As one of Xbox 360′s early titles (2006), Volition’s Saints Row obviously had the advantage that Rockstar’s GTA IV was nowhere in sight (not even announced that year), but did Saints Row really need that advantage? If you ask me, I’d say it would do just fine even if GTA IV was released that same year.

The dev team that made Saints Row was apparently well aware of two things: 1) They couldn’t succeed by making a copycat of GTA (smart) and 2) Who says the GTA series is perfect as far as sandbox games go?

With confidence Volition gave us a healthy alternative to the dominating GTA titles. I played it when it came out, and found myself saying “Game quality-wise, this is at least on par with GTA: San Andreas (the latest in the series at the time). But personal enjoyment level-wise, this game is wayyy beyond GTA on my scale.”

The Good

• We’ll start with the features printed on the back of the box. First and foremost – Character creation and customization. Sure, you can change outfits in GTA, but how about fine-tuning every single detail of your main guy, from hair color to body shape? It really helps you feel more attached to the game when you have this level of customization

(Posing on the streets at night like a boss)

• Gang recruitment system – You can round up..

(Wait hold up, you said somethin’ my man?)

(What’s up? What’s up?)

(UGHHH! Who blocking the streets now?)

(Where you at! Where you at!)

• ..As I was saying, you can round up gang members as you rank up in your gang. Simply approach a thug that wears your color, and he will “ride and die with you”. This isn’t new, EA’s Freedom Fighters offered a similar game mechanic, it worked there and it works in Saints Row

(Stretching while crew does the dirty work, like a boss)

(Pulling a P. Diddy while loyal crew members get booked by the po-po. Not guilty y’all got to feel me)

• Your posse will literally follow you until either you dismiss them, or they die. They fight for you, get in the car and ready for drive-bys as you enter a car, and they never say no. If you feel that grandpa standing in front of a bus stop deserves a fierce beating, your crew will curb stomp his dentures in for you. No questions asked

• Online multiplayer, take that Rockstar! Boom, facial. And that was in 2006
• Now for the stuff not advertised – Vibrant colors and cartoonish art style, I liked that a lot. The reason I liked GTA Vice City much more than GTA III was because it didn’t give a feel that everything in the game was washed with a dull green color. Sandbox games are supposed to lean heavier on the fun/anything-is-possible side, and lighten up on the realistic level

(Standing in front of colorful burning cop cars like a.. you get the idea)

(Remember that scene in GTA where your ex returns to you as a zombie after her tragic death, fights with you using her left arm, and eats the victims you killed? Oh right, that never happened)

• Good storyline, but I will admit that most of the time I just lost track in the plot because I was having too much fun doing something stupid (See image below, no pun intended):

(I was walking here first!)

• Surprisingly fun side missions/mini-games. I got two words: “Insurance Fraud”

(I invented my own game too, it’s called “See how long you dare standing in front of a moving train without moving out of the way”)

(Did I mention I won?)

The Bad

• If there’s a way to expand on the gang system, being able to arrange different crews to execute actions simultaneously sounds like a good time. But then it may steer the basic gameplay dynamics a bit too far from being a sandbox title
• It is not really the game’s fault (well, maybe the optimization department of the dev team), but hardware resources limitation causes some inconsistency in the game. For example, you look to the left at a crossroad and see a truck approaching from afar, you look to the right, and then left again. Truck is gone, or replaced by something entirely different
• Slight frame rate drops when too many characters are on the screen, or during consecutive explosions

The ???

• (Spoiler?) User is not given anything special for completing the main story of the game
• I *heard* that the online mode is mad fun, but I did not get a chance to play it then, and I heavily doubt that there still is an open server (probably empty anyway) for this game nowadays
• If Saints Row happens to be the first sandbox genre game that you get to play, you probably won’t settle for anything less than the GTA games as far as game quality goes (sorry Mafia, Godfather and Scarface)

The ironic thing is, Saints Row, a game from 2006 still manages to deliver something GTAIV couldn’t in 2009. Thumbs up and I’m so pumped that is going to be a third in the series.

(Review 9 of 52, 2011)

The Unreal Engine has defined first person shooting (FPS from here on) genre standards for the longest time, thanks to games that were built on the engine such as Counter Strike, Half Life and Team Fortress. As games like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor came out in attempt to challenge the multiplayer FPS throne, Epic Games answers with their first title developed in the then brand new Unreal Engine 3. This game is Gears of War (Gears from here on), an original Xbox 360 exclusive title. The reception – not only did Gears raise the bar on the level of quality and details visually, but also introduced an entirely new gameplay concept that no copycats have been able to successfully duplicate.

