InstantKlassick's GameSpot Friend's Reviews InstantKlassick's GameSpot Friend's Reviews InstantKlassick's GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:27:36 -0700 GameSpot InstantKlassick's GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Tue, 18 Jun 2013 09:13:23 -0700 VictorReviews reviewed Let's Catch for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/lets-catch/user-reviews/812566/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Let's Catch attempts to be a unique experience. At a glance, the game is nothing more than a catching simulator, but the truth is it has its own charm, with funny moments and a heartwarming story. Still, considering the steep price (at least for a Wiiware game) is this enough to warrant a buy or are you better off buying a game with a more interesting premise? Keep reading to find out!

Gameplay:

The controls in Let's Catch are really simple. To grab the ball you press A+B and to throw it you waggle the Wii Remote. While it does take some time to get used to the game's timing, once you do, it is as easy as playing catch in real life.

The game has 6 different modes, almost all very similar. They are Story, Speed Catch, Nine Trial, Bomber Catch, High Score, and Free Play.

In Story, you play catch with other characters as they tell you about their lives.

In Speed Catch, you catch balls as they get faster and faster until you lose.

Nine Trial is about throwing balls at nine panels. The first player to hit all the panels wins. This is a precision game. This can be played with up to four different players.

Bomber Catch is a form of hot potato. Basically, players throw a bomb around until it explodes on someone. Up to four players can join in this one.

In High Score, you play catch until you lose. Your score is then recorded depending on how well you caught and threw. You can play with the AI or with another player.

Finally, Free Play is what it sounds like: just playing catch for as long as you want. It can be played solo or with another player.

All the modes felt great except for Nine Trial, because it is difficult to aim the ball and at times the way you aim seems random.

My only other complaint is that in story mode, it is a little difficult to read what the other player says while you play catch. Still, it's not that bothersome once you get used to it.

Overall, the gameplay is solid and well executed. The game plays as simply as it should.

8/10

Presentation:

This game achieves a relaxing atmosphere. The graphics are okay, and while there's not much scenery, it is understandable due to storage limitations.

The characters look cartoon-ish and mii-like, so your mii fits really well in the game's environment.

The music is really soothing and relaxing for the most part. Surprisingly, the music doesn't get annoying despite the fact that it's very limited. On the contrary, it fits really well.

Overall, this game has a good presentation, even when it is very limited.

8/10

Story:

The Story mode has you playing catch with many characters and listening about their lives and their problems. With your help, these characters will be able to reflect on their lives and make decisions.

The story was a very heartwarming experience. While it is not going to win a prize, it will entertain players, with both funny and serious moments.

7/10

Replay Value:

The different game modes make for a good replay value, especially since the game has multiplayer.

While the main story only takes around three hours to complete, the rest of the game should keep you entertained for a while, since you can always beat your high score or simply relax in Free Play.

7/10

Fun:

This game was fun most of the time. While sometimes it can be frustrating, especially in Nine Trial, the game's charm simply appealed to my senses so much that it became a very fun and relaxing experience.

People looking for something to do after a stressful day might enjoy this game a lot.

9/10

Overall:

While some may argue that this game lacks enough content to guarantee a purchase, it is still an interesting addition to the Wiiware service. People who are willing to pay what it costs will most likely be pleasantly surprised with the game, despite its lack of content.

8.1/10

Get the full article at GameSpot

"VictorReviews reviewed Let's Catch for the Wii..." was posted by VictorReviews on Tue, 18 Jun 2013 09:13:23 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/lets-catch/user-reviews/812566/platform/wii/ Tue, 18 Jun 2013 09:10:54 -0700 gamespot2DBOne reviewed Injustice: Gods Among Us for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/injustice-gods-among-us/user-reviews/812565/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

first i like this game still do,,from the dissapointing demo i was handed,,seems like it was a great game afterall,but some fair shair of fault,,just my opinion;p;)



i wish the char played better on screen,,the fighting that is,,it is still good and i love it;),,plays very much like the hit mortal kombat 9,,in many ways,,at the same time plays in a more variety way than mk9 i think,,for better or for worse,,for me,,for the better,,but since how u controll the char on screen (that i think could have been better) could have used some more works it doesnt manage to beat Mk,,



the whole idea of this game is pulled of quite nicely,,and i really enjoyed the campaign or if u will the story mode,,the whole story mode was enjoyable good time,,and great,,at the same time i felt the story was kinda awful but i did enjoy it,,parts of the story mode where great and a fun,,ride for the hours it lasted or hour,1,,others where boring,uninteresting and sometimes pretty zzz,,but overall good but could have been better i think,,

story 7 / 10

battles are regular here or standard,,there are only 10 fights in rgular battles,,the boss u fight in this game is superman,,only 10 fights is kind of a letdown,,and that superman is the boss is somewhat a letdown,,

ai is good or stable i think;),,i like the choice play on easy etc;),,


to few char and arenas for me personally;),,but it looks like there wil lbe more dlc so the game manages to stay safe,,and work for me when more char added,,if not these dlc was added,,the game would have been left shallow and disapointing for me,,


unlocks and extras are good but could be better,there are more unlocks,,that other meats of this package i was hoping for,,

these dc char,,all of them arent super itneresting,,they workd but not all of them are superinteresting,,

special moves are good but could have been dealth with better,,


the joker's funny fist special move and batman smoke cpascule espace,,are now long gone,,this is a dissapointment for me but i guess it makes up for it with other things,,

u will meet a similar and familiar joker this time around,,but dont get hopes too high up he plays much like how he played in mk vs dcu,,cuz he do not;p,,still fun too use him though;)


tutorial mode and practise modes are great,,i want more meat to come to the injustice package overall,,its just isnt enough for me,,still great game and good fun time though;),but still a little shallow and dissapointing,,


injustice takes a somewhat quite diff ride than mk vc dcu and mk,,for better and for worse,,for me,,both;),,

online is good,,spamspam;),,king of the hill is back exelent,,not the same without avatar though,,no no,,but i guess it makes up for it when u can guess who wins eehh,,i quite dont know;),,

all in all are overall,,injustice is a killer of a game it works very well ,,its still a good game and somewhat familiar to mk9,,but dont expect it plays to much like mk9,,cuz injustice has take a somewaht another route A , B,,Ride,,

minigames are very well done,,and challange towe,,look alike are well done,,moslty boring but can stil lbe good and fun,,clash system works great its the same as necks and bones break that one found in mk9,,yes;)

options menu are a dissapointment;p



gameplay,the fighting ; B

storymode ; B minus,,felt a little cheap,,but still good;)

graphics ; negative A,,A minus

extras and unlocks ; B minus ,,soemwhat boring

online ; ,,B+

dlc,,buy things ; A+

sounds ; A minus





all in all there arent enough meat i nthis package for me,,and not enough stages etc and char,,no opening movie,and so on and so on,,ending are great;),not enough meat,,not the right meat of this package i wanted but stil good;),,the right content iwanted,,its good content but i was expecting much more,,oh well,but stil la great time,,fun,,enjoyable,,nice ride;),,

but unfortunaly fails to beat mk9,,it is actually weaker but not by much,,but it is a little weaker,,it is a shame since there are or still is potentialt to do something more here;)

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/injustice-gods-among-us/user-reviews/812565/platform/xbox360/ Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:48:38 -0700 Spinnerweb reviewed Dead to Rights II for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/dead-to-rights-ii/user-reviews/812560/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

You would expect snobbish people who always look at everything down the length of their nose to dislike a simple game like Dead to Rights II, and many of them did. Their reasons for dislike happen to be, "There's no minigames, no place where you have to use your mind, such a linear game, just mindless action." Exactly. There's nothing you're supposed to do in Dead to Rights II except shoot everybody. And boy, is it fun for the non-snooty.

The first thing gamers who played the first game will notice is that the graphics have been hugely improved. The visuals in this game are brilliant - slightly cartoonish, and the slow-motion blur effects while shootdodging are brilliant. This game really does it in the graphics department. There are no obvious graphical glitches to speak of.

The gameplay itself is even closer to Max Payne than the previous game. Shootdodging now is very seamless, while in the previous game it could only be done in four directions because it had only four animations. You won't be shootdodging as much as you will in Max Payne though, since your adrenaline runs out quickly - it's best saved for diving through and quickly killing a crowd of enemies. One small thing I really enjoyed about gun combat was tapping the X button to fire quickly with dual pistols. There was something very unexplainably enjoyable about that. Many games have that, but something in this game - the excellent gun sound effects, perhaps, makes it special. The music is brilliant too. I especially enjoyed the music in the cowboy bikers' area and in the graveyard.

In some levels, you lose your weapons and have to do with your fists. Melee combat is all right, but it's somewhat less enjoyable than gun combat. It can sometimes get tedious, but it isn't frustrating.

Like in the previous game, Jack Slate, the protagonist, can summon his dog Shadow to kill a baddie or two, but there's no separate HUD bar that fills for your dog - he uses the adrenaline bar. Shadow can also retrieve dead baddies' weapons for you, something that really comes in handy when you're low on health and out of ammo.

There are disarms and human shields in this game too, but there's a limit to them. There are two green HUD points beneath your Adrenaline meter; they turn red when you disarm a bad guy or use him as a human shields. Kill more bad guys to turn them green and disarm again.

You might be wondering why I left the story for last. Truth be told, story isn't the focus here. It's a good enough story, but it's a pretty cliche one, so while I won't post spoilers I doubt you can really spoil a game with so simple a story. It works as it is, though. There are many tributes and homages, usually in Jack's one-liners, to action movies like Commando.

So in short, Dead to Rights II is awesome. It's nothing but fast paced shooting action at its finest. The gameplay is so outstanding, the graphics so good and the music so excellent that all but the arrogant gamer would like it, or at least for the harsh, not dislike it. The extreme difficulty may put some people off, but for the patient and the hardcore, it's a very, very enjoyable game.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Spinnerweb reviewed Dead to Rights II for the PlayStation 2..." was posted by Spinnerweb on Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:48:38 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/dead-to-rights-ii/user-reviews/812560/platform/ps2/ Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:48:35 -0700 Spinnerweb reviewed Dead to Rights II for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/dead-to-rights-ii/user-reviews/812559/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

You would expect snobbish people who always look at everything down the length of their nose to dislike a simple game like Dead to Rights II, and many of them did. Their reasons for dislike happen to be, "There's no minigames, no place where you have to use your mind, such a linear game, just mindless action." Exactly. There's nothing you're supposed to do in Dead to Rights II except shoot everybody. And boy, is it fun for the non-snooty.

