Sound Shapes broken

I recently bought Sound Shapes from the PSN, it was on sale for $10.00 or so... and wow. While it looks pretty, there are some fundamental gameplay issues.

I got stuck a few times during a Jim Guthrie/Superbrothers level called Purgatory. My little round guy got stuck at the beginning of the level, where I couldn't move. Right on the intro screen! Bad sign if the a player gets glitched before the level actually begins. Later, my guy got stuck again on something that it NEEDED to press as part of the level. This isn't even going off on wild tangents, or pushing into every corner of a level. This is just following the direct path of the gameplay it gets stuck & glitched.

And the PS3 version... I downloaded it, as soon as I try to play it it demands ANOTHER download update. Ok, par for the course for PS3 games. So I download that and try to start. It gets to the title screen, then goes blank. I have to turn off the PS3. So I try it again, and again it just goes blank. After looking up the issue online I find a message board posting saying that I need to delete the save file it created when I first tried to start it. Holy cow, is there NO actual testing of these games by Sony or the developer? How can a player know this without chancing upon a message board posting, and why hasn't it been fixed?

I don't know if this is Sony being too lazy with quality control with their PSN titles. Or that the  "Superbrothers" are seen as rock stars of the indy games scene and are actually not good game creators, as in, a game first and foremost NEEDS to be NOT BROKEN.

Did I waste $10.00 for this?


later
don

10 free GBA titles for 3DS Ambassadors available now

Crazy morning today, not only did I get the Super Mario shoelaces, but the 10 GBA titles became available in North America! They are:

• F-Zero: Maximum Velocity
• Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi’s Island
• Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap
• Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
• Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
• Mario Kart: Super Circuit
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong
• Metroid Fusion
• Wario Land 4
• WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames

Downloading them is a bit of a non-intuitive process to say the least. I had to remember how I did it with the NES titles. You go into the Nintendo eShop, then to Settings/Other, then Your Downloads. Then scroll down-- what screwed me up was that I had to go to the next page to find the 10 GBA games on my list. Once you find the above titles, tap Redownload, then Download, then it gives you a choice to either Download Now or Download Later. If you pick Download Later, then Continue shopping, you can go through all 10 titles, then close the eShop, close the 3DS (put it into sleep mode) and it will download all the titles while it's closed. if you choose Download Now, you'll have to repeat the process for each game.

Also something to note: You can get the original GBA screen resolution using the same method as for DS games-- hold down either the START or SELECT button (you don't need to use both) while loading the game-- make sure to hold down the button until graphics pop up onscreen. Some games just look much better in their native resolution like Yoshi's Island. Though Kirby looks good using the full 3DS screen, I bet GBA games made later in the GBA lifespan look better in general.....


All these free games, man... there's so much to play and so little time....





later
don

Wii games to get rid of

Man.... I need to free up some space. I've been going through my games stockpile, and there are a bunch I think I simply need to get rid of. Some of them I've played, enjoyed, but I'm pretty sure I won't play again-- like Deadly Creatures-- others I've played, did not like them nearly as much as I thought I would-- like House of the Dead: Overkill-- and others are games that I just couldn't really get into.... I don't think I'm an RPG fan (Jeanne D'Arc) or an RTS fan (Field Commander)

So here's my pile of games to get rid of... there are more PSP games not pictured.



This is just maybe 1/4 of my game collection? I don't know. All I know is I keep my Wii/Xbox games in a cabinet, and this pile are games that can't fit in there. I need to sell off some games before I can buy more....

There are 2 must-buy games on my list for the rest of this year: Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii) and Ace Combat: Joint Assault (PSP). Hopefully I'll keep my games impulse-buying to a minimum before then....


later
don

Google Pac-Man permanent!

Awesome! That great playable Google Pac-Man logo is still around, Google has made a permanent link for it:

http://www.google.com/pacman/



Nice.


later
don

Playable Pac-Man Google logo

Cool.... in honour of Pac-Man's 30th anniversary, Google made a celebratory logo, which isn't unusual, they do it a lot.

But this one is actually playable! Nice one, Google.

Speaking of Pac-Man, Namco-Bandai is one of those game companies that doesn't get a lot of respect, but they've published a lot of games for PSP. A few of my favourites like Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception, Ridge Racer & Me & My Katamari, but there are many more.

