musicalmac's GameSpot Friend's Reviews musicalmac's GameSpot Friend's Reviews musicalmac's GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Sat, 25 May 2013 13:12:50 -0700 GameSpot musicalmac's GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Tue, 14 May 2013 16:20:52 -0700 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Tales of Phantasia for the PlayStation... http://www.gamespot.com/tales-of-phantasia-1998/user-reviews/811304/platform/ps/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Tales of Phantasia
Platform: PSOne
Developer: Wolfteam
Publisher: Namco
Genre: Action Role Playing Game
Age Rating: Cero: A, ESRB: T for Teen (Rated by Fans)
Original Release Date: December 23rd 1998
Translation Team: Absolute Zero/Phantasian Productions
Fan-Translation Patch Release Date: Absolute Zero: 25th December 2007 Phantasian Productions: 31st December 2012
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 8.8/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
If you're still into old school style RPG's then Tales of Phantasia for the PlayStation is one RPG that is both impressively remastered and still enjoyable after a long while.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking at your old dusty Gray PlayStation game console, you only played it every now and then today cause you only missed playing all our favourite games such as Resident Evil. Gran Turismo, Sypro, Crash,, Final Fantasy and the legendary Metal Gear Solid. Nearly towards the consoles timeline had been ended mostly RPG's helped keep it going for a short extra while. How about this, a fan translation group called Phantasian Productions independently worked on a English translation patch for the 1998 PlayStation enhanced remake of the original Tales Of title that started it all as well as it's counterpart Absolute Zero who released their English Patch of the game in 2007. It did took Phantasian Productions 12 long years for their project to start in it's beta stages, getting the right men and time to get to work on translating and adding some new features to make it feel as if Namco would have localised this game instead of the inferior GBA version.

For those who have not seen the original version nor played the GBA version, Tales Of Phantasia was originally released on the Super Nintendo in Japan of 1995, it was Namco's first entry into the popular running RPG series and it showcased 48 bit capabilities for it's impressive graphics and a powerful soundchip which allowed voice samples and tje opening song being played in the intro. Three years later it got remastered for the PlayStation and thanks to the translation efforts, it's one of, if not the best version of the game we can get our hands on.

Tales Of Phantasia follows teenage swordsmen Cress Albane (whose known as Cless Alvein in this version) who sees a mysterious spirit who lives inside of a withered tree. Cress returns to witness the destruction of his village and the death of his parents. Cress embarks on a journey which transcends him from space and time to stop an evil lord known as Dhaos who's intends on eliminating anyone related to the power of magic. Tales Of Phantasia's story wasn't anything as gripping as Square's Chrono Trigger but however the game has solid writing for both fan-translation patches and enjoyable characters that still make them as engaging as they were back then. Characters such as Chester Burklight who is Cress' bast friend and archer, Mint Adenade a Cleric, Claus F Lester a summoner and Arche Klaine a magic user. The English fan-translation patches does an excellent job of translating the dialogue even if Phantasian's is sometimes complex to read and Absolute Zero having only a few translation liberties. Dispute this it's still excellent writing and on top of that there are also some new cutscenes as well as some anime sequences that add more tension to the story.

Tales Of Phantasia started of the Tales formula so you'll feel right at home if you've played future titles in the series. However in the PlayStation version the game includes brand new features on top of the games original content. The game goes by the series pacing, if you haven't played any game in the series then simply it's an Action RPG where you wonder through the world map where you can go into dungeons, move on from one town to the next for the next part in the story while having to fight off against a group of monsters along the way. Towns serve as your resting points and you can interact with NPC's and you can visit shops to purchase items and better gear. In Dungeons there are some puzzles that require you to press switches, pull statues or rocks out of your way or to other spots on the map which are needed to open doors to the next area. Later on you'll acquire an accessory called a Successor's Ring which can shoot fireballs at switches from afar. At the end of each dungeon there will be a challenging boss battle to fight off against and then it's back to town to rest up and move on to the next portion of the game. Tales Of Phantasia keeps it's pacing balanced in between cutscenes and gameplay so that you never waste to much time doing one thing at once. Tales Of Phantasia also has a few minigames that you'll find in between and of course the game has it's original side quests on top of the brand new content.

