Thursday, November 13, 2008
Hello. I used today productively as well by playing a lot of Grand Theft Auto IV. Yeah, gaming is not productive to some people, who probably think I should do something more productive, like work [my parents think that way], but I don't need to work now because I'm not so poor that I have to work now and waste my time as a teenager away. I'm going to enjoy life for now.
I'm finally getting interested in GTA IV again. I played the game for 5 hours today. It's good that I'm getting interested in playing the game again. We all should start playing it again since the downloadable expansion pack will be coming soon. Oh wait, I forgot, the DLC is Xbox 360 exclusive. Oh, hahahaha.
I went to my grandmother's house just now with my sister to take our dinner, then I came back home and started typing this post. So, I've got some promises to fulfill. First, I said yesterday that I'll be writing about my thoughts on Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, so I'm going to do that now:
The Good.
1) The city
If you've played any other Spider-Man game before, the first thing you'll notice when you're swinging around in WoS is how much the city has improved from previous games. The game's version of New York City feels much more alive now. The civilians looks much better now, and there are much more different character models.
Cars now hit you if you land in front of them all of a sudden. As the game progresses, the way the city looks actually changes. At the start, the city is bright and clean, and it slowly gets dirtier as the game progresses, and towards the end of the game, there are symbiote webs hanging all over the city.
2) The moves
In this game, there are tons of moves, and there are some moves which you would never expect Spider-Man to be able to pull off. Sure, there are the typical "web enemy, then beat him up" moves, but there are also moves that you would only expect in a God of War game. The moves are simple to pull off once you get to use them, but the results are visually impressive and satisfying as hell. The moves are what make a "beat em up" game good, and WoS does a really great job with the moves.
3) The fighting system
This is probably the first Spider-Man game which is able to make Spider-Man fight the way we all envision him to be able to. And the fight doesn't only take place on the street level. Players can kick an enemy off the ground, web him onto a nearby wall, the proceed to toss him into the air. Fighting now takes place anywhere, on or off the ground. There are even some really epic boss fights which take place entirely in the air.
4) The variety of missions
The missions in this game are more varied than the typical hero game. In most other hero games, players have to chase a boss, then defeat him, and this repeats over and over. In WoS, of course there is the occasional chase mission, but there are more interesting missions. One mission has you breaking R.H.I.N.O out of prison, while another requires you to use spider sense to find snipers in a crowd before they manage to assassinate their target.
5) The animation
Spider-Man is really agile in this game, and his animations are great. I am still amazed at the way he can pull off moves with such fluidity even though I've completed the game a long time ago. Whether you're swinging around the city, or fighting a bunch of enemies, the animations are impressive.
6) The choice system
At certain key moments in the game, players must choose whether they want to take the good or the bad path. Each choice results with a different cutscene, and this eventually all these choices will affect the final outcome of the game. Even though some may find these choices pointless, it does give the game much more replay value.
7) Throwing cars
This is the first Spider-Man game which allows you to pick up a vehicle and throw it. I first thought that this would be that much of a big deal, but throwing vehicles around onto enemies, bosses, and occasionally innocent civilians is freakin awesome.
8) Achievements
I'm not sure about the PS3 Trophies you can get from this game, but it is really generous with the Achievements it gives on the Xbox 360. If you're looking for a quick boost to your Achievement score, this is a game you should play. It can be completed in under 5 hours, and by playing through the story mode once, you can get about 690 points. This is one of those games that you can easily get the full 1000 Achievement points from very quickly.
The Bad.
1) The guest characters
When Treyarch first announced that there will be other Marvel characters in the game, many people got excited. Many of us were speculating on which character will actually be in it. However, the character which actually made an appearance in the final game is disappointing. I understand the choice of villains [R.H.I.N.O, Electro, Vulture and Black Cat], because they're all Spider-Man's enemies, but what's with the hero appearances?
Ok, Wolverine I can accept, because he is one of the most well known Marvel characters, but Moon Knight and Luke Cage? How many people actually know these guys? I know, because I read the comics, but what about people who have no knowledge of the Marvel universe? Why didn't they put in more well know characters like Iron Man, the Hulk and Captain America?
They even tease you by putting Iron Man posters all over the game, although the guy never makes an appearance. Bottom line is, the character choices are bad. Hope they have a better cast for the next game.
