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Posts Tagged ‘demo

Mar

Just Cause 2 Demo First Immpressions

There is only a select few sandbox games that have hit a mark with me. Grand theft auto (obviously) and Crackdown. Things like Saints Row and true crime haven’t really done it for me. Ok I admit I haven’t played enough Infamouse to justify saying its a worthy sandbox title so I’ll just leave that one on the fence with prototype for now.

Yesterday I got my gaming mitts on Just Cause 2. I had seen a trailer on this game a good while back at it looked pretty damn good. But in the past I have been known to get excited about a game then have my expectations squashed when I played them. Lets face it, some games do look shiny before they are released, but when you eventually get stuck into them they seem like they are missing a lot. But that’s a totally different conversation right there.

Back to the subject in hand, Just Cause 2 is the next in the just cause franchise, developed by Eidos interactive and published by good old Square Enix. This is yet another sandbox title which I do believe does the genre some justice, you are the Scorpio and your job in the demo is to help the reapers, who are a rising force against the countries government. Your main mission is to destroy all government property, officials and buildings basically whatever is labeled with a white star on a red background needs to be destroyed. This in turn will up you chaos meter.

Increasing your chaos meter will unlock missions and new things to buy on the black market. The black market is the place where you can buy new vehicles, guns and upgrades for your character. It is a nifty thing to have, as you don’t have to go to a specific location, all you need is somewhere in the out doors and you can call them up, next thong you know a helicopter drops off your goods and you good to fight once more. But like in real life, stuff costs money, and you find that as you play through the game.

What I really did like about this game was the grapple hooks and the parachute. Remarkably if you are a mercenary in this game you have an unlimited supply of parachutes! Not to shabby. The grapple hooks and parachute work well together, and in small towns where you are surrounded by gun fire they are the perfect way for getting round. You do feel like a supped up spider man as you can duel wield the grapple hooks for extra mobility, the other cool thing here is that you can use the grapple hooks on enemies and watch them fly across the air. Awesome.

I need to spend more time with this demo. But as first impressions go, this is defiantly a game that any sand box gamer out there will want to play. And yes, there are a lot of explosions.

Garv

Feb

Guitar Hero Van Halen

By GuitarGirl24 Leave a Comment

Categories: Preview and Review
Tags: demo, guitar hero, Van Halen, xbox live

Mini demo review

I have been feeling a little ashamed of myself of late, and as it is game related shame I feel I must confess. As you all probably know I have been writing under the name ‘GuitarGirl24′ for some time now, and recently this has caused me a some conflict. You see though my name was in part chosen merely for my love of guitar solo’s (and I LOVE a good guitar solo) it was also a reference to my unconditional love of the plastic guitar. Yet recently I confess I have been neglecting my faithful fretted friend in favor of my much louder, more tiring plastic drum peripheral. I must explain. It is not that I no longer love my plastic guitar, it is simply that I have spent less time with the drums, and therefore find them more challenging. That combined with the fact that recent Gh and Rockband releases have been getting more and more family friendly with each new release (Or easier, lets not beat about the bush here) has swayed my attention away from the guitar and onto the much newer world of virtual drumming. This is the cause of my conflict, my shame. As time goes by I cannot help but wonder, will anything be able to re-ignite my passion for the plastic guitar? Or am I doomed to change my name to ‘DrumGirl’ and hot, sweaty and most of all tired for evermore.

By this point you may be thinking all hope is lost, and that I have given up hope, but fear not. 2010 is here, bringing with it hope for all of those who like their solo’s fast, furious and finger burning. For anyone who hasn’t read the title I am talking of course about Gh Van Halen, and for those of you without X-Box live here my take on a demo which I believe may just have the power to get us all strumming once more.

At this point you may be thinking that I am a huge Van Halen fan, I mean why else would I get so excited about this game otherwise right? WRONG. Beyond knowing the chorus to “Jump” my Van Halen knowledge is actually embarrassingly small, leading to the inevitable question: Why do I find this release so exciting? Its simple really, the demo beat me. At this point, primarily for the risk of sounding big-headed I will give some context to this statement. Though, I am in no way undefeated I rarely consider songs un-winnable. In the good old days of guitar hero I used to fail songs all the time, but as some of you who have read my previous articles will know recent releases have posed me almost no challenge. For example, I played Gh 5 from start to finish in expert repeating only two songs, suggesting either I have become a guitar goddess (unlikely), or the games have been getting easier. Therefore to be beaten 33% into “Eruption” and to be still hopelessly stuck at this point in time is VERY interesting. Could it be that Gh Van Halen has a set-list with difficulty to rival that of even Gh Metallica? It would certainly be a refreshing start to 2010 if it does, and after-all I do like a challenge.

