Playsation 3 Highlights Series - November 2006
In a new project for the blog, I wanted to go through all of the game releases by the month they were released. As you all know if you follow me, I am working towards a semi-complete library. I say semi-complete because I'm using a couple of rules in my collection. The cliffnote version is that, in regards to sports titles, anime titles, music, and COD/Battlefield, most of these will be excluded from my library. This is due to the fact that I don't want a dozen copies of the same game (sports), characters and back stories that I know or don't care about (anime...not a knock against the genre I'm just not a fan), or the fact that I already own these on Xbox 360 (COD/Battlefield).
As for this series of blog entries and how it'll work. I'll focus on each month of game releases, playing them in my free time as I'm able to. If the month in question has a good number of games that were released, in that month's post I'll highlight what I think are some of the better games from the batch (There will at least be a top 3 unless more stand out that much for me). I'll just describe how the game works and plays, and what stuck out about it for me, or what I absolutely hated about it. All the other releases that I don't choose to highlight,, I'll break down by genre and give a little blurb about them (mostly focused on if they're good and worth it or not).
But, instead of just wasting time trying to describe it...here is the first entry in the series, detailing the launch month of the PS3. We get a handful of sports titles (picked all of these ones up just because of it being the launch month), a couple racing games, and a little splash of other actual titles. This console was brand new and these were the games that got to debut on it and attempt to show off some of the new features that Sony brought to their new toy, let's see how well they did.
Highlights
Mobile Suit Gundam Crossfire - Crossfire is based off of the Mobile Suit Gundam anime series, of which I personally know nothing about. Due to that, a lot of the names and details of the story are probably lost on me. The game is set during the series' One-Year War, with missions spanning halfway across the globe, from Australia to Africa. As the player, you get to control a giant Mobile Suit mech, an autonomos robot which can be manned to shoot turret guns and missiles. (Think Titanfall, only a decade earlier). The story plays out through over two dozen missions, all of which take place on really small and closed off arena-style maps. In the missions, you're generally tasked with some form of eliminating all opposing combatants, whether it's a purely offensive assault, or defending your own base. The controls in Mobile Suit Gundam come off sluggish and delayed, where at first you wonder if the suit is even responding to what you're telling it to do. However, you can not only upgrade your MS, but you can unlock the ability to have 2 additional AI pilots out on missions with you. This game isn't amazing presently (just my opinion), but it might have been at the time of it's release. It is still enjoyable though, even though it doesn't stand up against some of todays releases.
Resistance : Fall of Man - The second game I chose to highlight, simply because it's just great. Resistance mashes up World War II with sci-fi, taking place in Britain in an alternate-history version where World War II is fought against an alien invasion. You take on the role of Nathan Hale, a member of the British Army who's base is the first attacked during the invasion. You get to fight your way through various areas of the city, using common WWII guns as well as some alien weaponry. Resistance utilizes a health bar system, instead of the regenrative health that's present in the Call of Duty games, but there are vials of scattered plentifully throughout the games levels. It also came with a multiplayer mode, but as of April 2014 the servers for this have been shut off. Whether or not you are still able to play offline split-screen, I haven't been able to test it but I imagine that it should work. Even offline, the multiplayer in this game is great, my buddy Tim and I spent a whole night hunting each other down in the multiplayer levels and it was beyond a blast. One thing that is noteworthy about this game is the controversy it stirred up with the Church of England in Manchester. Basically, it came down to the fact that a gunfight takes place inside of the church walls, and the church was upset because it was rendered in such great detail and you got to lay waste to the entire building. It's produced by the makers of Ratchet & Clank, and this game spawned two future console releases, as well as a handheld release on each the PSP and the Vita, as well as a couple novels set between the games and some comics. There isn't a whole lot that draws you into this one right off the bat, but if you stick with it for a few levels, you'll have a very hard time putting the controller back down.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - Set in (obviiously) the Marvel comics universe, this title mashes up...just about everything you can imagine. Every hero is at your disposal to control, and every villain is yours to beat down. Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil launch an attack against the SHIELD HeliCarrier, and Nick Fury sends out a distress call to any and all available superheroes to lend their assistance, which is where the massive cast comes from. You can control heroes from the X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, and many others, as you save the HeliCarrier from the attack, and join Nick Fury's team to go after the Masters of Evil. The greatest feature about this one is the drop in/drop out multiplayer mode where you can team up with up to four players total to go through the game. The camera takes a skewed top-down angle, and if you're playing with another person you become linked to one another and can't drift too far apart, something that can be frustrating during boss fights. The entire button interface is used for attacks and jumping, and there's even a few controls tossed that show off the new SixAxis feature. Your heroes level up as you use them, netting you further and more powerful attacks which reflect on some of the special moves that the characters are known for in the comics. Playing this game nowadays, the only annoying thing is the existence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Because of this, you become so used to hearing RDJ as Iron Man, or Mr. Hemsworth as Thor, that the voices in this game just make you want to scream that something isn't right. Even Nolan North, who nowadays is known for voicing the video game and animated versions of Deadpool, is present in Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but instead his voice is lended to Ghost Rider. But as long as you can decode the voices in your brain as you play, this one is so great and worth having, and even spawned a sequel as well. Playstation 2 players will be happy to know that this game comes from the people who brought X-Men Legends and Legends II into existence.