The first thing gamers who played the first game will notice is that the graphics have been hugely improved. The visuals in this game are brilliant - slightly cartoonish, and the slow-motion blur effects while shootdodging are brilliant. This game really does it in the graphics department. There are no obvious graphical glitches to speak of.

The gameplay itself is even closer to Max Payne than the previous game. Shootdodging now is very seamless, while in the previous game it could only be done in four directions because it had only four animations. You won't be shootdodging as much as you will in Max Payne though, since your adrenaline runs out quickly - it's best saved for diving through and quickly killing a crowd of enemies. One small thing I really enjoyed about gun combat was tapping the X button to fire quickly with dual pistols. There was something very unexplainably enjoyable about that. Many games have that, but something in this game - the excellent gun sound effects, perhaps, makes it special. The music is brilliant too. I especially enjoyed the music in the cowboy bikers' area and in the graveyard.

In some levels, you lose your weapons and have to do with your fists. Melee combat is all right, but it's somewhat less enjoyable than gun combat. It can sometimes get tedious, but it isn't frustrating.

Like in the previous game, Jack Slate, the protagonist, can summon his dog Shadow to kill a baddie or two, but there's no separate HUD bar that fills for your dog - he uses the adrenaline bar. Shadow can also retrieve dead baddies' weapons for you, something that really comes in handy when you're low on health and out of ammo.

There are disarms and human shields in this game too, but there's a limit to them. There are two green HUD points beneath your Adrenaline meter; they turn red when you disarm a bad guy or use him as a human shields. Kill more bad guys to turn them green and disarm again.

You might be wondering why I left the story for last. Truth be told, story isn't the focus here. It's a good enough story, but it's a pretty cliche one, so while I won't post spoilers I doubt you can really spoil a game with so simple a story. It works as it is, though. There are many tributes and homages, usually in Jack's one-liners, to action movies like Commando.

The only reason I gave the PC version a lesser score than the PS2 version were the controls. The game works better with a controller, so if you want to enjoy it as much as on a console a gamepad is a good option.

So in short, Dead to Rights II is awesome. It's nothing but fast paced shooting action at its finest. The gameplay is so outstanding, the graphics so good and the music so excellent that all but the arrogant gamer would like it, or at least for the harsh, not dislike it. The extreme difficulty may put some people off, but for the patient and the hardcore, it's a very, very enjoyable game.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Spinnerweb reviewed Dead to Rights II for the PC..." was posted by Spinnerweb on Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:48:35 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/dead-to-rights-ii/user-reviews/812559/platform/pc/ Tue, 18 Jun 2013 05:27:59 -0700 Shacks210 reviewed The Last of Us for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-of-us/user-reviews/812557/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 10.0!!!

You can honestly say a game pulls you into its world when you walk away emotionally drained. That is what The Last of Us does, it pulls you in and doesn't let go until the credits roll. You will not want to put the controller down. It shows that sometimes the right thing to do won't be what keeps you a live. It is about survival, hope, endurance and commitment. However, Last of Us is not without a few issues that can sometimes take your right out of the experience.

The Last of Us is Naughty Dog's spin on the apocalypse with zombie-esque infected people and even worse, humans willing to do anything and everything to get what they want and need in order to survive. The infection is fungal that grows on the brain. If you breathe in the spores, get bitten or scratched by a person infected, you become infected as well. The outbreak and cause are never really clear, but in The Last of Us it is not at all the concern. The game is not about exploring the reason that it happened, it is about the days after everything goes bad. Humanity did what is basically expected to happen in an outbreak this day in age, which is come together in military cities were survivors deal in ration tickets. We are introduced to Joel, who at one time lead a pretty normal life with his daughter and brother until the outbreak happened. Then twenty years later Joel is a different man, he is a survivor. The whole apocalypse over the years has taken a toll on him. We also meet Tess, who is Joel's feisty partner. It is unclear what they do for a living, but after seeking out someone who screwed them over leads to them being in charge of a young girl named Ellie. They take on the task of transporting Ellie to the Fireflies, a militia group that wants to establish order in the ways that the world use to be.

Naughty Dog has a legacy of pushing the PlayStation 3's hardware further than anyone else can. It has shown over the years with the Uncharted series. They have proven they can do more with a game than just about anyone else. They are able to do it once again here; being one of the main reasons it is hard to stop playing The Last of Us is the look and feel of the game. No matter how isolated, dark and dank the environment is, it always feeling alive and real. This also helps with trying to make every kill worth it and carry weight when it happens.

The main obstacle in The Last of Us is survival. It is what matters most when going through the world that is laid out in front of you. Sure after a while the body count on the game starts to get pretty high and starts to feel like a standard shooter, but the game is long and not easy. The Last of Us is not about killing everyone in the area; it is about getting out alive and preferably unnoticed. When you take a life, it is because there really is no other choice. That is how the game was developed. So that way Joel is not looked at as just a mass murderer and so that there is a line between Joel and the hunters out in the world that will kill you just because. It is a thin line to say the least, but it is there and like stated before, the body count does add up a lot by the end.

When combat is inevitable, this game is brutal and when you first start it can be hard. The more powerful infected have one hit kills that you can not counter until later in the game. There is also the whole pesky thing of being shot. Not only can one bullet take half your life, but sometime it will knock Joel back, even knock him to the ground at times which leaves him wide open for other shots to be taken or hits to come in from closer melee enemies. This can get annoying, but feels real enough that it is hard to argue it being a function in the game. Also your health does not regenerate at all. You have to heal yourself with med kits either found in the world or that you create using scraps of things you find in the world while searching around. Also every time you create a med kit or use one. It is done in real-time, the same goes for anything done with Joel rooting around in his backpack. This adds tension to the already intense game, more so when it is in the middle of a fight. Everything that you use in the game can be made by crafting, but just like med kits it takes time and items found to do so. Although also like med kits you can sometimes find things as a whole lying around. You will be able to unlock things to make throughout the game, such as Molotov cocktails, smoke bombs and more. You also pick up pieces here and there that can be used to upgrade weapons that you use in the game. However you can not upgrade weapons right out of the backpack, you need a work bench and those come few and far between.

The Last of Us does give gamers a break though, somewhat when Joel needs to know what he is dealing with in an area. You can have him crouch down and he listens using the L2 button and everything turns to a grey and people or infected in the area will have a white outline to them. There is nothing special here or any kind of supernatural power that he has, it is just him using his twenty years of survival experience. It makes knowing where everyone is and the routes so much easier so you can plan your strategy and escape. If an enemy hasn't made a sound that Joel has heard, then they will not show up in this listening feature. One of the things you can have in your inventory is a brick or a bottle, this is good in a situation when you know someone is near by, but can't see them. Throw the brick/bottle to not only draw their attention, but to be able to see them and track what they do. The bricks and bottles you pick up can be used for offence as well. I had a situation of walking into a shed with a clicker and it started to get all riled up, so I threw my brick at his face, ran up and melee killed him. The gun-play can lead so similar scenarios too. I used a bow on a guy to take him out quietly, unfortunately someone was near him saw him go down. I quickly went into listen mode and noticed a bad guy right next to me on the other side of the wall. As soon as I listened he came walking around so I instantly grabbed him and stabbed him with my shiv. The combat does a god job keeping you on your toes in situations that you have to fight.

Be it sneaking around or in full on combat you always have plenty of cover to use. This tends to make it easy to predict the next gun fight in the game though, like so many other games have done. When you walk into a room and see things in place that you know you can hide behind, you can bet that you will be hiding or fighting in that area sooner or later. This is one of those situations that helps you remember you are playing a game. This is a flaw in many game, mostly shooters seeing they have all the cover. I don't know how this can be fixed, but it is something that needs to be fixed. Until then, try not thinking about it when you see two cars lined up together.

It is also in the combat situations that the AI of Ellie, Tess or whoever is with you is horribly annoying and can really rip you out of the game. It is in these situations that the game is really glaring with problems that games for some reason still have not been able to over come. It is bad enough that when Ellie is following you, she is always right behind you. This makes it difficult to get around in small places, because you constantly run into her and can't move. Then there is situation when in a fight you will be running to cover and she will go to that exact spot leaving Joel to stand (or if crouch if already crouched) in the open vulnerable to being shot. This is something that happens in games too often.

The thing about The Last of Us doing this that is really irritating and annoying is that your companions are ignored by the enemies constantly. Maybe Naught Dog did this so you didn't have to worry about failing because of the stupid AI getting killed, I can respect that, but when Ellie literally runs into a bad guy and then around him to get behind cover on the other side of the room, it takes me right out of the game completely. On top of that it makes her needing cover useless which then makes her taking cover where I am about to take cover that much more infuriating. This is the one thing about the game I really hate and it wouldn't be so bad if you didn't find yourself in these situations so often. Again, you might not kill loads of people in an area, but the game is long and these situations add up after a while.

Ellie isn't just another character in the game, she is a central point to the plot and when she isn't stealing the cover or running right into baddies, she is joining the fight and can be very helpful in dire situations. Outside of constantly being right behind you, she is never annoying and a pretty fun character for her being a child. She is fourteen years old, loves comicbooks and knows nothing about the world before the infection. Her ignorance shows through to her innocence. It makes many of her reactions to things a bright spot in a dead world. Although the environment is full of brightness, so often the games graphics shows the world as still being bright and beautiful as planet life has consumed the majority of everything.

The Last of Us comes across as more of a survival horror game than anything else. Yes it is mainly about survival, but when you enter a building, go into the listen mode and see four or five clickers and/or runner on the floor above you, you will get scared and wish you could go back out the way you came in. It is easy to find yourself hording everything that you find and make, although later in the game things get easier to make so you can say, use your shivs more often. Also by the time you get close to the end you have a good amount of weapons at your disposal, even if you might have a few bullets for each you will hardly have to worry about running out.

The reason The Last of Us is so emotionally draining is because the characters are so emotional. Everything they go through, you feel it yourself. The acting in this game is beyond words, and it isn't just the acting that makes scenes so great. It is also the motion capturing of the characters. Whatever it is they are thinking or saying you see it in the expressions on their face and in their eyes, making every reaction and conversation more realistic. This is once more something that pulls you into the game and makes you not want to put the controller down.

