Friday, June 6, 2008

One Hour Review: NovaStrike

Reviews in the gaming industry are always faulted. This score is too high, this score is too low. They didn't play the game enough. The list goes on and on. A review should be used to basically determine if a game is worth playing/buying. Now every reviewer on the planet will be reviewing the big titles, and most will review any other big titles. So why try to emulate them, might as well forge your own path. That is why I am doing the One Hour Review. No the review isn't an hour long, jeez. I am going to describe what I can about a game after only one hour of gameplay, so install and download times do not count. Since I am only playing a small part of the game, I am not giving a number score. The review will be broken down into two parts, the intro, which I will describe what I can without playing it. And the actual review. Still with me? Lets give it a shot.

NovaStrike

NovaStrike is a shooter from Tiki Games, Inc. It can be found on the PlayStation Store for $10. The description of the game (which can be found here) promises 7 stages, that doesn't really sound too pleasing. Two more than Super Stardust HD, but three less than Everyday Shooter. Free Roaming Flight, um...yeah, par for the course nowadays. Progressive weapon acquisition and upgrade system, once again nothing spectacular. Promises a bunch of different types of enemies. Well, nothing really stands out so far. But hey, that's why we play the game right?

(One hour of play later)

The controls were the first thing that bothered me. Left stick moves you, like in most other games similar to this, but you shoot with the L2 and R2 buttons, L2 for the ground weapons, R2 for your main weapon. If you are used to SSHD and Everyday Shooter's control schemes, this will throw you off. Using the trigger has another huge disadvantage. While realistic, you can only shoot the way you are facing, which sucks in the middle of a heated firefight. Also the "one hit and you die" doesn't apply here. Your health is shown by a green thing which looks like a chicken, I think it might be the emblem of the army or your ship, not sure. You have a regenerating shield, and a afterburner used by hitting X.

There are a bunch of cool weapons, besides your default machine gun and flamethrower, you will end up picking up bombs, spread missiles, lasers, and my favorite, the electric mine. Lay one down and whoever flies near it gets zapped. Plus they do more damage than your machine gun.

The game offers a bunch of different types of missions (okay, only four so far) 1. Defend a base. 2. Defend a ship 3. Attack a base 4. Attack a ship. Sometimes you might get help from allies. The bombers are pretty decent, but the fighters suck, they usually get gunned down pretty quick. Well, unless they crash into you first.

Defending a base is simple, destroy the bombers attacking the target while avoiding the fighters. Not too bad. Defending ships is more difficult, usually because of the AI. The only mission I did had the target ships fly RIGHT OVER an enemy base. And what the anti air guns didn't take out, the rest of the enemies (and my idiot allies, go figure) finished them off. Luckily, failing a mission does not mean game over.

Attacking a base is a chore, you have to use hit and run tactics (a lesson I learned the hard way) to take out the outside turrets, then attack the inner structures. Not really as fun as you would think. Probably because your ground weapons are pathetic, on the easiest setting (which I played on, I suck at these kind of games) it takes two direct hits from your bomb (which you pick up later, you start with some flamethrower thing as your ground weapon) to wipe out a structure. It becomes tedious fast. Not to mention the enemy turrets can wipe you out fast. Turrets that can shoot pink energy blasts are very lethal, one of them can drop you fast. Very fast.

Attacking a ship also fails to entertain. Luckily both ships I encountered had the same death dealing turrets that wiped me out when I tried to bomb the base. So you had to keep your distance, swoop in, shoot it as much as you can, then fly off and let your shield recover, rinse, repeat.

Graphics, if you don't have a HD TV, it will take awhile to get used to. Out of the games 7 (according to them) stages, the first two were on the same planet. An earth look alike. Most of the time all you will see is water. The few structures are pretty dull, nothing too exciting. The regular ships are nothing special. But the bigger ships are nicely detailed, of course after staring at water for so long, ANYTHING looks awesome. The explosions are nice, especially the buildings. The ships go down quite nicely too. But, nothing spectacular.