Untold Legends : Dark Kingdom - This game had the good fortune of being the first full length RPG released for the PS3. So what did they do about it? In massive letters on the back cover it shouts "The Ultimate Next-Gen Action-RPG Experience!" I mean, what else was there to compare it to in the launch month? Skateboarding? Football? I never touched, or had even heard of this game until more recent years, and it plays really great. You take on the role of one of three characters (a Warrior, a Scout, or a Mage), who are collectively known as the Dragon's Shade, and are sent out to the land to eliminate a threat of barbarians who are laying waste to the civilians of Dureth. The problem? It was the king who ordered them as well, and upon learning of this, the Dragon's Shade vow to stop the king in his evil plan, no matter what it takes. The game plays out in the style of hack-and-slash with everything taking place in the "overworld" screen as there are no separate battle screens. While this title doesn't make special use of any of the PS3's fancy features, it is still a great game. However, it's early-generation development shows very much today, with some clunky game mechanics that will cause an enemy to literally freeze in mid-air after he's been killed, and dialogue between the characters that is anything but flowing and natural. Still, this one is a lot of fun and is worth noting for it's fast paced battles that seem to never end.
Other Releases
SPORTS
NHL 2K7 - The only hockey game to come out at launch for the PS3 (EA's series would be introduced in 08). Nothing new here, just the typical updated rosters and graphics etc. However, this is my first time really playing a 2K sports game (I typically only enjoy 2K's basketball games, the other sports I tend to stick with EA). This one is packed with a ton of mini-games which you can play against the computers or some friends. It also utilizes the sixaxis inside of the PS3 controller in Crease Control which is the games manual goalie mode. In this mode, you rock the controller from side to side, as well as up and down or back and forth, to line yourself up in the crease and make saves. It's a pretty fun feature, especially with the fact that you can switch in and out of it at will, so you're not committed to being the goalie for the entire game.
NBA 2K7/NBA 07 - EA and 2K sports both put out their yearly basketball game, and I've always found these two offerings to be so different from each other. I'm a bit of an NBA fan, I watch when I can and play the games when I feel like it, but I've always preferred the 2K series for this sport, and that is still true in this variation. The 2K series offers a more realistic feeling game in my opinion, and they also include street ball variations as well. While the EA series definitely falls short with this release, only offering three mini-games and a gameplay experience that's pretty lacking.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 - Another yeared title, but a much simpler one, as it's just golf. There's not a whole lot you can do with these games, so I typically only check them out every few years. In this release, the mini games that are offered are much more enjoyable than the main season mode itself. There are over a dozen games to play on a practice field that's littered with targets, and they all promote you getting better at judging how best to approach your shots. So not only is it fun, it helps you learn the game as well.
