Plan and simple, Champions Online lost its hold on me. I continued to dive into the game, move around the world, soak up the atmosphere, read about its future and most importantly, evaluate the content beyond my reach. What I definitively learned, and I hope my review hinted at, is that the game lacks legs. The atmosphere has always been incredibly disjointed thanks to the instancing of most zones. Even though all of the settings make sense in the universe, they lack a cohesive flow. And the multitude of characters aren’t employed effectively either. Because of these continued slip-ups through the middle to later levels, Champions Online gets boiled down to its diverse arcade-y combat. In essence, it becomes a soulless experience.
When I tore Star Trek Online a new a-hole for the very same reasons, I was once again called every name in the book and, like Champions Online, it will take a few months before I am once again proven correct. I’m trying to save you people money, I swear. I die a little inside every time I hear someone has foolishly purchased a lifetime subscription.
One of our writers posted a critique of the latest wildly-popular BioWare RPG, Mass Effect 2, on our sister site, InfoAddict, and it’s seriously stirred up the emotions of quite a few fanboys so we thought we’d reprint it here for you to enjoy (or hate) too. (If you’d like to read some of the encouraging comments and fiery criticisms left on the original post, you can find it here.)
With an average score of 96 on Metacritic, one would be justified in believing Mass Effect 2 has little room for improvement. An overwhelming majority of so-called game critics have weighed-in, predictably showering Bioware’s latest RPG with roses and garlands.
Bioware is one of a select number of game companies that receives a +3 modifier in review scores. So take an average game that would normally receive a 7, add Bioware’s name to the box, and oila! Instant 10. While this may be great for Bioware’s bottom-line, it’s actually a grave disservice to the company and gamers, not to mention a glowing example of everything that is wrong in game journalism; criticism specifically.
Having played and finished Mass Effect 2, I can safely say, without reservation or hesitation, that Bioware’s latest RPG is a complete mess, from top-to-bottom and not a product worthy of Bioware’s heritage.
You can always count on Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, to say something ridiculous or, at the very least, entertaining. Every week Hugo makes his citizens listen to his insufferable radio show known as Alo Presidente where he drones on and on about whatever comes to mind. This week Mr. Chavez was thinking about toys and videogames.
Chavez on Nintendo promotions: “selfishness, individualism and violence”.
Chavez on PlayStation: “Those games they call ‘PlayStation’ are poison. Some games teach you to kill. They once put my face on a game, ‘you’ve got to find Chavez to kill him. …Promote the need for cigarettes, drugs and alcohol so they can sell them. That’s capitalism, the road to hell.”
Early reviews of the forthcoming Gran Turismo for PSP are not kind, which can’t be music to the ears of Sony, who is hoping the franchise will breath life into PSP sales. Not all reviews are bad, but the good one comes from what I call “shill-sites”, i.e., game websites who love just about everything so they can keep getting free swag and better relations with PR firms. It’s the big boys who are hating on Gran Turismo, sites like CVG, Eurogamer and IGN.
‘relying on players to make their own fun is either lazy or foolhardy. Coupled with archaic AI and the isolating absence of PlayStation Network support, this makes for a game that feels unfocused and regressive, despite its considerable technical and mechanical accomplishments.’
‘For a lot of other Gran Turismo fans, the fantastic driving is coupled with starting out at the bottom, slowly tweaking and upgrading your starter car as you compete in event after event, and gradually buying new rides to take on bigger and better challenges. And then eventually, after lots of hard work, you’ll get a car that can crack the 200mph barrier and you’ll feel like you’ve accomplished something great. Gran Turismo on the PSP contains none of this, and by and large, that’s the entire problem.’
Superb car handling is the only redeeming factor for GT PSP. It feels great to drive. But that driving needed to be packaged with an actual racing game and that game isn’t here.
Battlefield 1943 blew the doors off the XBLA Marketplace, selling a mammoth 600,000 copies in just three days to become the fastest selling arcade game in the platform’s history. It’s a well-deserved success for a truly awesome game that finds me returning night after night for my fix.
Unfortunately, not all is well in the world of Battlefield as a few glaring problems are increasingly annoying the shit out of me. Worse, EA/DICE aren’t copping to any issues and are acting like too many other game companies by simply burying their head in the sand while they count your money.
History repeats itself time and time again. But repetition is by no means limited to the same medium.
As we progress deeper into the first full year since the backlash over Nintendo’s E3 2008 showing, and the continuing trend of terms such as “hardcore” and “casual” ripple through gaming journalism, I can’t help but remember some history from a little rock band called Van Halen. (Maybe you’ve heard of them?)
And the more I think about it, the more I realize that the Big N has a lot in common with what some consider the progenitor of 80s hair bands.
Both Van Halen and Nintendo got their start in their current industries (music and video games, respectively) in approximately the mid-to-late 1970s. Both became famous around the mid-1980s and each group had its easily recognizable trademarks. For Van Halen it was wild finger-tapping guitar style of Eddie Van Halen as well as the onstage anctics of frontman David Lee Roth. For Nintendo it was the addicting and enjoyable creations of Shigeru Miyamoto as well as the lesser-known strategic business planning of former NOA president Minoru Arakawa.
But more importantly, both groups suffered from a severe backlash by the self-described “hardcore” crowd upon a sudden change in creative direction that expanded their markets. read more…
(Ratings Average: 4.50 out of 5)
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