Category: Xbox 360

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Destiny Beta Quick Thoughts!

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So the Destiny Beta came out a day early for us Xbox users, and I thought I would give some quick thoughts.

People have been saying this game is a cross between Halo and Borderlands, and they are not far off, but for me due to the online public cities it seems more like Hellgate: London.  Though if they can make a non-glitchy Helllgate, I am all in.  That game was like a year away from being something special.  Though I do find it odd that the cities take you from first person to third person.

The graphics are pretty good, especially the environments, but the enemy character models can look a little cartoony.  You don’t notice it a lot when you are fighting for your life, but when it is just you and a couple of them standing around they look a little off.

The AI is hit and miss.  The Fallen like to hide against walls, even if those walls are facing you.  Sure that makes them easy to kill, but it is just kind of odd to see them peering around a corner away from you even though they were just looking right at you.

If you had any doubts about the shooting or gameplay mechanics, don’t.  The people at Bungie haven’t forgotten how to make an FPS.  The controls are tight, and they feel a little like Halo mixed with Call of Duty, so console FPS players should be right at home.

So far Destiny has been fun, and I can’t wait to play it more.  It is going to give Borderlands a run for its money in the Co-operative First Person Looter space.  Still, I think there is more than enough room for both of them.  I will let you all know if my first impression about this game change at all.  However since it is in free beta now, my advice would be to find a download key and try it yourself!

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Shmee Is Playing The Witcher 2!

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The Steam sale is a wondrous thing.  Just when E3 got me all excited for The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, Steam went and put The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings on sale for four dollars!  I played the first Witcher quite a bit, but I never finished it because it was really hard, and my manly pride didn’t let me reduce the difficulty.  CD Projekt RED really amped everything up for this sequel.  The combat is better, the graphics are better, the story makes sense, and now that I have so little pride left, I don’t mind playing it on easy.

Honestly my only complaint this time around, is that while the areas look wide open they are actually a series of paths, and you can’t veer off those paths at all.  You want to walk through those shrubs?  To bad there is a leaf in the way you can’t walk past!  You need to walk all the way around.  You want to drop off that slight ledge?  Do dice!  Still this is a story based action RPG, so walking through shrubs and off ledges is more a nice-to-have instead of a need.

I have been having a lot of fun with this game, and it has made me glad that I upgraded my computer so I am able to run it.  Even though the Steam sale is over you can still get this game cheap, and it is well worth your hard earned money!

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Having Fun With Saints Row: The Third!

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This game came out three years ago, so I am not going to do a full review of it, but since it is one of the games I am playing right now (thanks to Microsoft giving it to me for free), I thought I would give you my impressions.

The people over at Volition software have done themselves proud.  They took all the fun parts of the GTA series and made them more fun.  The driving is faster and crazier, the shooting is hectic and over the top, the hand to hand combat is actually enjoyable, and the set-piece mission are bananas.  It is like they sat down with my thirteen year old self and asked him what he would want out of a game, and then they made it.

I guess the story picks up after the first two games (I only played the demo of the first one), and now The 3rd Street Saints have gone from street gang to media empire, but new gangs are trying to bring them down.  It is not that exciting, but it gives them a frame to design their wacky missions around.  Really it boils down to giving you new people to shoot, and a new city to explore.

Still as much fun as I have had playing this game there are some things I don’t like:  The city doesn’t feel alive.  It is big and open and lets you play around, but it doesn’t have that lived in feel.  Also the dialog and the jokes can get a little too puerile for me sometimes, and the game can get a bit repetitive between the big set-piece missions.

Even with those complaints the game accomplishes what every game should strive for, it is fun.  It makes me want to play more, so I can have a good time and laugh a little.  Sure if I was still thirteen I would probably enjoy it even more, but the difference between thirteen and thirty isn’t as big as the you would think.  I will be watching for a good deal on Saints Row IV.

 

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Shmee Puts His Dirty Hands On Battlefield: Hardline!

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One of EA’s big E3 announcements this year was Battlefield: Hardline.  It is the large open-world combat that you have come to know and love from Battlefield, but now you are playing as Cops and Robbers.  It is like someone at EA saw how well the Payday franchise was doing and decided to modify Battlefield 4 to corner that part of the market.  Besides just announcing Hardline, they also allowed people with PCs and PS4s to download it and try it out.  Since I don’t have a PS4, I had to go with the PC option (poor me I know).

It is pretty much Battlefield 4.  Which means it is fun, and the combat is intense, but it didn’t wow me with how new and original it is.  It feels like a really well done expansion pack from the good ol’ days before monthly DLC, or even a good looking total conversion mod from a talented group of individuals, but even though it looks different it still plays the same.

The modes are kind of new.  One is called Blood Money, where both sides run to central location and grab cash to bring back to their vaults.  It is like center capture the flag except you can attack the other side’s base.  Heist is a game-type where the criminals need to steal money out of the Police’s armored cars, so it is pretty much assault.

Like I have said throughout this, whatever it is, Battlefield: Hardline is fun.  It plays well, and it is well balanced, but it just doesn’t differentiate itself enough for me to get really excited about it.  Especially since I already own Battlefield 4 (which is a great game).  This is just the beta though, so maybe they can sell me on it more in the months to come.  It comes out this year on October 21st.

 

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Let The Child Of Light Tell You A Story!

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Child of Light was recently released by Ubisoft Montreal and published by their parent company Ubisoft.  It trades out the usual grim and gore of normal RPGs for a light and airy watercolor-esque world.  The game was too pretty for me to pass up, and I have enjoyed myself immensely.

The game starts off with a woman telling her child a story about a girl Aurora who become very ill and fell asleep, but when she awoke, she was in far away land.  She must free the land from the darkness that has gripped it, so she can return home, and be with her beloved father.  It will not be easy, but she will pick up friends along the way including a firefly by the name of Igniculus.

The story tries to rhyme the whole way through, but it is not successful.  I appreciate the effort, but I think they should have given up and just made the text more interesting.  While the story is sweet it is not overly gripping, but since they were going for a fairy tale story maybe that was on purpose.  Still it does its job and moves the game forward.

The game is a turn based RPG, with the slight twist of an added timing element, so if you finish an attack on a monster while it is gearing up for its attack, you cause it to loose its turn.  Likewise the monsters can do the same to your party.  Your firefly companion also gets in on the action.  If you have him hover over a monster, he slows it down, but if you have him hover over a member of your party, he heals that person.

There is a limited loot system.  There are the standard potions, health, magic, revive, and what-have-you.  Then there are oculi.  These are gems that you can add to your attacks or defense to change up your powers a bit.  Equip a ruby on your attack, and now you do fire damage.  Put it on your defense, and now you are guarded from fire.  You do your best to try and match your oculi to the type of creatures you are fighting for maximum advantage.  You can combine oculi to create stronger or varied bonuses.

Now for the moment of truth.  Is the game fun?  I think so, and I also found it quite relaxing which is a change from the norm.  It was nice to lean back and explore the world of Lemuria, and do battle with polite monsters that take their turn.  It is a shame the story didn’t pack more of a punch, and it is a little short at about ten hours, but for fifteen bucks that is quite alright.  It was a great change of pace for me, and I think it will be for you too.