May 23, 2008

Video Game Reviews @ The Temple

The Darkness - Holy shit, this game was fucking amazing!!  Maybe it was because of low expectations, but I thought this was soooo good!  I played the demo, I remember thinking "eh, whatevs", another FPS, another mob story, add in some crazy powers.  So I wasn't thinking this would be much, but wow it was really fantastic.  The story is just so engaging, this is the most I've been into a game in a long time!  More so than Drake, more so than Heavenly Sword, both games I loved.  And what's weird, it's not exactly a ground breaking story - mob hitman gets betrayed by his boss, goes on a vengence spree.  There's a grandma, a girlfriend, and an old guard of mobsters that's on your side.  Nothing new, yeah?  Then why was I captivated?  Good writing?  Astoundingly good voice acting?  Both of those, I guess, not sure what else, but it was great.  And the last scene, which I'm positive has been in at least half a dozen movies, had me riveted.  The whole last section was really dramatic and cool.  There were issues, to be fair.  First of, it's a damn FPS on a damn console.  This is countered by the second issue that the game is pretty easy because you are ridiculously overpowered with your Darkness stuff.  Third, the main guy looks like a Crow reject.  Fourth, the main guy's mouth barely moves when he talks!  What the hell?  Everyone else's does!  Somehow he's got mumble mouth?  It's such a weird delibrate choice and was really distracting for the first 1/3 of the game.  Besides these things though?  Aces 10+!  Oh, and the world itself feels really good, it's not exactly a sandbox, but it is remarkably real feeling for an FPS.  And get this, there's little TV sets in the game, on which you can watch full length movies!  I saw the first 10 minutes of To Kill A Mockingbird!  There's movies, kung fu, tv shows, music videos, such a weird but cool addition!  I don't know, I just can't get over how good this game was, it might be my favorite PS3 game so far (recognizing I haven't played GTA4 yet).  Oh, and apparently it's based on a comic!  Yer god damn right I'm getting it!

Kingdom Hearts II - Okay, here's the thing, I LOVED the first game.  I thought it was so cute and charming and it just sucked you in.  It was like being a kid, it was so neat.  But this game is just super lame.  First of all, the opening 4 hours are the single most boring section of RPG game to ever exist. ever.  Beyond that, the game is just not as cute as it was the first time.  Going to all the worlds is mostly boring.  The pirates world was embarassing, the rhythm section of little mermaid made no sense at all.  The only thing that actually made me feel like the first game was the Steamboat Willie black & white world, and Pooh (which was my favorite last time).  I'm really just super disappointed.

Folklore - This is one of the first-gen of PS3 games, it's an RPG.  I love the idea and the art direction.  You sort of go into this fantasy world where you capture fantasy creatures and use their attacks like spells to attack or defend against other creatures (and capture them).  Kind of a pokemon thing, with a more fantastic setting.  I played the demo and really enjoyed the look of the game.  Unfortunately, the game is monuMENTally boring.  I give no shits about the story, the characters, what's happening next, blah blah.  It's a fun little game, but easily forgettable except for it's look.  In fact, I gave up on it, halfway through.  It's so boring, and now it's gotten hard enough I can't breeze through it, so I really lost patience.  Probably didn't help that i was in a bad mood that day, but oh well, back to gamefly it goes!

Fight Night Round 3 - Boxing game!  I havne't played a boxing game since Mike Tyson's Punchout!  It's quite a bit of fun, and it makes me act all testosteroney.  I get very bravado and trash talky (yes, to a TV!) and macho while I'm playing this thing.  The rap soundtrack helps.  The game looks quite good, a lot of effort went into making hte boxers look realistic, sweat, spit, blood, and all.  Too bad they couldn't use 1% of that to make the round number girls look like they didn't have down syndrome.  As for the game play, I don't know, I've not done boxing in forever, I have no frame of reference.  It's fun for me, seems pretty well controlled.  I can't imagine how to play this game very well, I can't see any punches coming and block them.  If i block it's cuz I guessed right.  So far my only strategy is jab the hell out of them and then haymaker them in the side until they go down.  It's worked so far!  Anyway, looks good, plays fun, but this is coming from an amateur.

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