Gameplay: 7
Sound: 9
Graphics: 8
Value: 6
Overall: 7.9
The Good:
Original cast present for voice work
Outstanding character and level design
Lighthearted humor makes game great for kids whilst still appealing to adult audiences
Plenty of cameos and moments which will make you “wow”
Plenty of collectables and challenges for some replay value
The Bad:
Clocks in at just under six hours
Gameplay can get repetitive towards the end
Heavy special effects can sometimes cause slight frame rate drops
Camera can be frustrating at times
The Simpsons have a history of games behind them; most of them should be forgotten and will not be named. However the wittily named “The Simpsons Game” is the family of fives’ best adventure yet offering some nice platforming action that will be looked back on and shadow other Simpson’s games.
The game plays like any platformer in terms of design and control, you start out as Homer in the infamous Chocolate Land, and you are confronted by a white chocolate bunny rabbit that lures you to his chocolate mountain with his arse, learning the basic gameplay mechanics along the way. Homer can initially power burp and the simple mashing the X button which will be your combat main serving for the game.
After the tutorial level you are introduced to the story, the basic outline of the story is that Marge catches Bart buying a video game, “Grand Theft Scratchy” to be precise, an angry Marge does what any over smothering mother would do and bans the M rated game from him. Bart then complains about his video game whilst walking in anger down an alley, then all of a sudden “The Simpsons Game” manual drops from the sky leaving Bart astonished, the Simpsons then decide to collectively protect the town of Springfield, but wait? Where’s the twist? Oh of course there is one, it’s not an alien invasion is it that would be just too cliché... I’m afraid to say it is. The Simpsons Game does a good job of collaborating all of these cliché moments almost to their advantage and exposes them whilst still suffering in its own right.
The graphical presentation in The Simpsons Game is quite phenomenal and almost raising the bar for cell shaded games, the character models are all highly detailed whether it be the Simpsons themselves or the folks of Springfield, each are perfectly translated into 3D format making fans of the series jump for joy seeing their favourite characters in the street, you can punch Ned Flanders in the face, and guess what? It feels good. Moreover the character models the level design is just much more to look at, offering places such as the Land of Chocolate as mentioned before and going further places such as the urban streets and dungeons will keep you replaying some of the levels simply because of the design.
Sound is the best part about The Simpsons Game, the original cast is here to fill the boots of all the characters and they do a damn good job as usual, characters on the street will communicate when passing by which is always funny to see, the script is funny and keeps the same humour you’d expect from the series. The music is hit or miss, some will find it irritating, others will absolutely love it, and the music definitely fits in with each level, like the level design some people may find themselves revisiting the levels just hear the catchy tunes you’ll find.
There is a price to pay however, the game only clocks in at just less than six hours, anymore however would feel a bit tacked since the game itself can be slightly repetitive. The game doesn’t quite end after the main campaign; you can choose to play time challenges which are basically mini games in a sense. Got a friend round? The game offers split screen play in case you and your friend want to go back and play the levels for achievements such as completing levels under a certain time limit which prove difficult when alone or just play some of the challenges.
Overall, The Simpsons Game is a platformer. That is what it is. It would be hard to recommend for anyone to buy with its short life span but any hardcore Simpsons fan, sure the yellow fuckers are funny and all but it’s worth a rent at most.
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Review: Burnout Paradise
Gameplay: 8
Sound: 7
Graphics: 9
Value: 8
Overall: 8.4
The Good:
Wrecking cars is still fun as ever
Full open city to explore is very welcome
8 player online all with unique challenges
Plenty of content to keep you busy
The Bad:
The new DJ deserves to die
Soundtrack is not the best
Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne is featured, c’mon!
Limited modes make action get slightly repetitive
Burnout, never heard of it? In a nutshell it’s the racing version of Soldier of Fortune, until they made that piece of shit “Payback”. Sorry, what I really mean is that it’s an aggressive, awesome full out in-your-face racing game that encourages trading paint.
Let’s talk about Paradise, why is it Paradise? Is this really Paradise Josh? Is it?! Sure it is, Burnout Paradise gives you the ability straight from the start to explore Paradise City, complete with Guns and Roses song, stunt markers, fully featured online; everything! It’s really awesome.