Naughty Dog has been successful with making the Uncharted series a great series a long with having a decent multiplayer to go along with it. They pretty much do the same thing here as there is a multiplayer in The Last of Us. There isn't much two it, you join either the hunters side or the Firefly side and you can play one of two different match options at a time. Now I have no played much of the multiplayer, so there is little I can say about it. The two types of game play is Supply Raid, which is more of a respawn game and not that much fun as everyone seems to just run around and not care. There is also Survivors, which is more of a tactical based game play were once you dies you wait and to win you have to takeout everyone on the other team or have more people alive on your team when the time runs out. This mode is the more fun for those that like teamwork and communication with their multiplayer shooters, like I do. I was having no problem with my team winning every time when I was playing with the one group because, we all stuck together and played as a team. There is a lot more depth to the multiplayer; unfortunately I have not had the time to really sink my teeth into it. For what I have tried it is not too bad for a multiplayer; however I will say it was unnecessary to have in the game.

The Last of Us takes experiencing video games to a new level. Naughty Dog has out done themselves once again and also they raised the bar for gaming development like they have done in the past. The story, the characters, the environment and the action works together perfectly and mostly is all timed out just right. There are a few issues with the game, but it is not at all enough to over look everything this game does right and very well. It is as if the Uncharted series was all just practice for this one title. The Last of Us is surely the best game this generation has to offer.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Shacks210 reviewed The Last of Us for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by Shacks210 on Tue, 18 Jun 2013 05:27:59 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-of-us/user-reviews/812557/platform/ps3/ Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:00:40 -0700 mahan-k reviewed The Last of Us for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-of-us/user-reviews/812525/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

The Last of Us was easily one of the most anticipated game of this year by a lot of people. According to the gameplay demos, the game looked realistic, dark, challenging, and brutal. In terms of production values, it looked even better than Uncharted. Therefore, as a fan of Naughty Dog, buying this game was a no-brainer for me. The question is whether this game lived up to the hype. The answer is both yes and no. In terms of story, characters, atmosphere, music, and visuals, the game has pretty much no flaws. However, the gameplay has a few problems that could potentially hinder the experience for some gamers.
------------------------------------------------------
Gameplay:

The gameplay is divided into three main portions: stealth, gunplay, and exploration. While the gunplay and exploration portions of the game are well executed, the stealth mechanics are very bare bones. You can either ignore the enemies and sneak by them, or walk up to them from behind, grab them by pressing triangle, and either strangle them or use a weapon called shiv to stab them in the neck. You also have two types of objects that you can throw in order to distract your enemies: bricks and bottles. The only other thing that really adds to the stealth mechanics of the game is the fact that you can craft a bomb that can be used as a trap, and it will blow your enemies to pieces once they step on it. That's pretty much it when it comes to the core mechanics of the stealth gameplay. Unfortunately, it's very limited, especially in a game that promotes realism in almost every single aspect. If you were able to have more interaction with your environment, craft a few more traps, or use different types of takedowns, the stealth portions of the game could have been a lot better.

Another issue is the inconsistent AI of the human enemies. There were times where a guard would be looking right at my AI partner without noticing her presence, or times where I would be crouching behind a bed and a guard would walk past me without seeing me. These AI problems take you out of the experience and make the game very easy at times. Thankfully, the same issue doesn't apply when you have to sneak by infected enemies. The infected enemies are smart, and they also react to sound. Therefore, you really have to be cautious and try not to make noises. These sections always add tension to the game.

There's nothing else to really add when it comes to the stealth elements of the game. As mentioned before, it's very simple and bare bones. However, the other two portions, the gunplay and exploration, are extremely fun.

The shooting mechanics are simple, yet satisfying. The satisfaction that comes with the shooting mechanics is a result of the variety of weapons that you find throughout the game (eight weapons I believe), and also the fact that you can upgrade the stats of your weapons, making them very powerful and fun to use.

The shooting controls are fairly standard: you hold the L1 button to aim, and press the R1 button to shoot. Nothing complex, but this type of control scheme always serves the purpose in third person shooters and action/adventure games.

Exploration is also an important aspect of the gameplay. The good thing is that you can enter almost every building in the game, and you will never face an empty room, and you will never find useless items. All the items you find such as parts and tools, supplements, and ingredients can be used for either upgrading your weapons and your character, or crafting items. Therefore, it's always satisfying and rewarding to explore. It also needs to be mentioned that you can find notes left behind by people if you search the optional areas in the game, and these notes can sometimes reveal little side stories about the people who got killed, or about how the infection started.

There are other gameplay elements that play an important role in the game, such as the crafting and the upgrading system. You can craft certain items by finding the required ingredients, and you can upgrade your character stats by finding supplements. These are all welcomed additions, and they do help to make the game more realistic. However, you will know how to craft every single item halfway through the game, and a few of the character stats are not that important. For example, you can upgrade the "crafting speed", and this upgrade exists only because in order to craft items, you need to hold down the X button. Once you hold it down, it takes a few seconds to craft the highlighted item, and by a few seconds, I mean less than five. My point is that if it only takes four seconds to craft an item (which is pretty fast), why would you want to upgrade that stat again? It seems pointless and it makes the game easy, removing the tension of crafting items in the middle of a fight.

This is pretty much all I have to say about the gameplay. There are a few other minor elements implemented such as riding horses, using a stationary sniper rifle to take down enemies and covering your AI partners, playing as a different character (Ellie), engaging in optional conversations, and a few easy and repetitive puzzles.

Conclusion (Gameplay):
Overall, the gameplay of The Last of Us can be very fun and satisfying, especially when you engage in gun fights and when you are exploring. However, the inconsistent human AI during the stealth portions of the game, a limited crafting and upgrade system, and very bare bones stealth mechanics with no innovation whatsoever, are detriments to the game. There was potential for more complexity and a more diverse experience in terms of gameplay, but to me, that potential was a wasted.
------------------------------------------------------
Story:

In first glance, the idea behind the story seems very generic, and to be honest, it is to a certain extent. However, there is one thing that separates the story of Last of Us from other games/movies that attempt to tackle the same idea: in The Last of Us, rather than focusing on the cause of the infection, the focus is on the relationship between the characters and the hardships they go through in order to survive. This makes the game more emotional, and the gamers will become instantly attached to the characters.

Another factor that contributes to the story is how realistic the dialogue is. You can see yourself having conversations like the ones the characters are having in the game if you were in their position. By engaging in the optional conversations, you realize how much attention the game developers paid to details, and how much effort they put into making the characters believable. For example, you can engage in a conversation about ice cream trucks with Ellie, or you can watch her play darts with a friend of hers. These are all optional conversations/events, but they inject a significant amount of human emotion and realism into the story.

The main plot, as mentioned before, isn't anything revolutionary. The game puts you in the shoes of Joel, played by Troy Baker (voice actor of Booker DeWitt from Bioshock: Infinite). After the powerful intro, you are thrown into a post-apocalyptic world, and in the beginning of the game you are introduced to the Fireflies (the rebel group I believe), the quarantine zones, and the infection (throughout the game, you can learn more about these story elements by exploring and finding notes).

Without spoiling anything I will try to sum up the story: Joel decides to run an errand for a certain character from the Fireflies, and in return, that character promises to give him weapons. As a result of accepting this deal, he runs into the best character in the game, Ellie. The whole game is about the journey that Joel and Ellie go through, and the main objective never changes. This allows the writers to focus on the relationship between Ellie and Joel, and gives them space to make this post-apocalyptic world come to life.

The only minor issue I had with the story was the ending. It felt a little bit abrupt, but I guess that was the point. Or maybe I'm spoiled by the fantastic ending of Bioshock: Infinite. All in all, the ending wasn't bad by any means, it was just a little bit underwhelming.

Conclusion (Story):
The simple premise in the beginning of the game turns into an emotional, dark, brutal, honest, and heart-wrenching journey. It gives you goosebumps, makes you tear up, smile, cheer, and scream. It is a tale about human beings, and a realistic take on how they would react if they had to live in a world where something as simple as having a BBQ party was a rarity, and it shows us that we shouldn't take things for granted, for one day, all the things that we have but are too blind to see, can be taken away from us in the blink of an eye.
------------------------------------------------------
Visuals/atmosphere:

This is, without a doubt, the strongest aspect of the game. Everything about the graphics, from the face animations to the environmental design, is flawless. The attention to detail is also mindblowing. There's not one room in the game where the developers failed to pay attention to. All the rooms are filled with objects with high quality textures. The buildings look detailed and realistic, all the visual effects are spot on, and the game is simply gorgeous to look at. It's one of those games where you just want to stand in one spot, pan the camera around, and look at your surroundings.

All this attention to details adds to the realism of the game in general, and makes the atmosphere even more engrossing. It's ironic that in a game with a dark and brutal story, there are still times where you can look around and enjoy the true beauty of nature. Maybe that was intentional; maybe the game developers chose the green color scheme instead of grey when designing the outside world to show the gamers that even in the harshest situations, there can still be hope, and there's still time to appreciate beautiful things, no matter how small and insignificant.
------------------------------------------------------
Sound and music:

Not much to say here, other than the fact that all the sound effects are pitch perfect, the voice acting is absolutely amazing (it's one of the main reasons that the characters are so likable and realistic), and the music, while relaxing and mellow for the most parts, is eerie and effective, picks up at the right time, and perfectly matches what's going on in the game.

The developers did a fantastic job in this department.
------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion:
The Last of Us is an exceptional experience from beginning to end; however, it is hindered by a few gameplay setbacks. Inconsistent AI in the stealth portions of the game, the simplistic stealth mechanics, limited crafting system, and pointless stats upgrades prevent the game from getting a higher score. That doesn't mean the game isn't worth playing. In fact, it is a game that every PS3 owner should have in their collection. Is it a perfect game? Absolutely not. Nevertheless, it is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise tired genre; it tells an emotional tale about love, loss, survival, the brutality of the world, and the darkest sides of human nature. But it also tells us that even in a world like that, there can still be hope and happiness, and that human beings are still capable of doing good deeds, even on the verge of insanity.

Overall score:
8/10

Get the full article at GameSpot

"mahan-k reviewed The Last of Us for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by mahan-k on Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:00:40 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-of-us/user-reviews/812525/platform/ps3/ Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:57:17 -0700 Demonjoe93 reviewed Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/demons-souls/user-reviews/812520/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

In today's generation of gaming, it is not uncommon to see people complaining about how easy many video games are now compared to ten or twenty years ago. And it is true: video games are easier now than they used to be. That's just a generalization though; there are plenty of challenging games in this generation. And Demon's Souls is one of them.

Game play: 6. The basic concept of Demon's Souls is exactly what you would expect out of your typical role-playing game, but that's not what makes Demon's Souls so unique. What makes it so unique is the fact that it's always online. You can call people up to help you figure something out; other players can come into your world and kill you; and you can play cooperatively with friends. You can also leave hints for other people to read.
Another interesting factor in Demon's Souls is the soul mode. After you are killed, you are then a soul, and lose about half of your original health. Other than these two things, Demon's Souls plays like your typical role playing game.

The controls are pretty good. Button layout is what you would expect. The combat is really good as well.

As interesting as the concept of always being online is, it is not without its flaws. The only flaw or annoyance about it that you cannot fix by simply signing off your PSN is not being able to pause the game. I know the game is designed to be online always, but not being able pause literally ever is extremely inconvenient. If you need to remember why it's important to be able to pause your game, then Demon's Souls will remind you about what a pain in the ass it is to not be able to pause; especially when you're fighting a boss. That's not to say that it's bad that you access your equipment and everything during game play; I do not mind that at all. But being able to hit the PS button or something and pause the game if I have to go to the bathroom or something like that would have been nice.

Another flaw in Demon's Souls's game play is that sometimes when it is trying to give you a challenging experience, it often will cross the line from challenging to just plain cheap. The main issue being soul mode. Taking away half my health is really just cheap. It does not make the game any better; it's just frustrating. The game would have been plenty hard without it.

Demon's Souls can be a very fun game because of its vigorous challenge, but due to its periodic cheapness, that fun is interrupted in those moments of frustration.

Presentation: 7. The graphics are pretty good. They're not outstanding, but they get the job done. The environments have plenty of details and atmosphere. Sometimes the graphics might look dated, but you'll be too busy fighting to really notice them.

The sound is fine as well. Much of the game does not use a soundtrack, but the boss fights will and they use a pretty good soundtrack. The sound effects are adequate.

For a role-playing game, Demon's Souls has a pretty thin story. It's nothing particularly interesting or deep. Basically a monster from below the earth is taking over, and it's up to you to stop it.

Value: 10. Demon's Souls is a very lengthy game; not because of its content per say, but its challenge. It's challenge extends the value of the game well beyond 40 hours of game play. I put about 44 into it and I barley got half way through (I was not very good though).

PROS
Challenging
Great boss fights
Great online play
CONS
Sometimes goes from challenging to cheap
You cannot pause ever

Demon's Souls is not the kind of game I would recommend to someone who does not like challenging games. This is a very hard game that I would only recommend to those who like the challenge and those who are very good at role-playing games. Casual patrons of the genre should be cautious about buying this game. Demon's Souls is a solid game that while it may have some flaws, is still a good game that is worth playing, if you can handle it.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Demonjoe93 reviewed Demon's Souls for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by Demonjoe93 on Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:57:17 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/demons-souls/user-reviews/812520/platform/ps3/ Mon, 17 Jun 2013 08:23:17 -0700 Uesugi-dono reviewed The Last of Us for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-of-us/user-reviews/812518/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

The tension is palpable. Four of us are huddled, hiding from three armed hunters who are inbound to search our area. Something goes wrong and they'll call that armored humvee back down on us. I move forward with a determination that gives me an aura of bravery; my real motivation are my companions though. Not only do I have Ellie to look out for but our new companion, Sam, also has Henry, a boy near Ellie's age. I don't have much to work with: no arrows, a handful of bullets but I don't want to risk gunfire and call that .50 cal back down on us. Hunter number one is easy; I blindside him with a punch and then choke him out... it takes time. The others are near my companion. In a bigger hurry I hurl a brick at Hunter 2 and then shiv him in the carotid, but I've been careless. Hunter 3 grabs me in a chokehold. He's got me dead-to-rights, no doubt about that, but I've got a wildcard: Ellie climbs up his back and wraps her arms around his neck. He released me and I turn the full fury of a lead pipe on him till he's still.



Endure and Survive.



- Such is life in The Last of Us. You survive from moment to moment, encounter to encounter. I am playing on Hard at @katzenbalger 's suggestion and I think it's a good idea. Trying to figure out how to get through a flooded basement filled with infected and carrying only 7 shotgun shells and a brick is surely a challenge, especially when you need to start a loud-ass gas generator to get out of the area! But make no mistake: at least the infected don't shoot at you.



- What's left of humanity is, by far, more dangerous than the various degrees of the infected. The latter are predictable: Runners run, Stalkers wait, Clickers, well, click but are also relatively easy to sneak by. Hunters, on the other hand, patrol, investigate and, if you're spotted, flank your position. I nearly screamed out loud in one situation where I thought the floor below me was clear so when a Hunter seized me from behind while I engaged a bottleneck of enemies I nearly pooped my pants. Needless to say this action led to my hasty demise. And demise is certainly at hand in nearly every situation you encounter. Just remember: Feeling like Batman will get your silly ass killed in The Last of Us.



- The Last of Us already holds a distinction for me. There have been several games that have been tear-jerkers at the end but this game gets you right at the beginning. Despite a review to the contrary, I identified with Joel quickly and it's easy to see how he descended to what he became. I can see a parallel between this game and Red Dead Redemption; Ellie is clearly Joel's ticket to redemption. As for the girl herself she is spunky, clever, and instantly likeable. Thus far the supporting cast of characters have all been pretty likable (or despicable as the situation calls for) and I am especially pleased with Joel's Texas drawl; it gives him an air of realism in a genre dominated by a handful of recurring lead voice actors... least that's what I thought! I didn't recognize Troy Baker as the same voice of Red Faction's Alec Mason or Persona 4's Kanji Tatsumi. (That last one just makes me like him more!) The accent is subtle but real; probably because Baker is from Texas. At any rate Joel comes off as a geniune character, a man who has had some bad sh*t happen to him and whose dreams of the future end with tomorrow morning.



- A LOT of praise has been heaped on Ashley Johnson's portrayal of 14 year old Ellie, and for good reason. Despite the fact that she has never voiced a 'serious' video game character before the 29 year old actress nailed Ellie; breathing life into the character such as to make her strong yet vulnerable, likeable yet fiery... she's a realistic blend of an all-to-mature teenage girl trying to be both brave and, at the same time, just be a girl who is full of wonder and curiosity at the world she never knew; almost like an orphan yearning to know about the parents who died before she had a chance to know them. I found it particularly touching how Joel tries to shield her from the corruption around her yet, before long, must accede to the fact that she has to learn how to protect herself... and him as well.



- A lot has also been said about the brutal level of violence in this game. Is it visceral? Yes. It's it vulgar? Not really. Is it necessary? Absolutely. We live in a post-Mortal Kombat age; accustomed to violence-as-comedy. Is this level of violence funny? Not at all, but it actually shies away from what I was expecting. (Although there was a scene with a morbidly facinating arterial spray.) It is definately the most violent sounding game I think I've played. Sound design is excellent and every brick you smash into an enemy's face just sounds like hurt, but I guess I was expecting a horror-of-war type of experience with guts blasted out with every shotgun blast. You'll be spared that, but otherwise The Last of Us pulls no punches. Most of all no regenerating health here. Every drop of alcohol, every scrap of bandage is all very precious... like Gollum precious, because you need it for creating health kits. You need it MORE for health kits than for infected-destroying molotovs, despite how effective those really are.



- Admittedly the AI of your companions can get a little ridiculous. They are effectively invisible to the enemy, which can be immersion-breaking. They can also act as roadblocks if you decide you're not quite done with the area and turn around to investigate more, but they do try to get out of your way. I haven't noticed any clipping, such as others have mentioned, but I will offer a warning: while you can save at any time I recommend you do it after you clear an area. On several occasions I have been bum-rushed immediately after loading a game if I stopped in mid-combat. True to Naughty Dog's word Ellie will never be a concern in an encounter, but that's also a little disappointing. It kind of takes you out of your role as her protector because you literally never have to worry about her or any of your other companions. The encounter I mentioned at the beginning of this piece; my companions we never in any danger. I could have taken my time and used stealth to kill all three hunters but, for me, that is immersion breaking. I prefer, instead, to still act as though they are in my care. It means waiting for all of my companions to get up a ladder before me while waiting nervously in a zombie-filled room when I could just scoot to safety myself and not give them a second thought. It means me taking huge risks when a Hunter gets too close to Ellie instead of slipping quietly away and conserving ammo. Such moments are less immersion-destroying than if I just worry about Joel. I respect what ND was trying to do but, honestly, I would prefer a little more concern for the 14 year old girl I'm supposed to be protecting.




- Overall believe the hype. The Last of Us is not only a powerful and moving experience, it is clearly Game of the Generation material. While Bioshock Infinite may take local GOTY awards due to its multi-platform nature, The Last of Us deserves to win the crown. Naughty Dog has created a beautiful swan song for the 7th generation and you'd be remiss to let it pass you by. Beg, borrow, steal, or just work your ass off to get a PS3... this is one of those ICO-like games that people will be talking about for many years to come.






The Last of Us - 9.5



Get the full article at GameSpot

"Uesugi-dono reviewed The Last of Us for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by Uesugi-dono on Mon, 17 Jun 2013 08:23:17 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-of-us/user-reviews/812518/platform/ps3/ Sun, 16 Jun 2013 08:12:31 -0700 talkcasual reviewed The Last of Us for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-of-us/user-reviews/812481/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

It's very unconventional for games to put story before gameplay. In most cases, game developers design the gameplay first and only then try to piece together some BS story to go with it.

Take a look at Far Cry 3 (which I really liked btw). They knew it will be an open world shooter before a single line of story was even written.

The fresh approach of TLOU is doing it the other way around. It feels like ND had a story to tell and characters to go with it. Only after the entire tale was written, they tried to piece together some gameplay to get the experience across.

Make no mistake.. if you're looking for a shooter - there are much better ones out there. If you're looking for stealth mechanics, it is mediocre at best.

But, if you're willing to overlook the flaws in how it handles.. I promise you.. you'll fall in love.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"talkcasual reviewed The Last of Us for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by talkcasual on Sun, 16 Jun 2013 08:12:31 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-of-us/user-reviews/812481/platform/ps3/ Sat, 15 Jun 2013 21:42:02 -0700 matthova reviewed Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/metal-gear-rising-revengeance/user-reviews/812465/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

I am an average fan of the Metal Gear series, so i dont know all the storylines. This game is a follow up to MGS4, which is arguably the best PS3 game of all time. So what makes this game so diffrent and unique, and yet similar to the others??

