Sodacake

I think I'll start playing Killzone 2 again, but any time I turned it on when I played it regularly I found myself thinking "man, this just isn't Call of Duty 4."

Does this happen to anyone else?

Sparky

yeah.

The game looks awesome, but the gameplay just isn't that fun.

Sodacake

Yeah. Basically Infinity Ward got the gameplay so perfect in CoD4 that any other FPS I play just doesn't feel right.

Alfred

I only played the demo, but I've come to the conclusion that Killzone 2 is a shitty game that looks nice and has a lot of gore. I seriously didn't have any fun while playing it.

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WolfAtTheDoor

He's always one level up - you fight on easiest, he plays on medium etcetc. He follows a pattern though, so it's easy to clock him once you figure it out, but the pattern just happens to be a VERY cheap and frustrating one. He has the ability to teleport three times in a single move.

boo boo

Speaking of cheap characters, was playing Soul Calibur 2 today, holy sh*t Nightmare is ridiculous, his sword takes up nearly half the screen, it has amazing reach, great offense and defense and it can break shields with ease. I can pretty much take anyone out with just 2 or 3 powerful, well timed hits.

DAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYUUUUUUUMMMMMM.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

http://www.last.fm/user/kingboobs

Sparky

you should give it a rental.

Some parts are pretty fun, especially when you get into the mech or acquire the lightning gun.

BlitzySixx

Resident Evil 5

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boo boo

Ok, instead of just talking about the game I'm playing right now, I'm gonna review it.



I'm starting to become a big fan of strategy games, and this game is accessible enough even to those that are not fans of the genre.

This is one of the finest games for the Gamecube. Pikmin is yet another creation from Shigeru Miyamoto, it may not have the same kinda brand power as Mario or Zelda, but you know what to expect from Miyamoto. Great gameplay, lush and imaginative worlds and tons of exploration and great puzzles.

Does Pikmin live up to that?

...

Hell yeah it does.

The concept is simple, the sequel picks up where the original left off. Captain Olimar returns to his home planet after an accident that left him stranded in a massive alien world, which is actually Earth. The company he works for is going bankrupt, and upon learning that the world he had just visited contains valuable treasures, which are actually common household items. He's sent on a return mission along with a new partner named Louie, to bring back as many treasures as possible, by using the help of alien creatures called Pikmin.

Compared to the original, Pikmin 2 is better in all aspects, it has more Pikmin, more baddies and a 2 player battle mode that add to the experience, actual co op would have been nice and not having that is a big loss since you already have two characters to control.

Also it did away with the annoying 30 day time limit and allows you to explore the game at your own pace.

The gameplay is excellent, you only have 4 big stages to explore, but they are all massive (literally, giant bugs and flowers of all kinds) and contain caves and tunnels that lead to many challenging sublevels where only the most priceless treasures can be found, there's also some pretty tough boss fights along the way. Level design is very imaginative, the stages are both intricate and vast, and can be tough to navigate through if you don't know what you're doing.

Like some other Nintendo franchises, the emphasis is on exploring and treasure hunting, and navigating through various mazes and obstacles fighting several monsters along the way. Each Pikmin has special abilities, weaknesses and attributes. Red ones are immune to fire, blue ones can swim and wont drown, yellow runs are immune to electricity and can be thrown to greater heights, purple ones are very heavy and powerful (but slow) and white ones are immune to poison and can detect and dig up buried treasures, they can also poison any monsters foolish enough to eat them. So picking Pikmin for certain missions requires a lot of strategy, as several obstacles and enemies require a certain kind of Pikmin.

You use your Pikmin to pick up treasures and store them into your hoard of goodies (which includes the corprses of your slain enemies), you can also use the little guys to pick up color coded pelets which can be used to create more Pikmin, which you pluck out of the ground. And you're gonna be doing this quite often, because your Pikmin are gonna get eaten by monsters, A LOT.

Protecting your Pikmin from monsters is a crucial part of gameplay. There's a lot them, and they all have unique patterns and personalities. The enemy AI is some of the best I've ever seen in a Gamecube game, a lot of the creatures really give you the impression that they're truly alive and aware. So defeating or sneaking past certain enemies can be quite a challenge.

The amount of Pikmin you control is very impressive, the amounts of Pikmin you will have under your control will change throughout the game depending on how many you will lose and how many you will create. At most you can control a hundred Pikmin at once. Also your Pikmin's stamina increases over time, evident by the flowers that bloom on their heads, so if you want them to reach maximum power, be sure to keep them out of harm's way.

You start out in one stage, you have to find certain items to progress to the next one. Even after you've unlocked all 4 stages theres still a lot more exploring to do, you only start with Red Pikmin and you find newer species along the way. So an area you can't access before because it's gaurded with an electric fence? You need Yellow pikmin for that. Got a river you can't swim in? Get your blue Pikmin, and so on.

You will also find tools that will help you or your Pikmin against certain enemies, or to help you access places you couldn't before, so just like Zelda and Metroid you're gonna be doing a lot of backtracking in order to find secret areas and treasures you couldn't get to before.

Like the first game, you do things in a matter of "days", while the amount of days is limitless this time around, each day has a time limit in itself, which is about 10 minutes, whatever it is you want to do, it has to be accomplished in that amount of time, you can return home whenever you are ready, but to stay out after nightfall would be a horrible mistake as monsters start popping out everywhere. So time management and advanced planning is important if you want to survive.

The controls are great, controlling Olimar, Louie and their Pikmin pals is made as fluid as possible, you switch between Olimar and Louie allowing them to explore different parts of the area at once, and you use your Pikmin to do everything from fight enemies, disassemble traps and obstacles and access hard to reach places that Olimar and Louie can not. You use a whistle to keep your Pikmin in line, you can throw them, or use your flute to guide them Pied Piper style.

The graphics are excellent for a gamecube title. Your characters may look cartoony, but there's plenty of eye candy, each environment has beautiful detail. Changing weather, impressive water effects, the way the light reflects off of things, wilting flowers and the transition from day to twilight to night is very beautfully done. And in typical Nintendo fashion, all kinds of colors fill up your screen at once. The ridiculous amount of sprites (namely your Pikmin) is also very impressive, hundreds of character sprites can fill your screen at a time while the framerate stays perfectly smooth.

The music doesn't scream out at you, but it's also top notch and fits with the overall atmosphere of the game perfectly, some of the pieces are especially pretty. Sound quality overall is great, your Pikmin and all the other creatures you come across make all sorts of amusing sounds and hollers.

Another feature is that you can look through the journals and findings of Olimar and Louie, which adds some nice humor and in-jokes to the game. You'll also find yourself giggling at all the odd treasures you find, which actually consists of stuff like can openers, rubber ducks, rusty old fishing lures, bottle caps and all kinds of things, including some not so subtle product placements.

One final thing I want to touch on is the battle mode. Here you and a second player must hunt for marbles, whoever gets them all in time wins. Pretty simple, but fun. There's another unlockable mode where 2 players race to complete a maze. It's a nice addition, still, this game should have had a co op mode, that would have been the icing on the cake.

But really, that's the only complaint I can think of. This is a fantastic game, the gameplay is unique, challenging and most importantly, fun as hell. The amount of hidden treasures (200 in all) and secret areas add a lot of replay value, to fully complete this game will take you well over 30 hours or more depending on your skill level.

So if you find this at your nearest bargain bin, you'd be a fool not to pick it up. This is a wonderful game and one of the finest GC titles out there.

5/5

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

http://www.last.fm/user/kingboobs

Sparky

Boo Boo,

is there any first party-nintendo series you dislike?

just curious