E3

Last day of E3 is upon us, it came and went so fast.

What I want to do is talk about the big 3 (Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo) conferences. The games or features that the companies covered very well and their disappointments or faults during the briefing. This will be a 3 part blog so lets start off with Microsoft first.



Microsoft started out by showing Rock Band: Beatles which visually looked amazing. I was worried and wondered how Harmonix would accomplish the three part vocal harmonies but was immediately relieved to see how great it worked. I forgot the executive's (Microsoft) name but he looked out of place with his red leather jacket. I don't know it seemed odd to me... Anyway, another thing that stood out to me was their showing instead of telling mentality. For the most part they showed their games and demoed them for the crowd. All the big games that you would expect were there. Halo: ODST, Halo: Reach, Alan Wake, Splinter Cell: Convictions and Crackdown 2. The most interesting thing to come out their conference was their new camera/controller peripheral called Natal, think Ps3's Eye Toy but with more uses. The biggest use for Natal was the ability to navigate through menus and voice recognition. Microsoft looks like they want to try and break into the market place where the Wii is. I don't see it happening but I guess they believe they can do it with Natal. Another cool addition to Natal is what Peter Molyneux has been working on. Rather than explaining Milo, it would be easier to show you so I'll post the video of it at the end of this post.

On to the disappointments.

I was a little disappointed with Alan wake to be honest. I was expecting a little more out of the demo especially with all the hype surrounding it. The way to kill enemies is to shine any kind of light at them. Every time the flash light was pointed at the enemy, it looked like it took a while or it was in slow motion to show them disappearing. Whatever was happening the enemies got annoying very quickly. It was a very small slice of the game but it didn't excite me.

Am I the only one getting sick of Halo? Bungie showed a little more of ODST and a teaser of Halo: Reach but it failed to excite me once again. I know its Microsoft's flagship title but I don't know if they really need a Halo every year.

Microsoft has been famous for their online service; adding twitter and Facebook seems like a great idea but I think the majority of people do it on their computer or iphone. Its a good that its there but it may just be a small segment of people using it.

Milo

Grand Theft Auto 4 Insanity 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdbs-esVWps

Done by yours truly, watch in high quality as well. Sound is a little off because youtube messed it up, but you get the idea lol.

If you liked this video, number 1 in this "series" is under my youtube profile, "whoosh88"

-Mark

Excuse Me, What Can I Get With $10?

Quite a lot actually.

I remember the days before the Playstation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace took off with downloadable games. Every new game that came out was $60 (or even $50 back in the PS2/Xbox days). Today, we are fortunate enough to buy games online without having to drive to the store...all for around $10.

Of course these games aren't $60 titles, "you get what you pay for" does play a role. But surprisingly, you get a lot for paying only 10 bucks. These games include Bionic Commando, Super Stardust HD, the Pixel Junk games, and plenty of others that serve a simple purpose. Provide a quick way for people to get their gaming fix.

At first the PSN Store was slow to take off, but now it's coming out with new games all the time. And take a look at some of the new titles and others that are in store: Fat Princess, Worms, Burn Zombie Burn, Zombie Apocalypse, and Trine.

Combine these simple games with trophies and they can be played for hours. It's a nice break from spending $60 on a game with a 7 hour story line or $40 on a multiplayer, tactical shooter that doesn't work half the time. If you're in the mood for a change that won't hurt your wallet, check out some of the titles on the PSN or Xbox Live Marketplace. And definitely look towards some of the new titles coming out.

-Mark

WordFu

I couldn't sleep last night so I started going through the app store on my iphone trying to find Oregon Trail. I remembered listening to a podcast where John Davison talked about a game called WordFu from NGmoco. He described it as Boggle with Kung Fu noises. This game came out at the end of February for 99 cents but when I went to download it, the price changed to $1.99. I would have liked to pay 99 cents, but like Shane Bettenhausen always says, "it’s nice to want things".

The game is fairly simple when you start it up. There are 9 letters that you can choose to either mulligan by shaking the iphone/ipod to get a new batch of letters or flip over single cubes to get new letters. The point is to get the best combination of letters that will help you get the most words out of your batch. At a certain point, the game throws some power-ups to help you get a higher score. There is a power-up that stops time; one that doubles your score and another that lets you flip one cube over. Everything is timed in WordFu. You have 20 seconds to choose your batch of letters and 45 seconds to make as many words as you can. To enter your words you touch the letter cube and when you're done with the word you shake the iphone/ipod to enter it for a score. While this game is over rather quickly it’s fun and addicting, especially if you like playing word games like Boggle. Leader boards and achievements are present in WordFu as well as 2 player wifi. I haven't tried the 2 player mode (you have to be on the same hot spot) but I really want to check it out.

It was worth the 2 bucks :)

-Rob

Condemned 2: Bloodshot Review

As promised, my review of Condemned 2.

