Nightmare-_-'s GameSpot Friend's Reviews Nightmare-_-'s GameSpot Friend's Reviews Nightmare-_-'s GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:14:07 -0700 GameSpot Nightmare-_-'s GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:28:27 -0700 Hiddai reviewed Far Cry 3 for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/far-cry-3/user-reviews/812641/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

I got this game on January 6th 2013 to the PS3. I wanted this game for the PC but my PC is getting old so my parents who were in NY bought me this game for the PS3 they found not too expansive. They bought me this game on Dec 28th on 15:03 NY time which means 22:03 here in Israel.

You are Jason Brody you went to a trip with your friends in a tropical island. A parachute jump led to that all of your friends (including you) are kidnapped by mysterious people and their leader Vaas. After escaping stealthly from their camp, led to your brother death, you find yourself in the middle of the unknown seeking for answers about your friends' whereabouts. The map is huge and features many places to explore. From mountains to villages, from jungles to the bottom of the sea and may many more. As the story progress you meat many different persons who helps you find out your friends. The game features a variety of vehicles as well of a glider and speed boats.

In order to explore the island there are several radio towers in which you need to climb up (sometimes it can be frustrating) and each open you a different part of the map. Also, the pirates (under Vaas' leadership) holds strongholds throughout the map. Taking them down will make yours and it means a place to have a checkpoint as well as opening optional mini missions. Taking down the rebels' stronghold is extremely fun. You choose your tactics (whether panther stealth or run'n'gun) and you need to kill all the guys in there. You might want to be stealthy (which is more challenging) and avoid triggering the alarm which will bring reinforcements against you. You can destroy the alarm if you are good enough.

The game featuring many wild animals from pigs to sharks. Walking down the endless jungles of the game you might get attacked by a tiger from the back (You can get a freaking heart attack from this sometimes seriously!) killing animals allow you to craft their skin and certain animals allow you to make from their skin some equipements such as pouches for ammo and explosives. Also the game features many types of plants that you can craft too in order to make different types of medicines. There are many weapons in the game almost each is upgradeable by money. You earn money either by selling stuff you find or by money you find.

There are certain mystical relics in the game that give you magical powers (but i wouldn't call it sci-fi it's still on the edge of being a realistic game). Everytime you find some mysterious relics or a letter, kill people or catching stronholds you get EXP that can make you upgrade your skills and therefore let you do different moves such as special takedowns and more. Playing stealthy is the most rewarding and is the most enjoyable style to play.

The Co-Op is very fun also. 2-4 players can go to a side-journey in the island through 6 (long) levels which are very challenging. It makes the game much fun then italready is.

The voice acting is amazing. Vaas really sounds a psychopath!

The Graphic is amazing. One of the best to be seen in a PS3 to its date. The extremely huge map is all extremely detailed!

At last, Far Cry 3 will drop you in an amazing experience and even though the story isn't that all very long, the rest of the mini games and the places to to explore as well as the amazing Co-Op provide you a must-buy game even if you never play the series before!

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"Hiddai reviewed Far Cry 3 for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by Hiddai on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:28:27 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/far-cry-3/user-reviews/812641/platform/ps3/ Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:40:13 -0700 Hiddai reviewed Call of Duty: Black Ops II for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/call-of-duty-black-ops-ii/user-reviews/812639/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

I bought this game on Nov. 24th 2012 just exactly when i got home after Operation Cloud Pillar. I was alway wondered whether to buy this game since i don't like futuristic games but then at the shower i have decided i will buy it so i went to the shop later that day and bought it in 19:31.

The story of the game continues the story of Woods and Mason, the protagonists from Black Ops and it jumps into 2 time zones: The Present - Year 2025, Wood is now very old and David Mason (The son of) is questioning him about a threat who goes by the name Raul Menendez. The game also featuring some missions from the past (Mid 80s) that trying to explore the events that had led to the present. The plot is amazing but you better play the first (and amazing) plot of CoDBO to understand more about Wood and Mason since there are many references to some of its events.

The new thing now in the single player, which makes its replay value much bigger, is the 'choices system'. That's right, no more linear single player that plays itself but rather you play the single player. In almost every mission there will be a certain moment in which you can decide what to do and the choice you'll make will affect later on the events of the game. There are 5 different endings to the game (rated by a scale of Best to Worst) and all are results of different combinations of your decisions throughout the game.

If you are not into futuristic stuff i will say that most of the tech and weaponry in the game are either in developement stuff or current weapons of special ops today. It isn't to imaginary as it seen. After all 2025 is not that far away from us. Also the past missions are balancing the experience.

Then again you got the Multiplayer, the thing that we all proud of. It doesn't fall of of course but you may sometime feel that you already got the point. It's the same as the past exactly. The only thing that is different is that you now can customize yourself by up-to-10 bars with each bar is a weaponperkexplosivesight and so, so you need to make your own combination - which in the end is like all the past games. Also you have some cool mods such as "One in the Chamber" (every player get a pistol with one bullet) and "Sticks & Stones" (Player got a bow, axe and a knife) which make some servers to be really fun.

Finally there is the familiar Zombie mod. This time they really took it a step forward and made it more actiony and dynamic hence it lost its magic.

The sound of the game is really great. With great voice acting and great sound effect, CoD have never disapoint us.

The graphic engine is the same engine of MW2, BO and MW3 but this time more improved of course. Being with a pretty much week these days graphic cards may let me see some graphic issues.

At last, Call of Duty Black ops 2 features an amazing experience mostly in its single player campaign. Its Multiplayer featuring more of the same (still very good). It's a must buy for a call of duty fan and a must buy for people who got the first Black Ops.

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"Hiddai reviewed Call of Duty: Black Ops II for the PC..." was posted by Hiddai on Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:40:13 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/call-of-duty-black-ops-ii/user-reviews/812639/platform/pc/ Tue, 21 May 2013 21:15:53 -0700 NightFox313 reviewed Silent Hill for the PlayStation... http://www.gamespot.com/silent-hill/user-reviews/811592/platform/ps/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

It made me cringe.

I yearned to play it, but at the same time I dreaded gripping my hands on the controller to do so. I loved and despised playing it. This is the game that made me question if pressing on was really a thing I wanted to do. It made me want to vomit. It was mentally draining. But still I went on to complete it, and here I am now.

Breathless. "The fear of blood tends to create fear for the flesh."

Silent Hill is just one of those games. A gripping narrative, a believable cast of characters, coupled with a chilling soundtrack and unnerving set-pieces are everything one could want in a horror video game. However, rather than just going for the standard B-movie scare-tactics a la Resident Evil, Silent Hill redefines the horror genre, while - in its own right - the way for a completely new and horrifying genre - psychological horror. A game that was so terribly scary, I had to draw in all of the courage I could possibly take for a human being to play it. And that's what makes this game such a memorable one, and it is indeed an unforgettable experience that I could never forget, no matter how hard I tried. All of the good memories I had with it, complete with all of the ones I didn't want to remember - Silent Hill simply burns a sick, twisted, and distorted image of a peaceful resort gone wrong into the deepest caverns of your mind. And no matter how hard you try scratching it out of your memory, it'll always still be there.

Developed by KCET and published by Konami, Silent Hill was released for the original Sony PlayStation on 31 January, 1999 - during perhaps "the golden age of horror video games". Notable hits such as Clock Tower and Parasite Eve were making their way into the pool of countless survival horror games at the time, but the most renowned and successful survival horror franchise - Resident Evil - was clearly raking in the dough. However, with the release of Silent Hill, things took a disturbingly hard turn. Gone were the zombies and biological disasters, and that Scissor Man lunatic. The horrifying, terrifying creatures of Silent Hill were the things that could only be seen in your worst nightmares - from the deepest bowels of the earth. That's what made the game so intensely scary and yet so satisfying; the feeling of the unknown has never struck more fear into me from any horror game I've played than Silent Hill.

Resident Evil went for the famous jump-scares that plague many of today's independent "indie" horror games. Biological experiments gone wrong would crash through a disturbingly reflective window when you'd least expect it. It's a shame, really, because whenever there was a window to be seen, you could already expect something to crash through it when you come across the same area later in the game. Silent Hill takes all of the cheap scares and throws it out the window. It embraces you relentlessly, throwing every single piece of violent and disturbing imagery as inhumanely possible and envelops you in its pure-evil atmosphere. That's where the magic of Silent Hill lies. And the way the game's atmosphere was so meticulously, so painstakingly designed to remind you of your worst nightmares (and to, of course, conjure up some new ones) works so unbelievably well that you fear that the game you're playing could potentially be a reality. It's like inviting a living hellish nightmare-town into the safety in your own home.

You play the game through the eyes of Harry Mason, a middle-aged man whose occupation is a writer (however, don't take the phrase too seriously; Silent Hill is a third-person psychological horror game - although it occasionally uses fixed camera angles in some cases). He takes his seven year-old daughter, Cheryl, along with him for a vacation in a peaceful resort town, Silent Hill. During a long drive through the night on the highway, Harry notices that a mysterious young girl is walking across the street, and tries to swerve violently to avoid impacting the girl but ends up crashing his car and is knocked out unconscious. However, the long drive wasn't all for naught - upon waking up in Silent Hill after the car crash, Harry notices that Cheryl is missing and ventures out into the ominous fog that defines the town of Silent Hill. He vows to find her and discover the unknown secrets of the creepy town and find out if the world he is in is a reality or a living nightmare.

Trust me, I'd go on and on but that puts you at risk of some major spoilers. So I'll just leave it at that. The third-person camera makes use of some fixed camera angles for more cinematic in-game shots (and in cinematic cutscenes) and the freakier scares, but for the most part the camera is always controllable, giving you a better view of your surroundings. That might seem that having a camera you can easily control takes away from the fear, but it only adds to it in the end. At least it doesn't venture into the notorious trope of Camera Screw and adding artificial difficulty by having a seriously uncooperative camera.

Harry Mason is in a way an "everyman", or an average person who has no real defining qualities other than being an average Joe and simply serves as a sort of avatar for the character. The scary thing about this is, is that Harry is in no way a seasoned veteran, nor has he ever had any sort of experience with fighting, and that makes you feel like you're helpless in some cases - like you're so hopelessly weak and have no chance of surviving in the hellish world. Controlled from a third-person perspective, Silent Hill doesn't feel as clunky in controls or as robust as Resident Evil's infamous "tank controls". There are several ways that give the gameplay a more fluid feeling, such as being able to strafe from side-to-side and - my personal favorite - the ability to shoot and walk in any direction at the same time. The combat system is so limited and hard-to-use, but is effectively scary in the sense that Harry has such little experience with fighting - especially fighting things he's only seen in his worst nightmares.

Harry will also have to take care of himself and manage a rather large assortment of items. The majority of the weapons are melee-based, but ranged weapons can also be used. There is a strangely large amount of ammunition to be found in Silent Hill, and there will be rare cases where you'll run out of ammo for your shotgun or hunting rifle unless you've been shooting it around like a mad dog. Healing items are few and far between, and you're likely to use them frequently, as Harry is a generally weak individual. He can die from a few attacks and is relatively, physically weak - which only adds to the feeling of helplessness, isolation, and desperation. Keys and other items are used for navigating throughout Silent Hill, and maps have to be found to traverse through the large overworld. Locations vary from convenience stores, small houses, to police stations and gas stations. I won't spoil the more important locations.

The atmosphere in Silent Hill is simply the best I've seen in the genre. Derelict and dilapidated buildings, along with cafes and mom-and-pop stores that have seen better days all add to the feeling that Silent Hill is an empty, deserted town. The haunting vision of a town with a dark past is only enhanced by the addition of Silent Hill's trademark: fog. The fog is so thick and heavy that you have no idea what might be ahead of you. Cleverly used as a way to hide the Sony PlayStation's limitations at the time, the game's limited point-distance is hidden with the fog effect that is used so effectively that it made the daytime as scary as pure darkness. The game tricks you into thinking you're in a safe place, and the numerous save points scattered throughout the overworld make each one feel like a breath of fresh air.

And then the lights go down. There is no mercy now. Silent Hill grips you at the neck and refuses to give you any chance of hope or feeling of safety. It is a brutal, mentally-draining experience until the very end. My most memorable moments of the game came from the relentlessly dark portions of the game, where Silent Hill was enveloped in pure darkness. This is what makes Silent Hill so unique in the horror genre. During these portions of the game, enemies are far more disturbing and aggressive. All you have to light the darkness with is a flashlight attached to your jacket - and you never know what lurks ahead or what is hiding in the impending shadows. This is where the radio comes in. Whenever an enemy is nearby, the radio will emit static, and the sounds of demonic children with bloody knives can be heard growling as their bare feet scrape towards your direction. The shrieking of gargoyles and the moaning of the possessed inhabitants of Silent Hill send chills down your spine and make you want to cover your ears in fright.

The tension is further increased with the music and sound departments. Masterfully composed, the game's soundtrack is minimalist in some cases while heart-pounding in others. Depressing and mellow undertones add to the psychological elements of the game, and Harry's feelings that he might not make it out alive with his daughter can be reflected in the game's soundtrack. The haunting blaring of the air raid sirens in the background are so mysteriously timed in the game; so startlingly original. It all makes you wonder about the mysteries of what really happened in Silent Hill. There's nothing scarier when you've just narrowly escaped an ambush from bloodthirsty, savage dogs with the relentless lashing of industrial beats and entering into a room you've never been to before, only to notice that the music has suddenly disappeared. The fear of the unknown is the greatest scare-tactic in this game, and it worked so effectively that I had to play the game in breaks at times, listening to Bossa Nova music - the game is that intense. It robs you of your sanity and throws you into multiple locales that you've never even imagined before and expecting you to explore it.

And where would a great horror game be without puzzles? Silent Hill is chock-full of riddles and clues, many of which left me scratching my head in confusion. Puzzles are abundant and are deviously confusing and devilishly created to make you want to look up answers via walkthrough. Many will leave you frustrated, especially later in the game. The problem about the puzzles is that many of them are so impossibly vague that they put Zelda and Metroid to shame. They are ridiculously hard, but the feeling of conquering the puzzles are so satisfying that it's hard to judge whether the riddles add or subtract from the game. Aside from these, Silent Hill adds a twist on the puzzles. It takes standard items you'd find in your average household and forces you to cleverly use them in a different way. The game really makes you think about that random rubber ball in your inventory, or that metal ring.

The scares of Silent Hill are its core, next to the atmosphere. Even though they almost never use jump-scares to make the player have to buy a new pair of pants, the feeling of imminent death and the fear of what lurks ahead scares me way more than the dogs that crashed through the mansion windows in Resident Evil. Sometimes you'll hear your radio emit static, but there won't be anyone around. You might hear noises in a room next to you, or you might enter a room you once thought was safe but as soon as you open the door a possessed nurse is ready to stab you senselessly. In many cases, you'll wonder if you're hearing things, such as hearing scraping noises on the walls of the room next to you or a banging on the door shortly after you enter an operating room gone wrong. The disturbing imagery works so well here, taking conventional objects and places and turning them into things you'll want to stay away from in real life. The game psychologically attacks you whenever possible, and burns the visions into your skull, making you want to forget the horrifying scenes you've just seen even though it's impossible.

