Gamerz Reviewz

Faaaaaaabulous!

Bobfish — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:42:00 +0000

Fable 2 is the sequel to the ever-popular Fable on the original X-Box. After a 3year wait and with guns as a new major feature you can either choose a male or a female character. Again with the same points as the first game you start the game as a young child doing a few quests to get you used to the control system. You grow up after certain events/quests are complete. You character will get will lines which glow a neon blue the more you use will (spells) and you can customise their appearance such as hair style, hair colour, beards, moustaches as well as make up and tattoos.

The main story plot is set a five hundred years after the original Fable and yet again Albion needs your help to set everything right. Lucien Plans to be the ruler of Albion and you have to go on quests to find three Heroes to help you stop him, The Hero of Skill, The Hero of Strength and The Hero of Will.

The achievement scheme is not very hard but at the same time not easy. And if you chose to buy both expansion packs they will not only add more quests and open up more areas but they will add 100 gamer points from the first expansion which will set you back 800 microsoft points and the second will add 150 gamer points which will set you back only 560 microsoft points which really shocked me as out of the two expansions adds more areas and more content than the first.

The first expansion is Knothole Island which you will have to help the villagers there fix the weather by digging up various keys to towers. There is also a tomb where if you sacrificed your dog then you can lead a villager in and get your dog back as you will need him to do the quests on this map.

In the second Murgo will comeback and give you cursed items which transport you to several different places to help lift the curse off the item. I like this expansion more as you can go back as many times as you like and the areas are really well thought out.

All in all I love the game and I cant wait to see if they will release any more expansions.

KILLZONE

Bobfish — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:41:37 +0000

FIRSTLY, MY MOST humble apologies for, once again, being silent for so long. After a great many headaches and changes of plan and last minute problems that should really have been explained right from the outset but were conveniently left unsaid until the eleventh hour, my beautiful wife and I moved to our new apartment on Monday 11/05/09. But now, I return to the fold with a…well, you’ll see.

I’ve heard much about KILLZONE, primarily positive, though when considered in depth, all people ever seemed to really talk about was the quality of the visuals and how uberly kickarse the Helghast are. Whilst I agree with both points (the leader of the Helghan Army is Brian freaking Cox, how can they NOT be uber beyond the realm of uber after all?) that still doesn’t tell us much about the game itself. Well, some would argue that it does, after all, it’s only the graphics that matter.

Right?

…

Moving on.

The opening cinematic sets a grandiose standard which the first mad dash through the trenches of the desperate attempt to repel the overwhelming Helghast assault only serves to enhance. Unfortunately, the game then falls flat on it’s face. The control scheme is awful, not to mention hideously unresponsive, and there are glitches flying around left, right and centre. So much so, that having moved only one level into Act 3 frustration got the better of me and I packed up the game, deleted my save file and swore never to ever play it again. A shame really, because I desperately wanted to like it.

Basically, KILLZONE promises a lot, and fails to deliver. I won’t deny that it really, really tries. Sadly, it just tries too much in the wrong areas. The visuals are truly stunning, clearly pushing the Playstation 2 a great deal further than any game either before or after (at least as far as I have seen), but I, personally, need more than just top notch texturing and fluid animation to make a game playable. After more than twenty years of gaming under my belt, I suppose the shine has just worn off for me. Sorry Reaper, I really did try to like it.

Graphics: 9/10
Gameplay: 3/10
Audio/Music: 6/10
Plot/Scripting: 8/10
Overall: 3/10

One final note, it has to be mentioned that, inspite of it’s faults, KILLZONE really tried to be a well balanced game, and that effort, though ultimately futile, deserves to be recognised.

Effort: 9.5/10

Okay, another FINAL final note.

Brian Cox: 10/10

Overall: 5/10

A change of pace, a change of place

Bobfish — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:43:34 +0000

After much “hmming” and “guffawing” the paperwork for my new apartment is in the final stages of completion. Only a weekend and a first mo9nths rent stand between us and our movementness. Unfortunately, as most of you should be aware, moving also means time spent waiting for the nice internet man to come and set up the new equipment. So, alas, there will be another expanse of silence from myself whilst everything has time to settle back into place. I’ll do what I can to post at least one more review over the weekend and, hopefully, another at trhe beginning of next week, but it might be as long as a month after before I return. Though I can’t honestly see why it would take any more than a fortnight. Still, best to plan ahead and give a heads-up about these things.

