Cam's Eye View: Ratchet and Clank series part 3: Ratchet and Clank Up Your Arsenal for the PS2

Well then, here I am talking about ANOTHER Ratchet and Clank game. I seriously don’t know why I didn’t want to play this series at first. Maybe it was because, like the Jak and Daxter franchise, each year after the first game was released, they came out with a sequel. It’s like the Guitar Hero and Rockband ordeal we are dealing with right now. Now, I am not saying this series is bad.  I mean, I have only played three of their games, though the first two don’t age that well in areas. The first was funny and had a lot of the series staples in voice acting and writing, but it felt underwhelming and tedious at times. The second game was definitely better, but got WAY too hard near the end of the game. So, here I am talking about the third game, Ratchet and Clank: Up your Arsenal! I don’t know if I am going to review Deadlock as part of this retrospective, but since we have a new game coming out this year called Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One, I think I will talk about what I consider the best game of the PS2 games in the series. So, let’s blast our way through Ratchet and Clank: Up your Arsenal.

The story takes place at the home of our two main heroes Ratchet and Clank as they are watching television and come across a news report about Ratchet’s home planet being under attack by an alien group called Tyhrranoids. After taking the aliens out, they find out that an evil mad scientist robot thing named Dr. Nefarious is behind all this and it is up to Ratchet and Clank to team up with some old friends and take him down. The story is basically a cat-and-mouse chase to stop Dr. Nefarious that will give you a good amount of play time for your dollar.

The gameplay is yet again like the past two games with running, gunning, puzzle solving, and vehicle combat. You again control Ratchet who can use a huge arsenal of weapons like the Suck Cannon, Blitz Gun, Agents of Doom, Flux Rifle, Quack-o-Ray, Spitting Hydra, and the Shock Blaster. You can upgrade each gun by using it more and more, and the more you use it, the better it gets. My favorite has to be the Quack-o-Ray since you can turn enemies into ducks. It is just pure awesome sauce. The Clank sections are more or less the same with some mixing up going on, like going through a stage set as Clank to being inside a giant robot suit. Clank still has his little minions, but can also use a gun that shoots a banana that is used to solve puzzles with his one-eyed monkey sidekick. This is also the first game that has multiplayer where you can choose what you look like, and can play through typical multiplayer settings like Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Siege. It wasn’t anything mind-blowing back when this game was out, but since this was the first game to have multiplayer, it was pretty good. There is also more vehicle combat in this game. There are also a lot more missions in each level, where they get harder, but you can gain more bolts. One more thing I almost forgot to put in is that there are more Colosseum-like challenges with some tricky platforming mixed into it if you need to get more money for weapons and armor.

The graphics still hold up pretty well by today’s standards. You can say it looks just like Going Commando and, while yes it does look like the second game, it still looks nice. The enemies and characters have such nice animation that it gives them more personality. The music is also nice to listen to, but, in my opinion, is nothing special. The voice acting however is just awesome as usual. The usual two voice actors for Ratchet and Clank, James Arnold Taylor and David Kaye, do their typically good job and deliver cleverly written lines. However, the best new voice talent to come into this game voices the evil antagonist Dr. Nefarious, Armin Sherman. Now, just to put it on the record, I think Dr. Nefarious is one of the best villains of all time. I just love this villain. He isn’t an evil maniacal fiend (well, not fully). He, literally, just has a few screws loose that make him insanely funny and somewhat threatening. He is kind of like Ratigan from the Great Mouse Detective or Hades from Hercules, where he is funny to listen to but is threatening too, since he could snap at any moment and blow something up. He wouldn’t know what it would blow up, but he would blow something up. I think one of the things that makes him funny is that he will freeze up at times and have soap opera recordings play until his butler slaps him outside the head. The other thing is his butler Lawrence, voiced by Michael Bell, is just so nonchalant about his disrespect for Nefarious in such a calm monotone. These two just make the perfect villain duo because of how they work off each other. Insomniac definitely knew that they were doing when making these two villains. 