In this game you control Raiden, not Snake. Raiden is just so awesome. THe cyborg ninja has unreal speed and strength. You can run really fast and attack at the same time or jump.....The controls are super smooth. Offensively you have this thing called blade mode where time slows down and you literally slice up the enemies....In some cases you can even take their cybernetic spines to heal yourself.

It's a wild game. Defensively you must parry enemy attacks. This takes the place of blocking so to effectively defend you have time your parries. Of course some attacks you can just dodge. You fight a variety of enemies from Gekko, weaker cyber soldiers, strong cyber soldiers, robotic birds, Gorilla like robots.....and well some other robots as well. The game does a great job of mixing it up. The boss fights are hard, but eventually you can catch their move pattern and beat them.

Overall this game has that metal gear touch to it which really makes for some fun gaming.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"matthova reviewed Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by matthova on Sat, 15 Jun 2013 21:42:02 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/metal-gear-rising-revengeance/user-reviews/812465/platform/ps3/ Sat, 15 Jun 2013 20:06:18 -0700 ZanarkandTidus reviewed Tales of the Abyss for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/tales-of-the-abyss/user-reviews/812461/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

Tales of the Abyss is one of the best 6th Gen RPGs I've played and it's good enough to have been rereleased for 3DS.

It's storytelling is great and it has a great love story and it's story in general is very heartfelt and creative and it's battle system is fun and typical of the Tales series and so is it's colorful,charming,anime-inspired visuals and it's music is beautiful and delicate at times and helps add to the heartfelt moments.

The story is about a male character with long red-hair named 'Luke' whom was mysteriously kidnapped and has lost much of his memories.After trying to defend his master from a female assassin,Luke and the female assassin named Tear get teleported to the other side of the world.The world has elements that allow people to use magic and power great machines and even see into the future and this means nations are in a race to see into the future before other nations to gain an advantage over them and being able to see in the future can help them become more prosperous because they can see new technologies and mistakes and events ahead of time and this causes a lot of political tension around the world.

There is more to the story than this and some of the story revelations are quite shocking and can contribute to some every emotional story moments and they're very creative too.Another reason the story is very emotional at times is because it's presented very delicately,especially for when the romance is building and the story is interesting from start to finish because there is so much going on in the world and because the story is creative.

The love story is quite heartfelt because it shows how the male and female will be trying to save each other and also because it's an imperfect romance in the sense the 2 people involved with tease and annoy each other but they do it because they love each other and feel comfortable together and it creates a realistic feel for the love story.

The cast of characters is quite good,the party members are quite likable and the story even shows the potential of a love triangle and the other party members besides Luke and Tear are involved in some intense and interesting story moments.

The battle system is typical of the Tales series,real-time and hack n slashy but quite fun and fast and the longer your combos are the more damage each hit on an enemy will do.Once again the artes system returns for magic use,but a new feature the battle system has is if you stand in a circle that appears on the battlefields and perform an elemental attack that corresponds to the circle it will do more damage and enemies are capable of using these elemental circles referred to as 'field of fonons' to power up their attacks too.

I like how ToTA is traditional in the sense it has towns to explore and lots of people in towns to talk with and a world mape to explore.The game uses anime scenes to give the story a more life-like effect at times and the cutscenes are quite stunning from an artistic perspective,especially when it blends with a starry night sky or sunsets and add a delicate romance scene to them it's quite something.The world has a nice blend of medieval and Sci Fi because even though you'll see castles and rural style towns and knights with swords you'll see quite a lot of futuristic buildings/structures and airships.

It would be nice if the game gave you more info on where you needed to go next for quests though because sometimes I found myself running around randomly not sure where I needed to go next/do next.

The artstyle is colorful and the world map,characters and towns have a charming visual look to them,even the futuristic environments have a nice use of color that makes them look high-tech and not too cold and lifeless but not too cutsey either.

The music is beautiful at times and it makes you feel the delicate and emotional story moments even more.

Overall,this game is not only one of the best RPGs from the 6th gen and if you like JRPGs you MUST play this game.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"ZanarkandTidus reviewed Tales of the Abyss for the PlayStation 2..." was posted by ZanarkandTidus on Sat, 15 Jun 2013 20:06:18 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tales-of-the-abyss/user-reviews/812461/platform/ps2/ Sat, 15 Jun 2013 20:02:31 -0700 ZanarkandTidus reviewed Tales of the Abyss for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/tales-of-the-abyss/user-reviews/812460/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Tales of the Abyss is one of the best 6th Gen RPGs I've played and now it's available for 3DS.

It's storytelling is great and it has a great love story and it's story in general is very heartfelt and creative and it's battle system is fun and typical of the Tales series and so is it's colorful,charming,anime-inspired visuals and it's music is beautiful and delicate at times and helps add to the heartfelt moments.

The story is about a male character with long red-hair named 'Luke' whom was mysteriously kidnapped and has lost much of his memories.After trying to defend his master from a female assassin,Luke and the female assassin named Tear get teleported to the other side of the world.The world has elements that allow people to use magic and power great machines and even see into the future and this means nations are in a race to see into the future before other nations to gain an advantage over them and being able to see in the future can help them become more prosperous because they can see new technologies and mistakes and events ahead of time and this causes a lot of political tension around the world.

There is more to the story than this and some of the story revelations are quite shocking and can contribute to some every emotional story moments and they're very creative too.Another reason the story is very emotional at times is because it's presented very delicately,especially for when the romance is building and the story is interesting from start to finish because there is so much going on in the world and because the story is creative.

The love story is quite heartfelt because it shows how the male and female will be trying to save each other and also because it's an imperfect romance in the sense the 2 people involved with tease and annoy each other but they do it because they love each other and feel comfortable together and it creates a realistic feel for the love story.

The cast of characters is quite good,the party members are quite likable and the story even shows the potential of a love triangle and the other party members besides Luke and Tear are involved in some intense and interesting story moments.

The battle system is typical of the Tales series,real-time and hack n slashy but quite fun and fast and the longer your combos are the more damage each hit on an enemy will do.Once again the artes system returns for magic use,but a new feature the battle system has is if you stand in a circle that appears on the battlefields and perform an elemental attack that corresponds to the circle it will do more damage and enemies are capable of using these elemental circles referred to as 'field of fonons' to power up their attacks too.

I like how ToTA is traditional in the sense it has towns to explore and lots of people in towns to talk with and a world mape to explore.The game uses anime scenes to give the story a more life-like effect at times and the cutscenes are quite stunning from an artistic perspective,especially when it blends with a starry night sky or sunsets and add a delicate romance scene to them it's quite something.The world has a nice blend of medieval and Sci Fi because even though you'll see castles and rural style towns and knights with swords you'll see quite a lot of futuristic buildings/structures and airships.

It would be nice if the game gave you more info on where you needed to go next for quests though because sometimes I found myself running around randomly not sure where I needed to go next/do next.

The touch screen allows you to access menus without having to press a button which is kinda nice.

The artstyle is colorful and the world map,characters and towns have a charming visual look to them,even the futuristic environments have a nice use of color that makes them look high-tech and not too cold and lifeless but not too cutsey either.

As for the 3D visual effects,the 3D effects look good in some places but in other places they don't.It's kinda nice to see this traditional style JRPG's environments pop up in front of you but in some of the environments the 3D visuals look kinda fuzzy.

The music is beautiful at times and it makes you feel the delicate and emotional story moments even more.

Overall,this game is not only one of the best RPGs from the 6th gen and now it's available for a handheld.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"ZanarkandTidus reviewed Tales of the Abyss for the 3DS..." was posted by ZanarkandTidus on Sat, 15 Jun 2013 20:02:31 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tales-of-the-abyss/user-reviews/812460/platform/3ds/ Sat, 15 Jun 2013 19:05:24 -0700 kbaily reviewed Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/sly-cooper-thieves-in-time/user-reviews/812458/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Sly Cooper never had the major stardom on the Playstation as Ratchet, Sackboy or Jak and for a while some of us wondered if he'd ever show up on the PS3 especially when Sucker Punch moved onto the Infamous series.

Thankfully Sansaru, who brought the Sly collection to us, wanted to pick up where Sucker Punch left off and I must say, they did a good job. The new Sly feels familiar but combined the elements from past games to make a great new adventure that I feel is the best in the series.

Picking up where "Honor Among Thieves" left off. Sly has given up his master thief life, pretending to have amnesia so he can live happily with his cop girlfriend, Carmelita Fox. Bentley is living with his girlfriend Penelope tinkering with machines and Murray is enjoying the demolition derby circuit but soon Sly finds himself itching to return to his old life and soon gets word from Bentley that pages of his family history, The Thievius Raccoonus are disappearing. Turns out a villain named Le Paradox is traveling back through time with his henchmen kidnapping Sly's ancestors and trying to ruin the Cooper family reputation as master thieves. Bentley has made his own time machine and the old team reunites to set things straight. The plot is pretty entertaining for what is essentially Assassin's Creed for kids but has all the charm of a Saturday morning cartoon. Seriously why isn't Sly a TV show? I'd watch the hell out of that. Also missed opportunity for "1.21 Gigawatts into the Flux Capacator" quote. Come on guys.

Sly's 4th outing takes the best aspects of Sly 2 and 3 and combines them. This time around Sly travels to five periods in time in attempt to find his ancestors as well as find the criminal who's gone back in time to try to change history. You enter each stage in a big open world with missions but you can waste a lot of time hunting around for bottles, treasures and masks that unlock all sorts of in game goodies as well as cash to upgrade your characters.

Along with Sly, you once again get to play as Bentley with his various computer hacking mini games, Murray, who's mission mostly boil down to mindless button mashing brawls, Carmelita who has a few third person shooting missions and each time period has a Cooper ancestor to control. With the exception of Bob the Caveman, most of them control like Sly with one extra ability. Rioichi has a shadow dash, Tenessee Kid can shoot a gun, Sir Galeth has a charge jump and Salim Al Kupar can dash up chains quickly. Only Bob feels totally different being a big lumbering caveman who can climb up ice walls.

Sly himself takes a cue from Mario donning special costumes to give him new abilities. Samurai Armor protects him from fire, the jailbird gives him a big heavy ball to attack with, the archer lets him shoot arrows and the Arabian thief was clearly inspired by "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time" allowing Sly to slow down time. Sadly most of these are used a couple times in their respective time periods and aside from opening special treasure doors, you won't be using them as much as you'd hope.

