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Mike



Last Updated: 3/21/2009

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Gender: Male
Status: Married
Age: 27
Sign: Leo

City: Boston
State: Massachusetts
Country: US
Signup Date: 10/20/2007

Blog Archive
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Wednesday, October 31, 2007 
 
Gigatrons Review:
 
You might remember a game from a few years back called Manhunt. From the same studio that brought you Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt was an ultra-violent, VERY tense stealth game that pitted danger around every corner. Hailed as an interactive snuff film, the game got a decent enough following to warrant a sequel. And it has FINALLY hit the shelves. But is it a worthy follow-up to the pant-wetting original?

I'd have to say so. In fact, there are numerous areas where it surpasses it greatly. First off, you play as Danny Lamb... and you awake in an asylum and you can't seem to remember anything. That's where Leo Kasper (your cellmate) teaches you the ropes to escape from the asylum. And that's as far as I'm gonna go. The story, in my opinion, is WAY better than the original. The first game kind of felt like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, while Manhunt 2 feels like SAW. The story is much more of a psychological horror game than the first. This game doesn't just send a chill down your spine... it gets into your head. This is largely due to the solid voice acting and consistently creepy atmosphere.

The gameplay isn't wildly different from the original. It runs on a solid, stealth-based engine where your radar only tells you enemy locations and the amount of sound you make. You can sneak up behind someone with one of the many weapons, and depending on how long you hold the button down, you perform a gruesome kill. Despite the amount of censoring done to the kill animations, they are still pretty DAMN violent. A bit of blurring isn't going to make you ignore the splashes of crimson, or the disgusting sound FX. And yes, the wii controls make the experience more satisfying. Now there's "environmental kills" where you can lead your victim to an object in the area... and then USE IT. Whether it's a phone or a manhole, these new kill opportunities are great. You can also perform kills from above... so these new abilities make you feel more powerful than you were in the original. That's not to say that you can easily own anyone you come across (trust me... you can't), but you're definitely more able this time around. Whenever you're engaged in melee fights, the wiimote & chuck are used for some good ol' fashioned fisticuffs. Also, IR aiming is used whenever guns are availible. It's an intelligently-designed, thrilling game throughout.

Some critics complain about the supposedly archaic AI. I didn't really find a problem with it. Games like Splinter Cell and Metal Gear set such a high standard... who's to say that this game has bad AI? Sure, you might find predictable movement patterns... and sometimes it can be easy to escape from them. But I think it's decent enough AI, because the game never feels too easy.

The graphics are where the game suffers the most. Sure... the wii version looks a tad sharper with improved lighting, but muddy textures and blocky models are everywhere. The one thing that saves the graphics from looking too bad is (once again) the terrifically creepy atmosphere. The kill animations are great... even though they're distorted.

Overall, with the slightly budget price of $40... you can't really go wrong with Manhunt 2. The Wii doesn't have enough of these games! It's an exciting, compelling package all around. You can see the amount of care Rockstar took in crafting this game. Plus, alternate endings give you incentive to play through the game again. If you're tired of RE4 and want another rated "M" thriller, this one's for you. Rockstar's an extremely talented company and I anxiously look forward to their next project.

*the wii gets a couple extra weapons not found in other versions*
Monday, October 29, 2007 

These release dates are only for the best of the best coming out up to this Christmas. *Please note, release dates are subject to change.

10/28/07 *'Guitair Hero 3'

10/29/07 'Battalion Wars 2'

10/30/07 'The Simpsons Game'

10/31/07 *'Manhunt 2'

11/05/07 'Fire Emblem; Radiant Dawn'

11/06/07 'Mario & Sonic Olympics'

11/06/07 'Lego Star Wars'

11/13/07 'Need for Speed: Pro Street'

11/13/07 'Smackdown vs Raw 08'

11/13/07 *'Medal of Honor 2'

11/13/07 'Tomb Raider: Anniversary Mix'

11/13/07 *'Rayman Raving Rabbids 2'

11/13/07 *'Resident Evil Umbrella Co.'

11/20/07 'Soul Calibur Legends'

11/20/07 'Ghost Squad'

11/20/07 'Trauma Center: New Blood'

11/20/07 **'Super Mario Galaxy'

12/18/07 'Nights, Journey of Dreams'

Stiill think there's nothing out there on the Wii to play?

