LexLas' GameSpot Friend's Reviews LexLas' GameSpot Friend's Reviews LexLas' GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Fri, 24 May 2013 19:21:31 -0700 GameSpot LexLas' GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Wed, 22 May 2013 07:19:49 -0700 pigfish2 reviewed Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/luigis-mansion-dark-moon/user-reviews/811599/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Luigi is a man who is used to living in his brothers shadow. Most of the time he is confined to supporting roles in Mario's adventures or is just one of numerous characters in the likes of Mario Kart and the Mario sports games. If Luigi's mansion 2 is anything to go by though, then Nintendo should give him the limelight more often. Luigi's has taken his chance to star with both hands in a game that plays to his strengths.

Luigi is scared and timid on the outside but courageous on the inside and Luigi's mansion 2 showcases both of these sides to his character. The story is simple: the dark moon that prevents all the ghosts in Evershade valley from getting up to no good has been destroyed so Professor E Gadd has called in Luigi, who has experience in this sort of thing from the first Luigi's mansion, to find the pieces of the dark moon. Armed with his poltergust 5000, Luigi must enter the mansions in the valley, capture the ghosts running amok and find the dark moon pieces. This is, of course, easier said than done. The ghosts are hidden everywhere and Luigi is afraid of everything. His inner courage ensures he presses on but ghosts popping out of suits of armour and much more seriously tests his resolve. The environment is full of objects to interact with and suck up with the poltergust providing a strong feeling of exploration. One of the game's greatest strengths however is its humour. Luigi cowers and quivers at the slightest thing and he is fantastically brought to life by the voice of Charles Martinet. There are plenty of comedy moments throughout too, especially those involving Professor E Gadd's toad assistants who are even more afraid than Luigi. Next Level Games have recognised that Luigi is not the hero that Mario is and thankfully constructed the games narrative and style to reflect this.

Each of the games five mansions vary in theme from a clock mansion to an ice mansion but they all share in the fact that they have a wonderful contrast between the ghosts and the environments. The mansions themselves are dark and foreboding with effective use of lighting whilst the ghosts are brightly coloured and mischievous with grinning faces. This design works well and makes the ghosts stand out from the dark backgrounds that maintain a feel of being threatening. The ghosts are the real danger of course though and if Luigi is hit by them too much he will die. The sound design of the game is top notch too. The ghosts are given character with laughs and other sound effects and music is also effectively used to further the game's scary but light-hearted tone.

In order to capture ghosts and find the pieces of the dark moon Luigi has three pieces of kit provided by Professor E Gadd. The first and most important is the Poltergust 5000. This is used to suck up or blow out interactive elements of the environment and more importantly ghosts. First a ghost must be stunned by the second piece of Luigi's kit, the strobulb. Once this has been done a tug of war like process commences as you pull on the thumb pad in the opposite direction to the ghost until it is captured. This mechanic provides a tactile feel to ghost catching and works well with no control or design issues. It is also great fun. Luigi's third piece of kit is the darklight. This is used to illuminate hidden objects or doorways among other things. It becomes increasingly important as you progress and must be used in more challenging ways. All of Luigi's kit works well and is fun to use. However the game can be criticised for a lack of development in abilities. You get all three items early on and part from some slight improving of them there are no further additions. Thankfully the game finds a variety of ways to use them with new ideas until the very end. They are integral to the game's many puzzles, which make up a sizable portion of the game. It is about much more than just capturing ghosts and the puzzles are always thought provoking and at times pretty challenging. The balance between ghost catching and puzzle solving is well struck and both aspects are well implemented and a joy to perform. Each mansion also ends with a boss level. The bosses are tough but can be defeated with patience and thought. The boss fights are well designed and further enhance the game's level of variety.

This second entry in the Luigi's mansion series is a step up on the first in both length and difficulty. It is 10-15 hours long in terms of the main story compared to the originals meagre few hours and provided much more of a challenge too in terms of capturing ghosts and puzzles. Having five mansions rather than one keeps the game fresh as you progress too. Each mansion is also split into bitesize levels of around 15 minutes each. This is perfect for handheld play and shows the developers have optimised the game for its platform. On the same note, they have made good use of 3D effects to improve the graphical impact of the environments as well. One final way in which Luigi's Mansion 2 improves on its predecessor is the delightful addition of multiplayer. The new thrill tower mode can be played on or offline with up to three other players in a number of modes. The gameplay is much the same as the main game but with a focus on ghost catching over puzzles as you progress up the floors of the tower. It is an unexpected but welcome addition that is especially fun when played with friends.

Luigi's Mansion 2 is one of the best games available on 3DS. It is a vast improvement on the original and plays to Luigi's strengths. The core gameplay carries over from its predecessor but plenty of successful additions and even more humour mean that the series is taken to a new level. If Luigi is capable of giving us more games like this, then I for one, hope he steps out of his brother's shadow a little bit more often.

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"pigfish2 reviewed Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for the 3DS..." was posted by pigfish2 on Wed, 22 May 2013 07:19:49 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/luigis-mansion-dark-moon/user-reviews/811599/platform/3ds/ Sun, 19 May 2013 17:59:17 -0700 Garrison_Ford reviewed BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/811500/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

*** BIOSHOCK INFINITE ***

THE GOOD

-Rich story and characters
-Memorable ending
-Gratifying combat elements
-Skyline and dimensional tears are a fun and unique gameplay aspect
-Columbia is an enthralling place to explore

THE BAD

-Minor glitches and rough textures up close

The United States in the late 1800s launched an era of exceptionalism which brought about a national pride that invigorated the masses. A major byproduct, during this prosperous time, was the development of the majestic floating civilization known as Columbia. From the outside this paradise in the clouds seems to be the kind of utopia people yearn for, but to those who call Columbia home there is something more sinister that plagues each and every one of the inhabitants. Years of segregation has created an endless and violent power struggle between the elite, Caucasian upper class and poverty-stricken, minority lower class (known as the Vox Populi).

Bioshock Infinite begins with a former detective named Booker DeWitt getting transported, via row boat, to a mysterious light house. The two strange couriers drop Mr. DeWitt off and leave him with one simple instruction, "retrieve the girl and wipe away the debt." Booker then ascends in a rocket propelled pod to the beautiful world of Columbia and his outrageous journey to recover "the girl" aka Elisabeth begins.

The chemistry between the two leading protagonists, Booker and Elisabeth, is fantastic. The way the two interact, converse, or just share experiences together throughout this adventure is delightful. The storytelling is masterful and gripping up to the very end with a mind blowing finale that will surely keep you talking about it for months and years to come. The emotional conflict between the upper and lower classes is very real with segregation and racism as a dominate theme. Bioshock Infinite does a fantastic job in getting across the idea that the term 'good' is completely relative.

Columbia is a fun place to explore, which is mainly due two major aspects: the Skyline rail system and the ability to manipulate dimensional tears. The Skyline is a system of roller coaster type rails allowing you to quickly zip between locations via the handheld Skyhook device. Transferring from platform to platform, getting the drop on enemies, and escaping difficult situations makes this aspect a dynamic part of the gameplay. In addition, Columbia is a mysterious place in that dimensional tears or rifts to other worlds are ever so present. Elisabeth has the uncanny ability to interact with these portals and doing so, whether during a cut scene or by your command, is really fun to watch. This feature definitely comes in handy during combat as altering the battlefield in your favor can be the difference between life and death.

The shooting mechanics work well in this first person shooter and Booker's arsenal of weapons is quite impressive. They vary from the familiar like the pistol, shotgun, and sniper rifle to the more unique like the hand cannon and crank mini-gun. Upgrades are available, for a price, at various vending machines and for the most part each weapon works well in combat.

What truly makes the combat system in Bioshock Infinite such an absolute blast is the combination of firepower and special abilities granted by a mysterious substance known as Vigors. Vigors are an engineered concoction that alter Booker's DNA and lets him unleash havoc upon the enemy. Commanding elements like fire and electricity, telepathically mind-controlling baddies to fight for you, and summoning a murder of crows are just some of the awesome things these Vigors can do.

The voice acting is top-notch with Troy Baker (Booker) and Courtnee Draper (Elizabeth) giving outstanding performances. In addition, the music is wonderfully themed in Bioshock Infinite. One of the more notable moments came when a barbershop quartet harmonized The Beach Boys' tune "God Only Knows". This along with other catchy melodies are heard all throughout the game.

The steampunk style of Columbia looks great from a distance but flaws are forever evident from a closer angle. Textures and detail are unfortunately lost in the transition and the visual glitches from time to time don't help it's case either. Thankfully, these setbacks are minor and can be easily overlooked.

Bioshock Infinite is a brilliant masterpiece with a thrilling narrative and enchanting protagonists. The mysterious story unfolds gracefully and gradually intensifies to a dramatic finish. The steampunk themed world of Columbia offers many memorable moments. Opening dimensional tears and using the Skyline rail system adds a dynamic feel to the gameplay and makes exploring this city above the clouds enjoyable. The invigorating combination of guns and Vigors make you feel like a modern-day battle-mage in combat. If you are an Xbox 360 owner you owe it to yourself to play this game. Bioshock Infinite is an illustrious experience and is yet another reason why the Bioshock series will be looked upon as one of the greats for years to come.

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"Garrison_Ford reviewed BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Garrison_Ford on Sun, 19 May 2013 17:59:17 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/811500/platform/xbox360/ Fri, 17 May 2013 08:27:42 -0700 pigfish2 reviewed Tomb Raider for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/tomb-raider/user-reviews/811411/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

It is easy to say that hitting the reboot button is the easy option with a franchise as it enables the developers to start from scratch once more. However in reality it is a difficult task to pull off. Make it too similar to previous iterations and people will wonder why you bothered but make it too different and existing fans will be up in arms. Thankfully with Tomb Raider, Crystal Dynamics has for the most part got the balance right, albeit opting for more that's different than the same.

Being a reboot, the game casts you as a young Lara Croft setting out on her first adventure. Lara and the entire crew of the ship The Endurance are shipwrecked on the island of Yamatai and as Lara you must uncover the islands mysteries, defeat a crazed cult and find a way to escape. All in all the plot and characters are pretty generic with some clichéd dialogue at times but it is the strength of characterisation put into Lara that stands out. She begins as a naive and frightened girl but over the course of the game develops into a strong and confident woman willing to do whatever it takes to survive. Her character development is handled well and is the stand out feature of the game. Most games allow you to advance in terms of abilities and weapons but it is rare for a developer to attempt such a degree of character development. Crystal Dynamics have pulled it off though. This is helped by capable voice performance by Camilla Luddington as Lara. Of course Lara also advances in terms of abilities which are earn using skill points and weapons which can be upgraded using salvage. Just like with the development of Lara's character these are satisfying. They also enable more tasks to be completed and improved combat capability but crucially without making the game too easy as you progress.

