But if you have any interest, go check it .

Http://www.PSNerds.wordpress.com

It’s a work in progress, I hope to have reviews of every PSN game with trophies done within a week or two, and then we will start the advertising push to get some readers.

Im still unclear about what im going to do with this blog.  I may make it a more personal type blog where I talk about whatever bullshit is on my mind.  We’ll see.

Console games:

1.  Resistance 2 (PS3) - My game of the year based off the shear amount of awesomeness that comes with the package.  The online Co-Op is the star of the show as it has a very huge MMO/WOW instanced dungeon feel to it.  The action is intense, the bosses are tough as nails, all the classes must work well together.   This mode alone is worth the $60.   But then you add on the amazingly well paced campaign mode which features, by far, the most epic battles a shooter has ever seen.  If you thought you were in a living war with COD/Halo/Gears…  you ain’t seen shit compared to some of the shit that R2 throws at you.  And then there is the competitive mode, which features a bunch of different game types and battles up to 60 players.  This is my least favorite of the 3, but it is really well done.  It’s just not my style of online shooter…  yet I do see myself sinking some hours into it because of the quality of how it’s put together (and note to other PS3 developers…  R2 can do parties, clans, in game invites, etc…  learn from them!).  Then you wrap the whole package with an XP system that is cumulative across all 3 game types (and individual leveling systems within each game type also… and in the case of co-op there is leveling with each class) and you have one hell of a gigantic fucking shooter that offers more in one package than any other game ever (save for The Orange Box… though that is a collection of games)

2.  Motorstorm: Pacific Rift (PS3) – The greatest racer I have ever played, hands down.   I have sunk over 60 hours into this game already and there is no end in sight.  The single player is much improved from the first MS, though the last 2 levels bring back the dreaded SUPER AI OF FUCKING DOOM.  The online setup is much improved also, with a party system and matchmaking which gives you a random track/car selection so you need to be good at everything to get up the ranks.   The Time Attack mode is very addicting and the ability to download the ghosts of the top racers is really nice.   Just overall an amazing package of arcade off road racing with 100s of cars split between 8 classes and 16 excellent tracks all with multiple routes.  Great fucking game.

3.  Little Big Planet (PS3) -  It was hard to not put this game at number one but I dropped it down to 3 just because of the niche it’s fallen into for me.   I love the game, it’s amazingly fun and the level editor is even more robust than I imagined.  Also, the quality of some of the levels online is just unbelievable.  But I don’t throw this game in for hours at a time anymore, it’s more of a pickup and play for 15 minutes as I check out some new levels online or spend some time on my “This Woman Really Hates You” trilogy of levels that I’m trying to complete.   By far the most imaginative game released this year or maybe any year, and I’ll still be throwing in this game long after most of the games on this list fall to the wayside.

4.  Socom: Confrontation (PS3) -They got the gameplay right, which is the most important part of any game…  so Socom does deliver.  But it also has a ton of broken promises that we are waiting for in patches.   But they are working on it and it should eventually be the game it should have been at launch.   I almost expect this to be my GOTY next year, once everything is implemented and the map selection is widened with DLC.  But still, even in it’s incomplete state Socrack can consume your soul for a huge chunk of hours at a time.

5.  Gears of War 2 (360) -  I may have been on crack on my first play through of the single player when I actually enjoyed the story, a second playthrough had me scratching my head.  But still, I can’t ignore how much fun I had beating the game in single player.  As for multiplayer, co-op is dope, competitive is poop (IMO… I know it’s good, I just don’t like it) but the star of the show is Horde Mode.  Man that shit is fun.   GoW2 is a very nice package and it certainly doesn’t disappoint.

6.  NCAA 09 (360) – Two words:  Online Dynasty.   The game is great fun and has no hugely glaring faults…  but really, the online dynasties are the best shit added to a sports game in a long time (other than something a bit further down the list).

7.  Battlefield: Bad Company (360) - A fairly straightforward campaign mode but I sure did enjoy blowing the living bejesus out of everything in my path.  The online multiplayer was an absolute blast also with a pretty decent unlock system.  The addition of free DLC that included a new mode and 4 new maps was nice to see, especially from a company like EA.

8.  NHL 09 (360) – I’m no hockey nut, nor am I a huge hockey gamer, but this game owned my soul for a good month, and probably still could be if there weren’t so many fucking awesome games coming out every other minute.   But the team play is the best addition to sports games since online (edging out the aforementioned online dynasties).   Scoring can be difficult and sometimes your team gets the EA screw, but overall this game is just plain fun.  I do plan on picking this one up again once all these releases calm down.