So congrats Pac-Man, and let's hope Namco-Bandai gives the next PSP iteration a shot.


later
don

games wishlist 2010

This is kinda late, but it just occurred to me that I haven't posted a games want list for a long time.

I guess because I just haven't seen too much to get excited for this year.... but still, there are a few titles that are really exciting and others that are intriguing.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - I have to say that the first game was a complete surprise for me, I loved it! As much as I loved Super Mario Galaxy.. I do feel that this will be more of the same, which is both good and bad. There will be small changes & updates which will probably be very cool, but I know what I'm getting. Maybe it's the classic "video game sequel syndrome". Still, I'm getting really psyched up for it, it's coming so soon!

Ace Combat Joint Assault - Another sequel to one of my favourite games, Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception for the PSP. This may actually be my most anticipated game of the year so far.


Metroid: Other M - I was not all that fond of Metroid Prime 3 or the DS Metroid Prime: Hunters, but the different take that developer Team Ninja will spin on the franchise might be cool. I'm really intrgued by how it'll play. Maybe I'll replay those games & see if I can get into them.

Hmmmmmmm............ I'm trying to think of some other games I'm really psyched up for, but I got nada at this time. Again, 2010 seems like a bit of a dry year for video games if you only have a Wii, DS or PSP. I find myself buying last year's games, it's a little scary how I've snagged just about everything on my old want list....



later
don

Outdated gameplay mechanics that must DIE DIE DIE

There are 3 videogame mechanics that are completely outdated & cheap... it's astounding that they're still put into games nowadays because they represent the limitation of imagination and programming of videogames of the past.

Infinite respawning enemies - I can see how this mechanic was created, it's like basic programing: line 10 enemy spawns. Line 20 go to Line 10.... back when games were like a few kilobytes big it maybe makes sense to always have the same enemies come back once you went offscreen and back on. But once games got into the 3D level like Doom-- WHY does there need to be infinite enemies?? Sure there are a few exceptions where something is needed from an enemy so it has to always come back in case you messed up & killed it or didn't get it the first time. But for the vast majority of infinite enemies in games this is *not* the case. Games made today still have this cheap & unnecesary game mechanic.

Time limits - Yes I hate time limits. And yes there probably are some cases where time limits are needed for certain sections of a game. But it's used way too often to try to add "challenge" or "prolong gameplay" through forcing the player to repeat game sections over & over. Weak & lazy.

Protect the helpless [whatever] missions - I'd really like to track down whoever came up with this game mechanic & give them a good swift kick in the head. We've all played this; whether it's that helpless furry zurtogg or unarmed steamer ship... whatever it is, it has the same traits: it's completely useless, has little health, and does its' absolute damndest to get itself killed, despite your best efforts to fight off its attackers. What I want to know is, when was the last time you had FUN playing such missions? Ever??? So what does it matter that it made a game 1 hour longer if players *hated* playing through that extra hour?

What makes these mechanics broken is that at the core, they take the control of the game out of the players hands. In protect missions, you fail because of something else's health or whatever. Not because you didn't dodge the bullets but because something programmed to suck didn't.

It's obvious that game developers pull these hackneyed formulas off the shelf & plug them into a game to save time/effort, like maybe for movie tie-in games. It's way past time that they start to think of something new.


later
don

Driver 76

So this morning, I thought, "what the heck" and bought Driver 76 off the PlayStation Store. For $9.99 (plus PST + GST) it was worth it. I think of my PSPgo as a "Greatest Hits" kind of PSP; that I'd load it only with my most favourite PSP games... but then there's the other side of me that's only interested in getting good CHEAP & AFFORDABLE games off the PS Store. The prices have come down on some of them, though they're still more expensive than what can be found at retail. Like the recent permanent price drop of Jak & Daxter on the PS Store-- from $30.00 to $20.00... not bad. but The Source has it clearance priced at $14.96 right now. Even the really impressive price drop of Loco Roco 2 to $7.99.. a few days ago I bought it for $0.96 at The Source.... yes, 96 cents. Sure I already have the game but that's practically free. May as well buy one to give away or whatever.... but again, these are clearance prices and aren't typical. I'd be lucky to find any stock.

I have to admit, Driver 76 is pretty fun. It didn't get very good reviews, and it's not a mind-blowing game, but I think it looks pretty good. The cutscenes are done in a 1970's comic book style, with the Ben-Day dots colouring, it's a very fun & cheesy presentation-- the whole game is basically a '70;s exploitation film or something, and the music is great if you like '70's rock.... I just played a mission with Bowie's Suffragette City playing in the background... that's friggin' awesome.

