emwearz

Golden....Goldeneye? (That is meant to be said in a James...James Bond kind of way) That's the question on everyone's lips as they go into yet another James Bond game. No matter what changes, what is added, what is removed, how well it looks. No one really cares about any of that stuff when it comes to what they want in a James Bond game, there is only one question everyone wants to know and that is. "Is it as good as Goldeneye?" One of the hardest things the James Bond franchise has in its way is its own past, Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64 is often regarded as the great Console FPS of all time. From its deep single player campaign following the movies story closely to the utter mayhem that was its multiplayer mode. The game was close to perfect. So how does Quantum of Solace stack up against a game that was pure gold? Lets find out. System Tested On PAL Wii displaying at 480p over component cables on a 50inch 1080i Plasma. Gameplay (8 out of 10) I will start with the thing that breaks many games on the Wii, how well the controls are integrated. Quantum of Solace is one of the most solid FPS efforts we have seen on the Wii,the controls are responsive and they bring in some welcome additions to the regular Wii FPS experience. The most important of which is the lock-on system. You hold down Z which willlock the enemy in the center of your screen and you blow them to high hell. They have done the correct thing by not overtly using the nunchuck for commands, a simple upward motion will allow you to reload your weapon. Another welcome feature is that you can hide behind low walls and doorways from which the angle becomes over the shoulder, much like Gears of War. Overall the controls are down pat and very tight, some of the best we have seen on a Wii shooter. The enemy's AI is not too bad either, they hide when they can and don't just stand still shooting like many other Wii shooters seem to. Now the story I wont go into too much detail on, but it follows the plot of the movie obviously recreating many scenes from the movie, how well it follows the story I cant say as I have no seen the movie as of yet as it does not come out for a couple of weeks still. For those wondering about the health system, it works on a regeneration system (Get down to 2% health, go hide for a moment while it regenerates back to 100%). The game has a bit of Multiplayer offerings with both split screen and online gameplay, I wont go into too much detail about that now, you can read more about it the replay value section. Sound (8.5 out of 10) The music is what you expect from a James Bond game, the classic Bond themes with a few newer and upbeat versions, but in the long run you have heard the tunes in the game a thousand times and you wouldn't be too amazed by any of it, but it does a very solid job. The sound effects of the guns and the bullets is on the dot with all of them sounding very clear and how they should sound. Now the main reason I gave the sound such a respectable rating is that the voice acting (Daniel Craig provides the voice of Bond) is very well done, I am very glad they got Craig for the voice of Bond, there is nothing worse then when they use some 2bit voice actor and it completely destroys the feel of the game. Graphics (7 of 10) Now a lot of people were talking about Quantum of Solace's graphics on the Wii being the best so far, I have to disagree, while you can have a lot of action on screen and fairly decent textures for a Wii game, it is nothing special (We saw many better titles on the original Xbox) it is very on par with what you would expect on a ps2 with a large amount of jaggies on screen. The character animation while not the best does a fairly decent job. The models on enemy's is fairly average with nothing to really wow anyone. Bond's model (With Daniel Craigs likeness) is fairly detailed and without a doubt the best looking model in the game. There are some parts of the game where the graphics are on par with N64, the water for example (Pictured below) is utterly horrible. It really doesn't feel like the Wii hardware is getting much of a workout with this title. Overall the easiest way of saying it is that the graphics do there job, there not ugly but there not as good as they could have been. The game runs smooth without many notible slow downs which is a plus. Replay Value (6 out of 10) The big hitter that made Goldeneye so appealing to everyone was without a doubt its multiplayer appeal, Quantum of Solace while offering 4 player split screen action seems like it would be amazing falls somewhat short, I invited a friend of mine over last night and got my dad involved and the main problem we found is that once you are given your peice of screen using the Wii-Motes is not as easy (Or as fun) when you had a screen to yourself. Quite often my friend would turn too hard left and the character would just spin on the spot, this is on a 50inch TV, I know a lot of people use smaller TV sets which would make this problem even bigger. It does a solid job of offering split screen gameplay, but there is nothing overtly special about it. You might have a few games here and there with your friends but after awhile I can see this one gathering dust. The online multiplayer is by far worse, it has the normal draw backs of a Wii game in terms of online interactivity in that, well there is none. No one I know owns this game so I couldnt play against friends, I sat there for 10 minutes while it scanned for players, when I finally got into a game I felt like I was just playing against bots, with 0 way of communicating with people this game gets boring and fast. It does have a online rank system (Stolen straight from Mario Kart Wii) but it does little to add any reason to play online (Unless you want to play against friends which is the only reason anyone would every want to play online with Wii anyway). Overall (7.375 out of 10) Overall Quantum of Solace is a fairly solid shooter to add to your Wii Library, the Online aspect of it is useless, the Split Screen is worth a few games but wont pull you in like Goldeneye did so many years ago. The graphics may not be the best but they get the job done. It has very solid controls. I would recommend picking it up for its single player aspect if you want a good FPS fro your Wii, if not give this one a miss. They had the chance to make a killer game instead we gota game with a good single player mode, an average multiplayer mode and a utter **** online mode. Bottom Line: Pick it up if you want a solid single player shooter. My global limited for attachments ran out so no images.

