Tag Archives: PS3

MLB 10: The Show (PS3)

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Good baseball video games are tough to come by. Even the best developers have fallen victim to junky control mechanics or wonky baseball physics. Like many other sports games, once a developer finds a control scheme that works, it is best to just stick with it and tweak it as required with each new version. The difficult part is finding solid control mechanics to use. Fortunately, MLB 10: The Show has this in the bag. With a few other baseball options on the market now, is this truly the best one? read on…

GRAPHICS (10/10)

Although EA Sports has trademarked its slogan “It’s in the game”, it should really consider leasing that motto to Sony for this game. It is amazing the amount of detail that made it into this game. It is amazing to see Derek Jeter come to the plate and do his little shimmy before getting in his batting stance or seeing an outfielder dust off his uniform after diving for a ball. There are just counteless minor details that baseball fans will just eat up.

The graphics themselves are pretty spectacular also. The players actually look like the players and not some crazy CGI rendered images of players. Often times player models will look good when up close or at the plate, but show that same player waiting on first base and he suddenly looks mildly deformed. This is not the case with MLB 10 where all the players look realistic all the time. The stadiums are all perfect replicas of their real life counterparts. If you’re playing at Fenway the Green Monster is brought to life with lush detail. Everthing from the billboards to the scoreboards to the players just screams authenticity in this game.

GAMEPLAY (10/10)

As pretty as the game looks, this is what it all really comes down to. Fortunately, the game more than delivers in thsi department. The game utilizes the same tried and true pitching mechanics that require you to push the proper face button to select your type of pitch, then use X to aim the pitch and determine how hard it will be thrown. Batting is also fairly simple as you use “x” for a contact swing or square for a power swing. I have never once used the quare button while batting and I haven’t had any problems connecting with X. Regardless, these control interfaces are by far the best ever created in a baseball game. Other games (such as MLB 2k10) use different control schemes and they wind up falling flat due to the high margin of error involved with the inputs.

The only gripe I had is with the fielding and how players dive for balls. For example, when you are using the shortstop and you are chasing a liner that your guy could easily pick up, sometimes the game never initiates the animation for the player to scoop the ball up, resulting in your player being on top of the ball and it rolling between his legs into the outfield. This is especially frustrating when you have a double play perfectly set up only to be robbed by some shoddy hit detection which prevented your player from picking up the ball. While this is not a gamebreaker, it is very frustrating. There were so many times when I would have pitched a perfect inning only to be robbed by a bobbled ball that results in a 2 run RBI. Maybe this is omething that can be fixed with a patch, but for now its just the way things are.

SOUND (7/10)

The sound of the games is actually pretty good. The crowd roars loudly whenever something exciting happens. The ump’s voice is distinguishable as he calls out strikes. The crack of the bat echoes through your speakers when a batter makes contact. All of he sound effects are great and really give off that stadium vibe.

The one thing that brings down the audio portion is the horrendous commentary. For the most part, the commentators are fairly decent. There are a lot of times when they will add their 2 cents at the worst possible times. If you ever strike out, you will most likely get an earful about it from the commentators as if they were the batting coaches. Its bad enough to strike out but then to hear the commentator ripping you about it just makes things so much worse. there were seriously times when I wanted to just walk up to their booth and punch them, they get that irritating.

ONLINE (7/10)

The online games I played were pretty lag free, but not completely. For a game like this, one second of lag can mean the difference between winning and losing. I can’t count the number of times I would’ve had a strike out only to fall victim to lag resulting in my pitch being slow and getting crushed out of the park. it is just too difficult to hit or pitch when you are fighting lag at the same time. I’m sure people with really good internet connections can probably play this game online without any problems but when I played I always fell victim to lag.

OVERALL (9/10)

This game is a must have for nay baseball fan out there. Unfortunately it is only available on PS3. This is one of the few PS3 exclusive titles that make 360 owners green with envy. When compared to the baseball offerings on other systems, MLB 10 smashes those hands down. The learning curve for this game is fairly steep, but once you start to get it down it is one of the most rewarding gaming experiences around. MLB10: The Show is by far the best console baseball game I have ever played, perhaps even the best sports game I have played.