I don't really get the complaints about lack of other cars or people, I find there's quite a bit of both-- you can keep running over people one after another for a few blocks-- and it's not too crowded so you can cut loose & gun the engine for some straight stretches.

There are some problems. The audio is clipped and too compressed; there's stuttering for some of the music. The notoriously long load times are still here in the digital version... there's 2 kinds of loading screens... and sometimes the game will completely freeze for about 5 seconds while the loading disc icon flashes. Sheesh. The loading process could've been more streamlined. And the game seems short, the main missions can be completed very quickly. There are a lot of side missions though.

So far it's an overall enjoyable game & worth the sale price.


later
don

Capcom

So I'm playing Monster Hunter Freedom (PSP)... another long-time buy from an EB "Game-Days" sale awhile back.... finally decided to rip the shrinkwrap off of it & have a go.....

What gave me some trepidation about Monster Hunter Freedom is that it is notoriously hard. It's just really really easy to get killed by monsters, and you can spend an hour preparing yet still die & have to start over.

I'm only at the very early stages of the game, but there is a lot of coolness about it. If only there weren't so many problems that Capcom refuses to fix due to tradition then this game would be seriously awesome.

Anyway, this post isn't necessarily about MHF, but about Capcom. Yes, MHF is hard, but here's something I never see anyone say: All Capcom games are hard. I haven't played every Capcom game, but it seems like every one I come across is known for its difficulty. Lost Planet. Resident Evil. Hell... even the deceptively kid-looking Zack & Wiki is supposed to be really hard!

How hasn't anyone noticed this??? People complain about companies catering to the "casual" market, well isn't Capcom a company that makes "hardcore gamer" games???

Another thing I've noticed, there's usually a level of difficulty on games based on where they were created. Japan probably has the most difficult games (Rhythm Heaven), with U.K. companies making the 2nd most difficult (Pursuit Force) and U.S./North America companies having the easiest (more "casual-friendly" games) Kind of strange.

Me, I'm not very good at video games at all. So I'm probably more of the "casual" gamer, but I want the coolness of the "hardcore"-- I certainly don't want all mini-game collections all the time! But I think there's a way we the gamers can have our cake & eat it too. It doesn't have to be either stupid hard or blandly casual, I think games can be scaled to suit the different needs & difficulties of the gamers as a whole. But companies need to stop thinking so dogmatically; just because a control scheme has been a certain way for the last 20 years that it's fine for the next 20, that sort of thing... has to stop.


Another truism of the video game industry that no one talks about: EA & Ubisoft games always drop in price. Yes, it could be argued that *all* video games drop in price eventually... but that's not always true. There are some that never seem to go down in price, even years later.... Nintendo first-party titles are a prime example but there are more.

But with EA games & Ubisoft, eventually all their games end up in the discount bins of the Walmarts of the world. And I'm not just talking about shovelware, even their great titles drop in price eventually. I don't know if it's because those 2 companies are so big with such a wide distribution reach that they can blow out product for a fraction of their launch MSRP or what.... but especially with Ubisoft... like No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. Yeah I want it, but I know it'll be $20.00 eventually... I don't know if it'll be 6 months or a year, but eventually it will. That's actually the reason I like it when Ubisoft publishes a game I want.

Just a few things that the video game industry won't talk about.



later
don

some recent deals

I've been buying a few Wii games lately... got Pikmin at Staples for $7.47 as mentioned. I also bought The Conduit from The Source for like $24.83 or something like that. And today I picked up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up at Futureshop for $9.99. $10.00 is my sweet spot; at that price point I'll usually snap up a game I'm somewhat interested in fairly quick.

I didn't buy these ones but there's also the Steam deal for Torchlight, and the PSN sale has Everyday Shooter both on PS3 *and* PSP for $4.99! Finally, it seems like they get it-- I was pissed when only the PS3 version of FlOw was discounted.... I'm not sure if I should bite on it, I already have Super Stardust Portable...





later
don

Torchlight on netbook... not so good

Meh... I just downloaded & installed Steam and the free demo for Torchlight on my netbook... I'd heard it runs on netbooks, and I'm not expecting it to be smooth as silk or anything, but it's pretty choppy & CPU intensive.... I don't think I can really enjoy playing a game this way.