Gameplay you say? Burnout has stuck to its roots very firmly by keeping the boost meter intact, but what they have removed though is Crash mode. “Oh my balls!” you say? No, no, no relax, Crash mode has been replaced by an all new mode: Showtime. At any given time you can simply press LB + RB on your Xbox 360 controller, to go into Showtime - whether it be in a middle of a race or online with your friends - tap the buttons and you’ll enter a mode were your car will go on its side and you can then blow up any car by simply guiding your vehicle into it. Signs will also crumble if you even slightly touch them, doesn’t sound realistic? Well did you even read the first part? The car will simply turn on its side, it’s quite hard to do that you know, with a van. Pressing the “A” button in this mode will use up your boost and push you forward a bit more to nudge you to the next set of cars but the catch is that the higher the score you have will result in the boost meter depleting faster. Bummer.
So we talked about the new mode but what about the core gameplay. You can play race mode - which is obvious, burning route, where you race a specific route built just for your car to unlock a “better” version, (I found they just replace the stats around and don’t actually upgrade anything altogether) stunt mode, which is quite overwhelming at first since you have an entire city to choose your stunt place of choice and you’ll probably end up using the beach as it has a string of ramps and billboards which means a bigger multiplier (tips are free here you knowJ). Then you have takedown mode where you…erm… takedown people. what a surprise.
The most awesome feature on Burnout Paradise is online. Instead of quitting out of your game you press right on the D-Pad and oh, another set of menus, how cool. Here you’ll get options to choose different modes. You’ve got Freeburn Online, where you can join in your friend’s city, invite him or her to your city or just join a quick or custom match with random strangers. Keep in mind this is all open world and there are no loading times, so pretty awesome. Another feature is that when you take someone down online you’ll receive a photo from the victim’s Xbox Live Vision camera, the downside to which is you may be treated to photos of sweaty ballsacks one time too many.
Graphically, Burnout Paradise is… I don’t want to say Paradise, you know, it just sounds too corny. It looks good, OK?! The city looks amazing. Even though a day to night cycle would have been nice it still doesn’t take away the awesomeness that this city radiates. The map size is about the size of Grand Theft Auto III back on the PS2; it can seem a little small but when playing online you don’t really want the map to be the size of a city like London. The cars look great, when beaten up you can see the car is struggling to move and it feels satisfying to get a repair… and then fuck it up again. The one thing that’s really irritating though, is that there is no driver in the seat of the car! What the hell, seriously? It feels like you, the player, are remotely controlling the car instead of driving it.
In terms of sound this game can just suck my balls. Soundtrack and voice acting on each one; I hate the DJ, if I were to meet him I’d probably get along with him, but his voice… and the dialogue… it makes me want to punch a baby in the face. The soundtrack doesn’t fit in theme with the game, I like a wide variety of genres myself but when racing down a street I don’t want to listen to Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne, I just feel like a complete fag.
While Mr. Voice Acting and Mr. Soundtrack are both crippled, Mr. Sound Effects can walk. The sound effects really do just like to rub it in when you crash and the game goes in slow motion showing the car break in appropriate places it’s an amazing experience and makes you think about what it would be like if someone you don’t like was in that car, which is always a plus.
You’ll be getting a lot out of this game. Straight out. You have a full single player experience with Burnout Licenses you need to get which allow you to progress. To get the Burnout Elite License though you’ll need to complete every event in the game. Then you have your online challenges which can be enjoyed with up to 8 people. With all these modes and such you start to realise that Burnout Paradise is unmatched in the racing genre, it provides hours of entertainment and will surely keep you engaged from being a D class driver to a Burnout Elite.
All in all, Burnout Paradise has an open city which isn’t some gimmicky feature; it works and most of all it’s fun. Playing online with your friends is a blast and the exchanging of the old Crash mode for Showdown mode may anger some but it works you know? Burnout pros and novices will enjoy Paradise on different levels; I don’t know what category I fall under, but I sure as hell enjoyed it.
Sound: 7
Graphics: 9
Value: 8
Overall: 8.4
The Good:
Wrecking cars is still fun as ever
Full open city to explore is very welcome
8 player online all with unique challenges
Plenty of content to keep you busy
The Bad:
The new DJ deserves to die
Soundtrack is not the best
Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne is featured, c’mon!
Limited modes make action get slightly repetitive
Burnout, never heard of it? In a nutshell it’s the racing version of Soldier of Fortune, until they made that piece of shit “Payback”. Sorry, what I really mean is that it’s an aggressive, awesome full out in-your-face racing game that encourages trading paint.
