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Time Crisis 4 Stats and Records
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Tag Archives: Shooter
Time Crisis II Stats and Records
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Time Crisis 3 Stats and Records
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Overwatch 2 Stats and Records
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Overwatch 2 Review
I got around to playing this one a bit but ultimately it’s not really going to stand out all that much among the big shooter games. The main issue is that there are too many mechanics and abilities which take away from being able to just jump in there and have some fun. It’s certainly no Fortnite as a result and I dare say that you would have a much better time in Fortnite as well. There are better free to play games to check out is the main message here.
They did an odd job of promoting this game though as if you didn’t know any better you’d think this was still the first Overwatch. There aren’t a lot of screens showing that this is the 2nd one or anything like that and the game doesn’t seem to be very different from the original except for the fact that it’s free now. Definitely the minimum amount of effort went into this one but of course if you haven’t played the original before then it’ll still be fresh at least. So I suppose that’s a consolation at least. This is a team game so get ready to have to team up with a lot of people and hope for the best. If there is a 1 on 1 mode, I hadn’t unlocked it yet although granted I never made it to a really high level.
So what separates this from the other games is that as soon as you step on the field you are given the objective of taking over a square or defending it. The other team has the other objective and then you fight it out. Expect to die a whole lot and any time you respawn you get to switch characters. That’s a nice touch at least although in general I prefer to have one life and when you die that’s it. It would make the game a lot more strategic since you can’t just run in guns blazing.
There are so many attack options as well that the game is naturally not as balanced as some of the others. Just from playing all of the characters once I could tell that much. This is not the kind of game where you can pick up any character and just have fun. Of course that also means if there’s a character you like but a teammate got him first then you’re out of luck. I liked one shadow ninja type character but for the most part the roster is very unimpressive. I couldn’t say that there were many that stood out for me.
The graphics are really decent though. The level designs are on point and you’ll have a good time running around. The energy effects are good too. The soundtrack is more on the nonexistent side though but typically shooters aren’t known for having great soundtracks anyway. They tend to be more silent so you can focus on what’s going on. I suppose there is replay value here to jump back into as many matches as you want but I don’t see this game really lasting all that long.
Additionally they want you to put in a phone number just to play the game which seems a bit drastic. I’ve never really heard of that for a game like this. I guess it’s to deter bots and multiple accounts maybe but if no other game is bothering with this then clearly the devs here are doing something wrong. You just don’t need to be that thorough and I feel like it’ll box a lot of people out of the game right out of the gate.
At the end of the day what hurts this one a lot is that it adds a lot of bells and whistles to the base shooting gameplay but does so in a way that weakens the core aspect of the game. You never get to actually run and shoot at the opponents because everyone is too busy activating their super powers. Being forced to attack or defend an area also means that you can’t have fun running around the map and planning an offensive. It forces everyone to bunch up at the same spots where it then becomes a mindless battle of shooting all your abilities at once.
It may work as a minigame or you eventually push people together to end the match but doing so from the start just isn’t a fun decision from a design standpoint. I want to be able to have fun and play the game my way, not be forced to run in like this. It’s not really my cup of tea. Maybe down the road they’ll make the gameplay smoother and change the objectives a little more but if the game is doing well then that’s unlikely. The original Overwatch may not be as big as it used to be but it still makes a ton of money so they’re probably satisfied with the system that they have.
Overall, Overwatch 2 may be more fun if you really drill down and learn all of the mechanics and such but I can’t say that I was very impressed at all. You have a lot of options and all but the game just isn’t very fun and part of the issue is that you can’t take two steps without being blasted. You can’t move fast enough to dodge much either so it just becomes a full on fire fight the whole time and without the strategy that makes it a lot of fun. I highly advise sticking to Fortnite instead which provides a much more entertaining shooting game that beats this one around the board in all areas.
Overall 5/10
Time Crisis 4 Review
It’s been a fun marathon through the Time Crisis series but we have now made it to the end. I’ve owned this game for many years so it’s nice to finally play it. I’ll say this, the game is considerably better than the first 3, there’s no question about that. First person shooter games still aren’t really my thing but this one adds a bit to the mix. Instead of being a pure rail shooter you can actually move around during some of the levels so that was nice.
