Dragon Age: Origins - Datablitz Reservation Program

I hit Datablitz Rockwell on Tuesday to see what was new, and was excited to see a Dragon Age poster outside the store.

Was it out na?

I CAN HAS RPGee?!?!!!?!

I was a bit deflated to see that they were running a pre-order program and that they weren't actually selling it yet, sticking to the street date of November 3.

Still, putting 1K down for the game gets you a free Dragon Age mug from EA apparently, so I bit and gave Flor some cash. Barring any gross technical difficulties on the PS3, this should be a worthwhile purchase (especially being EA Singapore cheap), and should scratch the swords-and-sorcery itch I've had for a while now. Next week na! :-)

I was also halfway tempted to buy Tekken 6 from them (Php 2,350.00) but seeing as my cousin/pinoyPS member rhugghed (a man whose opinion I value highly) had some rather middling feedback on the game (while still good, it reportedly has pretty bad loading problems and has terrible lag online) I decided to hold off and just wait for Modern Warfare 2 if ever.

Borderlands: Review

Been really busy, what with finals week at school and social obligations (and smashing through Borderlands during my downtime to do this review) so I haven't had much time to post. Sorry this is so late!

The review can be found here (link). Overall, I'm very, very happy with my decision to buy it, as it's a very entertaining experience overall and has great multiplayer (despite the assload of bugs). I highly recommend picking it up if you like loot collecting games in any way.

It's so good in fact, that it greatly reduces the residual bad feelings I have after being duped into buying Brutal Legend.

(The badtrip feeling isn't totally eliminated though. GODDAMN BRUTAL LEGEND!)

Borderlands: Impressions

So I finally picked up my copy of Borderlands from Datablitz earlier this morning. For anybody who's been following this game prior to its release, you know that it's essentially a first-person shooter variant of Diablo/World of Warcraft - randomly generated guns (complete with rarity, elemental damage, unique effects etc.), respawning monsters, quests galore, and plenty of skill points. After playing through the first 5 hours (!) or so, I must say I'm currently very happy with my purchase.

Borderlands definitely has that "just one more quest" addictive quality to it that Diablo had in spades, and since me and my younger brother are both reformed Diabloholics (between us, we must have played D2: Lord of Destruction for a total of more than 200 hours) we both really wanted to play this in the absence of Diablo III this winter. (Obviously, I played first, as I bought it.) I had a total blast playing through (my Siren's currently level 12) , and after letting the PS3 have a break while we watched us some PBA, my brother got started on his Hunter character. He's actually still playing as I type this. Addictive as hell, I'm telling you.

After he finishes this quests we're gonna launch us some co-op and test out how the framerate holds up in split screen. :-) Peace out for now.

Brutal Legend: Review

So my review of Double Fine's latest, Brutal Legend, is up on PinoyPS; unfortunately things didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped, and it sucks EVEN MORE now that I've played through most of it. Click on the link to read the rest of the article.

What's so frustrating about Brutal Legend is that there are so many great ideas in the game that are wasted due to poor execution, and for every cool new feature that you wish was in other games comes three horrible oversights that look like they wouldn't be committed by an average game designer, let alone an accomplished one like Tim Schafer.

A final analogy: for those of you who watch wrestling, Brutal Legend is a lot like Tommy Dreamer: a lovable lunk, with charm and good-heartedness to spare, but in the end not somebody/something you can really get behind and cheer because you know he/it will eventually just screw up and become really embarassing.

Brutal Legend: Initial Impressions

I must say, I'm getting quite worried about my purchase of Brutal Legend.

The game is still quite entertaining so far, but the entertainment has come mostly from the great dialogue and the fact that this is without a doubt the most METAL piece of media (videogame or otherwise) in the history of mankind. Rock and roll humor, people throwing up the horns, and really cool demonic imagery STRAIGHT FROM THE MOTHERFUCKING PITS OF HELL abound, and it has Ozzy Osbourne in it! Hot diggity damn! (The developers must also be commended for somehow making Jack Black not annoying. Give those guys a medal!)

