Game Drought

Looks like we are now in the usually summer gaming drought. There's nothing on the horizon that I am looking forward to. At least not until August.

I played some CoD 3 the other day (still haven't beaten it). That was ok, but I want something new.

Like I mentioned, I've been playing Ninja Gaiden Black again, but . . . I want something new.

So I was in Best Buy yesterday, looking through the racks, and I had two choices. In one hand, I had Motorstorm. In the other, God of War 2.

Motorstorm. $60, good reviews, but not enough depth or game modes.

God of War 2. $50, Great reviews, but not in high-definition (I'm telling you, once you go HD, it is VERY hard to go back).

I went with God of War.

So far I defeated the first Boss (the giant statue) and I am by I guess the 2nd level. Or maybe third, since I passed the Pegasus flying sequence.

I am playing on Hard (Like I did with the 1st game in my first play through). It basically plays the same. The graphics were pretty painful at the beginning, but I have since adjusted. For a PS2 title they are insanely impressive . Smooth animation and HUGE characters/levels. The first level is plenty hectic, with a giant statue following you around and tormenting you. The following Pegasus flying stage was pretty fun, especially the sequence towards the end when you fly into a cave and are flying around what appears to be another giant statue that is alive. Really impressive visuals in that section and a great sense of scale.

Since I have been playing Ninja Gaiden Black a lot lately I am finding it extra frustrating that you cannot manually rotate the camera in GoW, or even go into a 1st person mode. This did not bother me as much in the first game, but now it feels extremely restrictive. Also, since GoW and Ninja Gaiden have similar control schemes, I find myself trying to do the evasive roll by holding block and moving the left stick, instead of just using the right stick. I wish I could actually configure it this way, because I am so used to it by now and like the way it feels.

So far the game is a lot of fun and I am enjoying the cinematics and story. I really enjoyed the first game's premise and story and this one seems to be entertaining as well. I'm actually looking forward to see what happens. Something I can't say about most action games.