Eternal Sonata revisited

I finished Eternal Sonata the other night and wanted to reiterate how incredible this game is. My first post is a more in depth review of the game. Although the game is a major grind fest, the story, graphics and music are just so engaging. The ending has a real twist, and it’s the longest ending I’ve ever seen in a game clocking in around 45 minutes.

I know reactions on this game are mixed and it will not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for those who do like this kind of game, I think they will love Eternal Sonata. The story is pretty deep for a game, and the characters are so memorable you actually care about each one of them in different ways. The voice over work is top notch, and the graphics are mind numbingly gorgeous. The creativity in this game is off the charts and the diversity of the artwork is always refreshing.

This is still one of my favourite single player Xbox 360 games to date and I think one of the most unique games on the console. I hope more games like this are in the works. So if your’re up for a long 40 plus hours of game play, lots of level grinding, fantastic music and phenomenal cut sequences, pick up this game.

Here are some shots of the game.

Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare

I finished Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare the other night. This game is the most intense shooter I’ve played to date. The realism and immersion are phenomenal, and the graphics are on par with games like Gears of War. It’s nice to finally see some games with GOW graphic quality. That game was a year ahead of its time, but it seems like the truly next gen games are coming out this year, with titles like COD 4, Assassins Creed, Mass Effect, and hopefully Grand Theft Auto IV early next year.

The only truly down side to COD4 is the length of the single player campaign. It’s short, and I do mean short. I finished it in about 3 days and probably put about 5 hours into it on the default difficulty setting. That said, this game is all about the multi-player, and the sheer number of levels, character leveling system, and game types will keep you coming back for more. COD4 has one of the most full featured multi-player games I have played out there at this time even though it lacks vehicles, something that isn’t necessarily a bad thing once you play it.

There is another down side which will effect only a small number of people, myself included. I have never in my life experience FPS motion sickness, but COD4 is the first game that does it to me. After about an hour of playing I start getting a dull headache and a sick feeling in my stomach. Maybe I have just been tired lately, but a quick search on the web shows that I am not alone, and a co-worker of mine has had the same symptoms. The game is extremely realistic and very fast paced. The game bob when running is a bit disorienting at times, which I think might be causing the problem. One solution mentioned which seems to be working for me is chewing gum. Anyway, don’t let a little bit of motion sickness hold you back, this game is incredible.

That said, run out and buy this game, pick up Assassins Creed while you’re at it too, you won’t be disappointed.

Halo 3 Review

This is a busy time of the year for games, meaning there is a lot to choose from. So many great games released, and so little time. Anyway, I bought Halo 3 the day it came out. The hype worked, well actually a friend was picking it up so I figured why not. I should also mention that I’ve never really played Halo or Halo 2 other than maybe several minutes on someone else’s console. I have since finished the game and thought I would share my thoughts.

First, this game is a fantastic game, no doubt about it. I want to get that out of the way, because what I am going to say next is more in regards to how hyped it is. This game is an incredible hype machine. The advertising dollars gone into Halo 3 must dwarf other games. Everywhere you look its Halo this, and Halo that, even publications that don’t talk about games are talking about Halo 3. The real question is does the game stand up to the hype?

Okay, let’s be fair, how phenomenally amazing would a game have to be to possibly match the hype of this game. I mean the game would basically have to be the best shooter ever released. Is Halo 3 the best ever? Not a chance. Again, remember how I started this review, this is a fantastic game, no doubt about that. The fan base for Halo 3 is fanatic, and saying anything negative about it can bring down the wraith of the Halo Gods. Almost every review site has given stellar reviews of 9.5 to 9.8. I find these scores hard to believe since I’m sure there’s a lot of Microsoft ad revenue going into these sites, but maybe the hype has just got to everyone.

Let’s start off with the bad; the game is short, VERY short. I am one of those people that take forever to finish any game, and I finished this in a week. I’ve heard stories of people finishing it in a day. The second is the graphics. During the production of Halo 3, many people on gametrailers.com had mentioned how the graphics were not up to par with what they expected. Comments like, “This is still in beta” were cried out by the believers and all of the typical angry flaming that goes on in those forums. So what are the graphics like? Well, that’s the strange part, they vary greatly. A times they feel sub par, I would even go as far to say unpolished, and then at other times they will blow you away. It almost seems like the game was rushed to completion, or done at completely different times. I often wonder if all the negative comments on the graphics before it was released attributed to the ramp up of graphics as you approach the end of the game. I found with the exception of the last level that the graphics slowly got better and better as I progressed through the game. Even Master Chief himself goes from looking plastic like to full blown rough metal Gears of War like quality.

Halo 3 also doesn’t really break any new ground. In fact, my first thought when playing multiplayer was how retro it felt. This can of course be considered a good thing. The multi player is where this game really excels. It’s like a traditional multiplayer shooter packed with every great mod imaginable. There are just so many ways to play Halo 3 multiplayer.

One spot I personally think Halo 3 excels past everything else is the music. It is almost a tribal thumping throughout the game, and adds so much to the immersion quality. The sound effects are average, but the music more than makes up for this, and I think it is one of Halo’s strongest single player aspects. On the other hand some of the aliens have juvenile one liners in high squeaky voices like, “He was my best friend”. This is a bit of an immersion killer for me, especially when you are saving the world from Aliens. Why are they talking to me in English with baby voices?

Anyway, the bottom line is that this is a great game that is way over hyped. This is how business works, and I’m sure Halo 3 will be the biggest cash cow yet, and when you have rabid Halo fans standing outside the night before the release of a game that will have no shortage of copies, you know you have a hit financially, regardless of the quality.

Bottom line, halo is an 8.5 / 10 for me, which is nothing to sneeze at, but far from the 9.5’s of the game review sites.