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Topics - jakeOSX

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Nintendo Gaming / Marines: Modern Urban Combat
« on: January 28, 2010, 08:19:34 PM »
Let’s just get one thing out in the open: I pre-ordered this game. I half wonder if I was the only one in the world to do so.

I was on amazon ordering Modern Warfare 2 Mobilized when this game, called Marines, came up. The game, listed as Marines: Assault on Terror, had a box cover that looked like it was modeled after... well Call of Duty Modern Warfare.

I laughed, the game was obviously trying to sneak in under the Modern Warfare 2 radar and get picked up by some unsuspecting parents. Still, i was curious and looked it up and did some reading.

The game is not new. It is a port of an XBox game released in 2005 called Close Combat: First to Fight. The developers met with actual Marines, first it seems to make a training simulator, but then also to make this game.

So I looked up THAT game. Well, Gamespot  gave it a 7.3, IGN gave it an 8.0 overall. Not too shabby for a FPS, I thought. The game was going for $30, and I thought what the hell.  So I ordered it with MW: Mobilized.

That was back in November. The game was supposed to be out the week after Thanksgiving. Then the first week of December. Then the second. The release date changed at least five times before it finally shipped to me. It arrived today, 28 January, 2010.

So that is how I came in to possession of Marines: Modern Urban Combat, Assault on Terror, Close Combat: FIrst to Wii.

(The game is called Marines: Modern Urban Combat, which is what the box cover art said all along, but not the Amazon listing.)

Now on to the review.

Another confession: I really wanted to love this game.

Marines MUC takes place in an alternate reality (history?) Beirut. A rebel faction has started a civil war and we, the USA, are there to try and stop it. The plot is told through mock news reports from INN, the International News Network.

The game is a squad based game. You and three of your Marine friends travel together through each level. You start by clearing streets, then move to buildings and what not. As squad leader you can give commands to your group, but they are pretty basic.

The controls are pretty standard for Wii FPS. There is no jump, but you can kneel and lie prone. Reload has you move the Wii controller down, then back up. Being an FPS this is an awkward motion, as it takes the camera with it.

Remember this game is an XBox port, and it looks like it. The graphics have not been updated, which isn’t bad, but obviously last generation. But that isn’t the problem. The problem is the refresh / redraw rate. There were times as I turned that noticeable parts of the screen were not keeping up.

And load times. I mention this was an XBox port? I haven’t had load times like this in years. It makes you appreciate how Metriod and some other games will work past the loads as much as possible.

The AI of the game is more impressive than the graphics.The bad guys will hide behind things and even wait for you to move before they shoot. It is not a run and gun, which is admittedly my preferred tactic for these sort of situations. Your squad mates are actually useful, rather than being mobile targets you have to keep alive. The formations they will take are very realistic, and although they will kill baddies, I’ve noticed at times their aim is downright pitiful.

Not that I am one to talk.

The Wii added controls are just not as fluid as I am used to. You can adjust both the dead space and the controller sensitivity. I played with both through the time I was playing, but couldn’t find a good medium. Perhaps there is one and I haven’t found it yet. As for now, it is hard to aim with precision with any sort of urgency. Enemies that were fairly close to me could be hard to hit. Reaction time of the controls was slow and seemingly inconsistent. Using the scope helped some, but slowed down the motion even more.

The thing about this game is that I could see that 7.3 - 8.0 game in it as I was playing. There is a good game in this and it deserved more than a speedy port to cash in on Modern Warfare 2. Rather a slower polish, and applying the same attention to details that brought the original to this one would have resulted in a fairly strong title, even with the XBox graphics.

Instead it is a shadow. Playable, yes, but not what it could be. I’d drop this from an 8.0 to a 5. The game did not start off life as shovelware, it didn’t need to be reincarnated as it.

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Nintendo Gaming / Wii Lite - a Hypothesis
« on: June 17, 2009, 04:33:33 PM »
so i was staring at my unplayed gamecube games and was thinking about how that was a big selling point for the Wii.

but we are fairly far into the generation now. Sony has dumped hardware PS2 compatibility, XBox only had limited to begin with, which leaves the Wii.

