PAX Preview (the 1st)!

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Hello all! We here at United We Game have graciously been granted access to all sorts of juicy preview info in the days leading up to PAX Prime, and needless to say we’re psyched to the utmost to be able to share it all with you! To start it all off, I’d like to give you a short intro to 5 of these exciting games and accessories. Over the course of PAX, I’ll be conducting interviews with the incredibly talented individuals behind each of these, so I’ll bring you more information about these as it is gathered. For now though, I heartily encourage you to check out the sites for each of the following.
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My “Deserted Island” Games — Xbox edition

Image by Flickr user david-o.net
Image by Flickr user david-o.net

It registers now as kind of odd to me now that we never had an Xbox since we were so on top of the video game consoles of the time. But a close friend of ours owned one, and it was open to use whenever we wanted, so we never actually needed one. I also have to admit that the Xbox was rather strange to me at first. I mean, Nintendo and Sony had been offering the world lots of gaming goodness for awhile, and suddenly, in walks Microsoft with its giant, black box and a new Halo title and I’m just expected to bite? I dunno… That said, I wasn’t about to turn down some new gaming fun when given the chance. So whenever we went over to our friend’s house, the Xbox happened; and among his small catalog of games I found a few that I really enjoyed. (A fair portion of my experience with original Xbox games actually happened later on the Xbox 360.) When it came to choosing games for my island, the choices came down to those games I had played the most, and only four rose to the top.

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Play, Share, and Win!

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Hello all! With PAX Prime nearly upon us we here at United We Game have decided to join in the festivities! From Friday August 30th to Friday September 6th we’ll be running a contest here at wegameunited.com as well as our Facebook, Gmail, and Twitter pages. To participate, all you have to do is leave a comment here, on Facebook or Google +, and/or follow us on Twitter. Do each to for extra entries! Heavy risk (okay, not really), but the prize…one of 5 Gamestop gift cards worth $20 (for that cool piece of DLC you’ve had you’re eye on perhaps?), maybe more depending on how many participate!

So, there you have it! Play (for the fun of it), Share (to increase your chances of winning), and Unite with your fellow gaming enthusiasts!

And, if you happen to be attending PAX Prime this year, See you there!

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My “Deserted Island” Games — Playstation 3 edition

Image by Flickr user uencio
Image by Flickr user uencio

Around this time a year ago, our Playstation 3 died. During a round of Sleeping Dogs, the console just quit and started in with the blinking red light — the deadly “red light of death.” We tried to get the thing up and running again to no avail. And since it died with the game still inside, we had to take our beloved machine apart to get it out. It was a sad, sad weekend.  After the PS3 was in pieces, we discussed our options: get another PS3 or wait for the PS4, which was then a mere rumor.  It was a couple months before we finally made the decision to get another PS3. We had so many games already for it, and so many games to start over (since we lost all the old save data…grrrr), it seemed a shame to not give them the chance they deserved. I’ll do my best to keep my PS3 up and running on my island, but my list won’t include Sleeping Dogs…I still feel like it’s somehow cursed.

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Review a Bad Game: Resident Evil: Survivor

Screenshot by Flickr User: The Stouffer
Screenshot by Flickr User: The Stouffer

It is safe to say that in the year 2000, Resident Evil was riding pretty high.  A successful trilogy had been released on the Playstation, the high quality sequel Code Veronica just debuted on the Dreamcast, and a big-budget movie was in the works.  To sweeten the deal, a spin-off from the main series had just released in Japan, where the usual third-person perspective was traded for a first-person view.  The idea was to create a Resident Evil game that would utilize light gun controllers and (hopefully) steal some thunder from the arcade shooter market.  But this idea relies on the actual use of light gun controllers, a feature which was removed from the American release.  It also relies on the game not being a terrible pile of crap, which Resident Evil: Survivor most certainly is.

At this point, you may be asking yourself, “How does a game that was developed for a light gun handle with a traditional controller?”  Very poorly would be the response.  Imagine playing the original Resident Evil, with its delightful tank controls, from the first person.  There is no strafe or sidestep, and anytime you draw your gun, the main character stops completely to fire.  Simply navigating the game is a frustrating ordeal, since the protagonist constantly gets stuck against any object in his way, and the combat is no better.

The logical upgrade that would come from a first-person view would be the ability to better target zombies’ vital bits (read: head and knees).  A player can certainly aim at these weak spots, but it makes no difference within the game.  Shooting a zombie’s head deals out no greater damage than a straight shot to the finger (which makes no sense in any sort of world, video game or otherwise).  To further complicate things, the speed at which shots may be fired is limited.  For some strange reason, there is a rate-of-fire limit in Survivor; sort of cooldown between every single shot from a gun.  So be prepared to take plenty of time dispatching each  frustrating enemy in this turd.

Even the creatures in this game look terrible.  The original Resident Evil knew that the processing power of the Playstation had its limits, so the developers relied on clever lighting and camera angles to compensate.  Survivor does not have such luxuries, so every bland and jagged zombie looks terrible against the plain and pixelated backgrounds.  The audio is just as bad, with buggy sound effects and schlocky voice acting in every cutscene.

The story is blessedly non-canon, with a tale of some random amnesiac surviving a plane crash on the Umbrella Corporation’s private island, which is (of course) filled with biological horrors.  But even within the realm of spin-offs, which normally change up the traditional story and experiment with details, Survivor sticks to a rather bland RE formula.  Hero enters town, zombies are present, hero finds out Umbrella makes biological weapons (no duh), bigger zombies show up, some civilians need saving, Tyrant boss, rocket launcher, self destruct sequence, cut to credits.

When my brother and I rented Survivor from our local Blockbuster Video back in the Autumn of 2000, we were so excited to have another Resident Evil game to play.  Within just two hours, we felt bamboozled by our beloved Capcom.  With its terrible controls, bland story, and bizarre combat restrictions, there were no redeeming factors for this awful game.  At least the lack of interesting plot developments means the average player can just skip this RE entry.  So for those of you who enjoy the Resident Evil series (or survival horror in general) do yourself a favor and avoid Survivor.  And avoid Operation Raccoon City while your at it.  Honestly, it’s a toss-up as to which game is worse.

-Chip, Games I Made My Girlfriend Play

Review A Bad Game: Epic Mickey 2

Image by Flickr user MXZ3RO
Image by Flickr user MXZ3RO

I wanted so much to enjoy Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.  I wanted to become re-immersed in a fantastical, alternative vision of the Disney universe. I wanted to spend tons of time with Mickey Mouse and his merry band of toons searching for ways to save to save the world and maybe sing a song or two.

What I got was loads of unhappiness, anger, and frustration. And that’s not very “Disney,” now is it?

Before getting into the meat of this post, I should point out that I’m writing this from the single-player viewpoint only. Epic Mickey 2 is structured and marketed as a drop in/drop out co-op game with the footnote that it can be played alone. I knew this going into the game, and I also knew that I had no intention of trying to get someone to play it with me. (We’ve talked about me and multiplayer before.) So without mincing words, as a single-player game, Epic Mickey 2 stinks.

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Review a Bad Game: Alone in the Dark: Inferno

It’s never been my favorite genre, but I’ll say right here that I absolutely love horror games! The best horror games elicit a real sense of dread and fear. You don’t understand what’s going on, you can’t understand what’s going on. All you can do is try to make it to the next room and hope that there isn’t something waiting for you around the corner.
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