Nik's quick and dirty reviews
Based on PS3 games I own:
Games lose points based on my arbitrary bullshit. If the game is fun, amuses me, and has a good replay value? starts at 10/10, and I rip into it little bits based on bugs found, general annoyances in the game-play, anything that really detracts from the experience.
Assassin's Creed
-Outstanding Game. Incredibly fun, simplistic, with some interesting puzzles.
- Biggest annoyance? After beating the game, going through over and over to get the 100%, which mostly involved just getting flags. That bothered me. Also, found a lot of clipping bugs.
Overall? Amazingly fun game, great replay value. Definitely a PS3 Purchase. I'd give it an 8/10.
Call of Duty 4
- Shoot the other guy. Shoot him better then he shoots at you. Repeat until you win. But in all seriousness, definitely a very fun FPS, decent story to it, not too many restrictions. fairly balanced online experience. No major downsides. In fact, I can't think of anything I really dislike about this game. I mean, it had some issues with "You can't go that way!" But it's not a fucking sandbox game, people. so, 10/10.
Devil May Cry 4
I dunno. I beat it all the way through, it was good. It had a fun story, but there was something about it that just didn't feel right. I enjoyed it- if you've never played a DMC game before, and you like brawlers, then this would be a great choice. Very few bugs, simple gameplay. Mild annoyance is playing half through the game as one hero, then doing the same thing in reverse with another hero. I can't fault the game for deviating from it's standard game style, since the DMC games have been evolving- none of the games has played exactly like the previous one. Most I can do is fault it a point for the whole "Level redux" thing. 9/10.
Fallout 3
Yay! An Oblivion Mod that got a disc release! Oh no, wait, they want to call this it's own game. Well, so long as they do smart and intelligent things with it, nothing's wrong with that. Okay, the VATS system- Designed to replace player control on accuracy into percentages based on your skill. Result: annoying and fucking pointless. I enjoyed learning how to aim a bow and fire arrows, and have my accuracy based on how well I lined up the shot, and my damage influenced by my marksman skill. Thanks to VATS, I can still do that, but even if I hit my opponent point blank in the face, there's still a percentage chance that I missed! Hurray! WORTHLESS fucking addition. As for storyline. It carries it's heritage of other Fallout Games fairly well. Still a fun RPG. I can't find anything wrong with the story of the game. Overall, excluding the VATS system, it's decent. I just think it would have been a lot more fun if it hadn't been an Oblivion Clone that recycled textures and missions. [For an Oblivion Review, see below.] Major clipping issues, crash bugs, faulty quests bring this game right down to a 4/10 for me. I'm docking it 2 points for the shitty VATS and accuracy system.
GTA4
Worst GTA game I have ever played. It's a serious, dark and gritty storyline, when I want to be driving around in a car and shooting people. Windshield cannon was a nice touch. Not a bad game, per say, but a huge deviation from it's origins. Still a great game. Bugs bring the game down. Lots of little things that I'm just going to dock 2 points from. It's still fun, re-playable, all that. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I bought a game I assumed was going to be fun and free roaming, and I got gritty and sad. 8/10, but no recommendation to pick up or play.
Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection
I don't know half the Genesis games on this disc. However, the half I do know are amazing. It's all the old Genesis titles, most with old bugs still intact. Therefore it's spectacular to me. 10/10, because it's all about re-playability to me.
Guitar Hero World Tour
Least fun Guitar Hero Game I've ever played. Annoying songs, stupid 'career mode' progression, just a bad game overall. Mostly using it for it's DLC content. 7/10 for making me rely on DLC for good songs, and then making it the cornerstone game for all your OTHER songs. Fuckers.
Guitar Hero 5
SO much better then GH:WT. Gameplay is the same, but Career mode is much better, back to the way it was in GH3. Great song lists, good challenge modes. Some online issues that should have been caught by it's test team, but those are being patched. 9/10.
