Halo 4 Actually Fun!

I haven't really ever been a fan of the Halo games, sure I have played most of them and I can appreciate why some gamer's really enjoy them it's just they aren't really my cup of tea. Well that has all changed after I recently giving Halo 4 a whirl, instead of getting a decidedly average shooter I ended up with a game that provides a really enjoyable experience. Maybe part of this has been because of my diminished gaming time that I have lately, or it could just be that I found the game at the right time to enjoy it.

Graphically I have to say the game looks great for the most part, although some sections don't seem as polished as others. It is definitely the most visually stunning of the series though, which really should come as little surprise. One thing I did have an issue with though was playing with surround sound headphones on, as for some reason on certain cut-scenes the music was really loud making the voices hard to hear. At this point I reset the console and checked all the settings on the 360 yet I still had the same problem besides tweaking both the surround sound system. Luckily there is an option to turn on subtitles, although half way through the long ass cut scene I got bored of reading them.

The game contains everything you would expect to see in a Halo game, apart from the Flood (or at least they haven't popped up yet as I am still only 3/4 of the way through the game) as well as including some new enemies to shoot at as well as some new weapons to play with. The Light Rifle being one of my favourites to use, although there are crap guns like the "Bolt Shot"  which I really don't like. I also don't see the point of the new pulse grenades as they don't really seem to do anything.

Hopefully the online mode's will be just as enjoyable as my experience of playing the campaign mode, although I am not looking forward to getting my ass handed to me repeatedly during my first few games online. I have to say I am also quite tempted to play Halo OSDT and Anniversary when I finally finish Halo 4 since they have been sat on my shelf for quite a while begging to be played. I never thought I would say it but Halo is actually fun! PEWPEW-WTFBBQOMG!

Revisit: Burnout Legends (PSP)

I recently went hunting in my loft for something the other day when I stumbled across my boxed up PSP games. After having a look through I decided to steal my son's PSP since he doesn't use it and give Burnout Legends a whirl once again. I have to say I have no idea how I managed to see everything on this game, either my eye sight has deteriorated (Eye test said it hasn't) or I have just got used to playing in HD on a big screen. Despite this the game is still just as fun to play these days as back upon its first release (although you will still groan when you hit oncoming traffic that you see at the last moment) and loads pretty fast considering how old it is.

I have to say though that the game is ideal for quick blasts here and there while on lunch at work or even just for the 5 minute poop at home. I have to say that the only real thing wrong with the game is the controls are uncomfortable, but that isn't down to the game but the shitty PSP itself. (Which leaves you with an aching thumb hours after using it for long periods of time)

The music soundtrack is also as good today as it was upon the games release with a lot of the tracks coming from Burnout: Takedown (Albeit with only a few tracks making the transition due to the small memory of the umd disk) which was also an awesome game. The crash mode is still playable, although it is less fun than in the modern Burnout releases due to modern games improving on the original mode, add in the fact that the after touch doesn't really work to well on the PSP's small screen.

The game is basically a mix and match of levels from the first 3 games in the Burnout series and as such if you have ever played any of those games then you will remember some of the levels with fondness. Unlike some other games Burnout Legends has aged pretty well, although some of this may be contributed to the fact that it is on a small screen as apposed to being on a 42 inch tv. All in all though Burnout Legends is still worth a quick blast these days and although I can't see myself playing the game in a couple of months it's going to keep me entertained for quite a bit of time.

Minecraft

Minecraft is the fastest selling XBLA title of all time, but is it any good? Well that all depends on what your idea of good is. This is one game that you really need to try the trial version of before spending 1600 points on the game as it really is like Marmite. (In being that you will either love it or hate it)

It is quite a strange feeling when you first start playing and after a while realise that you have spent the last few hours digging in near pitch black and destroying blocks only to refine them and create things with them. Yet you can't help but keep digging and creating more and more things or improve on what you have made so far in the game as it moves through it's day and night cycle. Then their is the harvesting of food, shearing of sheep (by hitting them) or killing of pigs to get pork chops as well as a few other things to do in the game that make it sound rather boring when described.

