Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Review: Turok Demo (PS3)
Finally, some hands-on time with the game saddled with bringing the Turok franchise back to...well as far away from Tobias Bruckner as possible. After playing through the demo a couple times i have to say, not only does this newest installment seem to be a significant step up from (D)Evolution, but it's pretty damn good.
Starting the demo in a "labyrinthine cave system" may not have been the best move, as it's easy to get turned around and it's a little too dark for a game that doesn't offer a flashlight. While this is a rather discouraging way to start out, play on and it will be worth it. It won't be long before you and your pal Slade (voiced by "Hellboy" Ron Perlman, bonus!) come across some raptors and the fighting begins. While some elements of the environment are somewhat blocky, the character and enemy (especially dinosaur) models are quite pretty, if a little too shiny; this may be as close to getting in Jurassic Park as you're going to get for awhile. Not all the dinosaurs are enemies either, i came across two types that were content to wonder around and simply ignore me and my squadmates, it added to the "you are in dinosaurland" feel, but i still prefer the ones i get to fight. Speaking of fighting, i feel like i should mention the weapon/inventory setup. You can only carry two weapons and are capable of double wielding similar to Halo, however, in my opinion, Turok does it better. To explain further, you can choose to carry either one of your two weapons or dual wield them, the tradeoff with dual-weilding being that you can't toss grenades or zoom. You can even choose which weapon goes in which hand, a nice touch for players that may prefer to fire their primary weapon with their left hand, or just like to have options. Besides your two weapons, you have a knife (more on that in a second) and a bow, both handy for stealthy kills. Through the course of the demo i came across a sub-machine gun, shotgun (with flare gun alt fire) and a pulse rifle, all of which i found quite fun to mow through enemies with.
Now for the knife. The knife is fun, pure and simple. It's fun to run at a raptor, knife it right through the top of the skull and kick it's corpse aside, it's fun to sneak through tall grass behind a guy then jump up and take him out with the knife, it's just fun. And when it comes to killing, one thing Turok offers you as far as death dealing is options. It was fun to come upon a clearing of guys you're supposed to take out "quietly" and deciding if that means you're going to sneak around and take them all down with your knife, drop them from afar with your bow or firing a flare into the middle of them and letting the troops fight it out with the pack of raptors that draws. Of course that last one requires you to listen for the grunts of some dinos just out of sight right near the enemy patrol. I had a blasty blast going back and doing that section each of the various ways.
As far as story goes, they don't offer up much of anything new in the demo. You're still crashed on a planet that is, for some reason, full of dinosaurs as well as an enemy platoon of soldiers. You're name is still Turok and it's still your job to kill both of these groups...or letting them destroy each other (sigh, choices). By the end of the demo, however, i got the feeling that your squadmates don't like you very much, but maybe that's just me. And if you're wondering how helpful your fellow dinosaur killers are, the answer is very. In one particular scenario Slade fought alongside me with a shotgun while our friend with the sniper rifle (can't recall his name at the moment) picked guys off from the high ground. At one point i had even been tackled too the ground by a raptor and as he came in to try and eat my head (a fun little mini-game of it's own) Slade blasted him of with his shotgun, nice. The enemy's AI seems decent enough, they took cover, dodged around while shooting back, and made some attempts to flank, so i'll take it. Back to the story, the only other tidbit i was offered was something about main man Joseph Turok's training (with some mention of the Blackfoot tribe of Native Americans, a shoutout to the source material it seems) and how he got his scar. This sequence mostly had me going "huh?" but i'm sure/i hope it'll make sense in the full game.
That said, i did have a few issues with Turok. One, as i mentioned earlier, it can be easy to get turned lose your way. The opening sequence in the cave and some suprising dead-ends in the jungle were the worst, but i did manage to finish the demo, so i guess it's not too bad. Second was the damage system. I find it a little odd that i can take 4 or 5 tackles from a velociraptor and soldier on, but it only takes a handful of bullets to kill me. Psh, whatever, it least it's a progressive healing system rather than being on the search for med-packs. I had one other issue with the damage system, and that's how prominent the red "damage ring" around the screen is. After being knocked to the ground by a dino, i often found it hard to shoot back as i couldn't see past the red haze covering my screen, i understand that it's showing how damaged i am, but if i'm close to death while my attacker's still there, it'd be nice to be able to see them. My final issue with the game is somewhat of a nitpick and i'm sure won't be as prominent after adjusting to the game, but it was still annoying. Your weapons don't have any kind of counter as to how full the current clip is (there is a HUD indicator for total ammo). Each gun does have a SMALL light that blinks yellow when running low and red when empty, but the colors tend to blend in to the look of the weapon and can leave you empty without realizing it. The pulse-rifle was the only weapon not hampered by this issue. I understand that this method keeps the screen much clearer, but it can really screw you over in heated shootouts.
