After a long awaited release , the sequel to Banjo-Tooie is finally released. Although receiving plenty of criticism from die-hard fans for letting platforming go and introducing vehicles but like Rare said , platforming isn’t completely dead , there are a few elements to this game that keep this ride smooth and enjoyable.
After playing the game for roughly a week , casually , I seriously can’t complain. There are so many references to the old Banjo games in the dialogue and in the game world. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts And Bolts has a hub town, Showdown Town , from which you can enter any of the game worlds although you do have to unlock them with more jiggies , which is a given with the series. All the different game worlds have ” Chapters ” , for each world there are an X number of doors with a required amount of jiggies to enter , each door is it’s own chapter with different jiggie challenges. Along with the challenges there are T.T. trophies that are awarded to you if you complete the challenge in an X amount of time or collect X amount of objects. After you collect 4 T.T. Trophies you gain a free jiggie from T.T. himself.
Onto my only gripe with the new game , you don’t find jiggies ( EDIT: there are a few jiggies scattered around Showdown Town but there’s like 3 or 4 ) , you have to do challenges from different characters in separate chapters , to cut the long story short , exploring game worlds to find jiggies is gone. It isn’t all that bad though , it brings something new to the table , none the less , it’s very interesting sometimes but repetitive on some occasions. There are a few exploration elements , finding jinjos give you these little coins you can later use to redeem prizes to add to your vehicle , and finding crates in showdown town give you some added parts.
Vehicle customization is a HUGE part of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts And Bolts, building vehicles for different challenges and then succeeding is a reward in itself , unless you did take one of the pre-built vehicles if your imagination isn’t up to it. There is a plethora of parts to choose from , ranging from different engines to different wings for an airplane.
This game is NOT a rental game , I can’t seriously suggest to rent it , you could not possibly get to enjoy this game to it’s fullest there are so many different things to do , challenges to find , trophies to redeem , achievements to complete.
Multiplayer is a blast , after playing it for a good 2-3 hours , there’s a good amount of different games that range from Football to king of the hill. I haven’t had the chance to try Xbox Live out yet but it’s probably the same as split-screen multiplayer. Now , why is it fun? The controls are so easy to pick up , my friend never played Banjo before and had already mastered some of the controls, and normally he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. And after a while he turned into a threat as far as winning goes , since the gameplay is well balanced and there are no overpowered ” powerups ” or abilities that would easily turn the tide of the battle.
In conclusion , Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts And Bolts represents boldly the new trilogy ( gameboy sequels apart ) it’s fitting for a long awaited release and as a die-hard Banjo fan , I can’t say that I’m disapointed in the slightest.
Park my van on the Pacific shore
we got the wax and we got our boards
It’s mid-august and the weather’s fine
I’m gonna out to shoot the pipe lines
Get up, with the ventures sweet sound
Get down it’s always an adventure
I’m going surfin’ in Tofino (x2)
and I’m never coming back
Surf the flow, we’ll hit Cox Bay
No rocks at Rosies or you will pay
Pull into the park and crash long beach
Flip off the ranger gonna sleep on the beach
Get up, with the ventures sweet sound
Get down it’s always an adventure
I’m going surfin’ in Tofino (x2)
and I’m never coming back
Where are you going dude
I’m off to the wick to catch the big one
Oh All right !
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9- hang ten
EDIT: Sorry about not posting last monday , not used to having a weekly post on a set day.
After spending all of my weekend playing Fallout 3 , I can’t say I’m ashamed of staying indoors all day long , it was well worth it. If you’re unaware of what Fallout 3 is please scroll down a bit and read the review.
Fallout 3 brings something new to the table ( Might not be new but I’ve never seen any other game do it this well ) an FPS with RPG elements. The game itself really immerses you into a post-apocalyptic world sprawling with mutated beings. Your actions change how people react to you , which is a given with any RPG games these days but most of the time it’s just a dialogue change or two and maybe an altered ending. But Fallout 3 really means it when your actions change the world around you , take for example , GNR’s ( Galaxy Radio News ) DJ wants you to salvage the satellite relay from the lunar lander in D.C.’s museum of technology so the signal could be much stronger ( which really is after you do fix it ) Doing said quest was probably one of the best things I’ve done , now I can listen to Aretha Franklin wherever I go in the capital wasteland.
