Rewind Review

ALTERED BEAST (SEGA GENESIS 1988)

 

When I was a young Altered Beast scared the shit out of me. You play as a hero who is literally raised from the dead by what would appear to be Zeus or some other God to rescue a girl who has been captured by an albino man draped in a purple cloth. Come to think of it he guy actually looks a lot like Powder.

   

Striking resemblance, I know. 

Anyway, while I played it almost weekly when I was younger on the Sega Genesis I never was able to beat the game. So when I heard that it was going to be featured on the Genesis Collection for PS3 I went out and got a copy. Obviously this time around I was older and wiser and expected to easily beat this albino bastard and finally rescue the girl. Not the case.

Altered Beast was every bit as challenging as I remembered it to be. I even tried co-op mode and figured the game would be a little more manageable with another player but not at all. Some of the enemies in Altered Beast are impossible to hit without taking any damage, and while there are opportunities to "Power Up" you never receive any health. This is likely due to the fact that it was originally an arcade game and the developers had to think of a way to get kids to keep pumping in quarters, but this should have been changed when they decided to release it onto consoles.

Another thing that surprised me about Altered Beast this time around is how short the game actually is. Four levels and four bosses. Then you are done. Really the only challenging part about the game is the health issue but on the PS3 there is a save mode. After hours of trying to beat the game without using the save mode I finally broke down and just said "fuck it". If you are saving constantly you can beat the game in under 15 minutes.

BOTTOM LINE: All in all I think that Altered Beast was one of my favorite titles on the Genesis. It was scary, the transformations your characters takes on are all pretty cool, excluding the one when you become a bear. The bear just looked to cute to be in an underground hell dimension.

Resident Evil 6 Trailer Review

RESIDENT EVIL 6 TRAILER REVIEW


When I clicked the 'play' button I was not sure what to expect. A long list of possible protagonist's came to my mind. Chris, Jill, or maybe they would acknowledge the movies and Alice would take the lead. Imagine my horror when that familiar bowl cut came into view.

In RES6 the town of Tall Oaks has gone bat shit crazy and all that stands between them and total annihilation is, you guessed it, Leon S. Kennedy. The first 30 seconds of the trailer are spent watching Leon twirl like a ballerina and talk to some blonde woman who will without a doubt have to be escorted from place to place a shoved into dumpsters for "safe keeping". I was so disgusted that I almost closed the tab completely but then something bad ass happened.

Chris Redfield is also in the game and it would seem he is used in a main part of the story. The trailer shows Chris running through streets infested with members of the un dead and shows off a pretty good over the shoulder camera angle of him cutting through zombies with a semi automatic weapon. But it gets even better, towards the end of the trailer we are introduced to a brand new character in the RES series. No name is given but it seems that this new bald zombie killer may have an antidote to the virus hidden in his DNA and he too has a female sidekick who will no doubt be on dumpster duty too.

Multiple storylines? I like. Too bad we have to wait until November.

Resident Evil 6 Announced

Capcom has just confirmed there will be a new installment in the Resident Evil franchise later this year. You can view the first glimpse of RE6 here. The new installment will be produced by Hiroyuki Kobayashi (Resident Evil 4).

Capcom had this to say about their new title: "It has been ten years since the Raccoon City incident and the President of the United States has decided to reveal the truth behind what took place in the belief that it will curb the current resurgence in bioterrorist activity. Due to be by the President's side is his personal friend and Raccoon City survivor, Leon S. Kennedy, but when the venue suffers a bioterrorist attack, Leon is forced to face a President transformed beyond recognition and make his hardest ever decision. At the same time, Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance member Chris Redfield arrives in China, itself under threat of a bioterrorist attack. With no country safe from these attacks and the ensuing outbreaks, the entire world's population is united by a common fear that there is no hope left." 

It has also been released that the itle will be available exclusivley for XBOX 360 this November and available on Wii, PS3, and PC some time after.

Rewind Review

L.A. Noir (XBOX 360)  

To be honest the only reason I even picked this game up was because the local Block Buster FINALLY CLOSED their doors and I was able to purchase Noir for 11 dollars. I am glad that I did not spend much more on it than that.

Set in Hollywood in the late 1940's you play as Cole Phelps and work your way up from a regular deputy to homicide detective. Sounds good in theory, and with Rockstar being involved this game certainly seemed to spike a lot of interest. Mainly because people thought this would be like Grand Theft Auto set in the 40's. Not at all. If you want to have any chance of enjoying Noir don't go into it expecting it to be anything like GTA, if you do you will be really disappointed.

There is really know roaming around the city allowed, you just go form mission to mission. The only time you can drive around and openly explore the city is when you are suppose to be on your way to a crime scene. But you are not allowed to do anything while driving around. You can't enter any stores, purchase any new clothes, or even senselessly beat the shit out of random people you see walking around on the streets of L.A.. So in summation, there is no real point to doing anything other than the missions.

Being allowed to only do mission after mission is not ALWAYS a bad thing when it is done right. I mean, I like a good linear story just as much as the next person. But the missions in L.A. Noir just sort of blend together after a while. It is the same routine over and over again: Go to the crime scene and walk around until your control vibrates to find clues and then proceed to drive to 50 other locations. Occasionally there is a shoot-out but for the most part the game is just you walking around waiting for your controller to vibrate.

As far as game play goes controlling Phelps is a task in itself. He runs slower than any character I have played in a video game to date and trying to get him to take a closer look at clues can be a real pain in the ass. Also, I am not sure if it was because I chose to play it on the XBOX or not but the game definitely has some problems when it comes to shading. Sometimes during game play shades on the floor or around my character will look like blocks and flicker.

BOTTOM LINE: I wish I could say that I disliked this game just because there was no free roam but it is flawed all around. I would recommend buying it if you can get your hands on it for $10.00 or less.