The Last Of Us

I do not get the chance to do many game reviews because of lack of financial backing from both myself and others. So It is a special day when I can get a game at launch.
I am admitadly a big fan of the uncharted series. I have platnumed 2 of them and am close to the third. So when Naughty Dog announced The Last of us I was locked in. I have been waiting and drooling for a good year. Now I can stop drinking so much water from dehydrating myself.

The Last of Us is a journey very unlike any that Naughty dog has sent you on in the past. It is a step in a different direction from the lighthearted games they are use to making. But Naughty dog has taken all that they have learned from making Uncharted and turned out a new series that not only bennefits from previous games from the company but expands on them.
Your main protaganist is Joel. He has been hardened from all the difficulties of years in a post modern world. He is synical and angry and has done many things that many of us would hope we would never do. But all this has made him the perfect man for the job.
Elle is our other main character and is a character at that. She can be a brat and a sweetheart. She is always helpful and will do anything to help Joel.
There are many other characters in this that you will love and hate. Some are more helpful than others. Some you might hate at first but love and miss once they part ways. Others you will always hate as they are not likeable characters. But that is how Naughty dog meant them to be.
When you finish The Last of Us you will have felt you were on this journey with them. Naughty Dog has done a supreme job at this story. You might cry with them you might feel cold and unfealing like joel tries to be at all times. But you will have a large range of emotions throughout this game.

The gameplay mechanics are clean and work well. Although there were some points where I was trying to hit someone or something and completly missed even though I was close. The situations in this game make you need to show control of when you will show force or when you will sneak around. On top of that it is sometimes just better to run to fighanother day. But those options are always there.
The AI is very smart and depending on the enemy will hunt you down in different ways. I died many times because I did not take into account that the infected did not fight like the humans and vice versa. And when you die by the hands of the infected it is not a pretty sight. The infected pay no attention to your flashlight. This is good since they are no alway is the brightest spots. The humans will talk and coordinate with eachother to surround and capture you. This is where I found running helpful.
The graphics for this game are what we all have come to expect from Naughty Dog. The sets and vibrant and detailed. The cities are grey and dreary feeling with hints of life. The outdoors are bright and green. But they both give you the feeling of being alone and scared of whats next.

The Last of Us is Naughty Dogs grand goodbye to the PS3 and boy did they do it right. Not much was missed in this game from the great mood setting music and wonderfully written story line. To the great graphics and gameplay that keeps you in the story. As Naughty dog is not creating a game but more an interactive experience. This game is a must play. But be aware of the language and gore that come with it.

PlayStation Move review. W/ Sports Champions

Just a few days ago I got the new PlayStation Move controller. I already had the PsEye for some other games. The move is something that not only can help the PS3's life cycle be extended but also give use for the PsEye that has had very little support from it's launch.

Some of the claims that Sony has been making is the 1:1 tracking that the move has. If you don't understand 1:1 tracking it just means it shows your movements on screen at the same time and same movements that you are making in real life. Some might think that the Wii does this, but this is not so. This is why with the Wii you can make very small movements or large movements and get the same effect. The Move is not like that. It tracks your movement in 3D space with the PsEye. This also allows them to do augmented reality, or basically put things in your hands or things you can interact with that can only be seen on the screen. So does Sony meet these claims? Yes they do. Although some things will need to be fixed or tweaked, this will be in game and not the move controller it's self. the tracking is done very well and follows you everywhere as long as the camera can see the controller.

To go into more depth of this new controller they have a handful of games out at launch with more on the way. One of these games is Sports Champions. This is in all respects the PlayStation version of Wii Sports. All the controls are smoother and more accurate that the Wii though, even with the Wii plus attachment the Move out performs it.

Wii champions has 6 sports/games that you can play. Frisbee Golf, Gladiator Duel, Archery, Beach Volleyball, Bocce and Table Tennis. All of these have their strengths and weaknesses but still perform very well.

First if Frisbee Golf. This is like what you would think . But with the move controller you get the same movement as you would with a real Frisbee. If you tilt the controller or twist the controller the Frisbee will show that on screen. So if you want to throw the frisbee upside down for some reason you can. If you throw it at an angle it will curve and yes you have to do the full movement and strength. (I just would not let go of the controller as we have seen videos of the is happening with the Wii controller) All the rest of the game is basic Frisbee golf.

