Release: 2003
Platform: Sony Playstation 2, Xbox, Game Cube, PC
Developer: lo interactive
Publisher: EA
Rated: T
ebay price: $2.99-$14.99
Freedom Fighters is a 2003 release 3rd person shooter game with an exceptional storyline and easy to use squad control. lo interactive is also known for The Hitman series.
The game play of Freedom Fighters is very simple and is also challenging enough for veteran fps and 3rd person shooter gamers. The AI of the game isn't particularly challenging, though it isn't stupid either. Freedom Fighter missions consist of multiple areas, which, according to the maps, are all close together. Each area has unique objectives which affect the level of difficulty. for example, in one area, there's a bridge which is shipping troops in the other areas, and in the other there's a heliport flying helicopters supporting the enemy. The game allows the player to take those objectives as he or she choses. When the player takes one of the objectives, it removes an element from the enemy forces. Freedom Fighters has an easy to use squad system, with three simple commands: Attack, Defend, and Regroup. The ally AI is smart enough to take cover, and accomplish the objective that you give them, unless you send them into an area crowded with enemies. Players can chose where to put their allies, by aiming and giving the commands, this makes it easy for precision support or suppressive fire.
The game takes place in New York City, of all places, where the Russians have invaded America. The story goes that the Russians have won the Cold War and are making a movement towards the Western Hemisphere. The game creates a believable world with television broadcasts from the soviets covering the games storyline. Along with those broadcasts is a ticker, like you would see on an actual news channel, displaying events and laws, such as "the combination of red, white, and blue is now illegal." The game does a great job at making the player feel as though he or she is thrown into a country being taken over by storm.
The soundtrack is one of the most impressive soundtracks for a video game I have ever heard. The soundtrack immerses the player into the game with unique and epic scores. The scores are a blend of classical, choir, and a little bit of techno, which combine into an excellent sound. The music sets the tone for each mission perfectly, whether it be stealth or action.
Freedom Fighters' graphics are not the most impressive, even compared to the games that were released along with the game around that time. The graphics never really matter in a game, unless they get in the way of the game play, fortunately that never happens in Freedom Fighters. The graphics may be simple, but the player is still able to differentiate friend from foe, which is what really matters in a game like this.
Freedom Fighters has a multiplayer mode which can have up to 4 players on one console. The multiplayer is not online, though it's still plenty of fun. There's only one game mode, which has the players on a map, with bunkers in set places, and the objective is to hoist the teams colors (America or Soviet)on the map and hold it down for the set amount of time. While this is a fun game type, there's only 3 maps. This doesn't provide much for replay value. However, Freedom Fighters is still an excellent experience.
All in all I highly recommend Freedom Fighters to any one who enjoys a solid action game and a truly amazing story.
Thanks for reading, please remember to comment or critique.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Amplitude Review
Release: 2003
Platform: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Harmonix
Publisher: Sony
Rated: T
ebay price: $2-$35
Amplitude comes from the folks at Harmonix studios, the people that are responsible for the games Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Amplitude is the sequel to Harmonix's other music game Frequency.
Amplitude has a unique game play style for a music game. In the game, you control a ship, of sorts, that moves down a track and shoots capsules that trigger a note. Each track represents a different element to the song. The tracks in the songs have only 3 rows, each row assigned to a button. Each track is divided up into segments, if the player completes these segments on the tracks perfectly, the track will play by itself for a while, allowing the player to be able to create combos. it's a satisfying experience when the player can combo all of the 8 tracks and hear the symphony of all of the elements playing. Though from time to time, there will be a certain section which seems impossible. In cases like these the game offers power-ups, which will do a variety of things which all help out the player in one way or another.
As for story, there isn't. You pilot a small ship, make music and move on to the next section. Though this being a music game, what counts is the song selection. The song selection for Amplitude is varied and provides different experiences for each area. However, music games seem to get the notion that in order to create a level of difficulty, instead of having songs that sound really cool, put in songs that everybody that would play Amplitude would hate (i.e. Pink). This breaks up the games smooth flow. Perhaps it's just my taste in music, but these songs just annoy me, and while it's a really fun game, i find it difficult to continue to play and try to make it to the next section. Over all the music selection isn't terrible, it's just that one section, artists in the game are varied, though I've never heard of them prior to playing Amplitude. Another problem with the song selection, is that there's only 26 songs. Most music games have 50 plus, though that would be a bit too much for a game like Amplitude.
