Our fav. Videogames

[cjhobbies00]

Been playing Rock Band diligently for the past two days with my brother and his girlfriend. Didn't think I'll have this much fun playing guitar and drums on medium and hard. I usually feel so unfufilled playing solo unless I'm playing on expert.

Quickly running out of songs...

[Inaudible-Whisper]

As I just mentioned in the Currently Watching thread I got a PS3 for Christmas. Although I got it primarily for Blu-Ray I did get the two games I wanted (Little Big Planet and Metal Gear Solid) and I've since purchased Uncharted and Valkyrie Chronicles. No problems with the hardware thus far; it's quiet, works as it should and it looks sleek enough, if a little fat.

The XMB is nice enough and functional but it's a little soulless. In fact, that's my biggest problem with the PS3. It doesn't feel like a gaming machine, it feels like some super priced media box that should sit on display and be all pretty and expensive. I really miss the big, bright and info-full NXE (New Xbox Experience). It feels quite lifeless and clinical. No universal friends list, jumping with life via gamerpics and messaging. It totally made me realise just how right Microsoft got the online part of the system, and how much I love the tiniest of capabilities. If the PS3 was my primary gaming console I'd gladly pay Sony £25 a year for a similar service. I had trouble finding my way around the PSN store too, though maybe I just need to get adjusted to where things are.

Sony's attempt at injecting some life into the system, Home, is useless. I realise it's a beta but bowling, chess and pool aside there is literally nothing to do. It's a world full of people chatting up girls (boys with female avatars, no doubt) dancing around PSP adverts. I can't see anybody using it in the long term, as a way to communicate with friends in real time and start gaming sessions, unless somebody is actively looking for an extremely limited version of Second Life. It's too long-winded for genuinely useful online interactions (such as talking to a friend, starting a game with a friend/inviting them to a game or buying items) and I'd take a traditional menu every time, even if it is the soulless XMB without universal chat/friend interaction. As a Blu-Ray player it works just fine and as I intended anyway virtually all of my gaming will be done on the 360, PS3 exclusives aside.

As for the games, Little Big Planet is brilliant. The level editor and the amount of stuff to do and create genuinely surpassed my expectations and some of the ingenious things created online are great. I don't know how long it can last though; as brilliant as some levels are they're all pretty much the same thing in terms of gameplay. It can't break the mold of 2D platforming with swinging and a bit of shooting and although some awesome twists can be added to make some levels unique, I don't think it has the power to be something people will play for months and months like a favourite FPS. It'll probably be something I'll play a lot for a few weeks then I'll check back every so often to see some of the new awesome levels.

I've just started Uncharted and it's great fun so far. The platforming feels natural and the gun-play is fine, if a little repetitive. The graphics are great and I like the characters and dialogue. It feels like the game Tomb Raider should be, but I'm only about an hour into it.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is exactly what I expected; Metal Gear 1, 2 and 3 with prettier graphics and even longer cut-scenes. As a fan of the past games I knew exactly what to expect, and as much as I love the gameplay the cut-scenes are a little much when a lot of it is just dialogue (and often not very well written dialogue). I'm about 6 hours into the game, and I think only about 40% of that has been actually played. I was also a little underwhelmed by the first act, but from what I've read it doesn't start picking up until the second act which seems to be true because I much prefer the South American setting to the Middle Eastern setting of the first act.

And what is up with PS3 game installs/updates? Seriously I shouldn't be playing a game 15 minutes after putting the disc in the tray. Little Big Planet has 5-10 minutes of updates to install and it's only a couple of months old. I've never installed a game update on my 360 that takes longer than 20 seconds. What is up with that? And I can't help but laugh at people that made the joke about Metal Gear Solid 4 coming on multiple discs if it ever came to the 360. Between each act (so far) there's a 3 minute install which takes about 900% longer than swapping a disc would. That's on top of an initial 8 minute install before the game can be played plus any updates that need downloaded and installed and that isn't including any standard loading time of which there is a lot. Disc swapping FTW! I hear Devil May Cry 4 has a 30-45 minute install in comparison to no install at all on the 360 and it gives the PS3 version no advantage whatsoever. The 360 takes 10 minutes to install an entire game to the HDD. Why aren't games that don't take advantage of the extra Blu-Ray capacity (only MGS4 as far as I know) just burnt onto DVD's?

