So most people out there complain solely and most about X Invasion 2 and that fact it takes up more than a fourth of a gig on your iDevice. While this is definately annoying and in my opinion totally uncalled for, I think we can all agree we can look deeper into the game and see if it’s even worth the sit down and play through on it.
Score for the good guys! the f-22 alone makes this game worth it.
First of all this game comes currently with the pricetag of free this alone gives it a free point from me, believe me I won’t kick a gift horse in the mouth. Despite many of the errors and mistakes that X Invasion 2 has it seems to have a lot of good in it as well. The graphics while a bit chintzy are really decent for the itouch/iphone playing field and the controls on it are very good. It responds to what you want it to do even if it is unrealistic with real flying in the fact that in real flying you can’t turn nearly as easily. The system does work fairly well especially as a beginner in the simulator world.
Lock on the target missiles away!
My suggestion with this game is to download the huge file to your computer because a lot of devices have been crashed by trying to download it straight to your device. Then sync your ipod afterwards. Play the game get used to it and then I would say clean the space off your device because it does take up a lot of space and does have a lot of flaws in the game it can be finicky and does get old very quickly, but who doesn’t love to just shoot up some aliens sometime. If you enjoy this sort of game or would like to have a nice easy one to toy with this is a great game to pick up.
Overall 6/10
I think everyone would agree with me that some of the most inventive games of the past year and a half would include World of Goo and Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure. As a gamer, I have been wondering when 2D Boy and Kyle Gray (of Henry Hatsworth) would be making something new. So when the press release came out that they are joining forces, it just made me happy inside. While no games have been announced it seems like it could lead to some great things. From the press release in the classic style of World of Goo:
“For years, giant corporations have been hurt by scrappy indie studios hogging the limelight with titles like Crayon Physics Deluxe, Braid, World of Goo, and Super Meat Boy. To those tiny, un-American, indie developers, Tomorrow Corporation would like to deliver a message: Your reign of terror ends… Tomorrow! ”
Over at www.tomorrowcorporation.com you can read the full press release and we can speculate now as to what platform will be used. I would like to see some more high quality Wii-ware myself!
I don’t know about anyone else, but I absolutely loved playing Command & Conquer: Red Alert. It really was one of the early defining games in the Real Time Strategy games. Playing with the Allied and the Soviets or the GDI and the NOD it just brings back so many memories. Well here is the new, preparing for upcoming Command & Conquer 4 EA has released the old classics as freeware. So go fire them up on the oldest computer you can find and get some free gaming love! www.commandandconquer.com/classic
So after Apples big announcement I have ponder the abilities of Apple and questioned their decision. Honestly I don’t think we fully understand what was released, Apple/Steve Jobs has the habit of releasing Devices, ie iPod, and iPhone, that people think that is what everyone else is doing but somehow they dominate the market. I think it finally dawned on my this weekend who the iPad was perfect for and why they are going to sell. Its for your parents and grandparents, for those who don’t understand why their computer slows down or why they get viruses from email. This is for those you just want to do internet, email and for 9 bucks they can do a little word processing.
So I recently walked into the local Wal-Mart with the intent of buying a long deserved game and had a hard choice to make for a DS game between Mario and Luigi: Bowsers inside story, and Kingdom hearts. Apparently I picked up Kingdom Hearts in the end when I decided I wanted something a bit different. I don’t regret the choice because this game was beautiful! Though the gameplay may have lacked a little bit or the things seemed to drag and become a little monotonous when I hit one of the cut scenes it became totally worth it. Never have I seen such great art on the DS. I was suprised I wasn’t looking at console graphics on this little handheld. The gameplay itself could tend to get ugly, but I could tell how much I thought moments of this game utterly priceless.
First the bad, frames were choppy when a lot of stuff happened on screen I saw fps drop to nearly half of what it was normally running and I knew this wasn’t right in the least. The other thing about this game is that as you go on from day to day I found myself completely lost granted I haven’t gone through all of the kingdom hearts series, but I found myself begging for more plot and somehow not getting it at all. In fact as the game ended I found myself asking what the heck just happened I knew I’d liked the story, buttt I wasn’t quite sure what had exactly happened in it. Also as you progressed in the game I got fed a little bit of story then got sent on four or five mindless missions that didn’t reveal anything. They felt were more like time fillers in the story and I found it hard for me to go back and complete things one hundred percent when I wasn’t learning anything more about the characters and was doing the exact same thing constantly, going into a world beating a few heartless only to come back. Over and over and over again or my all time least favorite mission, go collect random items then come back. I felt like I was really wasting my time even though for some people that could really be a upside to the game to me it made the game drag on longer than it should have.
Last, but most definitely not least the good, as I mentioned above this game has a stellar story as they fed me a little bit of story I asked for more and more and more to the point I really didn’t wanna go back and find the last treasure chest in mission 42 I just wanted to head forward in the game. Though the story is weird and quirky and I’ll admit the slightest bit cheesy it reminded me of the Square Enix I love with deep multi faceted charactered and weird off the wall events that made absolutely no sense at all, but somehow was amazing! Don’t get me wrong it could have been better but it definitely was a good reminder of the good ole days of gaming when it wasn’t perfect by far, but it was a great attempt at an amazing thing. I also will commend Sqaure for creating a different approach at stats and items, the game works by assigning a different block shape to each power or ability or level then slowly as your beat missions you unlock slots in your stat board and you are allowed to assign to abilities to the new empty tiles. It may not be perfect but I sure liked it it was fun and enjoyable and a fresh take on the old cut and dry RPG. Along with this system hours of replayablity were worked into this game by making it so you can hop back to any mission you have completed and do it over to earn challenge awards to get your cooler stronger gear for your character, while not something will be doing all the time any time soon I’m sure I will pick this game up just to try and see how much of the challenges and such I can possibly finish.
