Grand Assault's Games > Game reviews by Grand Assault

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York review

Posted : 1 year, 7 months ago on 19 April 2008 02:56 (A review of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York)

It's unbelievable what the Super Nintendo used to get away with in terms of games. Looking back at these film-to-game conversions there's no reason why this one should stick out amidst the many that were released around the same time in a cheap attempt to cash in on a wave of cinema-going excitement. But for some reason, I played this game a lot. I'm almost embarrassed to admit it now, I don't think I'd ever be seen dead buying a game-of-a-film these days.

The gameplay was the most basic side-scrolling action you can ever imagine. All you had to do was dodge people walking around and of course dreaded stray appliances like hoovers and the like which would apparently kill you on impact. Thank God gaming has improved since then. I played it again recently on an emulator and was completely unimpressed.

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Welcome, Commander.

Posted : 1 year, 7 months ago on 18 April 2008 05:06 (A review of Command & Conquer)

This is the game that sparked an interest in the RTS genre for me. I have so many fond memories of playing this around my cousin's house and thinking it was one of the most brutal and realistic games I'd ever seen! It literally amazed me how you could manage so many troops on the field at the same time and that they would all automatically fire at will whenever they came into contact with the enemy. Mind blowing!

As I got older I began to appreciate the story line a bit more. That in itself is epic and has spawned an entire new universe of sequels and fan fictions. The game was revolutionary at the time and isn't so bad these days. I wouldn't think twice about giving it a run through and I own it on the playstation as well. The almost cartoon-like battle FMVs and the legendary video conferences with Kane and General Sheppard look so basic compared with the Hollywood stars they've drafted for the roles ever since then, but they're still inspirational. This was the great way to kick off the franchise and it's supported by an incredible soundtrack by anthem-meister Frank Klepacki. There's not much more you could ask for in a game.

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The King of Iron Fist

Posted : 1 year, 7 months ago on 18 April 2008 04:44 (A review of Tekken 4)

As Tekken made its way onto the PS2 I had huge hopes for the franchise. Tekken 3 was a superb game that truly pushed the limits of a the playstation console and delivered an immense fighting experience. Tekken Tag Tournament was the first foray of Tekken onto the Playstation 2 and I lapped it up. I loved the game in the arcade and spent considerable sums of money playing it until it was finally released on the consoles. As an update for Tekken 3 it had the same smooth running and rapid, smooth fighting style as its predecessor.

When Tekken 4 came out I expected even further improvement, but I was ultimately let down. They went for a drastic improvement in aesthetics but in turn this made the fighting more clunky. The environmental interactions ripped off straight from the Dead or Alive franchise border on the ridiculous at times and have the ability to completely ruin a fight. The new characters are almost entirely non-descript and I essentially lost faith as the franchise went for eye candy over gameplay. A tradition they continued into Tekken 5 - surely the end of the line for Namco.

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Medieval Total War: Viking Invasion review

Posted : 1 year, 7 months ago on 18 April 2008 04:31 (A review of Medieval Total War: Viking Invasion)

This is a superb expansion, not so much because of the new Viking campaign that it offers, but because of all of the new features it unlocks from the original game. It truly breathes more life into an already fully functioning game.

The expansion focuses on England after the fall of the Roman empire at the turn of the century. The generally useless tribesman are at war in different parts of the region and just like Medieval and Shogun: Total War, it's up to you to take over everything in your way to claim ultimate victory. As well as Welsh farmers and dirty Saxon drunkards, you also have to contend with vicious viking raids, or, if you felt that way inclined, you can play as the vikings and reign terror on the green isles of Britain.

If that's not your bag, and frankly, it does get difficult and less than interesting with the lack of advanced units in the tech tree (the most advanced units in the game are pretty much the peasantry in Medieval Total War), then you can just revisit the original game. This time, there are more factions unlocked, such as the Sicilians and even the Papacy, and lots of frustrating or buggy events from the original game are ironed out. One of the best games I've ever splashed out on, it made me fall in love with a game all over again.

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White Vaan Man

Posted : 1 year, 7 months ago on 18 April 2008 03:54 (A review of Final Fantasy XII)

I was really taken in when I first played this game. I was immediately impressed with the graphics, the cut scenes and the huge scale of the game that was about to open up in front of me. It felt like every inch the epic and I was not disappointed.

As I played further through it though, I did tend to stumble across things that bugged me or reduced my enjoyment of the game. My major concern was the repetitiveness of the dungeons. They can create a world with so many different landscapes and amazing unique features, but instead they've got lazy and reused the same format and textures for numerous dungeons. I still haven't completed this game yet, though I'm a good way through it and I think that if there is one more dungeon, I'm not going to have the energy to battle through it.

The battle system is revolutionary for the Final Fantasy series. It's still turn based, but you no longer have to input the battle commands. Initially I had mixed feelings over this as there is nothing less entertaining than clicking 'Attack' for several thousand random battle encounters. But when you come to a boss, it's good to think that your tactics are operating in real time, rather than just reliant on a pre-battle plan that you have in your head. Of course, you can change your tactics at any time but this is eventually more time consuming and usually fails to kick in before a major character in your party dies.

