Dead Space
So last week I finally finished Dead Space. I bought this game at launch, and through a combination of being too terrified to play it and not having time because of school, I kind of put it aside until last week. I got so excited, and decided that I had to write my next review about it. And as always (as it would seem) I’m reviewing it for Xbox 360, but it was also released for PS3 and PC. It’s a 3rd person shooter, survival/horror game.
So I have to say that I loved this game. I was actually kind of upset when it ended but that’s how I know it’s a good game I guess. I would definitely recommend this game, and in fact, I liked it so much that I even watched the animated film (or most of it anyway, thanks to computer technical difficulties :S I haven’t been able to finish it yet… yet being the key word there). The film is okay so far, and I would recommend it, but probably only if you’re a fan of the game. It’s called “Dead Space: Downfall” and it was a prequel to the game, so I would also recommend playing the game first because I think the story is just better that way… but that’s just my opinion.
Story: 10/10
I would have to say that the story is one of the better ones that I’ve played recently. It starts with your crew on a small repair ship. You’re headed towards the Ishimura, to respond to a distress call. You play as Isaac Clarke, who is surprisingly just a poor engineer stuck in an unfortunate situation, and forced to fight for his life to find a way off the ship as he finds that it’s been infested with this alien/human hybrid species called necromorphs. The story has a few twists and turns along the way, but mostly right at the end.
Graphics: 10/10
The graphics in this game were really amazing. I know I say that a lot, but honestly they were. The Necromorphs looked awesome, and the environments looked so realistic. I would definitely consider this game to be an inspiration to me. I honestly don’t know what more to say about it. Just look for your self I guess.
Sound: 10/10
Now, I know I don’t normally add this category into the reviews, but I think it was so good that this game deserved a rating in this category. What I would actually recommend while playing this game, is getting a big pair of noise cancelling headphones, and wearing those while you play. You’ll hear so much more than you normally would. Every footstep (even if it’s not yours), and things creeping behind the walls or in the ceilings. It really is amazing, and adds a lot to the game.
Innovation: 10/10
This game had one amazing feature that I’ve been wishing for in video games for a long time. Do you ever play open ended video games, and get lost easily? Well I know I do, and I have to say, that’s probably the number one thing that I hate most in a video game. I know a lot of games have maps, but most of the time they don’t clearly show which way to go. But Isaac gets this awesome feature in his engineering suit that if you click the right stick in, it’ll point Isaac in the right direction, and a blue line will show you to your destination… how cool is that. I know what you may be thinking… the possible downfall being that the game isn’t so open ended right, or may limit play. But the fact is, this feature isn’t limiting you from exploring, it just points you in the right direction if you should need some navigational assistance.
There were some other really cool features, but I know similar things have been added in games before, so they’re not THAT innovative. But they also added the gravity jump in Zero Gravity mode, Kenisis and Stasis, which are all pretty cool features anyway.
Overall: 10/10
Seeing how much this game has decreased in value, and how fast it’s happened, I’m guessing that it’s not the most popular game compared to the big titles. But I really think it’s being undervalued. Maybe it got too much hype that it didn’t live up to? That seems to be the case most of the time, but I really think that that’s unfortunate, because this game has probably made it to my list of top 5 favorites. Anyway, if you’re a survival/horror, shooter, or sci-fi fan, then I would definitely recommend Dead Space. A word of warning though, if you don’t like gore, then definitely don’t get this game.
Condemned: Criminal Origins
This game is definitely among my favorites. It was released for the Xbox 360 and the PC. I want to classify it as an FPS, but really, firearms are few and far between. Technically it’s classified as a survival horror, or a “psychological horror” which personally I’ve never heard of before, but I believe that Condemned is rightly deserving of that title.
But what’s best about this game is that I saw it in one of EB Games’ discount bins, for around $12, so it’s cheap too!!! (If you’re willing to buy used that is) Anyway… on to the ratings.
Story: 10/10
I really enjoyed the story of Condemned. Right off the bat, this game gets into some crazy action. You play as Ethan Thomas, who works as a police officer, or more specifically a Serial Crime Unit Investigator. You start by investigating a murder, but somehow two cops get killed, and you’re suddenly the only suspect. So you basically play through the game trying to escape your colleagues, and prove your innosence. But along the way, you encounter this new phenomenon that’s changing the locals into murderers, and other weird things. This game is most definitely the scariest game I’ve ever played (but I haven’t finished Condemned 2 yet, so who knows). I really like horror games though, aren’t adrenaline rushes awesome?
