2010: A Good Year to Game

I mean that as kind of a general statement, as the industry put out a lot of quality titles. We got sequels, reboots, remakes, and even a few original games, too. Some barely got by and some made over a billion dollars. We got Microsoft and Sony trying to copy the Wii and steal the casual game audience (what a waste of time).

But on a more personal note, I'm pretty sure I've done more gaming this year than ever before. I was thinking about this earlier and it got me curious about just HOW much I've played this year. I took a look at my Achievement and Trophies lists to get a record of this and here's my list of games completed (for the first time) in 2010:

XBOX 360: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Castle Crashers, Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Red Dead Redemption, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, NBA 2K6, Half Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode 1, Half Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, Prince of Persia, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Alan Wake, Bayonetta, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Transformers: War for Cybertron, Street Fighter IV, Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing, Left 4 Dead 2: The Sacrifice, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Halo Reach, Vanquish, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Trials HD

PS3: God of War, God of War 2, God of War 3, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Resistance 2, Heavy Rain


I'm too tired to make a long list of awards, but I'd like to make 2 special "shout outs."

Shout out #1: Platinum Games just completely PWNED me this year. They made 2 of my favorite games of 2010, hands down: Bayonetta and Vanquish. Both games are so sharp in presentation, gameplay and style. It's just too bad they can't marry all that with decent stories, especially since (being a Japanese company) they just LOVE to use a boatload of cutscenes. I'll probably buy anything they make.

Shout out #2: Most addictive game goes to Trials HD. It's so simple, yet so difficult at the same time. The first time I played it, I said to myself, "I'm just gonna check this out to see what it's like." Two and a half hours later, I'm still playing trying to earn gold medals and beat friend's times. Plus, I got it on sale for 400 MS points. It's probably the best $5 I've spent on a videogame.


I'm curious what all everyone else played. Any special awards for anything?

2011 looks to be just as good, if not better, than 2010 (especially for the PS3 - LOTS of good exclusives coming up for Sony's machine).

Well, that does it for me. A late Merry Christmas......Happy New Year......and HAPPY GAMING IN 2011!!!

IGN 360 Head Switches to PS3 as personal preference....

....like me! He covers some very good points and I agree with just about all of them.

The PS3 had a terrible start, but it's gaining tons of momentum (thanks Kevin Butler!) and I'm happy that they're finally getting some positive recognition.

Uncharted 2: Among Never Ending Spawns and Shark Jumping Moments

I'm on chapter 22 of this game and it's awesome in a ton of different ways, but last night, while doing a 2 and a half hour Uncharted 2 marathon, I got really sick and tired of the infinite amount of bad guys I keep killing.

The thing about the Uncharted games is they have tons of charm and, in my mind, are somewhat realistic. The comparison has been done a million times, but it's very Indiana Jones and the games are very good. I love everything from the amazing graphics, gameplay, script, voice acting, cut scenes, humor and plot, but my goodness....can I get either some better enemies or just fewer of them? I'm pretty sure I've killed more nameless nobodies in Uncharted 1 and 2 than Grunts, Elites and Brutes in all the Halo playing I've done......ever.

Drake is not a super human and that's what I love about him. He's a normal dude (physically speaking anyways) and the fact that I've killed hundreds and hundreds of guys, tanks and even 2 helicopters is a little crazy and really hurts the overall quality of the game.

The game is amazing and I don't really know what else Naughty Dog could do when pretty much all games need a bad guy (except Flower and Flow...all you need there is a mini game with motion control and a slick spit shine finish and it's all of a sudden art).

Did anyone else feel as I do when they were playing?

PSP Impressions

I am the proud new owner of a God of War Ghost of Sparta PSP Bundle. I got it for Christmas and this is my impressions post.

After having had 2 Nintendo DS systems I have a good appreciation for what that system can offer and while I liked them both very much I never felt compelled to play them so they sat until they were sold. Considering that I may be doing some traveling in the near future for some time I thought a new handheld system with more versatility than the DS would be a good thing for me if I'm to be away from home. The only other natural choice is the PSP.

Before getting this one the other day I'd only held a PSP one other time. I only really know what I've read about it on gaming sites. It gets beat up a lot in The States as being 2nd choice to the DS and after the PSP Go launched the PSP has been considered pretty much dead ever since. The truth is that the PSP has some amazing titles (both new and old and in the future), is very functional and has a lot more to offer a gamer like me.

I bought a 16gb flash drive for 30 bucks on Amazon and am using that to store all my games on. Already I have Resident Evil 1, 2 and 3 on it as well as Final Fantasy 7 and Tekken 2. As far as downloaded PSP games I have GoW Chains of Olympus and Patapon 2 on it. I also have several hundred songs on there as well.

On the seperate 2gb flash drive that came with the system I've loaded movies (a surprisingly simple process). I have The Fountain and Inception on it (I'm thinking Pan's Labyrinth next) already and they play and look fantastic on the PSP.

Okay so now on to the "Likes" and "Dislikes":

Like:

The look of the sytem is great and I really like the feel of it. It's a relatively light system and the D-pad and face buttons are awesome! I was happy to see and feel that the buttons are all quite pronounced. It's nice that it's a handheld and that the buttons feel like they belong on a console controller. Even the shoulder buttons feel more analog than the "click" of the DS. The D-pad is much better than the DS's pad.

The large screen is a nice change for a handheld and it's menus function almost identically to the PS3.

The joystick is surprisingly good. Even though it looks more like a "nub" than anything it handles precise controls for racers (Burnout Legends) very well. Now if it only had a 2nd one.....

It's a surprisingly powerful system. Playing GoW I was very surprised and thrilled to see that the game looked far better than the GoW HD remakes for the PS3. To pack such power in a handheld is still impressive to me. I know that the ipod, iphone and ipad are all great power wise, but I still find playing serious games on any of those to be a bit of a joke at this time.

The functionality with the PS3 should obviously be great and it is. I've tranferred all the PSOne games and a ton of songs to the PSP with just a few click of the buttons.

Web browser functionality with wifi will help me kill time when it's available. Connecting to the PSN from my wireless at home was very easy and browsing DLC and games is a breeze.

It's user friendly and that was one of it's selling points. I can't tell you how excited I was to be able to easily throw ripped copies of my own DVDs on it. Watching the ending of The Fountain on it last night still gave me chills.

There's a large catalog of good games to play. I'm really looking forward to diving into more JRPG stuff when I finish what I have already. The system doesn't have the Nintendo exclusives with all the endless Mario and Zelda stuff, but it's still very solid because the PSP is still a big deal in Japan. Kingdom Hearts, Persona and Final Fantasy: Crisis Core are all games I'm really looking forward to.

Dislike:

Battery life is a given for sure. I know that I'll be plunking down the extra cash down the road for the "extended battery."

I will never stop believing that the clamshell design of the DS is vastly superior to the PSP. It protects itself and the screens are always out of harms way. With the PSP if you drop it the wrong way it could be game over. I've already placed a great screen protector on it and the hardshell case I purchased is nice as well because it allows me to play it while it's still protected in the case.

Bottom line:

I'm very happy with my decision to get a PSP for Christmas. Having only really played with it for a handful of hours I can already tell I'm really going to love having it. Having a great console, movie player, music player and an (somewhat limited/lack of keyboard) internet browser all in one is a big deal for me personally. It's a solid machine with enough horsepower to give me modern day console thrills in a handheld because that's what I've been wanting with my portable all along.

Dead Space 2 Demo

I just finished it and it's officially my most anticipated game of 2011. Even up against the mammoths of Mass Effect 3 and Elder Scrolls. While those games will undoubtedly be astounding there's still something to be said of the more contained, less epic game that bottles down so much atmosphere, action and tension into a package.

I was thrilled to find (at least from the demo) that the overall Dead Space formula is very much intact. Audio plays a very large role still and the game mechanics are all still in place.

I was very concerned that Visceral Games would Resident Evil 5 the series and take it all the action and leave out everything that made the 1st so great. Talking to Lead Salad I did admit that they did change the control scheme ever so slightly to make it more "action friendly" then the original and it's a little bit of a bummer. For example, in the 1st game if you want to heal you have to pull up your menu and manually select health. In this one you just hit a button. Your stasis recharges automatically where before if you ran out....well....you better not miss your shots.

The brutality of the original was well on display here as well. From the camera perspective while fighting to the animations when your attacked it all still looks like it really hurts.

All in all I went from super pumped to official boner of the month for this game.

"Altman be praised."

I know what brjahu will say, but I can't help it...

...that I still get a big hard one for Tomb Raider (Lead Salad too). Blu Ray FTW with all 3 games on one disc. This is a big deal for PS3 because Legend and Anniversary aren't currently available on the console.

Vanquish - Review

Picked up Vanquish over the weekend as i had a few days of gaming to fill in before Christmas break. Played the demo a while back and quite enjoyed it. Pretty much played it flat out over the last 2 nights and here's my thoughts.

Controlled-chaos. It's balls to the wall, over the top, don't blink or you'll miss something kinda game. At it's core it's essentially a 3rd person cover based shooter, it's super fast paced and exhilarating and turned out to be quite addictive.