Silent Hill is a startlingly original entry in the horror genre. It builds up the tension to the point where you're simply expecting something to happen, but nothing does. And then it gets you when you least expect it. Although on the short side (the first playthrough can be completed in around five to six hours), every scream you make and every pounding your heart makes makes the journey worth it. It's like an amusement park ride from hell, and the characters are sympathetic. It makes you actually want to care about Harry Mason and whatever might happen to his daughter Cheryl, along with the mysteries of Silent Hill and the tragic occurrences of the past.

It made me want to check into a psychiatrist. It made me want to close my eyes forever. Anything you see in this game will be a thing you'll want to forget about. Silent Hill is a game that defines horror, and is pure psychological horror fuel. It's a game that will build you up and break you down, and drag you through a world you won't ever want to remember.

The game that I wanted to forget. The game that will always strike a chord of fear in my heart.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"NightFox313 reviewed Silent Hill for the PlayStation..." was posted by NightFox313 on Tue, 21 May 2013 21:15:53 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/silent-hill/user-reviews/811592/platform/ps/ Mon, 20 May 2013 11:05:09 -0700 Hiddai reviewed Medal of Honor: Warfighter for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/medal-of-honor-warfighter/user-reviews/811526/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

I went to the shop in order to buy Max Payne 3 but he didn't have any so i bought this one on October 26th 2012.In fact, i was already curious to play this game because of the trailers i've seen here on GS.

Warfighter strives for this by giving you a genuine impression of what it's like to live as a Tier 1 operator, the elite operatives at the center of the modernized Medal of Honor series. It's clear from the first cutscene all the way to the end credits that developer Danger Close has the utmost respect for the extraordinary skills and bravery of these soldiers. If Medal of Honor extended the same level of respect to its players, Warfighter might have accomplished more than its numerous significant failures and lack of player agency has allowed.

The bare-bones mission design of Warfighter is entirely in service of its mantra, not its players. That is, Medal of Honor's campaign wants to throw you into situations "ripped from the headlines" – and it's devastating to whatever story Warfighter fails to tell. The primary objective is buried by disjointed jumps from one character or country to the next – as it has been in Battlefield and CoD as well. It's hard to keep the dots connected, too, because the timeline follows no discernible order and features flashbacks within flashbacks. The narrative of Warfighter's core revolves around the dissolution and rebuilding of an operator's family, but the characters and in-game events compromise pathos. There's a massive disconnect between the story the developer wants to to tell and the game it's made, and both suffer because of each other. All of this leaves Warfighter as uninteresting as it is disengaged, and none of its promises pay off. This is equally true in the hollow multiplayer. Abysmal map design cripples the already uninspired objective-based modes, creating obstacles cutting off paths to a bomb site or a flag return point. Shrubbery and impassable rubble obscure routes, creating a dense clutter even in the biggest maps, while spawn camping is an intensely frustrating problem in nearly all modes.

One of the almost success feature in the game is the wall breaching which seems to provide some value to the game by that once you complete a wall breaching perfectly (killing everyone during the slow motion), you will be rewarded in a different way of wall breaching. Of course, after you finish these (less than 10 types) missions, the rest of the campaign is rewardless. There are several scripted set-piece sections that stand above the rest, however--and in fact, stand above the campaign in general. All of them involve vehicles. Some of these driving sections are ridiculous and entertaining, directing you to incite crashes, and then showcasing the destruction in slow motion, Burnout-style. The camera that so lovingly caresses the chaos flies in the face of Warfighter's meager attempts to identify the drivers as everyday heroes, but the tension of avoiding oncoming traffic and the joy of watching your four-wheeled victims flip with abandon are both guilty pleasures. The game's most surprising turn of events is a vehicular stealth sequence in which you must slip into designated safe spots to avoid prowling enemy drivers. It's a neat idea, executed well, that generates tension and has you fearing your possible discovery. It's not difficult to succeed, but even so, this portion is elegant and imaginative.

Of course, if a military shooter is a means for you to shoot fools online and insult their skills (and mothers), the campaign may be a secondary concern, and it's just as well, since the multiplayer is much more satisfying than the campaign, though not without its flaws. The leaning mechanic in the campaign finds a place here, and while gameplay doesn't hinge on successfully using it, it's nonetheless a boon, allowing you to quickly establish a line of sight, take some potshots, and lean back into cover.

More important is Warfighter's fire team system, in which you are paired with another team member, and the two of you leech off of each other's successes. Your buddy is both protector and spawn point, and you earn a few experience points for his headshots and kills, presuming you're in close proximity. You earn various bonuses for sticking with your buddy, so you quickly develop a camaraderie of necessity. This isn't a wholly new mechanic in games, but there is a palpable psychological component to it: when your buddy is waiting to spawn, you stay out of harm's way so that your friend might arrive in relative safety, and there's joy in getting revenge on the opponent that gunned down your buddy just moments before. It's a good feeling to know someone's got your back.

A traditional class system glues matches together, though you need to sort through the game's improbably convoluted and busy interface to make sense of it. Everyone starts out as an assaulter, but it isn't long before you've unlocked every class and are well on your way toward earning medals (Congratulations! You've killed 30 players with primary weapons!) and various weapon modifications: barrels, paint jobs, optics, and so on. You also unlock variations of the classes, each associated with a particular nation, and within matches, you can perform offensive or defensive support actions (fly an Apache!) should you string together enough kills. There's a healthy progression system here that keeps the rewards coming.

Danger Close didn't tie up some necessary loose ends before the game's release: you might spawn outside of the map and into freefall, spawn into some environmental anomaly and struggle to unstick yourself, or even bang into an invisible obstacle. In the single-player campaign, enemies might clip right through walls when they aren't busy being generally dumb. Yet Medal of Honor: Warfighter's greatest handicap isn't bugs, but that its building blocks are snapped together into a shapeless hunk rather than an identifiable monolith with form and purpose. Still, you shouldn't dismiss the game as wholly unworthy: online multiplayer is good fun, and the campaign shows signs of life, occasionally letting you see past the me-too warfare and appreciate a brief flash of imagination. But on the whole, Warfighter leaves you thinking, "Yep, that's a military shooter, all right." Its heroes strive for greatness; the game they star in is merely serviceable.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Hiddai reviewed Medal of Honor: Warfighter for the PC..." was posted by Hiddai on Mon, 20 May 2013 11:05:09 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/medal-of-honor-warfighter/user-reviews/811526/platform/pc/ Mon, 20 May 2013 10:40:43 -0700 Hiddai reviewed Battlefield 3 for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/battlefield-3/user-reviews/811525/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

My brother had this game a while before me, until one weekend i wanted to play a new game so on June 23rd 2012 i've installed this game in my PC and started to play it.

The campaign starts when you are in the interrogation room and getting asked by 2 CIA interrogators about events that happened perior to the present and the mission are appeared as flashbacks. The missions themselves features a variety of places and situations of the a terror plot which starts from Iran to the USA. Some of the missions are really cool and some of them will put you in a F-18 and a M1 Abarams and other characters as well. The way the missions are presented are extremely realistic. Flying an aircraft has never been enjoyable before as well as the traditional tank mission. However, even though the action is immersive, these missions are very short. The campaign itself can be done in 6 hours which is very disappointing.

The graphic is very good. Cutscenes are scripted though, and of course look good but even the gameplay itself looks fantastic and well detailed.

The sound is also very realistic. you can always hear the familiar echo voices that are presented very well in the game.

Battlefield 3 also has six cooperative missions that require teamwork on a smaller scale. These stand-alone sorties have a narrative connection to the campaign, but they are tougher to complete than most campaign missions and you can unlock some nice weapons for use in the multiplayer. Setting up voice chat with your teammate is helpful here, especially in the stealthy sections, because the spotting mechanic doesn't sufficiently differentiate enemies at long distances. Your foes are fairly tough, even on normal difficulty, though some unexpected quick-time events can also catch you off guard. The most notable mission here puts you in the cockpit of a helicopter, which provides the only chance outside of multiplayer to practice your flying skills. Earning all of the weapon unlocks requires repeat playthroughs of these missions, so it's a shame there aren't more of them to keep you busy.

The multiplayer is probably the main reason to buy this game. As the best nemesis of the CoD series, the MP provides an amazing as always online experience with a great economy system. The focues is on teamwork so diverse loadouts encourage you and your squad to make complementary choices, and point bonuses reward you for working together. Every vehicle is better with teammates in it, and even the simple act of spotting enemies is an effective way to contribute to your team's efforts. Teamwork is woven throughout the fabric of Battlefield 3's multiplayer action, and when your team is working well together, it's one of the most gratifying experiences you can have in a game. These are complemented by the slick browser-based Battlelog, which serves as the hub from which you access each game mode. With EA's Origin software running unobtrusively in the background, Battlelog tracks your unlock progress, displays your stats, and enables you to join parties and launch games easily.

Battlefield 3 may not offer much beyond the multiplayer, but there are so many ways to contribute and feel like a powerful soldier that after hours and hours of playing, all you'll want to do is play more.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Hiddai reviewed Battlefield 3 for the PC..." was posted by Hiddai on Mon, 20 May 2013 10:40:43 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/battlefield-3/user-reviews/811525/platform/pc/ Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:14:56 -0700 ad0234 reviewed New Super Mario Bros. U for the Wii U... http://www.gamespot.com/new-super-mario-bros-u/user-reviews/810485/platform/wii-u/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Last year has been a significant one for the New Super Mario Bros series, since Nintendo had released two games of it in that year. That isn't to be said it was a very good one. The earlier one, New Super Mario Bros 2, released on the 3DS, was shoved in during the development of the Wii U version, with young, more inexperienced people working on the game, and one that didn't really succeed all too much, because it was simply too similar to it's predecessors, adding barely any novelty to the series. And then there was New Super Mario Bros U. A game with more significant changes and additions, and simply put, a game that savored more professional work and effort. And New Super Mario Bros U is also the first Mario platformer launch title since Super Mario 64 on the N64. Plus the Wii U needed some fresh, exclusive titles for it's launch, since a lot of the launch games were only ports of games already existing on different platforms. Luckily, New Super Mario Bros U, unlike the 3DS version, has succeed in bringing the series back to a more glamorous shine, even though it isn't that kind of launch title to show off the new console's possibilities and strengths.

--- Presentation ---

Believe it or not, but in New Super Mario Bros U, the story actually gets a little twist. Instead of having Bowser and family kidnapping the Princess and taking her to Bowser's own castle, Bowser this time decides to simply take over Peach's castle, throwing Mario and CO. far, far away from the castle, and now it's up to the heroes to make their way back to the castle and save Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser's mighty plans. In every other game such little twist would have absolutely no impact, but for a Mario game, it's actually quite a nice one.

Actually, it is the twists, the little or not so little twists to the New Super Mario Bros formula, that separate this game from it's predecessors. In a nutshell, New Super Mario Bros U is what you expect, and what you've come to know. You have to make your way through eight different worlds in order to defeat Bowser and save Peach and the Kingdom, each world contains it's own typical theme, you'll always encounter a level count that retains the ca. 8-10 levels per world, and so on.

Making your way back to the castle instead of moving away from it gave the developers an opportunity to give the game another load of novelty they have missed. Since your way to the final stand of Bowser is more the exact opposite direction than it is usual, it would have been more than fitting to have some dramatic shift in world themes and the order of them. Instead, New Super Mario Bros U has pretty much the exact same world themes as well as order like in the previous New Super Mario Bros games. Yet, New Super Mario Bros U gives each world theme a new, little twist to make them feel at least a little different.

And another, much better twist of New Super Mario Bros U: It's the first of the New Super Mario Bros games to contain a big, full featured world map with all the smaller worlds fit into it, making the vibrant and rich world of Mario viewable in a whole. It's smaller worlds are connected great with each other, the path Mario must take through the main worlds takes you everywhere, and the different world themes make for a colorful and detailed world map. Not only does it look beautiful, but it also adds a better sense of an actual adventure happening. During any time you may scroll around the map and take a peak at where the adventure will take you, and adding to the charm, the game tosses a few cut scenes that show what happens to the castle while Mario's on his way to that destination. And one last note: the game's world map also contains extra content such as enemies and powerups wondering around the world map, as well as a few other clever features, including some little by-the-by minigames, and hidden paths that must be found, making the world map part of the fun.

As far as the new features of the Wii U go, New Super Mario Bros U doesn't take that much usage of them. It's the best launch title to show off the off-screen play, but the touchscreen is only used for multiplayer, with some good yet limited use of it, and the visuals do not push the graphical abilities of Nintendo's system at all. Don't get me wrong, though, this isn't counted as a negative.

What does seem like a negative is that it seems like Nintendo took it quite easy with this game and made it themselves quite comfortable. They did put a lot of thought and polish into this game, but you'll also notice that they only did that, what was really necessary. Take the visuals, for example. Seeing the typical New Super Mario Bros visual style shine in HD, with backgrounds finally being 3D and getting lots of depth really is great. Actually, there are multiple beautiful and impressive looking backgrounds here to be admired. However, seeing the game recycling backgrounds for multiple levels is a bit odd. Or take the animations. Seriously, Nintendo took the amount of newly created animations to the possible minimum, making some cutscenes look a bit dated.

However, what's absolutely not acceptable is the soundtrack. It's still heavily the soundtrack from the Wii game, with some more, new tracks than New Super Mario Bros 2 had, but it's still lame having to hear so many tracks from the Wii game a third time. It's reaching a limit where the music just comes soaring out of people's ears right after entering them, and it's pretty frustrating and odd to see that Nintendo was so lazy with the game's soundtrack when considering that Nintendo puts a lot of effort into making good music for most of their games.

--- Gameplay ---

Just as the presentation, New Super Mario Bros U's gameplay is very familiar. Like usual for a 2D platformer game, you guide Mario from left to right, avoiding the usual obstacles while snagging powerups to enlarge your chance of success and coins to collect 1-Ups, which are as easy to become as stomping yet another Goomba. Controls are, weirdly, even better than ever. Mario has all of his typical moves at disposal, and he controls as if you're controlling him with your own thoughts. Level Design in New Super Mario Bros U is even more creative than ever, offering the best levels of the series so far, with some meaty challenge after the first 4 worlds of the game, and the 3 Star Coins in each to find, some of them hidden cleverly, while some other are hard to reach. Not to forget the occasional secret exits that unlock hidden paths among the world map. It's all quite familiar yet all still so fun. And like stated before, it's not as if the game hasn't improved over it's predecessors, since it's got clearly the best level design of all four games. And there is some innovation in the level design; a few new ideas and objects as well as a combination of 2 familiar ideas that haven't been combined within a level before make for some innovation, though not much. The majority of the levels seem rather familiar, just better and more cleverly designed than ever.