Graphics: 7/10
The graphics were quite good when the game launched, but they became quickly outdated I guess. In the sequel the graphics have greatly improved anyway. To me, there wasn’t anything really special about the graphics, but I didn’t notice any flaws either.
Gameplay/Innovation: 10/10
The game is entirely from a first person perspective, and that’s probably why I thought it was an FPS… whoops. But what I think is really cool about this game, is that when you do have access to guns, they’re very realistic unlike how they’re used in other games. For instance, they’re powerful and will kill your enemies with a single shot most of the time. That being said, they also only last for the amount of ammunition you have. So I rarely would use guns anyway, because you could be left in the middle of nowhere with no other weapons around you.
This game did have some other cool new features to it. In a way it was sort of like CSI, but way better. Being an SCU you’re given all these tools to solve murders or interpret clues, and guess what, you get to use them throughout the game. Plus Ethan has instincts that alert when evidence is lingering.
Replayability: 3/10
There’s not really much reason to play this game twice… other than if you really liked it. If you stride for achievements on the 360, then that always adds replayability. There is an alternate ending as well, so if you wanted to see both you could start all over. The only thing is that the alternate ending is dependant on what you do during the final boss battle, not on how you play the game. So if you wanted just don’t save over the save file before the final boss battle. (I think the saves are automatic, and go by checkpoints if I’m not mistaken, so just don’t make a new game and save over the file before you’ve seen the second ending).
Overall: 10/10
It was a really good game, and it’s definitely worth it in my opinion.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Hard Evidence
Today I will be doing my very first ever bad game review, which is for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Hard Evidence. I have it for the Xbox 360, but it’s also available for the Wii, and PC. Quite honestly I have no idea why I even picked this game up… probably because I’m a fan of the show, as I would imagine is the same reason why anyone else bought this game. And the really unfortunate thing is that this game comes from a great company. Oh Ubisoft (/CSI), how you’ve failed me.
Let’s start with content… I give it a 3/10.
I finished this game probably within three days… and the only reason it took me that long is because of my demanding school hours. The game consists of only 5 cases you have to solve, so you can imagine it would be over quickly. All you have to do is talk to the witnesses/suspects, then look at some evidence, repeat until you solve the case. And every single time you have to do something you pretty much have to go to a new environment which takes way too long to load considering how much of that nonsense they require. I’m giving it a three because it was still fun to pretend that I’m a CSI… otherwise I’m not happy with it. It was way too short.
Graphics 3/10
The graphics were bad to moderately okay… The environments all look fairly good. But half of the characters looked weird. Especially being modeled after real characters that are seen every week on TV, I’d expect them to look better. Maybe if I didn’t see them all the time on the show I wouldn’t be so harsh on the graphics.
Gameplay: 4/10
The gameplay was actually sort of fun. You get to go to crime scenes, collect evidence and then you get to question witnesses. The problems I have with it though, is that it’s always the same thing. It does get sort of boring after a while. The other problem I have with it is that there’s no flexibility whatsoever. You pretty much have to get every single piece of evidence, and question every single suspect to solve the case, and therefore the story isn’t very open at all.
My verdict: 3/10
Maybe the game was just too rushed, but needless to say I wouldn’t recommend this game. However I am still a fan of Ubisoft, and will continue to buy their games in the future.
Bioshock
Today’s review is for Bioshock on the Xbox 360. It’s also available for PC and for PS3, however I wouldn’t recommend getting it on PC unless you have a fairly high end/gaming computer. It even has problems on the Xbox 360 unfortunately… maybe it was just mine… aww poor little Xbox. The only real problem I encountered on this game is that it kept freezing on me. Luckily I haven’t gotten the dreaded “Red Ring of Death” yet, but maybe the freezing is a sign that it’s not far off. I’m still an Xbox 360 fan despite RRoD, but that’s definitely an unfortunate flaw for Microsoft.
