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: Game Reviews by Michael Durr on October 28th, 2007
Some things just go together. Like Peanut Butter & Jelly, Sonny & Cher, Siskel & Ebert (okay, not so much). Puzzle Quest brings something together in complete harmony like no other game before it. Puzzles and Role Playing Games. Sure the Zelda or Breath of Fire series have puzzles in the game, but we are talking full integration where every battle is decided in a Bejeweled-like interface. Complete with mounts, spells, and other rpg-like elements; this could be the best idea of putting things together since I tried fritos and cream cheese. (Come on, you know you are curious)
Graphics
Puzzle Quest was first released on the DS and the PSP in early 2007. Things that look big on the tiny screen have to be scaled so that they fit appropriately when dealing with HD and the way the Xbox 360 operates. The colors and the objects on the screen are extremely colorful and vibrant. It's not mind blowing but it is certainly adequate and you will be able to navigate the menus with ease. Unless you are trying to read the text on the screen. For some reason, the text is very small and difficult to read. Perhaps I'm getting old but I found myself slowing down to read the text. This wasn't due to complexity or wanting to be careful to not miss a clue. Keep in mind, I also operate on a 42" HD Tv. If it is small for me, I cringe to worry about how small it might be for those will smaller sets (HD or not). The graphics look very good, however this one little attention to detail should have been taken care of in the testing stage.