It's outside of the level design where the game picks more up in novelty. Baby Yoshi's can be found on the world map which than follow you from level to level, until you die or lose them, granting Mario some unique, new powers. Meanwhile, Nabbit, a totally new character to the Mario Universe, steals Mushrooms from Mushroom houses and hides in specific levels, who you then have to chase down in the level he hides in. A much different, but nice addition is the integration of Miiverse. It lets you state your opinion about levels you've just played, while at the same time let's comments from many different people appear on the world map. It really is these touches that make the game stand out from the other ones and let it feel fresh.

And of course, this game can be experienced, just like the Wii one, with multiple friends among your side. While the main four players still play the same role and characters, a fifth player can join the Mustache-Mushroom fun and create platforms out of thin air, as well as interact with some enemies and platforms. The multiplayer is as fun and chaotic as ever, and definitely a particularly great offering for parties. The addition of a fifth player engaging himself with a kind of god-mode is a nice one, though it's probably not as fun as playing as one of the 4 main characters. It can however be a great help for inexperienced gamers, or a great option for those who aren't very good at platformer games and just want to join the fun fast and easy. Oh, and if you're up for some competitive play, Coin Battle mode is the perfect choice. It's the same as in the Wii game, yet a bit more competitive this time around.

Snagging a copy of New Super Mario Bros U will also mean you'll have quite an impressive amount on content to discover. The lengthy main game is only part of what forms New Super Mario Bros U, as there are also two additional modes, Boost Rush Mode and Challenge Mode. Boost Rush Mode is about mastering side scrolling levels as fast as possible, speeding up the scrolling by collecting coins, which is accessible from one to five players. The real surprise is challenge mode. This mode tosses challenges towards you that rate from one star (fairly challenging) to 5 stars(super-enormous-tough), in which you can get a bronze medal, silver medal or gold medal. Or of course a fail. These challenges take place either in totally new terrains or in levels from the main game, and it's incredibly fun to try to beat each challenge, and succeeding in them is tremendously satisfying. They are also quite varied, and only the fewest are less than good or frustrating.

--- Verdict ---

It's simple: New Super Mario Bros U prefers to deliver an experience not very different from it's predecessors, while at the same time, never falling into the category "predictable". Sure, there are some overly predictable parts in the game. But others, like the sudden appearance of an classic Mario enemy in glorious HD on your TV screen that hasn't been seen since the mighty Super Mario World, or a level with a theme unlike any other level seen before in the New Super Mario Bros series, form some truly great moments of the game. You won't be able to shake off the familiar feel the game has, but these new, little twists make sure you will be getting enough "new" to keep you playing.

In fact, New Super Mario Bros U is without a doubt the best entry into it's series yet, as well as one of the launch titles worth to get for the Wii U. It's level design is always creative and fun, it is an overall challenging and satisfying game with lots of secrets, it's got some cool bosses and a very epic final battle, and, unlike the 3DS version, it's able to separate itself from it's predecessors, with new features and innovations, new, additional modes, in particular challenge mode, that add variety, novelty and more fun content as well as HD graphics with much nicer visuals. It's definitely not a good showcase of the Wii U, and does not present next-generation gaming in any ways, but that isn't a negative at all. What does disturb at some occasions is when you do notice that it could have been more, it could have been grander, as Nintendo did stay relatively save with this title, not taking too many risks (and yes, even in terms of level design that is). But it's still an incredibly enjoyable game that is definitely worth getting.

The Good
+ creative, varied and challenging levels
+ fun and cool boss battles
+ Incredible controls
+ Nice HD visuals
+ a full world map with all the little worlds connected with each other adds to the experience and looks really good
+ new features and other innovations give the game a fresh enough feeling, while still featuring many throwbacks
+ Multiplayer is a blast
+ great use of Miiverse

The Bad
- Recycled music, again
- occasionally predictable
- game lies on the safe side


Review Score: 8.0/10

Get the full article at GameSpot

"ad0234 reviewed New Super Mario Bros. U for the Wii U..." was posted by ad0234 on Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:14:56 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/new-super-mario-bros-u/user-reviews/810485/platform/wii-u/ Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:23:59 -0700 Hiddai reviewed Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/metal-gear-solid-4-guns-of-the-patriots/user-reviews/810467/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

I bought this game on April 27th 2012 and played it immediately after i have finished GoW3.

I have never played the whole series. I have played only MGS2SOL about 3 and a half years before i played it. The plot is very huge in terms of characters and twists. However even for someone like me who is almost new to the series i would recommend this amazing game.

The world of MGS4 is quite a bleak one. In fact, in many ways, it's precisely the one that Solid Snake and Otacon have been hoping to avoid. Set six years in the future, war and conflict are no longer a sporadic occurrence with hot spots around the globe; instead, the entire planet is engulfed in constant battle. War has become its own self-sustaining industry, replacing the overall global economy with the contracts of private military corporations, or PMCs, that sell their services to the highest bidder. These mercenaries constantly try to prove their effectiveness on the battlefield to gain even more contracts, which causes more and more destruction as nanomachine-enhanced soldiers clash in cities, in buildings and on the streets. With such a chaotic environment, not even civilians are safe from the constant fighting, as skirmishes can break out at any point.

This is the setting that Solid Snake has been called out of retirement for: one final mission issued by Col. Campbell to save the world from one last threat. Snake is initially inserted into the war zone of the Middle East undercover as a UN PMC inspector to gauge how the situation on the ground is being handled by troops there. Of course, he has a more direct task that takes advantage of his specialized skills: he must find and assassinate Liquid Ocelot, who has become the head of five of the largest PMCs in the world. That's definitely easier said than done, as Ocelot has surrounded himself with a group of deadly comrades -- including a quartet of deadly females known as the Beauty and the Beast Corps who appear to be half woman, half machine - to eliminate Solid Snake.

Or perhaps we should say Old Snake as he is suffering from accelerated aging due to cellular degeneration. This is much more harmful than his multiple pack-a-day smoking addiction, making him physically older than his years and hampering his movements every so often. To accomplish his toughest mission yet, Solid Snake will need to pull a couple of new tricks from his camouflaged sleeves. Fortunately, there are plenty of them to go around in MGS4, which is easily the deepest and most expansive title in the series.

Fans familiar with previous Metal Gear Solid games are aware that each title has introduced new gameplay mechanics for Snake to take advantage of. The incredible part about Metal Gear Solid 4 is there are tons of additional features added to this title, and even when you run into a system or mechanic that you wouldn't think would fit in the Metal Gear Universe, Kojima and his team have figured out a way to make it blend seamlessly with the gameplay, which easily allays any fears or concerns you have. Not only are they well balanced and quite layered, each one adds to the scope of MGS4, which can be considered epic. From the first action sequence in the Middle East where you and a squad of militiamen fight against PMCs, to escorting Meryl and her Rat Patrol squad through a fierce gunfight with The Frogs (Liquid's private army), to the climactic battle at the end of the title, you'll be amazed at the sheer depth included within the game.

Take for example the new twist to Snake's classic on-site procurement orders, which plays a major role within the title. In previous games, Snake would be deployed with a minimal amount of equipment, and would have to find his weapons scattered around installations he was infiltrating. This would allow him to stealthily enter and exit a location, using the enemy's weapons against them without leaving a trace. That concept doesn't apply in this new world, as each soldier's nanomachines restrict weapons to their ID-coded owners, preventing anyone else from using them against their owner. Thanks to these new technological restrictions, Snake will have to rely on the services of a gun launderer named Drebin. A mysterious character that seems to be everywhere at all times, Drebin (and his comical hairless monkey known as Little Gray) will remove all firearm safeguards as well as sell new weapons, accessories and ammunition. While the price of his services will vary based on the demand of specific weapons as well as the day of the week (even offering 20 percent off sales), Drebin will always be available to supply Snake with what he needs.

This expands Snake's arsenal and his methods significantly. Not only can he instantly purchase new arms or unlock collected weapons that can be immediately used in battle, he can also customize some of his firearms, adding everything from laser scopes and fore grips to noise suppressors and grenade launchers, which will affect the statistics and tactics used for the weapons. For example, if you add a fore grip to an assault rifle, you increase its stability and improve your chances for accurate shots. Adding a flashlight, by contrast, allows you to blind soldiers, giving you a chance to perform CQC moves or hold them up for items. What's more, if Snake runs out of ammunition for a particular weapon in the middle of battle, he can immediately purchase additional rounds that can sustain a fight.

All of these purchases, of course, are based on whether Snake has enough Drebin Points to purchase the item or weapon that he wants. Snake acquires these points in a variety of ways. First of all, he can provide the gun dealer with any extra weapons he doesn't need so that Drebin can maintain his business around the world. This means that any dropped weapons from incapacitated or killed enemies are fair game to loot for points. You'll also receive different Drebin Point bonuses for flashbacks that will pop up here and there during cutscenes, certain story moments, and for eliminating specific enemies. Players can even receive certain bonuses based on how they play through the title. The system is incredibly expansive, and players will be surprised at how it affects their experience.

Granted, some critics will say that such widespread influence of the Drebin system and its points makes the game too easy and eschews the traditional stealth roots of the title in favor of an action focus. This is an extremely shallow way to view what this new mechanic provides, which allows players to pick and choose exactly how they would like to play the title. Purists to the covert aspects of the franchise can sneak and crawl through the game with a focus on stealth, restricting their purchases of ammunition or completely avoiding the Drebin system entirely. These players will find plenty of new features to support them in their clandestine moves.

The only twist is that every now and then, particularly when you are in the midst of battle during an alert phase and your levels have spiked, you can enter a combat high. During this stage, your Psyche will be stabilized, and Snake will take less damage, but there is a serious caveat – once the high is over, his Stress and Psyche gauges will bottom out to represent the drop in adrenaline he undergoes. This leaves Snake extremely vulnerable to attacks, so players will need to balance this state carefully. This tightrope balance between Stress and Psyche encourages balance between stealth and action and helps MGS4 appeal to stealth and action fans, as well as a wider audience of players, engaging many of them with its varied gameplay.

Regardless of the method that you use to explore the game's environments, there are two gadgets that will help Snake immensely. The first one is the Solid Eye System, which frees him from the constant swapping back and forth between goggles and binoculars in the field. Not only does the Solid Eye System include night vision and binoculars, it identifies all personnel on the battlefield by their group affiliation, weapon carried and any items that they've dropped on the battlefield. This provides a large amount of tactical information that can be exploited by stealth or brute force.

The other gadget is the Mark II, the small robot that Otacon provides to Snake. The Mark II is an extremely versatile item because it can be used as an advance scout for Snake. Thanks to its small size and its ability to turn invisible, players can use the Mark II to get a sense of where enemies and other hazards may lie, which gives them an advantage in battle. It can also be used to incapacitate soldiers, as it can deploy a powerful shock similar to Snake's Stun Knife, which is another great way to quietly bypass guards. What's more, the Mark II can be used to collect weapons and items, and because the Mark II is a communication conduit that Snake can use to contact Drebin, any weapons it collects are instantly converted to Drebin points as well. This is a safe way to pick up guns in the midst of a firefight without exposing Snake to any undue fire, provided that he deploys the robot from a protected location.

All of the above elements contribute to the compelling plot of Metal Gear Solid 4, which is nothing short of incredible for two primary reasons. First of all, as the final chapter in the Solid series, it wraps up every single loose end that has been included within the franchise. Players that have been looking for answers to questions that may have been raised within previous games will find them within MGS4, which is an incredible feat. Many of the mission briefings not only explain where you're going in your next mission, but also cover large sections of topical information to the series. The Patriots, Foxdie, Metal Gear -- somehow, the Kojima Productions team managed to condense all of the franchise's obscure concepts into easily digestible plotlines that players can follow and understand. That's not to say that it will be perfectly clear for beginners, but it does its best to explain as much as possible. In a way, some of the cutscenes play out like CliffsNotes for the Metal Gear Solid universe, providing additional details for those players that have been actively following the franchise while summarizing and explaining what's going on for newcomers. In some ways, this provides more than enough impetus for franchise beginners to fully acquire and explore the previous games in the series, such as the Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection.

Secondly, while Metal Gear Solid games have always been resonant with issues of the day, MGS4 is particularly layered with allegories and topics both to previous games in the series and the real world that reveal a subtle amount of depth. Kojima weaves a tale that explores complex elements such as the horrors of war and its effects on civilians, technology gone horribly awry, mental manipulation and control (whether by technology or an organization) and personal sacrifice into a tour de force experience. In many ways, the number of topics addressed within the title and how they are handled within the title and franchise are large enough to be worthy of a dissertation on its own. There is a caveat to the exploration of these topics, which is that the cutscenes or dialogue sequences that occur around the exposition of these plot pieces can be somewhat lengthy. In fact, the longest cutscene within the game clocks in around 45 minutes, which can be rather daunting by the numbers. However, the scenes themselves are engaging enough that most players won't pay attention to the clock, although you can pause the cutscenes if you need a break or life interrupts, which is an excellent addition for this title.

All of these features contribute to an excellent gameplay experience, but additionally striking are its visuals, which make MGS4 one of the best looking titles to its date in gaming history. It's apparent that Guns of the Patriots squeezes every pixel possible out of the PS3 and renders them beautifully. As a result, players are witnesses to one of the finest games ever created on any console or PC. Character models are large and impressively rendered in real time, and transitions between cutscenes and gameplay are seamless and natural. What's more, certain action sequences are just as sharp and framed as well as many Hollywood action movies, and there are some moments in particular which surpass film in the way the story is told. Much of this has to do with camera angles that showcase the game action exquisitely – it's rather obvious that from Subsistence on, Kojima Productions has focused on creating a camera system that works exactly the way you want it to, allowing players to experience the entire game from first person if they so choose, or swapping between shoulders with a click of the right analog stick.

Environments pop with sharp details as well, and there are subtle little touches, like dirt that will settle on the camera lens or water droplets that will lightly cascade down the screen. Further helping the game showcase its heightened visuals is the fact that the title performs a large basic install for eight minutes, with individual act installs at the end of every chapter. These secondary installs take only a few minutes, but are quite important. Once one stage installs over another, the replaced textures, levels and environments cut down on load times and transitions. That's not to say that the visuals don't come without some issues. While a few textures are flat here and there (with some low res issues now and then) and light framerate drops during gigantic explosions, these issues are generally overwhelmed by the level of detail shown within the game and the cinematic scope of the title, which highlights what a masterpiece this game is.