Let’s talk about Paradise, why is it Paradise? Is this really Paradise Josh? Is it?! Sure it is, Burnout Paradise gives you the ability straight from the start to explore Paradise City, complete with Guns and Roses song, stunt markers, fully featured online; everything! It’s really awesome.
Gameplay you say? Burnout has stuck to its roots very firmly by keeping the boost meter intact, but what they have removed though is Crash mode. “Oh my balls!” you say? No, no, no relax, Crash mode has been replaced by an all new mode: Showtime. At any given time you can simply press LB + RB on your Xbox 360 controller, to go into Showtime - whether it be in a middle of a race or online with your friends - tap the buttons and you’ll enter a mode were your car will go on its side and you can then blow up any car by simply guiding your vehicle into it. Signs will also crumble if you even slightly touch them, doesn’t sound realistic? Well did you even read the first part? The car will simply turn on its side, it’s quite hard to do that you know, with a van. Pressing the “A” button in this mode will use up your boost and push you forward a bit more to nudge you to the next set of cars but the catch is that the higher the score you have will result in the boost meter depleting faster. Bummer.
So we talked about the new mode but what about the core gameplay. You can play race mode - which is obvious, burning route, where you race a specific route built just for your car to unlock a “better” version, (I found they just replace the stats around and don’t actually upgrade anything altogether) stunt mode, which is quite overwhelming at first since you have an entire city to choose your stunt place of choice and you’ll probably end up using the beach as it has a string of ramps and billboards which means a bigger multiplier (tips are free here you knowJ). Then you have takedown mode where you…erm… takedown people. what a surprise.
The most awesome feature on Burnout Paradise is online. Instead of quitting out of your game you press right on the D-Pad and oh, another set of menus, how cool. Here you’ll get options to choose different modes. You’ve got Freeburn Online, where you can join in your friend’s city, invite him or her to your city or just join a quick or custom match with random strangers. Keep in mind this is all open world and there are no loading times, so pretty awesome. Another feature is that when you take someone down online you’ll receive a photo from the victim’s Xbox Live Vision camera, the downside to which is you may be treated to photos of sweaty ballsacks one time too many.
Graphically, Burnout Paradise is… I don’t want to say Paradise, you know, it just sounds too corny. It looks good, OK?! The city looks amazing. Even though a day to night cycle would have been nice it still doesn’t take away the awesomeness that this city radiates. The map size is about the size of Grand Theft Auto III back on the PS2; it can seem a little small but when playing online you don’t really want the map to be the size of a city like London. The cars look great, when beaten up you can see the car is struggling to move and it feels satisfying to get a repair… and then fuck it up again. The one thing that’s really irritating though, is that there is no driver in the seat of the car! What the hell, seriously? It feels like you, the player, are remotely controlling the car instead of driving it.
In terms of sound this game can just suck my balls. Soundtrack and voice acting on each one; I hate the DJ, if I were to meet him I’d probably get along with him, but his voice… and the dialogue… it makes me want to punch a baby in the face. The soundtrack doesn’t fit in theme with the game, I like a wide variety of genres myself but when racing down a street I don’t want to listen to Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne, I just feel like a complete fag.
While Mr. Voice Acting and Mr. Soundtrack are both crippled, Mr. Sound Effects can walk. The sound effects really do just like to rub it in when you crash and the game goes in slow motion showing the car break in appropriate places it’s an amazing experience and makes you think about what it would be like if someone you don’t like was in that car, which is always a plus.
You’ll be getting a lot out of this game. Straight out. You have a full single player experience with Burnout Licenses you need to get which allow you to progress. To get the Burnout Elite License though you’ll need to complete every event in the game. Then you have your online challenges which can be enjoyed with up to 8 people. With all these modes and such you start to realise that Burnout Paradise is unmatched in the racing genre, it provides hours of entertainment and will surely keep you engaged from being a D class driver to a Burnout Elite.
All in all, Burnout Paradise has an open city which isn’t some gimmicky feature; it works and most of all it’s fun. Playing online with your friends is a blast and the exchanging of the old Crash mode for Showdown mode may anger some but it works you know? Burnout pros and novices will enjoy Paradise on different levels; I don’t know what category I fall under, but I sure as hell enjoyed it.
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