Infamous
There is nothing bad about this game. I've tried to find things, but it's just the most ridiculously fun game I've played in a long while. I shoot things with lightning. I only have 1 attack, I get a new one ever hour or two of gameplay, to a total of about 13-14 powers, I guess? all of them are pretty much just varations on the same ability. Still, The powers never get OLD. there's always new tricks to perform, stunts, jumps, things to find... it never really feels tedious. Probably the best game I've played on the PS3 ever. 10/10.
LittleBigPlanet
LBP is Sony's brainchild for it's community-oriented game. Unfortunately, it's kind of like a half-retarded cousin to a children's game and a sandboxer. It's fun, it's simplistic and cartoony, but there are many physics screwups that are exploitable. And yet... the game's refreshing. it's FUN. I bought it with Rachel in mind, but I find myself playing it more and more. It's odd but enjoyable. I want to complain more about it being so... silly? Stupid? Pointless? But I really can't. I like making rocket-propelled skateboards and sending them off jumps, and I spent at least 4 hours just making better and better jumps. Biggest complaint on my end is needing a faster scroll speed, for placing objects. 9/10.
Mirror's Edge
Run run run run jump punch run run jump run kick run climb a wall run run climb a vent run duck under vent run wallrun leap across to adjacent wall wall run ledge grab pull up. This is the hardest challenge in the game. It's fun, but it can get really frustrating. Time trials got glitched almost right away, and challenges are all set with unfair times of "0.01 seconds" online. Bad taste in mouth again. 8/10 for lacking re-playability, and for exploits that burn the online feel.
MotoGP08
Got the game for free, for testing it. Surprisingly fun motorcycle game, lots of detail, and while I can't discuss the bugs that were in the title, I really think the devs put a few of them in on purpose just to amuse the testers. Overall, a good game, surprisingly enough, and I may just pick up their next title. 9/10 for lacking any real re-playability.
Oblivion
This is my favourite game. I love the leveling system and how each element of the game interacts with your skills and the world, but how even if you have no stealth skill to speak of, no marksman skill to really use, you can still be sneaky and accurate. You won't deal a lot of damage, but it's still a viable option. The game has a lot of re-playability, and for someone on a budget, that stands out. Still, I can only give it a 7/10 because there were and still are so many exploitable bugs that it can detract from that spectacular experience.
The Orange Box
Probably better on PC. Portal is fun, but not very re-playable for me. I can't manage to stay interested in Half Life, and Team Fortress has never piqued my interest for the console version. If you liked Half-Life, and want to play portal, then this game is probably for you. 7/10 for lack of re-playability, overall lack of content in my eyes, and packing in several games from genres you probably won't care for. Also locking up on 'loading' bars occasionally.
Prototype
The game crashes on boot up. That was a bad sign for me. The game play is clearly a good match to Infamous, but somehow, it lacks the fun. You don't get the same storyline, and it loses re-playability after a while. When just bringing yourself to FINISH a title becomes a chore, the game loses points. I don't know for sure what it was- it might have just been me, but my roommate felt the same degradation. It's missing something. I think the main character may just be too bland feeling. 8/10- lose a point for crashing, and lose a point for no replay value.
Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Insomniac keeps on truckin'. Drops a gem of a game and keeps pumping out more. This game is fun, simple, the challenges are progressively harder but never impossible, and it's a pick up and play title. I have 0 complaints about it. 10/10 in my eyes, and I've never seen a bug in here.
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
This game hasn't been finished by me yet. Every time I set about to do it, I get bored with it in minutes. It's a half-hour play game for me. I sit, I try, I get frustrated or bored. Either it throws an insanely difficult challenge my way, or it just feels stagnant. Combat and Stealth sections are hard to differentiate. Great graphics though. 6/10. Slow, awkward play, combined with lack of direction or motivation to DO anything in the game, just really kills this title.
Saints Row 2
Okay everything bad I said about GTA4? Okay reverse all that here. This game is over the top, ridiculous, fun, and energetic. There's some drive to do the story, but everything is open to go to from the beginning, pretty much. A short tutorial, and then the sky's the limit. To quote Yahtzee, "leaping out of a plane buck naked onto some grandma's face and then running off hail and hearty" is just a lot of fun. The game doesn't get old too quickly, the missions are fun and rarely frustrating, and I encountered no major bugs. Friendly AI is retarded, though. 9/10.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Haven't played it yet. It's been sitting there for 6 months now.