This is also supported with an excellent soundtrack, such as "Love Theme" which is one of the best songs of the MGS4 series. Haunting and melodic with a tone that evokes loss and remembrance, this song feels rather appropriate for the sentiment of this title. The soundtrack also covers the entire breadth and depth of the MG universe thanks to the included iPod functionality, which plays various songs that you unlock once you've discovered the classic songs throughout the game. Further strengthening the title is the fact that Snake and every other character also sound phenomenal within the game, showcasing a masterful delivery with their dialogue.

I haven't gone over all of the features within the title, such as the photo gallery which stores and displays pictures taken by Snake with his camera, or the virtual range which lets you practice with the various firearms that you have within the title. Nor have I mentioned the exquisite evolution of the control scheme, which is the best one yet. But the one other significant feature of MGS4 is the inclusion of Metal Gear Online, which provides a multiplayer feature to a package that is already solid (no pun intended) with its single-player campaign. Technically, Kojima Productions didn't even need to include this section within the game, particularly because it's a starter pack and will be expanded into a full online product by itself. But what's included on the disc is a good sneak peek of what to expect from the multiplayer realm of Metal Gear.

Similar to that of the beta test, Metal Gear Online features five multiplayer maps for up to 16 players to blast their way across. The starter pack now includes two additional stages not seen in the beta, Urban Ultimatum and Ambush Alley. Urban Ultimatum is a large stage that's more impressive due to its verticality than its various nooks and crannies that you can explore – many players can climb the ladders attached to the buildings and take up positions as snipers on rooftops. Ambush Alley, by contrast, is all about stealth and surprise, as the bombed out rubble and smashed buildings provides quite a bit of cover for players to engage and eliminate unsuspecting enemies.

While you will have to register for a Konami ID and register one character for your online play (sorry Beta players, all of the old accounts have been reset and your progress has been lost), the process is infinitely easier and runs much smoother than it did in April. A few minor adjustments have been made to MGO, such as a change of skill names to more descriptive terms. For example, the Throwing Skill that governed how well you could throw grenades has changed to Quarterback, while the Fast Movement Skill has changed to Runner. It doesn't affect the skill itself; it's only to help you decide at a glance which trait you want to assign to Snake. Another change is with the Clan creation. Whereas you could be level 2 in the beta with a light number of hours invested, in the full game you need to be at least level 3 with 20 hours of play before you can create your own clan.

One final change that we noted was with the online music selection; players can pick and choose from two original tracks or from songs pulled from all 21 years of the MGS franchise. It's pretty sweet to blast someone in Groznyj Grad to the Tara track from Metal Gear. During Sneaking missions, only Snake can decide the music selection, but that seems appropriate considering that he is the target of both teams. We did have reservations with the first two downloadable selections, however. One of them is simply a codec pack that allows players to audibly make comments during games, while the other sells additional characters for your Konami ID. The codec pack isn't crucial or useful, and the price for extra soldiers seems a little high right now. But considering that you don't need to buy either one of them to experience the action that is raging across servers right now, that's a minor problem that can be addressed by Konami at any time.

At last MGS4 is an amazing game that is highly recommended for anyone even you're not familiar with the series!

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/metal-gear-solid-4-guns-of-the-patriots/user-reviews/810467/platform/ps3/ Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:00:30 -0700 Hiddai reviewed God of War III for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/god-of-war-iii/user-reviews/810466/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

I got this game on April 24th 2012 from my parents while they were in Japan.

When we last saw Kratos, he was riding up Mount Olympus on the back of the Titan Gaia, ready to get all kinds of nasty on Zeus (who'd tricked and killed him at the beginning of God of War II, and then escaped justice at its end) and the rest of the Olympian gods. That's exactly where GoW III opens: the Titans are still slowly making their way up the mountain, and it's up to Kratos to keep the gods' army of skeleton warriors off Gaia's back. After he's battered his way through a few dozen of them, he'll face the game's first real challenge: Poseidon, god of the sea, who appears as a water giant riding a team of massive, crab-like horses.
As a single horse-creature burrows through Gaia's arm like some kind of gross parasite, you'll get your first real taste of what Sony's been hyping as "Titan gameplay." The landscape – actually just Gaia's forearm – buckles and shifts as the water-horse yanks it around, forcing Kratos to climb up its sides and monkeybar underneath it during the fight. Meanwhile, the action zooms in and out for dramatic effect, frequently reducing Kratos to a tiny onscreen speck (which doesn't get as confusing as you'd think) and giving you a real sense of the massive scale on which these creatures operate. It's all pre-scripted, but it's impressive nonetheless.

As gargantuan as Poseidon's water-horse is, it's as vulnerable as anything else to Kratos's Blades of Athena, and before long Kratos has torn off its jaw, stabbed it through the heart and pummeled its master to death in one of the most jaw-droppingly ugly beatdowns ever to appear in a videogame. Soon afterward, however, events conspire to send Kratos rocketing back down to Hades, where he (once again) loses all his powers and sets the game's real plot in motion. Yes, he's still hell-bent on revenge – but before he gets it, he'll have to murder his way up the Olympian hierarchy, endure the pleas of an imprisoned girl who reminds him of his long-dead daughter and be reunited with a powerful artifact from his past.
Losing all your abilities so soon after getting a taste of fully powered-up Kratos isn't so bad, seeing as you're guaranteed to get better stuff down the road. And God of War III's new weapons and powers are better – better-implemented, more useful and much more fun to use than those in previous games. For starters, no longer will you be forced to choose between Kratos's chain-blades and some big, kludgy weapon that isn't much fun to use. While Kratos's new Blades of Exile handle more or less the same way his favored weapons always have, the three new additions to his arsenal – the soul-stealing Claws of Hades, the lightning-infused Nemesis Whip and the lion-headed Nemean Cestus – are all cool variations on the chain-blade theme.
The new weapons all handle differently, sure, but they also do a good job replicating the unique sense of fun that comes from making Kratos whip blades through the air in fiery arcs – something that was sorely lacking in previous games' secondary weapons. Each one also has a unique purpose that makes them indispensible for combat and puzzle-solving; the Cestus, basically a pair of oversized gauntlets, is super-strong, and is the only weapon that can crack obsidian objects, which naturally you'll run into a lot.
Meanwhile, the Nemesis Whip – which can be flailed around by holding the button down on each strike, racking up ridiculous combo counts – is key to restoring power to the broken Olympian machinery. And while the Claws of Hades don't really come in useful for solving puzzles, they can rip skull-shaped souls out of enemies, which then whirl around like deadly purple fireballs.
Making each weapon more vital is the overhaul to the game's magic system; instead of simply switching between spells, each weapon now has a spell attached to it, which grows in power as the weapon levels up. Your magic meter is also kept separate from the new item meter, which refills automatically and enables you to wield things like Apollo's bow (which can be charged to shoot flaming arrows) and Helios's lantern-like head (once you've freed it from his body, of course).
All these new additions are a considerable improvement to God of War III's combat, taking something that was already fun and ironing out anything that felt sucky or unnecessary.

Of course, combat and quick time events are far from the only things God of War games offer. While they're continually overshadowed and sometimes nearly forgotten, the series has always excelled at huge, elaborate puzzles that incorporate the environment in interesting ways. GoW III doesn't fall flat here, delivering an assortment of memorable and frequently strange challenges, like the musical one mentioned above. Even more striking, however, is a perspective puzzle that forces you to "see like the gods" to shift its platforms and stairways around until it looks like they're interconnected, at which point they will be. (Yes, exactly like echochrome.)

Most of the puzzle action takes place in the Labyrinth, revealed as an assortment of what look like massive, hanging crates in a cave halfway between Olympus and Hades. At first, you'll battle across the tops of these as they shift around their enormous cavern, and occasionally you'll have to keep a few minotaurs from hacking away at the chains that keep the boxes aloft, which gets frustrating fairly quickly. It's only when you come back later in the game that the Labyrinth's true potential is revealed, as a series of twisting, trap-filled cubes that each contain a puzzle (usually of the sliding-block or hidden-switch variety) you'll need to solve to get through.

As always, the strength of these puzzles isn't in their size or elaborateness. It's that while they're clever, they can almost always be solved just by quickly taking stock of what's in your immediate surroundings. If a puzzle ever seems tough, just experiment with what's around you; you'll get it eventually.

Speaking of things that are enormous, we should take a moment to address one of the promises Sony made early on. In our first real preview with the game, we got to hear all about Titan gameplay, which as we said earlier was supposed to be a revolutionary idea that would set entire levels on the bodies of Titans. These Titans, in turn, would behave dynamically as they wandered around a huge, persistent game world, making for landscapes that would shift unpredictably with every movement. Sadly, it didn't go down quite like that (although to be fair, that idea probably would have been terrible in practice). But while we don't get to climb around on an assortment of Colossus-like Titans, there are two (entirely linear) areas that treat their bodies as moving levels. The first is Gaia, whom we discussed earlier, and the second is a familiar face who shows up late in the game. We won't spoil too much, aside from saying that popping gargantuan, oozing sores is one of the least-gross things you'll be subjected to.

So, Sony didn't entirely come through on its promise, and there are only two Titan areas in the game. However, what's there is pretty amazing, and the shifting nature of the Titans' bodies – pre-planned or otherwise – makes them two of the most enjoyable levels in the game. It just would have been nice if there were one or two more of them.
But then, in spite of this being the "final" God of War game, there's always room for more Titans in any potential sequels – and the ending, conclusive as it is, leaves that door propped open ever so slightly. If you're a God of War fan, though, it may not be quite the ending you were hoping for. If you're expecting to see Kratos redeem himself, learn the true meaning of friendship or be tearfully reunited with his dead wife and daughter in the Greek afterlife – don't.

At the same time, though, the plot manages to derail itself into cheesy, mawkish sentimentality about "hope" more than once, which feels awkward coming from such a relentlessly amoral franchise. Throw in a viciously cheap final boss and a too-long sequence that steals liberally from Max Payne's overdose-fueled nightmares, and you've got an endgame that skirts awfully close to satisfying, but never quite gets there.

While not a huge leap forward for the franchise, God of War III refines its already-fun gameplay to near-perfection while delivering the clever puzzles, high production values and pure, rage-fueled brutality fans expect. Add a memorable cast of characters and buckets of gore, and Kratos's last adventure is also his best yet.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Hiddai reviewed God of War III for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by Hiddai on Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:00:30 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/god-of-war-iii/user-reviews/810466/platform/ps3/ Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:45:01 -0700 game-ster23 reviewed Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/luigis-mansion-dark-moon/user-reviews/810011/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Luigi is finally back to his ghost catching schemes. The second fiddle of a twin brother hasn't visited a mansion in over a decade when the original Luigi's Mansion was released on the Nintendo GameCube in November of 2001. I certainly enjoyed the spooky thrill back then, but was it worth the long wait for the sequel?

King Boo has shattered the Dark Moon that hung above Evershade Valley, home to several haunted mansions. Professor Elvin Gadd has been studying the peaceful paranormal specimens until the destruction of the moon caused the ghosts of the valley to lose control and become evil. Gadd knew only one fellow who could find all of the Dark Moon pieces that were scattered across the valley and restore it. His name is Luigi.

Luigi is forced to use the Poltergust 5000 again, though he had to fetch it from a spooky mansion this time. The vacuum is now equipped with several new attachments. Attachments include the strobe bulb, which is needed to stun the new types of ghosts and the light-dark device, which reveals invisible objects throughout each mansion. Attachments can be upgraded by collecting treasure along the way.

The Professor gives you a DS Phat, nicknaming it Dual Scream, to map out each mansion and to call you. Gadd calls you a little too often at first, making you want to let a polterpup gobble it up and run far, far way. Thankfully, his calls become predictable and less frequent.

Many small details in this games gives Luigi character and realism, such as his trot like run and humming to the background music. Using the gyro sensor and turning first person view when looking into small cracks also makes it feel very realistic.

There are five mansions to explore this time around. Each mansion is divided into several missions. This makes exploring a little easier and more focused on one task at a time, rather than being sometimes lost and overwhelmed in the original.

Each mansion you explore is very detailed and full of secrets to discover. All five mansions stand alone from each other, giving you some variety. Every puzzle you encounter is well thought out and uses the environment cleverly. Most of them are only used once, keeping the experience fresh every time.

There are many types of ghosts that live in Evershade Valley. "Greenie" ghosts are the most basic, though they eventually grab sun glasses or a shovel to protect them from getting captured. All of the ghosts have a different way of defending themselves, needing to plan a strategy to catch them.

Graphics of this sequel are very crisp, especially in the cut scenes for a handheld game. The 3D effect does bring some depth in both gameplay and cut scenes, but not as much as I would like.

The controls of Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon are quite straightforward. Moving Luigi with the control pad feels smooth and effortless. The vacuum is used with the L and R buttons, L for blowing out air as R is for sucking. The A buttons is to use the strobeblub to stun a ghost, then catching it by holding R and pulling back with the control pad. X and B buttons allow you to point the strobe light upwards and downwards. The B button is also used to run, which is necessary when you're being chased by ghouls.

The music and sounds effects of each phantom really bring the spooky tone to life. Some of the background music sounds similar to the original, giving the experience a little nostalgia.

Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon includes a multiplayer mode called ScareScraper, which lets four players locally or from around the world, battle your way up many haunted floors. With three different modes, Hunter, Rush, and Polterpup, makes you want to hunt some more ghouls all the more.

Even though ScareScraper mode is co-op, it feels rather competitive at times. When trying to capture a ghost, then another player steal it from you, or on when dashing for a red coin and someone takes it before you. This mode, and the Boos and gems scattered around each mansion, give Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon high replay value.

Pros and Cons of Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon
+ Thrilling gameplay
+ Tons of charm
+ Very high replay value
- Average 3D effect

Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon was certainly worth the wait, with the oodles of charm and engaging gameplay. The best 3DS title to date in my opinion, without a doubt.

I gave this title a solid 9.

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"game-ster23 reviewed Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for the 3DS..." was posted by game-ster23 on Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:45:01 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/luigis-mansion-dark-moon/user-reviews/810011/platform/3ds/ Thu, 28 Mar 2013 02:56:17 -0700 contentxcontext reviewed Alien Spidy for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/alien-spidy/user-reviews/809482/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 4.0.

Everything about Alien Spidy is good, in concept. When it comes to the implementation of those ideas everything falls apart and you are left with a game that's both frustrating and disappointing.

Odd little alien, Spidy, has lost his friend (possible girlfriend?) Virgi, while she was on a mission to earth. At least that's what I think is going on during the games wordless intro.
Her ship as apparently made a crash landing on earth and Spidy has taken it upon himself to find and rescue her.


Ultimately this simplistic story doesn't matter whatsoever, really the game is a score attack style affair. At its most simplistic the game is a 2d platform puzzler that encourages speed running and repeat plays.

