30 Oct 08 Chromey-goodness, gamey-goodness, phoney-goodness
You know you’re hot stuff when you can divide your posts into titled sections. (Just kidding. Kind of.)
Let’s Get Shiny
If you know me at all, you know what happens when something of mine is perfectly fine. I get bored with it and decide to make unnecessary changes. I decided to grab a recent theme based on Google Chrome’s interface. At first I didn’t like it, but it grew on me.
Any frequent readers (do I have frequent readers here?) will have noticed that I’m a bit less active than I’ve been in the previous months. Reason is, I spend all my time whining about things on Twitter that I have no material left for my own blog.
LittleBigTimeSink
I recently picked up LittleBigPlanet, a recently released platformer for the Playstation 3. It’s basically a platformer that allows you to create and share levels over the Playstation Network with other players. The possibilites are virtually limitless. I’ve already seen someone recreate Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog and reinvent Tetris with jetpacks. I’m having a blast and can’t wait to delve into some of these great user created maps.
iThink therefor iPhone
With the iPhone now in my pocket, I’ve become a Twitter and Flickr fiend. I am now ‘tweeting’ more than blogging. Follow me at http://www.twitter.com/ebel3003. I’ve also added a photostream to the right side of my blog. I have no particular theme or objective to accomplish with my photos, they’re just random things uploaded from my iPhone while I’m on the go.
Tags: gaming, iphone, playstation 3, twitter
21 Jun 08 Metal Gear Solid 4 - Mini-Review
I’ve done it. I’ve completed Kojima’s masterpiece of a game, Metal Gear Solid 4. It was worth the wait and was enjoyable throughout every moment of the game. Here’s my thoughts on the game.
Story: Metal Gear Solid 4 is the final chapter in Solid Snake’s story. It’s a complex, twisted world with a deep story that will keep you hooked if you were familiar with the previous games in the series. There really is a lot to tell with th is story, so don’t be surprised if you spend most of your time watching cutscenes and listening to dialog. The story is well thought out and extremely deep. For this I give it a 10.
Gameplay: The gameplay perfects the stealth gameplay that this franchise has been built upon. With Snake’s new OctoCamo suit, you can texture your suit to just about anything you can lean up against in the world. The controls have also been perfected. They are familiar to the other games in the franchise, but bring the shooting controls up to speed with more current shooters. I love it. To add as a bonus, MGS4 includes a Metal Gear Online starter pack. The same type of gameplay transfers to online well and is extremely enjoyable. Gameplay gets a 10.
Presentation: One of the things I’ve always loved about Metal Gear is that most everything you see is rendered in real time. The game simply looks gorgeous and Kojima’s attention to detail really shows. MGS4 brings a whole new level of detail that most developers don’t even get close to with their games. I can’t even begin to count how many easter eggs there are in this game as well. Sure, MGS4 is not the best looking game out there, but it’s darn close to it. Presentation gets a 10.
Side Notes: Playing this game was truely the most enjoyable experience I’ve had on the Playstation 3 so far. I found the lengthy cutscenes to get somewhat annoying because of the time I had to commit to playing the game if I was going to do so at all. It’s not really the type of game you can just jump into and play for 20 minutes, save, and then pick up where you left off later. You really oughta devote an hour at a time at least, but once you start, you won’t want to stop.
Final Rating: 10
Tags: gaming, playstation 3, review
12 Jun 08 Metal Gear Solid 4 Initial Impressions
I picked up Metal Gear Solid 4 this morning, one of the most anticipated releases of this year for the Playstation 3. Simply put, it’s amazing. I’ve never seen so much attention to detail in one game. It’s almost unreal. What’s even cooler is all of the humerous easter eggs throughout the game. And don’t even get me started on the online component. Hands down the most entertaining game on the market.
This is by far the best game of this generation and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the game unfolds and post my thoughts. What am I doing wasting time here? I need to sneak back to my Playstation.
Tags: gaming, playstation 3
11 Jun 08 Incoming: Metal Gear Solid 4
Tomorrow marks the release of what is probably the most anticipated Playstation 3 game of 2008: Metal Gear Solid 4. MGS4 is the conclusion to the convoluted cinematic series created by Hideo Kojima. I’ve reserved my copy and am extremely excited about this release. I’ll be collecting my thoughts on this game and posting them here in the near future.
Tags: gaming, playstation 3
02 Jun 08 Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that I rented Naughty Dog’s “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” for the Playstation 3. I know I’m about 6 months late to the party, but what do you expect from a former xbox fanboy. All I have to say is WOW! Uncharted is an incredible game. Let me break it down for you.
Story: In Uncharted you play as Nathan Drake, a character that believes himself to be a descendant of Sir Francis Drake. You are an independant adventurer interested in discovering Drake’s hidden treasure. As events unfold you run into other interesting characters and plot twists leading up the the uncovering of the mystery behind this supposed treasure. The plot kept me pretty interested throughout the entire game. Naughty Dog depicted this hero as a normal guy, which isn’t typical, but it really created a sense of attachment to the characters. I give the story a 9 for originality.
Presentation: One of the more eye-catching parts of the game is its graphical presentation. Uncharted had an extremely lively and vivid feel to the enviroments. It wasn’t a boring shade of grey like quite a few of the games as of late. The textures were realistic and the animations were fluid. Considering this is a title from last year’s holiday line-up, Uncharted looks good. Presentation is a 10 for being so delicious.
Gameplay: I am not a platformer fan, but that aspect of the game was exceptionally well done. The shooting mechanics is where this game takes a few hits. I play a lot of shooters so naturally I go for the head shot, but for some reason many of the enemies have managed to take multiple head shots even when they are unprotected. I can understand this if they were wearing a helmet, but their shiny bald heads were completely exposed. The enemies in this game seem to be able to absorb an insane amount of gun fire. You think a few shots to the torso with an automatic weapon would be enough to kill a man, but these guys can take a full clip. Despite those faults, I still had a blast with the game. I give gameplay an 8 for those awesome vehicle sequences.
Conclusion: I rented this game and managed to beat it in under eight hours. It’s a kick-butt game, but as with most single-player games, I don’t think I would ever bother to play it again. If you haven’t already, give it a play.
Final Score: 9
Tags: gaming, playstation 3, review
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