Soul Calibur IV
This is the best fighting game I've ever played. It's not a 2D fighter with a hundred exploits. Each character is balanced and a decent combatant themselves. No one is majorly overpowered, and the graphics are just BEAUTIFUL. I adored the game, I still adore it, and when I'm frustrated, I leap onto the game and just pound the hell out of EVERYTHING. I want to give it a 10/10, but the game does have a few rare lockups that can be annoying as hell. 9/10.
Spiderman: Web of Shadows
Simple gameplay, fun, and a good spammable move in case of getting into a tough situation. Game has a good story, lots of pop-ins from other heroes and villains, and you get to see a Venomized Wolverine. This was a very fun game, without any major glitches. 10/10. Not my favorite game, but nothing's bad about it.
Star Wars: Clone Wars: Republic Heroes
Only played first level so far. Good review coming soon.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
The game is good. Storyline is fun and worthy of the Star Wars Universe, feels like an EU novel turned into a movie. Interesting move to combine three different physics engines to get what they wanted, but it ended up being kind of over the top and unnecessary. I liked it, hell, I loved it, but there were so many issues and little problems- like being unable to view cutscenes while in a nonstandard costume. Lightsaber crystals could have done with being more true to the KotOR source, and colors were... interesting. Graphics could have used many tweaks- at one camera angle, the lightsaber is obviously passing through your character's torso. 8/10.
X-men Origins: Wolverine: Uncaged Edition
Pounce kill growl "Bub" stab slash pounce jump regenerate murder tear out throat tear in half quick kill butcher claw spin claw slam This game has so many ways to dismember people it was beautiful. only found one major bug, that saw both control sticks remap themselves to the left control stick, with the right control being at a slight angle, making the game unplayable. had to save and reload. 9/10.
Games lose points based on my arbitrary bullshit. If the game is fun, amuses me, and has a good replay value? starts at 10/10, and I rip into it little bits based on bugs found, general annoyances in the game-play, anything that really detracts from the experience.
Assassin's Creed
-Outstanding Game. Incredibly fun, simplistic, with some interesting puzzles.
- Biggest annoyance? After beating the game, going through over and over to get the 100%, which mostly involved just getting flags. That bothered me. Also, found a lot of clipping bugs.
Overall? Amazingly fun game, great replay value. Definitely a PS3 Purchase. I'd give it an 8/10.
Call of Duty 4
- Shoot the other guy. Shoot him better then he shoots at you. Repeat until you win. But in all seriousness, definitely a very fun FPS, decent story to it, not too many restrictions. fairly balanced online experience. No major downsides. In fact, I can't think of anything I really dislike about this game. I mean, it had some issues with "You can't go that way!" But it's not a fucking sandbox game, people. so, 10/10.
Devil May Cry 4
I dunno. I beat it all the way through, it was good. It had a fun story, but there was something about it that just didn't feel right. I enjoyed it- if you've never played a DMC game before, and you like brawlers, then this would be a great choice. Very few bugs, simple gameplay. Mild annoyance is playing half through the game as one hero, then doing the same thing in reverse with another hero. I can't fault the game for deviating from it's standard game style, since the DMC games have been evolving- none of the games has played exactly like the previous one. Most I can do is fault it a point for the whole "Level redux" thing. 9/10.
