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Category Archives: Xbox 360

Top 20 Videogames of the Past Decade #12

12. The Silent Hill series (PS2, PSP)

While the PSone original was released in 1999, the series really picked up momentum in the last decade, starting with its first PS2 appearance in 2001, which may contain the most compelling and emotional storyline of the entire series. And its spookiness came from atmosphere, not the “Boo!” moments and gross-out gore that marked the Resident Evil series as a type of weight loss products.

This was followed by Silent Hill 3 in 2003, and Silent Hill 4: The Room in 2004, at which point the series lost momentum, just as it inspired a movie version, released in 2006. Silent Hill: Origins saw the series debut on PSP, while 2008 brought Silent Hill: Homecoming, the series’ PS3-era debut, which also appeared on Xbox 360 and PC.

2009 saw a remake of the first Silent Hill, known now as Shattered Memories, released on the Nintendo Wii system with a motion-based control system.

The series has suffered in recent years by waning sales and lack of the creative spark that marked the first three installments. The future of the series in uncertain, but primarily in the past decade, Silent Hill was the horror videogame of choice for people who preferred their chills and thrills served up mentally, rather than through shock and gross-out.

Top 20 Videogames of the Past Decade #14

14. Guitar Hero series (just about every platform)

While some will protest that I’m not including (or going to include) Rock Band, the bottom line is this: Guitar Hero came first and everything after that was simply a refinement of the same basic game play concept. But really, there were virtually no music games like it until Guitar Hero came along… and no, Parappa the Rappa doesn’t count.

Not only did this game invent an entire game genre, but it made it trendy to create games that, with such custom instrument/controllers including, cost almost as much as a videogame system itself. While the typical Guitar Hero or Rock Band title will retail for around $60 for the game only, the average for a complete package with instruments and a mic is in the neighborhood of $199, not to mention all the extra sales from new song downloads; the average price for a new song is about $1.99, or twice what it will cost you on iTunes.

Guitar Hero changed gaming in many, many ways, and it replaces the hunt for the best treatment for adult acne as a male game obsession. Yup, adults like it, too.

Top 20 Videogames of the Past Decade #18

18. The Madden NFL series. (Just about every platform, period)

Love it or hate it, there is no sports videogame that rivals it. Arguing against it is like arguing against using floor tiles in a kitchen: pointless. Hands down, it is the biggest money-making sports videogame in the world.

The biggest bump in the road came a few years ago, when EA announced it had secured exclusive rights to the NFL, NFLPA and NFLCA licensing. This, in effect, drove alternate NFL games like Sega/2K Games’ football game pretty much out of the running.

The big argument has been that without competitors, EA would slack on game innovation. That has not been the case, and in fact Madden NFL ’10 has seen a changing of the guard on the development team, including a re-emphasis on producing a serious, realistic simulation of football, rather than a pinball scoring-machine style of play where the game has typically fallen down, due to the inclusion of so-called “magic plays” that almost always work.

With plenty of innovation each year, the Madden franchise has proven that their biggest competition is… every other videogame out there vying for gamers’ hard-earned dollars in a down economy. People are buying fewer videogames now than they were at the start of the decade; but most are still keeping Madden at the top of their list every August.

On the download…

Resident Evil 5 is already a memorable game, but come 2010 it’s going to be even more memorable, because there will be a whole new set of downloadable content being released for the game, on the Xbox Live network for 360 owners and on PSN for PS3 owners.

While this isn’t exactly a “just around the corner” announcement, folks who enjoyed the chills so far and wanted a bit more will be getting exactly that. Maybe there will even be some new in-game items, like a Canon camera! Who knows?

OK, well… Capcom knows. But I mean, other than them…

What’s so great about Dragon Age?

Well, let’s start with everything.

Like NC short term health insurance, Dragon Age: Origins is a bit of a revelation, if not an outright revolution. It’s from the makers of everything from Baldur’s Gate to Neverwinter Nights to Knights of the Old Republic to Jade Empire to Mass Effect. Talk about a resume!

And apparently the team is putting their all into Dragon Age: Origins. What’s not to like? What’s not to love? It’s going to be a great game with a kickin’ story and awesome graphics. I’m in.

