Difference between revisions of "Reviews"

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<i>As half-noted twice already, Lazy Bastard is awesome.</i>
 
<i>As half-noted twice already, Lazy Bastard is awesome.</i>
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Gladiator (Movie) (DVD)
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Review by acarzt on 2006-12-12
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You are standing in a cramped, poorly lit hallway staring at two massive doors with a slight beam of light breaking through. The dust glows in what little light streams through the cracks, and the tension builds due to the unknown fate on the other side of the door. The fans are screaming and stomping their feet anxiously as they await the battle that is about to ensue. You see nothing, but you can sense the jitters of the lesser men around you. You can hear a screeching chain as a man, who to some would appear as if he was a giant, swings a flail over his head ready to bring your life to an end. The doors swing open and a blinding light bursts into the room and the gladiators run out into the arena met by the enemy as they exit. It’s kill or be killed now, and the audience loves it.
 +
 +
Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott was released in November 2000. This compelling masterpiece has an amazing story that will please the tastes of movie fanatics, and the occasional movie viewer just the same. It is more than just non-stop action, and senseless violence. The story draws you through such emotions of joy, anger, despair, and grievance.
 +
 +
The creators of this movie did an outstanding job of portraying Rome, Italy in the time of the great Roman Empire at its peak. The depictions of the city of Rome are superb, to say the least, the buildings are truly dazzling. The art and graphics department was able to capture the impressively massive size of the Coliseum that is the centerpiece in the great city of Rome. The close attention to detail in recreating the late 100’s AD Rome was able to bring the beautiful architecture of this Italian city screaming back to life. You don’t have to be a fan of art to be touched by the magnificent scenes that can be viewed in this movie.
 +
 +
With a very well written script, and a long list of talented actors, this movie stands out from the crowd and sets a new standard of excellence that all movies should live up to. To call this movie “entertaining” would be an insult, because it is far more than that. Russell Crowe was simply amazing, playing the role of Maximus; he made us feel his pain for the loss of his loved ones. We felt his anger and frustrations as he tried to overcome the newly appointed and unfit emperor of Rome. Joaquin Phoenix played the role of Commodus, the villain we love to hate. After killing his father, Marcus Aurelius the emperor of Rome, played by Richard Harris; he appoints himself the new emperor of Rome, and his first act as emperor will be the one he regrets most. But I wont spoil the story for you, the movie Gladiator is a piece of art that must be experienced first hand in order to receive the full effect.
 +
 +
“Splendid”, one of the many words that comes to mind when speaking of the musical composition for this movie; who could forget the enlivening song that plays in background during the battle in the opening of the movie. It does a tremendous job of drawing you into the excitement of the battle. The sound effects are nothing to shake a stick at. If you are fortunate enough to be able to experience this masterpiece in surround sound, you will be able to enjoy the sounds of arrows whizzing past your head, and the cheers of the crowds all around you. You would feel as if you are inside the movie.
 +
 +
“The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an empire.” Gladiator, an epic tale that, without a doubt in my mind, does indeed deserve to be preserved for the future generations to be able to enjoy and embrace this movie in all it’s glory. Truly a masterpiece for the masses; this movie will be remembered by all who have the chance to see it.
 +
 +
 +
----
 +
 +
 +
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Resident Evil 4 (Nintendo Gamecube)
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 +
Review by Reeben on 2006-10-23
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So this has been the latest installment of the Resident Evil series and by far it is the best. This game was going to be a Gamecube exclusive but the masterminds at Capcom decided to cash in and released it also on the PS2. But I got it first on the GC so thats the one I'm going to tell you about. And plus I hear that the graphics are not as smooth and the load times are alittle slower then the GC version even though the PS2 edition does sport a new gun, a new storyline with the sexy Ada Wong, and well I think that was it. So with all that out of the way lets get on with this.
 +
 +
In the game you reprise the role of Leon S. Kennedy, that lucky bastard who survived the horror that was Raccoon City. Apparently the U.S. Government noticed that he was a strong dude for getting out of that city alive and offered him a job as an agent. Thats pretty much the gist of the background story you get. But thats not really that important. Now apparently the president's daughter has been kidnapped by some horriable ninjas and you need to see if your a bad enough... wait wrong game. She's kidnapped by a mysterious group while on her way back to her dorm in college. She was last spotted in a village in Europe. Leon is sent in to find the girl and get her out alive. Leon starts his search on the outskirts of a village and thats where the game starts you off.
 +
 +
Of course this game supported the best kind of graphics there were. And the little discs show off their might with this game. The series takes a left turn and decides to cut away from the prerendered backgrounds and moves the camera to behind the back of Leon to his right sholder. This makes for an intresting turn of events because now it's not so easy to see badies coming from behind. You must physically turn the character around (or use the cool 180 turn that was in Resident Evil 3) and make sure you are aware of the things around you which makes the game a lot more fun and scary. And this new camera angle also effects combat in a significant way. Aiming, moving, and combat itself is all turned around but is not very difficult to get used to. A cool feature with the new aiming technique is the ability to aim and shoot specific body parts like the legs or the arm or maybe even a weapon if your good enough. Heh. For example if a zombie has, oh I don't know, a piece of tnt in his hand and you time it right you can shoot and distroy him and anyone around him in one shot. Guy running at you, no problem, just shoot out his leg and he'll fall like a fat turd into a pile of vomit. Then you can be an ass and shoot him in the ass or wherever you feel like. But I recommend killing him or her quickly so aim for the head.
 +
 +
There are so many more great features about this game so I'll try and make the list short and sweet. The awsome chests are now gone and is replaced with an attache case. Everything you want to carry needs to fit inside the case so theres a lot more item management involved. Gone are the days where you could pretty much pick up any and all ammo, weapons, and health. Combining herbs is also now a key to saving space. Also new to the game is the Merchant. He sells and buys items to help you on your quest. Throughout the game you will find gold coins or "pesetas" and treasure which you can sell to the Merchant to buy new weapons and health or upgrade the weapons you have as well as upgrading the size of your attache case which is a very welcome one.
 +
 +
So in all its the best Resident Evil game there is. Even gamers who really wouldn't give the series a second look will enjoy the smart gameplay and great graphics of this installment. Theres probably a whole bunch of stuff I missed but hell just play the game for yourself and you'll see. Plus it's on the PS2 now and from what I hear it will also make an apparence on the PC so no one has an excuse not to play it.

