Super Mario Galaxy

 I’m not going to lie, I was stayed right away from getting my hopes up for the new Mario game to launch on the Nintendo Wii. Sunshine was the death of Mario for me, Mario 64 was his last shining moment of glory (unless you count Paper Mario which I’m not) and I seriously was thinking about giving it a miss.I’ve been a Mario fan since I was 3 years old, and have been playing his games for many years, but I’m not 3 years old anymore, I’m 20 and I honestly thought that a Mario game these days could not get me hooked….I WAS WRONG!What Mario Galaxy brings to the table is a visually glorious platformer that hooks you in from the start with it’s fantastic visual flair, vibrant soundtrack, pick up and play controls and fun and challenging gameplay.So the story is the same as other Mario games, basically the Princess is stolen by Bowser along with your pals, and it’s your job to get them back, but this time it’s in outer spaceSo after a few tutorials you’re on your way to learning more about the story (which I won’t spoil for those of you who don’t know)So off you travel to observatories which is your way to visiting new galaxies. A majority of the galaxies have three levels each, and at the end of each level you find a powerstar to unlock more galaxies. Every now and then you will find a galaxy that only has one level which usually has something special to do like a Surfboard race or rolling on a ball or floating in a bubble, which breaks up the gameplay and is certainly fun. All in all there are over 100 powerstars to find, so it’s safe to say that there is a bunch of gameplay out there. Each of the galaxies are quite large and offer a lot of room for exploring.The graphics are stunning, with a touch of realism added to the cartoonish world of the Mario Universe. Mario looks like a truly believable character and the goomba mushrooms look so cool, I found myself not wanting to kill them a lot of the time and just laugh at their faces. The one thing that really stands out are the water effects and the sun, both of which look better than some of the big players out in the graphical powerhouses (Bioshock for one)The soundtrack has some of the old school Mario music spiced up a little which brings in some new, and adds nostalgia for us older players. Each jump each bump and each enemy destroyed is a true aural delightThe controls are simple enough, the nunchuck is used to move mario around while the A button makes him jump. Mario can do a lot of the run of the mill platforming moves, double jump, climb onto ledges and the wall jump. Shaking the Wiimote makes Mario perform a spin attack, while pressing Z will make him do a smash jump which is effective for breaking boxes and what not. The controls work well, except occasionally they seemed a bit fiddly when running upside down, but still didn’t make the game unplayable. When pointing the Wiimote at the screen your star buddy can collect Starbits and also shoot at enemies to stun themThis is where I found the game let me down, Multiplayer support. I feel they should have stuck to the good old two players take it in turns and both get to control a character. Instead we are stuck with the second player performing the controls of the star buddy…. fun for a little while but kinda leaves the second player feeling a little bored after the third level. Still at least you can play with a mateAll in all, with greatness all around what isn’t there to love about Mario Galaxy. Definately the surprise of the year for me, and easily the best game on Wii, and possibly best game in the series. If you are looking for the perfect Wii game to give you a look at what games next year SHOULD play like, look like and feel like, this is it.MUST HAVE TITLE OF 20089/10

Did COD 4 Pay off?

When I first heard that the fourth installment of the Call of Duty Franchise would be Modern Warfare at first I was extremely excited, they had decided to break the mould and move away from World War II which of late has become old and stale. Then after a little more pondering, I realised that it could have very negative effects on the game. So did the change pay off? In this gamers opinion, DEFINATELYFrom a gameplay point of view, Call of Duty 4 still plays like the other games in the series, just a whole lot faster, and as hectic as ever. Users who have played other Call of Duty games aren’t going to jump behind the controller and find a totally different game, just the same game we loved in a new environmentWhich brings me to the graphics. This game is one of the best looking games I have seen in a LONG time! Photo realistic settings await you in every corner, which vary from the mountains of Russia to the streets of the Middle East. Character models are fantastic, the guns look perfect and all runs at a perfect frame rate. When comparing the Xbox 360 version to the PS3 version they both look much in the same, but I believe the PS3 version seems to run just a little better in my opinion. Thats not to say that the 360 version is not as good, I’d still buy a copy of it for sure :)The story of the game could be seen as an outlook on what could happen it todays world, and I believe it is the strongest of the stories in the series. This time round you play as two characters, one in the SAS and the other from the United States Marines. The two stories work well together and end up at a final build up that is fantastic.But the real selling point of this game is it’s in-depth Multiplayer. Featuring a ranking system that unlocks weapons, game modes, customizations it certainly does pro-long the overall lifespan of the game. The multiplayer truly is a dream, it features extremely intense battles that do require teamwork at some point to really come out on top. I’ve been playing on Xbox Live for a few weeks now and have not had an issue at all, runs perfect with no lag whatsoever. The PS3 version was running perfect but the servers went down a few days ago (here in Aus anyways) and since then it has been running a bit odd, but hopefully they fix that issue and it will be back up as normal. Overall I believe Call Of Duty 4 to be the best in the series, it’s a game that I will find myself playing it for a long time in the future, especially with it’s amazing online games! If you are a gamer, get this game and you will be happy for some time to come 9/10 

