GeekSugar

Burnout Paradise Review: The Good, The Bad, and The Awesome

GeekSugar — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:20:05 -0800

Throw away everything you thought you knew about the Burnout series - this is a new breed. I have been uber excited to get my hands on Burnout Paradise since I heard about the open gameplay it offers. It might make you a bit confused at first, but stick with me here - the more you play, the more you will appreciate its complexity. The concept of BP is that you can roam around Paradise City, finding new roads, making killer jumps and smashing through gates, all in between events. You still have the familiar comfort of competing in race after race after event if you wish, but now you have over 200 miles of roads to explore in addition to all the awesome challenges that Burnout is known for. There's a lot to cover, so keep reading to find out what I thought was good, bad and totally awesome about Burnout Paradise.

The Good: The events in Burnout Paradise are still completely satisfying. Start by burning rubber at a stop light at one of over 120 intersections in the city. Marked Man and Stunt Run are new, while the Classic Race, Road Rage and Burning Route are familiar and even more intense now that you have so many streets to navigate to get to the finish line. You can even jump online with up to seven other players and compete in challenges together. Online play is easy, and even more geeky if you have a Playstation Eye or Xbox Vision Cam to see (and hear) each other while taking them down.

To see more about what I didn't like about the game, read more

The Bad: Although Burnout has amazing (and seamless) online capabilities, unfortunately only one local player is allowed in this town. You can still race with your buds, but they gotta stay home and have their own copy of the game. . . Bummer! Another thumbs down is the soundtrack. Although the track list is long – with artists like N.E.R.D. and Avril, since both the Xbox 360 and PS3 are media players, I would rather listen to my own tunes that I have stored there.

The Awesome: Burnout offers something that other racing games out there can't: Free will. I love the fact that I can take on a challenge, and then decide I want to go and explore the mountains, ending up finding miles and miles of unmapped roads, jumps and billboards to smash through. Plus, when you've hosted online play, you can create your own custom races from start to finish from anywhere on the map. And don't think that they skimped on the visuals in place of a sprawling city. Checking out the sights distracted me more than once while I was competing and led to a less than favorable race finish. The slow motion crashes show you just how dedicated the developers were to keeping you glued to the screen, even when your car is mangled.

Overall, this is one game that has major play value, and I'm it sure will be taking over my console for weeks to come. Burnout Paradise is now available for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Get it online or in stores.

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2008 Video Game Preview: Part I

GeekSugar — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 08:15:12 -0800

As awesome as 2007 was for gaming, with the release of some of the most advanced games yet, 2008 seems to have a few tricks up its sleeve for us, too. Although Super Mario Galaxy, Halo and Guitar Hero will be on heavy rotation for months to come, I have a feeling that we'll need to make room in our closets for some new faves.

In the first of this three part series, we'll look at four of the twelve coolest games to hit the shelves in the next twelve months. Kicking it off will be the newest title in an uber-creepy series, a fast paced racer that encourages destruction, a revolutionary newcomer and a little something to help you work on your fitness. Game On!

Resident Evil 5
If you're a fan of Resident Evil, you will most likely dig the newest installment of zombified Haitians, eerie sounds, and guns, lots of guns, which you'll want to keep fully loaded. Although it might be hard to top the scare factor of RE4 that left me wanting to leave a light on before bed! Sure to scare you this year on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Now for three more games if you read more

Spore
This evolutionary game created by The Sims' mastermind Will Wright starts us off in the first of five "phases" as a single cell organism. Once you've gathered enough DNA points, you'll then have the ability to evolve, customize your creatures, mate, populate and travel to different worlds.
Evolving on your PC this summer.

Burnout Paradise
The awesomeness of Burnout continues with destruction based challenges and all out pedal-to-the-metal-timed races, this time covering the world with online play and incorporating your consoles' camera abilities to take your license photo! Sweet! Cruising onto your PS3 and Xbox 360 this winter.

