Playstation Reviews, Previews and Screenshots

I initially ragged on Lair complaining of its awful control scheme. When given the choice to watch Mansquito, an awful Sci-Fi channel movie and playing Lair, I initially opted for the more entertaining option of a movie about a giant bug-man.

Interestingly, after much complaining from, well, everyone, Lair's developers have finally seen fit to allow us the choice of not using the motion sensitivity option on the PS3. As it turns out, the control scheme isn't the problem. The problem is that the game just sucks. Read on for my updated take on this game...

The story of God of War: Chains of Olympus takes place some 10 years before the first God of War (originally released for the PS2). Strange thing: this fact is not immediately apparent and is, in fact, not made definitively apparent anywhere in the game. The game begins without context. The box explains nothing. The so called "manual" contains nothing but a few pages describing basic play mechanics. I finally found the answer to my questions about God of War chronology at wikipedia. It seems a strange, if ultimately irrelevant, oversight given how story driven the game series has been. Oh well, as it turns out, I really don't care so much about back story when gameplay is this freakin' awesome.

Clocking out after 6 hours of gameplay (on easy), Chains of Olympus is a fantastic, but short, game.

If you've ever played Unreal Tournament, then you already know what to expect with Unreal Tournament 3. Either you liked it in the past, or you didn't. If you liked it then, you'll like it now. Even on the PS3. Even if you're a hardcore mouse & keyboard jockey. UT3 is simply a "next gen" version of the game we all know and love. The core gameplay — fast, furious, frenetic first person shooter multiplayer action — is, as always, flawlessly executed. There are even a couple of new game play modes, to boot.

Need for Speed: ProStreet, the latest racer from EA Games, represents a change of direction for the Need for Speed franchise. Instead of racing in a wide open city, you race on closed tracks. Instead of earning the ire of the law, you now race in sanctioned pro-am events. And instead of cinematic cut scenes which tell some hilariously retarded story about your illegal street racing career, you'll be stuck listening to an idiot announcer while boring, rendered in engine scenes take place.

While the race mechanics and car rendering have improved a bit, keeping up with current generation expectations, the game itself is a step back. EA Games has somehow managed to toss out everything that gave the NFS series its unique character, replacing it with dullness. Plus, they've added the annoying announcer guy.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is the latest exclusive AAA title to hit the PS3. It's a modern action adventure in which you play as the ever so handsome and charming Nathan Drake who claims to be a descendant of legendary explorer Sir Francis Drake. In search of some crazy golden treasure, you trek to places unknown and unseen by modern man, only to find that modern man is, in fact, already there and worse, that he's shooting at you.

I should say that it's being billed as an action adventure. It is, in fact, not an action adventure. It's really a third person shooter with some minor action-adventure elements thrown in. Don't let the jungle theme and the treasure hunting story throw you off. You will spend the vast majority of your time in this game getting shot at. It's also being hailed as an awesome game.

I think my copy must be broken.

Oblivion GOTY (Game of the Year edition) is a re-release of the massively popular cRPG Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion with a couple of expansion packs (Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles) built in. KON is supposedly the most popular, and Shivering Isles is the hugest (clocking in at just over a gig as a download). Even now, more than a year after release, the question of whether to play Oblivion on a console or PC still rages on.

It should be noted that the question is never "should I play it", because that's pretty much a given. Hello? Yehes. The PC and console versions both have their merits (and pitfalls), and your choice can have significant impact on how much (but not if) you enjoy this game.

Just a note to let you know that SecretLemur.com is not dead. It's merely hibernating.

Between work kicking my ass, my main PC giving up the ghost due to a power outage, holidays and their concomitant family get togethers and the lack of new games coming out, I'm getting crap-all done in the review department.

You can expect reviews to start ramping back up to their regular volume as the new year begins.

Just a note to let you know that SecretLemur.com is not dead. It's merely hibernating.

Between work kicking my ass, my main PC giving up the ghost due to a power outage, holidays and their concomitant family get togethers and the lack of new games coming out, I'm getting crap-all done in the review department.

You can expect reviews to start ramping back up to their regular volume as the new year begins.

I have a huge stack of games to both play and review, and it's going to take me a while to get through them all - especially the good ones. But, since I know holidays are coming up and people are starting to look at what games to buy for themselves and as gifts, I figured I'd at least give you my first impressions.

That way, I can play Assassin's Creed without feeling guilty.

Since Every Extend Extra (henceforth, EEE) is by the same people that did Lumines (a game I dream about), I had to pick it up. If Lumines is a dream to me, then EEE is some sort of Sisyphesian nightmare. Which isn't to say that it's not quite good, because it is. This is to say oh my god, I suck at this game like I have sucked at no other game before.

I keep coming back to this game whenever I have a few minutes to spare, but I still haven't made it past level 2.