Skate still rules but now Halo 3 is out and Gamefly finally got Eternal Sonata to me. So now I have more to play than I have hours in the day. At least they’re all very different games so I have something to play for whatever mood I’m in.
Positive impressions for every game btw, the 360 is on a a ridiculous roll.
Move over Tony Hawk, the new kid has rolled into town. Tony Hawk Pro Skater has dominated the skateboard genre for nearly 10 years. I don’t think you can even call it a genre because the Tony Hawk series is pretty much the only skating game made. Only thing I can think of that comes close is Agressive Inline and that was years ago.
For me (and many people) the TH series is stale and boring. The 9th console game is coming out very soon and even though they have managed to add more stuff to do (there is a mindboggling amount of tricks you can do, they expanded the “Nail the Trick” mechanic that was introduced in Project 8 ) it feels like more of the same. Grind for 700 feet, jump over a helicopter and then grind for another mile and a half.
So skate finally comes out (I think I first saw it in early 2006) and has pretty much reinvented the skate game. It’s more the compeition for Tony Hawk, it’s the champion. The control scheme is totally different (use the control sticks to do just about everything) and the skating is much more reality based. The learning curve is steep, but once you understand it you’re in for a great experience. The flow and feel of skating is truly amazing (it helps that the game looks and animates so well). Landing some crazy line is an accomplishment and a true reward. You can edit replays which is really cool and then share them with people on the internet. The community should be huge for this one and it looks like it’s going to be a smash because I had to go to 3 stores to find it.
It’s a bit more limiting than Tony Hawk (can’t leave your board to run up to a spot, there are no flatland or lip tricks) but it’s definitely the better game. Highly recommended.
This is long overdue, but here it goes.
For me, Korns’ 8th studio album is what See You on the Other Side should have been. While I like See You (I reviewed it when it came out back in ’05) I recognize it has the bands weakest album. It has it’s quality tracks, but it also has some of the weakest (oddly enough I think some of the B-sides that were cut from the album are better than a few of the songs selected). See You is really a transitional album, losing Brian was a big deal and the change of producers did put a different slant on Korn.
Now we have the officially untitled album that is without everyone’s favorite drummer, David. He basically wasn’t ready to head back into the studio and hit the road, he wanted time off to be with his family and take care of his restaurants. With the musical bug gnawing at the remaining 3 members, they decided to create without David (hopefully David comes back sooner than later, it’s very weird seeing just 3 of the original members left). He was burned out and I’m hoping that a nice break will envigorate him to come back and be better than ever (I think his work on See You was his weakest).
So minus David, the boys had to step up and create something that lives up to the Korn name. I believe they achieved that by getting some serious talent to back them up. Brooks Wackerman and the world renowned Terry Bozzio came in to write in Davids place. The percussion on this album is truly terrific, different from Davids’ style but not jarringly so. The different style made the rest of the band alter their work a bit to which gives a freshing pace and mood to the album. Keyboards have also been integrated from Zack Baird who they originally found to tour with them for the SYOTOS tour.
Untitled feels like a much more cohesive and “kornier” album than the last. The Matrix production team was used less on this one with Atticus Ross being more featured. I was afraid of a larger Nine Inch Nails influence from this, but I’m very happy to hear that that really didn’t happen (for the record I’m not too wild about The Matrix so I’m glad Korn has sorta moved away from them).
So to the point, the album sounds fantastic. Korn has always had very high production values and it’s no different here. I think this is some of Jonathan Davis’ best lyrical work in awhile, in writing and in vocal approach. He has really improved as a singer, his range is much greater now. He’s emotional as ever (Starting Over andn Kiss being standouts to me), he thankfully as kept any goofy sounding lines out (for the most part) and is really in top form on this album. The chorus sections pretty much rule. Fieldys’ base work is still strong although his track is again more in the mix of the CD, his trademark loose slap bass style doesn’t stand out like in past albums such as Follow the Leader. Munky has also grown on this album, there is some great guitar work here. Every song sounds different but it all fits together very well. Out of 13 songs I love 11 of them. Of the two I don’t like (Do What They Say and Ever Be) I just like them less than the others, I don’t even hate them. The jams come one after another, great arrangements, you get your funk beats, your heavier grooves and melodies, some wild percussion segments, a guitar solo here and there and some awesome sing along choruses.
I’m very happy with Untitled, even the case package rules. This Korn isn’t the Korn from the ’90s, it’s important to understand that. The band has gone through big changes since then and that is reflected in their current work. They’re experimenting more and are still having fun with making music to rock out to. Going on 14 years, Korn is still one of the biggest bands in the world. The new album is selling very well (debuted at #2) and their tours are going extremely well. The sound phenomenal and bring it every night (thank you Joey Jordison from Slipknot for killing it on tour with them!). In a sea of generic pop singles and garbage rap tracks I find relief that Korn is still there for me.
Took about 2 weeks, at least 15 hours or so. Took my time through most of it and then tried to pick up the pace through the last quarter.
While it’s an easy game, it’s easily one of this years best games. The story might even be the best ever in a videogame. Highly recommended. I plan on playing through it again sometime on Hard.