Whoa, haven't posted in a long while.

I have finally remembered to updated this blog. Here are some scans of my articles in out schools newspaper.

Lightning Review: Ninja Gaiden 2

The Path of the Ninja is a Hard One

Before I get into the main review, I would like to give a quick overview of what a lighting review is. Basically, I don't always have the time to write a full review and when I do it is usually when I have beaten the game. Well, a lighting review is either a shorter review, or a review based off as much as the game I feel needs to be played to understand it fully. Now that's out of the way, so let the review begin!

When Ninja Gaiden came out for the Xbox, it was seen as a return to the past. It was super difficult, had little story, and was packed with action all the way through. At the time it was also one of the best looking games on the system and was a huge technical leap in the genre. The problem is that Ninja Gaiden 2 is not only a small leap in innovation, but barely anything changed from the first game at all.

The combat is as good as ever, but it is now the sole reason that Ninja Gaiden 2 is a good game. The graphics, while nice looking, are not even close to other games on the system. While the game runs at 60 FPS most of the time, there are dips that can really screw up your timing in a tough fight. Not only that, but every once in a while the game will actually load while in a fight. 

The camera is terrible especially compared to other games in the genre, such as Devil May Cry 4, that did such a good job of making sure that the camera was just controlled enough that it never really frustrated you. The camera, coupled with annoying enemies that you may sometimes think know of these camera problem and will attack you from off screen, make for a somewhat frustrating game experience.

At its best, NG 2 is a fun game. You get to cut up enemies in a bunch of different ways, there is a large variety of weapons to use, and for the most part the game is technically solid. But once you start looking for something deeper, you find there really is nothing to do but slice and dice. The shallow story, bad camera, and lack of reason to go through the game again (outside of achievements) really destroys any reason to play it again. If you are a fan of action games, I would suggest to rent first, and only buy if you really like it.

Verdict: C+

by Nicolas Perez

Well...

Just bought another 360. Too human and geo wars 2 here I come!

Hello Again

I know I haven't updated in a while, things have been busy for me. Chances are that if anything gets written anytime soon it will be a Soul Calibur 4 review when I get that. But school is starting soon so I really won't have the same sort of time I do now. But be watching the site when PAX rolls around, I have figured out how to do plenty of awesome things to get content to you ASAP from PAX, so expect lots of updates then :)

Test

LTTP: Diablo 2

A new type of article huh?

I have realized that I do a lot of reviews of older games. Doing so is basically useless seeing how no one is going to read a review of a game that has been out for a year or so. This is why I am creating a new series of articles called LTTP (Late to the Party) this way I can write my impressions for when I play older games. These will be shorter than a review, and I may possibly also do follow ups to them. Now on to the actual article!

Since the announcement of Diablo 3, I had been wanting to revisit Diablo since I really never played it when it first came out. The only real experience I had was playing a demo of Diablo 1 and playing a couple of minutes of Diablo 2 at a friends house. I decided to go out and get a copy of Diablo 2 and the Lord of Destruction expansion, and I am really glad I did.

Diablo 2 is very much a dungeon hack, the story stays mostly out of the way and your primary goal is to kill stuff, which in turn gives you items so you can kill more stuff. I am usually not a huge fan of this type of game, but for some reason it really seems like the loot here is cool enough right off the bat that I want to continue playing to see what sort of crazy stuff I can get. It also helps that the gameplay is very easy to get into and is is easy to understand what is going on at any moment.

The game itself isn't the most amazing looking game, but it does hold up surprisinglt well for being a 2D isometric game. The spell effects all look good, and if you play in a window, everything looks crisp and clear as it should. While the graphics aren't a stand out, the audio is. The music, whether you be in a town or a dungeon, adds a lot to the atmosphere. Not only that, but most (if not all) of the characters are fully voice acted and don't sound too cheesy.

Above is a picture of my character and his stats. I haven't played too long but I hope to dig in more soon. I hope you enjoyed this new style of article. Stay tuned for more of the LTTP series in the future.

by Nicolas Perez

Review: Guitar Hero Aerosmith

Walk This Way? Possibly.

Guitar Hero Aerosmith is in a weird position, it seems Neversoft didn't quite know what the audience was for the game. The game is loaded with a lot of Aerosmith's older guitar heavy tracks as opposed to their newer stuff, so people who know the tracks in the game most likely aren't the people who are going to be playing it. Besides that, the second major audience they would want to hit, the "Hardcore" Guitar Hero players find the game too easy compared to Guitar Hero 3.

The game is based off the Guitar Hero 3 engine, so it is no surprise that the game plays almost exactly the same with the notable difference being that the timing window has been made smaller for this version of the game. As usual, gameplay consists of hitting notes at the right time using the guitar controller and the gameplay remains fun and solid as ever. New venues, guitars, and UI changes all help to make the game feel more complete than the previous GH spinoff "Rocks The 80's" which was obviously just a reskinned Guitar Hero 2 with little effort put into it.

The game itself looks great and animates tremendously well. There are a lot of really cool song specific tweaks as well. Things such as Joe Perry using a talkbox, and Steven Tyler shaking maracas at the beginning of "Sweet Emotion." This really brings the feeling that Neversoft wanted to make sure that the game had a lot of real life authenticity. The audio is slightly better than GH 3, the most notable difference being that the mix on the songs is more even than the songs in GH 3.

The major deal breaker here is the setlist. If you are an Aerosmith fan you undeniably are gonna want to pick this up simply on the merit of how well the band is represented in the game. But what if you aren't a big Aerosmith fan? I personally only had a limited knowledge of Aerosmith prior to playing the game and still found it enjoyable. The game has some of their well known hits such as Sweet Emotion, Walk This Way, and Toys in the Attic and also has a lot more of their back catalog of songs as well. It really just comes down to what your taste in music is.

So, when it comes down to it your enjoyment level of the game will come down to two factors. 1) Are you a big Aerosmith Fan? 2) Are you a serious Guitar Hero player? If both of those apply to you, you probably have already been playing the game. If you fall into category one, than I would bump my score up to a B, but if you are only number 2 than you should take a look at my score below.

Verdict: C+

by Nicolas Perez