This month, I'm playing two games for the very first time; Silent Hill: Homecoming and Dead Space. I had been wanting to play these games back when they were first released but due to my travelling and work, I couldn't. And because of that, I'm playing the PC versions of Homecoming and Dead Space since both of my PS3 and XBOX360 are out of my reach at the moment. On top of that, I could only play these games on the lowest graphical settings because of my graphics card. It's an NVIDIA GeForce 8 series but it can only perform on the minimum requirement settings. What a letdown.

Anyway, let's start by talking about Silent Hill: Homecoming. When I first heard that a western company was going to develop this game, I had doubts about it because I was afraid they were unable to live up to the Silent Hill's name and in the end, I've mixed reactions with Homecoming. On the positive side, Double Helix Games did a pretty good job with the overall presentation of the game, in particular the audio side of things. Previous Silent Hill games had a very mediocre voice acting as they were mostly dry, lifeless and unconvincing. Homecoming changes this trend by making the characters more lively, more convincing and more realistic- just like Origins. When you see characters in Homecoming angry, happy or sad; you really feel their emotions greatly.

However on the negative side, I was truly disappointed to find that Homecoming isn't scary at all. Silent Hill is always known for its psychological horror where they make the audience delusional and horrified with its disturbing silence, hideous creatures and deranged characters. Homecoming does have all these elements but they weren't conveyed very well. It's kinda like cooking a meal where you have all the necessary ingredients but if you don't follow the right procedure, the meal will taste awful. Silent Hill: Origins had the same problem too. It had the voice acting right but the story and the scare factor were lacking and in fact, it was the most boring Silent Hill I've ever played. Also, they isn't any soundtrack CD for Homecoming. Why not? All the other Silent Hill games (Including Origins) have them, so why not Homecoming?

It's interesting that even though Silent Hill 1, 2, 3 and 4: The Room had not so great voice acting, the games were intensely disturbing which grows on you from time to time. I consider these games to be much more scary than these two new ones. I guess it works like this:

Konami + Independent = Not so great voice acting but great stories and very scary

However

Konami + Western developers = Great voice acting but poor stories and not scary

Shattered Memories is coming out next month and it's got me worried since it's being developed by Climax Studios, the same people who made Origins. Let's just hope they get this one right but if not, please Konami, please don't let other people make anymore Silent Hill games. Just you guys.

Bottom line, despite my ramblings about the negativity in Homecoming, the game isn't that bad and it has an interesting twist at the end. I'm actually playing the game for the second time. Homecoming may lacked what its predecessor has greatly, the game is still worthy to be called a Silent Hill game. My rating: 8.0.

Next we have Dead Space and this game is freaking awesome. I was surprised. People were talking about how great it was back then but I didn't really pay much attention to it because I didn't want to be overhyped by it. Dead Space is a very interesting game and even though it borrows elements from other games such as Resident Evil 4 and Doom 3 (With it's over-the-shoulder camera angle and futuristic outer space station gone wrong plot), it did a good job of making the game look original and not simply looking like its plagiarizing. With all the madness been cramped in here, I can safely say that Dead Space is in fact more scary than Silent Hill: Homecoming. Period. I'm still playing the game and I can't wait to finish it til the end.

I really love Isaac Clarke, the main character because he's so cool looking and has all kinds of awesome weapons at his disposal. I'm even considering to buy an Isaac Clarke action figure in eBay with my refunded money that I got from the broken Memory Stick I bought last month.

That's all I have to say for now. I will be writting some new game reviews here in GameSpot so please do check 'em out when you have the time. Now will you excuse me, I have the USG Ishimura to save.

-Psykhophear

I recently bought a 16GB Memory Stick Pro Duo from eBay and I'm really excited about it. Now I can hold many songs and videos in to my PSP. However, after playing around with it for five minutes, my Memory Stick suddenly stops working. I was able to put some media into the card but after just barely a few minutes, the PSP can't recognize the memory stick. I thought maybe it has something to do with my portable system but when I plugged in my old 2GB Memory Stick, the PSP can read that one instead. Uh oh. Looks like my brand new memory stick is faulty. Guess I have to get a refund.

Here's another problem. I can't contact the seller. He did reply to my email but I couldn't understand a word he said because of his "Engrish" (He's from China, BTW). I then wrote to him asking to explain it the solution in more detail on how does this refund thing works and how do I get my money back. He still hasn't replied. Crap! Looks like I'm stuck with this broken Memory Stick.