However, this sojourn to the realms of the real world will give me some time to work on another project which the Reaper and I have been neglecting of late. Well, I’ve been neglecting it because my head has been inserted quite a significant distance into my posterior, but anyway, point is, I’m going to get my side of that done whilst I’m not distracted with other things. Until then, you can find part one of our…work here http://www.starwarsfanworks.com/jedilove.html

Enjoy.

And let this be a warning to you. This is what happens when you play Rainbow Six Vegas on the PSN for too many hours with people who are…not very good

Halo 2 : Enter the Arbiter

Bobfish — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:51:16 +0000

REGULAR VISITORS AND those who know anything about me at all will already be well aware of my general lack of…fondness for Halo. Nonetheless, being that there are only the Reaper, Charlie and myself making regular contributions at the moment, and Halo being one of the most successful and popular games franchises in the current gaming market, it seemed like a bad idea to cut them out completely. And, well, it seems that I am currently in the best position to muddle through. So here I am, back again with my take on the second chapter in this, most decidedly love it or hate it series.

I was rather critical of the first chapter, far more so than I really intended to be. And whilst I still feel my opinions were justified and correct from my perspective (opinion is a personal thing after all) I still made a genuine effort to offer a more impartial review. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t find anything at all about Halo that appealed to me. But my views on the first game are already documented and available of this very website for all to see so I don’t need to go over them again. But it’s important that I add perspective because the paragraphs to follow may come as a surprise to many.

Halo 2 improved immensely over the original both technically and atmospherically. The scripting was significantly better, with the characters being fleshed out far more than in the predecessor. Most notably the Chief himself, who was, not to put too fine a point on it, a right arrogant…so and so. He develops a more approachable and ultimately more compelling personality in his second appearance, moving away from the cheesy, gung ho “I’m going to save the galaxy” bs. He gains more of a grounded perspective, making him seem more likeable and less of a douchebag.

The plot, also, had a better flow to it, though a lot of that was ruined when the ending became, more or less, a repeat of the original game. Only the locations changed, and the introduction of a new playable character, the Covenant Arbuter, offering a slightly different perspective. I still wouldn’t go so far as to say I enjoyed the game, but I can at least say that I didn’t out and out hate it either. I’ve never been a particular fan of First Person Shooters at the best of times, and Halo 2 did nothing to draw me in and leave me with anything more than a so-so impression. And, again, I didn’t bother with the online play because that also has never appealed to me. I know that the online matches are a large part of the appeal for many gamers, but I’ve always been more interested in the main game so my impressions are always going to be based from that first.

It didn’t help that I was running a built for Vista game on XP Home either. I needed a number of home built and edited files to allow the game to even run on my rig, and faced a number of problems along the way from a technological stand point. Though this, of course, has nothing to do with the game itself, and could have been avoided by running the game under the correct OS, it didn’t exactly endear me towards it when I had to use the Task manager to close it down because it had frozen for the umpteenth time. Still, I do accept that that was my own fault and should be taken not as an attack on the game, but as a heads up to those who, like myself, still use XP and wish to play the PC version of the game.

Basically, Halo 2 is a lot like the first and will likely always divide the gaming world. Some will love it, others will hate it. Me? I was wholly under enthused and can say only that it wasn’t really bad, but wasn’t really very good either. As always, it would be best to decide for yourself. Just don’t expect to see me running through it again any time soon. Though it does offer 1000 achievement points which are attainable without needing a subscription to Live for online so…maybe.

Graphics: 8/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Audio/Music: 7.5/10
Plot/Scripting: 8/10
Overall: 7.5/10

P.S : WTF?!? Cortana went Emo. Hmm…

Emoness : 9.5/10

Spider-Man : Web of Shadows…but is it?

