Ok, so I love the original God Of War title, the size of the game, as well as its looks hooked me. This time around in GOW2 I wanted to be suitably impressed again, and I have been by the look of the game, and the additions to its gameplay, however...
Check out the Red Steel and Secret of Mana ones.
Very well written too! *coughs*
Weirdly enough, the big sites didn't want to buy this, so here it is for your reading pleasure / pain.
In short, the game ruled and it looks bloody gorgeous. Not surprising as it works off Lindburg hardware aka Next Gen shizzle.
As for videos, they're linked here and will be further added to later...
Note: This was originally written for 1up and thus geared toward a different style of writing (i.e., more professional) than what I normally write for this site. So it may not be what you expect. It also has two short paragraphs on the Preview 2006 show, which was shit and hammers home that the Arcades in London are truly a dying business.
Courtesy of an in-depth 'experiments in Fable 2' talk at GDC London. It sounds utterly awesome, mainly because their attitude to the game seems to be to improve on current system and innovate as much as possible. As a fighting game nazi, I was impressed with the solution they came up with for the fighting engine. I was also annoyed as I had similar concepts for a personal fighting game a while back, but am not yet in a position to be able to realise them. Such is life.
By the way, this is LONG. Well worth a read, but get a cup o tea. Also, once 1up puts up the MP3 of my 1 on 1 with him at GDC, I'll update this bit again. I found Pete M to be a very genuinely passionate person in regards to making games and he quite clearly plays them or just reads a shitload about them. Either way, he genuinely gives a shit about making great games and for that, I give him the respect. [tips hat]
And here's one from 1up, written by someone who isn't a caffeine-plugged over-enthused fanboy:
1up >>>
Videos >>>
Gunpey and Lumines on various machines. No Rez 2. Other sites take note; this is how features on game dev studios are supposed to be made.
No doubt you'll have your own opinion on this. (Feel free to write a comment). But this is still a nice video of nostalgia:
http://www.nothingtoxic.com/media/1151666308/The_Top_Ten_Video_Game_Weapons
E3 God of War 2 hands on and words with Sir Corey of Barlog.
I had a play of the demo - most delicious - and then got to sit down with Barlog to talk about things we'll see in the game later down the line.
Meanwhile, here's a walkthrough of the E3 demo, for those who can't be arsed with reading the enclosed impressions:
http://gamevideos.com/video/id/4299
Set in the future with spaceships, aliens n shit.
For me, the best things about Mass Effect are being reading people's INCREDIBLY DETAILED body language cues to pick the right thing to ask/say in relation to in-game goals, the expert construction of the in-game environments and the richness of atmosphere. Overall, the game thus far is nothing short of stunning. True next gen. Mo' inside...
Think of it as a compilation of ideas and moves from Super Mario Bros, Super Mario World and Super Mario 64, wrapped in the level structure of Super Mario Bros 3 with some new ideas and a proper multiplayer mode. Also, if you hold L, R and press A when selecting your game, you can play as Luigi.
If you haven't played a solid 2D platformer in a while, this is for you.
This one was everything a drooling Nintendo fanboy could've wanted. Mario, Zelda and Metroid all in one show. A Starfox on DS announcement and further details on the Wii - like its persistent 'always on' net connection so you can have updates be auto-downloaded to your machine while you sleep.
I only got to play three titles - Super Mario Galaxy, Super Monkey Ball and Sonic: Wild Fire - but I did manage to get impressions from friends to share on the ones I didn't.
The verdict so far on the Wii controller is that the simple games like Wii Sports (snigger) work well, but Zelda and Mario become unneccessarily overcomplicated, which doesn't quite fulfill the goal for which Wii was intended.
Fucking awesome. A collaboration between Take 2 - publisher of two of my other favourite E3 games, Prey and Bioshock - Union Entertainment - a game production house in Santa Monica, and the Shaolins at Starbreeze, who previously spawned the awesome Chronicles of Riddick.
So far, The Darkness looks great, has some interesting gameplay ideas and is possibly the first game I've seen where you feel as if you're a powerful monster, stalking your prey. At least, that's the vibe I got from watching it be played out by Jens and the dude with the awesomely long wizard's beard.
I think this is my 'not able to play it but can appreciate it by watching a playthrough' game of the show.
Sony.
Oh boy.
Many in the business see them now as how Nintendo was back in the early N64 days, making stupid decisions rooted in the hubris of being market leader.
