Games Tech Gear

The Show vs. MLB 2k8

2008-03-25T09:28:00.000-04:00

by Chow88

I’ve been an avid baseball video game player since the days of baseball stars on the NES. And for those who have played it, IMHO still one of the best baseball games ever. (Who doesn’t want to play on a team with Babe Ruth, Dizzy Dean, Sandy K etc.) I’m the type of guy who buys a baseball game EVERY year, so I know a thing or two about baseball games on consoles. Since 2K took over the baseball licensing and stealing the baseball genre away from a stellar MVP baseball game, I’ve been an avid 2K backer, because frankly there wasn’t anything else at the time. But it turned out to be a good little game, and almost caught up to the legendary status that was MVP baseball. Which brings me to 2k8, on release date I was as giddy as a school boy (as cliché as it sounds…. I really was! lol) But after eagerly anticipating the first word of a review, I was crushed to find that IGN gave it a 7.4. I talked to my boy, darktrc, who told me to go and try mlb 2k8 and decide if it really was that bad. After going to my local shop, and fielding my first ground ball from 3rd and seeing the animation of my throw chop its way to first, I thought to myself, can this really be happening? I thought, oh, I could handle this; it’s not that bad. But after 3 innings I felt this game was almost unplayable, I don’t know if it’s because of my high standards for baseball or for the love of the game but I could not deal with it. Darktrc, who apparently loves The Show 08 so much he bought it for his psp and ps3, told me to give it a try. The show is a good game. I feel it’s going in the right direction, and will be a great game within a few years. I do enjoy the animations, the graphics although a little “Cartoonish” still nice, and the game play is smooth. But compared to the 2k series it does lack a bit. In the show the GM’s do not sign any free agents in franchise mode. There is no dynamic weather, which is an amazing feature on 2k, and every night game has your players wearing long sleeve, even in July in Texas. On a personal note, I’m not a big fan of having a contact/power button to swing. I like using the right analog stick to swing, I find it more realistic, and requires greater skill. Diving for balls feels a little awkward and is not smooth IMHO. Once again this is a good little game but I’m concentrating on the negatives. For the PSP, taken into consideration this is a portable console, it’s a good little game. And I love the RTTS mode, although it’s frustrating as hell! Lol

For this blog, I was going to contact 2k sports about the different issues, but after looking through their forums, I see they have acknowledged their issues, and they are in the process of resolving them. It’s commendable for a company to recognize their faults, and resolve them and not just push a game out and say too bad, wait for next year, as we are the only kids on the block (for the 360 at least). If they do patch up the issues, then I may get it for my 360 as I can’t get away from the swing stick. My problem is last year they also had issues at release, with saving the game and the game freezing. And now all these frame rate issues? Who does the beta testing? The frame rate issues are an obvious problem, and it seems like something a tester would catch. Is it possible that 2K is pushing the release to meet a deadline?

Army of Two…Short!

2008-03-17T22:59:00.002-04:00

By Darktrc

Many, many games have come out to be a huge disappointment in recent memory. To be honest, I think there are far too many of them. Red Steel for the Wii was supposed to be what No More Heroes is now, REVOLUTIONARY, but it was a total bust. Halo 3 was only good because it had “Halo 3” printed on the cover (Yeah Halo fans, I said it.). MLB 2K8 and Bully: Scholarship Edition had MAJOR frame rate problems that both producers had to publicly apologize for and confirm there will be an update as soon as possible. These games all had one positive thing. They all came out on the original release date. It pisses me off when games are delayed…delayed…and delayed some more, and then it comes out to be a waste of $60 anyway. If only every game turned out like Call of Duty 4 (on time and great game), I’d spend $60 on every new release no matter what the game is.

Unfortunately, in the real world, that is not the case. Army of Two is a prime example of a game that just should’ve come out on its’ original date. Why? Well let’s take a look! EA originally announced AoT on July 24th, saying the game will come November 15th, and a week before that they delayed it to Q1 2008. Alright, so that’s cool, a couple months can’t hurt, especially with Halo 3 being just released. As we neared January, they announced that it will be closer to Q2, why? They needed to add more content. That’s great! I mean why not? It wasn’t until February that they announced the confirmed release date of March 6th. Everyone was excited, the trailers looked nuts and the anticipation just went through the roof.

Then…reality hit everyone in the head on March 6th. The game came out with an ultra-cool beginning and intro. Then...six missions later you’re ready to trade the game in. The online 2-on-2 isn’t nearly as amazing as it seems because there is no tactical component to it. Idiots just run around like its Call of Duty 4 with 4 people. Sure, it’s fun to play with a friend, but what if you don’t play online? You get a stupid AI buddy that fails to respond to your commands far too often for you to survive through the missions. There is barely any replay value to it, unless you are curious to see how the game plays with different friends. I was looking forward to that aspect personally…until I found out it is six missions long.

