It’s time for Gears of War to finish the fight with the third installment of the series, which hits store shelves today. Will you be running out to stores this week to show those Locusts whose boss?
xbox 360
Tying Up Some Loose Ends
Before leaving the country for my trip, there were a number of gaming-related things I wanted to write about. Due to other life factors, that didn’t happen. While I’m late to the party on, In Third Person isn’t always known for its timeliness.
With that said, click through to read up on my experiences with the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program, Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition and Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection!
Out Now – Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online
During my 14-year hiatus from fighting games, I missed out on some of the genre’s biggest franchises. Since I’ve come back to the scene, I’ve caught up on Street Fighter Alpha I and II, as well as Marvel vs. Capcom 2. However, the biggest fighting game I’ve yet to play is Third Strike.
That is, until now. Street Fighter III: Third Strike is available now on PSN, and will be available on XBOX Live tomorrow. I’ll for sure pick it and see what I’ve missed all these years.
Metro 2033 Impressions
Up until now, I’ve been fairly impressed with the games I’ve picked up at many Blockbuster closing-down sales. Split/Second, Vanquish and Enslaved have all been quality products that I enjoyed greatly. I was hoping that I’d find another surprisingly fun experience Metro 2033. Would this game win me over like the other ones did?
Lollipop Chainsaw Announcement Trailer
Hot off the heels (cold off the heels?) of Shadows of the Damned, Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture are back with Lollipop Chainsaw. Having never played a Suda 51 game, I can’t comment on the quality of his works, but his portfolio of work has no shortage of weird games. I guess then it should be no surprise that his latest game would be about a cheerleader who also massacres zombies with a chainsaw for some reason.
If you’re interested in seeing the announcement trailer for Lollipop Chainsaw, check out the rest of this post!
Some Things I Don’t Like About Catherine
A few days ago, I posted a pretty glowing review of Catherine for the XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3. In hindsight, I’m still happy with how that game turned out and how that review was written. As much as I gushed about it before, it does have some kinks. Since I didn’t really go into them in detail in my review, I thought I’d call them out here. It’s still a fantastic game as is, and you may not agree with my list of gripes, but you’re always free to chime in with your point of view in the comments!
1. Your controls when Vincent is behind the block tower sucks
Controlling Vincent when he’s in-between the blocks and your direct line of sight is straightforward. However, in cases where you have to control Vincent behind the blocks, your controls become a complete mess. The problem is two-fold. For one, controlling movement behind a block tower isn’t consistent at all. You may hit left on your d-pad to make Vincent move right, but the next time you hit left, he’ll stay still. The controls when Vincent is trying to maneuver behind blocks constantly flip, which makes it extremely difficult to get places in this manner.
This issue could have been alleviated if the camera was able maneuver all the way around the block tower. At its best though, you’ll only have access to a 180-degree view. This makes it impossible to see how you’re maneuvering Vincent behind a tower of blocks. While you won’t be spending a lot of time maneuvering behind blocks, it sucks every time you have to do it.
2. Lack of interaction in the real world
Most of the gameplay in Catherine takes place in Vincent’s nightmares, where you maneuver through block towers. While I love playing through these towers, I really wish there was more to do in the real world. I have no problem with sitting through all of the cutscenes, as they’re really well done and they’re the main driver of the story. Where the game could have gone a bit further with are the times when you control Vincent in the bar. Why not give him more to do? Why not give him more opportunities here to impact the story beyond talking to people and answering text messages? Why not let the player visit other environments besides the bar? These suggestions would have helped make players feel a bit more involved outside of the nightmares.
The last points in this post contain SPOILERS, so please proceed at your own discretion!
Vanquish Review
Vanquish has the dubious distinction of being Gamespot’s 2010 Best Game No One Played. Back when it was released, I paid no mind to it, as I had no interest in a Japanese interpretation of Gears of War and Halo. However, despite my initial disinterest in the game, the general buzz about the game was that it was pretty good. With that in mind, I kept it on my list of games to pick up on the cheap. I was able to do just that a few weeks ago during the big Blockbuster closeout event in my country. Do I recommend you follow suit?
Portal Review
The original Portal has already cemented itself as one of the landmark games of this generation. Though it was originally positioned as an add-on to the Half-Life 2 Orange Box that could be beaten in about 3 hours, Portal has taken on a life of its own thanks to its revolutionary game design that does something truly new. Critics loved it, fans bought into it in droves and elements of the game, such as in-game lines and ‘the song’ have worked their way into popular gaming culture. While it’s sequel may not have the cultural cache as its predecessor, the game is still one of the best of the year and it sold extremely well.
Portal is without a doubt, a must-play game if there ever was one this generation. With that said, I’ve been ducking this game for years. I tried it in passing once, but I made the mistake of trying it out on my brother’s file, when he was over half way through the game. Needless to say, I was immediately overwhelmed and thought I was too stupid for Portal. Only recently did I put my initial impressions aside and try the game from scratch.
Catherine Review
Catherine is a really hard game to judge at face value. Unless you’ve tried the game for yourself, it’s very easy to misinterpret Catherine as some sort of perverse porno game. Even by watching the recently-released Catherine gameplay trailer, it may only confuse you further. You might then be asking yourself even more questions, such as:
“Is this a puzzle game?”
“Is this a dating simulator?”
“How does this all even work?”
“How do you play out the sex parts?”
Before I continue with this review, I’ll answer the last question for you: No, you do not play out the sex parts. This is not a porno game and the act of sex itself is not as big of a factor to the game as you may have been lead to expect. What it is though, is likely a gaming experience you’ve never had before.
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Catherine is Atlus’ Biggest Launch Title Ever
Normally, I don’t like to use In Third Person as a means of perpetuating a company’s PR cycle. Not to say that I’m anti-establishment or anything like that, but every professional or amateur video games enthusiast writer is going to write the same stories about the same press releases. Adding my own spin to a public relations piece that has been spun a million times before generally doesn’t excite me one bit.
However, this one is a bit different. The Catherine demo won me over in a big way, and I’m really loving the final product. Expect to see a review for Catherine tomorrow. I had some concerns that this game would fall on deaf ears for looking like a perverse Japanese porno game (which the game is not). Had it flopped and discouraged Atlus or others from releasing more unique products, I would have been a very sad panda. Thank goodness then for the announcement from Atlus that Catherine set an Atlus sales record, having shipped more units at launch than any other Atlus game in the publisher’s 20-year history.
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