Madden NFL 07 - The last of the yeared sports titles, Madden is pretty fun. The mini games offered in this one are more of a boot-camp style, so they aren't the greatest, but they will gain you some practice in specific fields such as running, catching, throwing, and tackling. The main game is pretty fun, although you might need some MapQuest diretions to find the settings menu to change the length of the quarters in the game, cuz it took me a while to get there and it was on complete luck. Again, like the golf games, I usually only check these out every few years and this one is a lot of fun and worth playing.
RACING
Ridge Racer 7 - This installment in the Ridge Racer series pits the character in a series of circuit races, with a focus on drifting the corners, to climb their way up a ladder and become the champion of the Ridge State Grand Prix. The cars in this game don't take any damage, and for some reason they are only referred to as "machines" like they're some sort of robot you can manually control. The main focus of this racer, the drifting, isn't that great at all. It doesn't take much to activate it, and once you do the car practically does drive itself (maybe they are robots...). Your AI opponents don't offer much for a challenge. Their driving lines appear to be cemented in from the moment each race starts until it ends. This one is pretty fun, but it doesn't compel you to go through every race, or to come back after you do so.
Need For Speed Carbon - NFS : Carbon was released at the same time on this generation and the previous one. The only difference between the two is graphical enhancements and online multiplayer included in the PS3 version, as well as some additional cars. In this one, the driver you play as returns to a city in the midst of a street racing turf war...a city that he once controlled all the territories. Now, you have to regain control of the city and take down the other gangs. The races feature circuit style, point-to-point sprints, as well as drift challenges and beat the clock checkpoint style races. The controls seem a bit sluggish at points, and the drifting is just as, if not more, ridiculous than it is in Ridge Racer. Still, this game is pretty fun and offers an entire city you can free-drive in if you don't feel like competing in the races.
FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER
Call of Duty 3 - This COD title is the first one to undertake a single campaign of missions based on true events. Set during World War II and the Normandy breakout, you'll be switched between the four main armed-forces fighting in the campaign : US, British, Polish, and Canadian, as you push your way into the village of Chambois. It's a different approach for Call of Duty at the time, focusing on multiple legs of a single campaign instead of a number of campaigns spread out over time, but it's a lot of fun to play and a great FPS. As is now a staple of the series, this one comes with a heavily popular online multiplayer, allowing for play between up-to 24 players in a single match.
SKATEBOARDING
Tony Hawk's Project 8 - Features a city to skate in, and is considered a mash-up of the first three Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games. The creators believed that some of the earlier levels all existed within the same city, so they placed them all in this single game. Within the city, you can do whatever you want, go wherever you want as long you have unlocked the various areas, or there are specific tricks and goals to meet all around. One of these tasks for you to complete is a check-list much like the lists you would have in the original games. New to this Tony Hawk game are a "Nail The Trick" mode in which you gain complete control over how the skateboard flips and spins, using the joysticks to control the respective feet and push the board around in mid-air. You also gain slight control of your body after you bail on a trick, so you have a chance to bounce around and rack up a higher hospital bill.
HACK-AND-SLASH
Genji : Days of the Blade - Another game where characters and details are a bit lost on me, as this one is a sequel to a previous title. However, this game has a strong resemblance to the Onimusha games on PS2, and I was a huge fan of those so I fell right into this one. Genji takes place three years after the previous game in the series, when the Heishi clan who were thought to be vanquished, return with the use of dark magic that allows its soldiers to turn into demons. You control one of four characters, whom you can switch between at any point in the game, as you set out to stop the Heishi Clan once again. Genji uses a fixed camera angle, and is fast paced with a focus on hack-and-slash styled combat. The cutscenes look
As for this series of blog entries and how it'll work. I'll focus on each month of game releases, playing them in my free time as I'm able to. If the month in question has a good number of games that were released, in that month's post I'll highlight what I think are some of the better games from the batch (There will at least be a top 3 unless more stand out that much for me). I'll just describe how the game works and plays, and what stuck out about it for me, or what I absolutely hated about it. All the other releases that I don't choose to highlight,, I'll break down by genre and give a little blurb about them (mostly focused on if they're good and worth it or not).
