We're approaching the end of another year, so instead of making a new reviews post for December, why not just post what I have planned for the rest of the year? Not really any filler this time around. We're looking at over 10,000 words total here easily. I better do some finger exercises!
Q4 2008 Newest Reviews
Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii)
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (360)
Dead Space (360)
Gears of War 2 (360)
LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
Mega Man 9 (PSN, XBLA, WW)
Motorstorm: Pacific Rift (PS3)
Resistance 2 (PS3)
Saints Row 2 (360)
Sonic Unleashed (360)
Maybe they'll be some surprises, too. Who wants to make a wager on how many I complete? Do I have anyone higher than two?
...
Your confidence in me (or lack thereof) depresses me.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise (DS) Review
I reviewed the original Viva Pinata a while ago, but now it's the DS port's turn. Wait. A 360 game ported to the DS...? That probably won't go so well... or will it? Plus there's a special surpise at the end of the review as promised. I finally got around to writing the review. It's a busy time of year, alright, but it's a good kind of busy if that makes sense. Onto the review:
Viva Pinata originally hit the Xbox 360 in 2006 with a modest fanfare and even less sales. However, as time has gone on, the title has reached million seller status. Not content on leaving their more lighthearted than usual intellectual property to one market, Microsoft decided to send Rare's newest series to Nintendo territory. Here, it's their hope that even more gamers will experience Viva Pinata to grow the series even further, and Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise, a port of the console version for handheld audiences, is the sum of their planning, plotting, and porting. The original Viva Pinata was certainly a big game, but with Pocket Paradise do big things come in a much smaller package?
On a mystical island, pinata animals are raised on various gardens, These said pinatas are cared for, bred, and prepared for their important duty of entertaining at parties around the globe. Now where do you enter the picture? Well, it seems that the old farmer in charge has retired, and now his once prized and legendary garden that was full of happy pinatas and grassy knolls is now full of weeds, debris, and-- hey, that's not some pinata droppings, is it? It's up to you to take this rundown garden and make it great once again-- luring and inviting the numerous breeds of pinata into the garden.
The shovel can be used to destroy objects,
pat down soil, and build bodies of water.
The goal of this "garden simulation game"-- a misnomer as you're not really going to be growing tomatoes here-- is to essentially raise the quality and value of your garden. This is done by attracting new pinata to visit, and hopefully to live in, your garden, sprucing up the place by removing debris, and keeping your garden looking spic and span. As your gardening rank goes up by having new pinata enter your garden, successfully growing trees, fruits, and vegetables, and romancing said pinatas (more on that later), your garden will grow in size. This allows even more room for you to work with.
Each pinata is attracted to your garden through different means. The beginning pinata, the whirlm, only requires there to be a large enough patch of tended soil in the garden, whereas other pinatas are much more finicky and demanding-- requiring certain items and pinatas to be located in the garden. It's not just visit and resident requirements that are needed to be met either. If you wish to allow two pinatas of the same species to get funky with one another, you'll need to build them a house as well as meet the other romance requirements. A feature that was thankfully left out from the 360 version is the romance mini-game. In the 360 game, you had to play a mini-game where you controlled one of the pinatas in a dangerous maze where the walls were made out of enemies. The goal was to reach that pinata's mate to have them begin "romancing" one another. For the first time or so, doing this was no problem, but if you wanted to romance them again and again, you'd have to play the mini-game... again and again. It got rather tedious, so it's nice that Rare decided to nix this so the pinata can go straight to filling something into their mate other than candy. Thus, after an impressive FMV of the pair's romance dance, an egg gets delivered. Ah, the miracle of life... No doctor's fees here.
I was going to make a newgat/nougat joke,
but there's enough innuendo in the review as is.
Unlike the 360 version, Pocket Paradise utilizes an overhead view of the garden, allowing the player to move the camera around at his or her leisure by dragging the stylus or using the directional pad. This gives the player a better view of what's going on in and around their garden without the constant spinning that the console and PC versions required. On the top right of the bottom screen is where all of the tools, shops (buying new seeds, pinatas and their homes, and new tools), and options are located. It's a much more streamlined process than the original which is much more adequate for a portable experience.
The HD world of Viva Pinata has somehow been faithfully placed into the enormously larger limitations of the DS, and that is very impressive. The models are clean, colorful, and crisp. The garden textures and frills are pleasing to look at additionally. Included are several FMV clips from the Saturday morning cartoon series which pop at the end of the beginning tutorials (these said tutorials are exclusive to the DS version), and these run great as well. Sound is another story. The voice clips are great, but when you're tending to your garden you might "grow" bored. There's absolutely no music period then which is quite disheartening since sometimes you're just waiting around idly for an egg to hatch or something of that regard. With no music, the process of waiting can give even the most patient player a case of ennui.
The in-game graphics are very enticing for the eyes.
Just don't forget that you have a job to do.
