Thursday, February 26, 2009

SWEET!

SECOND UPDATE:

Someone on neogaf is saying the are more detailed instructions in the game itself. I will go hunting these down tonite. I've already done a pass at this and found nothing but there are lots of options and perhaps I am not looking in the right place. If so, I stand corrected on some of my rant, but at the same time, the fact that I gotta go HUNTING to find this shit is still a big issue for me...

END SECOND UPDATE-


UPDATE:

Loving both of these games so far. For some reason, KZ2 is one of the first FPS online games where I can take actually take out bad guys. Perhaps it's the 'sluggish' aiming some folks are bitching about (compared to COD4's more super responsive aiming?)...But I don't mind the aiming or controls at all...whatever it is, I got some kills in Friday nite that were NOT luck! Take that Grasshopper, motherfucker!!!! :) Also digging the map design and the online mode where the game's objectives change in real time (know KZ2 is not the first to do this, but it's the first one I've played for long enough to really appreciate the mechanic...I totally dig it).

Oh and as for MLB- LOVING it and it is making me totally jazzed for the real life season to begin so I can head down to Petco and watch the Padres. While KZ2 and MLB 09 are both very different games (duh), I found myself spending more time with MLB this weekend (and I've been spending LOTS of time with both)!

One complaint about MLB: I had to go to NEOGAF just to ask some simple questions that SHOULD be in the manual and in the tips screens (which- for the most part- are really great screens...they just need a hell of a lot more of them). But the simple gameplay stuff seems to have just been left out, like the team just assumes we all know how to play the game.

On the pitching, I didn't know what the arrows off the ball were OR what the glove with the yellow ball in it was for. I had an idea about the glove (catcher's glove and where you should throw) and then it was explained to me that the arrow was which direction the pitch/ball will break. Well, I SORT of understand that but a) that shit needs to be explained to players or you risk turning folks off...b) I still don't totally understand because if the location the ball will go is where the last arrow off the ball is and I position that arrow RIGHT onto where the yellow ball icon was (in the catcher's glove) and in doing so my ball then goes out of the strike zone (BUT my break arrows are INSIDE the strike zone) I tend to throw balls. When I ignore the break arrows and just aim for the yellow circle, I tend to get strikes. And how much does the pitch meter affect my success in this regard, and if it DOES affect the results and affects the break and the pitch control, then tell me the relationship between these three clearly important mechanics.

So please MLB team: I FUCKING LOVE your game but help a guy out! You spend all that time and love making all these cool mechanics, the least you could do is explain what they actually do!

And speaking of- on the batting (which feels great! I can actually get hits for once...on a pretty consistent basis!!!!), how do I 'aim' my hit? I know it can not be random if I hit a pop up or a grounder or aim for left field or right field...but I've moved the left and right stick around during hitting and it doesn't seem to make a damn bit of difference...is this like MASS EFFECT where I should approach it more like a baseball RPG and the hit is really based off the stats of the player and I have very little control over anything other than if I simply make contact?!? HELP!

Fundamental rule of game design is, the player needs to have a sense that he can improve at the game or he gets bored or frustrated. Well I've tried everything to just UNDERSTAND the mechanics of the battling and pitching (let alone improving at it) and last nite it got to the point that my lack of skills at the fundamentals had put me so far behind the AI team (in normal mode) that I just gave up and just started throwing fastballs at the heads of the batters to see if the team had coded in any 'rush the mound' payoffs. They hadn't :(....but it was still fun to nail the guys and see them get pissed :)....

According to some of the posters on neogaf, ALL sports games suffer from this 'shitty manual' syndrome. Well if that is the case, then that is nuts! Do the sports game makers just assume 'well we're all into sports, why do we gotta explain this shit that has been in games since Sega World Series Baseball'?!?


This may be one of the reasons I've stopped playing sports games more and more over the years. They seem to have abandoned the average sports fan and gamer. But hell, they make lots of money so maybe they figure: we have a biz model that works...why rock the boat? I can see that. Don't like or appreciate it, but I can understand it. Hell, the hardcore JSRPG games never seem to give a rat's ass about shallow entry either. So maybe I'm just a fucking idiot that is not bright enough to be playing sports video games. But I can't help but assume that all these sports games would do even better if they offered to hold the hand of the user a bit more. And again, this is coming from a big fan of MLB and a fan- albeit a disappointed fan- of the genre as a whole.

