Just about any gamer who’s in the know of anything is looking forward to Modern Warfare 2, the latest in Activision’s popular Call of Duty franchise.  The game is due for release tomorrow but certain GameStop stores have started selling the game before the street date.  Regardless of how this might affect the relationship between the two companies, what’s almost guaranteed is that this will be the hot selling game for the year.

With the high anticipation and sales likely to follow suit, most who’ve been following the game have likely seen a leaked video from late October.  For those who haven’t, the video shows the player with about five other terrorists taking part in the killing of unarmed civilians at an airport in-game.  The video was been posted on several websites though subsequently removed shortly after.  Needless to say, the video has drawn quite a bit of outrage with its content and the supposed reminiscence of the Mumbai killings in India last year.  Now I’m here to talk to you about the video and my thoughts on it.

When I first started watching the video a few days after it was first leaked, I actually stopped watching about halfway through.  While I’ve never been a squeamish individual (Blood Diamond, Schindler’s List, Rambo, the Saw series-all films I’ve managed to comfortably watch), something about seeing that video for the first time just struck me.  The unfolding massacre which you take part in during this mission felt so wrong to me.  Looking back, I think the key reason it struck me so much is that instead of seeing other characters kill or commit horrific actions, you’re the one doing so instead.  People running, screaming, crawling on the ground after being shot only to be coldly killed-it all contributed to me not wanting to continue.  As I closed the video, I said to myself “that’s too much; it shouldn’t be in the game, it’s unnecessary.”

Now that I’ve mustered seeing the video twice in its entirety, I’m looking back at my strong reaction in a rather confused way.  But that’s for a different discussion.

The point I’m trying to get at, however, comes from the conflict of my feelings and statement with my previous thoughts towards killing in videogames.  Games, namely shooters such as the sadistic Postal and the always controversial Grand Theft Auto games, have often come under fire for causing individuals (usually teenagers) to commit violence acts, such as the Columbine and even Virginia Tech shootings.  Among the outspoken individuals is attorney Jack Thompson, who’s often first on the scene for targeting games as the catalyst for people to commit these crimes.  Videogames are essentially becoming targets like heavy metal from the 80’s, 90’s and even today (eg. the Judas Priest trial of 1990).

Let’s compare: the above video of random killing in Saints Row 2…

In just about every instance where a videogame has been targeted for driving someone towards violent acts, I’ve come to the defense of the games.  I even wind up defending games at home whenever my mother sees me taking part in the killing of either AI bots offline or other human players during online matches.  Oftentimes, my arguments are that the killings are just of fake characters in the game, little to nothing more than detailed and colored pixels or polygons for the sake of entertainment.  Sure, this might seem to be a form of fun that can seem outrageous, but then again what’s half the reason people see horror or action films such as Rambo?  And truth be told, I have always and completely felt this way; the idea of a game pushing someone over the edge just sounds ludicrous to me.  Similar can be said for the content in these games.  Dead Rising, Call of Duty, Saint Row or any other game which has you killing people I find the content to be fitting and not in the least bit unnecessary.

So why is it that this eight minute video during which you take part in the massacre of innocent civilians (much like the freedom you’re given in Grand Theft Auto) seemed to disturb me?  Ultimately, I think it has to do with the circumstances.  With games such as Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row, you can go ahead and kill whoever you want; the choice is really just spontaneous behavior on the count of the player.  This level in Modern Warfare 2, however, essentially tells you to assist in a large, terrorist homicide mission with either a sadistic, domineering motive or no sane reason at all.  The choice of free killing in Saints Row will almost always come out of the desire to just screw around (for lack of a better term) and have fun.  Conversely, the murdering from this airport level feels more like a shooting gallery that bluntly has you kill.  It’s this that I’m having a tough time deciding why someone would legitimately want to do since Activision have said that this mission is completely optional and not representative of the overall gameplay experience.

But this is no different from the other games I’ve defended, right?  After all, they’re just detailed polygons and pixels made into a fictitious game.  It would seem that this inclusion of a level is starting to make me question my previous thoughts.  In the long run, the civilians you kill in this game are the same as any other AI bot in-essence; all that’s changed are how they’re designed.  This is similar to how society has tried to decide if all humans are in fact the same or equal.  Just look at blacks and slaves from the earlier years of America.  The people might look different, but they’re still people.  Yet it isn’t just the AI characters but the player, which brings back how I’m puzzled someone would want to do this.

To the terrorist killings in Modern Warfare 2.

My only guess for why players would take up this mission if it does turn out to be optional is simply for the sake of curiosity.  I’ll probably pick the game up after release and play through this level simply to see what a replication of terrorism is like.  However, once I’ve done that for my first playthrough I’ll likely have a tough time saying to myself, “I want to play the airport mission and kill those civilians.”

Developer Infinity Ward’s reason(s) to include this level in the game is still puzzling to me and in all honesty, I’m not entirely sure what to think of it.  On one hand, I think the level is ultimately senseless and that we could have easily done without it.  Yet if I say that I think it should absolutely be taken out for the content then this essentially contradicts my previously firm beliefs in defending videogames.  With all of this in mind, I’m not sure if I’d rather see this section of the game taken out or not.  It seems to test how I’ve decided to defend games such as Grand Theft Auto which I do think is good since I begin to question what I think and try to weigh things in a different manner.  As of now, however, my final verdict is still undecided.

