Topic: Team [404 - Team Name Not Found] Deliberation Station

@TowaHerschel7 You “houseton we have a problem.”

@TowaHerschel7 Why are you asking me I have nothing to do with this.

Your team has a pretty nice list of games this round, I need to remember to follow the conversation on ths one.

@TowaHerschel7 don't worry you are in the team. As for the games you have played don't worry that will happen we are rating every retail ps3 game.

303 Team Name not found
@Jaz007 @themcnoisy @Th3solution @RogerRoger @Frigate @TowaHerschel7

My initial impressions.

Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion XL Papaya Studio - Not important

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow MercurySteam / Kojima Productions -Existing

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 MercurySteam / Kojima Productions - Important

Catherine Atlus Persona Team - Important

Chaotic: Shadow Warriors FUN Labs - Pointless

Champion Jockey: G1 Jockey & Gallop Racer Koei - Existing

🎮 Child of Eden Q Entertainment - Important

🎮 Civilization Revolution Firaxis Games - Important

Clash of the Titans Bandai Namco -?
Clive Barker's Jericho Mercury's team -?

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Ubisoft Shanghai - Not Important

🎮 Colin McRae: Dirt Code masters - Existing

Colin McRae: Dirt 2 Code masters - Important

College Hoops 2K7 Visual Concepts - Important

College Hoops 2K8 Visual Concepts - Existing

🎮 Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 EA Los Angeles - Important

Conan Nihilistic Software -?

🎮 Condemned 2: Bloodshot Monolith Productions - Important

Conflict: Denied Ops Pivotal Games -?

Crash Time 4: The Syndicate Synetic - Pointless

Crash Time 5 Synetic -?

Create EA Bright Light - Important

Cross Edge Compile Heart - Pointless (this is one of the worst games on PS3 for every criteria)

🎮 Crysis 2 Crytek - Important

Crysis 3 Crytek - Very Important

🎮 CSI: Fatal Conspiracy Ubisoft Montreal - Existing

Cyberbike 2 EKO Software - ?

Damage Inc. Pacific Squadron WWII Trickstar Games -?

Damnation Blue Omega Entertainment -?

🎮 Dance Dance Revolution Konami - Very Important

DanceDance Revolution New Moves Konami - Existing

Dance! It's Your Stage Neopica -?

Dance Magic Targem Games - Existing

Dance on Broadway Ubisoft - Pointless

@LieutenantFatman feel free my man.

So, I’ll start with the couple games I have played —
Castlevania Lords of Shadow. It seems a long time since I played this, but I remember having a favorable time with it, but honestly it really didn’t leave a very lasting impression. I’m not particularly a Castlevania fan (Metroidvania games frustrate me) but Lords of Shadow was completely different in that it’s a 3D linear action-adventure game. It really was a ‘Castlevania’ game in name only and borrowing some of the shared world, characters, and themes. I think many Castlevania purists hold some disdain for it because it did take the series in a different direction. But ultimately, I seem to recall it as one of sevral God of War clones that clamored to tap into that quick paced action combat with fantastical creature enemies. Kind of like Darksiders, Dante’s Inferno, Devil May Cry, etc.
A 85 on Metacritic is nothing to sneeze at though.

Importance to gaming - very little. No real innovation here that I’m aware of.
Technical achievement - average. The combat with the chain whip was pretty fun, and I think the game’s mechanics ran smoothly, but I don’t remember it overachieving.
Artistic Merit - maybe slightly above average. I remember the setting and art design to be pretty good.
Personal opinion - average. A decent time, like I said, but ultimately forgettable.

I did not play the sequel Lords of Shadow 2. Apparently it’s major accomplishment was to wrap up the narrative (which I don’t remember the story at all) and went from a linear path to more of an open world, while keeping much of the combat and upgrade mechanics. (A similar development akin to Batman Arkham Asylum leading to Arkham City). Overall I think it was more of a technical achievement, but still mostly borrowing from innovations and mechanics that other franchises either did first or did better. It is rated a 63 on Metacritic, but has a wide variance of critical reception.

Interestingly, I didn’t realize that these are Hideo Kojima projects. Not that it makes a difference, but I think the game’s are rather pedestrian in comparison to his other work.

I’d probably say “existing” for both. One could make an argument that the first game might have been “important” for the sheer fact that it was a Castlevania game rebooted for the modern era, but like I said, I think it lost a little of its roots in the process of transforming to the 3D realm. I’d be interested if others played it and have any thoughts.

Catherine is the only other game I played.
Importance to gaming - fairly substantial given its ground breaking themes and unique gameplay
Technical achievement - probably average, with gameplay, cutscene, gameplay, cutscene, etc
Artistic merit - pretty high. Great visual style and such unique design choices
Personal opinion - good to above average, if nothing else than to experience something different. The puzzle gameplay was good but could be frustrating.

I’d put it at ‘Important’ probably.

@Th3solution great round up on Castlevania. Im not a fan of the series which is strange as a long time gamer. I'm unsure what it is about them, maybe the aesthetic but I just can't muster any motivation to play them.

