RyugGomba's GameSpot Friend's Reviews RyugGomba's GameSpot Friend's Reviews RyugGomba's GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:00:03 -0700 GameSpot RyugGomba's GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Thu, 09 May 2013 09:04:49 -0700 xDanny123x reviewed Fire Emblem: Awakening for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/fire-emblem-awakening/user-reviews/811146/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

*Warning! This Review contains Spoilers, if you do not want to get spoiled then I suggest you finish the game or don't read the Review. Curious to know the Score just Scroll all the way down*

Fire Emblem a SRPG series of learning and planning your soldiers on the field because they will matter and affect your game and you in general. Wasn't a huge fan of Fire Emblem mainly because there are only 5 games (I think) ever to be release outside of Japan out of the 13(?) games out there, I've only played Fire Emblem (sacred stones?) on the GBA, Shadow Dragon on the DS, Path of Radiance on the Gamecube and I believe that was it. They are fun and great but wasn't into it for some reason but Awakening has... well (warning for cliche quote) awaken me to the series. And unlike the other series you create your main character and is part of your story too, but you are not the lord.

The Story:
You and a man name Chrom is fighting a man name Validar a dark sorcerer and then killing him, but after that a strange event occurs where your vision changes and hearing a strange voice in your head, when Chrom asks what is wrong where you then stab him killing him and an evil laughter comes out from you. You then wake up at a field where you see Chrom and a girl Chroms little sister Lissa greeting you asking where you are from and why were you sleeping in the middle of the fields when then you do not remember nothing who you are, where you come from but the only thing you know is who Chroms name is. A knight named Fredrick doesn't trust you one bit asking if he was some kind of spy when you know nothing but Chrom (I mean hell I didn't even trust me), so then Chrom takes you in as a Tactician where you must strategize whom goes into battle and where to move and whom to attack whom to pair with and what weapons to attack with. Oddly enough your a pretty smart person for someone with amnesia but visions and a strange voice keeps popping into your head, where and whom this is, is a mystery even for you. Until you meet Marth killing zombies who are called the Risen (undead soldiers) who came out of no where and started attacking villages, the question is where in the world did Marth come from if his death was thousands of years? Here is my main problem with the game it is another timeline game where your future is in ruins after Chroms death and when an ancient dragon named Grima has reawakened from the dead and destroys and kills everyone from the present (now) time. Marth is actually a girl name Lucina who comes from the future who is actually Chroms daughter (and your daughter if you decided to marry Chrom as a Female MC or whom you can actually marry too if Male MC) who tells Chrom the future begins because of his death from his Best and Most trusted friend which happens to be you but doesn't remember it (or happens yet). Validar knows of the outcomes of the to be future because he has someone who tells him everything, his son who is another you (you from another timeline) which means Validar is your father. I've had enough of the timeline games I've played a few of them lately with Bioshock Infinite and Virtues Last Reward and out of all of them Virtues Last Reward is the better choice. But it has it's moments like Emmeryns Death and towards the final chapters nearly the end of the wars.

The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
The gameplay is where it is at. I've had more fun with this game than I've had than most AAA games that have been out. You recruit soldiers into your army and not only there is the main story you can go into side stories to recruit more. You can only sent out a limited number of soldiers into battle so pick out your best soldiers and pair them with each other (depending on whom you want to boost their stats). When pairing them together (varies not all can have support with one another) you can bring their support with each other like you and Chroms support will raise increasing stat boost when paired and increasing the odds of team strikes, and blocking partners attacks. If paired (varies) with one male and female you and bring their support to S rank they will get married, and their future child can be recruit-able and can be used in battle and can also and weirdly enough be married by the MC. The Child can gain the stats, class, hair color (believe it or not), and skills depending on their parents (inheritance) so don't jump the gun just yet, because your children (everyone else) can become your strongest. You can change also change any characters Class example you begin as a Tactician but with a Second Seal you can change your class to a Mage, or a Myrmidon, or a Cavalier, or well you get the point, except for special classes like Lords or Manakete. Master Seals can change your class to higher classes like GrandMaster, Sage, Knight etc. and once your at the highest level (20 or 30) and like your class you can use the second seal to keep your class and stats and gain more can also be use as a higher class too. There is a new mode called Casual mode where if your soldiers lose all their HP they will retreat from battle and can save anytime during battle. But this is Fire Emblem Classic mode is where it is at, once your soldier losses all their HP they WILL DIE, never to be used again except for you or Chrom any one of you dies in battle Game Over.

The Sound (sound effects, voice acting, etc.)
The Music is good but forgettable, not going to lie it is good hell great at certain points in the game like when Emmeryns death, and battle against important characters (like Walhart) or you or Chroms Death in battle. But other pieces can easily be replaced. Voice acting is great each character sounds great and I can fell the emotion in them (kinda) and others sounds kinda generic hell my only complaint would be if there was more of them instead of the little clips we hear. Sound effects sounds the same, swords, spears, axes, bows, etc, and spells and staffs sounds the same too.

The Graphics (w/ concept):
This I love the most, this game looks beautiful, easily one of the most beautiful games I've played in a long time. I love the visuals, the 3D works really well with this game, the cut-scenes are anime-style 2D yet 3D art style and it is beautiful. During battle it is sprites, but during fight it is 3D modules and you can change the camera angles to auto new style, first person view, and classic style, and can change the speed of the battle, normal, slow, fast, and stop to watch it in beautifully done 3D. Character modules looks great not the best looking ones but great for the 3DS. My only complaint would be the cut-scenes we need more much much more of them in the future.

The Controls (w/ presentation):
The game is an SRPG so not much to say about controls you move towards your destination and attack and watch the fight in the beautiful cut-scenes. Can use the touch screen to see stats or change camera angles or speed during fighting scenes. The boxart is freakin amazing, it is one of the best I've seen, it is what it is. The manual is colored but not much. The start up screen is the two Falchions and the mark.

I cannot stress out how much this game amazed me in so many levels but of course it has it's flaws but never the less this game surprised me in so many ways and here I thought I wasn't into video games as I used to like games like Bioshock Infinite didn't bring me up but here Awakening has brought my light back up on video games.

Overall:

Story: 7.5
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 8.0
Graphics: 9.5
Controls: 9.0

Overall: 8.8

Get the full article at GameSpot

"xDanny123x reviewed Fire Emblem: Awakening for the 3DS..." was posted by xDanny123x on Thu, 09 May 2013 09:04:49 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/fire-emblem-awakening/user-reviews/811146/platform/3ds/ Sat, 27 Apr 2013 08:54:13 -0700 xDanny123x reviewed BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810740/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

*Warning! This Review contains Spoilers, if you do not want to get spoiled then I suggest you finish the game or don't read the Review. Curious to know the Score just Scroll all the way down*

Bioshock was one of my most memorable games I have ever played and one of the best FPS games I've ever played. After the abomination of Bioshock 2 I longed for that same feeling Bioshock gave me. When announced Bioshock Infinite I was ready for that feeling and with a new setting and all the hype it is getting I was even more pumped for it.

The Story:
Columbia a city floating in the sky where people are free and living happily among each other but slavery was also among them treated wrongly and put to work. Under the sky a man named Booker travels to a lighthouse island to talk to someone about a job he accept to do only to find out no one was there (well except for a few dead people). Booker then reaches the top of the lighthouse and rings the three bells in a specific order and thus finds a chair in the middle decides to sit on it (why? plot) and launches to the sky and into Columbia where his real job begins, finding a girl and bring her to his client. After an hour of wandering around the city where a type of festival is taking place you'll notice a lot of signs and announcements about the false Shepperd and should be killed for his crimes who you can tell has a sign on his hand that says AD and luckily for you, you have an AD on your hand. Then you enter a raffle which before two people whom you keep coming across tells you not to open door number 777. When the raffle is done by drawing a 777 you win a chance to throw a ball at some of the slaves or choose to throw the ball at the white announcer, but either choice gets you caught as the false Shepperd and thus the journey begins. Ok I can see why people love the story but I got to be honest I already knew most of the ending, except for what the AD meant on Bookers hand only to find out it meant for Anna Dewitt (duh should have gotten that one) but anyways the reason I wasn't so surprised is because the story was so similar to another game I've recently played months ago called Virtue's Last Reward for the 3DS where the main character was some kind of time traveler but doesn't know it or remember and the main villain who is called Zero was actually him in another timeline, hence Booker is Comstock in another time era and Elizabeth is Booker's daughter Anna, not to mention how Booker called Elizabeth Anna at times kinda gave it away. Like I said I wasn't too surprise but for others I can see why they love it.

The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
Ok now the main problem is the gameplay. I must be honest here I was somewhat bored of this game, I felt nothing fun from this game as I did with the original Bioshock, as a matter of fact throughout the game I kept telling myself "when will this game end already?" possibly due to me wanting to find out the "mind blowing" ending already or due to lack of excitement. This game feels like a generic FPS game like every single one of the rest maybe that's why but still it was fun to some extent. Guns are everywhere whether you kill and enemy or finding them around places or when using Elizabeth's tears (she can also find useful stuff for you like ammo, health, money or salts) so don't be afraid to use up a lot, but bad news is you can only carry up to two guns so choose wisely. Vigors are the Plasmids of this game, basically the same thing just different name. Some are very useful like the shock jockey and the bucking bronco and others are useless like the charge and the murder of crows. One thing I love about this is the Sky-lines those are fun as hell and real easy to use too you can still shoot from the and reload somehow while on them but you cannot use vigors while on them but you can do an assassination strike from them when targeting an enemy. Elizabeth can do what is called a tear where it is pulling something from another dimension to your current dimension and can be used too for cover, hanging using the sky-hook, or even guns and health.

The Sound (sound effects, voice acting, etc.)
The Voice acting was good but at times was pretty dumb, like was that suppose to be believable? or that was laughable. Also there are some audio errors when they are talking, like they don't talk at all or they clip through each other or when in gun fights you don't hear the guns being shot or explosions too while they are talking. Guns sound pretty sweet and nice, using vigors sound real nice, and enemies sound like asses but great sounding ones, the patriots I really like, they sound awesome and each of them too. Explosions sound the same sadly, tears I really can't judge much since only Elizabeth can do them so I can't say much. The Songbird sounds amazing as well as the screech it does. The Music varies in some timelines where you hear music from different eras and I really like that.

The Graphics (w/ concept):
Graphically it looks great, not the best like people claim it to be, but great. Character modules is what drove me away they look meh, even Elizabeth (thou she is still beautiful). I didn't really enjoy Columbia as much as I did with Rapture but it was still enjoyable and looks great. Vigors looked great but most gun modules look plain to me like I have to stare at this gun for awhile since it will always be in front of me.

The Controls (w/ presentation):
It is a FPS game not much to say about the controls really, moving around with the left stick and aiming with the right. You can use vigors and shooting at the same time like Bioshock 2. When using the sky-line you aim towards the line and press A to do a super jump to it. You can only equip two vigors but can switch them any time, and you can only keep two guns so drop some to trade for some when finding them. Boxart looks meh to me, just Booker not even Elizabeth is on it only the back... and to much of a manual anymore since everything is all "digital".

Overall:
I can see why people love this but I believe it is over exaggerated and I'm not afraid to speak my mind out loud it's called an opinion. I would have probably enjoyed this more if it wasn't for the false hype I've been getting for this or maybe if I were to waited for at least a year to play this, but still it isn't a bad game just an overly hyped one.

Story: 8.0
Gameplay: 8.0
Sound: 9.0
Graphics: 7.5
Controls: 7.5

Overall: 8.0

Get the full article at GameSpot

"xDanny123x reviewed BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360..." was posted by xDanny123x on Sat, 27 Apr 2013 08:54:13 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810740/platform/xbox360/ Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:54:33 -0700 xDanny123x reviewed DmC: Devil May Cry for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/dmc-devil-may-cry/user-reviews/810092/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 4.5.

*Warning! This Review contains Spoilers, if you do not want to get spoiled then I suggest you finish the game or don't read the Review. Curious to know the Score just Scroll all the way down*

Devil May Cry is a series that started with a guy name Dante who is a demon slayer and he is half-demon, half-human and had an evil twin brother named Vergil who kills Dante in Devil May Cry 3 thus awakening Dante's Devil Trigger. But enough trivia DmC Devil May Cry is a reboot of the series and reboots never tend to do well but can Devil May Cry work?

The Story:
You play as Dante a sex deviant who lives in a trailer off the pier of a town called Limbo City. And tends to have sex a lot apparently. The story begins with a man (or a Demon King) named Mundus who wants to kill Dante due to him being a Nephilim which in this world Dante is half-demon, half-angel. After talking a-bit it cues to Dante with two girls have sex. After all that Dante is greeted by a girl name Kat and during this scene Dante is naked. After talking a bit Kat tells Dante that he is being hunted and thus Dante is attacked by some demon hunter and Dante dodges (while naked) and puts on his rob and gets his Rebellion (his sword) and proceeds in the other world Limbo. The story is short and boring as hell, I'm sorry but the only thing that interest me the most was the end fight with Vergil because this time Dante was the evil one (sort of), and Mundus was just talk, Lilith was disgusting, Kat was boring, and Dante was laughable, Vergil was the only interesting one since he had his own ideals to protect all humans but Dante wanted to free them. Dante's Hair throughout the game becomes whiter after awakening his Devil Trigger and gets even more once he finds his true self which is becoming evil. Everything in this game; the sex and the swearing mainly was unnecessary seriously nothing about all that bring the games story and the bosses are terrible especially the Succubus: disgusting. Oh and the dialogue was pathetic couldn't care what anyone said and bored me to hell.

The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
Now Devil May Cry is about the combat, the combos and the weapons and DmC does not fail to deliver. One of the great this about this game is the weapon variety, you want to use an axe we got one, want to use a scythe we got that too, want to use the fists (called differently in various games) we got that, guns? no problem. I love it actually but problem is the game doesn't have the combos, sure you can do tons of aerial combos by switching weapons but that doesn't justify the fact that most of those combos are mainly triangle, triangle, triangle, triangle, circle/square, triangle, triangle, triangle, triangle, circle/square etc. no matter what weapon it is. The game plays terribly platforming was not made for this game, Dante jumps are uncontrollable even worse with angel flight and this game makes you jump a lot. There is also a whip-like weapon where you pull enemies towards you or pull towards the enemies which can also be used during the platforming sessions of the game. Once going into Devil Trigger mode you make all enemies (except bosses) float and do more damage, get higher scores, recover a bit and attack faster. But Devil Trigger runs out fast so use it wisely. It can be recovered by attacking or Devil stars. Another problem was this game was WAY to easy, never died once so never got a real challenge and never will know what the game over screen is like either (lol).

