Heavenly Sword Review and Impressions

My impression on the Ps3 game Heavenly Sword on the PS3.

Phil-N-Rob'D Games Episode 5

Stuido P was filled to the rafters for this weeks episode. We discussed video game music, and the depiction of women in video games.

The Guest this week were
Paul, Brian, and Jesse, along with your loveable host Phil and Rob.

The death of the arcade

Back in the early years of the great Phillip's life, I always remember my mom and dad taking me to the local Wal-Mart and I would always pass by the arcade machines. There would be two at the Wal-Mart and I would ask my mom for a quarter. There would be times I would just look to see what the new games would be and play them to my hearts content. I remember, one year, that I went to Wal-Mart and blew my entire birthday money on Dark Adventure, a game that I really can't describe good anymore. My mom was none to happy about that. I remember that there was an arcade, called Tilt, at the Washington Square Mall and I could get lost in there for hours on end.
Sadly, those days are gone. Now at Wal-Mart are all those Cabela hunting games. Yeah, great way to teach kids about violence.

"No, Billy. Don't you dare play that game that you shoot fake people. Go over there and blow that bucks head off, though."

The Tilt is gone, and also is the crappy replacement, the Golden Nugget. Those machines were in need of so much repair that half the games didn't work and no one was around to even fix those. Now, the only places to go and play arcade games is a building attached to batting cages, one attached to a putt-putt, and the ones you play while waiting for a movie to start at the cinemas. I just wish there was an area where people could congregate where all people would do it play games and chat about games. I know that we have the Phil-n-Rob'd games podcast (where you can watch us live on operator11.com every Sunday at 3:30 CST), but being able to play with a person right next to you was so much more...intimate. Those were the days.

Phil

Playstation 3

I am now the owner of a Playstation 3.

So far, I am not impressed with Motorstorm. Hopefully I will enjoy renting heavenly sword and Ratchet later. Or at least something not Motorstorm

Episode 4

Here is the show from this past Sunday. Our Special Guest was Raz from Spain, he showed us a bunch of funny clips. And we talked about cheating in video games, well we did briefly. Would have had this up sooner, but I got addicted to Gilmore Girls. Hey a man needs his sappy romanticsm okay.

Finally...a review of Bully for the PS2

I have been talking and talking that I will give you a review of Bully when I complete it. Well...here is my review.

Bully is the story of Jimmy Hopkins and a year at the Bullworth Academy. In the beginning, you are the one that is picked on by EVERYBODY. As you slowly progress through they story, you will litterally beat the respect into the separate gangs.

There are similarites between this game and the games that Rockstar is known for, Grand Theft Auto. This game is a sandbox-type in that you have a lot of freedom to move immediately. The big difference is that you don't shoot people with .357 magnums, you shoot them with slingshots and potato guns. Also different is that you have a time that you must be asleep. If you do not get to bed before 2:00AM, you will pass out and may wake up missing some items. You also have classes to attend at 11:00AM and 1:00PM. These classes hamper your advancement in the game, but once you complete the classes, you won't have to attend and you gain incentives, such as ability to talk out of trouble and receive kisses from girls without giving them presents.

Graphics-The graphics are on par with other PS2 games. Not as pretty as God of War and other excellent games, but still good. (B+)

Controls-Control is pretty good. You use the L2-R2 buttons to switch weapons. The battle system is pretty much the square button and the lock-on (L1). When you lock on, you can press the square button and hold it to use different attacks. Once you master that, the game is a breeze. (A-)

Sound-The sound is pretty good. There are no noticable people doing the voices, but they do a great job. With Jimmy not being able to drive cars, there is no need for radio stations. They do a solid job of playing a tune that is perfect for mischief. The ambient sounds of others talking is great and funny. Most of the sound effects are good. When I was driving the go-kart, it takes a little of time to hear the sound of the go-kart. Overall, pretty good, though. (B+)

Challenge-This is where the game suffers. I do use strategy guides, but I do expect some challenge. There was only one mission that took me more than three times to complete, and that was the 3rd to last mission. There was really no challenge, simple as that. (C)

Overall, Bully was a good game. Great atmosphere, great graphics, good sound, but not much of a challenge. Right now, Bully is $19.99 as part of the Greatest Hits and it will be out for the Wii and the 360 as Bully: Scholarship Edition. Those games are scheduled to be released soon.

Overall (B)

Continue to watch the phil-n rob-d games video podcast. We appreciate all of your support.

The Empire Has Grown

It started with 2 gamers. Endless Gaming. But we have gotten bigger over the last few weeks. We are not 2 gamers, we are 5 gamers strong. Lets say hi to those new guys.

Brian- The Pc man of the group. He likes the PC and we will let him speak on it, since we know nothing about that stuff. Look forward to his discussion on MMORPGs

Jesse- MeeGosh he is our Ms. Pac Man Loving man of the group. He is into the classics and is a self proclaimed Cheap Ass. He wont buy a game until it is in the $20 range.

Paul- He is not sure why he is here. He owns none of the newer systems, but he is planning on buying a Wii for Metriod. But he knows his Classic shit.

So look forward to our new shows on a Video Cast where the doritos run free.

