Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Game Preview: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Yeah, here it is. A teaser for the new Sherlock Holmes game Frogwares and Focus are going to launch in Q4 2010 (oh, man, just the end of 2010?!). Anyway, as Frogwares states on the forum which I will not link to right now because I accidentally closed the tab and I don't know the address anymore, this will be Sherlock's most dangerous investigation ever. Wow! Now I'm really anxious to find out what's it all about. Hopefully we'll see a new trailer soon, because this isn't satisfactoy. I mean, too little detail is given here.
Monday, June 21, 2010
A few words on Shrek Forever After
This is a kids' movie and game, therefore I won't criticise it too much. The point is, the film is your basic Shrek comedy dose. It's good to hear Mike Myers as Shrek and Eddie Murphy as Donkey again, and it's AWESOME hearing Shrek's roar!
OK, so my impressions on this film is that it's a fair movie. I saw a lot of negative rants on the internet stating that this is the worst movie in the whole series... I don't know, guys, really now, this is just a kids' movie, don't take it so seriously. It's an ordinary comedy. I just sat back and laughed.
I guess the source of these negative reviews is the fact that this movie is slightly different from the others. This time there's no Prince Charming as the archenemy and Far Far Away is not the good ol' happy kingdom everyone used to know. Besides, it only refferences Shrek 1, making it a prequel of Shrek 2 and 3, but wait! There are Shrek babies, so it can't be a prequel!!! AGGGHHH!! I don't get it anymore! This movie simply states that Rumpelstilskin wanted to make a deal with the queen and king of Far Far Away to save Fiona from her curse (the curse plot ended along with the first movie) in return for Far Far Away. They're about to sing the contract, when a soldier comes and tells them Fiona has already been rescued.
OK, this movie's story goes like this: Shrek misses the times when he was a scary ogre living in his good ol' swamp and scaring people the whole day. Everything culminates at his babies' birthday, when he breaks down. Rumpelstilskin hears that and proposes a contract to him. Therefore, Shrek, without knowing, gives the day he was born in on one more day as a scary ogre. The rest of the story, I'll let you find out by watching the movie.
The game is a stupid RPG beat'em up style. How characteristic for Activision. But wait! Instead of talking about the game, I'll rant about Activision's fuck-ups next time! Oh, yeah, they fucked up Marvel! Well.. not quite. Not exactly fuck-ups, just a few bad games made by them. Two games. Shrek the fourth and Spiderman Web of Shadows. Two in one. Or should I review even more? We shall see. Later. For now, The Pirate Reviewer's signing out.
OK, so my impressions on this film is that it's a fair movie. I saw a lot of negative rants on the internet stating that this is the worst movie in the whole series... I don't know, guys, really now, this is just a kids' movie, don't take it so seriously. It's an ordinary comedy. I just sat back and laughed.
I guess the source of these negative reviews is the fact that this movie is slightly different from the others. This time there's no Prince Charming as the archenemy and Far Far Away is not the good ol' happy kingdom everyone used to know. Besides, it only refferences Shrek 1, making it a prequel of Shrek 2 and 3, but wait! There are Shrek babies, so it can't be a prequel!!! AGGGHHH!! I don't get it anymore! This movie simply states that Rumpelstilskin wanted to make a deal with the queen and king of Far Far Away to save Fiona from her curse (the curse plot ended along with the first movie) in return for Far Far Away. They're about to sing the contract, when a soldier comes and tells them Fiona has already been rescued.
OK, this movie's story goes like this: Shrek misses the times when he was a scary ogre living in his good ol' swamp and scaring people the whole day. Everything culminates at his babies' birthday, when he breaks down. Rumpelstilskin hears that and proposes a contract to him. Therefore, Shrek, without knowing, gives the day he was born in on one more day as a scary ogre. The rest of the story, I'll let you find out by watching the movie.
The game is a stupid RPG beat'em up style. How characteristic for Activision. But wait! Instead of talking about the game, I'll rant about Activision's fuck-ups next time! Oh, yeah, they fucked up Marvel! Well.. not quite. Not exactly fuck-ups, just a few bad games made by them. Two games. Shrek the fourth and Spiderman Web of Shadows. Two in one. Or should I review even more? We shall see. Later. For now, The Pirate Reviewer's signing out.
Assassin's Creed II
I have few words to say about this game, as there's not that much to discuss, but to praise.