The Verdict: I really liked this game a lot though it did drag all the time story wise through the whole experience, even though I completely loved the story that was there. I personally put a lot on a good story and a battle system that works in any RPG that I play.
Score 8.2/10
The DSi LL has now been confirmed for North America and Europe for Q1 2010. There are basically two major changes to it, first the screen size which is increased from 3.2 inches to 4.2 inches. This is actually a very significant size difference and even more so for people like me that did not feel like the DSi was enough to upgrade. The question that this whole issue raises in my mind is how big is too big? Are people not going to buy it simply because as the screens get bigger it loses portability. With the new specs will it still be pocketable?
The second major change is the battery life. This was a major reason that I did not want to upgrade to the DSi. I go on long trips sometimes and I did not want to see my DS cease to a an entertainment source any sooner than it already was. The new specs say that it will last 9 to 11 hours on mid-brightness. That is enough for me to be willing to upgrade. My DS Lite is beginning to show some wear and finally a few games on the DSi Ware are starting to catch my eye.
Other rumors include the ability of making your DS an e-Reader and 3G access which would definitely be welcome. We will just have to wait and see what is truth and what is simply dreaming. It all seems like a move to fight of the iPhone in what is becoming a very interesting handheld war. So, will the DSi LL convince you to upgrade?
If you haven’t heard of World of Goo, what rock have you been hiding under? It is one of the greatest Physics based indie games ever. To celebrate 1 year, they have a special sale going on at their homepage that you really should check out: http://www.2dboy.com/games.php It allows you to pay whatever you want for a copy of their game! There have been some pretty crazy estimates that 80%+ of the copies of their game has been pirated. If you are one of those, here is a chance to make yourselves feel better. You can pay as little as $.01 but give them a few dollars and let them keep developing games. Currently the site is being hammered so if it doesn’t work right away, give it a few hours. The sale is supposed to be on for a week. If you don’t own this game you really should. It is an absolute classic!
This last week I was stopping by Best Buy and happened to see this game. I had, had my eye on for a while and kept meaning to rent from blockbuster or something. But I noticed that The Force Unleashed has recently dropped in price, so I grabbed this game off the shelf for the great price of twenty bucks. Being the first game that I’d gotten in a pretty long time I came home and immediately started playing. To tell the truth this game is pretty great. I have seen it on the Xbox 360 than on the Wii, but Personally the controls on the Wii seem to be pretty great it adds great depth to the game and makes me enjoy any time I’m playing it. As the game progresses it gets more in depth and more fun through the upgrading of abilities you can sort of level up and your powers get stronger and stronger making your character even cooler and cooler all the way through the game. On the Wii version when I started out as Darth Vader I was initially giddy but it soon wore off as I thought him slow and kind of unruly to control, but I stuck with it, and I’m very happy I did. You quickly change over to Darth Vaders new apprentice and the slow cumbersomeness of Darth Vader dissapears and with the young apprentice, turns into a great control scheme. Who likes vader anyway right?
On the Wii there are a few annoying quirks, like when the controls dont respond just like you want them to or when I was attacked through a completely solid wall. Overall though the experience was definately worthwhile and enjoyable though. R and I were just talking recently about the games we enjoy and it came up about how a game is truly awesome when you can feel the characters emotions and go through that journey kind of feeling like the hero, it came up that games do something to people that movies will never achieve in making you feel a whole range of emotions because of being immersed in the game itself. This game does really do that when you feel deeply for the character even with the games many other faults it does have that shining aspect about it. Shocking a load of stormtroopers with a flash of lightning can really be fun sometimes!
Overall this game was pretty great though it may not be for everyone it is a fun and enjoyable experience being much shorter on the Wii than on the XBox 360 and PS3 it seems though you can play it over and over keeping your characters stats and just making him stronger for as much play time as you want and a mediocre not so great system of hidden items hidden throughout the game that may or may not depending on the person make it worth going back and playing it again in order to get everything you can.
Who should buy: Any of those Star Wars fans out there will definately enjoy this game and anyone who likes a pretty good story in a game that isn’t really cheesy. If your looking for a beautiful long experience go with and Xbox or Playstation version of the game, while those of you looking for a deep experience that will immerse the player with it’s controls should go with the Wii version.
Who shouldn’t buy: very few people will find nothing in this game those of you that completely hate Star Wars may dislike it. It may not be worth the fifty that it sells normally for retail but if you find it on sale or at a rental store then it could be worth your cash.
Overall Score: 8.5
So usually we don’t touch on business in our blog but I found this a little bit interesting. Nintendo showed a huge decrease in number of units sold on the Wii. Much better on the DS but that is mostly becasue people are upgrading slowly to the DSi. Sony posted a big lost and the division of Microsoft associated with the XBox also posted a loss. The question is why? There are two simple reasons, first the economy is soft and gamers without jobs can’t purchase their normal fill of games. I know it has made me a bit more selective about where I drop my dollars and that is the primary reason why I am playing some older stuff recently. Second, the line-up of games so far has been kind of weak. Wii Sports Resort will be big but that isn’t included in the numbers. (Speaking of my copy came in the mail yesterday and I hope to be able to play around with it some soon.) But look at last year just for Nintendo (who I have followed for longer) when they came out with Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, and Wii Fit. What big titles did we have in the first half of this year? inFamous and Prototype were big but I think part of the decline is the Big 3′s own fault for not releasing huge titles. Just my opinion though. Anyone else have thoughts on it?
