49 - Skate (360)

Genre: Skateboarding
Rating: T
Developer: EA Black Box
Publisher: EA Games
Platform: 360 (Also: PS3, mobile)
Release Date: 2007

Skate caused a reaction in me that I haven't felt for a while. I really wanted to play it. The thing is though that I absolutely hated it. From the moment I started playing to when I finally put the control down I was cursing and gripping the controller much too tight.

Unlike the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series, this skateboard game feels a lot more realistic. In Tony Hawk games there were always some goofy things going on. The physics were strange and millions of tricks could be pulled off easily. Skate feels a lot more down to earth. Basically, Tony Hawk is like dream skateboarding and Skate is more down to earth. It isn't as if Skate isn't goofy at all either, but it tries a lot harder to be a more of a replication of the sport.

The control method is really cool. You use both analog sticks for movement. You must flick up the left analog stick in some direction to jump the skateboard up and do various tricks. The right stick controls the skater's body. You use them in sync to pull off tricks and it's not nearly as easy as it should be. In fact, the game is damn hard and the map is confusing.

Most of the stuff about the game is fine, except that the control scheme is so hard to take control of. It felt like playing Stuntman, which also requires near perfection from the player to get anywhere in the game. It is so hard. It's too hard. Somehow, I found myself playing it and failing over and over to simply get somewhere in it. I wanted to prove myself to the game. I don't think I'll pick it up anytime soon in the future, but it was one hell of an experience while it lasted.

Would I play again? Maybe.

21 - Catwoman

Genre: Action
Rating: T
Developer: Argonaut Games
Publisher: EA Games
Platform: PS2 (Also: GBC, GBA, GC, PC, Xbox)
Release date: 2004

I'll tell you straight out, this was not a pleasant gaming experience. However, it wasn't the worst, as my expectations were set much lower. However, you gotta know you're in for a treat when the main menu shows a very slow and close up panning across the various curves of Catwoman.

The control scheme was pretty cool. You could run regularly or press a button to get into cat-like mode and have a different set of control methods. The left thumbstick moved your character around and the right controlled your whip action. In a cat fashion you are also able to jump further and climb up on things. It was also interesting that upon executing various attacks that Catwoman would exude purplish sparkles. It almost felt like I was playing a supremely less fabulous version of Bayonetta.

That's where the compliments end. The voice acting of all the NPCs were hilariously bad and the tutorial on-screen text was written really strangely. I suspect it was written how Catwoman talks but I've never read the comics so it was really weird. Beyond that, the camera loved to move in the worst places possible so there was no way to see the proper way to go and, as far as I could tell, there was no way to move it yourself.

Because of that damn camera I plummeted to my death from the tops of buildings a handful of times. Well, I should have. Falling from 7 stories only took a small chunk of health from Catwoman each time until it finally whittled down to nothing. She didn't even land on her feet!

Would I play again? No.