I was just browsing the reviews section for Modern Warfare 2 and I was shocked to see many users had rated the PC version as low as 1.0. What happened? It seems that the multiplayer doesn't work according to the forums and reviews. I haven't bought Modern Warfare 2 so I can't say for certain. What about the console versions? I'm sure you guys are having a blast as about now.

The games for the Mac are utterly ridiculously expensive. However, I managed to get a bargain from a gaming store and got myself Doom 3, Quake 4 and American McGee's Alice. Yeah, there are old games but I enjoy playing past games since I'm away from home and don't get to play my 360, PS3 and Wii for the time being. It's a bit of coincidence to play id Games on my Mac but the truth is, there isn't a lot of good games for the Mac not counting Lego Star Wars, Call of Duty 4 and Guitar Hero. Speaking of Alice, I heard there's a sequel coming up soon. It's about time American start making new games commercially.

I've stacked a lot of games on my iPhone and I'm craving for more. Recent downloads are Eliminate Pro, Doom and Wolfenstien RPG- but the one that I'm totally focusing right now is Duke Nukem 3D. Since Duke Nukem: Forever is in an unknown state (As usual), perhaps it's a best time to relive the glory DOS game moment where it all begins. I didn't play the game back when it was first released on the PC so having a chance to experience it on the iPhone has been great. The game is a blast but I find it a little troublesome when the frame rate becomes slow making the gameplay not that fun later on. I hope an update will arrive sooner or later.

Doom is another fun game. I've been waiting for it at the App Store for a very long time and I'm happy that it's finally out now. The game runs really smoothly and the pacing on gameplay is exactly how you remembered playing it years ago. The only complain I have with this game is the saving feature because it often saves the game whenever it wants, so if you happen to be in a tight spot and die, it takes you back exactly where you died. Or something like that. But other than that, Doom is a must for iPhone users.

Eliminate Pro is an original FPS game for the iPhone. It sort of a cross between Counter-Strike and Halo, where you "eliminate" as many foes as you can but in a Sci-Fi world. It can be a addictive game and plus it's free. Yeah, surprisingly Eliminate Pro is a free App and it caught me by surprise. However, like any other free stuff, there's a catch to it. Every time you enter a match, you will slowly lose some Energy Cells from your self and if it reaches to zero, you are unable to participate in anymore matches. In order to recharge your Energy Cells, you have to go to the iTunes Store and pay a sum of money in exchange for the Cells. Now that sounds like a scam now, doesn't it? Luckily, you have the alternate choice of waiting for the Cells to recharge on its own after waiting for a few hours.

The other thing I find it not to my liking are the controls. Moving around is fine but when I want to aim and shoot, it's not that stable. The gun keeps fidgeting around making it difficult for me to shoot at the enemy properly. I'm not sure if it's the game's flaw or my lousy reflexes but it is kind of a pain to experience it. Bottom line, Eliminate Pro is a fun and original game but having to pay real cash for some recharging crap may not be a good reason to get it just yet.

Another game that's worth mentioning is DOA: BlackJack~ Kasumi Version. It's basically your average BlackJack game but with Kasumi as your card dealer. She will cut the cards while juggling her bouncy assets in front of you. It's as weird and cool as it gets. With the amount of money you accumulate from winning, you can use it to purchase some pictures of Kasumi and get new costumes for her to wear. The one that she's wearing in this picture requires a lot of dough to unlock it. It was a lot of work but it's worth it in the end .

There are many more games that I would to like to share it in here but maybe next time. I'm mostly busy with my work but I do my best to play as many games as possible during my spare time. If you're also an iPhone user and have downloaded some games, do recommend me some good ones.

Catch ya later!

-Psykhophear aka Psycho_Path

It's been a very long time since I last posted my blog here at GameSpot. Within those time I was pursuing other interests and doing various works outside of Gamespot. But now I have quite the free time I thought I'd post a blog here which I wrote on my own personal website which by all means please do check it out. Catch you all later and be safe.

