bugsonglass said:

how so?  you don't have even have to brake or change the position of the steering wheel much

just enter with your fastest car ... and be patient

The Nascar track on Prologue was actually pretty intense. Things got really chaotic with cars spinning everywhere lol.

SteelAttack said:

Yes it does. It's a shitty game movie among shitty game movies.

*dealwithit-gif*

phantom_leo said:

If I actually drove, I would probably be saying right about now: Gran Turismo 5 is one of the most realistic driving simulations out there. I don't have much of a basis for comparison, but it FEELS really good at least! Each of the cars I have tried handled differently. The game goes out of its way to make you corner, brake and accelerate well. The analog control of the gas is also the best choice for a "pedal" in a game like this.

Graphics have been a little mixed; from spectacular to rather boring. Overall the game feels like a inifinitely deep, Car Lover's erotic dream.

That being said: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is a much better game.

...Oh. I've also decided that I want to buy a Dodge Charger...

Why exactly, I don't know. I just am attracted to the way it looks for some reason and it seems like it would be fun to drive.

Yeah, I love the look of the SRT. Something about it...just screams "BEAST". Though I'll probably stick to the 20-odd Skylines in the game. Because that's how I roll.

Also, thanks for answering my brother on PSN today Leo. I was working at the time, and he actually texted me about the levelling thing...which is either 20 kinds of stupid or brilliant.

^Nice choice.  After logging god knows how many hours in GT2 I eventually bought a Mazda Miata (MX5 in most territories).  I kept it stock though.   Should have pimped it like my GT car, but then, I;d look a little silly driving it it around I guess.

I also never should have sold it. It only had 8,000 miles on it.

I played Epic Mickey for about an hour and a half (or maybe it was longer?) at a local games store. The chick at the counter probably thought it's a sad sight but whatever, lol.

It started off good. A nice intro that used seemingly in game visuals, although it's likely pre-rendered to have extra effects and higher quality. The assets seem to be the same as the in game stuff, so the difference isn't big. It's similar to the Red Steel 2 CG in that aspect. At first glance it looks in game but is not.

Then it went bad. Once you get control of the cursor after pressing A at the title screen the thing moves at like 2 frames per second, teleporting left and right as you move the remote. There's even no reason to have a cursor at that point as there are just two options, Start Game and Extras, yet you can't just use the analog stick or d-pad.

I checked the Extras option first but it asked me to pick a save file, and there were none available so I chose to start  a game and created a save file, then things got good again.

It continues to a final part of the intro then goes in game. I was impressed by the visuals. The atmosphere is much better and more vibrant than it seems to be in videos. I thought the game looked lackluster in most of the footage but seeing it in person I was impressed, although I still think they were a bit too succesful in creating a destroyed wasteland, which may turn some people off. It has none of the happy feelings found in Super Mario Galaxy.

The areas I explored were very well designed with interesting vertical layouts and I enjoyed checking them out in the stationary pivoting first person view you can enable with the 1 button. It all meshes really well together and there are subtle efffects you do not notice in videos so they look more bland (like those machines you break in the first "boss" have a specular mapping shine to them). The character models also are really well done and have a weird subtle cel shading effect that really fits the mood.

Control wise, Mickey handled great. Despite just running, double jumping with A, and using a spin move by shaking the remote, he feels very different to Mario but also feels just right after a while. The cursor was also much smoother. Not really smooth as in Metroid Prime 3 or the Wii menu, not even close, but it didn't hinder the gameplay like it would if it was as in the main menu.

Then things got a bit bad. The camera is a combination of automatic angles or a standard third person camera depending on the area. If it's more open it tends to be free, if it's in more enclosed spaces, or in areas where you want to follow a particular path, it may go to a side or overhead view, or whatever is needed. The preset angles are not as polished as in Nintendo games but they're servicable. It was also annoying that the fixed angles often disabled the first person view so you couldn't look at the level and see things visible from that spot.

