Review Highschool Gamers Love Silent Storm

[Sol Invictus]

Tags: Nival Interactive; Silent Storm

A bunch of guys calling themselves the Highschool Gamers have written a <a href="http://hsgamers.com/pc/silentstorm.php">review</a> of <a href="http://www.nival.com/eng/s2_info.html">Silent Storm</a> at their website, stating in numbers that they like it very much by giving the game an overall score of 9/10 and a 10/10 for the fun factor. They do however rate the sound very low at 6/10, an aspect of the game which I have to personally say could have used a lot of work.
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<blockquote>Silent Storm sets you in the role of either an Axis or an Allied fighter. You can chose from Italy, Germany, Japan, USA, Britain, or Russia as your home country, and mod your body and face to look like you want. You then choose a team of 5 others, and they are your squad throughout the missions, unless they should die. Each squad member has special skills and weapons depending on his or her class. The classes are Scout, Sniper, Soldier, Engineer, Medic, and Grenadier. You should pick your team wisely, because like Pokemon (sorry, but it is true), you want to have a diverse team to cover all of the obstacles you might face. There is campaign you follow that is different for Axis and Allies, and consists of street fighting and the like.
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The gameplay consists of an overhead view of your characters, and it usually involves you moving about streets and buildings to neutralize enemies and find clues to lead to your next mission. THere are two sorts of turns you take, as it is turn based strategy. One kind is your strategic turn, or when you don't see any enemies, and you have unlimited mobility. Should you spot an enemy (and you normally do have one in view) you go to a more tactical turn. In this you have limited AP, or action points. Every character has different amounts of these. They can be used to use a weapon (snipe, fire a submachine gun, toss a grenade, etc.), change your stance (run, walk, crouch, prone), move, aim, or heal with medical supplies. </blockquote>
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Be forewarned that the entire review happens to be written in a point by point manner, stating in detail what the gameplay consists of, how weapons work, why the reviewer liked the sound, why the reviewer liked the graphics, and why he considered the game difficult. It's hardly enthralling to say the least and I believe the writer could use a lot more elegance as well as eloquence in his style of writing, but I digress.

 

[Admiral Admirable]

Yo, I wrote that review. See, here is the thing about that. We got that game from the producers for free, got 3 copies. So I felt obligated to go into a bit more detail than normal on that particular game.

Perhaps I did write a bit more specifics than necessary, but it is a game from a little-known developer, and I didn't think it would get much coverage anywhere else, so if you want to know what it is really about, www.hsgamers.com might be one of a few places to get the information.

Also, you stated "They do however rate the sound very low at 6/10, an aspect of the game which I have to personally say could have used a lot of work."

By that I make the assumption you have played this game? If so you should know there is a LOT of detail in that game. From the samovars sitting on the desks of the Russian officers, to the intricacy of the turns you take, it has a lot of little things that make a difference. I have been playing it for a week or so now, and I still haven't figured out every aspect of the game. I was trying to get that point across.

Finally, due to an issue with the PC I was using, I wrote that entire review in Notepad. Now if you have used that program (everyone probably has at some point) you know it makes one long line off the edge of the page. It is difficult to know if you have rambled on a bit too much due to that fact. If I overdid it I apologize.

The one thing that I like about this is that you saw that review. Before this moment, I had my doubts as to whether people saw much of what we do on our site. We have been online for over a year, and things have been slower than average as of late, but it is great to know people did see that. My editor-in-chief at HSG said that we have had more hits than usual in the past few days, and I am glad. It seems a lot of sites linked to it.

How exactly did you find it by the way? Just curious.

Sorry you didn't like it, and I will keep that in mind next review I write, cool that you read it though.

~Lysonicstorm

 

[triCritical]

I like the sound. I found that the machine gun and explosions are very well done. The voice acting for the foreigners is actually much better then the americans, which really isn't that much. And I thought the music was top notch. A lot better then ToEE thats for sure.

Anyhow I have been playing this game non-stop since it came out, its the absolute BOMB!

 

[Jinxed]

A lot better then ToEE thats for sure.