The problem is every single aspect of the game makes the whole thought of playing a level more than once terrible.
You're supposed to be able to traverse through a stage collecting point orbs at high speed to chain for point rewards and finish with the highest score possible.
Traditional platforming is built upon with Spidy's ability to shoot webbing and swing through the environment.


The problem is that almost every single aspect of the game is at odds with the players enjoyment. Much like Super Meat Boy, Alien Spidy respawns you instantly on death, this makes sense as a mechanic on its own. Here though the stages are sectioned up with checkpoints. Die, get stuck or select to skip back to the last checkpoint with the Y button and your score is deducted. This isn't so bad by itself, but when you see your score is too less to complete the current challenge you have to restart the whole stage or quite out. If the level just placed you back at the start like it does with the checkpoints there would be no issues. Restart here though and your faced with a full level reload and a needlessly long load screen.

On some occasions we chose to restart the stage we were on while the start of the level was still in view on the screen. Every single time the same slow load screen appears and your punished for wanting to play again.


These level issue can be overlooked with a game that plays well, but Alien Spidy doesn't really feel good to play. It's important for a fast paced plat-former like this to feel good to control but everything you do in Alien Spidey feels terrible.

Running and general movement is just awkward, jumping is in-precise and floaty, often pushing jump wouldn't register at all. Bring in the "swing" mechanic and things just get much worse. You use the right stick to shoot web in a direction and use the left stick to control your swing. Sadly the left stick is often more likely to cause you to stop still and climb up or down your web. You loose momentum and often will find it impossible to get it back.
Shooting the web with the right stick is also quite clunky. Shots will miss more then often and the webbing you have available is short and hard to judge with regards to your own place in the world.

Once you do connect the web with something and if you do manage to keep your momentum the erratic way you will flail about in the air is just as likely to detract from what little control you had to begin with.

It might have been nice if the game allowed for the use of the D-Pad but it's utterly unused. Even navigating menus is devoid of the option to use the d-pad. While the stick is fine the lack of a d-pad option in a 2d plat-former is ridiculous.

While playing through and completing the basic stages is overly easy to progress to all of the worlds in the game you need to collect as many stage complete stars as you can. It's more than likely that you'll come to the end of world 1 and not be able to move to the next area.

You're forced to move back through all the stages you already completed and complete them again to obtain better scores and unlock more stars. The max for a stage is five stars and while at your best you may have no trouble getting the high score to unlock four or five stars. You cant unlock the four or five star ranks though, until you unlock the star below, effectively forcing you to play through a stage five times over at least to get the best rank possible even if you technically already have hit the score needed.

Once more you want to play and once more the game punishes you for doing so.

It's a game that lacks the fun of a hard yet fair and challenging experience and instead makes things harder by creating steep and unnecessary requirements for progression.

This is a massive shame as the game in concept has the potential to be so much more then this.

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"contentxcontext reviewed Alien Spidy for the Xbox 360..." was posted by contentxcontext on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 02:56:17 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/alien-spidy/user-reviews/809482/platform/xbox360/ Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:44:49 -0700 ad0234 reviewed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/user-reviews/809408/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

I still remember the first time I started Skyrim on my PC as one of the first PC games I had bought. Quite some time has past by since I've done that. But no wonder, after being astound by the visuals, I found out what was so amazing about Skyrim: I had never seen such a huge world within a video game before. After the introduction and first few hours with the game I knew I wouldn't regret the purchase of Skyrim.

---Presentation---

Skyrim gets a lot right, that's for sure. For one, the story is very entertaining and quite gripping. You play a character who was accidentally accused by the empire, which rules Skyrim, for belonging to the enemy (there's a war between the empire and rebels) and is supposed to lose his head. He/she gets saved by an sudden attack of a dragon, a creature that is actually said to be extinct, since the chaos the dragon causes gives him/her the chance to flee with the help of some other people. During the story you'll find out that the Dragons are back to take over Skyrim, and as it comes your character is the only one able to stop the evil dragons from mischievous plans. It's an exciting story that evolves in a good pace.

Of course, the main story is only the core foundation of what is to happen in this game. Along your way, choices you make affect the story a lot. Actually, you are the one who can decide how the story shall go on. While the main story will end the way it is supposed to end eventually, you may decide how your relation ship to different people are, are able to make crucial decisions that make one group of people to your friends, and another to your foes. And of course, you may decide whether you'd like to be on the good side, or the bad side. You even decide if you want to become a warrior, magician or even a thief. Skyrim has a lot of freedom where you self are able to decide what kind of person your character is, and are able to create your own story. With that said, while it is nice to be able to make such big decisions, the consequences of a few of the little decisions aren't always fitting. The majority yes, but sometimes the consequences of decisions you make are quite incomprehensible. Other times it also felt like the developers had squeezed in one or two too many different decisions to make, when multiple decisions had the same consequence, even though they were two quite different decisions made.

Another reason why Skyrim is gorgeous are the beautiful visuals. The many landscapes of Skyrim are beautiful to have a sight of. There's an incredible amount of details in the world of Skyrim, which can be considered surprising since Skyrim is so huge. Textures are also mostly good, though taking a close look at some objects might end with some unpleasant pictures. Despite some rather muddy looking objects, it's still an outstanding looking game. The same can't be said about the soundtrack. It contains some great tracks, but not very many memorable tracks. Actually there isn't a hell of a lot of music appearing in the game, a lot of the time there isn't any music at all to be heard, and it seems quite random when the music does appear, which does make for some unfitting moments of when the music suddenly starts to play again.

By all means though, what really makes Skyrim so special is that it presents us such an lively, beautiful and exciting world to explore. The world brims of charm, the game represents so many different areas, among them very different kingdoms, so many different characters with personality and other life; it really is amazing what Bethesda has done with Skyrim. They have put so much effort into this game to really give you the feel you're exploring a real, huge world. Not unexpected, but unfortunately, there are quite some glitches and other issues that hold the world of Skyrim back at times. The misleading consequences are only the beginning of many little annoyances that ruin the immersion of Skyrim's world at times. Glitches like getting stuck in environments aren't too common, but they do happen. I don't know about you, but I do perceive it as darn strange when a Mammoth suddenly takes off into the air and lands safe short after the take off. Also, while many people in the game have quite some personality to them, I did encounter people who all shared the same sentences. Which isn't really anything bad, though it also seems very weird when over twenty guardians all seemingly have a cousin who is allowed to fight dragons, meanwhile they have to do their generic, average job as guard. Well maybe they all share the same cousin, an unlikely but still possible solution. Another situation that bothered me quite a bit was the one time where an old lady had died and was lying in the middle of a street. After I had once left and then come back, the lady was still lying there. But the stupid part is still to follow: Whenever a guard who walked along the pathway came along the dead body, he said something like "oh geez, what happened here", knelt down, then stood up again and walked further on. After turning back and coming along the dead body, he did the same thing again. The chances you notice something like that isn't high, but if you do, it really does ruin a bit of the immersion of the world for you. The same goes for dead Dragon bodies, that like to lie in the middle of a way quite some time. Sure, this doesn't have to be unrealistic, but when people suddenly walk through the bones and pretend their isn't anything lying in the way, you do get an awkward impression.

---Gameplay---

Despite my complaints about the presentation of the game, it's still outstanding in general. The same goes for the Gameplay. Right from the beginning you'll be involved in some great action, with battles that look and play great. The main Gameplay aspect of Skyrim is simply traveling through the world and finding all the different areas, always finding more and more content as if it seems that the game does not know what an ending means. And in actual, it doesn't. There are so many different places to find, and so many different missions to complete, that I hardly believe anybody really is able to complete the game with a 100 %. And even if you do have found all locations throughout the whole entire world of Skyrim (which, again, is very unlikely), there are still the many different attributes of your character that you can always improve until there isn't any more to improve. And I'm sure there will always be some foes to have a fight against.

Of course, the game would probably wear out sometime. The main reason why Bethesda had put so much work into creating a world as huge as the one in Skyrim isn't because they expected their player's to explore every single spot in the world, but that players get the feeling their adventure is taking place in what could be a real world, which also leads to even more motivation exploring at least a part of the present world. And it really works. Whenever I come across yet another cave leading into the undergrounds, it's hard to resist for me not to take a peak into the cave. And mostly it ends with me going through the whole cave, beating the baddies that get in my way and coming out with yet another completed mini-adventure that might even be very likely a part of an mission you don't even know about yet. And it's always good to find more and more places since you can fast-travel to any of these places whenever you need to. Also, seeing always more places popping up on your huge overworld map is quite satisfying.

The amount of missions is just as mind-boggling. Granted, I don't know how many there are in numbers, but I know there are a lot. I've got many on my "to do" list, I have done already a lot, and I'm absolutely sure I haven't even seen a quarter of the missions in Skyrim. The missions are also very varied. Find someone or something, bring an object to a specific place or clear off a cage from all monsters in it, these missions are varied enough and most of them are entertaining, at least the ones I've played. The game also always indicates where exactly to go to complete the mission, which guarantees that you won't be stuck on missions because you don't know where to go. That is, except when a glitch appears that let's the arrow disappear, which should normally indicate where to go: then you've got a problem. Luckily, this glitch is a very rare one.

Of course you've got the freedom and can mostly decide which mission you want to do and which not, except the missions that are required for the story mode and other missions that are part of another type of a adventure you choose to take. The freedom of the game really is an awesome part of the game. For instance: you get to make the crucial decision whether to become a magician, thief or warrior. To become a magician for example, you'll have to visit the magic academy, which will then start a kind of totally new adventure for you, that's totally separate from the main adventure, which will then confront you with many more, new missions that become mandatory if you want to end that adventure as well. It really is fun to decide what your character shall become, and to create your own story of your own character.

One thing I didn't talk about yet is the combat: a very important aspect of the game. And it's fun generally. There are tons of different weapons, armor and other spells you can learn to help you in battles (you've guessed it, you can even make your own weapons and armor), and it's really fun using the many different attacks against your enemies, finding out which one's are the best. And combat is quite satisfying as well. No matter with what you battle your enemy, seeing him finally fall is pretty satisfying, especially when special death-scenes occur. Just watch out, as you never know if you're already powerful enough to battle against a specific enemy, or not. It probably won't always end good. Combat isn't masterful though. Without a lock-on system, it's easy to miss your enemy when in a steamy fight, which can make up for some briefly frustrating moments. What really can get a little frustrating however is when you slash right through an enemy and he doesn't take any damage. Doesn't happen too often, but the collision-system isn't always precise.

If there's anything I really have to complain about the gameplay, than it is the check point system. Since there isn't anyone, actually. The game saves automatically whenever you enter an area, house, cave or whatever. But otherwise, there's no automatic saving. Sure, I know, a proper check point system wouldn't be easy to do in a game like Skyrim, but always having to think of saving the game yourself can become a tiny bit annoying, and maybe even interrupt the gameplay a little bit. The real problem of this is simply that whenever you die, you get sent back to your last saving point. And if you have forgotten to save during a long period of time, you might just have to replay a whole lot you had played before. It happened to me once or twice and it wasn't a nice experience. Not at all.

---Verdict---

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an exceptional game. Exceptional when it comes to size, freedom, imagination and design. The main story will lead you through many exciting locations and moments, and it's only one little fraction of what is to be found in the game. But instead of just squeezing in a lot of content into a game without giving it a lot of thought and attention, most of what is to experience in Skyrim is a simple joy, with incredibly lots of content and lots to do, may it be exploring the huge world or trying to pump your many different attributes, and the game makes sure that the game still has a lot of content to be discovered after you finally get tired of the game. Put all remaining issues together in one game that mar Skyrim and you will be confronted with some of Skyrim's weaker moments not too rarely, but compare it with all the positives in the game that deserve to be mentioned, and the issues of the game seem undeniable tiny. No matter how long you expect the game to entertain, you'll be satisfied in the end. It is an everlasting game.

The Good
+ An absolutely gigantic, lively and gripping world that will always have much more content to be discovered than you plan on to discover
+ Huge number of missions with lots of variety, most of them entertaining
+ Beautiful visuals
+ Good main adventure that should keep you hooked until the end
+ A lot of freedom that lets you create your own story of your character
+ satisfying combat with many, many different fighting options
+ Overload on content that you will most likely never ever experience totally

The Bad
- technical problems and other weird moments ruin a bit of the immersion Skyrim's world creates
- automatic saving system barely even exists

Review Score: 9.0

Get the full article at GameSpot

"ad0234 reviewed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for the PC..." was posted by ad0234 on Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:44:49 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/user-reviews/809408/platform/pc/ Wed, 20 Mar 2013 06:52:44 -0700 Hiddai reviewed Grand Theft Auto IV for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/grand-theft-auto-iv/user-reviews/809106/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

This game my father bought me when he was in the USA on Nov 2011 but since i didn't have PS3 i could play only on February 3rd 2012 when i finally got it. It was almost 4 years late and i was anxious to play finally the first game on my PS3. GTA Double Pack (III+VC) was the first game i played on the PS2!

Stepping off a boat in the shoes of illegal immigrant Niko Bellic as he arrives in Liberty City, the amazing imitation of the NYC and a remake of the GTA III map. One of the many things that set GTA IV apart from its predecessors is Liberty City, which is more convincing as a living, breathing urban environment than anything that you've seen in a game before.

Niko has no such luck. He's compelled to start working for one of the factions shortly after arriving, when he learns that his cousin Roman has some potentially fatal gambling debts. Niko's military experience makes him a useful freelancer for employers in the business of killing each other, and though his reluctance to carry out their orders is often apparent, he does whatever is asked of him in the hope that completing missions for other people will ultimately give him the means to complete his own.

Actually, Niko doesn't have to do everything that is asked of him. On several occasions as you play through his story, you'll be presented with decisions that afford you the option of doing what you think is right rather than blindly following instructions. You don't necessarily have to kill a target if he or she promises to disappear, but you have to weigh the risk of your employer finding out against the possibility that the person whose life you spare might prove useful later in the game, or even have work for you in the form of bonus missions. To say anything more specific on this subject would be to risk spoiling one of GTAIV's most interesting new features, but suffice it to say that every decision you make has consequences, and you'll likely want to play through the game at least twice to see how the alternatives unfold.

The Campaign can be beaten in less than 30 hours (although it's extremely hard), and there are so many optional activities and side missions to take part in along the way that you can comfortably double that number if you're in no hurry. The majority of the story missions task you with making deliveries and/or killing people, and play out in much the same way as those in previous games. With that said, most of the missions are a lot easier this time around, partly because Niko is a more agile and efficient killer than any of his predecessors, and partly because the LCPD seemingly has better things to do than hunt down an illegal immigrant who's gunning down undesirables all over the city. Some of the more imaginative missions sprinkled throughout the story include a kidnapping, a bank heist, and a job interview. The cinematic cutscenes associated with story missions are superbly presented and are the sequences in which the game's characters really shine. Without exception, the characters you encounter benefit from great animation, great voice work, and superbly expressive faces. They're not always so impressive when they join you on a mission and refuse to do what they're supposed to (for example, not following you on an escort mission, or failing to negotiate a doorway). Nevertheless, these problems are few and far between, and they're made less painful by the new "replay mission" option that you're presented with whenever you fail.