There is the normal arcade mode here but also more of a complete mode. This one adds in levels for the American agent which are fully 3D and add to the story. So in the usual rail shooter levels you play as the VSSE agents and then you play as the secret service guy for the others. The game has 15 levels as a result which is definitely longer than the others. Now if you had to beat this in one shot that would be crazy so fortunately this one actually has a save feature!
That was a game changer. No matter how fun the other games could be, it was always annoying to not be able to save. Until you got a bunch of game overs you knew that you would effectively be spinning your wheels for a while. The levels here can still be tough but there is less pressure since you can try again. Additionally the levels are also quite a bit shorter so when you die it’s not like you have to play large portions of the game again.
There are some new mechanics here like the insect battles and fort fights. The insects are more on the annoying side so I’d be cool with the series dropping this for the sequel. It could be really difficult to deal with them and they take up a ton of bullets. Then for the fort battles there is a lot of moving around and it feels almost a bit random. Good thing the girl lets you know what direction to check because otherwise that would be really difficult. The normal shooting sections tend to be a lot more solid if you ask me.
I really liked the new 3D sections though so those are easily the highlight. You still do need to use some real strategy here though. Don’t just run in and expect everyone to go down immediately. You have to conserve your bullets and keep on moving forward. There are checkpoints and all but you don’t want to have to lose and see how far back you go. The game isn’t quite as hard as the last two though so you should be okay. Those are still really hard to match.
Naturally the graphics are really solid here. We’re finally in PS3 world and we keep the big cinematics that the last game had. You can be guaranteed some kind of cinematic before each level and some have more after the level as well. The story may be a little dry as you’re just out to stop another criminal organization but I’m not exactly sure what the best way to spice it up would be. I don’t think the plot itself is the issue but it doesn’t really stand out. Maybe have the villains get a little more colorful with their designs? I thought that the 3rd game had the best villain designs personally.
There isn’t a ton of replay value here. Even if you really like the gameplay, it’s going to effectively be the same experience each time. I suppose you could just work on getting a better high score but there are probably other games in the genre you could play instead. Still you should be able to find the game for fairly cheap and so then it’s a good value. You’ll have fun playing through the story and it is the longest game in the series which is impressive in its own right. You should always strive to be longer and longer right!?
As the end of the day whether you like it or not will depend on if you like the genre. So long as you do then the high production values will carry the day. The good characters and cinematics help to hold their own. My advice here would be that in some of the levels the timer is generous so just hide when the insects show up. It’s hard to react quickly enough to hit them before they hit you. So instead wait until they have finished their attack and then go for the win. That would be the ideal way to handle this and you will not be looking back.
Overall, Time Crisis 4 is a pretty good game. It’s certainly my favorite game in the series. At the end of the day I can’t guarantee that I will really remember these games all that often since they’re more the type of game that you play through and then it goes back in the closet but it still is good. If they ever brought another one to consoles over here then I’d be interested in playing it. Perhaps the ole muscle memory would kick in and I would start dominating it. That would be ideal at least. In the meantime it’ll probably be a while before I play another FPS so we’ll see which game comes next.
Overall 7/10
Time Crisis 3 Review
This one’s fairly similar to the last Time Crisis in a lot of ways. It’s got the fun cinematics that you always want to see and has a good soundtrack but the game is just so short and it’s hard to get around that. It’s over in the blink of an eye and before you know it, it’s time to put the game back in the drawer. Still if you liked the second game then you’ll like this one since they’re very similar.
The game starts with the VSSE agents on another mission. They are attacked by another evil group and have to put these guys down real quick. Fortunately they are professional so this shouldn’t be hard. Along the way they meet up with a lady who is here to bail them out of some tough situations. The 3 of them are ready for any danger that comes their way because they know that their victory is inevitable!
I wouldn’t call the game identical to the last one per say but it is similar. The game has 3 levels and each one is divided up into 3 areas. You have to blast your way through every enemy in order to prove that you really are the strongest guy on the block. You have 40 seconds for each mob rush and so you have to blast them all away. Don’t get hit by one of their attacks or you will lose a health point. Lose all 4 health points and you lose a life. You gain a new continue each time you get a game over so eventually you will have unlimited lives. You can’t move so the only two controls are to shoot and hide. Of course you can move your curser though.
