Episode 10

Nevermind Matt and Eric constantly saying this is episode 9- it's 10. No Stefan this week, but no problem.

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Episode 9

Two man show this week with Stefan and Matt leading the way. This is the longest show to date, so check it out.

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Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction Review

What do you get when you mix great platforming, crazy off the wall weapons, and Toy Story? That's simple. You get Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction.

The Ratchet and Clank series has been a Sony mainstay since it debuted back on the PS2. Numerous games on both the PS2 and PSP platforms have redefined the platforming genre. But how does the game do after taking the jump to the PS3?

Let's check out the story first. In a nutshell, Emperor Tachyon has gone after good ol' Captain Qwark, and you have to stop him. And to make things even worse, he doesn't like you either, and wants to blow Ratchet's adorable little ass into a million pieces. It's a classic story of good versus evil.

Tools of Destruction brings back the great platforming of previous games in the series, with updated graphics. Fans of the previous games will feel right at home, and newcomers will be able join the fray easily as well, with the game not having much of a learning curve. Every new weapon is explained when you buy them, eliminating the 'What does this do?' confusion.

What separates the Ratchet and Clank series from others out there, are the fantastic weapons. Everything from bombs and normal guns to disco balls and tornadoes can be found in Ratchet's arsenal. You can purchase and upgrade weapons along the way with the currency you gain from killing enemies or breaking boxes.

One of the biggest innovations in the game is the incorporation of using the PS3's SixAxis controller. You can use the controller as a steering wheel of sorts, directing Ratchet as he falls from the sky, avoiding enemies, or aiming a laser to break apart obstacles in your way.

For all you graphic whores, Tools of Destruction will not disapoint. The game looks like a Pixar movie that you can play. It looks beautiful. Each planet looks so vibrant and bold, and never fails to bring a smile to your face.

There are some downers in the game, with the biggest one for me being the lack of checkpoints. Nothing kills momentum more than playing for 15 minutes, killing a ton of enemies, and then dying, and starting over. We should not be punished for dying after clearing a large part of a level. If I've beaten something, I should not have to re-play it. Other games have hurt from this as well, so I can't get too pissed.

Other than that, the game is pretty short, which will annoy some people out there.

Bottom line is that it's a blast, and every PS3 owner should have a copy in their library.

Final score- A-

- Matt Calamia

PaddleCast Episode 8 - The Whity Experience

We have finally made the show with Whity and it turned out great. You can download part two or the full MP3 here:



Download: Part 2


Download: Full Version

New Super Mario Bros. Review (DS)

Remember the simple days of just getting from left to right, jumping on enemies and leaping across gaps in the land which would lead to your demise? Well, if you miss the days of old school gaming, New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS may be the game to meet your appetite.

If you've never played a Mario game- which is unlikely- the point of the game is to save the Princess from the hands of Bowser. Period.

Now that we got the intense storyline out of the way, lets talk about the rest of the game. This game screams classic, but with somewhat of a face-lift. The graphics look great, along with the animations from all the characters. The sound in the game are also great, bringing back the 8-bit greatness of the older Mario games.

Each world has its own look and feel, ranging from ice, fire and forest levels, with their own enemies.

Two big improvements were added to the power ups. The first is the ability to get a 'Mega Mario.' When you get this power up, you can basically breeze through the level, crushing everything in your path, enemies included.

I'll try and make this as un-confusing as possible. The other improvement is the ability to store a power up. What that means is, for example, if you have the flower power up with the fireballs, and then score another one, you can save it on the bottom screen. Once you get hit by an enemy and lose the first power up, you can click the icon on the bottom screen, and boom, you have the power up again. I hope that wasn't too bad?

Of course there are some drawbacks. One big one is the minimal difficulty presented in the game. It's not very difficult to breeze through the game, which takes away from the enjoyment. That leads to the other negative aspect of the game: its length. The game is just too short. Before you know it, you're completing the game and saving the princess. They should have added a few more worlds to it to make it that much better.

All in all, the good greatly outweighs the bad, making this a must own for Mario fans, and platform fans in general. Although the game is simple, it is still very enjoyable.

Final score: 8/10

- Matt

inFamous Review

InFamous is Sony's most recent interpretation of a sandbox-style video game. InFamous was developed by Sucker-Punch Productions, the same team that created the Sly Cooper series on the Playstation 2.

In InFamous, you play as bike messenger Cole. Well, little does Cole know, his simple bike messenger job will soon change his entire life. Cole is commanded by an anonymous instructor to deliver a package that is secretly a bomb. The bomb, of course, explodes, creating mass chaos. The blast was so devastating, that it destroyed six blocks of city. However, instead of being blown to the inevitable abyss, Cole develops unique electricity-based powers. Upon returning to his residence in Empire City, Cole discovers that gangs and thugs have planned a complete take over to an already bleak city. With your newly acquired powers, will you fight back for peace, security and justice, or will you terminate the weak that are left?

