• 28Jul 08

  And the winner is...

  

  Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Review

  To be honest, I didn't tally up the votes for what review I should do next, but it seemed Uncharted got the most votes so I went with it. Plus, I haven't done a non RPG review in a while and thought it was time. Please recommend my review if you thought I did a good job. The more recommendations I have the more likely I am to have on lookers read my review. And I put a lot of effort into these reviews so that my user reviews help others as much as user reviews have helped me, so more viewers is the goal.

  As many of you might notice, I used the same grading rubric that for this game that I use for RPGs. That is because this is a linear single player adventure and as such must have an good story to really be great IMO. For games that have more modes and multiplayer options I will put a greater % of the rubric into gameplay. I did however make a couple of small changes to my formula to make my reviews better. I made the intro a bit longer to better catch the readers attention, as opposed to just the overview I used to give. Also, since this isn't an RPG, I used different categories for assessing the gameplay, something I reserve the right to do from game to game. These categories are to make my reviews easier to read since they are so long. And so that the user only has to read the sections they want to, as this is something I do sometimes when reading user reviews. I also changed the "coolness" section to "Immersiveness" as that is more accurate regarding what the section covers and definitely sounds less cheesy . I'm starting to become more pleased with the format of my reviews and the way they read. However, I encourage constructive criticism as I'm always looking to improve.

  For those who are now interested in the game, but want to see it in action, here is a trailer for the game I found on youtube. Enjoy .

  My next reviews will be of the very controversal Jeanne D'Arc followed by the very unique No More Heroes. I also just beat the PSP RPG Brave Story, so expect a review for that sometime in the future (depending on popular demand of course ). I am currently playing FF7: Crisis Core and enjoying it a lot despite some repetitive gameplay.

  Thanks for stopping by everybody and until next time, take it easy.

  • Posted Jul 28, 2008 8:48 pm GMT
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• 29Jun 08

  Moving Forward and Grandia II Review

  

  As many of you have undoubtedly noticed, I haven't been around gamespot as much recently. The primary reason for this is because I moved and got a job. It is only a part time interim job I'm taking while looking for something in engineering, but I have been picking up a lot of hours filling in for others. It is has been time consuming setting up and living I my own for really the first time ever. I sort of did in college, but that felt more like High School 2.0. Now that things are starting to settle down a little bit I am planning on frequenting gamespot more often, not that much more often (I'm still busy), but I'll try to be more consistent. Once I get a more permanent job and maybe buy a house (something I am looking into) I could disappear again, but that wouldn't be for a while. And even if something like that does happen, I'll always plan on coming back, so don't go thinking I've ditched any of you . So speaking of moving forward, here is a review of one of my favorite RPGs which I finished for a second time a couple months back.

  

  Grandia II Review

  I first played Grandia II on the sega Dreamcast a few years back in college on the Sega DreamCast and it instantly became one of my favorite RPGs of all time. While I was not as big of a fan of the PS2 version it is still a great game that people should find the time to play. I write these reviews to spread the word about games I've played in an unbiased a way as possible. So if you like my review, please recommend it, this way more people will read and take away something from my review. I know my reviews are quite long, so if you don't have time to read it all please just read the intro and conclusion. I try to sum up the game to the best of my ability in these sections.

  For those of you who are still curious about the game here is a trailer for it I found on youtube, a little hype always seems to help motivate people in my experience .

  I would like to start doing a review and blog once every couple weeks or so. I'd also like to do a review that is most interesting to my friends and other visitors. Please answer this poll in your response to give your input on what game I should review in my next blog.

  What game should I review next?

  Jeanne D'Arc
  Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
  Halo 3
  Super Smash Bros Brawl
  No More Heroes

  Well, thanks for visiting my blog everybody. So until next time, take it easy.