And that's it, here's to hoping the rest of the game keeps up the quality of the demo. In the same sentiment i say: Turok is back!
Starting the demo in a "labyrinthine cave system" may not have been the best move, as it's easy to get turned around and it's a little too dark for a game that doesn't offer a flashlight. While this is a rather discouraging way to start out, play on and it will be worth it. It won't be long before you and your pal Slade (voiced by "Hellboy" Ron Perlman, bonus!) come across some raptors and the fighting begins. While some elements of the environment are somewhat blocky, the character and enemy (especially dinosaur) models are quite pretty, if a little too shiny; this may be as close to getting in Jurassic Park as you're going to get for awhile. Not all the dinosaurs are enemies either, i came across two types that were content to wonder around and simply ignore me and my squadmates, it added to the "you are in dinosaurland" feel, but i still prefer the ones i get to fight. Speaking of fighting, i feel like i should mention the weapon/inventory setup. You can only carry two weapons and are capable of double wielding similar to Halo, however, in my opinion, Turok does it better. To explain further, you can choose to carry either one of your two weapons or dual wield them, the tradeoff with dual-weilding being that you can't toss grenades or zoom. You can even choose which weapon goes in which hand, a nice touch for players that may prefer to fire their primary weapon with their left hand, or just like to have options. Besides your two weapons, you have a knife (more on that in a second) and a bow, both handy for stealthy kills. Through the course of the demo i came across a sub-machine gun, shotgun (with flare gun alt fire) and a pulse rifle, all of which i found quite fun to mow through enemies with.
Now for the knife. The knife is fun, pure and simple. It's fun to run at a raptor, knife it right through the top of the skull and kick it's corpse aside, it's fun to sneak through tall grass behind a guy then jump up and take him out with the knife, it's just fun. And when it comes to killing, one thing Turok offers you as far as death dealing is options. It was fun to come upon a clearing of guys you're supposed to take out "quietly" and deciding if that means you're going to sneak around and take them all down with your knife, drop them from afar with your bow or firing a flare into the middle of them and letting the troops fight it out with the pack of raptors that draws. Of course that last one requires you to listen for the grunts of some dinos just out of sight right near the enemy patrol. I had a blasty blast going back and doing that section each of the various ways.
As far as story goes, they don't offer up much of anything new in the demo. You're still crashed on a planet that is, for some reason, full of dinosaurs as well as an enemy platoon of soldiers. You're name is still Turok and it's still your job to kill both of these groups...or letting them destroy each other (sigh, choices). By the end of the demo, however, i got the feeling that your squadmates don't like you very much, but maybe that's just me. And if you're wondering how helpful your fellow dinosaur killers are, the answer is very. In one particular scenario Slade fought alongside me with a shotgun while our friend with the sniper rifle (can't recall his name at the moment) picked guys off from the high ground. At one point i had even been tackled too the ground by a raptor and as he came in to try and eat my head (a fun little mini-game of it's own) Slade blasted him of with his shotgun, nice. The enemy's AI seems decent enough, they took cover, dodged around while shooting back, and made some attempts to flank, so i'll take it. Back to the story, the only other tidbit i was offered was something about main man Joseph Turok's training (with some mention of the Blackfoot tribe of Native Americans, a shoutout to the source material it seems) and how he got his scar. This sequence mostly had me going "huh?" but i'm sure/i hope it'll make sense in the full game.
That said, i did have a few issues with Turok. One, as i mentioned earlier, it can be easy to get turned lose your way. The opening sequence in the cave and some suprising dead-ends in the jungle were the worst, but i did manage to finish the demo, so i guess it's not too bad. Second was the damage system. I find it a little odd that i can take 4 or 5 tackles from a velociraptor and soldier on, but it only takes a handful of bullets to kill me. Psh, whatever, it least it's a progressive healing system rather than being on the search for med-packs. I had one other issue with the damage system, and that's how prominent the red "damage ring" around the screen is. After being knocked to the ground by a dino, i often found it hard to shoot back as i couldn't see past the red haze covering my screen, i understand that it's showing how damaged i am, but if i'm close to death while my attacker's still there, it'd be nice to be able to see them. My final issue with the game is somewhat of a nitpick and i'm sure won't be as prominent after adjusting to the game, but it was still annoying. Your weapons don't have any kind of counter as to how full the current clip is (there is a HUD indicator for total ammo). Each gun does have a SMALL light that blinks yellow when running low and red when empty, but the colors tend to blend in to the look of the weapon and can leave you empty without realizing it. The pulse-rifle was the only weapon not hampered by this issue. I understand that this method keeps the screen much clearer, but it can really screw you over in heated shootouts.