I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this level as well, so if you have anything to say about it please share it in a professional matter.  Thank you.

WOW! It has been a LOOOOOONG time, even by my standards. So whats up internet. School started so everything has been very busy. Plus, I have been getting my hands into some new projects/hobbies the past couple of weeks. Let us kick this all off with some game related stuff.

First, I bought Fat Princess. I haven’t played too much of it. It is quiet a lot of fun and I plan to get together with my buddies from the Syndicate. These are a great bunch of guys i teamed up with about the time Killzone 2 launched. On an additional note i have been playing through Ninja Gaiden Sigma from my gamefly list and i forgot how fun this game was. Last time i rented it i never got very far because a big release came out i just had to get but now that I have returned I am loving it. I miss games with grueling difficulties. What I love about it is that although its hard, it doesn’t quiet seem unfair to me. It always feels like i can do better and eventually, I do. I find the experience extremely satisfying.

I also beat Quake 2 for like the 6th or 7th time, go me. If you don’t know Quake 2 is pretty much my favorite shooter of all time. Why? I just think its damn fun. It is not terribly story heavy, yet still feals like you are progressing through a unvierse. Sort of like the original half life (but not quiet as amazing and deep) yout ake int he story and the universe simply by being there. Very little is told to you. You crash on the strogg planet during a massive assault and now as one of the few surviving Marines you must forge a bloody path to open up the planet to the main assault and eventually destroy the Strogg leader. I love it.

Champions Online has launched, and I have purchased the game. I loved City of Heroes, and for me, Champions is just a more advanced and sophisticated CoH like experience. I think the game is fantastic. Sadly I probably wont be able to renew my subscription since i am in between jobs at the moment but i have a new job lined up in the near future so here is to hoping i get hired and can continue to bring the beat down with my gunslinger bounty hunting bad ass of a super hero.

Last bullet point on gaming here. Direct2Drive is having a celebration for its 5th birthday. For the next 5 weeks they will be selling select games for only 5 dollars. if you have a computer that can run stuff you should go check it out. Some of the games are kinda old (X-Com pack of all the old X-com games) and some are more recent (Bioshock and Saints Row 2) but regardless there are some good deals in there. I personally picked up Saints Row because I only rented it and never got to finish it. To me Saints Row 2 was a fantastic little break from GTA IV and its… overly realistic atmosphere. Saints Row is over the top and just fun. However I need to get my ps3 controller hooked up because driving with the keyboard is not happening, at all.

Now, on to other important matters. As you guys probably remember I was talking abut a new guitar….

well hereis my new Schecter C-1 classic

I’m happy with it. Plays great, sounds great, feels great, looks great, how can I complain. I don’t have much to say ont he gutiar itself but i can say this. I currently play in a band called Jigawatt. I play guitar and sing and thats all fine and dandy. Very ****c rock inspired metal. Now, I wanted something a little mroe modern. Let me introduce all of you to…… ALL HAIL THE CRIMSON KING! (AHTCK! for short) Now my real name is Darren but i am credited as Orlandun on there. It was a misunderstanding that is now a running joke I guess, haha. Regardless I think the songs on there are awesome. i am not playing on thsoe recordings but I will be on future recordings. WE plan to start doing shows in the LA area soon. Check us out and if you like us spread the word around. THE AHTCK HAS BEGUN!

Finaly, one last thing to add to the list. In a moment of weakness and good deals I bought the Black Reach starter set with my cousin (we weant half ad half) and for 25 bucks I got a starting army of Orks for Warhammer 40k. The past couple of weeks I have been painting nd for not really have painted before I’m quiet proud. I original primed them black but form what I am hearing i am gonna try priming in white and hopefully that will make things look a bit brighter and better where i want it too. Here is a couple shots of my handy work.

I am particularly proud of this Nobs head. The eyepiece and the highlights look awesome. I wanna try and see if i can get a more glass like effect on that targeter but other than that i think its going fairly well. I did add a teal color on his arms that i am using on my higher ranking Boyz to signify how bad ass they think they are, it actually looks really good but i haven’t taken pics yet. If you guys want i can post more.

Well that’s a nice update on what’s going on with me. Also, I am going to start doing a blog on word press that should be updated more often. I plan to sort of link it up with AHTCK! but it will be about the same thing you see here. Me talking about random music and games but I won’t feel as obligated to talk about just gaming related stuff. Thanks for reading guys. This blog isn’t going away I will try and update both at the same time. You can see the new blog here.

Until next time, stay frosty!

People being offended is all too commonplace. Say a sentence… any sentence (in some cases just say a single word) and I’ll guarantee you that somewhere in the world, someone, if they hear it, will be deeply offended.