Gameplay can be split into three main types. Firstly there is combat. Whilst not groundbreaking the cover system is well implemented and useful in what are some pretty intense firefights at times. The enemy AI is competent too with foes hiding behind cover and making themselves difficult to take down. The combat is very much like that of the Uncharted series, which Crystal Dynamics have clearly taken a number of cues from for this reboot. This can be seen in the second type of gameplay, the exploration and platforming. Lara is just as acrobatic as Nathan Drake and makes use of whatever she can to climb and explore. Jumps and climbs are easy to perform and satisfying to pull off. In another cue taken from the Uncharted series, the scenery will often collapse as Lara climbs it, leading to a scramble to hang on and grab something else. This forms part of the game's edge of your seat tone. Set pieces abound and the game maintains a fast pace as Lara rushes to escape collapsing buildings, is swept down rushing rivers and much more. This lends the game a strong cinematic feel with Lara as the heroine of the piece. The fast pace works well due to the strength of its execution but at times it could do with slowing down. This pace is occasionally broken up the third gameplay type; puzzles. I was disappointed by the lack of puzzles in the early stages of the game and whilst they do increase in number as it progresses, I still would have welcomed more to slow the game's breakneck pace at times. The puzzles that do exist require some thought but none are likely to leave you stumped for long. Overall I feel the gameplay balance is about right though and the difficulty is appropriate too. An omission that fans of the franchise might find hard to take is the lack of tombs. There are seven, short optional tombs, hidden away to find but none that are compulsory for completion. This doesn't detract from the game's quality but existing fans could be left disappointed. It is worth noting though that despite its fast pace and lack of tombs the game is surprisingly lengthy, clocking in at over ten hours.

Graphically, Tomb Raider is not spectacular but it is a good effort. The dark colours and foreboding locales instantly set the island out as a place to be feared and lighting is effectively used to enhance the sense of unease. The music is well chosen and complements the graphical choices in making you truly believe that this is a scary place that Lara is desperate to escape from. In addition to the use of sights and sounds to create a dangerous atmosphere, the game includes a large number of collectibles that flesh out the islands backstory. These are genuinely compelling to discover and extend the games already generous run time. Relics reveal the islands physical history whilst documents are used to portray the experiences of individuals who have previously had the misfortune of ending up on Yamatai. I often find collectibles to be in a game simply for the sake of making it seem to have more value but the Documents and Relics as well as GPS caches (which reveal two secret documents if you find them all) actually complement and enhance the story of the game. Tomb Raider also features online multiplayer in an attempt to further enhance the experience. It is a woefully lacklustre though. Lag is commonplace and it is quite simply boring. As an additional feature that is entirely separate of the main game it can gratefully be ignored though and does not detract from what is a top draw adventure.

Multiplayer aside, Crystal Dynamics' reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise has done what it set out to. It successfully reinvents Lara Croft with a strong level of character development and a fast paced adventure full of memorable moments. Tom Raider has been brought up to date and whilst it may take many cues from the Uncharted series it stands out as a fantastic game in its own right and re-establishes Lara Croft at gaming's top table.

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"pigfish2 reviewed Tomb Raider for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by pigfish2 on Fri, 17 May 2013 08:27:42 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tomb-raider/user-reviews/811411/platform/ps3/ Thu, 16 May 2013 20:23:03 -0700 naju890_963 reviewed Metal Slug 3 for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/metal-slug-3/user-reviews/811398/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Metal Slug, a series best known for it's frantic gameplay and challenging difficulty. SNK's third outing in the franchise, Metal Slug 3 is critically acclaimed and loved by many fans of the series and it's deemed to be the best game in the franchise. While I personally never played a Metal Slug game before this one, I can't deny that MS3 is incredible. Metal Slug 3 was originally released in the arcades on the NEO-GEO MVS hardware which was a dominant force in the days of the arcades. Along the years it has been ported to many different systems, including the Xbox, PC and PS2. The one I'll be reviewing is the PS2 version.

Metal Slug is a series that has always thrived on ridiculously frantic gameplay and Metal Slug 3 doesn't fail to deliver. It's as frantic as ever. It does have a few new additions since Metal Slug 2/X. While no new weapons were added, SNK brought in a couple of new vehicles. One of these vehicles is an ostrich with a machine gun mounted on it. That's why I love this game. It's just goofy, the whole series has a great sense of humour. Apart from a few changes, Metal Slug 3's gameplay is still classic Metal Slug. That's not a problem at all. Metal Slug is one of those games were it is easy to pickup but hard to master. It can really get overwhelming sometimes and death can become unavoidable. Metal Slug 3 has four playable characters, which all play and feel the same. Their's also some backstory, which I wasn't bothered to read because personally I come to Metal Slug for one thing, gameplay. But it might interest some die hard fans of the series.

Gameplay wise, MS3 is very similar to previous entries in the franchise. Almost identical actually, except for a few new mechanics. Levels can actually branch out and can be played differently each time. This adds a lot to replay value. Metal Slug is all about non stop action. I love how it keeps at it all the time and rarely let's down. Most of the time, the screen will be filled with gunfire, soldiers and gigantic bosses. Speaking of gigantic bosses, these are probably the craziest bosses you'll ever see in a 2D run and gunner. They take a lot of hits too and most of the time there are standard soldiers running with them. The bosses don't require much strategy but they are still challenging none the less. A few gimmicks are present in some levels. In a particular level if the player dies, he'll be transformed into a zombie were he is immune to gunfire but still can die if other zombies attack him. I feel like they are a worthy addition and can help break up the gameplay at times. Weapons remain unchanged but I don't feel like that's a problem because they are all fun to use. SNK compensated for that and brought in a couple new Metal Slugs.

Metal Slugs resemble tanks but way wackier. Most of them have machine guns mounted on them, but some might have some special secondary weapons. They'll offer extra protection too. There is one metal slug available for each level. Their isn't much to say about the controls, they work great for the most part but I have a small gripe with them. In one level in particular I found myself on a platform with enemy soldiers underneath me. But for some reason it doesn't allow me to shoot below me which was a real pain as I had to restart the level and take them out first before proceeding upwards. It's nothing to cry about but it did manage to bother me for a while. Graphically it looks very close to the MVS version, I personally see no difference and it's a well done port. Metal Slug features that iconic announcer, you know the one.

The soundtrack rocks too, perfectly fitting. The console versions feature two bonus modes that can be played after finishing the main game. They are fun to play for a while but I didn't find myself going back to them nearly as much as I did with the main game. I would definitely recommend this version for anyone who hasn't played Metal Slug 3 but for those who did play it, I'd see no reason to buy this version except for the bonus modes which aren't that special to begin with. Overall I found Metal Slug 3 to be fun as all hell, fans of 2D games must check this one out.

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"naju890_963 reviewed Metal Slug 3 for the PlayStation 2..." was posted by naju890_963 on Thu, 16 May 2013 20:23:03 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/metal-slug-3/user-reviews/811398/platform/ps2/ Tue, 07 May 2013 15:08:22 -0700 WTA2k5 reviewed BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/811097/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Who dares doesn't always win, apparently. BioShock Infinite is a game that far too often goes only halfway in realizing its many grand ambitions. It dares to speak on ever-relevant issues of racism, classism, and nationalism, but in an odd twist of irony, it marginalizes these plot elements that, in the real world, often lead to oppression and marginalization to instead focus on some good old-fashioned mind-bending speculative science fiction. It admirably deigns to not fall back on jarring cutscenes, but predicates most of its major mechanics on familiar shooting structures, leaving most of its truly affecting moments to be navigated through singular button-presses, that is, if you are given the opportunity to have any real input in these moments in the first place. It wants you to lose yourself in the visually engrossing but philosophically abhorrent world of Columbia, but many of the floating city's major players are paper-thin caricatures, and the game's wealth of audiologs feels cheaper and more overly-convenient than ever.

Still, it must be said that the fact that Infinite even partly accomplishes any of the tasks that it sets out for itself is hugely impressive. Considering many games have difficulties spicing up even the most rote shooting mechanics, unleash a deluge of cutscenes and quicktime events on players at every possible opportunity, and often struggle to not, themselves, be racist, BioShock Infinite stands out as an important step forward for big budget games that strive for serious artistry and drama. Irrational's latest isn't the gaming medium's magnum opus of cultural expression that one might expect given the game's self-serious artistic posturing, and huge critical acclaim, but it's still an utterly important release, and a damn good one too.

This is because there are plenty of things that Infinite gets totally right. The game's astounding audiovisual presentation is perhaps the foremost place to start. The game doesn't overtly flex any technical wizardry in the way an id or Crytek release might, but its sheer artistic splendor makes it one of the very best looking games of this console generation. At the root of this is no doubt the game's stellar environment, which ranks among the pantheon of gaming's greatest settings.

In the game's opening hour, players are slowly, calmly introduced to the seeming utopia of Columbia, an opulent, sun-drenched city above the clouds defined by exaggerated American expressions. Bright, idyllic gardens surround grand Palladian building; a peaceful stillness remains pervasive even through bustling storefronts and chatting citizens, only to occasionally be interrupted by enticing music selections (seriously, pay attention to this game's soundtrack), or - as players will encounter soon after arrival - a gleeful carnival complete with silly games and booming fireworks.

The game is wise to devote such a long period of time to simply navigating and luxuriating in its enticing environment, as Columbia is a true marvel that demonstrates the fact that Infinite's surely ungodly budget was put to good use - Irrational's hugely talented art team seems to have been truly unleashed. And though the game reserves for itself a few more simple moments of quietude, players will also soon discover their chief motivation for the rip-roaring action that consumes the vast majority of Infinite's running time.

Lead by the self-righteous and disturbed Father Comstock, most of Columbia's denizens have adopted a worldview that takes notions of American Exceptionalism to ridiculous but no less frightening extremes. Here, other religions have been extinguished in favor of a faith that idealizes America's founding fathers, as well as Comstock and his family, and all but the Anglo-Saxon adherents to this dogma are marginalized, reviled and exploited. This, as you might imagine, is causing some problems within the floating city, and tensions continually escalate from the moment you arrive.

But don't ready your spinning skyhook just yet, as there's quite a bit to dissect with this hefty plot setup. As mentioned before, Infinite has no qualms about diving headfirst into seemingly risky storytelling territory. But, much like the original BioShock's awkward and contradictory critique of Randian Objectivism, Infinite handles its set of sociopolitical critiques in a rather bumbling, heavy-handed, and ultimately ineffective way. For most of the game, these heavy themes of discrimination are mostly shock with little substance. Early on, for example, players will find themselves in the headquarters of The Fraternal Order of the Raven, an environment whose every last bit of iconography - including statues of John Wilkes Boothe, and enemies garbed in darkened Klu Klux Klan robes - spews bigoted filth. Troubling, to be sure, but this environment is never explored to a satisfactory degree in a narrative context. We are never told what drove the Order's members to this disgusting mindset, or what function it plays in Columbian society as a whole; instead we're instructed to simply tear through the environment, dismembering every racist we can find. Indeed, almost every one of the game's on-the-nose explorations of racism and jingoism seems to exist as more out of a desire to simply justify Infinite's absurd level of bombastic violence than a willingness to earnestly and cerebrally comment on these weighty issues.

It's a true shame, but again, the fact that the game is willing to go to these dark places in an upfront and confrontational manner when most games dodge around similar issues or make heavy use of metaphor and allegory in order to indirectly speak on them is commendable, even if it keeps Infinite's apparent daring from being something to truly celebrate.

But there is a second major component of Infinite's ideological critique, one that is much more subtly woven throughout the game, and one that ultimately cuts much deeper. Forgiveness and rebirth, in regards to its inherent inclusion in many major religions, is relentlessly examined and scrutinized over the course of the campaign in some truly unsettling ways. This side of the game's narrative might be so uncomfortable, in fact, as to offend adherents to the faiths that Infinite draws some heavily parallels to with its own disturbing belief system. The fact, however, that these themes aren't merely dabbled in, as are the game's superficial commentaries discrimination, but rather made absolutely integral to the core narrative and explored fully and fearlessly leads Infinite, in this instance, to fully live up to its grandiose goals. This is the moment where Infinite's narrative triumphs, and I can only hope that more games follow in its footsteps in bringing to light serious thematic content in a more direct manner, as can be seen so often in other media yet so rarely within video games.

