Posts (page 2)

Tycho over at Penny Arcade jokingly referred to Boom Blox as a tech demo that you would see bundled with a new video card. He's right, without the Wiimote interface it would be a dull title for sure.

That being said, I can't put it down. Boom Blox is part Jenga, part Carnival throwing game, part puzzle game, and a whole lot of fun.

We rented Boom Blox, at $50CDN we wanted to make sure it was a good third party title first; the track record with third party games on the Wii has been pretty rough, so we were happy to see that the game met expectations of being a simple yet addictive experience.

A quirky story mode, a create mode and party play give the game enough depth to last a while, after several days with Boom Blox we haven't finished everything but the Create mode keeps us occupied for hours.

Make sure you at least give Boom Blox a try, puzzle titles aren't for everyone, but the title has challenges for gamers of all skill levels.

(Alternate Title: Why I don't want to be a Doctor)

1. Any time you successfully complete a surgery, take a drink.

2. Any time you use the hidden talent/power, take a drink.

3. Any time your character makes a goofy pose, take a drink.

4. Any time you scalpel into something vital and cause damage, take a drink.

5. Any time you blame missing on "that stupid Wiimote sensor", take a drink.

6. When the doctors association takes away your medical liscense, get several drinks.

I'm still curious about the matchmaking lobby system in GTAIV. While I've praised the game heavily since its launch, I can't help but notice how bloody difficult it can be sometimes to play against or with other players. Especially in a party, when we leave the free-roam lobby and decide to play Team Deathmatch (or whatever mode) it drops one of us, or disconnects the host and we all drop; or the lobby is so lagged that no one appears and we all quit to restart again. I understand 'growing pains' to a point, but when we're paying for Xbox Live this kind of situation shouldn't exist. I hope this gets patched soon. 

Make sure you check out the Bourne Conspiracy demo on Xbox Live (available late last week) - what a smooth fighting engine, great combos and easy to understand action gameplay. I'm very excited for this title, but I hope they fix the driving elements. After playing GTAIV for so long now, I can't believe they would even release demo content like that. If anyone remembers the old 007 PS1 games, thats what the driving stage reminds me of; Quick Time Events or not. Speaking of QTE, similar to the long time classic Shenmue, the game features a bunch of QTE to initate different "Bourne Moves" (rolling under gates, dodging sniper fire), the best part is if you screw up or die, the next time the button you pressed may not be the same. That means you have to pay attention when you go through that gate again otherwise you'll be redoing the same checkpoint repeatedly.

Notes:

-Rental Gamer crew is steadily climbing the ranks in GTAIV's online environment. Anyone wishing to join us, as always, add JunoMRPB to your XBL Friends list.

-Rainbow Six Vegas 2 seemed to fall off the map recently. An afternoon spent playing a private game with friends was a refreshing change from the senseless GTA violence but some of us felt stuck in the "GTA Mode" where run and gun was key.

-A new Gears of War 2 trailer hit XBL Marketplace this past week. Check it out.

-We're also adding the blog into theresabloginmysoup.com's directory! They're making a trip across the US & Canada and interviewing bloggers all over the continent! How cool!

So the RentalGamer crew has lost a lot of time lately to Call of Duty 4 & GTA. We really can't help ourselves with Grand Theft Auto; its simply one of the most immersive games we've played in a while. The Multiplayer is great fun - my personal favourite being Team Mafiya - and free roaming through Liberty City with 3 other people always turns into something different. Want to just cruise around? How about blow up everything in the way? What about helicopter rides, going to the Statue of Happiness (Liberty), Empire State Building, Central Park, the list goes on and on.

Call of Duty 4 is still being played on a very regular basis as we still have RG members picking up the game after refusing to for so long. They've been converted and we spend our time in Hardcore servers picking off helpless players as we skulk about with silenced M14s.

We haven't even touched Mario Kart Wii. I don't think we will, there is a better experience overall with the open world of GTA.

-The Xbox is packed and shipped; hopefully the refurb won't take forever to get here...

...but I couldn't wait, picked up a new console and started playing GTA:IV. This new addition to the series is great. The characters are all interesting, the world is fantastic looking. The "10" scores everywhere should be the indicator. This isn't just initial hype folks; buy this game.

-Lost Odyssey takes up the hour or so before I crash for the night. Cool combat system, suprisingly good English Voice overs (I always play JRPGs with Japanese VOs). I rented it to see what it would be like, I will probably pick it up in the future.

-Age of Conan beta starts today. Thats all I'm allowed to say as per the NDA ;)

-RentalGamer crew will be playing GTA and R6V2 through the upcoming weeks online. Hit us up, add me to your list. Gamertag is: JunoMRPB.

As always you can follow along with mini updates at http://www.twitter.com/junomrpb

Hi everyone, its been a while. I got dragged back into Lord of the Rings Online - but thats another post altogether.

Today I came home, with a rented copy of Lost Odyssey and an energy drink, ready for some role playing action while I wait for Grand Theft Tuesday. I opened the tray on my Xbox, and turned on my TV. As I turned away to get a controller, I heard a grinding sound and looked back to see my console doing the RROD. Shocked I turned it off, unplugged all the cables and sat on my couch in disbelief.

