I am. Want to know why? Another Reviewer is leaving Gamespot. This time, it's Alex Navarro.
http://kotaku.com/344073/another-gamespot-reviewer-decides-to-leave
This sucks.
In other news, I have reviewed Ridge Racer 7. You can check out the review here.
~TJ
So finally, after checking a local Gamecrazy store, I was able to pick up Ridge Racer 7 about 2 weeks ago. Last week I was able to finish the GP (Pretty challenging but not too hard.) and see the ending; much better than the RR6 ending I've seen online, I must say. After that, I was able to enter Extreme Battles.
One of the races I saw in Extreme Battles was a Quad Battle. I knew these were coming sooner or later, but I cringe everytime I think of them ever since the Opus matches on Ridge Racer for the PSP. They weren't too hard either, even though on some matches I had to restart a few times, especially with Sunset Heights. I despise that track simply because of the ugly U like turn that is sort of a crooked "C", where it has a hairpin turn at first, then straightens out, then goes directly into another hairpin turn 1-2 seconds later. When I first played on this track, I crashed. A lot. And I'm not new to Ridge Racer; I've been playing it ever since I got RRV (I would say ever since RR1, but I never owned 2, 3 or 4 on the PS1; the way RR Type 4 is talked about, it makes me wish I did).
So after a while I get used to the AI in Extreme Battles, and win the Races with tough competition, and in the early Duels, it did not take much for me to get in front of the Rival machine at least 2-3 times before passing the finish line. Then came the Monstrous Duel. I think I was purely dumbfounded when I raced against him. I thought it would be a pretty easy race. Just drift as usual and use the nitrous, right? Wrong.
Monstrous raped me the first few times, so much so that I tried to see what strategies others used to beat him. Eventually, I tried using the Galaxian nitrous (with the ultimate charge buffed up and the standard charge weakened). Using this method, the first few times I got close to Monstrous. It was the final lap. I'm neck and neck with him. Then the triple nitrous kicked in, and Monstrous' look began to shift.
My jaw dropped to the floor, and one of the first comments out of my mouth was "WTF?!?" soon followed by "Crap." Well, not actually that, but you get the idea. Eventually I beat him. I was so excited to get to duel Angelus and Crinale, and realized they were going to be harder than monstrous then I saw that Opus matches were unlocked. Which made me cringe even more. Not only that, but the Angelus Duel was in Harborline 765 (a pretty narrow course) and the Crinale Duel was at Seaside Route 765 (which seems a little more narrow in RR7). Just keeps getting better and better huh?
Well, shockingly, I broke my pact not to try the Opus Races, since I thought I wouldn't have the patience to restart over 50 times for all of the Opus battles (hey, at least they weren't GPs like in the PSP version). I've now cleared all of the battles in Extreme Battle, RSGP, UFRA Single Events, and Manufacturer Trials. Once I completed all of these, I then realized that my completion percent was only at 95.7%... That's when I realized; I haven't gotten allof the manufacterer points. Joy; now I have to race in certain cars I said I never would race in just to get all the plug ins and racing events. :P
To be honest, these final races are the only races in the entire Ridge Racer series that had my heart going as fast as my machine was. Awesome game, even though I wanted to throw my controller on the floor in frustration with the final races. Luckily, I was sitting on/near a bed playing the game on my HDTV in my room, and my controller had the awesome rubber glove for added protection, in case of that fateful moment should my controller hit the floor or some other hard object with excessive force.
I don't have anger problems...I just take out my anger on the computer players. :lol: And so for all of that fast blood pumping action, I congratulate Namco-Bandai. (I hate saying Bandai-Namco; Namco > Bandai)
THAT IS ALL! MUST GET ALL OF THE MANUFACTURER POINTS!
P.S.: I dunno, just wanted to add in a P.S.
~TJ (added the tilde for something different :) )
So it turns out that about 5 days before my other post, Sony announced that they will be releasing prepaid cards for the PSN:
(Here's the post on the Playstation Blog)
That's awesome. Maybe I'll finally be able to get High Velocity and Tekken DR online...better than Virtua Fighter 5, gameplay wise.
So about Virtua Fighter 5...I asked for it over christmas, and I was excited about playing it. I played VF4 and liked it. However, VF4 didn't make me as frustrated as VF5 does. Arcade mode is difficult for me, even on very easy...maybe it's because I play Tekken much more, but regardless even beating the bonus stage with the hard opponent Dural (and beating Arcade mode in general) isn't rewarding. I liked quest mode a lot, though....
..That was until the ranks of the opponents got up into the Dan titles; compare the fighting difficulty of a kyu to a dan; kyus aren't too hard, but they aren't too easy. a 1st kyu is decent; all of a sudden, when you get to 1st dans, they evade attacks and block them like it's nothing. When you block, their attacks connect regardless if you are holding the guard button (and crouching sometimes) or not. Virtua Fighter is probably the only game I've played where I've been baffled and sometimes come close to chucking my controller at the TV screen or some other random place.