If you've played the original Viva Pinata, then you're really not missing much with this handheld version. If you missed out on the original game because you lack an Xbox 360, then you can't go wrong with Pocket Paradise. If you own a 360 but never picked the game up, would it be worth ten bucks more to get a portable version when the console version is cheaper and has more bells and whistles? If you think possum is "The Other White Meat", you might be a redneck. Wait. What? For fans of the series, however, it really depends on how addicted you are to colorful world concocted by the fine old folks at Rare. Either way, it's an admirable effort and a good choice for most DS collections.
[SuperPhillip Says]
Graphics: The world of the 360 game is represented quite well even when shrunk down to tinier margins. What we have here is a very pleasing package, and no doubt since the graphical powerhouse at Rare's behind it.
Gameplay: Does pinata on pinata action sound hot to you? Well, for the five people that did resonate to, allow me to interest everyone else. All stylus controls are incredibly easy and less cumbersome than analog, so creating an apt garden is easier than ever.
Sound: The majority of your time will be listening to sound effects as there is no music to accompany your gardening. This was a very big slight to me since there is a chunk of your time with nothing to do, waiting for something to happen whether it's a pinata to visit or an egg to hatch.
Replay Value: A percentage is clearly shown on the top screen to indicate your progress. You can spend upwards of 30-40 hours trying to reach the highest gardening level possible. There's also local trading between DSes if you can find someone with a copy of the game.
Overall: 8.0/10 - Rated 0.5 lower than the original even though it's easier and less tedious to play, but why? The original game is ten dollars cheaper for starters, and there's not too much separating the two games to warrant a second purchase of recycled content for those who've already tended their garden in the original like myself. However, there is if you missed out on the original and would prefer a portable version to a console one.
===
Viva Pinatas Are the Ones For Me!
Viva Pinata originally hit the Xbox 360 in 2006 with a modest fanfare and even less sales. However, as time has gone on, the title has reached million seller status. Not content on leaving their more lighthearted than usual intellectual property to one market, Microsoft decided to send Rare's newest series to Nintendo territory. Here, it's their hope that even more gamers will experience Viva Pinata to grow the series even further, and Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise, a port of the console version for handheld audiences, is the sum of their planning, plotting, and porting. The original Viva Pinata was certainly a big game, but with Pocket Paradise do big things come in a much smaller package?
On a mystical island, pinata animals are raised on various gardens, These said pinatas are cared for, bred, and prepared for their important duty of entertaining at parties around the globe. Now where do you enter the picture? Well, it seems that the old farmer in charge has retired, and now his once prized and legendary garden that was full of happy pinatas and grassy knolls is now full of weeds, debris, and-- hey, that's not some pinata droppings, is it? It's up to you to take this rundown garden and make it great once again-- luring and inviting the numerous breeds of pinata into the garden.
The shovel can be used to destroy objects,pat down soil, and build bodies of water.
The goal of this "garden simulation game"-- a misnomer as you're not really going to be growing tomatoes here-- is to essentially raise the quality and value of your garden. This is done by attracting new pinata to visit, and hopefully to live in, your garden, sprucing up the place by removing debris, and keeping your garden looking spic and span. As your gardening rank goes up by having new pinata enter your garden, successfully growing trees, fruits, and vegetables, and romancing said pinatas (more on that later), your garden will grow in size. This allows even more room for you to work with.
Each pinata is attracted to your garden through different means. The beginning pinata, the whirlm, only requires there to be a large enough patch of tended soil in the garden, whereas other pinatas are much more finicky and demanding-- requiring certain items and pinatas to be located in the garden. It's not just visit and resident requirements that are needed to be met either. If you wish to allow two pinatas of the same species to get funky with one another, you'll need to build them a house as well as meet the other romance requirements. A feature that was thankfully left out from the 360 version is the romance mini-game. In the 360 game, you had to play a mini-game where you controlled one of the pinatas in a dangerous maze where the walls were made out of enemies. The goal was to reach that pinata's mate to have them begin "romancing" one another. For the first time or so, doing this was no problem, but if you wanted to romance them again and again, you'd have to play the mini-game... again and again. It got rather tedious, so it's nice that Rare decided to nix this so the pinata can go straight to filling something into their mate other than candy. Thus, after an impressive FMV of the pair's romance dance, an egg gets delivered. Ah, the miracle of life... No doctor's fees here.
I was going to make a newgat/nougat joke, but there's enough innuendo in the review as is.
Unlike the 360 version, Pocket Paradise utilizes an overhead view of the garden, allowing the player to move the camera around at his or her leisure by dragging the stylus or using the directional pad. This gives the player a better view of what's going on in and around their garden without the constant spinning that the console and PC versions required. On the top right of the bottom screen is where all of the tools, shops (buying new seeds, pinatas and their homes, and new tools), and options are located. It's a much more streamlined process than the original which is much more adequate for a portable experience.
