Ultimate Spider-man for PS2 – Retro Review

In my last blog entry, I gave a Retro Review of Spider-man: The Game, in honor of the recently released movie. In keeping with that id, I decided to dig into the crate-o-games yet again, and pull out another PS2 classic based on your favorite web-head: Ultimate Spider-Man!

To begin with, this game has aged REALLY well. The game is 7 years old, and plays really well!

One of the first things you will notice about the game, is the graphics. They are amazing! However, to be honest, Cell shaded graphics are always going to look amazing. Cell shaded games from 7 years ago, are going to look as good as cell shaded games from today. Still, the Cell Shading style fits well with the game, since it’s based on a comic series, and not any type of movie.

So, since I was impressed with the graphics, I tackled the controls. To my surprise, the controls were actually quite responsive. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, and could definitely use a little refining, but compared to the controls in Spider-Man: The game, they were a work of art. Sure, it needed some work, but I was able to play it with minimal frustration toward the controls.

The sound too was great! Everything from the voice acting to the sound effects helped add the comic feel to the game experience.

One thing that was nice, was the fact that your webs had to catch onto buildings in order to swing. This might not seem like a big thing in todays age, but the Spider-man games were notorious for just letting your webs stick to the clouds. You could swing all over the city, even if you were higher than any of the other buildings in the vicinity.

When all is said and done, this game is a treasure! It’s aged well, and upon replaying it, was actually better than I remembered it being!

Spider-Man: The Game – PS2 Retro Review

Cover art (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With the recent release of the Amazing Spider-Man movie, and the subsequent release of its video-game Tie-in, I decided to dig into my old game chest. This time around I dusted off an old Classic, Spider-Man: The Game. It’s based on the movie with Tobey Maguire.

When I originally played this game, I remember thinking how badly it sucked, and how horrible the controls were. However, over time I told myself, how I must have been mistaken. How could the game be as bad as I remember it, when everyone in the gaming community loved this game to pieces! Clearly, I was mistaken! Years have passed, and I never broke it out again, until now!

First, let me just say, that for an early PS2 game release, the graphics are astounding! It’s has lens flares, and isn’t even very choppy, which is unusual for a PS2 game as well. Overall, in terms of graphics, this game was incredible! True, the models weren’t that great, but they were passable.

The sound was great! How could it not be? Tobey Maguire and Willem Dafoe lend their voice talents to the game, to help give it that authentic spidey movie feel. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, they tossed in Bruce Campbell as the Narrator/tour guide, just to bump the game up to cult status. The music and sound effects were brilliant, and quite realistic. However, it was slightly dated, but again, I can’t stress this enough: It’s from the PS2 and is 10 years old!

That was the good stuff.

The controls were just as bad as I remember. I mean horrible! However, it should be noted, that most games released during that video game era had horrible controls. Still, this is worse than most of those. It could have been a much smoother experience, especially since the PS2 controller is virtually identical to the PS3 controller. I see no reason, why they couldn’t take the time to make a smooth control scheme like games have today!

In terms of difficulty, it wasn’t as hard as I remember it being, however the game is by no means a cakewalk. It is difficult, and at time frustratingly so, although I feel a lot of that has to do with the controls. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I would find myself stuck to a wall, clinging there, while being shot at.

Still, the game has some level of fun factor, especially if you are an avid spidey fan, and with the new spider-man reboot being out, it might be fun to flash back to the original.

The Elder Scrolls Online

Since the release of Morrowind, I have heard people stating how much they would love to play Elder Scrolls in the form of an MMORPG. Well, there’s good news for all those people! Your wait will soon be over. You see, Bethesda has officially announced the upcoming release of their MMORPG currently titled The Elder Scrolls Online.

For anyone who’s ever played an Elder Scrolls game, this should come as no big surprise. The game pretty much plays like a single player MMO to begin with, so it’s not a far leap of the imagination to see this taking form, In fact, I am pretty sure most fans of the series already knew one would come out eventually. To be honest, I am surprised it took this long.

The game has an estimated launch of 2013, however other than the year, that’s all I know! Which quarter? Not a clue! To be honest, there’s a chance it wont even make the 2013 release date, since games have a nasty habit of not meeting their initial release date, as anyone who is familiar with games will tell you.

There is a video floating around, but I didn’t post it, because it doesn’t show much! In fact, it doesnt show anything, but has a good narrator. I can also tell you that unlike Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, TESO will not be a console release. At least according to the websites FAQ, which states you will need a PC or MAC to play. This shouldn’t be a big surprise either, since MMOs rarely do well on a console(Though I prefer them on a console).

