A Gamers Voice

well, it has some fantastic pros, some almost ignorable cons, and graphics that are nearly erotic.
Just because it’s a fun template, let’s start with the pros. The very first thing that I jumped quite literally for joy over was Online Co-Op. It was quick and easy to find a partner, set it up, and get in the middle of the game. The controls are a little different from previous RE games, but it let’s you know. Then, once I got in the game (I played as the new girl, Sheva) the first thing I made note of was the disturbingly realistic environment and the horror it instilled in me. The game ran very smoothly and the atmosphere was gory and real. Right away the action started, and before I’d really figured out the controls, I was blasting enemies heads off. The good thing is that they managed to keep the horror feel while adding even more awesome action elements. I’m pleased.
The cons I’ll run through quickly, because nobody cares about them. First off, the game tells you “This is new and in progress, don’t bitch about bugs.” But oddly there weren’t any… The problem that I got really butt-hurt over was the utter LACK of communication through online play. I had one button to say “Come on” and that was it. Resident Evil Outbreak had better communication. But, since it is a demo (and I’m sure Capcom will get death threat letters if they don’t put it in) I’ll wait and pray to whatever God there is that they put in voice chat compatibility. Now that I think about it, that was the only con haha.
Back to the graphics though. It was almost unbelievable how good the graphics were. Like, I always thought that it’d be more polygonal, but it runs very smoothly even with six or seven enemies plus the chainsaw guy running around manically.
Since it’s demo, I’m sure it’s on easy mode, so I didn’t die even though I stared at the chainsaw guy for five solid seconds.
But the game runs beautifully. The controls, while they may throw off vets such as myself, I must admit are much more fluid than previous installments. The camera is a bitch, but it always is in Resident Evil, am I right? Once you get used to it, you stop moving like a tank and it becomes much more fluid. The aiming is precise and the buttons are intuitive. One nice addition is the in screen map and inventory, so you can swap weapons on the fly and keep track of your partner.
All in all, this one will definitely be worth the wait. I’ve set my 65 dollars aside for it’s official release and, until then, I’m gonna hit up the demo some more. Catch ya later.

Well, the character you see above is the RE5 version of the Chainsaw character from 4, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about.  This is a chance for me to go all nerdy about the graphics of this game.  Since I am soon going to college to get a degree in graphic design of Characters and Levels, I’m obviously already inclined to geek out over graphics.  But this particular screenshot always gets my eye and screams “I’m amazing!”  Haha, so what always gets me about it is the flesh on the chainsaw character.  Focusing on the torso alone, the cracks and chunks of missing flesh are cool enough, but the videos this is featured in show the incredible detail and power of the PS3 and XBOX360 processors.  These realistic skins and sounds of this character really immerse you in the game and can seriously freak you out.  This character without the chainsaw could really freak me out, but throwing in the chainsaw can just make you pee yourself haha.  His crackly arms do the same and it’s really just genious.  But the part that always makes me giddy with anticipation is the head.  This wrapped up bag thing and the way he’s clutching it like he’s just seriously pissed off is intense.  It seems this particular Resident Evil character might be sort of Silent Hill esque in that if you can sneak up, just watching this character move alone could freak you out before he even sees you.  This game really is just beautiful.  It’s all there is to say about it.  And I’m going to be staring at screenshots and videos until I FINALLY get a chance to put the game in my hands.

As the day draws nearer I find myself looking more and more into Resident Evil 5. Recently I found myself watching the new trailer from CES 2009. I love the monsters. Like, a ton. I thought the RE4 monsters were pretty damn awesome, but what I’ve seen of 5 is just pure and simple epic. Massive unfathomable monsters fighting against poor Mr. Redfield and he still prevails. It’s awesome. Sure it brings the RE franchise closer to being an action game, but 4 did that pretty well too. So I’m very confident that 5 will keep up with the horror aspect. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna watch more trailers. Toodles.