Bobfish — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:15:02 +0000

THE YEAR IS 1962. God (sometimes also known by the more humble name of Stan Lee) is sitting in his office at Marvel publishing wracking his brain for a new idea for a super-hero. The Fantastic 4, the X-Men and a number of other previous titles are all doing well, having lead to a surge in demand for quality comic books. Fortuity shines on our intrepid hero and he glances across to see a spider making it’s way steadily up his office wall.

Forty-seven years later, this chance event had lead to arguably the most famous, most well recognised and best loved super-hero character in comic, television and film history. With dozens of off-shot comic lines, several reinventions and re-tellings of the original seventeen page short in what, at the time, was to be the final issue of Amazing Fantasy, and three smash hit films (even if the third was crap) to reintroduce good old Spidey to yet another generation. When you consider it like that, Spider-Man : Web of Shadows (in this instance for the Nintendo Wii) has a dizzying legacy to stand up to.

Something which it does in spectacular style.

From the city spanning opening, punctuated by an extremely famous piece of classical music (which I of course have forgotten the name of) and a Spidey that is decidedly more aggressive than we are used to seeing him, to the fist full of alternate endings. Dictated by your decisions at key moments in the story, you can influence not only the final outcome of the game, but also some of the more important events along the way as well.

You have a meter that shows your general leaning either towards the “good” traditional red Spider-Man, or the “bad” black Spider-Man. We were promised during early development of the game that, for the first time, we would actually b given the opportunity to play Spider-Man as an anti-hero. Or even an outright villain, and I’m happy to say that, for once, the pre-release claims were right on the money. Not just little acts of selfishness, but outright cruelty, such as (spoiler alert) during the battle with a symbiote infected Wolverine. Upon defeating him you are given the two options of how to proceed, and if you choose the black option Spidey lifts him above his head and, literally, rips him in half at the waste. Dropping him back onto the floor in two pieces.

I could go into great detail of the plot and game mechanics, but personally, I think the game is so well made that it needs nothing further. The more important part of a review, after all, is the simple question of whether it’s any good or not. And the answer is a resounding, explosive YES. The game is absolutely amazing, and as far as I’m aware is identical to the Playstation 3 and X-Box 360 release in everything except graphical complexity. Certainly the games rooftop opening is exactly the same and I am now looking forward to playing the HD version as well to compare the two.

Spideyness: 9.5/10

Graphics: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Audio/Music: 9/10
Plot/Scripting: 9/10
Overall: 9.5/10

So what about the PSP?

Bobfish — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 09:52:10 +0000

I’m sure y’all have been wondering that since, for all intents and purposes, it’s most decidedly a member of the current generation of consoles. Though it may not have the raw power of the home gaming systems, the Playstation Portable is still far and above the most powerful handheld released to date. Noticeablly more powerful than we were originally told, it runs circles around it’s forefather the Playstation 2, games being “inferior” to Playstation 2 counterparts because of reduced disc space rather than the inner gubbins.

So yes, where be the Playstation Portable reviews I hear you cry? Or is that just my neighbour after a night on the lash? Whichever, the point is that, thanks to the very nice man at my local gaming store, henceforth known as the very nice man at my local gaming store, I can now link my Slim and Lite (I have a classic as well, but don’t ask why) PSP to my TV for sound and video output. This means I can now take high quality images of the screen and, when I come across another, capture live video feed as well.

Basically, there’ll be PSP reviews coming soon.

Watch this space.

Your loyalty will be rewarded…with cake

Merceneries 2 : Flames and explosions and fire and more explosions and blowing stuff up…again

Bobfish — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:20:43 +0000



“What Kind of Explosive Garbage is this!!”



Wow, after playing the main game for only thirteen seconds I had
already decided to return the game to get Bad Company instead, and boy
I am so glad I did.