With the third installment of the title coming out soon, I feel that I need to let you guys know why this game helped Microsoft sell a crap load of Xbox 360′s and why Cliff Bleszinski (the design director of the series) gets to act like a douche and still loved by gamers around the world. For the record, personally I think any game company that aims to provide great gaming entertainment to the crowd would be privileged to have such a person to help design, promote and interact with the audience, with such energy, fun and really wants you to join in too.

(That’s Cliffy B.)

The Good

• Graphic capabilities upgrade in Unreal Engine 3 offers amazing visual effects such as high quality static lighting and soft shadows, as well as physics improvements such as soft-body physics. Moreover, the game doesn’t look any less impressive in multiplayer modes, which a lot of other games are forced to sacrifice visual levels for the extra rendering needs

• At least two new gameplay elements were introduced in Gears, they might not be the first to show up in the industry, but Epic Games made them work seamlessly – I’m talking about the cover system and and quick reload mechanism (which acts as a mini-game in itself). There is perfect balance in single and multi-player and the level designs work so well that there is very little frustration from people camping or running away
• Both the camera and controls work well so that you can still get a good view on the action while in cover, without getting sneaked up on. Combined with other gameplay elements such as the “Roadie Run” and diving, it’s so easy to look cool in this game
• The other feature is the quick reload – Press the reload button a second time when the icon is sliding across the ammo bar, time it right as the icon hits the white region, and your reload speed is faster than others, which is subtle effects in single player games but makes a world of difference in multiplayer online (try playing online without doing quick reloads – you’ll have a hard time). It is such a simple and clever way to make the boring reload button more fun
• Good story, voice-acting and pace. Boss fights do feel like you are fighting something bigger and meaner than the rest, and the last battle still feels quite epic to me after five years
• Awesome balance in terms of weapons in multiplayer, there is no one dominating weapon that everybody ends up using. I have been owned by dudes who were artists with a simple pistol. And I have seen people firing explosive arrows like Stallone in Rambo

(Like this, but from about 200 ft away)

The Bad

• Not a big fan of the extreme macho character designs, everybody in the game looks and sounds like Vin Diesel on horse roids. No wonder the game lets you chainsaw dudes in half
• Some minor rendering glitches such as when you run towards an unexplored area too fast, the game does not catch up on rendering fine details on the map fast enough, so you see the bare ugly unmapped textures (as if in a pc game, you turn off all the details) for a second or two. No biggie there
• Overall the game is very dark, I was glad to see some outdoor levels and I could definitely use more

The ???

• How can you do a roadie run wearing all that astronaut suit and gears?
• Grenade-tagging is awesome, maybe even more fun than explosive arrows, because it is close encounter which means the guy who gets tagged can immediately chase you and hopefully blow you up to pieces as well
• Bonus points for having the best TV commercial ever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccWrbGEFgI8

Lastly

Call Gears a “killer app”, a “console seller” or whatever you desire, it is one of the most critical games in Microsoft’s console. I had the best times playing with my friends in Xbox LIVE battles, so this title also proved that the Xbox LIVE service is successful and worth the membership fee. If you are a new Xbox 360 owner, besides putting down a pre-order for Gears 3 I would also suggest going back to Gears 1/2 to learn more on the backgrounds and stories of Marcus Phoenix and his crew. Thumbs up.

 (Review 12 of 52, 2011)

Still playing on my PS2 at the time, I immediately decided to allow whatever marketing strategies from Nintendo to brain-wash me. I put my pre-order at a Toys’r'us months ahead, I looked up games release dates, carefully planned which game/accessories to get with the console at launch, and get flipped out at any sightings/image leaks/impressions that I could scoop up from various gaming forums. And even though I didn’t go to a midnight launch, I showed up at Toys’r'us first thing in the morning. The game I picked to bring home with the purple console was Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (RL from here on). I originally wanted to get Simpsons: Road Rage as well, but it missed launch date.

Along with a six-pack of Diet Pepsi (because I enjoy a little bubbly while I play games and I don’t want to end up morbidly obese), I brought home the GC at about 9am in the morning, and proceeded to have an amazing day with RL, which still blows my mind as I booted it up to take some photos the other day.