Fallout 3
Yay! An Oblivion Mod that got a disc release! Oh no, wait, they want to call this it's own game. Well, so long as they do smart and intelligent things with it, nothing's wrong with that. Okay, the VATS system- Designed to replace player control on accuracy into percentages based on your skill. Result: annoying and fucking pointless. I enjoyed learning how to aim a bow and fire arrows, and have my accuracy based on how well I lined up the shot, and my damage influenced by my marksman skill. Thanks to VATS, I can still do that, but even if I hit my opponent point blank in the face, there's still a percentage chance that I missed! Hurray! WORTHLESS fucking addition. As for storyline. It carries it's heritage of other Fallout Games fairly well. Still a fun RPG. I can't find anything wrong with the story of the game. Overall, excluding the VATS system, it's decent. I just think it would have been a lot more fun if it hadn't been an Oblivion Clone that recycled textures and missions. [For an Oblivion Review, see below.] Major clipping issues, crash bugs, faulty quests bring this game right down to a 4/10 for me. I'm docking it 2 points for the shitty VATS and accuracy system.
GTA4
Worst GTA game I have ever played. It's a serious, dark and gritty storyline, when I want to be driving around in a car and shooting people. Windshield cannon was a nice touch. Not a bad game, per say, but a huge deviation from it's origins. Still a great game. Bugs bring the game down. Lots of little things that I'm just going to dock 2 points from. It's still fun, re-playable, all that. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I bought a game I assumed was going to be fun and free roaming, and I got gritty and sad. 8/10, but no recommendation to pick up or play.
Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection
I don't know half the Genesis games on this disc. However, the half I do know are amazing. It's all the old Genesis titles, most with old bugs still intact. Therefore it's spectacular to me. 10/10, because it's all about re-playability to me.
Guitar Hero World Tour
Least fun Guitar Hero Game I've ever played. Annoying songs, stupid 'career mode' progression, just a bad game overall. Mostly using it for it's DLC content. 7/10 for making me rely on DLC for good songs, and then making it the cornerstone game for all your OTHER songs. Fuckers.
Guitar Hero 5
SO much better then GH:WT. Gameplay is the same, but Career mode is much better, back to the way it was in GH3. Great song lists, good challenge modes. Some online issues that should have been caught by it's test team, but those are being patched. 9/10.
Infamous
There is nothing bad about this game. I've tried to find things, but it's just the most ridiculously fun game I've played in a long while. I shoot things with lightning. I only have 1 attack, I get a new one ever hour or two of gameplay, to a total of about 13-14 powers, I guess? all of them are pretty much just varations on the same ability. Still, The powers never get OLD. there's always new tricks to perform, stunts, jumps, things to find... it never really feels tedious. Probably the best game I've played on the PS3 ever. 10/10.
LittleBigPlanet
LBP is Sony's brainchild for it's community-oriented game. Unfortunately, it's kind of like a half-retarded cousin to a children's game and a sandboxer. It's fun, it's simplistic and cartoony, but there are many physics screwups that are exploitable. And yet... the game's refreshing. it's FUN. I bought it with Rachel in mind, but I find myself playing it more and more. It's odd but enjoyable. I want to complain more about it being so... silly? Stupid? Pointless? But I really can't. I like making rocket-propelled skateboards and sending them off jumps, and I spent at least 4 hours just making better and better jumps. Biggest complaint on my end is needing a faster scroll speed, for placing objects. 9/10.
Mirror's Edge
Run run run run jump punch run run jump run kick run climb a wall run run climb a vent run duck under vent run wallrun leap across to adjacent wall wall run ledge grab pull up. This is the hardest challenge in the game. It's fun, but it can get really frustrating. Time trials got glitched almost right away, and challenges are all set with unfair times of "0.01 seconds" online. Bad taste in mouth again. 8/10 for lacking re-playability, and for exploits that burn the online feel.
MotoGP08
Got the game for free, for testing it. Surprisingly fun motorcycle game, lots of detail, and while I can't discuss the bugs that were in the title, I really think the devs put a few of them in on purpose just to amuse the testers. Overall, a good game, surprisingly enough, and I may just pick up their next title. 9/10 for lacking any real re-playability.
Oblivion
This is my favourite game. I love the leveling system and how each element of the game interacts with your skills and the world, but how even if you have no stealth skill to speak of, no marksman skill to really use, you can still be sneaky and accurate. You won't deal a lot of damage, but it's still a viable option. The game has a lot of re-playability, and for someone on a budget, that stands out. Still, I can only give it a 7/10 because there were and still are so many exploitable bugs that it can detract from that spectacular experience.