Alright, here's where you can start revving up your skyhook. As he progresses through the carnival that greets him as he first steps foot in Columbia, Booker DeWitt, the game's playable and decidedly not-mute protagonist, begins to fully unravel the noxious worldview of Columbia's inhabitants. On his way towards a strange raffle that serves as the fair's main event, Comstock's voice booms over a loudspeaker, warning the citizens of Columbia about the arrival of the False Prophet, a man who has the letters "AD" burned into his right hand. Sure enough, our anti-hero holds his hand up to reveal that exact marking. And sure enough, during this eerie raffle event, the Columbians take notice of the mark, and Booker DeWitt swiftly digs a spinning hookblade into the skull of the first police officer that attempts to apprehend him.

With this, BioShock Infinite reveals its heavy emphasis on twitchy shooter gameplay and ridiculous amounts of gore. Engaging in the game's slick shooting mechanics feels no different than it might in the latest Call of Duty game; guns have a fantastic sense of weight to them and the responsiveness and ingenuity of the game's heads-up display ensures steady environmental awareness despite the over-the-top freneticism of many of the game's combat sequences. But where Infinite's combat truly shines is in its surprising mechanical density. Vigors that grant Booker special powers like the ability to shoot electricity from his fingertips or absorb bullets and toss them right back at foes serve as the first extra layering. For those familiar with the series, these powers might seem quite like the Plasmids introduced in the first BioShock, and though they do perform the same function, they're implemented in a far more balanced way in Infinite than they are in its predecessors; they're powerful and readily available but must be dealt out conservatively, as the mana pool they run on is rather restrictive.

But as gleefully destructive as they can be, Vigors are decidedly uninteresting in the face of Infinite's more inspired new mechanics. Booker's ability to latch onto the aerial Skylines running throughout Columbia is perhaps the most mind-blowing gameplay feature of them all. Though the mechanic seemed rather unbelievable during its first E3 showing a couple years ago, it speaks to the ingenuity of the game's level design that fluidly navigating Skylines that weave throughout many of the game's rather conspicuous battle arenas while taking shots at enemies, a potentially disorienting feat, becomes effortless after only a few encounters. The verticality and freedom of movement this system grants the game is awe-inspiring, and almost attaches a sense of childlike wonder to the act of mass-murdering racists.

For the first few hours of gameplay, these are the mechanics that Booker is limited to. It's during this time that he seeks to accomplish a seemingly simple direction mandated by a mysterious client: "Give us the girl, and wipe away the debt." Though this phrase ends up holding more significance than an uninitiated player could possibly know, it nonetheless serves as the impetus for finding Elizabeth, a young woman whose power to tear holes in the space-time continuum has, perhaps expectedly, lead her to be sequestered on the looming, Statue of Liberty-esque research facility, Monument Island.

So, as one might expect, this ability of hers adds more than a few layers of complexity to what might've otherwise been a rather straightforward plot. As the extent of her powers is gradually revealed, a suitably mind-bending narrative begins to form that comments, among other things, on the frail nature of identity and the profound ways in which a single choice can influence personhood, for better or worse. Though the introduction of converging space-time might seem to risk devolving the story into an Inception-esque exercise in overly complex authorial self-indulgence, BioShock Infinite uses this storytelling conceit to build a truly tragedian narrative.

But Elizabeth isn't merely a means for crafting a brain-melting metaphysical storyline. Nor is Booker DeWitt a stupefied on-looker who hails from the same lineage of horribly flat shooter protagonists as Gordon Freeman, or Corvo Attano. They are both memorable characters whose defined personalities infuse the plot's affecting tragedy with a true sense of humanity. Elizabeth, on one hand, starts out as a surprisingly cultured and self-aware inversion of the classic damsel-in-distress trope, and her evolution over the course of the game's ten- to twelve-hour campaign is astonishingly well-paced and believable. Her exaggerated features and expressive animations that pay homage to the distinctive style Grim Natwick invented for Disney solidify her as one of the most memorable and empathetic characters in gaming. DeWitt, by contrast, is predominately a closed-book, limiting himself to practical, yet charismatic antics strongly reminiscent of classic swashbucklers like Han Solo until his dark past is fully revealed during the final act. When that happens, he extends far beyond his narrative role as a foil to Elizabeth, and the resulting revelations cut to the bone. Major compliments are due to Troy Baker and Courtnee Draper, who faultlessly brings this odd couple to life even through all the mind-blowing turns the story takes.

The duo also serve as a great team during Infinite's huge combat sequences. Though Booker, as mentioned before, is in charge of most of the direct combat, Elizabeth is a key ingredient in what makes the game's massive shootouts so dazzling. Most significantly, she uses her ability to alter time and space to bring objects into the battlefields that didn't previously exist. Asking for a wall of cover to hide behind when a dozen enemies are facing you down, or perhaps a Skyhook that lets you access a sniper perch adds an exciting tactical dynamism to combat that feels especially important considering the sheer number of foes the game throws at you. Since you can only select one object to tear in at a time, more heated battles require a constant mindfulness and economization of Elizabeth's power that is as exhilaratingly strategic as the best of tactical shooters.

A smaller, but no less genius touch is the fact that Elizabeth tosses you mana and ammo when it feels clutch. Even when it becomes obvious that she's scripted to do so whenever your resources are running low, the notion that an AI is looking out for you is relentlessly fulfilling, especially in a game that constructs a scenario that might've so easily fallen into the dreaded escort-mission trap. Indeed, going back to other first-person shooters has become tough, as Elizabeth is not just a delightful companion in a narrative sense, but she's also integral to the satisfaction of Infinite's moment-to-moment combat proceedings.

Each of the augments to the core shooting experience are satisfying in their own right, but once they all start working in tandem, Infinite's combat scenarios reach the upper-echelon of FPS sublimation. Not since Half-Life 2 has a shooter married pulse-pounding twitch thrills to a deeply strategic core so seamlessly, and while leaving so much room for experimentation. The gritty sound design that punctuates the action is equally superb; a combination of abrasive string stabs, impactful weapon sound effects and some truly horrifying enemy damage reactions unfailingly sell you on the weighty ferocity of the mayhem you cause.

All this, of course, sounds amazing, and on some level it truly is. But consider this: for all its fast-paced entertainment, Infinite's combat never fully works. In a mechanical sense, it's pretty much as polished as can be, but the game's massive amount of carnage doesn't quite work within the context of the story. In fact, story and gameplay don't feel merged at all. While there's a fair amount of narrative justification for the heavy degree of violence, the fact that shooting people and ripping their heads of with a spinning hook is pretty much Booker's only way of interacting with the world undercuts much of the arresting emotionality of Infinite's narrative.

Highlighting this problem is the fact that many of the game's most powerful moments either preclude player input, or limit interactivity to the push of a single button. Elizabeth's ability to tear holes in the space-time continuum, for example, may have been the basis for some ingenious puzzle solving and narrative interaction, but players are instead left to simply push a button to demand entry into a new reality where they can proceed to shoot more people in the face. Again, this feels like BioShock Infinite going only halfway in bringing its many fantastic ideas to life; some truly inventive mechanical structures may have been borne out of the game's central narrative conceits, but Irrational has disappointingly opted to instead rely on more comfortable and pre-established action gameplay.

This disconnect is furthered by the game's odd focus on scavenging between each firefight. While the opportunity to really dig into and appreciate each environment, as well as get a break from the nearly nonstop action is welcome, the context of the narrative doesn't really support these detours either. Booker's mission is given an impactful sense of urgency, so the fact that the game encourages you to stop down for long stretches of time to eat random food items littered about and try to uncover Columbia's many secrets is rather off-putting. Early on, for instance, Elizabeth finds herself in immediate danger. An objective indicator flashes on-screen telling you to go rescue her, yet you find yourself surrounded by lootable objects designated by a pulsating golden glow. Of all the moments to try and fish pieces of cake out of a trashcan, this may be the least opportune, but Infinite's structure, which evidently values narrative over gameplay in terms of pacing and logic, continues to tempt you astray regardless. This might all seem a bit nitpicky, but considering the fact that Infinite is so intent on being treated as a significant work of art, these small annoyances can't be ignored, as they gradually undermine the meaning the game tries so hard to construct for itself.

BioShock Infinite is a game worth any mature player's while, but it has come at an unfortunate time. Within the past year alone, the industry has been treated to games like Spec Ops: The Line, The Walking Dead, and Hotline Miami, just a few titles that are capable of eloquently and expertly exploring dark themes while being cognizant of their respective mechanics' impact on the narratives they try to weave, making a game like Infinite - one that never fully accounts for the ways in which its gameplay influences the meaning and effectiveness of its story - seem a bit clumsy by comparison. David Jaffe, the brilliant designer behind games like God of War and Twisted Metal once deemed the relationship between gameplay and narrative as being like the combination of "chocolate and tunafish." I would argue that this claim isn't necessarily true, and games like Spec Ops are perfect demonstrations as to why that is. In the case of Infinite, however, Jaffe's argument has a haunting validity. But take heart, the chocolate that is BioShock Infinite's gameplay and the tunafish that is its story are pretty much premium grade when enjoyed separately. Just accept the fact that the combination is going to taste a little odd and find something to savor within it.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"WTA2k5 reviewed BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360..." was posted by WTA2k5 on Tue, 07 May 2013 15:08:22 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/811097/platform/xbox360/ Tue, 07 May 2013 13:42:46 -0700 WTA2k5 reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/811095/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Who dares doesn't always win, apparently. BioShock Infinite is a game that far too often goes only halfway in realizing its many grand ambitions. It dares to speak on ever-relevant issues of racism, classism, and nationalism, but in an odd twist of irony, it marginalizes these plot elements that, in the real world, often lead to oppression and marginalization to instead focus on some good old-fashioned mind-bending speculative science fiction. It admirably deigns to not fall back on jarring cutscenes, but predicates most of its major mechanics on familiar shooting structures, leaving most of its truly affecting moments to be navigated through singular button-presses, that is, if you are given the opportunity to have any real input in these moments in the first place. It wants you to lose yourself in the visually engrossing but philosophically abhorrent world of Columbia, but many of the floating city's major players are paper-thin caricatures, and the game's wealth of audiologs feels cheaper and more overly-convenient than ever.

Still, it must be said that the fact that Infinite even partly accomplishes any of the tasks that it sets out for itself is hugely impressive. Considering have huge difficulties spicing up even the most rote shooting mechanics, unleash a deluge of cutscenes and quicktime events on players at every possible opportunity, and often struggle to not, themselves, be racist, BioShock Infinite stands out as an important step forward for big budget games that strive for serious artistry and drama. Irrational's latest isn't the gaming medium's magnum opus of cultural expression that one might expect given the game's self-serious artistic posturing, and huge critical acclaim, but it's still an utterly important release, and a damn good one too.

This is because there are plenty of things that Infinite gets totally right. The game's astounding audiovisual presentation is perhaps the foremost place to start. The game doesn't overtly flex any technical wizardry in the way an id or Crytek release might, but its sheer artistic splendor makes it one of the very best looking games of this console generation. At the root of this is no doubt the game's stellar environment, which ranks among the pantheon of gaming's greatest settings.