Gladiator Duel is a basic fighting game. You have a sword and a shield. This game also allows for use of a second Move controller, Although it is not needed it could make things interesting. This is the game with the most weaknesses. The 1:1 tracking if still there and done very well. But after you hit someone if you follow through it does not mean your character will. This does not last for long though as you can quickly readjust and keep hitting. or blocking with your shield. If you have 2 Move controllers one is your sword and one if your shield. this could make for some fun later on. But I personally only have 1 controller as of now.

Archery is one of the more fun games for me in Sports Champions. This is also one that can use two Move controllers. It is very quick paced especially if as you move up in the ranks. But the best part is all the variety of games that you can play. from quick shots and target ranges to a form of tug of war. This is very fun and I could see how a 2 player competition would be fun.

Beach Volleyball is one that I have not played as much. But is pretty good for a 4 player game. Although I wonder how you would get 4 players in the PsEye view. You do 3 main moves: bumps, sets and spikes. This allows for a fairly realistic Volleyball game.

Bocce is one of the best of the group. It uses the motion sensing very well as you can put a spin on the ball and it senses your speed when throwing the balls. This would be great for a 2 player game also as you compete with each other in a very golf like manner.

Table tennis is the most realistic of the group. The Paddle lets you hit the ball at different angles and put spins and other tricks on the ball. You can hold the controller any way you want. So if you hold a paddle upside down you can and it will show it that way in game. This can be very fast paced also depending on your opponent. A 2 player match is also something I am interested in trying sometime.

Graphics in this game are well done although not state of the art. They are crisp and clean and give you everything that you need to play the game and not think of this being downgraded.

Audio reminds me of going to Epcot in Disney World. Its very epic type of music. makes you think of something new and innovative. You can put your own song selection into the game if you don't want to hear the default music anymore. I do wish it would do playlists though.

Game play. This is a new experience for PlayStation owners, and in some ways for Wii Owners. This is easy to pick up and very intuitive. The little tutorials are quick and easy but help you get either the idea of what the games rules are or just little basic movements to help you figure things out.

Presentation. This game is presented very well. When I said the Audio made if feel new and innovative, that nailed it. Everything feels clean and give you that awe struck feeling when you first launch the game. there is plenty of variety so you will not easily get bored and you are always moving, so you will get tired before you get bored. I just have to say, watch your extension playing the games. you could over extend your arms during a big swing and possibly hurt yourself.

My First try at Kinect

So I was at the state fair yesterday and was able to test out Microsoft's new Kinect camera. While I have to say that the idea of this technology is amazing, I cannot say that it works to anyones expectations.

Now I will admit that I did not get a long chance to play. and I only played one game. It is a roller coaster obstacle course, one of the games that will come with the new system. This is a game they they showed at the E3 conference and you can find videos of it on YouTube amongst other places. It started off a little oddly, first it was me and my wife playing and it did not pick her up at first. we had to move around a bit in the room for it to finally see her. But the big issue is we could not tell who it was seeing and who it was not. so we walked around like idiots for a second trying to figure it out. Since the girl explaining it to us could not figure it out either. But then it finally picked us up and we were able to start the game.

It starts out by having you put your hands out and pretending like your grabbing a pole. Then it counts down and you pull back as fast as you can to get yourself moving forward. you move back and forth and jump up and down dodging the obstacles. This seemed to work great at a slow speed. But then you can speed it up by doing little jumps. This is where the issues start. my first jump over something my character just hovered in the hair for a few seconds extra. This would not have been a big problem except for the fact that I hit the next two obstacles. of course by then I had to jump again and had the same issue. By then I was getting frustrated and was trying to move as fast as I could up and down and side to side and kept hitting everything. The lag was just killing me. Basically they just need to slow down the game so the camera can keep up. We finished up and found my wife had beat me by 2 coins and walked out.

We were met right at the door by a lady that explained to us about the system. I know most of the information from watching the E3 conference a few months ago when they officially announced it. My wife had not heard that much about it so I sat quietly and let the lady explain it. My wife really liked that it is voice activated. The fact that you can say "Xbox, Play movie" Is something that both of us admit is really cool. She also really liked the idea that you do not have to have the controller to play the games, even though she had the same complaints about the lag that I had.

So my conclusion is that I think somewhere the Kinect needs to fix it's code so that it will be appealing to more people than just the very casual player. I do not see a hard core player tolerating this for more than 5 min. I could see my nieces and nephews enjoying this because they do not care as much about how correct the game controls are. They just enjoy that the characters would do something when they moved in front of the camera.

