dunpeal2064 wrote:I finished Halo 3 and 4 recently with my co-worker. He is a huge fan of the series and wanted to show them to me, since I never played past the 2nd game.
Check out Reach. It is by far the best story of all the Halos. I still like the first the most, but Reach is a close second.
I second this. People who play Halo for the online multiplayer love to discount this one as a mediocre COD ripoff, but the singleplayer experience is the best since CE.
prfsnl_gmr wrote:There is nothing feigned about it. What I wrote is a display of actual moral superiority.
BoneSnapDeez wrote:Bard's Tale > Might and Magic > Wizardry
(the first M&M game came out in 1986? for some reason I thought the series was older)
I would be interesting in hearing you explain why since many fans of the genre seem to think exactly the opposite! (We can take it to the WRPG thread if you like)
Looking for a cool game? Find it in my blog! Latest post: Often, games must be difficult http://eriktwice.com/
dunpeal2064 wrote:I finished Halo 3 and 4 recently with my co-worker. He is a huge fan of the series and wanted to show them to me, since I never played past the 2nd game.
Check out Reach. It is by far the best story of all the Halos. I still like the first the most, but Reach is a close second.
There is also ODST which is pretty interesting I like the atmosphere during the night sequences.
Reach is next on our list, already have it here waiting!
On topic, I just beat a game called Cosmophony. It is a Tempest/Frequency/shooter hybrid that contains 5 levels. The game is technically not a music game, but every movement you make happens to the beat of the music, just by design. It creates this very unique feeling as you start to learn the stages, and due to tying in movement and sound, it naturally gives the player something to keep their movements in tune with, creating muscle memory and improving your skill at the game much faster than normal.
It is also one of the hardest games I have beaten in a long time. Stages 1 and 2 are nice, fun, relaxing. Stage 3 really starts to push you, and this is probably the climax of the game, where sound and reaction really become one. If you even MAKE it to stage 5, you are in for hell, absolute memorizer, reflex-testing hell.
In 2007 Sony needed a killer app and Naughty Dog did their best to deliver with Uncharted. It's basically Tomb Raider with a dude instead of a lady, with a lot more focus on gunplay and a lot less focus on puzzles. Really, this game is so utterly obsessed with third person shooting, it makes up a good 75% of the 9 hour experience. This would have been more enjoyable if the gunplay was actually exciting and had some special moves and fun weapons. That's not the case, this is the most barebones vanilla cover shooting you can imagine, and yes it gets very boring very fast.
Luckily the other 25% of the game where you are exploring beautiful vistas and dank caverns, is much more engaging. As for "puzzles", this game's puzzles are utterly simplistic and apparently made to challenge the mind of a three year old. What else do we have going on here? Really nice graphics, which are still nice in 2015 and must have been truly amazing to see in 2007. Other than that? A treasure hunting story that starts out enjoyable but falls apart at the end (including Nazis, a cursed mummy, and mutant monsters). Nathan as a protagonist is someone I find kind of boring, I'd much rather play as Sullivan to be honest.
The first Uncharted is not the best directed game I've ever seen, considering its budget some of the design decisions are baffling. Would it have been so hard to have the aiming reticule turn red when you have a clear shot on an enemy? Why can't you just pick up ammo automatically instead of having to push a button to do so? Why is a 9mm pistol more effective than an M4 carbine? Why can I shoot a shirtless guy three times in the chest with a shotgun and the guy just keeps on coming? Did I mention the enemies are complete bullet sponges?
To be totally honest, Uncharted was a big deal for its time because of its graphics. I doubt this gameplay was ever all that great, and it certainly isn't riveting now. However, the seeds of something possibly great were planted here. And if reviews are to be believed, the next game in this series gets everything right that this one got wrong. As for this game, if you're looking for a braindead summer fun action movie, Uncharted hits that note pretty closely. But if you're seeking that most elusive of all treasures; a well directed and truly fun AAA game, you'd best chart another island than this one.
I've played all three up to the final big battle in 3, where it was a combination of me sucking and getting a little burned out on the series (I played them all in succession in a matter of weeks). I like not love them. They're very cinematic. You feel like you're playing through a movie and I like that here since I think it's done well.
As you said the gun combat is extremely vanilla and there are a LOT of sections in the series where it goes on about 3x longer than it should. Really puts a damper on everything. Also the regenerating health system doesn't really jive when you're a normal dude in a t-shirt instead of a space marine. The climbing bits look nicer than they feel if you're the one actually playing. The visuals make it seem like you're freeform climbing, though underneath the hood the game has a very specific path it wants you to take.
Overall I was please with these. Was new to the series so asked for the double pack and 3 as Christmas gifts. Ripped through them and enjoyed, though they could be a couple of notches better and really great.
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Snatch1414 wrote:Also the regenerating health system doesn't really jive when you're a normal dude in a t-shirt instead of a space marine.
I forgot to mention how dumb that was... I mean, bullets whiz by and bounce of Nathan and he literally says "oww, ohh geez" like a gnat bit him. But I guess you could write that off as intentional comedy.