First of all, the graphics were improved and the setting changed. Now the Animus takes the player into renaissance Italy, where you control Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a young man who travels around the country to avenge his family, killed by conspirator templars. Eventually, Ezio becomes an Assassin and learns about the Pieces of Eden. His archenemy is Rodrigo Borgia, also refered to as "The Spaniard".
The enemies are, again, city guards and personal guards of the high noblemen you have to kill. This time, though, the game is not linear, as the first one was. I mean, in part one all you have to do is go to the city, investigate a bit (like informer challenges, pickpocket or interrogation) and then proceed with the killing), but here the ways you get to your targets and kill them are more elaborate. Plus, I had a hard time passing the Assassins' Tombs levels in order to obtain the six seals necessary to open the grating that guards the armor of Altair.
And now we come to Dominic, as I forgot to talk of him. This time he actually escapes from Abstergo along with Lucy, who takes him to a secret warehouse, where she and two other guys working against the templars get him to enter a home edition of the Animus and control the previous subject's ancestor, Ezio.
The gameplay is slightly modified, as you get new weapons (even a pistol, which surprisingly sucks), and you can FLY! Yeah, you can fly in renaissance Italy. That's because you're a friend of Leonardo Da Vinci and he lets you use his flying machine for a certain purpose.
The music.. well, let's just say Jesper Kyd doesn't disappont us.
What else? The story is very elaborate. I also like the finale, where Ezio... well... let's not make any spoilers and get straight to Dominic, who now has Assassin powers and defeats a bunch of Abstergo soldiers who come after him. I have one little problem here. WHY THE FUCK DID THEY ATTACK HIM WITH PIPES?! WAS IT TOO FUCKING HARD TO GIVE THOSE GUYS GUNS?! THEY'RE IN THE FUCKING 21st CENTURY! Well, the lack of guns can be explained by the fact that they were now allowed to kill Dominic, but still... a stun gun was too hard to get? That way they only got their ass kicked. Also, the Ubisoft guys did an interesting thing here. The end credits scroll while you fight the Abstergo guys so you won't get bored. Nice!
Another thing I want to add is that they finally decided to add subtitles to the game, EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE DISABLED BY DEFAULT!!
Ok, I'm done. The conclusion: this game is COOL!
Let's see the judgement!
GAMEPLAY: 9,5/10 (for the annoying action camera)
SOUNDTRACK: 10/10
GRAPHICS: 10/10
STORY: 10/10
OVERALL: 9,8/10 (or 10/10, but not perfect)
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Assassin's Creed 3 Trailer
The new Assassin's Creed game, called "Brotherhood" is due to be released sometime this November, as you will see by watching the trailer below, released yesterday at E3 2010.
Friday, June 11, 2010
EA Games Fuckups!
Once in a while, a game developing company reaches it's heights - 90% of it's game are great, enjoyable creations that people praise and honor all over the internet and beyond. But... soon after this happens, a flow of shit floods the company and they become unable to release anymore good games! Check out EA GAMES FUCKUPS below to convince yourself I am right.
A lot of old EA GAMES productions are great. I played them some time ago on an older machine and enjoyed them unlike what happens with the newer games, which I play on a better PC and therefore get better graphics and stuff. I'll try and cover a few examples of good game series turned bad below.
1. Harry Potter
The first three games were great for the time. I mean, the characters were kids, so the games were supposed to be fun and easy to play. I liked all three of the games, and I suppose they each deserve at least 8/10.
Game four was the worst in the whole series. Turning the franchise into a stupid RPG (this has become a bad habit today for a lot of game creators), the game only allowed you to do missions, fight magical creatures and bosses. A lifebar doesn't exist, your HP being measured in numbers (100 being maximum and 0 minimum). You can't explore Hogwarts, which is a major letdown. Eventually I got to the lake part which I couldn't pass, and since I didn't want to use a trainer I gave up playing the piece of shit called Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire Videogame. Also, to be noted that the game FORCES you to use 800x600 resolution. What a shitload of fuck! It's hardly worth a 5/10 thanks to the fact that it's a Harry Potter game.
Harry Potter 5 is, by far, the best of the series, because despite the overhead RPG style view that was kept, the graphics were improved, the story was better told, and you could explore Hogwarts once again. It was fun making fun (lol) of Umbridge and causing destructions and stuff. The ministry of magic part is too easy, as even a five year old won't die at the final battle, but overall this game is 9/10. Part six is another disappointment to me, because EA tampered with the designs and now the characters'eyeballs are getting out of their heads. Also, the final part isn't well developed anymore, as you don't get to walk through the cave with Dumbledore (as I imagined you would), but instead all you do is fight the Inferi from the island. Anyway, part 6 is worse than 5 but way better than 4, so it gets a 7/10 from me.
