Masem’s Gaming Blog

As I’ve been a bit slacking in getting out reviews, I’m going to approach these in a slightly different format, avoiding the headers I used before (though I still plan to call out the individual grades I give).  As this year we had 6 (6!!!!) music games on the market, here’s my mass music reveal to cover all those.

These are all based on the 360 version. I’m aware of Band Hero and Lego Rock Band DS version, but have not tried those yet.

Review Helpfulness: (No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...

Read the rest of this entry »

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty is a first-person shooter created by Spark and published by Codemasters to create an alternate version of the end of World War II in which England falls to the Germans, creating a stronger force to attack the United States.  While the concept is sound, it is never fully expanded in the game, leaving a thin story with very mediocre gameplay and some questionable design choices that make this game one to safely avoid.

Review Helpfulness: (1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
 Loading ...

Read the rest of this entry »

Guitar Hero: Metallica is the second band-specific game in the series, and given how woefully flat that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith came across, it’s very reasonable to have certain cautions about how well this game will be.  Fortunately, Neversoft did a lot of extra work to spit and polish this game up, paying a much better tribute to the band Metallica while also learning some of their lessons from past Guitar Hero games, making this game their best effort yet on the series and shows about as much skill towards music games as Harmonix has already.  It’s still got a few problem, mostly that if you’re not a fan of Metallica’s songs, you’re not going to find anything here, and that you’re going to spending the same price as a full game for a reduced soundtrack and fewer songs. However, the added features and touches really do make this game a great example to follow if they do attempt any more band-specific titles.

Review Helpfulness: (No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...

Read the rest of this entry »

The Lost and Damned is the first "episodic" content for Grand Theft Auto 4 (with promise of at least one more episode).  As downloadable content, the addon describes simultaneous events in Liberty City with those in the main game, but now from from the perspective of one of the side characters, a leader of a old-fashioned motorcycle club, with his path crossing that of Niko several times.  While the game does little to change the standard mission approach from GTA4, it does toss in a few new gameplay elements, weapons, and other features to make it a worthwhile download for its high cost.

Review Helpfulness: (No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...

Read the rest of this entry »

Fracture, created by Day 1 Studios and published by LucasArts, makes its claim to fame by adding in the concept of “terrain deformation” to a third-person shoot to alter the environment for both progressing in the game and defeating foes.  Unfortunately, while the mechanic certainly works, the whole game is mostly a mess with a weak story to try to justify the mechanic and gameplay that really doesn’t make the most of the mechanic, while also being on the shorter side.  I strongly recommend trying the demo even before hitting the rental store on this.

Review Helpfulness: (No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...

Read the rest of this entry »

Dark Sector by Digital Extremes and published by D3 Publisher, is a third-person “shooter”, in the sense that while there are guns, the primary feature is a “glaive” that your character gains early in the game that can be used both offensively and to solve a handful of puzzles as you work your way through the game.  The game is not bad; it’s a fair challenge and its presentation of new gameplay elements is well paced.  But as a game with any lasting power, its weak story and uninspired gameplay and design make it hard to put this as anything but a rental to try and see.

Review Helpfulness: (No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...

Read the rest of this entry »

With this iteration of Call of Duty flipping back to Treyarch, Call of Duty: World at War returns to the historical setting of World War II, this time focusing on two theaters of war that haven’t been explored in depth: the Russian invasion of Germany, and the retaliation of America on Japan.  While the game does little to change up the formula of the game (including keeping some of the more disliked elements such as infinite enemy respawns, while using the same experience-based approach to multiplayer as Call of Duty 4), the game is otherwise a decent and solid title

Review Helpfulness: (1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
 Loading ...

Read the rest of this entry »

The first F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon) game was a decent game for its time, combining elements of a first person shooter with aspects of horror and suspense films to create an dark and scary experience.  While FEAR 2: Project Origin attempts to continue both the gameplay and the story in the same fashion, still having you chase down the nearly omnipotent Alma before she brings destruction to the world, there are several places where it faults mostly for doing more the same and not really attempting to distinguish its gameplay from other first-person shooter games, as well as for having too much broadcasting of soon-to-take-place surprise events, thus diminishing it as a horror title.  There are still faults from the first game’s overall design that also linger.  It’s still does a good job when it gets to the horror-aspect setpieces, but the points in between are mundane.

Review Helpfulness: (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
 Loading ...

Read the rest of this entry »

Blackbox/EA’s Need for Speed series has been suffering in the most latest offerings by focusing less on driving hard and fast, and instead focusing on more technical driving, and most consider the last good title being Most Wanted.  The latest offering, NFS: Underground, does try to recapture the flavor of Most Wanted while ditching several modes such as drifting and drag racing that were met unfavorable by critics, the game still suffers both design problems that make the game too easy, and technical problems that mar its presentation.  It’s still a fun racing game, but just not a tight package that older NFS have been.

Review Helpfulness: (2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
 Loading ...

Read the rest of this entry »

Namco’s first venture of the Tales series onto the current generation of consoles, Tales of Vesperia, will feature little surprise to those that have played the series before, not that this is a problem; the few touches on gameplay changes make for a familiar, yet new, experience, and the advantages of the new hardware help to make the presentation nicer.  For those that haven’t had a chance to experience the series, the game is very accodating to new users and is a good introduction to the series.  It still, however, has the usual stereotypical elements of a JRPG and is not going to convince those with an aversion to them to reconsider.

Review Helpfulness: (No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...

Read the rest of this entry »