The Good

• I’m gonna say this up front – There’s nothing biased about this review. I’m not a Star Wars fan, I’m not even a sci-fi movies fan. But I like it when I see shiny graphics with butter smooth frame rate even with bump mapping enabled, and RL was the first game that delivered those things. Mind you, I only had the basic composite cable, playing on a standard definition TV back in the day, ad my jaw dropped. This game was the reason why I spent nearly a hundred bones hunting for the GC component cable which apparently only gets sold in Japan. Visually, this game sets the bar and remains one of the best looking GC games of all time

(Are you serious)

• Tight and fine-tuned controls. Don’t forget, as a launch title, customers are likely to evaluate the new controller based on the first game they play on the console. And as a GC exclusive title, the controls are definitely tailor-made for the GC controller
• Everything authentic (although this is pretty much a standard across all Star Wars games), as well as interesting unlockable content to keep value of replayability strong – Unlimited health isn’t interesting, but flying a Millennium Falcon is

The Bad

• Difficulty is quite high in general – Which is fine if you are hardcore or determined, but if you are casual, be prepared to die many times before re-living those classic Star Wars moments
• No split-screen multiplayer (Star Wars Rogue Squadron III [link] fixed this problem)

The ???

• The hangar sequence (where you control Luke and you walk up to the air craft you wish to start the mission in) is one of my favorite parts in the game, they should totally have made a Star Wars platformer with that engine
• This game alone can probably help Star Wars Episode 1/2/3 gain some breathing room from all the scrutiny

(I heard this guy is an asshole)

Lastly

This is my game of the year in 2002, and the game that gives the best first impression of all time. Oh and this is also the best launch title for a new console in my opinion. This game has very little flaw (if any) and it is not because developer Level 5 happened to strike a gold mine that is Star Wars – They absolutely gave their best, and it damn sure shows. RL is offline single player flight shooter at its best. If you own a GC, always keep a copy on the shelf.

(Review 11 of 52, 2011)

New York, 1945.

A young couple chat on the streets of Little Italy, a nearby store explodes and killing the couple. The man from the couple works for the Corleone family, and he promised his girl that he is going to take care of some troubled kid who is getting his ass beat in a back alley. That is pretty much the premise of The Godfather: The Game, sorry if I missed or remembered wrong on the details, I could not bring my full attention to the 2006 low res pre-rendered FMV sequence.

Anyway, not much of an opening I know. Especially got a game adapted from one of the most popular movies of all time. But this is a story about a guy who starts off as a no-name runner doing Fedex runs for the mob family, eventually climbs his way up to the Don of NYC. You cannot argue with this plot – If you’ve watched The Godfather II you’d know that’s how the Don became the Don.

For most people, the fact that this is a movie-based game already sets an alarm, and the fact that it is a GTA-style sandbox game quickly sets another alarm. But read on to find out why this game deserves your attention.

Keep in mind that this review is written based on a playthrough on the PC version of the game, The Godfather: The Game is also available on Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP.

The Good

• Faithful implementation of elements from the movie, from the props on the streets, characters, resemblance and their voice/accent. Some would say it’s a little bit much to have the “Godfather” theme song playing every time you do anything even if it’s not significant (e.g. getting into a vehicle), but to me if it hasn’t bothered me after 10 hours of play time, it probably did not bother me too much
• Character creation gives good flexibility yet keeps your character’s looks consistent with the rest of the major and minor characters in the Godfather universe
• Creative ways to win over territories for a sandbox-style game. For example by beating the crap out of a barber shop and having the owner scared shitless, you then “earn his respect” and will then receive weekly protection money from him

(I need your respect, NOW!)

• Each method of attack has its unique way of finishing opponents, you have your classic “choke until head turns purple”, as well as mod-style kills such as the “looking away with one hand held up to prevent brain matters from exploding onto my face” pistol execution
• Even more creativity when engaging in a combat. Being able to grab your opponent and drag him/her around really allows some improvised finishes. One time, I was battling some dudes in the back room of a bakery where the bake oven door was open. I got the last remaining guy in a choke hold and I was going to just slam his head against the brick wall to end him. Then I saw the glare of the flames from the oven..

I dragged his ass across the room to the front of the oven, leaned him against it… and pushed. Boom! A bright flare blinded the room for a quick second, then the game congratulated me for earning a bonus by using the oven

• The best part is I have not been “guided” or scripted to do such a thing. It was simply a case of “Hmm, I wonder if that could work. Holy crap it does!!” and it was a wonderful surprise. Most sandbox games do not let you try things out like that, or you either get bored of not being able to do things that you thought would make sense. If I’m fighting a guy on a roof top, why can’t I have the option to shove him off the building?
• For a storyline that focuses on a guy who never existed anywhere in the original plot, the writers of “The Godfather” did a nice job of fitting him in all the important scenes and plot lines (You get to be the one who stacks the gun in the toilet for Michael, and to help putting the horse head in the bed of the old guy who is dumb enough to refuse the Godfather) so that it does not feel forced. I have been constantly convinced that there could actually be such a guy in this great movie