The graphics in the game are rather impressive, with objects that move and flash to the beat and to every button press. The game has different areas with their own songs which seem to fit the style of the metropolis that you happen to be in at the time. However this creates an F-Zero effect. The F-Zero effect is where the environment can be detailed and beautiful, but the player is distracted by the game itself to really take it all in.
Amplitude offers a few different things to do after you beat the game. The game has online multiplayer, and even has a mix mode. The mix mode is entertaining, and there is a lot you can do with the song. However the mix mode only lets you play around with the certain style of instruments that the song already has. With only 3 different kinds of notes per track, this limits what the player can do, however there are is a selection of filters that the game provides so that the player can change up the sound of certain tracks and sections. As for mutlipayer, it's really fun when you have two people playing on the same song. Players can play with or against each other to complete the song. Multiplayer has unique power-ups which can effect the other player. Some power-ups can disable the player, or throw him or her off the track.
All in all, Amplitude is a solid experience. I recommend Amplitude as a necessary addition to any PS2 owners library of games. Amplitude is a unique take on music games, and I hope to see more of these types of games come from Harmonix.
Please remember to comment and critique.
Platform: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Harmonix
Publisher: Sony
Rated: T
ebay price: $2-$35
Amplitude comes from the folks at Harmonix studios, the people that are responsible for the games Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Amplitude is the sequel to Harmonix's other music game Frequency.
Amplitude has a unique game play style for a music game. In the game, you control a ship, of sorts, that moves down a track and shoots capsules that trigger a note. Each track represents a different element to the song. The tracks in the songs have only 3 rows, each row assigned to a button. Each track is divided up into segments, if the player completes these segments on the tracks perfectly, the track will play by itself for a while, allowing the player to be able to create combos. it's a satisfying experience when the player can combo all of the 8 tracks and hear the symphony of all of the elements playing. Though from time to time, there will be a certain section which seems impossible. In cases like these the game offers power-ups, which will do a variety of things which all help out the player in one way or another.
As for story, there isn't. You pilot a small ship, make music and move on to the next section. Though this being a music game, what counts is the song selection. The song selection for Amplitude is varied and provides different experiences for each area. However, music games seem to get the notion that in order to create a level of difficulty, instead of having songs that sound really cool, put in songs that everybody that would play Amplitude would hate (i.e. Pink). This breaks up the games smooth flow. Perhaps it's just my taste in music, but these songs just annoy me, and while it's a really fun game, i find it difficult to continue to play and try to make it to the next section. Over all the music selection isn't terrible, it's just that one section, artists in the game are varied, though I've never heard of them prior to playing Amplitude. Another problem with the song selection, is that there's only 26 songs. Most music games have 50 plus, though that would be a bit too much for a game like Amplitude.
The graphics in the game are rather impressive, with objects that move and flash to the beat and to every button press. The game has different areas with their own songs which seem to fit the style of the metropolis that you happen to be in at the time. However this creates an F-Zero effect. The F-Zero effect is where the environment can be detailed and beautiful, but the player is distracted by the game itself to really take it all in.
Amplitude offers a few different things to do after you beat the game. The game has online multiplayer, and even has a mix mode. The mix mode is entertaining, and there is a lot you can do with the song. However the mix mode only lets you play around with the certain style of instruments that the song already has. With only 3 different kinds of notes per track, this limits what the player can do, however there are is a selection of filters that the game provides so that the player can change up the sound of certain tracks and sections. As for mutlipayer, it's really fun when you have two people playing on the same song. Players can play with or against each other to complete the song. Multiplayer has unique power-ups which can effect the other player. Some power-ups can disable the player, or throw him or her off the track.
All in all, Amplitude is a solid experience. I recommend Amplitude as a necessary addition to any PS2 owners library of games. Amplitude is a unique take on music games, and I hope to see more of these types of games come from Harmonix.
Please remember to comment and critique.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Jet Grind Radio Review
Release: June 2000
Platform: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Smilebit
Publisher: Sega
Rated: T
Jet Grind Radio fr the Dreamcast is one of the more unique games in it's library. Jet Grind Radio was the first video game in history to use the graphical style known as cell shading. The game has you running around the streets of Tokyo-To spray painting, or "tagging", graffiti.