Revision as of 15:09, 17 October 2011

In the days when GameHacking.org was still called GSHI, we started a small Reviews section. It was entertaining, and took off to a great start, but it was eventually left dormant as those reviewing shifted their focus to other tasks. Still, rather than let such great literary art disappear, we've decided to archive the Reviews collection here. Enjoy!



Summoner (PC)

Review by LiquidManZero on 2007-05-27



This is going to be a very short review, due to one really really massive problem with the game. Installing it and running the game went quite well. Even the opening of the game was good. But then, it came down to when you finally take control of the unwilling summoner himself. The little tutorial mentioned something of camera controls, so I tried them. This is where it all went wrong. Little did I know a few minutes later I'd be stopping the game due to feeling physically sick.

The problem was... The camera has a bit of an issue with spinning around or shaking violently. Almost to the point that it'd be accurate to say, that's all the camera does. Very soon after tweaking the camera controls (the direction keys), I was starting to feel vaguely hung over. I mean, it was spinning around like mad and I was trying to stumble carefully towards anything I could get to. Ugh, even remembering it isn't pleasant.

Some time later, I finally got near an NPC. At which point I tried adjusting the camera again, including switching between Auto, High, and Low modes (all of which had the same effect). Very disturbing, as trying to fix the camera only made it worse. At this point I realized if I kept playing, I'd probably get sick. So I killed the game, and uninstalled it. Maybe I'll try again later on, after I don't remember the spinning anymore...

Overall, I really didn't get much of an impression of the game. I suspect it's at least decent if not actually rather interesting. But, the camera problem just totally blew it for me, and eventually spawned this quarter-assed review.