2) Need for Speed
Need for speed is a great racing series. I will start my review with Need For Speed Underground, because before that they were simply racing games without a storyline. I have no complains, the graphics are getting better and better until the new NFS's! I totally hate Need for Speed Pro Street because the races are moved into a closed circuit. I mean, it's a god damn computer game! Nobody gives a shit that you do illegal street races and cause deadly crashes! Still, the game isn't that bad and it gets an 8/10 because it's got great graphics.
Now for the worst NFS of all times! Need for Speed Undercover! Oh my god! That game is simply uncontrollable. The car controls are a joke! The graphics suck even with all the options set to maximum. The only good thing about it is an innovation. They made movie-like cutscenes. Like real pictures filmed with a real camera. Cool, right? At least it gains one point for this piece of shit. Let it be a 6/10 from me.
Need for Speed Shift once again goes into racing circuits, and as far as I've heard it has great graphics and gameplay, but I have to play it myself before I state any opinions.
3. FIFA
The FIFA series is a football simulation game. What makes it great is that EA got an official license from FIFA to make these game, therefore stoping the competition from making a better game than theirs because they can't use the original team names and players! Jeez! This is bullshit!
Anyway, I don't want to talk to the games in this series separately, as there's nothing special to say about each particular one. EA tries to bring innovations in every new game and that's how they fuck it up. For instance, in FIFA 08 some controls are changed (you switch players with Q instead of S by default). Then they add Be a Pro - a game mode in which you can play as one single player and not control the whole team. In FIFA 09 and FIFA 10 the controls were so fucked up that there were tutorials posted all over the internet, which showed how to set controls to be just like in the previous games. There's so little I have to rant about these series, so I'll just stop now.
4. The Godfather
Now we get to the real piece of shit! The Godfather series! The first game was acceptable. You start off by creating a character and dress him up, and then you do missions that cover the first movie. Driving cars, shooting guns, taking over rackets and finally becoming DON. The game earns a well deserved 8/10.
The Godfather II is the masterpiece of shit that made me write this whole EA Fuckups thing in the first place. The graphics are a joke, the car controls are a joke, it's like they make fun of players. At least the shooting is great, and therefore the multiplayer is the same. Now for the story. It seems you are already a DON, but you play as ANOTHER character, so it doesn't make sense. How did you become DON in the first place? Before it took me a whole game to reach this rank and now I simply have it?! I think it was better fighting to achieve the rank of DON than being already DON at the beginning of the game. The game is a piece of shit. You can hire guys that become your family members, take over properties and make sure they aren't conquered by enemies. So the game barely gets a 6/10.
In conclusion, EA fucked up with it's recent releases. Of course, now you'll argue with me, bringing Burnout or The Sims as good examples, but those are just a few titles. So there are good and bad sides. I only spoke about EA's bad sides here, so I guess the good ones are still to be spoken about. But not now. I have other plans next.
A lot of old EA GAMES productions are great. I played them some time ago on an older machine and enjoyed them unlike what happens with the newer games, which I play on a better PC and therefore get better graphics and stuff. I'll try and cover a few examples of good game series turned bad below.
1. Harry Potter
The first three games were great for the time. I mean, the characters were kids, so the games were supposed to be fun and easy to play. I liked all three of the games, and I suppose they each deserve at least 8/10.
Game four was the worst in the whole series. Turning the franchise into a stupid RPG (this has become a bad habit today for a lot of game creators), the game only allowed you to do missions, fight magical creatures and bosses. A lifebar doesn't exist, your HP being measured in numbers (100 being maximum and 0 minimum). You can't explore Hogwarts, which is a major letdown. Eventually I got to the lake part which I couldn't pass, and since I didn't want to use a trainer I gave up playing the piece of shit called Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire Videogame. Also, to be noted that the game FORCES you to use 800x600 resolution. What a shitload of fuck! It's hardly worth a 5/10 thanks to the fact that it's a Harry Potter game.
Harry Potter 5 is, by far, the best of the series, because despite the overhead RPG style view that was kept, the graphics were improved, the story was better told, and you could explore Hogwarts once again. It was fun making fun (lol) of Umbridge and causing destructions and stuff. The ministry of magic part is too easy, as even a five year old won't die at the final battle, but overall this game is 9/10. Part six is another disappointment to me, because EA tampered with the designs and now the characters'eyeballs are getting out of their heads. Also, the final part isn't well developed anymore, as you don't get to walk through the cave with Dumbledore (as I imagined you would), but instead all you do is fight the Inferi from the island. Anyway, part 6 is worse than 5 but way better than 4, so it gets a 7/10 from me.
