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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Review: Mirror’s Edge





Developer(s) EA Digital Illusions CE

Publisher(s) Electronic Arts

Engine
Unreal Engine 3

Platform Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (reviewing on Xbox 360)

Release date PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
November 2008

Genre(s)
First Person, Action-adventure

Mode(s) Single-player

Rating(s)


ESRB: T
OFLC: M
PEGI: 16+
USK 16

Here’s a game that I never heard of from most of my friends. The funny thing here is whenever I listen 2 or 3 of its OST I started to say “I miss Faith”. There’s something special about this game that never fails to remind me. Maybe after I review this you guys will get what I’m trying to say. I’ll sum them all up at my conclusion so here we go:

Presentation:
The environments are full in rich colors that gave the city a relaxing feeling to it. Not to mention the music wasn’t too lousy or too boring but just at the right tempo to any given situations and segments. Although I don’t get much of the transition between in game mode and cut scenes which were 2-D, a lot of people complained on that category but I don’t have the definitive reason to complain about. In the end, it delivered a new fresh air and a different good feeling on the other side.
Score: 8.5/10

Graphics:
It wasn’t a top of the line graphics but has so many rich colors of the character’s surroundings. Those colorful obstacles really help to identify your tracks on what to do and where to go.
Score: 8/10

Gameplay:
Generally its an FPS, but for me it’s an FPS minus. Like any typical FPS, this one has its conditions. You play as a Runner and mostly you run and the game is design not to use guns too much. Well if you’d like to shoot minions its your choice but the downside is that it will only slow your phase down. Taking down enemies by disarming and hitting them is a go. You basically run (duh), jump from one buildings and obstacles to another but much faster than Lara Croft’s
Tomb Raider. In addition, it’s a trail and error game, whenever you fail from your attempts you will restart to the last checkpoint and make it right. For those who has trouble playing FPS should better not play this one because you’ll definitely get motion sickness. Time trials are addicting just to beat your own or other online peoples'best time. They could have done more like multiplayer mode like passing documents to another friend or racing against each other to the finish line. But hopefully will open some possibilities in the future.
Score: 9/10

Audio:
Yeah the music as I said before is precise. The sound effects were not bad even though the gunfire sounded like a 32-bit game and the voice acting was okay but not as engaging.
Score: 7.0/10

Overall:
“A breath of fresh air, free your mind and fly as you run freely by living in the edge” haha I feel so light whenever I play this game and its where I got my motto “Edge of Faith, with love and respect”. No matter how long it has been for me with this game. It doesn’t fail to make me miss it from time to time. Many praised this game and I am one of them, I just hope that when the sequel comes down, online multiplayer will go extra mile if they include it.
Score 8/10

Pro(s)
A different feeling.
Original gameplay.
Calm environments at most.
Addicting time trial modes.

Con(s)
Trial and error.
Sometimes you get stuck on a puzzling place for a bit long.
No multiplayer features.

Happy Gaming!

~Mookie-Mookie~

Saturday, February 13, 2010

PS3 Wireless Keypad vs. Xbox 360 Messenger kit











Last Thursday I bought both accessories for my consoles. I had the chance to explore the experience on handling them and it gave a different feeling.

Not that they’re really at war but rather to identify the use and feeling of both devices.

I’m a sucker in gaming and since I don’t use them only on playing games. I also use them to communicate people and browsing their sections that requires inputting texts sometimes.

So lets compare the difference:

The look:

I have to go for
PS3s’ that has a sleek look and color while Xbox 360s’ looked like a generic and dated design. PS3s’ pad has a slot to recharge while connected to controller has an odd look but seemingly forgivable while Xboxs’ has a slot to plug in its microphone.

The use:

For both, its actually for sending text messages but both has its difference. On Xboxs’ it includes mic while PS3 dose not have mic included and can be bought separately as it called “Bluetooth headset”. A downer for PS3 as it force consumers to buy a separate head set unlike Xboxs’ messenger kit that includes another head set.

The feel:

Now this is the tricky part. I have to start with PS3, it feels softer but the buttons were smaller and it’s a bit hard to reach my fingers by reaching from controller to the keypad. While on 360 I didn’t had any difficulties shifting from controller to the keypad and buttons were bigger enough to feel that you were really pressing those pads.

Final verdict:

Basically it was style vs. comfort use and comfort is really important to me while I’m typing those pads. It really helps whenever you’re on a mission pausing a few seconds to type something to your playmates without losing your grip. Perhaps maybe if Sony could have design it on the lower than the upper side it might work.

How about it guys? What’s your say?

~Mookie-Mookie~

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Dead Space will have Modern Warfare 2 action (as per EA)

Link: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/106/1067171p1.html

When I first heard of this news I got curious of why shifting it from “survival horror” to “action horror”. As I read the article I was shunt down in the dumps. But we’ll see about it soon.

Guys what’s your say?

~Mookie Mookie~

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Console FAQs: PS3 vs Xbox 360




A lot of people knew me as a gamer and by now most of the people will know with all my thanks to social sites like
Facebook and Twitter. Whenever I hang out with people, I get some usual questions and enquiries from someone who seek professional consulting. I just hope by posting this in the blog I’d probably save them time to explain.

A few years back two giant companies launched their next-gen consoles to the world and made a revolutionary breakthrough in certain aspects of its own. so here are those common questions to be answered to you all:

Q01: “I’m going to buy a console. What do you think is better, Xbox 360 or PS3?”

