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Friday, October 29, 2010

The Force Unleashed II Cutscene Comparison

If you read my review of The Force Unleashed II on Wii, you know I made a point about the unessary simplification of the cutscenes. Here is some visuals to help my point get across.





Please feel free to comment below.

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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Star Wars : the Force Unleashed II Wii Review

Star Wars : the Force Unleashed II Wii Review.



So the Wii version of TFU2 hasn’t got a lot of attention from the press, so I though I would post my impressions of the Wii version. I've got bot Version of the game and will be comparing them as I go along.

Before we start, let it be known that I though Krome's last TFU game on Wii was the best version.

1. Gameplay

     The first thing you will notice when you boot up the game and play is that motion controlled combat has been removed for the most part. No longer can you swing and have Starkiller swing his saber. While it allows for better combos, in the end the game suffers because of this choice. The game downplays the force and instead has its focus on lightsaber combat.  It seems like RedFly has had some trouble with the number of buttons on the wii-remote, camera controls are mapped to the + and – buttons on the Wii remote. This is a very inconvientant spot and really disrupts combat. On a better note when the camera co-operates hacking and slashing is a blast, enemies disembody and the game makes you feel powerful.


The combos are a lot flashier then the HD version too. Where as in the HD version the usual is attacking then fusing your saber with lightning, starkiller is stationary for the most part. In the Wii version Starkiller is jolting around tossing the sabers and spinning himself into a spiral.  A disappointing lack of a strong physics system really hurts the games force powers, enemies fly in straight directions and there isn't much to pick up and throw. In Krome's TFU an impressive physics engine allowed for almost anything to be picked up and smashed into enemies sending them flying. Here the most you can do is have a storm trooper fall back in a straight line. The game does a terrible job of unleashing the Force




2. Graphics


After the lacking gameplay, you'll be pleased to know that the game looks better then the last one. Characters look a lot cleaner and smoother. While the game wont reach Dead Space Extractions facial animations at least Starkiller's face animates. Lightsabers look better too, and the environments are detailed. The framerate is very inconsistent. From surprisingly smooth to coming to a complete stop at times its very clear, the engine powering TFU2 (which I reported on a while back) just cant handle a group of enemies on screen. At one point while I was on Cateo Nemodia, the game turned into a slideshow for a good 5 seconds. Nothing game braking but it is very distracting.
 One thing this has that the first didn't on Wii, are Pre-Rendered cutscenes, but there is one thing that really is inexcusable. By dumbing down the cutscenes they aren’t giving the cinematic story that the other version have. It comes across as lazy and insulting that Lucas Arts would think that by dumbing down the Pre-renders that they would somehow make the in game look better.

Overall RedFly did a passable job of bringing Star Wars TFU2 to the Wii, but the lack of a strong physics system destroys the great feeling of Krome's last game.

Improvements:


+Looks Better
+Better combos/ battle system
+Prerendered cutscenes (unnecessarily simplified)

Disappointments:

-Terrible physics
-Environments aren't as interactive as 1st game
-Waggle Quicktime events are long and annyoing.
-Button mapping isn't very good


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Finally Some Force Unleashed 2 Wii Footage



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Saturday, October 16, 2010

Gaming's Biggest Bandwagons.

Bandwagons are present in almost all forms of entertainment, from film, comic books, sports, and even games. Lets take a look at gaming's biggest bandwagons.


Wii Hate.


When the Wii was announced the gaming world was shocked. That early shocked didn't seem to last. Try mentioning that you own and enjoy playing with the Nintendo Wii on the internet and witness the bandwagon first hand. When a Wii game is well received someone is bound to say "time to dust it off". Isn't interesting that the same people keep claiming that their Wii's are gathering dust, where is all this dust coming from? The saying is getting old, and it is even more irritating when "professional" gaming journalist use the term- it makes you sound wagon rider. The wagon riding doesnt end there. When an interesting Wii game is revealed immediately someone is asking for a port, claiming there isn't anything on the system to warrant a buy. Irony?


Can't Spell Ignorant without IGN.


Ok we get it. Your favorite game received .5 less then you wanted, therefore the only reasonable explanation is there is a grand conspiracy to make sure your favorite company gets the short hand of the stick. Clearly X company is paying X reviewers.




Motion Controllers






Remember all that Wii hate that was discussed earlier. Get ready for the Biggest bandwagon. Waggle ruined this game, motion controls are for kids, DS3/360 controller is the best no need for motions, its all just gimmicks. Then Move and Kinect showed up and everyone had an epiphany motion controls are cool.




Sonic Sucks.


Remember those golden days when Sonic games were good? Everyone seems to hate the blue guy these days. Anyone who wanted a good Sonic fix would have found it had they actually got off the bandwagon and pick these titles up.


Sonic Rush
Sonic Unleashed (Wii/PS2 version) 
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Sonic Rush Adventure
Sonic Heroes 
Sonic Rivals  
Sonic Advance, 
Sonic Advance 2  
Sonic Advance 3
Sonic Battle

These were all well received titles that came before Sonic 4.


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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

How FPS control on Kinect, and it isn't pretty.

     Since the dawn of the Wii many have praised it's FPS controller setup. Metroid Prime 3, The Conduit, and Red Steel 2 have all proved how well pointer works for shooters. Now with Kinect and Move, Ps3 and 360 users can join in on the fun. Move has already shown it is capable of matching this control scheme, and now we see Microsoft attempt. Oh dear, it is not pretty.



     It appears shooters just don't work on Kinect, its a shame too because pointer controls really allow for some accurate shooting.

Feel free to express your thoughts below.

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Saturday, October 2, 2010

Travis Touchdown joins the Brawl!

Brawl's Modding is alive and thriving. There has been a lot of talk amongst gamers about who should be in the next Smash Brothers. For those pleading for Travis, the homebrew community has answered your call.

You will need:

  • A Wii with the HomeBrew channel installed
  • Brawl
  • GeckOS
  • and SD card
here is the link, and enjoy these screens!

http://www.mediafire.com/?554i7hqbh16jyg2













This Mod is by BeyondYou and uses Ike's character spot in Brawl.




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