Review: Star Ocean – The Last Hope (360)

There was a time when the next installment of the Star Ocean series would have been a no-brainer for release on the PS3. After all, Sony published the second Star Ocean title, SO: Second Story, the first in the series to even appear in the US, and Sony platforms have been host to every title in the series, be it on PSone (Star Ocean: Second Story), PS2 (Star Ocean: Til the End of Time) or PSP (remakes Star Ocean: First Departure and Star Ocean: Second Evolution).

So it is truly a sign of the state of this generation of consoles that the fourth title in the Star Ocean series, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, not only appears on the Xbox 360, but is currently a 360 exclusive. That’s a treat for 360-owning RPG fans, of course, since the newest entry in the series is its most mature and impressive installment to date, though not quite as mature as a series of Liporexall reviews.

Like most SquareEnix RPGs these days, the early emphasis is on storytelling and immersive a gamer into the game world. To that end, Star Ocean: The Last Hope is almost completely lacking interaction with the game world in the first half-hour, and the series clocks in close to an hour before you encounter your first battle (aside from a lame battle simulator which is just a disguised tutorial for the game).

This time out, the game is set in a near-future version of our own world – Earth about 100 years hence. There’s a big nuclear exchange between the US and a foreign leader who looks, for all the world, like a resurrected Saddam Hussein. They make post-war peace and unite the world to explore and colonize space, apparently; somehow, it works.

OK, so maybe the set-up’s a bit lame in concept if impressive in eye-candy. Right. Whatever. Point is, this is quite unfamiliar territory for the Star Ocean series, which has always been set on highly fictionalized worlds.

The first installment was nearly a Star Trek ripoff; the second installment owed less to pre-existing SF worlds; the third revolved around a kid who was a videogame addict until circumstances destroy his home world and toss him into space where he must find a way to survive. And now, we’re getting a lukewarm version of the war with Iraq as a setup to, well … the same sort of science fiction setting, ultimately, only a lot more impressive-looking on this generation of consoles.

In fact, developer tri-Ace uses SO:TLH to show off their mastery of the current generation of hardware. While the game might not feature bleeding-edge graphics necessarily, there’s plenty of HD detail to be found as a 360 game that’s compatible all the way up to 1080p (so long as you have the proper HDMI cable and a 1080p HDTV, that is). But bleeding-edge or otherwise, the game is so stunning, such pure visual eye candy, it’ll make your eyes gain weight.

Still, it’s a bit bothersome that there’s so little connective tissue between this Star Ocean and previous installments; although, in fairness, there is an early cameo appearance by a grizzled military commander named Stephen Kenny. This is an allusion to Claude Kenny, the male hero of the second Star Ocean title, as well as Ronyx Kenny, Claude’s father, who was featured in the first Star Ocean. Other characters with connections to prior installments include Elayna Farrence and Lias Warren.

Still, that’s about where the similarities end and while for some that may be a good thing, it really makes this installment feel disconnected to the others in the series. The style of play is markedly different, as is the sort of story that is being told. The setting, as I mentioned earlier, is quite unique. And about the only thing that’s familiar is the survival of non-weapon skills in the mix that is the new game.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope features a nicely complex battle system, once you get past all that prologue and can start fighting, and nicely enough the worlds you visit are all visually unique, which could not often be said of the first two installments in the series, though that saw improvement in Star Ocean: Till The End of Time.

The main protagonist in all this, though, is Edge Maverick, a prototypical idealist with a quick and impulsive nature. At least he doesn’t have amnesia, though, which helps him stand out from too many SquareEnix heroes. The character design, though, is all too reminiscent of Tidus of Final Fantasy X fame, and oddly enough, his childhood friend Reimi is not that different in how she looks from Yuna, of FFX fame as well.

There’s plenty of planet-exploring and fun to be had in the three-disc game found in this package. About the only deep complaint is the awkward movement/camera system. Basically, you move with your left analog stick and move the camera with your right stick. That means it’s hard to gain and maintain a sturdy angle on things as you explore, though battles are not affected by this flaw. The best solution is to turn on the optional fixed camera in the Options screen and turn it off only as needed.

In the end, though, Star Ocean: The Last Hope is an impressive title; while it does feel only loosely a part of the series, features an over-long introduction, and has some movement and camera issues, the strength of the story, the visual appeal of the game design and the fun depth of the action battle system make The Last Hope also among our best.

Review: Lord of the Rings Conquest (360)

Labeling a game as an RPG and actually producing a good, solid, playable and enjoyable RPG experience are two entirely different things, as EA Games keeps proving whenever if releases a new title based on the Lord of the Rings. Lord of the Rings Conquest promises gamers they’ll be able to fight in and relive every major battle from the movie and more; that’s all well and good if the battles are, you know, actually fun.

