Ape Deer's Gaming Report

I'M BAAAAACCCKKKK!

2010-03-01T00:40:00.000-08:00

After an extremely long hiatus from my beloved site, I have returned! If anyone has stayed faithful I'm glad you did. I will be updating this site very regularly with updates on new games, old games, current games, everything. I am here and I want to provide you with the information some need, others want. So today to kick things off I will share with you my review of Halo: Legends.

So I bought it on Blu-ray of course, being the ps3 owner I am today, and I was hoping for hours of entertainment, brought on by this good looking disc. Here's what I got; 7 episodes, 8 actually, but 1 is in two parts. And in those 7 there was about an hour and a half of of entertainment in a bunch of different animated styles. You get all kinds of artistic treatment from famed animators with stories that make the Halo phenomena expand greatly. There are stories about the spartans, stories about the soldiers, even a story about arbiters. The movies themselves are great to watch when you have some downtime, but then here come my drawbacks. Knowing a Blu-ray like I do, I was anticipating a good amount of special features. I was let down. On the special features of the disc I found, a Halo: Reach trailer, from almost a year ago. I found audio commentary, which isn't as thorough as I had anticipated. And on to my favorite parts of the features. You get a story so far video, which explains nearly everything the games have. And my personal favorite, you get a look at the history of Halo, things the games haven't been able to say. A very rich history of the back story packed into about 25 minutes of video. So my final verdict is this; The episodes are good, but the special features left me a little hung up and wanting more. So I will give Halo: Legends an 8.75/10.

Xbox 360 Demos Review

2009-08-19T22:59:00.000-07:00

For this post, since I have not bought a full retail title since Red Faction, I will be reviewing some of the new demos to hit the LIVE Marketplace. First off, lets go with Call of Juarez: Bound In Blood.

There really isn't much to this game, the demo left me not wanting to buy the game, as this feels exactly like a rail shooter. There are some good aspects to the demo, the bullet time effects feel way too drawn out, but they do help with the sense of action in the game. Another good feature is the weapon system. For a demo there wasn't much, but the many different revolvers and rifles actually made the kill scenes look different. But there isn't really much to say on it, as this game feels exactly like a western rail shooter.

Another demo I would like to at today is Batman: Arkham Asylum. This demo made me happy. I found myself, when the game started, feeling like I was playing a traditional beat-em-up. But what followed surprised me, sort of. I had a lot of fun with the styles of fighting that Batman used, from Judo throws to huge roundhouse kicks, Batman was ready to fight. That wasn't the best part. The part that swayed me was the all new detective mode, adding a sense of stealth and power to the game. Stealth mode makes you nearly undetectable from enemy sides, as you climb along walls next to the very enemies you need to take out. It really is a good stealth-fighting experience.

And finally, the meat and potatoes of this post. Lost Planet 2 has a brand new multiplayer demo that I think everyone will enjoy. The game plays like the first one, but without feeling like you are in slow motion the whole time. Instead of falling down for seconds at a time, you fall and get back up. I don't know if that was a problem for you, but for me it hindered the experience multiple times. Now the game plays like it really should. The demo isn't much, a quick boss battle, but it really is something to behold. The game itself is beautiful. The level design looks like they put just enough time into it to make you feel like it isn't polygons. and the immense size of the boss battle felt great with the size of the demo. Now for some more good things. The game has four player coop, which is more than we have gotten used to in this day. I absolutely loved the game for its playability, the beauty, and the all around fun. This game is something to look out for.

No news, again.

2009-08-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

While there are not stellar updates towards the propositions I have laid out, I have been making some breakthroughs. There will be montages updates nearly every week, as I have people who want them made, and I will make them, as a gamer helping another gamer, no matter the skill. I want you guys to stay with me here, as few or many of you as there are, because soon soon soon the new Gaming Report will be here. This is a montage of a friend of mine, I would recommend watching it, we are pretty good with this stuff.