The free camera was not very good at all. It sort of stays behind Mickey and if you want to look around you have to use the d-pad to rotate it around Mickey, you can't just move it with the cursor like in say, Silent Hill, which is dumb. DUMB. So dumb I hope they fix it for the US release since it's later. It's like the Crystal Bearers camera basically, although not as bad as you tend to have a larger view of your surroundings. You can instantly re-center it by tapping the C button or ^hold C to lock on an enemy IGN^, though again the lock on is not as polished as in Nintendo games like Zelda. The free camera often had some minor trouble in more closed spaces.

It was frustrating at first but I got over it after a while. The pace of the game makes it a mere annoyance in my opinion, not a critical flaw as it would be in Super Mario Galaxy. Epic Mickey seems to be a slower paced exploration based platformer. It's not so much the actual platforming that is hard or tricky, but just exploring the level, seeing a particular area or object ahead and trying to figure out how to get there. It's kind of like the difference between old school Castlevania and the newer Metroidvanias. You wouldn't say the latter have tricky platforming despite all the jumping you do in order to explore the castle (Epic Mickey has self contained areas, it's not all interconnected like a Metroidvania, I'm just talking about the platforming).

The paint and thinner mechanics felt good but the camera brought some issues to it. Sometimes you'd want to paint something in front of you and Mickey would just splatter the ground (possibly sending you down below if it was some thinnable bridge for example). Other times you'd be at a ledge trying to aim something below and again hit the ground. But again it was more of an annoyance that you learned to work with, jumping and thinning, or moving Mickey more to the edge and so his paint arm is outside the ledge, or using the first person view, etc.

The painting and thinning effect is really nice to look at as the objects take form or dissolve. At first there are very few points where you can use it as the game teaches you (often even taking control away allowing you to only do what it asks, thinning or painting something to proceed), but it seems it's expanded as you reach further and further, and it's quite impressive to run through an area dissolving everything or painting in everything in sight. Although you shouldn't imagine that you can delete the whole level. If you thin some critical part of geometry out, chances are under it there's an object that can't be affected further, or a lethal pool of thinner.

You may for example thin out an angled roof that you slipped off of if you tried to climb it, and under it may be a more boxy skeleton design that you can walk on easier and reach where you wanted. Other times you may thin stuff out, like a wall or door, and there's nothing at all in their place, allowing access to other parts of the area, secret rooms, or items. At first it seems random but you learn to recognise which objects are likely to have what result. Although a lot of the level still remains unaffected by paint or thinner. You'll have noticed in footage that levels look like they're patched up from different materials. The more colorful stuff are what can be thinned out or filled in. The rest is made of the same stuff that may be under the layer of paint you thin out elsewhere. But you still affect the layout considerably as you try to move about.

Outside the thinner and paint, interactivity comes with the spinning move as you hit switches, set gears in motion, break objects for the tickets within (they seem to be like rupees in Zelda so don't try to collect them all), talk to NPCs with A button, jump on pressure plates, etc. I didn't see advanced stuff but it showed promise in how you'll navigate later levels to reach the areas you want by exploring the layout, seeing what you can thin and fill, and what machinery you activate, deactivate or trash.

It was also possible to almost completely bypass whole chunks of areas and just get to the next one. One area in particular, after helping a Gremlin, I could just get on a boat ride he activated and leave the area, but I stuck around and there was a LOT to do, lots of hidden areas, a couple of sidequests to get more rides running and reach higher parts of the area, etc. So it paid off to just stick around and explore instead of move forward, despite the fact as first glance the area seemed VERY simple in design, almost like a box with a few things in. But behind walls and in higher levels you could reach after fixing more rides there was some nice thinner & paint powered platforming to do and items to find (stuff that unlocked things like concept art, not just tickets).

Also, the more you use paint or thinner you get up to three guardians, either paint or thinner, which can make combat faster as you can send them out to instantly destroy or befriend a minor enemy. So it also paid off to explore the level and use your paint or thinner everywhere you can in that way too.

Gremlins also seem to help you and take care of tasks for you  if you save them. Sometimes they do it automatically when you reach a point, other times they ask you for tickets in return for help with a tricky part which you can refuse and try and figure out how to do yourself.

