My life has been seriously lacking great games recently.
Over the summer I got to enjoy such gems as Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto 4. Two of the best games on ps3 to come out this year. Both were absolutely excellent; great story, perfect gameplay - The main difference is probably that I still play GTA4 From time to time, but after playing through MGS4 a few times, it loses it's appeal.
I sold all of my games except GTA 4 and I've played that on occasion, but more recently I've been turning my attention to a game I'll review briefly here. Then I'll List off the games I'm looking forward to in this coming month. Oh also, my computer was put out of a commission again (a mere few days after I even got it back) by the technical support guy i talked to on the phone, leading me through reformatting it in order to make it run smoother; now it can't even start. So I apologize for any typing errors, I will edit this but this keyboard is asboltuely possessed by Satan and despises the idea of me ever forming grammatically correct sentences or even complete sentences before causing the cursor to jump around the screen jumbling everything together. Ah technology, what a wonderful age we live in.
Wipeout HD
From the brief research I did on this game before buying it, I found out that it was originally a ps2 game (a classic must have one, apparently) and has in past years since, had psp iterations made as well. This game is essentially the ps2 and psp games combined and overhauled into very impressive High Defintion. Let it be said before I even begin to describe the gameplay at all, that this game is totally gorgeous. Very vivid and colorful environments with an incredible sense of speed, that is acheived through a great speed blur effect and well, stunning visuals. Keep that in mind as a key phrase, as I continue to describe the game.
So what we basically have here is a racer. A really fast futuristic looking racer. You play in a pretty decent variety of "ships" i guess they could be called, and you race along all kinds of crazy tracks with some jumps and lots of high-speed winding turns. Scattered along the track are square pads with either blue arrows or red X's. The blue arrows give you a short but fast speed boost and the X's provide you with a randomized powerup. These power ups can be offensive like 30 shots of a machine gun or shooting a line of 3 missles shot forward or things like the leech powerup that locks onto the nearest enemy and sucks health away from them while giving it to you. So yes, you do have a health or "shield" meter and you can blow up. It doesn't happen very often though, at least not until further in the game when the races get more difficult. And a cool little feature, i thought, is that with any of the weapons or power ups (there is also a speed powerup you can pick up that is a bit heftier than the standard "boost pads") you can press circle with any power up equipped to absorb it to replenish you're shields energy instead of using it.
All in all its just a really fun game, it looks incredible and I can replace the already good sountrack of the game's licensed techno tracks with my own playlists which is just awesome. I've been playing while listening to the faint or Ratatat and I've found some songs that fit the game perfectly. What's the best part about the game? Well as a 60 dollar game it would be really disappointing but for the 20 dollars that it cost me to download, it is truly a gem. An absolute must have PSN title.
Now let's see if I can find something bad to say about it: I've read that a very popular mode from the originals is absent in Wipeout HD. It was called elimination and it was basically a normal race except instead of having a set the number of laps, the race would just keep going until one person was left. So you basically keep lapping in this track trying to kill each other. That sounds like a reeeally fun mode and I'm pretty pissed off that it wasn't included; I can only hope they add it in a patch, or even if they had it for purchase under three dollars or so I would be willing to get it.
Also, there are only 12 vehicles which is a decent number- but I'm not even halfway through the game and I've unlocked them all..it takes some of the excitement out of it. Regardless, it has online that's great and splitscreen multiplayer and is just absolutely worth a $20 download.
Now for the games I'm looking forward to for October:
Bioshock
To most gamers, Bioshock is very well known. PC and 360 owners have likely already played it and have their opinion on it; most Ps3 owners on the other hand, have not had the opportunity. Of all the the games on my list for October, this is one that I am very unsure of. I really, really want to play it and experience what I've heard so many good things about; but at the same time I don't think it's worth the sixty dollar purchase.
Update! So the bioshock demo came out last thursday and I got a chance to play it a few times. As with most demos I wish it was a lot longer, but it was definitely fun. The first thing my roomate had to say about it was that it's easy. And I did get that impression even from the demo, but that didnt make it any less fun. The water effects although a bit iffy occasionally, blew my mind overall. There are certain points (especially while in motion) where I could not believe what I was seeing. There's one scene in particular that when I get a chance, I want to take a picture of and see if the awe translates into an image as much if at all. I absolutely want to play this game and hope to rent it (if i can finally suck it up and get a gamefly account), but I can comfortably say after playing the demo, I do not want to buy it. I'm tempted, but its clear from my short playthough with it (as well as everyone I've talked to that's played it) that it has very little to no replay value at all and henceforth can not by any twist of the imagination be worth spending 60 dollars on. If my time playing the game cant get near or surpass 60 hours, it's not worth it. Where's the logic in 60 dollars for like 10 or 20 hours of enjoyment?
Anyway, I think I will just update each game one at a time, and have them more in depth ( I was planning just short little blurbs at first) So my next one will be SOCOM or Saint's Row 2 as they both come out this tuesday. SOCOM might even be a review not a preview if I dont get a chance to get back here before Tuesday.
-B
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