Ratchet & Clank Collection

 Score: 9.0 

Great Gameplay, Great Graphics, and a Great Value make for a great gift this Holiday Season.

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If you're a fan who's never played any of the first three Ratchet & Clank's BUY THIS GAME. You get your money's worth. For $29.99 you get 3 full Ratchet & Clank games. Sure they're PS2 games, but they're remastered with HD graphics, and they look great. Nobody would know you were playing a PS2 game. The series holds up well 10 years later. I thought that after 10 years the controls would be slow and annoying, but they're just as responsive as any PS3 game. This game rocks.  Here's a review for each individual game included in the collection.
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Ratchet & Clank

 

The game that started it all. The first Ratchet & Clank showed off the potential that the series had. Today it's notable for the things it's missing. One huge thing is Ratchet's ability to sidestep. It a huge culture shock to find out I couldn't step to the left or right while shooting at enemies. Even with Ratchet's sidestep missing this game is incredibly fun. It's the only game in the series where I payed attention to the story. I watched every cut scene with full attention.

The first Ratchet & Clank can be pretty difficult. I found myself turning the game off out of frustration a few times. I did usually get past the part I was stuck on the first try after taking breaks with the game.  The last boss fight was a pain tho. I might have ended up watching the last cut scene on YouTube, but that's not important.
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Going Commando

 

This 2nd game in the series feels more familiar with fans who have never played the first Ratchet and Clank. There's a lot more emphasis on the weapons in this one. This is where the upgrade system for your weapons upgrade was introduced. Also included is Ratchet's sidestepping ability and the ability to upgrade your health as you fight. The game's difficulty is there, but I just find the game so much easier with Ratchet's ability to sidestep. That's not to say I didn't die constantly at certain points.

While I love the action platforming aspects of the series, I felt that Going Commando went overboard with the extra curricular activities. It's bad enough I have to play as Clank every now and again, but I got tired of racing. I don't want to win a race to move the story along. I don't want to fight huge enemies with Giant Clank. I don't want to fly around on a spaceship and shoot asteroids. I just want to smash boxes and shoot enemies. I understand the diversity of the games does wonders for it's pacing and story telling but Going Commando had too much diversity. I'm glad to see in future games they limited the Universe to having one stadium where you can do all of the extra activities you want.

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Up Your Arsenal

This was the first Ratchet & Clank game I ever played. I don't even know why I bought it, but I'm glad I did. I remember it felt like I played it for 5 minutes, but I had really invested 20 hours into it. Out of the 3 games in the collection, this one is the best in my opinion. Weapons now have levels so they continue to upgrade as you play instead of one big upgrade like in Going Commando. I'm still playing this game, but it's replay value from when I played it in 2004 or 2005 remains high. In closing I'll say buy the Ratchet & Clank Collection. Fans of the R&C should have a great time with this one. 

Why I'm Not Buying a PS Vita

I had every intention of buying one tomorrow. I've got the money and the time to make it to the store, but unfortunately I've had a change of heart. It happened as I debated whether or not to go to a midnight release. I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to wait to buy a Vita. Sorry Sony, but here's why I'm not buying a PS Vita on launch day.

Price
The price of the PS Vita is too high. You know it's expensive when the cheapest Vita model is the same price as a new PlayStation 3. If I had to choose which piece of Sony hardware to spend $250 dollars on, the PlayStation 3 would always win. I already own a PS3, but still $250 dollars is steep. You saw what happened to the Nintendo 3DS was sold for $250. Sales stunk, and less than six months later the price dropped. After the price drop Nintendo 3DS sales have skyrocketed. We'll have to wait and see how the Vita sells around the world, but it hasn't been doing great in Japan. I'm going to hold out from buying a Vita for a few months to see if an inevitable price drop comes.

Games

The launch lineup for the PS Vita is strong. I had the chance to play Uncharted: Golden Abyss and I've been dying to play it again. Hot Shots Golf also looks like a lot of fun. On top of that Gamestop is doing a promotion where you buy two Vita games and get one free. That's all tempting, but I haven't heard much about games coming to the Vita after launch. I'm pretty sure we'll get updates as PAX East and E3 come around, but games are what sell the system. I don't want Uncharted: Golden Abyss to be the only Vita game people are talking about a year from now.

Metal Gear Solid 3D
As the PS Vita gets ready to launch tomorrow, Nintendo's 3DS lineup gets stronger and stronger. Just today Nintendo released Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 3D for the 3DS. I've been looking forward to playing Metal Gear Solid 3D since last year. I came to the conclusion that spending $40 on a videogame is a lot healthier for my bank account than spending close to $400 for the PlayStation Vita. I'm also in the process of finishing Resident Evil: Revelations on the 3DS which has also been fun. When it comes to handheld gaming, I'm pretty much set for now with my Nintendo 3DS. There's really no rush in spending $400 for a new system. Sorry Sony, but giving the Nintendo 3DS close to a year head start is hurting my decision to buy a Vita.

