Fifa 07 Impressions

As with the Need for Speed series, I'm not an avid fan of this series. I was, up until FIFA 03... The year I discovered Pro Evo. I must say I've never turned back, I'm definitely what you would call a 'Pro Evo man' now. I had always felt in comparision to Pro Evo, FIFA never had the same sense of control, in fact, I would go as far to say I thought you never felt completely in control of the ball in FIFA games. But moving away from a rant about how I think past FIFA's haven't cut it in the gameplay department, there has been much talk these recent months about EA's Fifa 07 and how they've completely re-written the game, boasting all new gameplay, or as I perceive it, a stab at trying to be as good as Pro Evo. Sorry to all those readers who are fans of the FIFA game, no more FIFA bashing (I promise).

The demo starts with one of the features which EA has been insistent will be integrated into all of their sports games. This feature lets you play a simple version of the full game while you navigate menus to set up your game. In this demo, your given a ball, half a pitch, and ronaldhino at your disposal to start with. You can choose to either mess around trying to score some goals past the keeper, or you can dive straight into the game. I was content to play around shooting at the goal keeper for quite a while actually. Seeing as you only have once player to control, all you can really do in this part of the demo is try out the dribbling system, and the shooting mechanisms. Also, you have the option to take a direct free kick from anywhere on the half-pitch you're given. The free kicks were exceedingly easy to score, up to around 40 meters away, all you had to do was align the middle of the screen with the inside of your chosen post, power up to half way and it will go in nearly every time. The goals look good however, and it makes a very pleasant change over Pro Evo's very difficult to master free kick system, however I must say I prefer it the hard way though, it makes you feel so much better when you do manage to score a free kick. How easy free kicks will be with a wall in the way remains to be seen.
After extensive free kick scoring, dribbling and lobbing the keeper, I decided to dive into a match. As soon as the match opened up (Barcelona VS Manchester UTD) I was disappointed. I'd gotten used to the close-behind-the-player view which was used in the 'main menu' which was much more enjoyable to play with. The camera was now very far out and it became difficult to see which direction the ball was travelling. I got past that and just got on with playing the game, but still, no matter how hard I tried, I could not bring myself to like it. Believe me I wanted to, I'm one of the only Pro Evo men in my social circle, the rest all play FIFA and I've read a number of articles about FIFA playtests at TGS/X06 saying that it was closer to playing like Pro Evo and that play felt more responsive. Now I'm a reasonable guy, but if the play had felt any LESS responsive than that, I wouldn't have been able to play the whole half, as I was close enough to ending the demo early as it was. It was so difficult to retain possession of the ball, and there was no real control of your player and the ball. (Now I may suck, so again like my last article, someone let me know if it IS just me). If i didn't mention it previously, i found the shooting mechanism very enjoyable in the one on one section... In a full game however, it was bloody awful, I don't think I got a shot on target compared to 9 out of 10 earlier. I couldn't understand it. Then i remembered the thing with FIFA's - you do the same thing over and over for a goal and if you don't do it that way, you don't score. I obviously hadn't found that WAY of scoring. Passing wasn't great either, short passes exchanged between players were quick and snappy, but trying to get a string of passes of more than 10 meters together was a bitch, the players just didn't kick it hard enough, no matter how long or hard i pressed the friggin' A button. Through balls using the Y button never had enough power behind them either. I did notice that the way the controls were mapped a little better however. Switching players had now been more to the left trigger (a la Pro Evo) which was more intuitive for a Pro Evo man like myself. And in order to do chip or lobbed versions of shots or passes holding in the left trigger while pressing the respective button is required, again, like Pro Evo. Overall, i was very let down by the claims they had re-done the game engine from scratch, because it still doesn't play well. To be honest, if the demo had just been the one on one mode with Ronaldhino, i would have come away with a much more positive impression. I for one, will not going anywhere near EA's latest effort, as after exiting the demo, Pro Evo 5 promtly went back into my 360 tray. Or was it Saints Row...

