It was acquired, played and here comes the afterthought...
Sometime ago I introduced a game called Obscure: The Aftermath. Through the forces of fate, I was given a review copy of this game for the PSP.
Here is a little refresher in the storyline of Obscure: Take several high school teenagers and trap them on school grounds. Add a demented headmaster who subjects these students to evil experimentation, then unleash horrific baddies on them while they slowly get taken out Darwin style. Oh, do not forget to add the grainy filter, and atmospheric music. Those who made it out alive now have since been treated for the mutations they endured, and also have graduated. Enter next step: college, which proves to not be such an easy transition.
Even though I have a natural attraction to the distorted and demented stories encased in survival horror games; I also harbor an enhanced reaction to fear. In laymen’s terms: I’m a scaredy cat. To be completely honest, they scare the bejesus out of me! This fear hasn’t stopped me from playing these titles; all they have managed to do is instill in me a habit of late night rummaging for something a little less threatening with a smiley face on it.
As I loaded this game into the PSP, I heard the chilling sounds of eerie children singing. If we haven’t learned a thing or two about what makes an atmosphere creepy; disembodied child-like choir voices surrounding you like the coat you put on is a good start. If that isn’t enough add the agent that is key to all Japanese horror films and no I don’t mean deathly pale eight-year-old girls. The element of flashing horrific scenes or pictures does the trick. Walking down a hallway at night can be spooky, but add a flash of screaming face or a mutilated person or dog and you are in business.
Lastly, if the grainy filter, invisible choir boys, and B movie acting isn’t enough to strike fear and uncertainty into your sub cranium, perhaps the lack of true control of your pairs will do it. It is one thing to combat the forces of the darkest twisted corners of the human psyche but try doing it when the only analog stick on your PSP is the biggest piece of crap on the face of the planet. One wrong flick could land you into a corner where you’ll become these monsters’ nighttime love…or at best their nighttime snack.
If you are a wizard at modification or know someone who has that gamer god-given talent, then I suggest bribing them to mod your analog stick. Then you’ll know for sure that your death was just bad luck and not because you couldn’t move efficiently.
One concern I do have with this game isn’t really a fault with the game but with Playlogic’s choice to put this game on a portable platform. This game has its share of jumpy moments that could compel someone-say like myself- in utter terror to throw their PSP into the air, thus potentially breaking it into several pieces. To safeguard said PSP, playing in a place made of plush pillows should be considered. However I have recently discovered that Obscure was initially for the Playstation 2 and the fan base clamored for a portable release of this game. So you guys got what you asked for!
Overall I felt like the atmosphere really set the tone for this game. It reminds me a lot of Silent Hill 2, which is one of my favorite survival horror games. So I give Obscure: The Aftermath for the PSP a 4 out of 5 rating. If you want some portable fear in your pocket Obscure: The Aftermath is the way to go.
Labels: E3, Games, Pandalicious, PS2, PSP
At the end of September last year, ElectricSistaHood published a post asking the big question of the day: Will the PS3 cause Sony to go broke? 
With box art this sexy the game has to be good right? Well, after the last 4 hours of playing I'm going to have to say no.
As I reached hour one of gameplay I found myself comparing Yakuza to Shenmue, another game made by Sega. Both games feature a young man, in love with a girl, battling gangs/mobs throughout town to try and piece together how his lady has ended up missing. In Shenmue you play the character of Ryu, and end up traveling all around town finding clues, working jobs, and occasionally fighting the odd bad dude on the quest to save your fair lady. In Yakuza you play Kazuma, and after some shizzole goes down you get stuck in the joint for a 10 year bid. While you are in jail you find out that your honey dip Yumi done lost her marbles and has disappeared. Once you get out, you set out to find her and figure out what the hell happened all those years ago. 
I speak, of course, of my gaming rig... 
So what's in my gaming rig you might ask? Well, in what has now become the "Tower of Older Power" we have the Xbox 
In the main arena I have my PS3, XB360, and Nintendo Wii tucked away under my 42" TV from 
In the run-up to the launch of the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii, there's going to be lots of rumors out there. At ElectricSistaHood, we're in as much of a fog as you are, so you can just take or leave these latest bits of information coming at us from all directions. It's all talk, and it's mostly crazy. 
I stress to all of you, put your systems on UPS battery backups... but do the research first. Find out what the energy requirements of the systems and TV in your rig that you are going to put on the UPS and then find the UPS that will support that requirement with ease. For instance, many battery backup systems have a certain amount of outlets that run off the battery, and some that are merely surge protected. I purchased the Belkin F6550-AVR system for my rig because it offered 4 outlets that were surge protected plus battery backed up, and then 2 more outlets that were just surge protected. This covers my main systems. I then bought an additional F6550 unit for the AV rack that houses my PS2, Wii, and wireless router. In this way, if the power goes out, I have plenty of time to safely save my games, power down my systems... no fried electronics... and all at about the cost of a new game. Not a bad deal, If I say so myself. If they could, my consoles and TV would thanks me.
As you may [or may not] know, Clover Studios are the mad men and women behind Okami, God Hand, and Viewtiful Joe. If you haven't played any of these games, you've done yourself a disservice. I have yet to play the full versions of Okami or God Hand but I have played a demo of Okami and both of the Viewtiful Joe games. These games are unique. Within the first few moments of playing them you understand by instinct alone that these are the brain children of some creative ass people. Search the interweb for any of these titles or hit up the IGN website and look them up. You won't find any negative things being said about these titles. [Except for God Hand which gets dismissed for being a simple brawler that pokes fun at itself]. 
FFXII was leap-frogged in the hype press by the trinity that is FFXIII which probably didn't go over well with the people who make the real money over there at Sony and Squenix. If people are waiting and looking forward to games that are slated for 07, they might overlook the game coming out now in 06. That statement has to send shivers down a stockholders spine. So how do you get some quick publicity for a game that you have coming out at the end of the month? You can't put together a contest or sweepstakes fast enough, and it might not reach your intended audience. A email newsletter won't do you much good either because between junk mail filters, and people just throwing out emails before reading them if they are low on time [or lack focusing brain power at the moment] your message still won't get out. But if you say, accidentally leak out a fully function version of the game that only a limited amount of your existing base can play, that will get the attention of the blogosphere and the fanboys, or that will get people focused on trying to find this pirated treasure of free gamitude so that your game name recognition goes up in the search engines, well, you might be on to something there. Get the people talking about the game, looking for it, and those slight few that have it and can play it will go on and on about how good it is [even if it sucks] because they have it and can play it before everyone else.
I've tried both KOTOR games as well as the Jedi Academy game and again found myself displeased with the slow gameplay and pace of the story, so I moved on to a new game. With all the previous Star Wars games I had expressed leaving a bad taste in my mouth, I avoided the first Lego Star Wars game like it had rabies. From all the things I had read about various Star Wars games they were always falling short in some area that I just knew would piss me off. LucasArts tries hard, I know they do, but for me and millions of fans out there the games did not satisfy. If I am completely honest with you all, I would not have tried this demo if Evermore hadn't asked me my opinion on it last evening. Deciding his question deserved answering, I popped the PS2 demo disc in my console and waited for the game to load.
Lego Star Wars II is just plain fun. It's kooky in its use of humor, for the true original trilogy 
Sony has once more laid a quick back hand on the face of the consumer base. Recently SCEA posted the specs for the PS3 on their US website and the base specs look good. Unfortunately two pieces of what you get "in the box" for the $600 dollar box should piss most consumers off.