7 Weapons That Change/Hurt Gaming

2009-08-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

Let us run through this list really quick as I need to have a chat with eBay.

7 - Hammer of Dawn - Gears of War 2 - This gun is basically the closest thing to a gun that shoots lightning can get. You hold the gun, aim the laser and Jesus does the rest. After the initial targeting time goes off a massive laser comes from the sky and obliterates anything remotely close to it. The only drawback is that it doesn't fire indoors. But think about this: How much of Gears' maps are inside of a box. Most of the time you are outside doing your thing, and the Hammer only hurts the process if you don't get killed by razorhail or a train on a 30 second speed heist.

6 - The Blue Shell - Mario Kart - Any time you feel you take the lead, this anti-happiness rock can come in and take it away from you. Remember those times when, if you actually played the Wii, where you would fight the good fight to get up to first place and then when you have a good enough lead, you feel you have won it, only to have it all taken away from you by an angry man who thinks that it is a good idea to derail the top racer. That isn't so bad, it's the hatemail afterwards.

5 - The Prophet of Regret - Halo Wars - Anyone who has played Halo Wars knows what it is I am talking about. The Prophet, right off the bat, has the ability to hover over to your base, at an alarming rate, and take out anything you may have started building. While this is counterable, only a true ranked player would be able to counter it, leaving the newbie to fend for himself when all that the player wants is a good online experience, not Baby Tactics.

4 - Sheep - Worms - Now this little ball of destruction is packed with enough damage to do more than half of the damage needed to kill a worm in one shot. But that isn't so bad. It is that fact the thing is a coin toss on who it is going to kill. It starts of walking out straight, but it will randomly turn or jump leaving you either defenseless or leaving you with a feeling of stupidity. It isn't that bad though. an enjoyable weapon, but it hurts.

3 - Excalibur - Final Fantasy Series - This sword ended everything. Anytime you had difficulty near the end of one of these gems, you would inevitably find the Excalibur. Case and Point: Final Fantasy Tactics. Right as soon as you get the strongest character in the game, is where the game really begins. I received the sword and the person I equipped it to grew three levels anytime one of my regulars grew one. It made balancing the game very hard. My solution was to not use it altogether.

2 - Every gun in Prototype - Now Prototype isn't really a bad game, but the balancing of weapons to your characters superpowers is extremely noticeable. I maxed out my hammerfist ability and I still am able to do more all around damage with the grenade launcher, Because the guns are all around. While the Multiple abilities are useful in there own way, one bullet from any gun is an instant death to any infantry, and two shots from a grenade launcher takes out any tank or helicopter. Quicker, more efficient and less aggravating than using the archaic targeting system.

1 - The B Button - Gears of War 2 - I CANNOT STRESS enough how annoying it is to have to deal with this every time I sign onto public matchmaking. While Gears has a huge number of matchmaking problems to deal with, the one they are complained to about the most? Chainsaws. Imagine if you were to take out the B button altogether, how the game would actually be a SHOOTER? Now I am not saying that you need to not put melees in a shooter to make it a shooter, but in a game where you always have a very little amount of health, the melee takes away way too much to be considered skill. Just take it away.

Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Preview!