Let me start off by saying I have not played the first game, so the story is sort of lost on me. However, it didn't seem like much of a factor after playing this game. Some would say that this was scarier than the last Condemned, but to me, it seemed creepy at best. I haven't been scared in a video game since Resident Evil 2 on the Playsation. Scary video games are like scary movies, they don't work when you get older. Nonetheless I was surprised by how disturbing some of the enemies looked and behaved. I would describe them as superhuman bums. Speaking of the main character (zing), he wasn't very likable and I could care less about him. It's hard to relate to an alcoholic that beats on other bums, unless of course you watch Bumfights constantly.

The combat was the highlight of this game. It felt like the combat system from Oblivion without all the suck. There are combos if you get the timing down and if you get an enemy on the ground, you can do something along the lines of a fatality. There are environmental triggers all over the levels for some variety. You can pretty much pick up anything from the environment to use as a weapon. There are some instances where you will use a gun, but for the most part it's just hand to hand combat, baseball bats, lead pipes etc. Another cool feature in this game was the investigation set pieces. You basically have to play as a CSI detective and figure out certain things using the clues in the crime scene. You are graded every time you send information back to the other cop. At one point in the game you have to identify a specific blood spatter on a door. It's a good thing I watched a lot of seasons of Dexter or I wouldn't have gotten it right.

One thing that annoyed me about this game was that the screen became distorted every time the developers wanted to freak the player out. I have seen this trend in other games like Fear 2 but here it became frustrating especially when enemies would attack you. Overall, the game was fun even though the story was a little weird (I guess I should have played the last one) and since I only paid $10, it was a decent experience.

-Rob

Busy!!

Sorry for not posting any new updates, I have been super busy with school/work/hanging out and a few games that I'm trying to get through. I will write up a review of Condemned 2 soon. Here are some games that I have been playing:

Burnout

Killzone 2

3 versus 3 Hockey

Condemned 2

-Rob

Burnout Paradise and Why It's Insanely Awesome

Burnout Paradise was released a little over a year ago at the standard price of $60. The game was more than solid, and having picked it up on release day I was excited to start playing after I spent hours and hours on the demo. There was a lot to do, dozens of events to partake in, cars to unlock, freeroaming, and of course online play.

Now after several updates and additions (more challenges online, new cars, and the addition of bikes, which were free by the way) the game is only $20 and can be picked up without even leaving your house by downloading it off the Playstation Network or Xbox Live Marketplace. Seriously?

Yup. Criterion has really done an amazing job keeping their fans coming back to drive around in Paradise City. There is even more new content coming out, including a whole other island. Yea, a whole new island. A new "Legendary Cars" pack is out today at the price of $8 and I can only assume the new island will cost money as well. But Criterion has done plenty for them to earn a few more bucks from me.

You might say, "Well I don't like racing games...why do you think I'd enjoy this?" Yes, this game is under the racing category, but it's nowhere close to any racing or driving simulator. This is an arcade smash-em-up-while-driving-really-fast game. If you don't like racing games, that doesn't mean you won't like Burnout Paradise. In fact, I can almost promise you'll enjoy it.

So for $20 you can pick up an extremely fun game with lots of content and fun. Playing with friends online while listening to your own music is some of the best fun I've had with an online game in a while.

Good job Criterion, and thank you.

-Mark

My Top 9 Games of 09

Here are the games that I am most excited for in 2009.

9. LA Noire

8. Infamous

7. Bioshock 2

6. Resident Evil 5

5. Heavy Rain

4. God of War 3

3. Killzone 2

2. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

-Rob

Killzone 2 Demo Review

A demo was released today for Killzone 2 (available in Europe, but if you made a Europe account you were able to download it).

The demo is roughly 1200MB in size. The first thing I noticed when I started Killzone 2 was the menu system. Very cool the way they did things for navigating. You can only play through a small portion of the full game and there's no multiplayer component to test out. No complaints about that though, it is after all a demo.

After messing around with the settings to customize it the way I wanted, I started the campaign. Unfortunately you can only pick one difficulty setting. It starts with a cinematic where your transport vehicle is going down and you crash land near a beach. After navigating with your troops for a small distance, Helghast troops immediately come down around you and the action begins. The demo lasted roughly 20 minutes from start to finish. You make your way from the beach to an indoor facility, then back out and it is over.

In between are plenty of enemies to shoot and the action is plentiful, but there is only one complaint regarding the combat. The aiming seems like it'll take some time to get used to, nothing major, but you might be missing enemies when you first start playing.

I was playing Killzone 2 in 720p and it was probably the best looking console game I have ever seen. Animations, textures, setting, lighting...all looks amazing. Blasting off your rifle and seeing the bullets impact metal is sweet. The bullets hit and seem to turn red hot then dissipate. Ragdoll is present with plenty of blood. Enemies react pretty realistically to getting shot. Overall, this game looks incredible.

Speaking of the Helghast, they are actually really smart in terms of combat. They take cover, try and flank you, and if you think they'll pop out one spot, they might show up where you're not expecting them. The only difficulty was the second out of four levels and I was getting hit pretty good.

Overall, Killzone 2 looks like it's going to be a very intense, graphically superior, fun, and fast paced shooter considering what is being offered. Highly recommended.