Graphically they kept the colorful, cell shaded look in tact and it's nice to see an HD game do something besides gray and brown realism. Though there were a few times when I was detected by enemies and got chased that slowdown got real bad. I also will say this fourth installment had the best voice acting as well. They found a voice actress for Carmelita that can actually emote and Sly's relatives are a lot of fun.

If I had a complaint, it's that the game is overly easy. You're better off sneaking up on enemies to attack then trying to combat them head on. Boss fights boil down to watching patterns. Checkpoints are often making death more of a quick detour then a penalty and the final boss fight boiled down to nothing more than a series of quick time events. The hardest bits come with the few times the game decided to implement sixaxis controls because Sansaru forgot it's no longer 2006 making Bentley's one hacking game extremely frustrating.

But overall the game is a solid experience. You can spend a lot of time going back to find all the extra goodies and the ending leaves it open for a sequel. It released at a cheap $40 and probably cheaper now so it's worth picking up.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"kbaily reviewed Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by kbaily on Sat, 15 Jun 2013 19:05:24 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/sly-cooper-thieves-in-time/user-reviews/812458/platform/ps3/ Sat, 15 Jun 2013 16:48:25 -0700 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Gunfighter II: Revenge of Jesse James for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/gunfighter-ii-revenge-of-jesse-james/user-reviews/812454/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 3.0.

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Game Title: Gunfighter II: The Revenge of Jeese James
Platform: PlayStation 2
Developer: Rebellion Developments
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Light Gun Shooter
Age Rating: ELSPA: 11+
Release Date: March 28th 2003 (Europe)
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Game Score: 3.0/10
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Summery:
Gunfighter II is simply just another shallow Time Crisis knock off that you should avoid.
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Light Gun on rail shooters have grown stale over the years until Namco's Time Crisis games came and showed how Light Gun shooters can actually be interesting. However due to it's popularity one company named Rebellion attempts to rip it off in order to gain a quick buck. One such title is Gunfighter which told the story of 19th century American Outlaw Jeese James. It was shallow at best but that didn't stop the developers from jumping into the fan wagon again with a squeal. That's right, Rebellion made a sequel for the PlayStation 2 to capitalize on the Time Crisis craze. Let's be honest with Time Crisis 2 around Gunfighter II is simply just another knock off that you should avoid.

Gunfighter II follows after events from the original, As Jeese James you fight off against outlaws and gang members who are after Jeese's head as well as the main villain Bob Younger who wants revenge against him for the death of his brother. Jeese James did his best to save his brother in the original game (Which is Cole, Jeese's partner) but however Bob takes Jeese's gold and his girl and he fights to get them back. Mostly the plot is ridiculous revenge telling even if the main character didn't really kill his brother. The entire plot is lame and also the voice acting is worse then the original.

If you've played Time Crisis at an arcade resort or on your PlayStation game system then you'll feel right at home with Gunfighter II's gunplay. The game is on rails where your character moves automatically and you use either a standard controller or a compatible Light Gun controller. You can optionally play it with a single controller or go dual wield with two Light Gun controllers which is fun I guess but yeah it's Two Player mode but also either one player can the guns so it can actually get awkward a lot.

Gunfighter II shares the same gameplay elements as Namco's Time Crisis where you can release the reload button to engage and pressing it to take cover and dodge incoming fire as well as reloading your six shooter. You have a time limit so you need to dispatch all the bad guys on screen quickly before the time runs out.

While the Time Crisis formula works fine for this game's case there are some changes. The first is that you can now shoot while your character is moving onto the next cover point in the level which I guess it's a nice feature to get some guys out of the way but however it does become somewhat useless later on as some guys don't appear when you've nearly reached the cover point. You can pump up multiple shots into parts of an enemy's body to gain additional points and you can find extra lifes and continues during the levels as well as money for extra points. Don't forget Jeese James is a wanted man so he has to get a massive amount of money to become more infamous.

Now for the various segments of the game. Mostly it handles as simple shootouts but however one level changes the game with a horse riding segment and in my opinion it's one of the coolest features of the game. It's where you're riding on a carriage where dozens of gang members on horses are shooting at you and later on you got signs that you got to shoot to go in a direction away from a trap, otherwise you'll die and be sent back to the previous checkpoint with your highscore reset.

The next segments is where the game gets worse. There is a Gatling Gun you get to use for a brief moment and while it could be fun to pump loads of bullets into enemies with it, it's broken by it's terrible turret controls when using the Light Gun. Firing the gun at anywhere on the screen makes the gun turret fire while the crosshair tries to follow where aiming your gun to. Most of the time it ends up not going to where your aiming and you can't take cover with it equipped so you'll end up taking a hit which makes the gun really useless.

The worst segment of the game is where you're in the mines and it gets annoying when sometimes the camera sometimes never points to when an enemy is about to shoot you or when you got to dodge a obstacle. This becomes very annoying when sometimes you can't do a thing to avoid getting hit by the level's cheapness.

Lastly the game only has a few bosses, I think they are about 4 I think and the game has about 8 three to five minute long stages to play through so you'll be done with the single player in about 30 minutes. You can play on multiple difficulties and also unlock the Shotgun and Gatling guns should you manage to get a high score. At the end of the game you'll get a showdown segment where both men holster their guns and wait for the clock to strike the hour. Once the signal strikes you draw your gun and shoot down the enemy before the enemy shoots you.

In addition to the main game there's also a mode which allows you play any of the game's stages but each has 3 different challenges which are Score, Accuracy and Time and it's the same for each stage you decide to play and you have to beat all 3 of them to unlock the next stage which is ridiculous and you'll easily get bored of playing through the same stages every time for this mode as well as the minigames.

Speaking of which are a collection of minigames that are to unlocked as you play the story. Only the bottle shooting minigame is unlocked as you first boot up the game. Most of these minigames are lame and worst of some of them go up as far as Level 10 so you'll be playing for a while to try and beat it unless you get really bored at playing. Overall the gameplay in Gunfighter II is nowhere near as good as Time Crisis and the minigames, arcade challenges and frustrating segments are only lame efforts to extend the playtime.

Once you took a shot at the gameplay you can take a shot at the game's poor production. Simply the graphics are weaker compared to most other PS2 Light Gun games. Character models look blend and rough while the environments look repetitive and the lighting effects look poor in a lot of dark areas like the saloon at night and the caves. On the positive side is that the explosion effects are pretty decent including the gunfire smoke effects and dynamite. My biggest complaint with the graphics is the animations, most of which they feel very unrealistic and also the death animations that each target on the screen do in the game just look plain stupid such as flipping over and doing a crazed spin when they take a bullet. These animations make Mad Dog McCree's acting look like a master piece of acting.

The soundtrack at least fairs better dispute being mostly reused from the original game with wild western tracks which do set the mood the game is set in. Each track is handled with twangy guitars and galloping percussions and the gunfire does sound cool but however you will have a hard time tolerating the game's awful voice acting which is worse then in the original Gunfighter especially Jeese's.

Honestly the game simply looks more like a cheap imitation of Time Crisis and with all the above mentioned then it's impossible to even recommend this game at full price. If you're still looking for a Light Gun game that's well built on content then personally I'd recommend just playing Time Crisis 2 or Vampire Night instead. I'd also would recommend playing Mad Dog McCree instead of this as you'll get more enjoyment then playing visiting this side of the western country.
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The Good Points:
1. You can shoot while moving towards the next cover point
2. The Horse riding stage is cool

The Bad Points:
1. Terrible storyline and worse voice acting
2. Lame minigames and boring challenges
3. Stupid death animations
4. Lousy Gatling gun controls when using the Light Gun
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
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Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/gunfighter-ii-revenge-of-jesse-james/user-reviews/812454/platform/ps2/ Sat, 15 Jun 2013 11:20:18 -0700 PSFreak1 reviewed The Last of Us for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-of-us/user-reviews/812439/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

Naughty Dog has carved out a nice place for themselves in the grand scheme of gaming. Their titles always set the bar for cinematic storytelling in whatever facet they dip into. The Last of Us continues that trend by taking the dramatic, post-apocalyptic scenario and focusing on the relationships between characters. The human element of survival and how people react and treat each other in this type of world is really what draws players in. The Last of Us may have zombie-like enemies, but this is not the typical zombie-style experience.

Referring to The Last of Us as a zombie game at all, is doing it a disservice. Yes, there are infected people impeding player's progress, but this isn't just another shooting gallery. Instead the core mechanics consist of a healthy amount of stealth, and plenty of tactical thinking. Each situation I got myself into required me to sit back and figure out how to handle it. Did I want to risk encountering the enemies to raid for more supplies, or save my ammunition (and health) for the next encounter? Weighing these decisions is an integral part of the experience, and one that sells the tension.

Last of Us follows the story of Joel and Ellie as they trek across the United States. Joel's one goal from the outset is to deliver Ellie to a group known as the Fireflies, but it becomes so much more over time. Joel is older, grizzled and carries a heavy past. He has seen the world before the infection, and keeps all of his feelings locked up. Watching him open up over the course of the game is one of the best progressions in recent memory. Ellie is a 14-year old girl who only knows the world as it currently exists, and the dialogue between the two is absolutely phenomenal.

This is the heart of what makes Last of Us so enthralling. I genuinely cared for nearly every character over the course of the lengthy campaign. There was never a moment where I wasn't concerned with the events that were taking place, and the pacing is non-stop. The voice acting is also top-tier. Troy Baker delivers an outstanding performance as Joel, further enforcing his excellence in voice acting, while Ashley Johnson also shines as Ellie. The rest of the cast is equally impressive, not to mention Naughty Dog's amazing engine brings them all to life, with uncanny facial expressions and emotion.

What makes all of this work though is how Naughty Dog sells the experience with the details. This is something that I noticed throughout the game. Finding comics (which are also collectibles) always prompts Joel to tell Ellie about them. Discussions about what ice cream trucks were, and explaining life before all of this happened is both relevant to me as a player, and interesting to expand on the world around the characters. Subtleties go a long way in selling the immersion, and the experience becomes less about the destination, and more about the journey. The campaign took me just under 15 hours to complete, but I was ready for more as soon as it ended.