Downers so far: The framerate is uneven, and the gameplay... well, so far it's rather pedestrian. I'm reading the manual, and the RTS gameplay (which I normally detest) looks like it could be quite fun. The units are very unique in a Battle Realms (PC) sort of way, and I'm still holding out hope that I'll agree more with IGN and Gamespot (who gave this game high marks) rather than 1UP or Destructoid (who thought it was mediocre).

When I'm done, I'll post the final review on PPSX, link on this blog. :-)

Uncharted 2: Afterthoughts

(Right off the bat, since the title of the post says Afterthoughts, I'd like to warn you that there are minor spoilers for U2AT in the text of this post. I promise not to give away any story details, but location and weapon details are inevitable. Therefore, SPOILER ALERT. You've been warned.)

Sorry for not updating the blog during the whole week, I was busy with school, girls, and work, in that order. Horrible timing, as a lot of the time I really wish I was home playing the games I bought this week: NBA 2K10, Brutal Legend, and the holiday season big daddy itself, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

You can all guess which one got the most playing time around here. *smirk*

My brother actually totally stopped playing NBA 2K10, which almost never happens, just to fight through to the end of Nathan Drake's latest adventure. As for me, I bought Brutal Legend, took it home, popped it in the PS3, saw that there was a mandatory 250 MB (!) download right off the fucking bat, rolled my eyes and went right back to playing Uncharted 2. I logged on to PSN two days after it became available in the Philippines and almost my entire friends list was playing it, I've never seen anything like it at all. It's a like a freaking Naughty Dog epidemic!

I mean, obviously U2AT kicks ass, but it's even better than I hoped. They've improved it in every way I thought possible, and then some.

Visuals

The first 5 minutes you spend playing this game, I gurantee you will utter the words "Oh mah gah! Dah ghafics ah ahmazin!" You'll have a little trouble enunciating correctly because as you say that your jaw will be on the motherfucking floor. The lighting is really well done, the animation is extremely fluid, the gameworld is incredibly detailed (Tanzin's village is a standout), and the art direction/camera work is absolutely outstanding. Just watch the camera pull back for dramatic effect as Drake comes across yet another awe-inspiring vista and you'll know that U2AT director Amy Hennig (Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver series) is operating at the very top of her game.

Platforming/Exploration

The platforming elements are much improved this time around; the jumping puzzles are much more complex than U1, and are often accompanied by some really spectacular indoor and outdoor eye candy to look at (the temple room in which you climb the blade of the ornamental sword, for instance, is a huge standout, as is the grinding gear segment in Tibet).

Combat

This was also heavily improved upon. The action set pieces are still very impressive and fun gameplay wise, with the cover system upgraded considerably. However, what I really love the most is what they did with the stealth mechanic -- it is for the most part entirely optional, but it is extremely fun to try and take out as many dopes as you can with your ninja-like Tactical Espionage Action before they figure out you're there and the lead starts flying. It allows you to take a more intelligent, tactical approach to each situation without forcing it on you if you don't want to. (Sadly, they still haven't fixed the overpowered hand to hand combat, although they managed to tone it down a bit. Oh well, can't have everything.)

Multiplayer

This was totally absent in Uncharted 1, and it's a welcome addition as the trophies are as easy to get as ever. Helps the game have replay value after you've got the Platinum, and I must say, it's a doozy. The match finding is currently still slow as shit, but once you do get into a game it's very stable (on PLDT at least. Some SMART Bro using friends report that their games can lag quite a bit.) I recently played co-op with a couple of Americans, and we were all on voice chat playing the tower level from Tibet. That was really, REALLY fun, swearing at each other (in good fun), helping each other out and laughing a lot the whole time. Best. Co-op. Mode. Ever. The competitive multi is also quite good, next time I play I'm going to start playing ranked games and flex some skills. Can't wait!