Now this game is considerably tougher than the last one. Remember that in Time Crisis 2 I didn’t actually have to wait until the unlimited continues to win. It took me a few game overs but eventually I was able to beat the game. Not this time, I couldn’t come anywhere close and just had to keep on losing until I got the free continues. Only at that point was I actually able to hold my own here. This game was just impressively difficult because there are so many enemies and their reaction times are amazing. I know this isn’t my genre but even so it is no easy feat to get me to have so many game overs.
The game still feels fair all the way through though. Every time I got hit I knew that it was an attack that I should have been able to avoid. Whether I was getting too greedy in getting extra shots off or not ducking when I needed to, each of the hits made sense. It’s just hard to stay super alert and consistent the whole time. The penalty of making even one mistake is really quite large in this game. So focus up and do your best but don’t feel bad if you need the unlimited lives by the end.
Like with the last game we get a good amount of cinematics here. This time you get one for each area in addition to each level which was nice. You also have some returning villains from the first game and the villains all have solid designs. The game is as out there as ever and that’s a good thing. It’s just all so chaotic but in a good way. You don’t really know what’s going to happen next and that’s exactly how you want it.
The soundtrack is also still very exciting. The rock themes just keep on coming and they help to get you pumped during the levels. I had a good time with the story and James Bond could take a few lessons from these games on how to make your secret agent stories as good as possible. This one just had the right formula in order to make everything feel like a win. It’s not as easy as it looks.
There isn’t much replay value here though which is why I have to dock a point from the game again. Ultimately after you spend an hour beating the game there just isn’t a lot left to do. You can do the normal stage levels I suppose and there seems to be some kind of rescue mode but it’s all still very short. It’s a byproduct of being an arcade game but there should be some way around this. In fact, Time Crisis 4 did get around this so stay tuned for my review of that game soon once I complete it.
As it stands, you’ll only want to buy this game if you can get it for a really good price. If you are able to get it for cheap then there is really no issue here. You can play through the hour and have a good time. If it’s expensive though then you may feel like you’re losing out so bide your time and wait until you’ve found a good deal. Then you’re really all set here.
There is one difference though which is that you can now switch weapons. It’s surprisingly not a big deal most of the time as you’ll stick to your pistol but now you can also use a machine gun, grenades, and a shotgun. I mainly would save these for bosses as it can be tough to get the ammo that you need for them but they do help to save you some time there. I would spam them as soon as a big opponent showed up and the grenade can take out half a life bar which is great. I think there is more you could do with these weapons but I understand why they don’t give you unlimited ammo. If they did that then who would ever use the normal gun right? One risk with the other guns though is that you could be having so much fun that you don’t notice when someone is about to fire and take some extra damage. That definitely happened to me at times.
Overall, Time Crisis 3 builds on what worked in Time Crisis 2. It’s virtually the same game just with a different plot this time around. The graphics and soundtrack are similar but that’s a good thing since I enjoyed them in the second game. Sometimes it’s not a bad thing to just be a copy of the last game since what worked before will still work now. That said, it really needs to improve the length because you’re done with the game way too quickly. Increasing the difficulty may buy some time there but ultimately it’s not enough. (I am glad they still give you more continues for each game over though. Getting rid of that would have been a big mistake)
Overall 6/10
Time Crisis II Review
I’ve had Time Crisis 4 on the backlog for many years so it was finally time to go ahead and buy games 2 and 3. Well, this one is fun and while I do think it’s a bit too short which takes a point off at the end, it’s still a fun game. First person shooters aren’t typically my favorite games and even less so when you cannot move since this is a rail-shooter but the game has a fun plot with several cinematics so that keeps things moving well.
