It’s one hell of a week for shooter fans, especially PS3 owners who have to pick between two huge games – both of which are shooters with amazing companies behind them. In addition, RPG fans will be able to get their hands on that time-travel game I hyped up a few weeks back.
Bulletstorm (360, PC, PS3)
‘Bulletstorm’ is one of those games without pretense. It doesn’t try to be art or a serious attempt to reinvent the experience of gaming. It does away with all of that, and instead focuses on allowing players to have fun. It’s a crazy approach.
As you know if you’ve played the demo, ‘Bulletstorm’ is a somewhat mindless shooter that rewards you for killing people in fun and interesting ways. You may also have heard about it if you pay attention to the reactionary 24-hour propaganda channel that I won’t invoke by name for fear that it will appear like the Candyman – only, you know, white, paranoid and angry.
The demo is a blast, though there’s definitely a question about whether there’s enough there to make a full game. I’d give ‘Bulletstorm’ a rent before picking it up unless you’re already sold on the concept.
Killzone 3 (PS3)
The PS3 isn’t the most popular system on the market, but that’s fine with Sony. The company didn’t build it to be the everyman system or something that families could get behind. The PS3 was built to be the Ferrari of videogame consoles. Whether Sony succeeded or not is an argument for another day.
The “best of the best” mentality is clear with ‘Killzone 3’, a game that embraces not only Sony’s Move peripheral, but 3D technology as well. Again, whether Move and 3D work well is something to debate elsewhere, but you have to give Sony credit for making the push at least.
Sony’s ‘Killzone’ series started a bit slow, but praise for the second game in the series was high, as are expectations for ‘Killzone 3’.
Radiant Historia (DS)
I said plenty about ‘Radiant Historia’ in my preview of the game a few weeks back. I can’t stress enough just how much I’m looking forward to this game. While there are plenty of handheld RPGs out there, ‘Radiant Historia’ has the advantage of being fairly unique in its presentation and its battle system.
Again, I can’t stress enough just how good the clips I’ve heard from the soundtrack are. It’s a shame the full soundtrack isn’t being released in the States. I’d be more than willing to shell out for more Yoko Shimomura.
HuskerGuy
Killzone 3 for me right now. Bulletstorm for me when it gets a price drop.
Chaz Dumbaugh
Got Bulletstorm from Amazon for $10 with a few trades of crappy games, so I’m not too worried about the cost 😉
The game is getting great reviews but it really doesnt have much replay value, online is only a co-op “horde” type mode like Gears of War had, there is no deathmatch or anything like that, so a quick 6 hour campaign and online co-op will be fun I’m sure, but not for a long period of time, good thing I got other games coming 🙂
Chaz Dumbaugh
Killzone 2 wasnt anything special IMO, I’m still trying to figure out why people seem to think this series is any better than anything else out there, I really dont think it deserves the praise its getting
Eric Hulen
Played Killzone 3 on my new 3D TV and it was awesome looking. The depth of field helps you judge grenade throws and just looks cool. The online modes were great. One has you switching form a team deathmatch to a capture the flag style while in the same round. Keeps in fresh without having to go all the way back to a lobby.
Tried the Motor Storm Pacific Rift 3D demo. The 3D effects were neat looking but the graphics were noticeably down rezzed. Tons of jaggies. It really looked like it was playing in SD.
Super Stardust HD in 3D was the best of the three. When you shot the asteroids and it flies at your face! Wow! There’s something about flying around a 3D sphere that looks really cool in 3D. There was absolutely zero graphic degradation too.
Dick Ward
How does the 3D work when it comes to the HUD? I did a bit of 3D with an FPS (can’t remember which one) at CES and I found it interesting but distracting. I also had a much more difficult time spotting enemies in the distance.
From a presentation perspective it was very cool, but from a practical point of view it was difficult to deal with.
Eric Hulen
I had no problems spotting enemys at all and Killzone 3 is a dark game. Also there isn’t much of a HUD in the game besides how much ammo you have so it’s not a great game to judge it on that.
Another cool thing is seeing the bullets whizzing my your head while being shot at.
One negative I forgot to say is it’s down rezzed like Motor Storm was.
Dick Ward
Good to hear. Hopefully I’ll get to try it out soon. I think gaming is one of the places where 3D makes sense, especially in shooters.
William Henley
They need to have a head-mounted sensor that you clip onto your 3D glasses or something. That way the HUD actually kinda moves with your head. Combine that with with something like the Playstation Move or something, and just think how cool a Mech game would be!
Josh Zyber
Now that would be very cool!
William Henley
You could always buy the CD from Amazon.jp
Looks like they got MP3s as well
I used to buy CDs all the time of Videogame music, then I found out that they were all released by EverAnime, who was like a Hong Kong bootlegger. Figure if the company isn’t going to release a product in the US, and they only have bootlegs available, then its okay to head on over to TPB.
Josh Zyber
William, I removed your link because it wasn’t working. The best way to find the CD is to go to http://www.amazon.co.jp, switch to English, and then search for “Radiant Historia” under Music.
CDJapan and HMV.co.jp both have web sites that are much friendlier to English speakers (and will both ship to the U.S.). Here’s the product listing on each:
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=KDSD-408
http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/product/detail/3915079
Dick Ward
It’s a little bit out of the way, but what the hell. I’m going to wait until after PAX to put an order in, but right off the top of my head I see three or four soundtracks that I absolutely need.
Well linked William and Josh!
William Henley
Yeah, the link had japanese characters in it, so I did not know how it would react.
I always forget about HMV and CDJapan as I import stuff so rarely.
What is this point system they have? Amazon.co.jp, cdjapan and hmv all seemed to have a point system.
Also, if anyone knows of a place where you can pick it up for under $35, please let us know. Its one of the reasons I rarely import stuff from Japan – either the Yen is extreamely strong, or stuff in Japan is just ridicoulously expensive. That is $35 BEFORE paying for international shipping, for an audio CD!
William Henley
BTW, International shipping rates from Amazon to North America is 1700Yen for a CD, and another 300 Yen for handeling. So, you are talking about spending in the neighborhood of about $50 for a single CD from Amazon.co.jp http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=1039606#international
HMV charges 1200 Yen to ship to North America, so dramatically cheaper, and it looks like they start giving shipping discounts the more you order.
http://www.hmv.co.jp/help/index.asp?q=016000017
Looks like cheapest shipping is with CDJapan. Choose SAL as your shipping method, and looks like you can ship for as little as 500 Yen an item. Airmail starts around 750 yen an item.
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/help/shipping.html?country_id=190&delivery_id=17#country_s
And I provided three links, so I guess Josh is probably going to have to approve my post. 🙂
Dick Ward
That’s why I’m waiting until after the Penny Arcade Expo. I’m hoping there will be a vendor with imports at a better price. Also I want to make sure I don’t go broke at the show :p