Posted on 9 March, 2018 at 05:00AM
Posted on 28 February, 2016 at 3:43PM
There isn't exactly a clear line of separation between "classic" and "modern" shooters, but if I had to choose one, it would be 2001's Halo: Combat Evolved. (Other people would probably choose Half Life). In any case, Halo clearly marks the beginning of the popularity of the so-callled "military shooter." Before this point, it was mostly about being a lone fighter, fending off countless enemies. But now suddenly, you're a part of a larger fighting force, a military. Again as I said, there is no clear line of separation, so this game definitely still holds onto some shooter staples of the past. However, the things it brought to the table have stayed with the genre (especially on consoles) into today. If you are into console FPS, this game should mean a lot to you. Basically, Halo picked up the torch where Perfect Dark, another influential console shooter, left off.
Posted on 3 August, 2015 at 4:56PM
Everyone who knows me knows I like my first person shooters old-school. Newer shooters are fine and dandy, but they lack flair. Old-school shooters have interesting weapons that can shoot everything from bullets to lightning. There's interesting weapons to use, and usually interesting enemies to use those weapons on. Newer shooters have... assault rifles that you use to shoot brown people. Okay okay, that's a generalization. But that's certainly what it feels like, especially when you're used to a game like Quake, which features the aforementioned lightning gun, and has an enemy that shoots grenades and has a chainsaw. I must not be the only one who thinks so, since classic FPS style games have seen a resurgence lately, what with the reboots of Rise of the Triad and Shadow Warrior. However, classic FPS' didn't do everything right, certainly not, so perhaps a combination of new and old shooters would be a good idea. To that end, we have Wolfenstein: The New Order.
Posted on 16 March, 2014 at 10:45PM
Let me take you back to the 90’s. Technology was fast advancing, you couldn’t buy a computer without it being obsolete immediately, and everyone in the gaming arena was trying to one-up eachother, be it by graphics, sound, or technology. Enter a company by the name of Rareware, known around this time for their graphical powerhouses Killer Instinct and Donkey Kong Country (which utilized pre-rendered graphics). They made games on the NES, sure, but they weren’t that well known here in the states. (I actually played Snake Rattle ‘N’ Roll as a kid. Anyone else? No?) However, during the SNES is where they really caught their stride. And then when the N64 came in, their hot streak continued. Lest we all forget all those excellent matches in 007 GoldenEye at our friends houses, not possible if it weren’t for Rare. Rare was amazing at taking a genre they hadn’t done before and conquering it. They did it with GoldenEye, they did it with Killer Instinct, they did it with Banjo Kazooie. But you’ve heard all this before; I hardly need to sing Rare’s praises (especially on a retro video gaming site), so let’s talk about my favorite Rareware title. Maybe not as groundbreaking as their other works, this game is Conker’s Bad Fur Day.
Posted on 12 March, 2014 at 6:24PM
Making sequels is probably pretty hard. I've never had to do it myself, but I can imagine. Especially when said game is pretty far into the franchise, and from a different developer. Probably one of the worst ways to handle this would be to essentially remake the last 'main' game in the franchise again. You've probably put together the pieces by now: That's exactly what Traveller's Tales did when they made Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex.
I have a long history with Crash Bandicoot. When I was only 5 years old, my dad came home with a Sony Playstation. One of the games he had gotten for it was the original Crash Bandicoot. Our whole family loved that game, and we even got the sequels. I have fond memories of my mom with the strategy guide for Crash 3 reading from it to my father, who was playing the game. The kids sat and watched. Can you imagine that? The kids sat and watched our dad play through the game! We all got our turns, of course, me probably more than anyone. My favorite was Crash Bandicoot 2. My friend Kyle and I played that one the most, and Kyle was really good at finding all the secrets without any help. I was amazed when he showed me the secret warp room in Crash 2, and how to get there. Crash 2 remains my favorite.
Anyway, back to Wrath of Cortex.
Posted on 9 November, 2013 at 12:43AM
It doesn't matter where you preorder, right? It usually boils down to who has the best bundles, but yesterday, approximately 150 Target shoppers got a nice surprise in the form of an Xbox One! According to Kotaku, "Target had accidentally not assigned a release date," so when their shipments arrived from the manufacturer, Target did the responsible thing and sent them out.
So what did the lucky winners do? Just the obvious stuff, they attempted to sell them on eBay for ridiculous amounts, and posting unboxing videos on YouTube, which is a topic for another day--seriously, who cares about that? But Microsoft, in an unusually swift display of paying attention to its consumers, forced the YouTube videos to be taken down, and even banned at least one early adopter from Xbox Live.
All in all, it's a pretty hilarous story, from the company that's brought us one PR disaster after another, and I can't wait to see how this continues to develop.
Posted on 26 October, 2013 at 10:15PM
Let me preface this by saying I am not a fan of the Xbox One in any way. I honestly doubt I will be getting one for a long time, if at all. (I'm not a huge fan of the PS4 either.) However, I really think its too early to count the XB1 out yet.
Everyone seems to be currently losing their shit over the fact that the Xbox One seemingly can't do 1080p as well as the PS4. However, I submit to you that this will not matter in the long run. In the technology world we have something known as a killer app. In the long run I believe it will be the software that sells consoles, not the hardware. Let's take a look at some history, shall we? Rarely ever does the most powerful console gain more sales than its competition. There are exceptions to this (for instance, the Super Nintendo).
Posted on 9 November, 2012 at 3:09PM
Why Halo there...
...That was stupid. Let me try that again.
I have just recently finished playing through the campaign of Halo 4, so I have decided to do a review of my experiences playing through that game. I am a big fan of the Halo franchise, in fact besides Metroid is probably my favorite video game series. Halo 3 was one of my favorites out of all of them, its balance between a solid campaign and a great multiplayer made it the best all around.
At the end of Halo 3 when I saw that Master Chief was orbiting around another planet I was eager to know where his journey was going to take him next. I was even more happy when they announced another Halo game, but it turned out to be Halo: Reach, which was an exceptional game, But there was no Master Chief to be found.
Now, fast forward to November 6, 2012, Halo 4 is released on the Xbox 360, and I think to myself "Yes, back to the old. I can fight the Flood again, I get to find another Halo Installation, and I even get to meet the Forerunners, this will be great."
Posted on 26 April, 2012 at 9:27PM
Actually, pretty easy to refuse this one.
Onechanbara is a japanese game where you play as either a sexy lady in a cowboy hat, her little schoolgirl sister or the moonwalking skimpy police woman. Right off the bat only the Bikini Woman, Named Aya, but you get to play as the other two later in the story.
STORY
Now, down to business, the story... The story kind of just starts outta nowhere, it opens with Aya in the shower in a glorious PG-13 cinematic, which means, no full nudity... *Cry* Well after some dialog between Aya and her sister, which is hard to get into because the game is not dubbed, just subbed, as they are watching the news, suddenly ZOMBIES!!! AHHHHHHH!!! And then they leave to go fight... ZOMBIES!!! AHHHHHHH!!! That's pretty much the beginning of the story, there are just zombies, and that is that.