April releases (wanted/wheelman/ninja blade) and updated bargain basement purchase

[MacRumorUser]

So by chance as well as getting my DSi this week, I also bought three new releases.

Wanted (PS3)

Wheelman (360)

Ninja Blade (360)


What really dissapointing is that ALL of them are pretty bad, and one in particular is atrocious.





Firstly....

Wanted. The best of a bad lot really. It looks ok graphically, however gameplay wise its basically just a rehash of almost every other action game released in the last 12 months.

Think Bourne Conspiracy, Gears of War & Dark Sector rolled into one and your pretty close.

The game is quite enjoyable, the biggest problem I have with it is this... It took me less than 4 hours to play through and I have no desire to play through it again.

How any company can consider 4 hours of gameplay to be acceptable when asking good money from the general public is beyond comprehension.



So not an awful game, just awfully over priced for the amount of content you get.





Next up Wheelman. Again think Crazy Taxi, Chase HQ and GTA all in a sex orgy and Wheelman is the bas**rd child.

The game is just utterly MEH! Graphically its fairly sub par with poor textures and bland re-creation of Barcelona.

I've played a few hours in and I'm bored senseless already..... However at least its playable unlike......



Ninja Blade... WHAT A BIG TURD this game truly is. I have never played any game so bug ridden in my life. I had to play through the first mission 3 times because of a horrible bug which prevented your progress.

Awful textures, low polygon enemy's(other than the big uninspired bosses) , appalling platform sections which see many sections of you running towards the screen unable to see what is in front of you - a crime in any platform game, repeated quick time events which are merely there to cause as much nausea from repeated failure until you learn the button combinations by repeating them over and over.

Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry have nothing to worry about truly. What really is dissapointing is that this game is by FROM SOFTWARE, the makers of Panzer Dragoon Orta and the OTOGI games.

This game truly is awful, be wise and AVOID like the plague. Should have known when a game hits the shelves before it's even reviewed.







So basically a bad week for gaming...... Save yourself money and forget buying all three, maybe rent one and two, and burn every copy of Ninja Blade you see as protection to the community.....

[Dagless]

Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry have nothing to worry about truly. What really is dissapointing is that this game is by FROM SOFTWARE, the makers of Panzer Dragoon Orta and the OTOGI games.

Didn't SmileBit make Orta?
Heh, and my local paper gave Wheelman a 4/5, saying it was up there with GTA :rolleyes:

[MacRumorUser]

^ Your right about Orta.... They (From Software) made ChromeHounds, a game that was F'UGLY but was excellent online, and the downright bland 'Enchanted Arms' with its endless random battles.....

Doesn't change the fact Ninja Blade sucks ass though :D

[2nyRiggz]

Bad form MRU, couldn't you see those titles were trash from the start...Wheelman is a complete rip off from the PSP game Pursuit Force with a little GTA on the side. I had a little more hope in Ninja Blade but after watching the gameplay videos I decided hope was lost.

I was thinking about picking up some old titles like Mass Effect and re-buy Bioshock for the PS3..I just might end up doing that.


Bless

[sikkinixx]

Wanted looks fun, but yeah I have read/heard on podcasts that its criminally short. I'll probably grab it when it hits $30 (sooo in about 2 weeks).

[Patriks7]

Had you looked at any reviews before, you would have known they all are crap :p

[andrew upstairs]

I... can't believe you bought all three of those games. :confused:

[MacRumorUser]

I... can't believe you bought all three of those games. :confused:

LOL!!! I know..... I went store credit mad! Thankfully no cash exchanged hands :D

[spyker3292]

Well.... 2 of them are movie based, and while movie games can be decent you shouldn't expect a big hit.

[MacRumorUser]

Wanted yes! (and ironically the better of all three) but Wheelman ? Is that a movie ?

[Antares]

Wanted yes! (and ironically the better of all three) but Wheelman ? Is that a movie ?