In the game's opening hour, players are slowly, calmly introduced to the seeming utopia of Columbia, an opulent, sun-drenched city above the clouds defined by exaggerated American expressions. Bright, idyllic gardens surround grand Palladian building; a peaceful stillness remains pervasive even through bustling storefronts and chatting citizens, only to occasionally be interrupted by enticing music selections (seriously, pay attention to this game's soundtrack), or - as players will encounter soon after arrival - a gleeful carnival complete with silly games and booming fireworks.

The game is wise to devote such a long period of time to simply navigating and luxuriating in its enticing environment, as Columbia is a true marvel that demonstrates the fact that Infinite's surely ungodly budget was put to good use - Irrational's hugely talented art team seems to have been truly unleashed. And though the game reserves for itself a few more simple moments of quietude, players will also soon discover their chief motivation for the rip-roaring action that consumes the vast majority of Infinite's running time.

Lead by the self-righteous and disturbed Father Comstock, most of Columbia's denizens have adopted a worldview that takes notions of American Exceptionalism to ridiculous but no less frightening extremes. Here, other religions have been extinguished in favor of a faith that idealizes America's founding fathers, as well as Comstock and his family, and all but the Anglo-Saxon adherents to this dogma are marginalized, reviled and exploited. This, as you might imagine, is causing some problems within the floating city, and tensions continually escalate from the moment you arrive.

But don't ready your spinning skyhook just yet, as there's quite a bit to dissect with this hefty plot setup. As mentioned before, Infinite has no qualms about diving headfirst into seemingly risky storytelling territory. But, much like the original BioShock's awkward and contradictory critique of Randian Objectivism, Infinite handles its set of sociopolitical critiques in a rather bumbling, heavy-handed, and ultimately ineffective way. For most of the game, these heavy themes of discrimination are mostly shock with little substance. Early on, for example, players will find themselves in the headquarters of The Fraternal Order of the Raven, an environment whose every last bit of iconography - including statues of John Wilkes Boothe, and enemies garbed in darkened Klu Klux Klan robes - spews bigoted filth. Troubling, to be sure, but this environment is never explored to a satisfactory degree in a narrative context. We are never told what drove the Order's members to this disgusting mindset, or what function it plays in Columbian society as a whole; instead we're instructed to simply tear through the environment, dismembering every racist we can find. Indeed, almost every one of the game's on-the-nose explorations of racism and jingoism seems to exist as more out of a desire to simply justify Infinite's absurd level of bombastic violence than a willingness to earnestly and cerebrally comment on these weighty issues.

It's a true shame, but again, the fact that the game is willing to go to these dark places in an upfront and confrontational manner when most games dodge around similar issues or make heavy use of metaphor and allegory in order to indirectly speak on them is commendable, even if it keeps Infinite's apparent daring from being something to truly celebrate.

But there is a second major component of Infinite's ideological critique, one that is much more subtly woven throughout the game, and one that ultimately cuts much deeper. Forgiveness and rebirth, in regards to its inherent inclusion in many major religions, is relentlessly examined and scrutinized over the course of the campaign in some truly unsettling ways. This side of the game's narrative might be so uncomfortable, in fact, as to offend adherents to the faiths that Infinite draws some heavily parallels to with its own disturbing belief system. The fact, however, that these themes aren't merely dabbled in, as are the game's superficial commentaries discrimination, but rather made absolutely integral to the core narrative and explored fully and fearlessly leads Infinite, in this instance, to fully live up to its grandiose goals. This is the moment where Infinite's narrative triumphs, and I can only hope that more games follow in its footsteps in bringing to light serious thematic content in a more direct manner, as can be seen so often in other media yet so rarely within video games.

Alright, here's where you can start revving up your skyhook. As he progresses through the carnival that greets him as he first steps foot in Columbia, Booker DeWitt, the game's playable and decidedly not-mute protagonist, begins to fully unravel the noxious worldview of Columbia's inhabitants. On his way towards a strange raffle that serves as the fair's main event, Comstock's voice booms over a loudspeaker, warning the citizens of Columbia about the arrival of the False Prophet, a man who has the letters "AD" burned into his right hand. Sure enough, our anti-hero holds his hand up to reveal that exact marking. And sure enough, during this eerie raffle event, the Columbians take notice of the mark, and Booker DeWitt swiftly digs a spinning hookblade into the skull of the first police officer that attempts to apprehend him.

With this, BioShock Infinite reveals its heavy emphasis on twitchy shooter gameplay and ridiculous amounts of gore. Engaging in the game's slick shooting mechanics feels no different than it might in the latest Call of Duty game; guns have a fantastic sense of weight to them and the responsiveness and ingenuity of the game's heads-up display ensures steady environmental awareness despite the over-the-top freneticism of many of the game's combat sequences. But where Infinite's combat truly shines is in its surprising mechanical density. Vigors that grant Booker special powers like the ability to shoot electricity from his fingertips or absorb bullets and toss them right back at foes serve as the first extra layering. For those familiar with the series, these powers might seem quite like the Plasmids introduced in the first BioShock, and though they do perform the same function, they're implemented in a far more balanced way in Infinite than they are in its predecessors; they're powerful and readily available but must be dealt out conservatively, as the mana pool they run on is rather restrictive.

But as gleefully destructive as they can be, Vigors are decidedly uninteresting in the face of Infinite's more inspired new mechanics. Booker's ability to latch onto the aerial Skylines running throughout Columbia is perhaps the most mind-blowing gameplay feature of them all. Though the mechanic seemed rather unbelievable during its first E3 showing a couple years ago, it speaks to the ingenuity of the game's level design that fluidly navigating Skylines that weave throughout many of the game's rather conspicuous battle arenas while taking shots at enemies, a potentially disorienting feat, becomes effortless after only a few encounters. The verticality and freedom of movement this system grants the game is awe-inspiring, and almost attaches a sense of childlike wonder to the act of mass-murdering racists.

For the first few hours of gameplay, these are the mechanics that Booker is limited to. It's during this time that he seeks to accomplish a seemingly simple direction mandated by a mysterious client: "Give us the girl, and wipe away the debt." Though this phrase ends up holding more significance than an uninitiated player could possibly know, it nonetheless serves as the impetus for finding Elizabeth, a young woman whose power to tear holes in the space-time continuum has, perhaps expectedly, lead her to be sequestered on the looming, Statue of Liberty-esque research facility, Monument Island.

So, as one might expect, this ability of hers adds more than a few layers of complexity to what might've otherwise been a rather straightforward plot. As the extent of her powers is gradually revealed, a suitably mind-bending narrative begins to form that comments, among other things, on the frail nature of identity and the profound ways in which a single choice can influence personhood, for better or worse. Though the introduction of converging space-time might seem to risk devolving the story into an Inception-esque exercise in overly complex authorial self-indulgence, BioShock Infinite uses this storytelling conceit to build a truly tragedian narrative.

But Elizabeth isn't merely a means for crafting a brain-melting metaphysical storyline. Nor is Booker DeWitt a stupefied on-looker who hails from the same lineage of horribly flat shooter protagonists as Gordon Freeman, or Corvo Attano. They are both memorable characters whose defined personalities infuse the plot's affecting tragedy with a true sense of humanity. Elizabeth, on one hand, starts out as a surprisingly cultured and self-aware inversion of the classic damsel-in-distress trope, and her evolution over the course of the game's ten- to twelve-hour campaign is astonishingly well-paced and believable. Her exaggerated features and expressive animations that pay homage to the distinctive style Grim Natwick invented for Disney solidify her as one of the most memorable and empathetic characters in gaming. DeWitt, by contrast, is predominately a closed-book, limiting himself to practical, yet charismatic antics strongly reminiscent of classic swashbucklers like Han Solo until his dark past is fully revealed during the final act. When that happens, he extends far beyond his narrative role as a foil to Elizabeth, and the resulting revelations cut to the bone. Major compliments are due to Troy Baker and Courtnee Draper, who faultlessly brings this odd couple to life even through all the mind-blowing turns the story takes.

The duo also serve as a great team during Infinite's huge combat sequences. Though Booker, as mentioned before, is in charge of most of the direct combat, Elizabeth is a key ingredient in what makes the game's massive shootouts so dazzling. Most significantly, she uses her ability to alter time and space to bring objects into the battlefields that didn't previously exist. Asking for a wall of cover to hide behind when a dozen enemies are facing you down, or perhaps a Skyhook that lets you access a sniper perch adds an exciting tactical dynamism to combat that feels especially important considering the sheer number of foes the game throws at you. Since you can only select one object to tear in at a time, more heated battles require a constant mindfulness and economization of Elizabeth's power that is as exhilaratingly strategic as the best of tactical shooters.

A smaller, but no less genius touch is the fact that Elizabeth tosses you mana and ammo when it feels clutch. Even when it becomes obvious that she's scripted to do so whenever your resources are running low, the notion that an AI is looking out for you is relentlessly fulfilling, especially in a game that constructs a scenario that might've so easily fallen into the dreaded escort-mission trap. Indeed, going back to other first-person shooters has become tough, as Elizabeth is not just a delightful companion in a narrative sense, but she's also integral to the satisfaction of Infinite's moment-to-moment combat proceedings.

Each of the augments to the core shooting experience are satisfying in their own right, but once they all start working in tandem, Infinite's combat scenarios reach the upper-echelon of FPS sublimation. Not since Half-Life 2 has a shooter married pulse-pounding twitch thrills to a deeply strategic core so seamlessly, and while leaving so much room for experimentation. The gritty sound design that punctuates the action is equally superb; a combination of abrasive string stabs, impactful weapon sound effects and some truly horrifying enemy damage reactions unfailingly sell you on the weighty ferocity of the mayhem you cause.

All this, of course, sounds amazing, and on some level it truly is. But consider this: for all its fast-paced entertainment, Infinite's combat never fully works. In a mechanical sense, it's pretty much as polished as can be, but the game's massive amount of carnage doesn't quite work within the context of the story. In fact, story and gameplay don't feel merged at all. While there's a fair amount of narrative justification for the heavy degree of violence, the fact that shooting people and ripping their heads of with a spinning hook is pretty much Booker's only way of interacting with the world undercuts much of the arresting emotionality of Infinite's narrative.

Highlighting this problem is the fact that many of the game's most powerful moments either preclude player input, or limit interactivity to the push of a single button. Elizabeth's ability to tear holes in the space-time continuum, for example, may have been the basis for some ingenious puzzle solving and narrative interaction, but players are instead left to simply push a button to demand entry into a new reality where they can proceed to shoot more people in the face. Again, this feels like BioShock Infinite going only halfway in bringing its many fantastic ideas to life; some truly inventive mechanical structures may have been borne out of the game's central narrative conceits, but Irrational has disappointingly opted to instead rely on more comfortable and pre-established action gameplay.

This disconnect is furthered by the game's odd focus on scavenging between each firefight. While the opportunity to really dig into and appreciate each environment, as well as get a break from the nearly nonstop action is welcome, the context of the narrative doesn't really support these detours either. Booker's mission is given an impactful sense of urgency, so the fact that the game encourages you to stop down for long stretches of time to eat random food items littered about and try to uncover Columbia's many secrets is rather off-putting. Early on, for instance, Elizabeth finds herself in immediate danger. An objective indicator flashes on-screen telling you to go rescue her, yet you find yourself surrounded by lootable objects designated by a pulsating golden glow. Of all the moments to try and fish pieces of cake out of a trashcan, this may be the least opportune, but Infinite's structure, which evidently values narrative over gameplay in terms of pacing and logic, continues to tempt you astray regardless. This might all seem a bit nitpicky, but considering the fact that Infinite is so intent on being treated as a significant work of art, these small annoyances can't be ignored, as they gradually undermine the meaning the game tries so hard to construct for itself.

