Things Rocket could have wrote about,,,,,,,,,

So Rocket wrote a piece on alcohol and the age of drinking, while some may find it interesting we are supposed to be a games website, and the amount of news that goes up on the site at times can be slim to say the least, even when there is a lot available. To show my displeasure I wrote a comment saying something like I can't wait to play this game.
Here is just somethings that went on at Leipzig the same day he decided to write his blog entry, Sorry I really meant to say editorial that went on the front page of a Gaming Website that has hardly any news on it.


PC X360 [art] Dungeon Hero Gamecock
GC: Five Leipzig screenshots.

He could have said something about the new screens and shown them. While comparing it with previous similar style games and saying what features would be great to see in the game.

PC X360 [art] Velvet Assassin Gamecock
GC: Three new screenshots from Leipzig.

He could have compared this with other stealth games and looked at the info available on it and made a preview feature since the game comes out quite soon.

[art] Quantum of Solace: The Game Activision
GC: Three new videos to take a look at.

Could have watched them and wrote how good or bad it looks and/or posted the videos.

Multi [art] TNA iMPACT! Midway
GC: A Leipzig trailer.

X360 [art] TNA iMPACT! Midway
GC: The Xbox 360 packshot.

Mentioned his thoughts on it and how it looks compared to Smackdown Vs Raw, and said something on how very little changes on Wrestling games, yet they still sell in there millions like fifa and madden.

X360 [art] Supreme Commander 505 Games
Aeon base screens.

Maybe looked at this and an editorial about why RTS games don't seem to work as well on the 360 as they do on the PC.

PC PS3 X360 [art] Damnation Codemasters
GC: Concept artwork.

PC PS3 X360 FUEL Codemasters
GC: A fact sheet.

PC PS3 X360 [art] Damnation Codemasters
GC: Proudly proclaimed as a "new and exclusive vista shot".

PC PS3 X360 [art] Damnation Codemasters
GC: 29 new screenshots.

X360 [art] Damnation Codemasters
GC: The Xbox 360 packshot.

X360 [art] Damnation Codemasters
GC: The Xbox 360 packshot. (North America)

PC PS3 X360 Damnation Codemasters
GC: The Leipzig fact sheet.

He could have gone with an in depth look into Damnation, and asked the question just how many shooters do we need on the 360.

All NHL 2K9 2K Sports
Skate on over to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace to download the demo.

Announced that this demo was now available.

PS3 X360 [art] Darksiders: Wrath of War THQ
GC: A PDF factsheet.

PS3 X360 [art] Darksiders: Wrath of War THQ
GC: Fourteen screenshots from GC.
PS3 X360 [art] Darksiders: Wrath of War THQ
GC: Twenty screenshots.
PS3 X360 [art] Darksiders: Wrath of War THQ
GC: Documentary video chapter one.
PS3 X360 [art] Darksiders: Wrath of War THQ
GC: Nine bits of concept art.

He could have done an in depth feature on this forthcoming adventure game that looks a bit similar to Devil May Cry mixed with a few other games.

PS3 X360 NHL 09 EA
PS3 demo available for download; Xbox 360 sibling to follow next month.

Announced that this demo was on its way in September.

Now don't get me wrong I like Rocket and consider him a good friend, but I just find it annoying that he went with what he did while we have so little news going up on the front page.

Frustration

Well it appears that no matter what, certain people don't like doing work on the site. When you call them on it or question their commitment, they get all pissy and sulk about it. Why the fuck should some staff do all the work while others do fuck all. Its really fucking annoying and causes other people to not do anything, as they get pissed off with the people that don't get involved with stuff. If you don't want people to question what you do or don't do on the site here is an idea for you, either fucking do something a couple of days a week when you can or fucking resign. All your doing is causing the rest of the staff to resent you, and stop us from making the site as good as it can be.

Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 & 1942: Joint Strike Reviews

Commando was not one of my favourite games to play back in the 80`s, for some reason I just couldn't get into it and disliked it, yes it was a solid game and looked and played great but the game kept kicking my ass. As a result I avoided playing it at the Arcade and the Spectrum version got thrown into a pile of games that I did not play unless 1) I was extremely bored or 2) one of my friends came round to play it.

Fast forward a few years later and I was in a ten pin bowling alley with a bunch of friends and as usual I wandered over to the Arcade machines. (Yup even when I go out to take a break from playing games I still want to play games) There in a corner was a game called MERCS, I thought that looks a bit familiar so pumped some money into it to have a quick go. This game was great, I was really enjoying playing it despite getting shouted at as everyone was waiting for me to bowl. The game allowed you and two others to play in co-op mode taking on a horde of soldiers, helicopters and tanks, just like another game I could not remember for the life of me. It turned out that this game was the follow up to Commando but instead of loathing it, I really enjoyed playing every moment of it even though the game was equally as tough as its predecessor.



So when I heard that Commando 3 was going to be appearing on the 360 I began to worry, was this going to be a case of like or loathe. Well I guess there is only one way to find out so here we go.

Commando 3: Wolf of the Battlefield while being the follow up to the Commando and Mercs was developed by Backbone entertainment instead of Capcom. Just like MERCS you can play three player co-op however this time you can choose from three which all have different stats to each other in the Speed,Health and Grenade departments. The characters look as you imagine with Wolf and Coyote being big brutes of men with large muscles and even bigger guns, Joining them however is the rather petite looking female named Fox as you would expect she is the fastest one of the three.



