A night out as the Caped Crusader

I do not know how I should start the PS2 review for Batman Begins, but all I know is that I came away from playing the game with a bad aftertaste in my mouth without even being able to paint the streets of Gotham town red.


An almost exact digital duplicate of Christian Bale as the menacing-looking Batman in the Batman Begins intro

Graphics-wise, I believe Eurocom did a very good job of portraying down to the minute details on how much the new Batman game looked like its movie counterpart, and even the actual faces of the actors playing their respective roles have been digitised to an almost identical double. And the fact that the whole original cast of the Batman Begins movie lent their voices for this game made it all a very nice package that ties down well with the movie. But maybe that's the flaw: the game follows the movie script too precisely until it doesn't even feel like a game but more like an interactive introduction to the movie itself. Okay, scratch that last statement; this game isn't THAT interactive at all. It's too heavily scripted, rendering players to follow a specific step-by-step 'guide' for a successful mission / infiltration. And if players were to be the very initiative type and would prefer to find their own way around to complete the stages other than the recommended one, you'd soon find yourself (or your Batman character) a target practice. And a dead one at that too. Oh well, so much for the Bat armour...


"Don't hit me--oof!" Batman gives a thug the ol' one-two


Glide through the air if you need to make a long-distance jump, or if you just feel like admiring the graphic details...

The other thing I noticed that seemed to be out of place is how Bruce Wayne / Batman climbs ladders: you would think the Dark Knight would have more grace as the 'most feared' crimefighter than that 'monkey stance'. At least the overall mood of the game seemed and felt gothic enough, suiting the theme of the vice-infested Gotham city and Batman nicely.


Monkey-man on the loose... hey, that looks like Batman though

I have to give credit where it's due, though. Batman Begins meshes the espionage mechanics of Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid series and does a pretty decent job at it. Well, it could be more polished than how it is presented in the game. There are also times when I've encountered frame drops as well, which really marred the gameplay experience even for diehard Batman fans. The Burnout-like racing and takedown sequences fared much better, and Burnout veterans would surely be pretty amused to see the flashing words that read "Thug Takedown!" each time you successfully sent any thug's vehicle crashing.


The action gets intense with the Batmobile driving sequence ala Burnout. Does the spark effect looked kinda familiar?


And when your meter fills up, you get BOOST!

The 'shadow incident' in the Batman Begins game that I mentioned earlier in one of my posts still stands out like a sore thumb. It may not interfere with the overall gameplay, but it does mark the sloppiness of their beta testers, which will negatively affects the overall image of Eurocom.


For the last time, are you following me up the stairs or not?!


Fine! Stay where you are then. Darn those game testers...

Though being a retail product, Batman Begins still felt like an unfinished work that still required a lot of rework to be done. I wouldn't recommend anyone to get this game at all, unless you really, really do like the movie and don't mind the heavily scripted linear gameplay. If you still feel like giving this game a go, I suggest a rental would do just fine.

Play Spidey / Venom in comic book style!

Ultimate Spider-Man for the PS2 (and other video game consoles) will be made available by September 2005 onwards, and it looks stunningly excellent in the graphics department. Cel-shading is definitely the in-thing right now as the game trailer for Ultimate Spider-Man is absolutely gorgeous with fluid animations. It also seemed to suggest that cutscenes for the storyline will be told in comic-strip panel style - animated, of course.


The full glory of cel-shaded graphics in the PlayStation 2's Ultimate Spider-Man

If you want to see some screenshots and the trailer itself, head over to Gamespot or follow the link below (cut and paste it in your browser's address bar:

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/ultimatespiderman/index.html

Alternately, you can head to the official Ultimate Spider-Man website (http://www.ultimatespidermangame.com) for more information.

This one's going onto my 'most wanted' list for now!