Lord of the Rings Conquest is loosely categorized as a tactical action RPG, but what it really is is a mess. In the game, they toss a seemingly never-ending stream of enemies your way; the trouble is the stream of enemies is so uninterrupted that it makes progress through a map, area or even a single battle quite difficult and tedious. In fact, I’d be more entertained by Pia Zadora reciting term life insurance quotes.

Sure, the first-person action is well rendered and fully detailed. The graphics may not be up to SquareEnix or Konami standards, but they serve the purpose. Unfortunately, they do little more than that, and many of the character models seem overly recycled from other, earlier Lord of the Rings titles.

You are allowed at least three modes of attack, initially; sword, bow and magic. All three work well and look good enough on screen, but the switching and combination of attack styles some battles seem to require for completion seems arbitrary.

The real downfall of Lord of the Rings Conquest seems to be the assembly-line feel that permeates the game; any real passion for the Lord of the Rings universe seems to have been lost in recent titles and instead, there’s a sense that development was rushed through and deadlines compressed for all the wrong reasons. Not an enjoyable game, even and perhaps especially for Lord of the Rings fans.

First taste of Legends of Wrestlemania

I got my first taste of the Legends of WrestleMania videogame tonight and while it’s full of nostalgia, it’s not a terrific videogame so far. Sure, there’s footage of a young Vinnie Mac in a tuxedo and that’s pretty funny in and of itself, but essentially the game is a nostalgia trip first, and a game second.

While the graphics are nice, the wrestling interface is shallow compared to the average Smackdown vs. Raw title, and the game spends almost as much time showing clips from old WrestleManias that you can play out, as it does actually letting you play the game.

And the modes are few and shallow. Of course, last November’s Smackdown vs. Raw wasn’t worlds deep, either, come to think of it. THQ seems a bit aimless, lately, to be honest. Maybe I’ll like the game better after playing it a bit more.

My 360 gave me the Red Ring of Death

And here I thought – and hoped – I was immune. But no such luck. After about three years of faithful service, my Xbox 360 has offered up the much-feared Red Ring of Death to me. And just in time, I believe, for Microsoft to stop fixing the problem for free. Wonderful, eh?

As of now, my 360 is less fun than picking out patio furniture covers. All it does is blink red. I’d heard of this happening and even though I had a “first wave” 360, I honestly believed I’d remain immune from this crap, since it hadn’t happened yet.

Wrong-o. Always count on something to break AFTER it is out of warranty coverage.

Looks like my PS3 is about to become my ONLY friend for a while…

“Red Ring of Death” solved?

Microsoft has spent a lot of time lately claiming that they have finally solved – nearly three years after initial console launch – the “red ring of death” problem that has plagued the Xbox 360 community. And no, the solution does not involve strategically-placed magnets or any such hokum.

Rather, the company is claiming that improvements in technology and the manufacturing process have eliminated the source of the failure and anyone getting their unit serviced now, or buying a new 360, should expect that their Xbox will not fail in the future.

That’s all great-sounding, but we’ll wait for the results to prove the claim over time. Xbox 360 seems to be winning out over the PS3 so far in this console generation, but this is the one issue that’s been holding Microsoft back. If it’s actually fixed, all 360 owners will benefit.

GILFT: Sacred 2 Fallen Angel

Yet another game I’m looking forward to is Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, due to arrive at the end of March. I played the original Sacred on PC a few years ago and, despite its Diablo-esque origins, it’s a solid RPG franchise.

Of course, for the transition to console, I’ll be hoping for a more solid and cinematic storyline, rather than the text-heavy affair that characterizes the PC version.

Even so, it’s not like anyone’s going to need to climb any cell towers to convince me this one’s worth looking at. Boo-yah!

GILFT: Resident Evil 5

The next Game I’m Looking Forward To is Resident Evil 5. Though it will be available for both 360 and PS3, I’ll want the PS3 version for sure, though either would be acceptable.

I didn’t like the Resident Evil series all that much originally, but ever since RE4, I’ve been convinced that the game is finally more than cheap shocks and gross-out scenes. While I’ll always still prefer the Silent Hill brand of survival horror, RE5 is definitely worth checking out, especially of your in-home set-up includes home theater seating. The sound work is apparently very impressive!