GrimReaper797's Weekly Gaming Review (Week 1)

Since this is the first week I am doing this, I will give a breif introduction as to what this is all about. I am a gamer, but more importantly, I am some one who has been following the gaming industry because of possible career path. In doing so, I tend to play just above every game I can, test it, review it, and so on. Because I am constantly up to date on whats going on in the video game world and the sheer amount of games I test, I figure I might as well do a weekly review on whats going on.

So to keep you all informed on the lastest things going on in the gaming world, here is week one of GrimReaper797's Weekly Gaming Review.


XBOX360:

This week was an exciting week, as X06, microsofts xbox360 showcase expo, kicked off and released some shocking news. What hit most the headlines, and forums, was none other then HALO WARS.

Halo Wars, which will be a RTS(Real Time Strategy), is a branch of the Halo series. It takes place before Halo 1, and it was quiet the shocker this weekend. This game is based on the Halo Series, made by the makers of Age Of Empires. The game looks promising and the trailer can be found here.
www.gamespot.com...

Another shocker at this event was BioShock. This was named the best of the show at E3, the biggest video game expo, because of how impressive the game looked. Finally another demo of the game was released at X06. Leader Producer, Ken Levine said the team has set out to "redefine first-person shooters". Thats a big aim to take considering the competition in the industry. Take a look for yourself here,
www.gamespot.com...

Other important events at this expo include an Interview with the maker of Fable 2 as he talks about the in depth options that the game will include this time around. This game is going to take a whole new approach to life-like by making a family game...literally. You can meet a guy/girl, get married, have children, and time will all factor in. If you leave for a year, your child will be a year older. This can be a major part in YOUR Fable story, giving way to multiple story lines depending on the path you choose.

Alan Wake is another mentionable title at X06 this year. The preview gave way to an intense story that can only be compared to a Stephen King novel gone video game. What catches your eyes though is the stunning graphics of this game. With a nature background, the details will blow your mind.


PS3:

With the November 17th launch merely a Month away, its a wonder how MGS:4 is still in the Spotlight after all this time. The system has been facing some problems as far as pricing and blue-ray discs. These games will also be priced at 59.99, so no worry of more expensive games then 360. The focus right now isn't so much the games on the PS3 but the PS3 itself.

The big question right now is how PS3 will differ itself from Xbox360. The dashboard of 360 is something that reminds you of a computer rather then just a gaming system. PS3 seems to be taking a very similar approach. I can only guess at how they will make it more superior to the 360, but it seems that some media outlets that were at the demo screening, already have an idea. What was described sounded somewhat like web browsing on the PS3, when in the demo he brought up a couple web pages. This is a feature the xbox360 definately does not have.

Another big question is how will PS3 be handling its online capablilities? What is known is that basic functions will be free for online on the PS3. What this classifies is unknown though.

Good news for the PS3, Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion will be making its way onto the PS3. I say good news because it was one of the best 360 games released so far, which was thought to be a 360 exclusive game.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is of course in the spotlight again. It is without a doubt the most anticipated game on PS3, with only Final Fantasy 13 coming close. The game series, which has sold millions, hopes to break out as the PS3 mascot in a way. This doesn't come as much a surprise considering its success. What to see what it looks like? Here are some video previews,
www.gamespot.com...

Wii:

Its only natural to suspect that nintendo has something up its sleeve. Its been in the gaming business since the start practically, and is still striving for greatness today. With its revolutionary controller, and innovative ideas, it tries to distance itself from its rivals, rather then compete.

One rather disappointing aspect is there will be no DVD playback on Wii, sticking with a different type of disc. The other two consoles, PS3 and 360, both have DVD playback capability, which nintendo has yet to do.

Wii does have Web surfing, much like the PS3 apparently. This should be interesting to see how Wii handles the new interface and functions.

Wii plans to go on sale November 19, 2 days after PS3 release. Whether this is a good or bad idea remains unknown thus far. It will be priced at 250, significantly lower then the PS3, which may spell bad news for the PS3. With the Wii release price lower, gamers will often go with the Wii and wait for the price of the PS3 to drop.

