Viewing all posts about "PlayStation"

Horsez 2: Equestrian Knights

Posted September 20, 2009 by Stephen Thomas
4 comments

EKOne of the most intense and violent games made for the Wii, Nintendo DS, PS3, PSP, PC, and Xbox 360 was released on November 14th, 2007. Its release, however, seemed quiet and unnoticed. Even though the game seemed unpopular, it had gained a large fan base, and for a good reason too. This game is one of the best I’ve played, and it’s because of the awesome graphics, gameplay and story.

The storyline is that Emma, the main character, is sent to France to become a veterinarian via taxi from her small ranch in the countryside. Then, the taxi breaks down, forcing Emma to go back to her ranch and get to France via horse, however, she encounters violent and epic battles on the way with equestrian knights. After battling these knights, you pick up a certain item after each battle, whether it be a sword, shield, money, or arrows. With money, you can buy upgrades for your items. Some of the swords you can purchase are the Mucro of Nex or one of the most powerful swords, Vicis Quod Tractus. You can also buy shields, like the un millier d’âmes.

The gameplay is unmatched by any other game out there. One thing that must be mentioned is the realtime multiplayer physics. It makes the players to feel like they’re in the game, and of course allowing other players to play from all over the world. If you think that’s cool, there is so much more. This game is the first ever that uses ICMP (Inter-Console Multiplayer) technology. In a nutshell, it allows players to play from different consoles. So if one player wanted to play in multiplayer and had a Wii, while the other had the game for the PSP, usually, games wouldn’t allow that, but Horsez 2’s new ICMP technology can make it happen. In multiplayer mode, you have the choice to play as Emma or one of the equestrian knights and fight with weapons you have collected in single player, so it’s important to try to collect as many weapons as possible before going to multiplayer.

A screenshot of a cut scene before battling one of the bosses. As you can see, the knight is holding the Vicis Quod Tractus sword.

A screenshot of a cut scene before battling one of the bosses. As you can see, the knight is holding the Vicis Quod Tractus sword.

The graphics are the best that I have ever seen in a video game. With 1024 bit graphics, playing Horsez 2 feels like you are watching a movie. These graphics are 10x better than any other game ever made, graphics so good it puts Crysis to shame.Not only are the graphics good, but the physics makes playing this game worthwhile. Every tiny movement from objects falling to swords and arrows flying in battle, the detail is 100% perfect.

And just when you thought the excitement would end, it hasn’t. Horsez 2 has a 3D option. If you turn it on, you can play the game in 3D, and not the awful red-blue glasses, but polarized 3D.

Overall, to wrap up this short, yet powerful review, Horsez 2: Equestrian Knights is, in my opinion, the best game yet. It challenges the senses. When I played, it seriously felt like I was the one riding the horse and slaying knights. It blew my mind on how detailed games can be nowadays. For one of the first times, Ubisoft has shocked me with one of its games. I totally recommend buying it for its $175 price.

Beatlemania!

Posted September 9, 2009 by Willseph
7 comments

The Beatles: Rock Band

Oh boy, oh boy how I have been waiting for this day! September 9, 2009, The Beatles: Rock Band was released! Oh and you know I pre-ordered this shit. I’ve been a die hard fan of Rock Band over Guitar Hero ever since its first release. And now, an all new unique Rock band game starring one of my favorite bands? Hot damn. I’ve been looking forward to the game ever since it was just a rumor. I figured what we would be getting was essentially like Guitar hero Metallica or Aerosmith, but what I got was so much more.

This wasn’t a gimmick to sell more of the same shitty game, it was a totally new game with all new art, instruments, animation, characters and everything. This game is Beatles and nothing but. Even the GUI is 60’s-themed. As I mentioned, I pre-ordered this game earlier and just got it from Best Buy today. First and foremost, I left the store with a bit of a surprise.

Well hello beautiful.

Well hello beautiful.

I pre-ordered the game only, since I didn’t want to spend money for instruments I already had (though that Gretsch Duo Jet looks mighty tempting). So for about $60, I bought just the game disc on PS3. When I went to customer service and showed them my receipt, I guess the guy was tired or something and didn’t read it right, and actually gave me the whole limited edition bundle! Pretty fuckin’ sick, now I have a new set of drums, the Höfner bass and a microphone.

This certainly put me in a good mood to start! Not to mention listening to the Beatles on the way to the store and back, The End just finishing when I pulled into the driveway. Ahh… cosmic satisfaction.

