PS3 Update

Since getting my PS3 I have managed to acquire 7 games. So far I have only completed one. I’m really enjoying the system. I must admit, however, there is still that lingering “should I have gone with a 360?” question. There are rumors that Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures will be released for the 360. If that happens I will have to pick one up. I call it a rumor, although, I do believe it is a fact. As much fact as these sorts of things can be. Personally, I will believe it when I see it.

So I beat Heavenly Sword a few days ago. It was an incredibly beautiful game with a lot of fun game play. The boss fights were just crap though. The difficulty of the bosses just didn’t match the difficulty of the rest of the game. I didn’t feel like the game got harder as you went but instead there were just difficult boss fights thrown in to prolong a short game. The timed six-axis based levels were somewhat annoying and fun at the same time. Overall the difficulty of the bosses kind of ruined the game for me. The end cut scene just wasn’t worth all of the hassle to get to it. I certainly wouldn’t call it a bad game or anything, just suffering from a few developer flaws. If you can overcome those flaws though, it is well worth the experience.

I’ve only played a small amount of GTA IV. So far I really like it and expect to play it through to the end. I never beat any of the other GTA games, always getting distracted with mass murder and all. As with just about everything on the PS3 it is freakishly beautiful.

My driving game of choice for the console was Need for Speed Carbon. I haven’t played it much but I’m not sure it was the best choice. I will have to see how fun the races are. The downhill cliff racing crap is rather unappealing to me. I’m still on the lookout for a really fun racing game. I would pickup Gran Turismo 5 but the forty dollar demo they released really pisses me off. Sure, it is half the game and you can transfer your career and all that crap. That is, after, you shell out another sixty bucks. Is it really worth a hundred bucks? Not to me.

I have also picked up Call of Duty 4, Unreal Tournament III, and The Orange Box. First person shooters on consoles just plain suck. CoD 4 is still a lot of fun but you just feel like you are being walked through every level. UT III is starting off with a storyline which is a little disappointing. It stinks of Unreal 2 so far. We will see how fun it is. I doubt I would play either game online.

The Orange Box, now there is an exception to the rule of suck in console FPS games. HL2 is a lot of fun so far. Since I’ve already beat it on the PC it is interesting to see it in this form. TF2, shockingly, was a whole hell of a lot of fun online. I’m looking forward to Portal but I haven’t checked it out yet. I played it on the PC but my system choked and died on it, so I’m happy that I will finally get to play it.

In the RPG genre I picked up Oblivion. What a beautiful game. As with most of my games I haven’t played much of it so far. What little I have is very impressive though. Being from the World of Warcraft world I was happy that my character wasn’t too retarded to ride a horse at level one.

This weekend I am hoping to play Uncharted Drake’s Fortune. I borrowed it so I want to work through it so I can give it back. I played the demo and it was pretty fantastic. I really like the cover system along with the general feeling that the guy you are controlling is clueless and kind of just a normal guy.

Well, that does it for my PS3 update. I will probably continue buying games like mad. I’m looking forward to BioShock and Force Unleashed.

Later,
-junc

The Next Generation

It has been more than a year and a half since the “Next Generation” began. My original favorite was the Nintendo Wii. I never cared much for the Xbox 360 but considered it for more “serious” gaming. I tend to leave my serious gaming for the PC anyway. I didn’t even give the PS3 a chance due to the high price. I had purchased a PS2 and it lasted all of about 6 months before the drive eventually died. At the start of the Next Generation my original Xbox was still alive and kicking (and it still is). However, a weak selection of Wii games and a climbing number of 360 problems have finally pushed me to the dark side, the dark sleek sexy PS3 side. I honestly had a hard time deciding between the 360 and PS3. I knew that they both had backwards compatibility issues but I was unaware that the new 40GB PS3 Model had ditched the PS2 compatibility altogether. The clerk at GameStop didn’t help matters by telling me that there wasn’t even PSOne compatibility (which I just discovered a few minutes ago that the 40GB version does run original PS games). So while standing between the two walls of games, the 360 on one side and the PS3 on the other I was torn. Eventually, I went with the PS3 because of the bad press the Xbox has been getting lately. The Red ring of death, which was very reminiscent of the old dead drive in the early Xbox models, made me a little apprehensive. The cost of Xbox Live was also a big deterrent. I’m quite happy with my purchase so far. I’m looking forward to having a system to play Force Unleashed on when it comes out. This also signifies my abandonment of the PC for anything but World of Warcraft. While there are lots of things I love about PC gaming and loathe about Console gaming, in the end it is all about cost. My PS3 will most likely last me for five solid years and still be playing the top notch games. I bought my PC about two years ago and it chokes on even WoW, which is pathetic.

later,
-junc