Wii Fit
The Wii can do no wrong. Totally Fit approved, the Wii Fit balance board will help you perform up to 40 different exercises and even calculates your BMI. Perfect for all those who over indulged this winter and might need a little bit of intervention. It's not exercise - It's a game! Sculpt your way to being fit this winter.

Stay tuned for the remainder of our preview series to scope out the rest of the best for 2008!

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Skate 2 Review: Frustrating, Then Totally Addictive

GeekSugar — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:02:13 -0800

The first time I popped open my copy of Skate 2, I knew I was in for a different kind of skating game. Not only are you able to get a crash course in boarding trickery at the local skate park, but you can also roam free around the city of New San Vanelona - jumping curbs, popping ollies, accepting challenges and running from the police Burnout Paradise style. I later found that Skate 2 kept me entertained, but at times it would make me oh-so-frustrated.

Skate 2 starts with you getting released from prison. Your friend Al picks you up and immediately takes you to Slappy's skate park to reclaim your place at the top of the skateboarding food chain. If you played the first installment of Skate (I didn't), you'll find that your city has been taken over and "rebuilt" by a mega-corporation and all your old favorite skating spots have been deemed useless. Plus, the police take skateboarding seriously and if you're caught skating on public property, you might get pinched if you aren't quick.

There are many things I liked about Skate 2, and some things that had me cursing the skating gods. To see what I mean, read more.

In Skate 2's career mode, you are climbing your way back to being the best skater in San Vanelona and reclaiming the city for your comrades. Doing so involves taking on different challenges from other skaters, racking up high scoring tricks, and participating in magazine photo shoots. All of this is easy peasy if you get the moves down. And that's a big if.

So when I tell you that learning the tricks in the game can be frustrating, it's only because I was sloppy at my timing or my control combos. It's funny cause I've seen kids around my old neighborhood doing these exact tricks, so I feel like it should be easy, but it's not. Just like in real life, if you aren't popping your board at the right second, you fail. You either land (hard) on your rear, or you just simply jump off your deck. But once you get it, it's really, really fun. Plus, there's a cool feature in Skate 2 that allows you to mark the beginning of your trick so that if you fail (which will probably be often), you can go back to that spot and try, try again.

Exploring the city is awesome since almost anything you see is "skateable", and you can engage in different challenges along the way to increase your score. You are also super strong (must have been all those gym hours in the Big House) and can move almost any object with ease to make your own little skating heaven anywhere you find a spot. But watch out for the police - those dudes are everywhere. Overall, Skate 2 is entertaining, engaging, and addictive. Even at my most frustrated times, I just wanted to keep going so that I could learn just one more trick. Although I could do without the citizens of San Vanelona getting in my way when I'm trying to race (Hello? I'm trying to race here), but I suppose that is how it would be if I were a real life skating bad ass, which will probably never happen.

Skate 2 is available today on your XBox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles.

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Get Your Game On: January Releases

GeekSugar — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 08:00:31 -0800

Welcome to 2008! Hopefully by now you've caught up on all the awesome titles that are coming your way this year. This time, let's switch gears and focus on the games that will be available sooner rather than later since I know you're all itching to get started on expanding that game collection. I can't think of a better way than to start off a new year than spending those holiday gift cards on some great games that you can enjoy all year long!

**New Video Game Releases (January 2008)**
Why You'll Love It	Console/Price	Release Date
Endless Ocean: Dive, Discover, Dream - How would you like to spend some time exploring what's under the sea with an endless supply of oxygen and a camera? I know I would. Just think of it as a virtual vacation!	Nintendo Wii, $29.99	Coming January 21st.
Samurai Warriors: Katana - Playing through a game wielding a samurai sword (or long range rifle, cannon, or boomerang if you prefer!) an all-in-one hand has never been more satisfying!	Nintendo Wii, $49.99	Out January 15th
Burnout Paradise - The joy of destruction is back with this Burnout installment, only this time Paradise City is open and free for exploration! Fun stuff like online play and license photo capabilities make it worth the $60 price tag!	PS3 and Xbox 360, $59.99	Get it January 21st
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games: DS - Mario and Sonic's Olympic fun comes to the DS!	Nintendo DS, $34.99	Out January 23rd
Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice - A band of hell raising villains have plotted a major takeover - while you're at the altar! Good thing for you, you're a chopper pilot and your fiance is a super cop. Oh, and did I mention that you are both members of the crime fighting crew Pursuit Force? Never mess with a woman on her wedding day!	PSP, $29.99	Coming January 29th
Bomberman Land - Battle Modes and now Story Mode - where you make your way through various levels - bring this classic to life on the Wii. Look out for "wii mode" where you take full advantage of the Wii remotes point and shoot capabilities.	Nintendo Wii, $29.99	Get it January 30th