The Sound (sound effects, voice acting, etc.)
Music is pretty bland, I couldn't hear most of it due to all the stuff going on with the game, but some I couldn't bare hearing and some are pretty good. The voice acting is beyond terrible, I couldn't fell any emotion into the characters and they all sounded pretty boring and laughable at times. The sound effects are ok but they all sound the same even the enemies attacking sound the same. Devil Trigger somewhat silents everything and hearing a faint Dante scream which was pretty cool. Problem is the sound will often cut off at small times but a lot made me notice and was pretty annoying.

The Graphics (w/ concept):
The graphics... holy hell they are terrible. It looks ugly, characters look ugly and not just Lilith either. The game doesn't run too well either, beyond horrible screen tearing, character modes glitch during cut-scenes and Vergil's model and Doppelganger during the final battle glitches as well (turns out he was too badass for this). I live the idea of Limbo but problem was the whole game you play is Limbo, would have been better if you go into Limbo at times during the real world but I still liked it but since you constantly go to Limbo throughout the game you get use to it and gets annoying and boring real quick.

The Controls (w/ presentation):
Controlling Dante is hell, he is not too responsive when attacking, dodging, or jumping (especially jumping), and moving wasn't a problem most of the time. Switching weapons took me awhile to get use to as well as equipping them too, but oddly enough pulling off combos were well responsive... Camera wasn't a problem most of the time but since there is not lock on button (which was weird) so finding flying enemies at times might get annoying but what's even weirder is Dante is auto locking which gets annoying when trying to attack certain enemies. The games boxart is interesting Dante in Limbo and the game doesn't come with a booklet manual since most companies are trying to save money (greedy bastards) by going digital.

To be honest I saw no potential with the game to begin with and more over didn't get my hopes up, but my god it was a terrible experience for me to play. Other players seem to enjoy this game as for me I did not which is why we call these opinions. I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone but if you want to try it out to see for yourself borrow this game instead.

Overall:

Story: 2.0
Gameplay: 8.5
Sound: 6.5
Graphics:1.5
Controls: 5.0

Overall: 4.7

Get the full article at GameSpot

"xDanny123x reviewed DmC: Devil May Cry for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by xDanny123x on Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:54:33 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/dmc-devil-may-cry/user-reviews/810092/platform/ps3/ Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:27:41 -0700 xDanny123x reviewed Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/hyperdimension-neptunia-victory/user-reviews/810044/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

*Warning! This Review contains Spoilers, if you do not want to get spoiled then I suggest you finish the game or don't read the Review. Curious to know the Score just Scroll all the way down*

When I first saw this series I didn't know what to say, girls representing video game consoles and beating the crap out of each other? I first started the trilogy only a couple of months ago from today and man I got hooked for some reason, I just find this trilogy (soon to be a series) go funny and fun and really cute. After finishing mk2 (and I really enjoyed that one) I was looking forward to Victory and I pre-order the limited edition too, but can it live up to mk2?

The Story:
The story this time unlike the first neptunia takes place I believe two years after mk2's true ending and it begins with a brief of mk2's events and then to a fight with the 3 CPU's against Purple Heart and of course you lose like the other games and thus killing her. Then cuts to the real world as they were playing a game... they were all relaxing after defeating Arforie the deity of sin, but relaxing a bit too much. They were lazing out for years and Nepgear (Neptune's little sister) spoiled her too much and shares have been low for Planeptune (of course) and Histoire starts getting angry and thus lecturing Neptune and Nepgear and sets them to go and investigate some kind of protest going on. After going on for a bit they find a woman name Rei Ryghts who is kind of a push over and apologies for literally everything she does wrong. She was apparently handing out flyers for a meeting of some sort for a world without CPU's and thus Neptune and Nepgear runs her out. Rei then runs into an alley and a mysterious girl who resembles a dark version of Histoire talks to Rei and gives her a dark matter. After that Neptune wanted to lazy it out but Nepgear tells her no more being spoiled and to try to motivate her she ignores her until she works. Neptune then runs through quests and runs into Rei who was apparently lost and then gets angry finding out a CPU saved her and then traps her and transports her to a new dimension, not only that she is in the past as well 1989 to be exact and thus Neptune's new adventure begins in the past of a whole (similar) new world. I really enjoyed the story finding new faces and old faces, new like Plutia the CPU who represents Planeptune who is so adorable and old like IF, Compa, and Histoire but this time they are young! You first see IF and Compa as babies with a new baby name Peahsy and that was cute, and Histoire is tiny and adorable. Of course there are some predicable things like who Yellow Heart was and Rei was the mastermind behind it all but what I didn't foresee was Rei being the very first CPU, for some reason I never assume that when it was pretty obvious and slowing getting why when going through the true ending. What I didn't like is when they kept up with Iris Hearts BDSM talking, it was funny at first, then it got weird, then got really annoying. As well as the whole fourth wall breaking contently, funny at first then really annoying.

The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
The gameplay is basically mk2 with improvements over it. The world map is like mk2 icon 16-bit Neptune over the world and go into dungeons, lands, towns, etc. and same when in towns, icons to talk to, shops, item synthesis, guilds (quests), and new modes like CPU rooms to look at videos, cgs, music, and talking to the CPUs or histy. A new mode called scouting has been added and man I love this system. You can send people into dungeons to find items, changing the dungeon rules like more exp, more credits, different gatherable items, or even making stronger enemies appear. You can choose to accept or deny the info why? because sometimes it doesn't always turn out to be good information, example exp change can go with more exp or sometimes less. A new system called disc development, with this you can create your own games (not playable games) but games you can equip with the girls to boost up performances like more exp or take less damage with certain enemy types. To get more disc type items you must kill trouble enemies or risky enemies by triggering a flag (that can be found in dungeons) to stand or break and sending scouts to that dungeon. The fighting system is like mk2 but a bit different. When killing an enemy you lose that characters turn, when canceling an attack you lose that turn, when using a SP skill you used your turn, you cannot regain SP by attacking or getting attack, only by items or leveling up so you can stay in HDD form unless you get virus of course or turning it off, but instead you have a new system called EXE drive where you can use the characters most powerful skills or team skills by attacking or being attack to fill up the gauge, thus making the game more far and harder than mk2. There is also a challenge system, doing small requirements for bonus stats like traveling a certain amount of distance as that character, or jumping a certain amount of times, symbol attacks, item gathering, dying, healing, reviving, etc.

The Sound (sound effects, voice acting, etc.)
Music is hella good and what I heard is Nobuo Uematsu composed this game and man a lot of great people are helping this game out like Keiji Inafune and Endo Masanobu and yet this game is still under appreciated here (I don't know how this game is doing in japan). Anyways music is godly and sound effects sounds about the same as mk2 (reused more like it) and voice actresses (and actors) are pretty damn good still and still get their characters right on spot since they used the same actresses, but when in battle or out some of the voices are reused from mk2.

The Graphics (w/ concept):
Graphics are improve from mk2 making the game look gorgeous and pretty. New character models look great and so do the new characters too. CPU models look great, character portraits look great like how they looked in the first neptunia. Still got to love the whole CPUs representing game consoles and the new girls Yellow Heart who represents PC's and Rei (don't know her CPU name) represents Atari. And I love all the references from other games and even anime like Puella. Skills look pretty, and EXE skills look grand especially the team skills or hell even the weird skills (you know what I'm talking about. What I like most is the game runs smooth didn't see any bad runs at my gameplay.

The Controls (w/ presentation):
Controls are sharp and responsive and cameras were not a bother and traveling is pretty efficient. Attacking is sharp and like the other games can be modified to be better. The game case I love, front has Purple Heart, booklet has Iris Heart, and game disc has Black Heart on it, verity! And I'm glad this has a booklet unlike other games now and days even if it's black and white. Since I got the Limited Edition I got all the goodies and game with a time capsule (which to me it looks like a lunchbox) which is suppose to be like the games setting taking place in the past, and the art book which is pretty small, the soundtrack and a smaller time capsule (lunchbox).

Man this game is like a 9 to me but others might not agree which is why this game should only be for the target audience but honestly I've had more fun with this game than most games being released lately but that doesn't mean those games are bad, plus I've already put nearly 50 hours in this game on my first play through and I can't say that many games can make me put that many hours into it without getting everything else too. But like I say this isn't for everyone, if looking into the series try mk2 first since the first neptunia has NOTHING to do with mk2 or victory and if you like it try the first but I wouldn't recommend that only to the hardcore.

Overall:

Story: 9.0
Gameplay: 9.5
Sound: 9.0
Graphics: 9.0
Controls: 9.5

Overall: 9.2

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/hyperdimension-neptunia-victory/user-reviews/810044/platform/ps3/ Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:01:02 -0800 xDanny123x reviewed Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/metal-gear-rising-revengeance/user-reviews/808092/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

*Warning! This Review contains Spoilers, if you do not want to get spoiled then I suggest you finish the game or don't read the Review. Curious to know the Score just Scroll all the way down*

Metal Gear Solid is a series everyone should know about (well not everyone but a lot) a series that can make any player shed a man tear. Metal Gear was the first in the entire series and then Solid was the main name. Now Metal Gear is changing into Metal Gear Rising Revengeance from tactical espionage action to high speed action, but can it live up to it's name?

The Story:
You play as Raiden instead of Solid Snake (like Metal Gear Solid 2). This takes place 4 years after Metal Gear Solid 4 so in reality Solid Snake is dead by then since he only had a couple of months left to live at the end of 4. The future is bleak, cybernetic arts/parts (human replacement) is becoming more efficient/necessary to protect their society, people are trying to get back to their daily lives after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4, war was ending and the economy is getting better. Raiden became a body guard for the President who is trying to build a better future without war. After talking about it for a bit someone gets in their way and starts killing all their guards, who is also cybernetic as well as his accomplice who then captures the president. After a chase you run into a custom Metal Gear Ray. After obliterating Ray you run into a chase scene and after catching up to them you find out what their motive is: War Economy. War brings up the economy for them, apparently war isn't always a bad thing for everyone. After that they kill the president. You then fight the cyborg Sam who proceeds to cut Raidens' left eye and Raiden's left arm. All that in just the beginning of the game (Mission R-00). The story takes a weird turn when Raiden gets vulnerable when killing the soldiers when hearing their thoughts and crying out they don't want to be here or they don't want to die. Then Raiden confesses his past will never leave him and that the justice and protect the weak is just an excuse (hiding), the fact is he loves to kill no matter who it is, that he was born this way. What bothers me after all that crap they let it slide. Same with the 3 month period of Raiden when he becomes a cyborg. And the true antagonist the Senator was just bull. Other than that it's ok.

The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
Platinum games knows how to make action packed games. Metal Gear Rising takes stealth into high speed action. You can literally cut many things, boxes, people, bridges, gates, etc. But you can't literally cut everything (explain that later). It is easier to cut more using Blade Mode. Blade mode is a technique that allows Raiden to cut with easy making time go slower and aiming better. You can proceed to go stealth but that really doesn't work, you'll get caught most of the time so it's better to take the high profile but don't worry you can get caught and still achieve an S rank. You can also customize Raiden, increasing his armor (heath) or blade mode, buying weapons (most of the time is the weapons of the bosses you kill thorough the game) and equipping what I can assume is costumes (changing body armor) using points you gain called BP points through the game. Problem is when customizing Raiden you have to exit your current position and go into the customization screen and after done you load up a saved checkpoint you can't do it freely. Also no dodge, you can only bloc using parry and even then it's still not enough. Game is pretty violent and gory when cutting soldiers up and their parts are flying everywhere. You also have an AR mode where Raiden can see where enemies are located, where prisoners are, where item boxes or items are, or what objects you can cut. Using AR is pretty useful but you cannot run or attack when using it so use it wisely oh and can let you see in the dark.

The Sound (sound effects, voice acting, etc.)
The Music is kickass. Platinum knows what they are doing. Fighting bosses, or regular soldiers, geckos, etc. Music knows when to kick in. The Voice acting is solid. Raiden still sounds like the good old Raiden (same Voice Actor). Everyone has a good actor or actress and even Sunny has the same voice actress and she sounds pretty good, and even though I hate the senator I must admit voice actor is pretty good, got the character right. The sound effects sound great, explosions and cuts, blade, gunfire, defecting, and rumble sounds great.

The Graphics (w/ concept):
Graphically looks great. Raiden looks amazing with his new Cyborg body, and his new and improved HF Blade looks like a beauty. Character models look great, soldiers, important people like Sam or Sunny, Geckos, Metal Gears, weapons, and even the environment. Frame rate is smooth but rarely it tends to go below 60fps. I also love how whenever you cut someone/something into pieces all you see left is just the parts like string if you cut to much.

The Controls (w/ presentation):
The game plays smoothly and responds well too. I had no problem parrying many attacks but when the camera starts to spaz, parrying gets hard to do. Using the Sub Menu for weapons and items gets annoying to use since you have to stop moving to use it or you have to hold the left or right d-pad to use it. The Boxart looks great, Raiden cutting a cyborg in half and full on color booklet to boot. I didn't get the Limited Edition but I've seen some online and man I should have gotten one.

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance is a different take on the Metal Gear Solid franchise but in a good way, in fact I am glad this game happened. If they start with the Rising series I wouldn't mind, just add more stuff to do and fix some of the issues and we could be looking at the next king of high speed action games.

Overall:

Story: 7.5
Gameplay: 9.0
Sound: 10
Graphics: 9.5
Controls: 9.0

Overall: 9.0

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/metal-gear-rising-revengeance/user-reviews/808092/platform/ps3/ Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:29:10 -0800 xDanny123x reviewed Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge for the Wii U... http://www.gamespot.com/ninja-gaiden-3-razor-s-edge/user-reviews/808065/platform/wii-u/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

*Warning! This Review contains Spoilers, if you do not want to get spoiled then I suggest you finish the game or don't read the Review. Curious to know the Score just Scroll all the way down*

Ninja Gaiden is a series no one and I mean NO ONE should take lightly. My very first Ninja Gaiden was Black on the xbox, and holy crap I cannot believe how hard this game was, and how violent it was! I then played them all except for Ninja Gaiden 3 on the NES. So does Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge live up to the Ninja Gaiden name?