Most notably is the redesigned graphics and improved soundtrack unlike Square's PS1 versions of the old Final Fantasy and Chorno Trigger games. The characters as well as the locations have been redesigned with new signs and different colour palette which look more impressive then did look back then. Characters are still pint sized but however do they have additional and smoother animations that make them more cleaner. The World Map has also changed into 3D and it's castles, mountains and towns have all received a bump up in detail and they look way more shaper then the original and later GBA releases. The Soundtrack itself has remixed tunes as well the opening music track that plays in the opening intro which are great with one exception. The track that plays when you fight against a summon spirit called Fighting of the Spirit has perhaps one of (if not) the best remix version that is ever heard in games in the series ever, it was so fantastic that when I took on my first summon spirit I actually paused the game for a few minutes just to listen to it. To fans including myself this track is simply that powerful.

Tales Of Phantasia on the Super Nintendo was the first game in the series to introduce the Linear Motion Battle System, however this version of the game uses an updated system that was used in it's 1997 instalment Tales Of Destiny. For those who never heard of the system, simply battles take place inside a small side scrolling battle arena where characters and monsters engage each other in real time combat. You control Cress in battle while your allies are controlled by the AI, you can have up to 4 members of your party to fight together but however you can switch Cress out and play as other characters if you want. The controls for battle are Circle or regular attacks, Cross for your abilities known as Artes, Square makes your character black incoming enemy attacks and Triangle brings up the battle menu where you can change party members behaviour in battle, use items, change formation and set your abilities whilst you can also do these outside of battle. You can use the D-pad and Circle to do different main attacks such as Down+Circle for a Thrust attack or Up+Circle for an upward slash. L1 reverses your party formation if incase the enemies surround you and you can switch between different different targets on the screen with the R1 button. There are 3 different battle controls that you can use. Auto allows the AI to take control of your party members, Semi Auto allows you to control your character but not fully while Manuel mode allows you to fully control your character. Phantasian Productions has given Cress an accessory called the Technical Ring when you start the game, this will give you the Manuel Control option. When equipped which allows you to freely move around the Battlefield without constantly returning to your standard position.

Regardless of what the game says on the back of the box, you can actually get a second player to control another character by plugging in a controller and equipping a second character with a Channelling accessory. You can also plug in a PlayStation Multitap to allow up to 4 players each equipped with Channelling accessories to be able to play together locally.

Characters have their own abilities that are called Artes which are basically skills of strike and magical attacks which are used to take down powerful enemies in the game. It's easier to combine Strike Artes with Magic Artes as they do more damage then standard attacks. Artes can be learned by levelling up while some others such as Magic Artes and also Arcane Artes can be purchased b NPC's while summon spirits are earned through battles with them. They can be turned off in the Artes menu or can just assign your teammates to use them Manually or shortcut buttons.

For characters styles of fighting, Cress relays on his weapons such as Swords, Axes and Spears. Cress' attack has two different attack stats that represent one for Slash and one for Thrust. Swords doing all round damage, Axes are better for Slash while Spears are better for Thrusting. Chester Burklight is an Archer who shoots arrows at enemies and in this version Chester can now have his own Artes which makes a useful Long Range character in battle unlike in the SNES version. Mint Adenade is the party's healer and can use a variety of healing and support spells to keep your members alive when injured or inflicted with status aliments. Claus F Lester is a summoner and can summon beasts that you've earned from beating them in battle while Arche Klein is a magic user who can conjure up deadly spells like Ice Tornado, Eruption, Thunder Blade and advanced spells like God's Breath, Fire Storm and Indignation. The updated battle system offers plenty of depth and rebalance as well as tweaks such as removing Mints Valkyrie spell and Arche's Extinction. Boss battles are cool and challenging and also Phantasian Productions has also added additional difficulties which can make the game almost impossible and must only be attempted by masters of the game due to the aggressive AI and uneven stats each monster has. Ether way it's an amazingly addictive combat system but it's understandable that it isn't as advanced as future titles.

For the most part the battle mechanics have improved quite a lot from it's SNES counterpart but however there is one issue, the random encounter frequency. Random battles are triggered every few steps on the world map and in dungeons, the problem with that is that it tends to bother you when you're solving a puzzle which becomes aggravating. However it is important to grind because bosses do tend to put up a reasonable challenge and later enemies can really mess you up and put you in a disadvantage.

In addition to the updated battle system, there are numerous new features to the game that are added in this version while others not seen in the later GBA version. First up is cooking, it allows you to cook recipes for your party members to recover HP, TP and other status elements. You've seen this idea in perhaps later Tales Of games like Eternia, Symphonia, Abyss and so on as this proved useful in keeping your party members healthy even if the ingredients became expensive.

There are around 25 recipes in the game to find in towns as they each have what's called a Wonder Chef. Another new feature is titles which some can think as achievements but however it's for characters for completing certain actions in the game, some of these are acquired through levelling and story while you can get others through sidequests.

