Video Game Reviews!

I started typing up a response to Redskullz in the Fav. Video games thread, then I realized how much it started to look like a game review. I decided to start up a new thread devoted to reviews of favorite games. This one should be current or recent games, I'll start up a new one for retro games later


Here's my review of Justice League: Ultimate Alliance for PS2:

Definately, it's one of my favorite games. Except instead of dungeon crawling, imaging walking through the streets of a city and picking up cars and throwing them at robots. Superman was actually pretty fun, the heat beams were my favorite. The only thing that got to me was the fact that superman punched as hard as batman or the *green lantern* haha. Great cast of characters (as I'm not a horribly huge DC fan, but it had all the ones I buy DC comics for). R2 for the powers list, I believe, then one of the main 4 buttons, X, Triangle, Square, and Circle. You can map which powers go to which button, etc. So a LOT like legends, because when not pushing R2, you're punching and jumping and flying (available only to characters who could fly in the comics). One of the differences I *really* liked: You can power up your powers! You find these orbs lying around and slot a damage orb into (for example) superman's heat vision. Now his heat vision does more damage. You can upgrade the orbs into stronger versions (and different versions) by melding them together. Oh, and you unlock people anytime you collect enough of the gold (I forget what) thingies, as well as alternate timeline costumes which unlocks different strengths and weaknesses they had during that timeline. I had a lot of fun with it, and it was like a superhero game on a fantasy game engine (that I loved) mixed with some new concepts. Multiplayer slightly bogged it down, but not enough to make me not want to play it, and other people seemed to enjoy it, so that's just personal opinion.

Star Wars Battlefront II:

Oh. Hell. Yes. FPS in the star wars genre. Vehicle piloting, taking over turrets, the works. The controls are seamless, switching between weapons is flawless, Everything just has an overall feel of smooth. Fragging rebels never felt so good. The medal system was a joy to find, it kept me playing until I was at Captain, if I remember correctly. You get medals for the amount of times you accomplish something in a given battle. I believe it was 6 kills with a blaster pistol earned you a pistol with a scope that did a heavy amount of damage. You can play across multiple timelines, from episode I to episode VI. If you like FPS, this one ranks up there with the best of 'em. If you like Star Wars and FPS, this one goes beyond all those other shooters On a side note: my favorite part of the game is playing on Endor, and shooting the Ewoks. Hearing their little screams were my answer to road rage. Aaaaiiiiieeeee!!! Ha. Ha. Classic.

Great idea for a thread Zero!! I will post reviews of Champions of Norrah and Bards Tale later tonight :)

Cool, I think next on my list will probably be knights of the old republic, twilight princess, maybe a smattering of some PC games thrown in for posterity

Thanks for the reviews Zero. Have you ever played Jade Empire? That was an awesome game, just wondering because you said you were going to review Knights of the Old Republic (another awesome game).

Never got a chance to play Jade Empire (my xbox, playstation 2, PSP, GBA, and wii all got stolen before I could play a lot of games). I will review all the ones I have played, as in-depth as I can, as quickly as I can. I'll try to get those reviews together soon.

Sorry to hear about that, Zero. I hate thieves.

Here is a quick review of Champions of Norrah (&2)

These two games are excellent for the ps2. This combination action/rpg is just great in these 3rd person perspection games. There is just so many items to get.(sometimes almost too many) There is also an excellent system for making your own weapons and armor and the multiplayer is just awesome. If you liked Baldurs Gate:Dark Alliance, then you will love Champions of Norrah & 2 !!

Thanks for the reviews, Red Skullz! They sound like interesting games.

Give 'em a try Shadow!!

Okay my next review....

PC Icewind Dale:Heart of Winter
This is an older game, but a damn fine one. Based on the Baldurs Gate engine, Icewind Dale is an RPG you should not miss. Icewind Dale uses 2nd edition D&D rules and is more geared toward rpg than action(gamepley is a bit slow in todays standards). This game uses a created party of six adventurers. The perspective of the game is 3rd person. If you are looking for an awesome cheap RPG pick up icewind dale!!

OK, I'll give you one better:

Icewind Dale 2 for PC.

Wow. Great game, fun plot. You show up on the shores of a town wracked with battle and conflict for them to tell you they don't have any equipment stores. You then have to scour the beaches for the swords of fallen kobolds and humans. Then, once outfitted with those, pretty much anywhere you walk is an encounter area. Non-stop action (though easy to find a place to rest). You get to create a full party of 6 people, as in the original, though now you have the option of using drow, tieflings, etc. They suffer the correct amounts of problems they would normally suffer (during the day, an icon appears over the drow's character icon at the bottom of the screen letting you know they're suffering penalties). It uses 3rd edition rules (whether .5 or not, I'm not certain). Great game, though, admittedly, I never got horribly far in it. Maybe past the first chapter. But, I will say that's a *lot* of gameplay. You can pause combat to assign specific tasks to every single person in the party by pressing the space bar. Basically, combat works like this:

SPACE
Fighter-Melee attack (click fighter, click opponent you want him to attack)
Wizard- Cast Magic Missile (click the wizard, click their spell list, click the spell, click the target of the spell)
Cleric- Buff the fighter (same as wizard spells)
Rogue- Hide, and draw your bow (click the rogue, click the special ability icon of hide, click the bow icon)
etc. etc.
SPACE
Scene plays out as you commanded.
It sounds like it takes a while, but think of how long it takes you to click a mouse button. You don't get penalized for taking a while to think of a suitable strategy, and everything plays out very well. Hell, you don't even have to pause the game if you want everybody to make melee attacks on a goblin, just click the goblin. The AI's smart, as any good DM would be, and doesn't make everyone ignore the mage because they're fragile. Tactical battles happen, and I've had to restart multiple times due to lost PC's. If you die, you can always load up from the last time you saved, and play the battle again (with similar AI, but different) and adjust your tactics accordingly. Long-winded review, but I think I caught the essense of the game.

Great Review and a great game zero!! Icewind dale + 2 are truely great pc rpg games. If you havent played em', get 'em!! (i am planning on finishing ID 1 and then going on to Icewind Dale 2) I played one before almost to the end but a glitch fouled my game (the patch did not clear it up either ) Oh well... i have to play them again...

That suuuuuucks. I hate glitches. Another bonus for IWD:2 is the fact I bought mine for $10! A lot of enjoyment on that one too.

Glitches are the only thing about pc games that i HATE....man.. to put all those hours in and then you cant finish the game...it does suck. Exact same thing happened with Dungeon Seige 2

My comp was too cruddy to run 2, but I heartily enjoyed 1 in all it's hack 'n' slash glory.

Man Dungeon Seige 2 is very, very fun...i never got a chance to try out DS1. One day i may pick it up :)

Be careful, all of a sudden it won't install on the pc I used to have it on. Randomly works and doesn't nowadays. Used to work consistently though.

Crazy...maybe i will avoid it then. The glitch in dungeon seige 2 was MAJOR...it would cause a system crash/shut down (on a near brand new computer!!)
It was very strange...when i got to this one part of a cave...bam shutdown. Tried it twice, then i uninstalled the game.

RedSkullz wrote:

Glitches are the only thing about pc games that i HATE....man.. to put all those hours in and then you cant finish the game...it does suck. Exact same thing happened with Dungeon Seige 2

This is the reason I don't have very many PC games at all. Glitches drive me nuts and I always seemed to pick up the games with the most bugs in them.

Well one series of PC games that i have never had a problem with at all is Heroes of might and magic...if you like strategy/fantasy games, seriously consider picking it up...Homm 3+4 can be bought for less than $20 shipped. (sooooo worth it)

Next review

Heroes of might and Magic II & III
Here is a series of games that are a ton of fun to play. The games are Strategy/Fantasy. The objectives of each levels vary, some levels you must defeat all other players and take over all other castles/towns, some you must find a secret artifact. There is also objectives like make a certain amount of gold before the time allowed runs out, and accumulate a certain amount of creatures before time expires. Usually you must build up your castle and overthrow you enemies. Once your castle builds up a bit you will have more of a selection of troops to fight for your cause. Resources like Gold, Sulphur, Mercury, Ore, Wood Gems, and crystals are needed to build the different structures needed to amass a powerful army. Really an exceptional series of games. I HIGHLY reccomend Heroes of Might and Magic if you like the Fantasy/Strategy games.

Man Might & Magic sounds familiar. I might have played those games. But it has been a while. I'll check out some screen shots and determine if I have played them or not. If not I'll track a copy down in a month or two.

The only ones I've played are the FPS ones (first person slashin weapons ), I think it was 5? Loooong time ago. You guys ever play daggerfall? That was a gooood ass game. My copy got stolen by an old roommate. Went to buy it again on ebay and it was like $60....

Yeah the FPS one is the only Heroes of might and Magic i have not played. (Homm V)
The other ones are very different. The reason they sound so familiar Shadow is that i was talking the games up to you a few months ago..lol
As for Daggerfall...i always wanted to try that game.

Good luck, I still can't find it for a reasonable price....

RedSkullz wrote:

Yeah the FPS one is the only Heroes of might and Magic i have not played. (Homm V)
The other ones are very different. The reason they sound so familiar Shadow is that i was talking the games up to you a few months ago..lol
As for Daggerfall...i always wanted to try that game.

That could be why it sounds familiar. But I also think I've played it before. It sounds way too familiar, it might have been another fantasy/strategy game I've played that was similar to it. Hmm, I'm even more curious than before now. I'm going to have to hit a game store and take a look.

I was able to purchase Homm 3 and 4 with all the expansion packs for less than $20 shipped. Really worth their weight in gold

RedSkullz wrote:

I was able to purchase Homm 3 and 4 with all the expansion packs for less than $20 shipped. Really worth their weight in gold

I got to thinking, I used to buy computer game magazines all the time. One of the magazines that comes with a cd might have had a free trial version on it. That might be where I played it before.

Yep...very possible. I could set you up with Homm 3 i think...(i used to have a copy when i bought the III/IV combo) Happy to look if you want shadow :)