@themcnoisy Yeah, I tried playing Symphony of the Night once and I just couldn’t get into it either. I’d say I personally enjoyed Lords of Shadow more than it, but that’s strictly a personal preference issue and I don’t discount the seminal greatness that Symphony of the Night is. It’s just not my cup o’ tea. And you’re right - the whole Dracula story should be more compelling, but I can’t muster much interest in the world.

@TowaHerschel7 Apologies; I've gone back and edited the first post. Welcome aboard!

As for our current list, I'm gonna have to give them some serious consideration, as I've never played any of them before either. Thanks to @Th3solution for the excellent start; I'll read through that and do some research before offering my rankings, but I'm gonna defer to / support everybody else this week, since I haven't had any direct experience to draw from.

Hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes here! The game isn't on my team's list but I would like to put forward my view on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 to give a different perspective on the game and hopefully help in your decision making. Feel completely free to disregard this though.
Few people played it (the game bombed) and the critical reception from many major outlets was poor, although Metacritic does show a wide range of scores. I loved it though and feel it is one of the most underrated games on the PS3/360.

The combat is definitely the games biggest strength. It's very flowing, rhythmic and feels natural and weighty, with good feedback. That's not to say it's slow, as it paces itself quite nicely. Additionally, combos are fun and extremely satisfying to pull off. I'd say it's an improvement over the system in the first Lords of Shadow, so for those here who played that game, hopefully you have some idea of what it was like in Lords of Shadow 2. The upgrade system is also quite organic and dynamic in how it encourages various combos to be used.
Dracula has a wide array of vampiric abilities, including being able to turn into a bat, mist and suck the blood of weakened foes. Carefully using each of these further builds on the base combat.

The stealth in the game was much maligned, but I will maintain until my dying breath that reviewers simply weren't playing it properly. Additionally, there are only a couple of mandatory stealth sections. No, they're not amazing, but they don't particularly drag the title down, either.

The game is quite nice looking - particularly the castle sections, with its gothic architecture and gorgeous lighting. Indeed, Dracula's Castle sections are a highlight and I really enjoyed those parts of the game. Much of the city is quite lacking in visual diversity, however. Nevertheless, exploring and unlocking more of the city was reasonably enjoyable. Half the fun for me in these types of games is exploring the whole map and finding upgrades.

The first Lords of Shadow had a straight "level based" structure, and you simply went from point A to point B. Lords of Shadow 2 eschewed this for an open world structure. Thankfully the map is manageable, unfolds at a nice pace, and is nicely designed. It's not pure "Metroidvania" in design, but is certainly closer to that mould than the God of War-esque Lords of Shadow 1. Interestingly, a good point of reference for those who haven't played the game would be the 2018 God of War. It's similarly structured and also uses light puzzles and upgrades to unlock more of the map and find secrets and upgrades.

Lords of Shadow 2 has an all-star voice cast led by Patrick Stewart, Robert Carlyle, Natascha McElhone, Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy). It's all quite hammy and overly theatrical, but they're having fun with the silly script. Robert Carlyle's Dracula does sound a little bored, however.

The game is unfortunately a little buggy. Most the time it runs and plays nicely, but I did encounter a couple of hard crashes on the 360. There was a sound glitch in one cut scene that would crash the system. It could only be averted by pressing the dashboard button as the scene started playing. I don't know the situation on the PS3, however.

Anyhoo, I don't feel the game was worthy of the derision it received. As a very late-gen title (2014) it was always bound to be overlooked in favour of the new PS4 offerings. It's not perfect and I wouldn't say it is an essential play, but it was deserving of more attention and remains a fun hack n slash title that I really enjoyed.

@Frigate You could be. Either way I can't wait to hear your summary of the games.

@mookysam Thank you very much and I have edited my initial impressions with that recommendation.

@mookysam Thanks, man! A much more detailed and passionate summary than my post. I had it as existing, and perhaps it needs more credence. By virtue of no one playing it, I think it is a hard to say it’s ‘very important’. Maybe important? I’ll mull it over.

@Jaz007 @themcnoisy @RogerRoger @Frigate @TowaHerschel7

I had a few minutes at dinner so I just did a little research on some of these games I had never heard of. I put my initial ranking in parentheses after the summary —

Cartoon Network: Punch Time -
A Super Smash Bros clone, poorly executed with niche characters from Cartoon Network. Ugh. (Not important)
Chaotic: Shadow Warriors - based on an animated TV show, it was described as bland combat and tame exploration in IGN’s review, which is one of the few reviews you’ll actually find. Not even enough critical reception to garner a Metacritic score (pointless)
[the awkwardly named] Champion Jockey: G1 Jockey & Gallop Racer - basically a horse jockey racing game, evidently utilized the Move controller. No major outlet reviews online, but most customer reviews are positive. (Not Important)
Child of Eden - a game I’d never heard of but reading about it has me very curious. Quite well received, a 81 Metacritic score, and with a few superlative reviews such as a perfect score from Joystiq and slotted as the 6th best game of 2011 by Metro GameCentral.
It’s a rail shooter which utilizes Move motion controls (and Kinect on 360) in conjunction with sound, tactile vibration, music, and visuals. You shoot objects and they produce a musical sounds upon their destruction.
It almost sounds like it’s in the same vein of Flower, although the visuals are more esoteric and the gameplay deeper. It’s created by the maker of Rez and apparently serves as a prequel to that game.
The gameplay and screenshots look fantastic, and very artistic. With audio, visual, and tactile feedback, it seems highly innovative and relatively groundbreaking, although I’m not sure how influential it became since I think it remained relatively niche. Furthermore, the Xbox 360 version with Kinect support sounds like it was the superior version, one of the few games that actually implemented Kinect well. But reviewers said the game didn’t rely on gimmicky motion controls and could be enjoyed almost as fully with a standard controller. (Important)