Draw some funny pictures depicting the founding figure of a religion, and its masses will rally in protest against it… sometimes with disastrous consequences… like the Jyllands-Posten cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Release a game like Saints Row or Grand Theft Auto and ‘parental advocacy’ groups and ‘family values’ nuts will be in an uproar… and of course, that is how the ‘lawyer’ Jack Thompson gained his fame and notoriety with his frivolous lawsuits against video game companies.

Simply say that Obama is right in pursuing options for healthcare reform and you get town hall screamers shouting you down as a communist and fascist in the same sentence (despite the FACT that communism and fascism are opposite and irreconcilable extremes). You would also be seeing them turn up with an assault rifle loaded in preparation to ‘water the Tree of Liberty’.

In short… people have a tendency to completely and utterly flip out whenever they hear an idea that doesn’t fit in their neat, orderly little box in which they define the world they live in.

The Muslims who rioted against the Danish newspaper couldn’t stand the fact that there are non-Muslims in a far off Central European country who thought it might be funny to poke fun at the founding figure of Islam.

Family values groups pushing for the banning of violent video games portraying anti-social, psychopathic protagonists are scared that if children play these games, they’ll grow up wanting to be just as violently anti-social… which is… of course… a logical fallacy. I grew up on violent games, and I’m really loving playing Saints Row 2 right now… and as much fun as it is to play, I can still denounce and reject the psychotic tendencies of my character in this game. That is simply because I am capable of differentiating between fiction and reality.

Town Hall nuts shouting down those working on the agenda of healthcare reform in the United States fear having to confront the fact that the Republican Party demagogues of whom they idolize are playing them for fools and acting only to advance the interests of a few super-rich people… and on the other side of the coin you’ll have Democrats who will put up similar resistance when you point out that those same corporate overlords to which the Republican Party is a wholly owned subsidiary also have most of the Obama Administration in their pockets.

And this isn’t even mentioning the butthurt from people who are offended by curse words and pornography. Swear words… like any other word are only as powerful or offensive as people allow them to be. As for pornography… much as its not really my thing… I could never hold it against people to make it and people who watch it. In fact, the demonization of sex that is all too often pushed in most of the largest religions is an inherently destructive idea… and its baffling that to challenge that idea is to meet stiff resistance in certain parts of society.

Of course, by advocating the complete and utter abolition of censorship, I’ve often been hit with the same tired old strawman about how I’m supposedly in favour of child porn and pedophilia, consumption of dangerous hard drugs and a violently anti-social jungle of a society. I have to ask how misanthropic one has to be to believe that to be the ultimate end result of a society without censorship… and on a broader note, how sociopathic one has to be to be in favour of controlling and restricting what people are allowed to say, what music they’re allowed to listen to, what TV shows and movies they’re allowed to watch and what video games they’re allowed to play.

So in closing… I’m not easily offended. In fact only two things offend me. First thing is people taking offense to everything that falls outside of their tiny, narrow little box in which their perceived world exists. Second thing is those who would advocate the use of force, either through violence or abuse of the law to impose such narrow-minded worldviews on the rest of society. Just because they’re too cowardly to confront inconvenient truths or conflicting opinions doesn’t mean that facts and opinions need to be suppressed.

Saints Row 2: dude evading cops on a motorcycle

Of course, the developers didn’t spend chump change to create this massive sandbox title. It shows by the quality of every detail from idle passer-by conversations to the voice acting and lip syncing. Every decided detail is spit-shined until it glows, colorful and bountiful. The game makes no bones about flaunting its strengths incessantly. Plot points and side diversions engage different types of foes, vehicles or foot-based combat, and my favorite: survival / escape!

I bought the game specifically because it looked and sounded fun from a Zero Punctuation review on it; one of the few where Yahtzee doted on it, lapping at its sweet teet. However, while it does the GTA -er- sandbox genre proud, there are things I wish were improved upon. I can sum them up pretty quick: chaining explosions (car goes boom, car next to it does nothing), smarter cops (they can be really dumb), jibs (body parts fly off when chopped, shot, or ’sploded), and continuing turf wars (post neighborhood take-over, otherwise you end up too rich to ever spend enough).

There is plenty to do and thus multitudes of activities to waste time on. I only recently beat the game after dilly dallying for months and making little progress in the main plot. Seminal characters are voiced by famous actors and actresses which adds a little “ah ha” to the experience. For example, Neil Patrick Harris as a Rastafarian drug dealer.

Everything is colorful and over the top, including the sex and violence. It truly seems to be an wannabe gangsta’s interactive daydream. Shooting and killing is common place and relatively tame. You fight for control of a city full of people who appear to have given up trying to fight back. The gangs are corrupt, the cops are corrupt, and the corporations (Ultor) are corrupt. Essentially the justification of the horrifying actions you take is: they deserved it.

Driving is simple and fun, with the exception of boats. Helicopters are somewhat complicated and planes are a breeze, no pun intended. The cars feel “heavier” than I’d like them to somewhat, but are much more toy-like than San Andreas or GTA4. After getting addicted on the original GTA3 and Vice City, this throwback is appreciated. Think of the automobiles here as Hotwheels to GTA3’s Matchbox; still unrealistic, but on a different level.