2009-08-01T22:09:00.001-07:00

Since I still don't have any media recording device, all I can do is tell you about the new features for the Xbox 360. First off let me fill you in a little bit. The update is the result of many many people worried about the functionality of the Xbox altogether, as the activity of XBL is far better overall than for the PS3 or the Wii. I am not saying that either of those two consoles have bad online MP, but it definitely needs improvement, what with the PS3's far reaching library of titles, complimented with free online multi-player. Or you can look at the Wii's archaic multi-player system, and the horrid usage of connectivity to others, the friend code. I am not going to rag on about their faults, this post is for the 360, when Sony or Nintendo make something as interesting as Halo, expect another post. Now, the update isn't going to be released until August 11th, so don't expect to read this and than turn your 360 on to find a dashboard update until then. The update preview I received was just a taste as new features will be brought in at the full launch. One of the standout new toys was the Avatar Marketplace. From this eStore, you can find a multitude of new clothes for your avatar, or the new addition of props. My personal favorite was the Halo 3 RC Warthog. Your Avatar will actually interact with the prop and make the purchase of x amount of points seem worth it. And it is. Another good feature is the LIVE party patches. Now if you have been disconnected from a Gears match right when you have something important to say, this is for you. The party and you will reconnect in about 4 seconds, making playability easier. Another huge update was to Netflix. Now I didn't peruse the Netflix completely so I can only tell you what I know. Now you and other subscribers can actually watch movies and tv shows together,and from what I understand you can rate the movies and your avatar acts accordingly. I don't want to spoil too much for you, as the update is only ten days away, so I will leave you with this. Senior members of Xbox LIVE: we now have a new icon next to our gamertags with a respectable number as to how long we have had gold running. Now I am not sure what purpose this proves, but it is a good feature to show off seniority. Act accordingly.

Coming Soon! Again!

2009-07-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

I know that you are getting tired of me posting all of this coming soon bologna, so I am going to lay it out straight for you. I am beginning to get the wheels moving on recording gameplay, and I will be doing this soon, so in turn for waiting, I will post this gameplay video of a very good montage, enjoy.

Cancelled: Aion Beta footage +

2009-07-09T06:31:00.000-07:00

Well friends the Aion Beta was over before it started. I didn't realize that I only had the weekend. My fault. But I am working on something to help take the day over. I am saving for a capture card so that I can save my gameplay. With this ability I will reformat the entire site, making it a site also for achievement guides, Montage clips, and all around great gameplay footage. After I get the capture card, I will also start to be creating montages, so if you want to send in your film clips to LV 99 Ape Deer, on XBL. or to reach me easier at andyeatworld2002@yahoo.com. Keep gaming.

Upcoming: Aion Beta Footage

2009-07-04T04:34:00.000-07:00

I will be uploading footage of me playing the Aion beta download. So far, since I just started this game is immersive and from the start takes you into the world without too much drowning out of gameplay. More to come!

The Heavy Rain demo being played

2009-06-28T04:04:00.001-07:00

Courtesy of ign.com

This game really looks good, maybe the PS3 can pull it off just right. I am hoping for it. Realize this is only part 1, the later parts will be added on later.

Game Drought/ 1st Overview

2009-06-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

I realized today that I haven't posted anything in over a week. Why? I don't honestly know. The gaming industry remains as steadfast as usual, and I am trying to manage game to game. The reason no reviews have come up, is because I have no new game to review, so, during these times, I will review a classic game, or update the previews and predictions. Today will be the first Overview. Just read ahead and I will keep it simple.

2 - Preview - Halo 3: ODST now stands as the most anticipated game of 2009, thanks to a recent survey done by OTX. The new Bungie shooter stood at 828 on the data set, more than 8 times greater than the average game on the set. The game that stood in second place, respectively is Super Mario Bros. Wii, and in third is God of War III.

1 - I'm going to go out on a limb here, and ditch the whole concept for a minute. This is neither a prediction, nor a preview but it is good to learn. A recent Neuropsychology study shows that left handed gamers are more responsive than right handed gamers. What does that mean? We lefties, myself included are able to use both sides of our brain more easily than righties by 43 milliseconds. That is where it counts. 43 milliseconds is a lot to a gamer. I am not saying that lefties are better than righties. But there are odd cases where the left handed trump the rights and the rights trump the left.

4 Things to do while XBL is down

2009-06-16T23:58:00.001-07:00

1. Beat the Rock Band (1 or 2) Endless Setlist. Although for a senior gamer like myself, who has made it his job to destroy every rhythm game in existence, is bored with it, it is still a good experience WITH FRIENDS.