The game also offers a range of different difficulty levels to play on, these range from Peaceful where you are left alone to dig and build with nothing else to worry about. Yet putting the difficulty up a notch or 3 and night time begins to become something to dread as Spiders, Zombies, Skeletons and Creepers turn up to try and kill you. (With Creepers and Spiders still remaining on the map in the day time as well) The worst of these for me has to be either the Skeletons with the sneaky bow and arrow attacks, or the Creepers who will just blow up right next to you killing you and destroying any blocks near them. (Thinking about it the bastard Creepers are the worst, the shits!) One good thing is that you can train

One thing that does improve the game and makes it a lot more enjoyable is the multi-player mode. If this mode is played how it should be then you and your friends (Up to 8 players) can build some amazing creations a lot quicker than you would normally do on your own. So far me and a few others have built Pyramids, Sky bridges, Skyscrapers and even a floating train track high above the clouds all in one game. Sadly though one of us found the TNT and started acting like a dick blowing up peoples houses, luckily with the duplication glitch all that was sorted out as I planted TNT all over the Pyramid that Rad Zero had built and blew it to smithereens which made the game full of sad pandas as blame was passed around before we all agreed to start a new world.

One thing the game does contain is censorship when it comes to the signs, and strangely enough you cant put "Get of my land" or some other sentences along with the obvious swear words in the game. Yet you can write stuff in game using blocks as I did in Graf1k's game while he was busy building a house. Minecraft is one of those games though that I can see myself returning to from time to time to expand on what I have built in my world, or jump into a xbox live friends game online just to fuck things up or build statues of things that I shouldn't probably put in the game.

Revisited: Warriors Orochi

As gamers we sometime get urges to return to an old game and replay one of our favourite games that we have played in the past. This weekend just gone I had the urge to do just that and decided to start playing Warriors Orochi on the Xbox 360 again from the beginning. Something that I am glad I did (even though the game does feature a lot of bugs that I forgot about, including immense slowdown on certain levels) So has Warriors Orochi aged well in the 5 years or so since its release?

It’s a mixture of yes and no, some of the things I liked originally are still the same, yet there are some little things that seem to hinder my enjoyment of the game than when I originally played it.

One thing that I noticed this time playing is that the voice acting for most of the characters seems to have been done by the same set of people, leading to quite a few characters sounding exactly the same. I know this doesn't sound like much but it did annoy me quite a bit for some reason which after playing the game for a few hours started to really annoy me.

Another thing is the characters just seem so slow when compared with Orochi 3, they just seem to amble about and take ages to get anywhere (even when using a horse to traverse the map) This seems like a major thing at the start but turns into a petty annoyance after a while as you get used to it.

The major problem though is when you get onto the last level of the game and the slowdown starts, this makes the first part of the game unbearable and doesn't clear up until you have killed quite a few enemies and taken over some of the enemy spawn points. Then everything runs smoother making the game more enjoyable to play again even though it feels like your controlling a character that limps about the map. I was thinking about also playing Orochi 2 but that game was plagued with really bad slowdown on some levels (Even worse than in the first game) so my experience with my revisit to Orochi 1 has really changed my mind about ever returning to that game. 

I guess one thing I have learned from this is that sometimes games you enjoyed should never be revisited years later, that is unless you want to run the chance of being disappointed with how they have aged. Sure some games stand the test of time like Super Mario Land and a few other games, but I feel now that with the exception of a few games I really don't fancy revisiting any other games to avoid further disappointment. (Most early 3D games being an example, even including the awesome Ocarina of Time)

Bargain Basement: Knights Contract

So I recently decided to give Knights Contract a go, before starting to play the game I thought the whole immortality gimmick sounded interesting. To a certain degree it is as you hammer the X button to revive and reattach all your severed body parts into one again. For those of you that don't know the storyline here is the short version.

Witches are being rounded up and killed by an executioner after being blamed for a black plague epidemic that has spread through out the towns. The excutioner kills Gwendel and upon lobbing off her head is cursed with immortality. As a result he is chased and becomes an outcast and hunted by his own towns people. 100 years later and the executioner bumps into the witch he killed 100 years before and a contract between the two of them is made and so the story starts to unfold.

The game play is pretty simple just hack everything in sight while protecting Gwendel as you set upon your quest to punish those that broke the witches code; (Don't harm living things) as well as defeat the person behind their ressurection. Sounds pretty simple doesn't it? It's just a shame that the AI is a dumbass so upon fighting one of the bosses she stands in lava from time to time and dies as a result.


If you can get past this fault (which will annoy the crap out of you) then Knights Contract unfolds as an average action adventure game with a few little touches to make the game different from many of the other lack luster adventure games out there. Still this doesn't do anything to make the game stand out and worth playing, in fact if your thinking of doing anything other than renting this game then don't bother. You will end up sorely dissapointed.