Number 13
July 14th, 2006, 00:53
Maybe this is early adopter syndrome. For the first time ever, I've got a new console bascially on the day it came out (usually I'd never be able to afford it in a million years), and the lineup now, almost 9 months gone, isn't very impressive at all.
Out of all the games I've bought, nothing has really said 'next gen' to me yet, with a couple of exceptions which I'll come to in a minute. I've yet to find a game that *really* hooks me. Don't worry, I'm willing to back up my points, y'know! The games I've had are:
Project Gotham Racing 3 - to be fair, this one's one of the 'good guys' gaming-wise. The gameplay is fun, the graphics certainly show off the 360's early promise (jaggies aside) and the developers have supported it well with new cars and things for downloading. (7.5/10, taking into account the fact it was one of the first batch of games)
Call Of Duty 2 - the thing that stands against this instantly, I guess, is that I'm not a big fan of FPS games as a whole, but I gave it a chance. Was quite impressed by how much fun the single player was, but it was multiplayer I wanted this for - the chance to shoot my best friend in the head was a great selling point. However, it took them so long to implement the fix for the game's atrocious online play that I'd traded it in before it was allowed to show it's potential. I found it worryingly suspect that they were working on the patch for so long, only to suddenly have it ready in time to try and steal some limelight back from Ghost Recon. (5/10 - good potential, but ruined by the problems of the online mode)
Oblivion - Something of a hit and miss game for me. The expansive element, the graphics and the general feel of the game are fantastic. A sandbox game with a lot of fun and interesting things to do, as long as you don't bother with the main story. The main story, however, is dull as hell - not because of the gameplay, as such, but it's almost like the developers' collective imagination completely ran out when it comes to the Oblivion Gates, which are almost identical to each other and very very boring. I was loving the game until I got to the point where the game wanted me, bascially, to do nine of them in a row. I did them, but I've not touched it since. Can't bring myself to go back to it. Kudos again, though, for the frequent downloadable content. (8/10 - solid performer, but let down by the main quest's incredibly boring elements)
Dead Or Alive 4 - Woeful, to say the least. Looked great, graphically, and sounded like it could be a lot of fun - and it pretty much had an open market with regards to fighting games on the 360, especially given SF2's lack of appearance, like, ever. However the game was let down by the counter system, which gave the AI a massive and frustrating advantage. The difficulty level was such that you'd hammer the first two opponents easily, and then the third opponent would counter almost every single hit you attempted, making you frustrated as hell with the 3 or 4 continues needed to beat them - the pattern would then repeat, right up til the worst video game boss ever known - the dreaded and irritating beyond believe Alpha. A boss who you can't combo (she teleports out of the middle of it), you can't hit (she counters 90% of everything) and who can bascially wipe out your entire energy in three blows. Lazy lazy programming of the AI. Dreadful, just dreadful. (2/10)
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfare - I expected great things from this game. Genuinely thought it would be absolutely class, but really couldn't get into it. The game itself was immersive enough, and the first few levels were very promising, but it can be rather too unforgiving for the average casual gamer (ie: me) - a game where you can die out of the blue because you've been sniped by someone half a level away and 40 floors up isn't fun to me, it's frustrating as all hell. The online mode is ok, but until I got my HD tv, I was at a real disadvantage because I couldn't see anything on the darker levels. I dunno, though. Maybe it was overhyped, but it really didn't blow me out of the water the way it seemed to be suggesting it would do. (6/10)
Hitman: Blood Money - This game is a PS2 port, both graphically and gameplay wise. True, there's a *little* bit of tweaking for the 360 (bascially, the amount of people onscreen in the Mardis Gras level) but aside from that, it looks awful. The graphics are very poor, especially considering the levels aren't really that gigantic, and the textures are dull and flat. The gameplay seems rather old hat too - it doesn't feel as intuitive as it could. Just smacks of the developers having to tone everything down to make sure it'd run on the PS2. (6/10)
Over G Fighters - This is an abortion of a game. The missions are tiny (fly in a straight line for about 12 seconds and press fire) to begin with, and while I'm sure they must surely get better as the game goes on, the early ones put me off so much that I couldn't be bothered trying. The graphics wouldn't look out of place on the Dreamcast, never mind the PS2, and the gameplay is so slow as to make Hitman (which is deliberately slow) look like some sort of athletics simulator. It's criminal having a jet fighter game that feels like it's going slower than your mum's Fiat Punto heading to the shops. Just rubbish. (3/10)
Chromehounds - The single player is so obviously tacked on that it's barely worth mention. This is quite obviously a game designed for online only, and that would be fair enough if it was at least hinted at before purchase, but it's not. The online mode? Well, I've yet to actually get into a game with any human opponents, because the servers have been down pretty much constantly since the day I bought it - another COD2 effort, bascially. They're back up now, but I've sort of lost interest after having to wait days to even get a chance. I've also had to sit in about seven lobbies, waiting 15 minutes for an opponent to turn up, and got no joy. This can be excused by the fact the game's new, right enough. The graphics of the Hounds are amazing, but the scenery and landscape look terrible and seem flat, and while I appreciate it's not supposed to be Virtual-On or anything, the gameplay seems so slow that you're virtually crawling. There's no skill to winning - victory comes down to whoever's bought the best guns for their Hound, it's as simple as that. Great potential, and when I first got it, I was excited about it, but I've come to realise it's really not the game it could or should have been. (6/10)
Top Spin 2 - It's a good game, but it doesn't look that much different to the XBox version - definitely isn't taking advantage of the 360's capabilities. Fun though, which is the important thing, but definitely a game for having a bunch of mates round. (7/10)
I won't go into the XBLA games much, only to say that Geometry Wars is brilliant and Marble Blast Ultra is cool, but everything else has been pretty tame. And where the fecking hell is SFII?!? (Sorry, just had to get that one in there!)