Assassins Creed II (PS3, Xbox360)

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The first Assassins Creed promised a historically accurate sandbox game experience complete with countless side missions and stealth assassin action. What we got was a graphically gorgeously recreation of ancient middle eastern cities and roughly 3 different types of repetitive side missions which recycled themselves till the end of the game or until you bashed your head against the wall, whichever came first.  To say it was a bit of a dissappointment was an understatement. This wasn’t even the beginning of the letdown. The game also took place in the future (yes the future) where you are the descendant of Altair, the main assassin protagonist, and you experience his life via the animus (think those chairs in the matrix that plug into the back of your head). This “twist” wasn’t exactly horrible, but it would have been better served if it was revealed near the middle or end of the game.  It didn’t help that the future portions were boring and a bit clunky to get through.  Fast forward to our present time and the release of the game’s sequel. Does it live up to the huge potential of the first game? Read on…

STORY (9/10)

The story for this game is excellent.  You are still in control of  Desmond Miles, the descendant from the first game, only now you are taking control of a different one of your ancestors, the awesome Banderas-esque Ezio Auditore. The story takes place in Renaissance Italy, which makes for a surprisingly interesting backdrop.  You assume the role of Ezio from birth and then again as a teenager all the way up until he is a man. Right off the bat, the game immerses you so much more than the first one ever did. By assuming control of Ezio as a person, before he becomes an assassin, you really get to learn about him and ultimately you care about what happens to the character and his development.  Without giving away too much of the story, Ezio’s family is wrongfully accused of a crime and then publicly executed. Ezio vows to gain revenge and along the way discovers his assassin heritage and assumes his role in the lineage of assassins.

The future sequences are still the weakest link of the game. Every time you have to play them you’ll be hoping that you can go back to Ezio as soon as possible.  Even the graphics look a bit shoddy in these portions. compared to the Italy segments. It doesn’t help things that Desmond looks like a special ed version of Shia LeBouf, as if the real Shia wasn’t special enough already. Regardless, the plot is great with twist and turns abound and the ending is definitely a shocker that will have you yearning for the next installment.

GRAPHICS (10/10)

The graphics in this game are beautiful. This is probably the best looking game, other than Uncharted 2 (it even gives that game a run for its money), that I have seen on a console.  If you’ve ever wanted to see renaissance Italy, this game will give you a good idea of how things looked. The cities are that detailed.  The first game had incredible graphics also, but this game just puts those to shame.The player models are all very well rendered and the cities all look authentic. I didn’t experience any screen tearing or slow down at all, which says a lot since many times the screen will be filled with a mob of enemies for you to fight.  The graphics are definitely impressive and you can tell that developer Ubisoft put a lot of work into recreating the environments to look as accurate as possible.  the only negative is that the graphics on the future portions do not look anywhere near as detailed as the Italy segments. Still, the Italy segments look so good that I can’t help but ignore the future parts.

GAMEPLAY (9/10)

It seems as if they took all of the complaints of the first game and fixed them for the second. Now the side missions aren’t limited to those in the first game. There is a healthy variety of side quests to keep you busy for some time without getting repetitive. You are no longer required to complete X number of side missions before proceeding with the story missions. Now you can get straight to killing instead of having to do boring and repetitive side quests. The game is long enough just doing the story missions, clocking in at roughly 18 hours of gameplay. 

One of the best new additions are the new instant travel booths. If you need to travel to another city, simply go to one of these booths and for a small sum of money, you can be instantly warped to the location of your choice.   This is a great feature which not only cuts down on travel time, but helps keep the pace of the game moving along.  Nobody wants to waste time riding across the countryside on a horse when there is the option to teleport there.