BioShock Infinite is a game worth any mature player's while, but it has come at an unfortunate time. Within the past year alone, the industry has been treated to games like Spec Ops: The Line, The Walking Dead, and Hotline Miami, just a few titles that are capable of eloquently and expertly exploring dark themes while being cognizant of their respective mechanics' impact on the narratives they try to weave, making a game like Infinite - one that never fully accounts for the ways in which its gameplay influences the meaning and effectiveness of its story - seem a bit clumsy by comparison. David Jaffe, the brilliant designer behind games like God of War and Twisted Metal once deemed the relationship between gameplay and narrative as being like the combination of "chocolate and tunafish." I would argue that this claim isn't necessarily true, and games like Spec Ops are perfect demonstrations as to why that is. In the case of Infinite, however, Jaffe's argument has a haunting validity. But take heart, the chocolate that is BioShock Infinite's gameplay and the tunafish that is its story are pretty much premium grade when enjoyed separately. Just accept the fact that the combination is to taste a little odd and find something to savor within it.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"WTA2k5 reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by WTA2k5 on Tue, 07 May 2013 13:42:46 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/811095/platform/ps3/ Fri, 03 May 2013 04:19:30 -0700 naju890_963 reviewed Sonic the Hedgehog for the Genesis... http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-the-hedgehog/user-reviews/810955/platform/genesis/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

The Sonic the Hedgehog series has been running since 1991 when the first game debuted on the Sega Genesis. This was Sega's idea of a mascot. A blue hedgehog, with spikes on its back and red shoes. Sega created a platformer with this character, made him run very fast in colorful levels with lots of enemies, power-ups and bosses. This was a winning formula. It was the game that got the Sega Genesis up on its feet. Nowadays Sonic is on par with Mario when it comes to popularity but in the last 10 years we have seen a decrease in quality when it came to Sonic games. None the less, Sonic is still loved by many and his old games will always be cherished by Sega fans everywhere.

Sonic The Hedgehog was the first 2D platformer to feature a character so fast. At the time, Genesis owners were amazed at the speed that Sonic ran. He still runs fast nowadays but it won't blow your mind like it did back in the 90s. This contributed to fast platforming and an incredible flow that made Mario and other platformers seem sluggish. The main antagonist is Doctor Ivo Robotnik who was snatching animals and transforming them into evil robots. It's up to Sonic to defeat Robotnik and save the day. Sonic 1 features 6 zones with 3 acts each. This means that it has 18 playable levels with a special stage that can only be accessed in the first two acts of every zone. While most of the levels are pretty solid, I found the pacing to be poor. Let's see. The game starts of with the infamous Green Hill Zone. It's a fast and short level just like it should be. The second level is called Marble Zone. This is a platform heavy zone, so it's naturally quite slow. I personally find it fun but Sonic is not about slow platforming. All of the levels after Green Hill except Starlight Zone don't capture the feel of speed the first zone manages to achieve. Even so the platforming in these levels still managed to keep my attention and are pretty challenging.

Every zone has a boss of its own. The boss is always Robotnik with a new machine wreaking havoc upon Sonic. Once you get the patterns down, the boss fights are laughably easy, they're still fun to go through though. The levels are packed with rings, enemies and power-ups. Rings are very important. Sonic doesn't have the usual health system found in most platformers. If Sonic doesn't have any rings and gets hit by an enemy he will die. But if Sonic has one or more rings on him and gets hit, Sonic will simply drop all his rings. It's a great system and it helps keep the action fast. There are other things that the rings can do. If Sonic collects a 100 rings in one act than he gets an extra life. Rings are also necessary if the player wants to access the special zone. If Sonic collect fifty rings, a giant ring will appear at the end of the level. When Sonic jumps through it he'll be teleported to the special stage. Sonic will need to traverse a maze with multi-colored blocks while collecting rings. Collecting another hundred rings here will grant the player an extra life and a continue. But the main reason why the special stages exist is the Chaos Emeralds. If Sonic collects all the emeralds in all the special stages, a different ending will play instead of the normal one. These special stages get annoying sometimes, although the background and the music are kinda trippy. Keep in mind that special zones are not available at the end of act 3 of every zone, as a boss is present.

A bevy of power-ups are available, they can usually be found in computer monitors. There is the Super ring, which rewards Sonic with 10 rings, the Speed shoes, which make Sonic run even faster, a shield which grants Sonic an extra layer of protection against enemies, Invincibility, speaks for itself and a 1-up, extra life basically. Also keep in mind that invincibility won't help if Sonic falls on spikes or a pit. Sonic has a few attacks up his sleeve. He can jump on enemies or use the spin attack in which Sonic rolls up into a ball and charges his enemy. Speaking of enemies, theirs a plethora of enemies which are all Robotnik's robots. Theirs a couple of annoying enemies here and their but I think they look cool and most of the time they're fun to stomp on. Sonic has very simple controls, D-pad for movement and the A button for jumping. Simplicity at it's finest. The 16-bit sonic games are all beautiful to look at, and this is no exception. The colors are simply amazing, everything just pops out of the screen. It's ironic that a game this old can still wow gamers with its colorful graphics while newer games like Battlefield 3 can bore me to death with its various shades of brown. Also the infamous soundtrack for Sonic, unbelievably catchy and just a joy to listen too, truly a gem.

What can I say more? The original Sonic the Hedgehog is something that everyone must play, most of you must have already played it. It's available on tons of platforms but if you want to be a purist and buy it on the original console then it's not a problem at all. The Sega Genesis or Megadrive, depending on where you live is very easy to find, the sonic games are quite easy to find aswell, they were best sellers on the console after all.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"naju890_963 reviewed Sonic the Hedgehog for the Genesis..." was posted by naju890_963 on Fri, 03 May 2013 04:19:30 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-the-hedgehog/user-reviews/810955/platform/genesis/ Sun, 28 Apr 2013 03:20:10 -0700 pigfish2 reviewed LEGO City Undercover for the Wii U... http://www.gamespot.com/lego-city-undercover/user-reviews/810781/platform/wii-u/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Lego City Undercover marks the first entirely original game in Travellers Tales series of Lego games that began with Lego Star Wars back in 2005 and for the most part its better for this. Much of the charm of the Lego games is the way they poke fun at characters you know but free of the constraints of a familiar franchise the developers have kept the series' trademark humour intact with their own cast of likeable and funny characters. The story goes that as legendary cop Chase McCain you have returned to Lego City after two years away to help return the notorious criminal Rex Fury to prison. Undercover is still heavily indebted to films though with countless nods to and parodies of classic movies throughout. One of the best is a construction worker who is clearly a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The game is light-hearted in tone as you expect from a Lego game and genuinely amusing throughout with full voice acting for all the major characters. Said characters are for the most part well characterised but sadly Rex Fury is criminally underused with little explanation of his motives. All in all it is very much what you expect from a Lego game on the exterior but delve deeper and there is some noticeable tinkering and additions.

Lego City is fully open world and you can make your way throughout the entire city with no loading screens. This sense of exploration fits well with Lego and is improved further by the ability to take control of any of the over 100 types of vehicles dotted throughout the city. Impressively each vehicle has its own unique handling, which is an extra level of sheen than you would expect. The 15-20 hour story involves both exploration and completing goals in the city and 15 special assignments set in self contained levels. This works well and introduces variety to proceedings. The chief gameplay mechanic is the ability for Chase to switch between a number of disguises ranging from burglar to fireman. Each disguise once unlocked provides its own unique abilities for solving different puzzles. This is a good way of keeping the Lego games character swapping intact whilst casting you as a single character. One free play mode is unlocked you can use any of the games 290 disguises that there are to collect. These disguises include all of the games major and minor characters and beyond and fit into categories based on the disguises Chase can use in the story. Gameplay involves a mix of fighting, platforming and puzzle solving and whilst for the most part these are all simplistic they are nevertheless fun. In terms of gameplay there is little change from what you expect from the tried and tested Lego formula. The game is rarely challenging, but that has never been the point with the Lego games, instead it offers relatively easy childlike enjoyment.

Graphically the game is not groundbreaking but holds up well with minor blemishes only noticeable when the camera moves in close. The voice work for the game is well recorded and the sound work in general is good. The music whilst decent quickly becomes irritating though as the game only has a few tracks that constantly repeat. One area where the game falls down is in technical details. The loading times when starting or finishing levels, and entering the police station are horribly long and clock in at a minimum 40 seconds each. This can be in part understood by the huge open world nature of the city but nevertheless it is an irritating waste of times. More worryingly the game at times suffers from freezing and other minor technical problems but these are rare. Lack of multiplayer in such a family orientated game is another drawback. The gamepad is well implemented if hardly original, with it serving as a communicator, scanner and map.

Undercover is a fun, if hardly exceptional game that offers plenty of hours of enjoyment. The story can be finished in 15-20 hours but with loads to collect and unlock beyond that and a huge city to explore there is plenty of value to be had. It is one of the best games in the Lego series that benefits from being unchained by the absence of a license and whilst it may not be a classic, it is a welcome addition to the Wii U's library.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"pigfish2 reviewed LEGO City Undercover for the Wii U..." was posted by pigfish2 on Sun, 28 Apr 2013 03:20:10 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/lego-city-undercover/user-reviews/810781/platform/wii-u/ Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:44:00 -0700 naju890_963 reviewed Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/duke-nukem-3d-atomic-edition/user-reviews/810705/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

It's time to go back to Duke's glory days. As you may know, Duke's latest game, Duke Nukem Forever was a flop. It was an outdated mess that made Duke look pathetic. DNF went through countless development cycles and it was basically a big old mess. But let's forget about that for now and go back to the time when Duke was still a force to be reckoned with in the gaming industry.

Duke Nukem 3D originally came out on MS-DOS back in 1996. This was back when games were harder to boot up than launching a rocket in space. But thankfully nowadays we have procedures that are much easier. There are numerous versions and ports of this game. The one I'll be reviewing is the Atomic edition. This contains another episode with eleven levels. You can try being a purist and buying the original DOS version but that would be a big pain in the ass. The easy way is to buy it off gog.com or get the Megaton edition from Steam. Let's dig in.

Duke Nukem 3D is an old-school FPS, were you control the always charming Duke Nukem. There are four episodes in total with eleven levels each, except for the first episode that only has seven levels. A multiplayer mode was also available but that is long gone. After the events of Duke Nukem 2, Duke finds himself back on earth. He finds out that an unknown force has taken over earth and it's up to Duke Nukem to save the day. It's a very simplistic storyline, although it doesn't really show itself throughout the game except at the occasional cutscene peppered throughout the episodes. But I believe that a simplistic, cliché storyline like this goes perfectly with Duke's outrageous character. Speaking about Duke, he's one hell of a character. Firing one liners at every opportunity he gets and blasting aliens without remorse, that's Duke alright. Duke is as two-dimensional as it gets. Nowadays characters in video games are more realistic and most of today's games have abandoned these macho one man army's with no soul, like we used to find in games like Doom or Wolfenstein 3D. I can't imagine what kind of controversy this game sparked up back in 1996. Why you ask. Well Duke 3D features strippers, (probably the first game to do it) and countless more nods to pornography.

