The Escapist : Zero Punctuation Game Reviews

silvine · 05-11-2008 11:29PM

Good vid but FEAR left me a little cold. Alma was creepy and there were some nice cinematic moments but the game play itself was boring after the Novelty of "oooh slow-mo" wore off. I can see why some enjoy it though. That aside I am looking forward to FEAR 2.

Dead Space has great music, face huggers, and you get to hack off limbs!

It has more monsters too. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Both games owe a lot to movies: FEAR to Japanese horrors eg The Ring and Deadspace to Alien/Even Horizon.

projectmayhem · 06-11-2008 12:27AM

L31mr0d wrote: »

the expansions, maybe. But Alma, the child form and the adult, has to be one of the best horror game characters ever. You will not be able to watch this video without your skin crawling. I can't say Dead Space has made me feel like that once

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4NmNwKaHj8

Yeah have to say FEAR scared the living piss out of me on several occasions. The gameplay left a lot to be desired but the story and scary elements had me in bits for most of it. Many an occasion I had to reach over and turn the lights on

CCCP^ · 06-11-2008 12:49AM

I liked FEAR alot, but the horror element was lacking. It was well done and all, but it's just, well it's like Bioshock. Bioshock was a little bit scary because the enemies and the setting were quite messed up, but in FEAR, your fighting soldiers most of the time. I found it hard to accept how the game could so casually mix horror and FPS together. I liked the bullet time aspect, I used to play certain stages over and over for kicks with that.

Dyr · 06-11-2008 12:57AM

i played fear for about a half hour, FPS shooter versus (yawn) faceless evilcorp soldiers with scarey cutscene thrown in to fulfill horror tag, lost interest.

And the first scene in that video was totally ripped off the hotel level in vampire bloodlines. Unless that was ripped off something else :pac:

Kiith · 06-11-2008 08:23AM

Fear was very creepy, but it wasnt a patch on System Shock 2. If you want to be creeped out, play it.

pixelburp · 06-11-2008 10:07AM

FEAR suffered methinks from a less-than-stellar setting and would lay that at the feet of the developers not knowing how to run with their own material.

The environments were bland, repetitive & just plain uninteresting, but Monolith should take much kudos on how to get under your skin with Alma. What a character. The above compilation video really highlights those moments I genuinely jumped & had to pause the game so I could collect myself before (reluctantly) continuing. The AI was also pretty rocking, which is still a rare thing in today's games.

Jip · 06-11-2008 10:27AM

projectmayhem wrote: »

Yeah have to say FEAR scared the living piss out of me on several occasions. The gameplay left a lot to be desired but the story and scary elements had me in bits for most of it. Many an occasion I had to reach over and turn the lights on

Same as myself, playing it on a bad winters night on your own in a dark house with surround sound is not a good idea, I genuinely got several frights and it didn't help having the dogs bark at things they thought there at the back of the house but actually on the rear speakers.
But having said that I probably only played it about a third of the way through, not sure if it was because of boredom or me being a scaredy cat.

But I actually want to get Dead Space, I love Event Horizon so I actually like to hear it being compared to this in places.

pixelburp · 12-11-2008 06:06PM

The latest one is up & it's Fable 2:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/346-Fable-2

LOL

"Aww wook, it's a wittle doggy! mash-up-his-face-and-call-him-chips!"

5uspect · 12-11-2008 06:18PM

ZP page is banjaxed.

pixelburp · 12-11-2008 06:19PM

5uspect wrote: »

ZP page is banjaxed.

That's cos every Wednesday at 5pm GMT, the escapist magazine web-site has a heart attack from traffic. Have patience!

5uspect · 12-11-2008 06:32PM

I usually watch it earlier but I've been out car hunting.

super_furry · 12-11-2008 07:31PM

Meh, every review is starting to sound the same.

cherryghost · 12-11-2008 08:35PM

super_furry wrote: »

Meh, every review is starting to sound the same.

i disagree, i think the last two have been brilliant after thinking that myself initially!

Bubs101 · 12-11-2008 09:40PM

Once again, another fantastic end. Also nice to hear Banjo music again

Zillah · 12-11-2008 11:33PM

That's the first ZP review I didn't enjoy very much

I've never played Fable though so maybe I didn't really get all the references.

Retr0gamer · 13-11-2008 12:14AM

Yep not a great one this week.

pixelburp · 19-11-2008 06:06PM

This weeks is Fallout 3. Uh oh, this may not go down well with me

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/420-Fallout-3

edit: Ohmygod, he is instant win for the opening comments lol. Though I call "bullsh*t" on his claims that it's an easy peasy game where stealing has no consequence.

L31mr0d · 19-11-2008 06:27PM

Felt it was a bit meh, nothing really stands out. He seems to of lost the sharp, acerbic wit that made his first few reviews so funny. It's like he's mellowing out and giving real game reviews now. Guess I'll have to stick to AVGN for my dose of angry game rantings and disgusting metaphors

pixelburp · 19-11-2008 06:29PM

Well I think he did genuinely enjoy this game but because he gave Oblivion such a kicking, probably would feel false if he didn't give Fallout 3 a toe poke at the very least. I sensed a huge amount of begrudgery in that review

Zillah · 19-11-2008 08:13PM

Much better than last week. No he didn't slam it with his usual caustic flair but he did give some interesting opinions and he was kind of funny. The opening was genius.

Bubs101 · 19-11-2008 08:17PM

A fun review but as I've never played Oblivion there was very little review in his video

Sarky · 20-11-2008 12:54AM

He's right. It's way more interesting than Oblivion, and it's a good game. But they still could have done more.

ghouldaddy07 · 20-11-2008 03:00AM

The fact that he gave fallout so little abuse is probly better publicty then the 10/10's from the mainstream review circuit.

Regarding his decline regarding humor I feel its probly just a case that he is being rushed to put out a review every week which would stifle anyones creativity and humor.

I find that when a game genrally deserves a good bollicking for being ****e he is top notch but when he is just trolling a game for the sake of it theirs very little humor to be had.

Cy_Revenant · 20-11-2008 04:17PM

L31mr0d wrote: »

Felt it was a bit meh, nothing really stands out. He seems to of lost the sharp, acerbic wit that made his first few reviews so funny. It's like he's mellowing out and giving real game reviews now. Guess I'll have to stick to AVGN for my dose of angry game rantings and disgusting metaphors

He never really rails against games he enjoys. And you know how much he loves Branston Pickle. Even if it is just a thin layer.

pixelburp · 26-11-2008 06:01PM

Latest's up (yeah I do nothing on Wednesday @ 5pm cept refresh):
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/452-Guitar-Hero-World-Tour

Guitar Hero World Tour

Also comes with bonus Deus Ex themesong!

johnny_ultimate · 26-11-2008 06:42PM

Lol at the pointless Deus Ex theme song. Pointless yes, but very, very brilliant.

ProjectColossus · 26-11-2008 08:47PM

While I always enjoy the reviews, I haven't "laughed out loud" at one in a few months. The Deus Ex theme had me in stitches. Great stuff.

Sarky · 26-11-2008 09:31PM

\o/ Deus Ex

Entertaining review. Perhaps not guffaw-inducing, but plenty of smirks were smirked.

BopNiblets · 28-11-2008 02:23AM

I was hoping for Far Cry 2 review, he already did a Guitar Hero review, and this was similar to the last one.

pixelburp · 03-12-2008 06:13PM

Mirrors Edge this week:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/457-Mirrors-Edge

The Escapist : Zero Punctuation Game Reviews

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