Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Blogs | Writers | My Orble | Login

Review - Gaming for Life

Glancing back: Batman Arkham Asylum

September 29th 2009 10:46


Not so insane review of the latest Batman game.

The Collectors Edition (CE) of Batman: Arkham Asylum comes with a large Batarang, a thick booklet with biographies of several villains, a code to unlock exclusive maps online, a mini comic accounting the behind-the-scenes while Batman takes Joker to Arkham, and the game with the obligatory ‘making of’ DVD (sadly not on blu ray for the PS3 version), which rivals the goodies found in Grand Theft Auto 4’s CE. Does this epic CE talk the talk as well? Or is it compensating for something much like Batman’s armour?


Ok that sounded like a low blow to Batman. But he wouldn’t be Batman without his uber armoured suit and gadgets. He is rivalled against characters from the darker sides of their comic book counterparts. Thanks to the developers at Rocksteady, the character designs fit perfectly within the world it is created for. Special mention goes to Harley Quinn. Her costume design is never worn in the comics, but it complements her figure and character so well, I personally, find it better than any of her previous costumes.

Set on an island housing the most dangerous criminals in all of Gotham, how can Batman instil fear into thugs within their own fun house? Well Batman can take out one of their buddies by grabbing them like a slinky as they walk underneath a gargoyle he is perched on. You can stun them by chucking a flying bat-shaped projectile at their heads from a distance or/then fly in, cape out, drop kicking another. Or sneak behind, choke em out, and use your ever-reliable grappling gun to make a quick escape. Or you can use a sticky bomb spray on any surface to blow in their faces, or/then blow a wall with the bricks hitting them into their faces. There are many more creative gadgets and uber moves I haven’t addressed and it is what makes Batman such a satisfying character to play as and make encounters constantly fresh.


Batman’s hand-to-hand combat is equal to none. If Kratos, from God of War, is a brawler, Bruce Wayne is a technician; methodical as well as bad ass. What made the battles so much fun are the extremely responsive controls; there aren’t any delays from button to screen or having to worry about Batman’s animation to finish. You can counter a punch with a devastating takedown, and continue another counter with a single button as much as you like.

One of the most satisfying sounds in the game is Batman’s fist, in slow-motion, connecting into the ugly mug of the last thug in a room. The back stories of the main bad guys are explained in the form of recordings scattered all over the island, the voice acting is so well rehearsed, it makes listening to them a treat, yet can be totally avoided if you prefer to continue running through the story.

Speaking of story, it is built in such a way, that even people new to the Batman franchise can understand who the person under the mask is as they progress through the game. Each comic book villain is fought in unique ways and circumstances, the world changes constantly, which keep back tracking from becoming a bore, and enemies would change vantage points in familiar territories as well.

The only gripe I have is the anti-climatic ending. And the highlight of the game is a certain villain despatched in such a cool way, you couldn’t help but shout PWN! Like many other reviews on the web; Batman: Arkham Asylum is a great game, where every gamer and comic book fan will find there is nothing wrong with having fun playing a guy wearing a bat suit.

GamerVerdict: 5/5



34
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
   


Yakuza 2(PS2) review.

September 24th 2009 15:00


An underrated gem on an outdated system; Yakuza 2 brings modern Japanese opera to Australian gamers.

Disclaimer: With not a single English translation option to be seen, players were treated with the purest version of the story, even if one word couldn’t be understood, it’s better reading subtitles than sub-par dubs, like with anime or manga.

You play Kiryu Kazuma, a leader of a Yakuza family with moral values like a saint. The story, in a nutshell, involves two Yakuza families trying to wipe each other out. Kiryu is then on a mission to save the family, recruit past friends, beat up old and tackle new enemies, solve puzzles, piece together a fragmented past, discover traitors in his ranks, play golf and win a toy for his girlfriend from a skill machine.

