Tag: games

I’m not too interested with Crackdown 3

carlocarrasco

So Crackdown 3 will finally be released on Xbox One on February 15. That Xbox-exclusive has been delayed way too long due to a very troubled production.

The game at this stage is looking better than ever and it even has popular movie star Terry Crews in it and his character can be played by gamers.

Still, as an Xbox One owner and long-time Xbox fan, I am not too interested in Crackdown 3 at all.

For one thing, I played Crackdown on Xbox 360 twelve years ago. I endured the game’s single-player campaign, explored a lot and played until I finished it.

But ultimately the whole experience was a disappointment for me.

Sure that old game had lots of action and thrills but the narrative is very shallow and there are no characters to follow other than your agent. There really was no story.

By comparison the open-world game Saints Row had a lot more depth, a serviceable story, had more varied gameplay and had memorable characters to follow. Crackdown was simply a very hollow game.

Years later I skipped out on Crackdown 2 which was released to a weaker reception.

I am not judging Crackdown 3 based on game previews alone but what I am saying is that very delayed game does not look like it can deliver the great stuff to justify the years-long wait.

I hope I am wrong about Crackdown 3. What I love to enjoy about open-world games are varied gameplay, deep exploration, characters worth following and a good story to endure that goes well with the gameplay.

Soon enough we will find out if Crackdown 3 will live up to expectations and spare Microsoft from potential embarrassment as they prepare for the next-generation Xbox.

Resident Evil 2 remake demo observations

carlocarrasco

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I recently played the 6-gigabyte demo of the Resident Evil 2 remake on my Xbox One downloaded via Xbox LIVE. It was a one-shot demo limited to only thirty minutes of play time.

So how was my experience? I focused mainly on exploration of the Raccoon City Police Station and orienting myself with the game’s controls (and the 3rd-person view on exploration and shooting).

Having played RE2 on PlayStation way back in 1998, I found it stunning that the in-game environment rendered in full 3D polygons the look of the police station from the old game. Of course, not everything is 100% replicated. There are noticeable changes like re-arrangements of the certain furniture, items and even parts of the layout of the interiors. Clear to say, if you are a very avid RE2 gamer who pretty much memorized the placings of items in the 1998 video game, do not expect to find them the same in the 2019 remake.

Regarding controls, in my view RE2 feels very similar to that of Resident Evil 6 which was the last RE game I played. The 3rd-person view approach on movement and shooting are there. That being said, I find RE2’s shooting-and-moving mechanism inferior to that of Gears of War games with regards to response and precision. Not necessarily a bad thing and I do understand that the lack of response and precision is meant to enhance the claustrophobic feel for gamers. Resident Evil 2, after all, is Capcom’s attempt to revive survival horror seriously.

More on shooting, there is a balance between precision, impact and movement. There I was as Leon aiming at an approaching zombie while slowly walking backwards (to keep a distance). I took a shot at the zombie’s head while moving, the shot did not affect him. When I stopped moving, aiming became more precise (I noticed the on-screen target mark adjusting) and my shots hit the zombie better on the head and body.

Speaking of zombies, they are slow moving but are noticeably faster compared to their 1998 counterparts. Once near you, a zombie can take a sudden move forward to grab and bite you.

What I found intriguing is that when I was caught between two zombies, they both grabbed me and attacked me at the same time causing further damage to Leon’s health. I wonder what would happen if, let’s say, Leon got caught between two Lickers in a similar situation.

On exploration, the move into the dark portions of the police station using only a flashlight to see ahead is a nice touch. I ended up moving cautiously as I explored the rooms and other things to search for useful items like a key, first aid spray, etc.

And then there is the discovery about what happened to the police station. One police officer I tried to save died losing half his body as zombies from the other room grabbed him. Then there is another police officer who helped Leon survive from suffering the same death.

Because I focused more on exploration and getting used to the controls, my 30 minutes ran out without reaching the end.

So how do I feel after playing the one-shot demo? Personally I am not keen on buying Resident Evil 2’s release on January 25. I will observe first how the game will perform critically with the game review writers, the bloggers and of course the feedback of the many gamers who play it.

I do remember the overall feel of Resident Evil 2 on PlayStation in 1998. The first part was all about orientation, exploring the police station and finding out how Raccoon City got overwhelmed with zombies caused by the deadly, artificially made virus. Then as the game progressed, locations changed and more characters entered the plot, the pace quickened, the action became more intense and there was that sense of adventure as well. It remains to be seen if such things will happen in the overall narrative of the RE2 remake.

Thank you for reading. Please share this article to your fellow gamers and Resident Evil fans. Feel free to comment below and if you enjoyed this article, please press the like button below. Also my fantasy book The World of Havenor is available for ordering in paperback and e-book format.

 

Observation of the first twelve hours Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition

carlocarrasco

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Very recently I got to play the first twelve hours of Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition on my Xbox One console. As the subtitle showed, this is an enhanced re-release of the game which first came out on Xbox 360 in the year 2008.

This early I can confirm that Bandai Namco delivered its promise on Tales of Veperia: DE as the game’s visuals have been upscaled which means that the anime cut scenes and the in-game cut scenes (cel-shaded polygons and colorful 3D surroundings) look really crisp. More importantly this new version has two additional playable characters with Patty (the little pirate) and Flynn (rival of Yuri).

With Patty and Flynn added, so were the cut scenes and this also meant additional voice-overs, more in-game art and more sound effects altogether. Oh yes, their respective abilities and gameplay features added even more variety to the game’s big mix of features.

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Patty the pirate!

When it comes to the gameplay experience, I should say that this one has proven to be a lot of fun so far. For the first twelve hours the story moved at a moderate to quick pace while still allowing me to get to know Yuri and the main characters, the situations of the fantasy world and how the game plays.

When it comes to battles, they are pretty much low in stress. Unlike most JRPGs, there are no random battles to annoy me as I am given the freedom to decide if I want to fight a group of enemies (portrayed as individuals on the world map) or not. When I need to level up my characters, I engaged in many battles and the good news is that grinding (engaging in back-to-back battles to gain experience points to level up) in this game is not very stressful. Certainly not annoying.

This is because the battles are performed in real-time. Physical combat is done by button mashing which is quick and easy. Using magic uses the menu (which means pausing the game) to select a spell and which character to use. Switching between characters (up to four) is also quick and easy.

I already had my team engage in lots of battles to level-up, help them gain new skills or special abilities and of course raise money (called Gald). The good thing is that I never felt stressed out.

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Battles in the game are fast and relatively convenient to manage. (image from Bandai Namco)

When it comes to storytelling, the game has a wholesome tone comparable with past Tales Of games.

While I still have a long way to go in the game, I can confirm to you gamers and JRPG fans that Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition is so far a fun game to play on your modern console. Once I finish the game, I will post a review. When? I don’t really know yet.

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to share this article or comment if you have something to say. If you enjoyed it, please feel free to press the like button below.