The HD world of Viva Pinata has somehow been faithfully placed into the enormously larger limitations of the DS, and that is very impressive. The models are clean, colorful, and crisp. The garden textures and frills are pleasing to look at additionally. Included are several FMV clips from the Saturday morning cartoon series which pop at the end of the beginning tutorials (these said tutorials are exclusive to the DS version), and these run great as well. Sound is another story. The voice clips are great, but when you're tending to your garden you might "grow" bored. There's absolutely no music period then which is quite disheartening since sometimes you're just waiting around idly for an egg to hatch or something of that regard. With no music, the process of waiting can give even the most patient player a case of ennui.
The in-game graphics are very enticing for the eyes.Just don't forget that you have a job to do.
If you've played the original Viva Pinata, then you're really not missing much with this handheld version. If you missed out on the original game because you lack an Xbox 360, then you can't go wrong with Pocket Paradise. If you own a 360 but never picked the game up, would it be worth ten bucks more to get a portable version when the console version is cheaper and has more bells and whistles? If you think possum is "The Other White Meat", you might be a redneck. Wait. What? For fans of the series, however, it really depends on how addicted you are to colorful world concocted by the fine old folks at Rare. Either way, it's an admirable effort and a good choice for most DS collections.
[SuperPhillip Says]
Graphics: The world of the 360 game is represented quite well even when shrunk down to tinier margins. What we have here is a very pleasing package, and no doubt since the graphical powerhouse at Rare's behind it.
Gameplay: Does pinata on pinata action sound hot to you? Well, for the five people that did resonate to, allow me to interest everyone else. All stylus controls are incredibly easy and less cumbersome than analog, so creating an apt garden is easier than ever.
Sound: The majority of your time will be listening to sound effects as there is no music to accompany your gardening. This was a very big slight to me since there is a chunk of your time with nothing to do, waiting for something to happen whether it's a pinata to visit or an egg to hatch.
Replay Value: A percentage is clearly shown on the top screen to indicate your progress. You can spend upwards of 30-40 hours trying to reach the highest gardening level possible. There's also local trading between DSes if you can find someone with a copy of the game.
Overall: 8.0/10 - Rated 0.5 lower than the original even though it's easier and less tedious to play, but why? The original game is ten dollars cheaper for starters, and there's not too much separating the two games to warrant a second purchase of recycled content for those who've already tended their garden in the original like myself. However, there is if you missed out on the original and would prefer a portable version to a console one.
SPC Mailbag - Thanksgiving Edition
It's once again time to pull out the old SPC Mailbag. It's made of synthetic fibers, and it's tested by Homeland Security just incase some of you were angry about a review or article and laced hazardous material with your letter. In this installment, we have three questions that run the gamut of subjects-- one blog-related, one downloadable game-related, and finally, one gaming in general question. Let's open it up!
Why do you sometimes have blog entries that are completely blank?
Most recently, Tuesday's entries were blank. This is because I don't like cramming a number of special updates (editorials, reviews, and segments like the SPC Mailbag) into one day. I like to spread them out-- not only for my convenience, but also to make browsing the blog much easier. Hopefully that makes enough sense. I certainly do have a great amount of madness to my methods...
What are your thoughts on the downloadable game scene (involving WiiWare/XBLA/PSN). Do you think it's a waste of time or that it might actually be some competition for retail games?
I really doubt downloadable games will become popular next generation. For me personally, there's nothing like having a tangible game in your possession. All you own with downloadable content is data, and even then you can lose it and not get it back via loopholes and shady dealings. I think companies will want to continue selling their games for $50-60 instead of putting them up online for a smaller fee. I could be completely wrong, of course. I'm not a video game analyst like Michael Pachter, but then that would mean I'd be wrong 99.99% of the time...
What are some of your pet peeves when in comes to gaming?
This is a can of worms that you just had to open! I'm kidding. Well, game-wise I really loathe invisible walls. I like exploring levels, and when a stupid invisible wall blocks me from what looks like something I could walk on, it's obnoxious. How hard is it to place a seeable barrier of some kind? I also dislike racists, homophobes, internet d-bags, and tough guys over online gaming. People who boost their gamerscore and brag about it I view as sad-- especially if they cheat to boost it. It's a useless number that means nothing.
Additionally, I hate the ESRB's rating scale for M-rated games. "Mature"-- an incredible misnomer since a lot of the games with that label are anything but, yet E and T games are the ones that are "immature" and/or "kiddy" to some... I dislike ignorant gamers who don't honestly know how ignorant they are when it comes to a variety of subjects. The Wii is right now the most popular subject to be completely misinformed over.
I'm out of breath now after that rant, so let's end it there. I'm putting away the SPC Mailbag for now. As always, if you have any questions you'd like to me to attempt to answer, please hit me up with an e-mail at:
superphillip32@hotmail.com
Have a great Thanksgiving, everybody.
Why do you sometimes have blog entries that are completely blank?
