silent hill 0rigins review!

silent hill origins is a prequel to the original silent hill on ps1 (the best in the series in my opinion). however this is is the first game in the series that is not developed by team silent (responsible for 1-4) and is instead developed by climax studios a developer that mainly works on ports. the game was originally for the psp and was recently ported to the ps2. the game is on the whole faithful to the series and works well as a prequel; kaufman and dahlia are in the game and provide a good insight into what they were like years earlier. the story is brilliant as the main character, Travis, a trucker has his own dark past which is explored alongside the back story of alessa. there are a number of interesting things that are new to the series such as the ability to pick up and use a variety of melee weapons like portable tv's and scalpels in addition to the guns that you can get. there are also real-time events that are new to the series where Travis is grabbed and you have to press buttons in order to get them off. the port isn't the best in the series (that goes to 1 or 2) but it is decent and should provide something to bridge the gap between now and the release of silent hill 5 especially at around 20 quid on amazon.

Rant: Secret Achievements

Is it just me or are secret achievements a stupid idea. The whole idea of achievements is to show off your skill at games but with secret achievements no one can see what you have achieved. Whats even worse is the fact that you can't see what you have to do to achieve them. I think that the only positive aspect of secret achievements is that they encourage players to explore the world more however I find that many visible achievements do the same if not better. I think that in some cases secret achievements are acceptable such as achievements which may ruin the story for the player however generally they are just added to low gamer point achievements. I think overall that secret achievements should either be removed or their use should be improved afterall at the moment they are pointless.

long time no update.

Well I'm finally updating my blog. I have fallen in love with the concept of podcasts as the bungie and oxm podcasts made my job of finishing Alone in the dark much easier. I have in fact been considering doing my own podcasts and also possibly making a youtube channel for my blog. I also hope to improve the professionalism of my blog.

I love survival horror games and the next few months are going to be full of them specifically silent hill 5 and dead space. I love silent hill and is probably my favourite game series (that or medievil or resident evil etc.) especially as it is so original and atmospheric and I'm sure this next one will be no exception even if its not made by team silent. Dead space looks awesome and the fact that the story in the animated comics is so good has made me want this even more than I did before.

I am also a massive fan of dead rising and the news that a wii version is being made is very interesting however I'm not sure if the changes will be worth it, although thats said I bought RE4 wii edition even though I had the gamecube version.

on the topic of podcasts if I do decide to do some I will try and get Alex to guest star on some of them and in fact we may just discuss our projects....

... ok I think thats enough for this post.

oh by the way I wil try and make sure that my blog is updated more frequently from now on.

check Self out!

I have just found the band Self and have downloaded the majority of their music which is great and free! they have two parodies of songs which are great; a parody of gigantic by pixies called titanic and a parody of ironic by alanis morrisette called moronic. I found them while looking for their song out with a bang which is in the credits for evolution (one of the best films ever) the song sadly has not yet and may never be released. you should check them out at http://www.self-centered.org/

new alkaline trio album!

the new alkaline trio album will be out july 1st 2008 and should be good. having listened to the song in vein which is definetely on the album and the song a fire down below which might be on the album I reckon that this album will be great.

Resident Evil:Umbrella Chronicles Review!

I have decided to begin doing reviews of the games I have been playing which I will link to the games I am playing at the moment section on the sidebar. I have decided to begin with Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles for the Nintendo Wii as I am a very big fan of the series. a quick warning if you haven't played the other games a few minor spoilers are mentioned in this review. The game begins with Resident Evil zero and then goes straight into Resident Evil 1, then Resident Evil 3 and then after that it gives us an insight into Chris and Jill's anti-umbrella activity as they attack an umbrella hideout with a bunch of special forces. the first criticism that I want to bring up is the fact that resident evil 2, resident evil code veronica and resident evil 4 have been omitted, however there are unlockable sections where you can find out just how ada escaped after her massive fall in resident evil 2 and another look at hunk's escape from raccoon city in a light gun version of fourth survivor. my next criticism is the fact that much of the storyline is changed from the other games specifically in the resident evil 3 section which completely contradicts the events of the original game examples include the characters moving through a train station (I don't remember a train station in RE3) and many other enviroments which have obviously just been ripped from the outbreak games and the fact that the section ends at the RPD omitting about 80% of the original game. I know that they have had to squeeze around 5 hours into a small section of a game but it would have been nice to experience a remade raccoon city park or the clocktower. the overall gameplay basically boils down to shooting, shooting and more shooting however at least there is some variety to this with different enemies having different weak points and a variety of (basic) upgradeable weaponry. If you are expecting a weapon upgrade system like the one in RE4 then I am afraid you will be disappointed, you only have the choice of what weapon you upgrade first, each weapon goes up levels with each level being purchased with points earned for completing each section. each level increases the amount of damage dealt and the amount of ammunition it comes with. one of the most attractive aspect of this game to fans of the series is to answer many of the unanswered questions that the series has thrown up over the years and it does this rather well however sadly it also brings up even more questions. I have found the game to be very enjoyable however it is quite a hard game and can be quite frustrating however if you have alot of patience and or you are a die hard Resident evil fan you will be able to find the enjoyment within this game.

some resident evil news!

some new resident evil 5 footage has recently become available since the release of Famitsu's DVD. The footage shows some gameplay on a debug unit and some of the development process. the footage shows that some of the features have remained from resident evil 4 namely the fact that when enemies are killed they dissolve however whether or not this will remain in the final version has yet to be confirmed. If it does make it into the final game it would be interesting if other aspects of RE4 follow such as the merchant or inventory system. You can see it here
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/18134

First post!

well... first post... what to write.... what to write.... I never was very good at this......