[Lucien21]

Replayed Uncharted: Drakes Fortune after they patched the game to include the new PS3 Trophy system.

Still really enjoy the game.

So far I have gotten my PS3 Profile to Level 3 with 32 Trophies (26 Bronze, 5 Silver and 1 gold)

[Denaron]

Originally Posted by JemyM

Well... I actually did...

There are some games coming up which I want to play on PS3 as well (Resident Evil V, Final Fantasy XIII and Force Unleashed), if it wasn't for them I would have sold the PS3 after beating MGS4.

Do ps3 have some kind of hardware problem like 3 red lights on xbox 360? I'm thinking about to sell my 360 and buy a ps3, the problem is that a ps3 game is too expensive around here...

By the way, i've finished syberia II today. I recommend to every adventure gamer. All puzzles in the game are completely logic (sometimes you will get stuck but you just need to pay attention to get free) and the game have a rich storyline. If you never played you should do!

[JemyM]

Metal Gear Solid 4
I do not know how to rate this game without sounding like a fanboy. What can I say? It's not open-ended, free-roaming uhm... it does not include a RTS? The game is ranked 93% on gamerankings with many 10 out of 10 so I am not alone if I rate it very high.

The game had a slow start and I was a bit annoyed when I had to play a game that is sometimes played in FPS mode on a console. When the third level begun however, I just couldnt stop playing... "I will just finish this level" became four hours last night, then I woke up early and I didnt even bothered about getting dressed. When the end credits were rolling and my wife came through the door I had not eaten my lunch and I entirely skipped most of my caffeine intake and the clock was half past five in the afternoon. When a game simply do not let me go I know I have something special on my hands.

Maybe I can blame the game for having the longest cutscenes I have ever seen in a game? But that would blame the game for one of it's greatest strength's, the amazing story. MGS4 is The End of the MGS saga in which each chapter (beyond MGS anyway) carry an over the top complex story. Even if it seemed to be impossible to tie it all together, MGS4 did. Best ending ever? Well, I have to taste that sentence for awhile, thinking if I know a single ending more satisfactory than this was... but right now I cannot remember one. Although one really should have played all the previous games to be able to enjoy it since much of the game is nostalgia back to the old games, almost like an anniversary edition or celebration of the past series.

Have I seen more beautiful graphics? Well, Mass Effect and Crysis might be consider equals, but when it comes to characterdesign, the character models, there are none like it. The music and the art direction is simply beautiful, you can see that this game is created by real artists. The game simply reeks with beautiful cinematic scenes that just keeps messing with your emotions.

GamePlay? Overdone? The game carry so many features without making the game bad... The game have more weapons than you will ever use. You have a shop system to buy upgrades and if you like collecting you can do that for quite some time (not to mention tons of badges and achievments. The game have so many secrets and extra features that playing it once doesn't allow you to see the entire game. It's the first game I seen that carry a built-in MP3 player, an iPod to be precise. The maps have great variety and some of them are even more fun due to their original features. Playing the game as an actiongame is just as fun as playing the game as a sneaking game. The boss fights are very original and extremely well made. Two of them even carry a whole genré in itself (not mentioning which to spare you spoilers).

There are other great games out there, but I do not know what to compare this game with since there's really none like it.

I am completely exhausted now. It will take a day or two until I can pick up another game.

[insane_cobra]

Originally Posted by JemyM

There are some games coming up which I want to play on PS3 as well (Resident Evil V, Final Fantasy XIII and Force Unleashed), if it wasn't for them I would have sold the PS3 after beating MGS4.

But... You are aware all of those are also coming to the 360, right? I'd still keep it for LittleBigPlanet and Heavy Rain, however.

Originally Posted by Denaron

Do ps3 have some kind of hardware problem like 3 red lights on xbox 360? I'm thinking about to sell my 360 and buy a ps3, the problem is that a ps3 game is too expensive around here...

