Fallout New Vegas Impressions Posted by TurboPhoenix , Friday, October 22, 2010 at 3:05 PM, in Labels: Impressions

After playing 20 hours of Fallout New Vegas, I figured it was time for an impressions blog!

I know for many people, Fallout New Vegas is a kind of questionable title. Will Obsidian deliver us yet another bug-riddled game? Will the game feel new enough to warrant a purchase? New enough or not, is the game just an expansion pack? The short answers to these questions are: yes, yes and no. The long answers? Read on and find out.

Bugs, Glitches and Crashes

Firstly, there are a whole heap of bugs. If you want a game with no bugs in it then look elsewhere. The bugs that I've encountered however are not really that big of a deal. Some reviews I've read out there on the Interweb say that the game is so buggy that despite all the good points, you'll give up because of them. This is not true. I am playing the unpatched 360 version, and I've yet to come across any bug that has made me want to quit... except the Cazador (har har har). The bugs I have encountered aren't anything new anyway. These bugs were already in Fallout 3. If you played Fallout 3 and the bugs didn't bother you, then chances are the bugs in this won't bother you either. I've encountered a few system lockups, and while annoying, they aren't really game breaking. As long as your autosave is working and you save manually after big fights, level ups, quests, etc, then the lockups probably won't bother you either.

To those of you that can't look past the bugs - Bethesda and Obsidian are fixing it! They've already released a PC patch that fixes over 200 bugs and glitches (none of which have been named) and a 360+PS3 patch is on the way. No doubt we'll be seeing many more patches in the coming months.

New Content

I came into Fallout New Vegas thinking that it would be pretty much the same as Fallout 3, just with a new setting, new characters, a few new weapons and items, and a few new game mechanics that wouldn't really make much of a difference. Boy was I wrong. I'm not going to say that everything is different, because it's clearly not, but I'd say the different things outweigh the recycled things.There are new sound effects - not just music and stuff for new enemies, but stuff like the jumping sounds and sounds for kicking a bucket or empty bottle on the floor. Most, if not all existing weapons have been given new sound effects for firing and reloading, and they are great! There are new ambient sounds too, which make the world feel more alive.

There are also new particle effects, stuff like dust storms and smoke. They are a small part of the game, but they are a pretty noticeable addition, especially if you manage to find Hidden Valley. Fire has also been given a makeover to make it seem more realistic. I could go on and on about the changes, but I can't be bothered... not to mention it would be boring to read. The easiest way to discover them is to play the game yourself.

An Expansion? Hell No!

Even with the amount of DLC, I would have been happy with an expansion to Fallout 3. This is so much more than that. It's almost overwhelming, even to a veteran Fallout 3 player like myself. I played the absolute crap out of Fallout 3, and I was a bit worried that I'd get New Vegas, play it through once and then move on. After an hour of playing the game, I knew this wouldn't be the case. Almost everything felt new to me, and that which wasn't new felt like the return of an old friend I hadn't seen in a while. Lame metaphor, but that's how it was.

So, should you buy it? You only have to answer one question. Did you like Fallout 3? If yes, then you'll like this. If no, then you probably won't.

Reach Out Posted by TurboPhoenix , Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at 8:12 PM, in Labels: Impressions

So, Halo Reach is out! My verdict: Pretty awesome. I finished the campaign last night, and I gotta say, it was great. Better than Halo 3? At the moment I'm not too sure. Both were great in their own way. My favourite mission is the one where you have to fly the Sabre. Not just the flying and shooting part, but the run up the beach towards the Sabre facility is epic too.

Firefight though is another story. I don't know about anybody else, but it seems like it's not all that fun, by yourself anyway. Also the sets go on too long. I was going for 20 minutes and I only finished one round! I just ended up quitting out of it.

So yeah, there are my impressions of the game... sorry it's not much but I'm not really in a writing mood right now. Maybe I'll do something more in-depth later.

Into Oblivion Posted by TurboPhoenix , Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 4:16 PM, in Labels: Impressions

So, on Friday I finally picked up Oblivion on the 360. Sadly it wasn't the GOTY edition, but when I saw it for $25 in EB I couldn't resist. I've been playing it pretty much non-stop, and wow... What can I say about it that hasn't been said before? It's awesome. It combines everything I loved about Fallout 3 with an engaging fantasy environment. Love it. I think I'm somewhere near the end of the main storyline, though I've still got tons of sidequests left to do. I should probably take it slowly, since it will be the last new game I get until Red Dead Redemption. After that's done I'll probably start on the Oblivion DLC, which will cost me a bundle. 2400 MS points for Shivering Isles alone! I'm told it's worth it though, and I'm inclined to believe that!

Pokemon Heart Gold Impressions Posted by TurboPhoenix , Friday, March 26, 2010 at 5:03 PM, in Labels: Impressions

Hey,

So, Pokemon Heart Gold arrived on Wednesday, and yes, I have been playing it pretty much non-stop. I have the first 8 badges, and I'm up to the lead up to the Elite 4.

So, what can I say? Wow. It's a near-perfect remake. Everything is here. The same old towns, Pokemon and characters that you remember from the originals. Just better. Better graphics, better sound, better items. That's not to say it's ALL good.

