Ain't Got Games - Battleship

How bad can a game based on a movie based on a board game be?

(Commentary) Ain't Got Games - Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Find out why this review of mine ended up being nearly one hour long!

Ain't Got Games - Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

In this new series that covers video game rentals only, I cover what I believe to be the WORST Resident Evil game I have played so far.

Red Faction 2 - Episode 2: Jason Statham and Lance Henriksen

JASON STATHAM LANCE HENRIKSEN JASON STATHAM LANCE HENRIKSEN JASON STATHAM LANCE HENRIKSEN JASON STATHAM LANCE HENRIKSEN JASON STATHAM LANCE HENRIKSEN

Red Faction 2 - Episode 1: The Nano A-Team

Red Faction 2 is set 5 years after the events of the first game, and takes place on Earth instead of Mars this time around. While the game is pretty fun, the geo-mod destruction pales in comparison to how the first game handled it. Combine that with a short single player, and you've got a sequel that is nowhere near as good as the original. The version that is being played for the LP is the PC version, which is the worst version of the game as it was a port from the console versions. If you are ever interested in playing this game, just get one of the console versions instead.

The Adventures of Dead Rising 2: Terror is Reality MP Review

     Oh wow, it's been I while since I did a blog entry. I think the main reason why I barely updated this was because Christmas and New Years kept distracting me. That, and I kept playing a number of video games between that time, so go figure. One of those games is the one I'm going to be talking about today, Dead Rising 2. I was originally going to do a text review on GoldenEye 007 for the Wii, but I wanted to get this one out of the way first and take care of GoldenEye later. In case you didn't read the title of this blog entry, this is technically not a review of Dead Rising 2. Instead, the only thing I am going to review in Dead Rising 2 is the competitive multiplayer component of the game. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the pay-per-view TV game show..... TERROR IS REALITY!

No, it's not a show about wrestling zombies.

     Before I begin, I might as well quickly summarize my thoughts on Dead Rising 2 as a whole. If you liked the first Dead Rising, you will love the second game. If you didn't like the first one, then the second installment will not change your mind one bit. I fell into the former category and ended up really liking this game. The combo weapons, the co-op (although it still has some issues), and the fact the survivors didn't suck all helped me enjoy this game more than the first one in a number of ways. But I'm not here to talk about the main game of Dead Rising 2, I'm here to talk about the multiplayer component.

     First off, Terror is Reality is a zombie killing game show in Dead Rising 2 where contestants earn points by, you guessed it, killing zombies. It's hosted by Tyrone "TK" King (the lone black guy in the above picture), who is one of the main characters in the game. Regardless, you pretty much play one mode from TIR at the beginning of the story mode, giving you a taste of what you can expect from the online mode. In order to see the other modes, you have to go online. So let's stop stalling and see what TIR really has to offer.

     When I first selected Terror is Reality, I was greeted to a wrestling style intro scene showing off the logo for TIR 17 (what happened to the other 16?). Yeah, in case you were wondering, the multiplayer here has a full on game show style presentation. When waiting to find a match, you watch TK introduce the show itself, and while waiting in the lobby, you'll hear the two announcers of the show commentate before the actual match begins (more on them later). To be fair, I do like how they presented it this way, as it makes it feel distinct instead of just being a tacked on multiplayer mode. I've heard reviews say that this presentation made it feel like an episode of American Gladiators, but I have to disagree in a way. For me, especially after playing all nine of the games, I personally felt that TIR was more like this...

Don't judge me. Double Dare is awesome.

     Yes, after playing TIR for quite a bit, I felt that I was playing a violent zombie killing version of Double Dare if you took out the question segments and only kept in the physical challenges. I think the main reason for this was because of how all nine games were both goofy and creative in their own way. Hell, playing the theme song fit perfectly when I was playing each game. So yeah, consider this multiplayer to be Double Dare for adults.