The Story:
You play as Ryu Hayabusa (duh) a super ninja, and I really do mean super ninja. You are working for the government trying to stop some kind of plot going around London (for some reason) and found out an alchemist is there who then proceed to curse Ryu's arm, fusing the Dragon Sword in it and tells him the more he kills the faster it kills him. Setting stone Ryu is a dead man walking. Ok now Ninja Gaiden isn't about the story but this one takes a turn from badass Ryu to pansy Ryu when he is talking to the little girl Canna or when he is struggling with his arm. Which isn't a bad thing but it's Ninja Gaiden. But the story does get interesting when you find out the alchemist is actually Canna's dead father or when Cliff your buddy and helper was actually working with the society and tends to kill Ryu. All in all when Canna becomes the goddess and rampages through tokyo I really did believe there was no way to save her but then again these are games so I was wonder how, and when Ryu cuts thru the goddess body (outer shell) and the last thing you see was his blade near Canna's body I thought he was actually going to kill her... but then saves her how? I don't know...

The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
Now the gameplay. Oh man this is where it is at. Ninja Gaiden (at least the 3D games) is all about the gameplay. The original version of Ninja Gaiden 3 made me depressed. When I heard you can only have one weapon and one ninpo skill (magic) I got turned off badly. Plus they removed the dismemberment and every kill you do ends with a cinematic scene. That made me sad. And now it is all back. This game is extremely gory more than I remember from 2, you can kill enemies again dismembering them in gruesome ways and now you have a verity of weapons again! From a dual wield sword to a massive scythe, to a staff (holy hell the kills in this one...) and more ninpo as well. You can also increase your skills or weapons using karma you gain in the game and in order to earn some more you'll need to find what they added in this version golden scarabs hidden across this game. Crystal skulls are also in this game but now they provide a challenge. When found you can proceed to a series of challenges, where you kill and kill, until you get to the last round which is a boss character from original Ninja Gaiden titles. Also now whenever Ryu's arm worsens you'll be in a dream like state where you must kill your way out before your life goes out, but don't worry you'll replenish your heath if you kill by dismemberment or ninpo. Of course Ryu isn't the only one in this game to play as. You can also play as Ayane (of course has her own set of moves, ninpo weapon), who helps Ryu in his journey (in her own way) in the story mode. But online or challenges you can also play as Momiji and Kasumi who also have their own skills, ninpos and weapons. But Ninja Gaiden is all about difficulty, every single Ninja Gaiden game is hard hell it has to be hard, that was another flaw about the original, but holy f*** this game is extremely hard, so hard it is going to make you cry.

The Sound (sound effects, voice acting, etc.)
Here is where the problem lies, I don't know if it was my TV or the HDMI (but I highly doubt it) but the game has some audio issues when playing from the TV, when a cut-scene is going and they are talking, I can hardly hear them even with the volume up or sometimes I can hear one but not another, it's random, but oddly it's fine on the gamepad... Voice acting is great, since this is Ninja Gaiden game, I can only play in Japanese since I am use to their voices in Japanese. Everyone sounds great, they have the same voice actors/actresses and sound grand. Sound effects sound about the same, when being grabbed, cutting through, explosions, opening doors etc. Music is pretty great, sounds right when killing someone, obliterate someone, or just hack n slash.

The Graphics (w/ concept):
Graphically looks good, when blood is splattered all over the screen or when body parts are flying everywhere. Problem is game sometimes lags when too much is happening in the screen like when killing too much, and that's it I guess. I love the gore in this game, killing has never been this much fun (sounding like a sociopath :P) but this game is still as much as fun as the previous Ninja Gaiden games. What I don't get is when people complained about this game being a button masher... has they not played a Ninja Gaiden game before? That's all it is, but in a good way. Ninja Gaiden is a button masher but makes it work. You don't have to button mash, find combos or use different weapons.

The Controls (w/ presentation):
I played this game using the gamepad and the pro controller. Using the gamepad on the TV is pretty useless when it displays the move list but very useful when switching weapons or increasing skills or weapons. Using the pro controller makes it feel great. Playing Ninja Gaiden on this feels like no other. I got use to the controller and it just feels good. I would recommend getting the controller to play this game, it cost about the same as the PS3 and 360 controllers. The boxart looks nice, Ryu cutting thru what I can tell is a body. Full on color booklet and insane replay value.

Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge is a huge improvement over the original title, when I heard this game is also being release on the PS3 and 360, I was going to wait it out for it to see it they added anything new, but it's the same so I went with this, and everyone should experience how amazing this game really is, but not everyone will like it so give it a shot and don't just listen to the reviewers try it for yourself and see, I'm glad I did.

Overall:

Story: 7.5
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 8.5
Graphics: 8.5
Controls: 10

Overall: 8.9

Get the full article at GameSpot

"xDanny123x reviewed Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge for the Wii U..." was posted by xDanny123x on Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:29:10 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/ninja-gaiden-3-razor-s-edge/user-reviews/808065/platform/wii-u/ Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:08:29 -0800 xDanny123x reviewed Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/paper-mario-sticker-star/user-reviews/807851/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

*Warning! This Review contains Spoilers, if you do not want to get spoiled then I suggest you finish the game or don't read the Review. Curious to know the Score just Scroll all the way down*

Paper Mario what can I say about this series? I remember the very first time I played Paper Mario back on the N64 around 2000 something (I forget) and my god I was amazed by this game, I fell in love with this game and then Thousand Year Door was released and damn that game is just purely beautiful. Super Paper Mario was a set-back on the series but it was good still... but then Sticker Star was released.

The Story:
Just like any other day Peach is throwing a party to celebrate a sticker comet (or something) and then out of no where (took me by surprise lol jk) Bowser appeared and decided to wreak the party. Legend has it when the sticker comet has appeared and the royal stickers are gathered, any wish will be granted, so I guess Bowser heard of the legend and wanted a wish, when touching the comet star it apparently exploded instead but still granting Bowser's wish and that wish is to be stronger that Mario? Kinda reminds me of the first Paper Mario. So after getting beaten by Bowser, Mario wakes up upon a destroyed festival. Thus Mario's adventure begins. Not much to say really except you gain a new companion named Kersti who is a sticker, a special sticker. She guides you to your new adventure. I must say I actually like the story, even if there wasn't much of it anyways, I do like how when defeating a royal sticker boss, you get to see how they acquire the power, it's adorable. Also near the end where Kersti sacrifices herself for some reason that got me, I was at the verge of tears, but cliche as it is Mario in the end uses his wish to revive her :P.

The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
The whole gameplay is different. No more Partners, no more level ups, no more BP, no more FP (taken away anyways in Super Paper Mario), no more of old Paper Mario. Instead we get a new sticker system where using stickers are the whole game. You need to find stickers to even fight enemies like jump stickers or hammer stickers, or item stickers like mushrooms, shells pow blocks, fire flowers, etc. plus every single sticker has a level based on them, from worn out stickers to regular stickers to shiny stickers and they each differ in power. As I mention before there is no level up system so fighting is pretty much worthless and no point just to waste your stickers but fighting is fun but only for awhile til it becomes a chore. You can also find real life items called "things". When finding a thing (and trust me you will know what they look like), you can turn it into a sticker and you can either use it in battle for exciting results or using it in the area for other results using a system called Paperization which can be used to stick stickers, peel paper out stickers, remove areas or replace areas which is needed to continue the game. Also no more exploring, they went with a world map. Simple but boring. You travel using the world map like in Mario Bros. ex. world 1-1, world 2-4, world 3-8 etc.

The Sound (sound effects, voice acting, etc.)
The Music is pretty damn dull, I didn't feel any of it like how I did with the original three, except for Kersti's sacrifice. Battle music is only just one track and it's not that great too. Boss themes differ depending on the situation or area, and they are also pretty dull but some are good. Areas, worlds music is also pretty dull but some are good. Sound effects are the same as always good and that's probably the only few good pluses about this.

The Graphics (w/ concept):
It's Paper Mario, what else can I say? The game is based on paper so everything resembles paper and cardboard. Also things look funny (in a good way) and when in use it looks good. The 3D is pretty good but I can hardly see much of it only at certain times.

The Controls (w/ presentation):
The game plays smooth, and it responds well. When using stickers you must time your attacks to do more attacks or more damage (depending on the sticker) and timing is pretty easy to get use to. Also whenever Kersti is with you you can use a slot during battle to see if you can score a bonus 1 or 2 extra sticker usage in one turn and a bonus depending on the slots like 3 mushrooms can net you a free mushroom use (instantly) or 3 pow blocks same free pow block etc. The boxart is pretty, tells it all like "Paper Mario" on the go, and full on details too.

Paper Mario Sticker Star is indeed a different turn on the series, and is now considered the bad egg on the Paper Mario series (IMO) but in a ways it's still not a bad game, just some elements made it bad.

Overall:

Story: 8.5
Gameplay: 5.5
Sound: 4.0
Graphics: 8.0
Controls: 8.0

Overall: 6.8

Get the full article at GameSpot

"xDanny123x reviewed Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the 3DS..." was posted by xDanny123x on Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:08:29 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/paper-mario-sticker-star/user-reviews/807851/platform/3ds/ Mon, 14 Jan 2013 06:43:04 -0800 Riku200 reviewed Ninja Gaiden 3 for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/ninja-gaiden-3/user-reviews/806256/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

I got Ninja Gaiden 3 for my PS3 a few days ago and after playing through the game and finishing it,I decided to review it.Let's see,does the latest installment of the series live up to the greatness of the previous ones? The answer is : Not really...
But anyway,I'll break the review into parts like I usually do.
Graphics : 8/10
Gameplay:8/10
Sound/Soundtrack:9/10
Content:6/10
Story:7/10
Replayability:5/10

Graphics: 8/10 The main character looks very good.They did some nice work for Ryu's design...It looks really nice.It's the same ninja outfit Ryu had in the previous game,and it's done with good graphics.The bosses don't look as good though...they just don't.The environments should also have been made better,They don't look like they should look on a PS3 game that has such a good history.But...what looks totally awesome is...the finishers.Those look amazing.Ryu has many ways to finish off his enemies and each one of them is bloody and looks amazing.So,good graphics but not what I expected.

Gameplay: 8/10 Well this game focuses too much one showing Ryu off as a super cool ninja with superhuman abilities.To be honest they did well at that...In NG3 you get the feeling that Ryu is stronger than ever before. Combat is how it used to be.Fast paced.There are a few differences between the previous game's combat system and this one's though.The main differences are the ultimate technique that you can use by holding the Δ button and the ninpo spell.The ultimate attack isn't what it used to be.Now it's just a single strong slash that in most sittuations slices the enemy in half.Also,after killing a few enemies Ryu's arm will glow red.When it does,you have the ability to instantly take out about 5 enemies in a cool and bloody way.Sometimes during finishers you have to enter a command in order to execute it properly and avoid being countered.The ninpo spell instantly wipes out every enemy in a large area...and there's only one ninpo spell. Like I said before this game focuses a lot on Ryu's ninja skills.You get to run on walls,jump from one wall to another and everything you got to do in previous game...there are other stuff though.You get to fall from very high places while avoiding rockets etc as well as climbing walls using kunais while avoiding enemy projectiles,falling rocks etc. There are also a few stealth moments.During some cutscenes you have to enter commands.Those cutscenes are never actually boring.Hoever good the gameplay is,it gets repetetive.In every stage you have to do the same thing...Use ninja skills to skydive,climb etc kill a bunch of enemies until you take them out and then the same thing goes on.Oh,and there are no items to pick up and pathfinding is made easy as you can press the right stick and that will reveal you where you have to go...Well,there are also the bosses.Not the best bosses I've seen definately.

Soundtrack: 9/10 The soundtrack is really fitting.It's nothing groundbreaking but you can feel the adrenaline during the fights.Good soundtrack.Not amazing but still pretty good.

Content 6/10: Umm...basically you have the Story mode and the Darkness of the world game in which you have a ninja and take him to missions while leveling him up.You can also co-op in trials and have clan battles online...The truth is this game mode is...just too uninteresting... That's basically it. By the way,there are rediculously few weapons in the game,but that is partly fixed with upgrades through the internet.

Replayability :5/10 I'll go ahead and say this...after you've beaten the game too times to say the most then you will be too bored to come back to it...there's just nothing special other than the awesome killing...

Story :8/10 Nothing to do with the previous games and just nothing really special.Many people find it dull.II think it's... so-so. It's not bad really,but not as interesting as other games I've played.Ryu is challenged by an organization that wants to create some sort of god using a dragon ninja's blood.Ryu is also infected with the grip of murder...his arm goes red and...ugly.It's basically the blood of everyone he's killed or something like that... Not a bad story but not that good either.

Overall: 6.5/10 I'm not impressed.Nothing special except for the amazing slaughter.Although I admit I like the fact that Ryu is super cool in this game. I think it's worth renting but I can't recommend it for buying...This is kind of a letdown...

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Riku200 reviewed Ninja Gaiden 3 for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by Riku200 on Mon, 14 Jan 2013 06:43:04 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/ninja-gaiden-3/user-reviews/806256/platform/ps3/ Fri, 07 Dec 2012 19:23:32 -0800 xDanny123x reviewed Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/kingdom-hearts-3d-dream-drop-distance/user-reviews/804386/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 5.0.

*Warning! This Review contains Spoilers, if you do not want to get spoiled then I suggest you finish the game or don't read the Review. Curious to know the Score just Scroll all the way down*

Well I can now confirm any Kingdom Hearts game to be release on any Nintendo product will suck: Chain of Memories... 358/2 Days (oh god I hated that one), Re:coded (originally it was for the phones but it still sucks), and now this. Birth by Sleep was a great title and a great addition to the series and was looking forward to this one but I was utterly disappointed. I can say however some things in the game were actually decent or great which kept me going.

The Story:
You start off as Sora and Riku after the events of Kingdom Hearts II, going to Yen Sid to talk about the Mark of the Mastery for keyblade wielders so they can have the power of a master keyblader. They go inside a dream world in order to wake up the 7 worlds to gain the power. Now this I cannot stress enough now confusing this was for me and I understand every single story in the entire series but this one was just scrambled, also the other worlds were pretty slow too. I understand the ending (sorta) but holy crap I couldn't keep up what was going on the entire time entering the world that never was as sora or riku. Talk about confusing even in the end it doesn't clear up what the hell just happened. After sora defeats Xemnas (yes he is still alive...) inside the dream world (which happens to be soras dream the entire time...) sora went to far into the dream and falls into darkness, in short terms sora gave into the darkness. After that riku reawakens to find sora in an attempt to go inside soras dream, by fight 5 god forsaken battles in a row which included a nightmare thing (which never establish who or what it was and why should we care) Ansem twice (yea he is also alive...) xehanort from the past (yea time traveling in dreams...) and ventus nightmare and my god it was hell. I can't say I enjoyed the story more confused and disappointed really and looking at the secret ending, I'm pretty sure there is going to be another spin-off with kairi instead (maybe with lea) trying to master the keyblade...

