PlayStation 3 Call of Duty: Black Ops PrecisionAIM Controller Review

PlayStation 3 Call of Duty: Black Ops PrecisionAIM Controller by Madcatz was a controller my dad found used and in perfect condition at Gamestop the other day for $25. Why was he looking for a new controller? Not because he's big into FPS games - in fact he doesn't play those at all. He wanted it for Marvel Pinball. *pauses as you take that in*

Thing is, my dad broke his wrist playing basketball with me, my best friend and his dad over a decade ago, and sometimes it still bothers him - especially when playing video games when he's gripping it too tightly. The form factor and angle of the Sony Dualshock controller just bothers him after awhile, so we have been looking for a new controller for him and after a lot of looking, found one that looks like it is a winner for him.

The features:

The grips have a rubbery feel to them (with some cool Black Ops design to them) that he feels is much better than the Dualshock controller - and he picked up a rubbery skin for one of his controllers recently and he likes this one's grip better as well.

Combat/precision aim - there are new buttons on the underside of the controller that can replace the need to press down on the left/right sticks (sprint/melee) and can be 'flipped' over to precision aim to slow your aim and try to make you more accurate.

'Quick fire triggers' - the top shoulder buttons are a bit 'squishier' than the typical controller and are designed to 'shoot' just a bit more quickly.

2.4 GHz wireless

Red backlights to the analog sticks

Rechargeable internal battery

So, what were our thoughts on the controller?

- My dad: he likes the grip a lot better - the texture is more to his liking and the rubberized texture feels better to him as well.

- My son: he likes the glowing backlights to the analog sticks and the appearance of the controller, but he did not feel it was as responsive as a Dualshock

- Now, my full thoughts:

* Pros:

- I really liked the combat/quick buttons on the bottom, though I used them for sprint/melee only - I did not find it convenient to simply switch it back and forth between those and the aim feature. Still, those under buttons are far better than having to click down on the right-left sticks.

- It is a very cool-looking controller. I like the art on it, and the backlit sticks look neat in the dark.

- The rubberized texture feels really good in my hands and the analog sticks seem very responsive - I didn't noticed any dead zone on them.

- The wireless worked well and I didn't experience any lag with it.

* Cons:

- The directional pad doesn't seem quite as good as the Dualshock one in my opinion.

- Not a fan of how the start/select buttons are laid out as they are set up on top of and under the PS button, instead of the right/left of

- You need to keep something of a direct line of sight to the USB dongle. It's way too easy to get it out of 'range' and have it drop signal. It works great in my den where the PS3 is a few feet away, and that's the room I use it in most, but in the other rooms you can sometimes lose connection.

* Other notes:

- The trigger buttons bugged my son, but they didn't bother me at all. They were a bit 'squishy' feeling, but they were very responsive, which is the key.

- The analog sticks are rounded on the top - I prefer a concave design myself as it's a bit more comfortable/less likely to slip, but their texture worked fine - I never actually slid off of the nubs.

- Seems to hold a good long charge - I played about four hours straight with it and never had to recharge it during that time.

Final thoughts:

I need a new controller as my youngest accidentally broke the shoulder buttons on one of my Dualshocks by dropping it on the kitchen floor recently, and this one rings in just a shade cheaper than the Dualshock. I will probably consider picking this controller up as it suits my needs, but I'd love to catch it used like my dad did or onsale for $10 less - something along those lines. I'd score this controller a 7 out of 10. It's good, but not perfect.

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God of War III - Playstation 3 Review

Kratos is an angry, angry man - and he finally gets his revenge.

Sony Santa Monica tells a good story here, but perhaps not quite as good as the first two God of War games. That said, the story they do tell feels like a big budget movie at times, and delivers a ton of bloody action set against a fantastical ancient Greece. In the first God of War game for the Playstation 3, expectations were high -and rightfully so. The God of War series is one that has exhibited a ton of polish and this game is no different.

Graphics - 10:

Wow. I know this game has been out for awhile, but visually it still may be one of the most impressive titles I've played on any system ever. The sense of scale is amazing. Games like Castlevania: Lords of Shadow have you fight mammoth creatures at times, but God of War just feels better. One fight you are nearly crushed by a titan, only to blind him and carry out a prolonged battle against creatures on his body as you travel across an arm, over shoulders and so much more.

