*SDF Exclusive: GTA4 Review for the PS3/Xbox 360*
April 28th, 2008 Hans
Mario Galaxy Review: 1/10
December 17th, 2007 Hans
Never before have I seen a title of such great importance continue to fall from grace with each successive installment. We all have glowing memories of playing Mario 64 at a Toys R’ Us kiosk back when the revolutionary title released alongside the Nintendo 64 in ’96, but like Super Mario Sunshine before it, Mario Galaxy represents a significant regression for the franchise.
While other publications are being handsomely rewarded for their stellar reviews of Mario Galaxy courtesy of Iwata himself, Sony Defense Force is not paid or endorsed by any commercial interests. This is the only website where you will find genuine, unadulterated impressions of the year’s most hyped titles. Unfortunately, Mario Galaxy is marred with numerous gameplay decisions that ultimately have me questioning what Nintendo was doing for the years they spent developing the title.
One of the primary faults of the game deals with the simplistic gameplay. Mario Galaxy’s formula for game design can be summed up as follows:
1. Randomly place normal items (apples, jars, bugs) in outer space.
2. Have mario waggle his way from each small planetoid by either collecting one of five items, destroying all the enemies on the planet, or finding a way to unlock a star pad.
3. Eventually you will manage to waggle your way to the end planet, where you will have to perform some simplistic task in order to attain a star.
Repeat this process 120 times, and you have Mario Galaxy summed up quite well. While Mario 64 boasted of large, expansive environments, Galaxy mainly has Mario traversing the smallest land masses imaginable in a very linear fashion. After the first few stars, the average player will get tired of this repeated gameplay process. It must be noted that the game appears to be limited by last-gen hardware. The Wii/Gamecube just simply isn’t capable of rendering large, open environments in HD. Perhaps if Mario Galaxy were on the PS3, they’d be able to create a truly next-gen mario because Galaxy looks marginally upgraded from 64 which was released over 11 years ago.
Another flaw is that the combat mechanics are also in desperate need of revision. While games like Uncharted are making the combat an engaging experience, Mario Galaxy’s combat involves jumping on enemies heads or waggling your waggle-stick for a waggle-attack. Perhaps this would work well if the core gameplay itself was challenging or difficult; but it’s not. The game appears to be designed for a 4 year old. It’s easier than the original Mario on the NES.
Overall, to say Mario Galaxy is a disaster is an understatement. If you’re an easily amused child with a hard-on for nostalgia, pick up Mario Galaxy. Otherwise, if you’re an intelligent gamer that is interested in a real videogame experience, pick up a Playstation 3 and have a turn at Uncharted, easily this year’s best.
Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction Review: 10.5/10
October 24th, 2007 Hans
The Good:
- Shooting and platforming gameplay is fun.
- Lots of different and useful weapons.
- Beautiful, colorful visuals.
- Tight controls.
- There’s some good humor in it.
- The Story is interesting.
- Amazing ending.
- Wealth of gameplay variety gives the game compelling identity.
- Perfect gameplay difficulty.
The Bad:
- None
Over the course of five years, Ratchet and Clank has crafted its own identity and has gone on to sell over 13 million titles world wide. It’s no surprise that the Playstation 3′s first outing continues this tradition by expanding upon the epic storytelling elements and caters to a broad audience. The title’s core gameplay is better than its predecessors and is amplified by countless interesting minigames and diverse gameplay mechanics. These issues put Ratchet and Clank clearly above its predecessors and represents the best title on the Playstation 3.
A good story would have been nice, and this is precisely what Insomniac has delivered. In fact, one of the strongest aspects of Ratchet and Clank is its story. You play as Ratchet, a Lombax on a mission to find his own origins along with his robotic sidekick, Clank. The game’s script, humor, and artistic direction rivals that of a Pixar movie and establishes Ratchet and Clank above all other titles of the genre. Without spoiling the title, the game ends magnificently and sets up a sequel perfectly.
The gameplay is a mixture of platforming and shooting which allows players a wide breadth of weapons at their disposal. This only solidifies Ratchet and Clank as a title with tremendous gameplay diversity and identity, something Insomniac is known for while lesser developers have been lacking over the recent years. Even more than platforming and shooting, the gameplay presents a few unique and diverse elements that spruce the experience up even more, especially with the spectacular space shooting sequences that bring back memories of Star Fox.
The visual package of Ratchet and Clank exceeds any other title released so far for next generation consoles. Sony made a promise to deliver Toy Story graphics on the Playstation 2, and while they came extremely close, they’ve satisfied this promise on the Playstation 3 with R&CF:ToD as it is indistinguishable from hollywood’s greatest CG movies. Ratchet and Clank’s audio is not only solid, but it is also remarkable and features an outstanding score that will keep you deeply engaged.
Try as it might, Tools of Destruction vastly exceeds the level of greatness exhibited by its predecessors. It’s a perfect difficulty, the story is epic and engaging, and the “throw everything including the kitchen sink” style of gameplay is a stellar combination along with the platforming and fun combat. That said, the gorgeous visuals and fun gameplay are enough to make Tools of Destruction receive the highest score in Sony Defense Force history, a well deserved 10.5/10.
SDF Review: Halo 3 (360)
September 25th, 2007 BennyB
Believe.