Don’t get me wrong. Army of Two had potential to be a fantastic game. It is quite possibly one of the best co-op shooters so far on the 360. When it comes down to value, online content, single player and so on…it just wasn’t there. $60 (CDN) for 6 missions and a crappy online just doesn’t do the job for me. This game is at best a 7-day rental, because you’ll beat it in 2 or 3 depending on your pace and the rest of the 4-5 days you’ll be looking for ways to get that $9-10 dollars back.

Another Take

by Khazyk

Army of Two is short. There is no denying that fact. Even with that being the case, there is a great deal of fun to be had. I quite enjoyed the game. There are some really annoying circumstances to the game though. For example, why would it take more then 1 sniper shot (2 if you have really crappy aim) to take down an enemy? There was an instance where it took about 6 sniper shots to put an enemy down. Another annoying thing with enemy AI and possibly a gripe with the third person perspective is what we refer to as “dancing with the stars.” It is when you are tracking an enemy and putting bullets in him. Then suddenly he decides to run back into you. This then commences the dance because he will start doing circles around you causing you to try and lace bullets into him and continually missing. This whole event may actually cause you to see stars because of the circular motions you and Enemy A are doing. Not a fun time!

Enough of the cons though. This game is a truly fun experience. Grab a buddy online or local, and just have a few hours of fun. The fact you can give props or lambaste your partner is a great idea, but it’s unfortunate it wasn’t flushed out more. Plus, this game has some of the wittiest dialogue I have heard in a game. It is constant and keeps you wanting to hear more from Salem and Rios. One dialogue piece occurred when Chow88 and I were playing and in the middle of a firefight, Salem started going off on which rapper was the best in the Wu-Tang Clan was. Suffice it to say, laughs started to ensue.

The game is enjoyable. It probably would be one of the best I’ve played if it were a budget title, but I think a fun time could be had. It’s too bad that late fees on games are back because this is a rental, but I’m sure you wouldn’t bring it back on time!

PES 08 still the winning eleven over FIFA?

2008-03-16T18:55:00.001-04:00

by Darktrc

Almost every series of sports games, I’ve been torn apart on which version of the game to buy. 2K is the obvious choice for basketball, EA for hockey and while arguable, I personally claim The Show for baseball. Tiger and Madden are the only games out for their respective sports, and while it saves me money to decide on which version to buy, it also means they have no competition. This results in the developers being able to slap any simple football/golf game together and stamp “Madden [insert year here]” and there you go, another game another year. But when it comes to soccer, I have still yet to solve the mystery in my mind. PES 2008 (Also known as Winning Eleven) and EA’s FIFA 08 go hand in hand in this year’s soccer deathmatch for bragging rights. But my personal choice, the one I prefer, even though I buy both, is still PES (WE) 2008.

Now don’t get me wrong, FIFA 08 is a significant upgrade from the 07 version of the game. The players feel a little bit smoother in terms of movement and animation, but it is still continuously frustrating to try and score a goal. You can launch one into the stands, even when you are 2-feet from the goal line. Winning headers from corners and free-kicks are still a drag, and defending them…don’t even get me started. The plus about FIFA is that their online modes and manager mode (basically a franchise mode) is deep and well thought out. The most recent FIFA updates for the 360 were great, your rosters continually stay updated (*cough* NHL 08 *cough*) and the 6-on-6 mutiplayer, multiconsole game mode (much like the 3-on-3 in NHL) is fantastic. The online leagues are great, gameplay is smooth and like I said, it is an upgrade by far from 07. The manager mode is extremely deep, manager everything from selling and bringing in big name players, to try and manage your team’s chemistry all the way to trying to keep your own superstars from leaving and signing with another club. There is never nothing to do in FIFA’s manager mode. The only things is, I just feel that I’m controlling robots instead of players when
I play FIFA, and they still haven’t fixed it.

Now the bread and butter. PES 2008, many know it as Winning Eleven, is still superior in my mind. There aren’t as many options for online play, and there aren’t a complete roster of licensed teams and jerseys, but the gameplay is still far superior. Everyone moves with great precision, the fights for the ball are realistic and the Master League mode (PES’s version of manager mode…Can’t these guys just name is franchise?) is amazing. A lot of improvements will only appeal to the long-time Winning Eleven fanatics. Last year, the fighting for the ball was quite awkward. You and the guy that has the ball, can run side by side with each other for a long, long time, even if you are pressuring him with the A button. This year, players are smarter and when pressing the A button, your defender will try and stick out a leg and get as much of the ball as they can to disrupt the play from going on. The animations are great, fluid and the precision is so dead-on that controlling every player feels great. Of course, John Terry dribbling doesn’t feel nearly as great as Cristiano Ronaldo, but it feels like you are controlling the ball…even when Terry fails to keep it under control because his dribbling rating is low.