As a game Last of Us feels like a mixture between stealth action and survival. Joel has standard cover and shooting mechanics, of which the latter can take a little adjustment. I recommend using the lock on if frustration sets in early. Naughty Dog has given players plenty of options to play how they want. I loved that I could turn off prompts for places to search, as well as the aforementioned lock on. Playing on harder difficulties without these aids is truly a unique experience, as well as a challenging one.

Survival plays a huge role, and scouring the environment almost becomes a meta game. I never grew tired of it like I did in Bioshock Infinite earlier this year, and discovering specific items always brought excitement. The sheer lack of supplies really keeps the scavenging aspect interesting and fun. Joel will find ammo, parts and upgrade points around the environments, as well as collectibles. The upgrade system works on points, allowing players to increase health, reload and crafting speed as well as steadying Joel's aim.

Crafting is a major part of Last of Us. Everything happens in real time, from healing to creation, meaning the game doesn't pause when Joel needs to do something. This is by design, and creates great tension. There is nothing better than trying to heal while a group of mercenaries have Joel pinned down. Crafting items requires various supplies such as water, scissors and nails. I could create new items when I discovered old blueprints, or someone showed me how to do it. It all feels organic, and the range of items cover the bases of an action game.

Weapons also play a large role, although on higher difficulties, ammo is always an issue. Weapons can be upgraded using parts collected, and include things like clip capacity, more holsters to allow quicker weapon swapping and of course scopes and range. As I mentioned earlier, the shooting mechanics can be a little fickle at times, but turning on the lock-on feature does wonders in that department.

Deciding whether to engage or avoid is always the dilemma in Last of Us. Wasting ammo on a group of infected may garner great rewards, but it also may cost more than it's worth. These are the decisions I had to make constantly, and part of what makes the experience so great.

The campaign was enough for me, but Naughty Dog has also tossed in an online mode that feels more refined than I could have anticipated. Anyone who played Uncharted knows that this team is not about simply tossing in a generic deathmatch to add a bullet point on the box, and Last of Us is no different. The multiplayer mode, Factions, is broken down into two game types called Supply Raid and Survivors. Survivors is a four on four match type where death is, of course, permanent. It actually resembles the single player game, but with human opponents instead of AI. It kept me on the edge of my seat with each match, as one mistake usually leads to death.

Supply Raid is similar with a few twists. For example, I could craft items in this mode, as well as respawn. Each side of the battle also has a set number of lives, much like resources in a Battlefield game. This makes death less permanent, but it also drives players to keep their count low for the team. What I like about the online overall though is the metagame of personalizing your character, and building up your band of survivors. It is a small touch, but one that kept me coming back for more and more.

Visually the game is stunning. After spending so much time lately looking at next-generation titles and high-end PC ports, Naughty Dog's latest really sticks out. The weather effects are amazing, the world is interesting and the sheer design had me wanting to go into every shop and house just to look around. Nothing is recycled, and I constantly saw remnants of the world that used to exist. When developers take the time to craft such an interesting world, I love stopping to soak it all in.

Audio is equally impressive, with a familiar guitar-pluck theme that becomes synonymous with the game. As I mentioned voice acting is also amazing with stellar performances from nearly everyone I came into contact with. Mix it all in with unforgettable effects (I will never forget what a Clicker sounds like) and you have an amazing package that simply soars on all levels of presentation. If I had to knock it for one thing, it would be the extremely long initial loading screen when I first boot up the game.

The Last of Us is a testament to game design. Naughty Dog continues to perfect their craft at immersive storytelling, while still delivering one amazing game to play. The surprise online mode definitely adds value to the package, but even solo players should not hesitate. This is one of the best games on PS3, and easily one of the best games to come out this year. Everyone with the means should definitely give this title a whirl. The experience will stick with you for months, or perhaps years to come

Get the full article at GameSpot

"PSFreak1 reviewed The Last of Us for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by PSFreak1 on Sat, 15 Jun 2013 11:20:18 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-of-us/user-reviews/812439/platform/ps3/ Sat, 15 Jun 2013 00:35:51 -0700 immortality20 reviewed BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/812415/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

Every great story has a beginning. A place where you can all trace it back to, and in BioShock Infinite that beginning is a light house. It all starts with a light house. You inhabit Booker DeWitt a man who owes a great debt to a powerful man, who is tasked with finding and bring a girl to erase the debt. As you climb the lighthouse at the beginning you rocket up hundreds of miles into the sky, and land in the floating city of Columbia. Now, it's time to find the girl and erase the debt.

Booker finds himself a marked man, a false shepherd that is foretold by The Prophet (Comstock, the main villain) with the Mark of the Beast on his hand, which in this case is AD. Booker fights for his life against dozens and dozens of Comstock's men and robots in what is some of the most refreshing combat rarely seen in a first person shooter. We'll jump into the combat in a little bit later.

Booker finds Elizabeth in her locked tower, guarded by a huge mechanical bird called The Songbird. He is terrifying every time he is near, sending fear into your heart when you hear his screeching mechanical roar. His robotic eyes switch from green when friendly to red when he's going to kill you. By the end of the game Elizabeth and Booker form a somewhat bond with the giant beast, but it's something seen to be best experienced and understood.

As Booker frees Elizabeth he finds out she is no ordinary girl. Elizabeth has the ability to create "tears", which are rips in their universe. These tears are windows into other universes, which the game explains are endless. The story shows us how Elizabeth got these powers and ultimately what it all means. Elizabeth is probably the best AI I have ever seen in a game. She is never in the way of fights, and she even helps in the fight by giving you ammo and health. She also picks up money that you walked by and opens locked doors and safes with lock picks. She is easily one of the best female characters ever created.

BioShock Infinite works so hard to make every character a believable and fully fleshed out person. Whether they are good or evil, the game wants you to be able to relate to them and think of them as a person not just another NPC. When you arrive in Columbia, it is 1912. Racial tension is very much a topic in the game, and it might even make some uncomfortable, but sadly that is just what it was like. The game works hard to make everything believable, and we see a revolution as equal rights and other issues are being fought on Columbia.

The world of Columbia is simply beautiful. Like Rapture, Columbia is a living and breathing city. There will be plenty of times you just stop what you're doing and look out over the floating city. There is just nothing like seeing giant statues, zeppelins and churches floating in the sky. Yes, how the city of Columbia came to be and how it is floating is told in the story. It's too bad the character models weren't as detailed and rich as the city itself, but what they lack their voice over work greatly makes up for.

Every voice actor should be commended for their work here. Elizabeth has by far the most amount of lines in the game, and never are you tired of her or annoyed with her. She is one of the most interesting characters created, and amazingly many others in the game are almost as engrossing. All the voice work is handled here with such care, you never get the feeling anyone is calling it in.

As you make your way through the story you'll want to explore every single corner of Columbia. I had a deep desire to search for every recording to learn more about the characters and search for all the secrets hidden throughout the story. Some are simple puzzles, but others take a little more work to figure out. The best upgrade you can find are called Infusions. These let you permanently boost your shield, health or salts (magic). You can also find Gear, which is buffs and other aids to either your combat or health. These gear are in four forms: boots, pants, shirt and hat.

The combat is even better than the original BioShock. There is an impressive array of guns to choose from, and even upgrade in vending machines throughout the campaign. We have everything from the shotgun, grenade launcher, rocket launcher, sniper rifle and assault rifle to choose from. You also have a brutal melee attack, where you use your hook that rides the sky line to brutally murder weakened enemies. Ammo usually isn't a problem as there's plenty of vending machines and item drops to keep you using whatever guns you want.

There is also the BioShock special powers. These include classics like fire, crows and lightning but offer fun new ones like Undertow. Sadly there's no bees to be found this time around. You can combine 2 powers against an enemy, such as Bronco, which puts the enemy up in the air for a few seconds floating, and then hitting him with fire to create some pretty nasty damage. It really never gets old shooting the enemies off the rooftops to their death with Undertow, which greatly helps with crowd control. It never gets old using any of the powers actually, as long as you can find the salt.

What makes the combat even more unique is the way the levels are set out. Usually you are in wide open areas where you have multiple paths, vantage points and even a ride-able sky-line that makes every single encounter unique. Feeling like you are about to die or outnumbered? Jump on the sky line, recharge and re-evaluate the fight. Want to use the environment? There's usually different tears Elizabeth can open to help you, whether she's bringing in a gun or a puddle for you to electrocute your enemy, there's always multiple ways to take out the enemy. You can even jump off the sky-line on top of an enemy, knocking them either off the rooftop or killing them instantly.

Like in previous BioShock games, the enemies are varied and interesting. The most terrifying in my mind was the Boys of Silence, an enemy not seen until the last quarter of the game. Very good thing too, because I didn't have too much underwear left after one encounter with him. This new enemy is something that has to be seen to be truly believed, but you will certainly be scared when you encounter him.

The most common heavy is the Motorized Patriot, a robot with a George Washington head, robot wings that have America flags painted on them and a crank gun that will mow you down pretty damn fast if you don't find cover. The best way to handle him is to try to get behind him, as you get extra damage for hitting him in the back. Easier said than done though, as he can quickly pivot around, hit you with his big gun and send you back before unloading rounds in you. These fights are always tense, and when there's multiple other enemies with him, it can be almost overwhelming. But it's always fun and never feels cheap.

The last new enemy worth mentioning is the Handyman. He is a huge hulking robot but you can tell there is a human trapped somewhere inside. The Patriot can easily jump huge distances to close the gap you try to create while fighting him. He can also jump on the sky-lines and electrocute it for several seconds to stop you from riding it and cheaply firing from above. Fights with him are tense, as you try to aim for his heart, a big opening in his chest that does critical damage when hit. But you can't stand too close, he'll ground pound you which will instantly take off your shield, so it's always good to keep moving and pick your shots. Using your powers as traps is also a good strategy, which is the beauty of this game, every fight can be tackled differently.

The game runs around 15 hours on normal, and the pacing is perfect. There is lulls where you get time to yourself to explore and appreciate the beautiful city in the sky. There is hectic times where you are fighting franticly for your life, and there's always an engrossing story being told. Whether it's through recordings, movies or direct contact, the story is always moving briskly along, being told with confidence. When the last twenty minutes of the game unfolds, the story comes to a thrilling, amazing and surprising finale. The ending is something that you have to talk about with someone, it's just that damn good and important.

