Archives For Move

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Sorcery

Jonathan White —  June 4, 2012 — Leave a comment

Sorcery has been one of my most anticipated titles of the past few years. When Sony first showed footage of Sorcery at E3 2010, I was absolutely jazzed to rush out and buy the PlayStation Move. Despite having a less than stellar (read: very few worth playing) line up, I knew that once Sorcery arrived PlayStation’s motion controller would finally have that killer piece of software that it’s desperately been waiting for. I waited.. and then waited.. surely they’ll announce a release date at E3 2011, right? Nope. Sorcery finally arrived in May of 2012; almost two years after it was originally shown at E3 during the debut of the PS Move. Was the wait worth it?

Sorcery is a pretty fun little adventure, but it’s not nearly what I’d hoped it would be (PS3′s answer to Fable). You control a kid named Finn (accompanied by a cat-type thing named Erline), who winds up snatching a wand which kick starts your adventure. The story is decent and fairly easy to follow, since it’s clear that Sorcery is meant to appeal to anyone who wants to give it a shot. It’s appropriate for kids, and it’s still interesting enough that adults will be able to enjoy it without being utterly annoyed at how cheesy that it is.

Sorcery has the best controls of any PlayStation Move game I’ve played to date. The combat is fluid and spells go exactly where you aim them. You can flick your wrist and see the spell actually curve on the screen, which is a super cool (and unexpected) surprise. On top of great controls, you can mix and match your spells to create new stronger spell types but there’s only few that are actually worth using as they’re considerably stronger than other concoctions.  I highly approve of mix and match spell casting, and it’s one of my favorite elements of any magic based game. In certain situations this actually increases the appeal of the game and helps make it even more memorable (IE: Magicka).

Requiring motion controls may possibly be a big mistake, as there are gamers who simply refuse to buy in to the whole motion controlled gaming gimmick, and they’ll skip this game simply because it can ONLY be played by using the Move controller. I’m not sure why it couldn’t have been controlled with an on-screen reticle using the tried and true “hold R1 and move the analog stick” method, but then again Sorcery was SUPPOSED to be a Move launch title. Showing up two years late only further makes this control scheme oversight more obvious.

Graphically, this game seems to hit the mark while simultaneously dropping the ball. Backgrounds and spell effects look fantastic, while enemies look fairly bland and repeated.

So, that brings us back to the original question: Was the wait worth it? The short answer is: No, not really. Sorcery is a good game, but it’s not great and it certainly won’t make you rush out to buy PS Move if you don’t already own it. I think Sorcery could have had the potential to move units if it had met the original release date, but now it’s little more than an afterthought of a long forgotten hype-train. I’d recommend it if you’re a Move fan though, and it’s good for gamers of all ages who want to play a wand-wiggler without having to play Harry Potter.

Sorcery is a PS3 exclusive, and REQUIRES Sony’s PlayStation Move controller to play. Sorcery was provided for review by Sony Computer Entertainment.

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GoldenEye 007: Reloaded

Jonathan White —  December 4, 2011 — Leave a comment

For many console gamers, GoldenEye 007 was the first “true” first person shooter to hit the home consoles. Sure, Doom was out on SNES and so was Wolfenstein 3D, but no other shooter has gained the type of ground that GoldenEye 007 did when it was originally released on the Nintendo 64. 4 player split-screen death matches were awesome, and gamers loved the hell out of GoldenEye; to this day there are still fans who claim it was the best console shooter ever made. For me, I don’t have that sentimental look at GoldenEye, because I never actually owned a Nintendo 64. I played a few matches of GoldenEye 007 at a friend’s house, and while it was undeniably good, I was still playing Duke Nukem 3D in anticipation for Quake 2. Forgive me if I don’t have the nostalgia factor that a lot of other gamers do, because I love Rare as a studio, but GoldenEye was never really all that special to me. Skipping forward more than a decade, and GoldenEye 007 was given the next-gen revamp, and released for the Nintendo Wii. With the success of being a hit on Wii, Activision decided to give it the HD treatment and bring it over to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I decided to give it a go in hopes that I’d find some of that magic that made it special to all those N64 gamers before me.

