Floods and Fun

Because of the huge storms on the Gold Coast, which you might have seen on TV, I didn't actually make it into work today. It pretty much rained here, from about 3am to 9am, solidly. Which caused about 3 or 4 of the roads around where I live to become submersed. When I say there was a lot of water on the roads, things like big 4WD's didn't even dare take on the challenge.

So I did what anyone would do, stayed home and gamed all day. First thing I did was download the Battlefield 2 demo and have a bit of a play with that. I find it a fairly interesting game, and love the choices of different classes, and variety of weapons. Plus even with all the graphics on high it just runs a treat on my system. Blow up tanks with anti-tank weapons is a real blast. Though one think I did find disappointing, besides the matches only lasting 10mins because its a demo, was the weapons themselves. Maybe it's from playing a fair amount of CS lately, where the weapons are very pronounced and vivid. It's just in Battlefield 2, when you fire say a pistol, it just has this really weak ping feel to it. Even things like the sniper rifle just feel lifeless. I always think gun in FPS's need to have a real kick to them, to make it feel more realistic and it gives you much needed feedback.

I also finally stated to play Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. I didn't expect it to be anything like it is, it's more like an adventure game than an RPG. At it's core you create a character, then follow a set path to certain places, to collect a certain liquid from these special trees. There isn't really anything wrong with that, you defiantly won't get lost. The combat is fairly simple, and works well, more hack and slash style. Also it has such a great look and feel to it, much more than I was expecting. I try and play some more into it, as it might have more depth to it. Though even if it doesn't it's not really a problem, simples sometimes is better.

Bad Habits

I've gotten into a fairly bad habit with games recently. Well, I actually don't know if it's so much a bad habit or a normal thing. It's just that I keep seeming to buy new games, and only play them for a short while, then move onto something else. I've got a load of games now that I've only played very briefly, some I haven't even started. Though I just really like buying new games, whether a new release or a bargain I've just got to have it. Even now I'm thinking of picking up Viewtiful Joe 2 or King of Fighters Maximum impact from EB, and shit Viewtiful Joe, while it was really cool, was too goddamn hard and just pissed me off. I think I might of posted about this before, but it's just getting worse now.

Though in my defence, I will play right through a game if I really get into it. Also most of the time I'll play a game up to a point where it just annoys me with some sort of stupid difficulty, or I just get bored with it. The difficulty thing is quite an important thing for me, since I like to play a few different games, I don't want to have to "perfect" everything in a goddamn game just to pass a level, it's pointless, that's what "hard" or "ultra-hard" modes are for. "Normal" mode should be enjoyable, not a bloody trial.

I'm also still playing a bit of Counter-Strike, I thought it might be one of those things that I just needed to get out of my system, guess not. It probably won't last too long, it just takes time away from other games. It's just so addictive.

I just noticed that the weekly special over at Play-Asia is Armored Core Formula Front on PSP. Now I've read that this game is a mech simulator, you build a custom mech and then it fights a simulated battle, and I know that there is so much fucking Japanese in the game that it difficult to play. But...I just want to buy it because it's $29!

Tekken Advantage!

So I played a little more Tekken 5 today, and yeah it's not bad I'm starting to get back into it. Currently just going through Story Mode and unlocking a few extra characters. The one thing that I really can't understand is the cheap ass Jinpachi boss. Now I've seen some pretty cheap bosses in fighting games (DOA3 anyone?), however Jinpachi is the "CHEAPEST BOSS EVER!". Now I don't mind a bit of a challenge when it comes to a boss, but at no point in any fighting game, does a character need to produce a FIREBALL, from the MOUTH in his STOMACH, that does 50-80% damage. I just don't understand cheap arse bosses in fighters. He has some other crazy shit as well, like a stun move, some energy rush and just ridiculous damage per hit ratio. Though the best thing has to be how he actually teleports backwards then produces the fireball, which you can't block. You can sidestep it, but that isn't always as easy as it might seem.

Anyway apart from that the game is great, very nice stages now, no real boring crap. Also for some reason my PS2 won't let me play any of the old Arcade games or the Devil Within mini game. Damn PS2 *shakes fist*

Fighting For It

Bujingai and Tekken 5 arrived today from Play-Asia. I'll start with Bujingai because out of the two it impressed me the most. I didn't really know what to expect going into this game, as I'd seen many mixed opinions on it, but also a lot of very good ones. One in particular mentioned that it was like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with Gackt" so I pretty much went in with that in mind. What I didn't expect was a game that has such solid controls and enjoyable combat system. Think of Ninja Gaidens controls mixed with the fluidity and playfulness of the action from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and you have an idea of how this game plays.