Well, a movie will soon be released based on the Wheelman game franchise. So. technically, that will be a movie based on a game and not vice versa...unless the game is based on the movie which was based on the original game? :confused:

Also, is the Wanted game based on the movie or is it based on the original comics that the movie was based on?

And "poor" is a bit dramatic of a word to use when describing these games. Would any developer really release a "poor" game to the public? How would they ever expect to see any sales and profit if that was the case? Surely they do testing prior to release. If a game is not very good, you would think that they would fix any issues or shortcomings so that the final product would be a worthwhile purchase for the consumer.

[Dagless]

And "poor" is a bit dramatic of a word to use when describing these games. Would any developer really release a "poor" game to the public? How would they ever expect to see any sales and profit if that was the case? Surely they do testing prior to release. If a game is not very good, you would think that they would fix any issues or shortcomings so that the final product would be a worthwhile purchase for the consumer.

People still buy poor games. People still buy buggy, incomplete games. This has always been the way but now it seems the norm is to just patch the hell out of them later and charge extra for DLC to fill out empty games.
Games are rushed to release for many reasons. Non-negotiable deadlines, financial limitations, employees leaving. Sometimes games are released in what internally they might class as okay quality, rather than waiting until its perfect.

[MacRumorUser]

And "poor" is a bit dramatic of a word to use when describing these games.

Oh man, please play Ninja Blade...... Poor doesn't describe how bad this game truly is. I mean the game is broken due to some horrific bugs. So yes, publishers and developers really do release some criminal stuff.

[whooleytoo]

Is anyone else like me, and have to finish a game once you start, no matter how poor it is?

I recently bought NFS-Undercover as I'd never played any of them before. Really not my cup of tea; but I had to play to the end regardless. Similarly, I have to finish Killzone 2 (a great game, mind) in Elite difficulty; even though the very end is so difficult it's no longer enjoyable, I Must Finish It!

I think most gamers must be obsessive compulsive..

[Dagless]

I don't even finish the games I like anymore. I've started so many brilliant ones and just dont want to complete them because then I would have seen everything they have to offer. Like in FFVII I'm on the last disc, amazing RPG but I dont want to finish it!

[Antares]

Oh man, please play Ninja Blade...... Poor doesn't describe how bad this game truly is. I mean the game is broken due to some horrific bugs. So yes, publishers and developers really do release some criminal stuff.

Is it worse than Ninja Reflex on the Wii? Which looked and sounded cool on the box...but really wasn't.

[MacRumorUser]

Is it worse than Ninja Reflex on the Wii? Which looked and sounded cool on the box...but really wasn't.

At least you could complete a level (albeit terrible) on Ninja Reflex, you didn't have to play through the same terrible level 4 or 5 times because a bug prevents a quicktime event loading and therefore you can not proceed and have to re-play it over and over and over......

[Tokiopop]

Well, a movie will soon be released based on the Wheelman game franchise. So. technically, that will be a movie based on a game and not vice versa...unless the game is based on the movie which was based on the original game? :confused:

Also, is the Wanted game based on the movie or is it based on the original comics that the movie was based on?

You brokeded my brainz.

Anywho, 4 hours to complete Wanted? It's not that bad. Look at Call of Duty games, they're so damn short. And Resident Evil 5... People have completed that in just over an hour :eek:

[MacRumorUser]

Right then... so a little update.


Today whim took my fancy and I managed to grab a copy of Rise of the Argonauts Xbox 360 extremely cheaply. I'm well aware of the reviews and therefore wasn't expecting a great deal.

However I'm pleasantly surprised with the game. I'm about 90 mins in and so far the game seems interesting, and far from the turkey I was expecting.

Graphically the game has received a real slating in all the reviews, however I don't think it looks that bad if I'm honest. Yes it looks like an early next-gen title, but thats still a lot better than the upgraded PS2 comments it received in some pretty unfair reviews.

I've installed the game to my 360 hard-drive, and loading times are obviously swift. Frame rate stutters happen here and there, but for the most part the frame rate is stable and those judders don't affect game performance.

