Flashback Review: Music Game Feature

Music Game Feature
By Dan Bate

So with the split of Red Octane and Harmonix by Activision and MTV respectively, Red Octane to go on and make GH: World Tour and all following GH games and Harmonix to go to Rock Band with its sequel and the continuing series.
As a huge metal and heavy rock geek I will be reviewing all of these music games from now on. Excluding of course Red Octane’s pathetic attempt of reaching the “other side” with DJ Hero (spits).
First in this reviewing series is Rock Band. Unlike the early GH games the vast majority of songs on the set list are the original studio recordings from the artists supplied by the record labels. This gives for a much more realistic experience, hearing the artists sing along with you or playing an amazing riff with you.
Its real feature is of course being able to play multiple instruments at the same time, having a drummer, bassist, lead guitarist and vocals, meaning all of your friends can now have a role each in playing all of the fantastic songs.

Guitar Hero

Being a massive fan of the guitar element side of these games (all completed on expert *flicks shoulders*) I was eager to give this new addition to the metal menagerie a thorough thrashing. Before you can get in there and kill out career mode you have to make yourself an avatar, your own personal character to represent you in your rise to rock godliness. I thought that this would be a cheap, laborious process, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Not only can you buy hundreds of different items of clothing, accessories, hats, gloves, tattoos even face paints, you can change all of the colours for edging and themes. This gives you literally thousands of combinations to make your rocker or rockette completely your own and original.
After spending a satisfying 5- 15 minutes making your character you get straight into the career mode. Very similar layout to Guitar Hero, playing through varying set list sections of increasing difficulty, with Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert difficulties. There are some really great songs on this game from old classics like Paranoid, Run to the hills and Won’t get fooled again to more modern, and in some cases better, songs like Go with the flow, Learn to fly and Reptillia.
Playing the game feels a little different to GH as the layout of the screen is slightly changed. You still have the “rock-o-meter” monitoring your progress, and the fret board with added “overdrive” filling in for the star power of GH. However instead of the round gems, there are now rectangular gems although they still work in the same manner. Strum the bar whilst pressing the appropriate coloured key, hold down for sustained notes and hammer on’s and pull offs are still in play. An added extra (and awesome fun), is the big rock finish. This is a 10-20 secondish free for all at the end of certain songs, strum and bash away as fast as you can to gain some extra points and just look really awesome!

One feature that I really liked wasn’t the game play but everything else that was happening on the screen. Everything just feels really clean and precise and generally a lot more professionally done. The camera shots will alternate between band members as well as effects, backgrounds and lighting. If you pay attention in GH, especially GH: WT, the camera angles and shots will be exactly the same every time you play the song. When this also applies to the actions of the band members, it gets very monotonous and annoying. Rock Band even has the crowd sing along with you when you’re at the high end of the rock-o-meter, as sad as it sounds; it makes you feel a lot better about the game and like you’re at a real performance.
As fun as career mode is, the best part of this game is the multi-player element. Have a few of your friends around and put them to shame, have your ass handed to you in the tug of war and head to head battles, or just rock out and enjoy this game for all its worth.

Rock Band

No friends? You don’t need them! Now you can make a band online, if you’re a great drummer or singer head online and gather band members to take on the world. You can play the additional world tour mode, with this you build up your cash as well as fans. Unlock new clothes and guitars to add to your styles as well as tour around some fantastic locations in specially themed arenas.
Whilst I’m trying to be as unbiased and objective as possible, I honestly cannot think of one fault with this game. Everything just seems to be, well perfect. Amazing songs, complete originality, customizable everything, phenomenal online and multi-player play, hundreds of downloadable songs, engaging and focus drawing even for those not playing, gamerscores to give great bragging rights, even the opening movie is just cool!
If you like any form of band music, you will love this game. Great for parties and playing by yourself this is a must have game, even just the solus with a GH controller or XBL headset will bring hours upon hours of joy unbounded.
Too many hours of my life I have dedicated to this game, was it worth

You bet your ass it was, ROCK ON!
Complete and utter 10/10


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Flashback: Blackberry Storm Review

Reviewer: Dan Bate

Blackberry Storm: Price: £185
www.surecw.com

The Storm in itself is exactly what it says on the tin, a powerful mixture of thunderous technology and innovation and its interface is connectivity speeds are lightning fast. Its screen being the first of any smart phone to be “click-able”, meaning that although the screen itself is heat responsive, to make a selection that you have highlighted you must physically press the screen in. This makes making mistakes whilst typing near impossible, whilst still enabling you to type at whatever speed you are comfortable at, in portrait BlackBerry sure type keyboard, or horizontal QWERTY keyboard.

With the screen in mind it is best to mention one of its most striking features, the quality of the screen. From downloading near HD quality movie trailers comparable to your fancy televisions to viewing your pictures and videos it is genuinely surprising how what is thought of as a “business phone”, can surpass its competition in the entertainment department.

As well as the most responsive and easy-to-use email receivers that I have ever seen on a phone, the internet works at a fantastic speed converting the vast majority of websites into an easy to read and navigate webpage. Flick between pan and cursor mode to get around easier and with a simple double tap of the screen zoom in to pick out those hard to reach links.
The greatest advantage to having a BlackBerry is the fact you can talk to anybody else who has a BlackBerry for free!
Using a very similar interface to that of MSN Messenger, you can chat with your BlackBerry chums anywhere in the world, send files, contacts and pictures completely free. With your friends closer to home, you can get all of their Blackberry details saved in your phone instantly with the BlackBerry barcode system, scan their barcode and chat!
Major flaws I have found include the battery life, which isn’t really surprising for the amount of energy it uses doing all of your tasks, but it should have been anticipated and dealt with appropriately to have more than a five hour talk time life. There were some major problems when it was first released with bugs in the OS and it crashing repeatedly. Research in motion have stuck to their word and released several updates which have not only worked out the kinks but also increased the responsiveness of the screen.
Several problems have also been reported with the phones dying completely with no warning or remedy; these cases are few and far between but shouldn’t put people off buying a truly great phone that, unlike most, outlive the contract that you buy it on.