It's so unexpected when you first start playing that is just catches you off guard, especially the way that combos just rolls of your buttons and the awesome parry system. If you manage to hit the attack button at just the time an enemy is about to strike you, you parry their attack, landing many a blow upon then, which can then be carried into a combo. The one boss fight that I've played so far is basically a really large sword/parry fight with wicked visuals. The only complaint I have about the game is the rather bland textures and environment, though I haven't played a great deal of the game yet it's just that so far it's very open, but not much really fills the space.

Since Bujingai has had a PAL release it's quite easy to pick up, but you will probably want to try and get it for around $30, because while it a interesting game I've heard that it's quite short and wouldn't be worth shelling out too much for. Just one too look out for at some point.

Now Tekken 5. It seems that Namco has taken a few cues from Sega's Virtua Fighter 4 release, since the Arcade Mode now incorporates the whole ranking system, and a load of other stuff. It's not as well done and VF4 but it does the job. I really wish that the game let you use the Analogue Sticks in the main game, because after playing for an hour or so with the D-Pad I always seem to get a really sore thumb!

Anyway, the game looks and sounds great, I would have to say Arcade quality conversion, similar to VF4. I haven't played Tekken in a while and it always takes sometime to get back into it. As a result I got my arse handed to me a number of times in Arcade Mode. The only real issue I had was that the CPU really seems to take too much advantage of hitting you when your down, and abusing the whole juggling thing. Now I don't really mind this when I've played the game for a little while, but right of the bat it's goddamn frustrating. Other characters are worse than others, namely Hihatchi (barstard). Though it does push you into improving your game, which I guess works.

I really wanted to check out the bonus Tekken games that come included with it, but my PS2 was having none of it and wouldn't load them. So I'll try and fix that and see if I can get them to play.

Firestarter

I tried to start playing Breath Of Five V of on the weekend, but didn't really get too far in it. The thing was, I'd just built a new PC for a friend, so as I was waiting for Windows XP, the various service packs and updates to install, I'd thought I would have a bit of a play thought it.

However it all ended fairly abruptly when I died half way thought the first section, annoyed at this and finding I would have to replay said section I turned the game off in disgust at it's ridiculous difficulty level so early in the game. Now I like a challenge and all, but this game really can get you off side with the way it plays. The amount of enemies you encounter, the amount of health you have, the amount of damage that they deal and being unfamiliar with the battle/combo system really make the game difficult at first, the combos being very important as they allow you to deal much more damage.

Anyway so after thinking I wouldn't return to the game I decided about an hour ago to try it again. This time with increased stats, and knowing what I was doing I blazed though the first section of the game with ease. So now I'm back into it and looking quite forward to what the game has in store.

It's a great looking game with a sort of future sci-fi feel to it, and the cel-shading used thought out is great, sort of Wind Waker but darker and more gritty. I never really played a Breath of Fire game before, only once very briefly on the PSX so I can't really compare it. There are no random battles which is a nice change, as you can avoid battle if you don't feel ready to take on so many enemies. The battle system is turn based allowing you to chose from different ranges of attacks, which can be used in combination to produce more damage. So far it seems interesting enough, and worth checking out if you an RPG fan, and at $25 from EB is well worth a look.

Added Content

The last of the Gamma Pack updates for Wipeout Pure hit yesterday, and I gleefully downloaded it and installed it on my PSP today. Gamma Pack 3 includes 2 new skins and 2 new tracks, now new ships this time unfortunately. The new skins follow the trend of the last two, being that of the mains teams.They are a skin for Qirex, that is purple with white text, and Auricom that is blue with red text. Both look quite nice, and make a change. I've currently got the Auricom one applied.

The two new tracks are Exostra Run and Ubermall. Exotra Run is quite a fast track, with more downward slops than up, and a fair amount of wide open corners with boost pads before them, quite a fun and fluid track to race on. Ubermall on the other hand is quite the opposite. It has a fair few tight sections with fairly tight corners, leading to either a couple of really long fast corners and high section so track. It's not as fast as Exostra Run, but has some interesting scenery.