You play as two VSSE agents who have to stop another villain group from setting off nukes and destroying the world. It’s a fairly simple secret agent kind of storyline but one that works well within this setup. There are 3 levels in the game and each level has 3 areas. So you’re going to be completing this game in under an hour but the catch is that there are no save points. If you get a game over then you have to start from scratch. That’s quite difficult so the game does throw you a bone here. Every time you get a game over, you start the next playthrough with an extra life. Obtain 7 game overs and you will finally unlock unlimited continues which is where you can really have fun.
Personally I’d like to have unlimited lives from the jump but I do get the rationale of having it be an unlockable. Ideally it means that you try as hard as you can on the first playthroughs and if you still couldn’t beat the game then now you can at least see the cinematics and everything with no pressure. Or if you don’t want to do that then you can quickly tank the playthrough and get a game over as soon as possible. The game tries to discourage that by making the first level rather easy so you feel like if you’re in that deep then you may as well finish out the run.
The game is very difficult though so good luck trying to get all the way to the end. I didn’t need all of the continues but I wasn’t able to win until I had 7 saved up. With those I was able to plunge ahead. The way the game works is interesting as you’ll always see a lot of people shooting at you but half the time they aren’t actually doing anything. The ones you have to watch out for are the enemies in red and blue since they mean business. When a real shot is going towards you then the screen will flash red so you know to dodge.
To dodge you have to let go of the square button which is what lets you aim. This makes you hide back behind a wall or another object. When doing this there is no way for you to be hurt. The reason you can’t do this forever though is because each minion rush has a 40 second timer. If you don’t beat them within that time then you lose a health point and each health point is crucial here since each life only had 4 HP. The trick is to react quickly so that you keep on firing and then dodge as needed. It’s easier said than done though that’s for sure.
The graphics are pretty good here. This is a PS2 game with a rather decent budget at least based on the looks. I was satisfied here. Then with the cinematics they’re a lot of fun. We’ve got full voice acting and a very intense soundtrack with a lot of rock. Mix in the explosions everywhere and the game went all out in making this as exciting as possible. I think the Time Crisis series would make for a really exciting action series if they ever wanted to make a TV show or movie out of it. In the meantime these games will do.
As I mentioned the actual game length is less than an hour but for replay value you could always try to beat your high score or do some free play. You’d probably need to be a fairly big fan of the gameplay to do that but it’s an option at least. Personally I wouldn’t try getting the game unless you can buy it for $10 or less because there just isn’t enough content. It’s a good game and I got it for a good price but otherwise if I had gotten this on launch day then I probably would have been a little disappointed.
Perhaps it comes with the territory of being an arcade game but even so I need some serious replay value to keep things moving at a high level. Titles like Pac Man and Galaga have a ton of replay value built in so serious fans of the shooter genre may find that same value here but for me it just isn’t the same. This is the kind of game you beat straight through in order to see the whole story and then you call it a day.
My final tip when playing through the game is to just hide as soon as a blue or red fighter appears. Technically you can try to shoot them before they get off the first shot but it’s risky. Your reactions really have to be great whereas if you hide right away then you have a good chance of their not shooting when you return. The game is realistic in that you can’t tell what they’re doing while you hide though. So be prepared to react quickly when you go out there again because if your timing isn’t good you’ll be escaping just to take a direct shot which would defeat the purpose of your hiding in the first place.
Overall, Time Crisis II is a good game. I wish that it was longer but at least it does still make for a complete story experience. You’ve got a serious plot here with quality characters and an engaging story. Full voice acting and cinematics is something that will always elevate a game for me. The actual shooting gameplay is smooth enough as well. It isn’t really my thing so the game felt extremely difficult but it seemed polished for what it was trying to do. If you’re looking for a quick PS2 game to add to your collection then this could work out. Otherwise you may want to pick up one of the newer installments instead.
Overall 6/10
Daive Story 6: Imperial of Nirsartia Review
It’s time for a very old school sci-fi shooter. Nintendo didn’t bother translating this one so you definitely won’t be able to get much out of the story but once I was able to figure out the gameplay then I had some fun with this one. It’s definitely not the kind of game that you’re just going to breeze through but with the power of access points and rewinding, there isn’t any game that can take you out forever! I think this one tries a little too hard to be different by adding a bunch of mechanics that don’t actually enhance the game but in the end I’d say that it’s still fun enough.