I've strongly avoided PC gaming ever since I got my first PC in 1999.... I remember trying to install a few demos, like Aliens Vs. Predator & they really did not work very well... I think I had to take my PC back a couple times to the guy who built it.... so since then I have sworn off PC gaming & only do console gaming-- my credo has been "gaming for dedicated devices"...

But I'm so in love with my NB205 netbook right now... most of the posts on Handheld Addict the last few months have been done on this thing, including finding & resizing (with Photoshop 7) any images. I know that the Atom N280 processor is pretty puny in power, and that "integrated graphics" is another term for "sucks real bad" (if you haven't experienced it trust me) but doggone it, I'd love to do some gaming on this little beauty. So I've been looking for something that'll run decently, but no luck yet.

I took a bite on Torchlight because Steam is having a sale this weekend, the full game is only $5.00 US! It's regular $20.00... great deal! But I'm glad I only downloaded the free demo because I think I may just uninstall it & Steam because I don't think my NB205 can really handle it.... oh well...... I think I may play a bit more & see how I feel about it tomorrow...

A little bummed out...



later
don

Can there be too many games?

Yesterday I bought Pikmin (Wii) at Staples for something like $7.47.... and while I was there I saw 2 PSP games: Midnight Club L.A. Remix and Lego Batman, each for like $9.97.

I'd heard good things about Midnight Club L.A. Remix... and the Lego series of games are fairly consistent in their quality. But I thought about it: I already have a few racing games, Ridge Racer-- my fave racing game of all, and the 2 Wipeout games. Do I really need another racing game?

And I already have both Lego Star Wars games for my Xbox.... I'm not even sure if I've finished playing through Lego Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (the 2nd game in the series)..... do I need another Lego game?

So I passed on these games for now. Pikmin is the first new game I've bought since just after Xmas 2009, when I got Crazy Taxi & Blast Off (PSP mini) for my PSPgo. But maybe I shouldn't keep buying games when I still have so many I bought that I have yet to play, and I have games that are similar to them already. I guess part of me being a Handheld Addict is being a videogame addict too......


later
don

my most embarrassing games?

I read an IGN editorial about the controversial Modern Warfare 2 content... it got me thinking about games that try to push the boundaries in good and bad ways.... but then I started drifting off on a tangent and wondered, "what are the most embarrassing games for me to be caught playing?"


I wouldn't exactly call myself a proud gamer in general-- it's not something I like to flaunt. But I have some games in my library that I really don't like to be seen playing. Some of them are for obvious reasons, but many might not be.

Star Wars Battlefront - Maybe I play Star Wars: Battlefront: Renegade Squadron the most over SWBF I & II on Xbox because with Renegade Squadron I can play on my PSP away from everybody & with headphones on. Why are these games embarrassing? Mostly for all the repetitive voiceover like, "we've lost a command post! Get it back! We're losing reinforcements!", etc.... it may not seem that bad, but actually it gets repeated so much that it would be very annoying to a casual spectator. I think I've just learned to block it out. Star Trek: Conquest is also embarrassing for the same reasons; the dialogue is even MORE cheesy that the Battlefront games....

Almost every Wii game - Let's face it-- watching someone play Wii is like watching someone performing for a stage hypnotist: they think they look cool, but they so DO NOT. I get pretty self-conscious when people see me flail around like a 12-year-old girl swatting at butterflies-- even though I'm having fun.

Playboy: The Mansion - Honestly, I haven't even really played much of this game at all. It's for Xbox, and it's mostly a stats management sim game: You run the Playboy magazine, so you have to do a bunch of stuff to keep it going. It seems more tedious that titillating... but I sure as hell don't want people to know I own it. Oops......... *our little secret*


later
don

Anticipated games out of E3 2009

Now that all the E3 announcements have been played out, there are some games that I'm really anticipating... hopefully for this year. Not all of them were showcased at E3 this year, but they are ones I'm really looking forward to & hopefully coming out soon.

Wii:

-Super Mario Galaxy 2... but that's not coming until 2010, so New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

-Wii Sports Resort


DS:

-Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron

-Scribblenauts


PSP:

-Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron



Hmm, now that I put my major wants to paper keystroke, it doesn't seem like that large a list.... but these are games that are basically 100% must-buys for me, so I'm risking a lot by "calling them out" so soon. There are a lot of games I'm very intrigued by, but I'm not at the point where they are automatic purchases.


later
don

Games going back UP in price???

