Vice Weekly - What’s your vice?

Mercenaries 2 review…and a whole lot of flames to go with it.

Ok, let me get this out of the way first, if you like destroying s**t, then Mercenaries 2 is a game you should get. This review is a little late I know, so because of that this will just be a quickie of a review.

Well, since many people these days are graphics whores and cant stand anything not on Gears of War standards then they shouldn’t dare look at this game. This game was made for two, and only two types of people: the fans of Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction ( not me, never played) and people who just like to have fun, (me). Yes I do know the graphics could’ve used a bit more graphical touches, but when you have the power to level an entire country, I’m sure some things had to be sacrificed. And these sacrifices are: major pop-ins no matter what you are doing, repetitive buildings, and terrible textures. But if you look at the glass half full like moi, then; beautiful, sometimes jaw dropping explosions that light up the screen. Seriously, they are gorgeous. Also, great destruction, and lovely scenery when you aren’t seeing pop-ins.

Now for the gameplay, which may be the worst part of the game. Controls are the absolute worst, with driving just being an absolute pain. The cars are just so…heavy and…ugh, unresponsive. It just feels dirty and so slapped in there, and there are only about 10 to choose from anyway. Heli’s are better, yet still could’ve used some work as well. The combat is very unorganized, and that’s not even talking about the friendly/enemy A.I. . When calling in support, you have to pull up a menu in game which stops you from moving and has you take damage, which then makes you almost dead when your support comes in anyway. The shooting mechanics seems like it was just put in at a good enough point to ship the game, kind of like Army of Two, meaning the guns sound like pellets, or Dante’s guns, and it never fully feels satisfying killing anybody. It also doesn’t help when the enemies basically stand there and wait for you to kill them.

Wait, you know what? Forget everything I just wrote, cause everyone should buy this game, well everyone who wanted to crucify GTA4 that is, cause this game is as unrealistic as you can get. And if I remember correctly, everyone hated the realism going back to Liberty City, so this game should sell instantly when you think about it. I enjoyed this game very much, its fun to blow things to high heaven, and I do beleive it deserves atleast a rental.

Tags: mercenaries 2, mercs, PS2, ps3, review, xbox

Sony Press Conference Recap

Sony just wrapped up their press conference for E3 in Los Angeles an hour ago, and in this write up I will specify the major points that took place. First I will start off with the money machine that still is the Playstation 2.

Jack Tretton announced that by the end of this year, the Playstaion 2 will have 130 new games launched for its growing library. This really is a huge number for such an old console, especially with HD being all the rage today. Games shown included; Madden 09, Yakuza 2, and Mercenaries 2. It was also announced that a new bundle consisting of the new game, Lego Batman, for $149.99.

The PSP had a really strong showing at the press conference, with games as well as PSP/PS3 integration. For game announcements, the huge one was Resistance Retribution, a side story 3rd person shooter which looked great from what was shown. The other games were basically just PS2 ports, like Madden. PSP also has not one, but two bundles for the fall; the Ratchet and Clank/National Treasure 2 bundle, and the Madden 09 Metallic blue bundle for $199.99. The PSN announced that users could buy movies on the PS3 and then put them onto the PSP for portable use, which was the real huge announcement for the PSP, and was quite a good one.

The last thing I will be discussing is the Playstation 3. A great deal of games and a huge PSN update stole this show for Sony. Ted Price came onto the floor within 15 minutes of the start to showcase Resistance 2, with some glorious gameplay footage and an astounding trailer. Really, it was phenomenal. In the gameplay, Nathan Hale is escaping to safety on rooftops from the 300ft monster that was hyped about for a while, and was also glimpsed at on Gametrailers show, GTTV. The monster seemed like he will be a great enemy for players to fend off, and I know I can’t wait to. LittleBigPlanet only had a few glimpses of gameplay footage, and Killzone 2 was nowhere to be found. The heavily hyped God of War 3 had a terrible teaser trailer towards the end of the conference as well. Infamaous had a great new trailer showing more gameplay footage, and looks to be promising. Playstation 3 will also have a lineup of “Greatest Hits” this fall consisting of: Resistance:Fall of Man, Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, Call of Duty 3, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Assassin’s Creed, and Warhawk. The 80gb model may be the only SKU soon, because its now has a price tag of $399.99.

The real kicker for game was a new title from Zipper Interactive, MAG-Massive Action Game. Say what you want about the title, but 256 player online should be the real draw in. It is pulling a Resistance 2 feature, which is breaking the teams into squads, in this case 8 players. A trailer was shown for the game and it looks to be, as Mel told me, an MMO-War. That does about sum it up for that one…which comes out in 2009.