So, while I don’t know the plot, the goal of the game is to take over 14 planets. Enemies will be trying to take them over as well. The format of the game has 3 main phases. The first is that you start on the overworld and you fly to the planet that you want to conquer. You have to slow down so that you can enter the planet. Planets that you’ve taken over are in blue while enemy planets are in orange. Watch out because they can retake planets that you’ve won so you have to move quickly or else you have to beat a planet twice.
If you do have to fight them directly for a planet, then you enter a turn based ship battle where you both fire off your weapons. This one felt the most random but I only got to play this style once so I probably have to master it some more. I made sure to keep attacking quickly so that I wouldn’t have to play the worlds twice. Finally you get to the heart of the gameplay which is the 2D shooter part. So for this part you control a mech suit as you go through an auto scroll level with a big boss at the end. Before going in, you get to place 3 items on the board. 1 is a full health recharge, one is a rocket, and one is a bomb. You decide how deep into the level they appear.
For example, I set my health refill to appear around 80% through the level so that I could arrive to the boss with almost full health. Strategize and then set your items up accordingly to where you want to have them at the ready. The levels are quite tough though as you get endless bullets and laser blasts being fired at you. It’s hard to see how people did it back in the day, especially with no save feature. You may think there are only 14 levels in the game but that feels like a lot when you are on the back foot the whole time.
The controls are simple as you can only jump and shoot. That’s it but that also means that every movement has to be completely precise or you will be in trouble. Touch the bullets too often and that will be it for you. Then for the boss fights it’s especially tough as you have 6 different weapons being fired at you. The trick is to quickly focus on one and knock it out so there are less things to dodge. You win once you have beaten them all but it won’t be easy.
The graphics have held up rather well for this title. It could definitely pass for being an SNES title if you ask me. This game may not be super well known but it’s clear that a lot of effort was put into it. The soundtrack is also fairly decent. It’s calm enough to suit the gameplay style well enough. In terms of replay value there isn’t a lot for this game. It’s one of those titles where when you beat it, it freezes on the credit screen. So once you have beaten the game, there isn’t anything else to do. That’s just the end of the journey for you.
Overall, This is a game I’ve never heard of before so I’m glad that it made it to the online service. Part of the fun here is playing out a lot of games that I never would have gotten to try normally so that’s pretty cool. I would definitely recommend checking this one out if you have a few minutes. No need to play through the whole game but this way you can get a nice feel for it and just have some fun that way. Until you get the hang of it the game won’t be that much fun but once you enter the 2D levels then you can see the real appeal of the game. It just takes some trial and error.
Overall 6/10
Hitman Review
This review is of the TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative
The Hitman video game series is definitely well known and you figure a film about it should be amazing right? Well, this one didn’t quite do it for me. It has some moments that show promise but ultimately just made too many mistakes which kept this from being the next big hit. At least they got the suit and tie right.
So the movie starts off with a quick origin for 47 and he gets the drop on the interpol agent Mike. We then get a flashback to 3 months ago to set things up. Here are the ground rules you need to know about this universe. A bunch of kids were raised to be future hitmen so they don’t show much emotion. The main character’s name is simply 47 and he has done really well. The head of the group or at least the one who contacts him is Diana and she has historically given him a lot of missions that he completes easily enough. Well, one day the mission appears to be a set-up as the guy (Mikhail) that 47 murdered is still alive and he’s told to murder a witness (Nika) who didn’t actually see him? 47 needs to figure out what is going on quickly to turn the tables on these guys or else his reputation as a top hitman may be on the line.
I do think it’s always an odd decision to have your first movie be something that changes the status quo to something you haven’t experienced yet. Shouldn’t a plot about 47 being betrayed by his group be a sequel’s plot as opposed to the original? At least give us a chance to see 47 working in a normal environment. In that sense I’d say you should have had the sequel take place first since the plot was more standard for 47. This is true for any film based on a franchise though, the first movie should feel like a classic adventure with whatever elements are usually in the games and then you subvert this later on.