Red Dead Redemption Review

This is a game that I have been hearing about allot recently. I have not heard or read any reviews. Also RockStar has always done a good job in the past with its other big name franchise. I thought I should give it a try. Red Dead Redemption is based in the old west. Everything in the story is old west all the way. From the Bandits terrorizing everyone to the simple lack of technology and finally the old tonic sales man selling whatever he could while earning a bad reputation.

The graphics in this game are pretty good. I generally do not expect photo-realistic graphics from a sandbox game like this. But the scenery although it is bland most of the time, is done quite well. Many of the rocks, mountains and hill sides look very good. The main character is modeled very well. You can tell he is a hardened man with a shady past. Although the main character is highly modeled the lower you get with characters that you interact with the less detail they have. The Horses look very good and are animated quite well.

Some issues with the graphics are there is some clipping and other small fragments. Also there was one point where one of the side characters was giving a speech and the game was not rendering him where he was supposed to be. He was jumping all over the place. Sometimes on screen sometimes behind an animal and sometimes I was just wondering where he was at all. Also one complaint I would have about all RockStar sandbox game is the detail in the female faces. Even the more main characters do not look that good. They can be decent but never are the strongest.

The sound in this game is done pretty well. I do not notice anything out of the ordinary. The voices of each character are done very well. They have allot of that western accent and slang to make this game believable. The guns sound decent although there is not much of a difference between each of the guns that I can hear. The variety in each characters voice is nice and you are always able to tell which character is talking.

The AI is about average. The criminals and bandits that you come across in this game are not super intelligent. But they are smart enough to take cover and try to surround you. This helps bring some difficulty to the game without taking away from the story line or making you try some area over and over again.

The story is somewhat largely hidden. You know the main character has been sent to this area to capture one of his old acquaintances dead or alive. Some of the back story is slowly revealed during game play. Although I am not sure why they revel something or why the main character changes his mind on what information he is willing to give. But overall the story is strong and well written.

The controls for the game can be a little confusing at first. There were some of the mini missions that I had difficulty with at first and I had to keep trying and trying on things like roping and herding. But once you get ahold of them the game will get easier. You also have the 5 finger fillet mini game that is basically like “Simon Says”. So once you figure out the button presses you can go pretty fast.

Overall this game is really well done. The presentation of the game is done well. The characters are interesting and very well done. RockStar has put together another top notch game that could and if possible should become another strong franchise for them

Garphics = 9

Gameplay = 9.5

Story = 9

Presentation =9

Overall score = 9.125

Flower

Well I finished Flower the other night, I bought it off of the current promotion that Sony is doing with it's fall game sale on the PSN network. I have been curious about this game since it launched this past spring. But I have not had a chance to play it until now.

The basic thing about this game is on each level you start off as one Pedal. As you go threw the Level you fly by flowers that bloom as you go by giving you more pedals. After a while you will have a bunch of pedals following you around making a pretty cool effect. There are no deaths in this game. But you can get hurt but that mainly just pops you up in the air and makes you try again.

Controls: This game is all about the motion control of the Sixxaxis controller. Holding the controller face up you can tilt if forward and back and tilt it left and right. You do not turn the controller. All you have to do to make it go it hit one of the buttons. I used the X button as it was the most convenient. You then Fly around. Going threw grass and other things.

Story: This game does not have a story per say. But it does have a basic story of cleaning up the environment. You turn countrysides green and lush and you clean up broken down city streets and make them beautiful again. I kept joking to myself that this is how I go green.

Graphics: The Graphics are not a system showcase. That is more in the hands of the game play and controls. But the graphics do not take away from this game. They are very artsy in form. Never a glitch or skip during the game. The visuals in this game were very soothing at times. I am sure that is what the developers intended.

Conclusion. This game is very much worth playing or at least giving a try. The programmers over at "That game company" Did a quality job. This might not be a AAA title or a game that everyone loves and wants to play over and over again. But at the current price of $5 this is one of the PSN exclusive games that is worth playing.

Garphics = 8.5

Gameplay = 8.5

Story = 9

Presentation =9

Overall score = 8.75

Motorstorm Pacific Rift.

This is an older game. The first one came out at launch or close to launch of the Ps3 system and was able to show some of the power behind the PS3. Motorstorm Pacific Rift took everything that was good with the first and added to it.

I have had this game for a while. Graphically it is still one of the better looking games out there. I still pull it out once in a while and play it and love to see the wrecks. But also the jumps and the all over visuals of the game.