Weapons and fighting ape the typical gun and punch mechanics, but with the added flourish of melee styles. For example, once you beat the Yakuza-esq gang, you get to do something like Kung Fu. There really isn’t much to the base combat, not even auto-aim, but it is still very satisfying. In particular, throwing garbage cans and newspaper stands at people never got old. There’s the lovely extra touch of coins bursting out of the latter that you can actually pick up.

Getting busted (police) or wasted (hospital) doesn’t erase your inventory which is a blessing and a curse. Earlier on it is extremely helpful, but once you amass enough wealth it all becomes unnecessary. I’m not sure how this could be improved, maybe an effect of the difficulty levels? I played through on Casual (Easy) and it doesn’t appear that you can get busted, only wasted.

Anyway, I’m rambling. My stepdad now owns this upon my recommendation and plays it all the time. It’s his San Andreas replacement. He admits to missing CJ, but the massive customizations on your character in SR2 almost makes up for that. If you’re a GTA fan and don’t mind a faithful imitation, then give this one a try!

Witam wszystkich. Będę tu umieszczał swoje recenzje gier na PC i X360, tych starszych i tych nowszych i może czasami coś w ogóle innego, o ile mi się jeszcze będzie chciało lub będzie czas.

Zacznę od recenzji gry Saints Row na Xboxa 360, nie jest to może nowa gra, ale jak pomyślałem o napisaniu recenzji jakiejkolwiek gry, to ta od razu mnie natchnęła, a z racji, że jest teraz tania, to może ktoś się będzie zastanawiał nad zakupem.

Saints Row to sandboxowa gra akcji z widokiem TPP stworzona przez studio Volition Inc. Gra ta została wydana kilka lat po premierze GTA: San Andreas, z którym ma wiele wspólnego, jednak ma też sporo własnych pomysłów i rozwiązań, czasem lepszych, czasem gorszych. A czy jest warta uwagi? Przekonajcie się z mojej pierwszej recenzji

Pierwszą rzeczą jaką widzimy po przyciśnięciu przycisku START w menu, to kreator postaci. Tutaj mamy pierwszy plus, bo jest on bardzo rozbudowany (z podobnym miałem wcześniej do czynienia w Oblivionie) i można sobie wykreować postać według własnego upodobania, z tym wyjątkiem, że mamy do wyboru jedynie płeć męską. Poza tym możemy wybrać dowolną fryzurę, jej kolor i wybierać różne rozmiary i kształt oczu, nosa i całej reszty twarzy, czyli standardowe opcje jak na dzisiejsze czasy. Mamy też do wyboru 4 rasy: białą, czarną, żółtą i „hiszpańską”. Poza wyglądem różnią się one odgłosami wydawanymi przez bohatera (wszelkiego rodzaju jęki, wrzaski itp.). Jest również możliwość w grze przyodziewania różnych szat, kapelusików, czapek, okularów i różnych dodatków nie wpływających specjalnie na grę.

Fabuła w grze nie jest zbyt skomplikowana, ani odkrywcza. Nasz bohater, którego właśnie stworzyliśmy znajduje się w niewłaściwym miejscu o niewłaściwym czasie i na własnej skórze przekonuje się o urokach miasta Stilwater, w którym toczy się akcja. W pierwszej cut-scence ma miejsce konfrontacja i zarazem prezentacja gangów trzęsących miastem: żółtych Vice Kings, niebieskich Rollerzów, czerwonych Carnalesów i fioletowych Saintsów. Do tych ostatnich mamy zaszczyt wstąpić, po tym jak cała reszta zabija się nawzajem. Zostajemy uratowani przez ich przywódcę, który mówi tak szybko i niewyraźnie, że słysząc go rozumiałem co trzecie słowo a czasami nawet żadnego. W każdym razie, możemy wykonywać misje bezpośrednio dla naszego gangu, lub pomagać ważnym postaciom, które zajmują się przeciwdziałaniu reszty gangów

Teren miasta, na którym toczy się akcja jest całkiem spory i raczej nie ma co narzekać na ciasnotę. Miasto jest podzielone na dzielnice, które są pod kontrolą 4 wspomnianych wcześniej gangów. Podobnie jak w GTA: SA, będzie nam dane walczyć o niektóre tereny jeśli tylko będziemy w sąsiedztwie z którymś gangiem. Po przejęciu danej dzielnicy pojawiają się tam nasi członkowie gangu, których możemy rekrutować do drużyny. Na początku można mieć tylko 1, ale wraz z postępem gry zwiększa się ilość slotów.

Klimat gry przypomina bardzo GTA: SA – gangsta, nigga, dawg ‘n shit, ale to jednak nie to samo i ten z SA bardziej mi odpowiadał. Były tam bardziej interesujące i wpadające w pamięć postacie jak Ryder, Big Smoke czy OG Loc, a tu całkiem dobrze zapamiętałem najwyżej Johnny’ego, który zawsze lubił rozpierdalać wszystko i wszystkich wokół.

