EA Skate for PS3

At the same time that we purchased Ratchet & Clank for PS3 we also bought EA Skate.

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As skating games go this one is pretty good. The reviews of this game coming in around a high 7 to low 8 are pretty spot on.

What differentiates this game from other skating games is the ‘flick-it’ controls. Rather than push a button to start a trick, you ‘flick’ the right analog stick to perform Ollie and Nollie tricks. The tutorials throughout your career are pretty good and get you down the right path. It’ s all about timing and that takes some time to learn.

Throughout the career, I’ve had two times when pulling the appropriate trick was nearly impossible. In some challenges you’ll have to do a Nollie 360 and grind on something. It has to be a “Nollie 360”, not a “Nollie 360 Pop Shuvit”, or anything else that’s very similar. The differences between the two on the Analog stick are very hard to discern and do with consistency, at least for me. Of the two PS3 controllers that we have, one seems easier than the other. Perhaps it’s not as worn out?

What sucks about these types of challenges is that you must do the called for trick in the called for order. It would help if you could do a couple different types of tricks to satisfy the requirement.

The other bad part of this game is there is no walking. You ride everywhere. You have to Ollie up every little curb and step, which can sometimes make getting lined up for a run somewhat tricky. If you could stop, pickup your board, walk to where you want to be, set it down this game would be much more user friendly. I fully expect that will be implemented in the next installment of this game.

The game can get somewhat redundant at times, but forging forward to get the X-Games unlocked brings all kinds of fun.

I currently ‘Own’ my 16 year old son on X-Games Big Air 🙂 He’s getting frustrated and there are still tricks that neither of us can pull with consistency.

Poking around the web you’ll find a number of ‘cheat sheets’ for the tricks. There aren’t any ‘cheats’ that I know of other than unlocking some clothes that you don’t want anyway.

This game takes time to master and certainly isn’t as much fun as saving the day and blowing stuff up, but as a sport game it is quite fun.

I highly recommend it. For me it was a lot more ‘realistic’ and fun than say a Tony Hawk game where you can pull any trick, any time, anywhere, w/o consequences.

I give it two thumbs up.

Ratchet and Clank Future Tools Of Destruction.

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Well it’s finally here.

The reason to own a Playstation 3

The quest into this 5th installment started last night with the return of our ‘dead’ PS3 from the Sony repair facilities.

After approximately 4 hours of game play here’s my initial reaction.

It’s friggin beautiful! By far the most visually appealing game I’ve played for the PS3.

Game play

  • Is as smooth as butta. It’s a pleasure to play and is just simply visually stunning.
  • Even the parts that use the 6 axis for control, this is by far the best implementation of this technology.
  • It’s not hard. Though no Ratchet and Clank game has been all that ‘hard’, this is somewhat too easy. After 4 hours of play I died only a handful of times, most of those were from jumping off into the abyss by accident and not by the hand of any of the foe’s.
  • Some parts of the game, like piloting the ship and fighting the big bad Pirate ship on the way to a planet are down right dumb. There isn’t any skill involved in this portion of play. Just fly in random circles and shoot. You won’t die, and if you do this long enough, you’ll eventually beat the pirate ship.
    • Note: in this day and age of video games, no games should be so easy a monkey could play it, and that’s not what I bought R&C for.
  • You start out with too much stuff. In prior adventures you’d have to work a bit to find the good gadgets. In Future Tools, you start out with too many.
    • Granted, if this installment was aware of prior quests, and you started out with them because of that, I’d be OK with it. I don’t know yet if I’ll receive any super cool weapons or discounts because of these prior quests as in previous games.

The Weapons

This is what we buy R&C for. To blow stuff up in creative ways w/o any attempt at realism. There’s no blood or gore, it’s just down right fun.

4 hours into it, and with a few weapon upgrades, I’m a little disappointed. But perhaps I just haven’t unlocked the fun stuff yet. I don’t have a Quack-O-Ray, or a Taunter, or anything fun (yet), nor certainly anything as devastating as the Flux Rifle. But time will tell.

The whole game feels as though it was rushed by Insomniac. The storyline/plot is same/same. Game play is great, but it’s missing the ‘hook’. The comedy and wit isn’t nearly as good as in the past. It really feels like I’m playing a previous version that was simply mastered for high def. It’s like watching the Newly mastered Jungle book from the Disney archives. Same story only prettier. Less exciting be case after four hours I haven’t been ‘wowed’ yet by anything other than the artwork.

If Resistance was given a 9 out of 10 stars, then Future Tools will score an 11 just based upon the smooth game play and visuals. It’s still entertaining, dot get me wrong, but it’s lacking something. Something you just know Insomniac would give you.

I’ll report back when I’m finished and hopefully I won’t feel so torn.

I missed my calling… :)

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I should have been a boxer…

I picked up Fight Night Round 3 for the PS3 yesterday after a brief preview the other night.

I can’t remember when I’ve had this much fun. Now that I’ve beat a number, like 30, computer opponents and my son a couple times. Perhaps I’ll have to try it online 😉

The last boxing game I played (test runs with Wii boxing don’t count) was the original “Punch-Out” (see Wikipedia) arcade game. 🙂 This is far superior as you might expect.

You can jump into the ring in any weight class and pair any two boxers. Additionally career mode is a ton of fun. The training section (and you need to train for every fight) is a tad weak. But it’s a blast to play.

I highly recommend this game, even if fighting isn’t your style.

Looking for a TV Deal…

Tomorrow is BLACK Friday. One of the things on our list this year is a ~40ish inch LCD or Plasma TV.

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We have an old Pioneer 40″ projection. It’s well over 10 years old now and we bought it used.

The picture has faded, and it’s no longer sharp. The matte front screen has been through 4 small kids growing up and putting their dirty, greasy, slimy, fingers covered with who knows what.

It still works but it’s not as bright as it once was or as sharp. It’s time for something newer, smaller and purtier.

Man the options, there are just too many. So if you know of a killer deal on a TV (High Def ready), please post a comment. 😀

You Wish!

You had a mother-in-law like mine!

She hooked me up with a Shiatsu Massaging Chair thingy for Christmas this year:

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Boo-yeah! It works quite well I might add, has settings from roll to torture. Most excellent. Should require fewer visits to the Chiropractor now. 🙂 I like. It’s currently strapped to my office chair here in my home office. Anytime I fee the need to pop a vertebra back in line I just pickup the remote, sit back and relax.

I highly recommends this thing! We looked at the full chair last year but just couldn’t think of a single place in the house to put it.

Now if I could only get C to take some full-on massage courses I’d be set. 😉