As for the rest of the demo its pretty standard really. Same format of following a bands rise to stardom etc… Same slightly self indulgent feel that Gh Metallica had (oops, should I say that?) However it is worth mentioning at this point a few unexpected curiosities which caught my eye when playing. Firstly, On downloading this demo I couldn’t help but notice that it has a strange underlying retro feel. Though there are no major changes in graphics or gameplay (if anything the graphics have improved again) I did manage to spot a couple of little changes to the game which were more puzzling than revolutionary. For example it seems that the decision has been made to revert back to the more spaced out screen layout reminiscent of titles released pre- Guitar hero world tour. By this I mean that the score meter, star power bar and star meter have moved to their retro positions at the sides of the screens, instead of being down the sides of the fretboard. I find this change a little surprising as besides perhaps making it slightly harder to read your score and play simultaneously it accomplishes next to nothing. Slightly more pleasing to me is the appearance of the traditional Guitar Hero set characters. As you are all probably aware the Gh band members have evolved quite a long way since Gh 1, in my opinion reaching perfection Gh 3, only to change beyond recognition in world tour and beyond. I am pleased therefore to report that In Van Halen our favorites are more or less back to their old selves. Sure Judy nails has lost a few pounds, and Larz a little more trim, but at least Casey Lynch has her long hair back. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, that bob never suited her….

Anyway, onto more important things. Set-list. Now as you will expect this game comes with a fair dose of Van Halen tracks as well as a splattering of other “Rock hits’. During the demo You are able to play a selection from the full playlist including “Drop Nose” by Weezer, “The end of heartache” by Killswitch Engage, “Eruption” by Van Halen and “Panama” by Van Halen. Though Eruption was the only song to actually cause finger burn, all of the songs were intricate enough to be found enjoyable, and this leaves me hopeful for the rest of the set-list. On the subject of the rest of the Set-list please Enjoy.

Van Halen Selection

“Ain’t Talkin Bout Love”
“And The Cradle Will Rock”
“Atomic Punk”
“Beautiful Girls”
“Cathedral (Solo)”
“Dance The Night Away”
“Eruption (Solo)”
“Everybody Wants Some”
“Feel Your Love Tonight”
“Hang ‘Em High”
“Hear About It Later”
“Hot For Teacher”
“Ice Cream Man”
“I’m The One”
“Jamie’s Cryin’”
“Jump”
“Little Guitars”
“Loss Of Control”
“Mean Street”
“Panama”
“Pretty Woman”
“Romeo Delight”
“Running With The Devil”
“So This Is Love”
“Somebody Get Me A Doctor”
“Spanish Fly (Solo)”
“Unchained”
“You Really Got Me”

Other songs

“Come To Life” Alter Bridge
“White Wedding” Billy Idol
“First Date” Blink-182
“Space Truckin” Deep Purple
“Best Of You” Foo Fighters
- “Double Vision” Foreigner
“Stacy’s Mom” Fountains Of Wayne
- “Pain” Jimmy Eat World
“Painkiller” Judas Priest
“The End Of Heartache” Killswitch Engage
“Rock And Roll Is Dead” Lenny Kravitz
“I Want It All” Queen
“Sick, Sick, Sick” Queens Of The Stone Age
“Master Exploder” Tenacious D
“Safe European Home” The Clash
“Pretty Fly For A White Guy” The Offspring
“Semi-Charmed Life” Third Eye Blind
“Dope Nose” Weezer
“The Takedown” Yellowcard

True there is nothing particularly unexpected here, and some of the songs are of course Rockband repeats as usual. However Van Halen are know for their solo’s, and that leaves me hopeful that the gameplay will be more enjoyable than the set-list may let on. That is, as long as the solo’s we are offered are not to heavily reliant on the slider/tap feature of the newer guitars. Call me old fashioned, but I do love a good finger breaking solo…You know what I mean…

Just a couple more things. Though this game is like Gh Metallica in theme, I am pleased to say that some of the problems which once tormented me have now been fixed. The biggest improvement to me comes in the smallest of features. Unlike Metallica this game allows you to chart your progress through the different difficulty levels using tiny Guitar picks with roman numerals on. Each Pick represents a different difficulty (kind of like the skulls in world tour) and beside each pick there is space where your score for the song in each difficulty is written. I know, I know. this seems like such a small thing, but anyone who tried to play Metallica in two difficulties will know why this is so important. I also couldn’t complete this demo review without mentioning the great attention to detail that has been paid to animating the band. Every member is expressive and dexterous, to the point of being almost quite scary. Though their energy can be a little overwhelming at times its is nice that although once again it seems we must abandon our custom creations to “BE” Van Halen, at least our virtual selves look as if they are actually having a good time.