The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
I can say it's kingdom hearts and the gameplay is always fun, until dream eaters showed up. I thought the unversed were terrible but the dream eaters not only took the cake, but the damn factory. Dream Eaters are the enemies in this game, and they are annoying as hell, when attacking, they don't hold back which is a challenge and I respect that but they will spam the crap out of knockout, magic, hit n runs (they love to do that a lot), and whatever specialties they have. It takes forever for you to recover from an attack here for some reason even with recovery, so I cannot stress the fact you will die a lot. Checkpoints are another problem in this game, like the other kingdom hearts game going to the next "screen" or area is a checkpoint but the problem is the areas in this game are long and huge. That isn't a bad thing there is loads to explore but nothing to examine, it's fun to explore huge worlds but with nothing to show for it is a waste of time, what is worse enemies are everywhere and as I said before checkpoints, die anywhere start the whole area again. What is even worse not only dream eaters are your enemies, they are your allies. Your partners in this game are the dream eaters you kill, you create the dream eaters with the materials you find (synthesis) and not only that they have abilities to give you, like how birth by sleeps ability system was with getting abilities from leveling up skills you get them by leveling up your dream eaters which was a lot better really, but your dream eaters are most of the time useless. Also the dream eaters won't help out much or gain much exp if you don't take care of them. You have to pet them or poke them to get their affection up with you but petting them or poking them at certain parts of them can give them a hidden ability. Another problem is flowmotions, trying to dodge attacks? dodge into a wall, poll, enemies will lock you into a flowmotion which renders you vulnerable to any attack and won't be able to heal during it, got killed a lot due to this. Reality Shifts are used in all the worlds but each world has a special shift use for that world, it's pretty neat but not useful only at certain times. The one thing that I actually liked was the secret boss Julius scared the living crap out of me and I actually enjoyed the one boss out of the entire game, great job on that really.

The Sound (sound effects, voice acting, etc.)
The Music is so grand I love it in this game, the settings for each of the worlds are beautifully done. Traverse Town still the same but great, La Cité des Cloches love that one (one of my favs) Symphony of Sorcery (I teared up a bit). The voice acting is great, not the best but great indeed. The sound effects are great it really was like how any kingdom hearts game should be, and the magic sounds alike really fire, fira, firaga so on but still sounds great.

The Graphics (w/ concept):
Graphically it looks good for a 3DS game, not the best but really great like how any kingdom hearts game should look (using that one a lot) but it really looks good. Character Models look great, but I still don't know why the hell are they kids in this game, I wanted to play as older sora and riku... also the environment looks amazing, one of my favorite worlds is La Cité des Cloches I love this world so much, the characters, the landmarks, the music all of it. The magic looks great and the dream eaters look pretty odd but their attacks are good looking. The 3D in this game is pretty solid, I like it eye popping in and out and works really well on this game. Reality Shifts are fun actually one of my favorites is in the Country of the Musketeers, always use that when ever I got the chance. One thing I hated the most was the dream functionality this game had, the worlds being a dream is all just soras dream and xehanort traveling through or even xehanort being the main antagonist in the whole series, (plus trying to make clones out of himself using the organization XIII was dumb).

The Controls (w/ presentation):
Now here is another problem I had with this game every time I try to attack or use a command or hell even jump, it won't unless your done with an attack, hold down the button or just plain luck to pull off in the nick of time. You wouldn't believe how many times I got killed when trying to heal and wouldn't let me. I even tried to master it but still get problems with the button response and it is pretty bad for this game considering there is a lot of action going on and the recover time is terrible. I was using the circle pad pro with this game considering I had it with Resident Evil Revelations I decided to use it. I is useful when aiming and switching targets, triggering reality shifts (still got to use the touch screen in order to use it), and moving the camera, other than that it is pretty much useless and can still be playable without it, but fells more like kingdom hearts with it. The boxart looks good, one of the reasons why I was looking forward to it actually, inside looks colorful, and the instruction booklet is colored! (believe it or not that is very important).

I really really love kingdom hearts I do, and there is always a bad egg in any series, but this series has plenty and this one might the the most rotten on of them all. It's not all that bad but still not one that is worth it either. But hey this is my opinion maybe you will love it more than I do.

Overall:

Story: 3.5
Gameplay: 2.0
Sound: 8.5
Graphics: 9.0
Controls: 2.0

Overall: 5.0

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/kingdom-hearts-3d-dream-drop-distance/user-reviews/804386/platform/3ds/ Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:24:12 -0800 xDanny123x reviewed Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/zero-escape-virtues-last-reward/user-reviews/803282/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

*Warning! This Review contains Spoilers, if you do not want to get spoiled then I suggest you finish the game or don't read the Review. Curious to know the Score just Scroll all the way down*

I'm pretty sure those people who've come to check out this game have played (or heard of) 9 hours 9 persons 9 doors. 9 hours 9 persons 9 doors is possibly (or maybe literally) the most breath taking games I've ever played in my gaming life. After finishing that game I wanted more and so when I found out about this game (the sequel) I wanted to get my hands on it first hand, but can it live up to the expectations to it's predecessor?

The Story:
You play as a man name Sigma who you have flash backs of when you get kidnapped. You awoke to a weird room with a bracelet with a number 3 in it and you are also stuck with some girl how oddly knows your name but you don't know who she is or where you are. After awhile a rabbit appears on a screen and is telling you his name is Zero III (the 3rd), he tells you that you are in a game called the Nonary game Ambidex Edition where people play for their lives. As the game begins you have to escape the room your in as it is part of the game, the room your in is in fact an elevator and will fall unless you find a way out. Teaming up with the mysterious girl you try to seek a way out... After awhile you find more people in the same situation like you, and continue to work together to get out. Zero then explains you can get out by getting your bracelet number above 9 and opening a door with a number 9 on it. To get more points (as it is called) they have to go in the Ambidex rooms which can be opened by finding key cards in other escape rooms. Once in they have to make a choice, two choices really; do you trust your ally to both get some points or betray them to get more points off them... The story is mind bending, and twisted, and just like the 1st game is unpredictable. Although the game can be unpredictable, at times I did predict some stuff, if you played the first than you can't expect anymore surprises really, I predicted the concept of the time traveling, but not fully. I predicted Akane was the dead old lady, and I predicted they were actually in the future instead. But most of the things like who Zero actually was, or who K was, who you were I didn't see coming and of course why you where there.

The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
Just like how 999 is you read most of the parts of the game which are the novel parts of the game and the actual game really but it really is worth it to read it all. The actual gameplay is puzzle solving games. The puzzles in this game are a lot harder than the puzzles in the first game but are still possible even without a guide. The escape sequences change from the first, now you must find a certain password for a safe to get what is inside (varies depending on room) and at the end of it all a key to the exit will be revealed. The game also features secret files that can be unlocked the same way get the keys, the safe which can be entered with two passwords; the escape password and the file password which are usually harder to get. The game also features two difficulty one which is Hard (default) where you have to solve puzzles with few or no hints at all, or Easy (which I've never tried) where you get tons of hints or even the answers to puzzles. Depending on the difficulty you play you get different secret file rewards, easy will give you a silver file which give you only a few files or on hard will give you the gold files which gives you all the files for that room. You can also make notes for helping solve puzzles or help remember important info. There is also an important feature called the flowchart which shows you which rooms you've been through so if you made a terrible choice you can go back in time (literally) to change your actions and choices.

The Sound (sound effects, voice acting, etc.)
The music is great, just as good as the first, many scenes features great music and each fits the theme of the situation that is happening. Voice acting is also grand. Each character plays a great roll and each actor makes that character comes to life. The sound effects are actually kinda bland. They all sound similar if not the same. Key doors opening, footsteps, or punching, grabbing, stabbing, etc. You get the point, each of their categories have the same effect (not saying the all sound alike just their categories).

The Graphics:
The characters modules are in 3D, so during, novels and escape the characters are in 3D and of course the 3DS does make the literally in 3D as well. The 3D effects are pretty good really it makes the game look more stunning. The character modules looks good but it could have seen it done better. Not saying it's bad but not perfect. The environment also looks in 3D so you'll be traveling in a 3D world. Like the characters it could have been better.

The Controls (w/ presentation):
You read most of the time but during the novels you can save the game on the touch pad, below, travel the time flows, review logs, look into archives (files collected), or look at memo you've wrote down or will write down you can also change the speed of conversations during novels to stop (manually), auto, or fast (must have been watch at least once). Can also be done in escape modes too (except change speed). During escape you can move around the room with the control stick, or the touch pad, and investigate items to use in the room, combining items can also result to new items need for the escape. One thing is the game (the 3DS version I know so far) is kinda glitchy, in the Pressure Exchange Chamber, the game will occasionally free, and I've heard reports about if saving the game here, it can be corrupted and no longer playable. The gameplay will also tend to lag randomly (not a lot like once in a blue moon) it'll happen or not at all. The box looks great, nicely done cover, but booklet is in black and white sadly (yes it matters) but budge says otherwise.

Zero Escape Virtues Last Reward is a great addition to the series and one of the best games yet on the 3DS but problems with this version of the game kills some of the joy out of it but other than that it is a fantastic game none the less and one should not pass on this one.

Overall:

Story: 9.5
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 9.0
Graphics: 8.0
Controls: 7.5

Overall: 8.8

Get the full article at GameSpot

"xDanny123x reviewed Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward for the 3DS..." was posted by xDanny123x on Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:24:12 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/zero-escape-virtues-last-reward/user-reviews/803282/platform/3ds/ Mon, 12 Nov 2012 15:44:23 -0800 xDanny123x reviewed Resident Evil 6 for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-6/user-reviews/803014/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

*Warning! This Review contains Spoilers, if you do not want to get spoiled then I suggest you finish the game or don't read the Review. *

Resident Evil has been with us (well most of us) since the beginning of most of our gaming lives and I got to be honest about something; my very 1st Resident Evil game was 4 and I loved that game so much I went back to the very 1st games from 0, to Code Veronica and of course 5 and I loved them all and when Resident Evil 6 was announced I couldn't wait for it to be released. At the time Revelations was released for the 3DS and was amazing, and when Operation Raccoon City was released... that is when things go downhill from there but can Resident Evil 6 make a comeback?

The Story:
Ok the most interesting aspect with this game is the Story. And I got to say possibly the best story out of all the Resident Evil games. It really is great. There are a total of four characters to play as in this game, (three to begin as and 1 to unlock which is Ada): Leon, Chris, Jake, and Ada. I broken it down to 4 categories for each story, Leon = Exciting, Chris = Tragic, Jake = Suspenseful/Twist (but has explanations), and Ada = Conclusion. Each character (except Ada) has a partner to go with them with the story; Leon begins when America was going under with a new virus and the president is infected with it as well, and the new virus turns them into zombies and of course the president as well. The president was going after a woman until Leon screams his name and kills him. The woman was name Helena and she is apparently she is working in the same organization as Leon, so they team up to find out what is this new virus and where it came from and who made it as well. Chris begins at a bar, getting drunk and not giving a damn about anything. Next to him is a man named Piers and tells hims about all the great things Chris did and looking at him now made him wonder what went wrong with him when he "lost" it and Chris doesn't remember anything from that event made Piers even madder at him. After a long talk he talked Chris back into action with the BSAA. Jake begins as a mercenary being partake in a strange experiment where they inject themselves with a booster shot but was the virus instead and infecting all the other mercenaries except him. A girl name Sherry shows up to him offering him to go with her to get his blood for a vaccine they need to make for the new virus. Jake is also Albert Weskers Son. Each characters story also intertwine with each other so you'll be expecting 4 co-op modes too.

The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
This is the main problem with the game. I could name so much bad things about this game: One is the damn difficulty, this game is damn hard. You had of course a life bar like all Resident Evil games but this one is terrible, you have a 6-bar limit and if you get hit you lose one bar (depending on the enemy too), and of course you have herbs and first-aid sprays, herbs can be mixed here to make more and stored into your capsules for anytime use, but here is where it gets bad, 1 herb = 1 bar restored, or dying cured back to 1 bar. You can only carry up to 12 herbs (more using red mixed herbs) and trust me you'll get hit... a lot since being knocked out doesn't mean you can't be hit still and that will happen a lot. There isn't much ammo around and you can only carry a few ammo for each gun which is like a survival horror game should be, but this isn't a survival horror game, enemies will be everywhere, literally EVERYWHERE! What is even worse most enemies (mostly J'avos the new infected people) can regenerate, and once "killed" they will most of the time mutated and you'll have to waste more ammo. It is actually more better to run away most of the times except forced fights of course. Also there are a ton of one-hit kill enemies which is a pain in the ass. This game is WAY to actionly for a "survival" horror game the concept doesn't fit at all.

The Sound (sound effects, voice acting, etc.)
The Sound effects are ok. Guns shots sound a bit dull at times and explosives all sound the same, vehicles as well cars, helicopters, bikes, boats etc. Music a grand, it's pretty damn great at times. And of course the Voice acting is tremendous. Great really damn great. I can feel the emotion in them all when they are angry, sad, or hell even happy. Great job on the voices I have to say.

The Graphics:
Wow, the graphics are a major improvement from Operation Raccoon City. Characters look amazing, looks close to reality, their facial movements, to their looks, one thing I like the most is their clothing where it will get dirty, from getting shot (blood stains), dirt from rolling around too much or dust from explosives, or wet from waters, and my favorite feature of the characters is the sweat, characters will tend to sweat and you can see it from cut-scenes it's great. One of my problems is they look too shiny kinda bothers me. Also the character movements with small arms are pretty dumb when they run, or move. Explosives look great, and gunfire as well. Vehicles look great too from cars, to bikes, boats and planes. Weapons also look good with some weird names but none the less they look good.

The Controls (w/ presentation):
Holy crap the controls are broken to hell with this game. Moving around is hard enough but trying to dodge, cover, melee is hard to do on it's own. Aiming is also a B. For some reason I cannot shoot anyone even at close range for some reason I passes through them even if I aim right... even at close range but that rarely happens but a bother. AI partners are smarter but still are kinda useless better to play with people online to make this game a bit easier. Camera is pretty good, smooth and helpful. The game comes with a plain ass box art just the logo 6 That's it... and not much inside the case either...