There are plenty of plus points though. The world map is huge and you genuinely have a lot of ground to cover on foot (I've seen it listed as a negative point, but I think it's much more appealing to have an expansive game than one that feels almost claustrophobic - like Final Fantasy X). The voice acting and characters in general are superb, with only the main character being frustrating enough to want to punch repeatedly in the face. Side quests are plentiful and entertaining, though there is the lack of a worldwide sidegame to take your mind off of things when the story gets too intense.

All in all this is a thoroughly entertaining game, but it is not 'the best final fantasy'. I would put it at third place in my top three. It's a step up from FFX and I anticipate another in the form of FFXIII. They will hopefully blow the power of the PS3 away with that one.

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State of Emergency review

Posted : 1 year, 8 months ago on 25 March 2008 03:09 (A review of State of Emergency)

One of the most mundane and diabolical games ever. This is a controversial game of course, but don't let that put you off of playing it, instead let the dire and repetitive gameplay sway you away from this utterly ridiculous kill fest.

The point of the game is to release hundreds of people into an 'arena' (shopping mall, cordoned off street etc) and watch them run around senselessly in no proper direction while you do your best to kill them all as quickly as possible. How do they get away with plots that are so abysmal and un-fun to play? Sometimes I just get the impression that they only make games for the negative media attention.

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Tomb Raider II review

Posted : 1 year, 8 months ago on 25 March 2008 02:44 (A review of Tomb Raider II)

Tomb Raider II was one of the first games I ever played on my spanking new PlayStation console back in the day. As a result, I have fond memories of playing through and completing this game as a child. You take control of super-heroine, Lara Croft as she plunders the globe in search of a mythical dagger to add to her mantle piece. Your third-person adventure takes you from the Great Wall of China to Italy, The bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and even England as you attempt to beat a menacing Italian Mafioso to your prize.

The gameplay is action/adventure type, with you having to find your way through various levels and stages in order to advance through the game. You only have your guns and an impressive array of acrobatic moves with which to navigate the level, and you are regularly attacked by other criminal adventurers or wild animals as you go. The graphics by today's standards look incredibly dated, but it made the most of the PlayStation's limited capabilities and managed to create an extremely atmospheric game. The sparing use of music and sound effects often built you up or shocked you into an ambush or boss battle scene. An obvious criticism of the game is its dull repeating textures, but they're no worse than other PS games from the time.

Who could forget the training mission in Lara's house? Drowning the protagonist and locking the butler in the freezer were all staples of my childhood, as well as making her dive from the top floor of her house headfirst onto the floor below. Hours of fun.

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"Probably just a homeless guy"

Posted : 1 year, 8 months ago on 18 March 2008 08:32 (A review of Deus Ex)

The best game ever made?

Easily. DX utilizes the UT engine, but takes out the monotonous gameplay and actually adds some sort of plot! And what a plot that is - one of the most immersive and captivating plots of any game I've ever played. If games could be compared to books, this would be an encyclopaedia compared to the ten a penny Dr Seuss FPSs that seem to come out these days. I still complete it at least once a year and it still impresses me to this day. It's such a fun game. I think it's untouchable.

It's such an atmospheric and immersing game, with a solid storyline that puts the player in control of his own destiny. Built around one of the most legendary protagonists in gaming history, you are JC Denton, a nano augmented super agent who doesn't take long to realise that he's fighting for the wrong side. With amazing locations and hundreds of different character interactions, this is one of the most satisfying games around. If only someone reprogrammed it for the Source engine!

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Bland Theft Auto

Posted : 1 year, 8 months ago on 15 March 2008 02:39 (A review of Manhunt)

From the company who gave us the tremendous Grand Theft Auto series comes a game that surpasses it in terms of violence, gore and controversy. The game takes the form of one long snuff film, set in some horrendous lawless city where a convicted criminal is spared from death row only to find himself having to murder his way to survival.

As you progress through the game you pick up a number of weapons, each of which give you the ability to 'execute' vicious thugs who are out for your blood. Executions range from gory to extremely graphic depending on how stealthy you are. After all is said and done though, the gameplay isn't fun but it is extremely repetitive. After a while you get bored of the murdering and once you've got a gun it seems to transcend into a third rate third-person shooter. That to me suggests that it was probably made purely for the shock value, rather than for any groundbreaking gameplay reason.

The sequal is banned in Britain, though I'm not really bothered as it's a game that didn't have to be made.

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Return to Castle Wolfenstein review

Posted : 1 year, 8 months ago on 15 March 2008 11:12 (A review of Return to Castle Wolfenstein)

One of the most shockingly bad games ever released. This is an insult to the entire FPS genre, let alone the groundbreaking Wolfenstein name. The game begins with generic hero rampaging single-handedly through German strongholds (a concept that had been utterly exhausted by even 2001's standards). The kicker comes when he is suddenly battling against horrific monsters, summoned by the Nazi's in a hopeless bid to enhance their ailing frontier.

The graphics are so smooth and rounded that it feels like playing through a cartoon. The weaponry is all wrong power-wise and the less said about the unrealistic hit-boxes and damage meters, the better. Definitely a disappointment in my eyes. How can a WW2 shooter that descends into the occult be lacking in any kind of grittyness!? The ports to the Xbox and Ps2 were the final nail in the coffin, even managing to negate the fun of mulitplayer that the PC versions provided.

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