The beginnings of the Dark Knight's adventures

Cover scan of the PlayStation 2's Batman Begins

Yes, people; Batman Begins is finally out in the market! It's gonna be a while before the game is shipped over to this part of the world, but I've gotten my hands on a friend's imported copy, and I must say the whole game presentation suited the mood of a Batman game. I particularly liked the idea of being able to scare enemy thugs and making them jump at the slightest noise after that, but I felt the game could've approached this unique method with less repetition. Still, the controls are great (but not as excellent as Mr David Jaffe's God Of War) and most of the game mechanics are spot on.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, for as soon as I can get my hands on my own copy of Batman Begins, I will post a full review of how the whole game went. Before I sign off for now, there's something about the game that I noted: during one of the game chapters where Bruce Wayne is in the Himalayas training in the art of the shadows, I noticed some peculiar glitch. Ironically, it has something to do with shadows; it was Bruce's shadow and it rotated 360 degrees in one of the checkpoints and was floating off the ground in another! Weird, as though the game is still buggy even in its final release. More on this soon, I promise!

Will the real game console please stand up?

The Sony PlayStation 3 video game console

Looks like the PlayStation 3 doesn't live up to its hype, or so it seemed. I remembered an excited buzz surrounding the PS3 about it having a whopping 160GB amount of storage within its salivating silver hull which was supposedly used for storing saved game files and many, many more things. But now, everything changed when Mr Ken Kutaragi slapped us hard by shoving this hard facts to us:

The PS3 would not be included with a hard disk drive.

He was quoted to have said this: "...no matter how much we put in it, it won't be enough". Now there's food for thought. How does one define enough is enough? Anyway, Mr Kutaragi did mentioned that there will be various HDD options for users to ponder upon, either choosing a 2.5-inch drive bay or in the form of network drive; we'll have to wait and see what that last option meant.

And that's not all, for the PS3 is purportedly said to be "able to run other PC operating systems too, such as Windows and Tiger, if the publishers want to do so". I presume that the OSes would need the HDD, but then that makes having a HDD mandatory. And the mother of all questions - is the OS really important (i.e. to run the PS3 or some other similar functions), or it's just another next-to-useless gimmick to attract consumers? Sony's screwing around with us gamers by making the HDD optional but mandatory, I just know it.

Somehow, the thought of using wireless joypads with rechargeable / removable batteries on a next-gen gaming console that requires an optional hard disk drive doesn't sound so exciting now unless Sony can give us a clearer picture of what they actually intend to do with the PS3. Yes, I remember Mr Kutaragi did say that the PS3 is more than just a gaming console, but it'll help heaps if there could be more explanation and information about the capabilities of the PS3 and not just trash-talking about other video game consoles.

What it'll be, Sony? Come away with hands clean or stick another skeleton in your already-crammed closet?

Cel-shaded goddess

I was introduced to Clover Studios' latest outing after their highly rated Viewtiful Joe series, titled Okami. Quoted from Gamespot: "In the game, you play as the reawakened Amaterasu, a god that's been reborn as a wolf and whose mission is to restore Japan to glory." Hmm, isn't Amaterasu a goddess?


Amaterasu (above) amidst a lush backdrop in Okami

The difference between Okami and the rest of the cel-shaded games currently available is the use of paintbrush-like watercolour painting and caligraphy. This makes Okami one-of-a-kind game that deserves the attention from all cel-shaded game lovers. Even during the encounter with the enemies within the game that Okami presented a unique style of dispatching them amidst the usual claw and tackle attacks - a celestial brush to finish off enemies. No kidding.

The environment created by Clover Studios was awesome; with every movement and step that Amaterasu takes, colours sprung to life behind along the path she took. Flowers popping up, dull becomes lively... you get the idea. Hearing me rambling about it is one thing, but to see it in action is another. If you're interested to have a gander at this wonderfully crafted game, copy and paste this link to the address bar in your browser:
www.gamespot.com/ps2/adventure/okami/media.html

There was no word yet from Clover Studios' website on the actual release date of Okami, but rest assured that you all will be kept informed by me as much as I can.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward for the Metal Gear Solid-meets-Splinter Cell-meets-Burnout game that will come in the form of Batman Begins. Let's hope the release date (14th June '05) stays true and will not be delayed. Oh, and not forgetting Battlefield 2: Modern Combat as well, one of the most highly-anticipated war-oriented games of all times. It's all hype and excitement until reality settles in, whether it lives up to expectations or otherwise.

Till then, enjoy the suspense of waiting!

