Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on December 19th, 2007
Raincheck for the Wii, Sex and Violence don't mix, and Christmas Nights in Japan? - Welcome to the column that promises to have a very merry christmas but still undecided on the new year known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I can safely say this past week, I did zero gaming. Yep, zilch, zero, nada. That's what going up to Ohio and spending seven days in some remote frozen tundra will do for you. I did stop at one Gamestop though. Bought 2 games and 4 dvds (buy 2 get 2 free) for $40 and some change. Final Fantasy XII (Collectors Edition) for PS2, Dead or Alive Ultimate for Xbox were the pickups for games. The girlfriend will be playing FF XII shortly. I will be playing DOA when I get to it I suppose, I just like the double disc package as it was in near-mint condition and complete. The dvds I procured was Hellboy: Blood & Iron, The Prestige, Producers (2-disc SE), and Dead or Alive: The Movie. Yes I bought it, how could I not? Bad movie making at it's finest. I'll let you know how awful it is sometime soon. More than likely, the games will be much more entertaining than the movie. Me< ---sucker for video game-related movies (but for some strange reason I don't own Super Mario Bros or The Wizard).
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on December 12th, 2007
Arkadian Warriors rocking to XBLA, No Rockband for Christmas in Canada, and Games of the Year? - Welcome to the column that promises to rock as much as possible but we have to be in bed by 9:00pm known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. As promised, a lot of FirePro Wrestling was played. I actually got down the timing system. Once I did that, I was able to figure out the little things and it made for an enjoyable experience. Be sure to read the review at your leisure. It was good to review a Playstation 2 game and I would expect there will be a couple more before we say goodbye to the system. Neo Geo Battle Coliseum released this week and the World Heroes compilation released sometime next year would be likely candidates. I purchased a couple of gaming items this week as I got the expansion pack to Guild Wars (Eye of the North) and Indigo Prophecy for the original Xbox (backwards compatible) for a mere $9.99 new. Indigo Prophecy got released as part of the first wave of Xbox originals (for 1200 points) I talked about last week. It might make for an interesting review since it was overlooked by many when it first came out and some might be curious about it this time around. We'll see.
Posted in: Game Reviews by Michael Durr on December 9th, 2007
Wrestling games are near and dear to my heart. From the first time I played Pro Wrestling for Nintendo or WWF Wrestlefest at the arcade, I knew I would be playing wrestling games as long as my fingers could mash the buttons. I've played some of the greatest wrestling games (Smackdown 2, Touken Retsuden 3) and some of the worst (WCW Nitro, ECW Hardcore Revolution). The Fire Pro series I've had a long relationship with. It's been love/hate mostly. I want to love it but I find myself more often than not hating the interface and struggling to play it. I've bought all three import games for the Turbo Graphix 16 system and the Fire Pro (6 man scramble) game that was released for Sega Saturn. However, when Agetec announced that they would be releasing it for the stateside Playstation 2, I was very interested. Maybe since I didn't have to import it, I would finally be able to see the menus in English and figure out the difficult interface. Every wrestling fanboy would tell me that it was the greatest thing ever. But what would I think?
Graphics
The first thing you might notice when looking at visuals is that Fire Pro Wrestling seems to have graphics that would come from a Super Nintendo. It's also quite possible that Super Metroid or A Link to the Past would be prettier. This is not going to be on par with a leading game like God of War or even another rival wrestling game like the Smackdown series. Keep it simple is Fire Pro's motto. The wrestlers are clear and many mock exactly popular wrestlers of today with clear cut likeness. The colors are good; however if you are playing this on a HD TV or like, you will experience some pixelation. Things like blood will just have that red splotch of color feel. You can make a wrestler look really close to what you are aiming for but it is still 2d with sampling of 3d animation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 5th, 2007
The movie of Hudson Hawk was often panned by critics who thought the movie was the worst thing since George Bush Sr moved into office. Look where that has got us! Remember kids, bad presidents only birth worse presidents. Anyhow, Hudson Hawk which was billed as an action comedy and was thought of by many as sloppy, over-inflated movie making that took the cream of bad movie making. Was it a turd that sank like the Titanic?(both the movie and the ship) Was it a lemon like XXX? (both the movie and the scent of Vin Diesel's Mr. Clean head) Actually no. *gasps and shufflings* I know, you expect me to blast it for the steaming pile it is. But when in fact, I enjoyed myself for a solid one hundred minutes. I didn't even need lotion either.