New abilities in Niko's arsenal include scaling fences and walls anywhere he can get a foothold, shimmying along ledges, and, most importantly, taking cover behind objects. The ability to stick close to walls, parked cars, and the like at the touch of a button makes GTAIV's gunplay a huge improvement over that in previous games, and, in tandem with the new targeting system, it also makes it a lot easier. Enemies are rarely smart enough to get to you while you're in cover, and given that you can lock your targeting reticle on to them even when they're hidden, all you have to do is wait for them to poke their heads out and then pick them off with a minimum of effort. Locking on to enemies targets their torso by default, but you can use the right analog stick to fine-tune your aim and kill them more quickly with a headshot or two. Playing without using the lock-on feature make things more difficult, but you'll need to master the technique so that you can shoot blindly at enemies from positions of cover when you dare not poke your own head out to line up the shot.

Given the amount of trouble that you get into as you play through the story mode, it's inevitable that the police are going to get involved from time to time, even when their presence isn't a scripted feature of your mission. Liberty City's boys in blue are quick to respond when you get flagged with a wanted level of between one and six stars, but they're not nearly as tough to deal with as their counterparts in previous GTA games. They don't drive as quickly when pursuing you, they rarely bother to set up roadblocks, and you'll need to blow up practically an entire city block before the SWAT shows up. Furthermore, you're given an unfair advantage in the form of your GPS system; when you're not using it to plot a valid route to any waypoint of your choosing, it doubles as a kind of police scanner. Any time you have a brush with the law, the GPS shows you the exact locations of patrol cars and cops on foot in your area, and highlights the circular area (centered on your last known whereabouts) where they're concentrating their search. To escape, all you need to do is move outside the circle and then avoid being seen for 10 seconds or so, which is often best achieved by finding a safe spot and just sitting there. It's not a bad system in theory, but in practice it makes dodging the law a little too easy, especially when your wanted level is low and the search area is small.

When you're not running missions for criminals, taking part in street races, stealing cars to order, or randomly causing trouble, you'll find that there are plenty of opportunities to unwind in Liberty City. Some of these optional activities offer tangible rewards that can prove useful in missions later on, whereas others are just a fun way to kill time and take in more of GTA IV's superb humor. For example, you can watch television, listen to numerous different radio stations, check out some genuinely funny shows (including some big-name acts) at cabaret and comedy clubs, and use a computer to surf the in-game Internet.

The Internet is filled with spoofs of all the kinds of Web sites that you'd only ever look at accidentally or when you know there's no danger of getting caught. Some of them can be found only by clicking on links in spam e-mails, whereas others are advertised prominently on the search page. There's plenty of amusing stuff to find if you spend some time in one of the "TW@" Internet cafes, but the most interesting site by far is an online dating agency through which you can meet women who, if they like your profile, will agree to go on dates with you. Dating and socializing with friends is something you can spend as much or as little of your time doing as you like, and though the people you meet can occasionally be demanding to the point that they become irritating, keeping them happy invariably benefits you in some way.

Keeping friends and dates happy means spending time with them and doing things that they enjoy, and all of them have different personalities. Some friends like to join you for minigames such as tenpin bowling, pool, or darts, whereas others prefer to go out for a meal, get drunk, or take in a show. Of course, dates are much fussier than regular friends, and their opinions of you are influenced not only by whether you pick them up on time, where you take them, and whether you try your luck when dropping them at home, but also by a number of much more subtle factors. Dates will comment on stuff like the car you drive, how you drive it, and the clothes you wear. They'll even notice if you wear the same outfit two dates in a row, though not all of them will be bothered by it. The rewards that you get when another character likes you enough vary depending on who it is. Without wishing to give away specifics, befriending a lawyer can prove useful if you're having trouble with the cops, for example, and having a nurse on your friends list can literally be a lifesaver.

You'll keep in touch with your dates, friends, and some of your enemies using another of GTAIV's great new features: a cell phone. It's hard to believe that something as simple as a cell phone could add so much to a game like this, but it's implemented so well that it's hard to imagine leaving any of Niko's safe houses without it. If you've ever used a cell phone in real life, you'll have no problem operating this one and, given that it's controlled using only the D pad and a single button, it's easy to call up acquaintances and take calls even while driving. There's no unwieldy conversation system to deal with; you simply choose which friend you want to call, what you want to talk about (it could be work, a fun activity, or asking for a favor) and then, assuming that he or she answers the phone, the conversation plays out. Incoming calls are even easier, though they occasionally come at inopportune (or amusing) times; hearing your cell-phone's signal interfere with your car radio is the least of your worries when you consider the possibility of a date calling you while you're with a prostitute or embroiled in a gunfight with the Mafia. Incidentally, new ringtones and visual themes for your phone can be purchased via the in-game Internet, which is typical of the incredible attention to detail that you'll come to take for granted as you play.

To give you some idea of just how much thought has clearly gone into the crafting of GTAIV, even the act of stealing a parked car, which is still achieved by pushing a single button, can now result in any number of different things happening. If the door is locked, as is often the case, Niko will smash a window with his elbow or his foot to get inside. Once inside the car, he may need to hot-wire it to get it started; you can speed up the process slightly by using the shoulder buttons on your controller. If the car has an alarm, it'll sound for several seconds and cause the headlights to flash on and off as you drive away--practically begging any nearby cops to come after you. Stealing cars with drivers and/or passengers inside opens up lots more possibilities, the most amusing of which is someone (possibly you) getting an arm caught in a door and dragged along as the vehicle speeds away.

Most of the vehicles in GTAIV, like those in previous games, have very loose handling that makes it easy for you to perform Hollywood-style U-turns, skids around corners, and the like. They are also more realistic in terms of crashing for example it is very dangerous to take a bike as if you crash something very slow you can easily be fly away and get injured. A neat touch when driving with the default camera view is that the camera, which is positioned a few feet behind the rear bumper of the car, centers on you rather than on the vehicle, effectively offering the vehicular equivalent of an over-the-shoulder view. When you take the control of something sporty, the camera also positions itself much closer to the ground, which adds to the sensation of speed.

Getting online couldn't be easier. You simply select the multiplayer option on your cell phone, choose which type of game you want to host or join, and then enter a lobby and wait for the game to start. You won't be getting bored staring at a list of names while you're waiting, though, because when you enter a lobby you actually enter an online version of Liberty City in which you and up to 15 other players are free to do anything. There are weapons scattered all over the place to ensure that things don't stay too friendly for very long.

There are more than a dozen different multiplayer modes to choose from, and although some of them are variations on similar themes, there's certainly no shortage of variety. As the host of a multiplayer session, you also have the freedom to greatly customize all of the game types with variables such as friendly fire, police presence, weapons sets, traffic levels, radar functionality, and many more. You can choose where you'd like your game to take place as well, considering that many gameplay modes can be played either on a specific Liberty City island or across the entire map.

Even conventional 16-player modes such as Deathmatch and Race feel quite different than anything that you've played before. And in addition to those, there are objective-based games in which you're tasked with completing missions similar to those in the single-player game: a team-based Cops 'n Crooks mode, a Turf War mode in which teams compete for control of territories, a carjacking mode, three cooperative missions that support up to four players, and more. With the right group of people, there's no reason why you can't have a lot of fun with every single mode that's available. We experienced a few frame-rate issues and lag that caused other players and their vehicles to jump around the screen at times, but for the most part GTA IV's online play is a real treat. One especially neat touch is that, as a passenger in a vehicle being driven by another player, you can mark waypoints on the GPS system for your driver using a map that tracks the locations of other players and objectives.

In case you haven't guessed already, GTA IV is a game that you simply have to play. The single-player game, which you can still play long after you complete the story, is the series' best by far, and the multiplayer features are good enough that you'll likely have no problem finding people to play with for many months to come. The minor flaws that you'll experience are no more difficult to overlook than those in previous GTA games, and they're greatly outnumbered by the features that will impress and surprise you anytime you think you've already seen everything that the game has to offer. There's lots to see in Liberty City, so you'd best get started.

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"Hiddai reviewed Grand Theft Auto IV for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by Hiddai on Wed, 20 Mar 2013 06:52:44 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/grand-theft-auto-iv/user-reviews/809106/platform/ps3/ Wed, 20 Mar 2013 04:45:41 -0700 Hiddai reviewed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3/user-reviews/809103/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

This game i got on Nov 25th 2011 on 11:46 exactly as my father gave from USA. 5 minutes later i installed it.

Modern Warfare 3 is the game which using the same formula of CoD gaming since the legendary CoD4 it surely does it successfully and if you liked the previous games you no doubtly will buy this one as well.

Modern Warfare 3 continues the story of our super team with Cpt. Price and "Soap" as well as the enemy from the previous title Makarov who is still on the run. Of course it doesn't take the pair long to get back in the hunt, and soon you're hopping the globe in pursuit of your quarry. You make a few forays into backwater outposts, but the most striking situations are when you take up arms in conflicts that consume entire cities. From New York City to London to Paris, no bastion of Western civilization is safe, and the destruction that has been visited on these iconic locations is visually stunning. The impressive scenery makes the action more impactful, and the campaign shuffles you around to different fronts within each city to make sure you can experience the battle from many different angles. Remote air support control, on-foot firefights, and tense vehicle sequences keep the campaign moving at a great clip in these urban environments, capturing the expert pacing that has made past Call of Duty campaigns so exhilarating.

The Campaign much like the previous games take you on a tour all over the world and through many different unexpecting interesting situations makes it very enjoyable and colorful campaign. If the five-hour campaign doesn't satisfy your thirst for AI blood, then the Special Ops mode almost certainly will. Returning after its debut in Modern Warfare 2, Spec Ops offers 16 one-off missions that complement the events of the campaign, letting you experience new facets of the global conflict in which you are embroiled. From stealthily escorting resistance fighters to slugging through a large enemy force in a Juggernaut suit, there's a lot of variety here. Though even the longest missions can be completed in under 10 minutes, the variable difficulty levels help Spec Ops missions provide hours' worth of challenging combat. Furthermore, you can now tackle almost every mission solo and make a bid for leaderboard glory. Spec Ops also includes the new Survival mode, which offers even more opportunity for cooperative or solo slaughter. Survival pits you against wave after wave of increasingly difficult AI enemies on the same maps you encounter in competitive multiplayer. Playing either Survival mode or Spec Ops missions levels up your Spec Ops profile, which in turn channels that familiar satisfaction by unlocking guns, attachments, and equipment. These unlocks come into play solely during Survival games. As you progress through waves and earn money for killing enemies, you gain access to hotspots where you can purchase items from your unlocked arsenal. While you can always pick up the guns your enemies drop in a pinch, the weapons you purchase are likely to be the ones that give you staying power. Refilling grenades and ammo regularly is a necessity, and as the waves get tougher, so is making use of the more powerful assets in your repertoire. A sentry gun can help you stay safely entrenched in one corner of the map, while a squad of AI allies can help cover you when things get hairy. With good gun choices and savvy equipment use, you can make solid progress, but there's always another wave waiting to outflank and overwhelm you.

The most fiendish challenge comes when you take your skills into the realm of online competitive multiplayer. The action will be instantly familiar to anyone who has braved a Call of Duty battlefield in the past four years. The speedy action and rewarding experience point system are just as thrilling and addictive as ever, and some welcome refinements make it even easier to enjoy. Interface improvements make it easier to customize your loadout and view relevant challenges, which offer hefty XP bonuses. Those thirsty for more information about their weapons and statistics can use the free Call of Duty Elite application, which you can download to your Xbox Dashboard or access through a Web browser. In addition to providing extensive stat breakdowns and a variety of premium features that you must pay more to access, Elite offers some useful weapon tips that can help you tweak your battlefield strategy.
The 16 maps provide an excellent array of arenas for the action to play out. Bomb planting, flag grabbing, territory controlling, and straightforward killing form the backbone of most matches, with the notable new addition of Kill Confirmed. This mode mixes things up by requiring you to collect tags from dead bodies in order to actually register your kills. Confirming a kill or denying an enemy kill by collecting a downed ally's tags is as important as making sure your bullets hit the target, giving this mode an enjoyable new tactical dimension. Adjustments to weapon upgrades and killstreaks also require some tactical shifting, because you now unlock attachments, camouflage, and stat-boosting proficiencies by leveling up individual weapons through use. Killstreak rewards have been reissued in strike packages that offer some new assets to play with, like a remote recon drone and a ballistic ground-based booby trap. The Assault strike package works in the familiar way, rewarding you for killing successive enemies in a single life, but the Support strike package doesn't care if your streak spans multiple respawns, and the Specialist strike package rewards you with extra perks instead of traditional killstreak rewards.
These tweaks alter the flow of rewards into your arsenal and onto the battlefield, but Modern Warfare 3 doesn't take any chances with the tried-and-true formula.
Whatever diversions or innovations may lie in Modern Warfare 3's future, the competitive multiplayer still offers the same sweet satisfaction you've come to expect from the series. This is some of the best online shooter action around, and with the daunting challenges of Spec Ops and the exciting, globe-trotting campaign, Modern Warfare 3 stands tall as another great descendant of the game that changed a generation.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Hiddai reviewed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for the PC..." was posted by Hiddai on Wed, 20 Mar 2013 04:45:41 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3/user-reviews/809103/platform/pc/ Sun, 10 Mar 2013 21:33:52 -0700 NightFox313 reviewed Resident Evil 2 for the PlayStation... http://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-2/user-reviews/808642/platform/ps/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Resident Evil 2 is a spectacular experience. It feels so much like a movie, that you nearly forget it's a game. Franchises such as Metal Gear Solid, Ace Combat, and Resident Evil all pretty much pioneered the cinematic vibe of video games. If Resident Evil 1 was a B-movie and Ace Combat was an air show, Resident Evil 2 was a Hollywood action title - before Hollywood action titles in the late 2000s were starting to get stale.

In other words, Resident Evil 2 carries on the survival-horror DNA of its predecessor - along with pretty much everything else that made that game so great. This game is not an experience to be missed, and anyone with even the slightest interest in zombies, a cool cop and a biker chick will sure enjoy Resident Evil 2.

A history lesson to note, for those not familiar with Resident Evil: the whole franchise revolves around zombies, or any life-form that comes in contact with the virus that causes organisms to become "zombified". Just putting that out there, in case you thought this was some sort of slasher film. It also revolves around conspiracy, and uncovering the mystery behind the shady Umbrella Corporation. If there's a zombie outbreak, someone's got to be responsible.