The Metal Gear Solid and recent Final Fantasy series were known for their long cut scenes, only to be countered with an interesting and engaging storyline. Yakuza 2 is similar, except replace sneaking around and turn-based/active battles with Beat-Em-Up gameplay. What brings the cut scenes to life is the oriental music playing so subtle in the background, with a song playing appropriately to the events in the scene. Hearing the city noise, as the camera cuts and pans, makes a normal conversation between two characters standing still into something intriguing and you know this game is special. From a film critic’s and Beat-Em-Up fanboy’s point of view; Yakuza 2 does so much right.

When you do get to play in the game’s world, it is absolutely huge and populated. There are many places, like bars, restaurants, game arcades, and even gambling houses to walk into and get distracted by for hours, try winning a stuffed toy in the skill tester machines, it’s quite hard. However, there are times in the game where Kiryu won’t be specifically instructed where to go, so it gets frustrating trying to find the area to go to advance the storyline. This game is also not for people who live on the go. The cut scenes are long, and unless you only like American dramas, then the different pace of storytelling in Asian dramas might bore you.

When Kiryu gets to fight multiple opponents, he can kick, punch, tackle, throw and even tag team against any foe. The greatest highlight of each fight involves a finisher: where Kiryu grabs a fighter, moves into a context-sensitive area, like a wall, and mercilessly smash their face in with his foot or fist, slomo, close up camera shot, delivering the ultimate pwn angle!

The fighting is fun and satisfying ONLY when the game transports you into an open field fighting arena. Horrible camera angles appear when Kiryu has to traverse a multi-floored area, where it would not listen to your commands because it couldn’t pass through a wall. In these sections, the player starts to focus on babysitting the camera, which is frustrating, sometimes Kiryu would have to exit and enter into a room again just to get the camera to follow through without becoming stuck behind a wall.

The worst enemy in the game is the large enemies blocking doorways in the multi-floored areas. They cannot be knocked down, they do not move, and exercise the same attack, over and over. The gameplay screeches to a halt as Kiryu would spend time throwing stuff at them, and if there isn’t anything to throw, sometimes all the player can do is walk in, punch, and walk out, enemy miss swing, rinse and repeat.

The sometimes frustrating gameplay in multi-storied areas and seemingly aimless running around doesn’t ruin the overall experience. It’s a small part in an epic storyline, the way it unfolds and contains as much twists found in Japanese dramas. A likeable main character and cast shows off their personality through the well crafted cutscenes. The literally bone-crunching gameplay is so awesome to watch and execute. Kiryu is placed in a large area he can run around and spend hours wasting virtual money into virtual skill testing machines, play golf, gamble and even impress virtual hostesses. All its elements combine into one of the best storylines and action-orientated game in the market. If you come across it in the ever dwindling shelves housing PS2 games at your local games store, you wouldn’t be going wrong if you pick it up.

GamerVerdict: 4/5
35
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
   


Wii Sports Active

August 3rd 2009 21:13
If you want to use video games to get fit it really is possible, and it is a great idea if you really want keep your mind to it. Wii Action Sports is a spin-off, in my opinion of Wii Fit. If you like Wii Fit, then you'll like Wii Action Sports, but if you liked the normal Wii Sports, you'll still like this one.

I purchased Wii Sports Active for my dad because he likes to work out, and I thought it would be a nice change to his normal workout routine, and so far he's enjoyed the game. You just have to be careful of the Wii remote not registering your moves, so make sure the sensor bar is placed just right.

The Wii Sports Active video game is great if your really want to set your mind to something. There is even the 30 day challenge where you just work out with your Wii Sports Active character for 30 minutes a day for 30 days. The game monitors your progress, and your personal trainer tries to keep your motivated.

Just be careful because if the sensor bar doesn't pick up your movement, you'll have to keep doing it and your personal trainer won't say the nicest things, as he won't believe you're really trying because it's just not registering on the video game. So, in this case be careful not to hurt your muscles or over-extend any joints. If you have knee, back, or hip problems be careful with some of the running exercises. Also be leery of the boxes exercises if your have elbow or shoulder problems.



