I feel like starting a little segment here on the Video Games sub-forum with game reviews on some well known, and not so well known Video games. At first glance, certain video games seem like certain throw away games that are not worth rental price but fear not, because I, CM Pancake will go through the piles of shit in order to find the diamond in the rough. But now it is time to go out through the basics on how I will review.
Story:
Story is important in modern video games. It is what drives the player through a series of objectives and what connects the game into a whole. How crummy would have a game like Final Fantasy would have been if the story followed the same premise of Duke Nukem? Sometimes a game doesn't need a great story with plot twists, turns, and high moments of suspense if the game does a great job relaying the games general purpose.
Setting/Environment
The Setting/Environment in a game are a big part in letting a player immerse themselves into a video game. When a game designer goes out of his way to create a huge, dynamic world with every different parts of the world having it's own design it just makes the game all the more playable. Fallout 3 is perhaps one of my favorite games of all time because of the great job they put into creating the world around your character, and how your choices affected the world.
Gameplay
Gameplay is the bread and butter of all video games. Back in the days of Donkey Kong, gameplay was the only thing designers took into a account, and was the only thing that mattered. Games can have breath taking environments and a fantastic story but if the game was a knitting simulator where all you pressed were two buttons you wouldn't play it for more than 20 minutes.
What hit/What Missed
Essentially this is just a little bid here to talk about what the game designers were going for, and if they were able to follow through or not. Many times we played a game looking for a certain experience that every advertisement promised but were let down. However, this can also lead to promising golden nuggets in the game that gather an unintentional cult following.
Now time to review...
Story:
The story circulates in the events of the X-Men universe. At the start of the game, you are informed the three pre-created characters are at a peace rally in San Fran for the now dead, Professor X. However, tension is heavy in the air as an anti-mutant group makes itself known in the rally called the Purist. The player gets to choose between three main characters at the start of the game. The first choice is Grant Alexander, a College Football Freshmen looking to make the starting team. He is the comic relief, goofball type character that doesn't bother himself with the worlds issues like mutants and wars. Then their is Adrian Luca, a young man who's father has trained him since birth to hate and detest mutants. He is a much more serious character and seems to suffer some sort of mental defect as his father speaks to him in certain parts of the game. And lastly, you have the lone female from Japan, Aimi Yoshida. Her story prior to the events in the game was she was smuggled into America by her mutant parents before being put in mutant parks in Japan. She is a character who prefers to not be involved with either factions of the X-Men or the Brotherhood and be left alone.
The story itself reflects upon choices your character makes throughout the game. But for the most part, the majority of your choices are upon what powers you use and who you choose to help throughout the game. Do you join the X-Men, who are the classic good guys that will go out of the way to make peace between humans and mutants. Since the death of Professor X, the X-men are now being led by Cyclopes and Emma Frost. Or join the Brotherhood, who are simply out for the progression of Mutants over humans. Of course the leader of The Brotherhood is Magneto, the super-mutant with the ability to manipulate anything made of metal.
The story itself is not that bad, it has a constant flow and connects everything together with a plenty of twist and turns to keep you playing through the game. The only downside to this is that the story is not at all affected by any choice you make.
Setting/Environment
The setting in this game takes place in a war torn, San Fran. City streets are unlevled and buildings are torn to the ground. Which makes me wonder as to why as a simple mutant attack on a rally leads to the destruction of a city in Cali? On every mission I found myself looking about the area asking myself "Who went out of there way to blow up every building on this strip mall?" Now the Environments were down right awful. They were closed off, narrow, and very, very linear. You will always find yourself running one direction with no need to ever go back to discover anything new.
Gameplay
Gameplay is what I find rather underrated by online game reviewers. The gameplay is basic beat em up with Mutant powers. Shortly after choosing your character you offered the choice between three powers. You can either manipulate shadow blades and be a rouge/Nightcrawler esque character. Then you Energy Projection, you can find yourself casting bolts of power at masses of foes and using X-Gene, you can manipulate it between Fire balls or Ion bolts. Or lastly, Body mass. You can turn your body into a obsideion brick of power, using your fists to crush foes with ease. Now the combos worked a lot like Dynasty Warriors, it was still pretty fun blasting purifiers and G-Men with Ice bolts or gathering everything in sight with a black hole and destroying them.
What hit/What Missed
X-Men Destiny promised a game filled with a plot that is always changing to what you choose to do but only came up with simply who your hero ran with. You either ended up helping Cyclopes or Magneto, either way you ended up fighting the same cause. However, the game became simple beat up game that is entertaining for a day off if you are a fan of X-Men and not into a overly difficult game.