The thing about the damage system I thought was utterly retarded however, was the full screen graphical effect that occurs. As you are shot up, colors in the screen start to fade away, and the more damaged you are the closer to black and white the graphics become. On top of that, the screen becomes more and more blurry as you near death.
Here's the thing. That's bad game design. If your player is already having difficulty fighting in a battle, and the player is nearing death, shouldn't you help them to succeed? In Vanquish for example, everything slows down giving you a chance to make better tactical decisions in slow motion.
But in Uncharted, the graphics devolve in such a way that the battle you're already losing becomes even harder because of forced visual impairment. Making the graphics black and white makes enemies harder to see in the foliage, and blurring up the screen makes it more difficult to aim or find cover. In that sense style trumps gameplay only serving to aggravate the losing player rather than aid them. A good director would have not allowed this to be the case. I'm not surprised that Naughty Dog let Amy Hennig go after Bruce Straley proved he could do better with directing the series.
1. Grandia (PlayStation) 2. Jungle Hunt (Xbox - Taito Legends) 3. Jungle Hunt (Atari 2600) 4. Jungle Hunt (Plug & Play - ColecoVision Flashback) 5. Donkey Kong (Atari 2600) 6. Donkey Kong (Intellivision) 7. Donkey Kong (ColecoVision) 8. Bubble Bobble (NES) 9. Side Arms: Hyper Dyne (PSP - Capcom Classics Collection Remixed) 10. 1941: Counter Attack (PSP - Capcom Classics Collection Remixed) 11. Ys: The Ark of Napishtim (PSP) 12. The Ninja Kids (Xbox - Taito Legends) 13. Neutopia (TurboGrafx-16) 14. Golden Axe Warrior (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection) 15. Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 (Dreamcast) 16. Growl (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2) 17. Arabian Magic (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2) 18. Dungeon Magic (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2) 19. Gekirindan (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2) 20. Ys II (Saturn - Falcom Classics II) 21. Darius Gaiden (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2) 22. G Darius (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2) 23. Giana Sisters DS (DS) 24. RayStorm (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2) 25. Mr. Do! (ColecoVision) 26. Beauty & the Beast (Intellivision) 27. Boxing (PlayStation 2 - Activision Anthology) 28. Crystalis (NES) 29. Dragon Warrior (NES) 30. Faxanadu (NES) 31. Tombs & Treasure (NES) 32. Kirby's Dream Land (Game Boy) 33. Kirby's Adventure (NES) 34. Kirby Super Star (SNES) 35. Hoshi no Kirby 64 (Nintendo 64) 36. Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS) 37. Dig Dug (Wii - Namco Museum Megamix) 38. Phoenix (Xbox - Taito Legends) 39. Phoenix (Atari 2600) 40. Pleiads (Xbox - Tecmo Classic Arcade) 41. Kangaroo (Atari 2600) 42. Final Fantasy Adventure (Game Boy) 43. Gorf (Atari 2600) 44. Richard Scarry's Huckle and Lowly's Busiest Day Ever (Pico) 45. Mickey's Blast Into the Past (Pico) 46. Secret of Mana (SNES) 47. Psycho Soldier (PSP - SNK Arcade Classics 0) 48. Genshi-Tou 1930's (PSP - SNK Arcade Classics 0) 49. Datsugoku: Prisoners of War (PSP - SNK Arcade Classics 0) 50. SAR: Search and Rescue (PSP - SNK Arcade Classics 0)
51. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) 52. Tic-Tac-Toe / Shooting Gallery / Doodle / Quadra-Doodle (Channel F) 53. Robot War / Torpedo Alley (Channel F) 54. Pinball Challenge (Channel F) 55. Elevator Action (Xbox - Taito Legends) 56. Elevator Action II (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2) 57. Altered Beast (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection) 58. Congo Bongo (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection) 59. International Soccer (Commodore 64) 60. Out of this World! / Helicopter Rescue! (Odyssey²) 61. Alien Invaders - Plus! (Odyssey²) 62. Ice Hockey (Atari 2600) 63. River Raid (Atari 2600) 64. Frankenstein's Monster (Atari 2600) 65. Ys II (Famicom) 66. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (Turbo CD) 67. Gremlins (Atari 2600) 68. Frogs and Flies (Atari 2600) 69. Ice Climber (NES) 70. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (PlayStation 2) 71. Ghosts 'n Goblins (PSP - Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded) 72. Ikari Warriors (Atari 2600) 73. Donkey Kong Junior (Atari 2600) 74. Donkey Kong Junior (ColecoVision) 75. Ys: Memories of Celceta (Vita) 76. Guevara (PSP - SNK Arcade Classics 0)
Known as Guerrilla War in the US.
This is pretty crappy honestly. It's a top-down run 'n' gun that manages to be just as sloggy and brown as Ikari Warriors. The controls don't translate well to the PSP, and to make matters worse you can't see the final boss unless you go into the options menu and switch the view to "vertical mode." Oh, and this "vertical mode" doesn't present the game screen in a vertical orientation with black bars or artwork on the side (like this emulated version of Xevious here). No, instead the game continues to fill the PSP screen, so you're forced to rotate the system 90 degrees and play with your hands oriented above and below the screen. What a mess.