(Not so green and peaceful by the time I’m 85% done in the game)

The Bad

• What’s the point of naming your character if his name is never referenced in the entire game? Everyone calls you either “Hey you” or “Hey kid”
• Threatening on store/underground business owners for weekly protection money is cool, but the game doesn’t allow you to earn money in any other way after you’ve completed all the main and side missions. Maybe my play style was weird – Instead of working my way through claiming all the town’s businesses and territories first, I decided to complete all the main/side missions first because I wanted to level my character up by earning “Respect” (completing missions earn you lots of it, and bonus if you meet some special criteria e.g. Make the hit with a single shot in the head). Long story short, at the end I still struggled to claim these turfs and in order to buy stronger guns, I was literally wandering on the streets for an entire week (in game) to get my weekly pay.. and there’s nothing fun to do in the city besides looking for 100 hidden “movie reels” which didn’t really award you with real movie footages. Oh and, don’t ask why I couldn’t have just start shooting pedestrians to take their cash – They drop $50 bucks if you’re lucky, it earns you a wanted level and the Tommy gun I wanted cost $550000
• Attack controls are horrible, I don’t get why it is so hard to get it right in all sandbox games like Mafia or this game, can’t they just copy off GTA or Saint’s Row? Every FPS (First Person Shooting) game nowadays copy the Halo control scheme, and I don’t see anybody complaining about that
• AI is straight broken at times, other times really good (it’s not easy at all running dudes down with your car, they dodge like Neo in The Matrix), members of the other families usually leave you alone if you don’t show up with a weapon. But sometimes they will pull their guns on you for no good reason, such as after a NIS of me shaking hands with the store owner for claiming a business, or when we run into each other in the stairs. Very strange

The ???

• Why do I have to go to one location just to buy one type of ammo? I am the Don’s right hand man and I don’t get these things delivered to me in a car?
• I kinda saw this coming, but my character blended in the Godfather canon extremely well throughout the plot until the very end, when my guy suddenly became Michael Corleone. I am very interested in seeing how they go form here in “The Godfather II” (I have it on Xbox 360)
• I wish that in real life, all traffic on the road will move to the slow lane whenever I honk once
• Cops in this game definitely need to learn a thing or two from the Liberty City cops, I have been arrested once in my playthrough, and have never been killed by cops, even under a max wanted level (granted, entering a safe house drops the level from 5 police emblems to 2, which is nothing unless you count a cop blowing a whistle when he sees you as a danger)
• The last promotion is pretty much useless.. there’s nothing left to buy and there’s no one left to fight you

Lastly

I like this game quite a fair bit, and yes I am probably saying that because I am both a fan of “The Godfather” movies and sandbox games. The game brings me back to many good moments in the movie, yet not abusing licensed material so much that any sense of freedom and flexibility in the story is neutered, which is what a good sandbox style game should offer. I was utterly surprised that I ended up logging 27+ hours in this game. To put things in perspective, The Godfather: The Game is no GTA or Saint’s Row, but it’s as much fun as Mafia, if not better.

(Review 10 of 52, 2011)

When the Nintendo 3DS was first announced at last year’s E3 (Nintendo seems to have a tendency to do their major announcements there, probably again this year), 3D movies were beginning to populate theaters thanks to the success of Avatar, and 3D TVs weren’t very heavily advertised, due to their steep prices. So it was understandable that gamers didn’t want to believe that Nintendo’s next portable console would be what seems like yet another upgrade on the existing DS – We already bought the original DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSiXL (and that is not counting all the special editions), do we really want to buy the same console for the fifth time, at the price of $249.99?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyKGZCSwOJA

After the initial speculations, as the release date got closer we began to see more and more reviews from people who got an actual glimpse of the console and its capabilities. Due to the “no-glasses required” 3D effects, all the gameplay footage we see the internet aren’t able to really tell the story, but hype was beginning to form around the end of 2010.

Following a moderately successful launch in Japan a month prior (2/26/2011 as opposed to 3/27/11 in North America), gamers in US & Canada now finally also get a hold of the 3DS. I pre-ordered mine on Amazon.ca, and wanted to shop for games myself so I didn’t buy any games online. To my surprise “Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle” was not one of the US launch titles like in the Japanese release, I’m guessing it had to do with the extra time and effort put in doing localization work of the game’s contents. Regardless I picked the next sure thing – Pilotwings Resort (I’m just going to refer it as Pilotwings from here on). The first two installments of the series were well received for its relaxing and free-exploring gameplay style when it launched with the SNES in North America in 92 and then launched with the N64 back in 96. Can this game work its magic again and help push this new handheld console, with glasses-free 3D capabilities and a decent analog stick?