Storyline

As usual, the dialogue is really awesome, with more one-liners than an Evil Dead movie marathon. Also as per usual, the plot failed to keep up, starting off very strong but veering dangerously close to Indiana Jones 4 territory by the end. Still, it's very competent overall and holds your attention enough to keep you wondering what's next.


All in all, that was a truly fantastic game, and would have won GotY in most years; it will probably dominate the 2009 year-end awards. With the only remaining possible challengers being Modern Warfare 2 (the front-runner) and Borderlands (the dark horse), it's looking good for Naughty Dog.

Now.... how about some next generation Jak & Daxter? C'mon ND, let's go! :-)

A post about Brutal Legend (Note: Totally NOT about Uncharted 2)

I'm pointedly ignoring the fact that a large amount of the people on my friends list are already playing the full version of Uncharted 2. Yes, I know that the game is available at Datablitz. I can give them some of my money and they will give it to me if I do so. But I promised myself that I would let my girlfriend buy it for me so I can save money. Yes. That is indeed what I will do.

Resist, John, resist!

Which makes me wonder... how the fuck am I supposed to pick up my copy of Brutal Legend from DB tommorow without getting tempted into buying Uncharted 2? Argggh! Yeah, I know that I don't really trust IGN much (I don't trust them at all, actually) but goddamn, their reviews for Brutal Legend are getting me all hyped up. I'm kinda bummed that DataBlitz isn't giving away a free T-shirt with my copy, but I'm cool with that as long as they sell it for cheap. The game looks really fun, it's by Tim Schafer, and after all, playing as an overweight-but-still-totally-metal version of Jack Black has to be just as cool as playing as a gum-chewin', one-liner spewin', lead shootin', rootin' tootin' superheroic debonair invincible action Jesus like Nathan Drake right?

Right?

Hey come on, roll with me here!

....

OK, maybe not. I'm still buying Brutal Legend.

(I apologize for the title of this post being a little misleading. For a post about Brutal Legend, more than 50% of it was about Uncharted 2. Goddamn Game of the Year candidates.)

.....


.....


.....


FUCK IT! THERE'S NO MORE USE PRETENDING! UNCHARTED 2 IS T3H SEX! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE BUY ME A COPY NOW!

*sobs softly*

NBA 2K10: Launch day adventures and impressions

In the end, The Bryant comes for us all.

I was goofing off... er, I mean, working really hard at the office awhile ago when I recieved an unregistered text on my cell. It read:

"PS3 - NBA 2K10 - R1 (2,395) will be available today at 7pm.1 day rsrvationonly pls. reply..thnks - dtblitz mega- miles"

Predictably, I went apeshit. NBA 2K10, for 2,395.00? I thought they were going to sell it for 3,100.00 like NBA 2K9! That's a deal, buddy!

I drove off to Mega pagkapatak ng 5:30 and made a beeline for Datablitz, making it there by 6:15. There were already five people ahead of me in line, and after I queued up, madaming sumunod sa likod ko. I've seen launch day lines in the States, but I've never seen them in the Philippines - a totally new experience for me. The store was literally packed with hoops fans who had recieved the same text message I did. Funny story - the male DB clerk was muttering the following line: "Buti na lang nauna lumabas yung NBA Live kaysa dito, nakabenta din kami ng ilang kopya kahit papaano." LOL :-D

At this point I was all hyped up, and really couldn't bear to wait much longer. When my turn came up, I hurriedly paid for my purchase, and after happily running out the store clutching my substantially discounted Bean-branded video game, I finished the rest of my shopping and Vin Dieseled my way back to the house. I don't think I've gone home this early on a Friday night in months!

OT - Just thinking out loud: I wonder what the line for Uncharted 2 will be like? Now that's going to be a total nightmare. Mass hysteria!

