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410°

Afrika Is Like An Ugly Person With No Personality

CinemaBlend thoroughly trashes Afrika, one of the showcases from Sony's E3 2006 presentation.

Excerpt: "I'm not sure why Natsume thought this would be a good project to publish on the powerhouse PS3, but that's exactly what makes this game not look good. In all honesty, it looks like a game that came out of the original Xbox era and would probably be suited better for the Nintendo Wii.

The resolution isn't particularly good and the pace of the game (though, more appropriately it should be called an interactive photo-simulation program) is so slow that anyone watching is forced to stare down the uncomely visuals and blocky graphics. So far, the sound seems to be extremely well done and the vehicle and environmental effects come off with great quality. However, it doesn't make up for the long load times, bland aesthetic and uninspiring atmosphere."

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Jack Klugman5430d ago (Edited 5430d ago )

then it should be the hottest title on plopstation!

beep! beep! beep!

DasBunker5430d ago (Edited 5430d ago )

are you trying to tell us youre like afrika jack? ;)

Sir Ken_Kutaragi5429d ago

Come on now leave Gabe Newell alone!!! ;-D

ptotoy5429d ago

http://ps3.ign.com/dor/obje...

http://ps3.ign.com/dor/obje...

the hate and the lies against anyhting ps3 related from xbutt sites are sickening.. at least back up your opinion with facts.. not compressed video that clearly do not fairly represent the game

jack_burt0n5430d ago

"Ugly Person With No Personality"

just makes me think of william usher.

DasBunker5430d ago

i disagree with the title because
Games like Afrika are unique and scarce
and ugly people with no personality are everywhere you go.

JonahFalcon5430d ago

Hope you enjoy the $60 it'll cost.

Greywulf5430d ago (Edited 5430d ago )

Afrika is a beautiful game. The games design is open world, which the write up seems to miss. You travel parts of a crimped off africa, much like Grand Theft Auto's islands. Once you start, you're already in the "Zone" to take your photos. Your mission is to use STEALTH to sneak up on animals and take pictures of them, which this writeup doesn't even mention. You're taking pictures for money. You get missions to do, and you do them. You drive the vehicle to the watering hole, or wherever it is that you need to get to. Once there, you bail out of the car. Think any type of photographer simulation game.

It just complains about the graphics of a 2006(hello?) title. The game features dynamic lighting, its a thing of awe to sit and watch the sun go down and see the vibrant blues/purples/yellows kiss the horizon. The human models are on par with Tekken5-6, theres a clear japanese influence/eye here. Minus the clothing simulation, the animals are well done. Not only that but each animal has a bio that you can read about. Then theres the shop. You upgrade your camera and gear much like gran turismo. You buy lenses/lures(iirc) and other things.

Afrika isn't a ps3 powerhouse. But that puts it in prime territory for average graphic titles like prototype and others with unremarkable visuals, but good enough graphics with some polish here and there. But its still entertaining since a game can have below average visuals like Ninja Blade or Velvet assassin, and still be entertainment. Hmm why did i write that twice?

The loading times is the only real issue with the game, for some odd reason your save file.. yes your save file.. is 350MB. Which is shocking. Its a shame the author didn't even take a second to investigate this.

And oh yeah, it has online to where everyone around the world can share their photos and vote on the best ones.

If you're an animal nut, and can mind the load times which just happen when you save, its a fun game. worth the 80 i paid? yep. I haven't played anything like it. but if you're not a fan of nature.. i dont see buying this one.

cayal5429d ago

"Hope you enjoy the $60 it'll cost."

Don't you have more baseless articles to write with no facts or figures to back you up?

Or have you given up being the complete joke of a 'journalist' you claim to be?

5429d ago
Maddens Raiders5429d ago

cinemablend gets more schizophrenic by the week it seems. Thanks for the laugh.

Tony P5429d ago

It wouldn't call it crap or the best thing ever made because it's exclusive.

It is a niche title you'll either love or hate. Did you enjoy finding all the snapshot locales in GTA: San Andreas? The game is pretty much that, driving included. Definitely won't appeal to all.

Tbh, I don't see how the game looks ugly or blocky. It looked pretty nice from all those videos I watched on youtube.

5429d ago
Light Yagami5429d ago

This game is terrible, don't listen to greywulf *cough*PS3 fanboy*cough*

shadow27975429d ago

Hey guys, if someone has an opinion that differs from yours, it doesn't give you the right to insult them. Sorry, it just gets really tiring reading similar comments in every piece of news on this site. And when a small, niche game about something as innocent as photography turns into something to insult each other over, you know there's a problem. Not all games, movies, books, etc. (read: media) are for everyone.