PS3 is also susceptible to hardware problems, of course, but they're not as widespread as RRoD used to be. On the other hand, RRoD is not as widespread as it used to be either. The problem is mostly fixed in newer Falcon models and there's an even more reliable Xbox 360 revision (Jasper) coming out within a month or two. Probably not much of a comfort to you, seeing as you already have a 360, but that's the way it is.

[JemyM]

Originally Posted by insane_cobra

But... You are aware all of those are also coming to the 360, right?

Yes, but that's not an argument for me to buy a XBox 360 when 360 did not have the one game that pushed me into buying a next generation console.

I do not want to sound like a sony fanboy now, because I am not. I am in every sense a PC gamer by heart. The kind of games I like (complex roleplaying games, adventuregames and first-person shooters) are still the kinds of games that are best played on PC.

There were three series in particular that got me to buy consoles; Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy and Resident Evil. Those series made me buy a GameCube and a Playstation 2. (When it comes to Resident Evil, my attachment to the series actually died with RE4). Eventually those series pushed me into buying a PSP and a Playstation 3. My next console, if any, will probably be a Nintendo DS because there are no less than three Final Fantasy games on that platform now that I wish to play.

Thing is, all the games that I wanted to play on XBox 360 have been released or have been announced on PC or PS3 as well. The only two series that I have played before and is now exclusive to XBox 360 is Fable and Halo, both which was widely cheered but to me they were nothing special at all. Considering they were all published on PC eventually makes me in no hurry to grab an XBox 360 now.

Furthermore, it seems that XBox 360 exclusive titles in general are games that appeal to the mainstream american market. This means a lot of crime sims (Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row, Godfather, Scarface), games about sports, cargames and finally wargames. None of theese genrés appeal to me at all.

Originally Posted by insane_cobra

I'd still keep it for LittleBigPlanet and Heavy Rain, however.

I will buy LBP. I am not sure about Heavy Rain. I have seen the awesome teaser trailer for that game but I want to know more about the game before actually buying it.

[insane_cobra]

Oh, sorry, I don't know why, but I presumed you already had one.

I'd argue you are wrong about Xbox 360 exclusives mostly being games that appeal to the American mainstream market, though. There are some wonderful, quirky exclusives on the platform, partly due to the somewhat unexpected support from Japanese publishers and partly due to the boom of XBLA. For instance, it seems to be shaping up into the platform for Japanese RPGs this generation, which is really a mind numbing reversal considering the previous Xbox had exactly zero JRPGs in its library (one if you consider the western developed Sudeki).

But never mind, like I said, it was a mistake on my part.

[JemyM]

Originally Posted by insane_cobra

For instance, it seems to be shaping up into the platform for Japanese RPGs this generation, which is really a mind numbing reversal considering the previous Xbox had exactly zero JRPGs in its library (one if you consider the western developed Sudeki).

There are some, but based on gamerankings (which I consider my authority on gaming these days), all of them on 360 are rated beneath 80% average, while the ones rated above 80% (Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Oblivion and Mass Effect) were all released on PC as well. The consoles for RPG fans 2007 and 2008 seems to be Nintendo DS and Playstation 2. It can also be, that the era of great RPG's are over or that I as a RPG fan have became a minority, just lika I am as an adventuregamer.

[insane_cobra]

Originally Posted by JemyM

There are some, but based on gamerankings (which I consider my authority on gaming these days), all of them on 360 are rated beneath 80% average, while the ones rated above 80% (Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Oblivion and Mass Effect) were all released on PC as well. The consoles for RPG fans 2007 and 2008 seems to be Nintendo DS and Playstation 2. It can also be, that the era of great RPG's are over or that I as a RPG fan have became a minority, just lika I am as an adventuregamer.

Those are actually WRPGs, I was talking about JRPGs (even though it's the best console for WRPGs as well, beaten only by PC). I also said "this generation" (so that eliminates PlayStation 2 which, of course, has an awesome backlog of JRPGs, but not much in the way of interesting new releases) and I meant the home JRPG console (which eliminates DS - handhelds indeed represent a good value for any JRPG fan, but they are different beasts altogether).