You know the most worrying thing of all? I have the most powerful console on the market, and the game I play most on it is Pro Evo 5 - for the XBOX. That's a worrying sign.
However, now that the first batch of games have been and gone, and developers have had some time to play with the unit and see what it can do, I have a lot of faith for the future games coming out. Games like Mass Effect, enChant Arms, Dead Rising and Gears Of War all look like absolute humdingers, and the sort of games that I will be blown away by and enjoy playing. Plus, there's Pro Evo 6 (although it'll suffer like Hitman for being on a game engine designed to run on lesser consoles) and the new Smackdown game, which could be fun. The potential for GTA4 is mind-boggling too, if it's done to the full power of what the 360 can bring.
So, I guess my point is that I could have just kept my XBox for the time being - I wouldn't have *really* missed out on much by waiting until this Christmas to get my 360, when I would have had more choice and (probably) much better and more next-gen games to choose from. The sparse release schedule hasn't helped, seeing as I've generally ran out and bought any new game that sounds like it could be anything half-decent and kept getting disappointed.
I think the 360 will be the winner of this round of the console wars, although the Wii will run it close, but I just hope it really does live up to its potential. Fingers crossed for the future.
Just my two cents, as they say...
Out of all the games I've bought, nothing has really said 'next gen' to me yet, with a couple of exceptions which I'll come to in a minute. I've yet to find a game that *really* hooks me. Don't worry, I'm willing to back up my points, y'know! The games I've had are:
Project Gotham Racing 3 - to be fair, this one's one of the 'good guys' gaming-wise. The gameplay is fun, the graphics certainly show off the 360's early promise (jaggies aside) and the developers have supported it well with new cars and things for downloading. (7.5/10, taking into account the fact it was one of the first batch of games)
Call Of Duty 2 - the thing that stands against this instantly, I guess, is that I'm not a big fan of FPS games as a whole, but I gave it a chance. Was quite impressed by how much fun the single player was, but it was multiplayer I wanted this for - the chance to shoot my best friend in the head was a great selling point. However, it took them so long to implement the fix for the game's atrocious online play that I'd traded it in before it was allowed to show it's potential. I found it worryingly suspect that they were working on the patch for so long, only to suddenly have it ready in time to try and steal some limelight back from Ghost Recon. (5/10 - good potential, but ruined by the problems of the online mode)
Oblivion - Something of a hit and miss game for me. The expansive element, the graphics and the general feel of the game are fantastic. A sandbox game with a lot of fun and interesting things to do, as long as you don't bother with the main story. The main story, however, is dull as hell - not because of the gameplay, as such, but it's almost like the developers' collective imagination completely ran out when it comes to the Oblivion Gates, which are almost identical to each other and very very boring. I was loving the game until I got to the point where the game wanted me, bascially, to do nine of them in a row. I did them, but I've not touched it since. Can't bring myself to go back to it. Kudos again, though, for the frequent downloadable content. (8/10 - solid performer, but let down by the main quest's incredibly boring elements)
Dead Or Alive 4 - Woeful, to say the least. Looked great, graphically, and sounded like it could be a lot of fun - and it pretty much had an open market with regards to fighting games on the 360, especially given SF2's lack of appearance, like, ever. However the game was let down by the counter system, which gave the AI a massive and frustrating advantage. The difficulty level was such that you'd hammer the first two opponents easily, and then the third opponent would counter almost every single hit you attempted, making you frustrated as hell with the 3 or 4 continues needed to beat them - the pattern would then repeat, right up til the worst video game boss ever known - the dreaded and irritating beyond believe Alpha. A boss who you can't combo (she teleports out of the middle of it), you can't hit (she counters 90% of everything) and who can bascially wipe out your entire energy in three blows. Lazy lazy programming of the AI. Dreadful, just dreadful. (2/10)