And thats it. The demo is still on line so if you have a spare 5 minutes I suggest you download away and see what you think. Oh and if anyone gets past 33% on Eruption in expert (Not using the tap and slide bar!) please let me know. I will make you a paper crown.

Oh, and before I go I will make you all a promise. I “GuitarGirl” hereby promise to resist the lure of the drums and play this title from start to finish on my plastic guitar. I Vow to be faithful to the frets once more, and resist my evil urges in order to once again justify my name. No longer will I be found banging from noon until night, else the gods of rock strike me down for…misrepresentation of goods………?

Until next time,
GuitarGirl24
x

Oct

Ghost Busters Demo Verdict: Who You Gonna Call?

By Garvaos Leave a Comment

Categories: Preview and Review
Tags: demo, Ghostbusters

No, Not He man before you start chanting it.

So as you can see the Ghost Busters movie’s are one of my favorites and have been pretty much all through my childhood. So when Xbox LIVE finally got the demo of the game, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the first movie, I had to really jump on that bandwagon.

Now this is one of the few game I have deliberately done research on. This is mainly because a film to game conversion, and all gamer out there know, film to game versions never score 100%. So instead of hyping myself up for a big let down by scouring the net for information I decided to actually wait untill I get my hands on the thing, and quite frankly I am happy I did.

The demo is relatively short, but what it does show you is the great gameplay that will come with the full game. Story wise I am a bit confused, as I have said before I have not read up on any info for ts game so by all means correct me if I am wrong here, but from what I gather, the game takes on a storyline that is set i between Ghostbusters 1 and 2, why do I assume this? well I the demo you revisit th library where te busters first saw the grey lady, you know the librarian ghost who liked shushing peopled and stacking books to the ceiling. The dialogue that the ghost busters were giving me were things like, ‘oh its her again, this is the first ghost we encountered at Ghostbusters etc etc.’ So I think its fair to say hat this is a follow on.

You play as a new Ghostbuster, creatively nick named Rookie you are the new guy to the team, In the demo you have seemed to have taken the place of Bill Murray’s character, Peter Venkman, and yo are exploring the library of the grey lady. In this demo you have your trusty proton gun and PKE meter. The proton gun has two different settings with ech setting supplied with two different modes of fire, so this gives you a good selection to play with. You have the PKE meter which when equipped goes into first person mode with you night vision goggles to investigate the area for supernatural activity, and you have your trust ghost trap which is always fun.

The game play is in the same 3rd person matter as Gears of war, and it really plays very smoothly, I had no trouble working my way round the buttons. The control system as a whole was very inviting so whatever level of gamer you are your not gonna have any trouble here.

Graphically the game does the movie justice, with bright vibrant supernal neon colours round ghosts and textures that captivate your surroundings well. I am pretty impressed with the graphics and te potion capture they have done on the cast works well.

No I have a gripe, maybe its a demo thing, but I don’t know. There was no health meter. and i was playing the game on normal mode, I would get knocked over but ge straight back up again,a bit strange if you ask me, and kinda takes out all the challenge of the game play, but you never know it could just be a demo thing.

All in all Ghostbusters seems to give the film justice, while making for some good gameplay, This is a game I will be getting my hands on in the future.

Garv

Sep

Brutal Legend Demo Verdict (X360)

By Garvaos Leave a Comment

Categories: Article, Preview and Review
Tags: Brutal Legend, demo, Double Fine, EA

When I first booted up the demo I could not help but smile, from the get go you are introduced by metal awesomeness, you are taken to the start screen which is a cover of a Vinyl EP, you know the retro records you used to play on record players, the menu itself is totally made up of this retro metal EP which I thought was a nice touch. Kind of like the menu layout in Guitar Hero 3 but more metal and using proper filmed footage as apposed to cartoon based graphics. So after gawking at the menu for a minuet or so I got stuck into a new game, the only option that is available as it is the demo.