The story goes that there are these new sets of roller blades that are the hot new thing among the youth of Tokyo-To. Once these new roller blades catch on, new gangs are formed and Tokyo-To will never be the same. You start off the game as newcomer "Beat" who is looking to form a gang of his own to tag the streets of Tokyo-To with. Guiding you along your quest to dominate the streets of Tokyo-To is the super funky DJ Prof. K. Prof. K gives you all the news about what's happening in the town, to help the story progress. Later on in the story it goes from kids having fun, to a weird storyline that could only come from the Japanese involving an evil corporation and a record that can summon a demon.
Platform: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Smilebit
Publisher: Sega
Rated: T
Jet Grind Radio fr the Dreamcast is one of the more unique games in it's library. Jet Grind Radio was the first video game in history to use the graphical style known as cell shading. The game has you running around the streets of Tokyo-To spray painting, or "tagging", graffiti.
The story goes that there are these new sets of roller blades that are the hot new thing among the youth of Tokyo-To. Once these new roller blades catch on, new gangs are formed and Tokyo-To will never be the same. You start off the game as newcomer "Beat" who is looking to form a gang of his own to tag the streets of Tokyo-To with. Guiding you along your quest to dominate the streets of Tokyo-To is the super funky DJ Prof. K. Prof. K gives you all the news about what's happening in the town, to help the story progress. Later on in the story it goes from kids having fun, to a weird storyline that could only come from the Japanese involving an evil corporation and a record that can summon a demon.
The game play is simple and easy to learn, though when it comes to tricks, the game automatically chooses the trick for you, which is nice in most cases, because you don't want to have to fall when running away from the local law enforcement and it ads even more style to this already stylish game. In the streets of Tokyo-To, there are 3 different districts: Kogane-Cho, Benten-Cho, and Shebuya-Cho. Each area is very different in feel, architecture, and personality. This breaks up the drudgery of having to clear out one area then move on to the next, which is found in most of today's games. Tagging is the core element in the game play. To tag, simply run up to a tag point and follow the directions with the control stick, however this physically stops the player and leaves him open to attack, especially when the police are about. the police are a bit over zealous when it comes to keeping the streets graffiti free, with parachute dropped soldiers with fully automatic machine guns, legions of SWAT team members toting tear gas launchers, to tanks and helicopters that can launch heat seeking missles.
The soundtrack is definitely one of the best I've heard in a long time as a gamer. The selection of music fits the game perfectly and makes you want to get up and dance, regardless of how bad you are at dancing. The soundtrack blends Funk with Electronic to create one unique experience.
The graphics of the game are truly unique, being that it's the first game ever to use the cell-shading style. The graphics really capture the character of Tokyo-To, providing a different feel to each of the three districts. The graffiti in the game is truly unique as well with over a hundred different pieces to choose from, to mix and match as you so choose.
As for replay value, there isn't much to do, other than collect all the pieces of graffiti and unlock all the characters. though it's still fun to pull the game out every once in a while and get your fill of funk.
All in all Jet Grind Radio, is a game that is necessary addition to anybody that still owns a Dreamcast. For those of you that don't own a Dreamcast, you should try as hard as you can to play this game, it's a truly unique experience in gaming, and it's just fun, and besides Dreamcasts aren't that expensive these days anyhow.
Thanks for reading, please remember to comment and critique.
The soundtrack is definitely one of the best I've heard in a long time as a gamer. The selection of music fits the game perfectly and makes you want to get up and dance, regardless of how bad you are at dancing. The soundtrack blends Funk with Electronic to create one unique experience.
The graphics of the game are truly unique, being that it's the first game ever to use the cell-shading style. The graphics really capture the character of Tokyo-To, providing a different feel to each of the three districts. The graffiti in the game is truly unique as well with over a hundred different pieces to choose from, to mix and match as you so choose.
As for replay value, there isn't much to do, other than collect all the pieces of graffiti and unlock all the characters. though it's still fun to pull the game out every once in a while and get your fill of funk.
All in all Jet Grind Radio, is a game that is necessary addition to anybody that still owns a Dreamcast. For those of you that don't own a Dreamcast, you should try as hard as you can to play this game, it's a truly unique experience in gaming, and it's just fun, and besides Dreamcasts aren't that expensive these days anyhow.
Thanks for reading, please remember to comment and critique.
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