One thing that is important about this game, is how beloved the elder scrolls games are! How devoted its fans are, and how much attention to detail goes into an Elder Scrolls game! Let’s also keep in mind, just how massive a single player Elder Scrolls game is. Imagine how big an MMO version will be! Bottom line, I think TESO will be a real threat to WoWs dominance over the MMO market. I’m not saying it will be a “Wow Killer”, but I am saying it could potentially become one. Only time will tell.

Full Circle

I’ve said time and time again how crappy World of Warcraft is. I have remarked repeatedly about how stagnate the game play has gotten, and how everything is always the same. I have complained about the lack of any real story, and how RPG(Even MMOs) shouldn’t be just about grinding.

I have also applauded games like Star Trek Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online and most recently Star Wars: The Old Republic, and to a lesser extent EverQuest 2. Each of these games have polished the MMORPG experience, and brought story based gaming to the web. These games have an interesting story, and make you actually feel like you are part of this epic grandiose world. That’s what an RPG should be!

That being said, I have returned to World of Warcraft! Don’t get me wrong, the games I had applauded earlier, still have my utmost respect, however after the most recent cataclysm expansion pack, I felt world of Warcraft deserved a second look. It seems as if the game has gotten some polishing, and the newer content is actually VERY heavy story based. The Worgen story is extremely interesting, epic and most importantly fun!

Will I stick with WoW this time? Well, that all depend on how the rest of the game plays out. The Cataclysm has altered the entire game world, so almost everything is a new experience. I am eager to see all the changes, and for now at least, and probably at least for a few months, World of Warcraft will have my attention.

Saints Row: The Third Review

I’m not exactly sure how to review this game. Let me begin, by saying that I had never played the saints row games before. However, I saw some screenshots for Saints Row: The Third, and really wanted to check it out! Being the completionist that I am, I didn’t want to play the third, until I had completed the first 2.

I picked up all three games, and sat down for a huge Saints Row gaming marathon. The first one, I was quite impressed with, despite it being an xbox360 exclusive(I am not a huge fan of Xbox 360 anymore) It reminded me a little of San Andreas, except with better controls. The plot was good, it was long, and fulfilling, and I enjoyed it much more than I expected, in fact: I loved it!

Now, onto Saints Row 2, I played this one on the PS3, since as I said before, I am no longer a huge fan of Xbox360. The game looked a million times better than the original, the amount of customization was incredible, and while slightly over the top and ridiculous, it was still a good play! It retained the whole urban street gang aspect that I loved in the first one, and the over the topness was kind of cool in some respects, I finished it, quite pleased with it, and moved onto the Third!

The graphics in this one was so much better than the second that it blew me away! The customisation was vastly improved as well, at least in terms of character creation. True, the game lacked any good hairstyles, but other than that? Aces! In fact, I spent a good 40 mins just creating my character!

Once you get in the game, though you see right away how different the game is. It doesn’t FEEL like the past 2 chapters. It’s moved away from urban street gangs, and seems more like organised crime. As such, most of the clothes are flashy and suit like. In fact, your homies wear silk suits, and shaundi looks more like a model instead of the stoner she was in the second.

The game basically leaves the street gang behind, but keeps the slightly over the top feeling of the second and takes it to a whole new level! The game has absolutely NO shred of realism to it, in fact at one point you battle zombies! True, Zombies were present in the first and second game, but they weren’t major plot points, and unless you did certain things to bring dead people to life, you never even knew about it!

So, like I began this post saying, I am not exactly sure how to review this game. If I view the game as a sequel, it’s bad! It tears too far away from past games, it loses what little realism existed in the game, and turns the whole franchise into a joke.

However, if I review it on its own merits, and force myself to forget that it’s part of the Saints Row franchise, then it’s actually quite good! The over the topness is fun, and makes it difficult to know what’s going to happen next!

Basically, if you are expecting something similar to the previous games, then don’t bother with Saints Row: The Third. If you just want to have fun, doing some insane crazy stuff, then this is the game for you!

Interestingly enough, this is the first game that I would give an overall rating of both 1 Star(Poor) and 5 stars(Best) to.

Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock review

What’s the worst game ever released? Up until today I would have said E.T. for the Atari 2600, a game that I am sure most people who have had the chance or misfortune to play it, would agree is quite bad.

However, today I played a game that actually outbads ET in the stinker department! The game is Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock, and the game sucks so much ass that it isn’t even remotely funny!

Let me say up front, that I am a huge Doctor Who Fan! I have loved Doctor Who for as far back as I can remember, and while not a huge fan of Matt Smith‘s portrayal of the Doctor, I still watch it, because it’s Doctor Who! What I am getting at, is that there isn’t much they could do, that would turn me away from the good doctor.