9.  Burnout: Paradise  (PS3) – I’ll admit to not really getting to the game when it came out earlier this year.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the open world structure and found it more frustrating that it needed to be.   But then game came out on the PSN as a download with the 1.5 patch which added tons of stuff like bikes, new events, cars, etc.   The game is just a much more cohesive unit now and is an absolute blast to play online or off.   Would easily be my racing game of the year in any other year, but MSPR is just too damn good.   This game is fantastic though and well worth the $30 price tag, and promises to get even better in 09 as they release more free content for it.

10.  MLB: The Show  (PS3) -  Definitely the single player sports game of the year, the amazing amount animations just make the game so fluid.  The problem is the online is an absolute disaster and probably should have just been cut from the game as it’s basically unplayable.  But none of this takes away from how awesome this game is offline.

Downloadable games (covers games *ONLY* available via download):

1.  Pixel Junk Monsters/Encore (PS3) – This game ate up the biggest chunk of my downloadable game time by far.  I am a huge fan of tower defense games and PJE ups the ante with a controlable character that you use to balance your time between upgrading towers and collecting coins and other drops from the monsters killed by your towers.  It has a fantastic co-op mode and has online scoreboards.  It’s the type of game that you just keep going back to even in the face of other great games.   Hell, when the trophies were released for it I was spending my nights playing this instead of Gears 2, MSPR, LBP and other amazing games.   That’s just how addictive this game gets.

2.  Bionic Commando:Rearmed  (PS3) – Quite possibly my favorite non-sports/non-Nintendo old school game and this makeover is just about perfect.  The graphics are sharp, the controls are spot on and the slight tweaking of the levels make it even more solid than its original.  There is also a challenge mode which I didn’t really care for but if you are into that type of thing it’s quite large.

3.  Braid (360) – Heavy handed writing aside, this game drew you into a very neat world with mind bending puzzles.  Manipulation of time isn’t the newest thing to happen to videogames but Braid probably does it best.  I’m looking forward to a sequel or add on pack.   Definitely this year’s Portal.

4.  Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty (PS3) - A great idea implemented perfectly.  Insomniac was sitting on an amazing engine with R+C: Future tools of destruction, and instead of making an add on pack they decided to make a shorter “new” game using the engine and offer it as a download only.  Incredible fun and great graphics, I hope to see more games do this in the future as it’s a good way to drum up new sales *AND* get people to go back and buy your old game it’s based off of.

5.  Wipeout HD (PS3)- Wipeout still requires you to sorta get in the zone, so to speak, to really get into it.  When you first fire it up you think “well, it’s pretty, and it’s freakin fast, but man I just crash into every wall.”   But once you get over that initially steep learning curve you have a great futuristic racer that offers as much content for $20 that other games do for $60.   But if you can’t get over that hump, Wipeout HD might be a good one to pass on.   Personally I straddle back and forth on the hump, sometimes loving it and sometimes becoming very frustrated.  But when i can make it work it’s a top notch game.

6.  Pixel Junk Eden (PS3)- I didn’t get Pixel Junk Eden when it came out…  I have no idea why.  But I got it a couple weeks back when it first dropped down to $5 and it is probably the best $5 I’ve spent.   The world just sorta sucks you in and once you get the basics of the gameplay down (it plays like nothing you’ve played before, pretty much) it becomes an amazing experience.   Get it while it’s still $5, this is a game that should not be missed.

7.  Super Stardust HD (PS3) – As frantic a game as there ever was, you constantly be yelling “HOLY SHIT!” over and over as you make your way through insane waves of enemies and asteroids that should have probably killed you 9 times over but somehow your thumbs saved the day.  The add-on packs while a little pricey add a ton of replay value to the game.   This game is just top notch all the way through.  And I’m number one on my friends list in easy mode, so it eat dicks!  Number one in normal will be coming within a week or two.  Eat it again!

8.  Super Street Fighter 2 HD Remix (PS3) – It’s Street Fighter 2 but with HD graphics and slightly tweaked controls.  What else do you need to know?  Either you don’t give two shits or you already bought it.