I just have to say this now before it explodes out of my like some sort of hell demon. Brutal Legend captivates, and utilizes Metal Folk lore, brilliantly everything that has been done in this demo, and indeed the game has been superbly thought out with original metal music in mind, we are not talking Limp Bizkit or Linkin Park here, we are talking Slayer, Motor Head and Judas Priest. Now that I have got that out of my system, the start of the game shows the roadie Eddie Riggs, he is the best roadie alive. He can fix guitars no matter how broken they are, he can build colossal metal themed stage sets single handedly and of corse shred some awesome guitar licks which will most likely melt anyones face around. But he is an old school metal fan who has been lumped with a band that is renowned for 21st century rap metal, and he is sick of it.

To cut a long story short, during a gig he saves one of the stupid band members, who thinks its an awesome idea to climb all over the stage set…fail. Riggs saves him but gets crushed to death by the set in the process. But in true metal fashion, his blood awakens the set he has built in the shape of a huge metal beast, which rips apart the band and transports Eddie to another realm, alive and well. Hell of a way to go I must say.

As a side note. Double Fine, the makers of Brutal Legend, put a neat little feature into the cutscenes. Before Eddie swears his socks off you are given the choice to ‘Hear every single nasty syllable’ or ‘No swearing please’. This also goes for gore, you can either have ‘No Gore please’ or ‘Show Me every Gory Detail’. I think this is a great add on meaning anyone can really play it, even though the game will have an 18 certificate.

Anyway so you awaken in this different dimension, realm, whatever it is. You awaken in a temple and for some reason in doing so you have really hacked off some priest demon guys. So naturally you would find a weapon and start defending yourself. Or in this case pick up the ceremonial axe the priest demons were praying around and hack them all up to bits.

Using the A button to use some pretty heft and pretty darn awesome axe attacks you make mince meat out of these guys no trouble, well I did anyway. The melee system in this game is simple but effective, I found myself quite happy hacking these guys to bits with a mixture of holding and pressing the A button for different attacks. Mind you, the battle system got even better when I picked up Eddie’s guitar.

The guitar is the source to Eddie’s magic power, by pressing the X button you can unleash magic attacks, this mixed with the axe attacks gave me a great opportunity to mix, match and experiment with the magic and melee attacks. Later in the game though I was teamed up with an accomplice to do some demon slaying with. If you press Y nest to your accomplice in battle you both then have the opportunity to do a joint attack for greater damage. Yet another great way of attacking for some mind blowing melee combo attacks.

The game then went on, killing demons and just being the most awesome metal music themed game of this generation. I took a minuet out from slaying demons just to look at my surroundings. As I said before, a lot of though and detail has been put into this game, and the landscapes are just brilliant. The whole look of the game could not be better in my opinion.

When I got to about the half way point of the demo I was told to use do a guitar solo. Holding LT down I was taken to a mini menu, Highlighting the solo I was supposed to do and selecting it I was then taken to a fret board with a button sequence going across it. After executing the sequence, Eddie did a massive solo which then summoned up some parts so he could build his huge metal 4 wheeled vehicle, which he then proceeded to construct. It appears throughout the game you can unlock more of these solos, which will do different things, maybe summon attacks will be available? Who knows, can’t wait!

After constructing his new car dubbed ‘The Druid Plough’ I was then driving through hordes of demons, running them down. When I heard about the driving elements in this game I was a little skeptical, seeing as the driving elements in tomb raider for example weren’t the best elements to the game. The driving was surprisingly good and didn’t feel too out of place, even though it’s very simple the level design and the environment just captivated me.

Then it was boss time, not going to spoil it to much here but lets just say it was a great use of the driving element and even though relatively simple pretty inventive.

Brutal Legend is a must play for any hack and slash or indeed metal fan. Jack black does an amazing job as Eddie Riggs, the humor is brilliant and the overall setting is awesome. Even if the driving elements are a little weaker than the fighting elements. Cannot wait for the full game this Rock-tober

-Garv

Aug

Skint, Bored Or Just Unsure? These Top 5 Demos Will Sort You Out!

By Garvaos Leave a Comment

Categories: Article and General
Tags: 'splosion man, Batman: Arkham Asylum, beautiful katamari, demo, Demo review, mini ninjas

There is probably a fair few people like me out there who have probably just come out of uni, noticed that the money fund is somewhere beyond zero and they are either playing the games they already have, trading them in or just saving what scraps of cash they find in the sofa to get the next to release.

But what happens if you are not sure what to get next? Or you are just so board with your games collection and have no money for anything new, but you just want to play something!