Dźwięk w tej grze wypada średnio. Jak już wspominałem, przywódcę Saintsów ciężko zrozumieć ze względu na prędkość jego wymowy, ale za to reszta ważnych postaci wypada dobrze. Ale nie tylko dlatego jest średnio. Do tego bym dodał jeszcze bardzo, ee… słaby soundtrack. Jest parę muzyczek pasujących jakoś tam do klimatu gry, ale nic nie zapadło mi w pamięć, co raczej niezbyt dobrze o tej ścieżce dźwiękowej świadczy.

Grafika nie wygląda może zbyt nextgenowo, ale jest przyzwoita i nie powoduje wymiotów. Zdaje się, że twórcy kiedyś zapowiadali, że na ulicy nie spotkamy dwóch takich samych NPCów, ale to oczywiście przesada, bo po prostu modele są poubierane w różne ubrania.

Interfejs Saints Row znowu przypomina GTA. Mamy tu okrągłą minimapę w lewym dolnym rogu z paska zastępującymi gwiazdki z GTA. Całą resztę mamy zaś po prawej stronie na górze, czyli pasek życia, respektu i staminy oraz aktualnie wybraną spluwę i ilość amunicji w środku w formie koła. „Paski zamiast gwiazdek” są podzielone na 2 rodzaje: ten od gangów i ten od policji. Im bardziej podpadniemy którejś z grup, tym bardziej się on zapełnia, co zmniejsza zarazem nasze szanse na przeżycie w towarzystwie danego gangu/policji. Warto wspomnieć też o systemie waypointów na mapie, którego nie było w GTA, a był bardzo pomocny w grze. Stamina jest potrzebna do biegania sprintem, życie do życia (no shit!), z tym, że odnawia się po jakimś czasie jak tarcza w Halo, a respekt… i tutaj mamy zasadniczą różnicę między SR i GTA.

W GTA respekt dostawaliśmy za ukończenie misji i w poprzednich częściach zwiększał on agresywność członków przeciwnych gangów w stosunku do nas. Tutaj respekt jest potrzebny, aby wykonywać misje związane z głównym wątkiem. Aby otrzymać respekt, musimy wykonywać różne, jak to w grze zostało nazwane „Activities”. Jest to jedna z najciekawszych rzeczy w tej grze i ukończenie poszczególnych z nich wiąże się z otrzymywaniem achievmentów. Niektóre z tych zajęć to wyścigi, przewożenie dealera (oczywiście napotykamy tu ciężki opór ze strony policji i gangów), dostarczanie wozów, zabójstwo konkretnego rodzaju NPCa, rozwalanie wszystkiego wokół, aby spowodować jak największe szkody i parę innych mniej lub bardziej ciekawych zajęć. Każde z nich jest podzielone na 8 poziomów i można ich się podjąć w 3 różnych miejscach, na terenach różnych gangów, tak aby przeszkadzali nam członkowie tego właśnie gangu, na którego terenie dane Activity się znajduje. Po przejściu 8 poziomu którejś czynności, dostajemy jakiś bonus jak np. telefon do jednego z ziomków, którzy przybędą nam z pomocą po wykonaniu telefonu, koktajle mołotowa do wzięcia za darmo w siedzibie i wiele innych. Jednak aby się dostać na ten 8 poziom…

I tu będzie mowa o najgorszej wadzie Saints Row, czyli poziomie trudności. Żeby nie było, to nie jestem jakimś tam casualowym graczem grającym w takie gry raz na rok. TA GRA JEST KUREWSKO TRUDNA. Naprawdę. Przyznaję, że nie ukończyłem tej gry, bo przejście ostatniej misji u Carnalesów graniczy z cudem, ale to nie tylko to. Jak masz do czynienia z wrogami uzbrojonymi w Assault Rifle albo Rocket Launchera, to masz przejebane. A co tam, nawet jak się zagapisz w środku walki przy kolesiach z SMG to już po tobie, jeśli nie masz przy sobie żarcia, które odnawia życie. A trudno mieć oko na wszystkich przeciwników, jeśli cały czas przyjeżdżają następni, całym wozem wypchanym mięsem armatnim. Jest cholernie trudno, zwłaszcza, że nie ma systemu chowania się za osłonami, do którego tak ostatnio jesteśmy przyzwyczajani w grach.

Sterowanie na padzie jest w porządku, ale nie ma autocelowania. Niby autoaim jest dla noobów, ale nawet na PC z myszką i klawiaturą bym nie podołał tej grze. Poza dziwnym, ale za to szybkim wybieranem broni przez przytrzymanie przycisku B i kręcenie analogiem, raczej nie ma się do czego przyczepić. A nie… chyba jednak jest. Jako, że Saints Row było jedną z moich pierwszych gier na X360, to nie zauważyłem kiedyś jaki ta gra ma beznadziejny model jazdy. Znaczy się, beznadziejny, w sensie nierealistyczny. Można jechać byle szitem i dosłownie taranować wszystkie samochody po drodze. Może i jest nierealistyczny, ale jak się jest zdenerwowanym po n-tej śmierci na misji i chce się po prostu szybko dotrzeć do celu, to przynajmniej nie przeszkadza.

