http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php A current listing of cheap video games, video game sales and video game deals: CAG en Sun, 19 May 2013 12:32:04 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=15505 Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:45:03 GMT Red Dead Redemption - Finally finished it and I'm actually more excited about it now that I'm done with the main story. My compulsion to complete the story before actually letting myself enjoy the atmosphere and free-roaming aspects might have soured my experience of the game. Repetitive errand boy missions = bad; riding around Mexico taking in the scenery = good. It's still GTA but I'd rather ride a horse than drive a car any day.

Singularity - It isn't memorable and it doesn't do anything new. But it does things that other good games have done and it does them well. It isn't broken and there aren't any glaring weaknesses. The single player is akin to Bioshock and the multiplayer is a combination of L4D and BFBC2. If you like any or all of those games, you will like this one.

Lego Harry Potter - I've never played a Lego game before and if this is par for the course, I doubt I'll play another. It does a great job retelling the stories of the first four movies without any words. That being said, if you haven't seen the movies or read the books, you will be helplessly lost. The gameplay is just the opposite. You do the same shit you did in the first level again in the last. A couple of clever 2D levels aside, this is child's play. But I guess I should have expected as much from a Lego game based on childrens' books.

It's late and I'm tired. I apologize for any incoherence. ]]> n4styn4t3 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=15505 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=14769 Sat, 05 Jun 2010 13:32:23 GMT Looks like Crysis 2 will give Killzone 2 a run for its money as the prettiest uninspired shooter on... Looks like Crysis 2 will give Killzone 2 a run for its money as the prettiest uninspired shooter on the market. Usually I get pretty jazzed for some purrrty graphics but I don't think I could be any more indifferent. Give me some Bulletstorm. ]]> n4styn4t3 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=14769 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=13566 Sat, 27 Mar 2010 02:09:40 GMT I finished Metro 2033 last night and I don't know if I've ever been so relieved to be done with a video game. What started as a quirky, albeit somewhat generic, first person shooter abruptly changed into one of the most frustrating experiences I've had in a long time.

Metro 2033 does some things pretty well. It seeks to immerse you in its post-apocalyptic world by integrating your objectives into a in-game clipboard that you look at by pulling the right trigger. Too dark to read it? Use the light from your Zippo by pulling the left trigger. Flashlight batteries dying on you? Pump up the batteries by pulling the right trigger. Oh, and the world outside the metro system is light on air, heavy on contamination, so you're going to have to don a gas mask. If that's not enough, use your gas mask long enough and you'll need to change the filter (or you will find it gets pretty foggy) or even risk damaging it in a fight (forcing you to borrow a new one from a less lucky metro-goer).

If all the little things that Metro 2033 does to keep you on your toes sound neat, it's because they are. The problem is that while 4A Games spent all this time making the world feel real, they forgot to wrap it in a game that is fun, or even one that works.

Level design is unimaginative, but maybe that can be forgiven because of the nature of the game's setting. What can't be forgiven is the terrible shooting. Guns are criminally underpowered and inaccurate, and compounding the problem is the scarcity of ammunition. Enemies oftentimes get caught in a "getting shot" animation for a few seconds and it seems as if all hit detection goes out the window during these times. I found pumping a whole clip into one enemy, having only the first bullet hit him. Of course after he recovers from the first bullet stun, he disposes of me in quick fashion.

The game is replete with stealth sections that can be particularly unforgiving. Miss throwing a knife at a lone enemy and all of his buddies are somehow magically alerted to your presence. Late in the game is one of most infuriating levels I've ever played and if it weren't for my compulsion for finishing games I start, I would definitely have given up.

It's a real shame that Metro 2033 couldn't nail the little things, the simple things that we take for granted in games these days: gameplay that works.

In other news, I got a couple new toys in the mail today. My Creative Vado HD came, thus beginning a (hopefully) illustrious YouTube career and I also received the brand spanking new Turtle Beach PX21 headphones. The headphones sound great and as a plus they work with PS3, 360, and PC.





Also, I'm about 3 hours into Just Cause 2 and I'm really liking it. I've only done a couple of story missions, but the sheer scope of the world is massive. Fans of sandbox games are sure to be pleased. ]]> n4styn4t3 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=13566 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=12971 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:34:07 GMT As written on http://www.2guys1blog.net Nate’s Take Kevin Smith’s latest flick doesn’t break... As written on http://www.2guys1blog.net

Nate’s Take

Kevin Smith’s latest flick doesn’t break any new ground, and it isn’t any worse for it. Smith sought to make a buddy action picture and, while not a total success, he has proven himself as capable with another’s material as he is with his own. Cop Out falls into almost all of the traps and cliches that doom most action movies, but strong chemistry between the leads (Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis) makes up for the “been there, done that” feel of the story. The film isn’t without its flaws, however, as the pacing is a bit off at times, the story drags on near the end, and there are some unfunny bits that seem out of place (Kevin Pollack and his partner’s boot conversation comes to mind). Get past these small failures though, and you will be rewarded with a competent buddy picture with a dash of the dick and fart jokes that Kevin Smith fans have come to expect.