The ambiance of Fallout 3 is just magic , nothing and I mean nothing compares to it. I would of never thought I’d be laughing and happy while blowing up anything’s head but I can’t really be sad while listening to Miles Davis. The peppy attitude of the music just does it really , if there was no music it would still be interesting but a little bit bland and too serious. there are also other radio stations around the wasteland , such as Enclave radio that broadcasts re-runs of presidential speeches and army music although it seems Stephen Colbert wrote most of the speeches , but they were meant to be stereotypically American ( referring to Stephen’s character of course. ) To summarize the general feeling , Fallout 3 feels like a mix of Mad Maxx, Bioshock and a flashback from the 50’s.
The combat is well done , although there are a few problems with VATS here and there but those are just minor , you might think that it would ruin the game turning it into a pause and select style of combat but that’s barely the case. VATS has a bar which depletes after using a certain number of shots within it ( usually 3 ) you’ll have to wait a couple of seconds for it to reload , which works fine for me since I usually only use it when I’m either surrounded or with grenades ( I hate throwing grenades ) Overall , using VATS works really fluently with real time combat and can seriously help you out when you’re in danger or too damn lazy.
The character customization isn’t as deep as I thought it would be , but this is the kind of detail you overlook after crawling around in the wasteland. As far as armor goes , you can only change your overall body armor in one set and your helmet. Although there’s a huge variety of guns to build and scavenge from. Take for example , the shishkabob; a lawnmower blade , motorcycle gas tank , motorcycle brake and a fire hose built together to form some kind of ” Ghetto ” flaming sword which does decent damage.
To make these custom-built weapons you need to find schematics scattered all around Washington D.C. most are bought or found , if you do find a duplicate of the same weapon the schematic gets an upgrade and when you do create said weapon either the damage goes up or you make more of them like the bottlecap mine. Sometimes just finding the parts is the hardest part , you really must know where to look. When do you get the desired schematic and parts to assemble your weapon you’ve got to head to your nearest workbench , usually found in power stations , underground bases or cities , but your best bet is megaton , unless you blew it up…….
The karma system works great in Fallout 3 , simply put , you do something bad , your karma goes down , you help someone , your karma goes up. Although playing an evil character is sort of hard , some of the decisions you have to take are sometimes rough. Having to kill someone in front of their father just because X person wants them dead and afterwords having their child crying on your shoulder isn’t the best feeling in the world , unless your sick and twisted, but everyone has their moments.
My only problem with this game is that it crashes at least once or twice when I play for a good 4-5 hours. So I have to save constantly and have to worry about not having to start over where I was maybe an hour or so ago. But once you learn to save often and know when your auto-save goes off it’s not a huge problem but a problem none the less , hopefully this gets fixed in a patch soon enough. This problem only seems to appear on the PC version , but that’s a price I’ll pay.
I Give this game a staggering 9.5 out of 10 , you can’t achieve perfection.
P.S. Sorry for the delay , I was playing this game all week instead of working on the review ironically enough.
Too Human is amongst one of my favorite games out there , the controls are very easy to pick up but very different compared to other 360 titles , this is why Too human has received disgusting reviews and very ignorant opinions from big names.
And creating a simple pun with Too Human is hard to pass up when you do hate the game.