Well here at Plus XP have been doing a good number of game demo reviews for people out there in these sticky situations, also it also gives me some stuff to write about. I plan to wrap them up into the top 5 demo’s you must play, no particular order just the top five that have stuck in my mind.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

As comic book gaming go, so far pretty much all games in the genre have been pretty big misses. Arkham Aslyum on the other hand is a huge hit and even from the demo, I can safely say this is probably the best comic book game you are ever going to play.

Why? Because you actually feel like Batman, not some generic supped up character. Ok so the demo only offers you limited things like Batarangs and detective mode, but these are awesome, also the combat at the start of the demo is highly addictive, its defiantly one of those easy to execute hard to master combat systems, and it flows beautifully.

Believe me when I say this, the demo offers so much as demos go and this is actually one of the few I still play time and time again.

If you want just a little taster of the awesomeness that is Batman: Arkham Aslyum its going to cost you nothing, except 1.6 gig of your hard drive space. If you wanna know more check out the full demo review here.

Mini Ninjas

Ok confession time. I haven’t done a full blown review for this, but, what I will tell you now is that this game is in one of those leagues I haven’t seen for years.

Think Zelda, with a tiny slice of the Original Spyro The Dragon and a bit of Golden Sun just to taste. The game itself is pretty straight forward but its the little things. The powers to become an animal, the way you ca switch between characters on the fly, the recipes you get to create potions or weapons and just the general underlying cuteness of it all that gives it its own charm. Yes its another 3rd person action game but with its own charm and defiantly one to pick up.

If you can spare 968 Meg for the demo, then do it!

Also did I mention it has ninjas? :p

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

You probably exclaimed YOU WHAT!? in the full demo review and probably have done again. Just to set things straight, I am not a sports fan and indeed not a golf fan, but if your stuck in the same skint situation like I am, this game is surprisingly addictive, and yes before you ask there is skill behind it too, its not just a case of whack the ball and hope to blighty that it gets in the hole. Granted, I have done that a few times before but before you know it you have lost an hour or so of your life playing even the demo.

You get 2 corses in 2 modes and one tiger challenge, a healthy ammount of gaming and for 1.57 gig you cannot go wrong really. Hey its free!

Splosion Man Game Trial

An arcade game has exploded onto this top five because it is so incredibly random, simple and addictive. As side scrolling puzzle games go this one hits all the marks, the challenge is there and you get a great portion of the game within the trial.

Its all about level design and this demo has it, hell the whole game does. Its mind bending and just straight up fun. Find a friend and do it co-op.

339.7 meg says you want to at least give this trail a shot. Full trial review can be found by clicking around……here.

Beautiful Katamari

This game has been out for a fair old while, but not many people out there know about this psychedelic title. The demo is available for 432.37 megs of your hard drive space and its all about rolling stuff up and making the biggest katamari you can.

The demo doesn’t specify what to roll up either. You can roll up people, small corner shops, cats you name it, and the bigger your katamari gets, the bigger the stuff you can roll up. You are timed but the beauty of it is you can try and beat your score each time. If your in crazy Japanese randomness pick this on up!

So if your bored an don’t know what to play, give these demos a shot, they could influence your next purchase, or like me add to the ever growing list of much wanted games.

Garv!

Aug

Batman: Arkham Asylum Has the Demo lived up to the Hype?

By Garvaos 1 Comment

Categories: Preview and Review
Tags: Batman: Arkham Asylum, demo, Demo review

As superheros go I never really got into Batman until the movies really. His pointy ears look pretty ridiculous to me, but in all fairness when I saw Tim Burtons; Batman Returns I really started to like him. The film Dark Night of course is THE awesome and from then on the Bat has gone up in my estimation.

So when the Arkham Aslyum demo came out on Friday I needed to get my hands on it. That I did and my first overall impression of the demo is. This game lives up to the Hype!

Bman AA1

Starting a new game you get a nice cinematic sequence of the Dark Night taking The Joker to the asylum then The Joker escaping and taking over the building and its inmates. Watching this, the graphics were amazing, the shadows were pretty much perfect. Looked very much like a sort of tuned up Man Hunt and the Joker looking I must say, deliciously evil.The graphics are very good in game also. The shadows and low level lighting set the mood pretty much perfectly.

The voice acting is great, using original voices from the cartoons. Such as Mark Hamill for The Joker. No one sounds out of place.