Firstly I want to get one thing straight; I am a fan of this first
Mercenaries on the PS2. It was one of the best games I had ever
played, and amazed me to no-end. Even the initial demo was really
cool, and you could blow up EVERYTHING, well almost. All the military
vehicals, helicopters, tanks and weapons were a joy to play with in
that ‘Playground of Destruction!’ and you could see elements of Star
War Battlefront within the gameplay, and certainly it was used by
pandemic as part of the coding for the game. This made the game a lot
of fun. Though that goes without saying that the game had faults. I
mean what game doesn’t have mistakes, unfinished levels, and wierd
glitches (such as being catapaulted across the make-up of Korea in a
helcopter after I tried to carry a fuel truck on the winch, strange)
though all games have their short-comings; the GTA series has always
had strange gltches, and wierd happenings (planes falling out of the
sky) But now…



…what we have here is an utter load of tripe and a classic case of
Electronic Arts producing games because they know that the fan-base
will snap it up. Such as the poor Goldeneye: Rogue Agent game. (EA,
obviously, still have a lot to learn about fan pleasing, over money
squandering)



Mercenaries had changed production companies early on in its initial
development and was purchased from Lucas Arts by EA, and I was
thinking that maybe it would be another turn-around title for the
gaming giant; much like Bad Company, Dead Space, and Fifa have done in
2008. But no… the sad news is; the game that, and apart from GTA IV,
was one of the games I was most looking forward to playing, was a huge
let-down.



Firstly lets talk about graphics, or lack of it. I mean the game was
released on both x-Box 360 and PS3, yes I have played both versions,
and this is the kind of graphical quality on a game that I might have
come to expect from a regular PS2, or even back in 2006 on the next
gen consoles during its early days. Not in 2008. I mean you have to
see this crap to believe it. All I can say kid, is don’t believe in
these screen shots, they misslead. The main character models are the
only things that seem to be HD, shiny, and anything close to good
rendering.



The gameplay is okay, if a little shabby. The control system for the
first Mercenaries was perfect, and my motto is don’t fix something
that ain’t broke (something Activision seems to know well with its COD
series, and Crytek UK, formally known as Free Radical Design, the
developers of the TimeSplitters series of First Person Shooters, and
the hugely under appreciated Haze.) Anyway the controls have been
revamped, but not in a good way. Natrualistic controls seem to have
been up-rooted in favor of an overly complex mess of ‘which button
throws a grenade?!’, and ‘how the hell do you change to the other
weapon I’m carrying?!’. Disappointing. And then there is the in-game
PDA, and the rest of the interfacing with the game world. It gives me
a headache just thinkng about it. EA have screwed up the PDA into this
big Logo of the game, I mean why be so subtle; they may as well paste
the EA symbol im BIG RED LETTERS onto the in game buildings, cars, &
tanks. Infact there of no-sign within this load of rush work, of the
far superior game that this one sequals. To be totally honest, the
controls suck.



Though I will admit that the open ended gameplay, and the ability to
go anywhere is probably this games only redeeming feature (and its
bargain-bin price) but with so many games that follow the same
formula; GTA being the best example, this is nothing more than a
tiresome clone. A rip off, a clone of a game that needed no
improvements, yet Pandemic were only so happy, under EA’s guidance, to
add and distort what was initially looking like a promising game that
had three years of development time, yet it looks like something
thrown together at the last minute. What gives? However something
slightly suprising is the sound engine.



The sound design, considering the rest of the games’ quality is
something; by which I mean that this is your average sound design of a
game that just can’t cut it standing next to the likes of the previous
Mercenaries, or Bad Company, and not even close to standing with GTA.
Amoung all the wrong turns and short cuts it a sound sound engine
(forgive the pun) it does, like Ronseal, exactly what it says on the
tin. In other words… its fine. Nothing wrong with it, nor anything
especially interesting.



However what got me was the games story; it centres around the plot of
(which ever one of) the Mercenaries characters getting shot in the ass
by someone who betrayed him/her and is about revenge. I thought it
would have been a funny plot, but the joke just doesn’t work, none of
the dialogue is memorable, nor is my bothering to tell you the rest of
the lame plot. I mean, just go buy Bad Company if you want to blow
something up. It is a better alternitive. Or even go and fork over €60
for a second hand PS2 and Mercenaries and have a ball. Why not get GTA
San Andreas while you’re at it….



The Verdict- THIS REVIEW SPEAKS FOR ITSELF, I’m totally disgusted with
this game, and I feel ripped off by EA once more.
“EA! theres a ticked off gamer here!”