The visuals for the game are good if you like cartoon style graphics, but if you dont then it sucks to be you. (Its not exactly Cel-Shading, but its close enough) The game on a whole is pretty challenging with you using the right analog stick to fire in a certain direction. During the game there are a few weapon pickups available to you like the Dual Shot which fires in a straight line, a Triple shot that fires as you would expect in three directions, a flame thrower which is the weakest weapon in the game and should be avoided at all costs (it really is that bad killing an enemy with it can take 2-3 seconds and in this type of game its not worth it) and lastly the rocket launcher. The rocket launcher while slow firing just destroys everything in its path as you would expect. As well as these you also get grenades and a kill all enemies on screen move called a MERC Strike or something. (shoot me I forgot the name of it)



The enemies just keep coming from everywhere in this game so as you would expect your finger is never off the trigger. (Yeh I know but analogue stick doesn't sound right) As you would expect from the previous games vehicles are made available to you in the levels such as a Jeep and a Tank which gives you the option of just staying and shooting enemies slowly or plowing through them and running the enemy over as you try to complete the stage. One thing I didn't like is when you exit a vehicle you can end up anywhere, so if you hop out to pick up a medal for more points you can end up on the other side to it and get killed by the enemies that have just spawned on that side.

The first boss fight sees you taking on a tank and is pretty much what you would expect from this game as a boss. However what you don't expect is the other bosses later on in the game, to say they are pretty lack lustre could be an understatement. This doesn't really spoil the fun of the game though, it just makes you a bit disappointed by what you actually see on the screen.



The game is not without it's problems though, with slow down appearing every so often, not enough to totally ruin the game as it only lasts a second or so here and there, but it is enough that it will annoy you. Another problem could be that the gameplay is to linear for a lot of people, I know what your gonna say "What game is'nt linear" but there is linear in a good way where little things change to keep you playing and linear in a bad way which leaves you a bit bored of it all. Unfortuantely this is in the bad way, at least it felt that way to me. I am sure some people will like this game and it will be a lot more fun with one or two other people playing the game with you, but playing through on your own you reach stage 3 - 4 and think jeez I hope this is nearly over. Saying that though its not a bad game, it is just one you should not play on your own, although it will stop squabbling about who gets which power up.

Overall for 800 points though you get what you pay for, and at the price although the game is pretty short (5 stages in total) but its worth a look at, if you don't like what you see in the first level trial then, you wont like the game. If you do however then great its pretty much the same all the way through but with the bosses as well.








In 1981 the world of the SHMUP (Shoot 'em up) was about to be redifined when Namco decided to redifine the genre with the first vertical scrolling SHMUP, a little game known as Xevious. The impact of this on the SHMUP genre was huge with many Arcade fanatics being amazed at what they saw back then, so it was with little surprise that other game companies were inspired and many copies and interpretations started to appear in the arcades.

Way back in the mid 80`s Capcom were renowned for making fantastic Arcade games such as Bionic Commando, Commando, Gun Smoke and Ghost's n`Goblin's to name but a few of the classic games they made. All of these games had one thing in common they were all solid games of a high standard and recieved ports on numerous systems. So it was of little surprise that when they decided to make a vertical scrolling SHMUP the game was going to be worth playing, as everyone expected from Capcom 1942 turned out to be a great game, this was a time when Capcom could do no wrong and everything they touched turned to gold.

The 1942 series has a earned its place in history spawning 7 titles in total including this one, how many other game series do you know that have had 6 follow up games released? I can't think of any that can match or exceed that except for the Final Fantasy and Resident Evil series of games, so personally I think that speaks volumes for the series. (Yup I know there is the Madden and Fifa games as well but they are just cash cows, which I am sure I will get complaints about saying, but hey it's true.)



So just what is 1942: Joint Strike? It is not really a remake of the original 1942 game as some people think it is, it is more of a mix and match of the best bits from the other games in the series while also retaining its own touch of originality. This is still everything you would expect from the 1942 name though just with a bit more under the hood to enhance the experience. When you first start the game you have the choice of 3 different planes to choose from with different attributes to each other in the Health,Speed, Power and Missile stats.
The graphics are crisp enough allthough you won't really be paying to much attention as you try to save you skin from the various enemies you encounter during the game. There is about 10+ different types of enemies you will encounter during different levels not including the bosses from the standard enemy plane to turrets, boats and tanks to name a few.

As you would expect in any SHMUP there are power ups for you to pick up while playing, you obtain these by shooting down a squadron of red fighter planes, shooting them all will result in a different power up being dropped which can provide anything from a different primary weapon such to bombs, health or medals and occasionally an overpowered weapon thats available for a limited time only.




Another cool feature is that shooting enemies will provide you with missiles that you can use by tapping either the X or B button, these can seriously save your skin when you want to save your Bombs until you reach the Boss at the end of the stage, and believe me you will want to use them then.

One thing that the 1942 series of games has always had is big mechanical bosses that fill the screen, and will keep you on your toes as they spray shots everywhere , luckily unlike in the very first 1942 game you now have a health bar so one shot no longer kills you straight away. This game is tough and unforgiving where you have to rely on quick skills to avoid enemy fire, but you wouldn't have it any other way though really. If you have played any of the 1942 games you are sure to see a few familiar bosses make a return.



A new feature in this game is the aptly named Joint Strike, where while in local multi-player mode or over xbox live instead of having missiles you can do a joint attack instead which sees you using a lightning net between both planes to destroy the enemy hordes.

While this game can be looked at as just another shooter, news flash what did you really expect. Ok the game does not really do anything to change the landscape, but at the same time it doesn't do anything bad at the same time. You get solid gameplay, responsive controls and a game that does exactly what you would expect from it. All in all its a pretty good game that will keep you entertained and certainely falls into the catergory of XBLA games that are worth playing. Also good luck as the game is pretty tough to say the least, I still haven't managed to finish it yet, a true sign of old school gaming the games tough.