35
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Whitney - Category: Review, Sports, Nintendo Wii
   


Gamerverdict on GTA: Chinatown Wars

March 28th 2009 11:49


When your main character is pilfered of everything he has and chucked out into the gutter, you know you’re playing a Grand Theft Auto game. Chinatown Wars feels like a combination of GTA1 and 2’s style with GTA3 and 4’s controls, which equals into a fun, portable package.

Rocky start

Despite being two connected islands, Liberty City is freakin huge. So huge that you will find yourself bored out of your mind when driving from one island to another to get to a mission. The top-down view makes the environments look less interactive as I would’ve liked, which made driving from one contact to the other rather monotonous. Storywise, the main character is my favourite in the series; his sense of sarcasm is equal to Seth Green’s character in the movie Sex Drive. The only downside is the lack of a female character in the mix, as there are only male characters in 98% of the plot.

The good

I liked how Chinatown Wars improved on GTA4’s cop detection. The vibe of the game is more GTA3’s sense of humour rather than GTA4’s quest for realism. Instead of trying to escape from police radars, you are encouraged to ram the amount of cop cars equivalent to the stars you acquired. It would take 1 cop car smash to get rid of a one star, than two to get rid of 2 stars plus another to get rid of a 1 star. The cops are quite eager to smash into things, so it never felt like your struggling to get rid of cops, but is actually quite fun to experiment ways in destroying them.


Unlike most GTA games, gangsters come at you in numbers, spiraling around the double digit mark. Luckily, mowing down people is very easy since the next bad guy is automatically targeted after you kill the first one…

The bad

However, the lock on can be frustratingly unintuitive, you could be bashing the right shoulder button as hard as you like, but you’re likely to aim at a person several feet away, instead of the gangster shooting right next to you.

The good

For a handheld game, hell even for a GTA game, there are so many missions! You can tell the script writers had a ball naming all the missions in the game. There are even missions that you will run into by chance, like when a person icon pops up on the screen, which usually leads to hilarious missions that won’t be spoiled here. The strongest aspect of the game is the selling of drugs to dealers. It’s similar to the territory-taking game in San Andreas and its very addictive (pun intended).

GamerVerdict: ****

I guess the old view never really appealed to me as much as GTA3's 3rd person view, but I never was deterred from completing it. GTA on handheld doesn’t mean a smaller helping of the series, its, in fact, equal in size to GTA3. I loved the main character, the drug size missions are fun, and the main story is long and gets really epic near the end as it twists and turns to a very sharp conclusion. There are your niggles, but it never hampers the feeling of satisfaction after completing a mission. I’m happy to say it’s a worthy edition to the series, and its fun enough to motivate me to complete it, unlike a certain number 4 at the end of the title…
26
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Edward 1 - Category: Review, Action, Nintendo DS
   


DR: Chop Til You Drop Review

March 5th 2009 18:27
Chop Til You Drop is the third remake of the game for the Wii console, but for the most part, it's a downgrade versus an upgrade. The trailer sounded great, but you know what? It's just not all there. There are fewer undead and the hero doesn't know how to use his camera apparently.

Basically you are in a mall of zombies and you must survive until rescue arrives by keeping the hordes at bay. You are using baseball bats, buckets, mannequins, saws, golf clubs, and just about anything you can find in the mall as a weapon.

The idea of the storyline is pretty cool, but the dialogue sucks and the delivery of the characters and weapons is terrible. There's just nothing there to make the story beliveable.

When playing the boss, it's even worse. I mean, the humans can withstand tons of bullets, more than any of the zombies, and sometimes the boss will actually escape instead of die.

On top of that, you've got random parrots dropping grenades and janitors asking for money to give your tips and shortcuts through the mall. Seriously?! Who's thinking baout making a buck when you're fighting for your life againsts crazed zombies?

The one thing that Dead Rising has going for it, is that the gameplay is actually entertaining and kind of fun. I mean, yea the graphics aren't all there, but you can have fun trying on costumes and mixing drinks in a blender. Another good addition is that there are multiple save slots in the Wii version of Dead Rising.