As far as upcoming releases go, Infinite Undiscovery, Tales of Vesperia and Star Ocean 4 are all true Xbox 360 exclusives (although the last two might be ported to PS3 eventually), and you can bet your house on at least one new Mistwalker game being shown at TGS. That's in addition to JRPGs exclusives that are already out (Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey - which as a Final Fantasy fan I'm sure you'd like), some smaller games (Operation Darkness, Spectral Force 3 and Zoids Assault) and multiplatform releases the most significant of which is undeniably Final Fantasy XIII.

By the way, if you base your taste on GameRankings, you'll miss out on some very interesting titles. Niche games don't always get good scores all around, even though they're not necessarily bad. As an adventure fan, that's something I'm sure you're aware of

[JemyM]

What I did on my gamerankingsearch was to search for RPG's with at least 5 reviews, 200 hits, sorted by review average and only on xbox 360.

Maybe I wasn't precise in my description... I said "rated beneath 80% average" I refered to the XBox 360 jRPG's (including Last Odyssey and Blue Dragon). All the games rated above 80% just happen to be the wRPG's.

Naturally that search only includes games that are already available. While there are currently no "must have" that push me into buying a 360, this might change until christmas. But a game must be really attractive for me to actually buy a new machine to be able to play it.

And yes, I am aware that mainstream ratings is no good authority on niche games... but I am a member of both adventuregamers and rpgwatch for that. When a game does score 90%+ though, by loads of reviewers, then I know that there must at least be one or two who have the same taste that I have, that have indeed rated a game very high for a good reason. This means that I will probably like the game, as long as it's the right genré for me.

[Terramax]

Originally Posted by insane_cobra

By the way, if you base your taste on GameRankings, you'll miss out on some very interesting titles. Niche games don't always get good scores all around, even though they're not necessarily bad. As an adventure fan, that's something I'm sure you're aware of

Although I don't agree with the rest of what he said, this is indeed true. I couldn't speak for the 360 and PS3, but certainly the case with the 32-128 bit consoles, some of my fav RPGs have been the mediocre ones ie Koudelka

[SoccerDude28]

I replayed Uncharted Drake's Fortune after the trophy support, and still love the game. I don't believe how some people already earned the platinum trophy for it though. That means you have to beat the game at crushing level *shudders*

[JemyM]

Silent Hill: Origins
I have played all the games in the Silent Hill series, including "The Orphan" on my mobile phone. I like the series, but the first two were really the best. The third had a bit too much action. The fourth was a great game in it's own, even if it broke off from the formula. Anyway, since Silent Hill really started to become popular, there have been alot of discussion about "is there any rational explanation for all of this?". Different endings offer different theories as explanations of all the weird stuff going on, but adding it all together it's probably best to reach the conclusion that not even the makers have a clue. Still, the SH series consists of great storylines, strong with symbolism and often with a gruesome twist.

Silent Hill: Origins were developed for PSP and was later released for PS2. Personally I have played the PSP version. The Japanese seems to like prequels and this is another one, supposed to take place before the first game and explaining some things about what kind of city Silent Hill actually is. The game do not only tie back to the games before it, but also to the movie.

Having ended it though, I have to say that the game fails to deliver. The greatest problem is that it fails to surprise. There's really nothing new or exciting about it. There are connections to previous games yes, but they are rather weak, and contains nothing that explains or improves those games. The story in Origins is almost a prelude rather than a prequel to Silent Hill 1. The main character, Travis, is the most boring and uninteresting character yet in a SH game as far as I concern. There are no new areas worth mentioning, several of them are reused from older games. In fact, the whole game is like that, recycling the previous games.

Even the gameplay have problems. SH:O have more weapons than ever before, but you will only use a few. Since I ran past most opponents I had a truckload of melee weapons at the end.

All things considered, SH:O is the worst game of the series.

[Terramax]

Yep, your views echo most of others who've played SH:O. I bought a PSP again specifically to play it and I must say I wasn't all that impressed by the actual story.