I'm hooked with my iPhone these past few months playing around with all kinds of apps and stuff. It has become my new plaything at the moment (Sorry PSP). There are so many good apps available and some really bad ones but I would like to share with you first my favourite iPhone games:

10. Bejeweled 2-A straightforward puzzle game but really addictive, especially if you aim to get a higher score.

9. Enigmo-A very quirky brainteaser filled with lots of frustration and fun. Nothing punishing about this game which is a good thing. Did I mention it's totally revolutionary?

8. Tap Tap Revenge-A Guitar Hero clone in some ways but it's really not too shabby. I discovered a lot of new songs from Tap Tap like 3OH!3's Don't Trust Me, Daft Punk's Technologic, Weezer's We Wish You A Merry Christmas, etc.

7. Spore: Origins-It may not be as good as the PC version but having to have your microscopic creature swim around in your iPhone is just out of this world. Still haven't finish this game though but I will get there eventually.

6. Silent Hill: The Escape-Pretty exciting game for the iPhone although it could use more stages, weapons and better storyline and replayability. At least you get to replay the game as an alien with a laser gun. Rad! Silent Hill begs for a sequel.

5. Resident Evil: Degeneration-I really like the Degeneration movie because I feel it handles its source material pretty well than the lousy Milla Jovovich trilogy. Although the game mechanics is a true RE4 clone, Degeneration on the iPhone is surprisingly good.

4. Duke Nukem 3D-The latest edition on my iPhone, Duke Nukem 3D is a real surprise to me cos I didn't expect for the game to be made available on the iPhone. Good port but the controls could've been better. Definitely recommended for those who are truly disappointed with Duken Nukem Forever's demise.

3. Metal Gear Solid Touch-A great 2D shooting game from Hideo Kojima himself. I was skeptical when the game first came out cos it didn't really look impressive when I saw the screenshots. But after the price went down I decided to give it a try and wow, this game's surprisingly good. Simple concept but fun like hell. Definitely not recommended if you haven't played MGS4 on the PS3.

2. Tiger Woods PGA Tour-Tiger Woods rocks! And this game rocks too. PGA Tour is probably the only sports game I ever played and the iPhone version is not too shabby either. The Tour is a whole lot of fun if you're the competitive type and the feeling of having Eagles and Birdies is so beautiful. The only thing I hate about this game is the two annoying commentators. Their comments are just so cruel. If only you can shut them up.

1. Wolfenstein 3D-As original as it is, Wolfenstein 3D is still the king of FPS game. To be honest, this is my first time playing the game and it brings me such pleasure being able to play this great PC port on the go. Way to go, John Carmack!

There are other games I wish to download such as Doom, Doom: Resurrection, Tetris and more but I wanna wait a bit longer until the prices reduce, but as for Doom, it'll have to wait some more since it's not out yet. I have other games that I've downloaded and tried but I wasn't impressed with any of them at all. There areCrash Racing, Cro Mag Rally, Pac Man, Time Crisis, Flick Fishing and Space DeadBeef. The reason I bought them is because of the iPhone ads. These games were in them and you just couldn't help it but to download it yourself. Please don't get these games.

With so many games coming out, I couldn't help it but to pray that the respective developers will port the following games to the iPhone:

1. Star Wars: Dark Forces- This is the first FPS Star Wars game ever and it's truly a great game even though it was panned as a Doom clone. LucasArts just released the Monkey Island remake on the App Store. Why not this one?

2.Day of The Tentacle- Another LucasArts game but this one's an adventure game. A genuine SCUMM game at its finest.

3.Jones In The Fast Lane- A ****c PC game in the early 90's and it was a true family ****c.

4.Ghostbusters- The developers should apply the Ghostbusters: The Video Game (The Nintendo DS version) into the iPhone. That would be awesome.

5.Batman-I just had an idea of having a 2D beat-em-up Batman game like the Adventures of Batman & Robin and Batman Returns on the Super NES or Batman and Return of The Joker on the NES, so I hope someone can come up with an iPhone version where you get to beat the living daylights out of Batman's foes on the go. That would be wonderful.

6.Prisoner of Ice-One of my favourite Call of Cthulhu games. It was scary the first time I played it and it will most certainly do the same to you too.

iPhone is truly an amazing gadget. For those of you who aren't sure of what games to get for your iPhone, I'd say check out the games that I listed out on my Favourite list above. But if you don't have an iPhone, then what on earth are you waiting for? Get one now!

-Psykhophear