The story, who cares. The bad guys are trying to invade the good guys' home planet, so you have to stop them. This game tries, but no one plays these for the story. The music is bland and forgetful, some might even say sleep-inducing.

There are better top-down shooters out there. If you have not bought Super Stardust or Everyday Shooter, I would definitely pick those up instead. If you are a huge fan of the genre, then you will probably like this game. This game is pretty average, nothing stands out about it. Even though there is supposedly more content to be released in the future for this game, I doubt it would be anything worth the price of admission. There are better games out there.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Ace Attorney Ringtones

After beating Apollo Justice, I decided to try something. Actually I got this idea off Court Records, an Ace Attorney fansite. I decided to edit voice clips from the game with music from the game to make some pretty cool ringtones. Nothing like hearing Klavier shout Objection! then hearing Guilty Love. It's pretty funny to see some of the reactions you can get. So if your phone can play mp3s as ringtones and you want these, leave me a comment and I will be glad to send you em, or just make some of your own. I've got almost everyone (except the Von Karma's, still thinking of a song to go with them). Most of the songs are pretty explanatory, except for the three I'll talk about below.



For Kristoph, Edgeworth, and Godot, I figured to use different songs, some pretty obscure songs. Edgeworth's is related to his back story, Kristoph is known as "The Coolest Defense in the West" so I figured some high pressure music would fit with that. And Godot's is tied with his story too. If you like them, please leave a comment, I am working on these and will make more if interested. Thanks for looking! 'Til Next Time.

Edit: Yeah I noticed a couple people shout "Jection!" it's the site I uploaded these to. Consider it a FFX reference.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Advance Wars Devastating Tactics 2

With the release of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, multiplayer is bigger than ever now that Wi-Fi play is included. But before we all forget about the old-school AW series multiplayer, I would like to present the top ten AW techniques that will cause your opponent to yell, punch or possibly throw their (or your) DS. Keep in mind that these are based on the first three games in the series and don't necessarily apply to Days of Ruin, although some of them still do. But since you aren't within punching range of your opponent most of the time, not as funny.

I went over ten through six last week. Ten second version: Spamming Powers, ambushes, Sturm, Falling short, Spying. Now that you are up to speed, kind of, let's continue shall we?

5. One Man Army
So you are systematically destroying your opponent's forces, everything is going your way. Their cities and bases are now your cities and bases. Pretty soon you will have wiped out their army completely. Seeing that you are in complete control, you get ready for that final rush that will bury them. Your next turn, you realize in horror that a lone infantry unit has started capturing your headquarters. The worst part? You cannot stop it. All your forces are too far ahead, and you didn't keep anything by your HQ. Basically, it's all over for you. You were in control the whole time, and they STEAL the victory away.

4. One Hit KO

Sami is the Spec Ops CO in the AW series. Her infantry are stronger and capture faster. But the most deadly thing about her (besides the machine gun she always carries around) is her Super Power. Victory March lets you capture your opponent's HQ and properties in one turn. Unlike the last reason, the HQ can be surrounded by enemy forces, and if you somehow get to it, it is yours. Game over, checkmate. While it is bad when they sneak in and steal it. It is even worse when you see a large group of infantry and mechs near your base. If Sami has a full power bar, you know one slip up means game over. The worst part is that even if Sami doesn't get the HQ, you will lose a lot of real estate. Lose a city, lose funds, lose a factory, lose production. It cripples you, and even if you wipe out the force, you have to take all your bases back and by that time, another infantry force will be knocking on your door. The least deadly unit becomes the most feared in a matter of seconds.

3. Just die already!

The AI has picked up this little tactic too. Once you are basically in their base, they have few forces left, all that is left is the clean-up. But they won't go down, instead they crank out infantry or mechs galore, just to delay the inevitable. If you don't have a big enough force, you might need to bring more troops in, or they might rise again. Either way, it will take a while, while it is an annoyance in a 2 player battle, it is plain deadly in 3 or four players. While you are wiping out people, your opponent can launch an attack on you, or worse, wipe out your attacking squad AND your victim's last wave, they get the properties, you get nothing. I envision this tactic as the commander rallying villagers and regular people to take up arms and drive out the invaders, luckily, women and children aren't involved in this game.