Most recently, Tuesday's entries were blank. This is because I don't like cramming a number of special updates (editorials, reviews, and segments like the SPC Mailbag) into one day. I like to spread them out-- not only for my convenience, but also to make browsing the blog much easier. Hopefully that makes enough sense. I certainly do have a great amount of madness to my methods...
What are your thoughts on the downloadable game scene (involving WiiWare/XBLA/PSN). Do you think it's a waste of time or that it might actually be some competition for retail games?
I really doubt downloadable games will become popular next generation. For me personally, there's nothing like having a tangible game in your possession. All you own with downloadable content is data, and even then you can lose it and not get it back via loopholes and shady dealings. I think companies will want to continue selling their games for $50-60 instead of putting them up online for a smaller fee. I could be completely wrong, of course. I'm not a video game analyst like Michael Pachter, but then that would mean I'd be wrong 99.99% of the time...
What are some of your pet peeves when in comes to gaming?
This is a can of worms that you just had to open! I'm kidding. Well, game-wise I really loathe invisible walls. I like exploring levels, and when a stupid invisible wall blocks me from what looks like something I could walk on, it's obnoxious. How hard is it to place a seeable barrier of some kind? I also dislike racists, homophobes, internet d-bags, and tough guys over online gaming. People who boost their gamerscore and brag about it I view as sad-- especially if they cheat to boost it. It's a useless number that means nothing.
Additionally, I hate the ESRB's rating scale for M-rated games. "Mature"-- an incredible misnomer since a lot of the games with that label are anything but, yet E and T games are the ones that are "immature" and/or "kiddy" to some... I dislike ignorant gamers who don't honestly know how ignorant they are when it comes to a variety of subjects. The Wii is right now the most popular subject to be completely misinformed over.
I'm out of breath now after that rant, so let's end it there. I'm putting away the SPC Mailbag for now. As always, if you have any questions you'd like to me to attempt to answer, please hit me up with an e-mail at:
superphillip32@hotmail.com
Have a great Thanksgiving, everybody.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Quantum of Solace (PS3) Review
NOTE: There's two updates today. Check out the other one here.
SuperPhillip Central has been toning it down on posts recently. That's mostly due to my personal life, but at the same time my free time has been going to a batch of new games. This is the very first that I'll be reviewing with many, many more to come. We have Quantum of Solace for the Playstation 3. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are nearly identical if not exact, so this review essentially covers both. The Wii version is obviously less graphically advanced, but it does have motion controls and proper online. You can get a general sense of the Wii version, so no worries, my Wii brethren.
As a side note, I tried entering this review without mentioning Goldeneye. How many Bond reviews on various sites have you seen bring up Goldeneye? I especially abhor it when the question is asked, "Is this the game that can finally dethrone Goldeneye?" Get off of it already, people. Goldeneye is a great game, but nothing can top something that revolutionized the FPS experience. Stop trying to compare everything to it. Anyone agree with that? Don't comment just yet. Read the review first, or I'll beat the living daylights out of you. Perhaps I should live and let die... Meet my friend, Mr. Moonraker! Wait.. That one doesn't even make sense!!!
Bond. James Bond. No other introduction casts more excitement than any other in the eyes of the world's most notorious and popular spy. From the late years of the Nintendo 64 and all the way up to the end of the last generation of consoles, it was Electronic Arts who held the Bond license with their trigger fingers, armed and ready to fire a Bond title each year of their run. This was from The World is Not Enough all the way to Everything or Nothing-- both solid titles in their own respective rights. Now enters a new agent into the mission of creating an entertaining experience for Mr. Bond and his fans, Activision. Is their first foray into 007's world, Quantum of Solace, a rousing success or has this mission been compromised?
Hey... Pierce Brosnan looks a lot different
in this one. Is this a Face-Off ripoff?
The video game adaptation of the latest entry into the Bond series, Quantum of Solace, not only dabbles into the story of the movie without spoiling too much for those yet to sneak into a theater, the game also draws on various scenes and locales from the previous film, Casino Royale. In fact, most of the game is spent playing through Casino Royale with scenes from Quantum of Solace as the bookends. The spoilers for the newest movie are minor at worst. However, the game will give away crucial elements of Royale, so be forewarned if you've delayed watching it yet (and you call yourself a fan!). For someone completely oblivious to the story of either movie, all of the scenes will just come across as loosely-connected and confusing. Narrative this is not as the video game version of Solace is mostly to be played as a companion to the actual movie.
And even though you may not know exactly what's going, you will be able to know that no luxury was too large for Activision. The majority of the cast of both movies reprise their roles, and they come off just as competent as they do on the big screen. Well, big screen as in movie theater big screen and not 34" HDTV big screen... those rich jerks. What we have here is James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench as "M", and Mads Mikkelsen as Casino Royales' Le Chiffre, to name a few. The score is lively as well as original, fully orchestrated, and it gets you into the right mood whether it's sneaky stealth or a frenzied firefight.