2) The story
The story is really cliche. Villain takes over city, main hero works with other heroes, at some point hero has to embrace his dark side to fight menace, eventually villain tries to turn over a new leaf, kills himself to save mankind. That's like the story line of almost every comic series in the recent years. I don't need the same storyline in a game as well. There are some good moments in the story, but these are too few.
3) The enemies
The enemy design and variety is great, and I have no issues with that, but what I really hate is how relentless the enemies can get. Seriously. There you are swinging, minding your own business. BAM, a flying enemy hits you behind all of a sudden, and you have to fight him and his friends. I mean, I would just like to enjoy swinging around for a while, if you don't mind. I know the game is not over, and you don't have to keep on reminding me by sending hordes of enemies after me.
4) The voice acting
I have no problems with the characters voices, and I even think some of them are pretty good, but what's with Spider-Man's voice? If you want to screw up a character's voice, at least make sure it's a secondary character, not the main character.
In the red suit, there are some times when Spidey almost sounds normal, but when he is screaming, either in pain or fear, his voice becomes downright irritating. In the black suit, he sounds like some thug looking for a fight. He is supposed to sound more edgy in the black suit, but not like a gangster.
5) The black suit
Sure, it's fun to use the black suit once in a while, especially to throw cars around, but it isn't as good as the red suit. It's more powerful, but so much slower, although Spider-Man is supposed to attack very rapidly. It also doesn't have a proper aerial attack, and I don't know why. The tendril attack is good though, but over all, it cannot compare up to the red suit in terms of moves.
6) The optional missions
There's a reason why these are optional. They require you to do ridiculous things like kill 1000 of a specific enemy. Why such a high number? I just want to play the game damn it, not do some boring side mission. If you want us to do your side missions, at least make them interesting.
7) The police
Seriously, what do these bastards have against Spidey? They continue to fire at enemies, although Spider-Man is in the middle of the horde, trying to keep the enemies from tearing the police apart. Yes, he's a superhero, but that doesn't mean bullets don't affect him. At least aim before shooting.
8) The civilians
Alright, so they're helpless normal people, but why do they keep having to throw themselves into life threatening situations? Towards the end of the game, when the entire city is over run by symbiotes, civilians still drive their car around the city. They get attacked and you have to rescue them.
What the hell man. The city is under lock down. No one is supposed to leave their houses. After a while, I decided that since the civilians were dumb enough to leave the safety of their houses, they deserved to die anyway, so I ignored their pleas for help. Dumb f***s.
9) The Quick Time Events
Man, QTEs have been done in way to many games. Sure, it was unique when it appeared in God of War, but these days, it just feels unnecessary. Also, do they have to be so unforgiving that you have to restart the entire sequence after missing just one button?
Overall, I feel that Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is a good game, and it's definitely the best Spider-Man game yet, but it won't appeal to everyone. If you're a Spidey fan, then get the game, but if you aren't, you won't know what is happening, so you probably won't enjoy it that much.
Ok, now that that's done, let's move on. I also said that I'll be doing a case study today, so here it is:
I'm finally getting interested in GTA IV again. I played the game for 5 hours today. It's good that I'm getting interested in playing the game again. We all should start playing it again since the downloadable expansion pack will be coming soon. Oh wait, I forgot, the DLC is Xbox 360 exclusive. Oh, hahahaha.
I went to my grandmother's house just now with my sister to take our dinner, then I came back home and started typing this post. So, I've got some promises to fulfill. First, I said yesterday that I'll be writing about my thoughts on Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, so I'm going to do that now:
The Good.
1) The city
If you've played any other Spider-Man game before, the first thing you'll notice when you're swinging around in WoS is how much the city has improved from previous games. The game's version of New York City feels much more alive now. The civilians looks much better now, and there are much more different character models.
Cars now hit you if you land in front of them all of a sudden. As the game progresses, the way the city looks actually changes. At the start, the city is bright and clean, and it slowly gets dirtier as the game progresses, and towards the end of the game, there are symbiote webs hanging all over the city.
2) The moves
In this game, there are tons of moves, and there are some moves which you would never expect Spider-Man to be able to pull off. Sure, there are the typical "web enemy, then beat him up" moves, but there are also moves that you would only expect in a God of War game. The moves are simple to pull off once you get to use them, but the results are visually impressive and satisfying as hell. The moves are what make a "beat em up" game good, and WoS does a really great job with the moves.
3) The fighting system
This is probably the first Spider-Man game which is able to make Spider-Man fight the way we all envision him to be able to. And the fight doesn't only take place on the street level. Players can kick an enemy off the ground, web him onto a nearby wall, the proceed to toss him into the air. Fighting now takes place anywhere, on or off the ground. There are even some really epic boss fights which take place entirely in the air.
