Sorry for the title :D but if any one had watched the Kiwis podcast on Youtube, then you would know what I'm talking about hehe.
I haven't had time to focus on gaming the last few weeks due to a sudden spike in the number of teaching hours. So my gaming has been sporadic and uneventful. This is a game that i felt I had to get. I have always loved Grand Theft Auto and despite R* saying that RDR is not a western GTA. It certainly is. And to be fair, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It is not simply just another GTA game, however. It is western GTA. Cue coyote howls and banjo music, please.
You play as the typical anti-hero better known as John Marston, a gruff, rough and tumble gun slinger with an unexpected kind heart. But test his patience long enough and he'll turn on you like a cactus up your bum. As with many protagonists in Rockstar Games, John is a an easy character to like. Nico Belic is another example of this. They are not particularly chivalrous characters, but rather one who are thrown into the fray against their will. We like that indeed; best heroes are often made that way.
Why do I say its not such a bad thing that RDR is so GTA-like? Because as with GTA, you get to do a ton of things. Side quests and mini-games are endless and everywhere to be found.
The game is a little buggy for my liking though. My PS3 has the O button as its main selecting button but the game doesn't accommodate itself to this. It keeps confusing the X with O button and in some mini game like poker, it becomes almost impossible to play. There might be a patch later to fix this I assume. The horse rides can sometimes become very dull as there is nothing out there to see except long stretches of the wild plains. And to be honest after a while it becomes plain boring to see.
All in all, a good all round game with miles of longevity despite its minor bugs. Good story, likeable characters, and cool western action to boot.
I finally managed to get a copy of FIFA World Cup South Africa and what a wait it had been. A lot of stores around the Klang Valley have increased the retail price of this game unexpectantly, considering that (according to some sources) that our retailers are now getting these games directly from the publishers. This basically means that we should expect to get certain PS3 games at cheaper prices. I give you an example, One very reputable (to some) dealer in a certain cinema based mall in Kota Damansara was charging a hefty RM189 for FIFA WC. Its neighbor is charging a lot less, but not cheap, at RM159. While all this is happening, PS3 game buyers in Malaysia have come across something exciting. Games Deliveries. It's like Pizza Hut but with Playstation games. A combination of two great things in life. But this formula is not entirely proven yet. Once I can ascertain the true value of this up and coming service, I will write about it.
Now, let's get into the game. I have to be honest, I am quite on the fence about this game. Despite the fanfare and the sleek design of the menus, there are a lot of noticeable components that are missing. The virtual PRO component has been replaced by "Captain Your Country" which chronicles your rise as a fringe national player up till you become the National Captain. This is a great addition except for the fact that you no longer have the download the game face addition. You supposedly can download it once you created a player, but evertime I tried the game kept telling me that I have no save data. Odd. There are a lot of other things that don't work well too. There is a slight bug in editing your CYC squad in the My FIFA WC sub menu. It says you can't edit until you have created a player. But I HAVE!!! wtf!? Maybe I'm not doing it right or there must be an issue somewhere. Nevertheless, I could hardly remember when making things work in FIFA games is so frustratingly hard.
Many buyers of the game look forward to getting into the game straight away especially online. I don't doubt this is a great game to play online. That is probably my biggest liking about this game. I had a torrid time getting FIFA 10 to run smoothly on the PSN. FIFA WC seems to be much more forgiving and less laggy. I do still get the old "stat report failed" error at the end of a game, which was never an issue in FIFA 09.
Gameplay wise, this game is fantastic. There's a new camera angle for co-op team play and Captain your Country which allows for a bigger field of vision of the pitch. If you have a 32" screen like me though (with bad eyes) you would still want to stick with the normal 'tele' camera angle. Oh, I can hear thunder. It's going to rain soon... Thank god my house is 5 minutes from work :D. Ok, back to the game. The controls are sharper and your players seem to be more skilful at controlling the ball. As with every new version of a football franchise, defending becomes harder to do and requires a little more thought and tactical planning. I can't really say if the FK bug has been fixed, because I haven't had people belting in FKs with 100% accuracy. I have always been rubbish at FKs so I can't really tell.
Well, I'll update this article with a full review soon. Especially after I've had more time with the game. But for now, I got a feeling that it is going to be a good good summer.
Lately, I've been a little frustrated with video games not having enough of a satisfactory ending to warrant a job well done for finishing the game. Look at GOW3 for example. No real conclusion to the tale and instead of answering important questions, more questions arose. It is probably just a way for video game studios to make more money by allowing a premise for a potential sequel; despite it being the final chapter of bla bla bla..
Let's have look at Heavy Rain. This is a game that is designed to be narrative based and a strong plot is crucial to the success of this game. The gameplay is quite new to me and I approached it with much skepticism. The first 20 minutes or so were quite dull to be honest and I suppose it was designed to ensure that the gamer is completely familiar with the games' mechanics. As the story progressed, it became harder and harder to put down. Each 'episodes' in the game peels away layers in the story and also allow the player to bond closer to each of the four characters. I have to admit, for the first time, I was not annoyed by any one of them! Usually a troupe o characters would include one or two annoying ones that just really get on your nerves. But even Madison grew on me eventually; and I know what you're thinking; its not ONLY because of the shower scene.
I realized that you're not really playing this game. You're simply moving the narrative along. The game is so forgiving at times and allows you quite a fair amount of time to do mundane tasks, while at the same time drives you into panic mode in chase or escape scenes. Playing Norman Jaden is probably the closest you'll get to actually experiencing a video game feel in the entire game; with his hi-tech sunglasses and virtual investigation rooms.
But what I like about this game is how it ends. If you play it right, all the loose ends will eventually connect themselves and gave way to a satisfying ending. I may not be able to comment on the possibility of a bad ending; but I am sure it would just encourage players to replay the game until a satisfactory one occurs. A lot of games like GOW3 focuses too much on how a game starts - the big boss fights 5 minutes into the game, the grand scale of it all, etc., yet fail to end it well. I think a lot of developers should look at quanticdreams and say to themselves; maybe they should not build the expectation too high in the beginning, only to let everyone down in the end.
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