MEMBER PROFILE FOR Huckleberry
Average Overall Score Given: 7.20000 / 10
Total Forum Posts: 1399
Reviews
Medal of Honor: European Assault
I grew up reading everything I could find on the Great War...WW II. Books about figher aces, imposing generals, and unlikely heroes kept me imagining life as one of them. It was a romantic time in my mind, full of valor and patriotism. The old war movies only added to my perceptions.However, the reality of war is nothing like my imagination. People die, families suffer, no matter which side the combatants are from. In every moment of every day there is the overwhelming knowledge that the next bullet could have your name on it.
So...Medal of Honor: European Assault, EA's newest iteration of their long-toothed series, attempts to bridge the two ends of the spectrum. MoH immerses you in the European and Africa theaters, and says "Here's what it was like to be a soldier during our planet's largest conflict." And it's true...if you could have popped back to life in the middle of a firefight, or gotten so amped up during battles that you suddenly became invincible (more on this later).
Although this may look like a typical first person shooter, there are many things that give it a more realistic feel. There's no charging through the enemy, knowing that you're stronger and better. The enemy AI is smarter than most, more accurate shooters than most, and will tear you up if this is teh style you prefer. Because of this, you're forced to be tactical. Even with your squad of three friendlies, you'll want to hold back and look for opportunities to take out as many as you can from a distance. But, snipers beware. You'll never find them all, and you will have times of intense close quarters combat. This mixture of style brings a pretty authentic feeling to the game. There's a lot of waiting, and there's a lot of action.
Other things that lend themselves to creating a true WWII feeling are a shortage of ammunition. You get just enough. If you squander sniper rounds, be sure you'll pay for it later. Also, the ability to pick up and use the enemy's weapons. How many times have you yelled at someone on a movie screen because they left a weapon behind that they could and should have taken? Well, now you can grab it as necessary. Sort of. You can only carry two weapons at a time, which is also a nice reality check. No cycling through your 6 weapons for the perfect choice. You make do with what you have here. The one exception is grenades. There's enough grenades in this game to just blow up all of the European theater.
Okay...I mentioned the arcade-esque parts of this game. One is "awakening" from the dead. EA has decided to do away with the system we've all grown up with...the checkpoint system...and instead give you "revive" points. Depending on the level at which you play, you'll find these to be plentiful or completely non-existent. You'll receive them for finishing levels, or for taking care of major tasks in the level itself. If you did, you'll pop back up with 50% health right where you just were. You just pray you killed off most of what killed you, or you're in for a cycle...and the use of all your revives.
The other is Adrenaline. As you fight your adrenaline meter will fill up. Completing tasks and killing make it go up. When it's full, you can press the black button and go into "god mode". Unlimited ammo, stronger shot power, and no health damage. I konw the German scientists in WWII were very close to developing a pill that brought on this effect in their women (it showed up in time to feed the East German women's swim team) but nothing like this was ever a possibility for the Allied forces. It's a bit over the top for a realistic shooter to contain.
The button and joystick controls are fairly standard. You can jump, crouch, lie prone, lean, and even peek up or down from the crouched or prone position. The only real complaint I had about button layout was mapping grenades to the D-pad Up position. It just seemed a little bit odd to me and I never got used to it.
You have 3 soldiers attached to you as part of your squad, and you're given some minimal control over them...push ahead and pull back is pretty much it. The trouble is they never quite seem ready to listen completely to you. They're sort of like the little kid who wants to see how far they can push the frazzled mom. It was sort of a "Stay back here! DID YOU HEAR ME??? I SAID GET BACK HERE! DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE AND GET YOU!" sort of thing. I'd be waiting to get a shot with my sniper rifle and suddenly my squad, which was called back, would be up ahead drawing fire and blocking my shot on the target. It's not such a big deal on the "Normal" level. There's lots of health to be had, and less damage. But wait until you go to the advanced levels. It's a pain in the bum, as the Brits would say, to have to spend medkits on squad guys that are getting shot because they can't listen to one of the two simple commands they understand.
On the other hand, as I mentioned before, the enemy's AI is much better. There's no one methodology to killing them, and you'll hardly ever see one spinning in circles or running into the same rock for 20 minutes. If you shoot a gunner out of a turret, another guy will get on that gun and keep you pinned down. You'll get flanked and face all-around good tactics. That alone can make or break a game, and I think it makes it here.
BUT...if there could be one thing that breaks this game, it would be the complete lack of Xbox Live capability. There is 4 player multiplayer as part of the game, and it's replete with the usual gametypes. However, the more I played it, the more I wanted to be taking on some of these objectives with teammates against real live human AI...or even real live human ANSI (artificial not so intelligent). I know it's quite a task to put XBL abilities in a game, but this is EA we're talking about...not some rinky dink outfit with one guy acting as developer, mail clerk, and gender sensitivity training coordinator. They have manpower and lots of it. And the money to make it happen...and lots of it.