4) The variety of missions
The missions in this game are more varied than the typical hero game. In most other hero games, players have to chase a boss, then defeat him, and this repeats over and over. In WoS, of course there is the occasional chase mission, but there are more interesting missions. One mission has you breaking R.H.I.N.O out of prison, while another requires you to use spider sense to find snipers in a crowd before they manage to assassinate their target.
5) The animation
Spider-Man is really agile in this game, and his animations are great. I am still amazed at the way he can pull off moves with such fluidity even though I've completed the game a long time ago. Whether you're swinging around the city, or fighting a bunch of enemies, the animations are impressive.
6) The choice system
At certain key moments in the game, players must choose whether they want to take the good or the bad path. Each choice results with a different cutscene, and this eventually all these choices will affect the final outcome of the game. Even though some may find these choices pointless, it does give the game much more replay value.
7) Throwing cars
This is the first Spider-Man game which allows you to pick up a vehicle and throw it. I first thought that this would be that much of a big deal, but throwing vehicles around onto enemies, bosses, and occasionally innocent civilians is freakin awesome.
8) Achievements
I'm not sure about the PS3 Trophies you can get from this game, but it is really generous with the Achievements it gives on the Xbox 360. If you're looking for a quick boost to your Achievement score, this is a game you should play. It can be completed in under 5 hours, and by playing through the story mode once, you can get about 690 points. This is one of those games that you can easily get the full 1000 Achievement points from very quickly.
The Bad.
1) The guest characters
When Treyarch first announced that there will be other Marvel characters in the game, many people got excited. Many of us were speculating on which character will actually be in it. However, the character which actually made an appearance in the final game is disappointing. I understand the choice of villains [R.H.I.N.O, Electro, Vulture and Black Cat], because they're all Spider-Man's enemies, but what's with the hero appearances?
Ok, Wolverine I can accept, because he is one of the most well known Marvel characters, but Moon Knight and Luke Cage? How many people actually know these guys? I know, because I read the comics, but what about people who have no knowledge of the Marvel universe? Why didn't they put in more well know characters like Iron Man, the Hulk and Captain America?
They even tease you by putting Iron Man posters all over the game, although the guy never makes an appearance. Bottom line is, the character choices are bad. Hope they have a better cast for the next game.
2) The story
The story is really cliche. Villain takes over city, main hero works with other heroes, at some point hero has to embrace his dark side to fight menace, eventually villain tries to turn over a new leaf, kills himself to save mankind. That's like the story line of almost every comic series in the recent years. I don't need the same storyline in a game as well. There are some good moments in the story, but these are too few.
3) The enemies
The enemy design and variety is great, and I have no issues with that, but what I really hate is how relentless the enemies can get. Seriously. There you are swinging, minding your own business. BAM, a flying enemy hits you behind all of a sudden, and you have to fight him and his friends. I mean, I would just like to enjoy swinging around for a while, if you don't mind. I know the game is not over, and you don't have to keep on reminding me by sending hordes of enemies after me.
4) The voice acting
I have no problems with the characters voices, and I even think some of them are pretty good, but what's with Spider-Man's voice? If you want to screw up a character's voice, at least make sure it's a secondary character, not the main character.
In the red suit, there are some times when Spidey almost sounds normal, but when he is screaming, either in pain or fear, his voice becomes downright irritating. In the black suit, he sounds like some thug looking for a fight. He is supposed to sound more edgy in the black suit, but not like a gangster.
5) The black suit
Sure, it's fun to use the black suit once in a while, especially to throw cars around, but it isn't as good as the red suit. It's more powerful, but so much slower, although Spider-Man is supposed to attack very rapidly. It also doesn't have a proper aerial attack, and I don't know why. The tendril attack is good though, but over all, it cannot compare up to the red suit in terms of moves.
6) The optional missions
There's a reason why these are optional. They require you to do ridiculous things like kill 1000 of a specific enemy. Why such a high number? I just want to play the game damn it, not do some boring side mission. If you want us to do your side missions, at least make them interesting.
7) The police
Seriously, what do these bastards have against Spidey? They continue to fire at enemies, although Spider-Man is in the middle of the horde, trying to keep the enemies from tearing the police apart. Yes, he's a superhero, but that doesn't mean bullets don't affect him. At least aim before shooting.