When I contacted Microsoft (at 1-800-4-MY-XBOX) to see about fixing my console I went through the computer customer assistance deal until I got a real person. Unfortunately I noticed that the scripted nature of the phone calls were equally frustrating - the representative I dealt with was obviously a veteran in the cubicle farm (I've worked call center positions and can tell when I'm being fed lines from a script); everything was the standard "Let me inform you of...", "Let me make sure you understand..."

Any concerns I had were answered, but I feel almost used as a customer. The rep wanted to just run the script, and sadly did not show any 'empathy' for my situation. But he made sure to ask me about an extended MS warranty for $XXX.XX. I am not impressed that I will have to wait 3-4 weeks return on a console.

I will probably pick up a new console this week.

The bargain bin can truly be a place of wonder and excitement for a gamer - on the other hand sometimes its filled with nothing but garbage titles - many of us thrive on the hunt, digging through these bottomless pits of games to find a buried treasure. Personally, most of my PS2 games came from the bargain bin. Classic titles like Frequency and Amplitude were $5 catches at Walmart. Dragon Quest VIII, Beyond Good and Evil, Zone of the Enders 1 & 2, all came from a used bargain bin at EB Games. I saved a ton of cash, and at the same time I found some of my favorite games in the process. Now, even the PS2's Greatest Hits titles are making their way into Bargain Bin status, most vendors are selling the titles under $20. Shadow of the Colossus did not take long to reach GH status with SCEA, and even a quick playthough of the first level makes it easy to see why.

Shadow of the Colossus (SotC) came out in Fall 2005, to rave reviews from most magazines, websites and especially players. It was a unique title, sporting some fantastic visuals, some unique gameplay, and more importantly: it was fun to play. Players assume the role of a teenage boy who travels to the end of the world to save his love. As he places her on a dias and asks the gods for their assistance, he is told to purge the land of the monsters depicted by statues in the temple. Setting out with his trusty horse and magical sword, one might think they are in for a Zelda-clone adventure, but that is only half true. While just as epic as Zelda, you soon find out how Colossus differs; every "level" consists of a boss fight against a hulking behemoth (or, Colossus) where you are armed only with your wits, a sword and a bow and arrow. You'll search the area for vantage points, find a way to drop the Colossus so you can climb onto it to find its weak point, there is even one that flies where you have to grab on as it swoops down on you. Each Colossus has its own attacks, weak points and unique environment, so each encounter is different.

Visually, the game looks great for a PS2 title. I could complain about blurry textures but it is just a PS2 title, not a next gen PS3 or 360 title that runs in 1080P, right? With 16:9 support this game looks great on my widescreen TV even now. The audio is slick too, everything has an epic feel to it, from the sounds of the galloping horse, the crashing of the Colossi, the voices of the boy and the gods. SotC really pushed the envelope with the PS2 from all angles.

At $20 you can't afford to miss this from your collection. But as we always condone; renting an older title is a great way to experience it on the cheap.

So tactical shooters aren't nessicarily my own favorite type of game. I like the teamwork aspect, but I am definately one of those guys who runs headlong into a room guns blazing. Guts and glory, right?! While the hotheaded Halo player may not fit into the mould set by Tom Clancy games, R6V2 makes it a little easier to pick up and play.

As with any shooter, the controls make or break a game. The game is responsive, shooting feels solid, the context sensitive stuff (Rapelling, breaching doors, etc) all are mapped to one button to make things easy to remember. Controlling your AI is all context sensitive as well, and telling NPC Characters what to do works well(for the most part). I still don't like having to push a button to press myself against a wall - Rainbow Six should take a page from Gears of War and if I'm pushing up against something, it should go to the wall sneak/cover mode.

The Story mode of the game can be played solo (with 2 AI teammates), or you can play Cooperatively with another player (along with 2 AI teammates as well). My biggest complaint is that some of the areas in the story do not have room for more than 3 players at a time; specifically certain repelling points - this is strange in certain areas during cooperative play because someone will miss out on the action. On that note, the game because a lot better with a second human teammate. There is something about being able to use every entry point to a room to the fullest to set up enough crossfire to make hamburger out of tangos. The co-op makes this game a ton of fun, the AI isn't the greatest by itself to push the Story mode solo.

That being said, the other multiplayer components (a myriad of team deathmatch modes) are fun to play. Its interesting to see how other players have outfitted their characters - some in the darkest camo possible, some at the opposite end of the spectrum. The Xbox Live games I've played have been pretty stable and run smooth.

Overall Score: 85%

Rent this if you're worried! The tactical play may not be for everyone.

Pros: Great tactical gun play, lots of weapons, great locales

Cons: AI is pretty stupid sometimes, Co-op mode almost feels tacked on.

If you're wondering about buying Army of Two, but are skeptical of the game's format - fear not. A demo was released on Xbox Live this week, check it out. The multiplayer portion of Ao2 really shines compared to the singleplayer component. A great control system really stands out. It's fun.

Also, Rock Band's content this week is Jonathan Coulton's "Still Alive", which was the ending credits from Portal. A free download makes this a must have for anyone.