To go along with the first "scheduled" summer vacation for me in over six years, I felt the need to catch up on reviews on things I've put off. So here are some quick reviews of games and technology that are overdue.
PogoPlug - No it's not a recharging station for your gyroscopically enhanced pogo-segway. This small
little piece of electronic plastic goodness is essentially remote desktop-ing made easy. Made by a company called Cloudengines, this device bridges the gap between your external hard drive and your router. It then allows you to stream your hard drive onto whatever lovely computerish device, aka iPhoneS(nob), you happen to be using to annoy the hell out people eating their dinner at that fancy restaurant Olive Garden. What used to be a limitation on OS matching between a computer and remote device has now been removed and replaced with a large
backorder and a price tag of $99.
Nokia E71x Smartphone - And speaking of the vile world of confusing popularity contests
with annoyances in public, one of the newest AT&T installment standards is the Nokia E71x Smartphone. Nokia really does know how to make quality phones and AT&T knows how to take them a step back.
The design is slick, battery long lived, camera is so-so, standard software artful in its self destruction, but web browsing, WLAN, and GPS portions are above the rest as long as you stay under the 3G umbrella during reception rain. Navigation of menus and number typing is a bit on the "special side" but once understood the phone does shine for those using it in the business sense. As long as that business isn't human trafficking then you'll be happy if an E71x comes your way.
Tiger Woods 10 (Wii, EA) - It's in the game alright. No, not shoving Tileset golf balls into any opening you can find around your TV. The Wii Motion Plus will take care of that sort of thing for you if you haven't done it already.
TW10 is a large showoff of what sports games should feel like when you are handed
a controller. Even if you aren't a fan of rolling out of bed onto your couch Sunday mornings for day long sessions to watch golf, playing this game will help you begin to enjoy the difficulty of getting a small white ball into a barely big enough hole about 300 yards away. And then it will help you begin to whip Wii controllers into fragile objects around your room. And then help you turn into a similar demonic hellion known as Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore.
The game (with Wii Motion Plus) is so sensitive to very slight motions as you swing your controller that it will bring you to the point of wanting to keep your wrist in a splint to avoid draw shots. The added features from previous years are a big bonus such as disc golf, real time weather, and precision putting. And yes you can still deck yourself out in actual Caddyshack fashions as you progress through the Masters Tournament.
Rating: 6.5 {on a scale of -10 to 10}
X3: Terran Conflict (PC, Egosoft) - X3: TC is the latest in the series. It was released in September of 2008 and done so with barely a glimmer of advertising along side of it.
Some games take their genre so far above and beyond, that expectations of what the game actually is or could be vanish, and you are left with something a bit odd and hard to describe. It is much like comparing Microsoft's Flight Simulator versus Ace Combat. They both have planes and they both involve flying but crashing and burning in one takes a little more work than the other.
X3: TC is a simulation game in the biggest sense of simulation. Combat is there but is not a large highlight unlike Wing Commander, Descent: Freespace, X-Wing vs Tie Fighter, Freelancer, etc. The storyline is there but is overshadowed by the rest of the game.
So what exactly are you left with? A gigantic universe to explore and trade within. A place to commandeer for your galactic space stations and armada of ships. It's much like Pogs or Magic: The Gathering. At first it's really interesting to look at and play but after a short time passes only a select few people of the world will still be able to find enjoyment out of it.
Extremely high learning curve, not so easy controls, and a hard difficulty make X3: TC an even harder selection to pick. Open source coding for modification, beautiful graphics, and a reason to dust off the old joystick make X3: TC a good alternative for those looking to branch way way off.
Rating: 2 {on a scale of -10 to 10}
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (360, Ubisoft)- A sequel to the 2006 release, this first person shooter is one of the very few western FPS games available. A run of the mill FPS with a very different setting for those that are used to killing Nazis or Aliens, CoJ: BiB will probably only appeal to those that really enjoy the setting the western setting.
The game and it's appeal can be compared to something similar to the movie Jacques Cousteau and Life Aquatic. Unless you were a large fan to the original works, the semi-recent film will seem more like an awkward broadway play that stays a mystery.
So unless your parents made you sit and watch every Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, and Henry Fonda western of the 60s and 70s, you probably won't even have the slightest bit of interest in CoJ: BiB since most gamers are too young to know where the term spaghetti western even came from in the first place. And if you did happen to watch them, there's still a decent chance you'll probably just bide your time and skip over this game waiting for HALO: ODST.
CoJ: BiB is a pretty average FPS and doesn't have enough meat behind it to make a good meal. Boss fights are done in the old western showdown at noon style, the action is fast paced, multiplayer competitive but not as good as CoD4, and the storyline and voiceovers are great but short overall. The gameplay is a copycat to the Call of Duty series with waypoints, respawning, and storyline progression.
But again, the fast paced action and multiplayer are the only things linking FPS gamers of today to the western setting of yesterday. If you're into a good appetizer and salad while you wait for dinner this fall, CoJ: BiB could be for you otherwise just order a bigger meal later.
Rating: 3.5 {on a scale of -10 to 10}
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360, Infinity Ward/Activision) -
One game that I had initially put off buying was CoD4. The Call of Duty predecessors were always very short with the single player game and could typically be completed in 15 hours or less. The single player was always extremely fun to play but brought no multiplayer strength with it limiting reasons to pay $50+.
Another annoyance was the other CoD games were all set in the WWII realm and after playing so many WWII games now, I can almost rattle off every gun and caliber of bullet used during that era without ever actually firing any of them. An overdone period of time in the history of the world when it comes to FPS and strategy games, I set aside the CoD series altogether until very recently.
Modern Warfare was well worth the revisit to the CoD series. Reviews of the game all over the internet have told the story many times over and all say the same thing. The game is great from start to finish in all aspects that make up an FPS game. Graphics, sound, storyline, gameplay including both single and multiplay, etc, are all top notch.
One part that really sets this game apart is the way the character modeling design is done along with the background and camera. The model design from what I've read is separate from the way previous CoD games did them. In modeling speak they have faked certain aspects to give it a three dimensional look and at the same time gives a ton of extra detail while keeping the game running at 60 frames per second.
The look of the characters and background is amazing and is shown off even more when a gun is pulled up to the shoulder and the camera puts only what's directly down the sights into focus fuzzing out the surrounding area. It's an exaggeration of what the eye really does but it's the good kind like the size of Babe the Blue Ox or the hope you feel for the Cubs to make the playoffs.
The best part about the game is how the multiplayer is done. The multiplay is on the same level that Halo 1 was when it was first released with different play modes and maps. As you play you begin to work your way through levels of experience gaining the use of new weapons and abilities. Unlocking new items becomes as addicting as playing the slots after a few too many mojitos. This idea has now become a standard for multiplayer games and will be copied for years to come.
Overall the game is well worth the small price that comes with a game of the year release so be sure to pick it up and grab an xboxlive gold package too. Just be sure to get ready to mute those arrogant mic users again.
Rating: 9 {on a scale of -10 to 10}
New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream
