Fiscal problems meant that I missed the Postmortem Promises gig last night. But the day wasn't terrible. I got to play Dark Sector and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2008 at my friend's house. Dark Sector is a chiched story about a virus infected super agent, but with a fascinating game play mechanic. It borrows heavily from great games such as Resident Evil and Gears Of War, with the camera situated in the third person perspective, zooming in when targeting enemies. The entire feel of the game shifts drastically between the first and the second chapter, when the the main character is infected by the flesh eating virus. The character is voiced by Michael Rosenbaum, who play the character of Lex Luthor in the hit TV series; Smallville. The voice acting is reasonably good, and he does an effective job of bringing the anti-hero to life. The Russian voice acting is nothing short of hilarious, the exaggerated thickness of the accents does not help the ultimately dark theme of the game. The colour scheme changes the moment your character is infected by the virus, from a gothic palate of black and dark greys, introducing a wider ranger of colours. Your arm becomes a metal one and you suddenly don a glaide to slice and dice opponents with. This does not get old, from gruesome decapitations to electrifying slicing - the boomerang-like melee weapon satisfies any virtual bloodthirsts you may have. The blood curdling screams and groans that result from using the weapon form part of the reason why this game is worth a play (or two). The bosses in the game are promisingly imaginative and a real challenge to dispose of, they include a helicopter (technically not a boss), a giant creature which baring a resemblance to the ones in the motion picture, Cloverfield, and a giant four-legged robot armed with machine guns and rockets. These provide a welcome break from the slightly repetitive collection of enemies, with varying weaponry. All in all, this is an excellent game with a weak story line but some seriously cool combat.
The other game I played was the generic update of the Tiger Woods PGA Tour series. The 2008 version isn't as generic as you might think however. Already out of date, it has some sweet game mechanics which makes it more than you average game mechanics. The player creation options are very deep, with everything from nose shape and size to chin shape. The game even allows you to take a picture of yourself using the Xbox 360's official camera, and having an accurate likeness of yourself in the game (at least in facial terms). The control system is essentially love/hate, prompting the player to use the left joystick to swing the club. It can be very fiddly, and many a time you'll find the golf ball in the bunker or otherwise out of bound. When on the green however, a nice gameplay mechanism allows you to compensate to the direction the ball is expected to to roll in in relation to the hole, also taking the wind into account. This is represented by a grid of directional arrows placed atop of the ground. Putting however really is hit and miss, there seems to be no skill involved however. The arbitrary success rate is disheartening. The game is worth a look if you are interested in golf games, however it's probably more logical to wait for the latest updated incarnation of the Tiger Woods series.
Pascal x
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