     Anyway, let me explain how the multiplayer actually works. Each multiplayer match gives you four of the nine events to play, which makes up one episode. The first three events are randomized, and the last event in the episode is always Slicecycles (which you got to play in the story mode). Even though I said the first three are randomized, there is a pattern in how they appear. The first event is either Zomboni (which the game calls Zombi Tank for some reason. Way to screw up continuity Capcom), or Ramsterball. The second and third events have a set path with each other. For example, if the second event is Pounds of Flesh, then the third event will always be Master Shafter. Same goes for Ball Buster, which always goes to Headache etc. At the end of every episode, the winner is determined by who has the most points. Then the points you earned gets converted into cash to use in your main story mode file. Even if you get first or last place, you will still win money. This is possibly the main selling point of the multiplayer, as it provides an easy way to earn cash for story mode.

     Now I'm going to explain how each individual event works, along with my thoughts on each one. I may also include a little experience I had with some of these events as well, hence why this blog post is called "The Adventures of Dead Rising 2," instead of just "Dead Rising 2 Multiplayer Review." So lets start this off with one of the first events I had to play when I started up multiplayer. That event in particular is Ramsterball.

The ultimate zombie killing device!

     Ramsterball requires players to run over zombies in order to earn points, but then you have to run into one of the many bumpers in the arena in order to bank the points. You can still earn points by just hitting the bumpers without running any zombies over, but you wont earn as many as running over some zombies before banking the points. There is a catch to this however. You can only do the things I mentioned above if you have the power.

No, not that kind of power!

     Yeah, as I was saying, the game randomly selects one of the four players at the start of the event and gives them the power. The event then basically turns into a game of cat and mouse as the person with the power is trying to earn points while the other three players are hunting him down. In order to get the power, you simply need to run into the person who has it. After you obtain it, you get roughly a 1.5 to 2 second invincibility time so you can get away from the other players. I'm guessing that was put in to prevent the power being switched instantly back and forth when all four players get clusterfucked after crashing into each other (this happens a lot in this particular game). Also, if you lose the power before you bank any points, you lose all the points you were saving up before hitting the bumper.

     I have mixed feelings about this event in particular. My initial reactions to it were not that positive, since controlling the ball's movement felt a little weird at first. Having a bunch of bumpers getting in the way doesn't help out much either. I thought that your character moved a little too slow initially, but there is a sprint button in order to move around faster anyway, so you'll most likely abuse it during this game. I'm also not exactly a fan of the rules in this game, as I would have just liked this event without the power system implemented. The camera also locks on to the person with the power, which is helpful since it can be easier for the players to go after the power. However I do have one issue in particular about it, but I'll get into that much later. Also, lag can be especially noticeable here, as you can see players pop up out of nowhere, sometimes magically stealing your power if you have it. Yet, after playing this event a couple of more times, I had a quite a bit of fun with it. So overall, Ramsterball is decent, but I felt that it could have been a bit better. Now let's move on to Zomboni (or Zombi Tank, make up your mind game!)

Couldn't find a clever picture, so here's

a screenshot of the actual game.

      Zomboni has all four players riding in tank/lawnmower things running over zombies in order to fill up blood in their tanks. Then the players have to shoot the blood they have stored into one of the four open mouths on the sides of the arena in order to score points. Some of the mouths will be either open or closed, so you basically have to find an open mouth and shoot your blood into it before it closes. Oh wow, that just sounded wrong on so many levels.

     Anyway, I didn't have any problems with this event in particular. It's simple, it's easy to play, and I had fun playing it. There really isn't much else to say about Zomboni, it really is one of the easiest events to play in TIR. My only problem with it is that it showed up WAY to frequently whenever I played online, so it wore out on me pretty quickly. Other than that, Zomboni (or Zombi Tank, if you prefer) was fun to play. Now it's time to move on to Pounds of Flesh.

Thankfully, it's not as annoying as this fucker.