The number game:

Graphics- 3
Gameplay- 4
Sound Design- 7
Plot/Story- 2
Replayability- 7

Score- 4.6



Final Words- I’m not proud to admit this, but this game contains a fun
co-op online multiplayer in which the entire game can be played
together with another Mercenaries 2 owner, especially fun with a
friend. Possibly the best feature of the game.



Author Note- This review is entirely my opinion and I have been
completely fair in my scoring and have tried to keep a balance to it.
However, even though my review was un-biazed by the corporate media,
and I have been completely honest in my opinion there will ofcourse be
those who do not share my opinions. That is the trait of we humans, to
make our own decisions on things. Thus I urge you to try Mercenaries
2, do not rely justly on my thoughts.

Happy Gaming!!

-Jedireaper

The Other Kind Of Gaming

Gamer Guru — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:55:49 +0000

I’m generally not much of a gambler, but around this time of year that changes for me, as my sport of choice (NHL Hockey — I am Canadian after all), gets down to the wire, and the playoffs soon begin. Also, one in awhile I allow myself to indulge in a little online poker just for fun (never more than I can afford, of course).

I had been looking for a good place online to place bets, and play a few hands of poker as well. However, as you may be aware, there are many online betting portals available, and it can be hard to know which ones offer the best bonuses, as well as high pay out rates.

Thankfully, I came across a good website which provides casino and betting data in an easy to read table format. You can read more about the website at bestusaonlinecasinos.org, and then find the best betting portal for your needs, if you’re game. All of the websites listed are trustworthy and will pay out your winnings. Also, they all accept US players, which is important as I know a few of my American friends have had trouble finding quality online casinos to enjoy. So, if you’re looking to place some sports bets, or play a few hands online, it’s a good website to check out.

Bad Reapony

Bobfish — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:20:29 +0000

'Keeping good Company with a Bad crowd'



Hello endearing fans and welcome to Bad Company… Or is it really good
company if you are a criminal? I’ll never know. Anyway; Rainbow Six, a
glorifyed SWAT team- uh sorry; Bad Company a company of only four soldiers
that have commited some crimes, and are instead of being sent to prison
transferred into outfit. And also welcome back to Bobfish and myself
after our very very very (well, my) very log hiatus. Log hiatus? I mean Long
hitus, uh a log hit us, uhm, no! A LONG HIATUS…. Problems with family, and
general low-ness of funds pertain to my lack of reviewing top-line and
new-released games, besides Killzone 2 which I hope to review as soon as I
get my PS3 joypad back to play the singleplayer, instead of slugging away on
online games.



Anyway lets get back to what you came here for; Rainbow Six Vegas. Gah not
again- Battlefield: Bad Company.



This is another excellent entrence, both stylisticly, and humourously, into
the Battlefield series. And the first, as I am aware, to contain an actual
character driven storyline. Anyway, I am going to keep this review short and
as sweet as possible until I get used to writing reviews again. So here is
all the important stuff.



Battlefield Bad Company puts you in the clean smelling (I wonder if he
uses air freshner) boots of Preston Marlow, or is that Marlow Preston,
I’ve never quite figured it out. Anyway you are embodied within this
character who has commited a crime, though none are mentioned
specifically, which has always left me wondering what Preston did to
get this piss-end of nowhere assignment to B company. Anyway, there
are three other members of Marlows’ squad; Sarge, (one bad ass talkin’
mo-fo!) their leader; Sweetwater, the geeky glasses guy (you always
NEED one in squads to make fun of); and lastly Haggard, the demonic
creature that can turn into a dragon and burn everything in sight, and
is the whole idea behind the gold, wait… Demonic creature? Oops I
mean the explosives NUTT JOB who is the one who begins the whole mess
with the gold by finding some on the body of the Mercenaries they had
been fighting in the first mission.