NFS Carbon Impressions

Having only played through one NFS before, I don't consider myself to be a great NFS fan. I must say I did enjoy the game, the levels of customization were great, enabling you to make a really great looking car and one which none of your mates had, however I found the actual racing was the real let down of the game, it played very poorly, the cars all handled roughly the same and that the handling of the cars was generally very unresponsive. It was probably just me being spoilt in that department by the likes of Metropolis Street Racer and Project Gotham Racing that didn't help the driving experience for me, so despite the fact that I enjoyed my play through the game, I've not been compelled to pick up another NFS game since.

This brings me onto my impression of the demo for the latest
game in the NFS series, Need for Speed: Carbon.

The demo download as usual is free, and me being the free download whore that I am, snapped it up as soon as it became available. I left for an hour or so expecting to come back and be able to make a decent looking car with limited parts (the best bit) and try one of the race modes. I was right for the most part, though there was a big feature that I was certainly not expecting, a feature which made me perk up and think, hey, this might not be as average as I thought. That feature was the ability to scuplt your own body parts, dubbed 'Autosculpt' (genius) - this enables you to adjust many aspects of the different parts of your customised ride, from alloys to hoods, bumpers to spoilers, through a series of sliders. For example, you can increase the grill size of your front bumper; you can increase the amount of spokes on your alloys; make the tyres wider; adjust the tilt on your spoiler; hell, you can even put a curve on the spoke of your alloys to make them look scythe-like. This is a great feature which I hope will be integrated well in the final game.
I hope they still have a massive variety of parts though, because although you can customise the look of each part, you can't make them look significantly different from the original.

Once you've selected and customised your ride, you have a Muscle (Dodge), Exotic (Lamborghini), and Tuner (Mitsubushi Lancer) car to choose from, you're dropped into a section of the game in which you have to complete 2 races (a lap street race, and a drift competition) in first place to unlock the final part of the demo.
From the off, the racing felt the same, which i thought was a shame. It was unresponsive, (wait, a thought just came to me, i might just suck at this game...does anyone else find the driving experience particularly responsive??) and was difficult to get any sort of racing line as the car was either understeering or powersliding. I found that the tuner handled the best, but it was most suited to the race in the demo. Next was the drift, which I feel has been significantly improved over the last NFS game that I'd played as I clocked a massive 150,000 point drift in the Lambo; possibly the highlight of the demo for me, i'd always found drifting fun, despite you sliding all over place.
The final part of the demo was a one on one race on a canyon road, where if you hit the barrier 'stopping' you from plunging to a valley, you just crashed right through it and the race was over. I only went through it a couple of times...ok several (damn understeer!).
The racing was better than previous efforts I'd decided after getting further through the demo, it is more responsive and certainly more bearable, still not great mind, it won't disappoint the big fans of the series. The only other gripe I have with is the opponent AI, it seems very fixed, as though the capabilities of the opponent's car has no bearing on how quickly they can either get away from you or catch up with you. In the one on one, the trailing car caught up over 200 feet on me in a matter of seconds (NOS was not an option in this mode) when we were seemingly going the same speed on a straight before hand...Ah well, no game is perfect.

This demo certainly has increased my interest in the latest rendition of the NFS series - despite first impressions of the racing. Improved racing mechanics(not significantly so), a fantastic Autosculpt feature with bucket loads of potential, promised plentiful options for customising your ride on top of autosculpt, and loads of licensed vehicles.

Hope you enjoyed my take on it, I enjoyed writing it.

UPDATING: TGS Marketplace Content Available, right now!

