Revolving Reviews -- Saturday, November 22, 2008

I went on a renting spree, so here are the games I'm playing and my thoughts and revolving opinions so far:

Sonic Unleashed (Wii) - OK, someone tell me what happened to "this will bring the classic Sonic gameplay from the Genesis that everyone loved." You know, how this game is going to be only in 2D and will just be that classic gameplay? If any of you find it, let me know.

What is there is something more akin to The Secret Rings, only you have direct control of Sonic through the Nunchuk. This becomes a problem when Sonic goes...well, fast. The control is too constrictive, making Sonic really fast but incredibly hard to control.

When it hits the 2D areas, the controls are better because you're only jumping and moving right. However, for some reason, when you do a long jump in the game it triggers a Quick Time Event during the jump, which seems to have no bearing on anything in the game.

Then, there is the Werehog levels. Not only are the controls horrible and completely go against what makes Sonic...well, Sonic...it aims to frustrate further with terrible level design and a completely unresponsive waggle and shaking to attack or attach to ledges with your stretchy arms.

And finally, there's the unskippable story cut scenes featuring "Chip", the flying ferret that looks and sounds like a cross between Truman Capote and Daxter in the Jak series. These scenes, which last around a minute - 3 minutes long, are excruciatingly bad with terrible dialogue and completely hokey storylines.

You also have to talk to random people on a map for whatever reason it may be, which also completely feels like a waste of time.

There is a reason why Sonic has gone completely downhill in the past few generations and it's because of games like this. Sega, PLEASE just make a brand new 2D Sonic. No story, no werehog, just running to the right and jumping.

And you might as well make it downloadable because no one in their right mind will buy this game on a disc again.: (Revolving) 34%

Left 4 Dead (X360) - Never have I played a game that had this good of A.I., not just by your enemies but also your teammates. I've played mostly single player thus far and I have to say that this game has some intense and frightening moments.

And this isn't just a situation everyone goes through. Thanks to the A.I. Director, every time you play a level, it's markedly different every time you load it up. So, when you die in an area and say to yourself "Hey, remember where the shotgun was", don't bother it won't be there. The level will be different.

With that, however, this game is quite short for a single player game and is made to be for multiplayer. So, as of right now, just playing single player, it's a solid 80%. I will try co-op and competitive though, so hold your breath for the update.: (Revolving) 80%

Need For Speed Undercover (X360) - Will someone please tell EA to just can the whole FMV thing? Unless you're doing it for tongue-in-cheek hilarity (Red Alert 3), it really has no business in any game...let alone a racing one.

With that out of the way, I'm enjoying Undercover more than I had anticipated. Still in the beginning races, but the Highway Battles are a lot of fun to play. Giving it a decent rating for now, but check in again to see how it goes after the beginning areas.: (Revolving) 75%

Next one will have Tomb Raider: Underworld and Luminous Arc 2.