Games of all Kinds

I figured instead of spamming the heck out of the social thread with stuff that no one else cares about, I'd start a thread about games. RPG/PC/Console all sorts of games...Yahtzee if you're over the age of like 180 and it's what gets your participle dangling (Thank you Mauler for that new little phrase).

I know there are huge gaming threads out there in the nether regions of this board but I'm mainly concerned with this little corner of it.

First things first, yes there is an important playability factor in ever game that some diehard fans think should never be forsaken and would choose 8bit characters over the amazingly beautiful games based on what I can only call the "Pong" neurosis. However, I want to point out that Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny is an absolutely gorgeous game. The cut scenes are stunning and there are playable parts of this game that are just amazing. It doesn't use the analog stick for movement which is a little odd at first but it actually makes sense after awhile. So, in rating this game:

Visuals: 10/10
Playability: 9/10
Story: 9/10

Also, for those of you who have not played Onimusha, it's now considered a Playstation classic and can be picked up very cheaply. (Oh and the best part is if you finish the game on Normal difficulty in Onimusha you get to play the game wearing a big panda suit..how's that for irony)

M

 

Hey, good idea starting a thread like this. I like it. And on that note, I'm gonna toss up some reviews of games I've been playing of late. Nothing much, just quickies:

Buffy (XBOX) - Lots of fun. Haven't been abel to put it down for the last couple days. Maybe I'm biased because I'm a fan of the show, but I'd recommend it.

Graphics: 8/10
Controls: 9/10
Story: 8/10
Overall: 9/10

Star Wars Bounty Hunter (NGC) - Cool enough. I'm just sick of games that give you limited continues - hasn't this been pretty much abolished? If not, it should be.

Graphics: 8/10
Controls: 8/10
Story: 8/10
Overall: (guess what) 8/10

James Bond in Nightfire (NGC) - Tons of fun. A little too easy, but still, it's always pretty cool to be James Bond for a bit.

Graphics: 9/10
Controls: 8/10
Story: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

The Two Towers (PS2) - Very cool, but the combos kinda suck and later levels aren't so much testing your skills as they are your button mashing abilities. So many enemies on screen, you can't even see yourself at times. I also thought it was very cool that they inlcuded Fellowship stuff in here, too.

Graphics: 9/10
Controls: 7/10
Story: 9/10
Overall: 8/10

So, I guess I've been playing some pretty good games lately. Oh, I guess there's one bad one.

Hitman 2 (PS2) - It's a really cool concept, but the execution is painful. The AI of the enemies is amazing and the abilities of your character are feeble at best. I can't use the damn fiber wire without them starting to shoot at me. This ones going back.

Graphics: 8/10
Controls: 4/10
Story: 7/10
Overall: 5/10

Okay, I'm done now. Oh, and Marcy, the name of the Japanese mall down south is Mitsuwa - it's on Algonquin Road in Arlington Heights. I can't remember the name of the toy store within, though.

Jeff

 

I finally beat the Hornberg Courtyard level in The Two Towers last night (ok, so I didn't give up gaming, I'm just doing it in moderation now ). Now I can go back and replay any of the other levels at my leisure. I beat it with Aragorn and now I need to go back and beat it with Legolas and Gimli so I can get to the secret levels.

Beautiful game. The movie to cgi transitions are very well done, and the character models all look great except for Gimli, his face seems a bit messed up. Fun to play, lots of nice hacking and slashing. Also, the story is presented well.

Graphics: 7/10
Story: 8/10
playability: 8/10


I had rented Onimusha a year or two ago and had meant to buy it. I finally did a couple months ago after it became a "greatest hits" game. I haven't finished it yet though, I got stuck on one of the puzzles. I'll have to try that again, I'd like to see Onimusha in a Panda suit!

 

I didn't think the controls in Hitman were all that bad. I got kind of good at sneaking around to wack people with the wire. My only problem is I somehow sucked at stealth. Every mission I completed had my performance rated as "Mass murderer." How was I supposed to know the maid wouldn't pull a shotgun on me? Plus, I wanted to see if I could wear her dress. I couldn't. I still have a lot to go in the game because I started before Christmas and got several games for the holidays, so... it got back burnered.

