Apr 29
2009
2009
Halo 2 : Enter the Arbiter
By: The Almighty Bobchiefish Category: Halo, Halo 2, PC
REGULAR VISITORS AND those who know anything about me at all will already be well aware of my general lack of…fondness for Halo. Nonetheless, being that there are only the Reaper, Charlie and myself making regular contributions at the moment, and Halo being one of the most successful and popular games franchises in the current gaming market, it seemed like a bad idea to cut them out completely. And, well, it seems that I am currently in the best position to muddle through. So here I am, back again with my take on the second chapter in this, most decidedly love it or hate it series.
I was rather critical of the first chapter, far more so than I really intended to be. And whilst I still feel my opinions were justified and correct from my perspective (opinion is a personal thing after all) I still made a genuine effort to offer a more impartial review. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t find anything at all about Halo that appealed to me. But my views on the first game are already documented and available of this very website for all to see so I don’t need to go over them again. But it’s important that I add perspective because the paragraphs to follow may come as a surprise to many.
Halo 2 improved immensely over the original both technically and atmospherically. The scripting was significantly better, with the characters being fleshed out far more than in the predecessor. Most notably the Chief himself, who was, not to put too fine a point on it, a right arrogant…so and so. He develops a more approachable and ultimately more compelling personality in his second appearance, moving away from the cheesy, gung ho “I’m going to save the galaxy” bs. He gains more of a grounded perspective, making him seem more likeable and less of a douchebag.
The plot, also, had a better flow to it, though a lot of that was ruined when the ending became, more or less, a repeat of the original game. Only the locations changed, and the introduction of a new playable character, the Covenant Arbuter, offering a slightly different perspective. I still wouldn’t go so far as to say I enjoyed the game, but I can at least say that I didn’t out and out hate it either. I’ve never been a particular fan of First Person Shooters at the best of times, and Halo 2 did nothing to draw me in and leave me with anything more than a so-so impression. And, again, I didn’t bother with the online play because that also has never appealed to me. I know that the online matches are a large part of the appeal for many gamers, but I’ve always been more interested in the main game so my impressions are always going to be based from that first.
It didn’t help that I was running a built for Vista game on XP Home either. I needed a number of home built and edited files to allow the game to even run on my rig, and faced a number of problems along the way from a technological stand point. Though this, of course, has nothing to do with the game itself, and could have been avoided by running the game under the correct OS, it didn’t exactly endear me towards it when I had to use the Task manager to close it down because it had frozen for the umpteenth time. Still, I do accept that that was my own fault and should be taken not as an attack on the game, but as a heads up to those who, like myself, still use XP and wish to play the PC version of the game.
Basically, Halo 2 is a lot like the first and will likely always divide the gaming world. Some will love it, others will hate it. Me? I was wholly under enthused and can say only that it wasn’t really bad, but wasn’t really very good either. As always, it would be best to decide for yourself. Just don’t expect to see me running through it again any time soon. Though it does offer 1000 achievement points which are attainable without needing a subscription to Live for online so…maybe.
Graphics: 8/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Audio/Music: 7.5/10
Plot/Scripting: 8/10
Overall: 7.5/10
P.S : WTF?!? Cortana went Emo. Hmm…
Emoness : 9.5/10
Jan 27
2009
2009
Halo : Combat Evolved?
By: The Almighty Bobfish Category: Combat Evolved, Halo, PC
OVER THE CENTURIES of Human history, there have been issues that have divided us. Matters of such great importance that even the possibility of meeting someone with an opinion different than your own will cause anything and everything to grind to a complete halt until the argument can be resolved. And just when you think you have considered every possible permutation, every facet and diverse angle, along comes someone else that can say “yes! But what if?”
Questions such as which came first, the chicken or the egg? Do aliens exist? Empire or Jedi? (I say neither personally. A new hope is the best by far). But none have divided so many people so rapidly, as the choice between Halo and Half-Life. Having now taken the time to play through both of them, I find myself in the unenviable position of putting forward my own opinions on the matter. Though, as this is a review for Halo, the Half-Life references will cease here. We’ve had enough of the endless back and forth bickering between those two factions thank you very much.
So this brings us to the nitty gritty. Is Halo really any good?
Sadly, my opinion is that it is nothing more than mediocre. Whilst I can see why some people would like the game, especially if it was their first foray into the FPS genre, I personally found very little to keep me entertained. The choice of weaponry available is almost criminally tiny and I found the aiming reticules to be, well, odd to say the least. And speaking of weapons, I find it highly dubious that the Chief somehow managed to procure an assault rifle from…somewhere during the few seconds between the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next. Of course, picking up a new one whilst taking a ride on a Pelican is one thing, but to just…acquire one out in the middle of a swamp is…makes you wonder where he gets them from.