But, instead of just wasting time trying to describe it...here is the first entry in the series, detailing the launch month of the PS3. We get a handful of sports titles (picked all of these ones up just because of it being the launch month), a couple racing games, and a little splash of other actual titles. This console was brand new and these were the games that got to debut on it and attempt to show off some of the new features that Sony brought to their new toy, let's see how well they did.
Mobile Suit Gundam Crossfire - Crossfire is based off of the Mobile Suit Gundam anime series, of which I personally know nothing about. Due to that, a lot of the names and details of the story are probably lost on me. The game is set during the series' One-Year War, with missions spanning halfway across the globe, from Australia to Africa. As the player, you get to control a giant Mobile Suit mech, an autonomos robot which can be manned to shoot turret guns and missiles. (Think Titanfall, only a decade earlier). The story plays out through over two dozen missions, all of which take place on really small and closed off arena-style maps. In the missions, you're generally tasked with some form of eliminating all opposing combatants, whether it's a purely offensive assault, or defending your own base. The controls in Mobile Suit Gundam come off sluggish and delayed, where at first you wonder if the suit is even responding to what you're telling it to do. However, you can not only upgrade your MS, but you can unlock the ability to have 2 additional AI pilots out on missions with you. This game isn't amazing presently (just my opinion), but it might have been at the time of it's release. It is still enjoyable though, even though it doesn't stand up against some of todays releases.
Resistance : Fall of Man - The second game I chose to highlight, simply because it's just great. Resistance mashes up World War II with sci-fi, taking place in Britain in an alternate-history version where World War II is fought against an alien invasion. You take on the role of Nathan Hale, a member of the British Army who's base is the first attacked during the invasion. You get to fight your way through various areas of the city, using common WWII guns as well as some alien weaponry. Resistance utilizes a health bar system, instead of the regenrative health that's present in the Call of Duty games, but there are vials of scattered plentifully throughout the games levels. It also came with a multiplayer mode, but as of April 2014 the servers for this have been shut off. Whether or not you are still able to play offline split-screen, I haven't been able to test it but I imagine that it should work. Even offline, the multiplayer in this game is great, my buddy Tim and I spent a whole night hunting each other down in the multiplayer levels and it was beyond a blast. One thing that is noteworthy about this game is the controversy it stirred up with the Church of England in Manchester. Basically, it came down to the fact that a gunfight takes place inside of the church walls, and the church was upset because it was rendered in such great detail and you got to lay waste to the entire building. It's produced by the makers of Ratchet & Clank, and this game spawned two future console releases, as well as a handheld release on each the PSP and the Vita, as well as a couple novels set between the games and some comics. There isn't a whole lot that draws you into this one right off the bat, but if you stick with it for a few levels, you'll have a very hard time putting the controller back down.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - Set in (obviiously) the Marvel comics universe, this title mashes up...just about everything you can imagine. Every hero is at your disposal to control, and every villain is yours to beat down. Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil launch an attack against the SHIELD HeliCarrier, and Nick Fury sends out a distress call to any and all available superheroes to lend their assistance, which is where the massive cast comes from. You can control heroes from the X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, and many others, as you save the HeliCarrier from the attack, and join Nick Fury's team to go after the Masters of Evil. The greatest feature about this one is the drop in/drop out multiplayer mode where you can team up with up to four players total to go through the game. The camera takes a skewed top-down angle, and if you're playing with another person you become linked to one another and can't drift too far apart, something that can be frustrating during boss fights. The entire button interface is used for attacks and jumping, and there's even a few controls tossed that show off the new SixAxis feature. Your heroes level up as you use them, netting you further and more powerful attacks which reflect on some of the special moves that the characters are known for in the comics. Playing this game nowadays, the only annoying thing is the existence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Because of this, you become so used to hearing RDJ as Iron Man, or Mr. Hemsworth as Thor, that the voices in this game just make you want to scream that something isn't right. Even Nolan North, who nowadays is known for voicing the video game and animated versions of Deadpool, is present in Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but instead his voice is lended to Ghost Rider. But as long as you can decode the voices in your brain as you play, this one is so great and worth having, and even spawned a sequel as well. Playstation 2 players will be happy to know that this game comes from the people who brought X-Men Legends and Legends II into existence.