What the.... why are games going back *up* in price?? It's one thing for them to go on sale, then go back to regular price when the sale's finished, but...

Secret Agent Clank was $20.00 at Future Shop for the last couple months. I just checked and it's back at $40.00! Admittedly, Future Shop was the only store that had it at that price, everywhere else (including Wal-Mart which is supposed to have the lowest prices) kept it at the $40.00 range. I thought it dropped in anticipation of it becoming a Greatest Hits title; that's usually the pattern with price drops like God of War: Chains of Olympus, Daxter & Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, etc... Still, why did the price drop for so long, then go back up??

Another game I noticed is MadWorld (Wii). The price dropped to $40.00 at Wal-Mart, then Best Buy, even EB Games, and finally Future Shop all had it at around $40.00 for the last few weeks. But when I stopped in at Wal-Mart, the price has suddenly gone back to $54.00! And Future Shop has it at the $40.00 range, but it says "Sale Ends: 5/15/2009". So we'll have to see if it also goes back up.

I've been buying games long enough to know that prices fluctuate, and sometimes they do illogical, stupid price changes. But I've come to expect some level of consistency from the major chains. And in general, prices for games go *down*, maybe after a certain timeframe (6 months, 1 year) or if a sequel is released, the first game drops in price. And of course there's the Canadian exchange rate... don't even get me started on that.....

Maybe it's some kind of supply & demand issue? I know that's what EB Games uses to justify their prices changes.

I hate games pricing. On one hand, there's this shell game policy, and while it can be nice to get some good deals, it's so punishing for those who want to buy a new game. On the other hand, there's Nintendo's first-party games policy: PRICE DOESN'T DROP. EVER. EVEEEEEERRRRRRR...... aside from some flukey doorcrasher sales, their games stay at the same MSRP for *years*. Mario Kart DS has dropped maybe $5.00 in price since it game out, years ago??

Drives me nuts.




later
don

movie games

Just came across this article from Yahoo!™ Finance, about video games based on movies....

Summer movie video games seek to terminate stigma

The article is very mainstream-targeted, so you'd expect it only to cover the most basic facts of the subject. This quote stands out:

"Movie games have a bad history," said Jeff Poffenbarger, senior producer at "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" game developer Raven Software. "There is a stigma to movie games, for a thousand different reasons. They come out and they don't live up to the hype people create."

That pretty much sums up the "movie game" genre for me, and probably most of us who've played more than a few games based om movie licenses. But it's not just some vague, "a thousand different reasons" that movie games suck.




Let's be honest here.... they suck probably for some specific reasons. Like the general mentality of movie-franchise video game developers. They get a licensed property, and they pull out one of their generic game engines & try to mold it to fit the property; basically, put the movie look & characters skin over this generic gameplay engine. I've talked about all this before.

From the article:

Revenues for movie games vary, according to market researcher NPD Group. Box office popularity typically translates to game sales. For example, "Iron Man," last year's second-highest grossing film, was 2008's top-selling game based on a movie, selling a respectable 1.4 million. (A game based on "The Dark Knight," last year's No. 1 movie, wasn't released.)

"Some have done very well. Some have done OK," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier of the overall performance of licensed movie games. "I'd say the younger the target audience, the more important the license itself is in making the game successful. The older the target audience, the gameplay quality comes more to the forefront."

So basically this NPD analyst is saying that quality is secondary for movie games, especially if they're targeted at younger audiences. Nice. And as she says, they can be a major cash-cow. So of course game devs & publishers are going to try to get in on that $$$$...

It's not entirely the fault of greedy/lazy game studios trying to maximize their profits while minimzing their creative expenditures. If people avoided bad games, they'd become less & less profitable, so logically they should happen less often.

Still, it's not always easy to steer clear of temptation. I can get as starry-eyed as any gamer when games of my favourite movie franchises hit the shelves.... [movie franchise X] game comes out & I *want* it to be good, 'cause the movie was so good... y'know?

Crappy movie-based games is a major problem, and I don't know what can be done about it. Right now, I'm just waiting for the "genre" to eventually implode-- if they can't make back the money they put in to make the game-- and hopefully the movie licenses will be given out much more selectively, to studios that have A GREAT IDEA of how to use them.

