Sunday, December 12

Red Faction: Guerrilla was a game developed by Volition Inc. and Published by THQ in 2009. It is a 3^rd person shooter/destruction simulator that follows the story of Alec Mason during is first time on Mars.

Red Faction: Guerrilla was played using the PC version.

- Story -

Once starting the game you are thrown through a cut scene and into the shoes of Alec Mason, who has arrived on Mars to do make money doing some honest labor, or mining. Unfortunately for Alec Mason the game doesn’t want that and following some events you end up joining the Red Faction, which is an underground movement that wants to free Mars from the EDF, or Earth Defense Force. The EDF had liberated Mars earlier from another faction giving peace to all the inhabitants, but over time they started making restrictions and strived for power even if that meant suffering for the miners and colonists.  It is now up to Alec Mason and the rest of the Red Faction to reclaim Mars and rid themselves of the EDF.

This is Alec Mason, master of explosions

As a member of underground faction the game proceeds through small guerrilla actions. These can be anything from destroying a convoy to rescuing a hostage or even to taking/defending an outpost. These guerrilla actions eventually lead to the ability to take part of Red Faction actions. Which will lead to the Red Faction liberating the sector, out of 6 sectors. The problem with this progression system is that there are a limited number of guerrilla actions and can unfortunately become repetitive and boring.

What the game lacks in originality of story is makes up for elsewhere. In the end the story comes less down to character progression or revealing the EDFs secret plot and more about you just destroying everything in your path to remove them from Mars. Interesting, not really, but good enough that is doesn’t get too boring.

-- Story Score = 6 / 10

- Visuals -

Red Faction pulls of the ability to look great and bad at the same time. Textures and what not look great. Each character is animated very well and looks very good. Also the buildings and environments look quite good. However, the game is bland. Each area, beyond a color change, looks almost identical. Even though each area is very similar they do still look very good, and again the animations look great. 

The world may be bland, but the explosions definitely liven up the place

Beyond just the simple textures are the effects. This goes from explosions to muzzle flashes. And the effects do not disappoint. From the muzzle flashes to the different back pack’s effects in multiplayer, it all just looks fantastic. When a vehicle explodes it looks just like it should and when you fire a gun it looks like it almost feels like in a way.

Red Faction is a game of outstanding visuals that should not disappoint anyone, unless you cannot stand similar locations.

-- Visual Score = 9 / 10

- Game Play -

Red Faction shines when it comes to the game play. Everything from the gunplay to the destruction is just great, with possibly the only bad part partially being vehicle driving.

Oh yes, you get one and they are an absolute blast

Red Faction’s gunplay is much like a standard current generation 3^rd person shooter, except that there is little emphasis on using cover, even though it is possible. What makes this game different, and the game encourages, is destroying any and all buildings. You can do this with the use of a sledgehammer, mining explosives, rocket launchers, walker vehicles, and just about everything else. And when most games say buildings can be destroyed it usually just means parts of it, but with Red Faction it means ALL of it. Every wall, floor, and ceiling can crumble according to whatever you want to happen. However the one iffy thing about the destruction is the ability for buildings to keep standing up even though the majority of their supports are gone. This isn’t game breaking, but is odd.

Tuesday, November 16

In the news and in our (United States) government recently a claim to ban violent video games from minors has been raised. From what I can tell the group actually wants to ban games with “extreme” violence, because obviously we should start banning things based on subjective views.

But this got me thinking on alternate ways of trying to get violent games away from minors without banning violent games from our country and without banning them based on subjective views.

The reason we shouldn’t ban games on subjectivity is because whether or not a game has “extreme” violence is determined by each individual and unfortunately you can’t include ALL PEOPLE into one category… Unlike what some people think not everyone is going to agree that chopping off someone’s hand is “extreme”. And that is why you can’t ban things based on subjective views… well you can, but shhhhhhhh.

Not a game I would ban

On the other hand banning all violent video games would ban a lot of games people are completely fine with. For example Mario, Sonic, and Poke’mon would all be banned. Because if you ban violent video games then you would have to ban ALL games with violence no matter what level of violence you think they have.

But there has to be a way to get violent video games away from minors. Well, what about a rating change? Everything rated “T” or less moves up one in the rating scale. That means “E” is now “E10+” and “E10+” is now “T” and “T” is now “M”. Obviously it doesn’t change “M” because minors shouldn’t be able to get them anyway. This would still allow games like Mario, Sonic, and Poke’mon to be accessable by minors (as they should), but games like Infamous, Final Fantasy 13, and Uncharted would be rated “M” and kept away from minors.