2) Need for Speed
Need for speed is a great racing series. I will start my review with Need For Speed Underground, because before that they were simply racing games without a storyline. I have no complains, the graphics are getting better and better until the new NFS's! I totally hate Need for Speed Pro Street because the races are moved into a closed circuit. I mean, it's a god damn computer game! Nobody gives a shit that you do illegal street races and cause deadly crashes! Still, the game isn't that bad and it gets an 8/10 because it's got great graphics.
Now for the worst NFS of all times! Need for Speed Undercover! Oh my god! That game is simply uncontrollable. The car controls are a joke! The graphics suck even with all the options set to maximum. The only good thing about it is an innovation. They made movie-like cutscenes. Like real pictures filmed with a real camera. Cool, right? At least it gains one point for this piece of shit. Let it be a 6/10 from me.
Need for Speed Shift once again goes into racing circuits, and as far as I've heard it has great graphics and gameplay, but I have to play it myself before I state any opinions.
3. FIFA
The FIFA series is a football simulation game. What makes it great is that EA got an official license from FIFA to make these game, therefore stoping the competition from making a better game than theirs because they can't use the original team names and players! Jeez! This is bullshit!
Anyway, I don't want to talk to the games in this series separately, as there's nothing special to say about each particular one. EA tries to bring innovations in every new game and that's how they fuck it up. For instance, in FIFA 08 some controls are changed (you switch players with Q instead of S by default). Then they add Be a Pro - a game mode in which you can play as one single player and not control the whole team. In FIFA 09 and FIFA 10 the controls were so fucked up that there were tutorials posted all over the internet, which showed how to set controls to be just like in the previous games. There's so little I have to rant about these series, so I'll just stop now.
4. The Godfather
Now we get to the real piece of shit! The Godfather series! The first game was acceptable. You start off by creating a character and dress him up, and then you do missions that cover the first movie. Driving cars, shooting guns, taking over rackets and finally becoming DON. The game earns a well deserved 8/10.
The Godfather II is the masterpiece of shit that made me write this whole EA Fuckups thing in the first place. The graphics are a joke, the car controls are a joke, it's like they make fun of players. At least the shooting is great, and therefore the multiplayer is the same. Now for the story. It seems you are already a DON, but you play as ANOTHER character, so it doesn't make sense. How did you become DON in the first place? Before it took me a whole game to reach this rank and now I simply have it?! I think it was better fighting to achieve the rank of DON than being already DON at the beginning of the game. The game is a piece of shit. You can hire guys that become your family members, take over properties and make sure they aren't conquered by enemies. So the game barely gets a 6/10.
In conclusion, EA fucked up with it's recent releases. Of course, now you'll argue with me, bringing Burnout or The Sims as good examples, but those are just a few titles. So there are good and bad sides. I only spoke about EA's bad sides here, so I guess the good ones are still to be spoken about. But not now. I have other plans next.
Assassin's Creed Review (part 1)
It's summer. School's over.. and that means more time for games! Hell yeah! So what came trough my twisted mind while I was enjoying a can of beer on my couch, watching South Africa vs Mexico in the World Cup opening match? Yeah, you're right. I decided to review another game. This time it's a series of game, so I'll divide the review in two parts. Part two should be coming later (maybe next week), as I haven't finished Assassin's Creed 2 yet. So, let's get to business.
Assassin's Creed is a third person action adventure game, developed and published by Ubisoft. The main plot involves a man, Dominic, being held by a corporation and forced to see his ancestor's memories in order to unveil a certain event that happens in the final memory. I know it sounds complicated but I really don't feel like spoiling this game and any detail I give makes it easier for you to realize what happens next. Your character is Dominic's ancestor, Altair, which you control via some device called "Animus". Altair is a high-ranked Assassin, until he fails a mission because he disobeys the Assassins' rules. This is when he is turned back into a novice and sent by Al Mualim, the master, to perform nine assassinations in order to recover his rank. The rest of the story and the conclusion you can find out by playing the game.