Just jump in the goods and bads for my first ever review on both a new console and game, I’m mixing my comments for the two together since it is what makes a complete experience. You don’t bring home a new console and start reviewing it without putting a game in. So there.

The Good

• Cool looking charging dock off the package. To be honest these things aren’t expensive if bought from a 3rd party company, but it shows a nice touch by Nintendo

• The ability to suspend a game/application and work on something else. It’s not like you can run two games at once or download bit torrent, but it’s pretty cool if you wish to check on your friends list or write down some notes in “Game Notes” in the middle of a game
• Which brings us to the next point, “Game Notes” is a function on the console that allows you to write and save text/drawings to file. What, you have written text and drawn graffiti on the DS already? Don’t worry, it is actually practical this time, because as mentioned above you can now suspend your game and open up “Game Notes”, makes a lot more sense and convenient this way
• The console makes good use of its 3 cameras: Taking 3D photos, quick Mii creation using a captured photo of the person (Let’s be honest, creating a Mii wasn’t that fun even back when we first did it on the Wii), games that make gamer feel that they are interacting with the environment e.g. Face Raiders, and AR cards (Augmented Reality cards, think “The Eye of Judgment” on PS3)
• Powerful graphical abilities, Nintendo understands how much the human eyes appreciate a smooth framerate
• The wide screen is a very welcoming feature in my opinion, some may say they miss the larger screen on the DSiXL. But in order to maintain a good battery life, screen size was compromised and it’s actually not that bad. One of the reasons in my experience of use so far is that when you are playing in 3D, you will find yourself completely focused to the center of the screen, which has the appropriate size for that kind of “tunnel vision” viewing
• SD card slot allows transferring of downloaded content e.g. games/movies
• One Friend Code that rule all, thank God. Maintaining a friends list should have been this easy to begin with
• Pilotwings is fun, laid back and fully serves its purpose as a launch title, complete with pleasant graphics and soothing music. It has been a while since I was able to enjoy a game that doesn’t involve guns, monsters or swearing. It’s not a game that lets you free roam with no goal, there are challenges that can get interesting as the difficulty goes up, and I find myself getting OCD over having to gain a “Perfect” score for every single mission, which is general 1-2 minutes long so re-playing them doesn’t feel like a chore. There’s no excuse to miss out on this game even if you’re not big on the 3D, I too have to tone the 3D level down to about 25% to find my “sweet spot”, and this game is still very fun even when 3D is all the way turned off

The Bad

• After spending about 10 hours or so playing Pilotwings and confirmation from other players who tried the game, I can say with confidence that the 3D-ness in this game is over the line. Having 3D cranked to maximum makes it nearly impossible to get a good focus on both the character and background, hence hardly playable. I can spend 30 minutes playing around on the 3DS menu, taking photos and playing AR/Face Raider games with 3D maxed out. As soon as I enter a flying route in Pilotwings, it literally takes less than a minute for me to go cross-eyed and see double of everything because my eyeballs are desperately trying to find a focal point, one of two things will eventually happen: 1) My eyes give in and go into a seizure, asking my brain “What the hell are you making me look at here?” 2) I try too hard and eventually enter a trance state, where I stare blankly into the screen, into the abyss, and drool comes out from the corner of my mouth. Either way, the end result is the same – me fumbling to fetch the 3D lever, and tone it down to 25%

[Playing Pilotwings with 3D level from 0% - 25%: I'm having fun.]

[Playing Pilotwings with 3D level from 30% to 60%: Whoa, getting trippy.]

[Playing Pilotwings with 3D level beyond 60%: Wake me up! Wake me up!!!.]

• While it is great that Friend Codes are now common across all game titles, there should be more things you can do on your Friends List. Right now all you can do is view their favorite title, and their status update. There isn’t even a simple messaging system nevermind chat, why the Wifi capabilities then?
• Harsh, harsh viewing restrictions, both in distance and angle. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with the current optimal position, it’s not destroying my arms or anything. But having to keep body movements to a minimum while doing casual portable gaming seems contradictory – Does Nintendo want you to bring your 3DS on the bus or not? It’s so strict that in the middle of Pilotwings, removing my left hand from the 3DS to readjust my glasses caused the console to tilt due to the right hand adjusting to the extra weight, and that got rid of the 3D effects
• No more peeking over your friend’s shoulder to see what he/she is playing, unless you want to experience a mild epilepsy
• 3D doesn’t work vertically (game display + photo taking)
• 3D photos are pretty low res
• The Select/Home/Start buttons underneath the bottom screen are not the most pleasant to press. When playing in the dark I often have to run my finger along that general area to look for the “clicky spot” and that sometimes delay my game pauses
• Why is the stylus slot positioned on the left side of the console when the 99% of us probably hold the stylus with our right hand?
• Region-locked games suck. I completely understand where Nintendo was coming from, but I still want to play my Professor Layton..