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfare - I expected great things from this game. Genuinely thought it would be absolutely class, but really couldn't get into it. The game itself was immersive enough, and the first few levels were very promising, but it can be rather too unforgiving for the average casual gamer (ie: me) - a game where you can die out of the blue because you've been sniped by someone half a level away and 40 floors up isn't fun to me, it's frustrating as all hell. The online mode is ok, but until I got my HD tv, I was at a real disadvantage because I couldn't see anything on the darker levels. I dunno, though. Maybe it was overhyped, but it really didn't blow me out of the water the way it seemed to be suggesting it would do. (6/10)
Hitman: Blood Money - This game is a PS2 port, both graphically and gameplay wise. True, there's a *little* bit of tweaking for the 360 (bascially, the amount of people onscreen in the Mardis Gras level) but aside from that, it looks awful. The graphics are very poor, especially considering the levels aren't really that gigantic, and the textures are dull and flat. The gameplay seems rather old hat too - it doesn't feel as intuitive as it could. Just smacks of the developers having to tone everything down to make sure it'd run on the PS2. (6/10)
Over G Fighters - This is an abortion of a game. The missions are tiny (fly in a straight line for about 12 seconds and press fire) to begin with, and while I'm sure they must surely get better as the game goes on, the early ones put me off so much that I couldn't be bothered trying. The graphics wouldn't look out of place on the Dreamcast, never mind the PS2, and the gameplay is so slow as to make Hitman (which is deliberately slow) look like some sort of athletics simulator. It's criminal having a jet fighter game that feels like it's going slower than your mum's Fiat Punto heading to the shops. Just rubbish. (3/10)
Chromehounds - The single player is so obviously tacked on that it's barely worth mention. This is quite obviously a game designed for online only, and that would be fair enough if it was at least hinted at before purchase, but it's not. The online mode? Well, I've yet to actually get into a game with any human opponents, because the servers have been down pretty much constantly since the day I bought it - another COD2 effort, bascially. They're back up now, but I've sort of lost interest after having to wait days to even get a chance. I've also had to sit in about seven lobbies, waiting 15 minutes for an opponent to turn up, and got no joy. This can be excused by the fact the game's new, right enough. The graphics of the Hounds are amazing, but the scenery and landscape look terrible and seem flat, and while I appreciate it's not supposed to be Virtual-On or anything, the gameplay seems so slow that you're virtually crawling. There's no skill to winning - victory comes down to whoever's bought the best guns for their Hound, it's as simple as that. Great potential, and when I first got it, I was excited about it, but I've come to realise it's really not the game it could or should have been. (6/10)
Top Spin 2 - It's a good game, but it doesn't look that much different to the XBox version - definitely isn't taking advantage of the 360's capabilities. Fun though, which is the important thing, but definitely a game for having a bunch of mates round. (7/10)
I won't go into the XBLA games much, only to say that Geometry Wars is brilliant and Marble Blast Ultra is cool, but everything else has been pretty tame. And where the fecking hell is SFII?!? (Sorry, just had to get that one in there!)
You know the most worrying thing of all? I have the most powerful console on the market, and the game I play most on it is Pro Evo 5 - for the XBOX. That's a worrying sign.
However, now that the first batch of games have been and gone, and developers have had some time to play with the unit and see what it can do, I have a lot of faith for the future games coming out. Games like Mass Effect, enChant Arms, Dead Rising and Gears Of War all look like absolute humdingers, and the sort of games that I will be blown away by and enjoy playing. Plus, there's Pro Evo 6 (although it'll suffer like Hitman for being on a game engine designed to run on lesser consoles) and the new Smackdown game, which could be fun. The potential for GTA4 is mind-boggling too, if it's done to the full power of what the 360 can bring.
So, I guess my point is that I could have just kept my XBox for the time being - I wouldn't have *really* missed out on much by waiting until this Christmas to get my 360, when I would have had more choice and (probably) much better and more next-gen games to choose from. The sparse release schedule hasn't helped, seeing as I've generally ran out and bought any new game that sounds like it could be anything half-decent and kept getting disappointed.
I think the 360 will be the winner of this round of the console wars, although the Wii will run it close, but I just hope it really does live up to its potential. Fingers crossed for the future.
Just my two cents, as they say...