A few more for your consideration —

Civilization Revolution - turn based strategy game in the long-standing series. 85 Metacritic score, and won a few awards, including strategy game of the year from OXM. I’ve never been into strategy games, so can only judge based on critical review, but it seems like this is a polished product. Not sure it influenced future gaming much other than to propagate the series including Civ 5 and even a sequel Civ Revolution 2 (Important)
Clash of the Titans - a hack and slash action game based on the movie from the 80’s. Evidently dismal in all aspects. 41 Metacritic score. Probably a shameless attempt to tap into the God of War gravy train. A game so poorly executed that it probably killed an otherwise promising IP. (Pointless)
Clive Barker’s Jericho - apparently Clive Barker is an accomplished horror writer, FYI. I had no idea. This game, a horror tactical FPS type game, has rather mediocre reviews - 63 Metacritic, but quite mixed with some occasional praise. The game is squad based, so you jump around playing as 7 different squad members with different special abilities, thus leading to some of the tactical aspects of the gameplay. Unfortunately the game seems to have suffered from poor AI, clunky controls, and bad map design. Artistically I think it looks like a solid creepy atmospheric game. The wiki page notes rumors about a sequel. I think the squad based tactical ideas sound like could be innovative, but I have a feeling we’ll not see anything come of it. (Existing)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - based on the movie, which is based on a children’s book, this game was average at best, 62 Metacritic. Bland appearing, gameplay seems mundane, but the game’s real claim to fame is it’s easy platinum trophy. I think it was one of the first simple platinums along with Hanna Montana and Terminator Salvation, so early trophy hunters clamored to play it for that reason. I’m almost tempted to say the game was important for the platinum alone and it may have inspired other “easy platinum” games to follow, but alas I think that probably is giving it too much credit. (Existing)

@Th3solution that's some great work Sol. Im using your homework to edit some of my impressions. I will track the dance games later, currently in Cheshire Oaks shopping with the wife.

Ie) Standing against a pillar outside Next clothes shop posting to Pushsquare.

Dance on Broadway.

Part of the Ubisoft Just Dance franchise (not to be mistaken for the far better last gen dance dance Konami franchise).

Applauded for bringing Broadway music to consoles. However it had only 20 songs and they are not the original versions of the songs. You can't select difficulty. There is no campaign mode. Rubbish graphics.

Seems like a cash grab. Unimportant or pointless - I'm veering towards pointless as on all the criteria it actually fails big time.

Dance Magic Gagin games taken directly from their website page;

What if dancing could heal the world? In Dance Magic, it can.

Imagine a world where every person is not only a dancer, but also a warrior fighting for peace on Earth. These people have developed Dance Magic, a new form of biological energy that can only be realized by dancing. From the smallest personal disagreement to widespread military conflicts—all can be resolved through dancing duels.

Now worldwide peace is threatened by a rising evil. A powerful dancer has plans to use Dance Magic to take over the planet. People will die and the power of dance will be used to destroy, not to heal. Join the fight to stop him! Take part in the most important dance-off of all. You and your friends can save the planet, and the human race!

Pfffffff omg that's the best. On to the task at hand I have no idea how we can grade this other than to look at user reviews and steam. The game also features a couple of great features like custom tracks and multiple modes which are unique.

I am tempted to give this existing as it does go all out and seems like fun with tons of replay ability. However the ideas haven't caught on, and artistically it's below par. For tech I could give it a good for custom tracks alone and my opinion is favourable - I will probably pick this up on Steam and have it on my to buy list.

If we gave it not important (especially for ps3) that's a fair grouping but I really want to play this game for some reason.

@themcnoisy As crazy as that Dance Magic game sounds, it’s actually not that far from the concepts in the Persona Dancing games, which I am really enjoying P4 DAN right now. Fending off shadow enemies through dance expression is akin to dancing to develop ‘dance magic’ powers to battle those who would use such magic for evil. Sounds corny as all get out, but it somehow works 😄

@Frigate Impressive list there, man. You’ve played a bunch of these. Care to expound on a couple of them that I’m curious about which you rank highly? Like Create, Crysis 2 (vs 3), and especially Condemned 2 which you’re on the fence about. I’m interested in your thoughts on those in particular because they are important yet I know little to nothing about them. I might want to play them! 😋