The ???

• Analog stick made of ugly gray rubber, making it look surprisingly out of place on the shiny, colorful console – as if it’s some kid’s cheap mod. I’m not placing this in “The Bad” because in practicality, this thing works like heaven
• For some reason, seeing this particular segment on the console user manual makes me predict that in about a year and a half, there will be an “All new, improved 3DS and it now supports 802.11N wireless!”

(Hmm..)

• Nowadays you can’t search a video gamer or an computer/electronics user’s home without finding several SD cards lying around. Wouldn’t it be better if Nintendo let users put in their own SD card instead of sticking us with the 2Gb one? That way the MSRP might not have to be $249.99 and there is no hassle when the 2Gb card inevitably becomes full – which shouldn’t take long given the 3D picture taking and download play functionality of the 3DS
• Nothing for 3DS to download, and the browser “Will be ready in the next system update.” Smooth launch prep bro

Lastly

What a lot of people fail to see, is that the 3DS is not another iteration of the DS, like the DS Lite/DSi/DSiXL. I understand how deceiving it can feel when you first hold the 3DS up – It weighs like a DS, opens up like a DS, you insert a cartridge in the back like a DS. But the fact is the 3DS has enough firepower to put even the latest version of the DS to a coma. It’s not a “3D enabled with a wide screen and analog stick” DS. In fact, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to compare the 3DS to the Gamecube(GC), not looking only at hardware numbers, here’s why:

• GC offered higher graphics than the then-popular PS2; 3DS has the frame rate/rendering performance (at least from what I saw in Pilotwings) that shuts down most PSP games. Yes, on a small screen it’s not hard to make things look good, but you can’t fake a butter-smooth frame rate
• GC had a rough launch lineup, which made initial buyers worry. 3DS came out without any support from Mario, Samus and Link, but Nintendo chose to push out titles that could show off the new console’s strengths rather than riding the hype with the sure-fire gaming icons. Smart. I challenge any PS2/Xbox game to come up with better graphics than Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II Rogue Leader, and that was a GC launch title. It showed off GC’s ability to process complicated rendering methods such as bump mapping

(Still blows my mind)

• People did not know what to expect from the GC – a console that isn’t HD-ready, cannot work as a media center and doesn’t even have a DVD drive! People feel a similar way towards the 3DS, most of them don’t understand what is so great about no-glasses 3D. I know a bunch of gamers who still scoffs at 3D movies and 3DTV’s, give them time
• Nintendo rarely gives false advertisements (No I’m not gonna bring up a photo of Virtual Boy again, just let that shit go). When they came up with the DS Lite/DSi/DSiXL, they didn’t advertise them as an entirely new portable gaming experience, because they knew no one was dumb enough not being able to tell that those were merely enhancements to the original. Now look at how they are promoting the 3DS – they know they’re on the right trend and this will make you re-think everything you knew about portable gaming

Let’s not forget Nintendo is all about bringing the fun, the did it with the GC and I’m quite confident that they won’t steer too far off with the 3DS.

p.s. Someone from a Chinese gaming podcast that I listened to mentioned that the metallic blue tone of the “Cosmic Blue” 3DS resembles the color on the Star Wars Famicom (NES) game. I happen to have that cartridge, I’d say not really a match to the console, but the cartridge matches perfectly with the 3DS box!

(Review 9 of 52, 2011)

The point of the story is that my 1 year old PS3 Slim (250Gb), rarely used, perhaps a total of 30 hrs of usage since purchase. Upgraded to firmware 3.60 and then off to grab a few demos, screen froze, couldn’t power off properly. Tried every possible option to save data but no dice, conclusion – Complete system restoration. All data gone.

1. Right after the above mentioned screen freeze, I had to unplug the power to shut the PS3 down, plugged it back in, powered up and whoa.. I can enter XML and navigate in the menus, but nothing really shows up, all icons kept displaying the spinning. Now I do anticipate the occasional lag upon booting my PS3 up, but I waited 10mins and still saw this. Time to shut down, oh it won’t do that, of course. Unplugged.



2. I waited a bit to let it cool down because it could be an overheating problem, who knows (I did spend the past few hours downloading a whooping amount of one firmware update and two game demos). Turned back on and still seeing spinning wheels, so I tried to manually download firmware 3.60, put it in my SD card (NEX5 as the card reader). Booted up PS3 straight to firmware update mode.