However, there are some faults with this game that still haven’t been fixed much from past games, and they just annoy the heck out of me. The final boss fight with Dr. Nefarious is complete and utterly unfair! I mean seriously, here is how it goes down. You first fight Nefarious with some easily dodgeable attacks, and then he starts throwing these blue and black shock bomb things, which are pretty hard to see if you don’t watch carefully. After you use up half of your weapons to take down half of his health, he flies off and then you have to run through hordes of the toughest enemies in the game, and you can’t have any source or way of reloading all of your ammo for your guns, and very little health when you’re running through the field. You then fight him a second time, and his attacks are faster, and you’re forced to use other weapons that barely do anything. It makes it so much harder than it needs to be if you don’t get the best armor in the game. Good luck getting it though, because it’s like a million or so bolts. Again, the problem with this game is that everything is way too expensive still. They fixed it up a tiny bit, but still, it’s very annoying. Another thing I don’t like is that when you complete those stadium challenges, the prize money drops. This means it’s going to take forever if you are trying to gain every last bolt for the best weapons and armor. Some areas in the game are also way too tedious. A few examples is going through Quark’s secret HQ, the invasion on the main hub ship, and well, the final boss. Another thing that I think hurts this game by today’s standards is that it feels like not a lot has changed in the PS2 series of the games. I mean, it just builds upon and fixes the problems the past game had, but you still play very short areas with Clank and, I don’t know, something just didn’t feel right about the PS2 series of games as a whole to me. Don’t get me wrong. I love the second and third game, but I don’t know. I hear that the PS3 series of games is better, and I won’t do a review of Deadlock due to it not being considered a real part of the storyline.

Overall though, this is a good game, definitely one of the best on the PS2, and I would highly recommend checking it out and buying it along with the second game if you like it. I am definitely looking forward to reviewing the PS3 games since it actually has a progressive form, and from what I have seen, a good story. I am also excited about the new Ratchet and Clank All-4-One. Ratchet and Clank is definitely a good series of games and are all pretty solid. I say, check out the first three PS2 games, and then try out the PS3 games. I might have been a little rough on this game, but here is just a quick summary. First, game is okay, but doesn’t age well. The second game is also really good, but is really hard. The third PS2 game is also very good, but didn’t feel really different from the last two games. So, yeah, signing off and thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more of the Ratchet and Clank Retrospective for the first PS3 game in the series, Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction for the PS3, and more reviews here on Cam’s Eye View.

This game gets an 8 out of 10



Cam's Eye View: Under the Skin for the PS2 review

Hey everyone, I must apologize right now for saying that Chulip was the weirdest game I have ever played. Now, I won’t hang or electrocute myself for my screw-up, but I will tell you guys about a very unknown video game made by Capcom. I will warn you though that there are not enough therapists in the world to solve what mental problem this game has. So then, I guess you’re wondering what game I am talking about? It’s a chaotic mental case of a game simply known as Under the Skin for the PS2. This little gem of a game is basically yet another over-the-top weird Japanese game that somehow got past the psyche screen. There are not enough medical pills to cure what kind of madness this game brings onto our mental stability. Let’s dive into this mental case of a game, and see what makes it tick.

The story of Under the Skin is about a blue alien named Cosmi, who is traveling to earth in a ritual that he must do to become a great warrior. He accidentally crashes into a satellite and lands on earth. His goal on the planet is to cause as much chaos and mischief as possible. It’s a cute little story, but it seemed like not a lot of work went into it, but I’ll talk about it later.

The gameplay in Under the Skin is hard to explain. It says on Wikipedia that it’s an action adventure game, but it’s more along the lines of stealth, action, and mini-games mixed together. There are about 8 levels, and some of them share the same goal, like collect 500 on your own or with another alien, get more coins than the other alien, team up to take down Nemesis from the Resident Evil game, and others. The main goal is to pretty much collect coins. The way you do this is to take a human disguise and use multiple array of weapons to get coins from the humans, like rocket launchers, elephants, pins, bowling balls, T-rex, laser guns, shotguns, hula hoops, and you get the idea. There are a lot of weapons you can use, and you somewhat have to be tactical on how you tackle each level. There is also a multiplayer mode and a co-op mode where you can do a lot of what you did in the single player. You can also choose different aliens after you beat them in the single player mode. You have to be careful though; if you’re hit once, your human disguise loses its clothes, leaving the human in its undies, and if you’re hit again, you turn back into an alien and lose some coins. You then must scan another human and make it your disguise. Some levels also have threats, like fast cars, gunman, thieves, and alien-tracking robots.

The graphics in the game are very bright and colorful and everyone has a cartoonish look. The areas are small so you won’t get lost. However, even if the areas are small, large hazards like the cars, elephants, grim reapers, and etc make it easier for you to get hit by them. The music is, while not memorable, really wacky and crazy. It definitely has a rather unique art style, which kind of reminds me of Costume Quest, and Wind Waker since it has that unique cel-shaded look. The aliens also have unique designs that are different throughout each level. The humor, while out of my age limit, is rather cute and it is funny to see people fly around when you hit them with a boxing glove and when they all panic.