The story starts off with a song. Actually Eddie "Hudson Hawk" Hawkins (played by Bruce Willis) just did a song or term over in Sing-Sing for cat burglary. Now he wants to go straight. However, others in the business have different ideas. Seems there is a plot to steal various items that were in possession of the great Leonardo Da Vinci. The only one they feel that is suited for this job is Hudson Hawk. So, they make an effort to push him in that direction. He does the deed enlisting the help of Tommy Five-Tone (played by Danny Aiello), his old thieving buddy. The first item is a gold horse from Leonardo that is to be put on auction and certified authentic by the Vatican. They make the theft the night before and think they have finished the adventure. But in reality, it's only started. The plot takes off from there until we get to a rising climax where a nun, a CIA group that goes by the name of famous candybars and a recreation of a machine that turns lead into gold all take part.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on December 5th, 2007
Reviewer fired for bad review, Xbox 360 Dashboard Update, & the Wii being put up on Ebay for grand larceny? - Welcome to the column that is always honest and promises that Kane & Lynch is indeed a steaming pile known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Well as mentioned in the previous week, I finished Puzzle Quest and inadvertently started Carcassonne since it was offered free. To date, only Galaga has been easier for achievements. I finished the achievements on my own over the weekend. Easy 200 points, seriously. If anybody needs help, let me know. I also nabbed a couple of random achievements, one in Dig Dug (yes, yes I know but I only need the dig achievement now which seems to be impossible) and one in Outpost Kaloki which off and on is a fun as heck game. Off and on, I will also be playing Orange Box through since there is so much to work on. Fun stuff, fun stuff.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 30th, 2007
I love some Adult Swim. There are some real standouts shown that have fun plots, edgy animation, and a whole lot of outlandish humor. Venture Bros, Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force immediately come to mind. Heck, I've even gave smaller shows like The Boondocks and Metalocalypse a try and liked them on some level. So needless to say, I was interested when I received Squidbillies Volume 1. Twenty episodes staring a Georgia-based hick squid family. How bad could it be?
The story goes something like this. Early Cuyler (voiced by Stuart Daniel Baker) is a backwoods Georgia hick squid (yes, calamari) that has sex with a rather overweight white girl named Krystal. In the process, he robbed a liquor store for cassettes and booze and was caught by the Sheriff. Convicted for 15 years of hard labor, he had no idea that he had got Krystal pregnant. Krystal gave birth to Rusty, a little green squid. Krystal leaves him on Lil's (Early's sister) doorstep where the squid spends the next 15 years. At that point, Rusty finds his dad working on the chain gang and the Sheriff takes pity on the two. He decides to release Early which is where this story really begins. The mis-adventures of Early bringing up his illegitimate child Rusty serve as fodder for the rest of the twenty episodes.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on November 28th, 2007
Ecco Jr for VC, Asteroids for XBLA and another History Channel game for the 360, could this be the worst release week ever? - Welcome to the column that would realize that it might suck if it didn't spend enough time putting itself over known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another addition of Dare to Play the Game. Puzzle Quest has fallen, all twelve achievements are done with and I'm a pleased gamer. Level 50 went pretty quickly as I mentioned. I also finished Guitar Hero 3 on medium so I can safely say I've beat all the Guitar Heros on at least medium. The Lou battle wasn't so bad in comparison to the Slash battle but I guess I gained a few skills. The thing is I barely shuffled through the last tier and had all three stars to my name in most of the songs. Some of those last songs are ridiculous, even in medium. I will certainly go back and try to improve but I'm good for now. I played a good smattering of Carcassonne which once you learn it is quite fun. I have three achievements left and can see myself getting the rest of them, but it will take a little bit of luck. (especially the 9+ tiles for a city against 2 or more people in a player match) That would make for my 4th XBLA game to be completely finished. But I have about another 4-5 that are anywhere from 1-3 achievements away; some of those are just buggers I swear.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 26th, 2007
Remember Aquaman? You know, that guy who lived underwater and fought people who would dump hazardous waste in the ocean or people with big helmets named the Black Manta. No, not Charlie the Tuna. Let's try this description. He's King of Atlantis and has giant muscles and was a very popular super hero. Namor, the Sub-Mariner? *sigh* He's the one who sat behind the desk feeding the Justice League information cause simply he had nothing else better to do. Oh Aquaman, quite right. Well he had his own cartoon show in the late 60's that ran for a couple of years with the Superman/Aquaman hour of Adventure (which incidentally only ran half an hour). It featured Aquaman, Aqualad, and a vast array of exciting characters like Tusky the Walrus. I'm not making this up.