But I know this is just a dream world right now.



later
don

sold Ultimate Block Party

I sold my first game.... Ultimate Block Party (PSP). I have a huge stack of games, especially PSP games, and I'd like to thin out my games library. I'm definitely a packrat who likes to keep what I buy. But I just didn't enjoy the game all that much, and I couldn't see myself playing it.








Traded it in to Future Shop-- the trade-in value was $13.20. Future Shop gives store credit. I got the value from this handy website: www.tivs.ca it's great because it lists Canadian prices, and the major Canadian stores.



Sad that most of my other games I want to get rid of have little/no trade-in value.....



later
don

EB Game Days 2009

Last year's EB Game Days sale was one of the best... I picked up a few Wii, PSP & maybe even DS games for $10.00 each. I still haven't even opened up a copy of Monster Hunter Freedom that I got for $15.00.... yikes....







Game Days has started this year, but the deals don't seem nearly as hot.

http://ebgames.ca/fsi.asp

The real score will be the unadvertised daily deals. Last year, almost every day they'd put a game out for each major system (in my case, Wii) that was $9.89.

So far, it hasn't been impressive. Things don't look like they're going to get better. Not to mention that a lot of the Wii games I'd like to get are recent releases, which I doubt will go on sale. We'll see.


later
don

Resistance: Retribution

I finished the single-player campaign of Resistance: Retribution a few days ago... I guess that seems kinda fast as I got it less than a week ago? I was pretty engrossed into it though.

Resistance: Retribution is a third-person shooter that's an odd cross between a World War II shooter and a sci-fi shooter. I have to admit, I'm just not interested in WWII games... there are so many, so I suppose there's quite an audience for them since they keep making them. I'm also not big on first-person shooters, I prefer games that have a third-person POV. I just like seeing my "guy" even if it's just the back of him (preferrably her, hehe) But I was really in the mood to get into a sci-fi shooter, and I'm happy that Resistance: Retribution is done in third-person view.

Overall my complaints about Resistance: Retribution are small ones... I think the game is pretty good for what it is. I was disappointed that it just assumed I'd already played and completed Resistance: Fall of Man on the PS3, and dropped me into the world with little to no explanation of who the Chimera are and what they're even doing here. I'm going to have to wiki that or something.

The gameplay itself is very straightforward; if you've played developer Studio Bend's previous Syphon Filter PSP games, then you'll probably feel at home with Resistance: Retribution. I'd almost call it a Syphon Filter game with a Resistance skin overlaid onto it. At one point I was going down a ladder, and without thinking I instinctively pressed ↓ (down) on the D-pad and I quickly slid down the ladder... I don't think it was mentioned in the Resistance: Retribution instruction manual to do that, but I knew that you can do it in the Syphon Filter games, and it worked here too. Stuff like zooming in on enemies is pretty much transferred from those games to this one.

Instead of having to press a button to take cover like in the Syphon Filter games, in Resistance: Retribution your character takes cover "automatically" as soon as you go up to something you can hide behind and there are enemies in range. It generally does a good job of knowing when to take cover, but it can be annoying sometimes when you're trying to go past some cover and it automatically ducks you down into it and slows you down... especially frustrating if you're trying to be fast and running to somewhere. So there are trade-offs to this new system.

But it's not like Resistance: Retribution is simply a clone of the Syphon Filter games, it isn't. The big change is the aiming box in Resistance: Retribution. There's a large area of the screen, a box where if an enemy's within it, the target locks onto that enemy... and you can switch between enemies by tapping one of the face buttons (whichever is in the direction of the enemy you want to target).... at first I was a bit skeptical of this system-- though switching targets isn't as smooth as I'd have liked-- it works pretty well. A little *too* well; in the early parts of the campaign it feels like this is going to be a complete cakewalk. But then the difficulty goes up, and I wouldn't call this an easy game exactly. It can get pretty challenging at times, though I wasn't ever outright frustrated by any broken design or straight-up difficulty curve. There are 3 levels of difficulty, which is a nice option.

At first I was a bit taken aback by the lack of a map. But it's generally pretty intuitive as to where to go... though a map would be nice, especially when you're hunting around for some hidden intel....

There are 2 levels where you drive a mech, which I love. I love mech games like MechAssault on the Xbox... I just wish there was a bit more mech levels in Resistance: Retribution What we got felt like a reward for passing some hard bits; you've been on the recieving side of a mech-stomping, now you get to be on the GIVING side, hehe.....