Controlling Ezio is greatly improved from the last game’s character, Altair. Ezio runs noticeably faster and his free running abilities are much quicker as well.  He scales buildings faster, which helps keep the pace up as you navigate through the game’s cities. There are also more weapons and the combat system seems to be greatly improved.  Ezio now sports two hidden blades, one in each hand, which work great for assassinating two guards simultaneously. My other favorite new weapon is the poison dagger. Stabbing someone with this will cause them to freak out and lash out at anyone around them. 

REPLAYABILITY (8/10)

The game is already fairly long for a single player game. There are tons of extras for you to explore and find. While most people dont play too much single player campaign anymore these days, ACII offfers wnough extra goodies and collectibles to keep you busy for some time. Not to mention that the story missions themselves are exciting. All in all expect to play through the entire thing at least twice. I’ll admit that single player games don’t get too much love from me, but ACII is one of those games that you just have to play.

OVERALL (9/10)

ACII is an excellent game. It seems as if the developers actually listened to the complaints and comments of people who bought the first game and improved upon them in nearly every department. This game is what people were expecting with the first one. Thankfully, Ubisodft learned enough from that experience that they have improved this game exponentially.  This is currently one of the few games that can tear me away from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and that by itself should speak volumes.  If you felt burned by the way the first game turned out, you might want to give this one a try. They managed to keep all of the good elements about the first game, while adding some welcome  improvements.

What is your 2009 Game of the Year?

  • Call of Duty : Modern Warfare II (50%, 6 Votes)
  • Assassin's Creed II (25%, 3 Votes)
  • Uncharted II (17%, 2 Votes)
  • Left 4 Dead II (8%, 1 Votes)
  • Halo ODST (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 12

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Batman: Arkham Asylum (Xbox 360, PS3)

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Superhero games are similar to games based on popular movies: both take well established and marketable franchises and churn out pure crap in video game form.   I honestly can’t remember the last time there was a good video game based on a super hero franchise. The only decent one that comes to mind is the recent game based on the X-Men Origins: Wolverine flick.  Still, at its core, that game was nothing more than a simple beat em up disguised under a bunch of gore. In comparison to previous movie/comic to game incarnations,  that game seemed to be a step above the rest, but honestly that really isn’t saying much. Upon playing Batman: Arkham Asylum, I was pleasantly surprised to finally find a game that does its source material some justice.  In fact, there is enough solid gameplay to make this game a top title regardless of the subject matter.

GRAPHICS 9/10

The graphics in this game are excellent. The details of Batman’s costume really shine through and he noticeably takes damage to both his body and his suit as the game progresses. It’s pretty cool later in the game to see Batman with a ripped up costume, bloody face, and 2 day old beard. Equally impressive are the game’s lighting effects, which effectively switch from regular view to the detective viewpoint, in which enemies and items of interest are highlighted through a type of thermal imaging scope.  The environments are extremely detailed with impressive textures throughout. You really get the sense that you are trapped in this creepy asylum, and the graphics do a good job of ratcheting up the tension to levels only found in the best survival horror games.

STORY 8/10

Even though the story seems a bit stretched and predictable, it is still very entertaining.  I won’t get into the plot too much, but there aren’t any twists or huge surprises thrown at the player. The plot is engaging enough to keep everything moving forward, and that is exactly what you will want to do in this game. The claustrophobic freakiness of the asylum just begs for you to try and escape. Not to mention the possibility that ANYTHING can happen around any given corner and you’ve got a game that not only begs for you to keep playing, but also pushes you to find out how everything is going to turn out. While I’m not a huge fan of games that don’t have multiplayer, the story in this game is good enough to keep me glued, even if it is fairly predictable.

SOUND 9/10

The sound for the game is spot on. Batarangs clang into enemies when thrown.  You can hear the grappling hook grip into the bricks as it punctures them and grabs a hold.  The sound of punches crunching a thug’s face fill the air whenever Batman unleashes a vicious combo. It’s all here. In fact, one of the best points, in terms of sound, is the voice acting in the game. Batman is voiced by Kevin Conroy, the same actor who voiced the character in the animated series. The Joker is voiced by Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), also from the animated series, who brings an edgier and more demented Joker to life. Hamill’s Joker is great in this game, as he can be constantly heard through the intercom mutterring absurdities and his quips are often quite funny….in a sick way. Anyone familiar with the animated series should feel right at home with the voice work in this game, and rightfully so as it is top notch.