Apart from dodgy lip syncing in the very first cut-scene on Jason, the rest of the speech and lip sync is good, and it is a game with a lot of speech. Which I actually like in games, especially ones like this where its the story rpg arc which drives the game forward and not the combat which is a means to an end (unlike many other hack / slash games where its the other way round and the emphasis is on fighting and the story is coming along for the ride).

I will post further review information once I've invested more time into the game, but I'm liking what I've encountered so far. My argonauts are gathering in number and I'm setting sail..... :)

Maybe not a game for everyone, but hey were all different and I'm glad I took the chance on this title - even if it was the bargain basement price that drove me to doing so.

[student_trap]

Right then... so a little update.


Today whim took my fancy and I managed to grab a copy of Rise of the Argonauts Xbox 360 extremely cheaply. I'm well aware of the reviews and therefore wasn't expecting a great deal.

However I'm pleasantly surprised with the game. I'm about 90 mins in and so far the game seems interesting, and far from the turkey I was expecting.

Graphically the game has received a real slating in all the reviews, however I don't think it looks that bad if I'm honest. Yes it looks like an early next-gen title, but thats still a lot better than the upgraded PS2 comments it received in some pretty unfair reviews.

I've installed the game to my 360 hard-drive, and loading times are obviously swift. Frame rate stutters happen here and there, but for the most part the frame rate is stable and those judders don't affect game performance.

Apart from dodgy lip syncing in the very first cut-scene on Jason, the rest of the speech and lip sync is good, and it is a game with a lot of speech. Which I actually like in games, especially ones like this where its the story rpg arc which drives the game forward and not the combat which is a means to an end (unlike many other hack / slash games where its the other way round and the emphasis is on fighting and the story is coming along for the ride).

I will post further review information once I've invested more time into the game, but I'm liking what I've encountered so far. My argonauts are gathering in number and I'm setting sail..... :)

Maybe not a game for everyone, but hey were all different and I'm glad I took the chance on this title - even if it was the bargain basement price that drove me to doing so.

nice to hear such positivity, every time i see this title i have to force myself to remember all those bad reviews, but there is still a part of me that just wants to give it a go.

Let us know how it continues, I might just buy it after all!

[zap2]

On the bargain scence, Gamestop in the US was selling a bunch of good games for cheap. Sonic Rush Adventure and Metal Slug 7 for the DS were 15 bucks and looked decent

[2nyRiggz]

I just picked up The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena and as I expected its really good. I completed Butcher Bay on the original Xbox and it was legend now I'm going to do it again with updated graphics and a expansion(dark athena)...screw the multplayer crap.

I'm set until InFamous and Fat Princess.



Bless

[e²Studios]

On the bargain scence, Gamestop in the US was selling a bunch of good games for cheap. Sonic Rush Adventure and Metal Slug 7 for the DS were 15 bucks and looked decent

I picked up Chrono Trigger for the DS and Warcraft 3 battlechest for $30

[MacRumorUser]

I just picked up The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena and as I expected its really good.

Bless

Glad to hear it. I will be picking this up. The remake of Butcher Bay is almost worth the asking price alone. Not out for a couple of weeks here though.

[2nyRiggz]

^I'm going to have to warn you about the shooting sections MRU...the guards in this game have pin point accuracy in the dark, when they're moving, leaning & barrel roll shooting. The guards will empty their clip into you before you can turn around...FRUSTRATING!

The shooting segments are not that good but the game(s) is still good. EBB is almost five years old and it still stands up to the big games in the graphic department.

Oh one more thing...the A.I :mad::(


Bless

[Chone]

You brokeded my brainz.

