Thursday 7 April 2011

PlayStation Move Heroes. Need I say more?

My young childhood (gaming-wise) =



So I nearly cried mixed tears of joy and despair when I discovered the new game developed by Nihilistic Software and released by Sony called PlayStation Move Heroes.
PSMH features SIX main characters;

  • Ratchet
  • Clank
  • Jak
  • Daxter
  • Sly Cooper
  • Bentley
...What could make this game more perfect? (Besides Spyro. Spyro would make the game)
I doubt anything can stop me getting this! I really doubt it!

Oh wait. Yeah.
Its PS3 only...!  *cry*

I'm not going to lie - i am ever so slightly heartbroken.

Monday 4 April 2011

LF PSP 2.0! WTB PSP 2.0!

I never did bother with the PSP. Not sure exactly why - it never had an appeal to me!
However i have high expectations for the 'Next Generation Portable' and specifically their kickass graphics! (Video courtesy of Gamespot)

I hate to admit it, but I have a weakness for shiny things with good graphics. Don't we all though?
The NGP's current game line-up looks pretty fine; Uncharted, Resistance and Metal Gear Solid - games that are not my favourites, but i value them higher than Nintendogs and Brain games on the scale of gaming awesomeness.

Personally, I find the new touch screen wizardry bundled into the NGP doesn't impress me much - I've always kinda' cared less for flashy touchscreen gaming devices* with motion control that can probably sing and dance and kill you in your sleep, (touch wood) where as I'd prefer the gaming quality more... which is probably why I disliked the Wii and have made no effort towards looking into the Xbox Kinect. Don't get me wrong though - if implemented nicely and used tastefully with the UI, touchscreen features on the NGP will ROCK!

*I love anything other than a games console with touchscreen.

I know that I'll be looking forward to Sony restorming the market as they did with the Ps2 and hope they don't make the fatal mistake of severely overpricing the unit in the same manner as they did with the Ps3 and so I don't know about you but I'll be ever watching for new information on the upcoming NGP and will probably make it my mission to get one as close as I can to release date.

Sunday 3 April 2011

Dragon Age 2. Yay or Nay? (REVIEW)

After my third playthrough of the game Dragon Age 2 I've decided to try writing my first review, due to that this will be a non-professional 'mini' review giving the ups and downs yet not too much detailed information.

SYSTEM: Windows 7 - PC

----SPOILER ALERT(S)---

Intro and background info.

Bioware's latest release; Dragon Age 2 is sequel to the great selling Dragon Age: Origins.

In the game you play as a member of the 'Hawke' family, specifically a mage, rogue or warrior refugee from the nation of 'Ferelden' where DAO was set. The beginning of the game features you fleeing the lands from The Darkspawn hordes of creatures and settling in the city of Kirkwall in the 'Free Marches' lands.
The course of the game sees Hawke rise from rags to riches - a refugee in the lower city to becoming the Champion of Kirkwall.

Visuals/Sound

To start with, the sleek menu and choral soundtrack does not disappoint. 
Entering the game showcases dynamic lighting, anti-aliasing and realistic modelling.
The environments are true to nature, infrequently predictable and finely textured - if higher quality textures are required then a high quality texture pack free DLC can be downloaded.
Background music is of high quality and nice to the ear, the music helps enhance the atmosphere of an ambush in a deserted alley or a suspicious mountain path - realistic sound effects are used and the voice acting is some of the best i have seen in a game.

All in all DA2 features excellent sound and top quality graphics, however problems with Directx11 and Directx10 that are all too common with many players (including myself) cannot help but invoke disappointment.

Visuals/Sound: 8/10


Fireball. The answer to all your problems.



Gameplay

Oh boy, where do i start.
At the beggining, i suppose. The very beggining.

After the initial cinematic you are plunged straight away into immersive combat, whichever class you choose. You are given a few skills to see whether you chose the right class for you in the tutorial section which is helpful for people unfamiliar with the general play of RPG classes or on the border about what to play.
I yearned to be a mage, as I always do in RPG and MMORPG games and found spells amazingly satisfying and fun to cast.

Story-wise the game is split into three Acts; Act I, Act II and Act III. (Funnily enough)
The game itself is, unfortunately one of the most structured RPGs I've played - as well as only having approximately 5 locations on the map, most of which are disappointingly small. While including multiple side quests they all link to the main storyline and go towards the end result. For example, you are not free to join a thieves guild or chase after non-related quests to save a poor man's farm.

Gameplay: 7/10



I could write on for pages about the ins and outs of player to character relations, weapons and armour and class skills but as I said I wanted to define the good points and where the game falls ever so slightly short of expectations. Overall I recommend the game, it may be short but it is replayable for a different experience.

Official PBAOE rating; 8/10

Saturday 2 April 2011

I gab, you gab, we all gab.

How do you make a game voice sound good?
Bethesda and Bioware are two good examples of companies with great sounding in-game voices -I don't mean the conversations characters have with NPCs as they are incomparable with other games.

I'm speaking of the more 'passive' voice acting when walking past or talking to a citizen or guard and hearing a simple greeting. After playing the game for hours and constantly hearing the likes of; "Good day, Champion" and "What do ya' need, stranger?" I still don't get sick of those phrases.

However, sometimes you find some phrases in some accents really just get to you. For example the phrase that inspires this post's title, "Get gabbin' or get going." from World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
Its an interesting and slightly comical phrase at least - Amplified by the strong old cockney British accent, too. On the other hand after hearing it a few times though I wanted to shoot myself. I even had to look up what gabbing was, although I hope that's not me just being dense.  (For the record, 'to gab' is to talk, extensively and about trivial matters)

What do you think makes a game voice interesting and believable?

Blog Topics?

PBAoE is very vaguely themed, so i thought i'd take the time to put down what sorta' content to expect;

  • Very few, if any, FPS game articles. No Call of Duty posts for instance.
  • RPG games. (Dragon Age / The Elder Scrolls etc)
  • MMORPG Games. Mainly Guild Wars and/or WoW.
  • On-topic but not always game specific pondering.
I'll at least try not to stray from this simple guideline.
If i get feedback about what post topics have a higher demand i can go with that. :)

Friday 1 April 2011

So i looked at some April Fool's day pranks...

Ah April Fool's day. While i didn't have the time to try anything against any people in the human world i always enjoy seeing what the world wide web has to offer;
After looking extensively through Guild Wars 2's interesting joke for us all (as well as a few other site's pranks) I wondered what Apple had cooked up for us.

Sure enough they had a massive joke on their homepage;






Yeah that was a bad gag. I know. ^_^

Enter 'Mini-Apple Rage';

Now i have nothing against Apple except their prices, but when they release a whole new generation of product for the addition of a second camera, body shape and slight processor speed - its really just asking for it.

End 'Mini-Apple Rage'.


Happy/Merry/Have a nice April Fool's day people.

...And, Thank you for reading my first post.
You are awesome.
Yes, you.