Anyway, on to Bioshock the horror FPS
Graphics 10/10
This game had amazing graphics. They were somewhat stylized in a bit more of a cartoony sense, but were definitely able to maintain a very realistic style. The modeling was great. It had a real 50’s black and white sort of feel to it. That was pretty unique, and I liked it a lot. I don’t remember any major flaws with the graphics. Although it has been some time since I’ve played it. I remember that the lighting was also fantastic. It definitely added more horror aspect to the game. I remember the lights would randomly go out, and flash on and some guy would be standing in front of you. Or you’d see people moving in the shadows. This was honestly the first game I really noticed lighting in, and it was great.
Story 8/10 (bad ending) 10/10 (good ending)
Well the story was definitely good no matter which ending you get, but the “good ending” definitely makes the story. Without going in to too much detail, the general storyline starts out with your plane crashing into the ocean. Being the only survivor you swim over to this island with what looks to be a lighthouse but really it’s the entrance to this whole underwater city that’s been kept a secret. You basically have to explore the city while staying alive. You’re forced to make choices which do affect the outcome of the story. I love it when games have alternate endings.
Innovation 10/10
This game added a somewhat new feature to gaming with the plasmids which give your character new powers. They’re definitely awesome to play with. Of course you still get your handy wrench and other weapons along the way, but part of video games is to experience something we can’t in real life, and to sort of escape. So adding things that aren’t real, can definitely be cool. I am giving innovation a 10, but this sort of thing has been done in games before. It’s not completely new, but Bioshock definitely did it well, and I think they deserve the credit.
Overall 10/10
I really did love this game. I haven’t played a better game for the Xbox 360 since. I can’t wait until Bioshock 2 which is set to be released sometime mid to end of 2009, and for the Bioshock movie coming 2010. Although, neither of those dates are guaranteed. I’m sure there will be plenty of delays. Although, as long as delays make it better, I don’t mind them. I just hope that the movie doesn’t ruin the franchise like most video game movies.
Mass Effect
So today I will do my first game review. You probably guessed it from the title, but I’m reviewing “Mass Effect” for the Xbox 360. This is one of the games that I’m currently playing. I have finished it and I am now on my second play through. The fact that I’m playing it again is a good sign right? It is, don’t worry. I actually usually read reviews before I buy a game, but I didn’t for this one, so I have no idea what the general public views are on this game. But I loved it.
That being said, there were a few problems… or at least problems that I had with this game, so might as well start with the negatives first.
The major issue that I had with this game is the slow rendering, and weird rendering order. If you’ve played this game, I’m sure you’ve noticed it. For example, say there’s a grey wall in the background. At first it looks really blurry, and then all of a sudden, the painted detail will show up, and then the lights on the wall will seem to spawn out of nowhere. So the little details in the game take a really long time to load.
Some of the environments and characters were a little repetitive too. All of the female characters look exactly the same, and have the same haircut, and similar outfits. At least change something every once and a while. And a lot of the side quest environments were exactly the same setup besides some randomly placed boxes to switch things up a bit.
The only other issue I had with this game was the speech animation. In general I really liked all of the other animation. It was very fluid and realistic. But the speech looked like it came off of a french movie, and just added English voice overs. Especially for Captain Anderson. He just didn’t have much emotion.
Look at that Krogan detail
Now to the good things about this game.
For one, I have never played a more open game in my life. The story is basically what your decisions are throughout the game, and there are a lot of decisions you can make. Which of course adds replayability. For every conversation, you are generally given at least three choices to make, and each choice affects the outcome of the game. Through your actions, you can become either a paragon (the good guy), or a rogue (the bad guy).
The graphics were generally nothing short of amazing. Especially the character detail. The humans were very realistic, and the aliens were very detailed. It was a very inspiring game, at least for me I guess. Even though there were some repetitive aspects to the modeling in this game, they were still done very well.
My final verdict on this game is 9/10. The game was probably released just a bit too early. They could have done a bit more work to fix the rendering. However, It has definitely become one of my favorites, and I would recommend it to anyone. It took me about 30 hours to finish it the first time, so it’s well worth your money. Mass Effect is also available for PC, so you’re not limited to the Xbox 360. Also it’s a good mix between RPG and Third person shooter which are among my favorite genres.
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