Ever sit in a cartoon show and wonder why you keep having a sense of deja vu? The series wasn't so bad, it was quirky and sported the classic 60's superhero feel. The good guys are just spending another day at the office which happens to be the ocean and the evil guys come and mess it up. Biff, bang, boom the bad guys are defeated and the world is good again. But it suffers heavily from using the same frame of animation over and over again. It's no Batfink but it's not very far off. Another thing that Aquaman did was borrow heavily from Batman, the live action show. If I hear "Holy Haddock" one more time or watch as Aqualad act as a complete copy of Robin complete with rather homo-erotic tendencies, I think I might scream. Outside of that, the stories while simple aren't so bad and it is one of those things that is fun; just in small doses.
Posted in: Game Reviews by Michael Durr on November 26th, 2007
Some of my most enjoyable gaming experiences have been with gaming compilations. "More bang for your buck" is the familiar slogan used to describe these games. Traditionally, these compilations show up late in console's life cycle in order to re-sell old titles that couldn't probably sell on their own. So needless to say the Orange Box surprised me on a couple of fronts. The 360 isn't an ancient or dying system by any means. Furthermore, by combining Half Life 2, the two sequels, Portal and Team Fortress 2 you bring together a package that from initial glance looks to be five great games in one. However, are these five games as vast as one would hope or instead are these five games that should have stayed on the pc to collect dust and be riddled about in debates about the best pc shooter to date?
Graphics
Half Life 2 is a pc first person shooter that was also found on the old Xbox and is backwards compatible with the 360. To be honest, it looked good then as did many Xbox titles that got the upconvert treatment. In bringing this to the 360, the visuals have received an upgrade. It's not perfect but it is very serviceable and on-line with many first person shooters on the Xbox 360. The two sequels get better with every turn and Episode 2 cranking out some impressive visuals to best the group. Portal while featuring similar graphics suffers from giving the player possible headaches due to the 360 degrees of interface. More on this later. Team Fortress 2 rounds out the group with a more cartoony style to its graphics design. TF2 is a case of either love it or hate it, it just so happens that it very much suits the game's overall style.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, Regular Columns by Michael Durr on November 21st, 2007
Not enough Family in Microsoft, Not enough Rockband and Too Much Sonic Blast - Welcome to the column where there might be too much of a good thing but we will never know when to stop known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another addition of Dare to Play the Game. Welp, Puzzle Quest is beaten; Lord Bane has fallen and one lone achievement is left: reach level 50. Sitting at an eyelash away from 48, I would say this falls by the end of the weekend. Lord Bane was actually beaten at level 43 which is pretty good I would say. A few tips to those that might be struggling with Bane but keeping control is the key. If you learn Headbutt from Orc Lord and combine that with Flaming Skulls (wizards) and get a little bit of luck, you will come out on top(Ultimate Troll Rings also work wonders). The other tip for the level 50 experience achievement is to enable the Medal of Selentia as your head gear which doubles your experience from every combat and learn the spell Sense Blood which you grab from Gnolls. Liberal use of those two will enable you anywhere from 200 to 500 experience per combat from the simplest of creatures (we are talking level 20 orcs). Anyhow, I'm basically finishing all of the side quests and at that point I should be level 50. I would hope that there would be some DLC in the future in the form of more quests or better yet; new character classes to play as. Rogues or Necromancers would be very nice counter classes and could present some interesting story clashes as you play through.