3. Alright so reinstalling 3.60 firmware failed to revive things, I turned to the PS3 save mode options and tried them one by one, in the order of severity (Restore Default Settings->Restore File System->Rebuild Database->If still fail, it’s $120 to Sony and a trip to the post office). At this point because the system stopped shutting down properly, I must’ve unplugged/plugged the thing about 15 times, and pressed/held the power button the same amount of times to activate save mode. Papi (my cat) began to share my concern, she’s actually a lot more interested in my PS3 than the 360, she likes watching the discs popping in and out from the slot.



4. The worst has happened. One option left and it did not take me too long to go for it, I couldn’t possibly do any sort of backup at this point anyway. I would lose a bunch of saves for games that I didn’t remember ever playing, and my Vanille XML theme that I earned from beating FFXIII.



5. There ya go, clean slate. If this failed I would have to physically remove the HDD from the console, and go from there.



6. What’s this? All icons loaded up right away, everything default, console shut down/booted up several times without problem. Could it be?



7. Set up network, logged in to my PSN account, things seemed good to go! Which means I’m heading the hell back to download my damn Mortal Kombat demo!



8. YAY-YUH



9. Pretty fun. Of course at this point it was past 1am and I just couldn’t focus on ripping someone’s skin off.



10. What this means to my PS3 gaming: Virtually nothing, except now I’m selling this game, because if you think I would re-play the first 6 chapters of one of the scariest video game made in the history, you are high.



(No)

Consider this an exercise on how to trouble-shoot a PS3 failure before letting Sony take some more of your money. Finally, my console can collect dust in peace for the next 6 months or so, jeez.

So in the midst of flipping my video game accessories drawer upside down, I found this little guy sitting in a cool leather jacket. I must’ve gotten it with the Japanese release of FFXII, I honestly don’t remember having that. But oh well, welcome to the family, gonna be using you from now on.

(Great concept, even better execution)

(The guy who came up with the concept deserves an execution)

And then, there were the games that made people slowly turn their heads while massaging their temples ever since the day they were announced. No one ever understood who came up with these ideas, more importantly, who bank-rolled these projects. The end products, if they actually do get produced and put on shelves, did not change anybody’s mind – Kabuki Warriors is one of these games.

Before we head to the pros and cons, I’d like to add a bit of background information here – Kabuki Warriors was one of the launch titles of the Xbox back in 2001. A console that was designed and targeted toward North American gamers, who 1) have little idea what “Kabuki” meant, 2) not historically known to be big fans of the art of ancient Japanese sword-fighting, or 3) not used to playing a game that consists of 70% Japanese characters.

The Good

• Like I said, offering a title almost entirely made for a Japanese audience (mind you – not just Asian, specifically Japanese) as a launch selection for your first attempt at making a console, is a bold move by main developer Crave Entertainment, and an even bolder move by Microsoft for approving this game. I admire both their courage, their confidence and their big pile of money
• Keeping things authentic, from character/town names, to the voice acting
• Frame rate and polygons are solid, despite the fact that there aren’t a lot of 3D objects on the screen
• Beautiful 2D arts and designs as well as pretty textures on characters’ make-ups and clothings

(Let’s be real, no PS2 or Gamecube games look this good)

• Some pretty cool super moves, for example one of the guys can breathe fire, and another guy launches himself in the air while intensely spinning with his sword as blades. This is no attempt at humor on Crave Entertainment’s part, as the most of you of course must know that the spirit of Kabuki (歌舞伎) is to provide high-caliber entertainment, not a death match situation

(The show must go on)

The Bad

• The so-called “Tour Mode” is nothing more than a showing of a map for you to move around in-between battle after battle. There is no story, no introduction, you have to spend more money if you wish to jump through towns. You earn money when you win battles, which will in turn be used for.. traveling, and nothing else

(Tour mode – In a nutshell)

• The re are two types of characters – The generic white/grey/black ninja-type nameless fighters, and then there are the more famous characters with actual names. Each match consists of 3 rounds of 1-on-1 fights, first one to win 2 out of 3 rounds wins the match. Here’s the kicker – The computer AI often arranges their best fighter to fight in the third round. This means all I got to do is to defeat the first two weaker fighters, and not only do I never have to fight their best guy, as part of winning the match I even get to steal one of their fighters! So much for providing a decent challenge

(I had a Maya course in school, and matt white is not a real texture on a character)

• No story, no background, no reason, just fight after fight. Would’ve been cool to explain to the players what “Kabuki” means

The ???

