Given the numbers of the people playing MK DS online, and a sure prediction that the raw number of sales and percentage playing online will likely rise, one can almost say that Nintendo WiFi, in 1 week has instantly owned the Xbox Live service. Good times, and things are definitely looking up for Nintendo. Given that Blizzard is likely going to delay Starcraft Ghost well into the next generation and perhaps even go onto the next generation, they might be able to bring it to the Revolution, and they can definitely take that "gameplay and multiplayer" argument and stick up their asses.
I feel like playing Starcraft again, but not with random newbs on the intertron. So, if anyone wants to start up some matches posts here and set it up.
Posted by: Paco - 20th November 2005, 1:16 PM - Forum: XBox Reviews
- No Replies
Developer: Smilebit
Release Date: 04-2002
Jet Set Radio Future is the sequel to the Dreamcast game Jet Grind Radio, a game that introduced the graphic technique known as cel-shading while being coupled with an innovative approach to skating around and tagging city landscapes. Like many of Sega’s games at the time, Jet Grind Radio was critically acclaimed but met with only a lukewarm reception. Some might say that the steep learning curve and involved controls are to blame for the niche status the game managed, and I’d say they are right. It was hardly instantly accessible and it only got more challenging as the player progressed. That’s not to say the game wasn’t fun, because it was. It just didn’t have the likeability of a pick up and play type for the masses to enjoy. Never the less it seems that it did well enough to warrant a sequel, or maybe Smilebit just wanted a second chance, and here we are with JSRF.
Gameplay: 6
Like its predecessor, JSRF puts the player in control of a skater whose objective is to basically cause trouble. You begin the game in a central hub area where other skaters hangout, and here you are given the option of character choice, music, game management (saves), customizable graffiti, various types of surfaces to practice grinding on, and access to the surrounding city as you progress. Your missions will be given to you by the returning DJ Professor K who broadcasts over his pirate radio station, Jet Set Radio (now you know where the game title comes from in case you were wondering). The objectives vary from simply tagging specific locations in the city to taking out rival gangs. Now if you’ve played the original then this all sounds very familiar to you, and if you haven’t now you’re on the up and up. Let’s get to what’s new or different about it…
The first thing Jet Set Radio veterans will notice, besides the improved graphics, is that the controls have changed. It seems as though Smilebit wanted to make the game as easy to get in to as possible and in doing that they have succeeded, but they may have made it too simple in the process. If you played the original then you’ll remember that in order to tag an area first you had to collect spray paint cans then you had to go to a location marked by an arrow and begin to paint. To paint you had to pull off a series of analog maneuvers in order to complete the tag and rack up points. Small tags would take one or two strokes and the bigger wall sized tags would take several inputs or passes. All the while you had a squad of police on your tail and a time limit to contend with. Grinding took constant inputs of tricks to speed up which meant the player was always doing something. This made the game challenging but never impossible, and always engaging.
The maneuvers and time limit are gone, and the police, or Rokkaku, are not as much a threat. Tagging is as simple as grinding or skating pass an area and holding down the R trigger. Grinding is simple and doesn’t take nearly as much input to get going at a great speed, certainly enough to outrun the police or rivals with little difficulty. The Rokkaku are as aggressive as they were in the original but now they are easier to defeat, and with the larger environments and simplified grinding they are hardly a nuisance. Without the time limit there is no pressure to complete the objective. To sum it up, the challenges are gone. You skate, you tag without much to stand in your way; the mechanics are just too simple making for a largely forgettable experience.
I won’t say the game is a complete loss, because there is some fun to be had. The environments are enormous and it seems like you can grind on everything. It can be quite satisfying to grind around an entire level at a fast pace, finding shortcuts and outrunning rivals. The missions have enough variety to keep from being repetitive and there are dozens of them. There are even some moments that truly test your grinding capabilities to reach what look like impossible areas to get to. It’s just too bad these objectives are few and far between and don’t make up the missions necessary to complete the game.
It’s really too bad that Smilebit couldn’t find a better balance of gameplay to please veterans like myself while giving the game just a little more accessibility than the original. There’s a nice middle ground somewhere.
Graphics: 9 The first thing you’ll notice is that the people who brought you cel-shading still own it. The game is a spectacle and truly shines at times. The cityscapes are large and impressive, filled with buildings, billboards, stair ways, construction sites, bus stations, power lines, rails, and filled with pedestrians. The only disappointment is that the game has slow down at times, and the game can slow to a crawl. Fortunately these moments are few and far between.
