Category Archives: Impressions

Impressions of games and stuff that I managed to spend some time with.

Games, Impressions, Xbox

Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter

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Yes, unbelievable as it is, there’s a new Xbox 360 game out. The first of many this month, in fact, and if they’re all as good as this one we’re in for one hell of a month. That faint sound you can hear is my wallet sobbing quietly to itself as it contemplates the cost of this, Burnout Revenge, Far Cry, and Oblivion.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter

Some of the early games might have not really pushed the hardware, but with this and Burnout it appears that developers are finally starting to put it to good use for some absolutely stunning HD visuals (not quite as drool-worthy as Rainbow Six: Vegas, admittedly) which make a great approximation of the intense Mexican sunlight. Graphics aren’t the whole puzzle however, and Ubisoft have done a good job of making this more accessible than the last time I played a Ghost Recon, which was the original for the Xbox.

The whole thing is still tactical and unforgiving (meaning bloody hard) but the near-future technology that they’ve added is a great addition that fans should still enjoy while allowing those like me who found the series slightly heavy going to give it another try with an open mind. It also has some great multiplayer modes which I’m looking forward to trying out, including the salivatory prospect of 16 player online co-op missions. I’m not decided whether or not playing alongside 15 random people is something that I should be excited or scared about, knowing what I do about the Live community.

It seems that I’m not the only one who likes it, and with Burnout also getting excellent reviews dare we hope that the 360 drought is coming to an end? Possibly, but at least we have enough stuff to carry us through to the wonders that E3 will bring.

Games, Impressions, PlayStation

Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams

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I’ve just been sent a review copy of the new Onimusha, due out for the PS2 next week (my review will be on Pro-G at some point), and thought I’d come out with some impressions to go with all the big review sites who reviewed it last night. I thought what I saw of Onimusha was quite cool when it came out and got a kick out of Jean Reno and modern France in Onimusha 3, but this is the first time that I’ve played one at any length.

Overall it’s pretty good. It’s fast-paced and the hack and slash action is good fun and reasonably deep, and the presentation is decent (no 480p, though – boo!) – graphically it’s very colourful and even in its 4:3 480i nastiness looks great.

There are a lot of story scenes which all look good, both when they’re in-game and CGI (nothing as impressive as the intro for Onimusha 3 so far, unfortunately), but what lets them down is some pretty bad voice acting. Not original Resident Evil bad, but more like Resident Evil 4 mildly grating. The reviews of the US version all say that that version includes the option to switch to the original Japanese voices, but inexplicably it’s nowhere to be found in the PAL one.

It’s too early for me to give this a score but if I had to do it right now I’d give it 8/10. It’s one of the better pure action games that I’ve played in a while.

DVD & Blu-ray, Impressions, Movies & TV

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

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On Saturday I grabbed the Wallace & Gromit movie, Curse of the Were-Rabbit, on DVD. I missed it in the cinema even though most reviews seem to think that it’ll be a Best Animated Picture come next Sunday, but I’ve loved Aardman’s stuff since The Wrong Trousers way back in 1993. I’d seriously put Nick Park up there with John Lasseter and Hayao Miyazaki as one of the greats of modern animation.

Gromit vs the Bunnies

Anyway, I thought the film was excellent. Maybe not the all-time classic that it’s been hailed as, but it’s by far the most impressive claymation that I’ve ever seen and the humour in it is absolutely great. Wallace is funny but as always the taciturn Gromit steals the show – even with nothing to emote with but body language and an eyebrow he has more personality than a lot of the generic CG characters that are being churned out. The scene in the image above has no dialogue at all (it’s rabbits and a dog, after all) but still manages to be extremely funny through music, slapstick, and Gromit’s cynical reactions.

One other thing that should be mentioned is that the DVD has a really great video transfer, and claymation seems to be a medium that likes DVD: the vivid colours of animation that can be shown off, but by nature of the fact that it’s three-dimensional none of the common issues of animated DVD transfers are present. The quality is good enough that you can see fingerprints on the models occasionally which actually helps to give it all some added personality and a “homebrew” feel. A great movie and well worth picking up.