Seriously, all you do in this game is kill

And to be honest the big reason many games are rated “T” is because the lack of blood or what people would consider “extreme” violence. How Infamous didn’t get rated “M” amazes me though… It seriously gives you the choice to become the most psychotic murdering guy in the entire city (oh and all you do in the game is kill). I am pretty sure most people would be fine with that game being rated “M”.

Thursday, October 28

 The Second Season of Stargate SG-1 begins immediately after Season 1, it is technically part two of the season one finale. The story again follows Jack O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), and Teal’c (Christopher Judge) and all of their doings while in the team SG-1.

The team is back for some more crazy adventures

The second season consists of 22 episodes that run roughly 40 minutes. Season two is essentially season one part two, literally if you consider the first episode. It continues what season one did with traveling to various planets with the plan to meet new species/cultures, bring back new technology, and still trying to find some people they lost earlier on. However the emphasis in season two is more geared towards trying to create alliances to fight the Goa'uld rather then just going to new worlds with the hopes of learning cultures.

An awesome episode... with sweet music and transitions

What season two does do somewhat differently then season one is that is involves more fighting. There are more conflicts with the Goa'uld, especially since season two introduces even more Goa'ulds. Also there is more time spent on earth covering the SGC’s (Stargate Command) conflict with other earth-based groups.

While many of the episodes in season two are quite interesting, there are a couple of them that will leave you questioning why you just spent 40 minutes watching something so useless. However, these kinds of episodes are very few and far between. Only 2 episodes stick out in my mind. So for the majority of season 2 the episodes are actually very interesting and fun to watch.

Yeah, this episode is terrible...

Season two of SG-1 has the exact same reasons to be watched as season one did. These reasons being the “new” worlds and interesting earth history, great actors, and the production values. If anything season two improves on season one by improving some of the production values, some very nice special effects are added in season two.

Much like season 1, missing Season 2 would later be partially/extremely detrimental. You could definitely pick up what you missed, but it would be quite confusing. Season 2 introduces some things that will have a large impact on the entirety of Stargate SG-1.

Watch Rating

-         Must See

Saturday, October 16

DJ Hero was a game developed by FreeStyleGames and published by Activision in 2009. It is a music game that uses a turntable as a controller and it features many different types of songs, but all of them mixed to some club or techno beat.

- Story -

There is no story in DJ Hero.

-- Story Score = N/A

- Visuals -

The visuals of DJ Hero are no different from the recent Guitar Hero games. The characters are representations of real people while most of them are slightly more like caricatures. Most of the things like the crowd, the turntable, and the lights all suit the game quite well and are visually pleasing. The game may not be the best looking game in the market, but that is no way means it looks bad.

Visually it is pretty nice, but it may make you have a seizure...

The major things that stand out in terms of visuals are the lights. Many times they sink up with the music being played so when the player scratches the lights will flash or strobe.

The graphics in the game are what is to be expected of music games. Nothing outrageously amazing, but definitely good enough to please the eye and this case perhaps cause a seizure.

-- Visual Score = 7 / 10

- Game Play -

What makes DJ Hero stand out is by far its game play. Thus far in gaming it is very unique, especially to the music genre. This is as far as I know the first game to use a turntable. This allows newcomers and veterans of the music genre to be on even ground for DJ Hero, which is good and bad considering the difficulty of the songs.

Wednesday, October 13

The first season of Stargate SG-1 starts roughly one year after the events of the movie Stargate. It then follows the story of Jack O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), and Teal’c (Christopher Judge) and all of their doings while in the team SG-1.

From Left to Right: Amanda Tapping, Richard Dean Anderson, Christopher Judge, Michael Shanks, and Don S. Davis (General Hammond)

The first season consists of 21 episodes that run roughly 40 minutes with the pilot being has long as two episodes. During this season you see the formation of SG-1 and the SGC (Stargate Command). After being formed SG-1 travels to various planets with the plan to meet new species/cultures, bring back new technology, and even finding some people they lost earlier on. Another major part of season one is the renewed fight against the Goa'uld, who were the antagonists in the movie. The pilot shows a brand new Goa'uld, Apophis, and how he becomes SG-1s new major villain.

