Cali Update
No new games purchased, I think.
Burnout Legends - PSP (Do not compare to DS version)
But I finally got all golds in Burnout Legends. I previously got all Race Golds, but I finally finished all 100 Crash Golds. Jesus Christ. Some of them were stupid hard.
Burnout Legends is a compilation of the first 3 Burnout Games. It's nice to see tracks from the earlier games with the new gameplay. The biggest downgrade from BO3:Takedown is the number of competitors, from 6 total racers (including you) to 4. Graphics took a hit, but at the speed it goes, it's fine, aside from a few RARE instances of the game pausing to catch up to stream the level data.
The music is great, if you like the Burnout 3 or Revenge music. In fact, it's just about 2/3 of Revenge's OST, the same songs, just not all of them. Just no Crash FM. ;)
It controls well. I usually play with dual analog, but it worked fine. I never felt out of control.
The battery life does take a total hit as all heavy 3D and heavy disc-access games go. But I felt that after 3-4 hours of straight Burnout, I could use a break.
Pursuit mode is back. I hadn't played BO2:POI when I first got this, so it was a new experience. Overall, Pursuit mode felt broken. The only way to get gold was to glitch the game and kill the opponent incredibly fast by trapping him in a wall or some shit. Road rage, Burning Laps, Eliminator and Races all were fine, as usual.
Crash Mode, however is a total mixed bag. The game did not need 100 crash areas. I figure they threw them in because they could, but it was way too much. About 40 crash junctions in, I felt tired and stopped doing them. I only finished the rest because I wanted to put the game behind me. Plus some of the levels were just ridiculous to get gold. They varied way too much. I hope future Burnout games would include a relative difficulty scale to see what you're in for. Some of them I had to repeat 40-50 times. On some of them I got the same exact score multiple times in a row. That shouldn't happen. Especially when I keep trying a variety of techniques in the level. It's discouraging.
In the end, I got plenty of time out of Burnout Legends and I'm especially excited for Burnout Dominator, considering the PSP version will have downloadable tracks. If you like Burnout, it's totally worth it.
Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure - PS2 (Also on Xbox, PC)
I also finally beat Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure. I also got all the unlocks. I enjoyed the game a lot. The buttons could have been more responsive, but it worked well. The cutscenes were REALLY well done. However, the subtitles needed a LOT more syncing. They didn't always sync properly, especially during conversations. But the combat was great and the actual art creating worked well.
The one thing I dug the most about the game was the unlocks you progressively unlocked. You could just throw up the minimum grafs in a level, but if you did it well, bigger, or the secondary ones, you got more respect points. These unlocked art, more moves, extra damage, etc. However about 2/3rd of the way through the game, I unlocked all of that, so I didn't feel a real need to continue perfect runs of levels. So I didn't find ALL the secrets.
Interestingly enough, the music selection was great. Certain levels just had the perfect theme to it, like "Helicopter" by Bloc Party during this one tram level. Unfortunately unlocking more songs was just to play in the menus, not during the game. It kinda felt pointless.
The difficulty varied a lot. The combat was always a bit difficult, but it worked well and as you played more, you got better, but so did the enemies. Some levels got frustrating, but I felt like it was my fault when I died, not the games. The combat itself was also really fun. The style, affectionately called "Dunk-Fu," worked out very well. It was incredibly fluid. You could do virtually anything to guys, from sucker punches, to knee-face techniques to throwing guys in front of moving vehicles. You can tell the developers had fun putting it in there.
What surprised me was the acrobatics in the game. The developers definitely took a page from the recent Prince of Persia titles. Coltrane "Trane" Crowley is one of the most limber people I've ever seen. He could scale virtually anything with ease. Aside from little issues on transferring to perpendicular pipes, it controlled magnificently, even if it seemed a little of a stretch.
Aside from a little bit of control issues and a varying difficutly, it turned out great. I don't want to give a number. The review should interest you enough.
Miami Vice: The Game - PSP
Crockett and Tubbs, back in action. Miami Vice: The Game serves as a prequel to the movie. It supports 2 player co-op, but in single player mode you pick your favorite detective and the game starts. The first mission gets Castillo back on your side. From there, you have to take out a big drug lord.