Now onto the important bit, the game play! What the demo does is throw you head first into combat. This acts as a combat tutorial with commands showing up on the screen. Now watching the previews of the game, the combat to me sounded a bit like it wasn’t going to work. The whole lets make up your own combos etc stank of the combat system just going to be (what I like to call) a filler element to the game, an element that was made up in a couple of days and brushed aside. Man I was wrong, the combat system very simple but hell does it look cool! Y to counter, X to strike and B to stun. You can string these in any order and the amount of moves you can get out of it is amazing. It all looks seamless on screen, every now an then I saw myself taking a double take at how cool the combo I did just looked. So the combat gets a big thumbs up from me!

Bman AA4

Now as this is a 3rd person game the designers have taken into account the placing of the main character on the screen. Like in Dead Space he is just off to the left hand side of the screen, meaning you have a great view of whats in front of you. This is even more convenient when characters such as The Joker or the Commissioner talk to you on a telly screen some where Batman is not standing straight in front of the screen. This also helps the use of your Bat-arang. You need to kill chattering teeth on the floor from time to time using it, so holding down LT to aim then throwing it by pressing RT will throw your Bat-arang at yor desired target…Convenient!

So after a couple more fights and talking bits I get a taste of what is possibly the best thing in the game. Detective mode! Hitting LB activates it, this mode shows you which guards are armed, what their health is like and what objects are interactive with in the area you are in. Even though this is simple it is a very effective tool. Especially if your in a room with about 10 armed inmates.

Bman AA5

The game then introduces you to the grappling hook. From up high Batman can then take out his enemies in a variety of ways. Such as gliding down and kicking them in te face, or silently dangle behind them with his grappling hook, snatch them then drop them from a height. Seriously cool to look at, always brings a smile to my face every time I watch them.

I’m not a great big fan of stealth games really. When I play them I never seem to do well at all. But some how Batman’s stealth element works a treat and I can get on with it really well. I love sneaking round a room an silently taking out enemies using the Y button.Which is funny because I am usually an ‘all guns blazing’ kinda guy.

So all in all the Batman: Arkham Aslyum demo is a must get for people looking forward to the game. For me this demo has put this game up to the top end of my to buy/get hold of some how list!

Batman: Arkham Asylum comes out on the 25th of August on the US and the 28th of August in the UK

Garv!

Mar

Ninja Blade: Second Opinion (X360)

By Leon Leave a Comment

Categories: Preview and Review
Tags: 360, demo, ninja, ninja blade

Wow, you say – two reviews! The thing is, I’m a big fan of Devil May Cry, and on the 360 this lead to a love for Ninja Gaiden II. When Garv discovered the news of this previously Japanese-exclusive series, we were both quite excited. Another 3rd person action game, on a console that is very dominated by FPS games. Being a PlayStation convert, its good to see a few more of the genres I enjoy coming to my main gaming console. So, Garv got dibs on the review, but was nice enough to let me post my own thoughts as well.

So, after we’d both finished uni, we sat and each played the demo on our 360s as we screamed and cheered at each other down the mic (wth the occasional bit of advanced critique). Now, this game is a little bit of an uncertainty to me – I’m certain I will be buying it, that I am sure of, but the question is, will it be as great as DMC3 or NG2?

Since Garvs summed up the general outline of the demo, I’ll just talk about the actual gameplay. Now, the combat itself seemed alright – a nice range of weapons, yet it didnt look or feel quite as fluid as that of Ninja Gaiden II. Still, its not bad, and I could grow to like it once I’ve got into a bit of a rhythm. Now, what I personally did enjoy was the mixup in gameplay – first it was a quicktime event, then combat, then platforming and quicktiming, then the wall running, then the boss.

Quicktime Events: Now, there were quite a few in the demo, but I get the sense that its the ‘thing’ they really wanted to show off. Very reminiscent of God Of War, and highly enjoyable. The only thing I wasnt sure about was that failing them in some cases just seemed to rewind and let you try again – fair enough, but seemed to lack any real penalty. However, in some cases during boss fights, it seems that it can result in losing some health, or the boss regaining some HP. The boss Quicktimes were incredibly satisfying, giving it that God of War ‘finisher’ feel.

Platforming: Now, the platforming I did enjoy. Reminiscent of NG2, it was all about running fast, running on walls and swinging on poles. Very fluid, and enjoyable. I didnt feel I totally understood the controls (was a bit unsure how to wallrun exactly, since I missed the popup that told you how to as I was focusing on jumping around), but I got them figured by my second time playing it.

Wall Running: This was enjoyable, somewhere between platforming and a quicktime event, it involves strafing left and right, while being able to dig your sword in the wall to slow down, and using reaction commands to dispatch enemies. The only real problem was that it was very short, so I felt as though it didnt really give you time to enjoy it. Still, I’m quite excited.