New worlds lay beyond a "puddle"

Season 1 is a great introduction to the world of Stargate. In the early episodes the happenings during the movie, in case you missed, are explained (for the most part). The show also starts to delve into the primary four protagonists back-stories, primarily Jack and Teal’c. This helps to flesh out and understand each person’s motives and story. The episodes that do delve into the characters back-story are actually quite good. It is a nice change of pace compared to the usual repeated actions, which are going to a strange new planet, find a problem, fix the problem.

What happens most often in Season 1 is the exploring of new worlds. This helps keep Stargate from getting old since with almost each episode the viewer will see something new and interesting.

Season 1 was shot during the 90

What makes Stargate SG-1 Season 1 worth watching is really three separate things. The first being the world of it all. As the watcher you get to explore all the “new” worlds with the team and you also get the earth history to go along with it (mythology is a major part of Stargate). The second being the cast of characters. Each actor does a fantastic job at being believable, which is what Stargate needs since it is supposed to take place in our current (slight past) reality. The third being the production values. Many of the special effects in Stargate seem to be a bit higher quality than most TV shows, but still lower quality of movies. Along with that the music fits into each scene extremely well and even all of the other audio is quite good.

Hair and clothing styles give away the decade

Stargate is a great show for anyone that likes Mythology (Greek, Egyptian, and Norse in Season 1) or just like history in general. But even if you don’t this is still a fun show to watch just for the exploring and the character interaction. Even though it is only Season 1 it has many, many gripping moments in several episodes that will keep people coming back to see the outcome. Unfortunately Season 1 does have quite possibly the worst cliff hanger is television history.

Watch Rating

-         Must See

Saturday, October 9

Isn't this "new" since no game does it this way anymore

With the recent release of Starcraft 2 I got to thinking. A lot of the complaints against Starcraft 2 were that it was a clone of Starcraft (1). People disliked how similar it was and that it used the “old” style of real time strategy. They disliked the “old” style because well… it was old and had been overdone. They wanted Starcraft 2 to use the “new” style of real time strategy because than somehow it wouldn’t be doing something that has been all the rage these past few years. I just started to ask myself… When does the “new” thing become overdone because honestly… it already has.

Starcraft has always been on the edge of "new" and "classic

Thinking about it the “new” real time strategy games have been removing base building for years, which actually almost completely killed off the “old’ style (base building and resource gathering). If the complaint is to do something “new” or different then those people just are not thinking. If Starcraft 2 followed the “new” style and removed base building and resource gathering then it would have been just like the other 20 games released in the past 3 years. How would that have been good? Wouldn’t Starcraft 2 retaining resource gathering and base building, and being almost the ONLY real time strategy game to do it in the past 2 years because in its own way… unique?

Now 2D is considered "new" (From Shank)

What really made me think about this was not just the release of Starcraft 2 and the complaints prior to release, but also the big influx of 2D side scrolling games lately. A lot of developers have been reverting to the “old” style of games because as of now it is well… “new” again. But there is no complaints to be hear of from developers going back to 2D. Even though by doing so many of these companies are essentially releasing “new” games that are just clones of previous titles. But not all of these games are just re-releases of old games in HD, but brand new games being developed specifically for 2D. They are even being developed by both Indie and Big development studies.

I guess Bionic Commando did wait long enough....

I don’t know, I guess Blizzard didn’t wait long enough for the “old” style of real time strategy games to be considered awesome and “new” again. Anyway, I am just happy Blizzard decided not to follow the current trend. Because the reason I still play Starcraft (1) today is because it isn’t one of the “new” real time strategy games and if I guessed it is probably why so many others do too… well that and the whole balance thing.

So I guess there are two questions now. Are you happy with Blizzard’s decision with Starcraft 2? And would you rather a game follow a new trend coughallshootinggamescough or would you rather see games mix and match new trends, classic styles, and innovative designs?

 

Monday, October 4

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men was a game developed by Io Interactive and published by Eidos in 2007. It is a 3^rd Person shooter that follows the main protagonist Kane and his tag along, Lynch.

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men was played using the PC version.

- Story -

Breaking out of jail, this is just the start.

The story revolves around Kane and Lynch and a group called The7, along with Kane’s family, and what makes this story differ from most part is that Kane and Lynch are not ordinary heroes, but are actually criminals. The first thing that happens in the game is Kane (you) and Lynch breaking out of jail, or a police truck. From there some very questionable events will occur that will showcase that these two men are in no way heroes or even trying to be heroes. They are just less bad then the people they are out to get, The7.

