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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

The Power of Gaming

This time last year I was pretty bored as a fan of video games in general, something was very wrong. The industry revolved around the Dragon that was the PS3 and the Phoenix that was the Xbox 360. (if you’ve gotten a red ring you can figure out why the 360 is the phoenix) The two monsters fought what was essentially a cold war. There were very little exclusives and there only seemed to be one difference between the two consoles, the 360’s smaller price tag. For the whole year I felt as if there was no competition between the two major platforms. This year, however, I feel refreshed because it seems as instead of simply staring at one another the two beasts have finally begun to make moves. With the prominence of blu-ray discs developers have been boasting its power of storage, even claiming to be able to take gaming to new heights with the new technology.

We’ve already seen examples of how they’re attempting, breathing the flames that are  MAG, Killzone 2, Heavy Rain and the like. Does this mean that 360 owners are doomed to regret their purchase? Not at all, the bird’s still got some life in it, The 360 seems to be getting more cost effective by the minute with its frequent price drops, Sony has some catching up to do in that regard. Soon you will be able to store games onto your hard drive which will allow cut back on load times and increase the longevity of your disc by cutting down on the disc spins in the console. This allows developers to use multiple DVDs to equal the quality of a PS3 title because not only will multiple DVDs eventually reach the amount of space of a Blu-Ray game, with the new storage feature load times should be not a thing of the past but an inconvinence so minor it could hardly be considered one. Sony though has more than just the format to fight with, a Dragon’s got other tools and those would be the fact that Sony not only has 3rd party support but that also their first party titles are for the most part amazing games.

At this point it seems like the dragon has that phoenix pinned down.

Continue reading The Power of Gaming

Tags: 360, Gaming, ps3

The King of Fighters

If you thought Final Fantasy and Megaman were the only gaming franchises reserving the right to go double digits think again. The King of Fighters series started in 1994 with the aptly titled King of Fighters ‘94. Its roots, however, seep into other SNK titles including Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, Ikari Warriors and Athena. The King of Fighters was the original dream match pitting characters from various SNK universes against each other. Also originated in the King of Fighters series was the 3 on 3 battle system. Worldwide it was one of very few games that could rival the money making machine that was Street Fighter 2. The King of Fighters series innovated fighting games far beyond Street Fighter, featuring better graphics, the 3 on 3 system, super combos and later having more than one super combo at your disposal.

The franchise saw a new addition yearly similar to a sports title featuring slight tweaks on the existing formula until three years would pass, traditionally, the King of Fighters series has an entirely different mechanic every 3 games followed by a dream match that collects the best parts of the previous three years. ‘94 itself was considered a dream match, ‘95,’96 and ‘97 featured upgrades and tweaks to the existing 3 on 3 formula. ‘98 featured the best of all three worlds. ‘99 through 2001 featured the Striker system which allowed you to pick three characters and then a striker who could be thought of as something similar to an assist in the original Marvel vs. Capcom. After the King of Fighters 2003, SNK waited two years to release the King of Fighters XI which seems more suiting that resuming the yearly title after skipping a year.

The King of Fighters XI was on a new arcade system which featured better graphical effects, all new possibilities for the 3 on 3 tag system that was implemented in 2003 such as the Saving Shift which allowed you to break your opponent’s offense by tagging out, or the quick shift which allowed you to combo with one character, switch to another to continue the combo and then switch to the last character to complete the combo. Skip a few years yet again to 2008 and we have the announcement of the King of Fighters XII which SNK has promised to be the greatest 2D fighting experience ever. Screenshots and a trailer have been released since then and so far we’ve only seen graphics and a few characters. The graphics are the best hand drawn hi-resolution sprites ever seen in a 2d game period. More information about the King of Fighters XII will be seen at Japan’s AM show later this month.

Tags: Fighters, King, of, The, XII

Eternal Sonata US release for the ps3 confirmed

Eternal Sonata Ps3 - Story #4 from Mel Francis on Vimeo.

After some speculation and weeks of suspense, Namco-Bandai has announced that Eternal Sonata will make its way to the US this fall on the Ps3. At first it was said that the game wouldn’t be released here for the Ps3, leaving those who don’t have an Xbox 360 out in the cold. The story follows renowned composer Chopin, who on his death bed begins to blur the lines between life and death by having dreams. One dream in particular is where a girl is in some type of danger and a young boy who has to save her. This is where the game picks and the player begins to experience his dream first hand.

The game debuted last September for the 360, and seemed to be under the radar because it launched around the same time as Halo 3 did. Fortunately, with the re-release on the Ps3, anyone looking forward to the game can rest assured the not only are they going to get the same experience that 360 owners had, but also the pleasure of some added features such as new quests, multiple endings & added characters.

One thing I really enjoyed about the game from playing the 360 version was the battle system. It was a mixture of turn based and real time battle. What the game did well was take these two systems and combine them into one interesting experience. As with most RPGs, you had to wait for your characters turn before they could go, but when it comes time to battle you have a five second timer that came up which allowed you to attack your enemy with button specific moves. This helped keep the game unique because it allowed you to do more than press a button then watch a move, you were actually able to fight the enemy yourself which kept the game engaging.

Eternal Sonata Ps3 - Battle Gameplay #1 from Mel Francis on Vimeo.

The game also seems to feature some form of online co-op, so that you’re able to get into the game with friends and enjoy the game together. Based off of how the 360 version was, it would seem that you’ll be able to play the entire game with two other friends, which will add to the replayability of the game. I’m looking forward to the game, as I wasn’t able to get my hands on the 360 version.

Check out our screenshots of the game, as well as some videos of the game below the cut.
Continue reading Eternal Sonata US release for the ps3 confirmed

Tags: Eternal Sonata, ps3, rpg

Metal Gear Online: Expansion Pack OUT!

Today, July 17th, marks the day for the release of the expansion for Metal Gear Online. New content include a new gameplay mode (survival mode), new selectable players, three new maps, and a reward shop for all your needs in survival mode.

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH announces Metal Gear Online World Championship 2008!

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced the first details of its Metal Gear Online World Championship 2008 tournament, which will embark on regional heats in the summer globally with the grand final taking place at October’s Tokyo Game Show event.

The competition is open to the best Metal Gear Online players from Europe, the US, Japan, and Greater Asia, with the individual territories to host regional championships where the wining teams will receive all-expenses-paid trips to Japan. The first championship will take place in the US at ComiCon in San Diego, with full details of the European heats to be announced via www.konami-mgo.com in the coming weeks.

Metal Gear Online is a dedicated online title included in Metal Gear Solid® 4: Guns of the Patriots, an exclusive title for PLAYSTATION®3, which took the market by storm on its release in June. Featuring unique characters, a wide range of weaponry as well as many levels taken from and inspired by the Metal Gear Solid Series, Metal Gear Online is the ultimate team based online tactical shooter which allows up to 16 people to play simultaneously. Retaining the highly renowned stealth combat gameplay of the Metal Gear series, players can immerse themselves in this whole new multiplayer online experience as they are dropped into a series of war zones where a host challenges await them.

[Via Press release & Kotaku]

Tags: metal gear online, mgo, News, ps3

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

Sony E3 Press Conference Live Blog

Join us as we live blog Sony’s E3 press conference starting at 2:30PM EST!

Tags: E3, live bog, Sony