Boss: The particular boss of the level involved avoiding attacks, and hitting its legs when they were in reach (its a sort of giant spider sitting over the whole area). This was quite enjoyable, although maybe a tad long. That said, it basically has two phases, the fighting, and every so often a chunk of running – where you are thrown back a way from the spider-zilla, and have to run at it whilst dodging shockwaves. This was fun also, and mixed up the gameplay a little. The only one little problem I had with this boss was that to finish it you needed to press ‘A’ when it was vulnerable, to perform the Quicktime finisher. I didnt realise this at first, because the symbol hinting you to do so was very small, and I didnt notice it to start with. Again, I’m sure you could easily get used to this, and looking out for these moments.

One last thing I will mention is a power called Ninja vision. This is a very useful ability that allows you to slow time for a while at any time, as long as you have some power in your meter - this was useful in all stages of the boss fight, from slowing time to time jumps over shockwaves, to dodge attacks, or using it to get to the legs of the beast in time to hack it up.

Over all, I’m very excited about this one. The combat *may* not match up to DMC or Ninja Gaiden, but the various bits of gameplay have got me pumped for more.

Mar

Wanted: Weapons of Fate

By Leon Leave a Comment

Categories: Preview
Tags: demo, shooting, wanted, weapons of fate, Xbox 360

Personally, I find that most games based on movies are generally not all that special – usually the companies expect the brand to sell the item, and often it shows. Wanted: Weapons of Fate is one such game – a ’sequel’ to the film, which was an adaptation of the comics published by Top Cow. I personally loved the movie - so when I heard they were doing a game - I was interested, yet not optimistic. However, seeing as the game was a sequel, rather than an adaptation, it would at least be a bit more open for the creators to work with. The demo was released on Xbox Live today.

So, the concept of this title is something along the lines of Wesley out to seek another chapter of the Fraternity based in France, and generally have lots of fights in true bullet-curving Wanted fashion. Its a concept that could work, but will it?

Upon playing the demo, I first went through the tutorials and then played through the level provided. In the tutorials, you play as Wesley, whereas in the mission you play as Cross, who looks as though he will be a second main character, although not much is revealed about his involvement. As far as the story goes, the demo doesn’t give much information at all.

Basically, the game consists of shootouts with enemies, using cover to your advantage. Its a very simple system where you tap A to run to cover, and can run onto other bits of cover from there, in a similar fashion to games like Gears of War. Aside from shooting and blind firing, the main abilities you seem to have are the coined ‘curve-shot’ which involves holding RB to lock onto an enemy, then using the left stick to angle it so that there is a clear path. Let go and the bullet will fly as you aimed it. The other ability is to use adrenaline (much like bullet-time) to run to another bit of cover in slow motion and pull off some fast precision shots as you do so. The level design on the mission provided (set on board a plane) was more or less shoot enemies, run to next cover, shoot enemies, repeat.

The curve bullets are somewhat cool when it goes into a slow-mo view tracking the shot into some poor goon’s head, but other than that the game is looking a little repetitive. You have two adrenaline gauges on the right hand side of the screen, and each kill fills one up, and they can be used to perform the curve bullets and adrenaline runs. It is also possible to perform melee attacks, which seem to be one hit kills, by pressing the B button when in close proximity, and this can be used to kill opponents over cover and possibly in other context sensitive situations. Aside from this, the demo didn’t really show much else – the level seemed rather linear.

One system that may take getting to grips with is Quick Movement, which basically means that the more you move around without being seen, the faster you can move. So if you move from cover to cover, enemies seem to slow down as your characters adrenaline rises, and you can also blind fire to suppress enemies to help with this. Although I noticed it a little, I dont feel that the demo explains it brilliantly, and it may take some practise to master. No idea if there will be much more in the way of combat, but Wesley is shown doing a few other tricks in the trailer, so hopefully there is more to it. One issue I did notice, however - the controls felt somewhat stiff, the aiming feeling a bit slow at times, and the character seemed to move a bit oddly when not in cover.

The graphics are decent, the plane looking quite well made, and they did a good job on the interior – when you shoot a fire extinguisher the plane doors burst open and all the air masks drop from above the seats, the plane buffeting with the turbulence. The characters are alright looking, although a lot of the enemies look a bit samey. The graphics arent the best in the world, but theyre quite nice in most cases.