The story takes you to several locations even though many of them fairly similar. There is the normal Unite
d States metropolis city, Tokyo, a Tokyo nightclub, Havana, a Venezuela jungle. At first the game is slightly numbing because of the standard boring location, but once past the U.S. city the game truly starts to shine. Each locale past the U.S. city has its own shining moments, from the glowing and seizure inducing nightclub and the tall skyscrapers of Tokyo to the massive battles of Havana or the huge jungle of Venezuela. Each new locations will make your jaw drop is some form of amazement.

Where is the best looking place in the game? Tokyo.

Beyond the interesting locales the game suffers a partially boring story. What happens in the story is without a doubt very new and different from other games, but it just doesn’t grab the player and entice them into thinking it is interesting. There is just not enough character attachment, except with the secondary character (Lynch) and unfortunately the story is primarily about Kane who is just far less interesting.

-- Story Score = 5 / 10

- Visuals -

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men was released in 2007 so the visuals are not entirely up to par. With that said the character models, especially Kane and Lynch, still look fantastic. The environments however… suffer. Aside from the certain moments in each locale the visuals for the places are decent. They look much, much better than last generation, but can’t hold up to 2010 visuals, which they were not meant to. But at those certain moments in each level you will think that this game is a game made just months ago because at each moment the game just looks spectacular.

Sunday, September 26

This might be why Xbox Live's price is increasing...

Recently Microsoft announced, via Major Nelson’s Blog, that the price of Xbox Live would be increasing. As of right now all the prices for the United States change, 1 month for Canada and the UK changes, and then the 12-month for Mexico changes. Their reasoning behind this is that they have added more content and features without increasing the price, which is random to say, so they decided to increase the price. But this got me thinking about value.

Oh Yeah... this might be a reason too...

As it stands Microsoft considers the value of Xbox Live to be roughly $59.99 dollars worth. But I don’t and I know for sure a lot of others don’t either. Now I don’t want to just rag on Microsoft because I can’t blame them for a price increase and in all honesty they have added a good deal of content. But the problem is that I do not want and I will not use most of the content or features. I have used twitter, facebook, and last.fm once and never plan on trying them again. And I know for a fact I will never use the new ESPN feature they are adding. So why do I have to pay for these if I want Xbox Live?

All I really want is to play games. I have used Netflix and currently have Netflix, but I would be perfectly fine without it. So in reality I am paying, or will have to if I want Xbox Live in the future, $59.99 just to play games on Xbox Live.

Lets not forget this too...

So my question is why are there no tiers? I know the obvious answer… If Microsoft made it tiered and made gaming only Xbox Live for roughly $20 or less then they would stop making so much money. Plus they can’t really do that because of all the flak they will get considering PSN is completely free to play online. But I am the customer and I know for a fact I will not pay $59.99. $49.99 was pushing it to me and even then I used to get cards for $29.99 when they were on sale on sites like Amazon (and they were almost always on sale). But I now for a fact that even if I end up buying cards for $39.99 I will still be supporting Microsoft and from what I can tell that just isn’t something I want to do.

Unfortunately one person say means absolutely nothing and because such there will never be enough individuals that will group together to actually protest things. Seriously when was the last time a large enough groups of people have ever protested something and gotten their way? Civil Rights movement? If that is the case, and I am sure I am completely wrong, then it has been awhile.

And finally this too...

 But any way back onto topic. What bothers me more is when people say, “people need to shut up when companies charge the actual value of an item”. Because I reality no company charges the actual value of an item. If that were the case they would be a terrible company. Obviously every company charges more because that is how you make profit. And when Microsoft makes an estimated this much profit just for their gaming division. And repeatedly say it was because of increased Xbox Live income it makes and doesn’t make me wonder why they are increasing prices. It is kind of obvious they don’t need to, but then it is also obvious they want to cash in on the increased profit.

Worth $25?

But again I can’t blame a company for making money where it can be made, just look at Blizzard. It is what they are trying to do. My problem is the fact that so many people don’t care they are being taken for a ride. But more so I am bothered by the fact that Xbox Live doesn’t have tiers….

So what are your thoughts? Do you think Microsoft is smart or dumb and annoying; and what about the price of Xbox Live? I already said it doesn’t necessarily bother me, but does it bother you?