Even the way the game starts - *Spoiler here for those who haven't played #2* -

But you end God of War 2 on a titan's back, and you start 3 the same way. It looks like a forested area like you might see in any other game, but you are in fact battling enemies while riding this massive titan. The attack on Olympus is amazing - there always seems to be something going on in the background. On top of that, action is bloody, smooth and the framerate holds up despite everything that is always going on.

Sound & Music - 9:

As with the rest of the series, there are some fantastic musical scores in the background that really help to set the tone. I did notice a few of them are a bit shorter it seems than in the past and noticeably loop if you spend too much time in a scene, but the quality was so good I didn't really care. Voice acting was again very solid and the sound effects are even more varied than ever before.

Gameplay - 9:

The combat has been and continues to be amazing in this series. It has not really changed much over the years, but the formula works so I cannot fault the developers for that. Some of the puzzles still annoyed me, and there were times I thought the platforming led me to a couple of cheap deaths, but frequent checkpoints kept me from loosing my cool too often.

A very important note: Quicktime events. I hate them most of the time. They are heavily used in the Chains of Olympus and God of War 1 & 2 - so why didn't I bring that up? Well, to be honest, most people just accept them now. I've had a mini-rant about these in the past in other game reviews, and I just don't like them. They take my focus off of what is happening on the screen, and if I try to take in the action I - well, it can mess up the actual progression and get you killed. I just really do not like them. So, why am I bringing it up now?

Because Sony Santa Monica handled them brilliantly. Did I mess up several times? Sure, but they did something very different than most companies. Usually Quicktime events show up as a button press in the middle of your screen, covering up what's going on and generally just annoying me. Here, they put the triangle on top, X on the bottom, circle on the right and square on the left with a sort of faded white background. Kind of hard to explain, but a) it doesn't cover the action and b) I know which button to press based on periphery vision. I was able to enjoy what was happening on-screen without having to panic half the time. There are other Quicktime events too - like rotating the analog stick, tapping the shoulder buttons and my poor Circle button got abused in these three games (you pound on it lots) - I could have done without all of those all of the time. But, if more games followed God of War 3's lead on the button presses, I'd be a lot happier in general.

Intangibles - 7:

Off all the God of War games, I think this one might have taken me the longest to beat, but that's not saying much - I still probably won in ten or elven hours. There are varied levels of difficulty, things you can unlock like costumes and powers for subsequent playthroughs, and another set of trial/challenges to keep you busy. Still, none of the games in this series do much to keep me playing a 2nd time through, and unfortunately I suspect that this game will fall into the same category despite how excellent the adventure itself is.

Overall - 8.75:

This game can be found at Gamestop for $15 used. The replay value is lacking, but the game itself is completely worth it at the used prices you can find it at now. Not even slightly kid-friendly, this outings is even more verbally, sexually and violently explicit than any of Kratos' other adventures I've played. The game feels incredibly polished and while some of the puzzles and jumps frustrated me from time to time, it was an excellent overall experience.

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Gaming Thoughts... 8/7/11 - Console Wars - PC

What is the top gaming system in our household? This is very subjective obviously, but after quite a bit of thought - I have an answer.

This is just a bit of an opinion - but I've had a few people ask me: what's your favorite system?

That's a good question, especially since we have 3 DS's (2 lites and a DSi), a PSP, Wii, 360 and PS3. I have a PC as well that I use as a gaming machine. Now, for overall utility, my PC wins hands-down, because it plays games, movies, browses - the whole 9 yards. It's not my favorite gaming device though. I'll go some pros and cons to each -and mind you this is only my opinion - but here it is. To keep the posts from getting too obnoxiously large, I'm going to break this down into a series of posts every couple of days, one post per system, until I'm done.

PC: It only does everything. Sure, I'm stealing Sony's PS3 tagline here, but in all honestly it is true. As a gaming machine though, it has some setbacks. I play on a smaller screen than my 3 primary consoles, and it is definitely not the best system for multiplayer locally. There's a very big disconnect on this machine - it's "my" system, and sometimes the kids use it, but it's definitely not a social gaming system for my family the way the Wii is, for example.