So allow me to go out on a limb.

Wii Lite to debute. It will remove all of the GameCube hardware, but increase the internal memory to four gigs (ish).

This should allow the price to go down. Memory is cheep these days.

perhaps M+ or Wiispeak in there if the price stayed the same, but that i'm not so sure about.

the idea would be to lower the price of the Wii, as people want/think, etc, but not to make the Wii 2 jump (like HD or something). People who have a Wii won't be getting a new one (since Wii =\= DS) but those that don't would have an incentive too (the lower price).

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Nintendo Gaming / Avalon Code
« on: May 04, 2009, 06:43:05 PM »
Just picked this up this weekend. Played the first 30 minutes or so and seems a good one. It seems that you can decide whether to help the world or turn against it.

action RPG with an interesting upgrade system. Seems you can steal things abilities from monsters that you scan and use them for yourself.

still working it all out. anyone else have this?

http://ds.ign.com/objects/142/14253169.html

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Nintendo Gaming / Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
« on: June 24, 2008, 03:55:06 PM »
any good? anyone play these? i didn't think much about them until i watched the nintendo channel preview...

something intrigues me about being able to annoy my friends with txt msgs when i die.

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Nintendo Gaming / Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicals DS
« on: March 12, 2008, 08:14:10 AM »
anyone have it? impressions?

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Nintendo Gaming / Wii Media Center?
« on: February 18, 2008, 07:38:45 PM »
i've been looking into setting up a media center server to access via the wii.

difficulty: i don't have a single windows computer at my house, and don't plan on it.

(so that rules out orb, which looks great)

anyone got any ideas? anyone have anything set up? i'd prefer a linux solution, but can do a mac one as well.

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Nintendo Gaming / Dementium
« on: December 12, 2007, 12:11:46 AM »
first person survival horror.

this is a great game. it has the same control scheme as MP:Hunters. At the start, there is just you, darkness and a big monster dragging a girl down the hallway.

then you find a flashlight. so at least you can see them before they attack you.

DS Phat owners, you'll not be too happy in a lighted room, the game is dark. However, you will be right at home in a darker (or dark) room. I tried both the Phat and Lite in the dark, have to say, the dimmer screen only added to the ambience.

Oh. Turn.The.Sound.Up. The sound on this game is great.

-j

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Nintendo Gaming / Narina DS
« on: February 21, 2006, 09:39:09 AM »
So i got the narnia game. only got about an hour of game time so far, but it seems to be very similar to the consul versions of balder's gate.

couple things, being able to move and be in the menu screen (since the 'main' screen is the top and the touch screen is the menu/supplimental screen) is nice, one of my one complaints about AC:WW. the game also looks good (graphics wise).

so yeah, fun so far, will update if there is any change in opinion (and if i ever get to try out the multiplayer)

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Nintendo Gaming / Lego Star Wars
« on: October 03, 2005, 02:09:37 PM »
Just got my Nintendo Power today and on the back cover, an ad for Lego Star Wars. Had to dig for a release date, as it is not listed on nintendo.com, but Amazon says it will be released Oct 14.

Which is good, because I so wanted this game. =)

-j

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Nintendo Gaming / Play Yan Micro and US release?
« on: September 30, 2005, 10:30:14 AM »
So on link-san the Play Yan is out of stock, but there is something called the Play Yan Micro. Best I can figure this is simply the Play Yan with the update pre-installed (the MPEG4 one).

then I saw this:
It has been released in Japan. A release in the US and Europe has been planned for late 2005.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play-Yan

Now this is WikiPedia, and not an official site. But with the marketing type name change, i can hope, right?

That being said, I think I really want one of these. I have read not so great reviews of the game boy movie player, and this one is a Nintendo product. Just wish I could play with it for a bit to see how it works. Anyone out there have input on this? I wouldn't use it to replace the iPod, but could I put a movie (or a few episodes of something) on it (easily?) and watch them?

-j

PS. mac users, i found this link, obviously i can't try it...
http://www.kaisakura.com/iplayan.php

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