Sunday, September 19

Jak 3 was a game developed by Naughty Dog and published by SCEA in 2004. It is a 3D platformer that follows the story of the primary protagonist Jak and Daxter, who is Jak’s friend.

Jak 2 was played on the PS2

- Story -

In this stunning conclusion the story once again revolves primarily around Jak. As with the second game Jak 3 takes place in the same world, however it is now expanded. At the immediate start of the game, through the intro cut scene, you find out that you are banished from Haven City and thrown into the Wasteland. After this you see what happened after the end of Jak 2, which is the metal heads invading Haven City.

Since most of the world in Jak 3 was already explained in Jak 2, the story this time around has more of a focus on the characters themselves especially old characters like Jak and new characters like Damas, the king of Spargus which in the new Wasteland area. Unfortunately many of these new characters replace older ones like Samos and Kiera, who do make a few appearances but even at that are rarely in the game. Another unfortunate thing is that not all the new characters are that great. Some like Damas and Viegar, a new villain, are quite fantastic but others just are uninteresting.

Visually, This is not the game.

Even with some of the lame new characters the story in Jak 3 is just as fantastic as Jak 2, if not more. Not once has the Jak series felt like the story was just put in place to make a second or third game (the first may have been tacked on). It has always felt like it was planned and Jak 3 is no exception. How the story flows is great, it never slows down, but doesn’t go so fast that you won’t understand it. And what the story covers is very interesting, but much like Jak 2 it is slightly confusing (time paradoxes are always confusing). One of the ways Jak 3 makes the story interesting is with the foreshadowing. It does it quite well and you will often think back and remember and at some times it will blow you mind when you realize you should have noticed it back then.

The story of Jak 3 is just as great as Jak 2. Not much can be found that is wrong with it, aside from a few bad characters. It is just a fantastic story that will keep you interested into the very end.

-- Story Score = 9 / 10

- Visuals -

Visually the game is not a much improvement over Jak 2. It contains many of the same features like wide screen and even adds some new options like the brightness and contrast, but other than that is looks pretty much the same, which isn’t a bad thing.

Even still the visuals are nice.

One of the visual improvements of Jak 2 is one of the things that makes Jak 3 just great. And that is what must be some form of anti-aliasing. What anti-aliasing does it remove jagged lines and make them straighter. As an example take one of Jak’s arms. Normally the edges of the sleeves covering the arm would create a straight line. But without anti-aliasing that line would most likely be jagged. This is extremely noticeable in the series first game, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. The anti-aliasing that is used may not be entirely perfect, but it makes Jak 3 just fantastic.

What Jak 3 does do over its predecessor is expand the amount of different locales. Instead of being stuck to a mechanical city and a few forest areas Jak 3 moves into deserts and stone ruins. Plus there is a new “alien” metallic area then just looks phenomenal. Not only do the environments of Jak 3 look good in terms of pretty textures, it also has nice effects such as a sandstorm and more. The new scenery added in Jak 3 is something that is greatly appreciated. It allows the game to never get boring, even with its environments.

Wednesday, September 15 

Neon Rider is a flash game by Louissi. It is a 2D side scrolling racing game with a technological/electronic or a sort of Tron theme that is free on various websites. If you want to play Neon Rider Click Here

Light Cycle from Tron Legacy.

The game revolves around starting in a car that almost resembles a light cycle from tron at the left and then trying to the reach the right. Unlike most games that try this the difficutly doesn't come from difficult terrain to cross, but with color. There are a total of four colors and three of the colors; red, yellow, and green only allow the same color to drive on top of them. So not only do you need to stay on your toes about changing color to drive on areas, but also sometimes changing colors to fly through them. Then there is still some terrain difficulty, but it is usually from messing up do backflips. Even though I said difficulty there really isn't any. You can go through all 20 levels with ease, but just because it is extremely that doesn't mean you shouldn't play it. Because even with its ease, Neon Rider is a fun game to play.

Flying is fun!

One of the best things about Neon Rider is the visuals. While the visuals a pretty simple they look pretty nice and fit the theme just perfectly. Each screen looks technological, especially at the beginning of every race.At the beggining the screen as a lot of pop ups such as numbers and sayings. It makes it seem like you are in a computer much like Tron. Now the visuals during game play is really simple. Essentially each race is just colored lines on top of a blue blackground. It doesn't look very advanced, but it does make it look somewhat similar to Tron (which also looks extremely inadvanced compared to today's visuals).