I can't justify what kind of direction Capcom was going with the series and Resident Evil 6 is great but like other games can be destroyed with some of it's bad pointers. Take your pick and see for yourself on Resident Evil 6.

Overall:

Story: 10
Gameplay: 2.0
Sound: 9.0
Graphics: 9.5
Controls: 3.0

Overall: 6.7

Get the full article at GameSpot

"xDanny123x reviewed Resident Evil 6 for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by xDanny123x on Mon, 12 Nov 2012 15:44:23 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-6/user-reviews/803014/platform/ps3/ Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:39:53 -0700 Asagea_888 reviewed New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/new-super-mario-bros-2/user-reviews/802438/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Collecting coins is certainly nothing new in the Mario games. I've been doing that long enough to know every 100th coin you get hands you an extra life. New Super Mario Bros.2 , however, is the latest entry in the renowned Nintendo franchise that extends this parliamentary gameplay boon to entirely new heights. While it isn't without its blemishes, NSMB2 is a fine addition to the Mario family and a great romp for 3DS owners looking for classic Mario thrills on the go.

Once again, Princess Peach has (surprise!) been kidnapped by Bowser and his silly Koopa Kids, shuttered away from her comfortable castle after Mario and Luigi take some time goofing off. This momentary distraction prompts our hero to shake off his bewilderment and chart after the evil Koopa clan in pursuit of the Princess. But, the goal here isn't simply to conquer all eight of the Worlds therein and rescue Princess Peach for the umpteenth time. The game hands you a penultimate goal of collecting as many coins as humanly possible, and while you may benefit from having at least 650 lives in the long run, there's an even better reason to do so this time around---collecting 1,000,000 of them overall will unlock a nice surprise, and every coin collected contributes to a worldwide record calculated individually from every gamer in the world who owns a copy of the game. Of course, new power-ups like the Gold Flower and a Gold Block Head will help facilitate your coin collecting by turning nearly anything you touch into cold hard cash or running like a maniac and watching coins drop out of your rear end. For dispensing with enemies, Mario will enlist the aid of a typical Mushroom to grow in size in addition to the Fire Flower and the return of the Tanooki suit from Super Mario Bros. 3. Even the humongous Mushroom that briefly allows you to go big and smash everything in sight makes a comeback from New Super Mario Bros.

And if that weren't enough, NSMB2 offers an all-new Challenge Mode, a series of challenges consisting of three randomly selected stages where you must gather as many coins as possible under a strict time limit with only one life. This is a refreshing gameplay alternative that breathes some new oil in the ever-churning Mario engine, and one that both fans and newcomers will duly appreciate. Scores obtained in Challenge Mode will determine your ranking in the local leaderboards and, while the noticeable lack of online worldwide leaderboards is indeed a shame, it's not so bad if you have friends in your immediate area devoted to becoming the greatest coin hoarders of all time.

Even though the framework is relatively the same as it was in past Mario games, there's no denying its infallible charm. Mario fans will indeed embrace the familiarity, and newcomers will feel right at home with the simplicity of the mechanics and the overall appeal of its renowned platforming gameplay by which all other similar games are judged. However, it might have been nice if there was a little more variety in the level design. Some of the platforming levels are barely distinguishable with those you've already played through in previous games, including the original New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS. Also, NSMB2 doesn't really push the power of the 3DS in any significant way, which is disappointing considering that Nintendo might have gotten away with porting the game to a normal DS. This is further compounded by playing the game on the newly-released Nintendo 3DS XL's larger screens, where pixels are visible and background objects are blurry and undefined. To its credit, a few blemishes do little to distract from the gameplay experience overall.

Still, the Mario games are none too concerned with pushing the visual envelope. The gameplay is what truly matters and, in that regard, New Super Mario Bros. 2 delivers forthright. The coin collecting aspect is a hoot, the Challenge modes bring new spice to an already zesty dish, and the unflinching charm that has maintained the soul and popularity of the franchise is fully intact. Mario fan or newcomer, you'll do well to include this in your 3DS library -- whether it be retail or through a full digital download from the Nintendo eShop. It may not be perfect, but it sure is perfectly fun.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Asagea_888 reviewed New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS..." was posted by Asagea_888 on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:39:53 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/new-super-mario-bros-2/user-reviews/802438/platform/3ds/ Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:37:21 -0700 Asagea_888 reviewed Diablo III for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/diablo-iii/user-reviews/802437/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 5.0.

It's been twelve years since Diablo 2's release. The innumerable success of Diablo 2 meant that demand would soon follow for a third game in the series. Naturally, expectations were high, and Blizzard had all this time to craft and deliver a game that would not only meet those expectations, but exceed them on all cylinders in today's gaming climate. Diablo 3, in a sense, can be regarded as a successful failure. Following a horrendous launch, the game managed to sell nearly three million copies. But huge profit margins don't necessarily mean the people who invested in the game actually enjoyed it. That said, as someone who spent a great deal of time on Diablo 3 since its launch, I was left underwhelmed. It's not a bad game by any stretch, but its lofty ambitions do little to mask the glaring problems and disappointments that plague as much the framework itself as the demonic hordes running loose in the world of Sanctuary.

The story transpires two decades after Diablo 2's expansion set "Lord of Destruction". Although Diablo's been defeated for the second time and his brother Baal soundly reduced to cropdust, a major event that occurred in the LoD expansion resulted in the destruction of Mount Arreat, and Sanctuary has not been the same since. In fact, things aren't any better than they were when Diablo terrorized the land. Evil lingers, far worse than ever before, and there are rumors of two remaining Demon Lords---Azmodan, the Lord of Sin and Belial, the Lord of Lies---who are both plotting against one another to seize the Black Soulstone and determine which of them will become a Prime Evil. And when a meteor falls from the heavens and slams into the infamous monastery in the ruins of Tristram, it becomes increasingly clear to a wary populace that the End of Days draws ever closer. Or so it seems. Five adventurers from various origins have come to the town of New Tristram to investigate the meteor and confront the mysterious destiny that links all of them together, so that they may defeat Azmodan and Belial and, ultimately, bring to bear Sanctuary's salvation.

Diablo 3 places a deeper emphasis on story development and Diablo world lore, introducing several new characters including Leah (the adopted niece of Deckard Cain) and returning favorites Deckard Cain and the Archangel of Justice, Tyrael, in mortal form. In addition, you will confront new enemies such as Azmodan, a brilliant strategist who openly reveals his battle plans and dooms himself to his own stupidity, and Belial, a master of deceit, deception and bad breath. The storytelling is hit-and-miss; voiceovers are well delivered, the focus on the lore and history of the Diablo world is intriguing, but the spoken dialogue is particularly cheesy. To be fair, Diablo 2 kept its backstories, histories and lore accounts in their thick instruction manuals, so having it all come alive in Diablo 3 is a nice touch indeed.

Drawing the necessary sources from previous Diablo games, Diablo 3 retains much of the familiar aesthetics. You'll choose from five different classes -- including the Demon Hunter, an amplified version of Diablo 2's Amazon, who in spite of her weak physical frame can dish out both offensive long range attacks and defensive abilities. The Barbarian returns from Diablo 3 and is more of a tank than he ever was, and the Wizard is basically another amplified Diablo 2 class (the Sorceress) with a wide array of destructive magic spells. The Witch Doctor relies heavily on curses and poisons to aggravate mobs in addition to minions that do his dirty work. And the Monk emphasizes pure melee strikes and accumulation of Spirit to fuel powerful attacks immediately with little to no cooldown periods. Each class is unique in and of themselves with various statistic builds, abilities and perks. The absence of familiar Diablo 2 characters like the Necromancer, the Druid and the Assassin is indeed disappointing, but the new classes do make up for it in some way, holding their own in both combat and in overall appeal. You also have the aid of NPCs, known as Followers, that will aid you in combat during single-player sessions -- ranging from a mouthy Templar, a snarky Scoundrel and a demure Enchantress. Like the Hirelings of Diablo 2, they can be fashioned with items to aid in their own survivability and effectiveness in combat, and even possess unique abilities like healing, buffs and attacks. Oftentimes, Followers are as dumb as a doornail and usually act as fodder when things get heated, but for the most part, they come through in a pinch and become a necessary component in your travels.

Throughout the game's four Acts, you'll explore an isometric 3D world filled with dungeons, blood-stained fields, caverns and fortresses, killing monsters and gathering loot like a hyperactive kid hoarding candy from a burst Pinata. All of it can be quite fun--whether alone or with some buddies in tow--and it's always a joy to watch your foes get tossed around and mangled like hapless rag dolls whenever you destroy them. The graphics are quite remarkable and the music is pretty good, but they both compromise the brooding, uncertain atmosphere of past games by making it all look as if it were borrowed from World of Warcraft. Per usual, you'll gain access to higher difficulty modes---including an all-new, incredibly difficult Inferno mode---and the much-maligned Hardcore game option where you will permanently lose your character if you die. Most everything you remember from Diablo and Diablo 2 have, more or less, made the transition here in Diablo 3, heralding many of the familiar staples that contributed to the success of the franchise.

Diablo 2 achieved the rare task of balancing solid gameplay and variable difficulty that wasn't stupidly easy yet wasn't stupidly cheap and frustrating. Yet, Diablo 3 seems to have trouble with the scales. It doesn't know when to take it easy on you or when to hit you with everything it's got. For one, stat growth and skill progression are automatically determined with each level you gain for your character, removing any real sense of customization that Diablo 2 offered. Although you are able to change your skills and abilities at will once you've learned them, you must deal with cooldowns every so often and that quickly gets irritating. Furthermore, finding gear in Diablo 3 becomes a mind-boggling affair. You often run into items that do not belong to your particular class, are logically non-sensical (i.e. a Barbarian plate with Intellect?) or are restricted by level rather than the necessities, forcing you to sell what you do not need at a vendor for a pathetic sell rate that would make a beggar chuckle. This tends to happen more often than it should. Alternatively, there is a crafting option available where you may create your own armor, gems and weapons, but the items you build in the forge are utterly useless to your cause, and the whole damned thing isn't worth the trouble or the investment.

The always-online DRM portion of Diablo 3, where an internet connection and Battlenet account are required to play, has become a source of great disdain for good reason. Although Blizzard insists the move is to discourage piracy, cheating and opportunistic gold sellers, their intentions are a double-edged Bastard Sword. As with any online game, servers are far from perfect, and when it mucks up on a bad day, both the multiplayer AND the single-player portions are adversely affected. Disrupting a multiplayer session is fairly common, but I don't know of anybody that wants to have their single player experience cut by "server maintenance" -- it just doesn't make any sense. And should you desire to play with others, finding game sessions through Battlenet can also be frustrating. The lack of lobbies and viable search options shoehorns the player into completely random multiplayer sessions that quickly become a game of Russian Roulette; you have absolutely no idea who you'll be playing with. Conversely, unless you have your "open invite" feature turned off, expect unwanted guests cropping up in your session whether you want them to be there or not. It's all pretty confusing and perplexing, and is easily solved if you put potential friends in your Battlenet queue---at least you'll know who they are and when they're logged on. Making matters worse, multiplayer sessions only allow four people at a time, severely limiting its appeal and accessibility.

Another point of contention is the newly-added Auction House, a place where players can post the loot they find to turn a profit or easily find the gear they need for the challenges ahead. This is fine for people who don't want to waste time playing through difficult acts to find the gear they know they might never find as they can simply use a search engine, pay the gold, and move on with life. In particular, there is an option where you can use real money to sell and purchase digital items; the so-called "pay-to-win" approach that's also used in Magic the Gathering Online (buying digital cards with real money) Decent profits, sans Blizzard taking 10%, can be made if you play your cards right, but success depends wholly on your knowledge of the in-game market when weighed with the scope of demand. And when you decide to use cash to buy digital items, you do so at your own risk. To me, when compared to Diablo 2, the Auction House is a money-bleeding cop-out that can become costly to a desperate consumer looking for a way to barely survive Inferno mode---all while Blizzard nabs a percentage of every item sold. As such, the thrill of finding legendary gear in the field and the fervent joy of adventuring have been marginalized by trivial convenience and corporate profiteering. That said, Diablo 3's game design, particularly Inferno mode, seems deliberate in facilitating the use of the Auction House, where all it takes is a credit card to nab that legendary piece of equipment as opposed to investing your gaming skills. Adding insult to injury, there's no end-game content other than replaying the whole thing all over again in higher difficulty modes, and PvP has even yet to be announced -- despite the fact that PvP already exists in Diablo 2 and was one of its greater highlights.

A recent patch to the game introduced the Paragon Level system, which takes effect the moment your character reaches the level cap of 60---thus indirectly "raising" the cap itself by 100 additional levels. This was done to bring Diablo 3's leveling system closer to that of Diablo 2's and encourage the replay factor in its rudimentary form. Unfortunately, Paragon leveling only serves to force players to log in more hours of tedious grinding of the same old Acts, the same old mobs and the same old Dungeons-- with paltry, meager rewards to show for it. Paragon experience accumulates very slowly in the initial outset, even when you're fighting for your life in Inferno level, and grows even slower as you rise up in Paragon levels. The higher level you have, the supposedly greater drops you get from elite mobs and the stronger you get (provided you have the gear). Even your character portrait evolves (the outer frame, at least) for every 10 levels you gain. But the effects of Paragon leveling aren't noticeably apparent in the beginning and, with a 100 levels to conquer, that is discouraging. Given the complaints leveled by gamers about crummy drops from elite mobs and even crummier drops from end-level bosses in Inferno level, Paragon leveling becomes a tedious chore in and of itself, nearly bordering along the line of being an utter waste of time and effort.