The story in Resident Evil 2 does walk across that familiar line of the storytelling aspect of the series, but it does things differently this time around. You play as two characters, just like in the first game, except Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield aren't back for this one. This time around, the main characters are Leon S. Kennedy - a rookie cop on his first and only day as a Raccoon City police officer, and Claire Redfield - the sister of Chris. I'm not going to spoil much, other than the fact that they get separated in the beginning. This is where the innovative "Zapping System" breaks the mold. The Zapping System is a Resident Evil invention - if I may put it that way - and it works with two playable characters that both have to be played as to understand the whole story. For example, if you play through the game as Claire, you might find out hidden plot details you didn't know about when you played as Leon. Several actions within the game that you make as one character can affect the conditions of the next character on the next playthrough. If you open a locker with a submachine gun as Leon, you can choose to take it with you or save it for Claire - should she ever find it.

I'm just letting you know that if you've played any Resident Evil title after the second one, you're missing out on some serious story here. Many characters from the later games have their origins explained here.

The gameplay's relatively the same as well, though more additions have been added to make Resident Evil 2 a much more immersive experience. For one, the pre-rendered backgrounds are of a much higher caliber than the previous game, and character models look sharper and details on zombies have been increased - from blood stains on their shirts to missing limbs. Other changes have been made as well. If your character is hurt (in this case, Leon), he'll start attempting to clot open wounds by putting his arm to his stomach. If he's seriously wounded, he'll start limping and his running speed is greatly decreased. This all adds to the realism of this game, and the feeling of eluding a zombie whilst limping and hoping to get away is chilling. Many mechanics from the first game, such as the use of herbs to recover health, and the puzzles have returned in this installment.

In the sound and music department, Resident Evil 2 is flawless. The gritty sound effects of zombies moaning, the tinkering of shell cases on the ground and the crackling flames of the grenade launcher are all believable. Music-wise, Resident Evil 2's soundtrack is Hollywood-worthy - especially in the ambient and action sequences of the game. Moody and minimalist dark tones set a great mood for an unfortunate police department that got overrun by zombies, and heavily orchestrated music gives the Hollywood feel to the more fast-paced setpieces. Many complain about the crummy voice-acting of the game, but I found it rather forgivable. The script was at least better-sounding than the first one.

The game is scary as hell, and numerous times throughout the game I was caught off-guard by the more jumpier moments. The obscure camera angles hide what's around the corner, and the sound of a zombie moaning around the corner and not being able to see it is terrifying. Each and every zombie looks realistic for its time and the animations for them are enough to give you nightmares - even daymares. It isn't limited to humans either - even animals such as dogs and birds seem hostile, and mutated experiments are ferocious. The first time I found the game particularly frightening, but the second time around playing as Claire, I felt even more afraid. Because the game expects you to know what scares await from the experience as Leon, the game finds different ways to scare you. Very few games succeed to provide an even more enjoyable experience the second time, especially in the horror genre.

Long after both playthroughs are completed, it isn't over yet. There are two scenarios for each character, which could potentially mean four playthroughs, and unlockables such as extra missions and gameplay options elongate the replay value of this already-massive game (depending if you have the DualShock version). An unforgettable story with believable characters, a disturbing atmosphere coupled with unsettling music makes Resident Evil 2 the best Sony PlayStation game I've ever played. Few words can describe the genuine survival-horror feel of Resident Evil 2.

I could go on and on, and continue praising this masterpiece. But I can't write forever. So I'm going to let Resident Evil 2 speak for me.

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"NightFox313 reviewed Resident Evil 2 for the PlayStation..." was posted by NightFox313 on Sun, 10 Mar 2013 21:33:52 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-2/user-reviews/808642/platform/ps/ Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:08:17 -0800 Legend002 reviewed Infinity Blade for the iPhone/iPod... http://www.gamespot.com/infinity-blade/user-reviews/808371/platform/iphone/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

Getting straight to the point, the story begins with you being defeated by the main antagonist, the immortal God King. You control a dead soul, set out to give the immortal God King a taste of payback. You start from outside his castle and make your way up to the God King ascending through his castle full of different types of intimidating foes.

The game play in Infinity Blade is unique, good or bad that is really up to you to decide. You don't actually have complete control over the protagonist. During each screen, locations are highlight and you are to choose how you want to advance the game. There is usually an enemy after you selected the place you want to go and to advance you must be the one that reign supreme. By defeating a monster, you earn experience which will level you up. In addition to that, you also earn virtual cash which could be used to upgrade you weapons.

The combat in Infinity Blade is simple. Swipe to slash, tap the shield logo on the screen to block and parry by correct timing. You could also tap the left of right arrow below corners of your screen to dodge. Occasionally, you also have a special melee or magic attack when the gauge meter on top of your screen fills up. If you die throughout any part of the game, you must start over again from the beginning. The control mechanic sounds good on paper but it does get extremely repetitive after a short while. More depth and complexity would have benefited this game greatly.

Epic wanted to show off the power of mobile game and they succeeded and went beyond. Infinity Blade looks absolutely stunning; running on Unreal Engine 3, we should expect no less. The details Epic was able to squeeze on iOS are incredible. The backgrounds are eerie and the monsters within them are equally hideous. From top to bottom, Infinity Blade display what to be the best of the best on mobile Apple's gaming by far.

Overall, I can't really recommend Infinity Blade to any gamer, casual or hardcore. The repetitiveness of its combat will get dull fairly quickly. On top of that, the entire game only lasts for about 2-3 hours and there is little incentives to come back for more. There is an arena mode but it s more of the same concept; defeating monster with the exact same method you've been doing the entire game. At a price tag of a premium $5.99, this is a pass. Aside from its outstanding visual, Infinity Blade is nothing more than a demo to show off your latest tech much like Spider-man 3 was to blu ray. A great achievement in technology isn't equivalent to a great nor even average achievement in gaming.

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"Legend002 reviewed Infinity Blade for the iPhone/iPod..." was posted by Legend002 on Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:08:17 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/infinity-blade/user-reviews/808371/platform/iphone/ Sat, 02 Mar 2013 17:35:56 -0800 NightFox313 reviewed Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-5-gold-edition/user-reviews/808164/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

Let me get this straight: I am a fan of the Resident Evil games, and the Survival Horror genre that it pioneered. Even though I haven't played many of the games (just REmake and RE2), I've played enough to know that this is a pretty darn good series. It's given me chills and made me uncomfortable in areas of my house that I'd usually feel safe in. That's the lasting effect of Resident Evil.

Sadly, the same can't be said for the fifth game several years down the line. The Survival Horror genre has evolved into more of a third-person shooter, and that is the central basis of this game. While it does incorporate some pretty nasty-looking enemies and while it does sport the usual blood and gore, those don't really make the game as creepy as it could've been. I've seen and heard enough of RE4 to know that ever since that game, the franchise has been leaning more towards an action-shooter.

And while this isn't a bad thing, Resident Evil 5 is pretty light on scares. However, what did save me from returning the game back to the store for a refund (or to buy a different game) was the great story and characters. Also, I was looking forward to the bonus DLC included for free with the Gold Edition of the game. So I decided to press on with a friend and experience the game for ourselves, in cooperative play.

There's the standard Resident Evil characters, who look familiar but have changed since their last appearance. Chris Redfield of the BSAA has returned, and he's pretty ripped this time around. Back in the first game, he was just a normal guy, but now his biceps can even match Popeye's. Chris is also paired with a partner, Sheva Alomar, to investigate the strange occurrences going on in a small African town. Considering how this is Africa, the things that you're quite used to from the previous games are probably subject to change. Most strikingly, the game is a stark contrast when compared to its predecessors - the majority of the game takes place in broad daylight. This completely demolishes the scare factor, but there are those moments when a zombie grabs you from behind and you never see it coming.

Resident Evil 5's story is well-written and is exceptionally well-paced. It all plays out like a movie, like all of the Resident Evil titles, and the hot and gritty atmosphere of Africa adds to the feeling that heat waves are literally burning your television screen. The voice-acting is terrific in almost every way and the cinematic music accompanies each and every action-packed, explosive set-piece. Sheva Alomar's native accent sounds impressively real, and Chris' voice sounds just right - like a standard Hollywood action hero.

Resident Evil 5 succeeds in many areas. The music is top-notch, and whether it's the ambient tapping of the African drums to the heavily orchestrated action sequences, everything sounds awesome. The sounds of the zombies screaming in their native languages seem authentic and genuine. The visuals are some of the best I've ever seen on the system, and the lighting effects from the harsh sunlight to flickering lights in the dark hallways of a deserted laboratory are jaw-dropping. Real-time shadows make up some of the scary moments, and they are all used effectively. Capcom definitely nailed it with the music/sound and visuals department. It all works so well to make such an atmospheric, creepy game - but not as creepy as it could've been.

The partner system works well, especially when a human player is controlling the other character. However, when you've got no-one to play with, the AI will take over. And let me say this: it is some of the worst AI I've ever seen. Your partner will waste bullets shooting things that are already dead, and will heal you with an herb even if you've just got a scratch. It's ridiculous, and this issue really was a let-down, considering how it was pretty cool to have someone watch your back for you.

The story - albeit short - has some good fun. Unfortunately, there's no real incentive to go back through it again. However, the extra replay value from the Gold Edition (the DLC episodes that had to be purchased on the standard edition of RE5 but can be unlocked for free when certain conditions are met in-game) does offer more to the table. The extra content varies. There's the two DLC episodes: Desperate Escape and Lost in Nightmares, and then there's the extra Mercenaries: Reunion. In addition, there's extra figurines that are exclusive to the Gold Edition. It may seem like a lot, but when you realize how fast you blaze through these extras, you'll wish there was more. The extra content should be of marginal interest to casual gamers, but hardcore fans of Resident Evil would probably want these goodies.

The game does feature online cooperative play for each mode, and there's a Versus mode that comes with the Gold Edition. Players here can either kill each other or compete for kills, if I'm correct. I never tried it - so I wouldn't know.

I just don't think Resident Evil 5 was up to par like its predecessors. It just seemed too short to me, and the disappointing extras of the Gold Edition didn't give me much incentive to play through it again. The Mercenaries mode was fun with friends, but it does get boring. Resident Evil 5's already-short length isn't really made much better even with the DLC that comes with the Gold Edition. Everything seemed too slapped-on and unimpressive when it came to the downloadable episodes and I was left wanting more. I just wish the game was a little more scarier, or a little bit longer.

Otherwise, if you're the type of person who loves Resident Evil, zombies, or action-shooters, you should probably give Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition a rental rather than a justified purchase. And if you do decide to play this game, expect you and your partner to be able to hold your own and stand your ground, and survive in Africa where your screams won't be heard.

"We're partners. To the end."

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-5-gold-edition/user-reviews/808164/platform/ps3/ Wed, 20 Feb 2013 09:29:26 -0800 Hiddai reviewed Pokemon Black Version for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/pokemon-black-version/user-reviews/807765/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

I bought this game on October 7th 2011 in Yom-Kipur and tried to play it a little bit before and mainly after the fast.

The Pokemon legend continues this time to Unova region where the 5th generation of Pokemon located.
As always, the formula didn't change. You can choose between a boy or a girl then fire, grass or water Pokemon starter and continues with your journey while meets your lovely rival (who will be the the character you didn't chose at the beginning with the stronger-than-yours Pokemon starter.

The bad guy in the game is, of course the main excuse for the plot. From the very beginning, the mysterious Team Plasma, and the Seven Sages drive the story. They also bring up concepts about the morality of Pokemon that are pretty heavy for the series. They're a constant presence, showing up in every town, stealing Pokemon, and confusing the protagonist's motivations. They're never hiding out in a dumb warehouse waiting for a kid to steal their key card or whatever.

The game is also a more streamlined Pokemon experience. The developers have done a lot of small things that make the game run smoother. Some of them are obvious, like combining the Pokemon Center with the Poke Mart, but others are more subtle. Battles run just a smidge faster each turn, for example, speeding up the whole process.

Furthermore, the game has 2 more new fighting styles: Triple Battles and Rotation Battles. Both are in Black and White, though one gets a larger focus in each. I prefer the Rotation Battles, as the ability to switch Pokemon before the attack every turn adds a new level of strategy. The Triple Battles feel like bigger Double Battles, which isn't bad, but isn't very exciting either. There are some cool new move sets like Combined Moves which are normal attacks that create more powerful effects if used in tandem with your partner. The game's cover Pokemon, Zekrom and Reshiram, utilize this with a pair of devastating fusion attacks.

For the most part, Black/White looks and sounds better than previous Pokemon games. The graphics engine is the same, but this time the camera has been shifted down, showcasing the 3D elements more. There are moments when the game looks great, with sweeping camera movements and changed perspectives. Somebody at Game Freak must love bridges because there are numerous huge bridges to cross. That doesn't stop the game from looking downright ancient in parts though. Pokemon are still pixelated, so when they're blown up on the screen it looks like a Game Boy Advance game.

There are no familiar faces in the game though. For the first time since Red/Blue, older Pokemon do not return (at least in the beginning). As you trek through the 40-some hours of the story mode, you'll see nothing but brand new Pokemon. This means that when you go into a cave, you won't see the same damn Zubat and Geodude you always see. This is often awesome; seeing new Pokemon every few minutes recaptures that feeling of adventure the first game had.
There are ways to get older Pokemon after you've completed the game, or by using some of Black/White's numerous bonus features, but most Pokemon have to be transferred from previous games.

One of the game's coolest features is the new C-Gear. The bottom screen is a constant menu for multiplayer, allowing you to jump into a trade or a battle almost instantly using the games IR functionality. The ability to trade Pokemon that aren't currently in your party also speeds up the entire process, and is something the game should have had years ago.

At last, The game is really worth buying even for a new-to-the-series fellows (if there are any). This is a great advanture to continue on your Pokemin journey!

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Hiddai reviewed Pokemon Black Version for the DS..." was posted by Hiddai on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 09:29:26 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/pokemon-black-version/user-reviews/807765/platform/ds/ Wed, 20 Feb 2013 01:57:20 -0800 Hiddai reviewed Crysis 2 for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/crysis-2/user-reviews/807743/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

This game i bought on April 1st 2011 when i was in the commanding course. Somehow i still found time to play and finish the game even though i wasn't home much

After i was amazed by the first 2 Crysis games (of Ubisoft & Crytek as the publisher and developer of the games). I wanted to try the sequel to this series (now with EA as publisher) after i was stunned by its amazing graphic that put my PC on wheelchairs when it could barely run it.

