Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard
Mario. Link. Master Chief. Solid Snake. Matt....Hazard?
In the world of the game, Hazard is an old classic video game character, who's finally graduated to the next-gen, after having lived the life of a video game icon, has slipped and fallen the way of Sonic, and has been disgraced into making cart-racing games, and endless sequels. Now he's here to make his comeback into the big leagues, only he doesn't know that the new game he's in is actually being corrupted with in the real world, by an old jealous developer who has a long time grudge against Hazard, since the only games he couldn't beat growing up as a kid, were the Hazard series. So he chooses to corrupt the new game and throw in all of Hazard's old enemies, while also throwing in what would be Hazard's younger, more current replacement.
The overall idea of the game is to poke fun at the industry. For instance the game starts with a tutorial sequence, all the while, Hazard is joking "of course, the obligatory training sequence" and "I gotta admit, this cover to cover system is pretty damn cool". And as the game goes on, he finds more things to poke fun at, the funniest moment probably being an encounter with a long haired, floating RPG boss, with visual HP counter and all. When Hazard questioned why the enemy spoke in ellipses, I laughed out loud and applauded.
Only problem is that, while the game is very funny and precise at making fun of the game industry, the game itself falls victim to a lot of the ideas it's trying to skewer. The controls are clunky. The visuals are generic and old. The sound and music is bland and repetitive. But none of it to the point where it's unplayable. Also, if you're looking for achievements, there are plenty of easy ones here for you. But again, lots of humor to be found in the achievements themselves.
Overall, it's a very fun and interesting story, thats unfortunately stuck in a lousy game. Definitely worth a rent, but not worth the $50 it's being sold for now. Or just wait a few months, as it has "bargain bin" written all over it.
Score: 6/10
Guitar Hero: Metallica
I have been waiting for this game ever since I was a teenager. Growing up, Metallica was my favorite band in the world. ...And Justice for All is still my #1 best metal album ever. Ever since this game was announced, I waited and waited, verging on uncontrollable anxiety for this thing to come out. I even promised myself over the last few months that I would not buy a single game.....except for this one.
Ironically, I haven't bought it yet (birthday present anyone?), but I did rent it, and I could not have been any more pleased. As a die-hard Metallica fan, I was having a ball. It completely took me back to when I was a teenager, listening to Metallica in my bedroom, fake-rocking along with them on my imaginary stage. I was 16 again, and it was unbelievable.
As far as it just being a game goes, it's Guitar Hero. What don't you already expect from it? You know exactly what you're getting into gameplay-wise. Hit the buttons when you're supposed to. Be warned, if you're unfamiliar with these songs, there is a lot of steadily fast, palm-muted riffing. Didn't try the drums or vocals, but it's surely more of the same. I still just overall do not like the cartoony art style of Guitar Hero. It was always a major turnoff for me, and it's not helped much here at all. Rock Band absolutely wins in that department. But it's easily ignored once you get lost in the music.
As an old fan of the band, it gets a 10/10 from me, because the library really covers a good amount of ground (Dyers Eve? HOLY SHIT). The other bands on here are a sweet addition, too. It's nice to see them pushing bands like Corrosion of Conformity (though I wish it was a song off of Wiseblood). Extra points for Samhain too (though I would have preferred a Misfits song).
Peronal score: 10/10.
"In reality" score: it's an 8/10. As pretty much any rhythm based game is IMO.
Well, maybe not Rock Revolution....
Fallout 3
Jesus...what to say about Fallout 3 that hasn't already been said? I tried to play this game a couple times before, and was honestly overwhelmed with the entire thing. I could tell that this was a game that I had no time for. For those who don't know, Fallout 3 is an FPS/RPG about an alternate history U.S. where the world was ravaged by nuclear bombs, and the rest of humanity began living in underground vaults. Your character was born underground in Washington D.C., so you know nothing of an outside world. That is, until you wake up one day to find that your dad mysteriously escaped, and went to the surface. Soon, you're chasing his ghost out in the wasteland.
Now I'm officially giving it my best effort, and I'm very much enjoying the game, outside of a few problems. Walking around the wasteland, randomly coming across ravaged cities, ruins (especially of national monuments), makeshift towns, nice settlers, bounty hunters (who are always after you, specifically for some reason), all of this is fantastic stuff. There's a real sense of wonder that fills you as you come upon a hill, and as you start to cross it, in the distance, you see a new city rising from just behind the hill, and you wonder who you'll meet, and what experiences you'll come across.
For one instance, I came across the city of Andale. In it, I randomly walked into one of the ravaged houses, to find a mother, father, and their daughter sitting at the dinner table, eating quietly. As I approach them, they begin talking to me in an extra nice fashion. Offering me their food, and smiling in a way that can only be described as creepy and off-putting. As a joke, I shot them with a missile, blowing them up, losing karma, and grabbing their keys.
I went to their shed out back, and found that it was full of old human corpses, and that the dinner that I walked in on them eating, was human. In which case, I didn't feel so bad anymore. But in a wasteland, where food is scarce, and people are trading items and nourishment for bottle caps, who am I to judge?
Fallout 3 is a fascinating experience, but it doesn't come without its fair share of faults. The shooting in the game is absolutely atrocious. People try to argue this by saying, well, it's NOT a shooter. I'm sorry, but when you're shooting things, from a first person POV for 90% of the time, that's an FPS mostly. Just because you have experience points, doesn't make it JUST an RPG. So really, while the RPG element of Fallout 3 is excellent, the FPS element is a disaster. However, when you DO connect with a brain-exploding headshot, it never gets old. There are also many places in the game where the screen freezes which is just inexcusable, especially in a game that only autosaves every time you enter a building. I've gone
I'd like to say I'm halfway through the game's main story at this point, then comes the side missions. THEN comes the DLC.
As of right now, I'm giving it an 8/10. Faulty, but fascinating nonetheless.