Late Night Session

For some strange reason I've started playing Counter Strike Source. I know it's not a strange thing, but I've never been a huge Counter Strike fan or player. Even though I played it back when it first came out, and now and again after that, I was always much more of a Team Fortress Classic guy. I really do miss TFC. Anyway, so I've been playing a bit of CS, and I'd forgotten how long it takes to get good at a game like it. It's still great fun, and I can usually manage to keep more score sort of even.

I was going to try and play a bit of Breath of Fire 5 this weekend, but I don't really know. I have no idea why I buy RPG's, I don't have the time to play them let a long put the time into them to complete them. But we'll see.

I didn't mention this because it's import related, however the weekly special over at Play-Asia this week is Tekken 5 (English language, Asian version). Now normally I don't pick up import games that will get a release in PAL, but it was only $30 and I'll be stuffed if I go out of my way to pay more for it.

Because I was already ordering that I decided to pick up Bujingai from their Big Summer Sale also, and yeah it's pretty big. $12, and it's got Gackt in it.

Killer Stuff

I've been keeping an eye on Killer 7 even since it was announced a couple of years ago. The first screen shots and videos of it always intrigued me, and it seemed like it could be a great game if done right. Though I also had this nagging feeling that it might not turn out as well as it could.

Since the game has been recently released in Japan, there is a first play thread about it over at NTSC-UK which has many favourable mentions of the game. So after reading a few posts I decided to pop over to Gamespot and check out a few of the new videos that are around.

Even though this it's supposed to be "on-rails" so to speak, it sill look like an excellent action/shooter game. With a great dark cell shaded feel to it and wicked style. It's due out for PS2 and Cube on 22nd of next month, so a little over a month away, but I'm sure to be picking this up on release.

Also I mentioned that I picked up House of the Dead 3 on Xbox the other day. Well I played through it, and goddamn it a short game. I managed to finish it the second time though. I remember HotD 2 taking me ages to beat, and that was also using a gun. HotD 3 looks really nice, and plays quite well plus it would be ace with a gun. It's also nice that it unlocks HotD 2 which is also an excellent port and plays very well. Just a shame HotD 3 is so very short.

Mythologies

When I was at EB the other day I scored a demo for the soon to be released, and much raved about God Of War. Even though this game has been getting some great reviews I didn't really pay a huge amount of attention to and brushed it off as another action/adventure game. That was until I actually played the demo. Even though it's quite short in length, the demo gives such a great feel of how the game works.

With a game like God Of War one of the most important elements that needs to be right are the controls, and God Of War excels in this department. Solid, tight and responsive they make the game very playable and really fun, allowing you to pull of some ridiculous combos.

The sound a graphics are also very well done conveying the atmosphere and environment really well. The audio is actually quite outstanding, with some great surround sound effects being implemented.

The gameplay it's self is pretty much your standard action adventure style gameplay, all based around Greek mythology which is an interesting change. There seem to be a few puzzle elements at times in the game that make you think, which adds quite well to the gameplay. One interesting element was on one of the first mid-boss fights, to finish off the boss you had to input a series of quick button presses, quite similar to those old games where you had to hit the right button at the right time during a cinematic. The one I encountered was easy to pull off and the result was excellent and very well executed, leaving me quite satisfied.

God Of Was is due out on 23rd of this month and I would recommend that anyone up for a good action game check it out, with a nice original setting and great gameplay, it's seems to be well worth it.

T-Shirts That Own!

As I am the kind of person who doesn't always want or like to go along the latest "trends" I usually try and find clothing and the like that's more my style. I'm always looking around for decent t-shirts or gaming related ones. I know there are a few sites around which are dedicated to that kinda thing but not many of their designs really grabbed me.

That was until the other day when I stumbled upon Split Reason. If you after any sort of gaming apparel this is the place to check out. They have a serious amount of wicked designs, many web and gaming related. They also have some great looking hoodies and long sleeve shirts. Plus they also have a nice rang of clothing for the ladies. I've put a couple of my personal favs below just for fun.

Also the image at the top of the page is also available as a shirt, and looks the business! There are a load of other shirts that I'm currently loving, and you can check them out at http://www.splitreason.com//click_thru.php?id=45c842cef1118e346bb57b8dbdff97be

Oh, almost forgot to mention that they also sell the little Stikfas toys. I have no idea why but I love these things, so simple, yet so cool.

Fixed

I just went through every post and fixed the images attached to each one, I really underestimated how many posts there were. Anyway it's all done now so they should all work.