The Orange Box
Probably better on PC. Portal is fun, but not very re-playable for me. I can't manage to stay interested in Half Life, and Team Fortress has never piqued my interest for the console version. If you liked Half-Life, and want to play portal, then this game is probably for you. 7/10 for lack of re-playability, overall lack of content in my eyes, and packing in several games from genres you probably won't care for. Also locking up on 'loading' bars occasionally.
Prototype
The game crashes on boot up. That was a bad sign for me. The game play is clearly a good match to Infamous, but somehow, it lacks the fun. You don't get the same storyline, and it loses re-playability after a while. When just bringing yourself to FINISH a title becomes a chore, the game loses points. I don't know for sure what it was- it might have just been me, but my roommate felt the same degradation. It's missing something. I think the main character may just be too bland feeling. 8/10- lose a point for crashing, and lose a point for no replay value.
Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Insomniac keeps on truckin'. Drops a gem of a game and keeps pumping out more. This game is fun, simple, the challenges are progressively harder but never impossible, and it's a pick up and play title. I have 0 complaints about it. 10/10 in my eyes, and I've never seen a bug in here.
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
This game hasn't been finished by me yet. Every time I set about to do it, I get bored with it in minutes. It's a half-hour play game for me. I sit, I try, I get frustrated or bored. Either it throws an insanely difficult challenge my way, or it just feels stagnant. Combat and Stealth sections are hard to differentiate. Great graphics though. 6/10. Slow, awkward play, combined with lack of direction or motivation to DO anything in the game, just really kills this title.
Saints Row 2
Okay everything bad I said about GTA4? Okay reverse all that here. This game is over the top, ridiculous, fun, and energetic. There's some drive to do the story, but everything is open to go to from the beginning, pretty much. A short tutorial, and then the sky's the limit. To quote Yahtzee, "leaping out of a plane buck naked onto some grandma's face and then running off hail and hearty" is just a lot of fun. The game doesn't get old too quickly, the missions are fun and rarely frustrating, and I encountered no major bugs. Friendly AI is retarded, though. 9/10.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Haven't played it yet. It's been sitting there for 6 months now.
Soul Calibur IV
This is the best fighting game I've ever played. It's not a 2D fighter with a hundred exploits. Each character is balanced and a decent combatant themselves. No one is majorly overpowered, and the graphics are just BEAUTIFUL. I adored the game, I still adore it, and when I'm frustrated, I leap onto the game and just pound the hell out of EVERYTHING. I want to give it a 10/10, but the game does have a few rare lockups that can be annoying as hell. 9/10.
Spiderman: Web of Shadows
Simple gameplay, fun, and a good spammable move in case of getting into a tough situation. Game has a good story, lots of pop-ins from other heroes and villains, and you get to see a Venomized Wolverine. This was a very fun game, without any major glitches. 10/10. Not my favorite game, but nothing's bad about it.
Star Wars: Clone Wars: Republic Heroes
Only played first level so far. Good review coming soon.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
The game is good. Storyline is fun and worthy of the Star Wars Universe, feels like an EU novel turned into a movie. Interesting move to combine three different physics engines to get what they wanted, but it ended up being kind of over the top and unnecessary. I liked it, hell, I loved it, but there were so many issues and little problems- like being unable to view cutscenes while in a nonstandard costume. Lightsaber crystals could have done with being more true to the KotOR source, and colors were... interesting. Graphics could have used many tweaks- at one camera angle, the lightsaber is obviously passing through your character's torso. 8/10.
X-men Origins: Wolverine: Uncaged Edition
Pounce kill growl "Bub" stab slash pounce jump regenerate murder tear out throat tear in half quick kill butcher claw spin claw slam This game has so many ways to dismember people it was beautiful. only found one major bug, that saw both control sticks remap themselves to the left control stick, with the right control being at a slight angle, making the game unplayable. had to save and reload. 9/10.