What games does Wii have to offer? well Zelda seems to be Wii's mascot as of right now. Its a good thing that Zelda will be released along with the Wii's release date. It is now know that Zelda will make use of Wii's innovative controller.Wii refuses to be but in the background, showing off its amazing graphics on Zelda.
www.gamespot.com...

Other anticipated games are Tony Hawks Proskater, and Resident Evil. Resident Evil is still in the works, and far from being released though. Wii seems to stick to its roots by making games more child oriented. Super Smash brothers for Wii, perhaps one of its biggest games, will be released in 07.


Game Reviews:
As you know, out of the new gen systems, xbox360 is the only one out yet. It is because of that, that all of my reviews until the release of PS3 and Wii will be xbox 360 reviews. In saying that, lets get started.

Saints Row:
Alright I felt I should start out with this game. Its rated M for a good many reasons. At first I though this would be a GTA clone, and was going to be disappointed. I was a bit surprised at what I found. Though it did relate to San Andreas in a good many ways, it somehow managed to set itself apart, and even become more entertaining. I found that the many side quests kept the game interesting, but sometimes to the point of distraction. Insurance Fraud, where you jump in front of moving vehicles as much as you can within a certain time limit and try to obtain as much money damages as possible, was actually quiet entertaining. There was nothing like watching your car do a head on collision and rocket your character across the screen through the windshield.
Character creation was relatively easy, and this is from some one who has always had trouble creating custom characters. The story was rather boring at first, but managed to pick itself up and make itself very entertaining. Its an extremely easy game, and almost impossible to lose at the game unless you accidently reset your system.
Overall this game, though fun, couldn't get over a 6.5/10. Definately worth a rental, and a buy if your constantly entertained by that kind of pointless crime and gang wars.

ChromeHounds:
This game is about fighting a war in mechanized mobile suits the size of houses or a bit bigger. The game which looks great on the box, doesn't seem to quite live up to expectation. The landscapes are large but often desolate, with little scenary and cover. The game quickly turns repetitive as far as missions go. They pretty much tell you "go *here*" and you go there, kill some guys, then move along. The storyline is rather boring and has a hard time of keeping you interested.
What saves this game is the online mode. Without the online mode, this game wouldn't have been worth a rental. Playing with up to 20 people, the game can become quite entertaining as you battle it out.
This games problem comes with getting to the actual playing screen. You get asked all these questions of what you want on your mobile suite and whats what, when in reality you have little idea of what they are talking about. It leaves you completely clueless right from the start. This is where you start hitting the OK button repeatedly because you have no clue what else to do. The lack of any tutorial about pregame set up makes it rather pointless to even bother with pregame strategy.
Overall this game gets a 5/10. Not horrible, but clearly nothing above average, and has room for many improvements if they are planning on making a second.

Dead Rising:
This game is unique to say the least. If you aren't a zombie game fan, you have little to worry about, because honestly, I played half the game without even paying attention to the story the first time around. Running around a shopping mall, with countless slow moving enemies was what spelt my downfall when it came to the storyline. You are a reporter that goes to the town to find out what happen. Your suppose to help people along the way, get story scoops, all in the time frame of 72 hours (which goes by pretty quick).
Unfortunately, they made the game just too fun to keep the storyline attractive enough to follow. Running around with countless household items turned into weapons was more then enough fun. In the end I did play the story and it was decent but short.
Overall this game gets an 7.5/10, simply because of the fun you will have running around finding random items to beat zombies with if nothing else.

GrimReaper797's other game ratings:
FightNight Round 3: 8.5/10
Elder Scrolls 4: 8/10
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter: 7/10

It's been fun, and I will see you next week

[edit on 2-10-2006 by grimreaper797]

any thoughts as to what I could Improve to make people more happy with the weekly review?>

I enjoyed reading it.

Nice job

yes i totally love your idea. good read and unbiased which is very important.
keep it comming.