Loved

Gameplay

There's plenty of over the top methods to go about the shooting madness. The controls are pretty standard for 3rd person shooting games but there's a nice little addition. You have a boost button which is used speed things up, you can do the boring stuff like sliding into cover but I found it far more exciting to do things like boost about on my knees while shooting, at this moment the game goes into bullet time and it's pretty badass. Bullet time can also be activated while jumping over cover and evading which makes out for some pretty spectacular shooting. I know bullet times been done like a million times before in games but this really makes use of it well and suits the game perfectly.

Spectacular moments

I lost count of the number of times I said "wow" to myself, there's a ton of show stopping moments, not just gameplay induced but stuff going on in the background was pretty impressive also. The scale of the game is generally pretty impressive, not quite as comparable as God of War say but it really does have wow factor moments.

Cinematics

Some brilliant cut scenes to go with the over the top action. Some neat touches where you switch to an FPS view where the mission briefing is delivered to you, hard to explain but it's a nice touch.

Graphics

Highly polished and super slick. The action gets very intense and the game handles it very well, no slow down or pop in.

Hated

Gameplay (variety)

Although I absolutely loved the gameplay it's a shame there wasnt a little more variety to break up the intensity.

Story

Haven't got a clue what i was fighting for or why. Some of it was a little predictable but it didnt really matter tbh.

Length

Was over a little too fast, tempted to go thru it again on a harder level as it was a little easy on Normal.

Evaluation

I'd recommend Vanquish to anyone who likes fast and frenetic action games, it's like a cross between Gears of War and Bayonetta with some God of War epic scale throw in for good measure. Although it was very short and didn't have a lot of depth to the experience I really enjoyed it and would like to hear everyone else's thoughts. Try the demo which is on the market place it pretty much gives you a perfect taste of what the game's all about and how it plays.

Diablo III

Diablo III
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc54_bK604s
Monk Gameplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31VpcWV2R9E

Skills
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_dacPRA7p4

Demon Hunter Gameplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP49rxDOPHQ

Arena
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNaT19XM6SM

Mixed Gameplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6kYbXb1MAk

Caravan Upgrades
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i28eWXEuHuY

Poor and (never getting married)

This is a sort of add-on to brjahu's post on upcoming games. And since I'm not married, these will be the games that prevent that from happening as I turn to my girlfriend and let her know I just frankly won't have the time... :P

1. Diablo III - rumor has it it will come out at the end of next year. This is the action RPG of all action RPGs. Another product of the beloved Blizzard, this will probably force me to use some PTO days, maybe even take a weeks' vacation as I have been waiting for this game for close to a decade. There is another rumor Blizzard is hiring for potential console development. D2 was not on consoles but the first Diablo was on the PSONE. So if you like action RPGs and this comes out on consoles, get it. I love plowing through hordes of enemies, gathering tons of loot, while keeping a great story light and quick.

2. Brink - this has been looking pretty good for a while from the parkour moves, slightly cartoonish characters, to the teamwork focused XP rewards. Could be a great shooter... and could be a huge fail. Still hesitant to preorder this one...

3. Elder Scrolls - as much as I HATE teaser trailers... cuz they are just teasing me :P if this follows the path of Morrowind and Oblivion, it will eat up several hundred hours of my time. I still to this day can pick up Oblivion and be swallowed alive and have trouble turning it off and playing any other games. If they add co-op to this game, OMG! I'm always hesitant to play these on the console (since I love my mouse/keyboard so much) but Oblivion plays amazingly well on the 360 so this may be a console purchase, especially if there is co-op or some way to play with other people. Can't wait to join the thieves guild and make some of my own epic gear...

4. ME3 - I wasn't very excited about playing ME2 but after playing it through, I'm definitely looking forward to them wrapping up the story. The attack on earth seems pretty cool too. This may very well be a day 1 purchase for me.

5. Heart of the Swarm - The Zerg storyline and next expansion for Starcraft 2. The singleplayer for Starcraft 2 was amazing and I've already played through it 5 or so times. :P

6. Lego Star Wars III - and being the kid at heart, I'm always down for another Lego game, especially Star Wars. They always add just enough to each new Lego game to make it feel like it isn't just a rinse/repeat title.

...and the Vietnam expansion pack comes out today for Bad Company 2 (which I already have 5 days of play time on) so it's off to see if the servers are up... :D

Donkey Kong Country: Returns

As the only person on this blog (correct me if I'm wrong) who has the resourses to even play Donkey Kong Country: Returns (DKCR) I decided to write up a quick break down. 

Loved:

The Nostalgia - oh my goodness, Retro nailed it here.  The original Donkey Kong Country worked me over from every angle.  I got sent a VHS tape in the mail pitching all the hype from Nintendo, I got it on Christmas, something that never ever happened in my family with new releases, and I played it until I couldn't any more... then continued to play and look for secrets.  This wii-make captures the essence perfectly.  Music, style, humor, dialogue, opening, etc.... good stuff.


The Difficulty - in a time and age of video games that seems to have a trend of games getting easier and easier, this game is tough.  Not just for a Wii game, but for any game.  Retro really raised the bar a few feet on this one, almost to a point that I think this game might alienate a little bit of the Wii's fan base.  As a culture of gamers, I think we've gotten to comfortable overall with the ease of our games.  I know that most games have difficulty modifiers that make the game next to impossible (Bioshock without vita-chambers anyone?) but that leaves the difficulty of the game up to the player, not the designer.  I bet most of us could count on one hand the amount of current gen games that are intrinsically difficult, with no option to make it easier or harder. 

Step in the Right Direction - DKCR isn't perfect by any standard (keep reading), but it is a solid step in the right direction.  It shows that a series can be revamped without cloning it's old self, but still retaining the core feeling. It shows that not all Wii games need to be built for morons.  It also shows how the Wii can sidestep some of it's graphical limitations to still deliver on an impressive front.

Cranky Kong - "I can't say I expect to see you again, but you might get lucky, I guess..." Brilliant. 

Hated:

Forced Motion Controls - DKCR affords the player a few different options for play.  One uses the remote and nunchuck, a favorite for those who just love to wiggle their arms all over the place, and the remote on it's side ala NES style.  I definitely opted for the classic type, thinking I would be able to run, jump, pound, and late-jump with the same ease I did in the SNES days.  Although a majority of the simple mechanics are still intact,  the more complicated moves by Kong are done with subtle gestures, even playing in classic mode.  The ground pound (a definite favorite mechanic here) is not executed by holding down and hitting a button, but a shake of the remote.  The forward rolling attack/cartwheel aren't exectued by a direction and a button, but a direction and a subtle shake.   There are only a few instances where the shaking of the remote feels like a natural choice for motion controls.  It almost makes me wonder if Retro wasn't allowed to use the older mechanics, or encouraged to go a "fresher" route than the oldies, in order to draw in the newer, less jaded, Wii audience.

New Moves - Remember the move in the original Country games where Kong knelt to the ground and used his Kong breath to blow away dandelions and flowers to solve puzzles? Me neither...

Where are the Kremlings? - Maybe they were too edgy for Nintendo's family friendly image, but I miss the Kremlings as antagonists.  My guess is that they were tied up in copyright stuff with Rare, but that's all conjecture.  The Kremlings made awesome baddies... they didn't fit in the world, were obviously counter to your goal, and made some sweet noises when you killed them.  The new baddies are these tiki drums that hypnotize and possess the creatures of the world to do their evil banana hoarding bidding.  The saddest part to me will probably come later upon completion, when I don't get to run through the Krem-co industrial levels, far and away my favorite levels and music from the original game.

Evaluation:

I would highly recommend this to any Wii owner who is looking for something fresh and a little more challenging.  I think it was doubly challenging for me, due to the fact that I am constantly needing to fight against my natural instinct to get Kong to do some of his more complicated procedures. (still haven't quite figured out the late jump timing.)  It's a must by for anyone who's looking to the Wii for nostalgic appeal as well - DKCR doesn't disappoint.   It definitely rounds out my collection. My only wish would be for a patch that allows the player to play with the classic controller or something.

(This experience was playing through the first three and a half worlds, in single player. DKCR supports simultaneous cooperative play with two people, as well.)

January of Joy/JoJ if you will.

Just a reminder to not talk, call or text me the 2nd half of January because Mass Effect 2 and Dead Space 2 are coming to PS3!

Just read yesterday that the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 looks a lot better than the 360 because they are using the Mass Effect 3 engine on it. Looking at side by side videos on ign and it's clearly a better looking game. Demo coming within the next week.

Dead Space 2...nothing else to say about this game other than it'll own my face. Demo coming December 20th!

Poor and Divorced

The following is a guest post by former Backseat Gamers blogger Brjahu:

Poor and Divorced.

That is exactly what I will be after this next year. To be more specific, after November of next year. The list of of "must own" games just grew exponentially after watching the VGAs last night. I'll admit that I almost needed a change of pants after watching two specific trailers. Even if they were just teasers, that is all I needed to see.

The list of required purchases that keeps growing:

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (I turned and said my last good-bye's to my wife after watching this)

Mass Effect 3 (yes, I squealed a little... like a girl)

Uncharted 3 (I will have exactly 10 days to beat this game before Skyrim comes out)

Gears of War 3 (I admit, I'm pumped for the campaign)

Resistance 3 (early release as compared to the rest)

Portal 2

Assassins Creed 3 (if it is indeed launching)

Other games I'm interested in:

Arkham City (I plan on playing Arkham Asylum at some point soon)

SSX: Deadly Descents (I am a huge fan of SSX: Tricky... the source of my alias Kuix)

Killzone 3

Rage

A year with a new Elder Scrolls, Uncharted, and Mass Effect could probably equal the greatest gaming year ever... just saying.