      Pounds of Flesh has players wearing deadly moose helmets (yes, I'm serious), which is used to fling zombies onto a weighing scale in order to earn points. Focusing on the fatter zombies is important, since you earn more points for getting heavier zombies on the scale. If you run out of zombies to fling, you have to hit the button in the back of your platform (players get their own platform) so more will be placed on the platform for flinging. As always, the person with the most points wins.

     This event was interesting at first, but I ended up not liking it after playing it a couple more times. For one, flinging the zombies onto the scale is a little finicky, since the scale and the platform are separated by a gap. Therefore, it is very easy to either fling them off to the side, or not fling them far enough to reach the scale. The trick to this is to charge into the zombies by holding the X button, then tapping X to fling the zombies into the scale. This only tends to work sometimes, but it's pretty much the best method to get the zombies on the scale. Again, that's all there really is to Pounds of Flesh. Some people might find this fun, but I found it to be boring after playing this one for a while (having this as another common game didn't help either). Next up is Bounty Hunter.

He's a bounty hunter, so why not?

      This event sets all four players in their own separate towers with sniper rifles that contain infinite ammo. The goal is to get the most points by shooting at the zombies in the arena while they move towards the grinder in the middle. Certain zombies have pink balloons attached to them, and shooting them will give the player bonus points. Also, at random points in the game, the target above the grinder will be available to shoot. Whoever shoots the target first gets extra bonus points, along with raising the barriers on the other players to prevent them from shooting zombies for a couple of seconds.

     I personally found Bounty Hunter to be pretty fun to play. However, I do think it's a bit too exploitable at certain points. For example, you can really just aim at the zombies that come out of their spawning door and keep shooting at them, especially when the specially marked zombies start to enter. Also, it is very easy to win if you can quickly hit the bonus target when it becomes available. If you consistently check back on when it will activate again, you can easily shoot it and get the bonus points along with a few free zombies kills. Sure, the target is hard to hit since it moves around a lot, but if you're fast, you can easily hit it first and get the points. Like with Ramsterball, lag can be noticeable here, mainly when firing the sniper rifle. The firing can either be a bit delayed, or it can make you miss certain shots. Despite my complaints about it, Bounty Hunter is fun, but there really isn't much to it. Next event please!

"It's a family game. Fun for children!

And for adults, it's exciting!"

     Ball Buster equips the players with, well, a ball launcher. They each have to try and shoot the zombies that appear behind the open elevator doors in order to score points. The "special" zombies return in this mode, but they are much more important to hit here than in Bounty Hunter. Shooting one of them does either one of three things. It will either give the player that shoots it bonus points, rapid fire for the ball launcher, or it will jam all the other player's launchers (in which they have to press a sequence of buttons in order to unjam them). Again, most points earned = YOU'RE WINNER.

     This event was another one I had some fun with. It may just be an old fashioned shooting gallery with zombies and balls, but it is still pretty fun. The only complaints I have with it a really just nitpicks, such as how the aiming and firing is a bit slow. But like I said, that's what the rapid fire bonus is meant for. One other slight problem I have is that certain players can have a minor advantage over the others. There are two players on the top platform, while the other two are below them. The players on top will have a slight advantage when it comes to shooting the zombies. However, it is very minor, so it is still easily possible to win regardless of where you are positioned. So overall, it's a fun event, and it is another favorite of mine. But then, THIS fucker had to come along...

Basically what I was like every time I played this.

     Headache starts players off with three blender buckets and a stick of dynamite. The goal is to put the buckets on the zombie's heads and hit the button at one end of the arena in order to set them off and score points. Players can refill their buckets by going to the dispenser in the middle, while the dynamite returns to the inventory after a while. The more buckets you put on the zombies before hitting the button, the more points you get. The dynamite is used to sabotage the other players since explosion will knock the buckets off the zombies, denying the player any points they were saving up if they don't hit the button before it explodes. Most points earned wins, as usual.