Me and my mates still bust out some Mario Kart every now and again, but we have to have it hooked up to his SD TV because it just looks horrible on the LCD.

I live in Melbourne, it has a population of around 4 million, I have mostly been trying in the CBD for jobs. I recently found out a good friend of mine from Highschool (Who I have not seen for awhile) brother is the manager of a EB in the city I got his email of his brother sent him my resume last night (His brother sounded pretty hopeful that he could hook me up). Another friends brother is the manger of a call center for the ANZ bank, so thats another option I might be able to go after. It really is who you know now what you know. I had a callback (Group Interview) to a Bunning warehouse, which are like massive hardware stores, however that is only because anyone who applies goes to these massive 30+ group interviews in which there are a lot of trades people and so on so when they know everything about hardware and you know nothing but the basics, it makes it hard. My friend (Who is a couple months older then me) is having the exact same problem finding work, I have been out with him before and he spends a good 5-10 minutes talking to managers as well. We have done some odd jobs for these people who are building a set of units, but thats over now (and the pay was horrible, but money is money). Just gotta keep going at it.

"How many resumes have you submitted? estimate... " I printed out 55 when I first got home from my holiday on September 3rd, I have none of those left, I am printing out a new lot tomorrow. (My dad prints them at his work).

I have been going to face to face resume handing in and talking to mangers for the past month and a bit (going twice a week on mondays and fridays) yet to get a call back (Im 19) I always ask to speak to the manager (even if online and let them know my name and so on) and tell them im available 9-5 weekdays and im fine for weekend work, they always sound promising but never get a call, I go back to some of the places and all I hear is 'we will get in touch with you if something opens up' or 'there was someone more suited for the job' . I redid my resume on sunday and getting it printed at my dads work today (should have them for me for my friday hand out session). Just gotta keep at it, its annoying as. (EBgames pretty much laugh at me, all 6 I have applied to). Now my girlfriend, I went with her 3 weeks ago handing out resumes (waiting at the front, holding her other resumes) she went to a handful (maybe 12 stores) in 1 day, by the end of the week she had 3 offers for full time and another for part time, females seem to find work easier. Its really about who you know, not what you know, you need to know people who work there / manage you get your foot in the door. Pain in the ass.

Haha, Thats awesome, I wonder how much Nintendo paid for that.

5-6 with no naps (unless im at my girlfriends in which the whole days are pretty napish if we get that little sleep.

Wall-E I really enjoyed it, very mature movie, was not expecting it.

Im on a 10mb connection, the site is overtly slow for me. It takes quite awhile for a single image to load when browsing images.

Yea typo, fixed it.

