Although busy with work and my free time is rare, I've been adding some games to my collection.

Picked up Saint's Row for the XBox360. It's a really good effort at a Grand Theft Auto clone, although the game does lack some of GTA's great features (such as flying, boating and other vehicals). The city looks great, the missions are fun (although frustrating at times - especially if you have to drive all the way across the city before a mission starts ... and if you die, you need to drive all that way again).

The voice acting in Saint's Row is good, and has some top talent. I head the voice of one of the female actresses in the game, and kept asking myself, "who is that? I recognize that voice ..." I finally realized it was the voice of Meg Griffith from the Family Guy. It was a riot to hear her sounding like a tough girl, making sexual inuendos and talking about killing people.

I also borrowed Hitman: Blood Money from a friend of mine. I have always loved that series. A great addition to the series - some very unique missions and characters. Looking forward to Assassin's Creed (an assassin like game set in the dark ages).

Other than that, I have a few games for the PC that I haven't even opened yet. Star Trek: Legacy and Titan Quest. I'll fill you in when I get to play these...

So I cracked and purchased an XBox360. After reading the reviews of the PS3, and reading gamespots comparison, I decided that the XBox360 just had more to offer. Most games appeared better on the system, but there were plenty of more games out for the XBox360. This may change in time ... but by then a NEW system will probably be out. Plus, I had a chance to check out XBox Live at a friends, and it was pretty cool (although a rip off ... luckily I can afford it now).

I got Tiger Woods '07 and the new Need for Speed. Tiger Woods is pretty darn cool. I love the fact that there is a crowd watching now (even though they all look and move the exact same). When you hit a ball into the crowd, and someone doubles-over when they get hit by the ball ... that is awesome. Gameplay is good, but the learning curve for some items is tough (like putting and the approach shots). When you get it down, it's fun. What I DONT like about the game is everything that is missing from the '06 version. There are mini games, but some of the games from '06 are missing in '07 (although 07 does have some new games). Also, where is the REAL TIME calendar. That was a COOL feature of '06. They have the TIGER CHALLENGE (where you play all these professionals in order to finally play Tiger), but there is no LEGEND challenge like there was in '06 as well (where you play classic golfers that are no longer around).

Need for Speed is very cool. It took elements from all the Need for Speed games. New to the series is the canyon races, which are cool ... but can be difficult for the novice racer. Some of the later races and challenges are definately very tough ... but I'll get there.

I wanted to get Saints Row, but unfortunately, Best Buy didn't have it in that day ... There is a GameStop right near me, but I refuse to give them any business anymore. Someone purchased me some games for the holidays from GameStop and they lost the reciept. So, I went to EXCHANGE the games at the store (because they were for a different platform). They said they could only give me the "trade-in" value of the games (which is like $5 a game). So, I took them to Best Buy and they exchanged them with NO QUESTIONS for full purchase price. Then I bought the XBOX360 and 2 games ... looks like GameStop lost some business there. Plus, as I will never be a return customer to GameStop, they will be losing ALOT of business from me in the future. Suckers.

Well, I'm inbetween apartments, and crashing at family and friends while my girlfriend moves out of my apartment. This leaves me working remotely for a bit, and reverting to laptop power. Luckily, I have a nice Alienware Area-51 that has the power to play most of the top games. I wont go into the entire situation, but let's just say I am managing to run all my operations via Starbucks (work operations, that is). Pretty powerful. 10-20 years ago I wouldn't have had the capability. In fact, 10-20 years ago I wasn't even working yet.

Anyway, I got Marc Ecko's Getting Up, where you play a grafitti artist trying to make his mark. Unfortunately, although my computer plays the program, it runs the game TOO fast. The slightest move sends the player all the way across the room. Trying to fight at 12x normal speed is impossible as well. I can't really figure out what is wrong. So far I have contact Atari to troubleshoot the game. If they can tell me what to do great ... if not, I got the game for only $8 at one of the stores. So, no big loss.

The game looks cool (even at 12x speed). The graphics aren't great (compared to other games out there), but they are alright. It seems like an interesting concept. Let's take a GTA type game, and add some cool Grafitti artist missions. I'll let you know more when I get it working (if I get it working)

Hey gang,

Finally got Dark Star One and finished it. It was a good game with some unique parts, but lacked some classic "freelancer-flight simulator" features. This post will describe parts of Dark Star One, but also compare it to games like Freelancer and Privateer the Darkening.

The universe is rather large in Dark Star One ... but limited in scope. There were plenty of systems ... but every system was VERY similar. Almost all systems had a trade station, and many had research stations and asteroids ... but beyond that, the systems were the same. This got VERY repetitive after awhile. Plus, unless you were in the storyline, you could ONLY dock at the trade stations. Freelancer had so many systems that were each diverse and unique (with trade lanes, planets, etc.). Privateer the Darkening had plenty of different systems, and unique bases that looked great.