Here is a list of all the "TGS - Bringing It Home" Marketplace content available right now. This list does not contain any of the content exlusive to japan. Those items which are in bold text are the latest items to have been uploaded to Marketplace:







Demos:
Fuzion Frenzy 2
F.E.A.R.
Lego Star Wars 2

Trailers:
The Darkness
Sonic the Hedgehog
NBA 2K7
Shrek 3
NHL 2K7 - Cinemotion
Just Cause Launch Trailer
Need for Speed Carbon
Battlestations: Midway
Eragon
Import Tuner Challenge
NHL 07
Virtua Tennis 3
NBA Live 07
Forza Motorsport 2 (customization trailer)
Portal
Team Fortress 2
Vista Gaming Montage
Fuzion Frenzy 2
Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom
Tenchu Senran
Half-Life 2: Episode 2

Specials/Documentaries:
GameSpot Day 1 Showfloor Behind the Scenes
GameSpot Day 2 Showfloor Behind the Scenes
GameSpot Day 2 Live Arcade Bonus
TGS Press Briefing
TGS Theme (very orange!!)
Mass Effect Picture Pack
TGS Picture Pack
Forza Theme (150MP)

Everything is FREE unless stated otherwise!

Again, Happy Downloading!

X06 and TGS, Xbox Live Is "Bringing It Home"

Oh the joys of owning an Xbox360. Coming this September 20th, Xbox Live Marketplace will be flooded with new game trailers, game demos, and behind the scene footage. Oh yeah, and some overpriced themes for those that want them. Microsoft made comments earlier this year saying that such the success Xbox Live Marketplace was over the E3 period, they were going to do that same thing with TGS and X06 - and today they've confirmed it. Microsoft aim to have over 100 pieces of content up within the 9 days the shows go on. Also interesting to note, is that during this period, there will be a never before announced major franchise on Live Arcade available to download. Halo Zero? I wish, now if only they would actually ALLOW that to be ported over to Arcade. That, would be god damned awesome.

Happy downloading!

Game On hits us Brits!

Game On is a video game exhibition that first kicked off in merry old Blighty (that's England to any confused readers out there) back in '02. It's been all over Europe and some of America as well, but we've got it back, and it runs from October 21st through to February 25th.

From what I can gather it is well worth a peek, taking you on a bit of a walk through gaming history and cramming your eager gaming brain with all sorts of info, as well as concept art and sketches from some of the fathers of gaming.

The London Science Museum is where it's at, and £8.50 will gain you access to this little vein of gaming treasure. It certainly seems like it's worth it.

A New Look!?

As you've no doubt gathered from opening this page, 360insight has a new look, including a brand spanking new banner (collective ooh). There is still some minor tweaking to be done here and there, but i like it, what about you, the people that have to sit there and look at it, what do you think? As always, feedback appreciated.

Apologies for lack of anything gaming related over the weekend, but there really has been nothing postworthy to have come up, and i didn't think the, rather sweet looking, Zune announcement would apply...

A little something that piqued my interest...

Assassin's Creed, to be released early 2007, is set in 1191 AD at around the time the Third Crusade was messin' with the Holy Land, or something like that. Can't find much about it as of now, it certainly seems a work in progress, but from what I can see Assassin's Creed has the potential to define a fun new way of action/adventure gaming. The most intriguing feature, which if Ubisoft can pull it off sounds pretty ground-breaking, is giving the player the power to introduce chaos to their surroundings and shape history to their choosing. Playing as the cheeky chappy Altair, your aim is to supress both sides of the Third Crusade conflict, and kick it assassin style.

I for one will be keeping an eye on this one. Great potential methinks.

British Gaming Blog's Sister Site...It Rocks, Basically

For those readers who currently reside in the UK, please, on high recommendation, head over to newly launched Bacon's Bargains. It keeps you fully up to date with all the bargains to be had. It's run by British Gaming Blog's news, reviews, Sony and Microsoft editor - MCBacon. I have already used one of the bargain's listed on the site to nab Saints row for under 30 quid, nice. Go see, definately worth it.

On a side note, it has bargains for all current platforms, so head over there no matter what systems you own.

Just (Cause >_<) a quick post

This is just a short little post to say Just Cause, sheduled for release later this month, is shaping up to be a big hit come this autumn (fall?). IGN in particular seems especially impressed with what they have seen of a near final build. They even go as far to say that developers Avalanche has managed to get

'an almost perfectly tuned concoction of disparate elements, melding fluid driving and vehicle hopping, daredevil stunts, elegant on-foot action and epic exploration almost seamlessly.'

Check out the in depth article, definately worth a read for those looking forward to this games release.

