Rez HD XBLA Review

Finally Rez gets the second chance it absolutely deserves and also in a way that will enable more people to experience the game without feeling like they'd be risking money on a full price release. So what does this HD version bring to the table then? Well the obvious HD widescreen visuals and 5.1 surround sound, perfect just got better.

For those that are experiencing the game for the first time I'll do my best to describe it. Bare with me now this won't be easy. Essentially the game is an on rails shooter but to categorise it as such doesn't do it any justice what so ever. Rez is the greater sum of all its parts.

It all starts off in a fairly tame manner with some sparse graphics, ambient music and the shots you fire creating some sort of rhythmic sounds. As you progress through the level the things you see start to build up. You'll travel past all manner of objects made up of brilliant colours in a fascinating combination of wireframe and solids. The music begins to grow, the beat gets stronger and as it does so the controller pulses in time to it all. The further in to the level you get the more your senses are assaulted. Your eyes see these wonderfully imaginative shapes and colours, the music surrounds you and still everything you do happens exactly in sync, the controller vibrations get stronger and stronger and your little guys legs begin to kick on screen (and so will yours for that matter). It draws you in deeper and deeper and you won't want to get out any time soon.

If you like your game graphics to be more abstract than reality based you'll absolutely love this. For those in to art, the game is dedicated to the painter Kandinsky during the ending credits and if you look up some of his work you can see where some of the inspiration came from. Kandinsky claimed that he heard sound when he saw colours and when senses overlap in this manner, it is called "synaesthesia". As they said back in 2001 when this first came out "let's go to synaesthesia".

The 5th and last area in the game is the most awe-inspiring of all and I'll say no more about it for fear of spoiling it for you. You will see the final level reasonably easily too, this isn't a particularly long game but you will want to play through it again and again and there are many things to unlock such as different game modes. The thing is though you really won't care. You'll notice I've spent nearly all of this short review describing the experience, what you'll see, hear and feel rather than what you actually do and that's because Rez goes beyond gameplay and is such an amazingly well put together experience you really should be prepared to at least give it a go. I have no doubt that the game isn't for everyone but a review is supposed to be a personal opinion and my personal opinion is that you really couldn't ask anymore from the game than it gives, even more so based on the fact that it'll cost you just 800 points. That's why I'm awarding it the first ever top mark from GAMEOV3R.

Turn up the sound, dim the lights and immerse yourself in a gaming experience you won't forget.

Guitar Hero Eye Syndrome

I'm sure I've rattled on about Guitar Hero far more than I should have recently, but I have to know if other people suffer from the symptom I've named Guitar Hero Eye Syndrome.

After a session of Guitar Hero your brain seems to be confused when an object you look at doesn't scroll rapidly downwards like the fret board on Guitar Hero.

As soon as you finish playing look at a specific spot on the carpet and miraculously it will come alive! Warping and twisting around for a good 30 seconds or so. The first time this happened to me I found it quite strange and disorientating, it was like I'd been dropped into the 1960s. I was overcome by the urge to go out and purchase the biggest bong I could find, a purple sofa, maybe a Volkswagen camper van and some Doors vinyl LPs.

Those feelings mostly passed but I've never heard other people mention it before. Does this happen to you?

UPDATE:
I've since discovered that this symptom has a proper name...

Source: Wikipedia

The motion after-effect (MAE) is a visual illusion experienced after viewing a moving visual stimulus for a time (milliseconds to minutes) with stationary eyes, and then fixating a stationary stimulus. The stationary stimulus appears to move in the opposite direction to the original (physically moving) stimulus. The motion aftereffect is believed to be the result of motion adaptation.

For example, if one looks at a waterfall for about a minute and then looks at the stationary rocks at the side of the waterfall, these rocks appear to be moving upwards slightly. The illusory upwards movement is the motion aftereffect. This particular motion aftereffect is also known as the waterfall illusion.

Anyone want to buy a camper van? Let me know on the GAMEOV3R Forum

Enough To Make You Cry

If you've wondered why most places are offering the PS3 version of Devil May Cry 4 for £10 more than on the 360, Capcom can explain...

In fact it's not that the PS3 version is more expensive, it's actually that the 360 version is cheaper as their business model allows them to discount it.

Oh right, I'm glad that's all cleared up then!

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Vick's Monday Blues (Dance Dance)

McDonalds can improve your gaming... apparently!



Mind your step on the GAMEOV3R Forum

:) Vick :)

Firm Support

See that guy in the middle? That's what I look like right now. I just got off the phone to Xbox LIVE support (not on my home line as that's still not working and they're 'experiencing an exceptionally high number of calls at the moment' and can't deal with it. Quite the opposite of me then!)