Quantum of Solace was created via the Call of Duty 4 engine. While by no means as great of a looker as its graphical source, Solace does come off as beautiful at best and bland and uninspired at worst. Some areas like moving atop a train bound to Montenegro as a downpour of rain drenches the earth are awe-inducing; others such as the airport aren't as interesting to gaze upon. Character-wise, Daniel Craig's model looks shockingly like the genuine article, and animations are believable enough. Regardless, beauty is only skin-deep. In the handbook of any secret agent, you can be sure that one of the top tips is that appearances can be deceiving. For example, an Aston Martin might look heavenly from the outside, but who knows how well it drives? As for Quantum of Solace, this baby performs well, but nowhere near remarkable.
May her Majesty have mercy on you if you get that tuxedo wet.
Most of James Bond is played in first person view. What separates this FPS action-shooter from its other operatives is a cover system which is very much an integrated mechanic of the game. It's used extensively and can be used anywhere there's a place to hide behind. The camera zooms out showing Bond in third person. It enables Bond to hide behind cover while allowing him to peak out and pick off foes or play it safe and assault them with some blind fire. Covering is essential as the enemies didn't get their firearms accuracy from Dick Cheney. They'll shoot the right target if you give them the chance. Of course, Bond has adequate firepower, too, with a wealthy armada of assault rifles, machine guns, pistols, explosives, and other handy hardware. If things get up close and personal, Bond can perform a special move to incapacitate a foe in a swift, but nonetheless elegant, fashion. Joining the never-ending parade of shooters with regenerating health, when Bond is in danger the gun barrel from almost every Bond opening appears. The clearer the image comes, the closer her Majesty's men better order a coffin.
Bond takes "kicking butt" literally here.
The campaign mode of Quantum of Solace is rather short lasting anywhere from 5-7 hours the first run through. There's four difficulties ranging from the easiest setting all the way up to the unforgiving, but manageable with the generous amount of in-level checkpoints available, 007 mode. The majority of missions in the game are linear as they only offer a room or two to detour into here and there. There is a collection aspect to the game, however, which is to gather the various power weapons and cell phones strewn about relaying helpful intel to Bond. This extends the life of the single player campaign by another few hours, but it's still disappointing that the experience is cut so short given that the developers had two movies to work with.
Shoot strategically-placed gas tanks to make short work
of some really stupid enemies.
"Don't shoot that gas tank behind me, okay, man?!"
Fortunately, the multiplayer mode fares even better than the already competent campaign. As for this, there's a multitude of modes for both every-operative-for-himself and teams. The free-for-all modes consist of your standard deathmatch and classic deathmatch. The only difference here is that in one you equip yourself with weapons whereas the other has you picking up weapons from around the map. There's also a Golden Gun mode where players scurry to equip Scaramanga's favorite weapon and blast their opponents with its one-hit-kill powers. Pro-tip: this time the gun has bullets that explode on impact. Team-based modes feature the MI6 team against a group known only as the Organization. Traditional modes like a king of the hill-themed game as well as team deathmatch, Bond vs The Organization, and a mode where the goal is to assist Bond to the escape point.
Kills as well as deaths are easy to come by. Just like in single-player, it doesn't take pumping a full load of ammo into a guy's chest for him to croak. The approach here is more realistic which can be bad or good depending the situation. In single-player, it's a blessing since who wants to spend a minute on a firefight that should take half the time? In multiplayer, it can battles rather quick. It can be frustrating to be shot dead with a flurry of bullets before you can even turn around or react. Another annoying aspect is the shotgun. I'm all for easy kills up close, but when I can essentially snipe my opponent from across the room with it, there's a serious problem with balance. You can bet the shotgun is getting serious legs online. You'd have to be pretty pathetic and lacking skill to always use the shotgun, so that's exactly what I do!
Multiplayer is honestly tons of fun with either public or
private matches and twelve rather large maps in all.
Multiplayer has legs as with each match you play-- win or lose- you earn credits which can be spent at the weapon store. These weapons can be equipped as your arsenal for a given match. Mid-match you can even switch to a new set of weapons if that nail gun isn't doing serious business for you, or you inadvertently keep killing yourself with your own proximity mines. There's also gold plated variants which show to the opposition that you're a gold digger and you don't care. Who cares anyway? Do you expect them to live? No! You expect them to die!
Coming into Quantum of Solace, I had very reserved expectations of the game. I had great experiences with past Bond games from the Nintendo 64 to Everything or Nothing. To be truthful, I'm plenty impressed with what Treyarch and Activision have done here with the Bond license. It certainly doesn't have the license to kill the better Bond titles of the past, but it does have that license to thrill-- no matter how chintzy I made that sound. The campaign is unfortunately short, but it is enjoyable. The multiplayer action is wonderful. The community is decent, but do expect that you'll occasionally be sitting in a lobby all by your lonesome for minutes at a time. And the options are numerous. Is this the best Bond ever? No, Pierce Brosnan is, but Quantum of Solace is rather well put-together title. I'm interested in seeing what Activision does next with it. Perhaps the formula will be a bit more shaken and not stirred next time around.