Because of the new targeting system, Resistance: Retribution is a faster-paced game than the Syphon Filter ones. The SF games had a stealth component to them that isn't here. It's really all about shooting up some cannon-fodder Chimera, and shooting them some more. But like the Syphon Filter games, the cover-system is really important-- you *have* to be able to take cover, and plan your attacks accordingly. It's not as focused on that tactic as the Syphon Filter games, but it's still a major part of it.

If you were playing a drinking game based on how often I mention Syphon Filter, you'd probably be on your way to being sloshed right now. I can't help it-- as cool as Resistance: Retribution is, I can't help but compare it to Studio Bends Syphon Filter games. That said, I don't feel that Resistance: Retribution's James Grayson is as interesting a character as Syphon Filter's Gabe Logan was. Gabe just seemed cooler, and he had a little bit more that he could do. And while none of these games have great storylines, I also wasn't impressed by the story for Resistance: Retribution. It just didn't grab me. Though the blend between WWII and sci-fi is a unique one. All these games are great, but a bit repetitive; as fun as they are, you're doing the same things over & over.

So Resistance: Retribution definitely lives up to Studio Bends standard of high-quality PSP games. Honestly though, if I had to choose between another Resistance game or another Syphon Filter, I'd probably prefer seeing another Syphon Filter... though I wouldn't be unhappy to see another Resistance PSP game from them either. It's just the world/story isn't all that compelling while the gameplay is.

While I wouldn't call Resistance: Retribution the perfect game, I'm feeling a bit of what's next now... I'm left wanting more, but in a good way. I didn't want it to end... but there is some replayability in the form of finding hidden evidence-- err, I mean Intel (yup guess where they got that from-- I'm not going to type Syphon Filter again-- d'oh!!) and skill points when you do some special task like kill the first hybrid in a level, etc. This unlocks additional weapons & game development info.

This is the second time I've wanted to actually contact a game studio to thank them for making a great game... the first time being Krome's Star Wars: Force Unleashed games..... I never did find an easy contact for Krome, maybe I'll look to see if Studio Bend can be contacted. I bitch so much about broken/half-assed created games, that I really want to thank studios that make GREAT games.....



later
don

Resistance, Tomb Raider Anniversary

Picked up a couple more PSP games today. One, I got a really good deal on, the other... meh deal....

Resistance: Retribution is on sale right now at Toys R' Us, $5.00 off-- $34.95... which isn't that much of a discount.... I'll probably kick myself if it goes on sale for $20.00 sometime in the future, but I've really been feeling the need for a new sci-fi shooter game right now. This week has been a stressful one for me, so as soon as I bought it I ripped off the shrinkwrapping & dug into it. I've played about 2 hours of it so far.

Resistance: Retribution is made by the same team that did the Syphon Filter PSP games. Even though I had reservations about Logan's Shadow, they still set the bar pretty high for PSP (or any system's) games. And the gameplay & controls are very familar to those who've played the Syphon Filter games. The gameplay is faster-paced than them though.... in Syphon Filter, you used cover a lot, and basically had to carefully aim your shots for best results. They're an entertaining mix between immediate action and tactical gameplay, whereas Resistance: Retribution is (so far) more heavily-weighted on the action over the tactics. Moving while strafing is handled using a new target area box that locks onto targets within it, taking most of the worry out of precise aiming without the benefit of a 2nd analogue nub. The sci-fi weapons are cool, though I'm finding some like the rocket launcher a bit unwieldy to use. One of my biggest initial gripes is that they haven't really fixed the crappy context-commands that were messed up in Logan's Shadow. You'd think they'd improve that, but it's like they don't even know they're bad: they flash up for about half a second while you stumble around trying to find the exact right place to stand AND face to get them to show up for longer than that.... annoying.

I've never played Resistance or Resistance 2 on PS3... I was expecting a bit of an intro to this world but it assumes that the player has already completed Resistance and just kind of throws us into it, which is disappointing. The story doesn't seem very strong either. But overall the game's been fun.



The other game I got today was Tomb Raider: Anniversary. I stopped in at The Source, wasn't expecting to find much as most of their games have been cleaned out. But Tomb Raider: Anniversary was there for $9.96! Score! At that price, I had to give it a shot. Haven't tried it yet.

So I guess it's still totally worth checking out The Source... also HMV has some killer PSP deals (varies by store)... lately I've been seeing Socom: Fireteam Bravo there for under $10.00! It's worth it if you're into military shooters.



later
don