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

BOOYAH!

My Very Own Black Ops Post

Alright, I figured I would chime in after playing for a couple of weeks. I have not touched the single player yet, but now have 25 hours into the multi. I started off pretty rough just due to lack of knowledge of the maps, lack of good weapons, etc. I did some combat training to learn the maps a bit and find some guns I like, which was helpful. I moved back into the multi and started playing pretty decent once I got the Galil and the Famas.

It can still be a frustrating experience for me just because I'm a pretty streaky player. I'll have a great game, then I'll play like garbage in the very next one. I'll have a great night of gaming, then the next night it'll feel like I'm using my feet to play instead of my hands. Well, this was a really crappy week for me in the world of Black Ops. I'd like to think it's because I'm sharing a really spotty hotel internet connection, but I can't say for sure. I mean, I don't play this bad at home. Other than the questionable connection, two HUGE frustrations have reared their heads this week......

Number 1: The Knife. Ohhhh, the knife. Of all the things wrong in Call of Duty, this has to be Number 1. Sure, there's no Commando perk anymore, but the knife is still beyond busted. There are still times where players will do a short lunge, but those are very few and far between. The biggest problem for me is when an opposing player and I both run around a corner at the same time and kinda run past each other. When this happens my instinct is to turn and shoot, while the real solution (in a Call of Duty game, anyway) is to mash that melee button. Even if you knife the air, you get the kill for it. I watch the kill cams and sure enough, their knife hits nothing but air, yet I die. It makes no sense to me. It really makes me angry. I think Bad Company 2 has the right idea with the knife. In that game, it's basically for use ONLY if you've managed to sneak up on a guy, due to the fact that it takes a good 2 or 3 seconds to go through the knife animation. I also like Unreal Tournament's use of melee weapons. That is, they're pretty much a non-issue unless you go to the trouble of pulling out your Impact Hammer and charging it up for 5 seconds and actually getting close enough to a guy to use it.....which never happens. Too bad I could NEVER play a lag-free game of Unreal Tournament III because I love those games. In summary, the knife in Call of Duty can go to hell.

Number 2: Weapon damage. Is it just me, or are the weapons in the game too weak? Is the hit detection okay? I feel like the game sometimes gives me hit markers when I'm not really hitting anything. Case in point, I was using the Commando gun and had to get six hit markers to kill a guy. Yes, SIX. Granted, I was at a distance, but six hit markers? I wasn't shooting through walls, so that shouldn't have been a factor in "weakening" the bullets down or anything. There was also a time where I shot a guy with my M16 from pretty close distance (20 feet or so?). I hit him with 2 solid bursts from the gun, in the chest/neck/face, and got NO kill. I couldn't even count the hit markers on that one. The M16 has one of the higher damage rankings, too, so....I'm just really confused about that one. I've got both of these instances saved in my file share for any 360 users that are interested in seeing them. The obvious solution to this is to switch over to Hardcore mode, but that doesn't really work for me, either. I like the rules (no radar and higher gun damage) but for some reason that translates into a massive camp fest. People just lay prone and point their gun at a doorway. I can't even move.


Alright, that's about it for me. Like I said, I had a really crappy week with the game, but I'm not ready to give it up or anything. I'll try again when I get home tonight. I'm hoping that connection had something to do with my poor performance. Or maybe I just suck. But I really don't think that's true.

PS3 Super Computer

I remember hearing about this a long time ago, but it's finally done and it's pretty impressive. The fact that you can link that many PS3s together and make one super mega powerful computer is just downright impressive!

I wonder what it is about the PS3 that makes it the better choice for this over the 360? I don't know enough about that stuff to make a good guess, but my first thought would be that it would be hard to keep a super computer running when 65% of the 360s kept RROD.

Fighting Games

Any fans out there that aren't Asians? I've very recently rediscovered, along with Silent (my brother-in-law), Tekken 2. It's 6 bucks on the PSN and it's marvelous. We've spent the last 2 days playing the Arcade mode back and forth to unlock everyone and it's been a stellar experience.

Tekken 2 is a game that I only ever rented and played a lot during those times. I loved the game way back then and to this day it's still a heart pounding fighter. Silent unfortunately pounds me into the ground with Law, but when I get my Heihachi skills back up to snuff I'm hoping to embarrass him on the daily.

Were there any fighter games you played a lot and actually got good at? SoulCalibur 1 and 2 were it for me. Kalik in 1 and Spawn for XBOX in 2.

Anyways, this has inspired me to get Tekken 6 from Goozex on PS3. I've done a lot of research and decided for that over Street Fighter 4. I was never really that into SF and I keep reading that several of the characters are overpowered.

Maybe I'll see some of you online.

P.S. Don't play Mortal Kombat against Lead Salad....he'll push your poop in.

Are there fanboys amongst Popular Science editors?

I know that the Wii and Kinect have an audience, but you have to love this backhanded comment from a very well respected magazine.

I'm impressed at their knowledge of the device. I guess it's their jobs, but I didn't expect that zinger at the end.

Black Ops: Declassified

Black Ops has done pretty well for itself so far.  I don't think there's a person on this blogroll that doesn't own it.  This title provides us with a unique opportunity, however, because as a group we're all getting to know it better on different platforms.  I'm curious to what might be different about the game depending on the community of players, style of play, or open communications. I'm also wondering what set-ups are working out for you all best.  Customization has become a staple gameplay element in the last few COD games, and the game seems to thrive pretty well regardless of set-up one may use.  Black Ops balances this better than some of the preceding titles, in my opinion - the modern warfare games seemed to encourage different weapon set-ups as apposed to Black Ops that seems to make sure that everyone can have fun as they wish.

I'm currently fiding great success with the M14 and the FAL.  I do a fair amount of hardcore TDM, but the guns still pack a punch so they end up working out pretty well in core TDM as well. I've yet to venture into any of the objective playlists, but those all seem to be variations on a theme (read, "kill everyone") anyway.  Perk wise, I've been sticking to Ghost, Warlord, and Ninja, all "pro" as I've earned them.  Occasionally if I run into it more often, I'll use Hacker instead of Ninja, but I don't prefer it.  Equipment really doesn't become a huge part of my set-up, but the claymores seem to do nicely.

The reason I am curious at all about this is due to the success I've seen with this set-up.  It seems like everyone on the 360 is rolling out with some variant on this set-up.  You run into different styles of groups, but for the most part, Ghost seems used all the time.  I'm not surprised either - it seems like all of the killstreaks revolve around being seen by the enemy in some fashion and avoiding that should be priority one. It probably doesn't help that there isn't much of a better choice for the first slot of perks either.  Lightweight isn't bad, but without the runners having their dominance, lightweight seems to be a waste of a selection for me.

What's taking control of your platforms set-ups? Am I the new "runner", or "noob tuber", or is my set-up legit? Anyone else think the RC-XD should be a bonus for 4 or 5 kills, not 3?

Singularity Review

I finished Singularity last night and it's the best SP FPS campaign I've played since Bioshock. A neat trailer for you here.

The game was developed by the underappreciated "Raven Software". The guys that do a lot of work for id games with Quake and if my memory serves me right they ported Doom 3 (too lazy to fact check). Bottom line is they make a fine shooter with tight controls.

The game takes place between 1955 during the Cold War and 2010. You're a trooper sent to a mysterious island where there's been large energy readings and when you get there a bunch of crazy cool time stuff happens and to make a long interwoven story very short....you save a very bad Russian man in 1955 and he pretty much rules the world in 2010. The rest of the game is spent trying to right what you screwed up. The "butterfly effect" if you will.

Likes:

Controls were very tight and the gunplay is immensely satisfying.

Time Manipulation Device (TMD) - You'll eventually get the TMD and with if you solve a lot of puzzles and use it in combat to totally screw over the bad guys.

Time travel and pulses. Switching between 1955 and 2010 and seeing your actions affect the game world in such drastic ways is a friggin blast and is very well done. Shockingly well done at times. I found myself marveling at the details over and over again.

The story was a lot of fun to watch play out and while it wasn't anything too ground breaking it was refreshing to actually play a game where I cared about what was going on instead of going through the motions.

Puzzles are pretty easy, but nothing too complex.

Using the TMD in imaginative ways. One of my favorite ways to dispatch enemies was to basically make a "slowing time ball" (my term) and shoot it at a group of guys. Anyone caught in it moved slow and their bullets were slowed. What you do is you unload a ton of bullets into the ball and then use the TMD to get rid of the balls. When you dissolve the ball the enemies are hit with a hail of gunfire. Not super needed or necessary, but a lot of fun. Using the time ball as a sort of shield to dodge bullets was neat, too. You can def use your imagination in this game.

Perfect length for the game. Not too long and thankfully, unlike most big shooters nowadays cough CoD cough HALO cough not too short.

3 different endings and 1 of which is a mind screw!

Dislikes:

Unreal Engine 3. When the shit will developers stop using this damn thing. I hate it!

The game borrows, stylistically, from Bioshock pretty heavily at times, but they do it justice IMHO.

Puzzles can get repetative.