Anyway I now have 800 points credited back to me just in time for Rez HD next week if the rumours are true. It was a relatively painless experience albeit a lengthy one, they did however know what I was calling about and having given them almost every possible bit of information to get them to believe I am actually me, around 15 minutes later my refund was complete.

This has been my first experience of Xbox LIVE support and it was a good one. The guy was extremely polite even going so far as to ask if calling me by my first name was okay. I was on hold for quite a while as at the end of it he wasn't sure how to actually credit the points but top marks for manners. It's not often you hear when people have had a good experience as it's normally the bad ones that make you shout the loudest so there you go, if you did buy Undertow already give them a call.

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Customer Satisfaction

Why is it that when dealing with companies today it's very rare you get a completely hassle free experience with helpful customer service? It seems even the simple act of buying a bag of crisps is fraught with problems these days as things now have to be scanned and typing in the number manually must only be considered as a last resort. I think the lady in the shop would still be frantically rubbing the packet over the glass panel in an effort to read it had I not fetched another bag to try.

The latest for me has been switching over my broadband and telephone, not to another company, just to a faster service with my phone line rental included in the price. I've been putting it off for a while thinking that if something is working DON'T mess with it! In the end though it seemed daft not to take up the offer seeing as it'll save a bit of money.

What got me thinking about this was all the Xbox LIVE problems over Christmas and unless I'm unlucky again, still continuing to this day. It seems the demand for the free XBLA game Undertow has tipped LIVE over the edge again with many people unable to download it at the moment. Of course the way my luck is I bought Undertow when it came out back in November. For people struggling you have until Sunday to get it for free. For people in my position I'm told that a call to Xbox LIVE support will result in a credit of 800 points. I fully intended to try this out today but having got through, the first thing I was asked for was my serial number. Silly me. No problem though, the lines are open until 10pm, I can phone when I get home from work. Which brings me nicely back round to the broadband and telephone upgrade.

I do indeed now have free line rental but with one catch... I can't actually make any phone calls. I guess I should be grateful really, at least my internet connection still seems to be worki.....................................................................

Xbox LIVE Arcade Awards

Cast your votes in the Xbox LIVE Arcade Awards 2007

Award categories that are open for public voting include:

* Best Overall Arcade Game
* Best Classic Game
* Best Original Game
* Best Family Friendly Game
* Best Competitive Multiplayer Game
* Best Cooperative Multiplayer Game

Cast your vote here

AudioSurf

Something a little different for you today as if you needed more games to take up your spare time...

AudioSurf is a great way to experience your music collection. It's a colour matching puzzle game with a difference. It analyses the music file you give it and creates a track synced to the tempo and mood. Quiet songs become a calm hypnotic journey while loud songs are a wild psychedelic undulating monster with an explosion of colours and shapes. Both in one song is even better! There's even some online score boards for the most popular songs.

Download it here

EDIT: It appears the Beta has expired since the weekend - keep an eye on www.audio-surf.com/



Found a good song to try? Let us know about it on the GAMEOV3R Forum

Evil Shapes

The Geometry Wars:Galaxies thread, on the Gameov3r FORUM, has rumbled along since September 2007 and has been generating quite a lot of excitement amongst the DS and Wii faithful as they impatiently waited for the release date and the chance to see what 360 owners have been going on about.

I had a few spare minutes earlier today, how these "spare" minutes occurred is for another time as it would take up a whole other blog entry, and as luck would have it I had the DS version of Galaxies and my DS to hand. Opportunity if ever there was one to find out how one of my favourite XBLA games has translated to Nintendo's DS. I only had time for a quick play but I tried out both Galaxies and the DS version of the XBLA classic Evolved which is included.

I should say before continuing that I am a big fan Geometry Wars Evolved on the 360, despite being rubbish at it, and my anticipation and expectation was running high.

Straight into Galaxies then and it's noticeable that the difficulty has been toned down in the earlier stages compared to Evolved on XBLA. This is not really a bad thing for me and helped me make progress quickly and not feel like I was going to see the gameov3r screen every couple of minutes. In fact I'd blasted past my Evolved XBLA score of around 220k by racking up 340k on my first go and after a few more tries I blasted my way to 850k. The enemy geometric shapes are considerably slower on the DS making them easier to avoid or obliterate. Easier, yes. Still not easy though. This is still a pretty stern test once your score get over 150-200k and it'll keep you playing for quite a while.