9.  Duke Nukem 3D (360) – Little known fact about famousmortimer:  back in the day there used to be “pay to play” online gaming services for the PC, one of which was called TEN (Total Entertainment Network, I think).  I feel like a fool for paying for it, but one of my nerd badges comes from a contest this service held where they had a map designing contest for Duke Nukem 3D and the winner had their map hosted by them and downloaded by everyone.  Yep, I was the winner.  I think my map was called Five equals One or something like that, I forget, but the point is that I won.   I was a huge duke nukem junky back in the day and this rerelease on XBL is well done and brings back some great nostalgic feelings.  The online is well done also.

10.  Brain Challenge (360) – I never played any of the handheld versions of this game so I enjoyed it quite a bit on XBL.  It’s just a series of IQ Test-ish puzzles for you to figure out and that you get a score for…  but it’s oddly addicting.

11.  Jeopardy (PS3) – It’s Jeopardy, it has online, it has tons of questions…  it’s also not as good as it could have been.   But still, it’s Jeopardy, and me and the girlfriend enjoy playing it against each other.   Nothing groundbreaking here, but it’s a good time.

12.  Novastrike (PS3) – To be completely honest I had never even heard of this game before I saw it on the PSN $5 game sale list and the only reason I picked it up is because it had trophies.  While this game is no SSHD, it is a good and imaginative shooter in its own right.    It has an open world where you fly back and forth between different objectives (mostly defend this, kill that, escort this, kill this boss, etc).  The graphics are poop but I definitely got sucked in and played it from start to finish and am actually working on beating it again on a higher difficulty level.

PC Games:

1. Team Fortress 2 – While technically released last year, TF2 got some pretty huge updates in 08 and remains one of the best multiplayer shooters around.   I’m not sure what I can say about this game that hasn’t already been said, so instead i’ll give props to valve for releasing HUGE updates to this game often for FREE.  What a fucking concept.

2. Far Cry 2 – First open world FPS that actually works in an engaging way.  Just running around the countryside causing havoc is great fun, and the storyline itself isn’t too shabby either.  The biggest headscratcher is why is this game called Far Cry 2?  It doesn’t have any plot connections to the first, none of the same characters and literally takes place on the other side of the globe.   Oh well, who cares, Far Cry 2 is an excellent game.

3. World of Warcraft-The Burning Crusade - I have had a million issues with this expansion which I’ve gone over on my blog exstensively, but still, the amount of hours I spent playing this game can’t be ignored.  WoW is just a powerhouse.  The new expansion makes my list of games that didn’t excite me, but I think that has more to do with me than it does the actual expansion.   I was in the beta and it’s all very well done, I’m just sick of the whole world/gameplay/everything WoW associated.  But I do reserve the right to fall back into this addiction at a later date.

4. Crysis: Warhead – Crysis: Warhead is a great, great shooter that was my favorite game for a while, until Far Cry 2 came out and ate its lunch.  It’s hard to recommend this game now that FC2 is on the market, but I also can’t ignore the fun I had with it before hand.  The super powers especially are pretty damn neat.

5. Hinterland - Take a Diablo type point and click loot pinata type game and combine it with a city builder game with shades of Suikoden and you have Hinterland.  Oh, and it’s $20.  Very addicting and very fun with tons of replay if you get into building your city in different ways.   The combat doesn’t do anything better than Diablo 2, but it’s not much worse either…  which is a pretty good place to be.

6. Age of Conan – So, so, so much promise.  SO MUCH PROMISE!  And in fact, levels 1-20 are amazing and should just packaged as a single player game for consoles.  But the game quickly unravels and is an unfinished mess at higher levels.   If they get their act straightened out I may return to Hyboria again.  But from the looks of it, even 6 months later they still haven’t.

Big games that didn’t cut it for me.

1.  GTA4 – I don’t know, the game just didn’t do anything for me.  It looked nicer than previous games in the series, but story and character wise I felt like it was a step backwards.  The better controls were nice though.

2.  Madden 09 – This game couldn’t hold the jock strap of NCAA 09, and I am a MUCH bigger fan of pro ball than I am of college ball.  EA needs to get its act together with this franchise something serious.

3.  Star Wars: The Force Unleashed -  Using force powers was fun for a little while but I got bored rather quickly.  Maybe someday I’ll revisit it and see if I can find what others found so enjoyable about it.

4.  World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King – Like I said up above I am just over the whole WoW thing currently.  But currently doesn’t mean forever.  Or maybe it does.  Who knows.