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Hori Joystiks: Where Have You Been All My (Adult) Life?

GeekSugar — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 07:30:22 -0700

I'm totally blown away that I have not purchased both of these Xbox 360 and PS3 fighting joysticks already! Where's my credit card? If you spent as much time as I did trolling the neighborhood pizza-joint arcade, you recognize my excitement. The Hori Fighting Stick for the Xbox 360 and PS3 ($60 and $50 respectively) totally bring back the joy of banging on buttons and thrashing the joystick during Mortal Combat, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - or whatever your fighter of choice was back in the day.

Amazon reviewers are saying to stick with fighting games if you want to get the best results with these bad boys. So unfortunately, that means if you're looking forward to a rousing session of Burnout Paradise, it's wise to stick with your usual controller.

Top 100 Games Sold in Past 12 Months = Shocking

GeekSugar — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:00:00 -0700

Well, maybe not so shocking to some of you who need their Sims fix on the daily (hey, I'm not hating, just sayin'), but when I read over Next-Gen's list of the top 100 games sold in the past 12 months throughout the US and Europe, I was a little surprised. Why? Well, because if you were one of the fans of Heavenly Sword or even Burnout Paradise that made numbers 78 and 71 respectively, then you will be shaking your head to know that games like Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End made the top 20 in sales for the past year. Not that I'm totally offended, just very sad for those gamers who did not get to experience the joy of crashing through gates and running amuck through Paradise City!

I like to think I have a very open mind when it comes to games, so I suppose games based on movies are just big sellers. . . despite the fact that they usually are sub par when it comes to story. Although, I'm not surprised to see Super Mario Galaxy and Assassin's Creed bringing in high rankings, since SMG was one of my fave games of the year, and Assassin's Creed was an innovative game to spend loads of free time on. But yet another surprise being BioShock - easily one of the best games of last year - down at number 29. Again, just sad for the folks who didn't drop some cash on a totally worthy game.

Where are America's and Europe's gaming priorities? The entire list is available now, but to check out the top ten and give me your opinions on the list, just read more

Top Ten Games Sold in the Past 12 Months:

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Halo 3
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
FIFA Soccer 08
Madden NFL 08
Need for Speed: ProStreet
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
Assassin’s Creed
Super Mario Galaxy
Brain Age 2: More Brain Training in Minutes a Day

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Things on Wheels Coming to XBox Live Arcade This Summer

GeekSugar — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:03:52 -0800

Racing Games: Seen one, seen 'em all, right? With the new format of Burnout Paradise totally blowing my mind, I thought innovation would take a backseat for a bit while we got used to a new way of playing racers. Little did I know that game developer Load had something up its sleeves. In a partnership with Xbox Live Arcade, Load will be letting us in on what is sure to be a big Summer hit: Things on Wheels.

Things on Wheels lets you control your very own RC car through a big and shiny art deco mansion, avoiding obstacles and hazards like stacks of magazines in the living room and oven coils in the kitchen as you race from room to room. And it's not just me that's geeking out about the concept. Game publisher Southpeak Games saw the potential too: "Competing with real life remote control cars is great fun, so why not do it in a video game? ToW delivers the same reckless thrill," says CEO Melanie Mroze in a company announcement.

Who didn't love racing remote control cars when they were kids? Only now we can finally do it in the house without hearing it from mom! Expect to see Things on Wheels to hit XBox Live Arcade sometime this Summer.