Well, lets knock out some of the negatives right away. First up, the editing isn’t great and that’s a field I don’t even bring up unless it’s really bad. There are a ton of cuts in each action sequence so you don’t actually get to see the action a lot. Why do you need 5 different camera angles for someone getting punched? Now even if they actually did a solid punch on the set it’s hard to tell and you assume the choreography wasn’t very good. This happens a lot during pretty much every fight.
The only one that gets around this is the 4 man sword fight which is actually really good. Now that’s a fight that is a highlight in the movie and gave us a good look at what could happen here. If this had been the feel of the whole film then I think we’d be having a whole different conversation here. The sword fight was just really good. The gun battles and hand to hand are solid too of course but not nearly on the same level, particularly because of the cuts.
Then sometimes it felt like they were just taking short cuts. There is one scene where a character is walking through a underground parking lot of sorts. Instead of you know…having the character just walk all the way through before cutting away we see him take a step, then there’s a blinding flash of light. Then another step, another light, and then rinse and repeat for a third time before he vanishes. Beyond trying to give the audience seizures, what is even the point of that? It doesn’t make sense to me and felt like they just didn’t want to film the whole walking sequence or something happened and they lost some of the files.
I don’t mind a film being busy with a lot of effects (Kaguya season 1 handled this perfectly with lots of special effects everywhere) but they should have some kind of purpose to them. Otherwise it’s just adding effects to add them. Also, the romance here is pretty bad. Nika is a character who has effectively been held hostage for a long while by the villains. It feels like the last thing she wants to do is to get into an affair right now. There’s also no reason she would actually start liking 47 this quickly as she should still be in self preservation mode. He’s constantly threatening her and their whole dynamic just seems very weak. It all happens way too quickly and 47’s half hearted resistance will just make you roll your eyes.
This is a film that definitely didn’t need romance in the slightest. Finally, I thought the organization could have looked better. Now I don’t know much about 47’s group so maybe they’re all just evil anyway but at least Diana seems trustworthy with how she called 47 to warn him. How come she didn’t find out that the fix was in sooner? Also, why is the organization willing to sell out 47 this easily when he’s one of their best assets? Feels like they’re choosing the wrong side to me by a long shot. You don’t want to turn someone like 47 against you, that’s a terrible move.
Okay so for the good parts, I did like the Interpol agent Mike. That guy wasn’t about to get pushed around by the Russians and just kept going on the case to stop 47. He wasn’t getting distracted or tricked along the way either and just held onto his singular focus the whole time. He may never actually be a threat to 47 in anyway but his plot was always interesting.
47 himself was a decent main character as well. I wouldn’t say he was very good and he lost some points along the way but ultimately he always had a plan and would come out on top. He certainly got the upper hand on Mike quickly enough and took out a ton of villains at every point. I liked Diana even if her role was super small. I was not really a fan of Nika though. Certainly a tragic backstory for her but in the present she didn’t actually get to contribute much at all.
As for the villain Mikhail, well he is the kind of guy who panics a whole ton. The plan to frame 47 was solid without a doubt but the villains didn’t know how to follow through on that. There are a few other villains as well but none of them are particularly memorable. The movie goes through the motions and they get their moments where they come close to stopping 47 but you barely even see them as characters most of the time.
The soundtrack is pretty decent though. Some solid tunes in there and I did like the visual. The movie always made sure to show off 47’s suit and how the tie would practically glow. Fans will at least be satisfied that the outfit is pretty much a 1 to 1 recreation from the games. No expense was spared there and the ending also leaves some interesting plots for future installments. Of course no sequel would end up coming out but it did get you interested in the franchise as a whole and that is at least partially the goal in making an adaption like this.
Overall, Hitman wasn’t a success. For everything it did right, it did something wrong as well. I would place is squarely in the middle as a result and while there is a decent amount of replay value, I feel as though there is no real reason to watch it again. Watch Mission Impossible instead if you want to see some solid secret agent work or watch Terminator if you want to watch a stoic villain running around. After all, make no mistake, 47 is still a villain here. Just because his goals align with the heroes sometimes doesn’t change the fact that he is still a killer for hire who follows orders without really thinking about it. If the games keep in all of the interesting plot elements while touching the rest up then I can definitely see how this became a really big franchise.
Overall 5/10
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