[Ringo~Bingo]

You're right about the Devil May Cry installation I think it took about a half hour for me and also with MGS4 that long installation (with the smoking Snake) the PS3 is always needing some kind of update which takes a while, I got the LittleBigPlanet one a day or so ago and it's frustrating having to wait ten minutes before getting in to a game, as for Home? I gave it a try and thought it was utter garbage! having to pay REAL money for in-game accessories was a joke! and beyond that it was just advertisements for movies and people talking rubbish or simply ignoring you for the best part of it, you can add your own pictures to the PS3 XMB but it never feels personal at all.

[Ringo~Bingo]

I think that Contra 3 has to be the hardest bloody game ever made! I've died over 100 times and I've just scraped to level 4.

[MortAd]

I really like the Metal Gear Solid saga... Actually, that´s the only game I´m a trully fan...

I also like Shadow of Colossus, Resident Evil, God of War, Call of Duty... And I hate Winning Eleven because I suck at it

[Maou]

I can't tell what's up with Rock Band 2 vocals. I smash certain songs like Lazy Eye to bits, but I can't 100% songs I could in the first game like anything by Oasis. I can't tell if it's the game or if my voice just changed with all the singing I did in Japan.

[cjhobbies00]

On a related note, the new drum equipment is awesome. The thing doesn't fall apart when I pick it up and it already has a metal plate upgrade on the pedal.

The song list is also much better than I first thought.

[Inaudible-Whisper]

Originally Posted by cjhobbies00

On a related note, the new drum equipment is awesome. The thing doesn't fall apart when I pick it up and it already has a metal plate upgrade on the pedal.

You're making me jealous. Still no news on the Rock Band 2 European instrument release despite their Rock Band 2 press release stating "Early December". I can understand a delay, but not saying anything at all is ludicrous. My Rock Band 1 drums are falling apart

[cjhobbies00]

Ugh yea, no clue why the Euro ver. takes so long. The delay on Rock Band 1 was around a year, no? Don't know why in this day and age they can't schedule Rock Band for a simultaneous worldwide release.

I bought RB 2 for my siblings so I won't be able to take them home with me. It's a shame. The guitar is upgraded and less flimsy with a detachable head. Even the drumsticks they include is made with a lighter, smoother wood composite I think.

[Inaudible-Whisper]

Just to let you know, this entire post will contain Metal Gear Solid 4 spoilers.

Just finished Metal Gear 4. It was decent, with even lengthier cutscenes that I imagined, but that didn't totally surprise me; these games have had them all along. I was somewhat disappointed by the ending. It didn't really seem too epic; while the story dictated that I'd ended Liquid Ocelots reign over the Patriots I didn't see any indication that I'd done something that special at all. In fact the bulk of the ending was a wedding and Big Boss talking for what felt like hours.

While it was nice to have the pieces of the puzzle put together and the answers given, there were numerous times throughout the game where I felt like Hideo had just thought "Right, this is an answer spot. Give them a 30 minute powerpoint presentation telling them all sorts of shit". Naturally I paid attention, being interested in the story since the first game, but the fact that Snakes end moment was a very lengthy piece of dialogue not by [Solid] Snake himself was a bit shit.

I would have actually preferred that Snake shot himself, and the last sequence be everybody at Snakes funeral. It would have been dramatic and poignant and Big Boss could have gave a similar speech at the funeral. If this truly is the last Metal Gear following Snakes story, I think death is the only truly epic sendoff we can give him. Having him hanging in the old state he is in was a bit crappy in my opinion. As if Hideo is scared to kill off his creation. I can somewhat understand; Snake is awesome, but as the old guy he was at the end, it just makes sense for him to die. Be it by his own hand, or natural causes. I think that Snakes survival and the fact that it ended on a long, drawn-out speech took a lot out of the ending. I feel satisfied in terms of the story, but not when it comes directly to the character of Snake.