OK, so im back with yet another Wii review, been awhile since I last posted one but no games have really been worth mentioning that have not been reviewed out the ass. I recently have a job again, so hopefully the next review you see from me will be a video review (As I need to buy a capture card). Final Fantasy, a name that holds perhaps more responsibility for quality then any other franchise, It helped secure the PS2's place as the dominant console of its generation, and before that helped RPG fans find there new home on Nintendo consoles. Since the main series departure from Nintendo consoles Final Fantasy titles spin off titles have been average at best. Is the latest Wii exclusive any different? Lets find out! System Tested On PAL Wii displaying at 480p over component cables on a 50inch 1080i Plasma. Gameplay (5.5 out of 10) What is an RPG without its gameplay elements? Well its nothing, Chocobo's Dungeon takes what was there in the past Chocobo titles (On the PS1 and NDS) and builds upon them, its overtly dumbed down so that if this is your first RPG ever you wont have a problem with leveling up and equipping items, it may not be enough for hard RPG fans, but there is enough in your hands that you should be able to enjoy it. Pick items up by stepping over them and equipped them (Three equip spaces ,one for ATK, DFC and other special items) via the menu system, basic stuff.When it comes to leveling up the player has utterly nothing to do with it, you fight, get EXP points, level up, rinse and repeat. The battle engine is again fairly basic, you walk around randomly generated dungeons (In the same fashion you have in past Chocobo games) while trying to get to the level floor with a wide arrange of enemy's in your way, you attack by facing an enemy and pressing attack, very basic but some strategy does come into play, like when your out numbered and you walk down a thing hall so that you can fight enemy's one on one. The only thing that brings the battle system back from being overtly basic to the point its boring is the fact you have special moves, more of which you learn along the way and the ability you use items (Which is expected as its an RPG). The battle system is basic, but it gets the job done. The story is actually quite a lot better then I thought it would be and surprised me quite a bit. To paint a basic picture while Cid is trying to get a gem in a sand castle him and his partner chocobo (named...you guessed it Chocobo, what a great writing team over at Square Enix) who you control are sucked into a vortex and end up in a far away land where people hear a bell that rings, and there memories are lost. Cid falls victim to said bell, a girl comes and says she will try to help you, then a baby is randomly born from a egg, the baby has the ability to go into peoples minds and open a portal to it so that we, Chocobo, can enter peoples minds (AKA Randomly generated dungeons mentioned before) get the memories back and go on with the story.... Amazing stuff, maybe not, but its better then Squares last outing on the Wii, That abortion of a Dragons Quest game. Sound (9.5 out of 10) The sound in Chocobo's Dungeon is really awesome, we have a remix of past Final Fantasy tracks that have been beefed up, slowed down and some that sound nothing like the originals but still rock, the music, as it is in most Square Enix titles is well above par. Now before I popped the game into the Wii there was one thing I was not sure about, would it have full speech? Dragon Quest had speech, but it was utterly horrible and only really during cut scenes, Chocobo's Dungeon has speech for pretty much all important parts of the game with some of the less important town folks and so on appearing in text (Much like was done in FFXII). Overall the sound is on par with a 'real' Final Fantasy, compared to there last outing on the Wii, sound has taken a massive leap forward. Graphics (6 of 10) Now this bugs me to tears, why does every developer decide the Wii has to have some cartoony look to it other then going for realistic due to the systems power, Im sick of the bullshit japanese cartoony looking graphics that keep getting shoveled onto the Wii, they could have easily made the game look like Final Fantasy X, but they didnt! That being said, the graphics do suite the game (I know you love how much I contradict myself, well I do too) they do them well, but there is nothing overtly special about them, look at the screenshots, I don't have much else to say about them really. Replay Value (6 out of 10) Now some people will say, random dungeons, sounds like an RPG I can play again once I have finished it, but the question that needs to be asked is, why would you really want to play it through again, the dungeons and battle system are not fun enough to really deserve a replay, the story while better than I expected and presented better than I expected hardly deserves a retelling. Im giving it a 6 just for the random dungeons and if you wanted to play it through again it would be differant, but the whole game is made of random dungeons, so it wouldnt feel that fresh or new. Overall (6.75 out of 10) While Chocobo's Dungeon is slightly lackluster for a game bearing the Final Fantasy name, can we expect anything more? Not really. The game is a step in the right direction for the Chocobo series, and the Wii is so deprived of RPG titles that Wii owners like myself owe it to themselves to pick up anything they can get. If you like RPG's pick it up when you find it for a cheap price, I got it for again 40 USD when my uncle posted it over to me, not really worth the 40 bucks, but it was worth a play through. Find it cheap and give it a play. It doesn't hold up to a numbered Final Fantasy game, but as far as spin offs go, its a pretty decent little game.

Im a pretty big Nintendo fan, and a fan of the Wii in general, but Nintendo at this years E3 was nothing short of embarrassing. I get more excited reading news on IGN. Microsoft defo won the show. (And I dislike the xbox generally).

Looks interesting, I will look into it in more detail when I get some free time later today.

Awesome looking forward to this quite a bit.

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon on the wii. Its surprising a lot better then I thought it was going to be, the story is not half bad. I will write a review for it I think.