***FYI*** Both Smash Brothers and Mario Cart, have been delayed until after Christmas.

Saturday, October 27, 2007 

Category: Games

CHINA TO LAUNCH NEW CONSOLE NAMED THE 'Vii.'

Apparently the Nintendo Wii isn't currently available in China. So, instead of sitting around and waiting for the console to hit their shores, someone simpily decided to copy it. The new Vii console, will be released some time this Christmas and will even sport a motion sensing controller which is almost identical to the Wiis.Nintendo is responding by sending a large shippment of Wiis that will arive some time next year.Any legal action by Nintendo is still pending and may not even be possible due to some shady exemption laws in China.

Click on the link below to take look at the Vii and some of  its games.

http://www.engadget.com/gallery/vii-games-free-craps-indeed/435319/

Mike

Saturday, October 20, 2007 

Category: Games

'Is the Wii too under powered?'

A lot of critics out there both professional and just your average game players want to know if the Wii's hardware will be able to compete in the console wars for the long term or will the Nintendo Wii and its new controller just fizzle out and become a forgotten fad?

Ok, before I get started on this debate I just want to mention that I don't know a lot about computers. I'm not one of those programer guys who talk about or can even understand most of the talk about processing power, or why this chip is better than that chip. I have a small background in computer graphics, but when it comes to talking specs I'm going to look at you like a deer caught in head lights. With that being said, I'm not exactly stupid either and I know what I like when I see it. This is my argument.

The Nintendo Wii is about a year old now and we are just  beginning to see what the Wii is truely capable of from a graphical stand point. Early in the Wii's life we saw very little reason to hope as the console was hit with rushed port, after rushed port, by devlopers looking to make a fast buck from game starved players. You see all the major developers thought the console was going to be a complete failure, but when the system became an instant hit and sold at an unbelieveable pace, those same developers were suddenly hit with a magical change of heart. This left us with such memroble titles as, Anibus 2 and Wing Island just to name a few. The knock on the Wii is that it's nothing more than a Game Cube with about another half of its power added to it. That doesn't seem like a bad thing at all to me. I owned both the Cube and the PS2. The GC seems quite a bit stronger. A good example would be the Resident Evil 4 port. It looks fine on the PS2 until you put it next to the Cube. The clarity on the Cube is a lot better and the smoke and other effects appear to be trimmed down on the PS2. Also, the PS2 takes A LOT longer to load this game and just about everything else I play on it.(Don't get me wrong I love my PS2, but if it is capable of generating graphics as good as 'God of War' the Cube has to be capable of doing it just a little bit better and thats not a bad thing.) So basically since I was playing games that were made for a technically inferior system AND still looked worse on the Wii, it was pretty obvious that something was wrong. Still, the fan boys at 360 and PS3 love to gloat about how weak the Wii is. Thankfully, Metriod Prime 3 came out and completely reinstilled my faith in the system. The game is absolutely gorgeoues and definetly looks next gen. The new trailers for games such as Resident Evil Umberlla Co. and Smash Brothers all look very promisng. Super Mario Galaxy truely looks like a god send and is going to shake the gaming world harder than anything since the first Sonic. A crap load of more games are finally nearing the end of their production and should be dropping like crazy for Christmas and early spring. After a long and brutal wait it's a very good time to be a Wii owner. It may not have the horse power of a 360 or PS3 but the graphics are at least without a doubt next gen.

Michael

Saturday, October 20, 2007 

Current mood:  creative
Category: Games

'My console war'

I was one of the lucky ones to get the Ninetedo Wii relatively early last year. But in order just to get the system, I had to almost kill myself for the thing. At the time I was working two jobs, both of which were retail 'and will go unnamed.' I made it very clear to my boss that I was very interested in buying the new system and that I planned to wait in line for one. My boss told me that she would not sell me the system becuase I worked for the company and the console was so rare. Time passed and I wasn't able to get a system at launch. Eventually I recived word that our store was getting a very large shippment in, 200 to be exact. She agreed to put three or four aside for me and some of my fellow co-workers who were also trying to buy the console, but only if we worked an extended shift. I worked the shift even though it meant me working a full 24hrs straight between both of my jobs.I ended up with only two one hour breaks between jobs and none of us ever ended up with a system that night. I finally recived mine almost three weeks later and than with in a few weeks, you better believe that I quit that job.

Mike