I dunno, maybe I'm just a noob to Virtua Fighter again; I haven't played VF4 in a long time, mind you. However, even with Tekken's hard opponents, I was never extremely frustrated. At one point in tekken I defeated a Shihan in Tekken 5. But when I fight a 7th Dan in Virtua Fighter, all my throws usually don't connect, my opponent uses the same types of moves (when I get up off of the ground, effectively knocking me back onto the ground if I don't recover the first time, or just randomly just before I hit them), and whenever I try to use a throw escape, it's usually too late.
I think I'm not used to Virtua Fighter's fast pacing. I mean sure, Tekken has a good amount of moves that require precise timing and quick combinations, but practicing them I can pull them off. Meh, guess I'll have to keep practicing defensive/offensive moves.
I've also wondered why Virtua Fighter hasn't really adapted a storyline into it. It makes it kind of boring to me, simply because I think storylines make it more interesting than just beating up random people.
Anyways, just my two cents. Somehow I got off topic from what I was really posting about in the first place, so I decided to cover 2 topics instead. Later!
-TJ
I really would like Sony to release these cards in the US VERY soon. There are some games on the network that I'm dying to get my hands on. For example, the recent release, "High Velocity Bowling." It would be nice to have a game that uses the Sixaxis without feeling very awkward. It's weird trying to control cars in the Burnout Paradise demo or other racing games by moving the controller around, especially in Burnout when the game goes so fast.
I don't want to be stuck with using only a credit card, because I don't want to use them for downloading games. Microsoft has their pre-paid cards for the 360's Marketplace, and Sony released Pre-paid cards for the Network in Japan and other areas. Come on Sony! Release the cards over here already! What's the hold up? You have the option to redeem pre-paid card codes for the US Playstation Network accounts, but what good is it if there aren't any available to redeem?
-TJ
I really did not want to post this, because there are already a billion of posts already bashing GS and Eidos, but I feel it needs to be posted.
Then take a look at the Kane and Lynch site.
Finally, take a look at the reviews GameInformer and Gamespy gave the game.
My thoughts? Eidos may have had the ratings with the quotes trying to make it seem like a review that it really wasn't. I went to the site and loaded it up, but all I saw were the quotes. Maybe the picture on that site was fabricated, maybe it was not. Maybe Eidos really did put that up there on the site, then changed it to avoid more publicity? It wouldn't surprise me if this was the truth. Take it for what it's worth. Make of it what you will.
This is so ridiculous. Obviously the people speaking on behalf of CNET are probably lying and telling people what they want to hear. Regardless, the damage is done. It makes me wonder what to believe sometimes. But then again, this is the internet. Not everything is what it seems.
-TJ
P.S: I think many of you should read Bob Colayco's Blog post about the controversy in general. I found it interesting.
Well, I've been gaming....and doing college work. A lot. School has made me busier than ever. I've been playing Guild Wars: Eye of the North for most of the time when I get free time. Last week, I got a PS3, so now I'm switching between them somewhat (though to be honest, I'm playing my PS3 more, of course). I'll probably be on more during the christmas break, though! See you all soon.
-TJ
P.S: BTW, my Playstation Network Username is TJX2045, if any of you want to add me sometime. Of course, let me know your GS name so I know who you are. :P
(Portal Spoiler)
[spoiler] P.P.S: For any of you who are playing or have already played Portal from the orange box, yes, the cake is a lie. [/spoiler]
I recently got a 250GB external HDD. I'm really glad I did. I can now install most of my computer games without having to worry too much about space, and I also have more room for my music and other files. :D I'm downloading some HD videos to watch on my new 19'' HD LCD Flat Panel as well. I have to say, many of the games I've been playing, especially Tomb Raider Anniversary and Guild Wars look much better with an HD Monitor. Only true downside to it is that I can't adjust the screen so that I can play in widescreen resolutions; it Auto Adjusts the screen for me, and that's the only way it will allow for an adjustment (BUMMER!). but it's still got great quality with full screen modes.
Also had to get a new Computer desk for my Desktop, since my old one broke from the weight of my Tower and old CRT screen too probably. :P I like the new one better anyways. LOL.
Anyways, just giving everyone an update. Talk to you all later!
-TJ 8)
I have just made a review for Tomb Raider Anniversary on the PC. I had it all organized in nice small paragraphs. However, Gamespot wants to torture you all by crunching all of the formatting into one big wall of chaos, so bear with me and keep that in mind when reading or before reading if you have a big sign that says "DOES NOT COMPUTE" when you see a hideous wall of text. :P
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