Writing for the Examiner

Jim Hawking

Contributor
CRank: 8Score: 18430

Don't get this game, even if you like the gameplay. The story, dialogue and characters are so toxic I couldn't play it past about a 1/3 of the way. I don't know if a Japanese language track would help, but I couldn't finish this, and I got through xenosaga episode 1.

5609d ago 1 agree3 disagreeView comment

I saw this coming the second that they started milking Guitar Hero.

5796d ago 14 agree0 disagreeView comment

This game is great fun and lets you play in any of a number of ways (sneaky, clever, precise, bullish). Volition is becoming one of my favorite developers since I (much to my surprise) love the Saints Row games. My only beef is the online has disconnect issues on both consoles.

Give this game a try.

P.S. I never knew that the evil corporations in both red faction and saints row had the same name

5819d ago 2 agree0 disagreeView comment

I thought I was the only one who hated SO4's story/dialogue.

Bubbles

5835d ago 0 agree0 disagreeView comment

This was one of my top 3 picks from e3. Looks very good.

Is multiplayer confirmed?

5837d ago 9 agree1 disagreeView comment

How would you move around a 3d space with the Natal?

You can't

5838d ago 2 agree3 disagreeView comment

Its from the first season where Bart cheats on his aptitude test. They are playing scrabble and Bart makes Qwyjibo, which is a "big dumb balding North American ape, with no chin"

Don't mess with me on Simpson trivia (at least from the first 10 seasons).

5839d ago 0 agree0 disagreeView comment

Have the potential to be truly excellent or absolutely awful, with rarely any middle ground. The majority of the ones I have played lately, including the toxic SO4, have been pretty bad.

P.S.
wwm0nkey, best avatar ever.

5840d ago 0 agree2 disagreeView comment

How would you throw grenades? you cant detect the arc of the shot. Didn't actually think that through did you? If you actually sit down and think about how the natal could be used in a non-casual game you will reach one of two conclusions.

1) It can't
2) It can if you dilute the game down to nothing or the natal support to nothing.

What is the damn point of this thing? The only reason I even care is that I will be entering the industry soon and these are not t...

5840d ago 0 agree1 disagreeView comment

With the Wii you at least have an analog stick to move a character around a 3d space. How would you do that with the natal? You cant walk forward or anything like that, unless they could ensure that the 3d space was the size of your room.

Jesus, How did I not notice that? This completely invalidates this whole thing for me.

5840d ago 4 agree0 disagreeView comment

I think I'm going crazy. Let me put it this way.

The following game types can't be played accurately with the Natal:

Shooters (FPS, TPS)
Fighting games (how the hell would you pull off something like a backflip?)
Non arcade racers (How do you handbrake vs foot brake)
Hack N Slash games
MMORPGs (Or anything else with a lot of controls)
Flight Games

This can at best be a neat little add-on (Like the eyetoy), not the future of ...

5840d ago 11 agree3 disagreeView comment

I knew it, this is what Microsoft's first party studios are doing, there making games for this thing. This is either a slim 360 (Which is good, I guess), or a new Natal based 360 (which is BAD). Way to screw over your customer base(which include me, damn it), flip off the core gamers, and make everyone buy a new console after less then 5 years.

5841d ago 15 agree14 disagreeView comment

For the love of god, THANK YOU.

5843d ago 0 agree0 disagreeView comment

This was the worst game I have played in 5 years. The story, characters and voice acting are so unbelievably bad that my brain nearly boiled over. When they added the angel chick I completely tapped out. I haven't quit an RPG in I don't know how long. I even beat Xenosaga out of spite. I loved star ocean III, but this game is cancerous.

DONT GET IT.

5844d ago 1 agree0 disagreeView comment

In order to fudge it, the two cameras have to be in different places, like at 45 degree angles from the target, in order to do the tracking hack. Also the two cameras in the natal are two different types of cameras.

The point is that I think people are letting themselves believe that this thing can do way more then it possibly could. Sony fans did the same thing with the PS3 when it was first announced, this is no different.

5847d ago 5 agree1 disagreeView comment

I said this in a previous post but I don't think many people saw it.

I have a degree in computer science and computer vision and I can tell you for a fact, some of the things that the natal wants to do is impossible with one camera. Natal can tell where your hands and feet are, which is cool, but in terms of actual 3d tracking, it is scientifically impossible to do with any less then 3 cameras (although you can fudge it with 2).

Essentially you are interacting with t...

5847d ago 9 agree7 disagreeView comment

Other the Splinter Cell:Conviction (i must have that) and Golden Sun DS, everything that I'm interested in was at the Sony conf.

5856d ago 2 agree2 disagreeView comment

I have a degree in computer science and computer vision and I can tell you for a fact, some of the things that the natal wants to do is impossible with one camera. Natal can tell where your hands and feet are, which is cool, but in terms of actual 3d tracking, it is scientifically impossible to do with any less then 3 cameras (although you can fudge it with 2).

Essentially you are interacting with the games with your silhouette. Any fine detailing will be almost impossible since...

5856d ago 12 agree0 disagreeView comment

I like the other FF's but they were all about angsty teens fighting against nothingness. FFXII had good characters, and an understandable plot. Not to mention the direction was great.

The problem with JRPG's lately, especially SO4, is the dialogue is awful. I don't know if its a translation issue, a voice acting issue, or if its just bad writing, but bad dialogue can kill any story based game in my eyes. The fact that I can rewrite a lot of these scenes in my head (im sure you co...

5896d ago 1 agree0 disagreeView comment

I loved SO3. SO4 is the worst game I have played in a very long time. I completed Tales of Vesperia and Xenosaga out of sheer spite. SO4 was so bad I couldn't bare to play anymore. Bad writing, bad characters, bad (artistic) graphics, bad voice acting. Beyond Painful. PS3 does not want this.

5897d ago 3 agree7 disagreeView comment