Colors play a large part into Neon Rider.

The sound of Neon Rider is good and bad. The good comes from the great techno music that plays during the race. Unfortunately the music stops when to return to the menu after each race, which will make you hit the replay button just to hear more of the music. The problem with the music though is that it is only one song and it can become repetitive. Along with that there is the problem with some of the FX. The FX on the menus is just fine, but what isn't fine is some of the in-game FX. In some of the levels there are some white floating capsules in the levels and when picked up by your car they let out some atrocious sound. Quality wise it sounds quite bad and the sound level is just outrageously louder than anything else so you get a blast of louse low quality sound every so often. Luckly you can turn off the FX and keep the music on, which alows the player to hear the good and remove the bad.

Even though the game is insanely easy it is still one of my most favorite flash games just because of the visuals and sound. One of the problems with the game though is even though it is a flash game it is a bit of a resource hog. My laptop can play almost every other flash game at high to medium quality and it will be perfectly smooth. With Neon Rider my laptop still runs a tad slowly when it is a low quality. Even though it does run slowly on my laptop I still play it because it is just great fun.

Play Rating

-         Must Play

Wednesday, September 15

Random Glances are a short synopsis of a game, demo, dvd, blu-ray, board game, or more that I have recently played or watched. They describe what it is, be it a game or movie, and then go into detail about what I thought of them. At the end of each Random Glance I will have a rating that will be my suggestion on whether or not to play the game or watch the movie.

Rating System for Random Glance

-         Must Play/Watch

-         Try/See it out at least once

-         Pass

Each one is my recommendation with the top (Must Play/Must Watch) being the best and the bottom (Pass) being the worst. This way I can give a quick and easily understood recommendation

The Random Glances are meant to be minor reviews and suggestions that are for interesting stuff, like Internet flash games, that can be a quick read when compared to a Post or a Review.

Sunday, September 12

With the semi recent announcement that Killzone 3’s load times will be almost non-existent, it got me thinking about load screens and load times. And in Killzone 3’s case it makes me think that saying load times are almost non-existent isn’t that big a breakthrough. It was common place a long time ago and has been done plenty of times even recently. A big example is the Jak and Daxter series. And that made me realize that Killzone 3 will most likely have load times, but what it won’t have is what we would consider a loading screen. Instead the loading sections would be replaced with cut scenes or a elevator right, much like Jak and Daxter did so well and Mass Effect (1) failed so miserably at.

Mass Effect: Numerous, long, and awful. It failed at masking loading screens

But what I started thinking about wasn’t necessarily the fact that I doubted what Guerrilla said about Killzone 3, but how developers have been coping with load times. Some just use a load screen that is plain and boring, others use a short movie or repeating clip (this is different from a cut scene), some have used cut scenes, some just add the words loading and blur the screen for a couple seconds, and then there are the games that try to mask load times with long corridors or an elevator ride.

Jak 2: I need absolutely no load screen to watch this cut scene.

Load times have almost become a staple of video games (well that and Blu-ray movies…) and what I really wanted to define was my most favorite style. Without a doubt I would love there to be no load screens or for them to be masked just like Jak and Daxter (not like Mass Effect…). But that just isn’t going to happen with every game. And I would rather a developer work on improving the game rather than spend all their time making that zero second load time. So I came up with a small list of what I think is the best, if there is an actual load screen.

It goes something like this.

-         A loading bar, NO spinning wheel or something like that. If the bar slightly changed it would be nice (to indicate the game didn’t freeze).

-         Some form on non-moving picture. Yes the animated videos of Mass Effect 2 were nice, but felt unnecessary and seemed like if they weren’t there the loading would probably have been faster.

-         For the picture… some concept art/sketch would be great, be it an environment or character art.

-         If text is included, not entirely necessary, it should either be a helpful tip (not obvious button equals reload) or funny. Also they should change throughout the game. I am pretty sure a tip isn’t needed when I am 30 minutes away from finishing… just saying.

-         Pictures shouldn’t reveal anything that hasn’t been revealed yet, coughJadeEmpirecough.

These are the things that I think would make the best loading screens, obviously the less loading screens the better, but if they are there they could at least be good. 

Jade Empire: Didn't want to see this character before their surprise appearance? Too bad the game ruins each encounter in their loading screens.