• There is a taunt button, and when you taunt your character will be locked to complete the animation and cannot cancel it, so you are totally vulnerable to attacks. Luckily the damages dealt to you while you are taunting are minimized, strangely user-friendly feature there
• I love Japan and its various cultures, but flying across the battle stage in an oriental tighty whities and shouting war cries as part of your entrance sequence, is something that I will never understand
• There is no English subtitles or translations in most of the game, the developer is either really committed to creating an authentic experience, or really lazy

Lastly

This is without a doubt one of the most memorable launch titles for the Xbox. I wouldn’t dare convincing anybody to pay the full retail price for it, I got it at a charity sale at work recently so I didn’t feel very much choked. To be fair, as a launch title it does a satisfying job showing off the hardware capabilities of Microsoft’s first game console. Say whatever you want about Kabuki Warriors, but you would never find something like that on the PS2, or pretty much anywhere else.

No I’m kidding. If you want a launch title that shows off Xbox’s goods and doesn’t suck, play Wreckless. I had a better time playing Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon.

(Review 8 of 52, 2011)

Back in the day when the original Xbox was trying to knock PS2 off its throne of being the most popular console (and eventually failed), an internal competition within several titles of the then-new sandbox genre was heating up as well. Grand Theft Auto III by Rockstar Games was the champion and Mafia from Illusion Softworks(Now 2K Czech) was one of the challengers. Others include True Crime: Streets of LA and Simpsons: Hit and Run.

It has been a while since I finished Mafia, but I do remember it being quite an entertaining game. Strangely my instincts for picking games have always been steering me away from a lot of the mainstream titles, as a result I have never finished some of the classics such as GTA III, Kill Zone 2, God of War and much more. Mafia might have caused less damage to the undefeated GTA III than it desired, but I can say with confidence that if it wasn’t for Mafia, we wouldn’t be seeing other mob-themed sandbox genre games such as The Godfather and Scarface. I cannot comment on whether this was good news or not, unfortunately.

Mafia was original, it puts players in the time where the mob power was the largest in the city so it was a big deal, and the game definitely offered me something that GTA III didn’t (I didn’t finish the game, but I did get far enough to know this much).

The Good

• You feel truly blended in – This is something GTA III cannot give. In the GTA III world even if you don’t act like a complete psycho, you still feel like the odd one in the city, I was not convinced that I was living and breathing in this city. In Mafia, as long as you’re obeying all rules, meaning not speeding when driving, no ramming your car into other cars, knocking them off the bridges, and no mowing down old ladies when parallel parking on the streets. You feel that this is your city, and you are a citizen just like anyone you see on the streets

(If you can manage to refrain yourself from stealing that car and ram into the tram, you’ll be just fine)

• Beautifully designed city with very distinguishable locales so you rarely feel bored or get lost, I did feel that I was roaming in a 1950′s town
• Engaging story – Yes, it is predictable, but the amount of participation player has during the process makes it feel less linear

The Bad

• Targeting system is inefficient and needs work, it is clumsy and often inaccurate so it is not even a matter of getting accustomed to it. It’s just pain in the ass. Naturally this limitation has made me an artist when using a baseball bat or any other melee weapons
• The Xbox version is superior to the PS2 version, but noticeably bad compared to the 2002 original PC version according to other reviews. For example the drawing distance, texture detail and overall frame rate (For some reason PS2 and even Xbox got a crazy amount of badly ported PC titles at the time)
• To be honest, none of the things pointed out on the Xbox version of Mafia being a terrible port really bothered me. A little slow-down here and there when there are too many characters on the screen, no biggie

The ???

• Beating the crap out of someone (or anything for that matter) with a baseball bat NEVER gets old

(Oh yes)

• Patience is definitely needed if you wish to be a good law-behaving citizen in the Mafia town. I’m talking about a speed limit of 30mph, and trust me when I say the game makes sure your driving experience stays authentic to the time
• Not sure if it’s a graphics/rendering issue, but the opening sequence and the first mission look soooo dark
• Feels strangely satisfying when I received the indestructible metal car for completing the game, after spending almost my entire game career driving very carefully to avoid a violation or any type of crash
• Classy 50′s music that suits the era, I’m sick of that damn radio in GTA III

Lastly

It was unfortunate that the sandbox genre got a bit abused due to the explosive success of GTA III, but it wouldn’t be fair to label Mafia as another re-skinned copycats. Mafia has a lot of original elements, both in gameplay and level design, there were a lot of thoughts and research done when designing the game, and it absolutely shows when you play it. Give it a chance, even if you have recently played Mafia II, because this deserves some recognition.

(Review 7 of 52, 2011)