PSN’s big announcement, as I’ve said before, was the ability to download and rent movies. The price to buy is $14.99, and renting was a little bit lower, but I don’t believe was mentioned. This feature will be available today, June 15th.

I will leave you with this question; what happened to HOME?

Tags: E3, News, playstation

Vice Weekly 003 - Babble Box

After a two week hiatus, Vice Weekly returns to grace your ear canals in an epic way. Keith couldn’t make it this week, so Mel, Gary & kevin go all out to make up for the lack of shows. They cover various topics such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Gears of War 2, slouching developers and much more. Check out the return of Vice Weekly, you won’t be disappointed!

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Tags: 360, gears of war, gears of war 2, Metal Gear Solid 4, podcast, ps3

Classic games from the last 25 years according to Entertainment Weekly

In the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, which also happens to be their 1000th issue (congrats guys) they have a feature article which talks about the new classics from the last 25 years. Journalists Geoff Keighley, Wook Kim and Gary Eng Walk compiled a list of the top 50 games from the last 25 years. 

A few of the most notable titles of the list include Tetris (#1), Grand Theft Auto IV (#9), Metal Gear Solid (#10) & Gears of War (#20). You can view the list in its entirety after the jump.

Do you agree with the list? Also what are some games that you think were worthy enough to be in your top games of the last 25 years? Gaming as a whole has helped shape the world in many ways, so it’s always good to see it held up in a great light like this.

1. Tetris (PC)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
3. Doom (PC)
4. Super Mario World (SNES)
5. Guitar Hero (PS2)
6. Street Fighter II (SNES)
7. Super Mario Kart (SNES)
8. GoldenEye 007 (N64)
9. Grand Theft Auto IV (X360/PS3)
10. Metal Gear Solid (PS)

[Via X3F]

Continue reading Classic games from the last 25 years according to Entertainment Weekly

Tags: 360, DS, ps, PS2, ps3, top games, Wii

Enter Sonic: For real this time

As I sit and watch all of these major franchises achieve new heights on next gen consoles, I can’t help but wonder where’s the glory for the original speedster. In days of old when Sega made consoles, it seemed like he was never forgotten, but since their hardware has gone under it seems like aside from 3 good hits on the gba, the iconic hedgehog is falling into obscurity with titles such as Sonic Heroes on the PS2,Xbox,and Gamecube and Sonic the Hedgehog for PS3 and 360, I was beginning to think we’d see the fall of a once so lovable character. Now I’m thinking differently upon the announcement of Sonic Unleashed. The game was originally going to be released as the third installment in the Sonic Adventure series as Sonic World Adventure.

The game is being developed by Sega’s Sonic Team division, who has developed an entirely new engine for the game titled the Hedgehog engine which allows for smooth transitions between 2D and 3D angles. We know the story revolves around the Dr.Robotnik summoning a creature that has caused tremors which have divided the continents into pieces. Sonic must claim the chaos emeralds to bring the world back together. New to the game and possibly the reason for the title “Unleashed” is a werewolf form that has been seen in a screenshot, wheather or not you get to play as this new form of Sonic or how it shapes the game hasn’t been stated by Sonic Team at this time. The Wii version of the game will feature a different control scheme and different stages to fully take advantage of the wii remote and nunchuck. The gameplay takes away some of the linearity that made older Sonic games less fun to replay by having an overworld to be explored, however it is skippable for players who want only the high speed action of past Sonic titles.

There is one negative, however, Sonic Team has decided to shoot for a frame rate of 30 fps rather than 60 which most games run at on next gen consoles. Although, Sonic Unleashed looks to restore Sonic back to his former glory with the same high speed action while adding new gameplay elements and deviation from linearity that once plagued even the greatest of Sonic titles. The game will be released for Xbox360, Playstation 3, Wii and Playstation 2

Tags: PS2, ps3, Sega, Sonic, Team, Unleashed, Wii, Xbox360

Vice Weekly 002 - Thunderdome

We decided to change the name of the show to Vice Weekly as it seemed more fitting for us. This week we talk more about MGS4, get into the nonense that is the battle of GTA4 vs Saints Row 2. Mel touches on what he likes (and didn’t like for that matter) about Ninja Gaiden 2 all while a loud thunderstorm was brewing outside.

Tags: podcast

ViceCast 001 - Oodles of Noodles

On our first episode of ViceCast, we discuss Keith’s Grand Theft Auto IV review, Metal Gear Solid 4, Resident Evil 5, Gears of War 2 & come up with show gimmicks out of nowhere.

Edit: Seems that something happened with the audio quality, we’ll have it fixed for next week.

Tags: 360, gears 2, metal gear, podcast, ps3, re5