Oh, even the ultra arcadey NHL 3 on 3 ARCADE hockey game which I was CRAZY excited for suffers from a massive lack of explanation. Lots of- what I assume are- hockey terms in the controls screens which I don't have a fucking clue what they do. Thanks a lot!

See :) I'm really just a wanna be sports video gamer. But they just ain't making it easy for me. Oh, the glory days of BLITZ and NBA JAMS...where have you gone... :(

END UPDATE:




Which to play first?!? I am SO jazzed for both of them! I always suck at MLB but it looks so good and makes me think of spring!

Either way, thanks to Allan and Doug at Santa Monica for setting me up with the goodness before they hit retail! Nice to have friends in high places :)

David

54 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great man I'm happy that you got Killzone 2

I will be watching and waiting to take your head in Warzone (that's online :D)

I hope I hear your impressions on KZ2 soon

BZKlint said...

KILLZONE 2!

Anyways, I found this funny ONN vid on Geekologie :P

I just posted it in the last blog entry, but I'll post it here too I guess.

http://www.geekologie.com/2009/02/i_knew_it_violent_video_games.php

btw, ever play Battlezone? (1998 pc game)

Everyone I ask always says no :(

Here's the intro for it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr2_gH5ixQg

grasshopper said...

YOU EVIL LUCKY BASTARD! I'm envious. Man...if I wasn't getting it tomorrow... :)
Ya gotta play Killzone first though
If online doesn't suck you need to get a blog game going.

I still don't like the pitching in MLB from the demo.

Gazzo said...

Nice. That's cool, Dave.

I don't get games very often. haha. Lack of fundin' :(

I hope you enjoy the games!

Anonymous said...

You, Lucky, Fuck!

F1REST0RM said...

Killzone 2...there will be time to enjoy MLB 09 later. =P

Great stuff, hope you have a good time with it.

Anonymous said...

wwowowowowowo

Unknown said...

Argh Im jealous... I want Killzone so badly :(

TrevDogg said...

aww an i gotta wait till noon 2mmrw. have fun david see u online ;-)

Anonymous said...

Hey Dave! Totally not related to your post, but hey!

Played Calling All Cars online with bots. Wasfun.... But THEN, two people joined the game and i had a blast playing! wow! great fun

The only time I had fun like this with the game was with 3 other friends offline... Now I see what you intended to do with this game :)

Anonymous said...

Killzone 2.

I have to hold out until 10:00 AM before I can get my hands on it..

Anonymous said...

rofl, I have that same keyboard! I used it a lot on my ps3 before I got a Logitech bluetooth keyboard for it.

Anyway, I have to wait until tomorrow morning to pick up my fresh copy of KZ2 at Gamestop... sigh.

Anonymous said...

Ya I have a an dilemma too...Ashley from Gamestop just called to confirm my KZ2 pickup tomorrow...do you think she is as hot as she sounds....cause she sounds pretty hot.

SonyJunkie said...

You lucky little bastard. LOL

I want to play Killzone so bad and have to wait until tomorrow.

Hope you enjoy the game. Will have to whoop you in some online if I can find you, seeing as I don't have your PSN.

Anonymous said...

big whoop, i have killzone 2 since yesterday.

go ahead and enjoy what i already played through twice.

Anonymous said...

unopened games!?! where did you shop?

Deputydon said...

But... But... But... I want to play Killzone 2 against David...

SIgh.

PSN - DeputydonX

Maybe he'll add me...

Anonymous said...

PSN: SubSpaceEntity... hint hint..

Anonymous said...

Spent my KZ2 money on my girlfriend.... :\ now I feel bad

SonyJunkie said...

David, here is my PSN ID. Please add me so I can brag to my friends. :D

bender6191

Anonymous said...

Hey Jaffe,

Are you on Facebook? If so do you go by your real name or an alias? I'm thinking about sending you an invite.

felman said...

PSN ID: Felman

I'd love to take down a developer on Killzone 2.

Anonymous said...

So we all have to wait until tomorrow to pick up KZ2 but you get it early and I'll bet you haven't touched it yet. JK. I played the demo and it was pretty good, I'm not a sports man at all so I could never recommend starting a sports game over anything.