So now on to a review:

MechAssault for the X-box. It's from the same series as Mech-Everything Else. I haven't played one of these games since MW2 because I'm mostly a console gamer. The glaring problem with MechAssault is that you cannot customize your mech. The developers wanted to create a game so that console folks could pick it up and play without dealing with complex situations like overheating and the like. I guess we're a dumber lot.
Still there are enough Mechs to find one that you will like. And the best part is of course, squishing the infantry. The single player campaign won't take too long, depending on how skilled you are, and it doesn't get repetitive. The scripting, voice acting and story are decent enough... for being about driving around in big robots and smashing things.
The main focus of the game is the online aspects, which I have yet to try. I wanted to become skilled before getting hosed by some 13-year-old with nothing better to do with his or her time. Like many X-box Live games, it promises to feature downloadable content like new mechs and missions. This is supposed to start in late January.

Graphics: 8
Controls: 9
Story: 7
Overall: 8

Dwayne

 

There's nothing quite like blowing your friends into a fine red mist. And for that visceral thrill there is no finer game out there than Unreal Tournament 2003, or Unreal Championship for the X-Box. The sound of bloody chunks of meat hitting the ground makes it worth the 45 bucks you'll have to shell out to experience the carnage.

To really enjoy the blood-fest you'll need a pretty beefy computer...at least 750 mhz cpu, 128 MB RAM, and a 32 MB video card. And that is the bare minimum. More is better.

Online play is the strong point here with the four major food groups: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Domination, Capture the Flag, and a new fifth game called Bombing Run. Its basically football with guns...use your imagination.

Heres the low-down.

Visuals 10/10 Beautiful graphics!
Playability 8/10...Dozens of different maps.
Story 2/10...Killin' for the sake of
killin'. There is a story
there somewhere, but I don't
remember exactly what it is.
Controls 6/10...Having more than ten fingers
would be helpful.
Overall 7/10...not mathematically
accurate, just my opinion.

Happy Fraggin'

 

Yeah, I should point out too that my overall scores are not averages, just my overall impression of the game.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I had fun with the first mission of Hitman 2, but from then on, things got to be very pain in the assish. Maybe I'm too much of a twitch gamer, but I couldn't stand how slow the dude moves onscreen.

At any rate, I beat Buffy yesterday. Very cool, but a few of the end levels are painful (especially jumping challenges... if it's not Mario, IMO, jumping challenges suck). At any rate, I hope they're planning a sequel.

Dwayne/Marcy, have you had a chance to play Shenmue II yet? I kinda liked the first one, and was wondering if this one held up.

Jeff

 

Super Monkey Ball 2 for the GameCube is a headache waiting to happen. No, it's not because of the monkeys running around in monkey-sized hamster balls. No, it's not due to the dazzling background graphics. It's because of the levels getting harder and harder as you try to figure out how the hell to get that monkey from the start of the level to the goal at the end within the alloted time limit.

Control can get frustrating because of the effect of physics upon the ball, but it is rather realistic in not allowing the ball to stop on a dime. Realize that you're not really moving the ball, but actually tilting the floor instead. That brings back memories of the old Labryinth game where you had to get the silver ball through the maze without dropping into the myraid holes on the board.

The variety of modes in the game do make this interesting too. You have the Story (a new addition not in SMB1) and Challenge modes which run you through a variety of levels while you collect points. In turn, the points then allow you to unlock the fun stuff... The Party Games!

The party games are a blast. You can have 1 to 4 players in them, and each has varying options. There are 12 different games, with six of them unlocked at the start: Monkey Fight, Monkey Race, Monkey Target, Monkey Bowling, Monkey Golf and Monkey Pool. These are the games that were in Super Monkey Ball 1. You unlock others by getting the points from story and challenge mode, like I'd mentioned before, and the variety of games expands even more.

Graphics: 9/10
Control: 7/10
Story: Since it's only a minor part of the fun of the game, it gets a 1/10

Overall: 6/10 for the Story portion of the game, 9/10 for the Party games.

 

Jeff, you beat Buffy already? I can't seem to get passed the Dreamer's World. Any hints? I have a tendancy to get smacked by one of the pendulums, or fall trying to avoid them. Once I made it throught that part only to fall off of one of the rotating platforms in the next gauntlet. Oh, by the way, you suck.


Tried Baulder's Gate yet?