A few years back, they released a series of episodic point and click adventure games, centered around Matt Smith’s Doctor and “Amy Pond“. I loved those games! So, when “The Eternity Clock” was released, I picked that up. Now, normally, I won’t touch a game unless it has a Demo, because I am a careful game shopper, but again, this was the Doctor, and I loved the other games!

First off, this game is NOTHING like the episodic series! So, if that’s what you are expecting, sorry to disappoint. The game plays kind of like a side scroller game, with some puzzle solving and stealth elements.

Allow me to go into further detail.

When I say Puzzle solving, I mean very basic puzzles, they aren’t creative, and just seems kind of forced. They don’t offer much of a challenge in of themselves, the challenge is working against an impossible time limit, that requires perfect execution of the puzzle. Normally not a bad thing in a game, except that you have to also realise that this game has some horrible controls! Aiming your sonic screwdriver is not very accurate, and many times will take a few tries to acquire a target, which takes away precious seconds, which is essential when you are working against a very demanding clock.

Now, I also said it had stealth elements, but let me clarify. Have you ever played Splinter Cell for the mobile phone? It’s very much like that. Crouch and sneak up behind enemies and disable them. Press up at darkened doorways to step into them and not get seen. run past the search lights that just go back and forth.

That’s the stealth im talking about. Basically the game plays like a bad cell phone game.

That being said, in terms of graphics? The graphics are horrible! Especially when compared to the years older episodic games! One would think they would have improved the graphics instead of worsening them.

The sound? That is actually pretty damn good! It has the actual actors reprising their characters roles, and the music is of course very whoish. Everything audiowise screams Doctor who!

Overall however, I would say the game is garbage, and just like ET, took a good IP and managed to turn it into a steaming pile. Bad graphics, horrible controls, ridiculous time requirements(Combined with the controls) and chock full of bugs!

What? I didn’t mention the bugs? Those are there a plenty, which adds to the frustration! Cutscenes won’t start when they should, thus causing the game to be unable to continue unless you restart, and the restart locations are few and far between! Not only that, but during the one player game, occasionally River will become unresponsive and just stand there, not follow or engage in any interactions. It’s almost as if this game wasn’t beta tested. Kind of like they rushed to produce a sub-par game, stuff it in a box, and say “Hey who fans! We have this wet turd that you will love, because it says Doctor Who on it!”.

On top of ALL this, the game developers are apparently quite confident that Who fans will eat up anything with Doctor Who stamped on it, that they plan on making this a series of games! This one being the first. Will they be as bad? I don’t know, to be honest, I won’t even give them a try.

One thing I did learn from this, is do not, under any circumstance buy a game without a demo, even when you are fairly sure you will love it!

Thanks for ruining Doctor Who for me Supermassive Games!

Related articles

• Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock review (digitaltrends.com)
• ‘Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock’ Review (gamerant.com)
• Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock (workgamesleep.wordpress.com)

Old Skool Adventure games

Guybrush Threepwood (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As I have said before in the past, I am not very big a fan of PC gaming. I prefer consoles for my gaming, and PCs for my web surfing, porn viewing and blog writing.

While I may prefer my games to be on consoles, that doesn’t mean that’s how it always works out. Unfortunately, many games are PC only, especially when it comes to MMORPGs, RTS games and Point and Click Adventure titles. That being said, Point and Click Adventure games, was how I got my feet wet in the gaming world. This meant during my early gaming period, I was a PC gamer.

If you have never played a Point and Click adventure game, and love playing puzzle games, then you really are missing out.

If however you were one of the millions of Gamers who not only played them, but loved them to bits, then you will no doubt have fond memories of the excitement you had when you finally figured out that you had to place a matchstick between the toes of the severed foot BEFORE spraying it with the deodorant, or some other such obscure puzzle.

If you are anything like me, then you might even miss those days of old school point and click adventure titles. Back when Sierra and Lucas Arts ruled the game market. When names like Roger Wilco, Guybrush Threepwood and George Stobbart brought forth puddles of drool.

For many, the period of Point and Click Adventure games, is considered the Golden Age of Gaming, and while I may not agree entirely with that statement, I do believe it to be a great era of gaming. A point in gaming history that I would love to relive.

True, Game companies still release an occasional Point and Click title, but they are few and far between. The titles that are released, just don’t have the magic they used to. The charm isn’t there, and the characters don’t reach out and grab us. Unfortunately the glory days of Point and Click Adventure titles have faded away, but that doesn’t mean they are gone forever!