Diablo 2 was designed purely for hardcore gamers, and the franchise itself is inundated on that reputation. Its complex system, brooding atmosphere and masochistic nature may have scared off some, but for others, it was a welcome opportunity to challenge the seemingly impossible, draw on their decision-making skills in developing characters, learn from their mistakes, and gain a sense of real accomplishment. Diablo 3, however, is more concerned with drawing in a broader audience of people who have either never touched Diablo 2 in their lives or have been enamored with other dungeon crawlers like Torchlight and DotA. While that may be all well and good for non-fans and newcomers, it compromises what made the Diablo games so memorable among the faithful and removes its own unique distinction. As such, Diablo 3 becomes an empty snail's shell of a casual color-- no different from every other dungeon crawler on the market today -- and ends up a blight on its storied legacy.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Asagea_888 reviewed Diablo III for the PC..." was posted by Asagea_888 on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:37:21 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/diablo-iii/user-reviews/802437/platform/pc/ Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:32:25 -0700 Asagea_888 reviewed Resident Evil 6 for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-6/user-reviews/802436/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

Resident Evil 6 is the latest installment in Capcom's widely-successful survival horror game franchise, and bears the jaw-dropping distinction of having a development team of 600 members. Naturally, Capcom pulled no punches in bringing to bear a highly ambitious new chapter in the story of Raccoon City's famous survivors; Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Leon S. Kennedy; all who risk their lives battling bio-terrorism and curbing the threat of horrific viruses. Yet, considering the mass resources and lofty effort that Capcom poured into development, Resident Evil 6 is a beautifully realized game that sees a goal in plain view, yet stumbles and gets lost along the way. Rather than settle on being survival horror like the games before it, Resident Evil 6 abandons its namesake altogether without the slightest clue as to what it wants to be next. Granted, the game does some things right, but it ultimately becomes a victim of its own contradictions.

In the years leading up to and following the end of Resident Evil 5, the Umbrella Corporation met its demise, Raccoon City got wiped off the map, Albert Wesker was finally put to rest, and G-virus has been fully neutralized. However, a new form of biological threat known as the C-virus begins creeping up in the stratosphere; far stronger and deadlier than last year's model, and possessing the frightening capacity of being an airborne strain, leaving no one to chance. The city of Lianshang in China is caught up in a viral outbreak and completely decimated through nightmarish mutations. A new enemy known as the J'avo arises from the woodwork---a highly evolved form of zombie smart enough to brandish weapons and drive vehicles, and can shapeshift into horrifying new forms to suit a situation. With all this occurring at a rapid rate, the world is united by a common fear---there may be no hope left. Or is there? One final struggle begins as three familiar heroes and three newcomers band together against all possible odds to put a stop to the C-Virus, call out the man responsible for unleashing it, and terminate him with extreme Resident Evil prejudice.

I kicked things off with the Leon and Helena campaign; by far the closest to the classic Resident Evil framework. Leon S. Kennedy is in full form here---right down to his panultimate "boy-band groupie" hairstyle which still makes him look awesome even in advanced age. Helena Harper is Leon's new partner and fellow Special Agent blessed with raw talent, a killer body and personal demons. There is quite a bit of exploration involved, but the path is generally a linear one with few forks in the road and a visual compass that directs the player exactly where they need to go next. In some ways, this sort of hand-holding compromises the uncertainty of exploring a strange environment, which was one of the more thrilling aspects of the franchise. Still, the world of Resident Evil 6 itself is pretty creepy with all the dreary trappings of a horror-based atmosphere. My absolute favorite area to visit is the fictional city of Lianshang based in China. This is not simply because the Asian part of me appreciates the striking level of authenticity of a faux Hong Kong, but it is also due in large part to the unsettling, cruel aftermath of its destruction wrought by the C-Virus. The attention to detail is arguably one of the game's finer points, returning to familiar dark territory from the sun-bleached sands of Resident Evil 5. And everything looks absolutely gorgeous. Enemies are deliciously morbid and revolting by design, behaving in erratic, disgusting ways and reacting appropriately to being struck or shot at (thanks to the wonders of the Havok engine). And some of them change right before your eyes into horrific forms that defy the laws of nature, DNA and human reasoning.

The Jake and Sherry campaign isn't quite like the Leon/Helena portion, but holds its own more or less. The relationship between Jake Muller and Sherry Birkin is an interesting one as they're both the son and daughter of Resident Evil's most notorious villains; Albert Wesker and William Birkin. But, like night and day, the two couldn't be more different. Jake is a hard-edged, anti-social freelance mercenary with money on his mind. Sherry, former Resident Evil 2 victim, is a newly-christened government agent who reminds me an awful lot like Rebecca Chambers; tough on the outside, vulnerable on the inside. In this particular campaign, there were a lot of Quick Time Events that broke up the subsequent flow of the game, prompting timed button presses at opportune moments or forcing the player to wriggle the analog stick like Superman on speed dial. They're quite a joy to look at from time to time and done very well. And you'd better get used to them because cinematic cutscenes and QTEs generally make up at least 75% of the entire Resident Evil 6 experience. There's nothing bad about QTEs, but I felt as though Resident Evil 6 overemphasized these elements for the sake of production values rather than effective gameplay, resulting in the game feeling more like an interactive movie that would have proffered on a DVD instead of a $60 game disc. To the game's credit, the story and cutscenes are fantastic with strong voice acting across the board and pretty good dialogue, giving each character a sense of believability.

The third campaign I explored was the one involving Chris Redfield and Piers Nivans---two BSAA soldiers on a mission. Chris has undergone the most dramatic change here in Resident Evil 6 since Resident Evil 5. Following a horrific event that resulted in the deaths of the men under his command, Chris has been reduced to a drunken stupor, heavily absorbing his demons in a pool of alcohol. A heavy binge inherently destroys his memory, forcing fellow BSAA agent Piers Nivans to snap him out of his funk and convince the legendary zombie hunter to concentrate on the greater task at hand. I can confirm that Chris' campaign shares a stark, unapologetic similarity to the Call of Duty and Battlefield military shooters. Most of this campaign takes place in a gritty urban war-torn landscape before it hits familiar dark territory, making it feel as if you're playing Modern Warfare. The comparisons have been pointed out numerous times before, and theoretically it makes some sense seeing how Chris and Piers are, in effect, military soldiers battling bio-terrorism and B.O.W.s (Bio-Organic Weapons) all over the globe. But the military shooter component becomes a serious issue for a game like Resident Evil. The cover system handles far worse here than it does in Operation Raccoon City, and becomes problematic enough to get you killed during the most obvious life-or-death situations. If Chris' campaign was going to blatantly model itself after a typical third-person shooter, Capcom should have at least given some thought as to what made games like Call of Duty and Battlefield work so well and less of how to interpret a Resident Evil dynamic within its framework. In milder terms, the campaign is a mess of contradictions, and fails somewhat miserably at piggybacking other third-person shooters.

All of the campaigns, including an unlockable fourth involving Ada Wong, intersect with one another at specific points. There's no dynamic climax where every character gets together for a final showdown with the game's less-than-memorable villain, but our heroes do run into each other, pursuing their own individual campaigns all the while. I like both the tension and the happy reunion that occurs between specific characters, especially Leon and Sherry, whom haven't seen one another since the events of Resident Evil 2. This is also one of few (if only) opportunities for four players to get together and party up against the onslaught of the C-Virus, as Resident Evil 6 encourages cooperative gameplay; a boon first introduced in Resident Evil 5. In Resident Evil 6, it handles as well as you'd expect it to if you are so inclined into braving the depths of evil with a buddy in tow. If you don't have a friend to play with, the AI isn't quite as stupid as it was in Operation Raccoon City, but often at times, they may get stuck behind a wall or a locked door at the worst possible moment where you need their help in getting through an obstacle that requires two people.

Furthermore, apart from the campaign portions, Resident Evil 6 brings back the mercenaries mode, where you and/or a friend kill as many enemies as possible within a given time limit and score kill chains for leaderboard standings. You can even revisit campaigns you've cleared to search for serpent coins that unlock a host of bonuses including character dossiers, retrospectives of events from past Resident Evil games and viewable figurines. They're tough to find, but a keen eye and steady observation ensures success. It's also a fun diversion from the rigors of zombie shooting, destined to keep you busy long after you've completed the game.

Critical reception of Resident Evil 6 has been decidedly mixed, but my take on it is, after finally having the erstwhile opportunity to sit down and play it on my PS3, I can say with the utmost certainty that it really isn't as horrible or inherently bad as most reviewers have judged it to be. But, I can't in good faith proudly proclaim Resident Evil 6 to be a highlight of the series when it doesn't really feel like Resident Evil at all. Based on my own personal experiences, the game holds its weight against my expectations of an above-average product, but it falls dreadfully short of being a worthy successor to the brilliant Resident Evil 4 -- much less the entirety of the franchise. Its lofty ambitions, 600 member development team and eagerness to showcase as many gameplay styles as humanly possible drags the whole thing down a few pegs, but if you can take Resident Evil 6 for what it is, whether you're a fan or not, you'll find a fairly competent game that, in spite of its setbacks, covers most of the bases. Just don't expect it to be the Resident Evil that many of you enjoyed and loved in the past.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Asagea_888 reviewed Resident Evil 6 for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by Asagea_888 on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:32:25 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-6/user-reviews/802436/platform/ps3/ Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:51:24 -0700 Asagea_888 reviewed Double Dragon: Neon for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/double-dragon-neon/user-reviews/802424/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

25 years ago, a brawler hit the arcades like a knee to the face, eating quarters for breakfast and challenging gamers the world over to brave the mean streets in order to teach a dude with a machine gun a hard lesson---if you're going to steal someone's girlfriend, make sure the sucker you're stealing from ISN'T one half of a pair of brothers they call the Double Dragons. Spawning multitudes of imitators, Double Dragon is widely regarded by many, myself included, as one of the greatest arcade games of all time. Two decades later, Way Forward and Majesco Entertainment are paying homage to the legacy of the Lee Brothers by taking both gamers, and the game itself, back to the 1980s. When I caught wind of Double Dragon Neon, I thought the whole thing was a joke. Everything about it screamed cheesy, uncalled for and inappropriate. But the real offense of Double Dragon Neon is that it's really nowhere near anything like Double Dragon. It's more like every other brawler you can find in the market today with few additions, and by going that route, the legacy of a truly exceptional arcade game is utterly wasted under the guise of a campy 80s motif.

Marian's been abducted yet again by the Shadow Warriors---this time under a new leader, a strange-looking Skeletor wannabe named Skullmageddon. (REAL catchy.) As the massive garage door of the English Tear opens, the Lee Brothers step out to once again enter the fight and save her from whatever Skullmageddon is planning to do with her. Through 10 missions, you'll engage in derivative button-mashing fisticuff against a host of bizarre enemies, including mainstays Williams, Linda Lash and Abobo. You'll do battle in familiar streets before travelling to outer space on a dojo that doubles as a rocket before crashlanding in a countryside, invading a bio laboratory, fighting a huge plant straight out of "Little Shop of Horrors", exploring a huge Asian-themed palace and entering the shadow realm using the power of Marian's "love". I'm seriously NOT kidding.

As I alluded to earlier, Double Dragon Neon suffers from a glaring problem é it doesn't really play like Double Dragon. It plays like any other sidescrolling beat'em up. Double Dragon was a first of its kind when it smashed the arcades during the rip-roaring 80s (when arcades were radical) and it had a unique gameplay engine that has yet to be emulated by its numerous imitators---even Final Fight. Many of the traditional Sou Setsu Ken moves like the hair pull and the elbow smash have been taken out of rotation, leaving you with a usual array of generic punches, kicks and uppercuts. This compromises the integrity of its source by making it a generic brawler with not a whole lot to show for it. And what limited variety there is in the attack repertoire is hampered by the fact that single-player sessions only allow you to play as Billy, while a second player takes the reins of Jimmy. Of course, this hardly matters since it follows the rules of the arcade game, and both brothers play exactly the same anyhow. Likewise, you have the option of playing a "Shadow Bro" version of the Lee Brothers when you fulfill certain conditions. There's no online coop play to speak of, severely limiting the game's appeal in an online-heavy market, but for purists who don't mind getting together with friends on a couch with their 2-liter sodas and five boxes of Papa John's pizza with all the anchovies they can handle, local co-op serves its purpose well. And hey, you don't have to worry about lag spikes AND you can put your rage quitting so-called friend of yours seated next to you in a headlock until his brain numbs, right?

The only notable combat maneuver the Double Dragons have at their disposal is a defense move that activates a Gleam mode, which temporarily ups your attack parameter as long as you're glowing red. It's a tricky maneuver to master, but well worth the effort when you need that extra edge against the hideously cheap Abobos and their multi-colored cousins. You might also activate Gleam if you've got a buddy in tow when you press the analog stick and perform a "high five". Yes, the Lee Brothers are decidedly "bro" and aren't afraid to show it. The brotherly mannerisms these guys pull off put the fist pumping Jersey Shore dudes (and Snooki) to utter shame. Having played the Double Dragon games in my heyday, I can't recall ever hearing either of the brothers coin the term "tubular" or shout out ridiculous phrases like "Oh, I dare. I DOUBLE DRAGON dare!" Double Dragon purists might be put off by all the silliness and think the developer Way Forward deliberately made a joke out of their beloved franchise. Others might take it with a grain of salt. The rest of us will be relieved that it's not as horrible as the Double Dragon movie with Scott Wolf and Mark Dacascos. (I can't believe I remembered that.) All intentions considered, Double Dragon Neon uses the legendary arcade series to spoof the 80s culture and even makes a reference to other video games like Mega Man. (Keep your eye out, you'll see it.)

Furthermore, the Lee Brothers can get tougher through use of é. mix tapes. Yes, mix tapes. You know, those little plastic rectangular thingys with the two holes on each end that went into an oversized machine they used to call a "boom box". Mix tapes not only give off ridiculously cheesy fake 80s tunes that blatantly rip from cultural icons like Rick Astley (inventor of the Rick Roll), the Cure, the Beastie Boys, and Marvin Gaye (Yes, Marvin Gaye!) they also benefit the Lee Brothers with character buffs such as increased defense and special attacks like fireballs and magic bombs. Yeah, magic bombs. Who knew, right? Mix tapes are often found by defeating enemies, purchasing them in in-game shops that are few and far between, and destroying receptacles. Collecting them all (while supplies last! I'm only kidding) will earn you an achievement/trophy. Even more hilarious, mix tapes can be upgraded at a "Tapesmith" using special "ores" that only bosses drop. This is incredibly annoying because the requirements for upgrading mix tapes are ridiculously high, forcing you to replay the game over and over again from the beginning of each stage just to collect more of the precious resource.

As for the music? It's actually quite good. I've long admired the work of Jake Kaufman, and his soundtrack for Double Dragon Neon is cheesy and knows it. Shockingly, some of the songs are even accompanied by vocals. They're like the best radical fake 80s songs you've never heard in your entire life, dude! But seriously, they're a perfect compliment to the intended vibe.

