Video Games – Page 273

Game Review | Guitar Hero: World Tour (Xbox 360)

Time to trade that controller for the plastic guitar once again! Yah, you know what I’m talking about: Guitar Hero. The newest installment, Guitar Hero: World Tour by Activision boasts a new array of features and game play options that pushes this game beyond that of what Guitar Hero 3 ever was. In fact there are so many upgrades, I may have to turn this single review into reviews to give this game the justice it deserves!

Lets start with the staple equipment of the game: the guitar. This edition has given the traditional guitar a few upgrades including a star power button next to the strum bar, a longer whammy bar, slide bar, longer neck and a bigger body! The guitar is considerably easier to hold for longer periods of time with it’s larger body size and longer neck. One of the more prominent changes in the guitar is the new slide bar! It’s a tad bit tricky to learn how to use because of the smooth surface of the pad, which makes it hard to distinguish the separate pads from each other, but this new feature seems to be a good touch to add a new twist into the play. The new star power button is a wonderful idea for those who have a hard time tilting the guitar and hitting a note (such as yours truly), but the positioning right up against the strum bar makes it hard to hit, causing those notes to be missed anyways if you decide to go this route to activate the star power. Overall the new guitar design is a great upgrade from the old style with little to complain about!

Now onto the game itself! The graphics are considerably improved from Guitar Hero 3 with smoother curves, more details, bigger (and cooler) venues and smoother character movement with some amusing cut scenes between songs in Career mode. I do have to say, the game has started catching up with what the 360 console is capable of while still holding onto its signature look.

Once you start in either career or quick play mode, you’re able to choose from what you want to play: guitar, bass, drums or vocals which makes for a nice change up every once in a while. The gameplay screen has changed slightly as the display showing your star power, rock meter, score and note streak has been shifted over to the left side of the fret board and is smaller, making it harder to see how much star power has been built up.

The beginning set list is a little slow at first on medium, making the difficulty rather easy, even for a guitar newbie like me! As you advance through career mode, the songs become (thankfully) harder and more challenging. Activision this time around has included a shocking variety in this set list, with everything from Michael Jackson’s “Beat it” to Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze”! Yes, that’s right Hendrix fans, Jimi’s been added to the Guitar Hero world!

So there’s the basics and a very small introduction to the new Guitar Hero. The new features list continues on and on with everything from the ability to customize everything about your character’s look and their instrument to the new feature to create your own song! More than likely a part two to this review is coming up, with a coverage of just about every other feature that I didn’t get a chance to cover

Oh, and for those of you who are yelling and screaming at me about the drum and mic set: I haven’t been able to get my hands on either of those…yet. So in the next review I’ll try to fully cover those new features of the game! I’ve only got so much money on me you know!

Pipe Mania DS – Review

I first encountered interest in pipe related games about 13 years ago playing Pipe Dream on my parent’s computer. At the time however, I was more interested in playing Chip’s Challenge, but the memory of Pipe gameplay had been stored into my memories. Jump forward to high school where the only thing to keep me from jumping through a window in boredom was another pipe game on my cell phone. It was fun and passed the time but it had no pizzaz.

Finally, Empire Interactive has made the best of the best when it comes to laying pipes. Pipe Mania for the DS is the most fun I’ve ever had trying prevent slime from leaking onto the floor. Empire went all out (as far out as you can go for a pipe game at least), to make a challenging, yet entertaining (it has a story mode believe it or not) game of plumbing. The game breaks free of strictly connecting pipes, and challenges you to connect factory assembly lines, internet cords, electricity cabling, and train tracks. While they all follow the same basic rules of laying and connecting pieces, each category has special requirements needed to fully connect start piece to end piece. The factory requires splitting assemblies into multiple lines, the electricity can be temporarily stored in special glass pieces etc. If this isn’t your thing, the game comes with a Classic Mode where you can lay pipe till your head explodes with frustration. I say this as a good thing however because the other pipe games I’ve played have been incredibly easy to beat. Pipe Mania starts off easy enough, but once you beat the first few levels, it really challenges you; not to the point of throwing your DS across the room (I’m lookin at you SMB 3!) but enough that you sometimes have to play one level a few times to really plan out what you need to do to get things done.

That being said, I also want to add that the DS is probably the best kind of platform for this kind of game. No more messing up pipelines by pushing the wrong button or having a crappy mouse that clicks the wrong place. With the touchscreen you just touch right where the piece goes and you’re good to move on. This is a good play before bed type games, or just to play to pass the time. Its worth the buy if you’re into games like these, and has tons of replay value and a surpising number of levels and mini games.

Rating: 3 Pipes Out of 2.2 Lighthouses

The Lowdown on Star Wars: The Old Republic

After months of rumours and badly-kept secrets, we finally have the official announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic. As expected, it turns out to be an MMO, and set in the Star Wars universe; more specifically, the KotOR era.

We’re just a few hours out of the great revelation and the official site has gone online. Information is flying all across the Internets and we bring you the lowdown on what The Old Republic is going to be all about.

Continue reading “The Lowdown on Star Wars: The Old Republic”

VIDEO REVIEWS: Weekly Mashup Episode 2

On this episode of the StuffWeLike.com Weekly Mashup we review:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – DVD, Speed Racer – DVD, The Happening – DVD, DreamKeeper 400, and Viking Battle for Asgard – soundtrack.

Please let us know what you think!

PC Zone Issue 200 Scans; Deus Ex 3 Info

I can’t believe I missed this! While I did get you the deal on what little info was found about Deus Ex 3, it looks like somebody got their hands on the actual magazine scans, which have been put up here. Okay, they’re not scans, they’re outright photos and pretty bad ones at that: most of the text seems to have been clipped out.

So we’ll have to do with the concept art/screenshots, and they are definitely some tasty eye candy. The Cyberpunk/Renaissance art design becomes visible here, though I think making NPCs wear 16-century-ish clothes is a little overkill. I love the environments, though.

Augmentations are a lot more “in your face” says the caption, and that they are. With what looks like direct prosthetics for your arms, you won’t find the subtlety of JC’s nanotechnology-enhanced augmentations. This goes with the story, since JC and Paul were the first test subjects in augmented agents.

The protagonist of Deus Ex 3, Adam Jensen appears to be an agent with mechanical mods, like Gunther Hermann or Anna Navarre from the original game. In any case, he looks pretty cyborg.As for the Biomods themselves, here’s what I found from the pages:

Claymore: A last resort when facing unsurmountable odds, Jensen’s body can emit thousands of (clipped)
Multi-Kill: When faced with multiple opponents, Jensen an unleash a combo of devastating martial (arts?) (clipped)
Bungee Jumping: Hurl yourself off the edge of a building and tentacles will shoot out of your (clipped)
Wall Punch: Can be used in conjunction with the visual augmentation (clipped)

Another bit of info that can be found is about Stealth and Hacking, both of which disappoint me greatly.

Stealth is also receiving a major revamp and will now utilize cover more than shadow as its primary function., with a Metal Gear Solid-style cone of vision mechanic (available only through augmentation) used to ascertain an enemy’s field of view.
Hacking is another area receiving a makeover, taking the form of RTS-style mini game in which you (vie with?) a (mainframe?) for the control of nodes (?) (clipped)

Okay, I’m totally not sure about this. An RTS-style mini game for hacking? You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m also not comfortable with replacing the shadow-based stealth mechanic from the previous two games. Deus Ex had handled stealth without making it too technical, I’m not sure if Deus Ex 3 will be able to do it.

All in all, I’m both impressed and disappointed. Still, since its Deus Ex, I won’t be missing it. 😉