Trade in Dark Star One was very limited. Each system had a set number of exports that never seemed to changed. Privateer the Darkening's trade was simple, but changed with certain news events. Freelancer had some cool trade effects (like perishable items that decreases the longer you had them). Basically, trade was EXTREMELY limited. Also, goods were not stored ON your ship, but attached via a cargo drone. This may fighting tedious (or you had to DROP the cargo to fight, and spend time picking it up again). Privateer the Darkening had Freighters you could hire ... or you could purchase a freighter yourself. Freelancer had freighter ships you could purchase as well (but you could not hire freighters).

Dark Star One only had 1 player controlled ship, that could be upgraded and modified (using alien artifacts collected throughout the galaxy). This alien upgrade was a cool feature at first ... but lost it's flavor after awhile. And, once you had all the artifacts, there was nothing else to do to change your ship (and you couldn't buy and try other ships). Both Freelancer and Privateer the Darkening had plenty of ships to purchase.

The storyline was interesting, but didn't captivate me too much.

The AI for the combatants were dry and repetitive as well. And once you collected all the artifacts and fully upgraded your ship ... few enemies could touch you.

Regardless of the repetitiveness and lack of features, the game is actually pretty good ... but it could have been better. It also has little replayability, and since I've completed the game, I wont be playing again anytime soon. It's a nice try at the "freelance-flight simulator."  

Well, I've moved on from Rome: Total War. The game was completely completed (see the previous post).

Since completion, I tried to go back to The Movies. It's a fun game, but gets tedious at time. And, with the ability to make movies, it's has some creative interest. However, the Movie Maker is limited. For example, I was looking for a simple death scene ... and there was only a "death in arms" scene (I think that was what it was called). There was no gunshot death scene, no collapse and die scene, etc. Anyway, even with it's limitations, it was fun playing again.

Just read a review on DarkStar One. As I am a HUGE Privateer fan, I'm certainly going to get this game. I love the space trading simulations. As mentioned in one of my earliest posts, I thought Freelancer was great ... but all of the missions were the same (go fight, kill, return). Hopefully, DarkStar One will not have this monotiny.

The preview for DarkStar One also mentioned that you will have your fathers ship, that will adapt and change to new technology that gets added ... does that mean that we can't buy a new ship? Hmmm. Interested to see how this plays out. Could be a nice feature ... or could be restrictive. What if I want to try another ship?

Either way, with few freelance trading games available now-a-days, I'm going to have to get the game and try it out.

'Til next time.

So, I got on a Total War kick again for awhile. As mentioned, I finished Oblivion, played Galactic Civilizations for awhile, and jumped around with a few other games ... but I kept going back to Total War. I was going to get Hitman: Blood Money, but I havent gotten around to it yet. A friend says it's awesome, and I've read a couple of great reviews and forum recommendations. Soon. But, back to Total War. In playing, and completing, the game several times, I can't wait for the next Total War to come out. I have to admit, it got a little boring after awhile, but I wanted to see how it ends with a few other factions, and really dive into ROME's 3 factions. When playing as one of the Rome's 3 factions, you have two main scales to watch - the senate and the people. The senate popularity rises with the missions that you successfully complete. The popularity with the people rises only with the amount of land you conquer. But, the contrast is that as you gain more land, the senate becomes suspicious of your faction, and your popularity will eventually go DOWN with the senate. So, there is a delicate balance that will eventually start to tip toward the people. I found it odd though ... I would only do exactly as the Senate ordered, and never conquer a settlement unless the Senate told me to. As you can imagine, this made the game take a LONG time, but it kept me in the Senate's favor. Eventually though, as I conquered more land, the Senate slowly began to dislike me. So, I kept going until my popularity with the Senate was at it's worse, and they begain ordering my faction leader's death. So, I kept complying, and my leader would commit suicide (luckily, my family was huge by this point, and I had plenty of family members to take his place). Eventually, I had the ENTIRE map conquered, and only the Roman factions were left. No new missions ... unless I was ordered to kill my leader. So I assassinated both of the RED and BLUE roman faction leaders until it was just me and Rome. So I finished off all of the rebel settlements (that were left after the assassinations), and the only province left was Rome. Realistically, you would think that Rome would surrender with a low bribe. Intimidation should force Rome to conceed ... but even with 250000 gold, the province decided not to conceed (I also assassinated all of Rome's leaders, so the city was empty of generals and "bribeable"). So, left to my final option, I attacked and finally conquered the city (like I did so many times before, with other factions). It was upsetting that there was no added victory video if the entire map was conquered ... no bonus. It made me grimace, shut down the game, turn off the computer, and walk away unfulfilled. Oh well. I'm still looking forward to the next total war. After all, ROME kept me busy for a LONG time. And although the lack-of-reward wasn't there at the end, that doesn't mean I hated the game. It was great and I am a fan of the series.

After reading some previews for Assassin's Creed, I can't wait for the release. The previews talk about more character awareness and interaction - When you walk by someone, you push them aside. This may just sound pretty cool .... but once you see the trailers and how it looks, you will be AMAZED. The game is set in Medieval times during the 3rd Crusade, which is a GREAT setting. The previews talk about freedom and open-ended play ... but how much freedom are we talking about. Do we just want a large area per mission (like Thief), or will we be able to wander ALL over the city at any time (like GTA)? Anyway, the game has assassins, a great setting and some cool technology ... I cant wait. I'm already sold.

