If all goes well, I should have my copy of GTA4 today - and should be posting a first impressions pretty soon as a short rant, I guess. I realised that I love talking about games, yet I haven't said much about what I have been playing lately, except in Short Rants, so I thought I'd summarise what I thought here about a few games I've played recently.
Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath: The gameplay is the same C&C3 formula. This time round there's only a NOD campaign which fills in some of the storyline gaps in the story. The problem? These gaps are for the most part insignificant - except for the one concerning the merger of the LEGION and the Tacitus. For the most part, no new significant details are revealed, except that Kane did plan to leave Redmond Boyle in command of GDI, the betrayal of Kilian Qatar was orchestrated by another party and that the GDI (still) has little idea on how to use the Tacitus. There are less 'infiltration' style missions this time around, and the campaign has some variation depending on which faction you happen to have available - although the frequent nonavailability of aircraft can get annoying. The game is still good - but I'm not sure it's worth the cash.
No More Heroes: The game manages to use the Wii Remote in a non-gimmicky way, which I am very fond of. In a sense, it's how Folklore used the PS3 SIXAXIS, which didn't seem so gimmicky since most of your fighting is controlled by pressing a button. The graphics leave much to be desired (they seem pre-PS2 sometimes), but the gameplay is solid - and I have little to complain about. It's a good game. (I haven't finished it yet, though.)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Another instalment of Super Smash Bros. brings about the same complaints I had about its predecessor. I still have no idea what's going on, the camera zooms out way too far - and even on my 22 inch it can get difficult to tell what's happening. Everything is locked randomly, which is still very annoying for a party game. I couldn't be bothered to play the Single Player, and can't be bothered to finish unlocking everything. Considering I got a Freeloader just to play this thing, I'm greatly disappointed that it hasn't improved at all since Melee.
Mario Kart Wii: I've been playing a little bit of Mario Kart, and I don't really have much to comment. Mario Kart Wii fills a hole up in the casual racing segment that has seen very little real competition and very few entries in the past few years. I was looking forward to it - since I've played both the GameCube and DS iterations to death, and now I have the Wii version to play loads again. Nothing much has changed (for me) sadly, so I can't really say Nintendo has done anything to improve it. (Not like they have anything to worry about. Most other 'copycats' tend to suck. If you've liked it before, you'll still like it. The game still rocks - as long as you as clever about where to stay in the race.
Crysis: I got access to a nice computer recently (Q6600 + 8800GT) so I thought I should give Crysis a retry. Apparently, my verdict still holds. The graphics of forests are actually the worst part of the game, so no wonder I kept complaining about them. The storyline sucks. The gameplay sucks. The way enemies that don't wear nanosuits absorb ammo sucks. The amount of ammo you can hold sucks. The graphics are nice, but the level design is utter crap. (Example - alien ship, really cool looking - but also really easy to get lost. Ditto for human ship. :P) I'm sorry, but not even the graphics redeems the game for me.
Need for Speed Prostreet: I didn't see it before, but Prostreet is still a very NFS-ish game. The handling feels funny - because it is funny - but once you get used to it, the game is pretty fun, although I must say, I miss the old feel of Most Wanted. (I know I said the same thing about Carbon. :P) I haven't played much, but I probably will play a lot when exam time comes along. Unless GTA4 and Rock Band eat up all that time. Then, I'll probably have to say: sorry PC, you lose your gaming priority.
Singstar: This probably comes as a surprise to some, and not to others. But - Singstar?! I know I'm an awful singer, so needless to say I suck at this game (although some of my friends should know me as a notorious hummer, hehehe). :P I've bought 2 songs for it just to try out the Singstore (and add some songs I actually know to the playlist). I've played Rock Band before, and I think I prefer Rock Band's method of showing you where your pitch is, Singstar tends to draw it a little late sometimes, and that makes it difficult to read for me sometimes. It is a very fun game at parties, especially when someone decides their high-pitched voice is needed for beating you. No, I'm not kidding - someone did it when we played it. It's a great party game - can't really see myself playing it alone though.