PSP

I got a PSP a few years ago and neglect it usually until I go on a trip. I was fortunate to bum a trip off of my in-laws to Hawaii this past week, which I kinda shot myself in the foot for in regards to school. But I was able to take my PSP through all the airports and play. What a wonderful little device this is. I really need to play it more often, wow. It really seems to be under rated. I like that the mini-discs it uses come in cases, so wonderful! Why can't all media upgrade to this? Why are we still using crappy CD's for everything anyway?

I played a few games. I had a cool game called God of War I never got a chance to play since I have XBox. I got a new Metal Gear Solid game, I always have loved those, and the PSP one is awesome. I also have Tiger Woods Golf and it is pretty challenging!

I recommend a PSP to anyone that is thinking about getting one, they are really cool, and you can get all kinds of used games and movies for it really cheap. Plus you can get wifi on it and play games online. How cool is that!?

Game Development

The pressure has really been on in my classes and I haven't had a chance to pick up a controller. Gaming as of right now has been a development phase. I am designing a 2D game for my game development class called Rocket Climber. The game scrolls vertically as you rocket from platform to platform with limited fuel and enemies. It has been very challenging because I am the sole artist and I work with a programmer, and we have had a little over 2 months to make this, and the clock is ticking. I am now moving on to work on character animations, we may acquire a new guy to work on the HUD, and I have asked my best friend to help with some animations as well.

For now, I just got over my biggest challenge and that was making a repeatable panoramic background. The way I accomplished this was all broken into seperate tile pictures and then carefully making sure they line up and that some are able to be repeated. This is the panoramic of the background I have been working on:




Here is some character art:

Crackdown 2

Took a Crack at it
I have never played the first Crackdown, I never heard good things about it from my close friends so I never bothered. This game I saw a demo video for on xbox live and I saw the creator talk about it. I gameflyed it, because I thought maybe it was worth a shot.

Close Yet Far
The game doesn't necessarily disappoint, but it doesn't please so well either. It is a fun game don't get me wrong, but I think it doesn't exceed expectations in any way really. I think it was cool that the game went for a cel-shaded look, but it kinda seemed on the fence about it. Like it couldn't make up it's mind to look realistically 3D or cartooney and cell shaded. I thought that the online element was cool at first, until someone somehow got into my game, kept killing me repeatedly. and I had to get the menu to refresh on me every time I tried to figure out how to boot him. It got so annoying I turned the game off!

Annoying Stuff
The game was sorta annoying as well in that there was no cover system for the firefights. I also thought the tutorial in the beginning covered really stupid stuff, and not the things that would actually be useful in the game that it lacked to go over on the controller. The collectibles in the game were overwhelming in number and annoying. I also thought things got repetitive and there needed to be a story and some missions. Not just, connect the light beams around the city and then protect the hub and destroy zombie guys called, "freaks." The Colonel that narrated the whole time was VERY annoying and there is no option to silence him.

Still Proves to be Fun
Ok, so the game lacked some ingenuity, but it was kinda fun still. The basic physics of the game played out a little arcade like, but still were quite fun. The cars handled ok, and that was a relief after playing the past game I reviewed called Just Cause 2. Very similar title, but the cars were HORRIBLE and the cities were a plenty and loaded with races.

Game:
Art: 6.5/10- Solid animations, but it was unclear if it was supposed to be a cartoon cell shaded game, or realistic and just artsy
Story: 4/10-the game really followed no particular story, there was a beginning cut scene but no missions. You are an agent, you protect the beacons in the city, you kill zombies. That's...about...it.
Gameplay: A bit arcadey, online stuff more annoying than cool
Overall: 7/10
Pros: Pretty fun, worth a rental and maybe a few hours of time tops
Cons: Lots of annoying odds and ends to make you wanna stop playing and not pick up the controller again.