2. Charge your batteries. Why is it that we can procrastinate until they die to charge them? I think it is because Red Faction is too much for Earth.

3. Actually see some of your friends. It hadn't occurred to me until today that my good friend, David and I hadn't seen each other since we both bought Red Faction. These things can startle a man.

4. Start a countdown on Myspace. I would. Xbox is worth it. whoops sorry, LIVE is back I gotta get some me time.

Coming soon! Video feeds!

2009-06-16T23:51:00.000-07:00

I am going to purchase an EasyCap for my pc and will start using videos to go along with my reviews, updates etc. i most likely wont have it until next month so gimme some time, but if you are feeling gracious and want to help without actually paying me money, go ahead and click on my google adsense ads that google was gracious enough to give me, its the white box on the left side of the page. get chur game on

Coming soon! Predictions and Previews!

2009-06-16T03:28:00.000-07:00

In an effort to get some much needed attention to my beloved site, I am posting two new categories in the upcoming days. Predictions where I run through the news of the week and shoot off on how these updates can hurt or help us gamers. And Previews, where I will shoot off on the new and upcoming releases for the upcoming seasons and opinionize on whether we should be worried or not.

Website review for TheOrangeSplat.com

2009-06-15T19:43:00.001-07:00

I know I have almost no business reviewing a website, when I know almost nothing on the foundation of where to begin. So I am going to simplify it. The website itself is good, a fine layout, everything evenly spaced out to show you what is what and where it is. The sites whole existence is to show you guys quality Nicktoons, which is free by the way, the whole thing, without even having to complain about how bad iCarly is to kids, just for Nickolodeon to show you one episode of The Angry Beavers. The video streaming itself is a little slow mind you. My connection is fast enough so that I can watch videos without having to pause and buffer. On these videos, a little bit of buffering is required, but its NOTHING to be angry at. The shows themselves are what you are there to watch, so sit back grab a food and watch some quality Nicktoons on TheOrangeSplat.com. This website gets a 9/10.

Prototype Review

2009-06-15T02:52:00.001-07:00

Where to begin? Before I start let me get one thing straight, I like this game, the challenging difficulty (on hard mode), and the multitude of unique abilities you can upgrade make this a playable game. But having said that, this game needs some work. You start off the game as Alex Mercer, an albeit superhuman who wakes up in the morgue and has no idea what befell him before. You make your way out and get the first snapshot of Manhattan as it is now, ripping itself apart. All you remember, aside from your name, is your sister, Dana. After a few "orientation" quests the game begins, and you are underway. It is a pretty simple sandbox game, kill a number of these, or follow this guy until he gets to the base. But in that is not where the game lies. During the game, before the first boss you can upgrade almost everything with the character, be it new ways to manipulate the virus type organism inside you into new weapons and armor, or the movement and jumping abilities. Than there are the enemies. Most of the enemies will go down in one hit, unless you are unlucky enough to run into a set of hunters early into the game. most of the time you spend fighting them will either be running away or cursing the sloppy controls of the game to not let you target a hunter with a car, but an enemy 3 miles west of Greenland. The controls and overall simple look of the city hurt the game, but not as much as the bossfights. AGGRAVATING. Take for example the boss 25 missions into the game should get your vocal chords hoarse enough to simulate strep throat. It will NEVER stop attacking you, your only hope is to run around enough hitting it with whipfist enough times to have it die of old age. Before I get to my biggest problem with the game I wanted to point out how bad the game is at expressing your power. For a good 5-6 missions I had to go through the game without some of my powers, sounds a little cliche, but this character NEEDS every powerup he can get. The immasculating abilities nearly every enemy exhumes makes your powerups feel almost useless. Now, my biggest problem with the game is the game itself. I know it seems stupid to say that but it needed to be said. The game is playable, to a certain frustrating level, but the power of the main character isn't really what a one man army should have. I give Prototype, sorry [Prototype] a 7.75/10.