Orange Box: PC vs Xbox 360

Well the Orange Box has been out for a little while now, and like a lot of people out there I pre-ordered mine for PC to take advantage of Team Fortress 2 just that little bit earlier, but then thought to myself, “this could be lots of fun on the 360”. So I wondered down to my local EB Games and got myself a copy. First thing you need to take into account is that the 360 version of the Orange Box will cost you approx $99.95 Australian Dollars vs the $50 PC version. But with that hit out of my pocket I went home to play

 The game loads up with a nice menu that features all five games, Half Life 2, Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2. As general all the Half Life games and Portal play and look similar to their PC counterparts, I actually preferred playing them on the Xbox, plus I am a bit of a gamerscore whore so I love all those achievements that Valve have packed in for the console version, 99 in total!

But then I started playing Team Fortress 2, the online component of the Orange Box. First of all the Xbox version only supports up to 16 players online, as opposed to the 32 you will see filling up servers on the PC version. But over all I found the TF2 experience on Xbox to just not live up to my PC version. Frame rate seemed slow at best, and while they have release updates to fix this issue, I didn’t seem to notice any real change. The game also tends to move slower than the PC version, and I don’t think it was due to lack of players. To put it simply, it just didn’t offer the same amount of fun as I found with the PC version

 All in all, for the money you are paying, there is a whole lot of game to be had with the Orange Box. If you plan on getting it mainly for the manic Team Fortress 2 online, then definately go with the PC version, hell if you like playing with gamepads over the Keyboard and Mouse, just plug in your 360 controller to your PC. But if TF2 isn’t your main concern and you are looking to either relive the Half Life 2 experience with the new Episode 2, then either version is going to fulfill your needs

Is R 18+ Rating for Gaming Required in Australia?

It seems to me over the last few months that more and more games are being denied by the classification office of Australia. After the expected banning of Manhunt 2 I was pretty steamed, but with the denial of the newest addition to the Soldier of Fortune franchise I have become more than just slightly annoyed by the “powers” held by the classification office

 Does Australia require an R18+ rating for gaming? In my opinion yes. Why should adult gamers be denied adult story lines, and adult gameplay? Gaming has moved from the stereo-typical teenager in his bedroom or hanging out in the arcade. The teenagers from the launch of videogames are still gamers, and as they have matured, so have their taste in games.

Sure, Manhunt 2 involved murder, brutality and the whole deal, but what difference is between us playing it than watching the latest Saw movie or Hostel. R 18 ratings are given on movies, another form of media that is just as influential, if not more so than games. If the classification laws wish to outlaw some games, then why don’t they outlaw movies that are classified for Adults Only.

Many will argue that games are easier for people under the age of 18 to obtain. What about pornography. The sale of pornography to underage kids doesn’t happen that often in this country, yet I bet 80% of all underage males have items of pornography downloaded on their computers. The R18 law is quite easily bypassed, but at least it puts barriers in place that stops a lot of underage people accessing what is considered to be “inappropriate content”

I’m not sure how many Australian’s will read this, and I’m not entirely sure how many Australian gamers will read this and they will understand that an R 18+ rating in Australia will only pushing the industry into a positive field. More adult games for adult gamers, and less content that is kept off the shelves, and less games that we miss out on due to Classification Laws

Call Of Duty 4 Beta- First Impressions

Well I have spent a few hours testing the Online Beta of Call of Duty 4 on the Xbox 360 system, and I have to say based on those few hours alone I am prepared to pre-order the game now!

While we seemed to have a total overdose of World War II games over the last few years, Call of Duty always seemed to be one of, if not, my favourite games, and changing it’s focus from WW II to modern day combat seemed a risk in my mind, but now after playing the Beta my feelings are that to continue the series on, it was indeed necessary

First thing you notice while in the game is the pace. COD 4 seems to move a whole lot faster than the previous games. The graphics are gorgeous, and surprisingly I have not experienced any frame rate issues at all. Call of Duty 4 simply looks great!

Weapons are a lot more accurate than previous games, which is realistic, but makes you think how you dealt with all that pesky recoil in the previous titles. The beta features several classes, all with a unique layout.