Galaxies tinkers with and expands upon the fabulous Evolved formula and whilst this is always a risky business it's safe to say that the changes here have had a positive effect and really do make Geometry Wars a more rewarding game. There's a sense of progression and of being on a mission rather than simply high score chasing. Changing size and shape of the play area adds variety, forcing the player to alter their tactics, and the appearance of the evil geometric shapes is staggered throughout the levels creating an excellent learning/difficulty curve so that Galaxies presents a consistent and solid challenge as you get further with every go. Something else I like about this game is that when you die, and you WILL die a lot to begin with, it's your fault. It's your fault every time. No mistake. There is no blaming the game for cheating with Geometry Wars.

The graphics are obviously not up to the 360's utterly gorgeous, eye meltingly retro-futuristic neon and there's some slow down when the screen fills up. Personally I actually found the DS graphics to be a bit too small making focusing a bit difficult for prolonged gaming. Remember the Gameboy Magnifier and light? Well forget that and just get me magnifier! My eyes felt like they were about two sizes to small for my head and could implode at any moment after 30 minutes! Even so I played on for another 40 minutes which is testament to the addictive qualities of the game and my lack of regard for the health of my eyesight. Perhaps it was just the bright lights where I was sitting and nothing to do with the graphics or my vision. I hope so. I think I'll play some more Galaxies when I'm tucked up in bed tonight. With all the lights off and a cup of cocoa. All For experimental purposes of course.

So far I think the XBLA Geometry Wars still has the crown but I've yet to play the Wii version of Galaxies, which links up your DS version unlocking a whole new galaxy, and I have a feeling that it could take over as the ultimate Geometry Wars game so far.

What do you do with the lights out? Perhaps your light's never on. Allow Gameov3r to counsel you on the FORUM. Discussion about Geometry Wars: Galaxies is also permitted.

Playing The Hero

After a short break from Guitar Hero 3 I'm back in to it in a big way. I'm currently around half way through my career on the hard level and surprising myself with how well I'm doing. On Guitar Hero 2 I don't remember getting 5 stars on any hard level songs yet I'm getting them regularly on GH3. Either it's easier or I'm starting to become a rock god. I really must load up GH2 and find out!

I'm not really one for making use of the practice mode, slowing the songs down to learn the difficult riffs. I tend to just keep trying them until I get it. I dread to think what expert might look like however.

I've also been playing through the medium level on co-op trying to get 5 stars on all of the songs. There was just one song left that we were struggling with, literally... Metallica - One. Of course this must have been down to my co-op partners failing and not my own performance! While we were doing this we came across a little tip worth trying if you're really stuck. If you spend a bit of time playing a few songs on the next level up and then go back to where you were stuck it all seems so much easier than before. We got the 5 star rating first time after trying this.

On a completely different note, does anyone actually enjoy the boss battles?

The Devil Went Down To Georgia but GAMEOV3R just stayed at home in his cellar on the Forum

War!

What is it good for? Video games. Say it again! Huh! War!

I’ve been daydreaming. Happens to me all the time. It’s not usually about war nor is it usually anything that's fit to be written about on here and rarely does it culminate in a revelation and a gaming idea that someone, somewhere just has to develop and release.

Atari! Sit up and pay attention because that someone is you. The platform is XBLA and the game is Warlords.

Warlords appeared in arcades 28 years ago and a year later on the 2600. It can be described as a 4 player Breakout, last man standing, Pong hybrid type of game with the added element of being able to catch the “ball” and then launch it at your chosen target. The chosen target usually being the person currently in the lead. This added a strategic element to the game and also the ability to unfairly gang up on the player you liked least or that smelled like Gameov3r.

My daydream turned the ridiculously simple and addictive Warlords into a stunning HD environment on XBLA. Even with only these visual updates the game would be great on XBLA but add to the mix some new features, a single player adventure mode of increasing difficulty, obligatory achievements to gain a maximum of 200 Gamer Points, make it 400 MS Points and this could not fail.

There again perhaps Nintendo’s Wii Ware would be a better platform seeing as 360 owners consistently ignore XBLA classics.

What game would you resurrect from bygone eras and have remade for the latest generation machines? Head over to the GAMEOV3R FORUM and tell us. Our great leader, Gameov3r, wants the Commodore 64 game Groovy Garden remade for DS. I wonder about him sometimes. Now, if only he'd said BC's Quest for Tires.....

Nintendo Mantra

It’s easy. Come on and have ago. With me now on 3….2….1...

“Download, Store, Delete, Download. Download, Store, Delete, Download.”