Double Dragon Neon manages to barely hold its weight as a decent brawler, and the campy 80s references are good for a few laughs. But, speaking as a fan of the Double Dragon series, I'm a little flabbergasted that it had to come at the expense of one of the greatest arcade beat'em ups ever made on the eve of its 25th anniversary. In short spurts, Neon is pretty good fun, but repetitive after a while, especially when you have to grind for the particulars. Anyone looking for a good beat'em up to pass the time will find some enjoyment here, but fans and purists of the arcade game may be insulted enough to have little to no reason in giving Neon game a chance. And that is truly a bummer.


Get the full article at GameSpot

"Asagea_888 reviewed Double Dragon: Neon for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Asagea_888 on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:51:24 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/double-dragon-neon/user-reviews/802424/platform/xbox360/ Wed, 01 Aug 2012 14:30:26 -0700 xDanny123x reviewed Gravity Rush for the PlayStation Vita... http://www.gamespot.com/gravity-rush/user-reviews/798090/platform/vita/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

*Warning! This Review contains Spoilers, if you do not want to get spoiled then I suggest you finish the game or don't read the Review. *

The Playstation Vita is the next big thing in portable gaming and is suppose to be the biggest most powerful handheld gaming console yet, it can be played online anywhere around the country (where you are) with 3G now and can play games as powerful as the Playstation 3 but can that really be possible? Games like Uncharted on the Vita is grand but is that it?

The Story:
You are a woman who has no idea where she is or who she is. All she sees is a cat so she travels with the cat but something seems off about this cat, it looks like one but it seems deformed. As you travel with the cat you hear people screaming crying out for a kid being sucked in by a vortex of some sort, and the father is forcing you to bring back the kid since it's "your fault" it happened. The cat then grants you the power to control gravity. People hate you for this power but you want to help them still. After awhile you meet the enemies of the game called Nevi, they come in groups often on ground or air, but one must wonder where do they come from? Later on you see a woman with a similar power of yours but her animal is a raven, but she wants to kill you since it's all "your fault". You have no idea who is she but she might know something about you... A few notes the story is all predictable really it really is, but there was one thing the story doesn't explain, who Alias really is... after coming back from the dead he shows up again but only in a "dream" Kat was having and he shows his face to her but not to the player, all Kat says is "He can't be Alias" or something similar to it, it probably explains in one of the DLC's or maybe in a sequel which is trash really.

The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
Gravity Rush is nothing much really, you control gravity hence Gravity Rush and when you fight the Nevi you can fight in the ground or in the air using gravity. You can upgrade your status using purple gems you find through-out the city or by completing challenges as rewards, but in order to increase your max-output for your status you need to raise your reputation, in order to raise your rep you need to complete story missions or challenges you find. You can also talk to people in the game which I don't know what good it does really, you can also find manholes to travel through the city or to travel back to your house...in the sewers. There are three types, of gems you find in the city purple as I said before, green gems which heals you, and light-blue gems which heals your gravity gauge. Oh and you have a gravity gauge: this is basically how long you can last while using gravity like powers, but can be increase via purple gems and rep. You have many powers using gravity like float, climb, using environment as weapons, gravity dodge and sliding which isn't that great it's pretty horrible since you have to using the Vita's gyroscope. Fighting will get repetitive, you fight using the same attacks over and over and over again since there is no variety with your powers. Also air Nevi are really annoying since they move to much so you can barley hit them. It was a great idea but doesn't play so well.

The Sound (sound effects, voice acting, etc.)
The sound effects, all I hear is just one, when attacking in ground and in air is the same, smacking into the wall or ground sounds the same, killing are all the same, there is no variety it's too boring. Voice acting (or if you call it voice acting) they don't talk, they somewhat mumble and scream and scream and scream and scream... with only one voice clip... they somewhat talk but rarely, they talk in I think french I couldn't tell. The music isn't that great either... it's pretty an odd choice for this game. I liked one of the city music though it's pretty vintage.

The Graphics:
Visually it looks good but not that great considering the vita is suppose to be "all powerful". It can load the whole city and can travel without load, though but comes with a price which I will go over later. which the city looks good too. The character models looks... meh, I've seen better though on the 3DS really... specials look great they do like the black hole. The Nevi there are only about 8 I believe I think there is more but I can only think up to 8 but they are everywhere so they is no variety when fighting.

The Controls (w/ presentation):
The Vita control schemes are really weird since they are so crowded with each other and playing this game seems harder to play even when using the gravity kick, it's hard to aim and strike especially with the air enemies since they move too much. Camera is no problem since you use the right stick. Using the touch pad and swiping at a direction will cause Kat to perform a dodge move in ground and in the air which is more useful in air. The back pad I don't think it does anything really I haven't used it. And when touching the touch pad with two fingers (your thumbs) will cause Kat to perform a gravity slide which allows you to scale without the need to control gravity up, down or sideways, you use the gyroscope to move which I didn't get use to it. One thing I mention about this the game loads the whole city can can travel through without load, but it loads the city at first and my god the loading in this game takes forever... after dying takes awhile, loading a save data, doing challenges, and going to other places (besides the city). Oh and with all the flaws about the fight system this game is easy as hell.

Gravity Rush was an amazing idea it was really but it got destroyed by most of it's bad flaws, I enjoyed it for a bit but really it's all cracked up to be. If this is the best the Vita has to offer I can't wait to see what's in store later on...

Overall:

Story: 7.0
Gameplay: 7.5
Sound: 4.5
Graphics: 8.0
Controls: 5.5

Overall: 6.5

Get the full article at GameSpot

"xDanny123x reviewed Gravity Rush for the PlayStation Vita..." was posted by xDanny123x on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 14:30:26 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/gravity-rush/user-reviews/798090/platform/vita/ Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:49:08 -0700 gamefreak197 reviewed Mass Effect for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/mass-effect/user-reviews/795717/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Mass Effect, like many other Bioware titles, has a simple goal in mind: To let the player craft his/her own journey. The fate of an entire galaxy rests on your shoulders, and you get to decide how events are played out, who shall live and who shall die, and how you perceive the galaxy around you. Bioware is known for their extensive storytelling abilities, and Mass Effect is certainly one of their best examples. It's a shame that the game has a few hinderances, but it shouldn't deter one away from one of the best story-driven sci-fi experiences of the past generation.

In a galaxy where humans are the new kids in town to join the other galactic communities you take on the role of Commander Shephard, who serves as a potential candidate for being the first human spectre (forces that are given the freedom to deal with various problems as they think is necessary), finally giving humans a chance to be a worthwhile addition to the galactic council. However, things start going wrong when a turian spectre named Saren has gone rogue and starts unleashing an army of robotic beings called the geth. As Shephard, and with the help of your fellow crew members, it's up to you to travel across the galaxy in search of him and to stop him.
The story is obviously the big highlight of a Bioware title, and Mass Effect delivers an intriguing tale filled to the brim with backstory on its various characters, races, and systems. It's the kind of universe that immerses you into its lore and history and you simply want to find out more about it. While Saren is a rather unremarkable villain, the rest of the story is wonderfully crafted.

Right from the start you are given the opportunity to create Commander Shephard as you see fit. You can choose to be either male or female, change facial features, set your class, and even your backstory. Throughout the game you can even mold the Commander's personality through the branching dialog choices. You can make Shephard a good-hearted individual willing to help others and work out negotiations, or perhaps a hardened soldier that doesn't take crap from anybody and is willing to do whatever to takes to get the job done. During your journey you can even pursue a romance with a fellow team member. But most importantly, you will be making some tough decisions (some that can potentially decide the fate of others). The various dialog choices and personalities one can choose from gives you ample reason to go back and replay the story.

Coinciding with the great story is the 3rd-Person shooting and RPG mechanics. Mass Effect does not play like a typical shooter. You won't simply be going gun crazy on everything you see. Here, it's all about observing your surroundings and coordinating your attacks. Opening up the command wheel allows you to look at your surroundings as well as activate various abilities for you and your squadmates to perform to give you an advantage. The class you set Shephard as will give you different abilities for you to use with the command wheel. If you were to play as a soldier you would be given access to different weapon-based upgrades, such as armor piercing ammo. When you are a Biotic, you can push enemies back with great force and create barriers for protection. As far as the combat itself is concerned, it's generally fun, though you will most likely have trouble moving in and out of cover. Rather than having cover be mapped to a separate button you would need to go up against a flat object, which can be a tad finicky and unresponsive at points. Like in many RPGs, as you defeat enemies (or even scan your surroundings) you will earn experience which will give you points to upgrade your abilities as well as your squadmates'.

When you are not getting invested into the story you would probably want to go exploring the various planets the galaxy has offer, possibly in search of missions. Much of your exploration will be done via a land rover called the Mako. This leads to what is perhaps the weakest aspects of the game. Much of the planets that you do explore are rather unremarkable. It may simply contain the mission you need to accomplish, a few enemies, and some wreckage and nothing more. Not only that, but the driving portions are rather clunky. Driving it around is okay until you need to back up or if you change the camera, in which case you would need to accustom to inverted controls. You will be using the Mako at certain points during the story and other missions for combat purposes, but you would need to be at the right elevation in order to fire your weapon, even if your reticle is targeted on an enemy.

The technical quality of Mass Effect is very hit and miss. On the one hand, when you are not dealing with a jittery framerate or looking at texture pop-in the game generally looks fantastic. The character models are excellently detailed, and aside from a few stiff animations most of the facial expressions and lip syncing are top notch. Many of the environments look great, though there are some occasional low resolution textures. There are also moments where you can also get stuck behind a piece of level geometry, in which case you will have to restart from your last save. The voice acting and dialogue are top notch (which is important with a game this heavily focused on story) and the sci-fi centric soundtrack is great.

To sum things up:

PROS:
-Excellent visuals for the most part
-Detailed characters and expressions
-Intriguing story and a diverse cast of characters
-Fun combat
-Many customizable options and choices
-Great voice acting and soundtrack

CONS:
-Technical hiccups
-Weak driving portions
-Finicky cover mechanic
-Some planets are rather unremarkable to explore

Even with its faults, one shouldn't shy away from a game as engrossing and entertaining as Mass Effect. For fans of story-driven games and Sci-Fi, this is a must buy.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"gamefreak197 reviewed Mass Effect for the Xbox 360..." was posted by gamefreak197 on Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:49:08 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/mass-effect/user-reviews/795717/platform/xbox360/ Fri, 25 May 2012 20:28:25 -0700 xDanny123x reviewed Max Payne 3 for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/max-payne-3/user-reviews/794724/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

*Warning! This Review contains Spoilers, if you do not want to get spoiled then I suggest you finish the game or don't read the Review. *

Max Payne... what a man of words. Max Payne is a series about a cop... well ex-cop now and in each game he's always on a mission in the 1st he is trying to find out who killed him wife and child and why, in the 2nd he is trying to get back in the force only to be back-stabbed again... and in this game he doesn't get involved in one mission but in many:

The Story:
The Story takes place years after the 2nds game where Max is already old and defeated. In the intro you see Max who was going to kill someone (of course it's someone he knew) and it's those games where it shows flash backs of the roads leading him here (It does that quite much in this game actually). After that you'll see him in some kind of party and reveals that he is now working in Sao Paulo, Brazil (had to leave jersey after an incident; flash back episodes) and he is working with a guy name Passos who got him the job in the 1st place (flash back episode later) and his job is more of a body guard protecting the high and "powerful" Bronco family, during this event some "uninvited" guest crashed the party and kills some people and kidnapped a couple people; Rodrigo, Fabiana, Giovanna, and Marcelo who were of course the Bronco Family. This is where you begin. It's funny I foreshadow the whole game actually except a few parts like Fabianas death didn't see that one coming foreshadow Rodrigos but not Marcelo, I also didn't trust Passos but didn't go actually bad so...

The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
*NOTE* I am only covering the Single Player story mode of this game*

This is where it is at. Max Payne 3 takes the whole gameplay mechs and made it even better. This game takes intense to a whole new level loading is really clever in this game (talk about it later) so cut-scenes aren't just interactive, they ARE the gameplay: during some cut scenes you will be forced to take aim and kill or be killed depending on the situation. Dual welding is a lot easier in this game pick up a random gun as long as it is portable to carry (side arms) also you can dual weld any type of side-arm it doesn't have to be the same guns, great addition. You can also carry one primary arm like rifles or shotguns (more to come) but you will drop it if you dual weld instead switch to one side arm to keep it with you. There are no grenades or molotovs but enemies can use them, kinda sux would have been easier to mow down large groups of enemies like in the last chapter but you can shoot them in air to make the blow up near enemies so it kinda works out. Guns are all the rage in this game and this game HAS GUNS. Not only that throughout the game you will find golden gun parts. If you find all three parts you can use them for the gun that you got the parts for which increases; mag (capacity), damage , accuracy etc. Pain killers are still here seeing it's Maxs addiction now but they are even better, if you're on the verge of death and have some pills you can go into bullet time and killed who was going to kill you and if successful you'll automatically use 1 pain killer and return to the battle but if you do not kill your killer... You can now cover behind objects like how every game is now and days, you can cover fire (which banks me more kills that I do with aiming for some reason). Bullet Time is back and ready for more, to refill your gauge you need to kill or just shoot as long as enemies are there, and of course when jump bullet time (forgot what that one was called sorry) it uses no bullet time so you can use it when ever but it has a down side now you cannot use it freely when ever so if you use it at a tight space you will crash, stop and be somewhat paralyzed for a second or two so watch where you use it. One thing I find funny about this game is there are a lot of explosions so I thought "I feel like I'm watching a Micheal Bay Movie" but it works for this game. I think that's it for the story there are tons of other modes to play but I only cover the story.


The Sound (sound effects, voice acting etc.):
Now this is also one of my favorites. The Sound Effects; there are TONS of that in this game, whether it's from guns which each has their own sound and sounds great, explosions, people yelling, music everything. I want to point out what I said about the guns, each gun has their own sound and each sounds fantastic. One thing I notice and it actually bugged me is Max footsteps. It sounds weird and I couldn't tell if someone was there or not kinda slowed down my game. The Music is legit. I F***in love the games music so in dept, emotional, and just plain kick ass all in one game. Of course depending on where you are at the music is different but not just in different chapters but in the chapters as well. It's truly amazing. And who could forget the voice acting in this game it's Godly. Max Payne still has the same voice actor and holy hell it sounds great on old Max. It's kinda hard to tell actually but it's him still. Everyone is this game has the southern accent (South America) so I don't want to get into that or they'll call me a racist; don't get me wrong it's great and all but I don't want to go into details.