While they were tossing a little bit of cashola at the XBL thing, they could have added a couple of art directors, too. I believe this has harnessed any of the power of the Xbox. I've seen plenty of PS2 games that look better, and although I can't swear by it, I think Goldeneye on N64 had less jaggies and framerate issues. Processing power must be consumed by the AI component because it sure wasn't used on the graphics. It even felt in some areas like the developers specifically left it sparsely t; because of the number of fighters to be faced. This game didn't even hold its own in the graphics world of 2005. Of course, it could be that EA was just going retro like the rest of the world...
The music and sound effects were exactly the opposite of the graphics. It's not an inordinately musical game, but what there is, in cut scenes, intro, etc., is great. Powerful at times, poignant at others, it just plays right.
The sound effects are also very well done. It's the sort of thing you may not notice until asked to pay attention...or until a nearby Tiger tank puts a round into the wall you're hiding behind. Then, especially with the 5.1 on and the sub kicked up. The game is THX certified which should tell you something.
Suggestions: The game is really fun to play alone. The trouble is most of us spend enough time alone, and even if online gameplay is a poor replacement for having friends, it's still community and we like it. It plain to see for nearly everyone that online play is where it's at these days, and yet it was completely left out (not even XBL aware) from the game.
EA, please go the extra mile in a game like this. You are great and all powerful and we must often live with what you choose to do. It's part of why we're afraid of what will happen to football games...you do what you want. I like this game...I really do. But I could love this game like I loved Battlefield 1942. Don't be the cruel mistress, holding back to make us beg. Be the benevolent one, and leave us singing your praises because of all that you give your geeky, sunlight starved followers.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
The Revenge of the Sith...Well, they can have theirs, but when they're done, I'm having a little of my own. See, there are a lot of people that nearly faint from joy at the first hint of anything Star Wars. I am not one of those people. I hoped Jawa the Duck was going to eat Mark Hamill. I wanted that first little Anakin actor to be killed 30 seconds into Episorry 1, and then there's that Jar Jar Blonks thing. I never hated the idea of Star Wars...just the poor re-creation of that imagined world on the big screen.
I was content to go without ever feeling attached to the whole franchise. I often wondered how many video games could possibly come out of one far, far away galaxy. Then, I played Kotor and Kotor II and realized this whole Jedi thing could be pretty !&%$@#* fun. So, my interests were piqued when Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith came onto my radar. I'd get to help turn Anakin into Darth Vader!
The idea of the game, like KOTOR, brought me the chance to be what we all secretly desire...to be not just a Jedi, but the best of the best. The chance to be great, to throw robots with a wave, to move people with our minds. And that was all well and good. But then I started to play the game. In reality, there's nothing to do but re-enact the movie from beginning to end. No different courses of action (unless dying while fighting Count Dooku the first two times is altering the outcome), just a plotted (and plodded) course requiring you only to mash buttons. What started with guarded optimism ended in vocal displeasure. I wanted my 8 hours back!
In a word this game is...unspectacular...or mediocre. Okay, so that's two words. It looks beautiful, there are great powers to be had, and you can create long strings of acrobatic moves twirling light sabers like Wyatt Earp spun his guns. But then you're restricted to one camera point of view, which is often odd and does not lend itself to fighting the enemies that are attacking you. Your flurry of moves is directly related to how quickly you advance in your use of the Force and in advanced fighting techniques, but it's usually hard to tell exactly what combination you just pulled off. It's not easy to feel like an all-powerful Jedi when you're not sure what you just did to survive the battle.
There simply was nothing compelling about this game. I'm a hook sort of gamer. I get into a game and don't want to let it go. I play it every available minute I have. Since my available minutes are limited, there's a lot of games competing for those precious minutes. Revenge of the Sith never got me going. Perhaps seeing the movie the day before had a lot to do with that. In truth, I probably would have enjoyed playing the game more than I enjoyed the movie. The sense of suspense might have added a lot to it. But the combination of knowing every outcome and finding the gameplay to be closer to button mashing than strategic really exposed this as another piece of uninspiring clutter that sells because it has the Star Wars name attached to it.
There's nothing difficult about the gameplay. Attacks are assigned to the X, Y, and B buttons, and there are combinations of these three buttons, along with the left joystick, that will cause special attacks. Not uncommon at all. Tony Hawk, SSX Tricky et. al.; there are dozens of games that use the button combination to extend the range of the player. However, when you do a combo in Tony Hawk, it tells you the move you just made. Same in Tricky. Your fingers start to connect with your brain, and you know when and how to do any of the myriad of combos available. And, at least in the case of Tricky, you get a practice area to work on your skills. A place to see how different combinations work together...or don't. Not in Revenge of the Sith. There were very few times I knew that the combo I was trying to do was the one that actually happened.
On occasion an extra enemy would pop on screen in line with the one already there. This would alter the results of the combination, although usually for the better. Still, it was all very nebulous.
It may seem that I'm over-emphasizing the lack of clarity involved in the combo system. However, your ability to grow in your combat and Force skills is directly tied to it. For every kill, you're rated in how "well" you did the job. A simple hack and slash (which is what this game is overall) will get your a Fair ranking, with improved killing techniques offering Good, Impressive, and Masterful ratings. Each kill gives you points for growing your abilities. 1x for Fair up through 4x for Masterful. Masterful is the goal here, but because of this overall lack of knowledge (not from lack of trying to learn) it was nearly impossible to maximize the number of points scored on a level.