And for the whole subject of Killzone 3, I didn’t mean to come off as harsh because I think what they are saying isn’t entirely truthful. I have to thank them for getting closer to no load times, and if it is true then I have to applaud them for actually doing it.

But now onto the question. What is your perfect loading screens, not including no loading screens and load times? If you have a game as an example then go ahead and say it.

Saturday, September 11

Jak 2 was a game developed by Naughty Dog and published by SCEA in 2003. It is a 3D platformer that follows the story of the primary protagonist Jak and Daxter, who is Jak’s friend.

Jak 2 was played on the PS2

- Story -

As a departure from the previous game, The Precursor Legacy, Jak 2’s story now primarily revolves around Jak and this time in a completely different place. Jak 2 picks up very close to where “The Precursor Legacy” left off, it is exactly after, but probably roughly 2 weeks after. At the end of “The Precursor Legacy”, Jak and Daxter, along with their two friends, found a giant door. At the start of Jak 2 you find out the door is a portal and obviously enough… you end up going through it. The portal ends to taking you to a seemingly “new” world that unlike “The Precursor Legacy” this one actually has technology… and a lot of it. The story follows Jak and Daxter’s journey in this “new” world and all that, that involves. You learn about it and much like the first game you must become the heroes.

Jak and Daxter. They still don't look this good.

The story of Jak 2 is surprisingly good, albeit slightly confusing. Unlike this first game, Jak 2 packs a massive story and it doesn’t just randomly show up at the end either. Through most of “The Prescursor Legacy” you didn’t actually have an antagonist, besides boredom. In Jak 2 that is a different story, there is not only one antagonist but also two, the Baron and the Metal Heads.

The progression of the story takes place through missions that are given by a large cast of characters, who are all quite different and interesting. Before each mission, and sometimes after, a short cut scene is shown. Not only do the short cut scenes describe the mission to come, but usually shed more light on the story. In this way there is always a steady stream of new story through the entirety of the game, rather than massive amounts in small intervals. They pace the story flows is one of the better parts of Jak 2 because it never lets the game get boring. There are always new things being learned around every corner.

Jak 2’s story will keep you on your toes and will keep you coming back for more all the way to the end. It has an astounding pace to it that will never become boring, like the first game did. If you play Jak 2, expect a very good story.

-- Story Score = 9 / 10

- Visuals -

The visuals are still a big improvement though.

Much like the story Jak 2 just keeps improving on its predecessor. The graphics are improved quite a bit. Each character has more detail and it is the same with environments, especially the environments. What “The Precursor Legacy” did was have a very clean, simple look. Jak 2 gets a more war torn look that doesn’t necessarily look messy. Along with the cleaner look is the reduction of jaggies. Jaggies are what happens when a straight line isn’t perfectly straight but is in fact jagged (this can be from anything like characters to vehicles or buildings). Jak 2 must use some form of anti-aliasing, which removes jaggies, which makes Jak 2 just look phenomenal. It makes every character look in a way, cleaner.

One very nice addition in Jak 2 is wide screen, and progressive scan. This is a great option that will open Jak 2 to even more users. Most of the current TVs are wide screen and this can only be beneficial.

While “The Precursor Legacy” looked ok, Jak 2 decided to surpass it and decided to just look great, for a last generation game. In terms of visuals Jak 2 is incredibly pleasing..

-- Visual Score = 9 / 10

- Game Play -

For the most part Jak 2 still stays true to its platformer roots, but it decided to still take a step in a new direction, primarily in combat. Jak 2’s way of doing that was by adding guns. Much like its predecessor, what makes the game great is its game play and especially its combat. Anytime you punch, kick, or shoot it all feels just right. There just isn’t any complaint when it comes to the combat system in Jak 2.

While the combat system is seemingly flawless, the rest of the game play doesn’t meet that same level of goodness. Some of it is close, but others not even close at all. What is very close it the platforming itself. What Jak 2 did improve in terms of platforming compared to its predecessor was the jumping. No longer does the double jump feel slightly off. However while the controls feel right the platforming in the game isn’t always as good. Much of the jumping is good, but there are some times, especially when you get the hover board that the platforming can become frustrating. It can become frustrating by either camera angles or just awkwardly positioned jumps and ledges. Now while it can become frustrating it really only affects a very small portion of the game. For the most part the game is absolutely fine in terms of platforming.

Oh how I hate you vehicles...