I like your idea to have a weekly video game review. Maybe I can give you a few tips that will make your review more helpfull.
1) I think you should explain what your basing your reviews off of first all (Graphics, Gameplay, Multiplayer,Sound,Controlls, Camera angle, etc..), because without that, its based on what you liked.( and thats ok, Just let us know thats what your basing your review off of)

2) What genre of games do you perfer as that may effect your review. ( maybe give us a list of games you think best describe your prefrence) Also, do you favor any of the systems that are coming out or are already out over the others.
An example of why I ask you to do this is when you review chromehounds, you seem to dislike the most liked feature of the game, which is the in-depth custimizing of your mech.


3) How long did you play this game, so I know that when you give games like teso:4 an 8/10, I know you played a majority of its 200 + hours of gameplay to give an accurate review.

4) Tell us why you gave the game a lesser/better score then other reviewers. For example, you gave GRAW a 7/10 while Gamespot scored it with a 9.2/10.

5)For the average gamer, a game like dead rising is awsome. I think you should take it easier on the scoring with all the games so far, but if not at least tell us what a 7.5 or 5 out of ten stands for to you. For example, when gamespot gives a game an 8/10 that means GREAT game.

I think if you do these thing your review well be better. BTW, give yourself a pat on the back for being the first to think of an ats video game review. Great idea. Id like to see this grow.



[edit on 3-10-2006 by JohnDoe43]

Originally posted by JohnDoe43
I like your idea to have a weekly video game review. Maybe I can give you a few tips that will make your review more helpfull.
1) I think you should explain what your basing your reviews off of first all (Graphics, Gameplay, Multiplayer,Sound,Controlls, Camera angle, etc..), because without that, its based on what you liked.( and thats ok, Just let us know thats what your basing your review off of)

2) What genre of games do you perfer as that may effect your review. ( maybe give us a list of games you think best describe your prefrence) Also, do you favor any of the systems that are coming out or are already out over the others.
An example of why I ask you to do this is when you review chromehounds, you seem to dislike the most liked feature of the game, which is the in-depth custimizing of your mech.


3) How long did you play this game, so I know that when you give games like teso:4 an 8/10, I know you played a majority of its 200 + hours of gameplay to give an accurate review.

4) Tell us why you gave the game a lesser/better score then other reviewers. For example, you gave GRAW a 7/10 while Gamespot scored it with a 9.2/10.

5)For the average gamer, a game like dead rising is awsome. I think you should take it easier on the scoring with all the games so far, but if not at least tell us what a 7.5 or 5 out of ten stands for to you. For example, when gamespot gives a game an 8/10 that means GREAT game.

I think if you do these thing your review well be better. BTW, give yourself a pat on the back for being the first to think of an ats video game review. Great idea. Id like to see this grow.

[edit on 3-10-2006 by JohnDoe43]

[edit on 3-10-2006 by JohnDoe43]

thanks, I think Ill give a response for your questions and stuf right now just to clarify.

1) I base my reviews mainly off of gameplay. If its something else, I usually say what it is. For instance if the graphics stand out in a good way, I will mention it. I dont mention graphics so much because unless it a distinguishable characteristic, its just taking up space. I try to name off whats different about the game, rather then just telling you what you would already know. I mention what the games positive and negative aspects were. If the graphics were average, I just wont mention it.

2) I dont have a prefered genre. My favorite games are Final Fantasy 7, halo 1, Metal Gear Solid, Fight Night Round 3. I am pretty well rounded when it comes to tastes. Usually the genre doesn't matter, its usually how well the game plays and such.

3) I almost completely completed oblivion. usually I put a fair amount of time into games. A game like chromehound, I played for less amount of time because I realized how repetitive it was. The pre game stuff was confusing, and the game was rather 'shoot, run, shoot, run, cutscene of rather boring story, shoot, run, confusing pre game screen again'. It just didnt keep much interest.

But I did realize I forgot one thing. Multiplayer. Forgive me for that, and I wont be making that same mistake again. I forgot to add the multiplayer review for the games.

4) My reviews are very harsh, for instance, madden 06 would have gotten a 2 maybe. 0-3.5 is bad, 3.5-4.5 is not good, 4.5-7 is average game, 7-9 is good, 9/10 is excellent. I have only given a handful games above a 9 from my entire experience of video game playing. so to get a 9 or 10 means its an all time classic game which will probably never be truely forgotten. (final fantasy 7, metal gear solid, halo 1, aka classic games that are still remembered today as some of the best games ever.)

