Black Eel’s Random Blog

Motorstorm

The graphics on this game are excellent, the first time I watched the Desert Flyby I almost thought it was real and not CG. The game has n exhilarating sense of speed which makes the crashes spectacular and sometimes brutal. I don’t imagine this game has much replay value once you have finished all the tracks, but it’s lasted me a few months so far. Playing the same tracks over just with different vehicles can be irritating, but otherwise the variation and difficulty level is right. The only thing this game is missing is split screen play.

Ninja Gaiden

This is an awesome old school arcade beat ‘em up, but with the class and depth that those games couldn’t seem to achieve. Although this games replayability is also fairly low, getting it done should take the average gamer awhile, and not in a frustrating way, it’s simply a good challenge. The weapons and fighting have a good sense of physicality and the controls are mostly intuitive.

Burnout

If you thought Motorstorm was fast, this will blow your head off. The times you get it right, and are boosting down a street full speed dodging other road users left and right at light speed, are simply amazing. Then you crash and the car sickeningly crumples up, clearly anyone in the car would be instantly killed, but that’s nicely glossed over by not putting anyone in the car. Graphics on this game are not photorealistic, but can be quite beautiful. The game play quickly becomes repetitive in solo play however, once you have roamed the city and found the majority of the secrets the challenges lose their appeal. The “show time” mode that has replaced the crash game is utterly ridiculous and also boring after the first few tries. Luckily the online play gives the game a little extra, trying to beat your friends scores online and racing against real people (especially with the playstation eye that sends you a snapshot of your takedown victims) is fun. Also, Criterion, the games creator promises to update and add to the game over the next ear adding new features.

Grand Theft Auto IV

The hype for the next GTA is probably the most seen for a game, and I’m sure it won’t disappoint. However, I’ve played the first 4-5 hours of the game and so far, am not impressed. The graphics are definitely not up to the PS3’s top level, and the default render is way too dark and bland. The cars I have driven so far all handle like shite, even the taxi which could be relied on in previous games as a workhorse car, has trouble making corners at any sort of speed. Also, it doesn’t look like you can re-configure the controls to drive with the d-pad instead of the analogue stick. I have driven around the first island, there isn’t much to do at all, so I have to stick to the missions until I get some options. So much for free roaming gameplay! Inevitably GTA can’t live up to the hype, I just hope it get better as I play more.

Tags: PS3 //