Considering the great reviews, I finally got Galactic Civilizations II - Dread Lords. The game is a really cool strategy game, and gets you hooks. The "just one more turn" addiction is certainly there, and keeps you playing. The game is structured well, and has some interesting features. The great feature is the ship builder, which lets you build and customize ships depending on what technology you have available. This makes the game a little more customizeable. The only true thing lacking are the battles. The battles are based on stats, and automatically resolved ... so there is no action. It would be a nice feature. The developers commented on this in some interview, stating that the AI for battles would have been too easy and then the game's balance would have been thrown off. Oh well ... maybe next time.

Anyway, after awhile I started to get bored. There is only so much to do, and the micromanagement gets tedious after awhile (however, it does handle micromanagement better than MOST games). But, the boredom sets in, and you end up putting the game away for awhile.

At the moment, I have gone back to ROME: TOTAL WAR. I love that game. Strategy AND some interesting action. Cool.

But, dont get me wrong, I see myself going back to Galactic Civ sooner or later. Or lending it to a friend.

Jabbamonkey

I've always been a HUGE fan of freelance trading games. This includes flight simulators and "pirate" like games. FUTURISTIC Most noteable of all (for me) has been Privateer 2: The Darkening. the game was a FANTASTIC space simulator. It offered tons of different ships and upgrads, plenty of goods to trade (with a good economy), plenty of places to visit, tons of missions and a great storyline. No flight-sim trading game has ever come close. Freelancer was cool ... but the trade goods were limited, and the lack of diverse missions made it VERY tedious. The game did offer a LARGE universe and plenty of different factions you could side with ... but over all it got a little dull. I am probably being a little hard on the game, but compared to Privateer, it lacked it's flare. I still liked it ALOT however. X3 was good, but it's controls were difficult to learn, and the lack of tutorial and poor instruction guide made it hard to get attached to. Also, it is VERY difficult to get started (and many gamers get frustrated when the weakest ship cant do much, and it costs so much to upgrade). I LOVED their effort to make a trade empire though. Most recently, I found Space Rangers 2 to be a really nice addition to the freelance series. It was restrictive in many ways. Once you completed the game, the game was over ... when they could have let you play-and-play. Also, the limited trading resources made trading lose it's flare after awhile. The upgrades were nice, and the actual gameplay experience was a nice combination of turn-by-turn and strategy. Also, the land battles were a nice touch (where you control robots battling for the planet). And the text-based adventure missions were also a unique touch, adding a classic experience to a modern game. PIRATES AAAAARRRRGH! The original Pirates! was a great game, but it lacked any kind of trading. The new modernized Pirates! was an improvement in many ways, but the trading was definately limited. Also, the land battle were TERRIBLY done. The ship control and battles were nice, but lack of weapon and ship variety made it less-than-fantastic. Other trading games have been pretty good. Port Royal 2 was a nice trading game, but still had plenty of room for improvement. Priate Hunter was a nice Pirate clone, and used Port Royals ship battle engine ... the two games should have really been combined. Above represent some of my favorites over the years. I've played most that have existed, but I'm sure I missed one or two. If anyone can throw-out some other trading games, I'd love to hear them.

So I've been checking out the features at E3 (online), and have to say, there are some real winners out there ... and some REAL losers.

PS3 lost alot of clients by not being released at the same time as the XBOX360, and since the new price is going to be over $500, they are going to lose alot more. They've alienated their clients by releasing so late, and the price is so expensive that most people aren't going to go for it (I know I'm going to wait until the price shoots down to 300 ... which could take ALOT of time). And what parents are going to spend $500 on a console (well, I live in Manhattan, and there are some wealthy parents here that would). This whole PS3 thing is disappointing ... I was looking forward to the PS3, but decided to stick with my PC.

The new total war looks WAY COOL. They improved alot graphically. Although, all the previews seem to be mentioned the battles, and little along the way of the strategy element. They said that the units were going to be more diverse (not clones of each other) and the new battlefield city-generator will be awesome. Supposedly, they are adding the Americas (for trade, not gameplay), and have added a new unit called the Merchant. Those are two nice elements. It looks cool, and I think it will be worth it.

I saw that Scarface is coming out. Looks cool, but there are so many crime games recently that it's a little too much. This is a game that I will wait and see if it's any good. I wont rush to the store on the first day of sales to buy another GTA clone. First it was GTA, then Godfather, now Scarface .... and now they are also creating Resevoir Dogs ... oh come on. They all try to hide behind their Movie titles, but they are GTA clones in some way.
Spore looks interesting, although I havent really looked into it much...

I saw that Microsoft was creating Shadowrun ... this was a great Hacker RPG for SEGA. After reading the preview, they said it wasnt going to be like the old game at all. They will probably stip the game of it's hacker-gameplay and make it another hack-n-slash / shoot'em-up.

I saw that they were making a new Indiana Jones games. I loved the old Point-N-Click games of the Lucasfilm era. The modern Lucasfilm game just don't have the flare that those old games did. Unless some RAVE reviews come out, I'm going to wait til this game hits the bargin bin.

That's it for now. Catch ya later.