To each his own.

/rant.

Rob0g0rilla5429d ago

He can actually form a valid opinion on the game unlike other people who took one look at the title and labeled the game as garbage and started bashing, right? Exactly, and then you call him a PS3 fanboy lol.

5429d ago
cmrbe5429d ago

Should stick to playing gears.

Dam if someone brings something different to gaming. You x360 trolls are the most boring unimanigitve people I have ever come across.

When will you dam kids realize that not everyone want to shoot and blow stuff up from start to the end of a game?.

Yet you guys wonder why PS fans think that most of you fools are just kids:

WIIIS15429d ago

I bought and played the game (Japanese version) hoping that it would offer some realistic adventure out in nature. What I experienced was a big barren boring land with a few small locations where a limited wildlife go about doing a limited variety of actions such as giraffes and zebras strolling around, going to the water for a drink, and reacting to you when you come too close. You don't get to see predators chasing prey randomly - these events you see only as a one-off sequence when you progress in the game (by taking photos of various animals). I can't imagine anyone deriving any kind of satisfaction from this game at all, unless he's completely starved of good games.

Syronicus5429d ago

For its animals and photography aspects. It's about taking pictures of animals in a land I may never see in real life. I would rent it for certain and would more than likely enjoy it while seeing my kids faces light up with joy as they see me taking pictures of a cool animal they have never seen before.

gaffyh5429d ago

The game is obviously not for everyone, I mean it's a photography game. Making up stupid article titles just shows that you are butthurt for spending money on a game that you knew you won't like.

callahan095429d ago

@ Everyone bashing this game now because they want to believe the one preview that trashed it. Now, not everyone sang pure praise of it, but most of the other previews had a lot of good to say about the game.

Kotaku:
-- "There's a cheap, simple trick to the game's photography system that's somehow addictive as hell."
-- "You read the premise, you dismiss it as stupid, then one day you find yourself playing it, and feel ashamed, and then...you look around and realise you're loving it."
-- "Chasing down animals then angling for the perfect shot is a lot more fun than you'd imagine."

GameSpot:
-- "With licensed cameras and lenses, as well as photorealistic graphics, it was as if we were onsite, except without the bugs and the risk of malaria."
-- "It is a fun concept and could be a useful learning tool for those who have the patience and the motivation to learn the techniques of becoming a wildlife photographer."

GamePro:
-- "Afrika is a relaxing game of hide and go snap for the most part. If you are tired of shooting zombies in the face or braving war torn territory, you may want to try your hand at this PS3 exclusive"

VG Chartz:
-- "It's amazing what technology can do for some games. In a nature photography game, great graphics and believable animal behavior is certainly important. Afrika may not be for everyone, but for those looking for a unique and serene experience there may be nothing better."
-- "While the graphics are not the most amazing on the system anymore, it's still a beautiful game. The animal models especially are impressive, and their behaviors are believable. National Geographic apparently had a part in that, insuring that all the fauna acted appropriately for the game."
-- "If you have an interest in nature or in wildlife photography Afrika is definitely for you. If you just want something different and unique then Afrika is still something you should check out. Whatever the case, you can check out this interesting and enjoyable experience this August."

ThatVideoGameBlog:
-- "It's not everyday that a game I've never heard of really catches me off guard and makes me pay attention. That happened this afternoon with the game Afrika."

TAWKN:
-- "The animals are incredible to watch; they are truly life-like in every way, and as a result, it does give you the feeling that you are there."
-- "I found the lighting to be very well done and added to the atmosphere, especially at dusk."

rockleex5429d ago (Edited 5429d ago )

In fact, its a lot more interactive than that. In Pokemon Snap, you just ride a roller coaster that takes you through the stages. You have no control over your character's movements.

In here, you're actually doing what real photographers do when taking pictures of animals. Using stealth and caution, approaching the animals in ways where they won't feel threatened.

The only difference is that you won't get killed if you make a mistake.

If you enjoy taking pictures, then you'll enjoy this.

popup5429d ago (Edited 5429d ago )

"Hope you enjoy the $60 it'll cost."

A nice meal out costs more than that and have you looked at the pan the next day? Exactly.

+ Show (16) more repliesLast reply 5429d ago
360degrees5430d ago

...and it gives you a sense of the African Wilderness... there you have it ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day a bad game is still just a bad game no matter what ways you try to disguise it with excuses and reasons for its subpar nature

RememberThe3575429d ago

This is a game about taking pictures in Africa. I'd get it if it was a downloadable game. But I am not dropping $60 on this, $15 at the most.

cayal5429d ago

The xbox fanboys are out. Waiting for the next AAA game brings out bitterness.