The controls are , like I said , basic. Although basic isn’t enough for some people , using the right analog stick seems to be too alien for them ( See, I said too! As in Too human , get it? ) instead of having the linear, right stick is for your camera and left is for movement they went with something different. Right swings your weapon around in the direction you chose, simple, No? As for the camera you use the LB button to change the camera so you can see in front of the direction Baldur ( the main hero ) is looking towards. There is not ” Button mashing ” although some reviews don’t get that and ignore that Too Human has a strategic side on how to defeat your enemies , Moving your right stick forwards twice quickly throws all your foes up into the air , while they flail upwards you can press A and join them for some destructive mayhem , or keep them in the air with your choice of 3 gun types. There is a lot more of examples I could use but the list goes on and on , but some people have better things to do.
As far as customization goes , it’s vast and seems to be endless , Baldur always changes appearance , loot whores rejoice. You constantly find upgrades throughout the game , although this isn’t necessarily a good thing , you never really get that constant look , or you never use a sword for a very long time ( although there are a few exceptions , I’m only generalizing ) You can also buy color modules to change the color of your armor , looting legendary armor with a purple-ish color isn’t cool.
My main complaint with this game is the length , it’s too short! ( HAHA! See another pun! Damn I’m good ) Puns aside , if you really want to finish this game , It would take you around a day’s work , ( AKA rental ) BUT , Co-op with your friends on Xbox live is worth the purchase , you need great communication and good teamwork to work through levels without dying , which is one of the achievements for each of the levels. And a rental is never really enough to experience this game to it’s fullest , Too Human has great re-playability value , smashing goblins around rarely gets old.
I can understand why some people don’t like this game at all , it seems like a ripoff of Halo , Gears of wars , any of the Sci-fi shooter or RPG titles , but if you do actually try the game , It’s nothing like any of those games , the story is interesting ( not amazing ) but fun to play through and there are a few good moments and a cliffhanger at the end… but I’ll leave it at that. The gameplay is something else , it’s NOT Ninja Gaiden , Ninja Gaiden is a great example as far as button smashing goes. Although the gun element isn’t something I would compliment , the aiming is terrible , the auto lock-on is broken , sometimes you keep shooting at dead enemies or your camera screws you over and won’t do what you want it to do.
There is a good list of cons to this game but none of them are really game breaking , most of them are minor details that can be easily overlooked , but shouldn’t of been by Silicon Knights ( the developer )
This game deserves more than it got , it was indeed overhyped ( like so many games these days ) but with hype comes expectations , and some of them were not met for some people , but I would rate this game an 8 out of 10. Terrific game , but could have done much more.
Edit: I found a great video showing how people criticize the game after barely playing it or even reading about it and then failing at the game after claiming it was way too easy ( Watch the part when he fights the big troll and he dies afterwords )
P.S. Yes, I know he’s reviewing the demo. But his arguments are just plain dumb and he whines about how the DEMO barely explains the story , and he carries on to say the moves don’t differ , yet he barely experiments nor does he take the time to try and find any hint of different methods to do combos and such , and if he had looked even further , you could of unlocked all the classes in the demo.
As far as the story goes , It’s actually set in the past, NOT the future. And the Mythology revolves around Norse mythology ( The story is very complicated and is worth reading up )
I find this song addicting , the drum line is incredible and never loses it’s pace and the chorus really makes you want to listen to it again and again.
DISCLAIMER Simon Viau is hosting the following files for your personal enjoyment. They are not to be edited, mass distributed or shared P2P. They are for your personal library ONLY.
As some of you may know , Fable 2 is out today , the horrible , horrible wait is finally over , although , if you are a PC user and don’t own an Xbox 360 and thought they would ship a PC version , you thought wrong.
Although , I myself might be wrong , they might do the same as they did with the original Fable , the PC version was released on a later date with the expansion ” The lost Chapters ”. I can’t really speculate when or if they even release it on the PC , there are so many pros and cons of releasing a PC only game these days. Pirating games has been a hot topic these past few years with games apparently losing sales to it , and companies fighting back with terrible ideas like DRM ( Digital Rights Management ) , DRM only lets you install the game you BOUGHT three times , after three installs the CD is basically scrap and can’t be used anymore , unless you pirate the game , which would be the better alternative at this point since you don’t have to pay for it and you won’t get backstabbed by the distributor . I’m not promoting piracy , but if big names like EA keep screwing up like they did with Spore , piracy will become an even bigger problem than it already is. And the cherry on top of it all is , every week you have to verify online if the game isn’t a bootleg copy ( you wouldn’t have to deal with this if it was a bootleg copy ironically enough ) and if you’re on a laptop on vacation somewhere with no Internet connection or you’re having problems with your ISP ( Internet Service Provider ) you’re left with 2 installs left and a game that isn’t working.