Jak na klona GTA przystało, nie mogło w tej grze zabraknąć samochodów. Jest ich bardzo dużo rodzajów i chyba każdy można poddać tuningowi w odpowiednim miejscu. Każdy gang ma kilka własnych rodzajów fur pomalowanych na odpowiedni kolor, w których często przyjeżdżają, aby nam dokopać, no, albo przynajmniej spróbować jak tylko im podpadniemy. Samochody można trzymać w garażu, który ma nieograniczoną pojemność. Model zniszczeń jest słaby, bo bardziej wygląda jak jakiś bump mapping na karoserii niż wgniecenia, ale w końcu jak ulotni się czarny dym spod maski, to lepiej sobie szukać innego wozu.

Podsumowując, Saints Row jest grą średnią. To jedna z tych gier, która była po prostu „poprawnie” zrobiona, ale bez żadnych specjalnych rewelacji, a jeśli już to spore wady je przysłoniły i wyszedł po prostu średniak.

W skrócie:

Plusy:

• + mimo wszystkiego całkiem solidna dawka akcji
• + system waypointów
• + Activities
• + postać Johnny’ego
• + klimat zbliżony do GTA: San Andreas
• + przyzwoicie długa

Minusy:

• - POZIOM TRUDNOŚĆI!
• - model jazdy
• - soundtrack bez rewelacji
• - zanikające pojazdy na autostradach

Moja ocena końcowa: 7/10

I’m going to ask something to all of the people that say that to me, and and I’m going to ask it with great curiosity. And that something is “Why?”

On paper, the PS3 takes out the 360 in the hardware and performance department without breaking a circuit – The PS3 loads games a lot faster because it pre-loads everything using it’s HDD, leaving the 360 on its hands and knees begging to be shot between the eyes.
“You need a 360 cos it has better games” – Ah yes, the exclusives. Or as I like to call them, the games that weren’t good enough to make it to the PS3. Here’s a list of all the 360 exclusives that I think are worth mentioning:

Halo – 8 hours of schizophrenic gameplay where the game can’t decide which tone to use. One minute you’re in horror-mode fighting the headcrabs from Half-Life in disguise, and the next you’re fighting enemy midgets running around, sounding and acting like retarded Ewoks. Also the guns in Halo appear to have been made in a toy factory. Not to mention the ridiculous vehicles and that suit that Master Chief wears that must be in serious need of a wash by now.

Gears of War – a competent shooter with only one remarkable feature – it’s stuck up its own arse. The running mechanic, which is copied in pretty much every shooter since it’s release, makes me want to eat my own faeces. You set off running with the camera placed way too low for you too see what’s in front of you when all of a sudden the cover system Velcros your spine to a knee-high wall. If you asked me to describe Gears Of War in a few simple words I’d have to say, “Rainbow Six: Vegas meets Resistance 2.” And no, that is not a good thing.

Mass Effect – I’m not really a fan of RPGs, to be perfectly honest I wish they would just curl up and die, and this game certainly isn’t going to change that. I’m a huge fan of Star Wars, but even KOTOR didn’t make me want to play it. And Mass Effect is pretty much KOTOR without the lightsabers and force powers and all the aliens speak English with North American dialects.

Fallout 3 – You start the game off as an infant, your dad is Qui-Gon Jinn and you can’t do anything except crawl helplessly into walls. Very much like, oh I don’t know, a baby? You’re then at your own birthday party, talking to people who act and talk like robots with practically zero facial expressions. I actually felt like I was playing a PSone game at that point. Then you’re forced to take a “G.O.A.T.” exam (Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test). At this point I felt like I was playing The Sims except from a first-person perspective, living the life of a child in an air raid shelter. Although I suppose that’s what I was doing. God that game was boring.

GTA IV DLC – Right now there is only 1 DLC pack for the 360 version called “The Lost And Damned”. You take the role of a biker gang who kill some other bikers because they stole your drugs and then some other bikers that do drugs steal your drugs and then you go and kill those bikers because they stole your drugs and then some other bikers…
“The Ballad of Gay Tony”? Sounds like a gay 60s porno if you ask me.

Saints Row – The last thing we need is yet another game like GTA.

Quizás te estés preguntando que chingaos es Opeth. Esto es Opeth:

Sí ya sabías, no está de más. Esta es sólo una de mis canciones favoritas de esta banda, proveniente de Suecia. Death Whispered a Lullaby, del disco Damnation del 2003.

Bueno, regresando a la nota, resulta que en el sitio web de esta talentosa banda fue revelado el siguiente juego de la serie Saints Rowm esta vez en una versión portátil para el PSP.

No nos gusta mucho jugar videojuegos, ¡pero sí nos gusta cuando nuestra música aparece en ellos!. Nos enorgullece aun más cuando el juego es una tan grande como Saints Row para el PSP, y mejor aún cuando los desarrolladores muestran tan excelente gusto al escojer “The Lotus Eater” para el juego.

Este tipo de filtraciones cada vez es más frecuente, aunque no son tan especificas como esta: Marzo 2010 es la fecha indicada por la banda en su sitio.

Queda esperar la confirmación por parte de THQ o su amable petición a Opeth para que quite semejante revelación de su sitio.