Originaly posted in June 2010 on TG-Radar 

 

Flashback: iPhone 4 Review

Reviewer: Callum Povey

Apple iPhone 4

Price: £499 (16gig) or £599 (32gig)
www.apple.com/uk

Given the amount of mainstream headlines the iPhone 4 has already received, the entire population generally already has their own opinion on Apples latest smartphone, yet, a good percentage has probably either 

a.) never used one

b.) is an Android user.

or c.) is Dan

So, what is all the fuss about?

Design:

The intital responce to the iPhone 4, is that it really is a step up from it's predessesor, the 3Gs. Gone is the curved plastic skin, replaced with a sexy glass and steel finish. It's also slimmer too, at just .37 inches compared to the .48 inches of the 3Gs, but it weighs the same 4.8 ounces.
The device is coated with a silver steel band, that now houses seperate buttons for volume (instead of the 'rocker' of the 3Gs) simply labeled (+) and (-) on the left hand side, accompanied by a profile (loud/silent) switcher. The right side, is present to only the Micro SIM slot.
The steel band also acts as an all round antenna, but we'll talk more on that later.

The front faces you with a glorious 3.5 inch Retina display glass screen, with a secondary VGA camera up top for Face Time calling.

The back, in all it's glossy black, is only interrupted by the silver 'mirrored' Apple logo, and the new 5MP camera, boasting 720p HD recording.
The redesigned housing also allows for a much larger lithium-ion battery on the inside, so the power mad users of you wont have to charge every five minutes.

The iPhone 4, no matter how you feel about Apple, is simply gorgeous. The smooth finish makes the most high end Android toting smartphone feel last generation. Hell, even the 3Gs looks chubby and cheap compared to it's successor.

Tech Specs:

Moving on from the Samsung-built ARM Cortex-A8-based CPU the 3Gs uses,  the iPhone 4 is blessed with the brand new A4 chip (as used in the iPad), so the device is exeedingly fast. Not that the 3Gs was any snail, mind. However, graphics seem to render that little quicker and responsivness is a little higher, so it seems the 3Gs will be playing keep up.
 In terms of wireless, the iPhone 4 is packed with an 802.11n WiFi radio, as well as a quad-band HSUPA chip and Bluetooth 2.1.

The camera has also had a boost, going from the 3MP of the 3Gs, to a 5MP 720p shooting HD camera. And the results are very impressive.
A new second microphone that helps combat background noise while on calls (similar to the Nexus One) is present, aswel as a gyroscope in addition to the standard accelerometer, a light sensor, and a proximity sensor, all built inside the compact frame.

The steel band previously mentioned, is supposed to act as an all round antenna, that is to improve call signal quality. Yeah, that tiny feature that has made it's way around the world of news. Because "it dosn't work".
However, the flaw dosn't deserve the bad name it's received. Sure, it was a tad baffeling that Apples executives let that slip by, but the problem was fixed (with an added appology, something Apple NEVER do) via free bumpers, and an upcoming OS update.

FaceTime:

FaceTime you say? Sounds fancy. Well, no, for it's Apples answer to video calling, albeit with some bells and whistles. The concept is simple, voice calling (to other iPhone 4 users) but it uses both the front and rear camera, so your loved ones can see what you're seeing with a flip of the camera.
As it only works via Wi-Fi for now, the actual reasoning to use it is a bit bizzare. Hopefully, an update will allow for 3G use (maybe, fingers crossed, you'll be able to use it with non-iPhone 4 users).

What Else?

Blimey, you don't want much, do you?

If a high resolution Retina display, 5MP 720p HD camera and beautifully slick multi-touch screen and all round media marvel, all wrapped up in a delicious glass and steel body dosn't quite make you foam at the mouth, there are a few other little tricks that may sweeten the deal;

Folders:
The new iOS4 allows you to create folders for all your apps, simply by holding them down and dragging onto one another. Especially useful if you have alot of Apps.

Multitasking:

Although not a brand new thing (multitasking has been standard on smartphones a while) the new iOS4 has brought the iPhone into the world of multitasking. Finally.

iBooks and iMovie
iBooks is Apples answer to Ebooks, now available on the App store, download your favourite novels, read them on your iPhone. Simple.

iMovie is a movie editor, that, although lacking in some features, is a simple and eligant way to edit your movies, with the abilty to export them in glourious 720p HD.

The App Store
If you don't know what this is, you don't deserve a smartphone.

The Verdict:

Without being biased, the iPhone 4 is the best smartphone on the market right now. Sure, there are other devices out there that trump it in some stakes (camera, abilty to play Flash) but no other phone can match it in terms of overall design and usabilty.
The HTC and Android army will always dismiss every iPhone that comes out. Yet they'll still fork out on a device that is dubbed "the next best thing to an iPhone".

I'd love for a company to make something that really does outdo the iPhone, because we'd finally take a leap forward.
But the iPhone has set the bar, and until companies start thinking original with fresh, new and exciting ideas, the iPhone will always be the desired handset.

But it's a matter of taste, some people with always prefer Android, Symbian or the Blackberry's OS. But it's tough to argue that until the true iPhone Beater arrives, Apple will always be the cream of the crop.

Originaly posted in June 2010 on TG-Radar