Sound: 8 The original Jet Grind Radio soundtrack is an example of the perfect blend of music, style, and gameplay. Every track, though different from each other, fit the game perfectly. This is not true for the sequel. The soundtrack fits JSRF, but it’s not as perfect a blend as the original. There are some memorable tracks but it’s not as great as I expected in a sequel.
Lasting Appeal: 8 The game will take you around 15 hours to complete the core, and then for those interested there are hours and hours left in the game of extras. You can make your own graffiti and then go out on the town and spray it all over the place to your hearts content. I managed to make several nice tags and can honestly say I was pleased to bomb (a term for tagging) the hell out of the city. In addition to that there are some serious challenges for the dedicated few who want to get everything in the game. I’m talking specifically about grinding and reaching areas that take precise timing and skill, as well as races that will test you. There is also the VS mode that diehard fans will enjoy. Bottom line is if you like the game then there is plenty to do.
The problem is you may become bored as the game offers hardly anything new as you progress through the stages.
Conclusion I was one of the few people who thoroughly enjoyed the original Jet Grind Radio for everything it is. I’m serious when I say that I would have scored it a perfect 10 across the board back then. The learning curve may have been a bit daunting at first but it ended up being entirely rewarding after a little time with it. I can say that I experienced adrenaline spikes when the police were cornering me, the clock was counting down in the teens, and it took me until the last moment to finally pull off the right maneuver of the analog stick then on to the next mission where I could expect a similar intensity. It’s unfortunate that great games like Jet Grind Radio get overlooked or dismissed, and even more unfortunate when the developer compromises almost everything that made the original great in hopes of more sales.
Hardcore fans will play and like it just because it’s more Jet Grind Radio, and there is some fun to be had even if it’s not as challenging or engaging as the original. New comers might enjoy the game for all that it is but I feel it will turn out too simple to hold their interest.
Jak & Daxter are back in Jak 3. This third installment of Naughty Dog’s popular series marks the end of a game trilogy, finally revealing the Precursors and unmasking the mysterious Mar. Those who have followed the series can expect a game that plays in similar fashion to its predecessor, Jak II, which traded the platform jumping of the original for guns and vehicles in an action based romp. While the platform play has taken a back seat, even more so than the second game, the noteworthy accessibility and entertainment of the series remains intact for one of the finest games available for your Playstation 2 or any other console.
To catch you up on the story: Jak is thrown out of Haven City along with his cohorts, Daxter and Pecker, by a man named Veger who blames Jak for the ongoing war with the Metal Heads and for destroying part of the city. Exiled to the desert wastelands, Ashelin, the Baron’s daughter who befriended Jak in the second game, gives Jak a tracking device which allows Damas, ruler of the wasteland city Spargus, to find the dying company. In Spargus, Jak is given the chance to prove himself before he can go back to fighting metal heads.
Gameplay: 9
Spargus is not unlike Haven City in terms of layout or design, but it is different with respect to the challenges Jak must face and this is where Jak 3 sets itself apart in the series. The very first task places Jak in an arena where he must prove himself in front of Damas and the people of Spargus in a shoot’em up obstacle course not unlike one you’d find in a Ratchet & Clank game. Upon completion, you are then released to roam about the desert city where you’ll find the new leaper lizard to get around Spargus faster and compete in races and various challenges. When you are ready to leave you’ll find yourself in a vast and harsh desert landscape where Jak will be given access to dune buggies in order to complete missions handed out by Damas.
The buggies control quite well even though they may seem a bit too bouncy (you’ll be rolling your buggy often which can be a little frustrating). Fortunately, they upright themselves and can take quite a bit of damage. Traversing the hills, canyons, and caves you’ll come across enemy wastelanders and enormous metal heads all while finding precursor statues challenging your buggy driving skills. As you complete metal head raids, destroy onslaughts of enemies, win races, and collect the artifacts you’ll be rewarded with access to different types of dune-buggies. The buggies vary in speed, ability (one can hop, giving you passage on chains of islands), and the amount of damage you can take. You’ll spend a good amount of your time here, especially if you want to find all the artifacts, and the good news is that it’s entirely fun.