New Acquisitions

I know I said before in one of my recent posts that I didn't find much of interest at the recent EB sale, I kind of lied. Well at the time it wasn't a lie, but I dropped by there on the way home from work and pick up a couple of things. After reading the sale catalogue I noticed that House of the Dead III on Xbox was a 40% off title, I've wanted a copy for quite a while but it always fairly hard to find. So this instantly re-ignited my interest in the sale. I got to the store and asked the guy I know quite well if they had any copies of HotD 3, expecting that they didn't when all of a sudden he says "Yeah, one just came in today" Score!. The great thing about HotD 3 is that is also includes HotD 2 as well. I currently don't have a light gun for my Xbox, but I'll work something out.

So after grabbing that he also recommended I check out Breath of Fire 5 on PS2. Since it was 50% off, cel-shaded and a Capcom game, I thought I would give it a try. Hey it's $25, and I've made worse investments (Crimson Sea 2 I'm looking at you).

I also managed to score a demo of God of War, the PS2 action game that everyone seems to be raving about. I'll give that a play soonish and write up some impressions of it.

I've also been playing a bit of FarCry over the past few days, I have mixed feelings about the game, but I'll post some impressions soon.

Oh and that game I mentioned below is Sonic Gems Collection, click here for a link to Sega Europe. It's currently listed with a date of September 2005.

Something Seems Broken

You might notice as you peruse this site that a few of the images are broken, that's because my Optus account (where the images were hosted) ended today, and thus everything now doesn't work. I'm currently in the process of going through the posts and updating the image links, I don't know of an easier way so I'll do it tonight so everything is working again.

Sonic Gems

I was just browsing over at Sega Japan website, when I noticed a new section called Sonic Channel, which is home to a few of the new Sonic games coming soon. Now I remember reading about a new Sonic game coming out that was supposed to have Sonic CD and Sonic Fighters in it, but I didn't realise until just now that it also has Sonic R in the compilation as well. I think this new compilation is called Sonic Gems and is going to include the games mentioned above plus a load of Game Gear games.

I'm unsure of a release date but it looks like August in Japan this year, and it's coming to both Gamecube and PS2.

I've waited a long long time to play Sonic Fighters on a console, and it's finally coming, it's been nearly 10 years sonic I played it in the Arcade. The fact that Sonic CD and Sonic R are on the same disc is so awesome I can't even explain it. Sonic R has some wicked cool music in it, was one of the last Saturn games and is great fun.

DieCast

After going to another EB store on Sunday to see one of my mates there, I ended up going to Robina Shopping Center, thanks to my sister who convinced me it "wasn't that far". Because there is absolutely sod all there, besides the usually stores I decided to try and find one of those new transformers that is modelled from a real world car. I've been after the RX-8 for a while but have never seen it, I've once seen the WRC Subaru STI but with a damaged package, and also seen a few of the WRX, but I didn't really fancy it.

So after that I thought I would check out K-Mart, now I really hate K-Mart for various reason, but it was near by and I thought why not. So as I'm walking along the isle of various cars and toy, I notice sitting on the shelf a 1:24 Die Cast model of the Tureno AE86 from Initial D. To say that I was completely shocked and surprised was an understatement. Though when you think about it, it makes sense. Tokyopop worked with Jada Toys to produce a range of the most popular cars from Initial D.

The AE86 is actually a really well produced model. Very accurate and finished really well, it's only 1:24, but it was only $20 which isn't bad. They also have a few other sizes, 1:64 and 1:18. The 1:64 are matchbox size, and available from another K-Mart. However I'm vet to find another the 1:18 or any other the other cars in the 1:24, which is a shame as I would love to pick up the FDS3 and the FC3S. I'll keep an eye out and see if I can find any of the other models.

Atmosfear

I dropped by EB today, for some reason I wasn't over interested in their sale, but my sister dragged me there first thing in the morning. I think she just wanted to buy something, I didn't really find much of interest, but you get that.

Game wise I've just been playing Doom 3. For some reason the game just freaks the shit out of me, which I guess is a good thing since it just highlights the atmosphere of the game, most of the time I play it with headphones on which makes it even more freaky. I'm enjoying it so far, the cross of classic Doom style gameplay with modern FPS style techniques.

EB Sale

Just a quick update to let you know about the sale at EB starting this weekend. As EB normally do they have a huge sale now and then to clear out a load of stock and thus discount a fair bit of gear from 20-50%. It starts Saturday, so get down to your local store and you might just grab a bargain.