If any game developers out there are reading this... Remember, make sure the camera works good, or I'll personally force you to stare at this game's spinning until you puke.




Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (Playstation 2)

Review by Lazy Bastard on 2006-12-22



By some bizarre stroke of economic horror, this title was exceedingly hard to find, and at the same time, heralded as a great game by everyone I encountered who'd played it. As I loved the first one, I hunted diligently until I found a copy.

I'm lazy, so this review will be presented in the tense that you're playing it. That way, I can refer to the theoretical player as "you". Heh.

I can't say much about this story without giving away details about the first one, but suffice it to say, you're no longer using your original characters. And in a way, that's a good thing. Not only are you getting something new, but also the game doesn't have to make some convenient excuse for you losing all of the ridiculously powerful equipment you used to have.

Just as before, when you equip a new item, you can see it on your character in-game, a feature I've always liked. Also as before, there are a good many ways to level up your characters and boost certain attributes, as alongside experience points from killing enemies (which rack up until you gain a level), you receive ability points, to "spend" as you wish.

A new aspect is the ability to add gems to weapons and armor, and modify your equipment in various ways, something I'm not sure if I like or dislike. On the one hand, it adds more complication and possibly needless tinkering to the game, but on the other, it allows for much more customization. Anyway, if you ever manage to lay your hands on a copy of BG: DA II, you can decide for yourself.

Just as the first Dark Alliance, the game starts off a little slow, but gets going rather nicely. The voice acting is quite good, and although you can save time and read the dialogue instead, you'll probably find yourself listening anyway.

Music, as usual, is great, and keeps you on your toes if you have it at a decent volume. Sound effects are superb as well. Sorry for the pathetically small paragraph on the audible ;)

All this said, I'm only about 33.33333(repeating)% finished with the game, so it could take a turn for the worst, though I doubt it. If there's no addendum to this trifle of a review in the next few weeks, assume the game was a blast, and get a copy at all costs. Later.

Lazy Bastard starts off a bit slow, but gets going rather nicely.




Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (Playstation 2)

Review by Lazy Bastard on 2006-12-15



I'll try to start this off by typing some words, and end it in much the same fashion. Heh. Anyway, BG: DA is one of the best multiplayer games I've ever played. At that, it's an RPG in the subgenre of such games as Diablo. A friend of mine (Reeben) and I probably threw a good...certain amount of hours into it. The action starts...er, adventure...hmm...role playing, actually...anyway, it all starts when your party (either just you, or you and your friend if you're playing in two-player mode) is ambushed by thieves, beaten, and robbed. You end up in a bar called The Elfsong, in the city of Baldur's Gate. It's here that you learn more about the state of the city, and the new thieves guild that robbed you, and decide to strike back at this insidious group.

You choose your one to two characters from three possible...er, characters: a human warrior, a dwarf, and an Elven archer. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and can equip overlapping groups of weapon types.

The weapons, armor, accessories, and items in this game are great. When you equip something, your character's appearance changes accordingly, which allows you to appreciate just how good or bad your new gear looks. Each time you gain a level, you receive (in addition to normal augmentation of abilities and skills) a few points to use as you will in improving your character's attributes, whether it be adding a special ability, increasing accuracy with projectile weapons, incrementing speed, adding some hit points, or boosting one of many other things.

Dark Alliance's music and sound is great, gripping the player during times of fear, despair, and utter impossibility...well, at least in hard mode. On that note, hard mode is no trivial matter; you'll actually have to try to survive, conserving healing potions and such.

A really great aspect of this game is that every enemy you kill, along with every item you drop, remains exactly where you killed it (or dropped it). It's awesome.

The game lasts just long enough: longer than other games of its type (Diablo is a notable example), but not long enough for it to be evident that the creators got tired near the end ;)

If you have the cash on hand, grab this title immediately. It's somewhere in my top ten list, and it takes something special to make that one. This is LB, signing off, out, up, and away.

Lazy Bastard lasts just long enough: longer than other bastards of his type, but not long enough for it to be evident that he got tired near the end.