Guitar Hero: Modern Hits information leaked thanks to the ESRB’s magical ability to spew information about games the developers don’t quite wanna let out yet. The reason I infer they didn’t quite feel up to letting it out yet was because they hadn’t TOLD US YET! Oh well, in this technological day and age just about anyone can find out just about anything, yes? Here’s the thoughts I had upon simply seeing the title (we’ll get to various other ramblings later). Modern Hits are, shall we say, not exactly Guitar Hero songs. Sure every 17 years or so we get Chinese Democracy, but not too many “hits” today are exactly big guitar songs. The thing I fear is that it’ll lose a bit too much of it’s fan base. Guitar Hero is based in fantastic metal, explosive solos, majestic music, and memorable guitar parts. Artists like Iron Maiden, Guns N Roses, and Motley Crue (forgive my lack of Umlauts) graced the games. And, unfortunately, todays modern hits have cast the guitar asunder for synthesizers in the like of Metro Station and poppy songs like Hannah Montana. And while I’m all for a little diversity in Guitar Hero, I’m not sure I can survive going from, say, November Rain to Shake It. Now, a few modern hits are worthy, such as Fall Out Boys rendition of Beat It, another DragonForce song (although not quite a hit), some My Chemical Romance (although Guitar Hero 2 for XBOX360 just about ravaged every song they had worth putting in a GH game), or something from Chinese Democracy. What I’m saying is that Guitar Hero is starting to scrape the barrel. We saw it with 3, and we can see it start to happen again. Until musicians start making more bold and intricately memorable music, games like Guitar Hero are only going to go so far! Hell, Rock Band had to throw in the whole band to try and save the franchise. It’s nothing to immediately worry about, but it is an impending doom. It’s only a matter of time before we’re all playing with plastic guitars to *shudder* 50 Cent because their target demographic shifts. Now my next problem. The DSi is coming out very soon. And it doesn’t have a GBA slot. So, if the Guitar Hero plug-in goes into the GBA slot, we have a problem. As soon as the DSi comes out, this new Guitar Hero becomes obsolete to the new DSi. Sure, people with their old DS won’t care, but a lot of people are going to get a DSi and not be able to get Guitar Hero Modern Hits. And not a lot of people are willing to put a lot of money into extra plug-ins with even more bulk and more money, especially if the game doesn’t deliver extensively. I worry for Nintendo anyway. The DSi seems like, while it has fun cool functions, it’s a farcry from what’s necessary for Nintendo to completely save itself. Of course, who knows if they can, or even if they’re trying! I love Nintendo dearly, I swear I do. But I just think Nintendo ought to voluntarily pull itself out of consoles, and release really awesome peripherals and really awesome games for the Playstation or XBox systems. They’re just not capable of holding their own as a console company anymore. It pains me to say it, but that’s how I feel. Me? Oh, I’ll support Nintendo, buy games, play my Wii as religiously as I do, and dink around with my DS a lot. I just know that all I’m really doing anymore is using a glorified toy. One that, for fifty bucks, I could use to plug into my XBox for the same effect, but with a much wider range of games and better graphics. And who knows, in the long haul, maybe that’s what they’re doing. It’s just taking them a while. But, alas, these are merely my ramblings. I just used Guitar Hero as the catalyst haha!

Well, Gamespot released it’s Game Of Year awards.  I particularly enjoy the Wii so that’s what I looked into first.  The game of the year this time around (stop me if you don’t wanna know) was No More Heroes!  For anybody who doesn’t know what NMH is, allow me to explain.  Travis Touchdown is a cel-shaded badass beating the shit out of people in an attempt to climb his way up the world of illegal assassins and, essentially, just be a total badass.  The fighting gameplay is ridiculously fun, funny, and hilariously gory.  However, there is two other modes of gameplay, House and City.  In the house you can play with your adorable kitty with a bell, change clothes, call people, and use the bathroom/save your game.  In the City, you get to unleash random bouts of havoc Grand Theft Auto style by driving your house sized motorcycle around town assaulting citizens and lamp-posts in either random fun, or in a mission or in transit to a mission.  You can take odd jobs like picking coconuts, taking out trash, finding cats, etc.  Or you can take hitman jobs where you kill people in garages for money.  That’s the setup.  Once you get out into the game though, the real fun begins because it flows incredibly seamlessly and is intensely fun!  It’s easy to see why it was Game Of Year for Wii.  What’s notable is that it beat out Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart!  Now, I’ve been a massive fan of SSB for years and Mario Kart is one of the best party games around, so while I agree with the fact that NMH is a fantastic game, I can’t help but wonder; “was it better than SSBB?”  I mean, the introduction of Snake and Sonic into Brawl was one thing, then level editor, online support, the vast amount of levels, and the sheer fun of the game alone make it quite a heavy contender!  But still, I think there’s more than just the gameplay at work as far as the choice for NMH to be game of year.  I think it’s the significance that a third party developer made a fantastic game that puts NMH so high up.  So, let me ask you; do you think that if No More Heroes had been made by Nintendo instead of Capcom, that Gamespot would have ranked it lower?  Not to rag on the game!  I love it, it’s one of my favourites.  But I think that the intense deprivation the Wii has seen of third party games maybe makes people favor the ones that do come along.