Untold Legends : Dark Kingdom - This game had the good fortune of being the first full length RPG released for the PS3. So what did they do about it? In massive letters on the back cover it shouts "The Ultimate Next-Gen Action-RPG Experience!" I mean, what else was there to compare it to in the launch month? Skateboarding? Football? I never touched, or had even heard of this game until more recent years, and it plays really great. You take on the role of one of three characters (a Warrior, a Scout, or a Mage), who are collectively known as the Dragon's Shade, and are sent out to the land to eliminate a threat of barbarians who are laying waste to the civilians of Dureth. The problem? It was the king who ordered them as well, and upon learning of this, the Dragon's Shade vow to stop the king in his evil plan, no matter what it takes. The game plays out in the style of hack-and-slash with everything taking place in the "overworld" screen as there are no separate battle screens. While this title doesn't make special use of any of the PS3's fancy features, it is still a great game. However, it's early-generation development shows very much today, with some clunky game mechanics that will cause an enemy to literally freeze in mid-air after he's been killed, and dialogue between the characters that is anything but flowing and natural. Still, this one is a lot of fun and is worth noting for it's fast paced battles that seem to never end.
Other Releases
SPORTS
NHL 2K7 - The only hockey game to come out at launch for the PS3 (EA's series would be introduced in 08). Nothing new here, just the typical updated rosters and graphics etc. However, this is my first time really playing a 2K sports game (I typically only enjoy 2K's basketball games, the other sports I tend to stick with EA). This one is packed with a ton of mini-games which you can play against the computers or some friends. It also utilizes the sixaxis inside of the PS3 controller in Crease Control which is the games manual goalie mode. In this mode, you rock the controller from side to side, as well as up and down or back and forth, to line yourself up in the crease and make saves. It's a pretty fun feature, especially with the fact that you can switch in and out of it at will, so you're not committed to being the goalie for the entire game.
NBA 2K7/NBA 07 - EA and 2K sports both put out their yearly basketball game, and I've always found these two offerings to be so different from each other. I'm a bit of an NBA fan, I watch when I can and play the games when I feel like it, but I've always preferred the 2K series for this sport, and that is still true in this variation. The 2K series offers a more realistic feeling game in my opinion, and they also include street ball variations as well. While the EA series definitely falls short with this release, only offering three mini-games and a gameplay experience that's pretty lacking.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 - Another yeared title, but a much simpler one, as it's just golf. There's not a whole lot you can do with these games, so I typically only check them out every few years. In this release, the mini games that are offered are much more enjoyable than the main season mode itself. There are over a dozen games to play on a practice field that's littered with targets, and they all promote you getting better at judging how best to approach your shots. So not only is it fun, it helps you learn the game as well.
Madden NFL 07 - The last of the yeared sports titles, Madden is pretty fun. The mini games offered in this one are more of a boot-camp style, so they aren't the greatest, but they will gain you some practice in specific fields such as running, catching, throwing, and tackling. The main game is pretty fun, although you might need some MapQuest diretions to find the settings menu to change the length of the quarters in the game, cuz it took me a while to get there and it was on complete luck. Again, like the golf games, I usually only check these out every few years and this one is a lot of fun and worth playing.
RACING
Ridge Racer 7 - This installment in the Ridge Racer series pits the character in a series of circuit races, with a focus on drifting the corners, to climb their way up a ladder and become the champion of the Ridge State Grand Prix. The cars in this game don't take any damage, and for some reason they are only referred to as "machines" like they're some sort of robot you can manually control. The main focus of this racer, the drifting, isn't that great at all. It doesn't take much to activate it, and once you do the car practically does drive itself (maybe they are robots...). Your AI opponents don't offer much for a challenge. Their driving lines appear to be cemented in from the moment each race starts until it ends. This one is pretty fun, but it doesn't compel you to go through every race, or to come back after you do so.