Big games I haven’t played that could possibly infiltrate these lists:

1.  Metal Gear Solid 4

2.  COD: WaW

3.  Prince of Persia

4.  Left 4 Dead

5.  Fable 2

6.  Fallout 3

7.  Midnight Club: LA

8.  Dead Space

9.  Mirror’s Edge

I’m sure I left stuff out so I will be updating this list, I’m sure.

Numbers breakdown of all bought games:

PS3 only games: 12
360 only games: 3
PC only games:  4
Multi-console games bought for PS3: 3
Multi-console games bought for 360: 5
Multi-console games bought for PC: 2

Games not bought yet:
PS3 only: 1
360 only: 1
PC only: 1
Multi – Gonna get it ps3: 6
Multi – gonna get it 360:  1
Multi -Gonna get it PC: 0

There is no ignoring the fact that the 360 has a much better online experience than the PS3 (though games like Resistance 2 show that a top rate online experience *is* possible on the ps3).   But my addiction to PS3 trophies seems to have trumped that, for now.   And for my tastes, as far as exclusives go, the PS3 completely dominated this year.   So I guess here is some data to back up the fact that I am a PS3 fanboy.

I started by using my Gnome Warlock and headed to the Stormwind Harbor, which is amazing (haha, FU HORDE!) and headed up to the Borean Tundra, which has been dubbed by many as the Boring Tundra.    While that isn’t a completely fair assessment, I do have to say that when I first entered the dark portal and came out in Hellfire that my jaw dropped.   When I first got off the boat in the Borean Tundra I did not get that same sort of amazement.   I mean, it is a tundra after all…

The quests start slow, much like in The Burning Crusade in Hellfire, but open up as you get a few under your belt.   The questing is easy if you have any decent level of gear, the mobs are all 68-70 and don’t pose much of a threat.   Once you open up a few quest chains though you find a land filled with interesting stories and NPCs.   Storytelling seems to have taken a nice step forward with WOLK.

My main problem with this beta is that it doesn’t count.   My girlfriend described it as “playing the Sims 2 all night, making an awesome house and then not saving.”   That pretty much wraps up my issue with the beta, which isn’t the beta’s fault at all…  but what I find addicting about WoW is moving my character forward.  Doing that on a beta server that is going to be wiped kinda kills that aspect of the game for me.

So instead I decided to make some premade level 80s and check out the lay of the land.   Jaw dropping doesn’t even begin to describe what we are in store for with this expansion.   Take a look at this shot…

wowzers

Yeah, we’ve seen the Aboms since the Plaguelands in Vanilla WoW, but look at that architecture!  Plus Aboms are still cool as shit, and the undead a major player in the lore of Northrend (being part of Arthas’ army and all).

Also in my random flying around I found this completely bizarre and awesome tree…

What the heck is going on here?

There are tons of things like this strewn about Northrend, stuff that will just make your jaw drop.    The lay of the land is definitely awesome, and the small amount of questing I’ve done seems to be on par if not better than the quests they added to TBC. Now the questions remain about whether Lake Wintergrasp will work or not (I tried it once and was utterly confused) and how class balance will play out.   I will say that the jump in damage is not all that huge.  On my level 70 lock I was incinerating mobs for about 2k.  At level 80 in full PVP gear I was hitting for 2.4k.   So there isn’t a huge jump in damage.   But that’s without raid buffs/synergy/etc.

If you have any questions about the beta or anything you want me to go in and check out, feel free to drop me a comment.

But i’m back on the good foot.   I finally was able to purchase a new PC, a hasty decision that is likely to bite me since some money I thought I had coming in doesn’t seem to be coming in… but whatever!  I HAVE A NEW PC!   2.4 ghz Quad Core, 4gb ram, 64 bit vista and…. ON BOARD VIDEO!   YES!   Why onboard video, you may be asking?   Well, because that’s how the computer came and I planned on buying a new card before the expected ship date of October 6th.   But, to my surprise I checked the tracking two nights ago and evidently the factory is like 2 hours from my house… so it was shipped in one day and it arrived yesterday.   YES!   Actual computing on this thing is amazing, but as of now the onboard Nvidia 7050 just isn’t up to the task.  A cute girl that I sometimes have sexual relations with described it as “getting a new boyfriend and then finding out he only has one leg.”   My computer certainly is just hopping around in 3d applications…  but someday soon I’ll have a card worthy of this rig.   I can’t wait.

Also, on the same day, like 19 years after I shipped it out, I got my Xbox 360 back from MS.   Well, actually it wasn’t mine back, they just sent me a new one.   It’s much quieter!  But it’s already starting to make weird noises.  But not as weird as my old one.