OK, so on with the impressions: I popped it in my trusty PS3, played a couple games, and all in all was quite happy with the results. Although widespread reports have been coming in about the game having some pretty bad framerate dropping (here's a link), the slight slowdown I experienced wasn't a deal breaker for me. It's still better than NBA Live, by a substantial margin - just to be sure, I played the demo for NBA Live 10 again right after I logged off PSN, just for comparison's sake.

Dwyane Wade: Still Gay.

Um, yup, it still sucked pretty hard. Gameplay-wise there's still no comparison. Live's framerate IS much higher, though, and the game looks more.... for lack of a better term, "high-definition".

Anyhow, since my brother still hasn't come home from his Friday night booze session, I have yet to test out NBA 2K10's single-TV multiplayer. Will update this post as I play some more. :-)

Second Hand Slumming: Post #1

Since I do a lot of second hand trading on PinoyPS, oftentimes I find myself picking up older titles that I've wanted to play for the longest time, but are too old to post a proper review of on PinoyPS. I decided to post my impressions of the games I pick up this way here on the blog, in case any of you might be interested in following suit. I hereby welcome you to the inaugural installment of my second-hand dedicated column, Second Hand Slumming, which I will hereafter refer to as 2HS.

So just yesterday I picked up two games from fellow PPSers esajero and tebbob (thanks ulit, guys), namely Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 (R1) and Tomb Raider Underworld (R1). Maayos nga pala silang kadeal if you ever get the chance, they're both real cool guys.

Well, Here goes nothin'. :-D

Tomb Raider Underworld


I've always been a fan of the Tomb Raider series dating back to the PlayStation/Saturn days. Lara Croft may have fallen off the wagon a little bit during the late PS1/early PS2 era (Tomb Raider Chronicles was mediocre, and Angel of Darkness was terrible), but she made a stunning comeback in that console's dying years, with Tomb Raider Legend and the amazing Tomb Raider Anniversary providing an excellent return to form.

So why didn't I pick up TRU back when it was released? I can't really remember why, but parang marami ata siyang kasabay na other games that I was really looking forward to (inFamous? I can't really remember.), and since I ran out of budget I decided to put it away for later.

But enough with the history lesson, here's some impressions. (Disclaimer: I've only cleared the first sequence of levels, and am at 11% trophy completion. Playing through on Hard.) I really wanted to pick this up because I've been looking for something action-adventurey to tide me over until Uncharted 2 comes out, and so far that's exactly what TRU is: a B-grade Uncharted. (OK, maybe a C-grade Uncharted.)

The graphics are kind of mediocre, but that's to be expected because a) it's pretty old and b) I've been spoiled because of playing way too much U2AT Beta. The control takes some getting used to, it's pinpoint-precise but there's not much "weight" to Lara's movement - the climbing in particular isn't very intuitive, parang matigas yung galaw. Another gripe: the gunfighting is absolutely terrible, and is about as much fun as getting kicked in the balls.

When TRU focuses on what it does best, though (that is, raiding tombs, exploring, jumping around) it's still as fun as ever, and in the end that's what really counts.

Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2


Note: You'll have to bear with me for a bit as I really don't know that much about Gundam, so I might not know the correct/real names of some of the robots/pilots. I love me some Dynasty Warriors though!

I wasn't a particularly big fan of the demo for DWG1, but I really wanted to play some new Dynasty Warriors, and I had heard good things about this. Things didn't start out too well, I began a playthrough of the Story Mode as Char Aznable, and the first mission was... um, running around in space killing circular robots, with no real goals in sight. (My brother, who has always thought DW games were stupid, took one look at what I was playing, shook his head sadly, and left the room. Asshole.) It took me the better part of a night just to beat Char's story, and I was entertained, but still kind of meh.

Happily it turns out the fun part was yet to come. I played Mission Mode (which, unlike the Official Mode, doesn't follow the story from the anime and puts you in hypothetical missions that feel like battle royales) and selected the Epyon. Next time I checked the clock, I had already played for another two hours. What the fuck, man, where'd all the time go? Collecting parts and trying to collect all the missions is really addictive, and I havent enjoyed a Warriors game this much since DW5 on the PS2. Highly recommended for all the Omega Force nerds out there, you should give this a shot.