[SuperPhillip Says]
Story: Follow James Bond as he tackles a new organization, Quantum, who wants to take Bolivia's water supply. The game takes place in both Quantum of Solace as well as its predecessor, Casino Royale.
Graphics: QoS recycles the Call of Duty 4 engine for varying degrees of graphical prowess-- some better than others.
Gameplay: The heavily-integrated cover system offers a different amount of strategy rather than the run-and-gun fare.
Sound: Top-of-the-line voice work performed by the films' actors. The orchestral score is quite good as well adding up to an audiophile's dream.
Replay Value: The campaign takes a short amount of time to complete fully, but multiplayer will keep players coming back for more for weeks, if not months. Online only. No splitscreen. No bots. No sense whatsoever.
Overall: 007.5/0010
SuperPhillip Central has been toning it down on posts recently. That's mostly due to my personal life, but at the same time my free time has been going to a batch of new games. This is the very first that I'll be reviewing with many, many more to come. We have Quantum of Solace for the Playstation 3. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are nearly identical if not exact, so this review essentially covers both. The Wii version is obviously less graphically advanced, but it does have motion controls and proper online. You can get a general sense of the Wii version, so no worries, my Wii brethren.
As a side note, I tried entering this review without mentioning Goldeneye. How many Bond reviews on various sites have you seen bring up Goldeneye? I especially abhor it when the question is asked, "Is this the game that can finally dethrone Goldeneye?" Get off of it already, people. Goldeneye is a great game, but nothing can top something that revolutionized the FPS experience. Stop trying to compare everything to it. Anyone agree with that? Don't comment just yet. Read the review first, or I'll beat the living daylights out of you. Perhaps I should live and let die... Meet my friend, Mr. Moonraker! Wait.. That one doesn't even make sense!!!
===
The Passing of the Golden Gun to Activision
Bond. James Bond. No other introduction casts more excitement than any other in the eyes of the world's most notorious and popular spy. From the late years of the Nintendo 64 and all the way up to the end of the last generation of consoles, it was Electronic Arts who held the Bond license with their trigger fingers, armed and ready to fire a Bond title each year of their run. This was from The World is Not Enough all the way to Everything or Nothing-- both solid titles in their own respective rights. Now enters a new agent into the mission of creating an entertaining experience for Mr. Bond and his fans, Activision. Is their first foray into 007's world, Quantum of Solace, a rousing success or has this mission been compromised?
Hey... Pierce Brosnan looks a lot differentin this one. Is this a Face-Off ripoff?
The video game adaptation of the latest entry into the Bond series, Quantum of Solace, not only dabbles into the story of the movie without spoiling too much for those yet to sneak into a theater, the game also draws on various scenes and locales from the previous film, Casino Royale. In fact, most of the game is spent playing through Casino Royale with scenes from Quantum of Solace as the bookends. The spoilers for the newest movie are minor at worst. However, the game will give away crucial elements of Royale, so be forewarned if you've delayed watching it yet (and you call yourself a fan!). For someone completely oblivious to the story of either movie, all of the scenes will just come across as loosely-connected and confusing. Narrative this is not as the video game version of Solace is mostly to be played as a companion to the actual movie.
And even though you may not know exactly what's going, you will be able to know that no luxury was too large for Activision. The majority of the cast of both movies reprise their roles, and they come off just as competent as they do on the big screen. Well, big screen as in movie theater big screen and not 34" HDTV big screen... those rich jerks. What we have here is James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench as "M", and Mads Mikkelsen as Casino Royales' Le Chiffre, to name a few. The score is lively as well as original, fully orchestrated, and it gets you into the right mood whether it's sneaky stealth or a frenzied firefight.
Quantum of Solace was created via the Call of Duty 4 engine. While by no means as great of a looker as its graphical source, Solace does come off as beautiful at best and bland and uninspired at worst. Some areas like moving atop a train bound to Montenegro as a downpour of rain drenches the earth are awe-inducing; others such as the airport aren't as interesting to gaze upon. Character-wise, Daniel Craig's model looks shockingly like the genuine article, and animations are believable enough. Regardless, beauty is only skin-deep. In the handbook of any secret agent, you can be sure that one of the top tips is that appearances can be deceiving. For example, an Aston Martin might look heavenly from the outside, but who knows how well it drives? As for Quantum of Solace, this baby performs well, but nowhere near remarkable.
