Saturday, 24 May 2008

What to expect from FIFA 09?

No absolute clue when this game will come out, but most likely somewhere after the start of the premier league season... or before it. So what can be expected from this game? Well it has to be something that will beat the next version of PES and in my opinion FIFA usually beats PES in everyway, except for some features in the gameplay of PES5 that probably outdoes the FIFA that was released at that time - FIFA 06.

FIFA 08 was probably one of EA Sport's best games created yet. It has a massive variety of teams, all licensed and all with a specific way of playing football and also has an improved game engine with added magnificent graphics. FIFA 08 feels like real football and looks like real football, resulting in a game that is the football game for gamers. EA's FIFA has been criticized throughout the years for its gameplay and lack of diversity, something PES was rapidly gaining over the years. Gameplay will be discussed in the next paragraph.

So... back to the question, what is most likely going to be in FIFA 09? Well take FIFA 08's gameplay, improve it by making sure there are less frequent animations so that the gameplay flows and you've got a PERFECT football game - well not perfect. Althought FIFA 08 was a masterpiece of gaming geniusness, game reviewers like my amateur self still believe that it may be more than improving tiny little things about the gameplay that have to be done to create a 10 out of 10 FIFA 09. Overall the gameplay is beautiful, however the problem was too many animations and I know we all love animations but this truly did slow down the fluidity of the game. Also, improvements on facial expressions should be another key improvement for EA. The expressions are brilliant when you see them, however there isn't a great range of them... but there are over 15,000 players in the game in all fairness. This is EA's main feature that will be banged on the head until the day of FIFA 09's release and hopefully, it will be bigger, better and truly breath-taking and the wait for the new PES will also be an ecstatic event to see which of the two wins gamer's hearts.

Grand Theft Auto 4 setting new Guinness World Record!... Possibly?

Grand Theft Auto 4 - The greatest contender for this years Game of the Year 2008. To be honest, an extremely strong contender is quite a subtle way of describing Rockstars Grand Theft Auto 4. This sandbox video game is definitely going to be the most played game across the whole globe because of the immense improvements made from the former PS2 game, GTA: San Andreas. An example of these improvements, is the unique graphics that were used from the system that was used for Rockstar's Table Tennis for the Xbox 360. There may be less of Liberty City in terms of San Andreas, but its been overloaded by tiny little quirks, such as buying a hotdog to regain your health, or playing bowling or even surfing the internet to find your perfect date; GTA4 has all of that.

The Grand Theft Auto series started back in 1997, first starting off with Grand Theft Auto, released in 1997/1998 and was set in 60's London. To me, nothing much to be honest, but at least it had a radio station! Then there was Grand Theft Auto 2. Hmm.. not really much different from the first, except a possible storyline that can actually be followed. Of course, after that was the unforgettable Grand Theft Auto 3. This had to be the best Playstation 2 game I had ever played and yes i did play it when i shouldn't have... I played it when i was 7 you see, but it has no effect on your brain mentally, I just have been able to equip myself with 2 bazookas and about 5 AK47's *shakes head* no big deal ;). Grand Theft Auto 3 didn't have the good ol' 2D view with top-view perspective like the past 2 games, but it was actually in third person view, making life for the player a lot more easier. Also, this is probably the proper storyline for Grand Theft Auto since there wasn't really much of the first two, however, I guess it was slightly surprising for everyone how the main character couldn't speak (was shot in the throat by mad woman Katalina). Voice-acting was also an improvement for the GTA series, with the inclusion of people such as Frank Vincent as Salvatore Leone and Joe Pantoliano as Luigi Goterelli. With an also improved radio variety and a much bigger area-span, the game was a gem for videogamers of the Playstation 2 era. In 2002, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released, with more famous voice-actors, great radio stations and wider assortment of cars and yes... motorbikes - not forgetting the planes and helicopters. The bigger game of the century though, was yet to come - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Instead of jumping into the sea and immediately dying (pretty unrealistic) you could swim! You could get fat and sit on your arse all day and watch TV at your house, or go work out at the gym, or even take your girlfriend on a date to the Cluckin' Chicken... or most likely a drive-by! It all was making sense why the birth of the PS2 actually happened! For the sake of this game!!! (no offense to other games). This game literally had everything you could have wised for and the missions were more interesting and meaningful than ever. The best part of this game has to be the sex scene, which was not meant to be discovered but was by some hackers who had nothing better to do than watch a Hot Coffee scene of actually controlling how to have sex. Thankfully for me, I had the game on PS2 and not on PC, so I didn't have to see this (unfortunately). So, a scale much bigger than Liberty City, and bigger than the whole of Vice City left gamers literally dribbling over this Gangsta-esque game, not surprisingly this game got a few Guinness World Records and GTA4 is probably attempting to renew them.

Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City and San Andreas all were the games of the PS2-era and with all the contents of these games transferred into GTA4, its a complete stunner!... but was it all transferred into GTA4? Unfortunately not. Since Rockstar had been continuously working at GTA4 making sure that it was literally jam-packed with all these minute details, the span of the game has been cut down, and there isn't the wide variety of clothes that you can buy, gym that you can go to, ability to become a fat guy and not even able to collect them oysters in the sea. But in all honesty, this New York City lookalike is definitely better than the other GTA's in the series. It's improved AI means more communication on the streets, people actually talking and shopping and doing their own thing - leading their own life and YOU as Niko Bellic, actually gets to use a phone that looks like a Sony Ericsson W200i!!! As if things couldn't get any better than having a guy fresh off the boat use a high tech phone in GTA4 (I mean it, its just breath-taking to see a phone being used so intellectually by Niko and other pedestrians). Truthfully, after playing it since it came out on the 29th of April, I haven't recognised one pedestrian that has appeared more than once. Buying GTA4 would probably be the best thing you have ever done all year, with everything from calling your cousin to go out and get drunk, to dating a gay guy you met off the internet, GTA4 literally has everything you would expect it to have giving it a popular rating from other gaming websites a 10 out of 10.