2. Power to the people.
This is more or less a continuation of the last one. 3 or 4 player map. Once you are about to capture their HQ, thus taking all their properties. hey decide to accept defeat...AND SURRENDER! Their properties become neutral, and you feel like hurting somebody. All that work, gone. Sure they are out. But you have to adjust, sending more troops over there, which is a waste of time and resources. This gives your opponent the perfect opportunity to pick you off.

1. The Not-So-Grand finale.
No lengthy description here, we've all been had by this one. You are about to win, then, click, off goes the DS. Need I say more?

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Advance Wars Moves for Haters (Part 1)

With the release of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, multiplayer is bigger than ever now that Wi-Fi play is included. But before we all forget about the old-school AW series multiplayer, I would like to present the top ten AW techniques that will cause your opponent to yell, punch or possibly throw their (or your) DS. Keep in mind that these are based on the first three games in the series and don't necessarily apply to Days of Ruin, although some of them still do. But since you aren't within punching range of your opponent most of the time, not as funny. Alright then, shall we begin?

10. Unlimited Power (at least it seems like it)
Commanding Officers (COs) in Advance Wars 2 and Dual Strike had two powers, one regular power, and one super power. While most people saved up for the game changing super, I knew a few that preferred normal powers, and since it didn't take much to charge them, it seemed that they used it every three or four days (in some cases every other day!). In AW2, before they changed snow from unit slowing terror to fuel draining nuisance, Olaf could use Blizzard over, and over, and over. Constantly forcing you to rethink your strategy. Or how about Andy? Fighting a Hyper Repair abuser was like fighting Cell in DragonBall Z. Keep trying, they just won't stay down.

9. AMBUSH!!
Games with fog of war (where you can't see anywhere your units aren't at) turn a all out gunfight to a strategic hunt. Nothing makes you jump like going across a forest and seeing "TRAP!" and realizing in horror that you have run into your opponents mega-tank. Then comes the worst part. That mega-tank was leading a battalion, one that now has the jump on you. You suddenly go from confident to panicked. Trying to retreat and regroup at the same time. All while getting shot down like prom night hopes.

8. Where's Aerith When You Need Her?
Sturm in Advance Wars 1 and 2 was awesome. He was a robot who hated love, peace, and harmony (probably kittens, puppies, and your mother too). He was the final boss in Advance Wars 1, a mysterious CO that turned every army in the world against yours. By the time you finally fought him, you were ready to kick his a**. His mobile units, and his overpowered troops did damage but you fought back. So you do some damage to him, and suddenly realized "Wait a sec, what is his power?" Too late!! Sturm calls a meteor down to crush your best troops in a fashion so devastating not even a praying flower girl could save you. It homes in on your most expensive units and cripples them, taking 80 percent of their HP, reducing them to scrap. His forces finish them off and it's back to the drawing board for you. Using that in multiplayer is the equivalent of a middle finger, seriously.

7. Sisyphus, His Legacy Lives On

If you are not familiar with the story of Sisyphus in Greek Mythology, he was damned to push a rock up a hill for all eternity, if he got close to the top, he would lose control and have to start over.
How does this relate to Advance Wars? Well the last thing I mentioned was Sturm's Super Power. As devastating as that was, it only affected a small area of the map. The most deadly ones affect the whole map. Nothing is safe, nothing can hide. Most do damage to everything while boosting the CO's attack. A stalemate turns into a rout. For example. Say your CO is exchanging attacks with Hawke, then all of a sudden, Black Storm. His units heal two, all yours are damaged by two. So your army's advance just got halted and reversed in the same moment. All that time you spent building up your force, wasted. Due to this, most battles in the old AW series was a race to see who gets their power first. Don't even get me started on Tag Powers, basically, it says Game Over.