COD 4 puts in place a ranking system based on Experience Points, much like Battlefield 2142. By killing and assisting, you gain more experience points, and also unlock skills and challenges. Challenges are a way to gain more XP. For instance once getting to a certain rank, the M16 challenge became available, which if by killing 25 people with the M16 I will gain 100 XP.

Another feature that becomes unlocked is the create a class mode. This allows you to make your own class with the desired skills and kit and save it, so when joining a game you don’t need to change your setup all the time.

While it’s only a beta, it is extremely stable, and the Xbox Live servers are obviously handling it well because I haven’t experienced lag at all.

Call of Duty 4, get your hands on it ASAP! I’ll write another report after some more hours with my new favourite game 🙂

Too Much Exciting Stuff!

Well I’ve got so much to review this weeks I don’t even know where to start, so I thought I’d give you a run down with what’s coming into my hands

First off I got accepted to the Call of Duty 4 Xbox 360 Multiplayer Beta which was damn lucky on my behalf, so I will be sure to take some footage, some pics, and give you a full review after a weekends worth of gameplay. So far I have played it for a few hours, and I am DAMN impressed with it to say the least.

Then running through my CD player right now is not only the new album from Finnish rock group HIM Venus Doom, but also the follow up to In Your Honor from Foo Fighters, Echoes, Silence, Paitence and Grace. So you will also get a review on these two eagerly awaited albums

Monday sees the launch of the Team Fortress 2 beta for those who have pre-ordered The Orange Box, so I will be sure to report on that one. I have been following the progress of TF2 for years, since way back when it seemed to resemble what we are looking forward to with COD 4

Then after that, I’ve got Skate being released the following Thursday along with Stranglehold both on the Xbox 360, then of course the big Halo 3 launch the week after. Then a few weeks later, Zelda and The Phantom Hourglass on DS, followed by a comparison review of The Orange Box on PC and Xbox 360

Then I think not only will I be totally broke, but I will need a rest to get my head around things. Hopefully somewhere in all of this, I can get access to an Ipod Touch also 🙂

So stay tuned, back to Bioshock I go

Hellerphant

Bioshock Review- Meet Big Daddy

 

So you still haven’t gotten a copy of Bioshock and are wondering “is it worth my hard earned cash?” The answer my friends is simply….YES 

While many of you have been following Bioshock for a number of years with high expectations, I’ll fill those of you who are still lurking in the dark about the newest game trom 2K. While following similar styles to that of System Shock 2, Bioshock is set in the under water city of Rapture, a place created by a man with a vision. That vision was to create a utopia, free from government control and totally self sufficiant.

Environment and Characters

Set in the 1960’s what Bioshock does, which most games have trouble doing, is to create a believable environment, that toally draws the player into the game. Featuring music that was popular in the 60’s, showcasing a real 60’s feel in the environment with the furniture, the look and feel and artwork, Rapture is one of the most memorable environments I’ve seen in a game. I could spend hours just roaming the different areas of Rapture looking at all the models and artwork, and I’ll be honest, I probably wouldn’t be bored

 

 Water effects look amazing, and you’d hope they would being based in a city beneath the water. Following a trend like games such as Fear, Bioshock really does play the environment to it’s advantage creating a tension that only some games can pull off well. 

Character models are detailed, and while it can get repetitive seeing the same splicers over and over again, all in all I felt the enemies did the game justice. The star of these were the Big Daddies of course. Giant Robot guys in old school pressure suits, with all kinds of weapons. While they become a rather prominent feature throughout the game, each time you run into one you can feel a sense of dread overcome you thinking “oh no, not another one of these bad boys” followed by a sense of accomplishment after their demise.

Enemies and Gameplay

Primarily Bioshock is a First Person Shooter, but to add to the mix it also features some elements of an RPG game. While completing objectives and  making your way across the vast city of Rapture you will encounter several species of Splicers, all of which have different weapons, modes of attacks, and weaknesses. While meeting one on one is a simple affair, as you move on in the game, they increase in numbers and offer quite a challenge.

Among the average Splicer you will run into security cameras and bots, not to mention machine gun turrents and rocket turrents, which can be hacked to be used to your advantage. Hacking becomes quite an important part of the game, and will assist in your survival. If you hack a security bot, it will now follow you around and attack your enemies

Then of course there are the Big Daddies which always pose a challenge. Thankfully you do get the chance to convince them to help you out every now and then by using the Hypnotize Plasmid, but we’ll discuss that in a moment.