Of course, that’s only a minor issue. But it’s the kind of thing that actually rather bugs me simple because it’s so minor. After all, surely being such a simple issue it should have been the matter of only a couple of seconds to implement. It’s like how on other games (no names) you have to fiddle with your weapons and what not to get it back to what you had when you last played the game rather than the necessary information being stored as part of your save game.
Halo, does, however, have some points in its favour. The mythology behind it all is rich and intruiging, and the fact that it is actually the “noble” Humans being portrayed as the savage, bigotted destroyers was a nice touch. After all, Halo is a holy place for the Covenant, the fact that it also happens to be a weapon designed to wipe out all organic life in existence had nothing to do with them. Of course, when it comes to a choice between destroying a holy site and genocide, the Chief probably made the right choice. But that doesn’t make his motivation any less suspect.
Long story short, I was far from impressed with Halo, and really cannot fathom why some people are so rabidly profuse about how great it is. The level design was uninspired, the scripting was awful (especially Cortana’s incessant bitching) and the game was just too damned easy. Plus, well, it has to be said, but if I wanted to play Half-Life again then I’d just play Half-Life. So there’s one more reference, so sue me.
Graphics: 6/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Audio/Music: 7/10
Plot/Scripting: 5/10
Overall: 5.5/10
Final note : This game does, however, earn the Bobfish Almighty award for being the best bluffer of the recent gaming years
Jan 23
2009
2009
Another month, another excuse for not posting any reviews
By: The Almighty Bobfish Category: News, PC, PS2, PS3, Star Wars, Wii, xBox360
Unfortunately, whilst the Reaper and I were expecting that the post New Year period would bring with it the opportunity to kick back a little and come back to some more important thins (like playing games, writing reviews, watching 80s TV shows and eating cake) we have actually found ourselves more distracted than ever. However, fear not, for we have not been idle. All of those reviews, and more, that werepromised way back when in the middle of December will soon be upon us.
We have also now requistioned a reliable X-Box 360 spokesperson. My fabulous new girlfriend Lissa, who is one of the primary reasons I personally have been so…distracted of late. So, thankfully, the rather weighted bias towards the Wii and Playstation 3 will be gradually offset as we move to a more balanced approach to review publication. Hopefully, we should soon be in a position to get one from each of the current primary platforms each week. That being Playstation 3, Wii, X-Box 360 and PC. As well as a spattering of others here and there such as downloaded games and the odd retro classic.
And, finally, the Reaper, my amazing new girlfriend and I have been working on a seperate internet venture that will see distribution, hopefully, some time before the end of next week. A twelve part Star Wars audio comedy/drama that we believe many of our loyal readers (hoping that we actually have some) will find to be at least moderately entertaining. Also, next week should hopefully see a return to posting as I have both a Wii and PC title to air my views on. The PC game I have choen should prove to be most interesting as it is something which has devided a great many gamers for a number of years now.
Keep your eyes peeled everyone. There are good things to come very soon.
Dec 23
2008
2008
Well, our regular subscribers will have surely noticed that it’s been a little quiet in GR land the past few weeks. But fear not, we have not forgotten you, our loyal minions of return minionness. It5’s gotten back to that time of year when everyone, even we, your review writing lords, have a lot to deal with.
At present, our duties consist of :
1) Shouting at the TV
2) Shouting at each other
3) Shouting at ourselves
4) Eating cake
And E) Sleeping in the garden
However, come the other side of the new year, bot the Reaper and I will return with an impressive line up of both new and old games for you to sink your teeth into. I don’t want to go into too much detail about our little secret project, but I can assure you it is something on a scale not previously considered. Something that has been made possible only now through the keen application of Ebay, an old CRT Television and a lama called Steve.
We will also be briinging you Fallout 3 for both Playstation 3 and PC, Siren Blood Curse, Rainbow Six Vegas and several more titles that you may still be uhming and ahhing about that we can, perchance, inform you correctly about. Both the good and the bad aspects. Watch this space my loyal minions, thine faith shall be rewarded.
Nov 18
2008
2008
Dead Space “make us whole again”
By: The Almighty Bobfish Category: Dead Space, PC
ELECTRONIC ARTS, FOR many years the laughing stock of the gaming world. Pointless sports title after ever more pointless sports title. Many of us wondered how the company that brought us Desert Strike, Road Rash and the Buck Rogers games could have sunk so low in such a short period of time. And, somehow, still stay in business.