I'm at a loss at to what to say about the puzzles. On the one hand this is the first SH I've played where I've not needed a walkthrough at all, and some of the puzzles were the most enjoyable of any SH, but at the same time they never had me stopping to think for that long.

Indeed the fighting is atrocious. Both western developers Climax and the team currently developing SH: Homecoming seem to think more action is what the series needs. It isn't.

I think SH3 has the best level of action. I don't see it as having any more or less than previous installments, merely the game improves the fighting so it's actually possible to kill monsters without getting your feet chewed off (I recently started playing SH1 again and I swear to god it's impossible not to get hurt when fighting monsters on medium difficulty).

But SH:O has far too much fighting and it's neither challenging or involving.

On the bright side, Origins does have some of the best locations of any SH. Especially the motel at the end. Awesome music and a perfect eerie atmosphere. I wish there were really a motel like that (without the monster obviously).

But like you said, "The greatest problem is that it fails to surprise." Thing is, I think it's near impossible for SH to surprise now. We've seen that town so many times now. What else is there left to see that isn't the same f**ked up stuff you've seen already? I think this is one series that needs to be put to rest before it ends up losing credibility (if it hasn't already).

[Lucien21]

Stong bad's Cool Game for Beautiful People : Episode 1 : Homestar Ruiner

Ok admitidly I wasn't the biggest fan of the idea behind this Telltale game from the start.

Having never gotten into the original website it is based upon and not finding the few email jokes I looked at all that funny I was extremely sceptical about buying this game.

What I am a big fan of though is Telltale itself. Bone was great and i'm a big fan of their work on Sam and Max. So I gave the demo a go from that decided to give it a shot and purchased the season pass on PC.

The graphics have the typical Telltale look about them, the menu interfaces are cool and the tutorial was quite funny with everyone messing up their "lines".

Onto the game itself, and although I doubt I will ever be a huge fan of the source material, there was some genuinly funny parts in the game from the opening theme song to some of the odd responses to clicking on items had me laughing.

Unfortunatly I do think you need to have more of a appreciation and knowledge of the source material to really get the most out of the humour.

The voice work was great with each character having a distinctive voice although some of them start to grate after a while. Strong Bad is a pretty decent character and keeps the game moving along.

The gameword is pretty empty and lifeless, possibly a restriction for the Wii edition or maybe it's in keeping with the comic I don't know, but there isn't really that much to do.

The puzzles were very easy and not all that interesting and the story was weak. The padding out of the gameplay with the snakeboxer, teen girl sqaud comic and the costumes and cups etc (while amusing) didn't really fit with a short episodic game which without it would last a couple of hours.

Overall I found the first episode an amusing "adventure" aimed at beginners and fans of Homestar.

6/10

[JemyM]

Originally Posted by Terramax

Indeed the fighting is atrocious. Both western developers Climax and the team currently developing SH: Homecoming seem to think more action is what the series needs. It isn't.

True. True. I am guessing it have something to do with Resident Evil 4, that made RE series into an action game with collecting goldbars as primary focus. The reviewers ran wild and praised it like the second coming without commenting the fact that it wasn't a survival horror game anymore. Now the developers try to go the same path with the SH series.

Maybe survival horror simply didnt survive the market.

Originally Posted by Terramax

But like you said, "The greatest problem is that it fails to surprise." Thing is, I think it's near impossible for SH to surprise now. We've seen that town so many times now. What else is there left to see that isn't the same f**ked up stuff you've seen already? I think this is one series that needs to be put to rest before it ends up losing credibility (if it hasn't already).

Well, actually, I thought Silent Hill 4 was a really unique and new experience in the SH series. It's not at all related to the other games though, which might be why...

[AprilLives]

The Lost Crown

This is a very good game (7.9) that didn’t seem so good at the start. Once I adjusted to the wooden voice and zombie gait, it wasn’t long before my regret at paying full price changed to … wow … this is great and I’m getting more than my money’s worth of entertainment.

There was something about this game that made it hard to put down. The puzzles did not feel like puzzles nor were they brain-bending but there was a great sense of needing to solve something from one event to the next. I looked forward to turning every single page as the plot developed. I was eager to know what would happen next.