- John out

Get your face rocked by The King of Fighters movie trailer!

Behold its terrible majesty.

From the looks of things, this might totally obliterate Street Fighter (Van Damme, Raul Julia, Kylie Minogue) for the title of Cheesiest B-Movie Adaptation of A Videogame Ever.

Say it with me everybody:

Raul Julia (M. Bison): "This is merely superconductor electromagnetism. Surely you've heard of it. It levitates bullet trains from Tokyo to Osaka. It levitates my desk, where I ride the saddle of the world. And it levitates... MEEEEEEEEE!"

This is going to be absolutely TERRIBLE, and I love it!

Note (OT): The site on the link, Sankaku Complex, also has plenty of great articles on anime and PS3 videogaming (occasionally) ... as well as quite a bit of hentai and Japanese idol galleries. Very R18, but still a great site if you're mature enough to view it.

Updated Impressions: Uncharted 2 Beta

OT: Jesus, the positive reviews (link) for U2AT keep rolling in. Looking at the variety of different sources for the ridiculous 97 aggregate review score (some coming from publications/websites I really trust), it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that this game is going to own, for many different reasons.

One of the reasons is that the multiplayer fucking kicks ASS! :-D

I've been testing the multi on and off these past couple of days, and I gotta say, it was totally worth spending the time downloading this. Just 9 more days of availability to go, if you haven't played this yet you're missing something truly great, I'm telling you.

Happily, there's next to no lag, and it plays as smooth as I could have hoped. True story: My DSL is the shittiest PLDT package (the 1MB deal), and somebody borrowed the laptop from my room so she could use Skype. I was expecting the game to bog down pretty bad, or that I would get kicked/DC'd from the server... but amazingly, even as she started yammering away in the adjacent room there were no hitches whatsoever. That's some very solid netcode, Naughty Dog, bravo.

The deathmatch is pretty damn good, and I've spent most of my time playing that. Straight DM is still the most enjoyable IMHO, but Elimination (the CounterStrike style one life per round mode) is also a blast as long as everybody knows what they're doing. I also really like what they did with the achievement-based money reward system, it really makes you feel good after having an excellent round. Co-op Arena is not as fun, but is still great, and it's a lot more enjoyable than your standard CTF.

The real revelation though, is co-op Objective. I mean, GOD DAMN. I had my first experience with it awhile ago, and it's absolutely amazing! You may need to wait a while to find a game, but it's totally worth it. I so want to give it a try on Crushing just to see how far me and the other two party members would get.

The only beefs I really have with the beta:

* It sometimes takes a really long time to get a game to join, and I've tried during both peak and off-peak hours. Kung minsan it can take ages to get in, especially for the less popular game modes like co-op objective.

* It's way too easy to score cheap kills with grenades. When you're about to die, you just throw a grenade in the general direction of your attacker, and the huge blast radius gives you a pretty good chance of still killing him even though you're pretty much dead yourself. They need to fix this, just a bit.

You know, when I think about it, what really makes me happy about U2ATB is that I'm traditionally a bigger fan of the offline component of videogames; with some notable exceptions (Street Fighter IV, COD4:MW, etc.) I'm much happier playing a solo game by myself or with a bunch of people in the same room. But I'm having so much fun with multi, it blows my mind to think that when I finally plop the U2 disc into my PS3 this October, I'm gonna be getting an expanded version of this fantastic multiplayer suite, in addition to the story mode I've lusted after for so long.

If my expectations for the single-player turn out to be true, it means IGN was right for once: they really did give us two games in one. How about that? Value!

Ladies and gentlemen...

... The Final Fantasy XIII trailer.

"All we need... just you and me."

That was SO awesome, DO FUCKING WANT! :-D The R1 box art's pretty cool as well.