And that's it, here's to hoping the rest of the game keeps up the quality of the demo. In the same sentiment i say: Turok is back!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Rock Band (PS3): Out with the guitar, in with the wired Warhark
I don't know what happened, but i can once again use wired/charging controllers with motion controls in Warhawk. There was a weird day where the invert up/down option wouldn't stay disabled, and the following day poof! all the issues were gone. The following day, however, my Rock Band Stratocaster lost functionality in the strum bar. CRAP! At least EA has an rather rapid and painless warranty/return process, esp if you have a credit card as collateral; and completely free either way.
Ah, well, i do enjoy rocking out the drums, as you can see from my abused pads.
Ah, well, i do enjoy rocking out the drums, as you can see from my abused pads.
Monday, January 14, 2008
The Shape of Things to Come.
Alright, since i've been busier than i anticipated and haven't gotten up all of the content i planned, i'd like to take this time to post what i call "planned editorial content" to try and make up for all the things i haven't posted yet in case anyone actually reads this.
Another episode of my as-yet-unamed cartoon is in the works with several new features: Faces on characters! Movement! More dialogue! Cops!
I'm planning to start a feature i call "Overdue Reviews". First up, Assassin's Creed. Considering how mixed and numerous the reviews are on this game i'm going to try and go more in depth on the specifics of what was good and bad and focus less on the overall "score" of the game. I've got at least 2 more titles planned for this feature as well
The status of HD, updates and comments on the raging war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray
Movie/DVD reviews... because i said i would and haven't yet.
That's all i'm going to tell you for now. Back to work an actually finishing the stuff i just mentioned...
Another episode of my as-yet-unamed cartoon is in the works with several new features: Faces on characters! Movement! More dialogue! Cops!
I'm planning to start a feature i call "Overdue Reviews". First up, Assassin's Creed. Considering how mixed and numerous the reviews are on this game i'm going to try and go more in depth on the specifics of what was good and bad and focus less on the overall "score" of the game. I've got at least 2 more titles planned for this feature as well
The status of HD, updates and comments on the raging war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray
Movie/DVD reviews... because i said i would and haven't yet.
That's all i'm going to tell you for now. Back to work an actually finishing the stuff i just mentioned...
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Breaking Warhawk
So i've noticed something rather disconcerting recently in Warhawk, wired controllers don't allow motion control. I'm not sure when this came in, it could have been with the 1.2 patch, or the Operation: Omega Dawn booster pack but either way, it's a big suck. I hadn't noticed it initially as i'm typically using my wireless SIXAXIS, but at one point, while playing splitscreen online with a friend, noticed that my wired MadCatz controller wouldn't allow motion control for anything, flying, hovering, or ground vehicles no matter what method i used to enable the feature. At first i assumed it was a problem with the sub-standard controller (see the review) but found that the controller worked perfectly in flOw. The issue was compounded when i had to charge my SIXAXIS while playing the other night, and found that while the controller was plugged in i was unable to use motion controls. While the game is still addictive and a blast to play without them, the motion controls are one of it's better unique features, as well as a superior way to pilot a Warhawk (separate flight direction and aiming only possible through motion control are a big advantage, I can't even imagine how much more so with something like the FragFX.) So, Incog, if you're listening, whatever you did to Warhawk that caused this, would you fix it/put it back the way it was...please?
Thursday, January 10, 2008
LINKS! (news on other sites)
What new characters are you expecting in Soul Calibur IV? Did any of you say Yoda and Darth Vader? I better hear some James Earl Jones, that's all i have to say about that.
The next-gen Bionic Commando sequel looks to be coming along pretty well.
After countless delay announcements for Solid Snake's latest outing, Metal Gear Solid 4, it's nice to see a possibility of an earlier release.
Tired of fearing the "Red Ring of Death?" every time you boot your 360? Well apparently Bill Gates is on it.
Survival horror fans can start getting excited about/writing excessively long essays bashing Silent Hill V
Alright, cult classic (obscure) PSOne game fans, Vib Ribbon may make it's way to the Playstation Store.
Find out what games may be coming to the big screen. No, not yours, the REALLY big screen.
That's all for now, so go forth and read.
The next-gen Bionic Commando sequel looks to be coming along pretty well.
After countless delay announcements for Solid Snake's latest outing, Metal Gear Solid 4, it's nice to see a possibility of an earlier release.
Tired of fearing the "Red Ring of Death?" every time you boot your 360? Well apparently Bill Gates is on it.
Survival horror fans can start getting excited about/writing excessively long essays bashing Silent Hill V
Alright, cult classic (obscure) PSOne game fans, Vib Ribbon may make it's way to the Playstation Store.
Find out what games may be coming to the big screen. No, not yours, the REALLY big screen.
That's all for now, so go forth and read.
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