True Video Game Reviews

2007-Nov-13 - Soldier of Fortune: A History of Gore

Blood, guts and brains are what you can expect from the Soldier of
Fortune games. Raven Software's blood soaked series began with the
first edition Soldier of Fortune. Published by Activision, Inc in
March of 2000, the story follows John Mullins (as played by Sylvester
Stallone), a professional consultant with a reputation for getting the
job done, and his partner Aaron "Hawk" Parsons who are employed by the
mercenary organization "The Shop." Mullins and Hawk are sent are sent
to track down Sergei Dekker, a Neo-Nazi whose stolen handle full of
nuclear weapons from a Russian Storage compound. Mullins and Hawk are
to stop Dekker at any blood splattering cost.

With Raven Software wielding the GHOUL engine they were able to build
the character models based on body parts that each take their own
damage (what better way to depict graphic dismembering). A shot to the
head with a powerful gun, nothing but a stump; a shotgun to the gut,
destroys his bowels, and a shot to the stones will cause the victim to
garb himself then keel over. There's always the option of shooting off
an enemy's limbs leaving nothing but a bloody torso. If an enemy is
shot in the hand they cower surrendered.

These horrific acts span the globe, such as Japan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia,
the US, South Africa, Russia and Siberia.

The series continued with the tactical shooter Soldier of Fortune II:
Double Helix. Ten years ago Dr. Piotr Ivanovich, a leading Biopreparat
scientist, was smuggled out of the Soviet Union. Dr. Ivanovich has
discovered multiple instances of a viral agent with properties that
link directly to old experiments from his Biopreparat days. "The Shop"
sends Mullins is to stop Prometheus, a terrorist group whose mission
is set the dangerous virus on the world.

With the GHOUL 2.0 the depiction of carnage was enhanced. Now shooting
an enemy in the head would blow apart his skull and reveal the gooey
brains inside. Shooting limbs would expose jagged bits of bone and
squirting blood. As gory as it was SoF II was it was taken to another
level by fashioning a more believable, and stylistic blood fest.

The games difficulty was also enhanced, Mullins ability to absorb
bullets was scaled back some. Weapon recoil made autos more
inaccurate. The AI was tuned up, no longer would your enemies would
charge straight at you, now they used squad like tactics, hid, and
fired from cover.

And now the latest Soldier of Fortune III: Payback. You play as Thomas
Mason (a totally different guy from SoF and SoF II) a freelance
mercenary, when a routine escort mission goes horribly wrong, Thomas
Mason finds himself battling an extremist enemy that knows no
boundaries. Using any means necessary, players will need to uncover a
complex plot and defeat an extremist organization determined to throw
the world into global conflict.

Just like its predecessors SoF: Payback gives the disturbing graphical
decapitation an upgrade, using nex-gen technology (I do believe that
is the scientific word) the most outrageous modeling system was
devised. With over the top blood spray, destructible limbs, and
squeamish death animations, enemies not only react to the specific
area where they've been hit also by how powerful of weapon. Be sure to
finish the job or you might get shot in the back by an enemy you
thought was dead.

Payback also includes a multiplayer with more than 30 weapons, modes
such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Elimination, Team Elimination,
Capture the Flag, and Demolition (everything you'd expect from a FPS).

Additional maps tuned specifically for multiplayer and many server
settings custom online play.

Soldier of Fortune: Payback is sure to continue the blood, sweat and
tears for the next generation of gamers.

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2007-Oct-13 - Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

Ratchet and Clank Future, Insomniacs second game for the PS3. Ratchet is back and in High Def! Within the first few minutes of the game Ratchet and Clank find themselves in a battle to save the planet from attacking fish like aliens?! Lead by the evil Cragmite Emperor Percival Tachyon...Percival?! Who is out to destroy the last of the Lombax. The rest of the story is about Ratchet unlocking his past and the discovering what had happened to the rest of the Lombax, kind of. The story really doesn't unfold, toward the end of the game you kind of just get told what happened, there was no real progression. It just kind of happened, no real build up just a bunch of jumping from world to world.

Speaking of worlds, the ones Ratchet and Clank fight across have never looked so spectacular, with gigantic stages packed with dozens of opponents, tons of destructible objects, lots of explosions, and more colorful characters. Lets not forget bolts, millions and millions of bolts! It almost makes up for the lack of original story.

There are a ton cool new weapons that can be upgraded by using a rare element called Raritinium. There are also the schematics for the Ryno hidden in the different worlds. This is a lot better than just selling the best weapon in the game, it makes a player earn it. There's also a bunch load of crazy new gadgets; one of my favorite gadgets is the groovitron, a disco ball looking device that sends the battle field into a Disco Night Fever reenactment. Another gadget that I couldn't get enough of was Mr. Zurkon, a laser toting robot with hilarious one liners. Clanks also got a few new features, like the geolaser that can cut through obstructions, the Hydro pack that speeds up Ratchetâ€™s swimming, a new Jetpack, and some dragonfly looking wings (awesome).