You play as a marine known as Alcatraz, and like Nomad in the original game, you are outfitted with a nanosuit. This suit makes you the soldier of the future; it allows you to jump to great heights, temporarily cloak yourself, and scan your environment. You can also activate a mode that boosts your armor. You receive this suit in dramatic fashion from the original game's Prophet, and the nature of this technology figures heavily into the story. Someone wants that suit. Thus, you aren't just fighting off an alien invasion, but you're also fighting ground troops that would be happy to see you dead. You won't find much of interest in the characters, and the meandering plot takes a while to find its rhythm. But once it does, it carries you along properly, delivers a few twists, and comes to an intriguing conclusion that you won't see coming.
if you haven't played the original Crysis, the first stretch of the sequel might make you wonder why it is so beloved. You spend the early going pitted against relatively dumb human enemies who run past you towards some distant cover spot but fail to shoot, stand around staring straight ahead, and otherwise act as if they don't know you are pumping them full of lead. Later on, you catch friendlies and aliens standing around together, looking like they might be enjoying each other's company. Aliens and humans alike crash into objects and then just run in place rather than go around them or leap over. The AI simply isn't good, and its mediocrity stands out all the more against the otherwise convincing climate.

Fortunately, the AI is an infrequent concern once the invasion is in full swing and you're surrounded by dozens of foes roaming the maps and surrounding you. The aliens come in a few varieties. Some armored creatures might pounce on you and knock you off your feet or fire energy bolts at you. Many of them hop onto ledges and rooftops to gain higher ground. Miniboss types pummel you with rockets and are tough to bring down without a C4 charge or a few rockets. Crysis 2 offers a nice challenge, particularly in its second half; some of those aliens soak up a lot of bullets before going down. You get an array of military-grade weapons, and you can tailor them with different sights (reflex sights, for example) and other enhancements (say, a silencer). You also collect the glitter that dead aliens leave behind (called nano catalyst) and use it to upgrade your nanosuit. For example, you can improve your suit's energy regeneration, or you can unlock a fun ground-pound ability. The suit works a bit differently than it did in the original Crysis. For instance, you no longer activate power mode to jump to higher levels; you just hold down the jump key. Rather than activate speed mode, you sprint.
The maps aren't as spacious as those in the original Crysis or in Far Cry 2, which may disappoint fans of the original seeking a healthy dose of sandbox gameplay. Compared to most shooters, however, Crysis 2 still offers plenty of room to maneuver. As you enter the larger areas--often from a rooftop above--the game encourages you to use your suit to scan the environment. Doing so allows you to tag enemies for assault or avoidance, and it shows you where all-important ammo and weapon stashes are located. How you approach battle is then up to you. You can activate armor mode and go in guns blazing, though Crysis 2 is not a bunny-hopping, run-and-gun shooter; the heavier your weapon, the slower your movement. Carelessness does not bring good results. Sometimes, you can avoid battle entirely by cloaking yourself and sneaking around. More often than not, you employ variations on these themes: cloaking yourself long enough to flank the enemy and then unleashing a barrage; popping a turret gunner in the head; or performing a satisfying stealth kill on a chattering alien from behind. Or perhaps you might use the verticality of the levels to your benefit, leaping to a ledge above and rushing to a better vantage point.

The resulting firefights are exceptional and unpredictable. Crysis 2's variety comes not from one on-rails sequence after another, but from busy, open maps that constantly break up your line of sight and give you a reason to use both short- and long-ranged weaponry. There are a few on-rails/turret sequences, but Crysis 2 is longer than most modern shooters--10 hours or so--and individual levels span multiple fronts. As a result, such orchestrated events don't overstay their welcome, and the game feels more like one extended experience than a series of bite-sized chunks sewn together. What makes Crysis 2 fun is that you author your own destiny by getting in an armored vehicle and squashing a few grunts under your wheels or ripping off the same vehicle's turret gun and wasting enemies.

The multiplayer part of Crysis 2 is superficially similar to that of other modern shooters, and it does a good job of keeping you engaged once you get past some technical hiccups.
These game types all grant a good dose of action, though it is much different from the expansive Power Struggle matches that defined the original. Nevertheless, Crysis 2 differentiates itself from other shooters with the same nanosuit abilities as in the single-player campaign. You can cloak yourself for short periods of time and take your opponents by surprise; escape a sticky situation by leaping to higher ground; and improve your defenses by activating armor mode. The diverse maps give you plenty of opportunity to employ these skills. On the vertical Skyline map, for example, jumping to higher ground is a great way to gain an advantage over a pursuing enemy. On the atmospheric Sanctuary, stealthy players will appreciate the many archways and gravestones that shield them from view when they need to recharge their energy. It's all solid fun, and given the nature of the nanosuit powers, it's unpredictable enough to keep you invested for the long term.
Gaining experience is important because it forms the core of Crysis 2's elaborate system of unlocks. While you can choose from one of a few premade classes, the game allows you (in most modes) to create your own class by selecting from a variety of weapons and suit modules. These modules are many and may allow for faster firing rate, automatic warning when enemies come near, radar scrambling, and more. Some unlocks are earned by meeting the necessary skill requirement; others are tied to particular milestones. For example, you might earn a module upgrade by killing 150 enemies while in armor mode. There are many such upgrades and many ways to customize your character.

At last Crysis 2 is a really great game. Superb graphic and superb sound and classic run & gun action. Even though it fails to have a replayability value and its plot doesn't really absorb you in (as the prequel games in the series did) and both necessary to make a game from good game into a great game, Crysis 2 is still a worth playing game when it comes so pure action and for people who want to challenge their PC to its limits (as i did).

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Hiddai reviewed Crysis 2 for the PC..." was posted by Hiddai on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 01:57:20 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/crysis-2/user-reviews/807743/platform/pc/ Tue, 19 Feb 2013 22:23:42 -0800 NightFox313 reviewed Armored Core: Master of Arena for the PlayStation... http://www.gamespot.com/armored-core-master-of-arena/user-reviews/807738/platform/ps/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

After 1998's disappointing sequel to the original Armored Core, "Project Phantasma" was deemed by many as more of an "add-on" rather than a full game. It was roughly half the length of the previous game and - in general - it just wasn't as good.

Armored Core: Master of Arena more than makes up for that. Released on 29 February, 2000 in the "land of the free and the home of the brave", this time around, the developer - From Software has dished out a true sequel to the original Armored Core on the Sony PlayStation. What From Software has brought to the mech-simulator table is a game that is engrossing and extremely addictive, and within its simplicity lies a video game that far outclasses Project Phantasma.

The story is what you've come to expect from the Armored Core franchise. There's the typical "corporation vs. corporation" in the futuristic time-period setting in which Ravens (pilots of Armored Cores, which are huge metal behemoths to put it one way) are hired as mercenaries, but there's more this time around. Building on to the Arena Mode from Project Phantasma - and like the title implies - Master of Arena revolves around a time-period after the first two titles. It's pretty much the aftermath of what happened, and the Ravens that are out of work (since there literally is no work to be done) turn to the Arena to keep a roof over their heads.

Oh, come on. You know what it is. Money. Like something out of F-Zero, flocks of Ravens (see what I did there?) - bad and good - take part in this Arena on a quest for fame, fortune, and cash. And maybe women too. However, that's not the way the main character sees it. You're the same AC pilot from the first two games, and you're now seen as a high-ranking Raven because of your efforts that you made in previous missions. It sort of gives this sense of realism in the fact that you're actually a respected individual compared to how you were a mere "dog of war" mercenary in the beginning of the first game. Anyways, the gist of the storyline goes like this: You are sent on a mission to help save some guy who's hiding from some adversaries in a truck. You blast through a couple baddies here and there - and when you do find him... Bam. A shot from across the room blows up the truck. You find out that the cruel, heartless punk that shot the innocent truck driver is "Hustler One", who pilots an AC called "Nine-Ball". This guy is one of the most awesome villains you'll probably ever meet in a video game. But I won't spoil anything, other than...

...Yes, he's a combatant in the Arena. He's Numero Uno and has been there for as long as anyone can remember. He almost never accepts missions and few challenge him. In other words, he's a guy that's not to be messed with - until now anyways. Apparently you've got some bad blood with Hustler One. Right from the get-go your operator buddy, Lana Nielsen, knows that you want to kill him.

From here, the long way up to the top begins. And it starts with a lot of fine-tuning and testing your AC (but with a save file from the first Armored Core or Project Phantasma you can carry over your already-awesome, fine-tuned AC to this game). Master of Arena seems to follow the same path that the other Armored Core titles did. You head out on your standard missions as a mercenary, accepting contracts and launching sorties and all that stuff - but suddenly there won't be any more missions for you to do. Here, it's less about helping needy corporations that want to achieve top dog and more about you climbing the rungs of the Arena so you can take out Hustler One. So if you run out of missions to do, then it's on to the Arena. The combatants in the Arena are extremely varied, which is cool because each and every pilot you face has their own distinct fighting style and some have an actually good, legitimate reason for partaking in the Arena. It's cool to know that there are other Ravens out there that want that No. 1 spot so bad - but none as bad as you, obviously.

Like the previous installments, this iteration has the standard Raven's NEST shop, where you can purchase and sell parts. There are even more parts from before, because by winning battles in the Arena both credits and parts can be earned. There's more Cores, Heads, and other items such as extra magazines, and two pairs of lasers that look like wings on your back. There's even more laser blades - which is always a good thing. Again, you're given the option to customize your AC however you like - as fast or as slow as you like, and the option to opt for a light AC that can zip around for fast advances and retreats instead of a slow-moving fortress is always welcome. In the gameplay department, there's nothing much that's different other than the Main Menu, which has been slightly upscaled visually.

There's not much bad to say about Master of Arena. Its presentation is amazing in how it presents the constant sense of competition while retaining the classic, futuristic vibe of Japanese mecha from the '80s. The music is a mix of trance, techno, and drum 'n' bass. And no, there's no wobble-wobble dubstep. Before dubstep, there was drum 'n' bass. And the music fits perfectly with the tone of this game. The sound is nearly identical with the previous Armored Core titles, but that's because it's running on the same engine. Visually, Master of Arena looks a tad more impressive than its predecessors. The stages that serve as battlegrounds for the Arena seem to look better-designed, cosmetically-speaking - and the levels near the end seem to show off better expertise with the PlayStation's limits in terms of visual design. There's just a great sense of art style and the ACs themselves always look sharp and are animated with fluidity.

Sadly, the same issues apply if you saw some of the negative points about the Armored Core games of Christmas past. The camera still seems to behave awkwardly in tight spaces, and there are moments where you wish the controls were a little more accessible, but if you're a seasoned veteran you should know how to handle your AC. Armored Core: Master of Arena is - to put it short - a great sequel, but if I could state all of the good points of this game, you might as well read my review of the original Armored Core.

Master of Arena does not disappoint. It stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the original Armored Core, however it sits a lot higher on the pedestal than Project Phantasma. This is a game that is innovative, setting the bar of how sequels should be handled - with intensive care. And a lot of care seems to have been put in with this game - and while the mission count may be short, the Arena more than makes up for it. And there's two discs, with the second containing extra content, so that boosts the replay-value even further, especially when you can replay missions over again once the main storyline has been beaten.

And don't expect to find a battered and bruised copy of Master of Arena anywhere - chances are no-one's dared to reluctantly hand in this gem to a used game store nearby, because once you pick this game up you probably won't stop playing it for a couple weeks.

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/armored-core-master-of-arena/user-reviews/807738/platform/ps/ Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:50:59 -0800 contentxcontext reviewed Retro City Rampage for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/retro-city-rampage/user-reviews/807161/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

Remember when you were young and you had a toy box full of action figures, soft toys, accessories, paper cut out men and random stones? Everything would be stuffed into that old box and you'd make up new adventures from everything in there, no matter what it was.

The predator would hunt the cast of star trek the next generation on my bed sheets all the time and it was excellent. Retro city rampage is a toy box, one built on the reflections of your youth. This is the games best asset and its biggest weakness.

It's a game built on moments; these moments are given strength thanks to the memories of those who happen to be playing. Being 30+ I hand an immensely enjoyable time with the main game experience. Winks and nods come quite often and the more you have experienced the more you notice.

For outright geeks like me the nods come so thick and fast that the game may as well have a heavy metal soundtrack to head-bang to.

The problem is that the whole game is a massive nod to the past, the visuals are the most blatant aspect of this but it's in the gameplay that people will over time start to feel frustrated and then confused.

New missions come swiftly and almost all bring new gameplay aspects, often these will be in the form of massive references to older games, both contextually and gameplay wise.

Sneaking sections are followed by out and out shooting and mixed up with a short boss fight. Some parts of the game take mechanics featured predominantly in other titles and turn them deliberately on their heads. At one point for example you are tasked with following a car around the city, the lead character (aptly named simply "player") comments in a meta way about how follow missions in games are boring and how he'll fall asleep. You then still have to do a follow mission but with an added "drink coffee to stay awake" mechanic.

This sequence is funny in concept actually playing this section is very little fun and likely short on laughs.

That's not to say that the game is short on laugh out loud moments, they come thick and fast along with all the references to your past. It's just that the longer you play the less you find things funny and even when they may be funny they can still be hit and miss in execution.

The more variations you see in gameplay the more confused the player is likely to become and while the game is never a tough challenge there's a sense that this constant variation can become either annoying or frustrating. In one mission you are simply tasked with blowing up cars with dynamite, it was a short and simple mission that could be completed in a few seconds. Instead death and failure came several times due to a combination of awkward mechanics and random in game scripting.

Being plowed down by cop cars over and over again because you're trying to charge a stick of dynamite and throw it at moving traffic while also attempting to dodge is annoying.

The game is a toy box as I said before though; it's one that for the right person there's a lot on offer. Stick with the main story; what there is of a story; you'll be faced with events; be they game changing or throwaway that tickle your nostalgia bone to the marrow.

Nods to classic cartoons, modern films and comics sit right alongside events based on games like metal gear or bionic commando. Each and every mission is something that'll remind you of something old or new and the depth of the games pop culture knowledge is amazing to behold if a possible barrier to entry.


In the free roam mode you can explore the city as much as you like, here you'll find random and often hilarious arcade missions that really mix up the game. One for example sees player set alight and tasked with setting as many other people on fire as he can and putting himself out before he burns to death.

These missions are entirely throw away but are entertaining none the less. Also hidden in the city are a range of arcade games that contain original takes on other famous indie games. One arcade containing both Bit-Trip Runner and Super Meat Boy games (the bit trip runner title being arguably as good as the real thing).

The world seems like its something that's crammed full of things to find and do and is where the sense of it being a massive toy box comes from.

While it's possible to see where the game comes from in its gta3 remake origins little of that now remains, it's a brilliant attempt at a massive retro game parody that often hits but can also often miss.

While the toy box is full of all the toys you loved from the past, its also filled with the rocks and rubbish you hoarded too and while 20 or so years ago they might have been fun you've changed and children's toy boxes are not filled with the same toys you used to like.

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"contentxcontext reviewed Retro City Rampage for the Xbox 360..." was posted by contentxcontext on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:50:59 -0800
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