8) The civilians
Alright, so they're helpless normal people, but why do they keep having to throw themselves into life threatening situations? Towards the end of the game, when the entire city is over run by symbiotes, civilians still drive their car around the city. They get attacked and you have to rescue them.
What the hell man. The city is under lock down. No one is supposed to leave their houses. After a while, I decided that since the civilians were dumb enough to leave the safety of their houses, they deserved to die anyway, so I ignored their pleas for help. Dumb f***s.
9) The Quick Time Events
Man, QTEs have been done in way to many games. Sure, it was unique when it appeared in God of War, but these days, it just feels unnecessary. Also, do they have to be so unforgiving that you have to restart the entire sequence after missing just one button?
Overall, I feel that Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is a good game, and it's definitely the best Spider-Man game yet, but it won't appeal to everyone. If you're a Spidey fan, then get the game, but if you aren't, you won't know what is happening, so you probably won't enjoy it that much.
Ok, now that that's done, let's move on. I also said that I'll be doing a case study today, so here it is:
Case study: What makes a good guitar solo
These days, guitar solos are really common in a lot of songs, but we can hardly come across one as good as the solos of older songs. I was curious at why solos nowadays can't compare with solos of the past, so I did some research.
What is a guitar solo?
Guitar solos are a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar.
What makes a GOOD guitar solo?
Lots of people have different ways of describing a good guitar solo, but for me, I feel that a good guitar solo paints out a story. Many writers get inspiration from life and TV and some even take drugs or smoke or whatever, but I get inspirations for the novel I am writing from music. I may not have any new inspirations fro a very long time, but the moment I hear a good guitar solo, the story just forms up in my mind.
What do guitar solos of the past sound like?
What is a guitar solo?
Guitar solos are a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar.
What makes a GOOD guitar solo?
Lots of people have different ways of describing a good guitar solo, but for me, I feel that a good guitar solo paints out a story. Many writers get inspiration from life and TV and some even take drugs or smoke or whatever, but I get inspirations for the novel I am writing from music. I may not have any new inspirations fro a very long time, but the moment I hear a good guitar solo, the story just forms up in my mind.
What do guitar solos of the past sound like?
Metallica "One" solo
Metallica "...And Justice for All" solo
Michael Jackson "Beat it" solo [played by Eddie Van Halen]
What do solos of the present sound like?
Avenged Sevenfold "Afterlife" solo
Bullet For my Valentine "4 Words to Choke Upon" solo
So, I guess there's no definite factor that makes a solo sound good. Music to one might just be noise to another. To me, a good solo paints a story, but to you, it will be different. I'll continue researching on this.
I just realised how fast my Achievement score has increased. A week and a half ago, I my Achievement score went above 8000, and now, it's already 8830. I'm reaching 10 000 soon.
Ok, I think I'm about to end now. Tomorrow is our official Leaver's Ceremony. Since Maris Stella High School is an all boys school, we don't have a prom night, and to make things worse, we have to wear our school uniform. With our ties. Other schools allow their students to wear other clothes. Sucks to be us. Anyways, I'll be bringing my camera, and I'll be uploading all the photos I take onto this blog. Check back tomorrow. Ok, ending off, see you tomorrow.
So, what's the difference between the solos? I've thought about it for a really long time, but I can't seem to find a answer. I have a few vague ideas though. Firstly, solos of the present borrow a lot for solos of the past, so many people feel that solos these days are unoriginal. Secondly, solos of the past require more skill to play than solos these days. Sure, some of the new solos may sound harder, but the strumming and picking technique is easy, and the notes are repeated over and over. Other than these two ideas, I can't really think of any thing else.
So, I guess there's no definite factor that makes a solo sound good. Music to one might just be noise to another. To me, a good solo paints a story, but to you, it will be different. I'll continue researching on this.
I just realised how fast my Achievement score has increased. A week and a half ago, I my Achievement score went above 8000, and now, it's already 8830. I'm reaching 10 000 soon.
Ok, I think I'm about to end now. Tomorrow is our official Leaver's Ceremony. Since Maris Stella High School is an all boys school, we don't have a prom night, and to make things worse, we have to wear our school uniform. With our ties. Other schools allow their students to wear other clothes. Sucks to be us. Anyways, I'll be bringing my camera, and I'll be uploading all the photos I take onto this blog. Check back tomorrow. Ok, ending off, see you tomorrow.
posted @ 8:55 PM
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