 

I got Hitman 2 for the PC for Christmas. I'm far from being a big time Gamer, at least, not since my all night SNES benders in college, but I'm having a pretty good time with it. I think I'm only mission 5 or 6 (infiltrating the party...haven't started it yet)...but I find myself returning to the first mission with the newly aquired sniper rifle and enjoying playing god from the mountain side a little to much I think. I think I shot every single person one time and was classified as a pychopath and was quite happy about that. Anyway, I won't bother rating it.

Other than that, I mostly only play Galatic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns. I've always been a fan of the Sim City Series, but the build up a city then blow stuff up, particularly other people's cities idea hooked me back with Deadlock & Deadlock 2...then add the Star Wars element and basically I haven't bothered with any other games.

 

Man, now I suck... this manner of harshness doesn't suit you, Catie

Anyway, the Dreamer's World is the absolute worst part of the game. The pendulums aren't that bad once you figure them out. The first one, you just jump over there once it starts heading back to the right and then while hanging from the platform, shimmy all the way to the left, then climb up so the pendulum doesn't hit you. Then you jump across to the safe platform and face the entrance to the room. You have to jump to the platform in front of you when the pendulum starts to head back to the left and then jump again right away and grab onto the platform in front of the door.

The floating platforms, I find work best when you wait for the first one to flip all the way back toward you, then jump on it and just kinda spaz jump to the rest. If you wait on the middle one too long, it'll boot you off, and the end one is another flipper, so as soon as you set foot on the first platform, just keep jumping. Then prepare for a tough fight... in fact, prepare for a bunch of tough fights and one more pain in the a$$ level after that one.

I started playing Baldur's Gate on Sunday and so far I think it's really cool, but the bar wench was obviously designed with the pasty, single gamer guy in mind. I enjoy her animated jiggling breasts and constantly swaying hips. I'll post a review when I've played more, but so far it's a ton of fun - well, except for shooting arrows, but I think I'm getting the hang of that.

Jeff

 

Once you finish it Jeff, you should unlock Drizzt as a playable character.

 

Ahh Baldur's Gate (I always wondered if that was named for the Norse God Balder because Drizzt's goddess Mielikki is actually the Finnish Goddess of Forest so I'm thinking Salvatore sort peruses assorted Mythologies and snags what he likes but I digress) is a great game. D and I played it co-operatively. I also noted the jello-like quality of the Barmaid and was sure to point it out repeatedly to a somewhat embarrased Dwayne. What stunned me in the game was not the good storyline or the great graphics (though there is a beholder and I hate them..I hate them a lot) but the water. If you've met the barmaid Jeff you've gone into the cellar and you've seen the water. If you didn't notice it, step in it. It's amazing..then again, I'm all about the details. Oh that and the fact that if you take off all of your armor you can run through town in your unmentionables and no one notices, which is sort of fun if you do this and sing the "I see London, I see France.." song with no other purpose than to annoy your SO.

In order to get Drizzt, you have to beat the gauntlet and THEN beat the game on the hardest level to be able to use Drizzt as a playable character. It's a great game and I await not so patiently for then next installment to come to any console.

graphics: 8/10
Storyline: 7/10
Playability: 9/10
Overall: 9/10 (just for the embarrasing jiggle factor I tortured Dwayne with..)

M

 

Ah yes, the water... I actually commented on that to my friends while i was playing and made them all come and watch me run through the water. Probably the most impressive water animations I've seen on a console (well, excluding FFX)

Jeff

 

okay umm i know this game probably isn't on many people to play list but my friend becca has been playing alice and is having problems with the ummm i think it's called the room of doors or something. yes i know it's the nc-17 of the gaming world but does anyone have any tips i can pass along??
thanks!

 

Okay, just finished Baldur's Gate this morning (after long marathons of playing - very addicting game). I'm very impressed.

Graphics - 9/10
Controls - 8/10
Story - 7/10
Overall - 8.5/10

I had a really good time with it and I love cliffhangers, so I can't wait for the sequel... hopefully they'll allow character crossover. That'd rule

Jeff

 

I just bought Metroid Prime tonight and have been playing it for the last hour. Wow. Nice graphics. Cool design. It's Metroid, but 3D and first person. I like it so far.

 

I got that for Christmas Dawn. I played it once, only because I've been distracted by Bounty Hunter and now the PS2.