May her Majesty have mercy on you if you get that tuxedo wet.Most of James Bond is played in first person view. What separates this FPS action-shooter from its other operatives is a cover system which is very much an integrated mechanic of the game. It's used extensively and can be used anywhere there's a place to hide behind. The camera zooms out showing Bond in third person. It enables Bond to hide behind cover while allowing him to peak out and pick off foes or play it safe and assault them with some blind fire. Covering is essential as the enemies didn't get their firearms accuracy from Dick Cheney. They'll shoot the right target if you give them the chance. Of course, Bond has adequate firepower, too, with a wealthy armada of assault rifles, machine guns, pistols, explosives, and other handy hardware. If things get up close and personal, Bond can perform a special move to incapacitate a foe in a swift, but nonetheless elegant, fashion. Joining the never-ending parade of shooters with regenerating health, when Bond is in danger the gun barrel from almost every Bond opening appears. The clearer the image comes, the closer her Majesty's men better order a coffin.
Bond takes "kicking butt" literally here.The campaign mode of Quantum of Solace is rather short lasting anywhere from 5-7 hours the first run through. There's four difficulties ranging from the easiest setting all the way up to the unforgiving, but manageable with the generous amount of in-level checkpoints available, 007 mode. The majority of missions in the game are linear as they only offer a room or two to detour into here and there. There is a collection aspect to the game, however, which is to gather the various power weapons and cell phones strewn about relaying helpful intel to Bond. This extends the life of the single player campaign by another few hours, but it's still disappointing that the experience is cut so short given that the developers had two movies to work with.
Shoot strategically-placed gas tanks to make short workof some really stupid enemies.
"Don't shoot that gas tank behind me, okay, man?!"
Fortunately, the multiplayer mode fares even better than the already competent campaign. As for this, there's a multitude of modes for both every-operative-for-himself and teams. The free-for-all modes consist of your standard deathmatch and classic deathmatch. The only difference here is that in one you equip yourself with weapons whereas the other has you picking up weapons from around the map. There's also a Golden Gun mode where players scurry to equip Scaramanga's favorite weapon and blast their opponents with its one-hit-kill powers. Pro-tip: this time the gun has bullets that explode on impact. Team-based modes feature the MI6 team against a group known only as the Organization. Traditional modes like a king of the hill-themed game as well as team deathmatch, Bond vs The Organization, and a mode where the goal is to assist Bond to the escape point.
Kills as well as deaths are easy to come by. Just like in single-player, it doesn't take pumping a full load of ammo into a guy's chest for him to croak. The approach here is more realistic which can be bad or good depending the situation. In single-player, it's a blessing since who wants to spend a minute on a firefight that should take half the time? In multiplayer, it can battles rather quick. It can be frustrating to be shot dead with a flurry of bullets before you can even turn around or react. Another annoying aspect is the shotgun. I'm all for easy kills up close, but when I can essentially snipe my opponent from across the room with it, there's a serious problem with balance. You can bet the shotgun is getting serious legs online. You'd have to be pretty pathetic and lacking skill to always use the shotgun, so that's exactly what I do!
Multiplayer is honestly tons of fun with either public orprivate matches and twelve rather large maps in all.
Multiplayer has legs as with each match you play-- win or lose- you earn credits which can be spent at the weapon store. These weapons can be equipped as your arsenal for a given match. Mid-match you can even switch to a new set of weapons if that nail gun isn't doing serious business for you, or you inadvertently keep killing yourself with your own proximity mines. There's also gold plated variants which show to the opposition that you're a gold digger and you don't care. Who cares anyway? Do you expect them to live? No! You expect them to die!
Coming into Quantum of Solace, I had very reserved expectations of the game. I had great experiences with past Bond games from the Nintendo 64 to Everything or Nothing. To be truthful, I'm plenty impressed with what Treyarch and Activision have done here with the Bond license. It certainly doesn't have the license to kill the better Bond titles of the past, but it does have that license to thrill-- no matter how chintzy I made that sound. The campaign is unfortunately short, but it is enjoyable. The multiplayer action is wonderful. The community is decent, but do expect that you'll occasionally be sitting in a lobby all by your lonesome for minutes at a time. And the options are numerous. Is this the best Bond ever? No, Pierce Brosnan is, but Quantum of Solace is rather well put-together title. I'm interested in seeing what Activision does next with it. Perhaps the formula will be a bit more shaken and not stirred next time around.
[SuperPhillip Says]
Story: Follow James Bond as he tackles a new organization, Quantum, who wants to take Bolivia's water supply. The game takes place in both Quantum of Solace as well as its predecessor, Casino Royale.
Graphics: QoS recycles the Call of Duty 4 engine for varying degrees of graphical prowess-- some better than others.
Gameplay: The heavily-integrated cover system offers a different amount of strategy rather than the run-and-gun fare.
Sound: Top-of-the-line voice work performed by the films' actors. The orchestral score is quite good as well adding up to an audiophile's dream.
Replay Value: The campaign takes a short amount of time to complete fully, but multiplayer will keep players coming back for more for weeks, if not months. Online only. No splitscreen. No bots. No sense whatsoever.