There’s a small little gaming company located on the web called Wadjet Eye Games, if you haven’t heard of them, don’t be too surprised! As I mentioned, it’s a small company, but it does make point and click adventure titles, that Rival some of the classics. their best series in my opinion, is the Blackwell saga, which reminds me a little of The Ghost Whisperer, Except without the star power of jennifer love hewitt’s boobs.

Still, there maybe some whiners out there, who think that nothing will ever be as good as the classics, and for them, might I recommend AGDInteractive Studio. Sure, the company is responsible for providing the world with Al Emmo, but it’ also on the verge of releasing Mage ‘s Initiation, which looks to be quite cool!, which looks to be quite cool! Also, it has released several VGA remakes of classic Sierra games, which can be downloaded freely on their website! Remakes for Kings Quest I, II, and III as well as Quest for Glory II.

Know of any other games that have that old school point and click adventure feel? Leave a comment and let us all know!

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• Video – Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer on their new point-n-click adventure game (vg247.com)

Mass Effect 3 Mini-Review

Mass Effect 3 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Mass Effect games have become a staple in every RPG gamers library. It’s an epic sci-fi tale, where your choices and actions can have drastic, or minor effects. It’s an RPG where you have to make life or death choices. Choices that will not only affect that game, but future Mass Effect games as well.

The third Mass Effect game brings to an end the Sheppard Saga. The story of Sheppard and his crew aboard the Normandy. I say the Sheppard Saga, because I have a feeling that Bioware wont let this franchise go. Please note, the rest of this review may contain spoilers, however I will keep it to a minimum.

One of the biggest things I had doubts about was Mass Effect 3’s Online mode. It seems like EVERY game is releasing more and more online play dependent games. Games that don’t have a story, they exist for the sole purpose providing you with a game to play online to frag your friends and enemies.

This bothered me, because the Mass Effect games have always been about story. It worried me, that Bioware may shift the games focus to more online fragathon gameplay. They didn’t. Granted, the game is shorter than I had hoped, however it’s not due to the online play. The online play is basically a co-op game, where you play with others to secure documents, fights off enemies and so forth. It plays just like Mass Effect 3, but with more of an emphasis on combat, and absolutely none on cut-scenes and dialog choices. It’s a fun and smooth combat experience that fans of the ME series will no doubt love.

The actual game however was a bit of a disappointment. It is nothing like I expected. You choices seemed to have less of an impact on the universe than it did in past games. In fact, you would think that the game would have multiple endings, branching off from your major choices. It didn’t. There’s a total of two endings. Your final choice. Both endings are also a bit of a letdown.

OVerall I was disappointed with the single player story and choices, however the amazing graphics and fun online play made up for it. The game however is more of a rental than a buyer. As I mentioned, it’s short. So unless you are a hard-core Mass Effect fan, and NEED it to complete your collection, I highly advise renting it before buying it. If after you finish it, you still feel you need to own it, you can buy it then.

Related articles

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Star Wars: The Old Republic

Image via Wikipedia

It’s been awhile since my last blog post, and by awhile I mean a few months. Rest assured though, that Iam not dead. In fact, I am not even slightly ill, though I did have a rough day with a BBQ pit, but that’s a story for another time.

So, where have I been, I like to imagine that you are asking your monitor right now, and in response I will answer.

You see, that last few months have been a gamers wet dream come true. Games have been popping up left and right, trying to get on the shelves, so that they can make it under your tree.

These aren’t small games either. These are big name titles! We are talking about powerhouses here! Games like Uncharted 3, Modern Warfare 3, payday, Battlefield 3 and Infamous: Festival of blood. Huge titles, that I have been looking forward to, and thus had to play.

The biggest release though has got to be Star Wars: The Old Republic! Chances are you have heard of this, even if you aren’t into Online gaming. It’s a highly anticipated chapter of the old republic game series, and if you aren’t familiar with that aspect of the star wars era, I strongly urge you to pick up Knights of the Old republic.

The game is made by Bioware, which also made the popular Knights of the Old Republic games, as well as Dragons Age and Mass Effect, and as such is similar in some aspects to all of them! The game has moral choices that Bioware is famous for, as well as easy to navigate conversation trees.

Bottom line: Is the game good? This is a dificult thing to answer. Do you like Star Wars? Do you like Bioware games? Do you like MMORPGs? If you answered yes, to any of those questions, then the answer is: Yes! The game rocks on so many levels!