[videos and screen links now enclosed]
In a nutshell, Counterstrike with a fantastic control scheme, a beautifully executed sense of weight and a real sense of brutality. Utterly awesome. More inside...
[gameplay videos now added]
This is one of my candidates for E3 game of the show. It's a close run between this, The Darkness and Super Mario Galaxy for me.
Mo' below. Full impressions sandwiched in the screenshots
[New impressions and media links at base of page]
Thanks to the magic of friends with connections, we got snuck into a lovely presentation of Assassin's Creed on Next Gen consoles (currently being pimped as PS3 exclusive - timed or otherwise).
First impressions were definitely favourable. More in the link.
I was told 'Legend' is a return to how Tomb Raider was back when she was actually raiding Tombs. I'd seen some media on the game and was starting to get hyped until SCi bought Eidos, as I've worked with SCi and know that some of their production staff have a distorted opinion on gaming audiences - i.e., they seem to be under the belief that they're fucking thick. So after Stew and Johnny told me it was great, I decided to give it a chance...
A bit harsh I reckon, but he does make some good points. I'm playing through it right now and despite hating the combat, the inconsistent visual language, the crappy logic/wannabe Hollywood plot and some of the control decisions, it's actually pretty enjoyable and some of the puzzles I've encountered are solid - I just wish there were more of those and less of the rest.
By Tom of Eurogamer. I agree with him most of the time. His Xbox 360 game reviews seem broken however. Kameo defeinitely deserves more than he gave it.
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=63692
By me. So I trust these reviews, though note I have to make them 'lad mag' friendly so they may not read as good as my other ones. And no, I don't hate Black, I just sound pissed off if I've hyped a game up and it hasn't lived up to it. It's still a fun and good game. Oh, and there are also some annoying typos. They don't sub my copy there, which is annoying.
http://www.bravo.co.uk/reviews/games.html
No really.
http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2006/03/today-is-international-outrun-2006.html
And here's some badass video love:
http://games.kikizo.com/news/200603/131.asp
I'm glad they fixed the crash mode and took out that stupid green bar thing. It's heartwarming to know that Criterion listens to the people. Let's hope that means they'll improve on the level checkpointing and the superman-style mortality of the enemies for the next Black game.
http://spong.com/feature/10109352
Asbolute genius.
http://ukresistance.co.uk/pics3/godfather.wma
Meanwhile, here's UK:R's take on the whole shambolic thing. No wonder Coppolla disowned it before it had a chance.
http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2006/03/godfather-review-winner.html
Looks like the game's getting consistent above average scores.
http://1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3148267&did=1
It's hit 79% on Gamerankings. Just in case you're too used to stupid official mags and the Idiot Gaming Network's rating system, 79 out of 100 is a pretty good score.
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/920890.asp
Mr Steve Boxer. I often find his stuff to be trustworthy. I sincerely hope the Xbox 360 version of Black has a co-op mode and fixes an exploit I've been hearing about, regarding interupting reload animations.
http://spong.com/detail/editorial.jsp?eid=10109337
Nails it on the head. Too much walking around is a definite problem and the environments are very bland in terms of interactivity.
http://eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=62921
Oh yes. Details on multiplayer, weapons, single player features, vehicles, minimum PC specs, possible Xbox 360-only features...
http://games.kikizo.com/news/200602/037_p1.asp
Your video games suck
http://yvgs.com/Main_Page
And Angry Gamer
http://angrygamer.ausfootballreview.com/
I must say I agree with this wholeheartedly.
http://spong.com//detail/editorial.jsp?eid=10109318&snapBack=t
Yup. I was wrong about this one too. It's actually a lot of fun. The art style's still knob however.
They're more positive about it than I was. I still say it's crap.
http://1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.offset=0&cId=3145806
Basically, if you can't be arsed reading, don't waste your money because it's f*cking sh*te.
For those who like 'variety' in their jostling materials.
http://www.adultgamereviews.com/
At last! Been waiting bloody months for this, and now it's here...
Some of the games I forgot to report on at E3 are given a mini breakdown here. They include Genji, Hulk, Kong, Ghost Recon 360, 24: The Game and the aptly named Gauntlett: Seven Sorrows (though I could swear I counted way more).
Be warned - review contains spoilers. If you want to know whether I reckon it's worth having or not, skip to the last paragraph of 'The Verdict'.
