Redrafted
I had a huge epic moan planned for these 3 games, and even half written, but decided to streamline once more to just the bits you may actually care about
Scribblenauts
+ Imaginative, fun sandbox title
+ Ridiculous number of levels and optional paths of progression
+ Create *anything* and it more or less works as it should
+ Actually quite challenging in some cases
- Horrendous control scheme
- No, really, it's awful.
- Dodgy physics
- Challenge often comes from overcoming dodgy physics and not killing everything accidentally
Conclusion: Typical Sandbox Technical demo. Physics, content, AI, environment but with minimal gameplay. Would be potentially fun if they didn't mix the movement, interaction and editing controls in the same system. Not really recommended unless you find it dirt cheap.
Brutal Legend
+ Hilarious
+ Awesome world
+ Awesome soundtrack
+ Awesome, well written and well performed characters
+ RTS combat is totally an homage to Shiny's Sacrifice (Altars = Stage, Mana Geysers = Fan Geysers, Wizards = Rock Legends, Spells = Solos etc.)
+ Tonnes of stuff to do outside the main game
- Doesn't mix RTS and action all too well. Feels like it pulls in 2 different directions
- Story occasionally poos itself, demanding you've done some optional side quests to fully understand the history of the world and assuming you've done so.
- RTS Combat starts off easy, but towards the end pulls some cheap moves to become challenging
- Surprisingly short
Conclusion: Certainly worth playing to experience the world, the characters and the story itself. The RTS Combat isn't terrible, but isn't terribly well realised to a potential they clearly avoided to not wear the "RTS" label. The end result a game you can't just kill things yourself, but you can't fully realise any strategy outside of "Summon lots of guys, get them to follow you, attack anything in front of you". Play it on easy and just enjoy the ride.
Uncharted 2
+ Best looking game this year
+ Excellent soundtrack
+ Genuinely funny and well written
+ Good selection of characters, each with conflicting personality
+ Excellent length for a game
+ Levels are incredibly varied and action packed
+ The whole train segment
+ The snow
+ Treasures to find
- Still suffers from the combat issues from Uncharted 1 - Guys can shoot you from miles away with pinpoint accuracy
- Shotgun guys. They'll kill you in one hit and wear the armour of tanks. Later on you'll get batches of 3-4 of these at once.
- Plot retreads quite a lot of ideas from the first game. Several moments mirror it exactly
- Main villian isn't particularly interesting
- 3 Puzzles in the whole game, and the answer is given to you each time
- Incredibly linear jumpy-climbing experience. Pretty much always only 1 way to go.
Conclusion: Excellent game, although does get frustrating in some of the combat parts. The Cover system stolen from Gears of War suffers the same "Magnetic-Arse" issue but works most of the time and apparantly I spent 1:32 hours in it. It's a fantastic game, with an excellent cast and some ridiculous graphics, so while it can get a bit annoying sometimes, it usually makes up for it. It still feels like a dumbed down version of tomb raider - Less focus on puzzles and exploration and a *lot* more focus on blowing shit up. Hugely detailed, good fun, action packed and definetly an improvement over the sloppy mess that was the first game.
Scribblenauts
+ Imaginative, fun sandbox title
+ Ridiculous number of levels and optional paths of progression
+ Create *anything* and it more or less works as it should
+ Actually quite challenging in some cases
- Horrendous control scheme
- No, really, it's awful.
- Dodgy physics
- Challenge often comes from overcoming dodgy physics and not killing everything accidentally
Conclusion: Typical Sandbox Technical demo. Physics, content, AI, environment but with minimal gameplay. Would be potentially fun if they didn't mix the movement, interaction and editing controls in the same system. Not really recommended unless you find it dirt cheap.
Brutal Legend
+ Hilarious
+ Awesome world
+ Awesome soundtrack
+ Awesome, well written and well performed characters
+ RTS combat is totally an homage to Shiny's Sacrifice (Altars = Stage, Mana Geysers = Fan Geysers, Wizards = Rock Legends, Spells = Solos etc.)
+ Tonnes of stuff to do outside the main game
- Doesn't mix RTS and action all too well. Feels like it pulls in 2 different directions
- Story occasionally poos itself, demanding you've done some optional side quests to fully understand the history of the world and assuming you've done so.
- RTS Combat starts off easy, but towards the end pulls some cheap moves to become challenging
- Surprisingly short
Conclusion: Certainly worth playing to experience the world, the characters and the story itself. The RTS Combat isn't terrible, but isn't terribly well realised to a potential they clearly avoided to not wear the "RTS" label. The end result a game you can't just kill things yourself, but you can't fully realise any strategy outside of "Summon lots of guys, get them to follow you, attack anything in front of you". Play it on easy and just enjoy the ride.
Uncharted 2
+ Best looking game this year
+ Excellent soundtrack
+ Genuinely funny and well written
+ Good selection of characters, each with conflicting personality
+ Excellent length for a game
+ Levels are incredibly varied and action packed
+ The whole train segment
+ The snow
+ Treasures to find
- Still suffers from the combat issues from Uncharted 1 - Guys can shoot you from miles away with pinpoint accuracy
- Shotgun guys. They'll kill you in one hit and wear the armour of tanks. Later on you'll get batches of 3-4 of these at once.
- Plot retreads quite a lot of ideas from the first game. Several moments mirror it exactly
- Main villian isn't particularly interesting
- 3 Puzzles in the whole game, and the answer is given to you each time
- Incredibly linear jumpy-climbing experience. Pretty much always only 1 way to go.
Conclusion: Excellent game, although does get frustrating in some of the combat parts. The Cover system stolen from Gears of War suffers the same "Magnetic-Arse" issue but works most of the time and apparantly I spent 1:32 hours in it. It's a fantastic game, with an excellent cast and some ridiculous graphics, so while it can get a bit annoying sometimes, it usually makes up for it. It still feels like a dumbed down version of tomb raider - Less focus on puzzles and exploration and a *lot* more focus on blowing shit up. Hugely detailed, good fun, action packed and definetly an improvement over the sloppy mess that was the first game.