1 Vs. 100 Beta Review

2009-06-15T02:36:00.001-07:00

So far there isn't much to report on this game. I have played 2 different types of games on 1 Vs. 100 and it really is kind of addicting. There is a mode where you are The One, and your job is to either eliminate the mob, through a series of suprisingly intellectual questions, and throughout the course of the game the mob, one by one, can be eliminated. If at the end of the game you have eliminated the entire mob, you will win the prize at the end, be it points, a game, anything. Or, if some point in the game you miss a question, you are eliminated, and the prize, usually points, gets split up throughout the entire mob. But the game is not this black and white, win or lose. After any question in your journey you feel that enough is enough you can opt out and get whatever the prize is at that point. Now the other gametype is where you are in the mob. Your job is to answer questions and to MAKE SURE that you get them right, because the more questions you get right in a row, the better your score. Now since I am not sure what happens at the end, since this is just a beta, the game looks to be a stellar addition to the promising Primetime lineup for Xbox LIVE.

E3 Round Up P.2 Microsoft Minor Announcements

2009-06-11T01:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the other announcements that Microsoft has made:

- Rock Band: The Beatles was announced, the opening video looked simply stunning, and now with the added support of multiple people using the same instrument simultaneously, say for instance 3 singers. Also 45 songs were announced. Plus the 360 will have songs available for download.

- Tony Hawk: Ride, has been unveiled. With the added support of the motion sensitive skateboard peripheral, this new game looks to be promising. It's like skateboarding, in your livingroom without peril.

- Forza 3, looks to be the game that can topple Gran Turismo 5 from the King of the Mountain spot. With even more cars and realistic gameplay.

- Of course Metal Gear Solid: Rising has been opened for the public to see. I am not sure why it is called Metal Gear Solid, because this time around our new protagonist is the amazing Raiden.

- Some new NXE announcements now, Facebook and Twitter are now on their way to everyones favorite gaming system, along with streaming of Last.fm, one of the biggest online music catalogs ever, and the ability to share with your friends.

- Shadow Complex was unveiled, showing off EPIC's new side scrolling game, a gameplay trailer was all that they showed, it looks like a strong addition to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

- And last but CERTAINLY not least, is Project Natal. It is almost indescribable from me so here is a video of the "future" of gaming.

Only time will tell right? In an unrelated note, I found out that Natal is Portugese for Christmas, so do with that what you will.

Microsoft for this year gets an 9.25/10

E3 Round Up P.1 Microsoft Major Announcements

2009-06-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

I know that everyone is doing there own roundup, so why shouldn't I do mine? I am not going to talk about last year, what happened then either worked for you or didn't. What I am going to talk about how well the companies outlook can be based on the major announcements they made during the conference. Lets start with Microsoft:

There are a few major announcements from Microsoft this year;
- Announcement of the Kojima projects; we all know what the Castlevania series is capable of, we have seen it demonstrated in the difficulty of Castlevania II, as well as the sheer awesome playability of the side scrolling Symphony of the Night, which in my opinion, was the best one. But the reveal trailer for this moving artwork was stunning. I am not going to reveal too much, as it may spoil your appetite, but i will provide the video:

Isn't it pretty? Now I don't want to take up your whole day with all of their stellar announcements, so I will sum it up to one or two more points.

- The announcement of Halo: Reach, and Halo: ODST's gameplay trailer. I am a HUGE Halo fan. I myself have logged in over 3000 matches of public matchmaking, and around 1000 custom games, so this was no small announcement for me. Here is the trailer for Halo: Reach, brought to you by Machinima:

Here is the trailer for ODST's gameplay;

Enjoy those trailers while I follow up this review with the supplemental announcements, not in quality, but in time allowance.