Really there wasn't a lot I didn't enjoy about the game. Even the boss fights were pretty cool...esp for an FPS.

All in all it's a great game that will most def get passed over by just about everyone because Activision didn't promote it at all.

It's a great game that plays like a great mix of Bioshock, Half Life 2 and even Dead Space.

I know most of you guys don't play many SP shooters, but you should def give this gem a chance because there probably won't ever be a sequel.

"Wii is a piece of s&*$!"

Ran into this a week back and thought it was funny and figured I'd repost it. It's 3 years old now and this guy was hating it back then. I like that he not only said it sucks because it's underpowered graphically, but also the CPU is too weak to make a complicated AI. Got to give him credit for not sugar coating it.

The next day he apologized, but I just read another article that was written yesterday of him defending what he said, but that he regrets the way he did it. Still funny.

5.6 Million people can't be wrong...

As of this moment, I'm not impressed with Black Ops.  It's hard to put my finger on since I've only played through the campaign once and dumped a couple hours into the multiplayer, but I'll try...

Memento did it best...
Campaign wise, I feel like it was a pretty weak story overall. For the sake of spoilers, I won't go into specific story details, but I didn't like the story structuring.  The flashback nature of starting each mission worked pretty well as a means to diversify the gameplay (new locations, etc.) but as it's own I always have felt this be a very lazy way to construct a story.  If done well, this narrative layout can be extremely powerful, but if done as a justification, it comes off feeling a little bit forced.

Why can't you be like your older brother?
Multiplayer is probably my biggest disappointment so far.  I remember hopping into MW2 and getting giggly with 3N3MY over how cool it was.  As time went on, we obviously found things that annoyed us, things that we would have done differently, but I still distinctly remember that feeling of knowing that I had something special in my hands while I was playing.  It wasn't perfect in the end, but that initial response really set the tone for the whole experience, and for the most part, it was accurate. Black Ops just hasn't done it for me yet.  It almost feels like it wants/wanted to become it's own new multiplayer experience but was left with a strong sense of obligation to look and play as much like MW2 as possible.

Missed Opportunities
My experience so far in Black Ops is already riddled with so many lost chances to do something cool and unique...
- Should we clean up the messy pile of killstreaks and perks we had in MW2? Nah...
- Should we add in some social and political commentary into this incredibly controversial point of American Military history? What?
- Should we use the F-word more? Mos Def.

I'll do some more playing with the Multi before I dive into details about it all. It wouldn't be a fair review it now - I'm dead tired and haven't past level 7 yet, so it wouldn't be all that beneficial to discuss it...

Sam Worthington Sucks

I was just texting to Lead Salad last week about my gripe with Black Ops SP is that it's main voice is voiced by none other than Sam Worthington. AKA "the guy that still can't sound like he's American and keeps landing huge roles in Hollywood playing Americans and now he's ruining video game immersion as well."

Avatar and Terminator are two very large blockbuster movies, but Terminator sucked huge goat balls. This guy tries to fake an American accent for 2 to 3 hours and fails miserably the whole time. Now he goes and does it to Black Ops, too.

I don't get casting directors....I really don't. It could be that he's even worse than Kevin Costner in Robin Hood, but at least Kevin Costner seems like he's not a flipping prick in interviews.

It's also been studied that there are very few actors that pull people to the theatres and Sam Worthington def isn't one of them. Will Smith, Brad Pitt and Cher are like the only ones.

LA Noire

Finally a trailer for a game announced like 4 years ago.

Trailer

Looks promising..take note of the phenomenal facial animations, best i've seen in a game yet.

Black Ops

Impressions Time!

I believe that just Skatch, brjahu and myself are the only ones that have the game and have played it. These are my initial thoughts.

Multi (3 hours played so far):

-Plays EXACTLY like every CoD since MW. Not that that's a bad thing because if it's not broke don't fix it.

-Balancing. While Treyarch may be known as the company that puts out CoD games between the real CoD games I find their MP to be more balanced. World at War, while not without faults, was far more balanced than MW and Black Ops feels a lot less "asshole" friendly than MW2. Kill Streaks don't build towards other kill streaks so there's a lot less crazy amount of crap going on. Only saw 1 or 2 games where someone had a very large K/D ratio unlike about every game of MW2.

-Perks. Everything is available from the start, but now you have to "buy" them. They took out some oldies like "Juggernaut" and "Stopping Power" which I am very happy about. Now the perks feel more like a preference and play style attribute and not a "use this or die" type of thing.

-Kill Streaks. Again, these are all unlocked, you just have to buy them. The RC car was particularly annoying to me at first until I realized that it replaces that rocket that you control which almost always guarantees a kill. At least the car needs a little more skill to find and kill a guy.

-Buying anything and everything. Talked about this with brjahu and he agreed. Not only do you have to reach a certain level to be able to unlock a gun, but then you have to buy that gun just to see if you like it. Not that that's a huge deal, but when you're trying to find a setup that works best for you, depleting all your funds to realize you hate that gun is frustrating. I've found after a couple hours you have so much money that it isn't as big a deal as it first seems.

-Audio. What's missing from it? I can't seem to pin it down. Music? There's something that's missing and it irks me and I can't figure out what.

-Maps. Not only do I feel Treyarch makes a better MP, but they undoubtedly make the better maps. Every one of the maps I've played has several levels and almost all of them are much larger than most of the maps in MW2. One of the snow maps in particular is a little too large with too many hiding spots, but other than that I like the complexity of them.

-Knife. It's back and retarded as ever. Why the hell you can lunge is beyond me, but at least there's no "Commando" anymore. I have seen, probably 10 times now, guys flat out sprint at me and try to knife me like in MW2, but it's only been successfull 2 or 3 times so while there's still frustration with it it's not nearly as problematic as MW2. It's funny watching kill cams because you can totally tell who is trying to recreate that perk setup of "Marathon, Light Weght, Commando." It's just sad that this game is the proof of how viable a strategy running at someone with your knife actually was.

Single:

-It's official, the CoD formula has grown thin. You can make the most riveting story, over the top action shooter ever, but when it's every iteration of CoD trying to "one up" each other it starts to feel grating.

-It's very over the top with so much action and explosions going on that it is actually difficult to tell who the hell you're supposed to be shooting. I found myself rolling my eyes at one point just wondering how much more of a hard on they could possibly have for Michael Bay.

-Story does seem cool though as it actually has a plot with mystery and intrigue.

(Impressions) Verdict:

After my first hour of MP gaming I was a little worried that I had bought a game that was less than thrilling. After unlocking stuff that doesn't suck and teaching myself to play with new guns I got that old CoD boner that we all love from time to time....or all the time. It's a very solid online shooter that does (so far) fix some gripes of MW2.

I'm pleased with my purchase because it's a shooter that will hold me over till Gears of War 3....brrrrt.

P.S. This is awesome. Because of the new theatre mode you can have proof of people glitching and Treyarch isn't gonna stand for it!

Dead Space 2 Lullaby

Consider my pants and the chair I'm sitting in...totally ruined.

Reminds me of the Dead Space "Twinkle" trailer.

Reminisce

Ever get nostalgia for a game and desperately wish they would make a sequel (and not a crappy one)? One particular game has always stood out to me and in particular, helped pull me into PC gaming.

Freelancer

It was a space-simulator, think Wing Commander or X-Wing, that involved a pretty decent plot with aliens and artifacts and what not. I forget if it's another part of the galaxy or whatever but these world ships settled on all these planets and systems. Anyways, you get better ships and weapons and there are secret weapons you can find and collect from areas of the different systems. The side missions were all generic and pretty much summed down to 3 different missions. You could also mine asteroids, trade, and just explore the different systems. There were hidden areas in clouds of gas and minefields and you can see my love affair with this game, haha. It was release in 2003 and I bet any computer could play the game nowadays and I suggest any gamer give this game a try.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer_(video_game)

It really needs a sequel...

Dead Space on the brain....

I know you all know, but there are few games I've played that stick with me like Dead Space. Something about it's mix of horror, atmosphere, mysterious story and ominous setting just mix perfectly with me. I have very few criticisms with the game and have played through it an embarrassing amount of times.

Should I be surprised when I find myself seriously considering purchasing the Playstation Move to play Dead Space: Extraction when I get Dead Space 2 in January? It's a rail shooter, but still one of the better Wii games in existance and from what I've read actually does the genre a favor by showing that it doesn't have to suck.

I can find no better reason or game type to get the Move for. Not that I'm looking for a reason to buy one, but the thought of playing a great game in one of my favorite IPs in a style I absolutely loved as a kid (Lethal Enforcers or Time Crisis anyone?) just seems like a perfect storm for me to throw it on the Christmas list.

Plus, Killzone 3 will be Move compatible, but let's be honest....that'll probably play like garbage.

The Force Unleashed 2

Dear Lucasarts,

I had fond memories of playing your first Force Unleashed game. It was a decently challenging game that had pretty cool graphics, an awesome story, memorable characters and the most fully realized force powers in any game.....ever.

I got TFU again 2 weeks ago in prep for the release of TFU2. I played it through and enjoyed it more the 2nd time than the 1st.

From playing the demo on PSN I knew that the combat in TFU2 had been tweaked and that everything was faster. I was excited!

I got the game yesterday and I beat the game yesterday and I'm already matched for a trade on goozex. What a let down. You guys made a super short campaign that took all the strategy out of the 1st and replaced it with way too powerful attacks and a souless button mashing eye glossed over game.

I was most excited to see what happened next in the story since the 1st was so awesome. You didn't even resolve anything. It "ended" that section of story, but left huge unanswered questions. Am I a clone?! Thats why I bought the damn game! It felt like a big "F" you....buy the soon to be released overpriced DLC just like the 1st game.

It wasn't all bad though. The graphics were superb as well as the audio. The boss fight's actually felt like boss fights this time around and the final act of the fight with the Gorog is pants creamingly badass. Too bad that's the high point of the game.

Oh well....at least I'll get 1200 points on goozex instead of 1000 for trading it so soon after release. What a cheap cash-in.

Love,

A betrayed gamer

Red Faction: Guerrilla

Has anyone else played this? I've had it for some time and have just been waiting to get around to it. I put a little over 2 hours into it this weekend and have had a lot of fun.

For those of you that don't know the game boasts the most realistic demolition/destruction engine in any game ever. If there's a building or structure in the game you can bet your bottom dollar that that sonofabitch will fall.

The game is nothing extraordinarily riveting. It's standard rebels vs mega corporation bad guy, but it's a lot of fun. My wife heard me giggling maniacally and literally asked, "What's going on?" I was having a ton of fun blowing crap up.

The whole game is one giant excuse/sand box to showcase their Geo Mod 2.0 destruction engine and I'm okay with that. Guns are tight and handle well, the explosives are explosivey and there's nothing that the sledgehammer of God can't take out.

Good game. Try it if you're up for knocking shit down and watching the amazing physics engine at work.

Fallout: New Vegas Review

I obviously haven't played the whole game since it just came out yesterday but after debating whether I should wait and get it on Goozex (and seeing that I was number 58 waiting for Gothica 4) and new the line would be long for NV, I decided to buy it. Took a half-day yesterday and put a good 6 1/2 to 7 hours into it. I would compare it to a really large expansion pack for Fallout 3, which is pretty much 99% good.

Likes
◘ Graphics - though a little dated now, they fit right into the atmosphere created in F3 and bring you right into the game, as if it's familiar and you know the world and the characters. There's no adjustment phase, like there is with a new game. The world has some more color to it too and I'm saying that without even having been to the strip yet. There are also a lot more faces for NPCs rather than the same couple recycled ones we saw in F3.

◘ Sound - music is great and really picks up the tempo when enemies approach. Haven't listened to the radio much yet but from what I've heard, it's very similar to F3. Guns sound pretty good too.

◘ Familiarity - other than a few differences in skills and then choosing 2 traits, there really isn't much difference in creating a character. Big guns has been taken out and now the Guns skill covers any weapon that uses conventional ammo so that was kind of cool. Perks are very familiar as well and I've already picked some that I used in F3 to expand my loot hording. I was also able to use my memory of an awesome character creation guide to create a character in NV that is going to have lots of maxed skills by the end of the game.

◘ Weapons - there are more weapons and they feel better and when you add in mods, they really did a good job expanding this section of the game. Oh, and there are different ammo types though I haven't messed with this too much.

◘ Item Creation - besides the regular workbench, there is a reloading station (where you can break down ammo to create other ammo types) as well as a campfire you can use ingredients to make different items. Think alchemy from Oblivion. Oh, and you can harvest items from plants in the world too those this seems toned down compared with Oblivion.

◘ Factions - this seems to be a cool feature where your reputation increases with one faction while it decreases with another. There can be trouble moving through the world if your are in an area that is controlled by a faction that hates you.

◘ Companions - I already got this cool sniper guy Boone following me around and he dishes out some major damage to enemies. He's usually killing them before I get off a shot. And the companion wheel definitely improves your ability to control your companion and their actions.

Dislikes
◘ Bugs - the game is still pretty glitchy, from major framerate drops to creatures getting stuck in rocks. Some of these could be PC issues because the game needs some tweaking on the PC for sure. With my system, I shouldn't be getting the framerate drops unless they did some HUGE improvements to the graphics that I am just not really noticing. With some decent patching, this issue should be taken care of. (I have had zero crashes so far while F3 crashed all the time, even after patching).

◘ Factions - this can get annoying when factions continue to attack you, especially right after you sleep and it seems the enemies are more aggressive. Also, if someone hates you, say the Powder Gangers, you can loot their bodies but you will lose karma for stealing from any of their buildings or crates or safes which is a really stupid idea. I'm playing a good character for my first playthrough so I don't want to lose the karma but at least in F3, I don't remember stealing from bad guys ever being an issue.

◘ World Size - it's supposed to be about the same size but it feels smaller and I'm not sure why. I feel like when I'm in one town, I can see the next town from where I'm at. We'll see how this plays out as I explore the whole world and this could be just the way I've handled the quests I've done.

◘ Bobbleheads - I don't think there are bobbleheads in this game and they've been replaced with snow globes. I found one snow globe and didn't know what it was and left it at this cemetary so I need to go back for it now that I think they replace the bobbleheads, haha. I just had to put this as a dislike cuz the bobbleheads were so awesome. :P

That's pretty much it. I posted this early because the game is sooooo similar to F3 in so many aspects. It really looks like they took that game and added a couple features, created a whole new area, and you have NV. I wish more game companies would do this, to be honest. Instead of waiting ages for Elder Scrolls V, they should have done with Oblivion what they've now done with Fallout.

Best Halo Reach kill ever???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCoY9v38RXw&feature=player_embedded

I'm pretty sure it's a set up but never the less it's pretty awesome.

Eurogamer Expo 2010...finally

So been a couple of weeks since I returned from the Expo in London, the Expo itself was pretty big, much bigger set up than last years event and so many games to play, unfortunately it was very busy and the queues for some of the titles wasn't worth the wait. Here's some thoughts from the games I got my hands on.

Motorstorm : Apocalypse (3D)

Particularly enjoyed this game, having owned both MS1 & 2 on the PS3 this was one I had to try. The gameplay's pretty much identical to the previous games which is fine because its solid and fun, the real twist is in the dynamically altering tracks, think Spilt Second but even more over the top. Buildings coming down to creating alternate routes, floors collapsing as you drive over them, quite exciting. So while this is all going on the game was also running in full 3D, I wasnt sure wat to make of the 3D stuff before actually playing them, sure i'd seen 3D movies and they were pertty cool, but i had my reservations. It works well and does help immerse you into the game more but there's a significant downgrading it the gfx's, jaggy edges, low res textures etc. Its a tough call really, for motorstorm specifically i didn't feel the benefits of 3D outweighed the loss in gfx quality, saying that it's still very early in development so we'll see on that one. From a gameplay point of view tho, really enjoyed it, most likely pick this one up.

Killzone 3 (3D)

In short, it's Killzone 2 but with much tighter controls and levels that felt quite exciting instead of your typical fps get from point A to point B. There were 3 levels on offer. One of which was with your character equipped with a jetpack (which sh!t on halo reach's jet packs btw). Anyone that's played KZ2 will immediately recognise the game's look and feel. The gfx are on par with the best out there if not the best for an fps. As mentioned before the controls have been tightened up, not too much to make it a twitchy shooter like COD but enough to make it feel a little more responsive. Besides the jetpacks, there's wasn't alot new to the actual gameplay side of things, you can now preform some pretty sweet CQC kills, knife to the eye was my favourite...The game was running in 3D, however it didn't suffer from the same significant gfx downgrade as motorstorm did and I actually thought it looked pretty slick. I found myself totally immersed and not sure if it was because ppl were watching as you play or credit due to the game itself but I found it quite exhilarating. This will be a day one purchase for me and 3D gaming becomes that little bit more appealing for me.

Dead Space 2

To put it simply...loved it! The demo on show was the same one from E3 lasted about 15-20mins and gave a taste of the various elements, shooting, puzzle solving, boss battle and the all new awesome zero gravity movement mechanic. It's essentially Dead Space 1 in terms of gameplay and controls, make your way thru corridors etc, taking out enemies, pretty much same old but there's nothing wrong with that imo. One of the new enemies included those little baby type things which cling onto you and hunt in packs, quite a nice edition. New weapons include a type of spear gun, unless i'm mistaken and it was in DS1 too. The level ended in an awesome boss battle chase sequence and if that's anything to go by it's gonna be a quality game.

Crysis 2 - Mulitplayer

4 vs 4 mulitplayer demo. Tbh i didn't give this one enough time, picked up the pad, got killed a bunch of times by other players on the show floor and other beta test participants playing online who seemed to know exactly what to do. It played a solid enough game and looks like it copies the standard perk system that most games seem to inherent these days, the nano suit being the "perk" selector if you like. You could choose, sprint, extra health/damage the usual suspects really. I'm hoping to get into the beta test that's coming out on 360 soon so i'll reserve judgement on this one till i've given it a good run out.

Medal of Honour

24 player MP match was on. Pretty awesome seeing that many 40" screens lined up side by side along and entire wall. I didnt bother queuing for this one either as the game was coming out so shortly but purely from a spectacle point of view it was pretty cool. (attached pic)

Brink

This game looks very very promising, to me looks like a hybrid of Borderlands, Team Fortress and Battlefield. Unfortunately the queue was massive, 2 hr wait for a shot on a 16 player match but I watched a bit and have watched all the vids as most of us have and I've high hopes for this one. It's no surprise infact that it won game of the show.