The one major problem with the game, and I mean major, is the vehicles. This is one field that Jak 2 decided to one up is predecessor and in reality… it shouldn’t have. “The Precursor Legacy” proved that the open world full 3D vehicle sections just were not fun and controlled badly while the straightforward only one path to go sections were great. Jak 2 decided to fill the entire game with the open world full 3D sections and they are pretty much essential to play to game. Not only that, but they somehow found a way to make the straightforward only one path vehicle sections be bad too.

Look not a vehicle. That means its good...

The main problem with the vehicles is the bad control. Because the vehicles are hovering they tend to take wide turns, but the controls of the vehicles isn’t really the bad part. What is, is everything else involved with them. During the normal game you do missions to progress the story. Each mission is usually spread around the city, which makes taking a vehicle almost mandatory. Unfortunately the city is also filled with other hover vehicles. So if you decide to fly your vehicle then you will crash in other vehicles all the time making that path frustrating. Now if you decide to drive your vehicle while hugging the ground (there are 2 levels in which you can drive on) you have to avoid guards that spring up almost out of nowhere. If you hit a guard they will chase you making that incredibly frustrating. Along with this the city you drive around in is slow large and they position these missions so far apart that is becomes just annoying.

Then there are the races, and they are not better than the city driving. Again the driving itself is fine, but during the races the AI is insane. If you are behind them they will make mistakes, but if you are ahead they will make every turn perfectly and make no mistakes. Oh and they will also take the shortcuts too. The problem with the races, beyond what I just said, is that the shortcuts are dangerous to take because they usually involve jumping your vehicle at an exact time. If you are just before you crash into a ledge and just after you don’t jump. But the AI never messes up the jumps. And these races are all missions thus making them required the complete the game.

The only way I can put this is that the game play is fantastic if you do not have to deal with a vehicle. If you do then it is just terrible. Unfortunately the vehicle sections take up roughly a third of the game play.

-- Game Play Score = 6 / 10

- Multiplayer -

There is no multiplayer in Jak 2

- Presentation -

This is just where Jak 2 shines. The game is filled with amazing audio, and it presents the story extremely well. The only thing that could be improved is the menus and even that could minimally be improved.

The audio, much like “The Precursor Legacy” is just phenomenal, especially the voice acting. Every voice actor from the first game reprises their role (if their role is still in the game) and the new additions are just great, except maybe one. In my review of “The Precursor Legacy” I complained about Jak’s lack of voice and they decided to fix that in Jak 2. However, his voice actor either took the gloomy slightly brooding hero too far or his script isn’t very good. Either way it is still fine and doesn’t hurt the game in terms of voice acting. The other audio is great too. The music is good and so are the sounds. Everything from the background music to the sounds in combat sounds great in the game.

One of many cut scenes that are just great.

Along with the audio is how the story presents itself. The first game had minimal story and with that had minimal cut scenes. Jak 2 decided to change that. Almost every mission has a cut scene and they are just fantastic. They are all rendered in game and they really suck you into the experience. And Jak 2 doesn’t allow just a few cut scenes to be great, but they have a couple hundred cut scenes in the game with each being as good as the last.

Another thing Jak 2 retains from the first game is that it has no loading screens. The game goes from you running around into a cut scene in the blink of an eye and transitions back just as quickly. It makes the game flow extremely well and looks extremely nice.

The only complaint in the presentation is the menus. It isn’t bad at all, but it could be a little quicker. It isn’t a very large complaint, but it was noticeable how quick the rest of the game is, but then how much slower the menus are.

Even with the minor complaint about the menus it just has no way of making the presentation of Jak 2 to be anything less than phenomenal.

-- Presentation Score = 10 / 10

Final Section Scoring

-         Story = 9 / 10

-         Visuals = 9 / 10

-         Game Play = 6 / 10

-         Multiplayer = N/A

-         Presentation = 10 / 10

Even with the vehicle sections that were atrocious, the rest of the game makes up for it I couldn’t recommend Jak 2 any more. It is just a phenomenal experience, with the obvious exception, that just needs to be played and played not only by fans of platforming, but just fans of gaming in general.

Average Total Scoring

-         Average Score = 8.5 / 10

Total Time Spent To Complete Single Player

-         Roughly 12 hours

As a final note I would like to add that the scoring system might not be entirely accurate. It is more in place as a brief overview of my experience, but if you want to fully know what I thought about the game then the actual written portion of the review must be read.