Some things have taken a step backwards. One for example, is lack of a VS. Seeker. For those who have forgotten or haven't played newer games, the VS. Seeker is an item you can use to see if trainers you have battled before want to fight again. It's an incredibly simple concept, but one with infinite value, since this lets you level your Pokemon up easily. You can choose the area, for example if you want to train a grass Pokemon you can go to the water and use it, and you'll have a type advantage. So you can see why I miss it. You can still have rematches with trainers, but they have to call you up for one, which can be a pain since they might not call for a long time. You can also call specific trainers yourself, but they will only want to battle at certain times.

Which leads me to the next point, the PokeGear. It was in the originals too, but they should have learned from the Poketch and modified it a bit! Instead of the time or other useful information being displayed on the bottom screen, you just have a menu, your running shoes and 2 registered key items. The 2 items thing is good, but only one is set to a button (the other you need to touch the icon). I don't see why, when so many buttons are unused. There are 5 buttons that could be used for registering items, but instead we only get one, and the rest go unused.

That said, it's still an awesome game. It's perfect for anybody, be it those who are just getting into Pokemon, or a hardcore Pokemaniac like myself. Well worth it!

Mass Effect 2 Posted by TurboPhoenix , Sunday, February 7, 2010 at 4:55 PM, in Labels: Impressions

So for the past few days I've been totally absorbed in Mass Effect 2. It finally arrived from EBs online store... 6 days after it was released! For a pre-order, that's very poor... won't be pre-ordering from there again, I should have just dealt with the crappy salespeople. But whatever, it arrived intact and sealed so I'm not too annoyed.

First of all, I gotta say it is a brilliant game. All the reviews I've read have said it was a total improvement from the original, and it is. There were a few different things that I had to get used to, but after a couple of hours I didn't even notice those. The story is better, even though it is, at times, painfully linear. The character interactions were a surprise to me. I knew they would be in there, but it just seems like they are a gigantic step up from the first game. The characters themselves are also more interesting than the first game, and the character loyalty missions add more depth to them too.

The weapons system has been simplified... almost too much so. Now you only get 2 of each weapon, except for the few character specific weapons and heavy weapons. Gone are the weapon stats, finding new weapons everywhere and having to compare them to your current ones. I thought that only being able to change your weapons around  once or twice a mission would be a pain, but you never need to change anyway. It's disappointing, but it's only a minor part of the game overall.

As a whole: 10/10!

Borderlands Impressions Posted by TurboPhoenix , Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 12:10 PM, in Labels: Impressions

So, Borderlands. This is the latest game I've gotten hooked on, having played for over 50 hours on multiple playthroughs since I bought it last Saturday. Most of that has been co-op with my brother, which is a blast. Though it's kind of annoying, since he goes for the loot as soon as he can, and most of the time it's me fighting the enemies and him running for the weapons chests to get first pick. Sometimes I just want to kick him in the head for being so damn greedy. Whats worse is that whenever I do that, to prevent him from taking everything, he has a big sad about it! But whatever, most of the time the loot is crap anyway. But onwards to my impressions.

The game is great. No question about that. However there are a few issues I have with it. Most of them are small though. First up, the biggest, is the story and ending. Now I'm not going to spoil it, but I think both are crap. The story is really weak, and the ending is too. Next is that the game includes a lot of copy and pasting from other games. You buy your guns, ammo and health from vending machines. Bioshock. Not only that but the machines also look and sound like Bioshock's vending machines. The Spiderants, an enemy in the game, are straight from Half Life 2. Not only do they look like it, but one sound they make is the same sound the Antlion Guards (the big ones) make in HL2. The shield and health warning sound is taken from Halo 3. This might all sound like nitpicking, but it's there and it's noticeable. It's just a little disappointing, that's all. And finally - invisible walls. Now that's just cheap. Don't give us interesting looking places to go, then put an invisible wall there so we can't get to it! I guess after all the Fallout 3 I've played, I expect to be able to go places easily.

Besides those 3 small points I have no problems with the game. Sure the creatures drop weapons and ammo, which is totally illogical, but the game explains itself in a loading screen by saying that the creatures of Pandora eat everything. Good excuse. On to the good parts of the game then!

The art style is a refreshing change. It's not "Omg!!!" like I've heard many people say it is. It's just cell shaded. It's been done before, get over it. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't look nice, because it does. The guns are cool looking... I think the whole "No two guns are the same!!!" thing is cool, but not that special. Usually it's just a change in accuracy or power. Umm... besides that I can't really think of any stand out good things. It's one of those games where no one thing really stands out, but all together it adds up to be a great game. Totally recommend, though it doesn't have the replayability as some others.

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Okay, now that's done, as you may know I posted a blog on Gamespot recently. No, I am not going back. Basically it's just an advertisement for this blog. Yes, I am sneaky like that. What prompted me to do it was a comment from FlamingR1ft on my last blog. He was one of my buds on Gamespot, but he had no idea that I had moved, thanks the the abrupt nature of my departure. This made me think that there might be people on that site who might want to read this blog too. Now I'm not looking for an influx of readers, I'm not looking for any attention, I just wanted to promote this blog to people that already know me, and might not know of my move here. And on that note, I am out of things to write! See you next time!