I have three simple suggestions for Ubisoft on this one.
First, provide an area to practice. One might take the head to head battle system as teh opportunity for that. However, the game acts differently fighting one enemy vs. four.
Second, display the combo name when it's performed, ala Tony Hawk or Tricky. It doesn't have to be prominently displayed in the middle of the screen. Just stick it off to the side a bit where we can see it pe, make it easier to get to the list of combos. To have to pause, and go deep into the menu system to to remember the button order of so many combos is extremely tedious (as if tedious itself were not enough). I got to the point where I had to write down all of mine and look over to remember which was which.
My only other significant problem with this game was the fixed camera angle. Sure, when I was playing side scrollers, I knew I was going to get one point of view. But this is the golden age of video games. If Worms can come in a 3D, fully rotational world, why can't I get a couple of different views in this game? There were so many times I was getting fired on from off-screen in three different directions and couldn't rotate to see them...I had to run to them. The only trouble was, I didn't really want to be running back in that particular direction. It felt cumbersome, sloppy, and so 5 years ago to be limited like this.
Party and Enemy A.I. left a little to be desired. In the Count Dooku battle, there was a spot where he had been beating the hell out of me, and then suddenly turned and ran to the edge of the battle area...and kept running against the edge of it. This allowed me to restore my HP and FP, which were well down at the time.
There was no fault to be had in this game with the visual designs. I wasn't too thrilled by the inclusion of actual film footage prior to every level, but it was pretty sweet how they moved from film to animation so smoothly and seamlessly. The film's environments were captured fairly accurately.
In general, however, there were no ground-breaking graphical technological leaps here, which seems a little weird, considering the effort given to making sure the films employ the most amazing graphical efforts available. Maybe Ubisoft could sub out a little work to Industrial Light and Magic???
The sound was lots and LOTS of John Williams. I suppose if you're a SW fan(boy) this alone could make the game worth buying. I could have used a little better variation in the music.
The battle sounds were similar to the game graphics. They sounded good, but once you've heard one blaster rifle, you've heard them all. It all sounds nice on the surround sound system, and the louder the better.
There is one moment musically that they need to incorporate more in the Star Wars games. When the opening theme switches to that dark, ominous sounding music...that's the damm coolest thing John Williams ever did.
Suggestions: To make a game that follow the points of a film beat for beat be compelling, there should be something extraordinary in the gameplay. This was a different skin on the well documented animal Hackinous Slashinum. The only reason I could find for a person to finish this game would be if it was their first exposure to the Revenge of the Sith story. With the numbers the film grossed so far, I'd say the odds are in line with Rosie O'Donnell driving past a donut shop without stopping...
Overall Score: 4.6 / 10
Blood Omen 2
Overall: The story of this game was great...I kept commenting to my roommate, and to the friend that I borrowed the game from that someone should make it into a movie. I was very entertained by this game.Gameplay: Simply controls, and an easy interface made getting going in the game very simple. I didn't even get the manual out of the case (I never do that, actually). I do have two complaints about the game, though. First, it was far too easy. I never felt challenged by the game. The first boss I faced was the one I had the hardest time with. I hadn't realized that the little ring of special abilities was so important in the game, and actually beat him without ever using the mist ability...talk about a pain in the @$$! I beat the final boss on my second attempt, and would have beaten him on the first attempt if I had figured out the the need for one special ability a little earlier. It just wasn't challenging at all. The hardest thing in the whole game was the spidery guys...and they weren't very difficult, either. Second, not having a way to pass up the cut scenes was a pain in the butt. It wouldn't have been very difficult to add a switch to the programming that would check to see if the scene had been played once, and then allow a button bypass of it in further showings.
Graphics: Not anywhere near as smooth as I would have expected. There were some beautiful backgrounds with great detail, but the look of kain and the npcs were pretty brutal. It seemed like everything...characters, backgrounds, etc...were made to be as square as possible...and I don't understand why. Other games are all getting these amazing scenes and or characters (i.e rallisport scenery or nfl2k2 players). It's not like there's ever too much of anything going on in any particular screen to possibly cause the framerate to slow. It just wasn't as beautiful as I thought it could have been.
Audio: Nothing spectacular or brutal here...it's just sort of there. There are some cool things that happen in the soundtrack that I think are designed to get your blood pressure up. However, I found Halo's soundtrack to be much more effective at causing me to feel in a particular situation.
Suggestions: It's hard to say I would grow tired of this game, but I wouldn't play it again. It was a great story, but not a difficult or dangerous feeling game. If I'm playing a vampire whose existence is in danger, I want to feel like that's the case. Heck, if that last boss was the main threat I had, I wouldn't be too concerned about anything. Make it a little harder...not unsolveable, frustrate the player till they throw the controller in disgust hard...hard for the sake of being hard. Just make the difficulty match the task that you're putting him on.
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