Now that we have covered the setting and story, it's time talk about the gameplay. First of all, this game runs on the 2.5D build engine which is similar to the engine that Doom uses. Moving and shooting feels a lot like other 2.5D FPS's. It can be pretty weird to control Duke for players that never played a 2.5D game before. Unlike 3D shooters, the player is only allowed to look left or right. Eliminating enemies that are standing above or under the player can be done by shooting in the direction that the enemy is situated in. Unlike shooters of today, Duke 3D doesn't try to be realistic by giving the player only two weapons to use at a time, no it lets the player use the full arsenal once you unlocked them all obviously. Speaking about weapons, theirs a bevy of fun weapons to choose from like the chaingun, shrink-ray, microwave expander and others. It's so refreshing to play a shooter that doesn't have the usual military weapons like the M4, AK-47 and so on. Not to mention that all these weapons feel very different from each other. Theirs also an inventory system which is used to store items like Holodukes, health packs and steroids. To be honest the inventory is a bit of a pain to use and flip through items. I really like the levels in Duke 3D. I think that the level design is very clever at times. There are multiple routes to take to get to the objective and tons of secrets and easter eggs to find. The levels look awesome and the environments are very interesting to explore. These levels are filled with fun things to do like, tipping strippers, pissing in toilets and lots of other things to interact with.

Graphically it looks dated by today's standards, but it's totally playable. Even though graphically it looks dated it has this charm to it that makes everything all the better. As far as sound goes, everything sounds retro and awesome. To be honest some sounds from the alien enemies really creeped but I guess it's just me. I almost forgot to mention that the main theme is incredible. It's so awesome in fact that Megadeth actually made a cover for it. Duke Nukem 3D manages to still retain its charm after all these years and clearly stood the test of time. I doubt that you'll find an FPS as fun and creative as Duke 3D.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"naju890_963 reviewed Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition for the PC..." was posted by naju890_963 on Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:44:00 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/duke-nukem-3d-atomic-edition/user-reviews/810705/platform/pc/ Mon, 22 Apr 2013 03:13:30 -0700 Garrison_Ford reviewed LEGO The Lord of the Rings for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/lego-the-lord-of-the-rings/user-reviews/810545/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

*** LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS ***

THE GOOD

-Expansive free roaming world to traverse
-Fantastic dubbed in movie dialog
-Plenty of unlockables to discover

THE BAD

-Depth perception irritations

The brand name LEGO has made quite an impact not only in the toy industry but also in the video game market. The more notable installments in the franchise have been based on movies and comic books like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Batman. These family-friendly games offer good wholesome fun with simple controls and a lighthearted story loosely based on the content material. The next brave development by the block fanatics takes place in the fantasy world of Middle-earth and closely follows The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The story starts with a hobbit named Frodo Baggins in a small village called the Shire. Frodo has just inherited a mysterious and powerful ring from his cousin Bilbo. After a short introduction to the immense evil that lurks inside this fine piece of jewelry by the all-knowledgeable wizard Gandalf, Frodo with his pals Sam, Merry, and Pippin set off east bound. After a few tense moments Mr. Baggins and company arrive in the elven town of Rivendell where our hero's ragtag group, called the Fellowship of the Ring, is formed and the epic quest to destroy this evil golden trinket begins.

The first aspect that stands out, right from the get go, is the dubbed over voices from the movies. The cut scenes are more than just grunts and gestures used in previous LEGO games. Snippets of dialog from the silver screen with voices from famous actors like Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, and Viggo Mortensen bring these block characters to life. With this entire journey closely referencing the superb film you'd be very hard pressed to find any faults here. That's not to say that this game has completely turned to a serious tone because there are still plenty of quirky LEGOisms to keep things fun.

LEGO The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) is a hack and slash adventure with an extensive world to explore. From the beginning only the Story Mode is available. As you traverse through the three LOTR movies you'll get to experience plenty of major events like the Battle at Helm's Deep, for instance. Whether you are fighting hordes of orcs by yourself or with a buddy, this epic campaign is filled with many hours of fantastic LEGO entertainment. A dynamic standout in the Story Mode occurs when you are playing with a friend and at a point where your party splits up into two groups. In this unique scenario both players can control each group separately and simultaneously to progress the adventure in real time. Upon completing this epic tale an additional Free Play Mode becomes unlocked. The Free Play variant gives you the freedom to examine all those nooks and crannies this game has to offer and the split screen multiplayer lets each adventurer traverse different areas of the world separately.

The LEGO version of Middle-earth is a vast place filled with many puzzles to solve, enemies to dispatch, and studs to collect. The large, expansive world is quite intimidating at first but thankfully the developers added a helpful map tool to aid you along the way. All your main and side quests appear on the map and toggling these locations will trigger transparent blue studs to appear which guide you to your destination. This nice feature plus the ability to instantly travel from one major location to another ensures that you never get lost and don't waste time.

The simplistic control scheme ensures that anyone can get up to speed fairly quickly. The excessive single button-mashing strategy will suffice for most enemies but the occasional boss may require a bit more finesse. Characters have unique skill-sets and are useful in certain circumstances. This is purposefully intentional so that none of our block friends feel left out. Unfortunately, platforming in LEGO LOTR has a few heartaches. The annoyances occur when excessive jumping is required because the depth perception in trying to accurately pinpoint your character in 3D space is challenging.

LEGO The Lord of the Rings is an enjoyable, family-friendly adventure. The story closely follows the events of the LOTR trilogy and the spliced in movie dialog was a nice touch. The bright and colorful atmosphere is expansive with plenty of areas to explore, collectibles to discover, and puzzles to scratch your head over. Depth perception setbacks and funky camera angles can make more of the heavy platforming elements a challenge but the simple controls and easy navigation system ensures that anybody can pick up, play, and have fun. Most of the LEGO games in the franchise have been lighthearted and entertaining but LEGO LOTR shows that this series can be that and so much more.

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/lego-the-lord-of-the-rings/user-reviews/810545/platform/xbox360/ Sun, 14 Apr 2013 00:04:46 -0700 naju890_963 reviewed Killzone for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/killzone/user-reviews/810217/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 6.0.

Killzone is your typical Sci-fi FPS series, nowadays the 2nd and 3rd game in the franchise are very popular on the PS3. But let's take a look at the first game in the franchise, Killzone. Killzone is set during a Helghast invasion on earth. Helghast are basically the main baddies of the franchise. They wear their signature helmet which makes their eyes glow red. Basically Helghast are invading earth and the ISA, earth's defense force must save the day. I can't say much about the plot as it's pretty generic and uninspired.

Killzone takes itself very seriously and that's one of the things that I personally dislike about it. The setting and story are too boring to be taken seriously and therefore isn't fun to experience. Comparing KZ1 to shooters of this era is a bit unfair so I'll be going a little bit soft on it, so to speak. KZ is pretty standard when it comes to content. It packs a single player campaign that lasts around 10-12 hours which is pretty average for shooters these days. It also features a Multiplayer mode which is quite barebones when compared to today's robust multiplayer shooters.

Now let's talk about the campaign. First you'll be greeted by a character select screen. For now you'll be only able to choose one character but the others will be unlocked throughout the campaign. The only thing that differentiates these characters from each other are the weapons that they use. There are also a lot of cutscenes scattered throughout the campaign missions backed up by some solid voice acting. But as I said before, Killzone takes it self too seriously and personally I found these cutscenes to be quite boring. The controls are very problematic, they feel heavy and trying to aim can be annoying. This could be intentional. Lots of "realistic" military shooters like to incorporate these type of controls which feel a bit more realistic. While these type of controls work on games like battlefield, sadly they feel like crap on Killzone. Now let's talk about another important factor in an FPS game, the levels. KZ tries it's best to be a gritty realistic shooter and it definitely shows. While I would normally be against visuals like these, I have to honestly say that these type of visuals fit KZ perfectly. As I said before as a game that wants to be taken seriously, gritty visuals are a no brainier. But sadly everything looks drab and boring, level's aren't any fun to explore as everything looks the same.

Oddly enough, even with all these problems, I can't deny that KZ can be very fun at times. I don't know if it's the way that the Helghast collapse when shot or how the weapons feel but there is something very satisfying. Speaking about the weapons, they are standard fare and fun to use most of the time. Both factions (ISA and Helghast) have their own set of weapons. Most of the time I found myself sticking to one assault rifle because most of them feel similar. Level design isn't bad for the most part but in some levels I found myself lost because I couldn't tell which way I should be going. It could be better but the basic design gets the job done. The AI could use some tuning for both friendly and enemy. They both suffer from the typical AI problems, like getting stuck or being dumb in general. From time to time my squad AI would actually do some work.

This one thing annoyed me throughout the course of my playthrough, the frame rate. It's plan awful. It's choppy as hell and frame drops are very common. Now I'm not saying that Killzone is unplayable, no. It normally holds up but in moments when a lot of things are going on the frame rate just drops very low. I understand that the PS2 isn't the most advanced system of all time but they still could have done better. Also I already talked about the artistic style and how drab it looks but I haven't touched on the technical side of things. I guess it looks quite good for a PS2 game, character models look decent, same for the gun models.

What about the multiplayer. Well unfortunately the official servers were closed down long ago so Online play is cut off. Their's still offline multiplayer though. You can either play on your own with bots or with a friend. It's very barebones and it's what you expect out of a 2004 FPS. If you enjoyed the core gameplay in the singleplayer than you will most likely enjoy the multiplayer aswell. All in all Killzone is a decent at best shooter, I won't recommend this for anyone who's looking for your average FPS, there are much better offerings on the market today. But for those who are fans of the series, I'd give it a shot.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"naju890_963 reviewed Killzone for the PlayStation 2..." was posted by naju890_963 on Sun, 14 Apr 2013 00:04:46 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/killzone/user-reviews/810217/platform/ps2/ Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:08:19 -0700 Eikichi-Onizuka reviewed Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/frogger-hyper-arcade-edition/user-reviews/810048/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition is a pretty fun game that didn't really get any attention after release. The last few Frogger games really haven't made much of a splash and were poorly received. This one is actually pretty good and worth checking out. Frogger doesn't really need any explaining so lets get into what this edition brings.

Hyper Arcade Edition brings the classic game play back but with some updates. Originally, Frogger could only hop once per press of the d-pad or push of the stick, now he hop continuously in the direction that is pressed. This makes for more fluid and quicker movement that is a very welcome addition, especially for some of the new modes available. The classic controls of Frogger only jumping once per button press instead of being able to hold the analog/dpad down is also available. The classic control style actually feels a bit better for the Classic Frogger mode for me as speed isn't really needed as much there.

Aside from the control differences there are quite a few modes to chose from. One is a paint mode, where all the tiles for a picture need to be painted within the time limit by jumping on them. Another is a variation of classic Frogger where two Frogs are controlled at once. Battle Royale is pretty fun for multiplayer where you get to rescue Lady Frog and squash other players. The Challenge Mode makes use of all the gameplay modes and presents some nice challenges. Here you can unlock graphics and music from other Konami games such as Castlevania and Contra.

For those that played Pacman Championship DX, Frogger Hyper Edition doesn't get quite as much of a great facelift as that did but it's a fun game. Not bad at all for the $10 price tag, that I could recommend it.

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/frogger-hyper-arcade-edition/user-reviews/810048/platform/ps3/ Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:20:10 -0700 Eikichi-Onizuka reviewed Under Defeat HD for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/under-defeat/user-reviews/809816/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Under Defeat HD: Deluxe Edition is a pretty sweet shmup that was originally for the Dreamcast and now it's on the Playstation 3, courtesy of Rising Star Games. The budget release is only $30 comes with a soundtrack, digital artbook, current DLC from Japan, and an exclusive chopper. The soundtrack is a nice bonus since the game has some pretty good music. A smaller physical artbook would've been more nicer but to it's credit, character artwork from the game can be hard to find with a google search.