Firing that sucker up I got a chance to really sink my teeth into NHL 09.  This game is flat out amazing.  The meat of the game is in the online “EA sports league” which is much more than just a normal sports game league.  You create a guy and distribute attribute points and play games of 2v2/3v3/4v4/5v5 or 6/6 against other clubs.  Clubs can have up to 50 members and you can have simultaneous club games going.   It’s really an amazing addition to the sports genre, it almost feels like a MMORPG where you are grinding your character up… but instead of battlegrounds its on the ice.    I played 3 games of 2v2 (the game is still 6v6, but the others are computer controlled and you can’t switch off of your player) with my drunken buddy Steve357.  We went 1-2, with the last loss being a heartbreaker in OT.   There was absolutely zero lag.  He says he has played a few 6v6 games and even those didn’t have a hint of lag.   This is an absolutely amazing job by EA.    I never thought I would utter those words.

I also was able to jump back into my online dynasty in NCAA Football 09.  A friend of mine named Vodkuhh took over admin duties and my team while I was out of action and he got me a bowl birth.  Thanks man!

I see that a ton of stuff has come out that I need to get my hands on and blog about here.  The Force Unleashed looks fun.  Duke Nukem 3D, one of my favorite shooters of all time is up on the XBLA…  and a neat beatem up named Castle Crashers looks like tons o fun also.   And once I get a card for my PC I can get back on the PC gaming horse, I’m really looking forward to seeing how Crysis: Warhead makes my computer explode.

So…. I’m back.  I’m still working a lot, but I will be post regularly again now that I have systems to actually play games on.   Sorry for the short vacation there.

Oh and one last word…  the Socom: Confrontation beta has been a ton of fun.  The game still has serious issues but they don’t stop me from losing hours at a time playing.  I’m very happy with the job Slant Six has done on this game.

And a final, final word…  I will have an update from the Wrath of the Lich King beta up in the next few days, within the week at the longest.  In short:  It’s good, not amazing.

Where to start…. where to start….

Lets go with the Deathknights, the first new class introduced to World of Warcraft since they put Huntards in the closed beta about 4 years ago.    I made myself a gnome Deathknight because I am partial to the race (I’ve also have or have had -  I sold an account) a gnome warlock, a gnome mage and a gnome warrior.   I like gnomes.  They are creepy and small.

Anyway, the deathknight starting area as you may or may not know is just off the eastern edge of the Eastern Plaguelands.   Pretty much up in the hills behind Light’s Hope Chapel.   You start off in this massive, evil looking structure and follow a series of quests that give you basics on how the class is played, and also do a great bit of introducing you to the lore of not only Deathknights, but Arthas specifically.   In fact you interact with Arthas quite a bit.   I won’t get into any plot spoilers, but the way the story plays out is fantastic.  I would say the zone is blizzard’s best story telling to date in WoW.

The class itself is pretty damn fun to play.   I am considering making one my main, though I do fear there wil be overpopulation.   On the beta server I was on the Deathknight zone was PACKED at 3am when I first started.  Likewise, the next day around 5pm the zones in Northrend (which I will get into in a later post) were pretty empty.  So just using that as my judge there will be an assload of Deathknights.  But then again, I like to think I play pretty well so even if the class is a dime a dozen Im sure the better players will rise to the top.

The class seems to be fairly complicated, which is good.   That is the main reason I switched my main to a Warlock over the past year.  Yes, a fair bit of time is standing there spamming shadowbolts, but Lock’s have a ton of utility and can save a group from a catastrophic pull if played correctly.   Deathknights seem to be similar.   I only got mine to level 59, so I have not seen all the skills, but what is there is pretty cool.

Every class has one skill (or set of skills) that just redefines coolness, like a warrior’s charge or paly’s concecrate, or a mages use of quick snares and AOEs to burn something (or a group) down.   For Deathknights the skill is basically a tether that will grab an enemy from far away and drag his ass over to you with the quickness…  basically like Scorpion does in the Mortal Kombat games.  In fact I fully expect a bunch of mods to come out to play the “GET OVER HERE” sound clip when you use it.