Bulletstorm

Great fun fps, totally over the top. Gameplay is super fast paced, there's a great melee system which can be used to set up kills by kicking and grappling enemies which create score kills which seems to be the point of the game. kill someone in the most creative manner and we'll reward you with points to unlock stuff and level up etc. The graphics very nice, expected from a game made with the Unreal 3 engine these days i guess. Controls were slick and arcadey. Essentially it was alot of fun and very popular at the show too. One to watch for sure...my money's on them bundling the game with a Gears 3 beta so boost sales, tho I dont think it's gonna need much help to sell.

Gears of War 3

Beast mode was available, which for those who dont know is like Horde mode but you play as the Locus. I played a few rounds, mainly as a wrech and ticker as the booth i sat at hadnt levelled up high enough yet to use the better characters. Was quite a bit of fun but near impossible to make much progress as the booths didnt seem to be linked so you were trying to co ordinate with the guy playing next to you but he was in a different server all together. Can see this mode being quite a bit of fun tho. Graphically the games taken a step up again, for me Gears is all about the Campaign and competitve MP which werent on show so hard to pass anymore judgement at this time.

Need for Speed : Hot Pursuit

4v4 MP chase mode...i think it was called.

Basically cops vs robbers, I chose to be a cop. Really enjoyed this, it plays an awful lot like Burnout which is no surprise considering it's coming from that team. Both the cops and robbers have ability type things to help get away or pursue one another cops for example had EMP bombs, helicopter support, spike tracks etc. It was fun tracking down each robber and trying to wreak their car before they got to the end. Graphically very good, controls easy enough. And having watched more vids on it since the show i can see this one being alot of fun with a party of friends. Definitely one to watch.

Kinect

Didnt get a chance on any of the booths, there was the dancing one which was very amusing to watch others and 3 other of the party game type ones. Really it's not for me...well the gaming side of things for Kinect, i'm quite interested in the navigational aspects of it tho, facial and voice recognition if works...could be quite a step up.

Playstation Move

Didnt bother with this as i've no real interest...yet, they had a closed off booth so didnt really get to see wat was on offer. KZ3 is going to implement the controls and by the sounds of things it plays very sweet with it so i'm keeping my tabs on that one. Personally tho i'm just not overly sold on motion controlled gaming yet. Hence my lack of enthusiasm to get into either the Kinect or Move booths.

Other worth mentioning

GT5 looks impressive as per, but whether its for me i'm not so sure, didnt bother trying it as i kinda know wat to expect already.

Assassins Creed - MP was on offer, having watched alot of vids on this one already i didnt feel the need to try it, it's a certain buy for me anyways just for the SP.

Fable 3 - looks interesting but it's not really my type of game.

Rapstar..watever it's called. Silly raping music type game that actually got quite a lot of interest, tho think it was just ppl standing around to watch others make tits of themselves trying to rap.

Check out http://expo.eurogamer.net/ for vids and pictures if interested. looking forward to next years again, you guys should all come across for it!

GTA - The movie...kind of

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdRZyeSL4Mo

Very impressive fan made video, give it 14mins of your life, awesome stuff.

Dead Space 2 Collector's

Sorry for the triple post today, but I preordered this tonight.....it comes with a full scale Plasma Cutter from the game. This is even cooler than night vision goggles! Maybe....

David Jaffe...finally...someone sticks up for MoH.

David Jaffe has a newfound respect from me. For those of you that don't know he helped create Twisted Metal and God of War.

My problems with the reviews for MoH stem from the fact that people are ripping it a new one because it's not as instantly gratifying as CoD so therefore it sucks. You can't get a 35/2 kill death ratio in TDM and therefore it sucks. It's slower and more methodical in pacing and therefore it sucks. You have to work as a team so it sucks. There's not as much variety with perks and attachments so it sucks. I die too fast so it sucks.

The reviews and impressions I keep reading and hearing about aren't from people that play anything other than CoD and Halo....and therefore they suck. It's a great game that's a great balance between MW and Battlefield.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West Review

I finally finished this game last night and I'm very excited to write this review. It's a game that's left a strong impression on me as a player in numerous ways.


First, some backstory. Enslaved is based on one of the four great classic novels written during the Ming Dynasty called "Journey to the West". It's about a Monkey king who is trapped/enslaved by a crown put in place by a monk named Tripitaka, who is going west. Tripitaka uses Monkey's strength and cunning to make a safe passage to his destination.


Enslaved starts off with the female lead, Trip, breaking out of a slaver ship and the male lead, Monkey, breaking out as well and following her to an escape pod. Monkey gets to the pod just as she's launching and he rides it down to the hard way. When he regains consciousness he realizes been fashioned with a "slave headband." He quickly figures out that Trip put it on him so when he moves to attack her immense pain shoots thru his head. Trip reveals that she needs to get 300 miles to the west, back to her dad, and that she can't do it alone. She promises that if Monkey gets her there she will set him free. Also, if she dies....so does Monkey.


Trip is the AI controlled partner that luckily never gets in the way. She's a tech junkie that helps you in numerous ways. You directly control Monkey as the player.


Now that the story is out of the way it's time for the likes and dislikes.


Like:


Story - It's written by Alex Garland. The guy that wrote 2 movies that are in my top 5 all time favorite movies! If my brief synopsis of the beginning of the game doesn't intrigue you or make you appreciate the concept and relationship that these two are going to have then please go kill yourself, robot. It's a very original story with amazing characters that are believable and incredibly likable. It never turns into a romance, but the love that these two form for each other is believable and a joy to watch. The end of the game is not a head scratcher where you're left wondering, "WTF just happened?" But more of a, "Wow....what would I have done? What happens next?!" I've been thinking about it all last night and this morning. No game has ever done that to me.


Performances - Andy Serkis does the cinematic directing and mo-cap for the game just as he did in Heavenly Sword and his talents really shine. His voice acting as Monkey is (it sounds so gay to say) both badass and sweet. Even when he's yelling there's a tenderness to the character of Monkey that you don't see with other tough guys in games. His worry for Trip starts as self preservation and slowly moves towards care for her. The subtlety in facial animation delivers even more emotions, unlike anything I've ever seen in any other game and most movies. Trip is voiced by Lindsey Shaw and I can't seem to find any good info on her, but she does an amazing job as well.

Character design - I keep saying it, but the eyes in this game blew me away over and over. No uncanny valley here! Also, whoever drew up Monkey is a genius. I played the demo before I knew about the whole "Journey to the West" relationship to the game and while I was playing I was shocked at not only his name, but just how much he does look, move and stand like a monkey. He even has a belt that hangs off of his pants and more than once looks like a tail. Shockingly well designed.

World - The game takes place 150 years after some war. The game hardly ever talks about the war and there are little to no details as to what happened. All that the people know is that a long time ago there was a war and it wiped out just about everyone and there are mechs left over that still just want to kill humans. The world isn't a bombed out wasteland, but rather a fertile regrowth after humans are gone. New York city is an overgrown jungle and it's wonderful to look at. Nice to see a developer do post war with some color. Gets a little tiring looking at the grays of Gears of War and the browns of Fallout.

Combat - It's pretty simple and for all the over the top action games I've played it was nice to focus on playing the game over pulling off huge combos for "MAXIMUM DAMAGE." Not that it can't be too basic, but I thought that it fit the game very well.

Graphics - COLOR! Lots of it!

Platforming - There's a ton of jumping around and it's a lot of fun. Some very big set pieces to play around on. Sadly it's not overly difficult, but getting from Point A to B is more of a joy than a pain from poor timing.

Dislike:

Graphics - Looks like they could have used another month or two to work out some poor textures and a handful of jaggies....or it could be another fail of the Unreal Engine. I'm so damn tired of seeing the same shit shading on faces of characters in ANY game using the Unreal Engine. Ninja Theory made an awesome engine for Heavenly Sword that was not only 1st gen PS3, but in a lot of ways looked an animated better than Enslaved. Why they didn't use their own engine is beyond me. Not a jab at 360, but maybe it fell on that for some reason. Heavenly Sword was PS3 exclusive and it didn't have either of the problems listed above.

Cinematics - This isn't a fault of the game, but something I missed having just come off of Heavenly Sword. There weren't as many well crafted movie type moments where you get to watch some neat performances (mo-cap and voice acting). This probably has to do with the much more straghtforward plot and game design than anything else, but Andy Serkis didn't get to stretch his wings in Enslaved like he did in Heavenly Sword. 360 disc size limitations?

Platforming - This is something else that could have used another couple weeks to work the rest of the kinks out. I had on quite a few occasions problems jumping where it seemed like the game wasn't recognizing that I was, in fact, on a ledge trying to jump. The game won't let you fall to your death so you basically just sit at the edge of the ledge rolling rather than jumping.

Animations - They're well done, but seem to be missing the same "fluidity" of Heavenly Sword. Again, I don't know if this is from a different engine or what, but there's a noticeable difference in quality when compared to Heavenly Sword.

End of the Story - It's over?! I want to know what happens next!!!

This game was awesome. It slowed in the middle, but picked up huge at the end. It has one of my favorite stories in any game ever and definitely my favorite characters in any game ever. If you guys ever play the game I hope you find the same emotion and humanity in it as I did.