Back to the main subject at hand here /Rant off
Fable 2 is a western RPG made by LionHead Studios the story starts off 300 years later after Fable . You start off again as a child , although this time you’re left with the choice of either being a girl or a boy. But that’s just aesthetic , although it probably will add some dialogue changes and other storyline changes , for example you had to marry the mayor of bowerstone in the first installment.
As you would imagine , 300 years would bring a lot of innovation and change to the world of Albion , and that it did , at first glance Fable 2 made me think of Pirates of the Caribbean , looking at the English soldier’s outfits and sprawling cities.
Something came off a bit odd though looking at all the gameplay videos though , it seems to me like Fable 2 looks way too similar to the original , although you would expect that from a sequel , but having the same voice actors and the same emote system is a bit bland and unoriginal. Don’t take my opinion in consideration though , I have yet to even try Fable 2 , I’m just stating my opinion as if I was reading the back of a book , which isn’t always a good thing. The combat system is exactly the same , which is great , since the original was nothing far from flawless , it’s fluent and there isn’t too much downtime between fights and different combos ( bashing the buttons on the controller ) never gets old ( Too human? ) Having guns added to sword combat will definitely be a blast to play through with.
Some of the added features are Co-op , yes Co-op! smashing through waves of enemies with a friend can also , never get old. Although , after watching IGN’s review of Fable 2 , Hilary Goldstein ( the reviewer ) seemed a bit unappeased with it , stating that your friend does keep all his statistics from his game save but has to play with a pre-rendered skin , meaning he won’t look like he does in his game world. Online multiplayer hasn’t been released yet but hopefully they resolve the issue with a patch.
I can’t say much more about the game , I have yet to play it and will probably pick it up sometime this week , expect a full written review soon along with Fallout 3 when it does eventually come out.
As some of you know patch 3.0 or also know as Echoes of Doom has been released since Tuesday. The patch mainly contains WoTLK talents and other goodies like the barbershop , UI improvements and raid encounter nerfs that make instances a real joke.
Although servers constantly crashing is a given , Blizzard should of learnt their lesson long ago , it seems to get quite old but let’s move on I’m just nit-picking anyways. Let’s start off with the pros and cons of echoes of doom.
Cons:
Lag: As I aforementioned above , servers constantly crashing and terrible lag is indeed a pain , but you’ve learnt to deal with it if you’re a veteran , on the other hand though if you’re new to it , have fun dealing with calling a GM for fixing your lost pets and mounts.
New talents: Some of the talents don’t balance out until 80 which is a big problems for some classes to name a few , Titan’s grip , Titan’s grip oh did I mention Titan’s grip? Probably not. Although Bladestorm is a bundle of fun I’ll guarantee you that.
The wait: Staring down at the tower outside orgrimmar that would lead you to northrend in a month or so is such a tease and so is looking at raid loot from naxxaramas. Although finishing up the end-game content would be a good thing for now.
Pros:
Barbershops: You can’t deny you’ve at least made one or more characters where you regret the hairstyle you chose and cursed at yourself countless times for being such an idiot , I’m being melodramatic of course. But having the choice to change that godawful haircut is such a joy. Taurens get to change how their horn styles look like which is a huge plus if you play one.