It can be as powerful as I like, but there's a significant cost factor involved as well, and while it's good, it doesn't always produce the best framerate and sound (since I'm also not set up for surround on this machine). Another bit of a strike is that nothing has resale value. Now, the flip side to that is I get games for it more cheaply than any other system as well (thank you Steam!).

I'm relatively new to PC gaming, at least this 'generation'. I played plenty of games on an older machine about 10 years ago - Magic: The Gathering, Diablo, Starcraft, Warcraft and plenty more - but I went years without playing games on weak PC's (with the very notable exception of World of Warcraft) until my wife bought me this new one last Christmas, and I have found a ton of games since.

Favorite Games for the system so far:

- King's Bounty: Legend
- Defense Grid: Awakenings
- Star Craft 2

Pros:

- It does everything - I use it for online games, free games, web browsing is best supported here
- MMO's - games like World of Warcraft just don't work as well on consoles it seems
- Cheap games - there's a back catalog of games that is huge. Newer games are cheaper, and older games are much, much cheaper than most of what you find on consoles

Cons:

- Expensive. Performance costs more than on consoles
- Not always ideal for local multiplayer
- can't trade/sell the games

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Tomb Raider: Underworld - Playstation 3 review

Lara Croft has been a gaming icon for years now - sometimes for the right reasons (puzzling, adventure-filled gameplay) and the wrong ones (perhaps a bit too much attention on her physique and not enough on making some of the sequels actually worth playing). Thankfully she's seen some progress over her last few releases, making the Tomb Raider game playable again - but are they worth playing? Probably once, but I'm not sure about replaying. Luckily I got my hands on this game while it was relatively inexpensive and gave it a shot, and here's what I found:

Graphics - 8:

This is sort of a mixed bag. Lara animates much better than ever, with some convincing acrobatics to compliment all of the climbing and gunplay. There are some nicely varied vistas in the game now too, from being in impressively dusty old tombs, to underwater sequences and lush jungles. It is not a perfect score though, due to some peculiar clipping issues. On several occasions I wound up being able to see through solid walls I was pressed right up against. The camera is also built in such a way that it tries to lend a dramatic, sweeping view of your surroundings. It works more often than not, but there were plenty of times the camera was driving me nuts as well, giving me a great view of my landscape and a horrible view of what I was trying to do with Lara. Cutscenes looked really sharp, it should be noted.

Sound and Music - 9:

Lots of sound effects to be had here, and they worked well with my surround system. Bullets flying by don't ring quite as true as those found in more action-intense games like Modern Warfare, but they do the job nicely. Drips of water can be heard in some passages, and it should be mentioned that there was plenty of good voice work too. The music was particularly good in my opinion. It fit the set pieces, added necessary tension. All in all, I thought this was probably the strongest aspect of the game.

Gameplay - 7:

The combat and movement works well - this is probably the mot fluid Lara Croft I've played to date. The menus took me a bit of getting used to, but they were effective once I was used to how they worked. As much as I liked the idea of the underwater sequences, I found them to be a bit annoying at times. In particular the first one had me feeling lost until I got the feel for the game. The puzzles were solid more often than not, but there were still some odd control issues when trying to control Lara within the context of her environment. The camera, as mentioned before in graphics, was also a bit of a chore. I found it to be perhaps my most challenging opponent at times. That said, I liked that I did not have to go back very far most of the times I died.

Intangibles - 6:

There's hidden stuff to find throughout the game - treasures if you will. There's some customization you can do along the way as well that helps add some variety should you play it through again. Neither one was motivation for me to not trade it in. There is also some downloadable content that can be purchased for it, though it's nearly as expensive as buying the game used itself. The story's alright if a bit predictable. The voice acting and cut scenes make it a bit more entertaining, but it doesn't do much more than move the action along - I never got particularly invested in it.

Overall - 7.5

All in all - it's a Tomb Raider game, right down to the exploration, Lara Croft, buggy camera and decent if clipping visuals. I enjoy Lara and her games enough that I recently picked up the Xbox Live Lara Croft game, and I'm curious about this prequel of sorts that is on the way in the coming year. Maybe they will breath some new life into this series that while solid, is starting to feel a bit like one of those relics Lara is always in search of.

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