Overall: 007.5/0010
SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs - Gobble Gobble Edition
It's going to be Thanksgiving this Thursday whether we like it not, so why not bare the torment with SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs. Wait. Wait. "Whether we like it or not"? "Bare the torment?" Wait, it's Thanksgiving! Sorry, I confused Thanksgiving with a nightmare I had of a day where everyone was forced to listen to and watch: George W. Bush, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, every "actor" on the Disney Channel, Jimmy Fallon, Dane Cook, Carlos Mencia-- you know, I think there's more people in this world that are obnoxious to me than I actually can stand... Well, I am thankful that I don't have to deal with those people, and I'm thankful that you're joining me this week for another installment of SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs! This week we have Banjo, Wario, F-Zero, and de Blob...o. Sit back, start clicking, start watching, start listening, and start enjoying (hopefully)!
I already uploaded this song when I posted the Wario Land: Shake It! soundtrack. Gurgle Gulch, along with many other tracks from the game, will appear on this list as well. This jazzy piano piece sets the pace as Wario escapes Foulwater Falls.
These two tracks come from the original F-Zero. Anyone who's ever played an F-Zero title (save for Maximum Velocity) should be familiar with them. It's Mute City and Big Blue. But why bother playing versions that you've heard ad nauseum? Let's listen to the official arranged album released in 1992 for F-Zero. The whole album features some great smooth jazz. It's a delight to listen to. Hope you agree.
From the fantastic third-party title for Wii, de Blob, it's DB 606, a song that plays when Blob is in a euphoric mood. I really dig the funky beat and great guitar sound. Pick up de Blob if you haven't already, gang!
This is the Dear Friends arrange album version of Final Fantasy V's "Lenna's Theme". It's a very touching melody heightened by the flute it's played on. Even without playing the game fully, I really felt sad listening to this theme. It invoked an emotion from me-- that's a sign of a great and magical musical piece.
This comes from Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts for the Xbox 360-- the bear and bird's long-awaited return! Banjoland is the first main world of the game, and it's a museum of sorts housing various landmarks and objects from the past two Banjo-Kazooie games for the Nintendo 64. Fittingly enough, the theme of the level is a medley of B-K tunes such as Click Clock Wood, Mad Monster Mansion, and Freezeey Peak to name a few. The second track plays during Jiggy challenges. For those unaware, jiggies are to Banjo-Kazooie as power stars are to Super Mario 64.
Here's what themes are included and the order before looping back to the beginning:
Click Clock Wood
Freezeey Peak
Mad Monster Mansion
Gobi's Desert
Crazy Cuckooland
Mayahem Temple
Rusty Bucket Bay
Direct Linkage:
Gurgle Gulch
Mute City / Big Blue
DB 606 (Euphoric)
Lenna's Theme
Banjoland
Have a great Thanksgiving from SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs! Until then, check out my Youtube channel as it's there that you can find all of my past and future volumes!
===
I already uploaded this song when I posted the Wario Land: Shake It! soundtrack. Gurgle Gulch, along with many other tracks from the game, will appear on this list as well. This jazzy piano piece sets the pace as Wario escapes Foulwater Falls.
These two tracks come from the original F-Zero. Anyone who's ever played an F-Zero title (save for Maximum Velocity) should be familiar with them. It's Mute City and Big Blue. But why bother playing versions that you've heard ad nauseum? Let's listen to the official arranged album released in 1992 for F-Zero. The whole album features some great smooth jazz. It's a delight to listen to. Hope you agree.
From the fantastic third-party title for Wii, de Blob, it's DB 606, a song that plays when Blob is in a euphoric mood. I really dig the funky beat and great guitar sound. Pick up de Blob if you haven't already, gang!
This is the Dear Friends arrange album version of Final Fantasy V's "Lenna's Theme". It's a very touching melody heightened by the flute it's played on. Even without playing the game fully, I really felt sad listening to this theme. It invoked an emotion from me-- that's a sign of a great and magical musical piece.
This comes from Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts for the Xbox 360-- the bear and bird's long-awaited return! Banjoland is the first main world of the game, and it's a museum of sorts housing various landmarks and objects from the past two Banjo-Kazooie games for the Nintendo 64. Fittingly enough, the theme of the level is a medley of B-K tunes such as Click Clock Wood, Mad Monster Mansion, and Freezeey Peak to name a few. The second track plays during Jiggy challenges. For those unaware, jiggies are to Banjo-Kazooie as power stars are to Super Mario 64.
Here's what themes are included and the order before looping back to the beginning:
Click Clock Wood
Freezeey Peak
Mad Monster Mansion
Gobi's Desert
Crazy Cuckooland
Mayahem Temple
Rusty Bucket Bay
Direct Linkage:
Gurgle Gulch
Mute City / Big Blue
DB 606 (Euphoric)
Lenna's Theme
Banjoland
Have a great Thanksgiving from SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs! Until then, check out my Youtube channel as it's there that you can find all of my past and future volumes!
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