I bloody love the PlayStation 3. For me personally, it was the first games
console I ever truly got excited for. I devoured every piece of available information,
reading all the magazines, watching boring press conferences about statistics, and most
importantly, I was there for the weird boomerang controller that they backtracked on and just
gutted a PS2 dualshock and stuck wonky motion controls in called Sixaxis. Do you remember when vibration wasn’t the
future? It felt like a toy. And while it suffered a rough start – high
price point, a lack of games, low quality 3rd party ports – I loved every minute of
it. Things improved towards the end obviously
and the exclusive games got better and better, but today, I’m going to look at the beginning. To be specific, the US launch line up of games. So, with the PlayStation 5 knocking on the
door, I’ll be playing through a bit of each one, and seeing how it holds up today. I also won’t be touching the sixaxis controls,
because I’m not a lunatic. Are you ready? Let’s go. Ah yes, 2006, a time when practically every
warfare-based video game took place in WW2. Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII is no exception
then placing you in the fetching flight cap of “captain”: a man with no other name
who presumably knows how to fly a plane, and yet spends most of the opening hour of the
game being taught by other characters how to fly a plane. To be fair though, they probably took one
look at my flying ability and called a very sensible audible. Did I try to shoot the military base? I did. Did I attempt to land on a boat? Yeah. Did I terrorise this village with no roads? I did that too. The game averaged just 67% on Metacritic,
with outlets decrying the “woeful sixaxis option” and labelling it “The definitive
average experience”. Good stuff. From one WW2 military game to another, it’s
the Treyarch-developed Call of Duty 3. We in Europe had to put up with the PS2 version
until the PS3 launched at the end of March 2007, so I genuinely couldn’t wait to see
the developer’s vision in crisp HD quality. worth the wait. But it wasn’t all smoke grenades and crouching
under wooden beams to access vital munitions, we were also treated to the loudest looking
– yet quietest sounding – superior officer ever featured in a Call of Duty game. WHAT? Set in the western front of WW2, you play
through the perspective of an American, British, Canadian, or Polish soldier in the single
player campaign, and you know what, it’s alright. I stuck it on easy and terrorised the german
opposition, but for a launch game you could do much worse, and it landed itself 80% on
Metacritic as a result. I’m gonna say it: this game is boring as
hell. Now admittedly I only played it for half an
hour, but outside of capturing footage, this is my second attempt at starting this game. But anyway, I digress. Most of you will probably remember this game
from E3 2006 where it was described as being “based on famous battles which actually
took place in ancient Japan” before encountering a “giant enemy crab” where you can “attack
its weak point for massive damage”. I remember that from history class. Switching between 4 characters, players can
attack enemies with a lock-on system that could be described as non existent. The historical Japanese game earned a groan-inducing
55% on metacrtic. It’s “one PS3 launch game nobody should
consider for even a second.” Who are we to disagree. OH YEAH, HERE WE GO, SPORTS TIME. I’ve never played an American football game
before, hell, I’ve never watched American football either, but I’m going to give this
everything I’ve got. Selecting the san Francisco 69ers, i was ready
for sports war. Admittedly I did think it adorable that my
team mates were so excited to watch each other come out onto the field, but the day fireworks
were a bit much for me. Things didn’t go my way. My opponents kept running past me, and play
would stop every few seconds to show me bar graphs about how I could better be spending
my time. I may have been losing, but at least I left
with my dignity. 76% on Metacritic. Oh yes here we go. And what a CG intro! So much action, Thor’s wielding stormbreaker,
Logan’s looking short, it’s perfect! Bit of whiplash cutting from that to gameplay,
but you can’t win them all. An action RPG, the strength of ultimate alliance’s
appeal lies squarely with its license. It’s fun enough running around with an interchangeable
roster of recognisable marvel heroes, but when you strip those away, you’re just opening
doors and punching bad guys over and over again. It’s cool to have Deadpool mouth off next
to Spider-Man, and if you’ve got any friends then you can play in local co-op. It earned 78% on Metacritic, with IGN calling
it “a keeper”. Aww. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM, ROBOTS IN DISGUISE. I’m no fan of Gundam personally – and
it’s not because I think it’s bad, it’s just that giant robots don’t do anything
for me unless they’re in 100 foot robot golf
how can you not want to play this? Released as Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire
in north America – if you wanna get serious about this – the game takes place entirely
within dusty, bland environments, and awkwardly has you hack and shoot at giant enemy bots
during the One Year War. I can’t say I enjoyed my brief time with
it, even though you get a cool laser sword and can stamp on little human tanks and the
critics agreed, with the game achieving the lowest score of all the launch titles with
just 33% on Metacritic. Gamestyle put it best when they said “In
the end, it proves too bland and generic for mech enthusiasts and just a poor game for
