Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard (360) – Review

Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard presents an interesting concept to build a game around: create a fictional video game hero of the past, now returned to revitalize his games, but only to attempt to kill him quickly.  It sets up a range of possible industry in-jokes on video games and recent trends, and to this extent, the game does deliver.  However, the gameplay and overall presentation itself is somewhat lackluster, and rather short, leading to a game that really is enjoyed as a rental, but certainly not worth the cost of a full-priced game.

Fracture (360) – Review

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.

Dark Sector (360) – Review

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.

Bullet Witch (360) – Review

Bullet Witch, developed by cavia, inc, and distributed by Atari Europe, is a third-person shooter in the vein of some classic cabinet video games such as Time Crisis, with many gameplay elements that suggest an arcade-like feeling. While the core gameplay seems to have several good ideas, there are many technical problems with the presentation of the game and other questionable decisions made in the gameplay that make this title difficult to judge. It’s definitely not a game that everyone is going to be able to enjoy.

Overlord (360) – Review

Overlord, developed by Trimuph Studios and distributed by Codemasters, is a game in the same vein of play like Pikmin, a mix of a third-person fantasy hack-and-slash and minimal RTS elements.  The game is pretty fun, offering puzzles and monsters that are just right in difficulty, an entertaining story, and plenty to do outside of the main plot with only minimal problems.

Earth Defense Force 2017 (360) – Initial Impressions

This game definitely falls under what I would call “stupid fun”.

Story is simple stupid: aliens have come to invade earth and it’s your job to try to stop it as part of Earth Defense Force.

Gameplay is a basic third-person shooter in a rather fragile city and other environs, generic enough that it doesn’t matter too much about the layout or simplicity or repetition, just that it works fine. Just that, as opposed to most shooters, you’re faced with a boat load of enemies at any time (think “Starship Troopers” and you’re probably right on the ball with the numbers that you’re facing). The basic foes go down easily but some take a lot more work. You can get more weapons and armor by picking up drops from both friendly help that has fallen as well as the foes, and the variation in weapons along with the increasing size of the foes you face (including giant walking fortresses, for example), make this just a pure adrenalin game that’s easy to jump into and take a bit at a time.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (360) – Review

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, produced by Capcom for the 360, was a highly anticipated title, due to two relatively new concepts: a world based on snow and ice, and the use of mechanical suits in addition to typical gameplay aspects. Unfortunately, the overall single player game really lacks any meat or challenging gameplay, leaving this title to mostly as a somewhat unique multiplayer game, but otherwise a lackluster title.

Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions (360) – Initial Impressions

Well, while the multiplayer for those appears to be good, I’m very underwhelmed with the single player game.  The background of the story seems interesting (people defending themselves from hostile aliens on a chilling cold, snow-covered planet) though we just had that same story effectively from Gears of War, but the in-game presentation of the story is lacking, so far.  While the game does combine, moreso than Halo, the combination of on-foot and mech use in fighting the alien foes, there’s nothing yet drastically new with the game, plus the graphics seem less than stellar when things get a bit hectic on screen.

The multiplayer looks good, however, with a few new modes that aren’t normally in other multiplayer games, though I’ve only tried a couple matches so far.

Gears of War (360) – Review

“Gears of War” produced by Epic Games and distributed by Microsoft for the Xbox 360, may not offer a drastic difference from many first-person or third-person shooters, but manages to introduce several tactical elements and enough variety of battle situations, in addition to excellent graphics and sound for a highly immersive experience, to bring together an extremely tight game that is very enjoyable to play.

Gears of War (360) – ~3hr in

(Can’t give a better time estimate, and I know the game’s divided into Acts, but I can’t tell if I’m still in Act 1 or 2. I’m in a chapter called “China Shop” for those that have played it).

I think this is a game like “Killzone” was for me – my initial impression was rather poor, but now that I’ve gotten a few more of the more interesting weapons (the kill-from-above satellite weapon, for example), and with a few more different types of enemies to keep track of, it’s starting to grow on me. I’ve getting used to the cover system and using your team to your advantage, and I think that was keep to getting used to the game and now I can appreciate the story and the graphics, which are, needless to say, stunning.

I’m rather excited to get through this only to see how multiplayer works, as I’ve heard it’s a riot.