The deathknight also has some other run of the mill skills, like abilities to taunt, to put a bit of extra damage on swings, to disease enemies… etc.   They are good, but nothing we haven’t seen in other classes.   Once you start unlocking talent points (you get a few each quest you do) and start going down the talent trees you start getting some cool ass abilities.   One ability, which is kinda the opposite of a holy priest, is that when you die you are resurrected for 45 seconds as this Undead killing machine.   It’s a great “oh shit” ability that can help stave off a wipe in an instance… or nab you an extra kill or two in PVP.   I also unlocked an ability where I have a chance on hit to make all these undead arms come out of the ground… though Im still not sure if they are doing damage or snaring.   I should probably pay closer attention to that.

My problem is that now that I am out of the starting zone and on to Hellfire I don’t have much desire to play him anymore.   I do want to see the new skills as I level… but at the same time since it doesn’t matter in the long run (because its beta…) I have a hard time motivating myself to do something I am just going to have to do over again on November 13th when this sucker comes out.

The 4 level window into the Deathknight I saw, however, was fantastic.  The class seems like a lot of fun to play, and like I said before the story in the starting area is as good as it gets in wow.   I do worry though that come 3 months into WOLK that 30-50% of the characters you will see standing around looking for groups will be Deathknights…

For the unintiated, Socom is a 3rd person tactical shooter.  It offers a high amount of realism but doesn’t sacrifice gameplay in the process.   The third person perspective and map design are the two things that have set the Socom series above and beyond the competition.    With the third person camera you can swing it so you can peak around corners without giving up your position.   Is this realistic?   Not entirely, but first person games limit your view far too much, so this is one way to help remedy that.   It definitely makes creating ambushes an absolute blast.

So lets get into the meat of the beta and break down everything that Slant Six has done.   I’ll start off with the very obvious negatives to get them out of the way.   The beta has some pretty serious issues when it comes to loading into games, lag spikes during games and clan support.   A lot of features aren’t turned on yet, clan support mostly falls into this category.   But it’s a beta, I’m sure most of this stuff will be rolled out over the next few weeks.   They did patch the game this morning that promised fixes to loading into games and my few hours with it this morning post-patch has shown for that to be mostly true.   If you get into a lobby of a game that hasn’t started it takes about 30-45 seconds to get into a game now, down from 3-5 minutes.   If you join a game in progress it takes 1-2 minutes… down from 5-10 (to sometimes never).  Now, don’t get me wrong, 1-2 minutes to load a game is still too long, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Once you get past the bugs of the beta what you are left with is a very, very awesome game.   It isn’t perfect, and there are huge debates nerd raging about certain aspects of the game…  but that’s too be expected of a franchise so loved (it kinda reminds me of the World of Warcraft forums).     So lets break down each aspect of the gameplay.

Recoil – The firing mechanics have definitely changed since Socom 1/2 and this is probably the biggest point of contention right now among old school players.   Each side has legit reasons for their opinions on the subject and really it just comes down to personal playstyle.   Basically the issue is that when you are moving and you spray with your weapon the cone of spray is very large.   Those against this change point out that this takes the skill out of the hands of the player and it comes down to who is the most lucky.  Someone could have a target on your head and the spray will miss….  meanwhile you could be pointed at their feet and the spray may catch them in the face.  That situation (though much more rare than people on the internets make it out to be) is definitely frustrating.

But, at the same time, it just is not realistic to have deadly weapon accuracy when running at full speed.  And, from a gameplay perspective, this discourages running and gunning, which is a change I welcome fully.  There are a million run and gun games on the market, what has always set socom apart was the more tactical approach it took.   If I am crouched down I should have better aim than someone who is running full speed.

The answer, of course, is probably somewhere in the middle.   The cone of spray should probably be brought in a little tighter, but not as tight as it was in Socom 1/2.   And even if it isn’t changed at all, I certainly don’t feel like it is broken.   The whole issue is being overblown by nerd raging gamers who have yet to adjust to anything that isn’t Socom 1/2.   Honestly, I thought I was gonna fall into that camp, but for the most part I have enjoyed the changes that Slant Six has put in.

Outfitting/Guns/Encumbrance – This is another big change from previous socoms but so far it has been well received.   You can setup your character (both US-Germany and Northern African) and save weapon loadouts, what accessories you use, what type of camo you wear, etc.   The game uses a much more complex physics engine than previous socoms and this directly affects your character with encumbrance.  If you decide you want to put a grenade launcher on your weapon it won’t just affect your aim, it will also slow your movement speed.  Add a RPG and you will move even slower.   Put on heavy armor to take more shots and you will slow down to a snails pace.   Likewise, grab a light weapon, wear some light armor and skimp on the heavy add-ons and you will move briskly, more to the pace of Socom 1/2.   I still see a lot of folks bitching about the slow run speed, but they obviously haven’t messed with this feature.  If you want to move faster you can, but it comes at a price.  Just like loading up on noobtubes does.   The balance is brilliant.