Esta es la canción que aparecerá en el juego, de su disco Watershed del año pasado. Enjoy

It’s going around that there will be Saints Row 3… But some people are saying it’s just a rumour.Saints Row 2 is good but Saints Row is apprantly better.Gamespot rated  GTA IV  10/10. Saints Row got 8.3 and Saints Row 2 got 8.0 .  So is there going to be Saints Row 3? I hear you asking.. Well i am not entierly sure so if i find out it’s true i will publish a post.

Elite Trooper Out

It’s been a really long time since I did any updates on the games I enjoy playing, so I’ll just give a quick synopsis of where I’m getting my feet wet again.  That is to say, I’m going a little retro lately, digging out some of my older 360 games, and even a much older PC game.  Why?  Well, I just can’t justify all the new $60 games these days and I know if I wait around long enough, they’ll eventually drop in price to something a bit more attractive to the pocket.  There are just so many big titles I’d like to get my hands on, but I am definitely discovering that ‘Platinum Hits’ is where it’s at.

• Was able to pick up Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for $29.99 a few weeks back.  I can’t say I’m a big fan of them, actually, there are a few songs of theirs I don’t like at all, but there are plenty of tolerable ones plus the addition of other artists like Joan Jett and RUN DMC make it palatable and fun.  I’m about 1/2 way done on ‘medium’ difficulty and so far have racked up quite a few gamer points.
• 1 vs 100 (Xbox Live) – I like trivia, and this beta has been going on way too long lately, but the gameplay is addictive and when it finally goes Live (gold) to win real MS points, I’ll be all over it.  I suck at sports question though, and up until those are being asked, I surprised how well I’m doing against other players.
• WOW – Taking a break…need to recharge my batteries, but I think the frozen north is calling my name again.
• CoH/CoV – Also taking a break. 
• Fallout 3 ’The Pitt expansion’ – Pretty good expansion with a few neat weapons.  There were some tense moments with the Trogs as they have the ability to seemingly jump out of nowhere and you need to be much more aware of your ammo supply than before.  A nice diversion, but really looking forward to getting ‘Point Lookout’ DLC.
• Saints Row 2 – Not playing as much as I’d like because of the ‘mature’ content and my daughter hanging around way too much.  Fun little sandbox version of GTA4 I picked up also for $29.99.  Looking forward to playing this again soon.
• GTA4 – Same as above with the daughter.  Was getting back into it and finally making some progress on the game just to put it back on the shelf until I get some alone time.
• Brothers In Arms Hell Highway – Played the demo and I really like it.  I may pick this up soon as it’s currently going for $24.99. 
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 – Lovin’ it.  I may give this it’s own post soon enough, it warrants it and I’ve barely scratched the surface of the content.  I jumped right into tour/career mode and working my way up.  Wind can be very frustrating to me if it’s over 15 MPH, and some holes just seem very random, but overall it takes me a good hour to play 1 round and I have some nail biting moments and get very excited when I do a fabulous shot, and very hard on myself when I shoot a crappy one.
• Railroad Tycoon 3 – Totally retro Win 98 game I’m really getting into as well.  Graphics are a little dated at this point, but who doesn’t love playing with trains?  Deserves it’s own post as well.

Bringing Down The House

By AXIS of Reality

©2009 Alex Baldwin

Well, the first game of the month is here. With so many big name games hitting Aussie shelves in June, after playing it for a week it’s a surprise to learn that the first of them may possibly be the best. I also got the chance to visually compare both 360 and PS3 versions of the game, but more on that later.

Red Faction: Guerrilla is the very loose sequel to the previous-gen Red Faction 1 and Red Faction 2 first-person shooters. The name change should be a clue that this isn’t a direct follow-on or prettied up expansion – Red Faction: Guerrilla is something new for the series, and all the better for it.

For starters, the camera isn’t attached to the protagonist Alec Mason’s eyeballs and instead uses the close third-person camera popular with Gears of War and Dead Space this generation.

This might not be a major change, but it is infinitely valuable for a wider field of vision in the new open world on Mars. That’s right, Red Faction has joined the freeroaming bandwagon with a surprisingly high level of success.

• Deconstruction the Red Faction way

It’s very understandable considering developer Volition’s previous games of Saint’s Row 1 and Saints Row 2 – they showed their ability to make interesting and most of all entertaining environments which carries over to Guerrilla – maybe not in the satirical sense of Saint’s Row, but definitely in the pure fun factor.

Which brings me nicely to destruction. You would have heard claims of ‘total destruction’ in games before, but always walked away a bit underwhelmed. Well, worry no more because Red Faction: Guerrilla succeeds with flying colours where others such as Battlefield: Bad Company simply skimmed the surface.

Everything breaks on Mars – no matter what you see, it can be brought crashing down with a few well-placed remote mines as long as it’s man-made. The game makes no apologies about it – the absolute first thing you see as you gain control in the story mode is a simply rock wall in front of you, and a sledgehammer in your hand.

Luckily everything crumbles as you’d expect, with most debris staying visible after bringing a structure down until you go a significant distance away. There’s none of the Mercenaries 2 ‘building sliding through the ground in a puff of smoke’ here – it all works as you expect and is a ton of fun.