Grade: B

Nick’s Take

Maybe Southwest Airlines should have thrown this movie off as they did the film’s director, Kevin Smith. Cop Out was the first movie that Smith directed, in which he did not write. Maybe the writer thought having Bruce Willis play his cool hard ass role, ala The Whole Nine Yards, and Tracy Morgan doing one liner after one liner would be funny. Were they trying to re-create a Lethal Weapon like atmosphere? Willis and Morgan play two cops who have been partners for over nine years now. Remember every other movie in where the comedic relief does a tumble spin/roll on the ground trying to be all “cop-like”? Yeah, that happens here.

This buddy cop movie takes the direction of Tracy Morgan saying a joke after each scene. It also falsely advertises that Seann William Scott has an extensive role in the film, he doesn’t. He’s somewhat funny, but gets extremely repetitive after his short time on the screen. Kevin Pollak and Adam Brody, as other cops, seemed to just be there with a storyline about boots that just kept going on and on. Jason Lee, Rashida Jones, Michelle Trachtenberg, Susie Essman, and Ana de la Reguera all had small roles, but I liked them all more than Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, and Seann William Scott combined. Now granted, I laughed about two to two and a half times from Morgan, one time from Stifler, and zero from Bruce. The plot had too much going on, something about a baseball card, a Mercedes Benz, a USB flash drive, and all that resulted in a “is this almost over yet?” mood.

Grade: D ]]> n4styn4t3 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=12971 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=12970 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:32:45 GMT As written on http://www.2guys1blog.net The first few months of this year have been so... As written on http://www.2guys1blog.net

The first few months of this year have been so chock-full of high profile video game releases that deciding which ones to spend your hard earned dollar on is quite the daunting task. Over the past week I’ve played through both the original BioShock and BioShock 2 and now I’m here to help you decide which one to choose!

Story
The original BioShock told a completely unique story in brand new world and, until the last couple of hours, did a damn fine job doing it. The ending of BioShock didn’t lend itself to a sequel and it shows. BioShock 2 suffers because the writers had to retroactively force its story into the Rapture that the original created. That’s not to say that BioShock 2’s story isn’t better than most games out there, because it is, it just feels a bit unnecessary when compared to its older brother.
EDGE – BioShock

Presentation
Both games look and sound great. The original might have the edge when it comes to uniqueness because when it came out in late 2007, it really looked different from any game we’d ever seen before. The stylized graphics of the first game are back and look better than ever in BioShock 2. While we may have seen it all before, we certainly haven’t seen it look this glorious. The use of audio as a story developer (through audio logs) returns in the second game, and just like the original, it sounds just as good and unique as it looks.
EDGE – BioShock 2

Gameplay
If you thought that playing as a Big Daddy (the hulking beasts that made you mincemeat in the first game) this time around would feel completely different than playing as Jack in BioShock, you were mistaken. You can now wield plasmids and guns at the same time (awesome!), but the Big Daddy’s drill is nothing more than a glorified wrench when it runs out of gas (and it will… quickly!). That being said, BioShock 2 scraps the tedious hacking mini-games of the first and with the addition of a few new guns (the spear-gun is freaking awesome) refines the already satisfying gameplay of the original.
EDGE – BioShock 2

Replayability
Both games have myriad moral choices that affect the ending you receive, so the single-player modes have enough content to warrant a second playthrough. Bioshock 2 adds multiplayer into the mix with 7 different modes, ranging from a capture the flag variant (capture the little sister—pretty clever) to simple death-match. While none of BioShock 2’s multiplayer hasn’t been done before (and better), it gives the sequel some legs that the first doesn’t have.
EDGE – BioShock 2

Value
BioShock is one of the greatest games to grace the current generations of consoles and if you haven’t played it yet, it’s a no-brainer (especially as it can be had for less than $20). The addition of a fairly robust multiplayer mode, a longer campaign, and a graphical boost justify the more substantial price tag of the sequel.
EDGE – TIE ]]> n4styn4t3 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=12970 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=12653 Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:11:28 GMT I, like many others here no doubt, have been playing a lot of Mass Effect 2 over the course of the... I, like many others here no doubt, have been playing a lot of Mass Effect 2 over the course of the past week. I haven't been this enthralled by a game in a long time (probably since Fallout 3) and am finding myself totally encapsulated in its world and lore. The game is just so polished that it's easy to become completely lost in the characters and the story.

Mass Effect seems like, by all accounts, a great game. It's just one that I don't feel like I'm actually playing. Maybe it's only the way I am playing the game, but it seems to me that the action is an afterthought to the real meat of the game, the dialogue. I know that I the decisions I make in the conversations throughout the course of the game have real and sometimes dramatic ramifications on the game world and the people in it. It isn't like I feel I am not in control of my game, it's just sometimes I feel like I am watching a choose-your-own-adventure movie, rather than playing a video game.

Thoughts? ]]> n4styn4t3 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=12653