[Review] Burnout Paradise

Today I will be taking a look back at a game that has been consuming much of my free time in the last few days, Burnout Paradise. I know it's an older game, but I just recently picked it up.

I have to say, my decision to pick this game up was a great one to make. It is probably the best racing game this generation, in my honest opinion. It does have it's faults, but through all of that it stands out in my mind as what a driving game should feel like. The controls are top notch, the crash physics are great, and the game itself is beautiful. There's a variety of game modes, although most racing games have that. Although, even with that, I have found that I spend most of my time just driving around, trying for the best crash, or the fastest speed I can get. I don't really care to do the races, although they are very fun as well, and it's how you unlock new cars.


My biggest complaints are the lack of any meaningful car customization, and the lack of any story whatsoever. I was always a fan of the last gen Need For Speed games, like Most Wanted. Some semblance of story, an open world to drive about in, and in depth car customization. I didn't get two of those things with this game, but as I mentioned it is very entertaining in it's own right.


Probably the thing I like the best is the crash physics. I didn't expect that that feature would entertain me as much as it did, and therefore wasn't really looking forward to it, but I now know why people love the Burnout games. They might not have the best customization, but they are addicting in there own right, and they do leave you feeling satisfied.


Overall I would give the game an 8/10.

[Speculation] Next Gen

So, I was watching this (the TGS podcast it's about 3 hours but it's highly entertaining) and they mentioned that it's been two years now that we have been expecting the "next generation" of consoles. Two years now we've been bombarded with 'leaks' and been at the edge of our seats (figuratively speaking of course.) about the supposed PS4 and the 720. This got me thinking. Jesse mentioned that the least big tech race was Blu-Ray vs HD DvD, and that was mid last decade. In the recent years there has been a huge shift to the PC market, and why not? Consoles aren't getting any better. The only thing we know is that they are 'in development'. Computers get better every day. If you want the best experiences gaming wise, that's where you look. All Microsoft and Sony have been doing is pushing add ons for there existing consoles, trying to get them to appeal to more people, neither is significantly better.


But, why the wait? The PS3 and 360 are both over five years old at this point, a computer from five years ago wouldn't even be relevant at this time. Why is it that we haven't heard about new tech at this point? They have been very, very tight lipped, and it's a little frightening. To me, they have to be trying to push this gen as far as it will go, but for what? Fans would eat up a new generation. We have been waiting years at this point, the 720 would be probably sell out (providing it's not that expensive, of course.). This leads me to believe that they are waiting for something. They have to be waiting for some bug push in technology that they know is coming but they can't talk about.


Of course, I could be wrong, but it makes sense to me.

[Rant] Nintendo's decision making behind the Wii U

So recently it has come to my attention that there has been some confusion as to whether or not the Wii U is really a new console, not so much in the gaming community, but in the general eyes of the public. I wanted to take a moment and clear up that confusion. Yes, the Wii U is a separate console from the original Wii. It is not just a redesign with a new controller. You will need to buy a Wii U to play Wii U games, as games made for the Wii U will not be playable on the Wii. The Wii U is however backwards compatible so your old Wii games will be one hundred percent playable on it.


On another note, Nintendo decided a long time ago that graphics weren't the most important thing to them. To them, there job is to create awesome gaming experiences available to a wide range of consumers. They do not want their platform to be overly expensive, and as such when the launched the Wii they decided to stay a generation behind. This means that while Microsoft and Sony will be paying top dollar to create new consoles, Nintendo will be paying less, and therefore be charging us less. I would imagine that the gamepad is costing them a bit to make, so it won't be anything too low, but it will certainly be the cheapest next gen console on the market.


Besides, since when did a game need amazing graphics to be good? As it stands the Wii U is indeed more powerful then the PS3/ 360, so its not like the gap will be huge or anything, and Wii U games will have the power to be visually appealing, it just won't be mind blowing because that's not what Nintendo is about. They care more about being different, and offering innovation, which is honestly something that the industry desperately needs. People look at Nintendo like they are a kiddy company, but then mostly these same people complain that E3 was nothing be a "Hyper Violent Gore Fest". That's because things that aren't hyper violent get called childish!


I hope that I managed to shed some light on the Wii U, and maybe help some people form an opinion, but really, the amount of hate this thing is getting is unwarranted. A game does not need to "hyper violent" or have jaw dropping graphics to be good. All a game needs to be good is to be fun. I play games to be entertained, the gaming industry is my favorite industry because of how innovative it can be. It should always be enjoyable, and it should always be about bringing us new ways to play, and new levels of immersion. I'm all for better graphics, but I'm glad that one of the big three has decided to put gameplay first.


And just so you know, I'll be getting either the 720 or the PS4 as well. We'll just have to wait and see which I like more when they are revealed. I own a PS3 and a 360 right now. I don't even have a Wii. This isn't some angry fanboy rant. I just get tired of people on the internet dissing something just because it's Nintendo.

Assassin's Creed 2

I think everyone knows about the Assassin's Creed franchise, but i just wanted to take a moment to talk about my favorite entry in the franchise so far.

