Sunday 12 January 2014

Quick Reviews

I just wanted to upload some of my thoughts on the games I have been playing and the movies I have been watching. Basically after finishing a game or a movie I think about for a few days before giving it a score out of 10 and writing down some of my random comments or notes about it. It's a pretty simple format, which I like because eventually I can look back over the year and see the database of games I have played and movies I have watched.

I'm currently playing: Gears of War: Judgement and Infinity Blade II

Here's the first batch:


TitleScore (/10)DatePlatformComments
Binary Domain85/01/14Xbox 360Upgrade system was nice, bit too convoluted and slowed down the action. Action was great, but sometimes felt like bits and pieces, meaning that the game didn't give the action sequences time to breathe, was too broken up by cut-scenes, especially early-on. Knock-down loops, getting stuck in animations was frustrating and caused a few deaths, which made some of the bosses feel cheap, because no clear pattern on how to escape. Loved the cheap sci-fi/love/bromance story, plus the character stereotypes. After fully upgraded weapons, felt like a total bad-ass and was popping robot heads like nobody's business. Enjoyed the last third the most. Was heavily invested in the teammate trust mechanic; I wanted everyone to like me. Thought the mini-gun was great.
Crysis85/01/14Xbox 360Early sections were frustrating when you are trying to learn how the game is meant to be played. Definitely got better towards the end of the game, the second half was where I really got into it. The guns sounded great and the game looked great. Too many bugs on Xbox 360, had to restart two levels, because of scripting bugs. One meant that I couldn't finish the game on the last level. Suit voice got annoying after a while, happy to have two options (male/female), but wish I could turn it off altogether. Wish there was more battles with a large amount of marines by your side, ala Halo.
Killzone 365/01/14PS3Game looks great, environments were great, huge set pieces with lots of combatants on both sides, big scale battles with lots of your fellow soldiers that I like (similar to Halo). Guns sound and feel great, the new Arc Canon, was ok, but a little disappointing. Story was nothing too memorable, very dumb, even worse than Gears of War, Rico is a real dick and the commanding officer (whatever his name was) seemed incompetent. Missions in the jungle were the major standouts, the Call of Duty style stealth mission especially, even the space mission at the end was ok. The major problem I had was the parts where you keep hitting your head against the wall, and you keep dying, the game doesn't provide you with enough feedback or information to let you know how you should tackle that situation better, so you just end up dying 10+ times in a row. This happened on more than 7 occasions and it made me want to quit the game. It felt unfair and broken. It was only luck and a whole lot of hiding in the corner   like a coward that got me through those missions. I feel the main reason for this is that the enemies can seem to see you and kill you at such a long range, it's unfair and you don't know where they are and you're too slow to react.
Anchorman 265/01/14CinemaSome very funny sections, but ultimately too far apart and most jokes fall flat. Great celebrity cameos. Story is crazy, message of the film seems a little at odds with the type of movie it is. When Ron is visiting his girlfriend's parents and when Ron is blind are the best scenes.
The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug87/01/14CinemaSecond half was much better than the first half. The movie was so long, but still seemed to rush through scenes, maybe it was trying to fit too much into it. Action scene with the barrels was great, the   scenes with Smaug were fantastic, Benedict Cumberbach does a great job as Smaug. Ending was on a definite cliff-hanger. I hate the look of the CGI orcs and orc commanders, I thought the costumes from the first Lord of the Rings' bad guys work much better. Maybe the film goes over the top with the Elves kicking-ass and sliding on things while shooting arrows. Still love the world these movies are set in, I enjoyed most characters, Martin Freeman is very good and funny as Bilbo.








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