I didn't make it off the first ship because I was too busy looking around at EVERYTHING. It's a gorgeous game.

 

Suikoden III

Well we've started playing this game and if you've played other previous versions of this game it has a similar flavor to the others. Better graphics of the 3D sort and for this game there are way way way more options for story play. There are three main character perspectives plus you can play several of the 108 start characters in their story or at least that's what I'm thinking.

We've racked up a whopping 7 hours and we just started the second chapter of the first character. Basically unless you have a lot of free time (like February) this might not be the game for you. Lots of side quests and stuff to do so of course I'll sacrifice February since it's a short and boring month anyway.


I'm not going to give it a score until I finish it but it's a definate time sucker.



M


EDIT: Oh one more thing, if you do get this game, be prepared for a slightly off mapping system. It's just not...right in some respects.

 

Marcy, were you still thinking about having that trash talkin' video game mega-battle gauntlet thingy that you were talking about on the YaBB board?

 

Hey Marcie, in Suikoden III, are you able to import your data from Suikoden II?

That was a big pull in Suikoden II because it had the same import function; you got the Hero from Suikoden I in your party in addition to an extra quest and a rare item.

 

Apparently indeed you can pull in your data from Suikoden II because it asks you if you'd like to load Suikoden II at the start of the game.

Sadly however, it would seem that we'd erased your SII data from our playstation memory cards...so in fact I know you can load game data, I'm just not sure what game data can be loaded.

As for the S-party, yes indeed we will still be doing the S-party as soon as we move from our dinky little apartment and into a bigger facility in the spring. We'd considered having it at this apartment however, we can hold at most 3 people other than the two of us and that's just not any good at all.


M


EDIT:
PS- However if I had to guess what you loaded from your previous Suikoden II game it would be that your Suikoden II hero would become the anchient hero call the Flame Champion in Suikoden III however, that's just a guess. I could be wrong altogether.


And I will add after racking up a few more hours that it's my style of RPG..lots of story, lots of side-quest, lots of things to do, lots of characters. So far, two thumbs up.

 

Okay, I just finished Kingdom Hearts today (after an extended break from it - Atlantica just pissed me off too much) and Atlantica aside, this was a truly fun game. It wasn't as great as Final Fantasy VII or X, but definitely on par with VIII or IX. I'd recommend it to anyone, mainly because I'm not a fan of Disney at all and I absolutely loved most of it. But I do have a new-found hatred for "The Little Mermaid"

Graphics 9/10
Gameplay 8/10 (Atlantica gets a 2/10)
Story 8/10
Overall 8/10

I think I may pick up Suikoden III tonight, though... Or Morrowind for the Xbox. Which would you recommend more Wampas? Or, maybe I'll just wait for .hack/Infection to come out in a couple weeks.

Jeff

 

Okay, I cannot stop playing Suikoden III. Literally, I wake up..play. Come home from work..play. Not a game for everyone but it's so a game for me.

The thing is it has the Trinity system. I've played games where you play 3 different characters and you run into each other and this happens as this character and wow you run into as the next character. But this game has 6 different storylines, 3 main storylines and 3 sub-storylines which to me is just very cool.

As for Morrowind it's a great game you have the most freedom in any game I've ever played in terms of map access. You can basically do what you like when you like and ignore what you want. The only problem is in the main city of Vivec (Yes I remember that name) the Xbox stops and says, "Oohh no, I don't think so." I'm not sure if they fixed that problem but I sort of doubt it. Also, after you get past a certain stage everything is easy in terms of whaking things and finishing missions because you rack up so much time and points.

At this point, I would pick Suikoden...because I'm some sort of addict. I need professional help...soon.


M

 

Okay, I picked up Suikoden and I'll probably play into the wee hours of tonight, but I'll let you know what I think tomorrow.

Also picked up Mechassault based on Dwayne's review. Man, I need a life...

Jeff

 

Ok, I just bought a PS2 in December and I am totally addicted to Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. If you met me ever, you would probably never guess I would like a game like that. It brings back memories of the days when I always used to beat my brother on the Sega system and he would get all upset. Those were fun times. Anyway...I am trying to unlock the character of Kitana in the krypt and I am not able to find her. Has anyone here played this game and would know which coffin she would be in?