The Master League is what I play it for. You may choose to take over a team or create an entirely new team from scratch and play through the ranks of division 2, get promoted, win league cups and so on. And through all of this, you are keeping an eye out on the progression of your players and making sure everyone is in game shape when game day comes around. Each player has their own progression patterns, that are distinguished in 6 categories that I won’t bother to go into, but a long story short, some players may develop fast, but not for a long period. Some may have a regular developing process, some may develop slow, but have a long peak and etc. You get the point. Bringing back team creating was huge for me personally. 2007 did not have it and it was a real disappointment. It is a lot of fun creating your own team because you get a roster of no-names and you try and build your team to become the best. Negotiations will happen in time, when the windows open up during the season and at the end of the season. And this is where you have had to already done your homework during the season, it makes it easier if you spend sometime here and there during your season to make sure you have list of people you want to go and people you are aiming to come in. The list is very useless for those that just want to get back into the game.

In the end, I guess all I can conclude is I love Winning Eleven. The soccer mystery though is still yet to be solved, because I just know something is going to be big about FIFA 09. But for now, Winning Eleven continues to impress, and but instead of being up big a large margin, PES is going to have to step it up to keep this half-time lead and win the soccer trophy for me.

Welcome to GTG

2008-03-16T18:48:00.002-04:00

We would like to introduce you to the GTG team.

Darktrc

Consoles Owned: PS3, 360, Wii, PSP, DS, PS2, DC, PS and a fairly decent PC
Game Preferences: Sports, Action-Adventure

I’m your typical asian guy…black hair, glasses, t-shirt and jeans… I work at a retail store in Canada that sells games, so I buy a lot. I play what is believed to be the same sports game every year, I buy’em all besides the Tiger Woods golf series. I was never a big golf fan. I have a lot of systems and not enough time to play’em all. Then again, who does right? Even though I’m in university, I find the time to game always… if you study hard, you gotta play hard. People just stress themselves too much in my opinion.
Most of my reviews will be coming from the sports and FPS. The occasional RPG and Action-adventure will pop up, but I revolve myself around those games. But nonetheless, welcome to GTG, and hopefully you’ll enjoy what my buddies and I put together for you

VeteranWolf

Consoles Owned: Xbox 360, Nintendo DS Lite, Sony PSP, PC, Wii
Game Preferences: First Person Shooters, Third-Person Shooters, Real-Time Strategy, Role-Playing, Fighting, Action.

I work at a retail store in Canada that sells games, which of course means that I purchase a lot of games. Well that’s basically the case except the games that I buy fall under the category of shooters. Shooting games I would say are my best, and favourite to play. I’m the typical Halo-shooter fan. With limited time in the day I still make time to clean-house in a few rounds of Halo 3 on Xbox Live. The reviews I will be putting together will be of the shooter type. I will occasionally be reviewing an RPG here or there but I prefer the classic turn-based RPG’s.

KHAZYK

Consoles Owned: PS3, XBOX360, Wii, NDS, PSP, PC
Preferred Genre: RPG, Adventure

What to say about myself? Well, I like to game. I’ve been doing it for a long time now and I use it as an escape from the rigours of real life. Since I have so much on my plate right now, it’s always nice to sit back, relax and escape into a world that people put many hours into to create for one to enjoy. Due to this fact, I like the RPGs and Adventure games. These are genres that captivate you with their stories and keep you wanting more for many hours. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy pretty much every other genre out there, but those two top my list. As for those rigours of real life I was talking about, well I do things to keep me busy. Play sports, do my schooling. I even read books! On the site, I will be talking more about that gear that is all the rage as well as the tech that you need to get before you friend does so you can gloat for the few days that you have it before anyone else does. I’m sure I will add a game review here and there as well. So I hope you all enjoy what’s to come on our site. I guess we’ll see you online or next time!

CHOW88

Consoles Owned: Xbox 360, PS3, WII, PSP, PC
Preferred Genre: Sports, First Person Shooters, RPG

I’ve been gaming since the days of War Games on Coleco Vision. I’ve gone through the days Dreamcast and even the Sega Genesis. But with the console’s that are out now, it’s all about variety. Sports is usually my thing, as I’m the one that buys all the sports game every year, EVEN Tiger Woods (lol darktrc) But I’m always up for a good round of COD 4. I will also bring you up to date news/reviews on the latest tech, especially everything Iphone.

We here at GTG want to bring you our non-bias reviews and thoughts of the gaming industry. Don’t forget to subscribe, as we will have more updates on our free draws for great games and tech.

Welcome to the Revolution

2008-03-14T12:11:00.003-04:00

by khazyk

Welcome to GTG (Games Tech Gear). In the months ahead we hope this site will be your source of information for new and upcoming games, cool tech and useful gear. We are currently under construction now, but keep checking back because we are planning to have a draw to win a FREE copy of GTA IV on your system of choice! So stay tuned to get caught up in the electronic revolution.

2008-03-14T01:06:00.001-04:00

COMING SOON!!!