You've got to be kidding. The music gets awfully samey and doesn't have any substantial value. I couldn't stand it after a while.

 

[triCritical]

A lot better then ToEE thats for sure.

You've got to be kidding. The music gets awfully samey and doesn't have any substantial value. I couldn't stand it after a while.

Actually I like ToEE music better. But I prefer the effects and voice-overs from Silent Storm. I think the music gets rather redundant, but I still think its good, whereas the voice acting for ToEE was just plain bad.

 

[Unit-Qz52]

Finally, due to an issue with the PC I was using, I wrote that entire review in Notepad. Now if you have used that program (everyone probably has at some point) you know it makes one long line off the edge of the page. It is difficult to know if you have rambled on a bit too much due to that fact. If I overdid it I apologize.

Just thought I would add that if you go to Edit in the menu of notepad there should be an option that says 'Word Wrap'. If you turn that on won't get the single line of text.

 

[Anonymous]

Heey, ToEE's sound effects and music are some of the best i've heard.

 

[Nightjed]

monkey island 3 had the best music, sounds and voice overs ever

long live murray the skull! wuahahaha

 

[dunduks]

monkey island 3 had the best music, sounds and voice overs ever

long live murray the skull! wuahahaha

Errm, NO :D
Grim Fandango has the best sound and voiceovers (ok - Lucasarts adventures all have good, high quality sound).

 

[Sol Invictus]

How exactly did you find it by the way? Just curious.

I picked it up somewhere (Probably Gamerankings or RPGDot, I can't recall) when I was browsing for news to post.

Sorry you didn't like it, and I will keep that in mind next review I write, cool that you read it though.

Well that's not to say I didn't like it per se. You were spot on about the game's features but you could have probably focused more upon the gameplay experience (in your point of view of it) rather than the technical specifics of the game's setting and controls.

You must remember that you're writing your review of the game, e.g. your opinion. So instead of doing it in the way of a 'news report', do it in the way you would tell a friend about it in the mail, but with all the elegance and eloquence of writing.

My suggestion is to make the review really long (around the figure of 3500+ words) and include everything, so the review doesn't feel sparse on any sort of content.

As for the elegance of your writing, try putting a little variation in the paragraphs, sentences and their structures. Paraphrase your sentences so they don't all sound alike, unless you intentionally mean to write an entire paragraph (or paragraphs) consisting of a series of points. Here's an example from Saint's review of KotOR:

As stated, there's a lot of things that go in to using a setting that already exists, especially one that's as well known as Star Wars. One of the problems with this setting is that when you see something in one of the movies, you tend to expect things to work out that way in the game. If you see a character slicing through doors, pipes, and various metal objects with lightsabers in the movie, you tend to expect this type of thing in the game, for example. You tend to expect characters of various factions to behave in a manner similar to what you've seen before playing. You expect the plot to follow what's known about the setting, obeying how things work and have worked on the silver screen.

You also expect the style of what's seen in the movie in the game. You expect buildings to look a certain way, people to dress a certain way, and so forth. One of the nice aspects of Knights of the Old Republic is that the graphics design is very much what you'd expect. You expect the rounded, obelisk style buildings you've seen in the movies. You expect large, megapolis style expanses to roam around in on developed worlds, or the oddly cylindrical, adobe looking buildings on Tattooine, and this game definitely provides that look in an extremely well done manner. It's hard not to look at the hallways and trappings of most of the locations in the game without instantly recognizing that it looks like Star Wars.



You also will expect to see Jedi, lightsabers, bounty hunters, and other archetypical characters you've seen in the movies. They're there, of course. You'll run across several bounty hunters, both those who are out to get you, and those who will join up with you. You'll meet the inevitable protocol droids made famous by the likes of C3-P0, and utility droids like R2-D2. You'll meet smugglers, and even get your chance to own your own smuggler's starship. And, of course, you'll meet some Jedi and some Sith.

Notice the abundance of "you expect" and "you tend to expect". That would be a writing style.

Anyway, don't worry about it as you can only get better. I look forward to reading more of your reviews.