Anywho, 4 hours to complete Wanted? It's not that bad. Look at Call of Duty games, they're so damn short. And Resident Evil 5... People have completed that in just over an hour :eek:

LOL including speed runs every game is a rip-off then ;) it's like saiyng MGS3 sucks because I beat it under 4 hours (some people have beaten it under less, like 2 hours or something) but that's only because we were speed-running, I doubt anyone completed RE5 in one hour in their first run, unless they played on easy, skipped cutscenes, killed few majini, zero exploration and just followed the arrow in the minimap; are you being serious? it just seems dumb to me to say something like that.

Resident Evil 5 may be short (it depends on how you play the game actually and the difficulty you choose) but there's a lot of content in the disc to keep you coming back so it's not bad.

Call of Duty also has a short campaing but it has a multiplayer mode that people still play so it's far from "damn short", yeah many people don't buy CoD games for multiplayer but that doesn't change the fact that it's part of the game and part of the content and part of the $50/$60 value of the game.

[MacRumorUser]

^I'm going to have to warn you about the shooting sections MRU...the guards in this game have pin point accuracy in the dark, when they're moving, leaning & barrel roll shooting. The guards will empty their clip into you before you can turn around...FRUSTRATING!

The shooting segments are not that good but the game(s) is still good. EBB is almost five years old and it still stands up to the big games in the graphic department.

Oh one more thing...the A.I :mad::(


Bless


So I picked up Riddick today!! Twice!!!!

PS3 BAD PORT WARNING

My god the graphics on the PS3 version are BRUTAL! This is obviously a game that is running in 480p tops and then simply scaled to fit the screen (not even upscaled)....

Even the text on the menu is low res, and shimmers.

OK!!! I can get over this can't I ? NO!! Because it even has SLOWDOWN! :mad::mad:

Seriously it was like playing the Xbox version again regardless of the fact it was meant to be a better looking remake.

So anyway I took the game back to Gamestop and they let me exchange it for the 360 version, which whilst not perfect, it at least is clearly running in HD and does not have the terrible low res, anti aliasing, crosshatching of the PS3 version.


Anyway those with both consoles. Avoid the PS3 version. It really is like night and day between the two.

[sikkinixx]

^

The PS3 version is supposed to be the worst of them all, but both have changing resolutions depending on what is going on. The 360 (and the PS3) version dips down to 1024x576 at times

[MacRumorUser]

^

Eurogamer face off....


We've not had much out of Starbreeze Studios since the release of The Darkness back in June 2007, and that's a real shame. The Darkness may well have had its issues (like Jackie's complete inability to get around with anything other than a leaden shuffle) but it was a superb shooter, with plenty of original touches, a good storyline and one of the most astonishing game engines seen in that time period. It was the first Xbox 360 game I played that didn't look like an Xbox 360 game. It looked better, a generation beyond. In terms of lighting, post-processing effects, characters, motion blur... nothing could touch it, and even now in a market saturated with Unreal Engine 3 shooters, it has a look that is all its own.

The PlayStation 3 code on the other hand wasn't quite as decent. The same gameplay, the same geometry, but just about everything else was tangibly cut-down compared to the original. The first casualty was the resolution - down from native 720p to a teeth-clenchingly unimpressive 960x540. Anti-aliasing? Gone. Lighting effects? Pared down. Textures? Lower resolution, in many places. In short, an unimpressive port, but at least the coolness of the game remained intact and it remained an enjoyable adventure.

So here we are getting on for two years later with Starbreeze's latest effort: a retooling of its 2004 technology-defying Xbox release, The Chronicles of Riddick. The Darkness engine is back in full effect, powering an HD version of the original Escape From Butcher Bay, along with a brand new single-player campaign, Assault on Dark Athena. Online multiplayer modes are also bundled into the package.

First impressions confirm that The Darkness engine is still hugely impressive, even if it hasn't moved on that much since its HD debut back in 2007. But it was a piece of code ahead of its time, just like original Xbox version. Back in 2004, Riddick ran with a dynamic framebuffer, switching resolutions during gameplay to sustain frame-rate - four years on, WipEout HD does exactly the same to maintain its illusion of a full HD 1080p60 refresh rate.