This game is a...
Story:
Story is important in modern video games. It is what drives the player through a series of objectives and what connects the game into a whole. How crummy would have a game like Final Fantasy would have been if the story followed the same premise of Duke Nukem? Sometimes a game doesn't need a great story with plot twists, turns, and high moments of suspense if the game does a great job relaying the games general purpose.
Setting/Environment
The Setting/Environment in a game are a big part in letting a player immerse themselves into a video game. When a game designer goes out of his way to create a huge, dynamic world with every different parts of the world having it's own design it just makes the game all the more playable. Fallout 3 is perhaps one of my favorite games of all time because of the great job they put into creating the world around your character, and how your choices affected the world.
Gameplay
Gameplay is the bread and butter of all video games. Back in the days of Donkey Kong, gameplay was the only thing designers took into a account, and was the only thing that mattered. Games can have breath taking environments and a fantastic story but if the game was a knitting simulator where all you pressed were two buttons you wouldn't play it for more than 20 minutes.
What hit/What Missed
Essentially this is just a little bid here to talk about what the game designers were going for, and if they were able to follow through or not. Many times we played a game looking for a certain experience that every advertisement promised but were let down. However, this can also lead to promising golden nuggets in the game that gather an unintentional cult following.
Now time to review...
X-Men
estiny
estiny
Story:
The story circulates in the events of the X-Men universe. At the start of the game, you are informed the three pre-created characters are at a peace rally in San Fran for the now dead, Professor X. However, tension is heavy in the air as an anti-mutant group makes itself known in the rally called the Purist. The player gets to choose between three main characters at the start of the game. The first choice is Grant Alexander, a College Football Freshmen looking to make the starting team. He is the comic relief, goofball type character that doesn't bother himself with the worlds issues like mutants and wars. Then their is Adrian Luca, a young man who's father has trained him since birth to hate and detest mutants. He is a much more serious character and seems to suffer some sort of mental defect as his father speaks to him in certain parts of the game. And lastly, you have the lone female from Japan, Aimi Yoshida. Her story prior to the events in the game was she was smuggled into America by her mutant parents before being put in mutant parks in Japan. She is a character who prefers to not be involved with either factions of the X-Men or the Brotherhood and be left alone.
The story itself reflects upon choices your character makes throughout the game. But for the most part, the majority of your choices are upon what powers you use and who you choose to help throughout the game. Do you join the X-Men, who are the classic good guys that will go out of the way to make peace between humans and mutants. Since the death of Professor X, the X-men are now being led by Cyclopes and Emma Frost. Or join the Brotherhood, who are simply out for the progression of Mutants over humans. Of course the leader of The Brotherhood is Magneto, the super-mutant with the ability to manipulate anything made of metal.
The story itself is not that bad, it has a constant flow and connects everything together with a plenty of twist and turns to keep you playing through the game. The only downside to this is that the story is not at all affected by any choice you make.
Setting/Environment
The setting in this game takes place in a war torn, San Fran. City streets are unlevled and buildings are torn to the ground. Which makes me wonder as to why as a simple mutant attack on a rally leads to the destruction of a city in Cali? On every mission I found myself looking about the area asking myself "Who went out of there way to blow up every building on this strip mall?" Now the Environments were down right awful. They were closed off, narrow, and very, very linear. You will always find yourself running one direction with no need to ever go back to discover anything new.
Gameplay
Gameplay is what I find rather underrated by online game reviewers. The gameplay is basic beat em up with Mutant powers. Shortly after choosing your character you offered the choice between three powers. You can either manipulate shadow blades and be a rouge/Nightcrawler esque character. Then you Energy Projection, you can find yourself casting bolts of power at masses of foes and using X-Gene, you can manipulate it between Fire balls or Ion bolts. Or lastly, Body mass. You can turn your body into a obsideion brick of power, using your fists to crush foes with ease. Now the combos worked a lot like Dynasty Warriors, it was still pretty fun blasting purifiers and G-Men with Ice bolts or gathering everything in sight with a black hole and destroying them.
What hit/What Missed
X-Men Destiny promised a game filled with a plot that is always changing to what you choose to do but only came up with simply who your hero ran with. You either ended up helping Cyclopes or Magneto, either way you ended up fighting the same cause. However, the game became simple beat up game that is entertaining for a day off if you are a fan of X-Men and not into a overly difficult game.
This game is a...
RENT, Don't Buy!