Each action you take either negatively or postively effects Cole's karma. When you have reached a full positive karma, you have become the so-ever-cliche term in a "hero." On the opposite side of the table, when you killed one too many innocent civilians, your karma will reach, you guessed it, infamous. Regardless of how you handle your first play through, creating two options for the player, certainly envokes a replyability factor. Progression in the story leads to Cole developing more powers, which can be upgraded on either a Hero side or an inFamous side. However, do not get too excited, these upgrades are very shallow and lack any forms of depth.

The movement of Cole's character is heavily influenced on platforming elements. The three islands in Empire City that you will be conquering all rely on plunging from roof tops, riding the train track rails, sliding along telephone wires, and everything and anything in between. It is very reminiscent to Assassin's Creed, in that it does not take a complex button scheme to manuever through the areas. The movement is not always too well done, although. Cole will get stuck many times, whether its in between buildings, hanging off ledges, or even jumping across simple platforms. The problem can be so severe that it may have to cause you to restart the game. The combat is actually very well done. For all the lightning you unleash, you must find electrical outputs to recharge Cole. When you do not possess any lightning at the time, Cole is extremely vulnerable. Shooting lightning never gets too old, and with a steady camera, you cannot help but get addicted. The graphics are certainly a mixed bag. The facial textures need serious work and the voice acting is terrible. The city does suffer from some pop-ins and framerate issues. Do not get me wrong, though, Empire City as a whole is extremely varied in terms of environments, which helps create a personality, as though this city could really exist.

The main story missions are a lot of fun. They all bring something new to the table. The pacing between learning a new power and using it in the actual game is perfect. The story will put you on an emotional roller coaster; you really do not know what will come next. Unfortunately, since this is an open-world game, there are side missions, and the side missions in inFamous are horrible. They lack any creativity or imagination. Sure, some of them are fun, but you will not be saying that too much after you are asked to do the same mission for the tenth time. I guess you can look at side-missions as a little incentitive to keep playing, like a hidden multiplayer, but really, they do nothing but hinder the awesome story of inFamous.

I did not want to end this review on a bad note, so for my final comments, I say to try inFamous. Out of all the Playstation 3 games that have been released in 2009 thus far, inFamous packs the biggest punch. There are virtually two campaigns to play through, lots of collectibles, and three islands to completely pass. InFamous is about as good as it can get for a sand-box game. Although it is a good game by any means, the frequent glitchy character movements, the lazy graphical finishes, and the repetitive side missions really prevent inFamous from being a great game.

Final Score: 8/10

-Eric

PaddleCast Episode 7 - Games We've Been Playing (w/ Reston)

In this episode of PaddleCast we thought we would just chill out and talk about some games we've playing. We also have Reston as a guest star in this episode. Big thanks to him.









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Update

So since we have this blogger account, I figured, why don't I blog a bit? I know we haven't put up a new show this week, but finding time to get three guys together online who all have jobs and girlfriends can be a bit tough. But, don't freak out. A new show may be happening tonight (Thursday).

What that video will consist of is basically what we've been playing lately. Since we are all gamers, we play a lot of games, and we're going to tell you guys about them.

We also have a big announcement for next week. We at Paddle Cast have had the pleasure of booking Whity the Reviewer on for next week's show. We'll talk about what he thought of E3, and just other stuff you guys may find interesting. As I said, that will be for next week's show.

So once again, sorry for the lack of shows, especially on the YouTube account. Hopefully people are checking this out though, and I'm not writing to myself. If you do follow us, hit the 'Follow' button thing, so we know you exist.

Thanks a lot everyone,

Sincerely Matt (Paddle Cast)

Episode 6 - Sony E3 2009 Reactions

Episode 6 contains our reactions to the Sony E3 2009 press conference. We were all very pleased with Sony's conference this year and generally agree it was the strongest.

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Episode 5 - Nintendo E3 2009 Reactions

Episode still being edited...

Episode 4 - Microsoft E3 2009 Reactions

E3 is over and this episode brings our reactions to the first conference which was Microsoft. We cover our impressions of the games shown and some other Microsoft surprises.

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Episode 3 - Sony E3 2009 Predictions

In episode 3 of PaddleCast, the boys talk about their predictions of what Sony will present at their 2009 E3 Press Conference.





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Episode 2 - Nintendo E3 2009 Predictions

In episode 2 of PaddleCast, the boys talk about their predictions of what Nintendo will present at their 2009 E3 Press Conference.





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Episode 1 - Microsoft E3 2009 Prediction

The very first episode of PaddleCast. In this episode, we discuss what we hope to see, and what we think we will see at Microsoft's 2009 E3 Press Conference.







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