Killzone 2 Preview/Impressions

If you own a Playstation 3, I'm sure you have heard about Killzone 2. It drops on February 27, and man does it look sweet.

Apparently the story continues from the first one and more notably the Killzone that was released on PSP. Having only played a small amount of the PS2 version, I was somewhat worried that I might not be able to follow the story, but having looked around it seems it's not too much of a continuation and will be easy to follow for newcomers.

The recurring theme with next-gen shooters have been short stories. Having an 8-10 hour campaign seems to be the norm, and Killzone 2 does not stray from this trend. Although I always prefer content over length and have heard the story is great.

The multiplayer portion features a class system, which is another trend with shooters lately. The basic principle remains, level up and earn better equipment. There is really one game type to join, but objectives change as you complete a round. Sounds sweet, and you can even put bots in and play offline if none of your friends are around.

After watching several videos, I must say this game looks amazing. I always prefer gameplay over graphics, but Killzone 2 looks like it delivers on both fronts. The CGI we saw at E3 years back was really not that much of a stretch and this game looks absolutely beautiful.

A European demo is dropping tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken. I will probably make a European account just to get it and give it a shot, and hopefully have some impressions up.

Image copyright of IGN.com

Resident Evil 5 Demo Impressions (Ps3)

There are only 2 stages to choose from when the demo starts off. Both of these levels were playable at E3 but weren't available till now. The first is called public assembly. This level begins in a a village and after a cut scene the "zombies" begin to break through the house that Chris and Sheva are currently in. Right off the bat it the controls were exactly like RE4 (for better or worse). The aiming was a little too slow so I had to go into the control options to make switching between enemies a little faster.

It seems a little hectic especially when you have a limited amount of ammo while "zombies" and that executioner guy are after you. You are pretty much waiting for your helicopter ride for a rescue but until then you are screwed. I found myself running around in circles picking up ammo and picking off a couple of enemies until help had arrived. I felt like I needed a machine gun or something so I could get rid of all the enemies (I guess thats not the point).

After a few minutes the chopper arrives, after a quick cut scene the first level is over.

Shanty town

I'm finding the game to be very linear, not that its a bad thing, but I kinda wanted more choices. Chris and Sheva must investigate a chopper crash after some weird flying creatures attacked the pilot. This sorta thing happened in RE 4 but IMO they shouldn't have put creatures like that back in this game. Anyway, there are more instances to boost Shiva up on rooftops and other areas to add to the co-op feel. Speaking of Shiva, the A.I. seems very competent and does a great job at healing me, picking up items in the environment, taking out enemies that I'm not aiming at and saving my ass when I need it.

Another part that we have seen in demo videos is when Chris throws Sheva across one rooftop while your suppose to snipe enemies to keep her safe. Afterwards she unlocks the door and helps you kill the rest of the enemies. When you pick up all the items and head for the exit, a maniac with a chainsaw starts heading in your direction. Not only that but you have more "zombies" do deal with. They definitely need to add more ammo whether its with the enemy kills or more in the environment because I kept running around scrounging for it. I eventually killed the chainsaw guy by using the exploding barrels, my handgun and my sniper rifle. After that you pick up the gate key from the fallen chainsaw guy and you head for the exit.

Another thing that they added was the real time inventory system. Instead of having to pause the game and go into inventory, you can do it on the spot. It seems harder because there isn't really a lot of time do switch guns or heal (with all the enemies around) unless you run. It was a short demo, some things I liked and some things were meh. This is obviously a demo so I won't say anymore about it other than the controls take some getting used to (some people won't like it at all) and I want to try the co-op.

-Rob

Introductions

Who are we?..... Who'z you? (sorry inside joke)

My name is Rob and I am a gamer. Ever since I was a little kid, video games have intrigued me. I started reading EGM when I was 10 (I am 20 now), until the magazine was eventually shut down early this year :( I keep up on all the video game news, previews, reviews from a number of sites to get the whole picture and not just one side. I like to think I'm a well rounded gamer and try to play everything from RPGs to shooters.

As for my partner in crime....

Mark is my co-writer of this blog and friend for many years, he is also a gamer. We both go to college and are busy as hell. We try to get as much gaming in as possible but sometimes we get owned by school. We are also apart of a video game clan that has been together for close to 5 years now. We are first and foremost a Socom clan but we also play many different kinds of games.

The purpose of this blog is to show an unbiased view on games and share our opinions with the gaming public. We obviously won't be able to get hands on time with any games that aren't out yet but we will try to talk a little bit about the development of these titles as time goes on. This blog won't be all about video games though, here are some examples of what we will post.

Game Reviews
Game and Demo Opinions/Previews
Popular News Stories
Drunk Talk

If you wanna suggest anything to make our blog better than feel free to e-mail us. We will have a ton of stuff to share with you guys so check back with us.

-Rob

Welcome to Legendary News

Hello and welcome to our first of many entries to come. We will have mostly gaming news/reviews/opinions up here, but also will touch on popular news stories as well.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email us:

legendarynewsblog@gmail.com

Stay tuned.