There are two modes of tackling the game. There is both New Order Mode and Arcade Mode. There really is no story, just two female helicopter pilots are apparently off to war and blowing people up. Arcade Mode is more closed in with less space to move around as in the arcade original. New Order Mode is played in wide screen mode with more room to maneuver around but also more enemies and bullets to dodge. Both modes can be played in co-op with a buddy locally(even though it's labeled as only 1 player on the case for some reason).

At first glance, this looks like a standard shmup and for the most part it is but the control scheme is fairly different and kinda hard to explain well. What is different here than in many games in the genre is that I found myself shooting at an angle for the most part because the chopper can move and shoot in different directions at the same time. This works in different ways, depending on the control option chosen. With normal, the guns will point in the direction the chopper moves in, reverse will be the opposite. Now once the x button is held the guns will lock in the position so for example I may keep shooting at a left diagonal angle while moving around the screen.

If neither of those options are comfortable, there is also the twin stick mode. Then it just controls like any twin stick shooter. I really liked the reverse control scheme the best. There is also a sub weapon which gives some extra firepower. It can be changed with pick-ups and the two options are the vulcan machine gun or rocket grenade. The vulcan machine gun works the same as the main guns and recharges quickly. The rocket grenade is stronger and has a bigger blast radius but takes a lot longer to recharge. When in a pinch, there is also the bomb. Bombs blow up and kill everything on the screen and makes the player invincible. The game starts out with three but you can get six.

The game may seem pretty hard at first unless you're really good at shmups but as more time is put into tackling Arcade or New Order mode, more and more credits are unlocked. After enough time played, infinite credits will be available. Even with lots of credits though, one boss might give a little trouble as it has some screen covering attacks and bosses do restore health when a continue is used. Once I beat the boss once and learned how to deal with it though, it was easy for the extra playthroughs.

The main game is pretty short as most shmups but has some replay value with different difficulty options. I had to play through it 12 times for the platinum as difficulty trophies don't stack and I didn't get sick of it over the two months or so that I played it. I think I would have if I rushed through it. It still would've been nice if the game had more than 5 stages though. There are also the Extra modes for both Arcade and New Order but they don't add a lot as they are the same stages again, only slightly modified.

Under Defeat HD is a great game for fans of shmups as it is very well made. For those that want to get into the genre, UDHD could be a pretty good starting point. Infinite lives aren't available from the beginning sbut I think it's safe to say that most could beat the game. The game could just be left on for hours to unlock credits if one really wants to but I think it be more fun to practice. I haven't played the Dreamcast version so I can't compare versions but can atleast say the twinstick controls have to be new since the Dreamcast controller only has one stick. The dlc choppers(which are on the disc) as mentioned earlier are quite powerful as I found out and even made my hard playthrough pretty easy. I think I only used one credit on that one.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Eikichi-Onizuka reviewed Under Defeat HD for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by Eikichi-Onizuka on Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:20:10 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/under-defeat/user-reviews/809816/platform/ps3/ Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:43:13 -0700 Garrison_Ford reviewed Tomb Raider for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/tomb-raider/user-reviews/809468/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

*** TOMB RAIDER ***

THE GOOD

-Superb story
-Intense and thrilling cut scene events
-Stunning graphical presentation
-Solid platforming

THE BAD

-Lackluster multiplayer
-Slight flaws in the shooting mechanics

Currently the industry is over saturated with gritty male lead protagonists with hulking biceps and chiseled physiques. Heroes like Marcus Fenix, Master Chief, and Nathan Drake come to mind. These guys are great but, quite frankly, gamers are well overdue for a change in the popular formula and Lara Croft is the answer. This young brunette may seem inexperienced at first but she quickly establishes herself as a heroine that can definitely "hang with the boys" when it comes to action adventure.

Tomb Raider is essentially a reboot for the franchise and begins with Lara's origin story. Lara is a brilliant, ambitious archaeology graduate with highly convincing theories on the location of the lost kingdom of Yamatai. Her research is the reason why she finds herself aboard the Endurance in search for this ancient civilization. Unfortunately, when the captain plots a course for an island in the Dragon's Triangle, courtesy of Lara's intuitive hunch, the ship smacks headstrong into a sudden and brutal storm. Lara and the rest of the crew find themselves scattered and washed ashore with their shipping vessel completely destroyed. This is where our brave heroine's adventure begins. Not only is the island inhabited by ruthless terrorists but there is some unknown, almost supernatural, presence preventing anyone from leaving.

The story-telling in Tomb Raider is action-packed and well paced with many intense, edge of your seat moments. There are many cut-scene events that require you to act quickly in order to survive. Lara's transition from book-worm to full-on adventurer is exciting to watch and makes her a fantastic protagonist. The overarching theme of this tale isn't focused on raiding tombs for personal gain but more along the lines of survival; and she takes many hard knocks along the way. The amount of punishment Lara endures is excessive and a bit unrealistic but its sure entertaining to watch.

Tomb Raider is played from the third person perspective. The aggressive camera angles in the more dynamic scenes create many thrilling experiences. The environment is filled with many rock faces to climb, crevasses to jump over, and ropes to zip-line across. Solid platforming and controls make it extremely easy to navigate the lush landscape.

There are plenty of fun puzzles to tackle in this game. Most of them aren't brainteasers by any means but still require some thought to figure out. If you do get stumped, the LB button can be used to activate your survival instincts. While in this mode the background turns to shades of grey with important items accented in gold.

The developers created a stunningly beautiful island to explore. The rich detail in the character and level design is outstanding. There are plenty of artifacts, documents, and tombs to find along the way, which provide additional information and back story about the island and its unlucky inhabitants. The crisp scenery is complimented well by the harmonious musical score, which enhances the gameplay; especially in the more suspenseful moments. You also have the option to fast travel between previously visited locations, which comes in handy for those who enjoy collecting everything.

Tomb Raider is a fairly decent shooter. Gunning down fast moving targets at close range is a bit tricky, however. Also, the enemy AI could use a little touch up as well with enemies that sometimes don't react to being shot while crouched behind cover. Aside from that this game plays very similar to other third person shooters on the market. All the weapons at your disposal are fun to use in combat and there are a myriad of upgrades to unlock.

The single player campaign is an extraordinary work of art. Unfortunately, the multiplayer is sluggish and lackluster. Most of the team based games just really aren't that much fun to play and you can definitely tell that this aspect was a complete afterthought.

Tomb Raider is a fantastic reboot to the franchise. The story is captivating while the fast paced action keeps your heart pumping throughout the entire game. Lara Croft is an exceptional heroine and her development from novice to veteran is exciting to watch. Solid platforming mechanics and a shockingly beautiful environment makes exploration an absolute blast. The multiplayer may have missed the mark but the single player hits the bullseye. With the odds stacked against her, Lara Croft courageously gathers herself together and proves that she can be a survivor.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Garrison_Ford reviewed Tomb Raider for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Garrison_Ford on Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:43:13 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tomb-raider/user-reviews/809468/platform/xbox360/ Wed, 27 Mar 2013 10:30:46 -0700 naju890_963 reviewed Crysis 2 for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/crysis-2/user-reviews/809444/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

Games made by Crytek are infamous for their jaw dropping graphics and Crysis 2 doesn't disappoint in that regard. But Crytek games are not all about graphics, Crysis 2 has a fun but short singleplayer campaign which tells the story of Alcatraz were he fights the CELL corporation and the Ceph. A race of aliens which was explored in the other entry in the series, Crysis. Crysis 2 also features a multiplayer mode, which left me a bit disappointed but more on that later.

Crysis 2 picks up were Crysis left off. This time the suit is given to Alcatraz a soldier that has been reduced to a bloody pulp. He's kept alive thanks to the suit. Later in the story, more characters are introduced and more enemies roll out. It's interesting enough to keep you going along. It's recommended that you play the original Crysis if you want to get the full backstory that is. The nanosuit is a very important gameplay element. It allows Alcatraz to survive ridiculous amounts of damage and gives him the key to several abilities. The two main abilities the suit houses are the "Armor" and "Cloak" abilities. The armor ability gives the player an extra layer of protection against damage and can help in desperate situations or for straight up rushing, while the cloak ability makes the player invisible which helps a lot for stealth gameplay. While using this cloak ability, the player will be exposed if he chooses to attack. Keep in mind that when using these abilities they will be draining from the suit energy. This is necessary to balance out gameplay. You can really feel that Alcatraz is helpless without his suit because when he is out of suit energy, he can barely run and can die easily.

Apart from those two major suit abilities there are also a variety of more passive abilities that can be unlocked with currency dropped by the ceph. These abilities aren't essential but they do help at times. The AI is surprisingly good. Enemies are often hard to hit and can often outsmart the player. There is also a weapon customization system which works well but I often forgot about it during gameplay. Weapons are fairly standard and nothing special but they do get the job done. A big change from the original is the level design. Crysis used to have more open world levels, were you could formulate your own path to the objective. On the other hand Crysis 2 is a much more linear game. I personally find the linear level design to be better as it shows the player what the developer really wanted out of the level. Like most FPS campaigns these days, Crysis 2 has a lot of set-pieces. These set-pieces love to show what the Cry Engine can do. But that's really what set pieces are all about, they look really cool though. There are also a couple of collectables scattered about in the game's levels, they're fairly standard and their sole purpose for being there is probably for the achievements.

Graphically Crysis 2 looks amazing. I didn't really have to say that, it speaks for itself really. I was surprised that the console versions looked pretty good and played at a decent framerate. As for sound design the same can be said. As I said before Crysis 2 also features a multiplayer mode. Basically it plays it safe by incorporating the CoD formula into it's multiplayer. It has the usual class system, challenges, prestige modes and the usual multiplayer modes. I hate how every FPS has to do this. I played atleast 5 hours of the multiplayer and I got bored out of my mind because I experienced the same type of multiplayer on plenty of other shooters. The only thing that Crysis implements In it's multiplayer to try and differentiate itself from the other countless CoD knockoffs is the power system. But this barely changes anything. At the end of the day you're still gaining XP to unlock new weapons, perks and other multiplayer stuff.

I had my share of fun playing Crysis 2, the campaign while short had it's moments and the good pacing made it even more enjoyable. While the multiplayer is a shameless CoD ripoff, it is fun for those who still enjoy multiplayer shooters but it's nothing to write home about.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"naju890_963 reviewed Crysis 2 for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by naju890_963 on Wed, 27 Mar 2013 10:30:46 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/crysis-2/user-reviews/809444/platform/ps3/ Fri, 22 Mar 2013 18:14:16 -0700 naju890_963 reviewed Altered Beast for the Genesis... http://www.gamespot.com/altered-beast/user-reviews/809218/platform/genesis/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

Altered Beast was originally an arcade game which was ported over to several home consoles including the Sega Master System, Famicom, ZX Spectrum and obviously the Sega Genesis. By far the best home console version was for the Genesis. This was one of the many reasons why gamers loved Altered Beast at first because it had shown the potential that lies in the Genesis. It was also a pack in with early Genesis models so it's rather easy to find and cheap to purchase in cart form nowadays.

