sprites & bites

Gaming, iPads and a few biscuits on the side…

Monthly Archives: July 2009

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is the sequel to Call of Juarez.  Actually it is more of a prequel because the storyline happens before the storyline of the original.  Remember the God-fearing Reverand Ray McCall from the previous game?  Well this is when the mighty Reverand was not a Reverand but a soldier in the American Civil War fighting for the confederate.

The game starts off in the American Civil War until Mr Ray gets bored and decides to pursue other matters, getting him into trouble with his superiors.  You play alongside Ray’s brother Thomas.  When each level starts you get to choose who to play – Ray or Thomas.  Both of them have unique abilities that the other does not have.  If you choose Ray on a level if you go back and play again with Thomas, you are playing the level from a different perspective so there is some replayability in the game.

The game is very linear and only one route through a level but it really does not matter, it is an enjoyable game nevertheless.  At certain points of the game, before you choose to start your mission you can play around a bit with some side missions.  Just go to the stores and look at the wanted posters on the walls.  There are sides to kill people or to get back stolen property for example.  They are small destractions from the main game.

It is not the best looking current gen game around, but it does the job and sometimes it does look great.  I found when playing I had some picture tearing at times but it was never a serious issue.

Generally it is not too difficult a game but my main gripe is the shooting duels, I find them incredibly hard and sometimes they took 10 attempts or more to win.  Very frustrating.

Good game, definitely worth a rental and maybe pick it up to buy if you are interested in the included multiplayer.

Good/10

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

Another year, another EA money spinner of Tiger Woods PGA Tour – we are in double figures now and have made it to 10, representing next year 2010.  EA like to feel ahead in the calendar.

First thing I notice after the starting splash screen is a nice new menu, but hey..  “New courses available, press LB” so I press LB and it takes me to the 360 marketplace where I can buy 2 courses at 600 points each – thats two DLC courses ON THE DAY OF RELEASE – clearly EA held them back from the real game to gouge us for extra money.  I find this disgusting practice.

So onto the game itself.  Graphically the game looks good and EA are  improving on the way they render bushes and trees but still they seem unable to do crowds properly.  The crowds have so little detail they might as well be matchsticks but this is really just a minor irritation and shows that whilst EA are making a good effort to make the game look good, they are neglecting the crowds.

The game has all of the traditional modes, tournaments and the career play.  Every year the career challenges are laid out differently, last year it was the honeycomb grid, this year they are play cards moving left to right through the different courses and have differing levels of difficulty.  All of ythe challenges are copies from real life golf incidents with major players over the years, so it is quite good we are actually playing these famous incidents – from long drive challenges, to par 3′s etc and infamous comebacks.

Apart from the way the challenges are set out, not much really has changed from last year.  Your personal coach is still there and you have the optional challenges to improve your golf through the coach.

If you really must get the newest golf game every year then this is worth a buy but there is not much more to that of last year, so do not expect huge changes.