Gameplay: This is smooth and I love how this series has used the motion control of the Ps3 Sixxais controller. The addition of the 4 player split screen was very welcomed since I have stated I much prefer to smack talk with someone bedside me than to someone over my blutooth headset. The single player can be pretty intense. But can get repetitive after a while as the difficulty of the game comes from the limitation of your vehicle that you have to choose. But they did allow a much more robust vehicle type selection to this game that helps it from getting to old too quickly.

Presentation: This is not a story based game. But based more on a festival. Similar to maybe a baha race or rock climbing competition. This just adds a reason why your in the middle of nowhere.

There are some downloadable tracks that I have not tried as of yet. I do hope to download them off of the PSN store someday. But as of now I cannot give an opinion.

Garphics = 9.5

Gameplay = 8.5

Presentation =9

Overall score = 9.0

Uncharted 2 Among Thieves Review.

Ok. All the reviews I have seen on Uncharted 2 have been fantastic. I would have to agree with them. Uncharted 2 is one of the best games of this generation. The controls are great with only a few issues. The graphics are top notch and the story just gets better and better as you play threw the game.

First we will go into the story. I am not going to give away any spoilers. But the game goes in between game play and cut scene so well. that if your not the one playing. You might not know that there has been a change. The game starts off with allot of flashbacks. So be prepared. But without the flashbacks you would have no idea what your doing. They play between characters is fun and interesting.I really like how Nathan and Chloe banter back and forth with each other during the entire game. You know that there is a history behind the two of them right from the start. But to see how they react to each other through out the game tells you allot about the two of them. Then when you Add Elana from the first Uncharted into the mix. You get to see a good amount of confrontation that adds to the fun of the basic story. You cannot complain too much about the story and defiantly not about the acting.

Graphics were amazing. Everything was wonderfully detailed. The backgrounds were gorgeous. The up close and personal details are emasculate. Everything Is well done. There are parts where you get to look over a whole valley, and you see how much work Naughty dog put into this game. There is not another current console game out there that can match Uncharted 2 Graphically.

Gameplay. This is the only area that I had issues. The controls were great. My complaints was sometimes Drake would not post up against a wall until I had rolled into it a few times or he would completely roll past the wall into harms way when I was in a hurry to avoid getting shot. I also did have the game freeze up on me once. Then another time I was shot threw a wall. So I was not dead yet. But I had no way out. Then another time. I got caught in an obviously scripted part of the game. and got stuck behind some rubble that was more meant to keep me on the side that I was not on. I did also have a complaint about the hand to hand combat for this game. Although I liked it at first. I did start to find it tiresome at times when I would constantly get counter attacked. So although it was an improvement. I also felt at times it took away from the feeling I got from the first game of just running up and beating the crap out of someone. That would be more of my personal preference so I would not expect naughty dog to fix that.

Online. This is just a great addition to the over all game. Sometimes the match process can get unfair. Or the wait can tend to be long depending on how many people are playing in your area. But once you start playing. its so fun to run around and just find people to shoot, climbing walls and buildings and ladders. Your almost always going to get shot and killed because everyone comes from anywhere on the map. But the whole process is so much fun that it keeps you wanting to play.

Naughty Dog has brought out one of the best action packed experiences that you can have on a console. That includes watching a movie or playing another game. With Uncharted 2 you get both. With only a very few flaws. This game deserves the high praise that everyone else has been giving it.

Garphics = 10

Gameplay = 9.5

Story = 10

Presentation =10

Overall score = 9.9

Kilzone 2

Killzone 2 was an amazing looking game. But after going threw the whole campaign I found it rather short and unsatisfying.

The game was in production for 2 or 3 years. It was delayed multiple times.But after finishing the game I just have to ask why? Why was it delayed so many times.

The story was relatively short. It offers no real answers just more questions at the end. The other game that did this to me but I had more fun playing was Gears of war. I honestly did not play the first Killzone so maybe that is why I am so far out of the loop. But throw me a freaking bone here. Allot of people that were interested in Killzone 2 had not played the first one. This was suppose to be the showpiece for the PS3 and it fell short.

This is an age that I consider great graphics just normal. They help tell the story but they are not part of it. The graphics in this game were being touted as amazing or spectacular. But they did nothing to make me feel awe struck. They were good. But a slightly better texture does nothing for me when I am playing the game.

The controls were good. I did not have an issue aiming at any time. I did not hit any bugs during the game.

The presentation was good the story had allot of potential and was presented well.

Garphics = 9.5

Gameplay = 9.0

Story = 8.0

Presentation =9.0

Overall score = 8.9