Ammunition, Food, Health and Eve can be purchased from Vending Machines which can also be hacked to make everything cheaper. These are scattered throughout the city, and you will encounter them quite frequently. Thus the key is to search EVERYTHING to find as much as you can. Typical finds are bottles of alcohol, money, cigarettes and food, but you then do get the chance to find other things such as metal screws, shotgun shell casings, distilled water and such. Take these items to a U-Invent station and you can invent some really cool stuff, such as electric shotgun shells, which always come in handy

Weapons

Bioshock does not skimp on it’s weapons which is a good thing. Featuring a wrench as a melee weapon, you will soon find a pistol, shotgun, machine gun, Crossbow, Chemical Sprayer and more to have fun with. All of the weapons (except the wrench) can be upgraded at upgrade stations, which offer such things as less kickback, faster rounds, more damage etc. The weapons often offer more than one type of ammo, for instance the shotgun has 00 buck (normal ammo), Electric Buck which electrocutes enemies, and Exploding buck, which I’m sure you all know what that happens

With the abillity to upgrade weapons, and use different types of ammo, it definitely offers more choice to the player, more depth, which to me, doesn’t make any of the weapons get boring or stale. But the real masterpeice here is the implementation of Plasmids

Plasmids are genetic modifications that can be used as weapons. For instance there is the electro shock plasmid, that allows you to shoot an electo bolt out of you hand and electrocute you enemies. How you use plasmids will ultimately be up to you, but the smart player will use their environment to their advantage. While three splicers are standing in a pool of water, why not send a bolt of electricity in their and really let them fry. Getting chased by some and notice some oil on the ground, why not change to the Incinerate plasmid and set the ground on fire. There are a fairly large number of plasmids to get access to, but you will need to buy extra slots at a Gatherer’s station to carry them all.

Story

Bioshock has a complex story, but it is a FANTASTIC one at that. We start the game with a plane crash, and end up swimming to a lighthouse, and finding out way by accident to Rapture. From this moment on, the player is told the story primarily through finding diaries of the citizens of Rapture, and of course some of the characters we find along the way.

While players can whiz through the game without doing much exploring and still get the basic gist of the game, those who want to take their time and look around will get a rich, deep and complex story that will be remembered for a long, long time

Conclusion

Yes I have left a lot out of this review, and I have done so on purpose. Why? Because I don’t want to ruin your experience with a truly great game. The story is certainly above average, and everything from sounds, to character, to weapons, and the story has so much depth that you can really have a truly unique experience

Critics and fans are hailing this game one of the best games ever, and I agree for the most part. My only true criticism is that I do tend to get a little bored of seeing the same splicers over and over again, but really if that’s all I’ve got to complain about then I should be so lucky

Bioshock is truly unique and I’d definitely recommend it to basically anyone who loves a good story, and any FPS fan

9.5/10

 

 

 

It’s Been A Long While

Well ladies and gentlemen I know it has been a LONG time since I’ve updated this blog, and I am making it a priority to do so over the next few weeks. I have finally got my life in order, organised my time a little better, and am enjoying a lot of new things lately.

So what’s going on right now? Well I’m busily working on two major projects, the first being a five track concept EP for my band The Broadway Heist. It is about a war that takes place in 2020, but that’s all I am willing to say about it thus far, stay tuned! The second project being a new script I am working on, currently untitled but I am liking where it is shaping up. Hopefully I will have it finished in a few weeks, and then can start the casting process and get it filmed. I am also aiming to finally shoot Rose which I wrote nearly three years ago next year, if I can find a good enough cast

In the gaming world there are two games grabbing my attention. The first being the AMAZING Bioshock on the Xbox 360 which I have been waiting since I finished System Shock 2 all those years ago. It is truely a remarkable game, and usually I would advise to not believe the usual suspects for advice (Gamespot and IGN) but I gotta say, it’s a top notch game. I will be doing a review very soon! The next being Metroid Prime 3: Corruption on the Nintendo Wii. I’ve been hanging out for a good game on the Wii for a while now, and it’s finally come. Metroid is fantastic, visually a dream, controls are the best I’ve seen on the Wii thus far (except for Warioware) and it’s damn right fun!