Red Faction: Guerilla Multiplayer Review

2009-06-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

When you have dissolved through the vast array of options that the single player campaign in RFG has to offer, you are not at a crossroads. for those of you who have a Gold activated LIVE account, or a current subscription to the PSN, or a membership on you PC, you can get into some of the most refreshing multiplayer since halo revitalized the FPS category. To start off with you don't have much unlocked, the first set of characters, your first weapon, and a default badge. Around my fifth game, I had accrued enough experience points so that I was able to customize my character more. I am now at 15000 experience points into the game, and the sheer vastness of this multiplayer is amazing. I have unlocked more than I was able to unlock in single player. With the experience you get, you unlock new color sets for your badges, new badges, all new characters, for the campaign and for each team in MP. You can also unlock new sledgehammers. But I find the greatest part in the mulitplayer rewards is the bonus XP events. These make it so that you can unlock bonus experience for nearly everything you do. I have unlocked bonus XP events for killing an enemy in the air, shooting him in the head, or even being next to a teammate while he kills an enemy. I am not completely finished with the MP, as the highest in experience sets you to get to 150000 points. There is one more point that completely sets this game apart from others. Most games have a class engine that lets you pick from, for example, warrior, mage, archer. RFG does away with that almost altogether. They introduced the backpack system to equalize the guns out. While this isn't the game where half of the arsenal kills you in one shot. The backpack system makes you take your time with the enemy, instead of running in there with just a gun. You can take your choice from 10 backpacks, be it spearing through a wall where the enemy is hiding, or give yourself a temporary boost of health and invulnerability with the heal pack. All in all, the multiplayer is an extremely rewarding experience, giving you presents along with experience. My only annoyance with this game is the stability of the multiplayer, as i have been dropped or my friends have been dropped from many matches. Red Faction: Guerilla multiplayer gets a 9.5/10

Red Faction: Guerilla Campaign Review

2009-06-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

When you have played video games over a certain amount of time, sometimes you find the games being released a little redundant. I know at times I have. Be it the hundreds of FPS' being released a year, or the multitude of community games all over the internet. For a while, all I had to play at my house was the same experience every day. Some may feel similar, wake up, work, or look for work, and when you get home you think to yourself what you'd want to play now. I was able to play Red Faction: Guerilla. In RFG you are handed the main character Alec Mason. he has arrived on Mars, from Earth to prosper in the colony of Parker, 1 of 6 colonies here. A short 15 minutes into the game, the cutscenes are over, there are no more training sessions to do, it's game time. "What's new?" I said to myself as I started the first level. And as soon as you step onto the floor the game hits you fast. RFG has a free roaming environment that is as beautiful as it is dangerous. There are 104 missions to choose from, but not in a specific order. you are free to do as you please, a handful of different guerilla missions to tide you over in between story obligated missions. But now the meat and potatoes of this game. The genius' at Geo-Mod, have developed a fresh breath of life for the gaming community, no longer do you have to go through a vast array of badguys in order to save the hostage, or get a new gun just to open a door. Instead of walking through the door, you can drive a dumptruck straight into the building, leveling ALL in your path. if there is a certain enemy you need to kill in a building, why go through all the trouble of going through all these tasks just to put a bullet in one man's head? RFG does away with that. You are free to destroy anything in the game you want, aside from the planet istelf, buildings, cars, signs, even the enemy soldiers with just a swing of the super-sledgehammer you have been given. Yet, even this incredible experience has its' faults. Nothing major, the cars and machinery that you are given, are all a little too loose to drive, and it seems that hitting a rock can turn you upside down, fresh for a beating. You will be finding that the game is challenging even on normal mode, so don't be angered if you can't hack hard mode just yet. the story itself seems pushed out of the way of the pure destruction, as you feel like more of an artist than a liberator when destroying a building or saving a hostage from said building. I don't want to ruin what ever amount of a story there is so I won't mention much on it. All in all this is a very good buy, the single player campaign of RFG gets an 8.5/10.