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Hey, all! Since Acs posted a new review, I thought I would too. The game is "Tony Hawk's Project 8" by Neversoft and published by the first independent game developer, Activision, for the PlayStation 2. While not exactly NEW, it is rather recent. The game is a departure from the past 3 games in the fact that, while there is a story ("Career") mode, it does not have cut scenes with your player and your skater has no voice. The game features one new feature, that being the "land the trick" function when in special mode, which is basically "Focus mode" from THUG 2 and THAW. The difference between "land the trick" and "focus" is that in "land the trick", your camera goes yellow and closes up on your board, and you can push different joystick directions to make your feet go a different way, doing a unique trick when you get the hang of it.
Other new things are new pros to skate as, such as "My Name Is Earl", "Underdog", and "Alvin and the Chipmunks" star Jason Lee, skating out of semi-retirement to help the player during the second level. Unfortunately, the game takes a major departure from previous Tony Hawk titles in the fact that you can only play as 2 characters in free play at the games beginning (Tony Hawk and the Custom Skater), as opposed to being able to play as every pro AND Custom Skater like all the others. Speaking of, the Customization is very small and you have to choose between 3 presets: Punk, Urban Youth/Thug, and an 8 year old kid...or a midget...
My sister had a major problem in THAW to where she couldn't play as a girl in Story Mode due to the kiss at the end. She was further infuriated by the fact that you couldn't even make a female skater PERIOD in the Create-A-Skater option in Project 8. Oh, sure, you could play as a female Realtor, but that was about it, and still you had to complete the second level to get her.
Many hallmarks of the series have been removed for no reason other than "realism", chiefly Create-A-Park, which was my second favourite thing after character creation. The create a trick function introduced in THUG has been taken out, as has the "FREAK OUT!/Board Throwing" moves from THUG 2 and THAW. As a teen with severe anger management problems, this really pissed me off. I did my own FREAK OUT! move and chucked the game case into the rubbish bin.
There are MANY worse games you can get than Project 8, but I find it to be severely disappointing. It has nothing in common from the past games other than being the second-latest in the Tony Hawk brand, the newest being Proving Ground for the Wii, 360, PlayStations 2 and 3. If I ever get my Wii and get to try Proving Ground, I'll let you know how it stacks up. My current favourite games in the brand are Tony Hawk's Undergrounds 1 and 2. As Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw said, "I could say it appeals to die hard (*dubbed over*) [TONY HAWK] fans only, but I can't really recommend it to them either". My advice to Neversoft is to not fix which isn't broken, I guess. The past 3 titles where HUGE successes, and fans clamored for more of the same, but you had to get all real like EA Games' "skate." and dumped your loyal (usually drunk) user base in favour of the die-hard skate enthusiasts who demand realism. Either return future games to form or axe the franchise and start a new one, perhaps with MTV's Rob Derdrek or Ryan Sheckler. Then you can ruin someone's gaming credibility OTHER than The Hawk's.
FINAL SCORE:
Tony Hawk's Project 8 (PS2, 360, GameCube, PSP)
Neversoft/Activision
Pros: New skaters, good graphics, realistic physics engine.
Cons: Removal of all good content, bad customization, goofy characters, limited choice in character selection at beginning.
Score: 2.5 out of 5.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
We come in peace.
Hope you all had a good Christmas and New Years. I got some new video games. So over the next few weeks you can expect some new reviews... But no promises.
Let's start off with BlackSite Area 51.
Let me just say that there is very little to complain about in this one. The story is pretty interesting, the weapons are fun (especially the default assault rife, but more on that later) and the gameplay manages to stay moderately interesting.
Campaign: The levels are definitely interesting. They sure don't repeat them self. The squad commands allow for a little strategy. How I wish I could send troops where I please in other games. Though your best bet is to just have them back you up while you charge through with your super awsome assault rifle. I will admit however that your AI companions are more competent than the ones in other games and actually manage to help you at times. The only thing I guess you could complain about is how every thing you need is extremely conveniently placed when you need it. Just as an example, there was a part where a giant alien thing called a spore tower landed and started spitting out alien squid-dogs and the only thing that could kill it were rockets. After a quick look around I found a fully-loaded rocket launcher. Well, at least it's easy to find ammo.
Weapons: The assault rifle in this game is the most balanced weapon (the gun itself is balanced) I have ever seen. Accurate enough to take out snipers and powerful as well. The pistol is very useful as well. Fast, accurate and can do alot of damage in the right hands. The sniper takes a little more skill than other guns. While useful it is the game gives you no extra clips. You can only carry two more clips at any time. These two factors combined make it so ammo is scarce. I did not use the plasma rifle very much. It takes about three shots to kill an enemy soldier, shoots really slow, only holds five shots to a clip and takes long to reload. I wouldn't recommend it. The spray gun is basically a shot gun. And according to an achievement I got called "Geometry Kills", the shots can bounce of a surface. So if you got your degree from smarty-pants university you can bounce shots to pull off kills from around the corner. Ten shots to a clip. A very fun weapon to play with. Finally the rocket launcher. The only use it has is when you need it.
This is one of those games that only like for campaign and have no interest in multiplayer. So I can't honestly review the multiplayer aspect of the game.
Well, thanks for reading. This is the Blade, signing off.
Let's start off with BlackSite Area 51.
Let me just say that there is very little to complain about in this one. The story is pretty interesting, the weapons are fun (especially the default assault rife, but more on that later) and the gameplay manages to stay moderately interesting.
Campaign: The levels are definitely interesting. They sure don't repeat them self. The squad commands allow for a little strategy. How I wish I could send troops where I please in other games. Though your best bet is to just have them back you up while you charge through with your super awsome assault rifle. I will admit however that your AI companions are more competent than the ones in other games and actually manage to help you at times. The only thing I guess you could complain about is how every thing you need is extremely conveniently placed when you need it. Just as an example, there was a part where a giant alien thing called a spore tower landed and started spitting out alien squid-dogs and the only thing that could kill it were rockets. After a quick look around I found a fully-loaded rocket launcher. Well, at least it's easy to find ammo.
Weapons: The assault rifle in this game is the most balanced weapon (the gun itself is balanced) I have ever seen. Accurate enough to take out snipers and powerful as well. The pistol is very useful as well. Fast, accurate and can do alot of damage in the right hands. The sniper takes a little more skill than other guns. While useful it is the game gives you no extra clips. You can only carry two more clips at any time. These two factors combined make it so ammo is scarce. I did not use the plasma rifle very much. It takes about three shots to kill an enemy soldier, shoots really slow, only holds five shots to a clip and takes long to reload. I wouldn't recommend it. The spray gun is basically a shot gun. And according to an achievement I got called "Geometry Kills", the shots can bounce of a surface. So if you got your degree from smarty-pants university you can bounce shots to pull off kills from around the corner. Ten shots to a clip. A very fun weapon to play with. Finally the rocket launcher. The only use it has is when you need it.
This is one of those games that only like for campaign and have no interest in multiplayer. So I can't honestly review the multiplayer aspect of the game.
Well, thanks for reading. This is the Blade, signing off.
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