Abrupt Reviews

Red Dead Redemption

I have always wanted to experience the western days, riding a horse with a .22 on my back. Its kind of hard to experience that in today’s world. I do live in Texas which I thought was the number one place for cowboys, however the open land around here is not really open the way I would like. Oh about this game!

Single Player
The opening of the game looks pretty. Open land, great animation, and the option to really free roam. The missions in the game that I have completed so far are very similar to missions that are done in Grand Theft Auto. What I mean by that is if you didn’t know it was a RockStar game you would say, hey this plays a lot like GTA. Another example which is a little unrealistic is that, on the trails there is traffic of horse travelers. Back in those days I’m pretty sure that much traffic was on trails like that.

With the amount I have played so far I have done some hunting, gathering of herbs, helping strangers with small deeds, and even herded some animals. I really enjoy the adventure part of the game. I always wanted a western MMO game, this seems like the closest one I will find so far.

I have come across some strange accidents time to time. For an example I was doing a side mission where I needed to hog tie a guy. While I was tying him up a actual hog comes from some where and rams the guy killing him. This of course failed my mission and I had to go an around about way to restart it. Although it was amazingly funny, it was a set back in my game.

Multi-Player
I got to play Multi-player a little bit. I have not played all the different game types, although the free roam is fun. Again I wish the free roam allowed a lot more people in the same world like an MMO. Then to join posies might be more like a guild that you can level up with. I’m getting off topic. Once I play a little bit more and get deeper into the game I will add more to this review.

There are some server issues I have come across when playing online. I think that RockStar is aware of the problems and will have them fixed soon. For now at random times people and horses go invisible making it very hard to know what to shoot at. From what I read online there are also animals and other NPCs that are not showing up in the Free Roam multi-player.

I also keep having some problems aiming. I use the auto aim sometimes, but I keep thinking if you manually aim for the head you will kill faster. I don’t much luck with that but it takes time to get used to.

Tilt to Live

Tilt to Live is an arcade type game where you start at level zero and it goes up over time. Little red dots appear and if your arrow touches one you die and game is over. There are weapons that spawn with always three on the floor at a time. They blow up, freeze, and other weapon like things to the dots. Of course the game would not be fun at all with out some scoring and achievements to unlock, so you can unlock different weapons and get higher scores.

The game is defiantly worth the price of $1.99 and really worth it if they add new features later. I have fun with this game but I think it will get boring after a little while, which is why new features should be added. I have already almost unlocked all achivements and i’m not ranked too bad in the world high scores (#156 Xpolicy). I suggest checking it out and reading the TouchArcade.com Review.

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Bad Company 2

Running for cover with tank shells flying above and exploding near by I find my self hiding behind a house wall that will not last long. Yeah I got Bad Company 2 for PC and I’m enjoying it so far. I have played beta with only one map and one game play type. Now that I have had a taste for a little of every map and game type I can say it competes close to Modern Warfare 2 for me. With that said I want to make note I have been a Call of Duty player from day one which I might add was on the PC, not console. I don’t wan’t to get into a console/PC war right now but before any one thinks I am just a CoD hater, i’m not.

Bad Company does have some flaws and I think over time they can or will be fixed. Some optimization for CPU and graphics need to take place. Also on a personal note they still have not added toggle crouch which bugs the shit out of me. Every game at least makes it an option to use and because I am used to it I fear it prevents my skill… just a little.

The online server browser sucks. It always has for Battle Field games and I don’t understand why. Most of the time it just does not find anything or it just says failed to connect. Also I get this awesome random “You have been kicked from the game” in the middle of a game. Also there is my favorite “connection to the game server has been lost. Please check your network and try again.” When i’m able to get into a game it’s fun so long as there is no lag.

[Update March 4, 2010 - EA's Problems]
I gave EA a few days to fix the networking problems.  Unfortunately they still have some problems but they say they are working on it. I was able to play for a good while on one server. When I was able to play I must say was amazing! I kicked ass (whats new) and unlocked some new weapons and gear.

I played single player a good while as well. Its meh… It kept me entertain while waiting for online play to work. Here is some video!

Dungeon Hunter

Gameloft has been making lots of games for the Iphone/Ipod recently and they just spit out another high quality game. Dungeon Hunter, a game that can be compared to a Diablo type style of game-play, available for $6.99 in Apples AppStore. Using either a tap to move or a digital joystick you run around hacking and slashing monsters with 3 different classes to pick. You have the normal Knight, Rouge, and Mage. The story line is you play a king that tried to resurrect his lover but she came back as evil and killed him and took over the joint. A fairy brings you back to life a few years later to take back what is yours and undo this evil. If I didn’t get the story correct that’s because it doesn’t matter, game-play matters.

I don’t want to judge this game too much because I have only had about a hour of game-play so far and only one class(Rouge). But from what I was able to play which was up to level 7 so far, its a decent Diablo game for the Iphone. The graphics are top notch with detail down to each piece of armor or weapon you equip. Sounds are what you would expect, with some nice knock off Diablo music. The controls take time to get used to, just as every game for a touchscreen device does. The digital stick sometimes is not as responsive as I would want it to be. I keep switching from touch to digital stick.

[Update] Dungeon Hunter has been pulled from the App store to fix a crashing problem when you get to a level called Forge. Will be updated and back in App store soon. (Source)
[Update] Dungeon Hunter back in the AppStore. (Source)

Wolfenstein

I am a huge ID software fan and have played and enjoyed every game developed. Now I was hoping for a great online experience with this new version of Wolfenstein but it did not deliver. Single player is great as always with ID’s games, and it keeps me entertained. There are points of the game that can become boring but once I unlocked some upgrades I wanted to keep playing. The upgrades can change a gun completely in my opinion and so forth, changes game-play as well.

Graphics are simple but good enough for that type of game. Graphics are nothing ground breaking but serve the purpose and using the veil powers look really amazing. I don’t really like how they implemented the gaining of veil power, but at the same time I can’t think of a better way. Faster regeneration veil power would be nice but that’s too easy. Sounds are over all decent. Not enough of the old death emotes they made in Wolfenstein 3d.

Wolfenstein (PC)