There are five main gameplay modes in this game. The main one is the shooting mode. You sneak around, peering around walls and using nearly everything for cover. In 3rd-person, you aim using the laser mounted on all your weapons and deal justice. It works really well, aside from the fact you can't move and shoot at the same time. So you are forced to approach levels carefully and methodically. In the midst of killing bad guys, you also confiscate their narcotics, which you use later. The shooting mode is totally fun, although it does get repetitive.
In some levels you take to the boats. You go around and blow up other boats and steal their drugs as they float in the water. Simple, short levels, but fun.
Those cover the main levels of the game. Between levels a lot can go on. There's a drug-trading meta-game on the level of Drug Wars of PDA and Graphing Calculator fame. You probably know what to expect there.
Throughout the shooting levels you pick up FlashRAM. These are "hacked" back at the HQ. This little game comes off VERY similar to Every Extend Extra. 2D geometric shapes you destory by charging up blasts. By completing a set of 3 levels in each FlashRAM, you can unlock access to a Drug Baron or be able to purchase new weapon upgrades. Once you understand how the hacking works, it gets fun, albeit unexpected.
Remember how I mentioned Drug Barons? These guys give you top dollar for drugs and you aren't limited to the 100 slots on hand for the normal trading. You can automatically access the depository at the HQ. In these games you have to balance your pointer in the good area. When it falls out of it, the persuasion of the drug baron falls. It plays similar to the balancing in the Tony Hawk games. The added twist is the dialog you control. You can be aggressive to earn more respect, or you can be diplomatic and make it easier. Either way, filling up the persuasion bar completes the sale.
On top of all these games, you also purchase weapons to take into levels and outfits. The outfits either add to your reputation or add armor. The Reputation points you earn are how you access the Drug barons. You earn it by doing well in levels, by being accurate, using less extreme weapons and not healing yourself a lot.
I guess I covered everything. I didn't expect the game to have so much, yet feel so short. I'm just excited for the movie now, even if you thought it sucked.
Afterthoughts
I didn't expect to give a long review, but I really loved these games. Did you guys enjoy reading me gush over them? Should I continue to do this in the future or just list the games with a one or two sentence summary? I would like to get popular. :)
Oh, I also added two links to my sidebar. I found two sites. Each day they give out a retail game for free. I don't get any kickbacks, but I figured I'd give them a little more popularity, eh?
The next games I want to finish are KH2, GTA:VCS and THP8.
Burnout Legends - PSP (Do not compare to DS version)
But I finally got all golds in Burnout Legends. I previously got all Race Golds, but I finally finished all 100 Crash Golds. Jesus Christ. Some of them were stupid hard.
Burnout Legends is a compilation of the first 3 Burnout Games. It's nice to see tracks from the earlier games with the new gameplay. The biggest downgrade from BO3:Takedown is the number of competitors, from 6 total racers (including you) to 4. Graphics took a hit, but at the speed it goes, it's fine, aside from a few RARE instances of the game pausing to catch up to stream the level data.
The music is great, if you like the Burnout 3 or Revenge music. In fact, it's just about 2/3 of Revenge's OST, the same songs, just not all of them. Just no Crash FM. ;)
It controls well. I usually play with dual analog, but it worked fine. I never felt out of control.
The battery life does take a total hit as all heavy 3D and heavy disc-access games go. But I felt that after 3-4 hours of straight Burnout, I could use a break.
Pursuit mode is back. I hadn't played BO2:POI when I first got this, so it was a new experience. Overall, Pursuit mode felt broken. The only way to get gold was to glitch the game and kill the opponent incredibly fast by trapping him in a wall or some shit. Road rage, Burning Laps, Eliminator and Races all were fine, as usual.
Crash Mode, however is a total mixed bag. The game did not need 100 crash areas. I figure they threw them in because they could, but it was way too much. About 40 crash junctions in, I felt tired and stopped doing them. I only finished the rest because I wanted to put the game behind me. Plus some of the levels were just ridiculous to get gold. They varied way too much. I hope future Burnout games would include a relative difficulty scale to see what you're in for. Some of them I had to repeat 40-50 times. On some of them I got the same exact score multiple times in a row. That shouldn't happen. Especially when I keep trying a variety of techniques in the level. It's discouraging.
In the end, I got plenty of time out of Burnout Legends and I'm especially excited for Burnout Dominator, considering the PSP version will have downloadable tracks. If you like Burnout, it's totally worth it.
Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure - PS2 (Also on Xbox, PC)
I also finally beat Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure. I also got all the unlocks. I enjoyed the game a lot. The buttons could have been more responsive, but it worked well. The cutscenes were REALLY well done. However, the subtitles needed a LOT more syncing. They didn't always sync properly, especially during conversations. But the combat was great and the actual art creating worked well.
The one thing I dug the most about the game was the unlocks you progressively unlocked. You could just throw up the minimum grafs in a level, but if you did it well, bigger, or the secondary ones, you got more respect points. These unlocked art, more moves, extra damage, etc. However about 2/3rd of the way through the game, I unlocked all of that, so I didn't feel a real need to continue perfect runs of levels. So I didn't find ALL the secrets.
Interestingly enough, the music selection was great. Certain levels just had the perfect theme to it, like "Helicopter" by Bloc Party during this one tram level. Unfortunately unlocking more songs was just to play in the menus, not during the game. It kinda felt pointless.
The difficulty varied a lot. The combat was always a bit difficult, but it worked well and as you played more, you got better, but so did the enemies. Some levels got frustrating, but I felt like it was my fault when I died, not the games. The combat itself was also really fun. The style, affectionately called "Dunk-Fu," worked out very well. It was incredibly fluid. You could do virtually anything to guys, from sucker punches, to knee-face techniques to throwing guys in front of moving vehicles. You can tell the developers had fun putting it in there.
What surprised me was the acrobatics in the game. The developers definitely took a page from the recent Prince of Persia titles. Coltrane "Trane" Crowley is one of the most limber people I've ever seen. He could scale virtually anything with ease. Aside from little issues on transferring to perpendicular pipes, it controlled magnificently, even if it seemed a little of a stretch.
Aside from a little bit of control issues and a varying difficutly, it turned out great. I don't want to give a number. The review should interest you enough.
Miami Vice: The Game - PSP
Crockett and Tubbs, back in action. Miami Vice: The Game serves as a prequel to the movie. It supports 2 player co-op, but in single player mode you pick your favorite detective and the game starts. The first mission gets Castillo back on your side. From there, you have to take out a big drug lord.
There are five main gameplay modes in this game. The main one is the shooting mode. You sneak around, peering around walls and using nearly everything for cover. In 3rd-person, you aim using the laser mounted on all your weapons and deal justice. It works really well, aside from the fact you can't move and shoot at the same time. So you are forced to approach levels carefully and methodically. In the midst of killing bad guys, you also confiscate their narcotics, which you use later. The shooting mode is totally fun, although it does get repetitive.
In some levels you take to the boats. You go around and blow up other boats and steal their drugs as they float in the water. Simple, short levels, but fun.
Those cover the main levels of the game. Between levels a lot can go on. There's a drug-trading meta-game on the level of Drug Wars of PDA and Graphing Calculator fame. You probably know what to expect there.
Throughout the shooting levels you pick up FlashRAM. These are "hacked" back at the HQ. This little game comes off VERY similar to Every Extend Extra. 2D geometric shapes you destory by charging up blasts. By completing a set of 3 levels in each FlashRAM, you can unlock access to a Drug Baron or be able to purchase new weapon upgrades. Once you understand how the hacking works, it gets fun, albeit unexpected.
Remember how I mentioned Drug Barons? These guys give you top dollar for drugs and you aren't limited to the 100 slots on hand for the normal trading. You can automatically access the depository at the HQ. In these games you have to balance your pointer in the good area. When it falls out of it, the persuasion of the drug baron falls. It plays similar to the balancing in the Tony Hawk games. The added twist is the dialog you control. You can be aggressive to earn more respect, or you can be diplomatic and make it easier. Either way, filling up the persuasion bar completes the sale.
On top of all these games, you also purchase weapons to take into levels and outfits. The outfits either add to your reputation or add armor. The Reputation points you earn are how you access the Drug barons. You earn it by doing well in levels, by being accurate, using less extreme weapons and not healing yourself a lot.
I guess I covered everything. I didn't expect the game to have so much, yet feel so short. I'm just excited for the movie now, even if you thought it sucked.
Afterthoughts
I didn't expect to give a long review, but I really loved these games. Did you guys enjoy reading me gush over them? Should I continue to do this in the future or just list the games with a one or two sentence summary? I would like to get popular. :)
Oh, I also added two links to my sidebar. I found two sites. Each day they give out a retail game for free. I don't get any kickbacks, but I figured I'd give them a little more popularity, eh?
The next games I want to finish are KH2, GTA:VCS and THP8.
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