I do highly recommend this game, but I think a lot of people would not want to pay the full 60 dollar entry fee to play. For me and this game it was about supporting a developer that is attempting to move the entire video game genre to a new level of storytelling and immersion. They succeed in every way, but jumble the ball slightly in some of the platforming and graphics departments.

Here's hoping for a sequel and for the longevity of Ninja Theory! I'm a fan for life.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow review

Ever since I saw a preview for this game roughly a year and a half ago, I had been extremely excited to see the Castlevania franchise make a proper leap into the 3D realm on the newest generation of consoles. Sure, there were the N64 games and the PS2 games, but none of them were overwhelmingly praised. I've noticed that this game has also received mixed reviews, ranging from some mediocre to "one of the best games of the year." Without question, I fall into the latter category, as I had a blast with this game. It was well worth the wait.

The game has been aptly described as a mix of different popular genres. There is God of War style combat, Tomb Raider/Uncharted platforming, and Shadow of the Colossus type boss battles. While it does borrow from these games, developer MercurySteam has added enough to make the game seem like its own thing and I think that it all flows together really well. I should be able to incorporate everything else into the Like and Dislike sections, so here it goes....

LIKE

-The story. Apparently, this game is a complete reboot and has nothing to do with the timeline and events from past Castlevania games. However, you do play as Gabriel Belmont, member of the Brotherhood of Light and possibly the ancestor of the other vampire hunters in the series (Simon Belmont, Trevor Belmont, and Richter Belmont). Gabriel's wife has been mysteriously murdered, he hears about a magical device that can bring her back from the dead, so he sets out to find it and bring her back. There's a lot more going on and it's pretty engaging, but I'll just keep it at that to avoid spoilers.

-The game structure. You see a world map with 12 different chapters on it. Each chapter is divided into anywhere from 1-8 stages. After you complete each stage, it unlocks a "trial" for that stage that you can go back and play immediately for bonus XP and ultimately achievements, if you so choose. I really like this, as it adds a level of challenge and replayability to the game. Also, there are three different color gems to collect, which extend your Life bar, Light magic bar, and Shadow magic bar. There are also Brotherhood arks to find, which supply you with weapon upgrades. Sometimes you can't collect everything on your first playthrough because you won't have the skills to reach a certain point, which I why I really like the fact that you can go back to any level at any time.

-The movement. Analog controls. Slightly tip the control stick to walk, full tilt to run. Take note, Rockstar.

-The combat. What seems to be pretty standard button mashing at first soon becomes a combat system unlike anything I've played before. You can roll (and it's a much smoother roll than the God of War roll, thank goodness), block, counter, direct attacks (strong) and area attacks (weak). Then they add in the Light and Shadow magic. Activate light magic and every hit you land on an enemy will refill part of your life meter and drain your Light magic meter. This is extremely important due to the fact that this is the only way you can refill life other than finding a VERY rare healing fountain. Conversely, activate shadow magic and it boosts your attack as well as adding a few more combo choices for more damage, while draining your Shadow magic meter. You can refill your Magic meters at Orb fountains (much more common than healing fountains) or by absorbing out of the air after killing enemies. There's one final meter (the Focus meter) that fills up as long as you're landing hits on enemies and not taking any hits. When you fill the Focus meter, every hit you land puts out a TON of neutral orbs. What this all means is that you have to manage your focus meter and magic meters wisely instead of just button mashing or else you will be in a world of hurt and frustration. Got all that? It's quite deep and challenging and takes some getting used to, but very satisfying and I think it really sets the game apart from others in the genre.

-The weapons. Instead of a plain old whip, you have a Combat Cross. It's basically a stake shaped like a cross with an extending whip. You get multiple upgrades which let you stab enemies and rappel from walls. You can buy different combinations for more devastating attacks, but you honestly rarely get to use the huge combos, because you'll get hit before you can complete it. Secondary weapons include silver daggers (great for werewolves and flying enemies), holy water (for vampires), fairies (which hold enemies still so you can really pummel them good) and crystals that summon some weird-looking dragon lady that does uber damage to everyone on screen.

-Game length and difficulty. The game is quite long. I don't know exactly but I would put it at 20 hours, which is HUGE (almost unheard of) for a game like this (12.7 GB and 2 discs on the 360). It's also quite difficult in the combat. Guys gang up on you and it can be tough sometimes. You just have to make good use of your secondary weapons and magic, though, to succeed.

-The voice acting. Patrick Stewart does most of the talking through narration and he does well. He starts to ham it up towards the end, but I didn't mind. Robert Carlyle voices Gabriel and he doesn't have too many lines, but I really enjoyed him. Also, the bellows that come from Gabriel in combat are very cool.

-The graphics and multitude of settings. Holy insanely gorgeous game, Batman. You traverse all kinds of terrain in this game, from a rain-soaked village, to Pan's forest hideout, to a mucky swamp, mountain passageways, abandoned castles, not-so-abandoned castles, Frankenstein's lab, a clocktower (of course), and a desert wasteland. At one point, you even get shrunk and run around inside a music box. And everything looks astounding. At certain points, the camera will zoom out (the camera is 100% controlled by the game) to show you just how epic it all is.

-Platforming. I really enjoyed rappeling all over stuff and jumping around on the sides of mountains, fortresses, etc. The game makes it easy to figure out where to go by highlighting ledges you can climb on. Rappel points also glimmer a bright blue. I also liked the fact that instead of having to hold the control stick away from an opposite wall, the game would have you lean back automatically to let you know that there's actually something you can grab onto instead of just jumping to your death. I enjoyed these sections because they break up the combat and puzzle sections.

-Enemies and bosses. Enemies are quite varied and you never have to fight any one type for too long. Each time you enter a new area, you'll get a new set of baddies to deal with. Sometimes you'll have to ride on bigger enemies like spiders or trolls to smash obstacles, too. I really appreciate the fact that this game doesn't do that thing that many games like this do when they have a boss, and then in the next stage start throwing that boss character at you as a normal bad guy. Bosses are bosses. I love how they also refrained from having those really annoying boss fights where you have to fight 20 smaller guys at the same time as the boss. There are a few bosses where this does happen, but they don't make the smaller guys annoyingly difficult. I really like the end-boss cutscenes. They are appropriately gory and satisfying (but especially the Vampire lord death). There are some Titan battles, too, and these are sweet. Climb up on them and hit certain parts of their body to topple them. Hold the right trigger to keep from getting knocked off. Lots of fun, especially for me since I've never played Shadow of the Colossus. The third Titan battle is ESPECIALLY awesome.

-Gabriel's expressions. Every so often, you'll be in the middle of a fight and Gabriel will notice something about the environment or enemy and it will show his face with an expression like, "I know something you don't know." The best was during a boss fight where you have your whip wrapped around a guy's sword. You're having a tug of war for a few seconds, then you see that look on the hero's face as he lets go of the whip, which causes the other dude to stab himself in the face with his own sword. Sweet.

-QTEs. Unlike other games, instead of having you hit one of the 4 face buttons randomly for QTEs, this game handles them by having a big white circle shrinking into a smaller white circle. As soon as the bigger circle shrinks into the smaller circle, hit any button to nail that QTE. I much prefer this as it just cuts down on frustration. The big circle also shrinks at different speeds, so it's not a complete breeze.

-and finally.....the ENDING! After being highly disappointed with God of War III's story and ending, and Bayonetta's nonsense plot, this was a breath of fresh air. I was genuinely surprised by a few things at the end, specifically the post-credits sequence which sets up future games in the series (it's confirmed: MercurySteam is already working on a sequel, YES!). I'm having trouble interpreting what I saw but I've read a few and there is one explanation that I would really like. I'm very curious to see where they go with this. This surprise ending is the one part of the game where I felt Hideo Kojima's presence. Let's just hope they have a RATIONAL explanation for this ending instead of making things all insane and nonsensical like Metal Gear.


DISLIKE

-Honestly, I've thought about it and there wasn't really anything I disliked, but I was let down by a couple things, so here they are.

-The music is not quite as great as I had hoped. That's not to say it's bad AT ALL (it's really quite well done), but previous Castlevania games have some of the best music in the industry in my opinion and there was nothing here that REALLY blew me away.

-The clocktower stage was a little short and easy. Typically the clocktower is brutally difficult.

-The puzzles. Again, I didn't dislike them, but they were just kinda so-so. A necessary part of the game to break up the platforming and combat, though.

-The camera can cause you to run in the wrong direction occasionally. What I mean is that when the camera changes angles, you'll often have to let off the stick completely and pick a new direction instead of just shifting your direction. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I don't know how else to explain.

-During the Titans, the framerate drops slightly, but other than that, I never noticed any problem in this department.

CONCLUSION

Obviously, I really dig this game. Very satisfying from start to finish. I would probably give this my Game of the Year award at this point. It was well worth the wait and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes AWESOME SAUCE!!!!

Medal of Honor Early Impressions and the fail in the Power A

I preordered Medal of Honor a couple days ago and since I was up late playing the awesome "Enslaved: Odyssey to the West" anyways, I decided to go to the midnight release.

One cool sidenote of the PS3 version over the 360 version is the inclusion of "MoH: Frontlines" HD remake. It's 4.4gb that installs to your drive. I'm guessing the 360 didn't get it because of the disc space limitations.