The weapons themselves feel great, and the hit detection seems to be spot on.  It just takes a few well placed bullets to down someone… a welcome fix from the broken hit detection of Socom 2.   Most every weapon can be outfitted with 2 accessories, ranging from scopes to laser sights to silencers to grenade launchers to forward handles to help with aim.   Each has a distinct advantage and picking two is a tactical decision based on how you plan on playing.   This is an awesome, awesome addition.

Map Design / Lighting – It’s hard to get a completely accurate read on how well Slant Six’s maps will hold up against the old Socom 1/2 maps, but the additions to crossroads point to them having a good understanding of what makes a socom map work.   Each map has a 16 player and 32 player version, and the only map that the beta has is Crossroads from Socom 2, but everything added to the 32 player version of the map is all Slant 6, and so far so good.

The additions they made are off 2 opposing sides.   Each side has high snipe points, excellent ambush spots, ledges that can be traversed… roofs that can be accessed…  basically everything that makes Socom maps great.   I need to see a full map by these guys before I can say they are on par with Socom 1/2, but the additions to Crossroads do bode well for their skill.

One addition to the game that I have hardly seen mentioned anywhere is how amazing the lighting is.   Shadows in the game are very, very dark, and the sunlit areas are very, very bright (it takes place in North Africa, so it’s realistically bright).   If you are in the sun the shadows will appear much darker, but as you enter them they brighten up a bit, much like the human eye does in real life.    This is something that changes the way the game is played, for those of us that have been taking advantage of it.   If you come sprinting around a corner and are in the sun you know are a sitting duck for someone sitting in a shadow.   But, of course, the shadows have their own answers…  a couple grenades before running out will ensure you are safe.   This is another move away from the straight run and gun of the previous games and I *personally* prefer it.   I know a lot of Halo-type gamers will bitch about excessive camping, but whatever… go play halo.  The lighting makes for an atmosphere and gameplay not seen in a shooter like this previously.  I absolutely love it.

Things to work on – (in no particular order of importance)

1.  You can’t see your kill/death/etc stats for the whole match between rounds, only for that specific round.  This isn’t a game breaker, but I also don’t understand why they would leave this out.   Hopefully it gets patched in.

2.  I may not have found it yet, but there needs to be an easy way to mute people.   There are a lot of idiots that start spouting stupid shit over the mic and it should only take me a few button presses to squelch them.   This may already be in, but like I said I haven’t found it yet.

3.  As mentioned above, the weapon spray should be toned down a little bit.  Don’t *COMPLETELY* give into all the nerd ragers who want perfect accuracy at full speed, but it does feel a little bit loose right now.  Try to strike that perfect balance of realism and gameplay.

4.  Beta issues…  loading is better but still slow.   Lag spikes are pretty common.   Also, if someone lags out they become invincible…. not sure why.   Clan support looks like it is going to be very robust, but let us test it and work out the kinks before it goes live.

5.  Graphics need a slight bit of polish.  Again, not a game breaker, but it can look muddy sometimes.   It does seem they made the tradeoff of having amazing lighting at the expense of high res textures…  and I’ll take the lighting given the choice.  But, it would be nice if they could clean it up just a little bit.   I personally think the game looks fine, but the graphic whores out there will bitch and moan about it.   I’m also guessing that if it looks muddy on my TV it probably looks pretty bad on a SD-TV.

6.  The way the rounds play out has changed from socom 1/2 and for the worse, IMO.   It used to be a flat best out of 11(or atleast the games I created were, you could shorten or lengthen the series), the first team to six wins won.   Now it’s a set amount of rounds that get played no matter what (even if one team wins every one) and if the game ends in a tie there is no playoff.  This is a bad, bad change.   Please revert it back to how Socom 1/2 did it.   Games ending in a tie are just not acceptable.

So that’s it for now.  The beta only having one map makes it a bit limited on seeing how the whole game will pan out, but so far I must say I am very, very pleased with the direction they are taking the series.   I love the more realistic approach, the amazing lighting, the character outfitting choices that have a major affect on how you play…  the game has the goods to be pretty damn amazing.   Let’s just hope Slant 6 can clean it up and deliver us those goods.