What is clear, however, is that the 2004 vintage gameplay is Riddick's most limiting factor and that remains the case whether you're playing this game on PC, 360 or PS3. The fetch-quests, the sometimes-laborious and inconsistent platforming elements - it's here where even the best technology in the world can't cover up what feels like antique gameplay. Also irritating is the paring-down of adventure elements in Dark Athena, making it arguably inferior than its five-year-old sibling.

So what about the conversion then? Here's a video, and be sure to check out the triple-format screenshot comparison gallery.

Although massively improved since The Darkness on PS3, Starbreeze's engine still favours Xbox 360.


The good news is that Starbreeze has clearly made great efforts to improve its PlayStation 3 engine since The Darkness two years ago. The pretty savage cutbacks seen in its last game have given way to a new set of compromises that are nowhere near as impactful to the image quality, and bring performance much closer to the platform parity games publishers are increasingly demanding.

For a game that relies so much on its lighting, the good news is that Riddick is feature-complete on PS3. Anti-aliasing is in too, although once again it's the quincunx variation that matches the edge-smoothing of 360's more memory-intensive 4x multi-sampling AA, but comes at the cost of adding a blur to the entirety of the texture detail. In the case of Riddick, this is magnified somewhat by the reduced resolution and also the grain/noise filter.

Although significantly improved over The Darkness, resolution is still sub-HD: 1024x720 to be precise, giving 360 a clear 20 per cent boost in detail. Most sub-HD games tend to render the image at the lower resolution before magnifying the image up to 720p and adding additional elements like the HUD and on-screen text (thus keeping those finely detailed elements looking good and crisp). Riddick on the other hand simply uses the PS3's hardware scaler to enlarge the entire frame-buffer sideways - easily noticeable as the text is considerably chunkier and fatter than it is on 360.

Overall impressions are that the PS3 version passes muster, but it's significantly blurrier than the 360 build and there are other cutbacks too - the most notable being the paring down of transparent textures (for example, fences). Polygon tearing in the demo has been identified as a reason for preferring the look of the PS3 game, but the fact is it's in that version too - it's simply less noticeable owing to the resolution upscale and quincunx blurring. Also curious is that the 360 release comes with a range of video profiles that allow you to subtly change the look and post-processing of the game's visuals. These are absent in the PS3 code.

Performance in Riddick is approximate on both platforms, but 360 still commands a marginal advantage.


Frame-rate analysis shows little in the way of surprises. The video is a series of clips taken from the same areas in-game, pretty much the accepted standard for non-synthetic benchmarks on PC gaming sites (just not as pretty as ours). In an ideal world you'd be replicating gameplay 100 per cent, but this isn't possible, and even comparison of engine-driven cut-scenes is not ideal as an indicator of performance in-game.

As it is, both versions are v-locked and occasionally drop below the target 30fps, but by and large, they're like for like. Curiously, the engine seems to exhibit weaknesses applying motion blur and tone-mapping simultaneously - so while for the most part the 360 game runs at a solid 30fps, spinning about often incurs a frame-rate hit. For its part, the PS3 version is similarly affected but is prone to dropping a few more frames a bit more often. Noticeable? Yes. Impactful? No. Overall, this aspect of the game isn't an issue: the frame loss isn't hugely significant on either console, but more than that, Riddick isn't a twitch-shooter: it doesn't need lightning fast response anyway.


A Non-PC Appraisal

So, onto the PC version of the game, tested with a 2.5GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM, and our standard 8800GT graphics card (basically identical to the GBP 100 9800GT). By today's standards, it's a bit long in the tooth, but it has still managed to comfortably outquaff the consoles in demanding games like Fallout 3 and Far Cry 2. However, in this case, performance is disappointing at 720p. The set-up just about matches the Xbox 360 version of the game, but feels noticeably laggier and drops more frames. Realistically, you're looking at 720p resolution and no anti-aliasing to get something in the region of a playable 30fps experience with high-quality textures.