But, you will find that towards the end of the game, you'll start to lose momentum as things start to get repetitive with the quests and characters. It will probably only take about 10 hours to complete the game.

For the most part Dead Rising: Chip Til You Drop is a scaled down version of the Dead Rising game. The gameplay can be fun at times, but for the most part it can be repetitive and pretty short lived game. You will find the multiple save slots and the overall aiming features and such are much better on the Wii than the xBox 360.



42
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Whitney - Category: Review, Action, Adventure, Nintendo Wii
   


The House of the Dead: Overkill Wii Review

March 3rd 2009 21:23
Although there haven't been many great games released for the Nintendo Wii, House of the Dead: Overkill, is just one just one unique title that you may or may not like. Stylistically, it's in-betweee an AO content and comedic type game. Many believe that Overkill is the first original House of the Dead game in the series, and with its release there is a big shoe to fill for any upcoming releases to the series.

The game can actually be considered a success for hte Nintendo Wii. It will definitely kick off a new era of Wii games. The interface of the game is filled with poster art, character cut-outs, screen shakes, and film scratches. The game essentially sets the tone for a movie-style game. Although, at times the characters are a little over the top, it still works for the game when combined with the audio and graphics


[ Click here to read more ]
36
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Whitney - Category: Review, Action, Nintendo Wii
   


Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

February 27th 2009 21:05
So, I'm not much of a PC gamer, but Dawn of War II, is one of those PC games that you have to try out. It's actually much better than most PC games that I've checked out. Relic has made a few pretty bold decisions when they created the game, but for the most part the boldness of the game is what makes the game fun and entertaining.

You can build your own base and troops. You can even command your troops while in battle. Basically Warhammer 40,000 is a strategy game that is in its own world of role-playing. Essentially, you control each campaign and mission that grows and evolves into what gear you decide to equip and what skills you decide to improve. So, as you can see, you're really in control when playing Dawn of War II


[ Click here to read more ]
26
Vote
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Whitney - Category: Review, Strategy, PC
   


Street Fighter IV Review

February 22nd 2009 20:51
Street Fighter IV is an outstanding game and probably one of the btter fighting games that you've probably played lately. Essentially, Street Fighter has been a game focused on a 2D plane, and over the years tweaks and changes have evolved the game into the formula that it is today.

Street Fighter IV allows you to pick your character and fight with another warrier in the ring. Each character has his own special moves and attacks, so you want to make sure that you try them all before you pick which character you want to use in a real battle. But, you will find that the game boils down to balancing physical skills and mind games between the characters


[ Click here to read more ]
60
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Whitney - Category: Review, Action, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
   


Left 4 Dead Review

December 3rd 2008 10:21


Left 4 Dead is a video game that we've seen the same or similar storyline concept in a number of movies. Basically, you and up toe three other survivors must battle a zombie apocalypse with a simple goal in mind- to survive. The differnce between Left 4 Dead and all the other movies and video games with similar concepts, this video game feels to be more of an experiement with gameplay that is near out of this world


[ Click here to read more ]
61
Vote
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Whitney - Category: Review, Action, PC, Xbox 360
   


Animal Crossing: City Folk Review

December 1st 2008 14:36


The original Animal Crossing game was released for Game Cube, and after the release of the Nintendo Wii, there has been talk about converting Animal Crossing from GameCube to Wii. Well, it's here and it's your decision as to whether or not it is a series video game. I mean, the game really has no end and the entire game is based on gardening, shopping, fishing, and chatting with neighbors. There's not much to it, and serious gamers probably won't find much out of the game, if you ask me


[ Click here to read more ]
59
Vote
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
Posted By: Whitney - Category: Review, Virtual Life, Nintendo Wii
   


Next Page (11-20)



[ Gaming for Life Home ] [ Create A New Post ]
Moderated by Whitney
Copyright © 2006 2007 2008 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]