Just turning on the game instantly impressed me with the opening cinematic:

Just stunning. The game itself certainly didn’t disappoint either. It works differently than the other Rock Band games as far as campaign organization goes. Rather than the songs becoming more difficult as you progress, you progress along the Beatles’ career. So the hard and easy songs are kind of mixed around. The cinematics are awesome, moving from one venue to the next.

And I say it's all right.

And I say it's all right.

One thing I really love are the dreamscapes they use for the post-tour songs. Some of them are calming, while others are trippy as shit. For those of you who don’t know, obviously at the beginning the Beatles played in front of live audiences. That is, until they realized it was bullshit with all the screaming girls who wanted some Beatles cock. So at that point they just recorded at Abbey Road Studios.

So what are they going to animate for those, just them recording in a sound booth? Hardly! For each song they have their own unique video. It’s a pretty great experience. Though sometimes the video is distracting and it fucks you all up. Another thing I like is how they use archived recordings before and after each song. Like the “1..2..3..4..” and tiny warm-ups they played in the studio. It really adds to the experience of playing as the Beatles. Another useful little feature is that it counts down when you un-pause, so it gives you three golden seconds to put your fingers back on the right buttons.

And the box makes a great kitty bed!

And the box makes a great kitty bed!

I do have a couple complaints with the game though. My biggest one being that they only included 45 songs. I beat the campaign in like, 3 hours. They picked some good songs, I just wish they had a little more. Another small thing I dislike are the fatter… “note catcher” thingies. In Rock Band 1 and 2, they were really thin rectangles. Now they’re almost squares.

Other than those, it’s a fantastic, fantastic game. Worth every penny I practically stole from Best Buy. I give it 9.5 Billy Shears out of 10. Oh, and I can’t finish without one more video. Possibly the greatest TV spot for a video game ever.

No Comply, No Surrender.

Posted August 22, 2009 by Claremonster
5 comments

If you saw “no comply” in the title and you thought “⇧+A”, then guess what, you’re a fucking champ. You don’t take shit from no one because you play Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. Everyone had to play this game, it got released on every fucking system. It was on the Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo 64, Playstation, Dreamcast, PC, Mac OS and you bet your fucking ass it was on the Xbox. If you haven’t nostalgia’d already then get out the Mountain Dew and get X-treme, ’cause we’re goin’ back to 2000.

Kickflip+Manual+Nosegrind+ZA WARUDO

Kickflip+Manual+Nosegrind+ZA WARUDO

Let me tell you what this game had that others didn’t. This wasn’t a skating simulator like Skate is, or what Madden is to football. This is a skating video game. Chances are most skaters can’t do an Ollie McShit to a revert to a pogo to a manuel to a darkslide kickflip darkslide to WRYYYYYYYYYYYY. But Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 can. Activision realized that they’re a video game company, not a simulation company. This ain’t no Second Life Madden Bullshit, this is video gaming at its finest; fast frenzied attacks on the X and Y button to make massive combos past the 2:00 minute mark, shit that we gamers live for. The game was short subject too, none of this Open-world-look-for-objectives bullshit. You had stated objectives, and 2 minutes to get whatever you could done. I preferred this, it made it a lot easier to pass around the controllers on those late nights where your your stomach had nothing but Doritos and coke inside it

I want to describe the sound effects. The sound of hitting a rail in a darkslide is “CLANK BU-WHEEM!” Do you know how satisfying that is? They made every single sound effect in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 extremely satisfying. (So satisfying that I spent several hours looking for soundclips of it).

Another beautiful thing is the sheer amount of bonuses Activision gave the players. you could unlock a ton of secret characters, INCLUDING Spiderman WITH A VENOM SKIN OMGWTFBBQ. Do you remember the Mexico Bullring level? It had a friggin’ LOOP in it. Way to go, Gringo!

It’s the late ninties, was level construction a big thing? No! Unless the phrase “.wad” gives you a woody of nostalgia, you had no experience in level construction, especially in a console game. In THPS 2 you could build your own skate park. Let that sink in. So wonderful.

I’ve given a sample as to the wonderfulness of THPS2, and this article is for the webpage-weary web wonderer who was wondering with … water… alliteration

TONY HAWK.

This is for nostalgia. This is for the glory days of Activision. This is Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2

(also this article’s total crap for the amount of time it took to make it but the whole time I was going OH GOD THIS ARTICLE SUCKS BUT I HAVE TO FINISH IT D:)