6. I SEE YOU!
Back before DS, AW multiplayer consisted of passing the DS around like a various substance at a party. Fog of War matches had the nice touch of having a black screen displayed before each army's turn. So that people wouldn't be able to see the other's army. Problem was, some people were clumsy, or just dirty. Nothing screws up your gameplan like getting the GBA and not seeing the black screen but seeing all of your units, all of a sudden, you become paranoid. "What did he see? How much did he see? Did he do it on purpose?" Gameplans become shaky and you are often forced to make changes that lead you to screw up. The worst part, is when next turn you find out your best units are heavily damaged/destroyed. That sub you thought was hidden? Gone. Your ambush party, wiped out. Maybe he didn't mean to look, but as the old adage goes. "You've watched it. You cant UN-watch it!"

That's all for this edition, think those are bad? The worst is yet to come. Next week I reveal the top 5 worst things to do. One of them I became infamous for in my AW circle and I'm PROUD of it. 'Til next time Ladies and Gents.

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Tuesday, January 29, 2008

A New Leaf

-A New Leaf-
Hello once again. It's been four weeks since New Year's day and I bet most New Year's Resolutions are on the verge of failure. Mine isn't doing too bad, get organized and stay that way. I decided to start writing the RS Report every week. Hopefully I can keep up with it. Things have changed. It's all about gaming now, since that's the only thing I can write about without losing focus. Sad right? No it's not. Hopefully people read the thing.

My name's Eric Prater. I try to be educated on the stuff I'm talking about, I own a PS3 and a DS, but I don't dislike any system. Anyone stupid enough to argue for a company without getting paid is a moron. Now that the intro is out of the way, lets get on with the festivities.

-Hell is in Cydonia-
Guitar Hero 3 came out about 3 months ago, I bought it shortly after launch for one reason only. Boss Battles. The fact that you could battle Slash, Tom Morello, and the Devil himself was the only reason why I bought it. Granted now that I have played it I'm shocked that I've been missing out, but I'll skip this stuff. I'm sure most of you have heard enough of how Guitar Hero is awesome. (but in my opinion not even close to playing a real guitar, haha)

Anyways one of the songs that I became hooked to is Muse's "Knights of Cydonia." Mainly because of it's Old West inspiration and its catchy chorus "No one's gonna take me alive/The time has come to make things right/You and I must fight for our rights/You and I must fight to survive." What started as adoration quickly became anger and frustration as that song is tricky stuff. I just don't know why, I've always had a problem with that song. It was the last song I beat on normal (bonus songs excluded) and the last I 5-starred on normal as well. Now that song is standing in the way of my Hard campaign. I can't seem to master the whole thing. I will learn a part, nail it, then screw up another. I almost broke my guitar (and my neck, damn guitar strap) throwing it after getting 95% and screwing up what essentially should have been a gimme section. I will beat that song, if it's the last thing I do.

Ironically, as I was typing this a storm went through the Louisville area and my internet access went offline for awhile, so I played GH and you know what? I beat the damn song! Haha take that! I then beat Cult of Personality, and was riding high, until Raining Blood by Slayer knocked me into place. Well you win some you lose some.

Anyways that's all for this. 'Til next time, ladies and gents.

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The RecSpec List, current stuff that wont leave me alone. GET OFF!!

Favorite Game: Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (DS) This game gets so much right, it's amazing, enough said.

Favorite Character: Waylon (AW:DOR) Waylon is pure scum, simple as that. He puts himself above anyone else and is not afraid to play dirty to get what he wants. Usually that is money and other things of luxury. Yet I think he is great. His awesome theme song. His cool quotes, and his attitude make him a very memorable character.

Favorite Quote: Waylon (AW:DOR) "Guess I'll make like a bakery truck and haul buns! Later! Whoooooooooo!" A metaphor so absurd, yet so hilarious.

Favorite Song: Proud Soldier-Gage (AW:DOR) As much as I like Waylon, Gage has the best song on Days of Ruin. It's very cool. It seems familiar but I can't quite put my finger on why...


Current Ringtone: Flight of The Coward-Waylon (AW:DoR) Yeah Days of Ruin sweeps this section. Waylon's theme suits him perfectly, over the top and in your face. Love this song.



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