Forza 2 Impressions

Better than Gran Tourismo 4. Shall explain later.

Guitar Hero borked by new developer, all hopes turn to Rock Band

Today Joystiq linked to a video of Guitar Hero 3 and it's hardly impressive.



In contrast to Joystiq's view of the game, I see nothing new in this. The visual cues were still present in previous versions of the game and the old interface looked to fit together more than the new one Neversoft put in. What's shocking in the story though is that Neversoft didn't have any of Harmonix's code to work with, so the game has been developed from scratch. This may mean note detection may be on par with Guitar Hero 1 instead of 2, if this video shows any sign of how the final game will play. What's most disappointing about the video is that note placement looks pretty uninspired when compared with both of the guitar hero games, looking more like something made by a fan for Frets on Fire than a game developed by professionals.

Let's hope it turns out well.

If this doesn't show gaming is for the masses, I don't know what does

DIRTY DANCING IS BECOMING A VIDEOGAME. Too bad it's not a Wii game, I'd rather dance with Patrick Swayze than that blob from Boogie. In the game you play to earn money which you can spend on Dirty Dancing memorabilia. It seems really strange to me that they just continue to market to you as you play the game. Oh well, as long as it has the song in it, Stephen and I will probably check it out.





Found via Game/Life.

Young female villager sacrificed to bring Actraiser to virtual console

The first of Enix's old SNES games has hit the virtual console and hopefully everyone can find time between playing Shrek the Third and Legend of Dragoon on their Wii to give this a shot. When I was around 7 and bought my Super Nintendo, the games I got with it were Super Mario World, F-Zero and Actraiser. I knew little about Actraiser other than Nintendo Power seemed head over heels for it, but I was hoping for something like Castlevania. That was not what I got.

At first things went smoothly enough; you enter your name and see some great mode 7 effects before a beautiful 2D action scene with impressive music and giant sprites. Then, as soon as you defeat the boss, it all changed. I was now in control of flying nude baby, complete with a bow and arrow that felt almost entirely useless against bats that seemed to never stop spawning. Villagers told me they needed more crops and roads, and my young heart was broken at the thought of what the rest of the game would be like. I was really hoping for more stabbing and less talking.

I reluctantly played on, hoping to convince myself what I was doing was fun and that it wouldn't be a painful wait until my birthday when I got another game. I did encounter more action scenes. They were fun, but eventually I started enjoying the town building more than anything else in the game. The story of the villagers was became pretty intense for me and I ended up crying when I was told a young girl had to be sacrificed to save the village.

The game holds up well through the years and is a great example of how adventurous Enix used to be. Buy it!