As for the sound, the voices did not impress me at all. Wesley is voiced rather weakly, seeming to try to fool us into thinking he is Wesley but failing, with a few too many lines copied from the movie (when he talks you through the tutorials). Cross seemed to be voiced equally badly, coming off a bit weird as he talked to himself before the mission began. The music however, seemed to be fitting - it didn’t spring out at me as a work of art, but seemed to have a Wanted undertone which was good enough for me.

Overall, I’m not sure about this one. Most of the stuff the demo offers has been done before in other games, and it didn’t really have anything that made it stand out. Sure, curving bullets is a neat trick, but its not enough on it’s own. If this games going to be any good, I think it needs more than what the demo shows. I don’t really want to get my hopes up, but I’ll secretly cross my fingers that it comes out worth playing.

Will it really be Weapons of Fate? Or just a dud that can bend bullets.. Only time will tell.

-Leon

Feb

And Finally!

By Garvaos Leave a Comment

Categories: Game News and General Gaming
Tags: Blog, blog site, demo, RTS, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade

Yesterday saw the release of GTA IV: The Lost And Dammed. I traded in some of my DS games to get the MS points i needed to download the 1.78 gig file but, that’s right you guessed it the master of lag strikes again! I started downloading about half 8 yesterday morning. got to 40 odd percent and then i had to pack my console up for games club. came back around half 5/6 ish and it got upto about 67 percent and froze till about midnight where i went to bed. Only at 8am this morning it felt like downloading the rest of it. I mean flipping heck!!

Anyway i have played the first couple of mission. And if your a GTA fan by any stretch of the imagination and have GTA IV for your beloved 360 then i suggest getting on said band waggon and purchasing this gem! Its packed full of goodies. 6 new weapons, 17 new bikes, an awesome protagonist by the name of Johnny, a good selection of mission, side mission and Minnie games. All mounting up to a 3rd of the game play the original GTA IV was. For a DLC that pretty amazing. well worth the pain and the wait. That’s another 10 hours of my life gone :p

As i am here i might as well talk abut the long over due Halo wars demo overview i was going to do.

Now when it comes to RTS games I either A) love it when I’m in the right mood or B) think oh my god I’m so bored give me an FPS game now before i die.

With halo wars its very much option A! If you don’t already know this is the first RTS game to be constructed just for a console (so yay its not a PC port) The controls have been constructed with the console gamer in mind and they work fantastical, using the analogue sticks and the 4 face buttons to there limits.

When it comes to story, this game seems solid and works well as a prequel to the halo trilogy. The cut scenes are beautiful to look at, I’d say they are on the same graphical level as the new final fantasy XIII trailer and that’s saying something. A lot of work has gone into the rendering. The graphics in game are good also, the motifs keeping with the halo franchise well. But as its an RTS game the game play graphics in my opinion aren’t really an issue.

So just from the demo i can safely say this game is going to be a hit and if i can scrounge the money together i will be preordering it.

One final thing!

The New web site is going from strength t strength. In the next month i am hoping to register the domain www.plusxp.com this will then be the url for the new review site, I am also looking for staff writers to get this thing on a roll. I’ll be looking to see if anyone is interested in the next month or so.

well that’s all i will do some more reviews and get back into the swing of thing soon. watch this space

Jan

My resident evil 5 demo verdict

By Garvaos Leave a Comment

Categories: Game News and General Gaming
Tags: demo, Multiplayer, resident evil, survival horror, xbox live

Ok before i say anything i just want you all to know that this is technically my first resident evil game. Ok you can all pick yourselves up off the floor…your done fainting? well ill crack on then :p

Well for starters i was playing it coop with a friend over XBL. And for those of you who know me i like to go in all guns blazing. And you probably are all well away that res evil is not an all guns blazing game. So after my initial oh crap where’s my ammo gone and oh crap there is a huge ugly hooded guy with an axe who’s going too flipping murder me. i decided to listen to my team mate and actually play the game as it should be played. Conserving ammo and being tactical.

After a few goes i quite enjoyed the game graphically it is astounding. Its especially freaky when the zombies grab hold of you start and shout at you. That was quite creepy but that goes with the territory. The movement of the characters i find takes some getting used too. They aren’t position in front of the screen but slightly to the right. Which at first seemed a bit weird but i got used to it. The enemy AI is what you expect from a zombie game such as this. Slow and a bit stupid, but the bigger enemies such as the big axe guy or the chainsaw evil thing are more intelligent and a bugger to kill.

So just from an hour or so with the game demo i can safely sayRE5 is one to look out for. Just make sure you conserve your ammo well.

Next demo’s ill be looking at are halo wars (feb 5th ish) and ninja blade (when it comes out) watch this space