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.

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.

 

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 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.

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.

Tuesday, September 7

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy was a game developed by Naughty Dog and published by SCEA in 2001. It is a 3D platformer that follows the story of the primary protagonist Jak, who is silent, and Daxter, who is Jak’s friend. Technically the story revolves around Daxter, but the player takes the role of Jak.

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy was played on the PS2

- Story -

Jak and Daxter isn’t a game with a predominantly strong story. When the game starts you are thrust into a cut scene without notice and introduced to many characters that will not actually make an appearance until much later into the game. But this does introduce the main characters and actually starts the player onto their path. At the beginning Daxter actually falls into a pit of dark eco (evil energy) and is transformed into a small furry creature (aka Ottsel). Jak and Daxter then return home to get advice from a sage, who is their mentor, on what to do with Daxter. This starts you on a journey across the world to meet some people that may be able to change Daxter back to his former self.

Jak & Daxter. If only they looked this good for real

After that point in the story you are shoved into the role of gaining power cells that you need. Now the player is without story progression for quite some time. This is one of the major drawbacks of Jak and Daxter. The game has very short scenes that move the story forward and then the player is told repeatedly that they have to get more and more power cells. It is not until the very end that they game decides it would like to actually start having a story.

Without the story the game will eventually become sluggish and raise the question of why the player is still… playing. It seems like no progress is being made until far to late and that hurts the story greatly.

-- Story Score = 3 / 10

- Visuals -

Unfortunately these are the graphics.

Being a game from 2001, nobody can expect the highest and most technologically advanced visuals. With that said they are still quite good. No the game doesn’t have wide screen support, but it does actually look pretty nice. It is very clean and the art style works extremely well for the game. Along with that the game touts the fact that there is technically no loading screens. In some areas there are some pauses when passing to the next area (meaning the game doesn’t move, but you can still see it). So there are still loading sections in the game, but they are rare (only a small number are in the game, possibly 2 or 3 times that it happens) and when they happen they only last for many a two seconds, tops.

For the visual quality of the game and the technical performance, the game is just outstanding.

-- Visual Score = 9 / 10

- Game Play -

Jak and Daxter does game play quite good, but not absolutely outstanding in any way. The combat in the game is quite good, with very easy to use controls that are responsive, to a degree. In combat the controls are responsive, but jumping is a slightly different story. For the most part the slight unresponsiveness of the double jump doesn’t affect the game, but there are parts that become frustrating because of it.

One slight problem during game play is the tasks the player has to do. In each area most of them are achieved the same way. It wouldn’t be as bad if the game had some direction, story wise, but since it doesn’t it does become slightly mind numbing.

Must collect eggs!

There are a few different types of game play. For the majority of the game it will be on foot and be plat-forming. And for the most part these are great. To change up the experience of the on foot game play the game even throws in some special powers like fire and lightning speed, and these times are just great. But then there are also vehicle sections. Most of the vehicle sections are fine. At parts of the game you must go from point A to point B and these are timed, in their own way, but are fairly easy and a fun change of pace. But then there is one part of the game world that is vehicle only and is quite possibly the worst section in the game. While the vehicles control fine in a controlled one way space, in the 3D level it just doesn’t work quite as well.

The problems that show up in game play don’t affect enough of the game to make it bad, but it still is bothersome when experienced and depending on the person it could make quite an un-enjoyable experience.

-- Game Play Score = 7 / 10

- Multiplayer -

There is no multiplayer in Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

-- Multiplayer Score = N/A

- Presentation -

Jak and Daxter presents itself quite well in most of its ways. Everything that is present in the game is quite fantastic, but the game is just lacking in content. The voice acting and sound is a great example. The voice acting in the game is just fantastic, especially from the voice actor of Daxter. However even with the great voice acting of Daxter it falls slightly short when no response comes from Jak… ever. Having Jak be speechless in the entire game makes many of the conversations slightly one sided and do hurt the give and take which would help develop the character we are playing.

At least a change in gameplay and scenery.

This is the same problem with the cut scenes. The ones in the game are great. They are done well, but there needs to be more of them. With the amount there is the story progresses far too slowly.

There is one thing the game just does great. Sometimes when the player, Jak, dies Daxter will talk to you just before the game resets to a checkpoint. Many of the things Daxter says are either jokes, and are funny, or just silly things. The things Daxter says along with the great voice acting almost made me want to keep dieing just to hear them.

Now there is no denying that what the game has is absolutely fantastic. That alone makes this game worth playing at least once.

-- Presentation Score = 7 / 10

Final Section Scoring

-         Story = 3 / 10

-         Visuals = 9 / 10

-         Game Play = 7 /10

-         Multiplayer = N/A

-         Presentation = 7 /10

While this game is by far my least favorite of the three primary Jak and Daxter titles, it is still quite fun and a necessary game to play prior to the other two. Even with its problems it is still a very enjoyable experience that any fan of 3D platforming can enjoy.

Average Total Scoring

-         Average Score = 6.5 / 10

Total Time Spent To Complete Single Player

-         Roughly 8 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.