No PSOne Classics... for now

One of the biggest selling points on the PS Vita for me was the ability to play games from the Playstation One on it. When Sony initially announced that PS One classics weren't coming to the PS Vita I got upset. I have been buying more and more PS One classics lately. It'd be great to play Threads of Fate when I'm on the train. I also heard Sony's not going to release PS2 classics on the Vita which is wack. Everyone knows the Vita is capable of playing PS2 Games. Make that happen Sony. Sony has stated that PS One classics are coming soon to the Vita, but won't be available at launch. That gives me more incentive to not buy the Vita until I'm able to play PS One Classics on it.

One of these Days

I do plan on buying a PlayStation Vita at some point. It's either going to take a price cut, a large library of well reviewed games, or the return of PS One classics. Writing this blog post has revived my interest in buying a Vita tomorrow though. If I can make it past launch day without buying one I should be good. Wish me luck.

What Grand Theft Auto 3 Means to Me

I remember the first time I played Grand Theft Auto 3. I was hanging out at my friend Tino's house. He was glued to the TV playing this game on his PS2. I saw him in a car driving around a city. I noticed how there weren't any boundaries to where he could drive. He was free to drive wherever he wanted. "This isn't a racing game." I said to myself.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Grand Theft Auto" Tino said.

For real? The Grand Theft Auto I remembered was the game with the overhead camera view. The Grand Theft Auto I knew was the one where you had to hold X to walk and the missions were hard. I wasn't a fan of Grand Theft Auto 1 or 2. I pretty much wrote the series off, and here is this cool game that my friend is calling Grand Theft Auto.

"Can I play?" I asked.

"Yea" Tino says.

He hands me the control and I begin driving. I was in a Kuruma driving around Chinatown.

"Press L2," Tino suggested.

I pressed it and noticed the camera shifting to look out the left window of the car.

"Alright, now hold L2 and press O," he continued.

That was the moment I fell in love with Grand Theft Auto 3. Something about being able to do drive-bys just blew me away. From that point on, I had a feeling Grand Theft Auto 3 was going to be a classic. It was time to jump into the next generation of videogames. No more Nintendo 64, it was time for a PlayStation 2.

Not too long after I played the game at Tino's house, more of my friends had copies of GTA 3. It got to the point where you had to have played the game to be cool in my middle school. It got to the point where you had to have played the game to be cool in my middle school. I would sleep over friends houses just to play GTA 3 all night. I remember one night when my buddy Tom and I jammed to Rise FM for like two hours. We put Claude in a car and just zoned out to the six songs on that radio station.

Grand Theft Auto 3 became so popular that by the time I went to buy it four months later, I had to bring my mother because the lady at Toys "R" Us said I was too young to get it myself. It's crazy because I could have bought Halo: Combat Evolved, which had the same rating, with no problems. At the time, Toys "R" Us had games on shelves, so all you had to do was bring one to a register to purchase it. With GTA 3, I remember having to go to customer service and specifically ask for the title.

I didn't want the game because of the controversy surrounding it. I wanted it because it was incredibly fun. If it was boring but still naughty, I don't think anybody would care enough to want to play it. Instead it's this phenomenal release that just so happens to contain drugs, violence, and prostitutes.

On this 10-year anniversary of Grand Theft Auto 3, I wonder when that next landmark game will arrive. A game that creates a new genre and gets it right. An original game that inspires copycats that are both good and bad, but never better. A game that every player knows about. A game that unites us as gamers. It'll be here one day.

Happy Birthday Grand Theft Auto 3. You changed everything.

What the Hell is a Deus Ex?

Forgive my ignorance but what the hell is Deus Ex? All's I know is it's a PC game that came out 10 years ago. My knowledge of PC games is limited to Call of Duty 2 and The Sims. My PC doesn't turn on, but it has an ATI Radeon X700 video card inside of it. I'm guessing that a pretty dated graphics, but I was able to play the Sims 2 on high settings with no problem.

Back to Deus Ex. Apparently a version of the original game was ported to the Playstation 2 in 2002. I wasn't aware of it. I was too busy playing Resident Evil on the Gamecube. The reviews have been pretty solid for Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Human Revolution popped on my Radar after my trip to Blockbuster earlier. I walked in and noticed that all seven copies for the PS3 version of Deus Ex were rented out. I've never seen a whole section of PS3 games rented out at Blockbuster. Ever. I knew it would get worse as I checked the XBOX 360 section. Sold Out. I asked the guy at the counter if he had any copies. He told me they'll be back on Sunday. Great. The game I wanted to spend Hurricane Irene playing will be back on the day Irene shows up.

Looks like I'll have to spend an arm and a leg to buy Deus Ex: Human Revolution. $59.99 is a ridiculous price for a videogame. I'd be cool if videogames were released digitally if it meant I had the option to rent the game before I bought it. Maybe it already exists. Told you I'm ignorant when it comes to PC Gaming. Anyway's I've got a videogame to buy. I'll make sure to not buy it from Gamestop due to them taking the PC version of Deus Ex off it's shelves. I'm not planning on buying the PC version, but I shop where all gamers shop.