RememberThe3575429d ago

So your calling this a AAA title?

Stevie Ray Vaughan5429d ago

"Ugly Person With No Personality"

No thats the PS3.

5429d ago
KILL-ALL-CURE5429d ago

"Ugly Person With No Personality"
So your saying that the ps3 is so technoligically advanced that it is considered a person?

ButterToast5429d ago

obviously cayal was referring to the 360's current lack of AAA games not that this game was AAA. The game is made for a niche audience, a niche that you clearly are not in.

SprSynJn5429d ago

I gave you positive feedback on a previous post, and then you post that. Wish there was a way to take it back...

Rob0g0rilla5429d ago (Edited 5429d ago )

Because of someone else's opinion, correct? I doubt you even own a PS3, let alone played this game. Just doing your usual trolling on your 929238343th account. Nothing new here.

cliffbo5429d ago

Replying to: #2 - but ....but ....its different and unique...

YOU ARE THE REAL FANBOY!

JonahFalcon5429d ago

Someone didn't see the E3 2006 Sony conference. Afrika was hyped beyond belief using, of course, prerendered target videos.

The water effects in the videos on CB, for instance, are sub-SUBpar.

El Botto5429d ago

"Someone didn't see the E3 2006 Sony conference."

Am I the only one who finds this incredibly amusing?

Sony's E3 2006? Lmao you mean the conference they had over 3 years ago? The one where they showed Afrika for two minutes?

Lmao waiting for games to play on your console must have made you fanboys buttburt because if thats the best you can do.

"Hey guys, we are running out of things to bash the PS3, lets dig up three year old stuff and attack!"

That quote sums up how pathetic you fanboys have become. Afrika, kid, is a 2 year old game. Noone gives a damn about Afrika.

RememberThe3575429d ago

How do you have bubbles?

I don't think this game is going to be much but how are you going to bring up E3 2006. Back then Sony was publishing the game, of course they are going to hype it, it's their job. You seem to have some strange thing against Sony that you need to work out on your own, not by writing articles about it.

Wow I wrote that pretty well for being drunk.

mastiffchild5429d ago

Indeed you did. Drunken writing may be thr way forward for a few I can think of on here 357. they wouldn't make any less sense would they?

Good job sir!

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DNAgent5430d ago

"I wish this game was on the Xbox 360 so we would have games to play, but it's not so i'm going to bash it."

MetalGearBear 5429d ago

if u want afrika really bad!!!!
BUY PS3!!! LOL

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310°

Which Launch Title Would Make You Buy a PS4?

That illustrious Sony press event on February 20th is just one week away, and with the PS4 reveal entirely possible (in a huge venue nonetheless), we wanted to end our three weeks of PS4 questions on the games. So, the PlayStation LifeStyle staff was asked:

Which Launch Title Would Make You Buy a PS4?
-PSLS

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Community4107d ago
TrendyGamers4107d ago

Uncharted 4 would definitely make me buy one.

Relientk774107d ago

That's exactly the game I want

blitz06234107d ago

Killzone 4
NEW Naughty Dog IP

RGB4106d ago

Uncharted 4 (Got Vita day 1 because of Golden Abyss)
Gran Turismo 6
Killzone 4

The Getaway... would be epic, think Sony cancelled that because the PS3 couldn't handle a fully mapped City of London with HD visuals.

unchartedxplorer4107d ago

Maybe Gran Turismo 6.. now that'll be awesome

Hanif-8764107d ago

If that's a release title i'd buy two PS4's ;-)

JoGam4107d ago

I'll buy all so far. No game i heard coming out seems wack.

akaakaaka4107d ago

Idk uncharted 4 will be like a bonus..

for me it will be more like the PS4! And the new technology ..
good games will come out eventually ..

But if it launch with
Killzone or a new GG IP, or MS4, TLOU I will make lines a day before!! Or will find a way to get it earlier from the "black market"

Saigon4107d ago

it doesn't matter to me because it is a day one purchase regardless of the games...This is the same with the new Xbox also...

Snookies124106d ago

Are we sure there will be one? I mean, look at the history of Naughty Dog. Crash 1-3(PS1), Jak and Daxter 1-3(PS2), Uncharted 1-3(PS3). Those are main games sure, but they seem as if they like making new trilogies for each generation.