Natural City (DVD)

Review by Lazy Bastard on 2006-12-14



Natural City is a Japanese flick (subtitled in English, if you like), set in the near future. In this time, we've created a new kind of android. They're nearly perfect; one can hardly tell the difference between one and a human. As such, they're used as workers and *cough, cough* personal servants. Our protagonist is a police officer, (military police, it would seem), who's a member of a group tasked with putting down androids who've turned against humanity. The problem: he's fallen in love with an android (or "doll", as females are called), and needs electronic components to save her from normal expiration. Despite the more-than-sufficient special effects, adequate acting ability of the stars, and intriguing story, one seems to get a B-Grade feeling from Natural City. However, with three or four additional plot twists and thickenings, it's definitely worth a watch. Out of five stars, I give it three triangles. Heh.

Lazy Bastard doesn't have a personal servant, but if he did, it might be an android.




Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus (Playstation 2)

Review by Lazy Bastard on 2006-12-14



DoC was expected to be a giant hit. When it finally arrived, a good many people didn't think too highly of it. As I had plenty of other things to do, I took their respective words for it, and didn't bother checking it out. However, as a fan of the FF series (particularly FFVII), I was always tempted...and when I finally caved (heh), I wasn't disappointed.

If nothing else, Dirge of Cerberus is worth playing for the CG scenes and storyline continuation. It's sort of half action, half RPG, like something you could half-play at an arcade. If you were hoping for FFVII 2, you're SOL, but otherwise, you should be at least slightly happy.

The strong character development via CG scenes, and the ability to modify your weapons, collect ammo, and equip items gives this game that RPG feeling, amidst running around like crazy and trying to wipe out enemies before they wipe you and everyone else out. That, and set to the proper difficulty level, DoC is anything but easy.

Music is great, and, as half-noted twice already, the CG is awesome. To be fair, I'm a busy guy, and I'm only about a quarter of the way through the game (and may never finish it, heh), but thus far, I'm pleased. If you have a few bucks and some time to spare, pick this up, or at least rent it.

As half-noted twice already, Lazy Bastard is awesome.




Gladiator (Movie) (DVD)

Review by acarzt on 2006-12-12



You are standing in a cramped, poorly lit hallway staring at two massive doors with a slight beam of light breaking through. The dust glows in what little light streams through the cracks, and the tension builds due to the unknown fate on the other side of the door. The fans are screaming and stomping their feet anxiously as they await the battle that is about to ensue. You see nothing, but you can sense the jitters of the lesser men around you. You can hear a screeching chain as a man, who to some would appear as if he was a giant, swings a flail over his head ready to bring your life to an end. The doors swing open and a blinding light bursts into the room and the gladiators run out into the arena met by the enemy as they exit. It’s kill or be killed now, and the audience loves it.

Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott was released in November 2000. This compelling masterpiece has an amazing story that will please the tastes of movie fanatics, and the occasional movie viewer just the same. It is more than just non-stop action, and senseless violence. The story draws you through such emotions of joy, anger, despair, and grievance.

The creators of this movie did an outstanding job of portraying Rome, Italy in the time of the great Roman Empire at its peak. The depictions of the city of Rome are superb, to say the least, the buildings are truly dazzling. The art and graphics department was able to capture the impressively massive size of the Coliseum that is the centerpiece in the great city of Rome. The close attention to detail in recreating the late 100’s AD Rome was able to bring the beautiful architecture of this Italian city screaming back to life. You don’t have to be a fan of art to be touched by the magnificent scenes that can be viewed in this movie.

With a very well written script, and a long list of talented actors, this movie stands out from the crowd and sets a new standard of excellence that all movies should live up to. To call this movie “entertaining” would be an insult, because it is far more than that. Russell Crowe was simply amazing, playing the role of Maximus; he made us feel his pain for the loss of his loved ones. We felt his anger and frustrations as he tried to overcome the newly appointed and unfit emperor of Rome. Joaquin Phoenix played the role of Commodus, the villain we love to hate. After killing his father, Marcus Aurelius the emperor of Rome, played by Richard Harris; he appoints himself the new emperor of Rome, and his first act as emperor will be the one he regrets most. But I wont spoil the story for you, the movie Gladiator is a piece of art that must be experienced first hand in order to receive the full effect.