     Now, if you didn't already guess, I fucking HATE this event. I hate the rules, I hate the way it plays, and I hate how you can easily get screwed over in this event. Player movement is slow as hell in this event, which is especially annoying when you are in a rush to hit the button to score before that ONE dynamite explosion will fuck up your chances of winning. Also, unlike in single player, you can't push the zombies aside, which means that they will act like a brick wall when you are trying to score points. It's annoying as all hell. Every time I played this event, I had the worst experience with it. I'll explain one particular experience later on in this unnecessarily long blog post. Honestly, I wouldn't have minded this event if movement was faster and it played a bit better. But as it is, I don't like Headache one single bit. At least this next event is slightly better than this one.

This event isn't all that funny.

     Stand Up Zomedy (yeah, nice one Capcom) has the players dress up zombies using three different joke items. There are six dispensers around the arena, two of each that contain either a tutu, stick pony, or a flower pot. Players can earn points by putting the joke items on the zombies. If one player gets all three of their different items on one zombie, they get bonus points. However, another player can prevent this by putting one of their items on that player's zombie and deny them the points. And yes, you guessed it, most points win.

     I didn't like this event that much either, mainly for the slow character movement yet again, but I liked it better than Headache. It was far less frustrating than Headache, but it still wasn't that entertaining to play. The event itself is kind of interesting, but it just didn't hold my attention that much in the long run gameplay wise. I will give the event some credit though, I found it to be the closest thing to a Double Dare style game out of all the other events. But aside from that, I just don't much more to say about this one. I simply didn't like it that much. The next event is yet another one that came up way too often for me in TIR. That event is Master Shafter.

Not exactly the same, but whatever.

     Master Shafter requires players to impale zombies that are shot into the air before they hit the ground.  Targets appear on the ground to designate where the zombie will land, and the player has to stand under it in order to impale the zombie when it lands. If more that one person stands under the target, the game will then turn into a button-mashing fest to see who can hit the button combination the fastest. Whoever does it the fastest will knock the other players away, scoring more points than normal depending on how many people were engaged under the target as well. You should know how the player wins by now. If not, where the hell have you been?

     This event is definitely one of the more simple ones to play. All it really boils down to is who can hit buttons faster in order to score more points. It is possible to score without having anyone fight for the target spot, but that earns you less points, so the event encourages fighting others for the zombie kill. As for my opinion on it, I actually kinda like this event, but just like Zomboni, it appeared way too frequently for me. Yet, at the same time, I honestly wouldn't mind this one turning up from time to time. Now, there is one more event left to cover. The one that everyone plays at the end of every Terror is Reality episode. It's time for Slicecycles!

Needs more chainsaw.

     Slicecycles is the only event in TIR where your ranking position in the episode really matters. If you are in first place by the time you reach this event, you will get a head start. If you are in the other ranks, you will have a time penalty before you can go out and play, with fourth place getting the longest penalty. This event is the simplest of all the events, since all you need to do is run over the zombies to earn points. Once the bonus round starts, the "special" zombies will show up as well, giving the player a massive amount of points if they run over a good number of them.

     I'll just go out and say this right now. This event kicks major ass. For being the most simple event, it is also the one that was always fun to play regardless. Sure, I have said in the other events that I didn't like how simple some of it was, but none of those events had the entertainment value that Slicecycles had. Now I can see why Capcom added this event to the beginning of the story mode. My only complaint about this event is a major nitpick, so please take it with a grain of salt. The issue was that I found the motorcycle to be a little too sensitive to my turning, making it easy for me to miss that one important bonus zombie cluster. But like I said, that's just a nitpick, and it doesn't detract from the fun I had with this event. So yeah, best event in TIR hands down for me.