Need For Speed Carbon - NFS : Carbon was released at the same time on this generation and the previous one. The only difference between the two is graphical enhancements and online multiplayer included in the PS3 version, as well as some additional cars. In this one, the driver you play as returns to a city in the midst of a street racing turf war...a city that he once controlled all the territories. Now, you have to regain control of the city and take down the other gangs. The races feature circuit style, point-to-point sprints, as well as drift challenges and beat the clock checkpoint style races. The controls seem a bit sluggish at points, and the drifting is just as, if not more, ridiculous than it is in Ridge Racer. Still, this game is pretty fun and offers an entire city you can free-drive in if you don't feel like competing in the races.
FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER
Call of Duty 3 - This COD title is the first one to undertake a single campaign of missions based on true events. Set during World War II and the Normandy breakout, you'll be switched between the four main armed-forces fighting in the campaign : US, British, Polish, and Canadian, as you push your way into the village of Chambois. It's a different approach for Call of Duty at the time, focusing on multiple legs of a single campaign instead of a number of campaigns spread out over time, but it's a lot of fun to play and a great FPS. As is now a staple of the series, this one comes with a heavily popular online multiplayer, allowing for play between up-to 24 players in a single match.
SKATEBOARDING
Tony Hawk's Project 8 - Features a city to skate in, and is considered a mash-up of the first three Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games. The creators believed that some of the earlier levels all existed within the same city, so they placed them all in this single game. Within the city, you can do whatever you want, go wherever you want as long you have unlocked the various areas, or there are specific tricks and goals to meet all around. One of these tasks for you to complete is a check-list much like the lists you would have in the original games. New to this Tony Hawk game are a "Nail The Trick" mode in which you gain complete control over how the skateboard flips and spins, using the joysticks to control the respective feet and push the board around in mid-air. You also gain slight control of your body after you bail on a trick, so you have a chance to bounce around and rack up a higher hospital bill.
HACK-AND-SLASH
Genji : Days of the Blade - Another game where characters and details are a bit lost on me, as this one is a sequel to a previous title. However, this game has a strong resemblance to the Onimusha games on PS2, and I was a huge fan of those so I fell right into this one. Genji takes place three years after the previous game in the series, when the Heishi clan who were thought to be vanquished, return with the use of dark magic that allows its soldiers to turn into demons. You control one of four characters, whom you can switch between at any point in the game, as you set out to stop the Heishi Clan once again. Genji uses a fixed camera angle, and is fast paced with a focus on hack-and-slash styled combat. The cutscenes look
What's Worth It?
For the launch month you get a decent selection of games and genres to choose from. As far as the sports titles go, it's really a matter of if you enjoy that sport or it's respective games. At this point, they are all $2 or $3 dollar games so it's not like it'd burn a hole in your pocket to pick them up. For the rest, Resistance is the first game in a great sci-fi, first person shooter series, Marvel Ultimate Alliance is a great beat-em up game and it's allowance of up to 4-players on-screen is amazing, and Untold Legends : Dark Kingdom is an amazing hack-and-slash RPG, with Genji being another enjoyable hack-and-slash title. If you're looking for a racing game, I'd go with Need For Speed Carbon, as it's controls feel a bit more realistic and the game itself feels more open with the city for you to cruise around in.
What Misses?
Tony Hawk can be pretty enjoyable, but it can be pretty difficult too. The best feature of this game though is by far the Nail A Trick mode, using the joysticks for complete control over how you flip and spin the board is so much fun. Mobile Suit Gundam feels too clunky and slow at points, and your ammo is limited which wouldn't be so bad, except some stages don't have an area that you can run to for restocking.
Lastly, Call of Duty is middle ground in my opinion. The campaign is a lot of fun, but most will only want a COD game for the online multiplayer. While the servers for this one are still active, they're not very popular and are rumored to be stock full of hackers that make it completely unfair and unfun (I don't care it's a word now...)
So, that does it for my first installment, the launch month of the Playstation 3. I played a lot of these games over the years, and a handful of them I even played on different consoles. The ones I hadn't heard of or just hadn't played previously, I'm glad I took the time to finally check them out.
Next month coverage will be on the releases in December of 2006, and there are only three titles : Fight Night Round 3, Blazing Angels, and Full Auto 2 : Battlelines. Stay tuned on my Facebook page for an update on when this one will be coming, because with only three titles it shouldn't be that long. See you next time guys, and game on!