Ahh yes “believe”… the new $10 million dollar marketing slogan for Halo 2.5 stolen shamelessly from a video game message board. They want us to believe Halo 2.5 has a good single player story, they want us to believe that the multiplayer doesn’t pale in comparison to even the most generic of PC shooters, they want us to believe the graphics look like Halo 2 in HD because of ‘the scope’ and they want us to believe the much hyped ‘Forge’ is a sufficient replacement for a map editor.
Here is what you should believe:
What Halo 2 started with mediocrity, Halo 2.5 finishes. The story is a mess, full of plot holes and feels extremely cheesy. Even the game’s laggy 4 player co-op doesn’t help keep the single player campaign from being mediocre at best. All I can say is thank god the single player portion is very short as I’m not sure how much more sloppy writing I could endure.
Halo 2.5′s multiplayer is a letdown as well. It’s Halo 2 with a pseudo map editor. No dedicated servers, still pay to play online and only 16 players per match. Bungie should look at Resistance and Warhawk, both of which have dedicated servers, 40 players online, free to play online and are PS3 exclusive, to see how a multiplayer experience should be.
In conclusion, what was supposed to be the game of the year is looking to be yet another dud on the 360 in the same vein as Perfect Dark Zero, perhaps a bit worse. I would wait for a price drop or even avoid this title altogether. If you are looking to satisfy your FPS lust look no further than Haze and Unreal Tournament 3. With Haze’s superior 4 player co-op and UT3′s free online multiplayer and thousands of maps (thanks to Blu-ray and a real map editor) you can’t go wrong on PS3 for your online shooter fix.
SDF Score: 2.5/10
SDF Review: Heavenly Sword (PS3)
September 17th, 2007 BennyB
This game is simply amazing, where do I begin…
-Best presentation value of any game I’ve ever played
-Best cut scene visuals of any game I’ve ever played
-Best animations of any game I’ve ever played
-Soundtrack more than holds its own among the best in the industry (MGS, Castlevania, FF, etc. etc.)
As a movie fan that likes video games, this game was pretty much made for me. I think that’s why there’s such a disparity in most of the reviews… If you’re a gamer that doesn’t care about story, backbone, quality graphics, amazing sound, etc then you probably won’t enjoy the game that much. It’s the ultimate blend of cinema and video gaming.
The cinematics are godly. You could say they’re amazing because they just look almost like movie quality CG, and you’d be right. You could say the cutscenes are amazing because the way characters move just looks completely unreal and almost bizarre, and you’d be right. You could also say the cutscenes are amazing because the facial animations in the game are just eye popping, and you’d be right as well. Facial animations in this game are so good it makes you feel like you’re not playing a video game.
Are there negatives? Sure. The fact that this game is impossible on any other system to date thanks to the use of Blu-ray, Cell, standard HDD and the amazing RSX graphics chip which limits the audience to strictly PS3. That being said, I encourage every PS3 owner to buy this game and if you don’t have a PS3 buy one for this game.
SDF Score: 10/10
SDF Review: Lair (PS3)
September 5th, 2007 BennyB
Forget the negative reviews you’ve been reading about Lair, this game is the real deal. Let me paint a picture for you, if I may be so bold… Picture controlling a dragon with the SIXAXIS motion controls along a beautiful backdrop fighting hundreds, no thousands of other enemies, pulling off combos (called Carnage), breathing fire on soldiers all while being taken through a very fleshed out, epic storyline and you have Factor 5′s best game yet: Lair. Let me also state that this game is not possible on any other system out right now as it makes full use of the Blu-ray player and the physics beast that is CELL. Free online leaderboards and the promise of Home compatibility round out this amazing package.
Lair is one of those odd games that comes out of nowhere and completely surprises you. It’s one of those rare gems that people will not appreciate at first, but grow to love over time. Make no mistake, Lair could very well be this generation’s “Mario 64″. With greater use of motion control than any Wii game and better graphics than any 360 game I think it’s safe to say we have a candidate for game of the year right here.
SDF Score: 10/10
SDF Review: Warhawk (PS3) 10/10 (Multiplayer GOTY)
September 4th, 2007 lecuitis
Well it finally hit last Tuesday, the game Sony fans have been waiting for all summer has arrived. From the moment you start playing, you’re in awe of how the game feels. The fast paced action, the intuitive controls and wide variety of weapons and vehicles makes Warhawk a joy to play. If you’re not chasing down a Warhawk with homing missiles, you’re blowing the enemy away in a sturdy tank or racing across the map with a captured flag, laying mines for unsuspecting enemy combatants or calling down an air strike from afar (my personal favourite ;p).
Warhawk has several modes of play such as the usual death match, team death match and capture the flag but also introduces zone play where your team battles for strategic zones across the map and the dogfighting mode whereby you’ll be spending the entire match in a warhawk. Five maps are included and can be further subdivided for larger or smaller groups of players, Insomniac have really done a great job in creating a good range of maps and modes that will keep you coming back for more.
Sony have also come up trumps with providing dedicated servers for your Warhawk gaming pleasure with more servers coming up every day to meet the huge demand for the game. Once again, Sony have shown how online play should be run and does not have to cost a subscription for its use. The game ships in two forms; one being a PSN download fron the PSN store for $40 while a hard copy with headset can be had for a very respectable $60.
Warhawk is set to become the multiplayer game of this generation and has set a very high standard for future titles such as Halo3 and COD4 which may find themselves lacking in the diversity and sheer enjoyment that can be had with Warhawk.
SDF Final Score: 10/10 Multiplayer GOTY
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