GAMEPLAY 9/10

The gameplay in this game is excellent. Anyone who has ever wanted to assume the role of the Dark Knight in a game finally has that chance. It’s all here at your disposal: Batman’s insanely cool gadgets, his stealth abilities, his superior combat skills (Crocop style head kick to the face anyone??), and all of his acrobatic prowess are captured perfectly in this game. You can choose to remain in the shadows and pick off your enemies one by one or you can go in brawling and take on a gang of thugs all at once. The game really does a good job in allowing the player to choose how they handle a given situation. While some situations are impossible unless you utilize some stealth, you still have the option to go in with fists flying if you choose.

There were two games that the gameplay immediately resembled to me: Metroid Prime and Chronicles of Riddick. Both games are excellent and this game manages to combine the best elements of the two.  From Riddick’s dark tone and brooding atmosphere to the constant exploration of Metroid Prime, Batman borrows from both and creates something truly unique that truly does justice to its source material.  This is one of those games that keeps you playing so that you find out what happens next.

Perhaps the only drawback to the overall gameplay would be the inconsistent camera. While the camera isn’t bad enough to be a gamebreaker, it does tend to move into some wierd angles that make it difficult to keep an eye on who you’re fighting. This is especially annoying if you are attempting to use your grappling hook to get away and the grapple point you were aiming at suddenly is suddenly situated behind the camera all of a sudden. It is a bit hard to explian, but there are times when the camera gets disorienting and it is usually in the heat of an intense battle. 

Perhaps one of the coolest things involving gameplay is the inclusion of the Riddler and his challenges. At the beginning of each area, you are given a riddle referring to something in that area that must be photographed using your detective vision. As simple as it sounds, this aspect of the game alone makes the experience highly addicting. For instance, you walk in to a room and see the quote “This bear is the Bane of his existence.” Then later towards the end of the level you discover a hidden teddy bear that used to belong to Bane. You then take a picture of this object to complete the riddle. It’s implementation is a lot more exciting than it sounds, trust me. I have never had the urge to search for all of the collectibles in ANY game, however with this one I am constantly double checking areas for hidden clues or riddle answers.

REPLAYABILITY 8/10

The game has a single player campaing that is actually quite long. Not only is the campaign itself engaing and fun, but all of the Riddler challenges add another level of replay value to the game. Upon completion, you will want to go back and search for the answer to each challenge, especially since there are areas from the beginning of the game that can’t be accessed until later on when you acquire the apporpriate gadgets. 

The game also features a challenge mode, which is similar to a survival combat mode in which you have to defeat X number of enemies in X amount of time. While I don’t really care for this mode, I can see other people can get in to it, especially with the inclusion of exclusive playable characters (PS3 gets Joker, Xbox360 gets Scarecrow).   Despite all of these extras, the campaign mode by itself is good enough to warrant multiple playthroughs.

OVERALL 9/10

This is an excellent game that also has quite a bit of polish to it. There weren’t any noticable glitches that I encountered, and everything from the combat system to the use of the grappling devices worked perfectly. Perhaps the biggest draw to this game is the fan service that it provides to Batman fans. If you’re into Batman, this is definitely a must have as it alludes to things from the comics and references nearly everything in the Batman mythos.  In fact, other than the Joker, the majority of the focus in the game is on some of Batman’s lesser known nemesis.  I thought this was an excellent touch as their storylines are every bit as intriguing as Batman’s other more high profile foes.

The inclusion of the Riddler challenges is implemented to perfection in this game, as looking for and solving them is not only a blast to do,but for each Riddler challenge you complete you are rewarded with things ranging from artwork of your favorite villains to psychiatric evaluations of the Asylum’s most notorious resdients.  Factor in the excellent voice work and this is the ultimate superhero video game experience. Fans of the Dark Knight, the comics, the animated series, or just solid gaming in general  should all try out this game.