Jeff Hoy, American

The Resistance series is superior to the Halo series in nearly every way.  There, I said it.

Halo wins in the music department and probably the multiplayer department, I haven’t played Resistance multiplayer though, so I don’t know.  Resistance games win on everything else.  Nathan Hale could take Master Chief any day of the week.

Speaking of Resistance 2 specifically now.  I’m loving it.  It’s not perfect though.  The boss fights are formulaic, but that they are just so big makes them very entertaining.  In fact, the overall scale of the game, especially the first time you walk outside in San Fransisco, is something to see.

I am particularly enjoying the excellent pacing of R2, it makes it very easy to get into and out of the game while still feeling like you’re making a lot of progress.  I usually only play it an hour or so a day and in that hour usually something big, like a boss fight or major battle, happens.  That usually signals the end of my playtime so I turn it off and get on with my day.  I can’t remember the last game I played that had such great pacing.

I’m greatly looking forward to the end of Resistance 2 and eventually moving on to Resistance 3, when it is finally released.

…to pull the wool over Sony’s eyes, Gabe Newell, but I am not fooled.

Wow.

Great graphics, awesome sound and music, a beautiful story, and epic gameplay all add up to one of the best games I’ve ever played.  It’s no wonder that Okami was chosen as game of the year by so many in the games press back in 2006.  What is a wonder is that it’s still languishing in relative obscurity.

If you haven’t played Okami yet you really need to.  It’s only about 30 – 40 hours, so a couple of weeks at a few hours a day is a great use of your time to play it.

Get it on the PS2 to see it in all it’s original glory, or get the Wii version and enjoy a new level of immersion as you waggle your stick around to paint with the celestial brush.

If you missed this one and you’ve been needing a good adventure go buy Okami now.

3D Dot Game Heroes will probably be the only game I buy at retail for the forseeable future.  It’s just got a charm about it that makes me must have it.  Check out this latest trailer packed full of Zelda references.

I love Shenmue, a lot, and I’m finally taking the time to play Shenmue II on the Xbox.  I’m about half-way through, in Kowloon right now, and I only have one thing to say about this game.

WHY DID THEY TAKE AWAY THE REAL JOBS?!?!?  Why can’t I get a job driving a forklift or doing something else fun?  Why must I toil away in these insufferable Lucky Hit stands?!  This has got to be the worst mini-game of all time.  Not only is it stupid, but it can be a huge waste of time as you don’t always get paid for your work.

If you make Shenmue III, please Sega, include some real ways to earn money in the game.

I finally got around to finishing Vandal Hearts today.  Overall I enjoyed the game, but I’m not a hardcore RPG player, so I’m not comparing it to other RPGs.  It’s only about a 15 or 20 hour game, you could probably extend that to 30 hours if you spent more time exploring.  Does it stack up to Disgaea or Final Fantasy or any of those other popular RPGs?  No.  But it’s not really meant to I don’t think.  It’s a $15 game on the PSN, so consider it in that light.  Flames of Judgment is kind of hard to compare to the previous Vandal Hearts games because of that, but I think I enjoyed it as much as I did the first in the series.  It certainly has made me want to go back and play the first two, so I guess it was good enough.

If you’re a fan of tactical RPGs, but don’t want to invest a ton of time into one, then buy Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment.  If you’re a hardcore RPGer that thinks anything less than 50 hours is a ripoff, then skip it.

Now I can move on to Trine and give it my full attention.

Best R/C Vehicle this side of the Outer Colonies. When cruising the Halo megastructure and blasting the Covenant into oblivion, no vehicle is more useful than the Warthog. As Cortana will be happy to inform you, the Warthog is a multi-function jeep with a LAAG turret mounted on the back. It has enough room for a driver and a machine gunner with room for one additional passenger. Now you can collect your own mini RC version of the Halo Warthog complete with action figures and gun turret. Make good use of it during long office meetings when you suddenly realize the CEO has been terminally infected by the Flood. New Vehicles! In addition to the Warthog, we now have the Mongoose and an R/C Helicopter version of the Flying Hornet.

…carefully watch the current situation with the PSN.  Ubisoft’s new DRM for the PC version of Assassin’s Creed II (and multiple future titles, including the upcoming blockbuster-for-sure Splinter Cell: Conviction) requires a constant internet connection to their verification system.  The PlayStation Network going down is another excellent example of how a critical system failing can render games unplayable for the thousands (millions even?) of gamers.  Ubisoft needs to keep an eye on this situation and learn whatever they can from it.  The stability of their verification system will be the very short wall that separates them from a mob of angry gamers.

Will Ubisoft get the picture?  I highly doubt it, which is why I am continuing to boycott every Ubisoft product regardless of platform.

[Update: So Sony's issue turned out to not be a PSN problem, it's looking more like a firmware problem in the old PS3s, something to do with the system clock.  I still stand by the point I was making though, a weak link in any system is bound to fail, and when it does it's gonna be a bad day for Ubisoft customer service.]

My first thought upon getting into the game: Trine is a Lost Vikings for the new generation.  I picked up this PSN download game last night while it is on sale for only $9.99.  I am impressed.

Trine is a 2.5D puzzle/platformer with three characters, each with unique abilities, that you can switch between on the fly to help you make progress.  The puzzles I’ve seen so far have all been physics based, using weights and blocks to open doors, tilting ramps in different directions to access areas, and more along those lines. 

With lush environments, beautiful cut scenes, excellent voice overs and narration, and pleasant music, Trine is very appealing to the visual and auditory senses.  For Playstation 3 players there are 33 trophies to be earned.  My only complaint, it only runs at  720p on the PS3, but that’s no big deal.

So far I’m enjoying it very much.

Three years after I started playing it I have finally finished Halo, the first one, on the original Xbox.  It is one of the most aggravating games of all time.  Between the stupid and constant arena death traps and the ridiculous vehicle controls and physics I can’t see why anybody thought this was a great game when it was released.  Maybe the multiplayer or co-op was more fun, I don’t know.  But I didn’t enjoy the single player campaign, hence why it took me so long to beat it.  The only reason I kept going back to it is just so I could say I’ve finished it.

Graphically it’s still a decent looking game, back in the day it was great looking.  The musical score was excellent, the Halo theme is iconic at this point, the sound effects were ok, and the voice acting was pretty good.  The story was alright, but not strong enough to keep me engaged.

Basically, if you haven’t played it yet, you aren’t missing anything, don’t worry about it.

Now on to Halo 2.