The narrative through-out the extremely solid plot, yet hilariously
out proportioned by the characters themselved; is steady, humourous,
and above all else- straight out crazy; just what you would expect
from a platoon of Murdoch’s from the A-team. Besides some of the
animation, especially during the beginning and the end of a mission
are very well animated, with Haggard, and Sweetwater playing Rock
Paper Scissors with ICBM’s in the background in one scene. Top class! As
this is from Electronic Arts, I have in recent years lost a hell of a
lot of weight… uh… confidence in the company especially after four
god awful Bond Games, many rushed and underwhelming Soccer games, and
blatant boring titles, I had almost given up. Then this rears its
pretty head along with the excellent Burnout Paradise (expect review
soon) and ‘wow!’ the brilliance of EA is back, and apart from a half
arsed effort by Pandemic for Mercenaries, is better than ever.



The Graphics on BC are extremely good and does the job that the game
was designed for. The DICE engine that powers the game is
exceptionally good with creating realism to explosions, especially
their sounds when they are far away. The sound is delayed and arrives
like a thunder clap! Pretty ace. And the character detail is rather
good which leads me to believe that a lot of work went into designing
the protagonists. The fine detail on the soldiers uniforms is pretty
well rendered. And the gameplay, while at first is no Call of Zombies:
Nach der Untoten; it is certainly second nature and pretty easyto
grasp after a few missions.



My favorite weapon was this computer thingy that could call in
artillery strikes on ememy positions. Ha! Bombed by their own people.
The vehical combat, especially when tanks are involved, is totally
worth the game alone, which also boasts semi-destructable
environments.



Verdict: Pick up this game for a huge laugh at the stupid humor and
compelling story and with a very decent online mode too, if you
haven’t played the demo yet; you’ve missed so much already. Only
deterrance is the crack shot enemy NPC’s especially on the harder
difficulities. Definately worth getting for all those trophies. And
the one that made me laugh was a trophy for knocking down a load of
trees in a helicopter. I totally didn’t know I’d get it, but those
trees…. those horribly evil; helicopter destroying trees. *yawn* All
in all; a damn good ride. And with lovable characters you can’t go
wrong. Roll on Bad Company 2. Ho-rah!!



The Score:

Graphics- 7.5 (pretty damn good!)
Gameplay- 8
Sound Design- 8.5 (blam! boooshk!)
Plot/Story- 8 (oh so funny, you capatalist Pigs!)
Replayability- 8 (getting all the gold is fun!)

Final Score- 8 (Bronze Award)

Turned out the review wasn’t the ‘bare necessities’ hahaha!

-Your friendly neighbourhood Jedireaper.

–
Join www.killermovies.com/forums/ and discover a new world of online
socialising. From discussions about comics, books, games, Star Wars
and Trek, and films to Role
Playing in any manner of variety. There is something for everybody.

Hope to see you there..

Animal Crossing : Let’s go to the City, yay

Bobfish — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:14:00 +0000

At first glance you would think that it is a child’s game but I personally enjoyed playing it. When you start off you choose your name, the town where you live a name and set the date and time and then it cuts to your journey to the town. Once you arrive you have a choice of 4 or 5 different houses to choose from.

Once established you have free roam of the town and you can interact with the town’s folk that already live there and they will help you and give you helpful hints and tips throughout the game. You start out with a clothes shop (where you can buy clothes and make your own designs), newsagents type shop (where you can buy and sell things you want and don’t want), museum (where you can donate things you find such as fossils, fish and insects, look at the stars and have a coffee down stairs.) and a town hall (where you can pay off your house, change certain things in the town and send and receive mail to the town folk or even your friends).

It is a great game to waste time with or even catch up with your friends from all over the world via the Wii Internet connection, all you do is go to the towns gate and add your friends ‘friend code’ and you will receive a code yourself which you give to your friend and get them to add you so you can both send mail to each other, talk to each other with the speaker and even visit each others towns where you can collect different fruit off the trees and plant them in your own town, go shopping together or just generally help out and have fun.

I really enjoy playing it as there is so much to do and they even celebrate days like we do i.e. Halloween you can go around trick or treating, they have a fireworks display on both bonfire night and New Years Eve. Also they have flea markets on set days (once a month I think) where you can go in the towns folk houses and see if there is anything which you would like to buy and in turn they come to you and you can sell anything which you don’t like for how much you like.

Overall a very enjoyable game for all ages.