Jumping into GoldenEye 007: Reloaded, I was stricken with a mini dilemma: Should I play this game with the controller, or should I opt to use my PlayStation Move Sharpshooter? Being the adventurous spy that I am, of course, I went with the Sharpshooter and fired it up. Upon loading the game, I noticed two things that really surprised me: This game moves really, really fast – around 60 frames per second. The other thing, why is James Bond being voiced by Daniel Craig? I get it, these days people know Bond as being the guy from Casino Royale – but a game with the GoldenEye name sake really should have been voiced by the guy who was GoldenEye in the movie – Pierce Brosnan. It’s a slight gripe, and certainly not anything to get bent out of shape about, but it almost feels like the game was misnamed due to using an updated version of the character. Would this game have sold as well had it been given a new James Bond themed name? Perhaps, but we’ll never really know.

As I moved through the campaign, the PlayStation Move controls made the game a lot more intense than the controller would have. I was often panning left to right in hopes I could find cover without getting decimated by an enemy off-screen because I was turned out of his direction. Maybe it’s because I was playing the campaign on Battlefield 3 (on Hard) before GoldenEye arrived, but this game didn’t really seem hard, at all, on the highest difficulty. I remember people talking about the original GoldenEye being super tough to beat on 00Agent difficulty, meanwhile I’m crusing through it with a motion controller and often killing guys before they realized I was even around. On top of that, I spent what felt like an eternity out of cover getting blasted just to lose a few notches of body armor before I’d stumble upon more body armor just to replace the little bit I’d lost just a few minutes earlier. I guess that’s a good thing, but it felt a little silly. The AI had a lot of really silly little quirks too. Sometimes I could stealth kill a guy right in front of others and they wouldn’t react, other times it would alert the entire room.

Graphically, GoldenEye 007: Reloaded looks about like you’d expect it to: It’s a retouched Wii game, so the graphics are still fairly mediocre even retouched. It looks on par with some of the recently released retouched PS2 classics, like the Prince of Persia trilogy. I also experienced several hard freezes while playing GoldenEye – as my PS3 would often lock up and require a power cycle to start back up. Perhaps it’s just my old 80 GB PS3 showing its age, but that was extremely inconvenient and often resulted in replaying passed sections. The multiplayer is good, and certainly loads better (and more fun) than the campaign is – but by this point in the year, there’s nothing I could say that would pull you away from Activision’s own Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. If only this game had been a $14.99 PSN/XBLA title, it would have been way easier to recommend.

Overall, GoldenEye 007: Reloaded is still a solid take on Bond, and certainly better than Quantum of Solace or Blood Stone – but it feels extremely dated (due to how much it feels like a game from 1997) and I had a lot of problems with lock ups. Your experience with GoldenEye may be better than mine, but wait until you catch this one sale before you find out. There’s also a bundle version that comes with the PS Move and Sharpshooter, which I recommend, but chances are you’ve already gotten it either with the Socom 4 bundle or the Resistance 3 bundle. The game is a whole lot better with Move, in my opinion, but until you’re sick of the competition there’s no reason to buy this one until it comes down in price.

GoldenEye 007: Reloaded was played on the PlayStation 3 using the PlayStation Move Sharpshooter, and was provided for review by Activision.

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House of the Dead: Overkill – Extended Cut

Jonathan White —  December 1, 2011 — Leave a comment

The House of the Dead games bring back such vivid memories of standing in front of a large projection arcade screen with goofy plastic guns.  Originally released on the Wii, House of the Dead: Overkill now shows up on PlayStation 3 with PS Move compatibility; and the end result was me waggling a big ass grey and orange gun back and forth frantically, laughing hysterically, and enjoying the hell out of an all too familiar twist on a light gun landmark.