Jak himself controls as well as ever. The notable additions, coming from Jak II to Jak 3, is that the four guns you carry are upgradeable and now you have light powers as well as dark. You’ll spend far more time using your guns as most of the game is made up of shoot’em up sections and missions. The variety of firepower lends itself to varied manners of enemies as you’re attacked by powerful single foes or hordes of the quick and nimble; in any situation you are well equipped to handle it.
The light powers you receive allow you new ways to defeat enemies such as slowing down time and even getting wings that allow you to glide around. You’ll have to earn these new powers through Precursor trials and then they are yours to use as you wish thereafter. If you’re a diehard platform gamer like I am then you won’t get enough opportunities to use them, but what is there is absolutely excellent.
The guns and controls serve Jak quite well, but what you will find at times is that the camera is not positioned well enough to see enemies coming at you from all directions and you’ll find yourself missing what look like simple jumps. The enemies do attack in numbers and from all fronts, and since you can’t see them you’ll find yourself spray shooting quite often. It can feel a little tedious at times to simply clear a room full of enemies by doing the same motion of jump and shoot several times, but fortunately this is a rare occurrence.
If you played Jak II then you’re probably wondering about the difficulty level. If you were like me then you found some of the missions in Jak II frustrating and unforgivable making it very hard to contain your rage and keep from breaking your PS2 controller. I’m glad to report that the difficulty has been toned down with only a handful of missions that may test your patience. Also welcome are the addition of checkpoints placed throughout a mission so you don’t have to entirely start over if you happen to make a mistake.
The only thing that disappointed me is the great sense of déjà vu when going back to Haven City. The city is slightly different than before, war-torn and reduced to rubble in some places, but you’ll definitely get the feeling that you’ve done this all before. You’ll visit a few of the same places you did in Jak II and do missions in all too familiar territory. Let’s just say I was never excited to go back to Haven City whenever the game called for it.
There is a variety of gameplay ranging from racing and stunt challenges, metal head raids, seek and destroy missions, timed trials, manning a turret, and several mini-games that are a joy to play. Jak 3 is not without its flaws, but they are small and mostly forgivable.
Presentation: 10
I’m not going to talk too much about this. If you’ve played the previous Jak & Daxter games then you know that Naughty Dog has a knack for creating story driven gameplay made up of amazing animation, clever humor, and great voice acting. It’s superb.
Graphics: 10
This game is beautiful. It’s locked at 60 frames per second which makes for silky smooth animation even when the screen is full of enemies and eye-bleeding effects.
Lastability: 9
There are 600 artifacts to find throughout the game, and the game only requires you to find around 200. It will challenge your racing skills with the buggies and leaper lizards and also test your ability to scavenge every last inch of the game for the hidden artifacts.
What may or may not disappoint you is the length of the game. If you simply run through the necessary missions of the game and ignore the bevy of extra challenges and hidden artifacts then you could finish in about 10 hours. If you want to get the most out of your purchase then there is at least an extra five hours or more of content to complete. I suppose this depends on what you expect out of your games today; myself, a ten hour game takes me weeks to complete because I simply don’t have a lot of time for video games. It was satisfying for me.
Conclusion
Save for the minor camera problems and recycled use of Haven City, Jak 3 is one of the best examples of what this generation of gaming has to offer. It looks outstanding and plays just as well. I sincerely hope that there is more in store for the duo as far as adventure and action games go.
Quote:Where did the day go? I stepped away from PDZ's singleplayer missions to hop online against Microsoft on Xbox Live an hour ago. Now I look out my window and it's dark as night outside. In short, PDZ is a blast online. We only played free-for-all and team deathmatch, as well as capture-the-flag with a bunch of editors, testers, and bots.
What's immediately impressive about the multiplayer mode (and I imagine this stands for the game in offline, splitscreen as well) is that the bots behave mostly realistically. They hang back in groups at choke points on maps and take shots from behind cover, as well as take plenty of aggressive opportunity to rush objectives, especially if they see little in the way of defense. I've even had a bot creep up behind me while sniping and whack me on the back of the head. Since there aren't a whole lot of "real" PDZ players online at the moment, we mostly had to resort to creating large 16 player games with a mix of bots and humans. At one time, we put all player characters on the Dark team against all bots as Datadyne on the hardest difficulty, and we got a royal spanking from the A.I. From my hands-on time so far, the bots don't appear to be too cheap with their tactics or shoot with amazing accuracy.