Ops, I forgot to mention the 2D sections. They look nice but they'e forgetable and will probably be another annoyance later on since I read you can/need to go back and forth between different areas for the story or side quests. I think you can't skip them when that occurs so just doing the same 2D platforming level a few times back and forth won't be good. They have one or two film reel items to find inside them which are a bit trickier to get sometimes, but you may do that on your first time and then just rush back and forth just to reach the 3D parts you want to get to for your goals. Although at the part I was in I couldn't go back at all. After moving to a new area I couldn't jump in the projector again and go back to the previous using the 2D level.

Well, this is messier and longer than I planned so I'll stop, there's not much else to tell. It went from good to bad to good. I'll definitely get it at some point. It may lack polish in its mechanics but it's a greater game than the sum of its parts. Much greater. I'm not a Disney nut at all. I respect the old school Disney it draws from but I never was into such cartoons, as a kid or otherwise. I've never seen the parks it's modelled after either. But this just feels like a really well made game that does most things right and has a few control annoyances that don't hinder the core gameplay experience due to the pace and style of gameplay.

I do think that it may not have great sales potential, mainly due to the aesthetics. When people think Mickey they don't think bleak, dark, Mad Doctor type things these days, do they? When they think Disneyland/world they don't think sloppy homebrew half broken rides, right? This approach may be off putting to some (edit: lolol). But I respect Warren for doing this, it's perfect for the game. And if people say this isn't the game Spector promised, well, look at Deus Ex. The shooting gameplay in that game wasn't exactly spectacular since it focused on other things, and it's those other things that made it a classic. I think Epic Mickey can be a classic too if it continues improving at the rate it did, but won't be recognised as such because of the few things it doesn't do so well.

I hope we'll get a sequel that's more polished and doesn't give room for people to bash it. Maybe they can even fix some of the annoyances for the US release which is later? I doubt it but you never know.

Agnates, thanks for the impressions.  Hope you didn't have to stand up for the hour and a half you spent at the shop playing it

aspro said:

^Nice choice.  After logging god knows how many hours in GT2 I eventually bought a Mazda Miata (MX5 in most territories).  I kept it stock though.   Should have pimped it like my GT car, but then, I;d look a little silly driving it it around I guess.

I also never should have sold it. It only had 8,000 miles on it.

That's a girl's car.

One that is awesome, though!

My copy of Goldeneye isn't working because there is something wrong with the disc. I bought it used from Gamestop online.   What the hell do people do with their game discs?   I wonder if I could trade it in at my local Gamestop tomorrow or will I have to deal with the USPS.

Agnates, thanks for the impressions. Your preview of 1 hour of the game was better than any online previews I have seen with much more time with it.

travo said:

My copy of Goldeneye isn't working because there is something wrong with the disc. I bought it used from Gamestop online.   What the hell do people do with their game discs?   I wonder if I could trade it in at my local Gamestop tomorrow or will I have to deal with the USPS.

Tell me what is wrong exactly. It's not the controller not responding because you have GC pads plugged into the side ports is it?

travo said:

My copy of Goldeneye isn't working because there is something wrong with the disc. I bought it used from Gamestop online.   What the hell do people do with their game discs?   I wonder if I could trade it in at my local Gamestop tomorrow or will I have to deal with the USPS.

Tell me what is wrong exactly. It's not the controller not responding because you have GC pads plugged into the side ports is it?

It's has an error message when the Wii tries to boot the game up.  I examined the disc and there is theis small indention, kinda like it was pressed too hard into the game box.  It's barely noicable, in fact, I didn't see it when I opened it up.  There are some light scratches, but I don't think that is the problem.

My new games are spotless.  If someone was to buy a game that I traded in, it would be just like new.  I just don't understand why others have a hard time keeping a disc from getting messed up.  I'm beginning to believe that hardly anyone takes care of anything anymore, regardless if they own it or not.

Sadly, I simply cannot afford to buy everything new if I want to continue gaming.  And some games are worth more than a rental.

phantom_leo said:

VERY sorry to hear that!

You USED to be able to bring online purchases back to the stores. I hope that still holds true!

I will try my luck tomorrow.  The manager there is pretty awesome.  I've had trouble with used discs before and he replaced it with a new game.