As I loaded up House of the Dead: Overkill, I couldn’t help but notice the Grindhouse art style. I’m sure this game was purely developed in this theme, given the success of Quentin Tarantino’s duo of movies bearing that same Grindhouse name. The premise of this game is certainly no different than any other light gun title: Shoot the crap out of everything you see that moves – unless the game says not to, and then do it anyway cause you’re a badass.

Amongst the zombie filled hallways of horror, you’ll find all sorts of collectables to acquire, which add a significant amount of playtime to this fairly short shooter. There are music tracks, comic book images, and of course delicious stacks of cash which you can use to unlock other items from the in-game store. On top of that, there are these little red skulls you can shoot which will throw everything into a bullet time Matrix-y slow down, allowing you to clear the room before the enemies even know what hit them.

The action is fast and furious, while your characters sport some cheesy as hell dialogue that’s often so bad you can’t help laugh hysterically. There were a few lines that are just so bad I had to pause the game to stop laughing about. In addition to the terribad voice acting, you’ll find a pretty groovy little soundtrack that fits the mood pretty well.

Keep in mind that House of the Dead: Overkill is – as the name implies, complete overkill. Because this was previously a Wii only title, the graphics are extremely underwhelming and not at all realistic; but there’s an abundance of mostly naked women, and enough f-bombs to make a sailor blush. Still, there’s a certain amount of charm here, given the look they were going for. It’s crude, gritty, and extremely vulgar and violent.

Once you complete main story, you’ll unlock the Director’s cut, which makes the areas longer, harder, and you’ll get infinite continues. If you finish it, you’ll get to play a mode that lets you dual wield weapons. How slick is that?

Overall, there’s not really a whole lot else to say – House of the Dead: Overkill is yet another House of the Dead game; but it’s dripping with macabre flavor and intense action that’s only enhanced by the 3D and motion controls. If you have a 3D tv, the 3D makes this experience even more enjoyable, and combined with the PS SharpShooter, this is an experience I highly recommend as it’s the absolute best way to experience this new twist on a classic.

House of the Dead: Overkill – Extended Cut was played on the PlayStation 3 using PlayStation Move, and provided for review by SEGA. House of the Dead: Overkill is also available on the Nintendo Wii. 

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Killzone 3

Jonathan White —  February 21, 2011 — Leave a comment

After what feels like an eternity of waiting and pwning noobs in the Killzone 3 MP beta, Killzone 3 is finally here. Now, I generally prefer 3rd person shooters and action adventure titles more than the typical FPS, but Killzone holds a special place in my heart. Perhaps it’s because I remember playing the original Killzone in a time when everyone was flocking to Xbox to play Halo, or perhaps it was being absolutely taken back by how amazing the graphics (particularly the blood effects) were in Killzone 2. Whatever the case may be, Killzone 3 offers some up seriously steep competition to all of those who would try to be the pinnacle of First Person Shooters, and from this vantage, it’ll be hard to find a title that even comes close.

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SingStar Dance

Jonathan White —  February 13, 2011 — Leave a comment

Hi there! Would you like to boogie woogie woogie til your pants fall off? Was that the creepiest possible way to start a review? I think so, yes.

At any rate, Sony has had the SingStar franchise going for quite some time now (read: 30+ games) and it was started back on the PS2.  For those of you who have lived under some sort of rock or other type of ridiculously heavy object, SingStar is kind of what started the whole music based game rush that is now dying a horribly painfully slow death as it lies bleeding and screaming for dear sweet mercy. SingStar is basically software that turns your game console into a kick ass Karaoke machine. You sing the songs while the lyrics are displayed on the screen, and the game gives you a score based on accuracy, pitch, and timing. The other cool thing about this game is that songs with an actual music video play in the background behind the lyrics. This can be seen as a good thing or a complete distraction, depending on how you feel about such things. I recently received a copy of SingStar Dance which is basically more of the same, but now allows players to dance to the songs using PlayStation Move.

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