Seemed Like a Good Idea - Episode 1

RESIDENT EVIL 5 - Unable to Shoot while moving

Welcome to the first episode of SLAGI, in slagi we look at what we think are pretty ordinary decisions made by game developers. We will be looking at mostly newish games and we begin with RE5. We are all aware that Resident Evil is the grandfather of survival horror games and that much respect goes out to the franchise for what it did many years ago.

The fact that the core gameplay hasn't changed is a little concerning. RE5 is essentially a action shooter with enemies coming from left right and center and in many cases are right up in your face. We are stuck with having to run away from an enemy do a quick turn(thank god that made it into the game) and then start shooting.

Not being able to run and shoot in RE5 is a total let down for many gamers. Lets make this clear, if this wasn't a Resident Evil game no one would stand for such a bad decision. To make things worse the developers were talking about the ability to be able to run and gun but had to pull it from the game late in its development.

RE5 is still a great game but you can bet your bottom dollar that RE6 will not have 1990's controls :)

Modern Warfare 2 - November 10th 2009

Infinity Ward have announced that the next chapter in the modern warfare series will be hitting shelves on the 10th November of this year. They also released a short teaser trailer which many people don't think much of, I personally like it.

We all remember how good the single player campaign was in the first game, it did things that have never been seen before in a FPS. November seems to be getting crowded already. All we need now is an Alan Wake announcement...I Wish

Rockstar Announces Max Payne 3

Rockstar have just announced that Max Payne 3 will be heading our way this holiday season (Nov/Dec 09) From the early details just coming through this morning, the game will be a fresh start for the series. By the looks of things, Rockstar is making this game even darker than the previous ones. I for one am extremely excited about this news, bring on the Payne!

WWE Legends of Wrestlemania - Review

From the creators that brought you the Smackdown vs Raw series, legends of Wrestlemania is a simplified brutal adventure down memory lane. Gone are the complicated control schemes, they have been replaced with a fairly simple yet clunky controls.

Legends of Wrestlemania allows to to relive many of Wrestlemanias big fights over the last 25 years. From Bundy vs Hogan to Honky Tonk Man vs Brutus the Barber Beefcake, all the big fights are there. You can either relive, re-create history of those big fights, in other words you can also play as Bundy and win against Hogan to redefine the fight.

All fights have an owesome video feature that is about 2 minutes long that shows you the events that lead up to the big fight. In typical WWE style, these videos are the highlight of the game as they are over produced and very well edited, fans will love them.

Were Legends of Wrestlemania falls short is in the visuals, sound and gameplay. The review so far has been quite possitive, however the core fundamentals of the game leave a little to be desired. Although the controls have been simplyfied they are not simple enought. I would have loved it if they made this a true arcade game like wrestlemania was back in the day. Instead it feels a little clunky and is a bit of a let down.

The character models are a bit of a hit and miss, some look ok and others look pretty bad. Hogan for example is way too buffed and his model isn't really an indication of what he looked like back in the day. The graphics in general are just ok. The crowd looks terrible as per usual.

Sound is ok with comentary comparable with any other wrestling game out there. There is a cool feature to import all wrestlers from your WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2009 game. As long as you have a savegame you will be able to import all wrestlers.

Overall WWE Legends of Wrestlemania is an average wrestling game which will please the hardcore fans of the series. It fails to fix the playabilty issues that have plaugued the series for many years. Bring back Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game I say!











Gameplay = 6.5
Visuals = 7
Sound = 6
Game Now Score = 6.5/10

Resident Evil 5 - Review

After playing that dreadful RE5 demo that was released a few months back, I wasn't expecting too much going into RE5. Well to my delight, that demo really isn't an indication of what RE5 is like, yes that part of the game is still a pain in the ass but the game is so much more.

RE5 is not a survival horror game which may disappoint some fans of previous RE games. It is an action/adventure/shooter that hits on many targets.

Visually you will struggle to find a better looking game out there with some of the most beautiful rendered environments and character models ever seen. The story of RE5 is ok, you play as Chris Redfield and you have been sent to Africa on assignment to investigate in incident that's occurred in the area. You meet up with your new 'partner" Sheva and from there things get interesting. Let's just say that your old partner 'Jill' plays a part in RE5 and fans of the series will like the story, those that havent played previous games might feel a little lost in parts.

The game is heavily focused on co-op gameplay but the game lends itself well to playing single player with the console doing a fine job of controlling Sheva.

The game is broken up into a total of 6 chapters, each chapter consisting of 2 to 3 parts. The game overall isn't that long and on the normal difficulty can be completed in roughly 8 hours.

Many people will find the fact that you can't shoot and run a little annoying especially as the game has gone into the action adventure rout and steers a little away for survival horror. This is a small issue however as soon as you accept that you cant shoot and run and adapt, the sooner you will be having fun with RE5.

This is a must play for all hardcore gamers, excellent level design, great sound and breathtaking visuals, RE5 is a heap of fun.

Gameplay = 7.5
Visuals = 9.5
Sound = 8
Game Now Score = 8.3/10

Eat Lead: The Return Of Matt Hazard - Review

Eat Lead is one of those games that flew under the radar of most peoples "games for 2009" list. I for one didn't even realise it was due for release. So I popped it into my 360 and had a look, what I found was a fun game that made me laugh throughout the entire campaign.

Eat Lead is a story about Matt Hazard, a "retro gaming hero of 25 years" that is back after a 6 year break from making games. This is Matt's first next gen game but there is a twist. The CEO of the gaming company has completely taken over the game world and is manipulating it on the fly trying to get you killed. It's a great idea that works well. So instead of fighting new enemies in this 'next gen' game you will be facing old enemies from your 25 year carrier in video games.

It's actually very funny when you have to fight 8 bit sprites and enemies that use water pistols as weapens from a game you did 10 years ago titled "get soaked".

Eat Lead pokes fun at all gaming genres including Mario, WOW, JAP RPG and Wolfenstein.

The gameplay is simple and also a lot of fun. The CEO is out to get you so he will mix things up mid level to through you off, I found this very entertaining.

The graphics in Eat Lead are good with some nice touches on character models in particular. The music does not hold up as well.

If your a fan of Duke Nuke'Em then you will have a blast with Eat Lead. I finished the game in around 7.5 hours so its not that long, however those 7.5 hours were a lot of fun.

Gameplay = 6.5
Visuals = 7.5
Sound = 6
Game Now Score = 6.6/10