Update: Looks like the PS2's Battlefield 2 won't be seeing the light of day anytime soon until November 2005. Sigh!

To bite a Snake

I've recently acquired myself a copy of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and was I astounded by the graphics of the game! It would seem more appropriate to label MGS3 as theatrical gaming experience, as it was not only rich in gameplay but as well as being solidly story-driven at its core. Kudos to Kojima Productions for such a brilliant and well-crafted game of its time!


Naked Snake (above), the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

As with the previous MGS instalment (read: Sons Of Liberty), do not expect Solid Snake to be the star of the game. Yes, the main character's codename is Snake, looks like Solid and is voiced by David Hayter, but that's all there is to it. The events took place during the Cold War, which would be impossible for Solid Snake to retain his youthful looks during MGS1 and MGS2 when Ocelot had aged 'gracefully' (is that the right description? :) ). A word of warning here; reading on the paragraphs hereafter will spoil the story for those of you who have not played the game or finished it, so do take caution before carrying on!


*Spoiler Begins*


The Snake that was featured in MGS3 is none other than Big Boss. Yes, the very same man who was Solid Snake's commanding officer at FOXHOUND and was the mastermind for the rise of the fortress nation - Outer Heaven. But his rebellious intentions were unknown by anyone until the final duel in Metal Gear 1, where Big Boss makes a surprise appearance before Solid Snake and revealing all. It was a surprise to him that a grunt like Solid Snake could've defeated the bi-pedal walking battletank and successfully retrieved the Metal Gear research data, and it was amidst the self-destruct count down of Outer Heaven activated by Big Boss that both of them fought the final battle. Big Boss made a second appearance in Metal Gear 2, which is also his final (can't this guy die right?!) as Solid Snake defeated him yet again and killing him in the process. Note: Snake's Revenge was reported to be the non-canonical version to the Metal Gear storyline (as opposed to Metal Gear 2), where he turns into a cyborg and spits fireballs. Ugh, what were they thinking back then?

But how does Solid Snake fit into the picture? Solid Snake, along with Liquid Snake and Solidus Snake, was a part of a project known as Les Enfants Terribles. The genes of Big Boss were extracted from him by the US government with the intention of creating genetically enhanced soldiers, and thus the Sons of Big Boss were 'born'. That's why you'll get a "Time Paradox" each time Naked Snake (Big Boss's codename during the operations Virtuous Mission and Snake Eater in MGS3) dies. Of course, the "Time Paradox" happens to Ocelot as well when you 'accidentally' kill him, but that's a different story :) .

Trivia: Naked Snake got his Big Boss codename after destroying Shagohod (it's a very early prototype version of what is to be known later as Metal Gear), defeating and killing his 'defected' mentor, The Boss, and completing operation Snake Eater successfully. The codename was awarded to him by President Johnson, but it was at this ceremony that we saw Snake feeling disgusted at what his commander and top people of the country would do to cover up their @$$ for the sake of saving grace - even sacrificing The Boss in the process (who actually did not defect but was infiltrating enemy ground on the pretext of defecting). Yes, Snake found out the truth, but too late to do anything to change what he has done. Therefore, hatred began slowly eating up from inside of him as he plotted against them in an elaborate style worthy of his nickname as the 'world's greatest soldier'.


*Spoiler Ends*


So there you have it, the real Snake in MGS3. If you haven't read the spoilers, go and finish the game and be wowed by the deep storyline and detailed ending scene. I promise you won't be disappointed.

My first post, hmm...

...nothing much to say for now, really. Maybe I'll just do a short intro of myself. I'm a male in my mid 20s, a resident of good ol' Malaysia and currently into console video gaming. My spanking new PS2 should be proof enough :)

After the E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) show in Los Angeles has ended recently, I was definitely in a daze over the unveiling of Nintendo's Revolution, Microsoft's XBox 360 and of course, Sony's PlayStation3. The specs alone was enough to knock one bloke's sense into full alert, and until I can collect more info on all three, expect me to update you guys soon.

Right, that was quite a lot of words coming from a guy who said he's got nothing to say. Till the next posting, I'm outta here, folks!