The black and white art with brilliant splashes of color was both dreamlike and realistic … and so beautifully detailed. The sounds were some of the best I’ve heard in any game.

The plot overall is wide open to interpretation. A little less mystery as to what’s going on would have garnered the game an 8 in my view. But it seems clear the developer wanted it that way and I don’t feel short-changed. In fact, I really appreciate that the developer gave his all and wanted to please the game player to the very end.

[Terramax]

Originally Posted by JemyM

True. True. I am guessing it have something to do with Resident Evil 4, that made RE series into an action game with collecting goldbars as primary focus.

That makes a lot of sense. If you look at the early screens and footage of Origins, it used to have the over-the-shoulder cam view exactly like RE4.[/quote]

Well, actually, I thought Silent Hill 4 was a really unique and new experience in the SH series. It's not at all related to the other games though, which might be why...

I just haven't been able to get into SH4. I've forced myself to play it a few times but I barely get far. The locations are just too open, there's too much emphasis on fighting and I was constantly getting lost in the environments. I have heard the story is one of the best though, so maybe one day I'll really push myself to play through it to the end. Either that or I'll watch someone's playthrough on youtube.

[MoriartyL]

I just beat The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker with only the three hearts I started with. (You're expected to have around ten hearts by the end, but I refused all the heart containers I was offered.) That I was hardly given any trouble shows just how easy the game is. It's a wonderful game, though- better than I remembered it being.

[Lucien21]

Seeing as I'm on holiday I thought i'd finish up some old adventure games I never got round to completing (it's a big list)

Anywhoo..


Culpa Innata

Lots of decent things to say about this very enjoyable slice of adventuring.

Presumably based on "A Brave New World" it sees you play a Peace Officer in the World Union, a utopian future where only the beautiful and bright live perfect lives of no crime and lots of sex with multiple partners. (sounds boring - apart from the sex of course). A murder of a citizean has occurred in a rougue state and you have to investigate.

So lots of running around talking to all his friends and business associates. You are pretty free to talk to most people and will do on many occassions (lots of dialogue in this one)

The non-linearity was refreshing, but not without it's drawbacks. I occassionally steamed ahead with one branch of the story and have to talk to the same person 3 days running to catch up.

There was a fair amount of freedom with socialising, going to the gym etc all woven into the murder investigation. Locations that could only be accessed at night and a constantly moving timeline meant that some days you got nothing done and others were really busy.

The puzzles were mostly dialogue based, but there was a lot of computer work analysing images, decrypting codes as well as the usual logic and inventory puzzles. Mostly they were a lot of fun, but one or two felt out of place (The wooden wall puzzle in one of the clubs for instance).

The graphics were fine in the close ups with good lip synch, but movement was hilariously bad (esp during one chase sequence). Interface worked well although it was a bit slow and fiddley for inventory items, The Diary worked really well with red items showing what still needed doing and the map interface was vital.

Dialogue was spotty with most of the character having good voice work, but some dodgy dialogue slips in now and again. Dialogue was also refreshingly adult in nature and I don't mean gratuitoulsy, but discussions of sex were frequent. I did thing they overdid the friend Susan parts as all you basically did was go over the conversations you already listened to and then did it all again with your superior when reporting (felt like duplication to me).

Overall a very good adventure if you like the Longest Journey school of games (ie lots of dialogue), a decent plot although one strand wasn't fully realised and it sets the game up for a sequel.

I had a blast.

8/10

[CrimsonBlue]

Just finished Mass Effect two days ago. Excellent story, decent gameplay (but could've been improved if your comrades had some brains, and made it more strategic - taking cover was rarely needed, and it didn't work too well either).

Worst thing was the horrible inventory system, and the useless loot. Getting the same things 100 times in a row isn't my idea of rewarding. Also, they forced you to pick up everything, as well as limiting the amount of items you could have in your inventory. You should've been able to choose which items you pick up and make break the rest down into gels in one click.