Speaking of which are also some new sidequests in this version as well as brand new areas and dungeons. New areas involve the updated shadow dungeon and the extended Treant Forest which can be difficult to go through. There is a brand new minigame where you play as Arche in a Horizontal 2D shooter as you use both front and backward attacks to take down everything on the screen, there is also one sidequest following a young ninja girl named Suzu Fujibayashi where you need to help her find her parents and doing so will allow her to join you in battle. She uses her Ninjitsu to rapidly cut down enemies, throw fiery shurikens and summon a mighty giant frog that can breathe fire, yes it can breathe fire...just don't ask how.

If you're still into old school style RPG's then Tales of Phantasia for the PlayStation is one RPG that is both impressively remastered and still enjoyable after a long while. With improved mechanics, brand new extra content as well as great storyline and characters make it the best version of Tales Of Phantasia available to English speaking gamers. You will be held back by the Phantasian Productions patch's issues with the collector's book and looking at one location on the map, it also has a major issue if ran on the PS2 where you get up to the final boss and then crashes. It's more playable on PS1 Emulators and modded PS1 Consoles but at least you can use Absolute Zero's patch which at least has no issues. If you can ignore those issues and want the additional difficulties then go with Phantasian Productions but otherwise stick to the Absoulte Zero English Patch which came before it. Tales Of Phantasia is now 18 years old and thankfully for the title in the series, it's tale has aged wonderfully.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Good Points:
1. Improved Battle Mechanics and also has 4 Player support
2. Several new additions such as side quests, replacements and improvements in-which some of them where not seen in the later GBA version
3. Phantasian Productions Patch provides new difficulty settings (when unlocked) and also has the options to have Artes named differently
4. The best version of Fighting of the Spirit heard in any version, Ever
5. Characters still engaging and enjoyable and also the added cutscenes and some Animé sequences add more to the story

The Bad Points:
1. Awkward random encounter frequency
2. Phantasian Productions English Patch has a few minor bugs
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the full article at GameSpot

"AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Tales of Phantasia for the PlayStation..." was posted by AQWBlaZer91 on Tue, 14 May 2013 16:20:52 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tales-of-phantasia-1998/user-reviews/811304/platform/ps/ Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:21:57 -0700 jg4xchamp reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810834/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

The thing that stuck with me most about Bioshock Infinite was that I wanted to replay the game instantly after being finished with it. It's rare that a game causes this kind of reaction, and it's even rarer for that game to be a big triple-A blockbuster. Yet here I am, and I can't just go through it once. Even after trying to explore every little nook, alley, or trash can, I need to find the stuff I overlooked. After taking as much of the atmosphere and narrative in as I could, I still needed to go back to see what I missed. For the first time in a long time, a big triple-A game genuinely made me wonder what was coming up next.

Bioshock Infinite starts a lot like the original Bioshock did. A man named Booker Dewitt who travels to a lighthouse. This lighthouse contains some cryptic writing, and before long he's well on his way to a city unlike anything he could have imagined. Only this time you're ascending high into the sky and entering the world of Columbia, not sinking down into the depths to find Rapture. Whereas the original Bioshock was about discovering a city that was already in ruins, Infinite is about a city that is still going strong.

Columbia isn't a haunting city in ruins as much as it's something almost awe-inspiring. This sense of old American nationalist pride permeates the city as it is decked out in the colors of old glory. Where Rapture was built on science, Columbia is built on faith. It's fitting for a city high enough to be in the heavens, and for those opening moments you're just taking it all in: the raw vertigo that comes from being that high in the air, the incredibly well-done production values, the prayers of the priests in the opening church, the white supremacist nature of this society, and even aspects of the city that just feel wrong.

The game is set in 1912, but there is an uncanny anachronistic aspect to this opening, aside from the the fact that Columbia is a city in the sky. Early on, there is a quartet of singers sharing a piece of music that has no business being in 1912. You're playing a character who has no idea this city even existed, and yet the city already knows him as a anti-Christ known as the False Shepard because of the mark on his right hand. On top of that you're here to capture a girl (Elizabeth) who is so valuable she can wipe away Booker's debt from men who you don't want to owe money to. It's a city that can be as uncomfortable as it is inviting, and it's a feeling that stays strong through out the majority of the experience.

Before our two leads ever meet, we first get a glimpse of the game's main antagonist: Zachary Hale Comstock. He is to Columbia what Andrew Ryan was to Rapture, but he is more a man driven by faith, and presents himself as a prophet to a society that is blindly willing to follow him. He is a well-meaning man that can be downright frightening because what his ideologies drive him to do. He truly believes in what he is doing no matter how flawed his actions seem when compared to what he is preaching. Like Ryan was an example of the potential dangers of Objectivism, he is a take on the potential flaws of religion when taken to extremes.