  • Posted Jun 29, 2008 7:47 pm GMT
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• 27Mar 08

  5 Things you might not know about me, GS's version of tag

  

  Well, I knew it was inevitable soon as I saw this in someone elses blog and as I predicted, I have been tagged, a few times actually, though tevwalker13 was the first to do it. So, as this game of tag requires I will list 5 things that the people of gamespot probably don't know about me. I tend to be a bit wordy when it comes to these things and I'll try to keep it short, but bear w/ me. Hopefully this is interesting enough to some of you to warrant reading the entire blog .

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  1. I was born in San Diego, California in 1984 and spent the first 2 years of my life in a van w/ the traveling jewelry salesparents. So, though I'm your typical white boy, you could say I have hippy roots , my dad actually legally changed his name to Sunrise (one word, sort of like Cher). And yes, it's ok to laugh at that . I also lived in Maui from the age of 5-10 years old, which was awesome. All of the tropical plants were perfect for fort building, however I did get jumped a couple times for being the big white kid. I guess everything in life has its advantages and disadvantages .

  2. In highschool I had a couple of very rare and sort of random accomplishments. I defeated a chessmaster at a game of chess and shattered a glass back board on an ally oop dunk. The chessmaster was playing 20 of us at once, but I was the only person to win. I'm sure I would've had my ass handed to me if it was one on one. And I broke the backboard while messing around w/ some kids after practice. So both accomplishments come w/ an asterisk, but they're still kind of cool. The school made me pay for the basketball rim which is still sitting in my room .

  3. A few of you already know that I double majored in Math and Applied Physics in college. But what I haven't told anybody yet is that I also have a minor in Exercise Science and am about half way through my massage therapy degree. About half way through college I decided the human body was much more interesting than my other majors, but didn't want to start over. So I took some Exercise Science courses on the side and went to massage school during the summer. I started the massage therapy because my mom is a massuce and it was very accessable to me. I'm not sure if I'm going to finish that degree though because I don't know if I'll even use it and I'm tired of school. I'm still extremely up in the air about what I want to do in life and I think I want to use the other degrees I already earned. Plus, most people stray away from male massuces, men and women alike. Oh well, their loss, I'm actually quite good and pride myself on my professionalism.

  4. I am a huge sports fanatic and probably as big of a fantasy sports geek as I am w/ video games. I watch Sportscenter almost every night before I go to bed and feel I could hold my own against almost any one when it comes to fantasy sports. I guess you could say I'm a multi-faceted geek . If I got a job working in sports statistics I would probably be a very happy man .

  5. I am a pretty liberal and non religious at the moment. So the biggest surpise (I'm just guessing that's the reason this surprises so many people) to most people who have met me in real life is that I've never been drunk, stoned, or anything like that. I'll have a drink w/ friends, but that's not really my thing. I'm a very health concious person, which partly explains my interest in the human body.

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  Well, there you go, you guys probably have a pretty good insight on what makes me tick now and if anyone in from this site actually knows me in real life this probably let the cat out of the bag. I hope I didn't either bore or scare too many of you away w/ this blog .

  I'm not going to tag any more people because it seems this is spreading quite fine w/ out me. However, if any of you out there haven't been tagged and want the opportunity to do this you can consider this your nomination . That way I won't be selecting anyone who doesn't want to do this and anyone who feels left out can have at it.

  And since I just informed everybody I'm a fantasy sports geek I'll take this opportunity to advertise a league of mine. In the Red Sox Nation Union here at GS we started a yahoo.com fantasy league and I'm the commish. We currently have 6 people in it, 5 from GS, and I would love to have anyone else here who is interested. The league is currently open to the public, but I can increase the size as necessary. At the moment it is an AL only league, but we can increase the player pool to the NL if needed. It is not necessary that you are a Red Sox fan either (I'm a Braves Fan ), just that you plan on staying active. If you are interested pm me and I'll give you the information to join. The live draft is this saturday at 6:30 pm Pacific Time Zone.

  Alright, that's it for this blog, I hope you enjoyed it . So until next time, take it easy.

  Jeff

  • Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:30 am GMT
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