(didn't end up being such a short post did it? oh well...)

UK + Dead Rising = Freebies!

Calling all UK gamers, check out this link for a chance to win Sony goodies.

100 Zombies could win you a T-shirt, but 200 Could win you a Sony HDTV!

Get slaughterin' folks, cause I sure as hell will. May the best genocidal maniac win.

What a way to be announced...

In a quite frankly awkward way to be announced, PGR4 is (surprise surprise!) coming to an Xbox360 near you. Of ALL people to announce Bizarre's next racing game...it's Peugeot...Project Gotham Racing 4, developed by Bizarre, announced to the world by... Peugeot...it's not logical is it...
This, although not official comfirmation, means that the fact PGR4 is in development is a dead cert. Personally i hadn't even thought about PGR4, despite being an avid fan of the series i assumed they were going to leave it at 3, but, apparently Bizarre had other plans. It will be VERY interesting to see the graphical jump it will have over its next generation predecessor (does that make sense?) PGR3 because if you consider the leap PGR2 had over 1, it was quite substancial. All i really want in this sequel though is full anti aliasing though, man i hated those jaggies...

NHL 07 'Shootout' Demo Now Available

Recently relased onto the Xbox Live Marketplace was a short demo for upcoming game NHL 07. The demo shows off the new shooting system, at least for shootouts. I can honestly say i enjoyed this demo, i have never been a fan of hockey games and the last time i played must have been a long time ago on a friends gamecube, nevertheless, i wasn't impressed. I am however impressed with the demo, the visuals are good and the gameplay is easy to pick up and seems to have some depth to it. Check it out, weighing in a 500MB it shouldn't take too long.

Read

Bioshock Exclusive Interview

The folks over at GameSpy managed to score an exclusive interview with one of the main men behind Irrational's Bioshock. It really quite a long interview and Ken Levine has a lot to say and you can see he has really involved himself with the game, and emphasizes, it's all about the atmosphere. Check it out, awesome read.

Daily Whats On Marketplace (Update 1)

As promised, kinda sorta, here are the latest items which are available for you to download via XBL Marketplace. Free unless otherwise stated.

The Godfather - a new trailer.
FarCry Instincts: Predator - multiplayer demo featuring all multiplayer modes.
Just Cause - Several new trailers showing different aspects of the game, be it, 'Weapon Upgrades' or 'Sea Stunts'.
LOTR, BFMEII - a 'marketplace exclusive' multiplayer map pack. 350MP
Madden NFL 07 - a demo for those of you who haven't downloaded it.
UNO - A Project Gotham Racing 3 Card deck - 100MP

IGN Insider - Gear of wars video podcast type thing, not that great footage wise, but does show some new gameplay.
IGN Insider - Insider Studio Tour: Ubisoft, being a big fan of Ubisoft, i would highly recommend this download to everyone, it is a really good behind the scenes look at Ubisofts largest development studio, montreal, and shows how things work, shows off there own gym and coffee bar (!!) and is generally very interesting.
Artist of the month - This week the ''artist of the month award™'' goes to...Jessica Simpson, currently the only video available is her smash pop hit, A Public Affair, featuring a few guest appearances from what i would imagine some of her showbiz friends.

I know some of these things have been released for more than a day, but i wanted to put them in to make up for lost ground and to inform those people who hadn't had a chance to download some of these items.

UPDATE: added items in the 'Media and Entertainment' section.

Mass Effect Officially 2007

Possibly my most anticipated titles scheduled to hit 2006 was Mass Effect, a first person RPG (FPRPG?) developed by Bioware, critically acclaimed in the game industry for producing games such as the KOTOR series on the original Xbox. The company has now officially confirmed that the game won't be ready before christmas, or even the new year. They were nice enough to give out a European released date to boot. January 12th, mark that in your calender! If you live in europe that is, i'm sure the US version will be released soon after if not the same day. Mind you, it'll DEFINATELY be out in europe before the PS3...(for shame, but how could i resist!?)

Thanks to IGN for this...and you can also check out media and impressions on the game so far at their page for Mass Effect.