Games, Impressions, Nintendo

Castlevania Double Pack

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Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

My updates to this site have been a little slow recently and although the invariable lack of game news at this time of year is partially to blame, a little bit of responsibility has to be held by Konami. They, after all, released the Castlevania Double Pack for the GBA here last week.

Ever since Circle of the Moon, a GBA launch game that really drew attention to how dark that damn screen was, Nintendo handhelds have been the systems to own for the classic 2D Castlevanias, and a great shelter from the misguided 3D ones. The Double Pack contains the second and third versions – Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow – which are not only the best two but also, due to limited print runs, used to go for £40 each on eBay. Not anymore, when you can now get both on one cart for £25.

Harmony of Dissonance was a real graphical showpiece for the GBA when it came out and it still looks decent now, with some impressive and nifty sprite effects. It’s a really good “classic” Castlevania and reasonably lengthy (took me 11 hours or so to finish with the first ending, but there are two more which I plan to get which should take another couple), but the main criticism I can have for it is that it’s very easy. I didn’t really come close to dying in the whole thing because potions are plentiful, you get fully healed at any of the many save points, and if you use spells the bosses are a simple matter of whipping and waiting until they die.

Aria of Sorrow is the prequel to Dawn of Sorrow on the DS, which was a game that I really liked. While it’s still a 2D Castlevania at heart it kept many of the changes from games like Symphony of the Night by not having a Belmont at the helm (here it’s a vaguely androgynous high school student named Soma Cruz) and doing away with the whip as the only weapon. While adventuring with a variety of swords, knives, and lances, you get to use some mysterious powers that Cruz possesses and will probably have been spoiled for anyone who played Dawn of Sorrow first.

Aria of Sorrow is the better of the two games, not only for having slightly more variety but also for being more of a challenge (I’ve actually died twice). The one side where it does fall down is that I don’t think it looks as good as Harmony – it seems to look a bit more cartoony and Soma’s mincing run animation is a little annoying. Nonetheless I’m a few hours in and have been very much enjoying it.

The GBA has had a sudden influx of budget double packs with some good ones from Sega (the Sonic Advances and Chu Chu Rocket are worth a look), but this one takes the cake. Games that could have cost you £80 only months ago in a pack costing only £25 are an absolute bargain, and the fact that they’re two of the best on the GBA don’t hurt matters. If you have a GBA or DS and don’t own the original releases, buy this pack.

Games, General, Impressions, PlayStation

PAL Colossus

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The PAL version of Shadow of the Colossus is finally released tomorrow (today if you know people who don’t mind slipping you a copy) and it’s quite a nice release, even if you own the US version like I do. Like they did for the original PAL release of Ico they’ve packaged it in a cardboard case which folds out with artwork from the game, and it has a small collection of art cards with it as well. In addition to that, the main menu now has bonus features – a “making of”, an art gallery, and a trailer for Ico.

This is where I’d usually post some pictures, but I bought mine as a collectible which I won’t open since only the first batch are limited edition. My crappy NTSC version is for playing, and this one is for ogling.

They also re-released Ico today for £19.99 which is well worth it if you don’t have it. It’s not the special edition one so you can still expect to pay through the nose for that on eBay, but thankfully they didn’t put it in an ugly Platinum case. I picked up a copy of this as well since I didn’t already have it and I’ll be playing it since for some reason I never went and finished it.

Staying on the subject of the Ico universe, take a look at this interview with the team. It’s a good read.

Impressions

Connect360

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We Mac users have had the short end of the stick to a certain extent with the Xbox 360, since all that lovely Media Center functionality requires Windows XP or Windows Media Center. No more! The lovely folks at Nullriver who brought us PSPWare have just released the first version of Connect360, which lets you stream MP3s and JPGs from your iTunes and iPhoto libraries to the 360. That’s the same stuff that Windows XP can do, and hopefully future versions will add transcoding of AACs and maybe even video streaming.

I tried it out and it certainly seems to do everything that it promises. I booted up the 360 and it immediately found my iBook over the network, and I could look at all of my photos in their full HD glory on my TV. Music worked similarly well although like they say AACs, both protected and otherwise, don’t work yet. Now we just need it to stream video (I’d kill to be able to watch 720p H.264 on the 360) and we’ll be set.

It’s in beta at the moment so you can get it with free updates for life for $10. Not a bad deal…