And then, last year, out of nowhere, the old EA suddenly came back. Announcing a plethora of new, and extremely inventive titles for the following (now current) year. Amongst them being Dead Space. Originally it seemed to be a Playstation 3 exclusive, though this ultimately proved not to be the case as it was simultaneously released both on the X-Box 360 and a week later for the PC as well. Though it was originally intended for a worldwide release on October 31st, it was put forward (likely due to a rather significant demand from the eagerly waiting players) to the 14th.
So, that begs the question, was it worthy of all the fuss?
Well, I can’t speak for the console version of the game, but the PC release certainly kept me entertained. It’s somewhat clichéd and formulaic, but unlike many such experiences, does not suffer from such as it was clearly intended to be so. From the initial, unarmed mad dash to escape from the first Necromorph, who almost catches you, but is crushed in the closing of an elevator door, to the “shock” twist in the closing cinematic, there is little that could be hailed as truly original. But it at no point ever really tries to be. EA have taken a tried and tested formula, thrown in some new characters (the protagonist taking after Gordon Freeman and never speaking) an impressive array of environments (especially considering almost the entire game takes place aboard a self-contained space craft) and some top-notch scripting and voice work.
It’s a combination of each of those things, along with the understated score by Jason Graves, the constantly oppressive atmosphere and the outstanding quality of the visuals which are all the more impressive considering the surprisingly low requirements for the game. Even on my decidedly sub-par rig it ran at a smooth 25+ frames per second with the settings maxed out at a 1024×768. I could even run at full 16×12 without noticing any significant slowdown, but I prefer the latter resolution for some reason. Though, it’s worth noting, that in some of the areas where there was a lot going on, such as environments with mist or lots of particulate matter in the air, my framerate took a bit of a dive. But even at it’s worst if never dropped below 16. Which is really, really impressive since I’m only just exceeding the minimum requirements.
The basic premise of the game is straightforward enough. Our erstwhile hero, Isaac Clark (a lowly repair tech) is sent to the USG Ishimura, a planet cracker (which does mean what you think it means, the planet crackers literally blast planets into asteroid chunks which can then be mined for raw materials) after all communication is cut off. Even before they dock with the ship the problems start as an impact from space debris forces an emergency landing. And then inside the space dock the crew are set upon by the Necromorphs, the pilot co-pilot is killed, and Isaac is separated from his crew mates Kendra Daniels (a tech expert) and Sergeant Zach Hammond.
Unarmed and alone, thinks don’t look so good for our friend the technician. But fear not, he quickly procures a plasma cutter for himself, and steels himself for a slaughter fest of suitably and satisfyingly gruesome proportions. The game is even designed to encourage dismemberment of your opponents, unlike those which have such features included for the sake of a little gore, with Dead Space you are actively encouraged to shoot off the Necromorph’s legs, arms, heads and…other appendages rather than just pumping a stream of bullets into them. This actually makes your initial weapon, whilst slow and theoretically weak, your most useful tool as it is designed, as the name implies, for cutting and features two firing modes. One for vertical cutting, and one for horizontal. Each of the weapons you will procure feature alternate firing methods, but the cutter, in my opinion, has the most useful as ammo is plentiful, and it can be adjusted for maximum efficiency in any environment. Such as when traversing a zero gravity environment where up and down are subjective to where you want them to be.
Overall, the game was pretty straightforward and didn’t really feature any groundbreaking ideas or new concepts in gameplay. It simply stuck to a refined, well rehearsed method of tense wanderings and intense bouts of action, with a few bits and pieces of mild puzzle solving along the way. But it is clear from the outset that the atmosphere of the game is the most important thing, and in this regard it succeeds magnificently. Easily elevating a truthly quite plain game into a thoroughly enjoyable survival horror, one of the few that actually succeeds in finding a good balance between the two. There was only one problem I could find with the game, and this came in the form of the aiming controls. A bane I usually associate only with console games (showing that this was clearly moved to the PC second) but it would at times be either much too slow, or far too fast, resulting in a number of irritating deaths when I found myself blasting the wall, or the floor at my feet instead of the slavering un-dead alien/human/monster thing only two feet away.
Simply put, Dead Space is an entertaining, replayable and cheesy as all hell (seriously, you can see the plot twists coming hours in advance) zombie romp with an, actually almost completely unimportant, alien flavour. And it’s a combination of all these things which makes it so much fun, because it never claims to be anything else. I would recommend before you do play the game that you track down and watch the six video comics that give details of the events directly leading up to and causing the problems aboard the Ishimura. They are all available for download on the Playstation Network, and I would assume on the X-Box Marketplace as well. They are not really integral to the plot, but they do add some interesting backstory, and will avoid those little moments where you sit wondering exactly what everyone is talking about.
Graphics: 9/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Audio/Music: 9/10
Plot/Scripting: 9/10
Overall: 8.5/10
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