HarryMasonHerpderp4106d ago

The Last Guardian or FF Versus XIII.
(I know they are supposed to be PS3 games)

4106d ago
morkendo234106d ago (Edited 4106d ago )

WHAT GAME WILL MAKE YOU BUY A PS4??

any game that not a first person shooter,multiplat.

GRAN TURISMO 6, NEW RATCHET AND CLANK, SLY COOPER,JAX AN DAXTER,NEW GRADIUS, NEW NEED FOR SPEED, HD METAL SLUG,CONTRA......

superterabyte4106d ago

Need for speed nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhh

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Wedge194107d ago

That picture feels so inappropriate... but it's just a rocket with Kaz's face... right? Is that the first look at a first party launch game?

TrendyGamers4107d ago

Will it be called Rocket Launcher Extreme?

Shadow Flare4107d ago

It should be called Kazooka!

4107d ago
Godmars2904107d ago

Something I'd like to play which is actually playable?

Too general?

Hicken4107d ago

Not really. If I tried to be specific, I'd come up with SO MANY titles.

Legend of Dragoon
Gran Turismo
Uncharted
Killzone
.hack
Xenosaga
Valkyria Chronicles

And probably a good thirty I can't think of.

thirtyandnerdy4107d ago

The thing I'm wondering about the next gen consoles is, for example, whether we'll see a second round of titles like Crysis 3 come out for them. You know, it'll initially launch on PS3, 360 and PC ... but then down the road will the new consoles get a version with improved graphics, etc. !!! Ya? Na?

Fyflin4107d ago

I'm expecting this with GTA V, and wouldn't be surprised to see an upgraded version of Bioshock Infinite

ftwrthtx4107d ago

It needs a new IP with a pedigreed developer

doctorstrange4107d ago

Pedigreed? Is that like Activision?

ftwrthtx4107d ago

A developer with a pedigree would be Naughty Dog or David Cage

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210°

The Best Games Never to Get a Worldwide Release

IGN:
Last week, we brought you the games that time forgot - those games stuck in development limbo that they may never escape. But there's another category of lost games: the ones that never make it out of Japan. Back in the PlayStation 2 era (and the SNES era before that), there were hundreds and hundreds of them every year. Now there are many fewer, but the odd one still slips through the net.

A quick glance through this generation's consoles reveals a range of gems which have sadly never been given the chance to shine on the global stage. While there's always the option to import, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could forget about exchange rates and taxes and pick up these titles a little closer to home?

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130°

Reconsidering PS3′s Afrika

BigShinyRobot: Afrika is Rhino Studio’s first attempt at creating a game on the PS3. Unfortunately, reviews have been mostly unfavorable as it just doesn’t appeal to most audiences. Most people I talk to about it just assume that it’s just insanely boring. Actually, I’d be willing to bet that most gamers today who would even turn it on wouldn’t last 15 minutes before switching it out for Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto. The reason, I believe, is that modern gamers need that constant barrage of stimulation to the senses and this game is presented at a much slower pace. However, I have always been a huge supporter of new ideas because the thought of another cookie-cutter FPS makes me gag. I will admit that my first impressions of Afrika were……well, a bit off.

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Ramas4598d ago

i wanted this game a lot, but when i tried it it sucked a lot.
It could have been very good game if:
1. Huge open world
2. Rpg elements, like stats how long you survived in the wild, what you acomplished, many side quests, secrets, seling rare photos and for cash buying all kinds of cool items and so on.

But i repeat first and most important thing should have been huge open world and freedom.

rezzah4598d ago

It's not that the game sucked, you just don't have a passion for animals and a lot of patience.

This game focuses on the habitats of real animals, not pokemon.

it also goes on to show you the lifestyle, in a sense, of a photographer who takes pictures of animals for a living.

The game takes a very realistic point of view, it doesn't do fantasy which is why people like you dislike the game.

Ramas4597d ago

you do not get me, i liked the idea a lot and it could have been very good game. (i like animals)
If it would be posibble to have freedom and huge area to explore not instanced missions it would have been much better game.

rezzah4597d ago (Edited 4597d ago )

The areas are already huge, the sense of how big they actually are would really sink in if we didn't have the jeep to drive around in.

Also any game would be far more awesome, or at least we may think (sometimes areas are too big for one's liking), with bug areas but it also puts a strain on what is within that environment. Notice that the biggest area had the most open space? That's to reduce lag with so much going on at once in a small area. It is easy to spot a slight lag in animal movements when driving really fast in a tight area.

Edit: What I'm trying to say is enjoy it for what it is, not what you want it to be or could of been.