“Splendid”, one of the many words that comes to mind when speaking of the musical composition for this movie; who could forget the enlivening song that plays in background during the battle in the opening of the movie. It does a tremendous job of drawing you into the excitement of the battle. The sound effects are nothing to shake a stick at. If you are fortunate enough to be able to experience this masterpiece in surround sound, you will be able to enjoy the sounds of arrows whizzing past your head, and the cheers of the crowds all around you. You would feel as if you are inside the movie.

“The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an empire.” Gladiator, an epic tale that, without a doubt in my mind, does indeed deserve to be preserved for the future generations to be able to enjoy and embrace this movie in all it’s glory. Truly a masterpiece for the masses; this movie will be remembered by all who have the chance to see it.




Resident Evil 4 (Nintendo Gamecube)

Review by Reeben on 2006-10-23



So this has been the latest installment of the Resident Evil series and by far it is the best. This game was going to be a Gamecube exclusive but the masterminds at Capcom decided to cash in and released it also on the PS2. But I got it first on the GC so thats the one I'm going to tell you about. And plus I hear that the graphics are not as smooth and the load times are alittle slower then the GC version even though the PS2 edition does sport a new gun, a new storyline with the sexy Ada Wong, and well I think that was it. So with all that out of the way lets get on with this.

In the game you reprise the role of Leon S. Kennedy, that lucky bastard who survived the horror that was Raccoon City. Apparently the U.S. Government noticed that he was a strong dude for getting out of that city alive and offered him a job as an agent. Thats pretty much the gist of the background story you get. But thats not really that important. Now apparently the president's daughter has been kidnapped by some horriable ninjas and you need to see if your a bad enough... wait wrong game. She's kidnapped by a mysterious group while on her way back to her dorm in college. She was last spotted in a village in Europe. Leon is sent in to find the girl and get her out alive. Leon starts his search on the outskirts of a village and thats where the game starts you off.

Of course this game supported the best kind of graphics there were. And the little discs show off their might with this game. The series takes a left turn and decides to cut away from the prerendered backgrounds and moves the camera to behind the back of Leon to his right sholder. This makes for an intresting turn of events because now it's not so easy to see badies coming from behind. You must physically turn the character around (or use the cool 180 turn that was in Resident Evil 3) and make sure you are aware of the things around you which makes the game a lot more fun and scary. And this new camera angle also effects combat in a significant way. Aiming, moving, and combat itself is all turned around but is not very difficult to get used to. A cool feature with the new aiming technique is the ability to aim and shoot specific body parts like the legs or the arm or maybe even a weapon if your good enough. Heh. For example if a zombie has, oh I don't know, a piece of tnt in his hand and you time it right you can shoot and distroy him and anyone around him in one shot. Guy running at you, no problem, just shoot out his leg and he'll fall like a fat turd into a pile of vomit. Then you can be an ass and shoot him in the ass or wherever you feel like. But I recommend killing him or her quickly so aim for the head.

There are so many more great features about this game so I'll try and make the list short and sweet. The awsome chests are now gone and is replaced with an attache case. Everything you want to carry needs to fit inside the case so theres a lot more item management involved. Gone are the days where you could pretty much pick up any and all ammo, weapons, and health. Combining herbs is also now a key to saving space. Also new to the game is the Merchant. He sells and buys items to help you on your quest. Throughout the game you will find gold coins or "pesetas" and treasure which you can sell to the Merchant to buy new weapons and health or upgrade the weapons you have as well as upgrading the size of your attache case which is a very welcome one.

So in all its the best Resident Evil game there is. Even gamers who really wouldn't give the series a second look will enjoy the smart gameplay and great graphics of this installment. Theres probably a whole bunch of stuff I missed but hell just play the game for yourself and you'll see. Plus it's on the PS2 now and from what I hear it will also make an apparence on the PC so no one has an excuse not to play it.