Religion isn't the only theme at play in the early going. The game also wants to handle racism. It won't be long before you also start dealing with the Vox Populi, the rebel force that is trying to save the non-white members of this society, who are living life at the bottom of the barrel. It gives you the impression of a game (like the original Bioshock) willing to make a statement on these real-life themes by showing us extremist interpretations of them. Sadly, it never quite takes these themes as far as it could as the narrative is about the mystery behind the girl.

Who is she really? And why is she capable of doing the things she does? Elizabeth isn't a normal damsel in distress. She is capable of opening things called "tears" that are like windows to other worlds. But their exact nature is unclear, and the game will make you, and the characters, wonder what they are? The future? Another spin on that time-line, or something else entirely? In search of a way out of the city, Elizabeth and the player go on the run and start getting their answers along the way. And as they go further down the rabbit hole and begin to unravel Colmubia's mysteries, they also see the unraveling of Columbia, and the game world changes to reflect this. What was once a calming blue sky is now a thunderous group of storm clouds creating an ominous darkness over the city. A bustling street and fair now lay in ruins that evoke some of the more terrifying imagery found in the original Bioshock. All this deconstruction and destruction builds up to a fever pitch before you get to the game's conclusion, which is so compelling that it demands another run through, and you'll find yourself viewing what once seemed minor scenes with no real importance now feel like important tidbits that were foreshadowing the grand conclusion all along.

A lot of the story is also conveyed through environmental discoveries by the player. There are secret codes by the rebels that the player must solve to earn gameplay rewards. There are voxophones that give you further insight into the many characters and story beats at play the same way the audio logs did in the original Bioshock. In most cases, they can explain certain tidbits about the city or provide context for gameplay elements, but there is far more interesting stuff as well. For instance, the true story about what happened to Lady Comstock, and her actual feelings in the final few moments of her life may very well be one of the best aspects of the game, and are only available to the player through voxophones.

All of this makes Columbia a city worth exploring, even if you're going to feel that, at times, there just isn't enough of it to actually explore. A lot of the progression in the game is linear, and takes place in straightforward narrow paths. You get some boardwalks, beaches, and the like to explore, but more often than not you get funneled into combat zones.

Which means there also happens to be an action game tied to the story. Bioshock Infinite plays much like the previous Bioshock games. You have your basic weaponry which ranges from pistols, rifles, and shotguns, to heavy weapons, and then you have the Plasmid like powers of Columbia: Vigors. At the press of a button, you can unleash a bolt of lightning, release a flock of crows for crowd control, or deliver a furious bull rush, which provides a more visceral thrill compared to the other powers.

Charging these powers can create other abilities as well, which essentially allow you to set up traps. One such trap can detonate fire bombs, while another can provide an electric barrier if you need to protect something. There are also skylines, which happens to be a form of traversal in the city that also play a role in major set pieces. It provides a vertical dynamic to the combat that just wasn't there in the original Bioshock and makes it possible to escape combat zones more quickly, as well as bring death from higher vantage points.

It all comes together to create this powerful action game that feels far more fluid than the original Bioshock. Where the original felt clunky and almost lacked impact, Infinite genuinely wants you to feel strong. Even the more spongy enemies sell the notion that you can do serious damage, and the entire balance of the game is built with the idea that you play with some offensive latitude as opposed to a more laid-back, strategic approach.

The upgrading system is also a little familiar to Bioshock in that you do a lot of your upgrading at vending machines. With the right amount of money you can either upgrade your powers or your weaponry. These can range from damage boosts to quicker reload times for guns. For Vigors, the upgrades add bonuses effects, such as allowing your charge move to replenish your shield after every direct hit. There is a gear system that allows you to deck out Booker with other advantages as well. The player can wear up to four of these at a time, and they can do anything from increasing ammo capacity or adding effects to actions done while on a skyline.

All of this delivers a combat experience that is far more invigorating than the original Bioshock. Weapons feel stronger, set pieces feel larger, and environments are just big enough to allow proper experimentation with the multiple powers you have. All of this is welcome. The drawbacks come from some potential gameplay elements not found in the game.

If you're wondering if there are any scenarios where the player has the option to avoid combat, there really aren't, outside of one forced stealth scenario. While the original Bioshock allowed for a more "plan it out" approach, Infinite is about pure offense. The weapon wheel is gone and replaced with the often abused two-weapon system found in most FPS games. The addition of a shield also allows the player to play a bit more recklessly without any real drawbacks.