The gameplay hasn't changed much since the originals, pretty much bash a robot's head with your wrench until a bolts come out, then use those bolts to upgrade your weapons. Of course there some added events, like flying Ratchet's spaceship through an asteroid field while defending against marauding pirates. There's also a section where you play as Clank and control little space creatures called the Zonie. This looks like a cross between the Clank section in Size Matters (where Clank has to give orders to the Gadget Bots) and E.T. Insomniac also included the Six Axis in a few new mini games, like dodging flying cars while falling, controlling Clank's geolaser, and lock picking.

Even with a lack of an original storyline I found Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, if anything, entertaining. I could spend hours upgrading every weapon, and trying out every weird gadget I could get my hands on.

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2007-Oct-13 - Halo 3 Blew!

Halo's storyline finally becomes full circle, and not the good kind of circle I use to draw in math class with a compass, the bad kind of circle I use draw on the asphalt when I was five! If Bungie’s mission statement is to make feel like a pigeon for waiting three months, preordering, and paying $60 for a game that doesn't deliver anything close to decent story, CONGRADULATIONS! If I didn't wait three months, preorder, $60 yada yada, I would throw the Halo 3 game disk into my bathroom sink and set it on fire, then use to line Pirate’s (my cat) cat box.

If you think I'm being harsh, lets take trip down memory lane, there I was sitting at my computer watching the first CGI trailer for Halo 3, you remember, the one where its the two kids staring at the stars asking philosophical questions, then BAM, its Master Chief in some massive battle putting on his helmet. The first thing that crossed my mind "oh my God, are we going finally learn about Master Chiefs past?" NO! I mean, why would you ever think that?

Now the actual storyline is a much worst let down than not seeing under Master Chief's helmet, starting with cutting the entire Arbiter storyline right out the game. It's not like he had any part in Halo 2, he's doesn’t even have a big part in Halo 3, he's just your right hand man for the entire game! Don't forget about Cortana, because you can't, every 15 to 30 minutes she's on your screen slowing your gameplay down talking about nothing that has to do with storyline, or anything! Does anyone remember Garvemind for the Halo 2, well you might as well forget because he's not even in the game, unless you count the one sided dialogue, that slows down your gameplay again!

Few new weapons have been added to Halo 3, none of which are very impressive or useful, I found myself using the Assault Rifle through the majority of the game. Until I ran into a tank where I would use the rocket launcher or run into it with a Ghost firing repeatedly until it explodes.

There were also some new vehicles, like the Chopper (brute version of an ATV) which looks like a 1980s Big Wheel and the Hornet (the human version of the Banshee) which looks a lot like the Turtle Glider from TMNT. One new feature they added, which I though was awesome, the ability to destroy the Scarabs, the giant spider like tanks from the other Halos. Of course that lost its luster after I found out all you had to do was stand underneath its leg joints.

Graphic and sound wise it was to be expected from a next gen game, bright shiny colors and the same Halo theme beat into submission. Although with the new renditions of the theme there were cut scenes where I was expecting to see a Brown Coat, or Reavers to jump out (yea a Firefly references I’m a nerd).

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2007-Sep-23 - Chrono Cross

This is a follow up of the SNES hit Chrono Trigger (not counting Radical Dreamers the unoffical sequel). I loved it!

The innovative fight sequence, almost endless abilities, tons of useable charcters, and an amzaing storyline easily put this game in my top 10! I spent a hundred plus hours trying to accomplish every side quest and all the endings.

One of my favorite features they added to this game was the leveling up system. you really never "leveled up." The character would just grow stronger, which made the game a little more intresting. I loved the fact that i didn't have to spend hours farming to become strong enough to battle a boss. Giving the user the choice of avoiding fights and not just randomly throwing the user into one was very intovative.

I recomend everyone who is fan of RPGs should own a copy of Chrono Cross.

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2007-Sep-23 - Bio Shock!

Bio Shock has no doubt one of the most interesting story concepts for the XBOX 360, as for gameplay I found it rather lacking. The game handled like any other shooter with little added features. Bio Shock was also lacking in customization. There was no worries about upgrading weapons or ablities differ ways becuase by the end you had all of them.

Sure the underwater city of Rapture was very impressive in both level design and layout, but I had no desire to play the game second time to achieve a different ending.

It wasn’t the storyline, I loved it, it was the linear fashion that drove me away. The fact that no matter how many times I played, my weapons wouldn’t be upgraded differently (because they all max out before reaching the final boss), I wouldn’t achieve any new or "different" Plasmids (once again I achieved all plasmids, or at least the good ones, before the final boss), or encounter new enemies. It was very cut and dry.

All and all System – I mean Bio Shock, is a great game to rent but I’d advise not to buy :)

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