Got it? Simple. Again then and with some gusto this time. “Download, store, delete, download. Download, store, delete, download. DOWNLOAD, STORE, DELETE, DOWNLOAD! DOWNLOAD, STORE, DELETE, DOWNLOAD!”

Ok, that’s enough. I don’t want anyone passing out and cracking their head on the floor. Blood makes an awful mess and it’s a nightmare to clean up.

Not a very hard mantra that, is it? And it’s not meant to be. It’s designed to be completely devoid of any hardness just like the Wii. Don’t believe me? Then go and shout some abuse at your Wii or even shout, “Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough!” and watch it run away, clutching it’s little silver base between it’s legs. You’ll find your Wii much later hiding in a small crevice in the most remote corner of your home begging for mercy and some Wii Sports.

The Wii’s lack of hardness is not going to change. The best thing you could do is buy it a stick on tattoo or one of those leather wrist things that has pointy silver studs on it.

Seriously though this is a massive issue for Nintendo, their faithful fans and the rest of the Wii owners out there. The Wii needs a HDD. 512Mb storage just isn’t enough. The worse news I have heard this year so far, and this could be the worse news I’ll hear all year, is that Nintendo are standing their ground and refusing to develop a HDD. I think this is a catastrophic mistake.

But that’s not all. Oh no. I don’t for a minute think that this is the end of the story because you can bet that last packet of chocolate gold coins, you know the ones you hid in your sock drawer away from the rest of the family during the Christmas holidays, that some third party will come along and give us a shiny new 20 or 40 or even 60Gb HDD for the Wii. Nintendo will then very quickly get an official HDD to market, stopping briefly to wipe the egg from their corporate face.

So, eggs then; scrambled, over easy or sunny side up like the Gameov3r Forum

Vick's Monday Blues (Xbox Ad)

I think I discovered the reason Microsoft can't sell many Xbox 360s in Japan...



Do Do Do, Do Do Do, Do Do Do on the GAMEOV3R Forum

:) Vick :)

Blu Ray Of Hope

I've recently started to have a little bit of an interest in owning some form of HD movie player. The cheapest way for me to do this would be to buy the Xbox 360 HD DVD add on drive. With Warner Bros. and New Line both announcing they are going Blu Ray exclusive after May 2008 and rumours that Universal may stop releasing films exclusively on HD DVD it seems the end of the format war may be nearing an end. Couple this with the amount of noise the 360 makes while it's on and it doesn't seem the most attractive option.

The best buy as far as Blu Ray goes seems to be the PS3 with stand alone players still not far off the cost of the 40Gb version. This is still a substantial sum of money though when as a gaming platform so far I don't see Sony offering much I can't get with the 360.

If I'm thinking about this though, I'm probably not the only one and I wonder if Sony's risk in putting a Blu Ray drive in to the PS3 will now start to really pay off. Will 2008 be the year that Sony fight back?

Tell us what you think on the GAMEOV3R Forum or just leave us a comment right here

Sega just love the Wii

If you were a fan of the Sega Saturn you should sit down and keep anything sharp and pointy at a safe distance before you read on because there’s some flaming hot news coming out of Sega HQ this month.

There's a very real possibility of the return of yet another underplayed, hugely loved, splendid Saturn game. Speaking to Games Radar recently, Sonic Team USA boss Takashi Iizuka hinted at a possible sequel to Burning Rangers. Iizuka said that he was fully aware of the demand for a sequel to the fire fighting classic. "It's not my title" said Takashi "but I hear there's a lot of demand for a sequel, to bring Burning Rangers to Wii so ... we'll see."

With NiGHTS just about to get his release it would be a brave gamer that put their mortgage against a new Burning Rangers game not happening.

That’s not all either because Sega, obviously taking note of the massive success of the re-released Resident Evil 4, have come to the conclusion that Wii gamers are craving survival horror games. But Sega are not content with the survival horror bandwagon and are jumping onboard the Wii Zapper Express too. Later this year we will be playing House of the Dead 2 and House of the Dead 3 on our beloved Wii. Now, I really enjoyed House of the Dead on my Dreamcast but I thinks it’s a shame Sega aren't giving us an all new House of the Dead. Better still why don't they ditch the horror stuff and give us a Wii version of Let's Go Jungle! Come on Sega! Wii Zapper + Let's Go Jungle! = Pant wettingly exciting!

Still, there's less chaffing if your pants are dry so these remakes will do for now. I'm sure HotD fans everywhere will be delighted to get the chance to play these games again on the Wii but I still can't help but think that this is an easy, money making, option for Sega. If the excitement is too much for you I'd recommend Sudocrem over Savlon any day of the week.