This game gave me chills and left me hopeful that the industry can more than just explosions and set pieces. It can be beautiful and tell stories that no other medium can, in ways other medium can dream of. Simply put, BioShock Infinite is one of the best games you'll play all year, hell all generation. This is an important game, handling a mature story in a mature way. If this is the end of the BioShock games, it couldn't ask for a better send off.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"immortality20 reviewed BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360..." was posted by immortality20 on Sat, 15 Jun 2013 00:35:51 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/812415/platform/xbox360/ Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:38:19 -0700 Spinnerweb reviewed Tenchu: Shadow Assassins for the PSP... http://www.gamespot.com/tenchu-shadow-assassins/user-reviews/812407/platform/psp/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

Tenchu: Shadow Assassins for the PSP is actually a port of the Wii game. Now, you'd imagine all sorts of sacrifices for getting the game on the PSP, but the truth is that there are surprisingly few. It's still fun, challenging and worth playing and while it doesn't really achieve greatness there isn't too much to complain about either.

The game's story is OK at best, Rikimaru and Ayame being the good ninjas serving a goody-good emperor whose empire is apparently about to be attacked when Rikimaru finds a stockpile of weapons in a room in the wrong part of the empire on one of his justice-serving outings.

The gameplay is good, stealth mechanics work and it is enjoyable. Taking enemies down is satisfying and you can twirl the analog nub around to get different killing animations. The only complaint I have is about sword combat, where it really shows that this is a game ported from the Wii. You push the analog nub in the direction the on-screen arrow tells you to, and it's very easy to do this. Almost too easy in fact, so sometimes you get killed because you weren't expecting it to be so easy.

Aside from that, the game is challenging. You can use your Mind's Eye as much as you want to see where the enemies are looking, but it's still a very difficult game. You can use your Ninjitsu to escape to the start of the level once if you get detected, but after that if you get seen the enemy throws his sword at you and whack, you're dead.

The music is very good and the graphics are excellent. The gameplay is enjoyable, and the voice acting, except for the tutorial instructor's (which is annoying as hell) is very good too. While the game doesn't really be all it can be in my opinion, it's still worth playing for any stealth game fan.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Spinnerweb reviewed Tenchu: Shadow Assassins for the PSP..." was posted by Spinnerweb on Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:38:19 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tenchu-shadow-assassins/user-reviews/812407/platform/psp/ Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:12:09 -0700 Spinnerweb reviewed Gangs of London for the PSP... http://www.gamespot.com/gangs-of-london/user-reviews/812405/platform/psp/ ...and gave it a 2.0.

Gangs of London ... I first thought that it was a movie based game, so I didn't play it. Then I found out it wasn't, so I did. Then I realized it was a poor game.

One of the good things about the game is that there are several gangs to play as each with their own story (though their stories don't really go anywhere). So there are these gangs trying to take over London, and they're at war with each other, and they kill each other from time to time. Major yawn. Like I said, the story doesn't go anywhere.

The game tries to be open-world like Grand Theft Auto and such, but it fails miserably because the missions are put together as... missions. You select them at the menu. Free roam is a separate mode. Who wants it like that? And this is the major drawback of the game. The missions aren't put together right. The story, or lack of it, is told through Max Payne-like comic panels, with awful voice acting.

Gameplay, hmm... you have a lot of stealth missions which are awfully hard to get through because this game obviously wasn't designed as a stealth game. Combat is dull and frustrating. Mostly you fight with knives, standing in front of a person and mashing the X button. The animations are awful. In gun combat, you don't aim your gun, you aim your character. You have to stand directly in front of an enemy, target them and mash the X button. Like in melee combat, the animations are awful.

You can drive cars, but it's like driving on ice. There's no friction, no sound of engines, nothing at all. The brakes on every single car in this game seem to be broken because they are useless.

There is only one music track in the entire game, which is like the music when they put you on hold, only it's much worse, and the voice acting is awful. You'd think with gangs of so many cultures would have their accents, but no... the Talwar Brothers, for example, don't sound Pakistani at all, neither do the Traids sound Asian, and all characters speak American English. In a game set in England. Can you believe it?

There is not a single thing to like about this game. Stay away, or you are doomed. Doomed. Doomed doomed.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Spinnerweb reviewed Gangs of London for the PSP..." was posted by Spinnerweb on Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:12:09 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/gangs-of-london/user-reviews/812405/platform/psp/ Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:57:55 -0700 Demonjoe93 reviewed Twisted Metal for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/twisted-metal-2012/user-reviews/812403/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 6.0.

For those of you that, like me, enjoy car combat games, you will know how I feel when I say that I have felt starved for a decent car combat game for years before this game was released a little more than a year ago. And then Twisted Metal was announced at E3 2010. I was pretty excited. And then I bought the game soon after it was released. After that, this game was just one disappointment after the other. This game does a lot of things right, and a lot of things wrong as well.

Game play: 6. For those of you that are not familiar with car combat as a genre, allow me to explain: you drive around blowing each other up; that's basically it. Now that's not to say that Twisted Metal is a shallow game. Actually, it is a very deep game with a high, if steep, learning curve. The controls are pretty complex, as just about every button does something. There are many different types of weapons scattered around the map. Also, each car has its own special weapon.

The single-player mode has a story mode, challenge, and tutorial. The story mode has a variety of different missions that are not just limited to blowing up other drivers on different courses. There are bosses, races, and other different themed missions. The story mode takes about ten hours to complete.

Challenge mode is basically an arcade mode if you just want to play a normal match by yourself. Tutorial teaches you how to play the game.

You can play multiplayer locally or online. Local multiplayer has most of the basic modes you see online: death match/team death match, capture the flag, survival, etc. There are nine maps to play on and 17 total vehicles.

Online you can play Nuke, which is an interesting team-based mode. In Nuke you are either setting a bomb by hovering around a semi-truck, or defending against it.

The controls are great unless you cannot do complicated controls. There is a big learning curve for this game, which is certainly a good thing.

The vehicle roster is unbalanced: there's a gargantuan semi-truck that is game breaking in local multiplayer and totally useless online; the motorcycle, Reaper, is broken beyond belief, as its special can instantly kill some vehicles and takes the vast majority of health for larger ones; Talon is a helicopter, so I do not even need to explain all the things that are wrong with that being in a CAR combat game; lastly, Sweet Tooth, the famous ice cream truck, is almost as over powered as Reaper. If your special can hit me across the map, you're overpowered.

The story mode sucks. In the Twisted Metals of the past, there were many characters; each with their own story line. In this game, there are only three characters to play as in the story mode. The racing missions are just stupid, and the boss bottles are cheap.
The challenge mode is also bare-bones. There are only two modes.

The split-screen multiplayer too is bare-bones to the max. Only nine maps when playing with three or four people? Really? That's less than what Twisted Metal: Black and Vigilante 8 had, and they're both over ten years old! How did this even approach Eat Sleep Play as acceptable?

The only part of the game that is good on content is the online mode, and even that is riddled with issues. The game is unbalanced, and the community knows it too. You may notice that the skill rating for the vast majority of Reaper and Sweet Tooth users is high; that's not a coincidence.
For some reason, Eat Sleep Play decided it would be a brilliant idea to add a sniper rifle that can kill in one hit with a head shot into a CAR combat game. So naturally, you're going to see jackoffs drive up to a perch and snipe people, or even worse, people using Talon to pick people off. In what way, shape, or form did this seem like a recipe for a balanced game to Eat Sleep Play? One mere inkling of common sense would have made them realize how awful of an idea it is to implement this ideas into a CAR combat game.
It gets even worse: the online community is plagued by two major non-game play related issues. To start, there's the networking error that constantly prevents you from entering a lobby. And when you get into that lobby, you better hope the host didn't get bored waiting for the minimum five other people to join his lobby and decided to watch TV or get away from his TV to go crap, masturbate or God knows what else, and then NEVER starts the match. And believe me, it happens a lot; another oversight by the developers of this game. Would it have been too much to ask to have a timer that automatically starts the game when the host takes too long to so themselves?

Presentation: 6. The graphics are pretty good considering the speed at which this game goes. These cars are driving pretty damn fast, so you cannot expect the graphics to be top-notch.

The sound track is composed of some original music, rap, and heavy metal.

The story is pretty poor for even Twisted Metal's standards. Maybe that's because there's only like five characters.

Value: 6. Like I stated earlier in the review, the main story mode should provide about ten hours of playtime. The challenge mode is decently fun since most of the game's flaws are not seen in that mode.

You and your friends will be pretty disappointed by the lack of content in the split-screen multiplayer (especially when you compare it to the amount of content online).

The online mode's value is pretty meager as well. Even if you could tolerate the game's utter lack of balance, the technical and dead-host (that is what the host not starting the game is referred to as) issues will surely become tiring sooner rather than later.

PROS
A lot of maps (as long as 3-4 people are not playing)
Good learning curve
Tight controls
CONS
Bare-bones split-screen mode
Mediocre story mode
Online mode is hampered by networking issues and dead-hosts
Poorly balanced
The very existence of a sniper rifle in this game

Overall, as a car combat fan, I do not think I could recommend this game to anyone except for the thirstiest of car combat fans or those that bent on playing Twisted Metal online (by the way, the community is small last time I played). Anyone else, pass this game on, and download Twisted Metal: Black instead; because that game is vastly superior to this new Twisted Metal that tries to resurrect a missed genre, and in doing so, makes so many silly mistakes that one would have to wonder if Eat Sleep Play even looked at the game they were releasing before doing so, and gives you a disappointing lack of content. And then, worst of all, makes you wonder how amazing of a game this could have been.

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"Demonjoe93 reviewed Twisted Metal for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by Demonjoe93 on Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:57:55 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/twisted-metal-2012/user-reviews/812403/platform/ps3/ Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:06:09 -0700 clock0 reviewed Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/animal-crossing-new-leaf/user-reviews/812394/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

This brings more features as in Swimming,You're the mayor,new shops,new animals,and more.This has so many great added features.If you liked the first 3 animal crossing you will probably like this more then all 3 of them.i got this the first day it came out.The 3D in this game is ok but nothing like the 3D in mario 3D land.My favorite feature is that your character is now the mayor.You can visit a island again just like in the first one.This game really impressed me.If you are a animal crossing fan then by all means get this game.This is probably the best 3DS game I have played to this date (probably will change when Smash bros comes out).This game is enjoyable to people who really like animal crossing series.If you own a 3DS I highly recommend getting this game.Score 9.7 out of 10.Bottom line this game is very awesome.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"clock0 reviewed Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the 3DS..." was posted by clock0 on Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:06:09 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/animal-crossing-new-leaf/user-reviews/812394/platform/3ds/