Robert Sharp: No, that Mistwalker title … tsch-tsch-tsch … Lost Odyssey! Borefest of the millennium.
Dave Long: I’ve actually played it, and it’s just not to my taste. To my eye, it’s an unfocused, mediocre mishmash of game mechanics and play styles that have been presented and executed better elsewhere, and the lazy Saturday morning cartoon plot and characters just don’t cut it for me.
It looks entirely okay, although to my eye devoid of character. It plays ok, with shooting bits that struck me as an uneconomic shooting gallery-version of Gears of War and platforming bits that remind me of Tomb Raider Legends, which wasn’t really to my taste either.
I’m sure it’s a great value proposition, but I couldn’t really find anything in there that hooked me. But I’ll definitely get the demo and give it another go tomorrow.
One interesting thing about the look and feel of Uncharted that one mentions is the whole “you’re on a movie set” feel that the game has. Maybe it’s just me, but the way they handle the “edges” of the world give it this look. Like when you watch behind the scenes footage from movies like Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park, and you see how they setup a soundstage and dress it up with some plants and a fake looking back-drop, and in those making-of scenes that soundstage just looks so fake overall (even though it doesn’t look as fake in the movie). That’s how most of the edges of the world look to me in Uncharted, as if they purposely tried to emulate a fake stage, and right behind there, if went to the other side of the cardboard, you’d find men with camera equipment and lights and stuff.
At first I thought maybe I’m just meant to ignore that stuff, but then the game introduces this mechanic of you exploring every corner of the level by looking for little treasure trinkets, so that forces me to confront these fake looking “walls” of jungle over and over.
It’s just a weird choice they made, and probably doesn’t bother most people I guess, but it just constantly keeps reminding me “you’re on a movie set”, “you’re on a movie set”.
Save yourself the bother and go read the collated intermissions on GameFAQs. That’s the only part of Lost Odyssey with any kind of depth and quality to it.
Probably not too soon. Presumably they’ll start doing previews and other publicity once the game gets closer to release, so we’ll know when it gets a couple of months from release.
Can’t agree there. Uncharted is far better than any Tomb Raider game and is visually stunning in many places. Certainly some of the best foliage pre-Crysis. The pacing does leave a bit to be desired, especially in the last third, but it’s the only PS3 game I’ve played through more than once, and I’ll probably play through it again before the sequel comes out.
I’m pretty nuts about Hot Shots Golf, as well as Little Big Planet, Ratchet and Clank, and Valkyria Chronicles.
I’ve sunk so many hours into Hot Shots Golf. When I was sick last year, I spent delirious hours in that game, getting pretty damn good but still only recently unlocking the last course. I still suck at the last 2.
Do they use the analog stick method of control for swings that was used in Outlaw Golf (still my favorite golf game) and the latest Tiger Woods games? Or do they use the 3-button swing? Or both?
And what makes you like the game better than Tiger Woods? One of the things I love in the latest TW games is that you can put yourself into the game, and they do a really good virtual representation. Plus I love the analog stick method of control, and I love all the real-world courses in Tiger Woods.
Hot shots golf never grabbed me. I preffer a swing stick to button pressing by far. Also all the courses felt more like miniature golf to me, what with castles and what not obstructing shots. I did really like the whimsical style of the game though, just wish I enjoyed the actual golf more.
Picked up Wipeout HD, Pixeljunk Racers, Pixeljunk Eden and LocoRoco Coccorecho! and I feel pretty happy about my PS3 so far. I don’t actually own any retail games yet, but I’ll be on the case once I’ve exhausted their downloadable games, which will take some time.
I’m happy about how quiet it is, I’m not happy about how shit the VGA cable is, I’m not happy about how convoluted and underdesigned the XMB is in comparison to the NXE, I’m surprisingly happy about the Sixaxis, I like the fact that they don’t hide advanced options, the payment processing on PSN Store is very good (even if the rest of the store is laughable compared to XBLM), I’m very, very, very disappointed in the BC (only tried Gradius V so far, but my god was that underwhelming. Laggy controls, sloppy framerate, truly dreadful deinterlacing), overall surprised by how solid the console feels when the meme is that it came riding on a pale horse and tore a rift in the sky.
Oh, and I truly appreciate that the console weighs like 12 fucking pounds. What’s in there? Sand?