Quote:So does it feel like Halo 2 multiplayer? Not really. It feels more like a faster, crazier version of Perfect Dark on N64, this time with near-perfect framerates and not a slowdown hiccup in sight.
Quote:While Charles and Jon teamed-up in co-op at one TV, I jumped into a four-player split-screen match. All MP matches are configurable, and we picked shotguns, rifles, pistols and rocket launchers to start. We played through the sewers and streets levels, each of which are built upon multiple stories, so you can snipe, escape, and explore a little to find better weapons. The first thing I noticed was how many hits a character can take by default. You can literally pelt the crap out of another character and they'll live through it. In that way, PDZ feels like GoldenEye. You can adjust this factor with a slider, and you'll also want to instantly switch the control sensitivity instantly. It's set at default to 50%, but you'll want to immediately change to a minimum of 75%.
Quote:Perfect Dark Zero plays and feels exactly like the N64 original; even the music is a nostalgic homage to the original's synth-rock soundtrack. This could be considered good news or bad news depending on what camp you're in. If you're expecting an all-new, revolutionary FPS experience, you might be setting yourself up for disappointment. If you're looking to play a technically impressive evolution of the Perfect Dark series then you'll be sound as a pound.
Quote:The Weapons in the game are nothing short of amazing, BALANCE, BALANCE,BALANCE.
The Perfect Dark Balance has been preserved. You have a pistol, he has dual cmp-150's? who wins? who ever is better. Gone are the days in Halo 2 where the one with the rocket and sword dominates the match. I've only managed to kill JPK once in 2 seconds via 3 well placed head shots, most battles take a while In Perfect Dark Zero... Just like the first one, you don't got any of those completley unbalanced weapons.
It's funny, the PD0 controls arn't as jerky or fast as the halo controls, but the game is WAY WAY faster paced, Dont worry though it's just like PD. Let's just say when I picked up the controller I was a Instant pro because I played the first do death, so yes playing the original PD right now will help you gain skill in PD0. In the build we've played we where not able to dual weild two different g uns(except gernade), but that's ok if they leave that out of the final game it's obviously due to the balance issues it would pose.
I just don't like the PSP that much. Yes, it has pretty PS2-esque graphics and that's all cool I guess, but it just isn't that great. And then there's Libery City Stories, the PSP's cornerstone must-have masterpiece that you're a fool for not buying on the release day, is GTAIII-2. I played GTA3, Vice City, and San Andreas for many many hours and I find I have little desire to play it again, and that's exactly what it is, every 3D GTA game you've already played only now it's on a handheld and I don't care. The graphics are the best ever on a handheld but the music isn't anything great. I may just sell both of them and get some DS games or something.
I've already played Mario Kart DS for a longer period of time than Liberty City stories despite having the former for only 2 days and the latter for nearly 2 weeks.
Not a good idea. It's working just fine for now. Let it alone. If in the future countries start getting upset that the domain naming is done in the US, and new WWWs emerge, then what must be must be. Natural selection will weed out the inferior. I'm sure the process will be confusing and messy, but that's no reason for the law to get involved. As companies start making web sites for the multiple WWWs, at some point people will all conglomerate onto a few of those, which are what site makers will focus on. That sort of thing will pretty much catch 22 whatever wasn't selected out of existance. And, it should narrow down even further until there is just a single WWW again. Sure, a single group does the actual naming, but the IP addressing is managed on a much more global scale and is done via agreement. Should people get angry at the domain naming company, whatever one ends up in charge of that, then either that too will be done by agreement among ISPs (hard to do, probably impossible) or we may end up ditching that convenience altogether in favor of root IP addresses, with no controlling single company.
Honestly, the domain naming company in charge now doesn't seem to be doing anything wrong. All they do is provide a convenience for a fee, and you can ignore them and go by IP if you want (though that is awkward). If they pull some sort of malicious abuse, then if the system is "let alone", they will eventually be dropped in favor of a domain namer that goes back to the basics. I certainly hope they just stick with exactly what they are doing now. I don't see why some companies that are already rich feel the need to cheat people just to get richER, what exactly is the point? It just hurts them in the long run anyway. It's bad business to ignore business ethics. So far at least, the domain naming company realizes that.
We can use this thread to arrange Mario Kart matches! Post your friend codes here so we can add each other to our friends lists, and let everyone know when you're online (or will be online), so we can coordinate and have some crazy fun!