Talents: You might think I’m contradicting myself here but the talents are totally two-faced for some classes and / or certain specs of those classes. The fury tree for warriors gets the shaft while the protection and arms tree gets some love , Rogues get buffed , surprise surprise. Warlocks get semi-nerfed , what? Although new abilities make the game seem like a new one , giving players a Knock-back ( elemental shamans , lucky bastards ) it seems to me like that ability would NEVER get old , knocking people around cliffs seems like such a joy. At level 80 all abilities should scale with everything else making everything ” Balanced ” and make the experience that much better , but we can only hope.
Achievements: The holy grail for people affected with OCD ( Obsessive Compulsive Disorder , meaning always wanting to complete something , in other words , a perfectionist) the idea might seem like a ripoff of the Xbox 360’s achievement system, I could care less , I’ve never felt bad achieving something and I don’t think there should be a reason to , unless they release an achievement for being terrible. Some achievements give you titles and others give you mounts , you can also compare them to your friends , but to summarize it quickly it’s just a huge e-peen flex.
To summarize it all , so far so good , the patch is the only begining of something great , I’ve beta tested WoTLK and I have barely any complaints to file , the expansion is a brand new experience , it isn’t a theme park like TBC was. Wrath of the lich king is hitting the shelves this fall , november 13th.
As you may have noticed I’ve changed the title to ” the gamer’s opinion ” although I’m not too sure about it , what do you guys think? suggestions would be great.
I can’t count how many hours , days even , I spent playing the elder scrolls ( Oblivion to some ) the re-playability value is incredible and the number of user made addons are vast and game changing for some.
The company behind it all is Bethesda and a new single player RPG has been in the works for quite some time. Unless you’ve been living under a rock or you don’t follow gaming that much anymore ( here’s looking at you mark ) Fallout 3 is coming out in two weeks and I can’t wait. Fallout 3 is an FPSRPG , same goes for Oblivion and Morrowind , set in a post-apocalyptic world in Washington D.C. the world is a barren wasteland etc. etc. ( same stereo-typical thing as always ) But don’t let that wash your opinion away with false prejudices unless you’re into this gloomy background thing.
So why is this game going to be so great?
Numero uno: it’s an RPG , it has an open world , nothing spells fun more than exploring a vast new world ( unless you live in Washington D.C. of course ) if you don’t care about exploring worlds , let’s move on to my second point.
2: It’s an FPS…… AND an RPG how could it fail? Shooting NPC’s in the face and then bribing their faction to regain friendly status is always a plus , right? Unless it’s easily abused which would be plain ridiculous.
3: PERKS! Yes perks , CoD4 players rejoice? Maybe. Here’s a few basic examples.
Lawbringer: Once you have the Lawbringer perk, any evil character you kill will have a finger on their corpse. This finger can then be sold to a certain person (whose identity is disclosed when you take the perk) for caps and positive Karma.
Animal friend: This perk is capable of not only causing animals to ignore you, but it can also allow them to help you! Rank one prevents animal attacks, and rank two causes animals to come to your aid when engaging in combat with non-animal foes. Make dogs, Yao Guai, mole rat, and Brahmins your best friend!
4: SNIPERS! Who said sniping isn’t any fun?
5: GORE! Alright I’m not much of a gore fan myself but there’s a crowd for everything , right? There’s also a perk to add more gore , fun fun fun fun. Look at the pretty picture for a nice example.
Alright that might be a bit too excessive but I’m not here to police myself.
6: VATS! What is VATS? It’s an automated targeting system that lets you target certain body parts of the targeted enemy and takes the shots for you ( great if you’re cornered or suck with grenades like I usually do ) This video is a PERFECT Example of VATS and how awesome this game is going to be ( couldn’t find a video without the spongebob squarepants music in the background )
Like the dev. in the video said you can build and create your own weapons and choose which ammunition to shoot , which sounds incredible at this point.
And that sums up most of it , if you’ve got any questions about this game just leave a comment and I’ll probably be able to answer it.
Expect a full written review of Fallout 3 once it comes out.
P.S. I would of never thought a woodchipper and leafblower would do that kind of damage with teddybears as ammunition , if you look closely as the target dies one of her legs and arms flies off.