So there you have it; “New” House of the Dead games and the prospect of Burning Rangers Wii too. I just love Sega.

Who do you love? GAMEOV3R loved his hamster until it was eaten by his cat Continue? I told him they wouldn’t play nicely together but he wouldn't listen.

Vick's Monday Blues (cheese)

Hey, thought that this would make you giggle. I wish I had a talking mouse too.



Does cheese send you silly with desire? Tell us about it on the GAMEOV3R Forum or just leave us a comment right here

:) Vick :)

Wii Points - Not Something To Be Sneezed At

Just how frustrating is trying to swap your star points for Wii points?! Even more frustrating than sneezes that never fully develop and just feature that pre-sneeze expression, which is pretty unattractive on most accounts. Sneezes when they do come though, happen at up to 100mph, which is a damn site faster than Nintendo make their online Wii points available.

Near the very beginning I managed to bag a 1000 point card but since then most of the time there's none available at all, and if I am lucky enough to find some you can guarantee it'll be a 100 point one. Coupled with the fact that you're only allowed one card per day, it's taken me 3 weeks to obtain 500 Wii points! These things are getting rarer than rocking horse defecations.

On a side note should you ever feel the need to stifle a sneeze you should consider that it is impossible to sneeze under water. Not always the most practical solution I'll admit. Plunging your face into a bucket of water during an exam for example can be frowned upon. Also we instinctively close our eyes when sneezing and therefore holding your eyelids open will prevent your body from allowing a sneeze to occur. Just remember I never recommended doing that while you're fumbling around on the carpet trying to find your eyeballs.

Where was I again? Oh yes, Wii points. I guess I shouldn't complain really, at least it's finally here.

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GripShift Review XBLA

GripShift has been available on the PSP and PS3 network for a while now but only recently made it to the XBLA. Knowing virtually nothing about it I downloaded the demo as I do with most XBLA new additions not really expecting much. I usually keep an eye on metacritic.com also as you get a great idea of whether a game is even worth doing that. As the reviews for it started to build up most of them seemed to agree on a figure around 7/10, not bad.

My first try didn't really 'grip' me. The handling didn't feel quite right and the hand brake was severe, flipping you 180 degrees with a short touch. Something made me keep coming back to it though and I did so 3 or 4 times before I actually bought it. The more you play the more the handling makes sense and eventually you become an expert at it. You can even steer, boost and hand brake turn in mid air which is absolutely necessary on the challenge levels which I'll get to in just a bit.

The game itself has several ways of being played. It plays as a kart style racer with the usual range of power ups to collect but also a hint of Wipeout due to the placement of boost to collect on your way round to keep up your top speed. The tracks themselves are more Wipeout than anything also, being suspended in mid air with huge jumps and loop the loops. Great fun, and that's before you even try the challenges. These play like a cross between a driving and a puzzle game. There are 3 times to beat on each. Firstly just getting from start to finish as fast as possible. This being a little bit of a puzzle game means that this can be achieved by missing out huge chunks of track, usually by launching yourself high into the air. Secondly there are stars to collect littered around each track. Collect them all and cross the finish line as fast as possible. Thirdly there is a GS token on each level, often hidden off the normal track so you have to work out how to reach it and then again cross the finish line. You'll need a decent time on each to do well on the score boards, but you can try as many times as you like and you only have to complete one objective on each try.

It's the number of ways to attack each one that makes it great. Sometimes it's obvious which is the quickest way and other times it requires a lot of thought plus trial and error. Could I hit the barrier at the side of track to launch me into the air and jump that huge gap? Try it! The answer is often yes. Then you look at the online leader boards and find out that people are doing the same thing 10 or 20 seconds faster than you. There must be another short cut! It's very addictive and rewarding when you discover these new ways, and each medal earns you credits to unlock new vehicles, graphics or even more music tracks.

It's one of the largest XBLA games available at nearly 150MB but it's also one of the most polished and largest in variety with 120 challenge levels, 25 race tracks and 20 death match arenas. I'm a bit ashamed to say that the number of 7/10 reviews delayed me buying this even on my third or fourth try of the demo. It made me question why I was enjoying it so much. It's not a bad score by any means but pretty average on most review scales. This game is way above average though and for 800 points (£6.80) it's one of the best value games on the XBLA at the moment and easily goes into my top 10.

Oh I nearly forgot that it does feature online racing and death match modes too which I've yet to even try. It makes its mark even without it though.

GAMEOV3R score then.....