The Graphics:
Max Payne 3 uses the same engine as Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption but I don't see it, each game differs from each other especially this game it's huge and there isn't a lot to go from since this game is straight forward. Every Character is detailed literally every single one of them hell even the unimportant ones, hell even the enemies there are so many character models it feels like I am killing new people every time even back from the dead (check point). It's too much to handle in this game. Guns are highly detailed in this game, from standard to golden. Explosions are highly detailed as well from small ones to huge explosions. The water it too perfect in this game except when getting out from the water it looks to weird from there. Gun shot wounds look funny from the head to the groins; depending on which guns you use will leave certain shot wounds like a standard 9mm will leave small hole while a desert eagle will leave a huge whole.

The Controls (w/ presentation):
Now here where the problem lies. Controlling Max is a Payne... enough of the jokes it really is a pain. Max movements kinda gets in the way to much when in crowded places and you'll be in those a lot in this game. Also Max will sometimes won't follow your control stick at time leaving him to walk on his own and getting killed. Aiming is also a pain too. No matter now many times I adjust it, it won't cooperate this game the aiming sux in this game I get better kills with cover fires instead. Also guns have some mods in this game but you can't equip or d-equip them and laser sights are horrible in this game they don't help at all they're in fact only here to kill you instead, it's bad enough the aiming sux but with laser sights just makes it worst. As I said before there are loading screens in this game except they aren't screens instead Rockstar made the game load during cut-scenes pretty cleaver so when watching a cut-scene the game is loading the next part of the game so be on your toes 120% of the time or you'll get yourself killed. Oh and one pointer if you get set on fire just die, the fire won't get away from you so no matter how many pain killers you use you'll still die and if for some reason you live through the fire die either way it ain't worth the pain killers you used for it.

Max Payne 3 is legit and is worth the wait for many Max Payne fans out there just wonder why Rockstar games keep messing up the controls for the characters in their games since Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto IV made it work somehow, but hopefully they'll get it right one of these days.

Overall:

Story: 9.5
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 10
Graphics: 9.5
Controls: 7.0

Overall: 9.2

Get the full article at GameSpot

"xDanny123x reviewed Max Payne 3 for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by xDanny123x on Fri, 25 May 2012 20:28:25 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/max-payne-3/user-reviews/794724/platform/ps3/ Sat, 19 May 2012 13:42:25 -0700 gamefreak197 reviewed Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/kid-icarus-uprising/user-reviews/794164/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

It's been 21 years since the angelic hero Pit has appeared in an original game of his own. His appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl gave hope for the possibility of a new Kid Icarus game in the future. Sure enough, four more years of waiting finally gave Pit another chance in the spotlight. And for what it's worth, Kid Icarus: Uprising certainly makes for a grand return of a nearly forgotten hero.

After 25 years, the dreaded Medusa has been resurrected and seeks to reek havoc on the humans. So it's up to Pit, along with the guide of the goddess of light Palutena, to defeat Medusa and her forces of darkness. The story seems rather simple at first, but actually becomes much more expansive as you progress and manages to squeeze some surprising plot turns. It's a lighthearted and entertaining story filled to the brim with breaks through the fourth wall and a number of references to video games and pop culture. The often hilarious dialogue and story are excellently told through solid voice acting that perfectly fit the characters and tone of the game. It's a surprisingly long game that covers 25 chapters and can take you roughly eight hours to beat the game the first time through.

Gameplay in Kid Icarus: Uprising is divided into two fast-paced gameplay styles. The first half of a level has you control Pit through exciting on-rails sections as you shoot your way through enemies and avoid obstacles. It's a style that feels like a mix of Nintendo's hit Star Fox series and Sin and Punishment games. These sections typically last about five minutes (given the fact that Pit's wings would burn up around then). After that we go down to the ground and play the second part of the level. On foot, you control Pit from a 3rd person perspective where you navigate through linear levels destroying enemies. At the end of each level is where you will square off against a boss.

The game's biggest problem stems from it's control scheme. The controls themselves work perfectly fine for what they need to do, but the way you control your character feels rather uncomfortable. The default control scheme has you using the circle pad to move Pit, the L button to fire your weapon, and the stylus to control your aim (and direction while on foot). Having the weight forced on one hand can get very tiring very quickly. This especially becomes an issue for the on-foot combat. The most comfortable way to play this game is by using the 3DS stand. The game also allows you to customize the controls to your liking as well, but the default controls seem the most accurate.

The game offers a few good reasons to replay levels in the story. The levels are not only fun to replay to gain a higher score, but the game offers up a unique difficulty setting and tons of weapons. Before the start of each level you are shown an intensity meter from 1-9. The higher up on the scale you go, the more challenging the levels become and there are more hearts and rewards you can potentially receive. Certain passages in levels even require you to be at a certain difficulty. If you were to die during the stage, your difficulty will be dropped down and you will lose hearts.

Kid Icarus: Uprising offers tons of weapons to use in battle. The weapons come in several types ranging from bows, to claws, to clubs, to staffs, etc. Each weapon has their own strengths and weaknesses in regards to melee and ranged attacks, as well as secondary effects like poison or confusion. You can either buy weapons, obtain weapons in the levels, or fuse two weapons together to create a new one. In addition to weapons you can also add in secondary abilities, like added armor or regenerating health. However, you can only use them a limited number of times. The sheer variety of weapons you obtain or create encourages you to try them in the single player as well as its multiplayer.

Multiplayer offers two modes: Free-For-All and Light Vs. Dark. Free-For-All obviously has you duking it out with everyone available whereas Light Vs. Dark has you in one of two teams with three players each. Your goal in Light Vs. Dark is to defeat the opposing side and have their life bar depleted. Once that happens, the losing side has one player turn into either Pit or Dark Pit. The losing side is defeated completely when the angel is defeated. Both modes allow you to bring in your own weapons and secondary abilities. Both multiplayer components are rather fun and can offer some intense competition. Both modes can be played either locally or through Wi-Fi.

This is certainly one of the best looking games on the 3DS. It's technically on par with that of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and features vibrant colors and a unique art design. The game also features a fantastic soundtrack filled with orchestral pieces and guitar riffs, as well as returning pieces from the original Kid Icarus game.

To sum things up:

PROS:
-Entertaining story
-Great voice acting and hilarious dialog
-Fun, fast-paced gameplay
-Great soundtrack
-Fun multiplayer

CONS:
-Uncomfortable control setup

If you can deal with the occasionally tiresome controls, you are going to find a lot to like in Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"gamefreak197 reviewed Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS..." was posted by gamefreak197 on Sat, 19 May 2012 13:42:25 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/kid-icarus-uprising/user-reviews/794164/platform/3ds/ Sun, 13 May 2012 12:11:24 -0700 xDanny123x reviewed Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/xenoblade-chronicles/user-reviews/793557/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

*Warning! This Review contains Spoilers, if you do not want to get spoiled then I suggest you finish the game or don't read the Review. *

Ah where to begin. I've played a lot and I mean A LOT of games in my time mostly JRPG games and wow I must say Xenoblade Chronicles just took the whole world. Xenoblade Chronicles was on my watch list for far to long and after hearing it was being released in the US I told myself I must have it and couple of weeks after the release I finally got my copy (wasn't easy to find :/) Now enough about me lets get on with the review:

The Story:
The game has possibly the most in-depth story I have ever seen in a video game ever and I am not joking. Long ago in a world with nothing but water, one day two titans found each other and starting fighting each other one called the Mechonis, and the other the Bionis. They no nothing but to fight one another and started a war between them. (Even though it's a war of just two) The Mechonis fought with a heavy blade, and the Bionis fought with a particular blade... the Monado... a blade that is the only means of killing the Mechonis. The war raged on until finally they have both fallen both just standing dead until life found their way onto the Mechonis and the Bionis but the war doesn't stop there it continues with the life that had in-habit the two titans with each other the Homs (the humans of Bionis) against the Mechons (the mechines of Mechonis). But who's to say that's not all or even the true story to the legend?... You then start off as a solider name Dunban with him are two other companions Dickson and Mumkhar who are fighting in a war in a place called Sword Valley (which is the Sword of the Mechonis) and of course are fighting against the Mechons, with Dickson the Sniper, Mumkhar the Attacker, and Dunban with a particular weapon, the only weapon that can kill the Mechons... The Monado. After fighting long and hard Mumkhar the betrays you and your comrades by leaving you guys to die but ends up getting killed himself. After the war Dunban then gets some kind of reaction from the Monado thus ending up losing control and losing his arm. (Not literally but either way he cannot use his arm anymore). A year after the war, we turn to the Bionis and a Colony with Homs and somewhere near the Colony is a trail leading to a Mechon grave you can say, and a young lad digging through the grave and finally you find your true protagonist: Shulk.

The Gameplay (w/ game mechanics):
This is one of my favorite things in the game. When controlling a character (you will be able to control one of the many characters you encounter through out the game at anytime as long as they are in your party) you are free to move well freely and fight freely too. Your party is consist of 3 members the party leader and two members to roam with you and fight with you. You'll come across towns or cities through out the game so you'll be able to buy equipment or art upgrades and talk to the citizens as well plus you be able to befriend them too and make them befriend each other as well one of the many side-quest to do in this game, you'll also be able to take side-missions from other people in or out of settlements. When roaming the areas you have the choice to fight or not to fight enemies whether you move around the enemies (certain enemies you cannot run from I'll cover that later) or simply run away from them. When actually fighting the enemies your normal attacks are automatic you just stand near the enemy (you really don't need to stand you can move around to as long as your near your target to auto attack or using certain attacks too) to attack and using arts/talent (which are skills in this game) same be near or somewhere close to the enemy to attack (also you cannot move when using arts) also arts are a bit tricky each character has their own specific arts while Dunban, Reyn, Riki, and Fiora are consist of attacks; Melia and Sharla are consist of Magic and Shulk is mixed. One thing for sure attacking enemies with arts kinda gets weird once you use an art the game sets on to the enemy whether you used an art from behind an enemy and attack the enemy from the front, the game will read you attack from the back, hell even if the enemy moves away from your attack, you'll still be able to hit them but not if they went to far from your attack (vise versa). One other thing is the Chain, the chain gauge will fill up if you using arts same with the party members you'll have up to 3 bars and once you fill it up you can do one of the following: 1 bar can make you revive an ally, warn an ally about deadly attacks during visions, and 3 bars can make you and your allies do a chain attack which consist of your party bashing out arts as much as you can, oh and enemies can use chain attacks to but I don't know how that works. You'll have to use strategies for each character (party leader) and each characters partners for different battle for each party leader with certain members CAN determine the outcome of a battle. Oh and one of the major things of course is the Monado Shulk is of course the only one who can use the Monado with out it hurting him and with it comes with a gift, Visions of the Future. Of course this comes in handy with the story but it also can be used out side the story. When fighting you will sometimes see visions of the future (Shulk doesn't have to be in the party it still works without him) where an enemy will perform a deadly attack on a certain (or all) characters which then you can prevent it from happening. It also works out-side of battle, when roaming around you'll of course come across some items or collectables around the areas or inside treasures found on defeated enemies so you'll be collecting a lot and reach a certain limit so you'll have to throw away some items to make room for more but which items are important? When collecting a certain item (an important item for a side-quest) you'll see a vision telling you where to go and what the item is (the item is marked on your item list too) and how much you need, but the cool thing about it is that you haven't meet the person yet you'll eventually meet them to give them the items.

The Sound (sound effects, voice acting etc.):
The Voice acting is really incredible in this game they really really bring in the emotion into this game, but sometimes it makes the game kinda awkward, but it makes up for it. The characters talk out side of battle, talk during specific cut-scenes, during battle (boy do they talk during battle), after battle, you know the usual. The Sound Effects aren't much really, every attack sounds just about the same with every character as well as their arts so there is no verity which makes up for the awesome gameplay it has to offer (but still have to deduct). The Music is SO AMAZING. I found myself in love with the music the areas have their own music, around the lands, the seas, caves etc. Also in battle the music changes A LOT depending on the situation of the battle whether it's a normal battle (changes overtime during the story), you got caught by an enemy, the enemy is a strong one, a boss, changing the future (same with crushing it), hell I can't name it all there is just too much here.

The Graphics:
(Oh man people are going to hate me for this but I have to look at a game from ever angle possible. Sure it's not 100% but it's something). Now one thing about the game is the Graphics it's great don't get me wrong but I've seen better Graphics in the PS2. I could tell the developer but so much thought into this game, and the graphics are one of them. The character models are good but not good. During cut-scenes they put so much emotion into the characters but sometimes they made it look really awkward. Sure the character models aren't that great but surly everything else is it's really beautiful hell sometimes I stop the game and just look around too see all the depth they put into this, you don't see this kind of stuff in any PS3 or 360 game. It truly is amazing a sight to see.

The Controls (w/ presentation):
The game is a Single Disk and it's amazing how much they put into a single disk really. On the back of the front and back covers you get a drawing, this drawing was made by a fan who won a contest to have their drawing on the US (I think it's only the US not sure of EU) cover and it's beautiful. The game plays with two options, one being standard Wiimote with Nunchuck (You must have the Nunchuck otherwise you cannot play it) or option two with the classic control. I've played with the Wiimote w/ Nunchuck and it plays perfectly. Oh and no there is not motion controls in this game. The Camera is a big problem with the game, when fighting bosses your sealed from leaving until you or your enemies die so when cornered the camera spazzes the hell up so you'll have a lot of trouble their, but that's only on bosses so it's all good anywhere else. Also some places where you fight are tight and narrow so the same happens or worse you'll fall down if it's a bridge-like narrow road. The Difficulty is perfect, enemies aren't tough but can still kill you if fought for too long or fought too much, bosses are tough, strong enemies are really tough and so on and so forth. Oh and one thing I hate the most is if the party leader is dead it's over but luckily you can respond at the last landmark you come across no game over here. Also if your chain is up 1 and your dead one of your teammates can revive you which is a A+ with me. The AI teammates are really intelligent they know what they are doing they know who to attack, who to encourage, but they can only revive you, you'll be the one to revive them.

Xenoblade Chronicles is possible one of the greatest if not the best JRPG I've ever played and that's really saying a lot, so in-depth so much emotion was put into this game and I loved ever single second of this game. I must highly recommend this game for literally any Wii owner any JRPG lover hell maybe just about any gamer because this game is truly a masterpiece.

Overall:

Story: 10
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 10
Graphics: 9.5
Controls: 9.5

Overall: 9.8

Get the full article at GameSpot

"xDanny123x reviewed Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii..." was posted by xDanny123x on Sun, 13 May 2012 12:11:24 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/xenoblade-chronicles/user-reviews/793557/platform/wii/