We used very, very complex technologies to conduct this interview.  Some people know it as AIM, and some people might think it’s weird to AIM someone sitting 2 feet away from you…  but, well, whatever!

Without further ado… (AIM names changed to protect the innocent)

I plan on writing some detailed impressions in a day or two, but for now I’m just gonna say it’s clearly in beta (you can’t even get into a game half the time) but the gameplay is just about everything I hoped it would be.    Look here after the weekend for more details for any of you hardcore Socom junkies.

I’ll start with Bionic Commando: Rearmed…  it is a full fledged remake of the original Bionic Commando from the Nintendo Entertainment System.   If you never played that game it really was quite revolutionary in its day.   It is a side scroller, of course, with some shooting here or there, but the main point of the gameplay is using your bionic arm which will latch on to stuff allowing you swing around like Tarzan.   There is no jump button at all, so you will be using the bionic arm early and often.   And it’s the swinging that is so addictive about the game, you will have to swing over some pretty precarious real estate to make your way through the game where timing needs to be completely spot on.   You will die a lot, but you will also keep saying “Ok, just one more attempt” for about 2 hours straight.

The remake updates the graphics with a very vibrant polygonal world with next gen particle effects (the gameplay is still in 2d, however).   The level design for the most part is the same, but they redid the bosses and added some new secret areas.   And, evidently, they completely redid the last level.   I haven’t gotten there yet (about 3 levels to go) so i can’t say much about it, but from what I read it is very, very well done.  They have also added a ton of quick little challenges, ala the VR missions from Metal Gear Solid.   These are all based on using your bionic arm to get through the most impossible of areas in as little time as possible, with an online leaderboard to let you know where you stand.

I am biased in that Bionic Commando is one of my favorite NES games of all time, so this remake is instantly one of my favorite downloadable games on the 360 or PS3.  And, for the record, if you own both systems and you aren’t sure which to get it for, I would recommend the PS3.   I’ve only played the demo on the 360 but the 360 D-Pad is so, so, so terribly horrible that it makes controlling your arm a huge pain in the ass.   So unless you are the hugest of achievement whores, I would stick with the PS3 version.

Also out on the PS3 in the last couple weeks is Ratchet and Clank: The Quest for Booty. I have to be honest and lose some gamer cred in the process, but before this I have never played a Ratchet and Clank game.  I’m not really sure why, but for some reason in my PS2 days and even my PSP days I never bought R+C or Sly Cooper or any of those games.   I kept hearing how good they were but just never pulled the trigger on a purchase.   I even downloaded the demo for Ratchet and Clank: Future Tools of Destruction and really enjoyed it… but didn’t buy it.  In my defense there was like 90000 awesome games last fall, so something had to be skipped.

With that out of the way, I have some breaking news:  Ratchet and Clank is really, really awesome.   If you know nothing about the series it’s basically a 3d platformer ala Super Mario 64, but with inventive weapons and a bit more twitchy.   The gameplay stays varied throughout, you do everything from standard platforming, to fighting tons of guys at once, to grinding rails (with well timed jumps) ala Tony Hawk Pro Skater or some of the 3D Sonic games (but ya know… good).   The gameplay is very tight, the visuals are amazing… it’s just an awesome package for $15.   Most reviewers put the length at 3-4 hours, but I am 3 hours in and don’t feel like I am anywhere near the end…  but I tend to do a lot of meandering in my playing.

The thing most exciting about this game though is the precedence it sets.   Lets just hope it sells well because it really is a brilliant idea.   Insomniac Games was sitting on this great property and already had the engine from Future Tools of Destruction so they were able to create something that is fairly cutting edge, yet be the perfect length and price for a downloadable game.   They could have easily just made it an add on pack for Future Tools…  but that wouldn’t have gotten people like me to buy it.   And, I must admit, they have hooked me, as soon as my PS3 is repaired I will be picking up Future Tools.   I hope to see more games release content like this.

And finally, the demo (and full game) for The Last Guy is up on the PSN.   The Last Guy is everything that is right about downloadable games.   It’s a very strange, Japanese top down strategy game (I guess?) where you control a dude and run around and grab survivors and avoid zombies.   It’s the perfect type of game for this medium, it’s easy to pick up and play, the top down graphics are actually quite photorealistic and it’s just weird enough to crack you up.   It’s not the funnest thing I have ever played, but it is different enough to keep me entertained and I do plan on purchasing the full version when I get a bit more money just to give my support to developers who come up with new and weird games for us to play.