However, like in all MMORPGs you get Trolls and basically childish dumbasses who come onto the general chat and become an annoyance. They tend to type in all caps, about how the game sucks and how much better the last game they played was.  They like to belittle anyone who plays the game differently from them. Not leveling fast enough? You are a N00B who doesn’t know how to play the game. Level too fast? You are a cheat or a haxx0r. Best case scenario, is you are rushing too fast through the game. They want to control your playtime! You don’t PvP, then you suck. You RP, then you suck. Luckily though, the game has an ignore feature, that doesn’t seem to have a limit to the ammount of names it can hold.

The trolls are a common occurance in any MMORPG though, and shouldn’t push you away from an exceptional game though!

Another thing I should mention is, that the game is very story driven, which for me is great! since I play a game to experience a story, not to rush through and see how fast I can level up and gather phat lewtz.

The game is also fully voice acted. Meaning, that every NPC you talk to will speak to you! Some don’t speak galactic english though, so you will need to read subtitles. However, this full on voice acting helps imerse you into the star wars universe like never before.

Personally, I think this is the best MMORPG on the market currently. Sure, there are other good ones, but this title has made me forget all about them. The player base leaves a lot to be desired though, however the server I ended up playing on, might have just attracted more dicks and douches than other servers. Maybe, that’s what I get for choosing a server simply because it had Darth in the name.

Am I surprised that I liked it? Honestly, I am! I thought I would detest this game! Simply because of my past experiences with Star Wars: Galaxies, which has got to be one of the worst games of all time! I was afraid The Old Republic was going to be similar to that. Thankfully, it wasn’t.

This is NOT a review, simply an endorsement. If this had been a review, I would have discussed the companions, the fact that you get your own ship, and I would have went on about how you can fly to iconic planets, Like Hoth and Tatooine. I however did not, because this is not a review. It’s just me, saying you really should try this game out. Even if you have a crappy older computer. One of the most amazing things about this game, is the fact that it will run on most machines. If you have a semi-modern computer, odds are you can run it. Maybe not at the highest setting, but you should still be able to run, and run it smoothly at the lowest setting.

Related articles

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Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Review

Image via Wikipedia

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a Silent Hill game released on the Wii, PSP and PS2 game consoles. It’s labeled as a re-imagining of the original Silent Hill game, but I want to be really clear on one thing. The game is nothing like the original Silent Hill game. In fact, it plays nothing like a Silent Hill game at all! If you changed the name of the game and characters, you wouldn’t be the wiser that it was somehow connected to the Silent Hill Franchise.

Now, just because the game is different, doesn’t mean it sucks though! In fact, I found the game to be quite enjoyable! Right up until the end, which was a huge letdown! However, every minute leading up to that letdown was great experience, and one that I don’t regret.

Now, at first I was disappointed. I was hoping for basically a remake of Silent Hill, since I have been wanting to play it again, but utterly detest the original Playstation. So, when I began playing and saw, that aside from some of the names, it had nothing to do with the original game, I felt a tinge of disappointment.

After awhile though, that all Changed. I began looking at the game as a standalone title, and not tossing it into the Silent hill pot, and found myself enjoying it on its own merits.

One of the features of this game, is that there is absolutely no combat! So, if you are expecting your typical “shoot at things that make you jump” type of Survival Horror, you should probably look elsewhere. What this has instead of combat however, is much more unique and interesting! It has “Creature Chase” sequences. When the world will freeze over, and the monsters will come out. The game then switches to a frantic chase game. You have to run from the monsters until you reach a safe area/puzzle room.

So, is it good or bad? Well, as I said, it’s nothing like Silent Hill, so if that’s all you are craving, then steer far away from this game! If however you want a survival horror game that’s different, I highly suggest you check this out!

So, if it’s not like Silent Hill, then what is it like you ask? I suppose the closest game I can think of, would be similar to Alan Wake, except good! It’s basically what Alan Wake should have been! The similarities are too numberous to count. Sure, I have always said Alan Wake reminded me slightly of Silent Hill, however Alan Wake and Shattered Memories have more than just small similarities, at least in my opinion.

The part of Shattered Memories that stands out most for me, is a scene where you are asked to color in a picture of a house. The idea of coloring isn’t very outstanding, true. However the results of that coloring session is! After you Color in the picture, the scene shifts to a house. The house is colored however you colored it in the photo! Right down to the color of the mailbox, and the color you choose for the husband and wifes clothes.

In terms of graphics, this game is amazing! Sure, it may not be able to stand up to Alan Wake, or the God of War games, but keep in mind, this game is on the Wii, PSP and PS2! These aren’t exactly systems known for the best of graphics! In fact, the PS2 is a last gen console! You can hardly expect it to live up to current gen console standards. So, taking into consideration that game consoles limitations, the games graphics are amazing!