5) your going to see alot of average scored games. I may say "overall this game got a 6/10, its worth the buy, youll have fun, but dont expect to remember it in a couple weeks after you beat it"
I dont just give the number, I give a small explaination.
anything good will be like "youll want to buy this game, a definate keeper. You may beat it completely, but youll probably end up playing it again."

I do have to tone my reviews a bit. Prolly some more structure to the reviews will make it better next week.


edit: to respond to the chromehounds question. I dont look at it through the aspect of a gamer, I look through the aspect of a casual person who plays video games. That is a large majority of the market, people that come home from school and maybe play video games every now and then.

I found chromehounds stuff to be rather confusing. I understood that i was customizing a chromehound, but I had no idea why, or what I was doing. There was no tutorial as to how to make a chromehound and what the different options were or how these options would effect your chromehound. The 'learning curve' probably would have been too long for most casual gamers, which is a bad thing. You need something that is easy to pick up and learn so you can get right into the game.
I disliked the gameplay more though.

[edit on 3-10-2006 by grimreaper797]

One rather disappointing aspect is there will be no DVD playback on Wii, sticking with a different type of disc. The other two consoles, PS3 and 360, both have DVD playback capability, which nintendo has yet to do.

Really? Who doesn't have a DVD player noadays? Also, do you realize that if Wii had opted for HDDVD or BluRay it would most likely increased the price dramatically.

Also, the Licence for the DVD decryption software costs an arm and a leg compared to a standalone knockoff DVD player from Taiwan(50 bucks cnd for Region-free).

Sorry, but I don't want a DVD player with my Video-game system. Dedicated systems are always better then a Jack of all Trades(master of none).

Originally posted by sardion2000

One rather disappointing aspect is there will be no DVD playback on Wii, sticking with a different type of disc. The other two consoles, PS3 and 360, both have DVD playback capability, which nintendo has yet to do.

Really? Who doesn't have a DVD player noadays? Also, do you realize that if Wii had opted for HDDVD or BluRay it would most likely increased the price dramatically.

Also, the Licence for the DVD decryption software costs an arm and a leg compared to a standalone knockoff DVD player from Taiwan(50 bucks cnd for Region-free).

Sorry, but I don't want a DVD player with my Video-game system. Dedicated systems are always better then a Jack of all Trades(master of none).

well for some that isnt the case. I (before buying an HDTV for 360) has a TV with only one output. That meant if I had regular playstation and a dvd player, everytime I wanted to watch a DVD I would have to switch back and forth. I use to have to do that with regular xbox and ps2...It was a hassle when your tired after 10 hours of work and just want to play some video games. Instead your pulling out an entire entertainment system to get to the back of the TV to plug then PS2 in. (I also didnt have enough outlets for all these things. TV, Xbox, PS2 etc.) DVD playback made things alot more convienent, and I wasn't all to angry with the prices of these systems.

My only beef with the PS3 is that its loosing all its exclusive games, while xbox360 is releasing alot of 360 only games that look all too promising to pass up.

Will the Playstation 3 work with the Playstation 2 games? Or will you have to buy all new games?

im gonna have to disagree with you on chromehounds. i think its an excellent game, theres so much customization. the single player is nothing more than training for the online game, to familiarize you with the aspects of HOUND building and controls and what each role type does. The online version is very fun, with a persistent war between 3 nations going on. In fact... i want to play it right now... but my 360 is broken

Grim

Do you think the PS3 will be worth the $600 price tag. I already have the 360 and can't imagine that the PS3 will be that much better.

BTW- great idea I enjoyed reading week 1

well first I would like to say, instead of doing a weekly review, I think a monthly review would work much better. Only because of how busy my schedule is with recording and school work. I only got to test 1 game this week, and it would be rather wasteful to review 1 game, and say almost nothing about the systems since there isnt exactly a load of news between 1 week span.

now as for whether or not I think the PS3 will be worth 600 dollars? Well lets put it this way, For the first month there wont be a PS3 in my house, but I cant wait to play the Wii. PS3 will wait to see if its worth it.