• To Arm – To Arms Let’s destroy everything

It won’t be long before you’re making your own back door escape routes in 3-story enemy fortresses, pursued by a dozen guards only to detonate the remote mines you had already placed on the major support pillars to bring the place crashing down. It just never gets old.

On the mission side of things, they are all designed to take advantage of the destruction. Using a similar system to Saint’s Row 2, there are different mission types but you can be sure all will involve some sort of property devaluing, whether it’s plowing straight through the supports of a dozen massive windmills in a tank or making your own hasty escape route through an enemy camp.

Soon the breaking physics will be completely natural, and make other games feel static by comparison.

The story isn’t the most memorable, and is simple a vehicle for opening more parts of the world. Of course, being set on Mars you’re not going to get the variety of locations like Oblivion but there are some nice locales all with a different main colour filter and architecture (which you’ll soon be rearranging, or course).

The combat is acceptable, with decent shooting and cover mechanics but even from the weapon upgrade selections you can tell it’s all about using the destruction to your advantage.

Thankfully it’s extremely rare that you’ll die from having a building collapse on you as debris doesn’t take too much off your recharging health meter, but it can feel a tad unfair in vehicles that can quickly be turned to scrap by the numerous enemy tanks that will proceed to bash the shit out of you if you’ve pissed them off. Speaking of which, the vehicles all handle nicely and there’s a nice variety driving around the world to ‘borrow’ from their owners.

On the multiplayer side of things, Red Faction: Guerrilla can be a blast (literally) online as your character goes ragdoll-flying from a bridge exploding under them or a building filled with proximity mines gets thrown into the sky as you step through the doorway.

• Just keep swinging that sledgehammer

Setting more and more inventive traps becomes a sadistic sort of pleasure and can make for some brilliant and memorable matches. It won’t replace Halo 3 or Call of Duty on the Live charts, but it’s well worth having a few rounds on when you feel like something different. Even the Wrecking Crew mode which is playable on a single console is a lot of fun, letting players take turns to test out their destructive skills.

Graphically Red Faction: Guerrilla is very good. There’s some nice lighting and blur effects, but sometimes the screen can appear a bit empty. Usually this is simply a sign that not enough stuff is blowing up, something you’ll be quick to remedy. It’s a good effort and makes for a nice unique open world.

Something unusual is the sound. When starting a new game almost all the sound sliders are at their maximum, with punchy sound effects and decent voice acting. There’s always something slightly there in the background though, and it wasn’t until I lowered all the sliders to about 40% while leaving music at 100% that I realised there’s actually a quite awesome soundtrack to accompany the explosions that is by default abnormally soft.

Keying in at all the right moments and keeping the adrenaline pumping, I seriously recommend immediately turning all the other sliders down but pushing your TV volume higher to give each mission a greater sense of urgency and excitement with the great original soundtrack.

By now you should know I’m very taken by Red Faction: Guerilla. Like Saint’s Row 2, it’s not going to reinvent the open world genre but it does bring its own unique focus and is made for pure entertainment value that never gets old. You may be doing a lot of the same stuff throughout the game, but there’s always a different way to approach it and makes a nice break from city-based freeroaming.

”9.1/10

• 360 vs PS3 Visual Comparison

On a final note, THQ were nice enough to supply me with both the 360 and PS3 versions of the game so I can do quick visual comparison. Of course the content on both discs is the same, but there is a bit of a visual difference between the two. Using the same TV I ran through the first section of both, flicking between the two to see whether one version had the slight upper hand.

In this case it was the 360 version that will be preferable to multi-console owners. Textures were slightly crisper with a more 3D look attributed to the level of bump and normal mapping on Microsoft’s console, while the lighting also appeared to be using a few more advanced effects in comparison to the Sony counterpart. A suggestion to PS3 owners as well – turn the brightness down and contrast up slightly when you start as it appeared a bit overly bright on default but this is quickly fixed in the settings menu.

The most important difference however was the use of anti-aliasing to smooth out all the jaggies. This was completely missing from the PS3 version which is more noticeable with buildings lying in angled pieces while the 360 version appeared almost totally smooth.

However, the PS3 version did appear to have a bit more sand and particle effects in the air. At any one time there can be sand carried on the wind, and it looked significantly thicker as more of a mask over distant objects than the Xbox version.

The framerate on both versions holds nice and fairly steady in all but the biggest destruction, and definitely a lot smoother than many other open world games such as Saint’s Row 2 and GTA IV have had.

Overall, for any people with a choice the 360 version has the edge but both are excellent games and you’re not missing out or getting a shoddy port for either console.

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Red Faction: Guerrilla Price List in Australia (as of writing):

EB Games: $109.95 ($29.95 when you trade 2 eligible games) (will also price-match)

Game: $109.95 ($29.95 when you trade 1 eligible game) (will also price-match with catalogue proof)

GameTraders: $109.95

JB HiFi: $89 (trade 3 x 360 games not on the exclusion list and get it for free)

Big W: $84

Kmart: $94

Harvey Norman: $109.95

Myer: $109.95

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©2009 Alex Baldwin

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