Assassin's Creed 2 put you in the shoes of Ezio Audtore de Firenze, a young man from Florence Italy. It takes you from birth, to master assassin, building this character, who starts out just wanting revenge for his family, to realizing that the conflict is much larger then himself. There was a lot of character development, and story advancement, beautiful scenery, a huge world, stunning soundtrack, and new gameplay elements top of what the original already have made for one of the best crafted games of all time.


I still remember my time spent with that game, and to me, it is the modern definition of an Action-Adventure game. Mixing stealth action, with easy to pick up platforming made the game a joy to play. Anyone could pick the game up and feel like an assassin. However, it was always fun with challenge yourself with not being seen, or seeing how many guards you could take on. (hint, a lot.)


A lot of what made the game so great was that it took an already ambitious concept from the first game, and added to it in ways that a lot of people didn't really imagine. The first game had only a few basic mission types, and Assassin's Creed 2 expanded on that greatly. Also, the first games characters Altair was the staple stoic assassin, and kind of a faceless hero. His words never seemed to be his own, he was kind of the voice of the assassins. Ezio however was not. He was born into the order, yes, but he had no clue of it's existence until after the game started. He had a personality of his own, and it was a stark difference from the stoic Altair.


While Brotherhood and Revelations added to the series in there own ways, they were just wern't the step up that Assassins Creed 2 was. Brotherhoods story (apart from the amazing ending and a few key points) just didn;t seem as fluid, it just seemed to carry off of Ezio's personality, but didn't evolve it any. Revelations was better in this regard, with Ezio meeting a love interest and writing his sister, bit he still didn't see as much character development, instead they focused on developing Altair, and Desmond. Which is great, it needed to happen, but they weren't the main people you play as in the game.


So, with new gameplay, more insight on the story, and one hell of a character, Assassin's Creed 2 is my favorite entry in the franchise. Let's see if Ubisoft can design another masterpeice with Assassin's Creed 3.

Assassin's Creed 3

At E3 this year Ubisoft showed a lot of AC3 gameplay, and as everyone is probably well aware it’s set during the American Revolution. There has been a lot of questions, and speculation about who the enemy would be, but as the Americans won the war, it was pretty obvious that they would likely be your allies. However when asked at E3 if the whole game was about killing the british one of the designers firmly stood his ground, stating that Conner would have targets on both sides of the war, and that the enemy is the Templar order and not the British.

However! They then proceeded to show multitudes of gameplay, with Conner doing nothing but killing the British. In recent interviews they have stated that they understand that what they said was not what they showed, and that they showed all they could. That we would have to trust them, but they understand that we are skeptical. That they don’t want to ruin a major plot twist for us. They are a canadian company. They have showed the bad side of civilizations before. Conner is Native American and British. The colonials are going to betray him. Ubisoft is going to show us just how racist America was back then. They might have something where a subset of them are Templars, and they’ll say that things like the trail of tears in the later years were the Colonial Templars trying to wipe out the rest of the Assassins.

I’m about 75% sure of this theory. It would be epic if I was right.

The alternative is them taking the "safe" route, where the paint the Americans as "I can do no wrong!" Which would make me very unhappy because that would so historically inaccurate. The colonists were sneaky, two faced miscreants. It's part of what makes that time period so interesting to me. They rebelled against the British, like a teenager rebelling against there parents. They proceeded to kick the Native Americans off of there land, and slaughter them. If they don't show this, I don't know if I can still like the game. If there aren't shades of gray all over the battlefield, with no clear right and wrong, I just don't know how well I can enjoy it. If they paint the colonist's as the good guys... You get the point.

Watch_Dogs

Watch_Dogs looks too good to be true, this seems to be common opinion around the internet. Everything from the graphics, to the nature of the gameplay. How free flowing everything seemed to be. When the main character turned the light from red to green in order to cause the accident, is that the only thing you could do at that moment? Could you have caught the guy another way? And then, an even bigger question looms overhead. Is this a next gen game?

I know Ubisoft came out and stated that it was not a next gen game, but come on. It would be a small lie to tell to cover up the "nextbox" or the PS4. I have this theory for two reasons. One: The graphics look phenomenal, and two Ubisoft has embraced the Wii U with open arms, and the Wii U is supposed to be more powerful then the 360/ps3. So why would it be on those and not on the Wii U? My theory? The Wii U, 360 and PS3 can't run it. I think Watch Dogs is a next gen game. I mean, Ubisoft pretty much stated that this game is still in early development, and if popular theory is to be believed were looking at a holiday 2013 Xbox 720. I can't imagine that Sony will be far behind with the PS4.

Enough with that though! I honestly think the game looks great. The aftermath of that game being revealed was phenomenal. Mostly positive things were said, and the E3 crowd rejoiced at something new. The premise of the game is promising, the story looks great so far, and if the gameplay is as open ended as it looks, I will be happy with it. I won't say that the game looks to be an industry changer, but it does seem to be a fresh look on a near future setting.

All in all, whenever this game releases you can bet that I will be playing it, no matter the generation of platforms it comes out on.