A01: It depends on how you use them and what you expect from the console that you use. Both of them are good in different ways so it’s really up to you.

Q02: “What are the features of PS3?”

A02: Let me break it down to you step by step, it’s a Blue Ray player, which is the next media player after long run of “
DVD” disc formats, but since you are in KSA you’ll expect that they will only play PAL versions but will not play NTSC Blue Ray media discs what so ever. Now on the games, well they don’t actually have as much games as xbox 360 has but most of their games do look good on your 32” HDTV and a full 1080p. It also has an online network site called PSN (Playstation Network) where you can buy stuffs online for your console like PSN games, your games add-ons, videos, game demos before you buy them in full retail, old school PSOne games (yes there is Final Fantasy 7), facebooking and many more. Some games also have online games where you can play with friends (but basically laggy compare to xbox 360s online interface) but products on PSN dose not come for free so you have to purchase PSN points either via credit card or buy them at retail shops then you can buy stuff at Playstation store at PSN. So PSN comes with the package of console and the best part is creating a username is FREE.

Q03: “I heard that PS3 and Xbox 360 has some exclusive game titles why is that so?”

A03: Actually its more on the
marketing talk show than any other possible reasons to explain. But its not bad because its all business between Sony/Microsoft and other 3rd party companies who are trying to sell their products to the world. This basically what makes them special on the long run. Now its up to the consumers weather if they want to play Mass Effect saga, Gears of War saga, Halo saga etc. or follow Uncharted, Resistance, Killzone, God of War etc.

Q04: “What are the features of Xbox 360?”

A04: just like PS3s PSN, it has
Xbox Live and to note that they came before PSN since the first xbox console. Xbox live is basically where half of its juicy features are at. First of all Xbox live account is not free and buying stuffs requires MS (Microsoft) Points. Buying stuffs includes your current game add-ons, movies, music videos, demos, game and movie trailers, Xbox Live Arcade Games that includes new titles and remake old school titles like Galaga, Pacman, Dig Dug and many many more. it also has facebook, twitter, Zune for music and Netflix for movies. Online games has its strength and less laggy than PS3. More hardcore games were presented due to overpriced PS3 from few years ago. It also has a 1080p option if you have 32” + HDTV this baby is a kicker just like its opponent. What made it special is the Xbox live world and its satisfying online gameplay, many companies went to the MS’s when they needed to market their goods with either a full retail ones or a DL games (not to mention their old school games and classical xbox titles).

Q05: “You said that you can play with your friends a while ago, how dose that work?”

A05: Both consoles has this and woks pretty similar. You can add friends who you know who has the console or add new friends in your list and play with them whenever they’re online. Voice chatting, typing text is available too and keeps yourself up to date by updating your profile automatically whenever you play, unlock and gain points. That way the people will know what you play and how big you play depending on how much points you currently have. The more points you have, the more people will think you’re a
bad-ass gamer on that category. “Reputation” that’s the word.

Q06: “Both consoles sells in different prices, how that is possible?”

A06: Yes, well they sell for a fact on their storage capacity and the rest are minor features. Lets say
PS3 has from 40, 80, 160 and 250 gig hard drive, also there are 2 different PS3 console in the market where you can find the 1st big and heavy edition and the new light and slightly small version PS3 Slim. Depending on your taste in storage or style and they come in different prices. Some console has simple add-ons like free selected games and additional hardware like additional USB slots. Xbox 360 has 3 different consoles as well and they are “Arcade” with no HD installed with the budgeted price, “Pro” has 60 gig hard drive and “Elite” where it has 160 gig and some additional slots and features (call it the full option baby) with different prices too.

Q07: “Do you think they can play on “
modded”/”copied” games?”

A07: PS3 dose not work on modded games and some hidden organizations are still trying to figure out how but Sony made a good job on updating their
firmware and keep itself up to date away from the hackers hands. Xbox 360 on the other hand is already been modded since its time of release but the kicker is once you mod your Xbox 360, you’ll miss the most important factor and its Xbox Live. Like PS3, MS has its way on security and putting users on the black list. Personally playing a modded Xbox 360 game is no different by playing a modded PS2 (back in the days when I used to have modded PS2). However, when I went legit, I felt more secure and satisfied.

Q08: “Now that we heard the good stuffs, what are the disadvantages of each console?”

A08: Let’s start of the Xbox 360, creating an account on Xbox Live cost a money. Regional problems in games PAL/NTSC/NTSCJ are a pain that restricts some games on working on your console.
The Red Ring Of Death (RROD) but dose not applied on latest releases anymore. On PS3, Laggy online play, limited old school games, fewer game releases (but its catching up this year… I hope), game regions aren’t really the an issue here but on movie regions it’s a pain (there goes my Dark Knight blue-ray NTSC, I can’t play it on my PAL PS3 “double sigh”!!). For both, some retail games are a little heavy on the pocket for some people which will ask yourself a lot of time weather to buy it or not.

Conclusion:

Both console are great and next-gen and has its own features and disadvantages. Its up to the user on which they would like to choose over the other. Like falling in love, you don’t choose it because of their features but more on their worst. Ready to accept on what they are and what they can only give. But I on the other has both!

Cheers people and happy gaming for further comments and questions please do let me know.