The gameplay is difficult for someone who doesn't play games too often and is not used to pressing a large number of buttons simultaniously. I have a problem with the controls, and it repeats itself in Assassin's Creed 2 as well. THEY USE FUCKING SYMBOLS TO TELL YOU WHAT BUTTONS TO PRESS! JEEZ! What's the point of telling me the button to press if I have to memorize each button's symbol anyway?! Another minus is that the game doesn't have subtitles, making it tough for a non-english speaker to understand the storyline. T
Second of all, aren't you supposed to stay incognito and kill your targets by using stealth? I mean... one of the three Assassin rules clearly states an Assassin has to act silent and remain anonymous. I can guarantee that at least once or twice you will get caught by guards. If this happens you'll have to fight a shitload of bastards until you can run away and become anonymous again. It's ridiculous. If for instance I attack a guard on the ground and I stay there to fight him, more and more will come! It looks as if I killed all the guards in the damn city, but then other ones appear.
I also want to criticise the Dominic parts when I'm left to wander around the lab and eventually go to bed. All I do is walk around like a fucking prisoner in his cell. At some point I read emails from laptops, and then I go to bed. That's all. There's one point in the game when the doctor stands with the back at you, looking out the window. You MUST go behind him and steal his pen at that moment. It's your only chance to be able to read his emails. I think the Dominic parts should have been taken care of much better. I mean, why can't he do what he does in the end earlier?! It could have been his task to decode.... But no! He reads fucking emails before going to bed! Isn't there any privacy in this game?! I guess not.
I was talking about the controls a bit earlier. I'm kinda angry they didn't let the Prince of Persia controls. Those were better. Anyway, I got used to these ones too, so it doesn't make any difference to me right now.
The graphics are great. I ran the game maxed out, at the resolution of 1280x1024 (I don't want to go higher because this is my screen resolution and I don't think my PC will be able to handle high resolutions like 1920x1080). The fact that the game is in widescreen is great as well. Makes me think I'm watching a movie.
Graphics: 9,5/10
Soundtrack: 9/10
Gameplay: 8,5/10 (for the lack of subtitles)
Story: 9,5/10
OVERALL: 9,12/10
Assassin's Creed is a third person action adventure game, developed and published by Ubisoft. The main plot involves a man, Dominic, being held by a corporation and forced to see his ancestor's memories in order to unveil a certain event that happens in the final memory. I know it sounds complicated but I really don't feel like spoiling this game and any detail I give makes it easier for you to realize what happens next. Your character is Dominic's ancestor, Altair, which you control via some device called "Animus". Altair is a high-ranked Assassin, until he fails a mission because he disobeys the Assassins' rules. This is when he is turned back into a novice and sent by Al Mualim, the master, to perform nine assassinations in order to recover his rank. The rest of the story and the conclusion you can find out by playing the game.
The gameplay is difficult for someone who doesn't play games too often and is not used to pressing a large number of buttons simultaniously. I have a problem with the controls, and it repeats itself in Assassin's Creed 2 as well. THEY USE FUCKING SYMBOLS TO TELL YOU WHAT BUTTONS TO PRESS! JEEZ! What's the point of telling me the button to press if I have to memorize each button's symbol anyway?! Another minus is that the game doesn't have subtitles, making it tough for a non-english speaker to understand the storyline. T
Second of all, aren't you supposed to stay incognito and kill your targets by using stealth? I mean... one of the three Assassin rules clearly states an Assassin has to act silent and remain anonymous. I can guarantee that at least once or twice you will get caught by guards. If this happens you'll have to fight a shitload of bastards until you can run away and become anonymous again. It's ridiculous. If for instance I attack a guard on the ground and I stay there to fight him, more and more will come! It looks as if I killed all the guards in the damn city, but then other ones appear.
I also want to criticise the Dominic parts when I'm left to wander around the lab and eventually go to bed. All I do is walk around like a fucking prisoner in his cell. At some point I read emails from laptops, and then I go to bed. That's all. There's one point in the game when the doctor stands with the back at you, looking out the window. You MUST go behind him and steal his pen at that moment. It's your only chance to be able to read his emails. I think the Dominic parts should have been taken care of much better. I mean, why can't he do what he does in the end earlier?! It could have been his task to decode...
I was talking about the controls a bit earlier. I'm kinda angry they didn't let the Prince of Persia controls. Those were better. Anyway, I got used to these ones too, so it doesn't make any difference to me right now.
The graphics are great. I ran the game maxed out, at the resolution of 1280x1024 (I don't want to go higher because this is my screen resolution and I don't think my PC will be able to handle high resolutions like 1920x1080). The fact that the game is in widescreen is great as well. Makes me think I'm watching a movie.
Graphics: 9,5/10
Soundtrack: 9/10
Gameplay: 8,5/10 (for the lack of subtitles)
Story: 9,5/10
OVERALL: 9,12/10
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