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If you are familiar with the series and/or love platformers than this is probably not the game for you...
[img width=560 height=315]http://i1353.photobucket.com/albums/q677/izret102/WP_20150825_001_zpsmaufa1er.jpg[/img]
Image quality may reflect my over all opinion...
Giana Sisters: Dream Runners is essentially a racing platformer with power ups. You and up to three friends* (or bots) can race on nine different stages and have access to nine different power ups. Along the way, you have to dodge traps, a handful of enemies and the attacks from the other racers.
(*I specify friends because the online community appears to be completely dead already, on the XBox One at least, despite having released only a few weeks ago.)
Continue reading Giana Sisters: Dream Runners Review
Everyone has something to hide. Sometimes it is just more obvious than others...
Enter Octodad!
[img width=482 height=360]http://i1353.photobucket.com/albums/q677/izret102/Octodad%20title%20screen_zpsga6144k9.jpg[/img]
Octodad is pretty straight forward game. You are a husband/father who goes about his day completing tasks like any other husband/father would. Such activities include grilling, grocery shopping, taking care of yard work, and spending time with your kids. These simple tasks turn into a comedic struggle when you have no bones.... For example, imagine flailing about the house and sloshing milk everywhere while pouring your daughter a glass.
Continue reading Octodad: Dadliest Catch Xbox One Review
If you are familiar with the series and/or love platformers than this is probably not the game for you...
[img width=560 height=315]http://i1353.photobucket.com/albums/q677/izret102/WP_20150825_001_zpsmaufa1er.jpg[/img]
Image quality may reflect my over all opinion...
Giana Sisters: Dream Runners is essentially a racing platformer with power ups. You and up to 3 friends (or bots) can race on 9 different stages and have access to 9 different power ups. Along the way you have to dodge traps, a handful of enemies and the attacks from each other. I specify friends because the online community appears to be completely dead already, on the One at least, despite having released roughly a week ago.
Each stage is unique but all are just large loops typical of a racing game. The power ups are also reminiscent of those found in kart racers. Most of them stun or slow other racers in the same manner. So while 9 power ups sounds like a decent number there isn't much real variance.
Little gem charge pad areas are strewn about each track and running through them fills up a meter that allow you to use a speed boost. While not exactly the same my first thought was of F-Zero...
In order to win you must platform your way through the stage faster than anyone else. When someone falls off screen they are eliminated. Once eliminated you get to watch everyone else play until there is one person left. Then do it again and again and likely again..... until one person has one three times.
While there is not a timer on screen the game does apparently keep track of how long you have been making your loops. Eventually an instant elimination timer will appear on screen. After the 30 seconds are up whoever is in first place gets one win. On the plus side this helps eliminate the monotony since after playing each level a time or two you will likely have no issues keeping pace.
Unless you are an achievement or trophy hunter I'd suggest a pass. There is little replay value and all achievements/trophies can be unlocked with little effort in under an hour. Maybe a full hour if you are unlucky with the power ups.
Giana Sisters: Dream Runners is currently available for PC, PS4 and Xbox One with a $9.99 price tag.
So i managed to gain access to one of my 4 old HDDs. Luckily the one i got into was where i stored much of my RFGen/Hardcore Gaming(who sadly went offline. The URL is in use again but it is not the site i once loved) I managed to recover this review as well as a around 1k scans(all of which i believe i uploaded ~5 years ago :-/) and other RFGen related materials.
I started this review (+/-)5 years ago. It is mostly completed and i have edited it ever so slightly (capitalized the I's, fixed some typos, added Max Payne comparison, etc) from the condition i recently recovered it in. I was originally going to finish it up right away since i knew it was incomplete but i realized i remember very little about the game off hand and would have to either play it for a couple minutes or look at some game play footage to put myself back through the lackluster and mostly forgettable experience that was this game.
So onto the review. Feel free to be critical of this as i do intend to finish it and submit it to the DB.... also i hope all the HTML works.
Well what do we have here? Is this a GTA/Max Payne clone/hybrid?
Well at first glance it may seem so. But because it is a free roaming game it will automatically be compared to that series, which in my opinion is much better.
Oh yes and before I begin right from the start I have to be honest. The back of the box only told you a half truth. While you never repeat the same mission twice you will be doing one of these things every mission; fighting a handful of enemies, shooting dozens of enemies, stealth fighting enemies or "maintaining a safe distance".
True Crime: Streets of L.A. is a very mediocre game. It seemed like rather than picking one genre and making it good they tried to incorporate 3 of them into a decent title.
The fighting is OK, but glitchy. Sometimes you will hit an enemy and knock them through a wall or impassable object and have to try and attack them through said wall and hope they are knocked back onto the side you are on. There were also at least two instances where the person I was fighting dissapeared completely only to reappear a second or two later.
There isn't much to do with the attacking anyways. There isn't a very complex move set so it is pretty much you continuosly hitting A, X and Y and running to you opponant. You can use B to grapple in a fight but since it takes so long 98% of the time you will get attacked, 1.5% of the time of the time you end up getting it reversed or headbutted, etc and .5% of the time you will actually "successfully" grapple someone
The shooting was acceptable though. The aiming system is pretty weak but it does improve over time... or maybe you just get use to it over time...). There is a decent array of weaponry and it is always fun to dual wield AK-47's, sawed-off and double barrel shotguns. There are a few other guns, Magnums and I believe Mac10s, but those are really the only ones worth mentioning and they are the ones you will encounter for the most part.
The driving in the game can be glitchy with the vehicles you jack from citizens. Sometimes they will not accelerate properly or will decelerate slightly for no reason or worst of all will just move very very slowly. One of the worst parts is the camera will not adjust it's angle to accommodate for vehicle size. So if you want to steal a bus to wreak havoc or take it off some sweet jumps don't bother. You won't be seeing much of what your actually doing.
There is some stealth. Nothing much to comment on. Walk around really slow. Wait for a guy to turn around, knock him out or break his neck. You have a tranq gun with 3 rounds for those tricky situations. But it has no auto aim and no reticule, pretty much get them in the center of the screen and shoot and you should hit your mark though.
One of the more original parts of this game is the good cop bad cop mechanic. But even this has already been used more effectively in games(Fable). Kill a citizen you get 1 bad point. Kill a perp you get a bad point. Snap a dudes neck on a stealth mission you get a bad point. Beat the crap out of a perp and cuff him you get a good point. Knock out a dude in a stealth mission you get a good point. It is much easier(and more fun) to get bad points than it is to get good points. But unfortunately if you are not a good cop you will run into the problem of not being able to progress till you get yourself out of the negative.
A couple final jabs at this game:
Story line is pretty weak. The game probably would have been better if you just were assigned a mission and did it. They made the cutscenes unnecessarily long considering the story is so short.
SPOILER!The game COMPLETELY goes over the deep end. You go from being a normal LA cop to killing zombies and an ancient Chinese dragon. It just is thrown at you out from nowhere(!) and if memory serves it happened near the end of the game./SPOILER!
RF Generation Review Score
65%
(Also why do i have insufficient privileges to post spoilers in the blogs?)
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