Tweakable options are limited - three levels of texture quality are on offer, while shadows and decals can be turned on and off, and anisotropic filtering can be adjusted, but that's about it. However, varying levels of anti-aliasing can be applied with a vast range of both horizontal and vertical sampling. Quite why so many different AA options are available compared to the lack of tweakables elsewhere is a bit of a mystery - we can only assume that Starbreeze doesn't want you messing about too much with its intricate visuals.

But the bottom line is pretty straightforward - performance here on the same PC is in the same ballpark as Crysis, but clearly there's a lot less going on. Checking in with our friends at Eurogamer Germany, they claimed decent performance with a 3.0GHz dual-core CPU and an ATI HD 4850 at 1680x1050 resolution, but saw large gains in refresh rate by turning off anti-aliasing.


Personally, I've been a champion for PC gaming as a means of getting measurably superior visuals at much smoother frame-rates, but to do so with Riddick appears to require a monstrous GPU. It's disappointing that a GBP 100 graphics card is being bested so easily by a complete console system that costs just GBP 30 more. Yes, performance radically improved when we bunged in the GBP 400 NVIDIA GTX295, but bearing in mind Riddick's console origins, we shouldn't need to be over-engineering on the PC that much. Basically, it's high-end or bust here.

The Final Analysis

Starbreeze has made a decent fist of this one on console. Xbox 360 still has the smoothest, best-looking version on console and in terms of performance, it's the cheapest way to enjoy a good-looking 720p experience. PlayStation 3 gets close - it's feature-complete (yes, it has Trophies to mirror Achievements), but it's let down a touch by the blurrier graphics. In most cases it manages to look approximate to the 360 game, but there are several shots where it can look pretty poor - the opening shot of Butcher Bay in particular stands out.

But the real disappointment here is the PC game. If our system can't sustain 30fps, the mind boggles at what would be required to get this running at 1080p60.

[Antares]

Bummer about the PS3 version of Riddick. I was really looking forward to it. All I have is a PS3 and Wii now....

[JackAxe]

LukeSkywalker said it best when describing Riddick; "What a piece of junk!".

Apparently even in 2009 some developer still haven't got a handle on the different platforms. Is it a matter of being overworked, incompetence, or laziness?

[MacRumorUser]

Is it a matter of being overworked, incompetence, or laziness?

A bit of A, mixed with a little of B and a dash of C for good measure.....

[2nyRiggz]

PS3 BAD PORT WARNING


I'm actually sitting here pairing both of the titles together and I have yet to see a difference that completely change the way the game is viewed. The game looks slightly better on the 360 but its not that dramatic.

The port isn't on par with the best of them but I see no big deal purchase breaker...the way you put it I had to compare for myself and now I'm sitting here scratching my head wondering whats the big deal.

I'm going to compare AoDA portion later tonight to see if the "made for next gen" expansion is any better.


Bless

[e²Studios]

I found Mirrors Edge for $16, figured I would give it a shot. While I didn't want to pay full MSRP for it, at $16 even if it sucks I don't care since its so cheap.

[JackAxe]

I paid just over $30 for Mirrors Edge PC and really enjoyed it. It didn't suck one bit. It was overall a good experience and I really would like to see FPSs in general go in this direction.

[MacRumorUser]

I'm actually sitting here pairing both of the titles together and I have yet to see a difference that completely change the way the game is viewed. The game looks slightly better on the 360 but its not that dramatic.


What you couldn't see the big resolution drop and awful AA issues straight away - even at the start of Butcher Bay where you walk into the prison. The PS3 looked like Jaggy prison hell in comparison.

I thought the difference really was quite dramatic.......

or I could be a drama queen :p

[e²Studios]

What you couldn't see the big resolution drop and awful AA issues straight away - even at the start of Butcher Bay where you walk into the prison. The PS3 looked like Jaggy prison hell in comparison.

I thought the difference really was quite dramatic.......

I am such a drama queen :p

There fixed!! :D