Phil-n-Rob'd Games: Video Game Movie Edition. Part 1 and 2

Gone to the Dark Side

I would like to apologize to anyone that thought I wasn't blogging here anymore. The Rob'd part of our group is the hardcore type of gamer. I, on the otherhand, am the more casual gamer. I only spend about 10 hours a week on games. That is why I am still going through Bully. I hope to have it complete within the next 2 to 3 weeks. When I complete it, I will give you all the full review.
I have, I guess, finally jump ship. I went out and purchased an Xbox 360 on Friday. I picked up the Marvel Ultimate Alliance/Forza Motorsport 2 combo. I have been a staunch PlayStation man ever since I picked up my first PS1 and Final Fantasy Tactics. When the first Xbox came out, I was opposed to it and didn't even want to touch it. Xbox got some good games, such as Ninja Gaiden, but I still didn't want one.
When the new generation of consoles came, I was still opposed to the 360. I started to get warmed up to it because of two things. (1) The game library for the 360 was far superior than the PS3. I know that the Japanese are overwhelmingly a PS3 group, but they are now the 2nd largest market for consoles behind us. (2) The arrogance of Sony for putting a $600 system out on the market. There have been several consoles out there that were for $600 and they all failed miserably. There is a limit of how much people would pay for a console and Sony completely missed the mark. Sony tried to put a whole lot of things into a gaming console. They wanted the console to be the all-in-one entertainment center and people don't really do that. They wanted their machine to be the best machine out there. They should have looked at the past generation. The PS2 was far inferior to the Xbox and the Gamecube in terms of power, but it ruled the generation. It ruled with two things: games and notoriety. They have tarnished both of them with this console.
Back to my 360. When I started to look through the Xbox Live, I was amazed. I enjoyed the fact that I could actually download games and try them before I went out and put down $60.00 on one. I like that the 360 would even let me try an Xbox Live Arcade game before putting points on it (YOU NEED TO LEARN THAT NINTENDO). I also do like the chance to download movies (in HD), but to be honest, I have no need for that. It is nice, though. I got some points and downloaded the full version of Uno. UNO! It is pretty cool when you sit back and waste an hour playing Uno with people throughout the world. The only thing that I do not like is that you have to pay $8 a month/$20 for 3 months/$50 for a year for a gold account. That is the only way that you can play with others online and I really don't like that. I think that are going to get enough of my money.
Overall, in the US, there are two powers in the gaming community, the Wii and the 360. They have the games that people want to play. The PS3 may have already lost this war, and may be where the TG 16 and the Amiga CD-32 are, off the complete map.
Don't forget to chat with Rob and I at operator11.com. Well be there at 3:30 central. You can also find me on Xbox Live under “Screenwriterman”. Until later, peace bitches!
Phil

Portal Review (Orange Box 360)

My Review of the game Portal, a part of the Orange Box on 360

Puzzle Quest Review

My review of the Game Puzzle Quest on XBLA

Eternal Sonata Review on Op11

My review of the 360 game Eternal Sonata on Xbox360

Episode 2: Console Wars Part 1 and 2

This is the Second Show. It was so awesome we had to split it into 2 parts.



There was a slight problem with the video Quality. Hopfully we will have it figured out by next week.

My thoughts of Brain Age 2

The one thing that you have to love about Nintendo is that they are very innovative. With the motion sensor of the Wii to the touch screen functionality of the DS, Nintendo seems to put interaction before blow-me-away graphics. Now with that interaction comes new and great ideas, such as Brain Age 2. Just like the original, Brain Age 2 allows the player to try to work their brain in new and exciting ways. There is piano player, where you need to coordinate your hands with a beat by pressing certain keys on a virtual piano. There is also Word Scrambler where a word is mixed around and they spin in a circle and you need to write the correct word (very difficult).

Now, the graphics on this is not the best that the DS has to offer, BUT WHO CARES! The main reason why you would purchase the game is not the way it looks. The game does enough to make sure that you will enjoy it.

The sound on it is pretty well...for the most part. The music on the Piano Player is pretty good. One game (Word Blend) is very difficuly for you to hear because the game is speaking two and three words together and you have to write down the words. Some of them get blurred because you need to turn the volume all the way up to even try to hear it. During Rock, Paper, Scissors, the microphone does a barely competent job of recognizing your voice. Overall, not the best.

The touch pad does a decent job of recognizing letters, but for some very odd reason, it has a hard time figuring out what an "H" is.

Overall, this is a pretty good game for people that want to use their brains for more than hand-eye coordination. It is great that there are games that allow you to work the whole brain, and not just that hand-eye part.

3.5/5

Sorry for The Delay

My Wedding Cake if I am ever lucky enough to get married again.




Its been a week let me tell you. All I have played until Today was Halo 3. And I have big plans with it tomorrow also. My buddy from high school who disappears and reappears more than the Arbiter with a cloaking device has finaly gotten a 360. S I promised him I would take him through Halo 3. Okay I am sure he would prefer a better partner, but he is stuck with me dammit.

Today I broke the menotonous shooting of things, to play some more Lumines Live, and Tetris Splash. I found out one thing, I am about tetrised out. Do we really need to release more tetris games that have no improvments. We have been playing the same game since the game boy. The graphics get a little more pretty, but nothing else is innovative.

Lumines on the other hand is fun. I really wish I were better at it than I am, oh well. I am hearing a good rumor coming down the pipe line. Puzzle Quest will be out on the Xbox live Arcade next week. I CAN NOT WAIT FOR THIS ONE. I have waited so long for this game.

I enjoyed doing the show. I really think I missed my calling in the production industry. But we are planning as far as I know to shoot episode 2 this Sunday, at 1:30 PST. (3:30 our time in Central). As of right now we will be giving our opinions on the Consoles. And several other fun topics will release later.

Let us know what you think by leaving comments. AndI hope to see you in the studio next week.

Later

Robert