After an update and then the obligatory PS3 install I got it up and running. I get to the MP side and go to the controller settings to make sure that the triggers are set how I like....with the actual triggers being triggers. Stupidly retardedly it can't be done. R1 and L1 are primary first and aim down sights. Instant frustration for me.

So I hop in to a TDM game and am using my Power A controller. For a while now I've had a sneaking suspicion that there's a decent sized "dead zone" in the sticks and MoH showed them to me instantly. Aiming would go from almost no movement to full in a VERY small space of movement. I was even more let down. I stuck it out for a few rounds and actually played quite well.

Out of curiosity I tried my old Afterglow controller and that was even worse than the Power A. After that...I did the unthinkable and for most of us on this blog...the unforgiveable. I blew the dust off of the DS, put my Grip Itz on and proceeded to play. I tore it up. For the next 2 hours I played with the DS with no cramps and surprising comfort. Since I've been using the Power A so much the "loosey goosey" sticks weren't a problem so it was all natural.

Anyways, the gameplay is basically what you've heard. Bad Company gameplay in a MW type package. The maps are far larger and more interesting that what you'll find in any CoD game because it's 12 vs 12 and not 6 vs 6 or 8 vs 8. Due to the larger player limit I was shocked at how more "warlike" the game felt. There was always something going on.

I really like the game a lot and it's very obvious that it's much less adrenaline kill everything I'm a one man army that's gonna call in a nuke type of military shooter and more a paced thoughtful shooter. Death does come easily and unfortunately the snipers are everywhere and their guns are overpowered.

I'm really looking forward to trying the other game types and giving the SP a spin. I'm sure I'll post a review in a week or so.

At least it isn't "Madden 2011: the film"...

I try not to post things directly like this, but I think it's worth it.  News and rumors of the upcoming Myst film gets me excited. The Penny Arcade guys have it right, both in opinion and humor.  Myst has some of the simplest, but also engaging stories around it, even if it gets lost in some of the gameplay. 

Myst is one of those games that changed how I not only look at games, but storytelling in general. At the end of the day Myst was just the next new point and click puzzler, but it's lasting effects are still being seen in development as the title set new standards for immersion.  The unique environments, stunning lighting, musical composition,
and character acting created an incredible world that was easy to get lost in.  It was one of the first games that I really wished that I could go explore in real life.  Needing a fix, I inadvertently deepened my desire by reading the three novels that not only flush out the story in the game(s), but also go on to define the cultural context, and it's pride-filled rapid decline, that laid the foundation of the small isolated island that became my world. 

The concept of creating worlds and and exploring other creations had me hooked, and I wasn't the only one.  Uru, the fourth game in the Myst line-up, was an attempt to bring player interaction with each other into the puzzle solving.  Received with mixed reviews, Uru was eventually shut down, but it's cult following and (eventual) open-source nature, kept it alive.  Fans were able to still interact, and have crafted their own stories and tales that revolve around the core Myst universe, even with some support from the developers after they realized what an amazing thing they had on their hands.  Hardly the sort of thing that the new Myst player should even consider getting into, but I appreciate it on that abstract level.  It seems amazing to me - a game whose story is about created worlds and the issues that surround those creations has spawned a fan base that's passionate about creating stories that rest on the foundations laid by the game.  I don't know many developers out there that hold any high regard for fan-fiction.  I've read a few fan-fiction writings out there, and it always seems like it bastardizes the original work.  I don't get that vibe with Uru though, and it seems the developers agree.  What other reason would they have to support it?


Full article and comic link here.

UN.....believable

No words can describe it.

Oblivion

There is a dual meaning to the title as that is where my PC now resides since it took it's last breath last night and now won't even move past the intial loading screen... I can't even enter the BIOS to fiddle with stuff soooooo... I'll be playing Oblivion on the 360. It was that or Dragon Age and having just finished ME2, I didn't feel like playing another story-heavy game. I can't handle two in a row.

Anyways, I'm a poor social worker so we'll see when I can fix the PC or buy a new one... I do find it amazing that a game that's several years hold can still hold my interest so much and I can't wait to go home and play some more.

Elder Scrolls FTW!

ME2, New Vegas, Fable III, Black Ops

Just finished ME2 and it was pretty darn good. 3N3MY's review was spot on. Great game but the toned-down-for-noobs RPG elements were a little annoying. I guess they were marketing for a wide market of gamers. The characters you pick up along the way are all pretty cool and really feel like the dangerous people they're supposed to be. And the game really rewards you for playing through the first one, from an achievement at the end to feeling even more attached. I played as female since I always play male in games. Just for the heck of it...

Is anybody going to be able to put Reach down to play some other great titles coming out. Since I've been attempting to budget my money better, I can't decide which games to buy new and which ones to impatiently wait until I can receive them on Goozex.

New Vegas, Fable 3, Black Ops... crap! They are all must plays for me. Fallout 3 in the desert? Heck yes... Rule the world as a king in Fable 3? Heck yes... and with a confirmed zombie mode, co-op vs. bots, designated servers, customization, contracts, no commando, no infinite sprint, ability to ban players... way to redeem IW's mistakes, Treyarch. It'll hold me over until Battlefield 3 comes out...

New Vegas or Fable 3 as a day one 360 buy? Comment below and I'll buy whatever gets the most votes...

PS - Now if only I can get my PC running smooth... :'(

BRINK

Been keeping an eye on this game and this trailer is selling me on it. I love team-based games (Battlefield) over straight up shooters (CoD, Halo) any day. Just more options since my play style can really depend on my mood. Some days I want to run and gun, others I like to lay back and defend (aka camp).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSXr_85Ctm8

"The Sacrifice"

Here's a cinematic trailer for the new L4D DLC...I dare you to not get a boner.

Nintendo 3DS

Opinions please!

I'm already more than a little burned out about hearing about how amazing this machine is. Seriously, Sony gets ripped a new one about 3D (which I am NOT supporting, but using as a reference point), but when Nintendo throws it into a handheld it's fawned over like a new kitten! It's ridiculous and another example of people giving Nintendo a lot of leeway (sp) with their products.

I've read multiple times that the system can irritate the eyes after playing for a while and looking at the 3D. True, the 3D can be turned off to make it a conventional 2D screen, but I still just don't get the draw. I really liked my DS and then my DS Lite, but I never played it because I'd much rather play on a console.

Word came out yesterday that the 3DS will be priced at 300 bucks and launch in February of 2011. I also just read on MaxConsole that the president of Nintendo said they priced it there because of the huge joygasms everyone had over it and they realized that it could be sold at a high price point.

People have been going absolutely ape-shit over this thing since E3. It feels creepily similar to when Apple released the iPhone and iPod.

Thoughts? Will you be getting one?

360 Problems

I know I've been on my high horse about the 360's lack of reliability, but as many of you know on this blog it's broken again.

My Best Buy warranty still has 5 months left on it so I'm swapping it in after work tonight. Good news is that I'll be able to get a sexy new "slim" 360, but the bad news is that it renders my currently way overprices HDD useless because it's incompatible with the new slims.

I've grown accustomed to taking apart the 360 and after doing so 5 times you learn a LOT about hardware. Surprisingly (at least to me anyways), they're not nearly as fragile as you'd think.

So tonight I'll be performing a labotamy on my old 360 HDD and transferring it the slim because the 200 dollar slim (the price of the arcade model I bought) only has 4gb of flash memory. It is confirmed that you can't even play Reach COOP without a drive and not even a thumb flash drive will do the trick.

Looking up some videos the process should actually be fairly simple and luckily doesn't call for me to break open the slim in any way. My problem is that I looked up my error code, E68, and this is what I found:

"E68: Hard Drive Error - Hard drive not DMA configured: It could be a problem with the Hard Drive itself or a problem with the internal connection to the hard drive, Try removing the hard drive and playing without it. Also this can be caused by a problem with the fans that make them draw too much power, it can also be caused if you have unnecessary accessories attached to the console like an external fan unit. Attempt to remove unnecessary accessories first, and then necessary components such as the hard drive and USB devices. If you have any case mods you may want to investigate those as well."

As you can see I may still be boned if this is strictly a HDD problem because putting it into a new box won't fix a damn thing. So I guess I'm saying....."wish me luck" because my heart can't bear much more and if nothing else one of you guys could be the owner of an incredibly lightly used Slim 360 for next to nothing!

At It Again...

Every time this guy opens his mouth, it kind of shocks me that a grown, mature adult who is head of a very large company will say the things he does. From bashing Valve to IW to EA to pretty much everybody not Activision... Interesting read.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6279735.html?tag=latestheadlines%3Btitle%3B2

Eurogamer Expo

http://expo.eurogamer.net/whats-on.php

hey guys, off to this show next weekend, let me know of any games you'd like me to play and offer any insight on it, some quality titles on show as u can see. almost too many to play all in 1 day but i'll try.

The Inevitable "HALO: Reach" Impressions Post

Post them here.

Controls are tighter than they've ever been.

Really glad dual wield is gone.

All gun revamps are awesome! Especially the sniper. DMR is my bitch lover.

SWAT finally plays as it should....with no Elites.

Assassinations are fun and stealing an assassination from a teammate, "Yoink!", is hilarious!

Slayer Pro is a good time, but the jury is still out for me on straight up Team Deathmatch with full armor and armor abilities.

Graphics are much improved!

Finally got us all playing the same game again!