You're basically controlling a warrior that has been resurrected by Zeus and commands him to save his daughter and defeat the evil Neff. It's a pretty barebones plot but what do you expect from an arcade game. The story is not the only thing that's barebones in this game. The gameplay is very shallow offering no depth at all and can get very tedious after playing for a few hours. The gimmick that Altered Beast boasts is the beast transformations. By collecting orbs from dead wolves, your character will get stronger and stronger until he eventually transforms into the designated beast for the level. As I said each level has it's own beast.

Their are five beasts to transform into. A werewolf, dragon, bear, tiger and a golden wolf. They don't differ from each other that much but they are great fun
when experienced for the first time. Although these transformations help the flow of the gameplay it still feels weary after a while and the light platforming doesn't help either. The bosses aren't very challenging especially the final boss which is a complete joke. Graphically it looks the best out of the console versions and it looks quite good for a game this old. The soundtrack is decent aswell and some tunes match the style of the game greatly.

It's a worthy pickup for any Sega fan or collector but don't expect any complex level designs or anything like that. At it's core, Altered Beast is a drony side scrolling beat em up with a gimmicky transformation system that makes the game worth a try. This can be easily found in most Sega compilations and it's also very easy to find for the original system too.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"naju890_963 reviewed Altered Beast for the Genesis..." was posted by naju890_963 on Fri, 22 Mar 2013 18:14:16 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/altered-beast/user-reviews/809218/platform/genesis/ Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:49:19 -0700 VictorReviews reviewed Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for the GameCube... http://www.gamespot.com/fire-emblem-path-of-radiance/user-reviews/809134/platform/gamecube/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Localized in America back in 2005, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance used to be one of Nintendo's least popular games for the Nintendo Gamecube, due to being from a relatively unknown franchise and having a rather limited release. However, interest in the series has grown greatly since the release of its latest entry, Fire Emblem: Awakening, which made demand go up for previous Fire Emblem games. This game in particular comes as expensive due to the limited number of copies, so if you're just recently interested in the series you might be wondering whether it's worth playing. Keep reading to find if this game is the right match for you

Gameplay:

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is a strategy role-playing game where you command a group of mercenaries in an attempt to save a country. During your journey, you'll be able to recruit different units with different stats and abilities to help you win the battles ahead of you. You can choose from multiple equipment and skills for your units, so there's a lot of variety among the game's characters. Every time one of your units engages in a battle, it earns experience, which helps it level up and earn stats. The stats you gain after leveling up are decided by a random generator the first time you play through the game, which can make a unit either really good or really bad. The second time you play the game, you can choose from random gains or fixed gains. There are also some items throughout the game that can boost stats, but since they are limited, you have to use them carefully.

Each unit has a class, like archer or thief, and once they reach level 21, they automatically change class and become more powerful, though there are some units that can't change class and there are other methods to change class.

Like every traditional SRPG, the game is divided in chapters, which have different goals and requirements. Sometimes, you'll be required to dispatch certain units, or you'll be asked not to kill a specific type of enemy.

This game is known for being difficult, but it can in fact be one of the easiest Fire Emblem games as long as you don't use too many units. The game has no form of grinding, so you have to be careful not to waste experience in units that you don't plan on using too much. This can come as rather unfortunate for people who like to use every character in an RPG, but it also makes playing the game many times more interesting, since you can experiment with different party combinations.

What sets this game apart from others in the genre is permadeath, which means that once a unit dies, you can't bring it back unless you restart the chapter. This can be quite frustrating, especially with how difficult and long some of the maps can be, but it forces the player to create better strategies and adds a lot of challenge to the game.

Once you beat the game, you unlock trial maps, which are basically a form of quick play in which you just choose from a number of maps and start playing. If you connect your GBA with a Fire Emblem or Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones game, you can unlock extra trial maps, and if you beat the game multiple times, you can unlock special characters for trial maps.

Overall, the gameplay comes as perfect. The game has a good amount of challenge for experienced players, and newcomers can always play in the easy difficulty. The permadeath mechanic makes the player feel more attached to the characters, and it also adds a lot to the strategy.

10/10

Presentation:

The presentation in Path of Radiance is a mixed bag. The music is pretty cool, with most tracks being quite enjoyable. However, some of the themes repeat too much and others appear very little. The battle themes got slightly annoying sometimes, because they didn't change much.

The graphics on the other hand are quite disappointing. During battles, the character models look a little choppy and bland, and definitely do not push the Gamecube to its maximum capacity.

While most of the game's story is told with dialogue boxes, the game does includes a few cutscenes. These cutscenes have cel-shaded characters and look pretty nice as far as graphics go. The voice acting in the cutscenes is most of the time terrible, and there's no voice acting in the rest of the game.

Still, the quality of the cutscenes and the enjoyable soundtrack make the game's presentation worthy of an:

8/10

Story:

The game's story is similar to other games in the series in the sense that you have to save a country in war. You play as Ike, a novice mercenary who travels with his father's group. After the group is hired by the princess of a country in war, it is up to Ike and friends to help her save her homeland.

The story doesn't have multiple plot twists and is quite predictable. However, it still has depth because of all the different playable characters, since it is really interesting to see each character's background. Since the story isn't anything special but still serves its purpose, it deserves a score of:

7/10

Replay Value:

This game is very replayable despite having only two modes of play. The large number of playable characters makes for almost endless possibilities to replay the story. The only flaw that I can find is that battles can be slow because you have to see every enemy make a move, so the game can be boring to replay for impatient players. The dialogue and cutscenes are fortunately skippable, but the battle animations aren't unless you select not to view them in the options menu. What I mean with this is: you can't skip them with Start like in other Fire Emblem games.

Other things you can do inlcude seeing images of the characters and hearing the game's musical tracks in the extra menu. This is pretty cool, but unlikely to be entertaining for a long time.

The game's replayability relies solely on the endless combinations since you can change your party to any way that suits you and you can also assign different skills to your units. Overall, the replay value is good enough to get a score of:

10/10

Fun:

This game was pretty fun to play, but I've got to admit that it isn't perfect. At a lot of times, the game frustrated me to death, but it taught me how to be a better strategist. However, frustration will not be an issue for gamers who play on easy or normal.

Most of the game's fun comes from trying multiple strategies with your units and finding unique ways to use their different abilities.

This game was one of the most fun Gamecube games I've ever played, but it isn't perfect because of the frustration that comes with it, especially the one that comes from losing a unit deep into a battle. The game's fun factor deserves a score of:

9/10

Overall:

The game is a great experience for RPG fans. Even if you can't find a cheap copy, I definitely recommend buying it. The game has its pros and cons, but the pros clearly outweigh the cons, making it one of the best Gamecube games ever and a must have for every decent collector.

8.8/10

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/fire-emblem-path-of-radiance/user-reviews/809134/platform/gamecube/ Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:00:25 -0700 GerardoExber reviewed Tomb Raider: Anniversary for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/tomb-raider-anniversary/user-reviews/809069/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Adventures, temples, monsters, puzzles, secrets and beauty both in the graphics and in the body of our Protagonist: Lara Croft, will be uncovered as the take the role of a treasure finder and play her life in a memorable way.

Her first adventure, of many that lies ahead. began with a request to find an ancient artifact called "The Scion" that it's divided in three parts around specific places, hidden places all over the world, beginning in Peru, from that point the game will show it's true potential only to get better and better, and not only that, the Story will also emerge from predictable to really shocking at times, all will combine with the old and the classic engine of the saga and, better yet, with the amazing new improvements to create a retro-innovative experience that had been forgotten in the modern games.

Story: Simplicity has always been good and with plot twist, many plot twist that depending on what you want to believe, can be surprising and will, no matter what, have an important cavity in the next installments -10-

Gameplay: Action-Adventure may be it's genre, but it also can be Fantasy-Action Adventure, Survival-Horror or even Puzzle, I feel free to say this because I found the gameplay engine very complete, entertaining and never, never boring, but Sadly: Very Easy - 9-

Graphics: Beautiful, nice textures that proves of what the PS2 was capable of doing even when the next generation of Consoles, the 7th Generation, was starting. Well done characters and Scenery is one thing, that remains it's beauty all the time, I mean: Action Sequences, Quick Times Events or the occasionally slowdowns, it's another... Wonderful Thing -10-

Sound: Here the Retro stands out full of epic beats and calm... intriguing peace that is require to think in moments of need which are many, by the way the Final Boss music is more than greatly executed and you feel the real final battle of the game thanks to the plot twists mentioned before -10-

Overall: Maybe many people will like to try an old game, a Classic, and being the case that is hard to find the Original Tomb Raider, a remake it's just the perfect option to get the game or if the Original turns out to be difficult or simple, if you want to try the updated version of the game -9.5-

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tomb-raider-anniversary/user-reviews/809069/platform/ps2/ Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:56:44 -0700 GerardoExber reviewed Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/silent-hill-shattered-memories/user-reviews/809068/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

The Remake of the first Silent Hill, many expect the same story and better graphics, but that didn't happen, Konami was preparing an entire new remake that sure don't disappoint...Until certain point.

Everything has changed, even the story: the beginning is like the original but after the event you will experience a brand new adventure. Harry lost his daughter: Cheryl, and he think that she will be wandering around that place: Silent Hill, as Harry continue searching he meet a know character: Cybil, but after that the nightmare start and everything turns in ice, he only has access to one door where he see the monster and began to run, he find the exit and the nightmare ends.

The other part of the game: the Psychologist Sessions, is a new addition where you can change the game with your decisions, the psychologist will tell to answer with truth but you are the only who decide, this option gave the game a lot of replay value if you want to know what will happen if you take another decision.

Gameplay: The gameplay is different from the other Silent Hill: you will never have a weapon or something like that, only your flashlight and arms to push the monster awaits, all this is different but good. The puzzles like every Silent Hill game are hard. The bad is the duration end before you think about it -8-

Graphics: The Graphics don't look too great or like the previous games but in it own are good and add that creepy aspect to Silent Hill. -9-

The Sound is great, more songs in the game would've been be awesome -9-

Silent Hill Shattered Memories can be call a true remake, not because the change in the story, not, for the changes in all and the new things that make it not like the others yet unique and another enjoyable Silent Hill -8-

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/silent-hill-shattered-memories/user-reviews/809068/platform/ps2/ Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:52:50 -0700 GerardoExber reviewed Silent Hill 2 for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/silent-hill-2/user-reviews/809067/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Like the name says, Silent Hill 2 it's the sequel to Silent Hill 1, but just in the numeration, because this game has a whole new story that may not has to with the town but that still manage to suck you in.

James receive a letter from his wife Mary, telling him that she is waiting at Silent Hill, in their "Special Place" but there is a big problem: She's dead, that makes James to go there, to find out who send him that letter or maybe to find her there. As the game goes on, James will face the monsters and creepy things of Silent Hill and some really weird characters, but top of that he will meet Maria, someone very similar to Mary, in almost every way, that's why James will think that she is Mary, that she didn't die or that maybe the town of Silent Hill is making him suffer...

Story: Excellent, weird and sad, all mix perfectly and the game end up being very shocking, but don't have the nightmare -9-

Gameplay: The same like in Silent Hill 1, thing that it's still awesome cause it retains the fear -10-

Sound: Creepy and spooky -10-

Graphics: Truly fantastic, the characters, the scenarios, all looks just amazing, but the camera won't help sometimes -9-

Overall: Don't expect a direct sequel of Silent Hill 1 here, cause you will meet something new and that sadly... won't have a happy ending -9-

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"GerardoExber reviewed Silent Hill 2 for the PlayStation 2..." was posted by GerardoExber on Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:52:50 -0700
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