the uninitiated.” OH YEAH, HERE WE GO, SPORTS TIME. I’ve never played an NBA game before, hell,
I’ve never watched NBA either, but I’m going to give this everything I’ve got. As luck would have it the 69ers are in this
game too, but now they’ve moved to Philly. After witnessing a giant flaming basketball
blow up a stadium, it was game time, and I even allowed myself a peak at the controls. The problem was, every time I took a shot,
it bounced off the rim. Every. Single. Time. Jason Terry is my arch rival. With the end of the first quarter drawing
ever nearer, it looked like I was going to lose, so I pulled out the oldest trick in
the book. idiots. 80% on Metacritic. OH YEAH, HERE WE GO, SPORTS TIME. I’ve never played an NHL game before, hell,
I’ve never watched NHL either, but I’m going to give this everything I’ve got. No 69ers in this game which is a huge shame,
but who doesn’t love a penguin. Look at the size of him, he’s massive. Looks like a pokemon. Now Hockey... hockey I like. It’s violent, it’s fast, and as a video
game, I felt like there was almost no barrier to entry whatsoever. I even managed to score a puck down and dunk
a goalie hoop or whatever the terminology is. NHL 2K7 has the scariest looking players and
coaches in any sports game ever, and it got 79% on Metacritic as a result. Now this is a game that I love. Resistance Fall of Man was Insomniac game’s
first proper foray into more mature territory. It saw you playing as Nathan Hale, an American
called in to fight off a mysterious and horrifying force called the Chimera after they swept
across Europe in the 50s. Having captured Europe, the chimera are invading
the UK, with much of the game taking place in various recognisable spots around England. Look at that road sign! Look, it’s York city gate! Wow, I love that dried river bed! It’s an incredibly competent shooter with
cool weapons, a unique setting, and a gripping narrative. Critics liked it too, with the game receiving
86% on Metacritic. As GamePro put it: “It's easily the best
PS3 game available on launch day, and a highly playable action game that will satisfy even
the most demanding FPS junkies.” It’s riiiiidge racer remember that one? The only driving game featured in the US PS3
launch line up, ridge racer 7 is unique for being the last numbered entry in the series. That’s right, since 2006, there have a been
a few spin offs and standalone releases, but Namco have never released a full sequel. Any why’s that? I don’t actually know. It reviewed favourably, averaging 78% on Metacritic,
and it lets you go really really fast. It boasts online and offline modes, those
sick HD graphix, and over 20 course and 40 vehicles. It’s not going to win any awards... oh hang
on it did. The IGN Award for Best PlayStation 3 Racing
Game of 2006. Excuse me? It was one of just TWO PS3 racing games in
2006 was it not? That’s like me awarding myself the IGN Award
for Best Person at Sitting on This sofa in this shot. Madness. OH YEAH, HERE WE GO, SPORTS TIME. I’ve played golf games before how can you
not wan- but this is a lot more straight-laced. I initially started creating Ben Golf to look
like me, but then discovered the randomise button, and oh dear. HE’S PERFECT. It took me longer than I’d care to admit
to work out how to actually swing my club, but I soon got the hang of it. I soon got the hang of it. I soon got the hang of it? But I soon got the hang of it. Putting turned out to be really hard too,
and Ben Golf didn’t always take it very well. I don’t feel safe. But the numbers don’t lie, and they spell
a resounding victory for this guy. 81% on Metacritic! Now this is more like it! I love a bit of the radical cool skater boy
bird man – don’t we all. I must admit I fell off the Tony Hawk wagon
after the PS1 titles, but the idea of being good at a skateboarding game while possessing
no real life co-ordination or skill is very alluring. One immediate point against the game however,
is the limited character creation suite. I couldn’t make anything resembling the
monster I had in my head, and that’s a shame. Good socks though. Featuring a large town with all the usual
facets of levels found in tony hawk games, i quickly discovered that my nostalgia for
the PS1 games wasn’t rooted in being good at them, and so I fell of my board again,
and again, and again. But this was my rubbish created skater, what
about bonafide professional Lyn-z adams Hawkins? oh god i’m so sorry So I’m bad, but the
game is good, attaining 76% on Metacritic. Finally we have untold legends dark kingdom,
a game i hastily bought after playing oblivion on a friend’s xbox 360 in a desperate attempt
to emulate its incredible fantasy world. I was unsuccessful. This hack and slash action rpg flagrantly
copied diablo’s homework. Well, as much as one can copy homework if
you don’t have any eyes. Choosing between 3 classes: warrior, scout,
and mage, and each come with their own abilities and colour palletes – oooh exciting. There’s some nonsense fantasy story about
dark magic threatening the kingdom it’s all in the name really but you’ll mainly
be pressing the same buttons over and over again, and occasionally getting a new shirt. It does bring us this incredible display of
choreography though. Maybe the 58% on Metacritic is a bit harsh
And there you have it, all of the US PS3 launch line up played and reviewed – sort of – in
2020. Were there any favourites of yours among them,
let me know all about it in the comments below. Also if you could share this video and subscribe
I’d really appreciate it very much. Thanks so much for watching, and I’ll see
you soon. Bye!