There are however, a lot of glaring problems with this game that wouldn’t pass if it were released today. The game is really and I mean REALLY short! You thought Kane and Lynch 2 and Vanquish were short, it took me two and a half hours to beat Under the Skin’s single player mode. That would not fly today. It just annoys me at how short this game was. This game also came from Capcom, so I feel a little betrayed they would do this. Two-and-a-half hours are more like a 4-dollar DLC game. I also don’t like how repetitious the single player mode is and how simple and weak the story is. It’s like no thought, besides the opening and ending, were put into the story. I just hate how games of today think they can make a 3 to 6 hour campaign and just focus on multiplayer. Stop doing this, game developers! JUST STOP DOING IT! I mean seriously, I might have grown up with the N64 and into the modern days of gaming, but there are still things in the modern day game industry that piss me off! Make a worthwhile story mode and focus on multiplayer only if you have made a good story and worthwhile single player, which this game fails on both accounts of story and multiplayer. There just isn’t enough substance to make this a full price tag buy. There is just nothing memorable about this game! This seems like a game you would give a video game school as an assignment to see how you could make it better or something.

This game is a mess, and there is nothing memorable or noteworthy about it. The levels and missions are repetitious, the story is half-baked, it’s way too short, and it just gets everything wrong besides a decent graphical presentation and just a really weird premise with cameos from the Resident Evil franchise. If you like this kind of weird crazy Japanese style game, then I could easily say yes, but for everyone else, just don’t go buy it. I mean if you were to buy it, just don’t pay 10 bucks for it. Now, it definitely isn’t black list worthy, but it almost falls in that area. The only reason I would recommend checking out this game is if you have some time to kill before the next big release or you just want to play a really bizarre game.

This game gets a 4 out of 10



Heavy Metal Gamer: Kousoku Kidoutai - World Super Police Review

Heavy Metal Gamer: Kousoku Kidoutai - World Super Police Review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2AJqv99D9Y

Brand new review, a little bit shorter then the last one. Also I do want to apologize at first for me pronouncing the name of this game, and its characters wrong. I am not very good at Japanese names. I do hope you enjoy the review, and thank you for watching.

Cam's Eye View: Final Fantasy 10 for the PS2 review

As you all may know, Final Fantasy 6 and 9 happen to be two of my personal favorite games of all time, right up there with Brutal Legend, Psychonauts, Heavy Rain, God of War 3, and Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2. I really love the characters, the story, and the design of both games. You will all also know that I HATE how the fighting system has changed in the more recent games like Final Fantasy 12 and 13. I just don’t see the point, when the entire series has based itself on the turn-by-turn active time battle system. I don’t understand them making the game look like Engrave or Demon’s Soul. When I play a Final Fantasy game, I want active time battles with turns. I don’t want this Kingdom Hearts-style game play that requires a lot of multi-tasking. It all seems like it went downhill right after the release of what I think was and is the last great Final Fantasy game, Final Fantasy 10. The first official Final Fantasy title to hit the PS2, it was considered to be one of the greatest RPG games of all time. I still stand by that, even though some things didn’t age well throughout the game, but I still consider it better than Final Fantasy 7. So, let’s dive right into what I think is the last great title in the Final Fantasy franchise.




The story weirdly starts us off with all the characters together, who will all be seen later in the game. The main hero of the game Tidus starts to tell us what has happened. It then takes us to the high tech city of Zanarkand, where Tidus made a living as a famous Blitzball player. While playing through a game for the multiple fans of this underwater soccer, something starts to attack the city. The thing that is attacking is a monstrous being called Sin. As Tidus escapes the stadium, he meets his mentor/guardian named Auron. They try to escape the city, fighting off Sin’s scale monsters and a killer sea cucumber, Sin. Something goes down where Tidus is sent years, and I mean like 1000 years or so, into the future. He is then is found by a young woman named Rikku, who is a leader of a group of thieves. They finish a mission, and then Sin attacks. To make this shorter, Tidus then wakes up on an island, meets other warriors, and he meets this young summoner named Yuna. He then joins Wakka, a Blitzball warrior. Lulu a curvy black mage, Kimarhi a dragoon/blue mage, and Rikku and Auron also join the party. They must protect Yuna so she can use her powers to defeat Sin. I’m not going to spoil who the main bad guys are, since some people already know or haven’t played this game yet. This is for people who haven’t played the game or are just curious about what I think about it. Well, read on and you will find out.

The game play featured in Final Fantasy 10 is just how I like it. It’s turn-based, where you can take all the time in the world to plan out your strategy to take out the monsters. Sadly, instead of 4 fighters, you get the Final Fantasy 7 and 8, a 3-person party, where you need to plan who you want out during the game. They basically all have their unique classes and abilities. A good example of this is when Yuna can summon a guardian monster that will take the place of the two other fighters, but will stay in battle unless killed. Other good examples are like Wakka has a slot machine-style special ability, Lulu can cast offensive magic, and Kimarhi can absorb some energy from enemies and sometimes learn different abilities from the monsters he fights. Just like other games in the series, there are limit breakers where the character can perform super powerful moves, like Lulu can cast multiple spells and Tidus and Auron have super powerful sword attacks. The main mini-game for this game is, of course, the Blitzball sport. To be honest, I don’t like it that much and I’m just going to say that you swim, make a move, and repeat.