     Overall, I feel that the events in Terror is Reality are decently well rounded for the most part. There is a nice amount of variety in each one, and most of them were at least fun to play in their own right. At the same time, I don't think that this multiplayer has much staying power either. Sure, some of the events are fun, but they each can become tiring after extended play time. The only real reason I can see people coming back to this is if they need some easy cash to earn for their single player game, which is a huge plus might I add. So as a whole, the events in TIR are nice and varied, but can easily lose its lasting appeal.

     Oh, and I almost forgot, I wanted to mention the announcers that commentate during each multiplayer episode. At first, these guys were pretty funny to listen to, adding in a couple of crude and mature jokes here and there. But after the tenth match or so, I already got tired of hearing them since I started hearing lines and jokes that I have already heard many times before in previous matches (the remark about seeing the Michael Jackson zombie came up quite a few times). Anyway, these guys became tiring to listen to, but I didn't hate listening to them whatsoever. And besides...

The announcers in this game were better.

     But wait, there's more! Now there was a particular reason why I wanted to call this "The Adventures of Dead Rising 2," and that reason is to recall some moments I had while playing it. I'm warning whoever is reading this right now, this might contain me ranting for a bit. So with that out of the way, let's get started.

     I'm going to be perfectly honest right now. I can be considered an achievement and/or trophy whore. Usually if I exhausted whatever main options a game has given me to do, I go after most of the game's achievements in my spare time. Whether it's grinding for kills or having the game make me furious while playing on the hardest difficulty, I usually find that earning achievements can have a sense of accomplishment. Now, I don't play games for achievements, I play games for the "game" part of it. At the same time, I do have standards for what I believe are good achievements. One particular example of bad achievements for me are multiplayer achievements (unless the game is online only like MAG). And of course, Dead Rising 2 had the balls to have multiplayer achievements. I was not looking forward to getting them at all.

     For the most part, the multiplayer achievements were not that bad, since there were only three of them. Two of them were simple to get, such as winning an episode and winning one of the nine events. But the last one was the worst of them all. The goal was to win all nine events at least once. This may not sound that bad, but in reality, this was a pain in the ass to get for reasons I stated much earlier in the blog. The big reason was how frequent and/or infrequent some of the events showed up, meaning that the events I didn't win were mostly the ones that barely showed up for me. So getting this one achievement meant that I had to play a lot of TIR episodes hoping to GOD that I didn't lose if one of those elusive events showed up.

     After losing at Headache one too many times since that was the last event I needed to win in order to get the achievement, I finally managed to win in one particular episode. But playing that episode also gave me the most fucked up experience with Ramsterball ever. Remember when I said that lag was noticeable in this event the most? Well, the lag in this match decided to completely fuck me over when trying to get the power from other players. The weird thing is that the issue wasn't players teleporting around the arena as usual when it lags, the issue was the camera working against me completely. For some unknown reason, whenever another player had the power, instead of following the person with it as usual, the camera kept turning in the OPPOSITE direction of the player, making it impossible to chase the player with the power. This was the worst experience I ever had with this event, but since I didn't need to win it anymore for the achievement, I simply didn't care at that point. Thankfully, Ball Buster went along just fine even though one player quit after the previous event. As for Headache, the player that quit might have been my saving grace since I won the event with almost no issues in comparison to the other attempts. And I'm glad I finally got the achievement, because I wanted to return the game and rent something else in its place since I got the most out of it by that point.

     As I said before, the Terror is Reality multiplayer component is a fun little diversion from the main game. Even though it's an easy way to earn cash, the staying power wont last that long. So if you plan to play Dead Rising 2 if you haven't already, give TIR a shot. At the same time, if you are going for the achievements, don't be surprised if you end up getting frustrated at it from time to time. As for me, I'll be busy trying to get back in the groove of writing blog posts more often.

Just a little reminder to myself.

The Death of the Guitar Hero Franchise

"Activision confirms that Guitar Hero is no more, writing "due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011.""

Goodbye Guitar Hero, that's what you get for releasing an entry SIX TIMES in one year! The full story.