 

[Nightjed]

Grim Fandango has the best sound and voiceovers (ok - Lucasarts adventures all have good, high quality sound).

i didnt like fandango that much, i hated the consolish controls, and the sound on both fandango and mk4 sounds worse quality than mk3's sound (maybe because it was recorded thinking on consoles ?) and all lucas arts adventures since after fandago suck ass starting for mk4

btw, now that i think it better full throttle has the best music, mk3 is just sounds and voice
having good music is not enough you also need to make it fit into the game, and i havent seen a game with strong music like throttle making it fit any better i think the group that made those songs was called "bone to pick"

edit: i found the cd, bone to pick is the cd name, the group is called "the gone jackals"

 

[Admiral Admirable]

Yeah, when I wrote the review I was only two missions into the game (I been playing Germans) so I had not seen too much sound, maybe should have iven it a little higher. Anyhow, yeah, I have never used Notepad for much, so I did not know about that Word Wrap thing. The whole news report thing was what I was going for, maybe I should not have so much. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions all, and yeah, this game does rock.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Heh. Red Vs. Blue. Best thing to come from Halo.

Best line from the series:

"I fucking hate you." - Episode one.

Classic stuff. Especially in the context used.

 

[Anonymous]

I never really understood why people review without getting atleast 75% into the game, heh. RPGs arnt that difficult (atleast for me) and even if there is a deadline, I imagine you could get atleast half-way through in about 2 days.

 

[Admiral Admirable]

Yeah, I did have a deadline, but I don't just sit down and play a game very often, I do it now and then when I have time, and plus I didn't let anyone die in my missions, if they did I restarted. I was playing on medium difficulty too, so it was a variety of not much time, difficulty, and other stuff. I would have preferred to get further in.


"...and I am like 'There is no way we can pick up chicks in a tank!'"
"Tucker, what the FUCK are you babbling about?"
"Is this guy a retard?"
"Shut up Red."

Lol, yea Red vs. Blue rocks. You seen te new ones? There are three out right now. If you haven't seen season one, do.

 

[Jed]

Now, whoever said the 'Codex doesn't care?

 

[Volourn]

I did, and it doesn't. Exceptions just prove the rule.

 

[Spazmo]

Well there's the rub, Volourn. Nobody cares what you say. So if we ignore you, then we do in fact care. Works out rather nicely, really, with a bit of creative listening.

 

[Admiral Admirable]

Just curious, how long has this site been online? It has a friggin shitload of users. I wish our site had some. We can't figure out how to get them, it is our main issue right now, it is too localized. THis is sweet though.

 

[Volourn]

Simple. Insult as many groups of gamers as possible (or the genral populace on a slow day) than have them roaring in in a huff and telling you off. Complain that they can't handle the criticism; but if someone criticizes you; prove that you can't handle the criticism either.

That is all. :twisted:

Hehehe.. :D

P.S. Spazmo, if this your way of ignoring me; I'd like to know where you get yoiur definition of "ignore" from. :wink:

 

[Admiral Admirable]

yeah, back at our boards wehad these guys who would just insult everyone, fondly named the Jackass Brigade. Well, eventually, they all got banned, and everyone stopped coming! So I am going to take your idea to heart, and see if I can convince them to come back and tone it down a bit, less of the racial slurs and stuff, and I unban them, I have been thinking about it, and I think you are right, you need controversy.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

yeah, back at our boards wehad these guys who would just insult everyone, fondly named the Jackass Brigade. Well, eventually, they all got banned, and everyone stopped coming! So I am going to take your idea to heart, and see if I can convince them to come back and tone it down a bit, less of the racial slurs and stuff, and I unban them, I have been thinking about it, and I think you are right, you need controversy.

Well, the racial slurs and shit can be a bit uncool.

 

[Anonymous]

See, we can be jackasses and insulters.

But with do it with style and intelligence

And that's why it rocks.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Yeah, I don't think any of us actually do the racial slurs thing because I sure as hell wouldn't take that kindly. Keep the insults witty and intelligent zings, and you've got it, and for gods sakes don't trip on power. Internet power is nothing to brag about.