The graphics look pretty good even though by today’s standards, some of the facial features look a little weird, but it can’t be helped. I do like a lot of the monster designs, especially the robots. Now, in a second, I’m going to say my thoughts on the whole “future theme” that the later Final Fantasies have been using. The robots are especially cool looking, since they look like steam punk or some kind of earth robot thing like from Castle in the Sky. I also like the design of Sin. They could have easily gone cheap and made him a ghastly figure or the reaper, but I like the whole giant whale look. The music, while not as good as Final Fantasy 6 or 9, still holds up well, with entertaining battle music, creepy villain music, and great ambiance to the area music. The voice acting is, well…on and off. Sometimes, it’s good, but sometimes it’s just bad. Granted, this is the first time the series uses voice work and it does get better, but still. I also like the giant guardian designs that Yuna and the main villain use. They all have a creative look to them that still show flair. One of my favorite designs is of Yojimbo and Bahamut. I also like the design for the main villain’s guardian. It’s very creepy and threatening with an overdrive that I got handed to me first hand. Now, I’m going to talk about the villain, then I am going to talk about the whole future looking aspect of the games. While not the best villain, Seymour Guado is very threatening with his library of powerful spells, forms, and guardians that he can summon in battle. He is a very tough opponent and has some of the toughest battles in the game. To be honest though, his hair is quite silly looking, but it’s Final Fantasy, so characters are going to have weird looking hair. Now then, let’s talk about the whole future aspects of the future games and why I H-A-T-E them. When you think of the name, Final Fantasy, you think of magic, swords, and dragons. I don’t think of airplanes, helicopters, guns, and freaking tanks! If I wanted a future RPG, I would call it Final Science-Fiction Fantasy. What the heck is up with the future look? I like the better designed steam punk look of Final Fantasy 6, 9, 10, and any other games that don’t use modern technology theme. Yes, they have used uniquely designed future-looking vehicles, but it still doesn’t change the fact that they have totally messed up the fantasy look. This is what happens when you don’t have the original people who made the franchise so great. I know some ideas why the combat has also changed is because people want fast-paced action, but does that mean that kids these days don’t have the freaking patience to go through turn-by-turn to wait and attack? I mean, that is what made the series so great and fun. Sometimes, I wonder why I still like the series. I probably won’t review any of the future FF games, unless people send like 100 emails telling me to review it or something.

Anyways, let’s get to the bad parts of the game. I know I said this already, but it’s a big issue, the voice acting is horrible. I know they did get a good amount of talent like Tara Strong, and the guy who does Ratchet from the Ratchet and Clank games, but still it sounds horrible. The sphere system is also rather pointless and here is why. You can actually cheat the system and make characters like Tidus learn Ultima before Lulu does. How is that possible?! Why can’t they just stick with job systems like Final Fantasy 4, 6, and 9? What is the whole point when Yuna a white mage can learn firaga? I mean it works in Final Fantasy 6 since the guardians you equip to each character have specific magic powers that the character can gain through time. They should have just made job spheres where Lulu only learns black magic and so on for the other characters. It’s just all kinds of brokenness, like the leveling system in Final Fantasy 2.

While this review is a little shorter than my other Final Fantasy reviews, I still find this game pretty good. Yeah, you could find holes in the story, but who cares? You would sound like a guy who doesn’t have much of a life if you spend all your time making videos about all the plot holes in games. No offense to the people who do this like on Internet sites. However, I think people should still pick this game up and play it. It’s still one of the better games in the series and stands as one of my favorite games. It still annoys me that Square Enix just doesn’t go back to what made the old games so great. I’m not saying that new games don’t hold up to modern games, since well, I think modern games hold up better than some older games, but I guess I’ll make an argument about modern games over retro games in the future. Oh well, all I can say is just check this game out.

This game gets a 8 out of 10 

Let's Play: WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007 (PS2 Version) - Jim Cornette Vs Vince Russo

Let's Play: WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007 (PS2 Version) - Jim Cornette Vs Vince Russo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK7nKVYVWt0

New Let's Play, Was gonna make it a Buried Alive match, but the match I had, went a long time, and I didn't want to make this into parts. So I made it a Ladder Match, I had to use my video camera, setup on a stand, so I do apologize for the quality, but other then that hope you enjoy this one. Thanks for watching!