. Onto animations. Each and every character's animations are easily the best graphical part of Ninja Gaiden 2. Extremely fluid animation for Ryu hayabusa, considering he has well over hundreds of different attacks. The care taken with each and ever attack is astounding; and it doesn't end with Ryu. Every enemy, every attack, every fireball they shoot looks extremely natural. if you want comparison, this beats Euphoria by a mile. Shying away from foregrounds now. Backgrounds are skillfully created, with a great deal of futuristic direction to most of the levels. Even the Dragon's castle level looks futuristic, despite being rather old. Now not everything is glorious with the backgrounds. Interaction with the backgrounds is non-existent. No blowing up walls, no breaking in doors, not even denting the walls. The only thing you can do to the background is smear blood all over it. Not noticeable unless your really looking, since Ninja Gaiden isn't about interaction of the backgrounds. Another problem is the framerate. later in the game when you fight possibly 30 ninjas at once, the framerate crawls, rendering the fight almost impossible to finish. However, for the most part the framerat holds up well. All in all it is a very nice looking game.
Excuse me, I do believe you have a scythe in your stomach.
Adrenaline pumping Rock-metalcore-japanese-techno stuff
The muzak in the game is perfectly fitting. Heart pounding rock style music with a hint of Oriental sounds and techno style electric rock are so fitting for a game this over-the-top. However, the music is ALWAYS a mixed bag- its either great, or its terrible. Seems to happen very often with Ninja gaiden, both II and Black. The rock music of Aqua capital is note worthy while the less-then-acceptable style of the music in the Dragon Castle is NOT-worthy(lol.) Beyond music, sound effects and voice acting is all thats left. Neither of them bad, neither really all so good. Sound fx can be argued as being well done, but every ninja dies with a similar grunt, and all the fiends die with the SAME grunt. the slicing and slashing of Ryu's weapons are easy on the ears, but everything else is simply average. not good, not bad. Voice acting is only good if you don't care for terrible ...by Published on June 1st, 2008 19:36
Because we all know exactly how it is, just to reinforce your state of mind about this game, since it hasn't really been released in Europe...
This is the reason I bought a Wii
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo in correlation with Game Arts
Players: 1-4
Genre: Fighting
Wifi: Yes
Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the third entry to one of the highest rated and best selling fighting games of all time, finally makes its way to the States, and soon Europe. Featuring a list of over 35 of your favorite Nintendo IPs, Brawl's maniacal furious fighting finally hits home. We all knew it was gonna be good, but just how good is it?
A story without a word
While Brawl never really does have a official(per-say) storyline, Adventure mode is a 8-10 hour journey that, for the most part, is the storyline. The story is such a jumbled mess that you can't help but just think "wow...are you joking? This is awesome!" In this story, you go through all 37 playable characters who are all taken straight from Nintendo's famous-franchise patent corner. They all learn, through one way or another, that they must help each other to fight off the invaders, to save not only themselves but all that they know. Now getting to the header--in this story, the characters never actually speak (with the exception of Sonic) which at first seems annoying, but once yo think about it, would Mario really sound like Mario if he was going over formulated battle plans in a high-pitched Italian accent? No. Yet, many of these characters do have voices, so the argument could be turned either way. In any case, the story really makes no sense, but it has to be that way in order to incorporate 1) People who live in a Mushroom(of all things) Kingdome, 2) People who live in a war of conspiracies and stealth, and 3) to incorporate people at one time lived as an animal in Mobius who live at the speed of sound. Get the picture? (It took me a while too) Oh, and this game has Wiinternet capabilities, meaning you can slash and bash your best friends over the Wiinternet. But be warned-- don't exceed 4 different consoles, or you will get lag like you've never lagged before. However, classic one-on-ones have narry a bit of lag, so should you limit it, you have no problem on the Wiinternet. Just be careful when you choose to play random players--games don't start till theres four, and that means massive lag.
Sonic and Dedede.
The Wii's Finest
With the exception of Super Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros. is the best looking Wii game out there. Character Models are absolutely splendid, and seeing many of your favorite Ninty characters for the first time in full 3D is really something else. These are the characters at the top of their game and style right here. The effects of each characters Ultimate attacks, from Mario's fire to Sonic's insanely fast Super Sonic speed all are done without a hitch, giving this game some of the best visual effects that Ninty has ever done. Animations, while fluid and work fine, could have been a little more...expressive. Explosive? its hard to find the right word, but they just seem too...overdone, seeing as almost all of Mario's (example) repertoire is straight out of the first Smash bros. This really isn't a problem so much as a fan annoyance. So far I've been ranting on about the great foregrounds and amazing effects, but what about the backgrounds? Good. But not great. Now, before you put a bullet into my head (Put the gun down please!) the backgrounds look fantastic. They are varied, and colorful and what not. But after playing each one a few hundred times, they get a little repetitive. And Adventure mode's backgrounds ARE repetitive, I'm not even gonna try to save them. But heres the deal--when your beating the crap out of the other players, who is gonna be looking at the backgrounds anyway? Ah, you see? Not really to big a deal anyway. Now, for the FOREGROUNDS of the BACKGROUNDS. The platforms and such are basically a bunch of textures, usually repeating textures(most things are...) but as far as the arena you fight in, they often change enough to keep the arena appealing to the eye for a good while while. Theres not really too much to say here...
Snap Crackle Pop. This time NOT rice crispies.
Sounds. Sounds in each fight are limited to what the player does, not so much the environments. Meaning, there is no ambiance or atmospheric sounds in Brawl.(honestly, its practically 2D, what do you expect?) In Adventure mode, the sounds are only varied by a margin from single-player, as very few enemies actually make sounds. The only real fighting sounds you hear in this game are those of the fighters themselves, pummeling enemies into the ground. While these are the only sounds, they were recorded and placed great. After a while, they do get a bit repetitive, but this game ...- Search DCEmu
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Catherine: Full Body’s English translation for the Vita