Silversun Pickups are blasting in my Itunes playlist a lot at the moment, as well as the new Smashing Pumpkins album Zeigeist. Both are worth a listen indeed. I’m really hanging out for the new Gyroscope, Shihad and Jimmy Eat World albums, which are all due for release soon. The new HIM single Kiss of Dawn is making me go crazy with anticipation for their latest release, and The Pretender by old time favs Foo Fighters is making me excited where their new album will go, as I was a little let down by In Your Honor last time around

Hope everyone is well, and look back soon for reviews on pretty much everything I just mentioned in the above blog

The Hellerphant

New Items on the Testing Block

Well ladies and gentlemen, after a few weeks of relative inactivity on this blog, I’ve got some new toys to test over the weekend and write full reports on. One will be useful to many, the other will be useful to some. The first item on my testing block this week is a Nintendo DS Lite. Yes I know they have been around for quite sometime, but it wasn’t until Phantom Hourglass was announced that I had any interest what-so-ever to pick one up and play it, so I’ve jumped out and bought a new DS Lite with a few games. I must say I was quite surprised at the performance of the little machine, and unlike my PSP I actually am still playing it after day one! I certainly prefer it over my PSP. So for those who haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet, I will be providing an in-depth review on the machine and it’s good and bad points, which hopefully will make the decision a lot easier for youSecond item is something Mac users would have been excited about for a long time, and that is Leopard. After seeing the test at the WWDC last month, I’m sure many of you have gotten your hands on a leaked copy from some kind of source on the interweb. I have used a copy myself on a friends laptop and I will be providing a look at what is good and what needs work with the latest beta release. I’m not too keen to install it myself as I would rather wait until the final version is released so I can buy it 🙂 (Yes that’s right, I do buy my software, especially from Apple as I love to support such a great OS, and at least it’s affordable) So hopefully you are as excited to read about these two toys as I am to be examining them over the upcoming weekend. Got a nightmare day at work tomorrow, have a bunch of people moving from one site to my current site, and guess who has to plug in all their pc’s, setup all the VoIP phones and patch all the data points….. going to be a long day indeed. I’ve noticed a growing number of readers in my blog stats and I would like to thank you for your support. I will be spending some time in the next month sprucing up this site, but you input would be greatly appreciated. Why not comment or email me and tell me what you want to read about? Until the weekend, enjoy!Hellerphant 

Mortal Kombat Creates Kaos on the Wii

Some of you may have seen the video review on my mac site (http://web.mac.com/agitatedhellerphant) for the new Mortal Kombat game out for the Wii. Now it’s time for my in depth review of the newest addition to the aging series.

While Armageddon is an in depth fighting game, many who have already played this game on the Xbox will most likely steer clear of paying for a game they have already bought and completed. To tell the truth I wouldn’t shell out again just to use some very basic Wii motion sensitive controls and a few new characters. 

So to break it down for you lets start with visuals. While it is visually appealing, I feel they could have squeezed a little bit more out of the Wii. One thing that really grinds my gears in the blood. Now I know in a game like this it would not be recommended to have blood that looked too realistic, but the blood in this game looks woeful. Other than that though, character models look fantastic, and so do their animations. Although I haven’t played the Xbox version, I would say that the standards in the visual department are about the same

Now the biggest questions most of you will be dying to ask will be to do with the control scheme. First of all if you are an old school Kombat Veteran, the Wii does allow you to play the game with the Classic Controller or a Gamecube controller in replacement for the Wiimote and Nunchuck. This will keep people happy, especially if they get sick of the Wiimote setup

Now I’m not saying the Wiimote setup is bad, but when getting into the harder skilled parts of the game it can be tiresome. Now one thing that takes some getting used to is using the D-PAD on the remote for your kick and punch moves. Fortunately with a few hours practice, you can master most of the combos which does make life a lot easier. All the special moves are performed by holding down the B button and performing some simple gestures. While it works most of the time, the times they don’t can often cost you the round. I also noticed while playing as Scorpion while trying to perform the Dragon Kick move, about 50% of the time it would perform the Spear move, which often rendered me useless to the combo awaiting for me at the end of it. I think the Wiimote setup is decent, but definitely not flawless.

The gameplay is decent. Offers the standard Arcade mode we’ve grown to love, throws in a story mode to extend gameplay, and offers a bunch of extras. The most exciting feature of these being the Kreate a Fighter feature. During the Arcade and Story Modes you collect coins which you can spend on features for the Kreate a Fighter screen. This is an attempt to get you to play through the story mode and unlock things such as hair-do’s, clothes and accessories for your personalised fighter.

Multiplayer is good fun, but I feel the lack of online features does hurt the game in the long run. All in all I think Mortal Kombat, while not perfect, has something to offer everyone. Fans of the series will love it, new comers will enjoy it in the short term. I would definately recommend you pick it up if you see it for cheap at your local retailer

7.5/10

Good Points
* Biggest Character sheet of any game in the series
* Bunch of features to keep players coming back
* It’s FUN

Bad Points
* Wiimote controls are not always spot on
* People who aren’t into the series will find it repetitive
* No online features