Haber said...

Defiantly Killzone 2. I'm picking mine up in the morning if anybody wants to join in feel free to add me as a friend.

PSN id: Eleby

I'm a decent FPS player. At least I think so. I have to find my bluetooth. I'm 25 year old, so I won't be yelling, "Ma the meatloaf, f*@k". Or anything like that

wtfgrouch said...

I've played both, and they're both awesome!

MLB The Show is FANtastic, the attention to detail is simply amazing, by far the best baseball game available.

I've been playing KZ2 for that past few weeks at work, all I can say is that I have a new favorite shooter - FTW!!

-Oscar

Rami said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rami said...

Play Killzone 2 man! I missed the midnight launch so I'm going to pick up my copy at midnight.

Hey Dave, do you know the game World of Goo? My god that game is addicting. It's amazing that only 3 guys worked on it. You should get it! It's out on PC, Macbook, and Wii. It's on steam. Here's a youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_PyLjJjYDQ :)

PSN: MGSROCKS1
Gamertag: QUIXAND 89.

Anonymous said...

Got my KZ2 copy yesterday (live in Europe).

Great game both in singleplayer and online. A bit short campaign mode and no surprises or innovations, but very good otherwise :)

/T

Anonymous said...

I'll be grabbing KZ2 today after work.. Can't wait. Haven't been this psyched for a new release since MGS4 and probably won't again until God of War III.

Anonymous said...

MLB 09?!

Let us know how it is!

Guy said...

I got KZ2 early aswell it got posted early got to love online game stores :P. Someone earlier said something about a blog game, man that would be so cool if you do decide to do that you should do a selection on people to play with like names out of a hat or something.

Bigrhyno said...

I am putting in Killzone 2 right now. Therefore I pick MLB 09 because I want impressions :P. But pick whichever interests you more at the moment.

Anonymous said...

Killzone 2 first EAAASILLYY

Craig Gordey said...

I also got me some Killzone :)

Anonymous said...

David,

i'm from holland! ;-) so i would say killzone 2! ( the stupid reason )

now the real reason, the game is really as good as the reviews say! so if you like first person? check that 1 out first..

mike..

Gazzo said...

Heh. On the subject of games; last night I had a dream that I was like test-playing God of War III. It was something. Stig Asmussen was there, everybody. It was quite the spectacle.

Oh, and from what I "played" the game was pretty awesome. :)

Anonymous said...

David

Choose Killzone 2, not only will you have a brilliant singleplayer topped off by a brilliant boss fight, but multiplayer brings a new level.

KZ2 rivals COD. Seb Downie and his QA team did a great job.

P.S watch the making ofs on gametrailers!

Anonymous said...

HEY JAFFE!!!


IF KILLZONE 2'S CONTROLS SEEM "SLUGGISH" TO YOU ITS BECAUSE IN KILLZONE 2, IT MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE CONTROLLING A SOLIDER WITH HEAVY GEAR ON... NOT SOME FLOATING TWITCHY CAMERA AND GUN LIKE IN CALL OF DUTY 4. MANY PEOPLE COMPLAIN ABOUT THIS BECAUSE IT DOESNT PLAY LIKE COD4...WELL ITS NOT COD4 ITS KILLZONE 2...SO ADJUST THE CONTROLLER SETTINGS TO YOUR LIKING AND BE PREPARED TO BE BLOWN AWAY.

LATERS.

ps sorry for caps...i just want to make sure you read this before you post something against kilzone 2 on your blog.

Anonymous said...

Hey David,
Just finished playing God of War today. Saying it was great would be an understatement. Great job. Started playing God of War 2, but i couldn't keep myself from playing Killzone 2 any longer. Just wanted to say great work and keep it up. If your PS3 game is as good as God of War then you'll have another hit on your hands. By the way, play Killzone first...it's great.
Dan

Pao said...

Noby Noby Boy is better.

Grogmonkey said...

As an FPS aficionado, a Brit, and someone who doesn't usually play sports games, it would seem strange to pick MLB over Killzone.

But having put a bunch of hours into my Starting Pitcher in MLB '08 I would pick MLB over Killzone any day. The unexpected thrill of pitching 8 shut-out innings, or having to bat and actually hitting the damn thing and getting on base, or getting the call to sacrifice bunt and watch as the opposition fumbles the easy throw to first allowing you to get on base... Amazing.

And it's one of the few games that the rest of the guys at work mock me ceaselessly for playing, but will always come round to watch.

I'm sure Killzone is great too, though. I played a bit of it last night and it's certainly very pretty.

Anonymous said...

http://www.apple.com/trailers/magnolia/bigmanjapan/ AMAZING!!!!! DAVIDJAFFECHECKTHISOUT!

Anonymous said...

Do you have any idea how much time i spend teaching new people how to play Madden every year? Shit never ends cause the manual don't help shit.

Jason T. said...

I 100% agree with you on sports games. What I wouldn't give to be able to play a baseball game where it's not necessary to be some uber sports fan just to try and understand what the hell is going on. I own MLB 08, and I can tell you I've played it once. ONCE. Because the controls are so confusing, and I feel I have no idea what is going on. Sports games have completely left out the "casual" (for lack of a better word) gamer who just wants to enjoy some Bball or whatever. This is why I'll take Hot Shots Golf over Tiger Woods anyday.

F1REST0RM said...

Wow, seems like I'm not the only one with an issue with these games. I tried playing the demo for MLB 08 on Friday and it was pissing me the hell off. I actually managed to work out most of the controls to the point where I could stand a decent chance against the AI computer.

A BIG issue for me was the fucking "windup meter" or whatever the hell it's called: I had no fucking clue how to use it, and while it was on I was getting absolutely nothing but balls (except the odd pitch the batter would swing at and foul off, or--if I was really lucky--pop up for an easy out.)

Eventually, I found an option deep in the menu for switching it off/automating it, and finally started getting strikes, but it only took me getting an 8 run deficit first...I mean, I had your same issue with much of the controls in general (though apparently I had an easier time figuring them out than you), but that shit right there was pretty ridiculous.

Anyway, hope you have fun with your games, hope you can get MLB figured out soon enough so you can do nothing but enjoy it while you're playing. =) And Killzone 2 fucking rocks!

Anonymous said...

PSN ID :Sympozium_666

The playstation blog has stuff about MLB 09 haven't properly read them so they might've just be run thrus of features

grasshopper said...

:) Yeah man, You got me quite a few times! UGGH and and that one grenade you tossed that blew up me and a teammate or two...pretty good game.
I loved the multiple objectives thing...its been quite a while since I've liked a online FPS

Anonymous said...

Been having a blast with KZ2. beet the game aready...lots of trophys if your into that. For me the game just kept me going..I had the time so I had to beat it. Not that amny games invoke that these days. Sure, I tend to finish all my games but not in one setting.

The Online has been very gratifying, easy to meet up with friends...one gripe though is the lack of team balance. all too often the teams were overly lopsided..like 6 to 14 kind of lopsided. Maybe the removal of bots for online has something to do with that...nasty stat padders.

Kudos to GG for actually pulling it off. This is one of those rare games game for me that actually lived up to the hype.

Miguel said...

wait...you go to petco to watch baseball games?

Anonymous said...

I think David was referring to Petco (baseball) Park... at least I hope he was.

Anonymous said...

KZ2 is way over-rated.
1. The graphics arent as good as MGS4. The fancy effects are better but there are extremely low quality models/textures at times, and really bad animations. The spiders for example are just awful looking, as well as the helghan uniform, look at it closely.
2. The gameplay isnt great, controls are clunky, just doesnt feel like I'm in control.
3. Online isnt good - it's boring, weapons are repetitive, have to unlock things is a stupid way of doing it (see counter-strike or MGO for a good system) because everyone'll have everything eventually and it means all weapons must be balanced which is illogical. Teams get unbalanced constantly, objectives are dull.

There are some good things, the online has a lot more depth than cod4 (nowhere near as much as halo3 or MGO though sadly), some innovative features such as replay mode, and as previously stated the fancy effects really are wonderful, the explosions are way beyond any other game's. And it's certainly not "bad", but it's an 8/10 not a 10/10.

Anonymous said...

hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Anonymous said...

Sorry Anonymous, MGS4 only looks half as good as Killzone 2.

You live in bizarro world or something? Wake up.

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