On top of that, you have the addition of Elizabeth who essentially cripples any real chance of a challenge in the game outside of 1999 mode, which gives you limited resources, removes quick revivals, and features more spongy enemies. She is constantly roaming the battlefield and is quickly there to resupply you, making sure the player is in no real threat of running out of ammo for their weapons or salts for using Vigors. Her tears provide some excellent combat options including added cover, automated allies, or even weapon dumps. However, they come with no real penalty. You can just spam them at will, and it creates a combat experience where, on top of all the power you have, you aren't ever really threatened by your enemies.

There is this familiarity to Bioshock Infinite that makes it feel like a game in which Irrational focused more on fixing the combat of the original Bioshock, and less on creating something that was new and belonged entirely to Infinite. On top of that, aspects of the game just feel stripped down or even further simplified. The hacking mini-game from the previous games is now replaced with a simple lock picking mechanic that just requires you to scavenge a certain amount of lock picks. Upgrade paths are more straightforward and limited, and the Vigors can be borderline game-breaking with the right upgrades. It's not anywhere near the thinking man's shooter Irrational hinted at as much as it's right in line with the many adrenaline fused action games on the market.

So, of course, there are some drawbacks along the way. The final combat sections aren't nearly as strong as some of the more intense shoot-outs in the middle of the game. The final stretch of gameplay is a tedious endeavor that is drawn out far longer than it should have been. You have to deal with the disappointment that the Songbird is a potential gameplay obstacle the player never has to deal with. There are story elements that just don't gel with the rest of the game or feel like outright filler. Plot swings sometimes make very little sense, and other major characters come off a little underdeveloped given their importance. Columbia never lives up to Rapture in terms of exploration, and Comstock never quite delivers monologues on the same level as Andrew Ryan.

The game misfires more than a truly great game should. Instead of being graceful all the way to its conclusion, it gets there stumbling, tripping over itself, and at times falling flat on its face. Yet, it won't be those moments that stick with you as much as the moments where the game completely knocks it out of the park. It's going to be the part where the city drew you in immediately with it's absurd and almost majestic nature. It's going to be the combat that, while never challenging, makes you feel powerful in ways most standard triple-A action games rarely ever do. It's going to be an ending that changes the way you look at entire scenes throughout the game. It's a conclusion worth thinking about, and one that is effective enough to make you want to go just one more round to see what you missed.

Bioshock Infinite isn't as deep as it could be, or as concise as it needs to be to be truly effective. It doesn't live up to all the ambition that was shown in its many previews before it released, and it doesn't provide anywhere near the same commentary the original Bioshock did. What it does succeed at is showing you that there is still some wonder and excitement to be found in the triple-A action game. And that makes it an experience worth playing, warts and all.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"jg4xchamp reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PC..." was posted by jg4xchamp on Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:21:57 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810834/platform/pc/ Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:39:48 -0700 DarkLink77 reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810680/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

"Bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt. That was the deal. I gambled, and now I owe money to men you don't want to be in debt to. I come here to pay it back."

That's the premise of Bioshock Infinite, summed up by protagonist Booker Dewitt. The deal he refers to is what sets the events of Bioshock Infinite in motion. The details, are by now, well known to you if you've spent any stretch of time following Infinite's protracted development. "The girl" is, of course, Elizabeth and the "here" is Columbia, a floating city founded upon religious principles, white supremacy, and the inherent greatness of America by a man named Zachary Hale Comstock, whom the people of Columbia hail as The Prophet.

It sounds like a deceptively simple request. Unfortunately for Booker, the people of Columbia believe that Elizabeth is the Lamb, Comstock's successor, who will cleanse the Sodom Below (a universal term applied by the people of Columbia to everywhere that is not Columbia, but mostly America itself) of evil. Further complicating matters, Comstock has forseen that a man from the Sodom Below, whom he calls the False Shepherd, will come to take Elizabeth away, and corrupt her in the process. To prevent this from happening, Elizabeth is locked in an ivory tower, and guarded by a mechanical monstrosity called the Songbird, until the time comes for her to fulfill her destiny.

It's a familiar set-up, isn't it? A hero, a girl, a protector, a man, and a city. There's always a man and a city. These are the constants of the Bioshock universe. Throw in some social commentary, and you have the formula for a Bioshock title. It's a formula Infinite revels in, and one the game's opening pays homage to, as Booker is rowed out to a lighthouse by a man and a woman the game does not initially deign to name. But there is one key difference between the two games, and one Infinite reveals to the player as soon as the game begins: something about all of this isn't right.

It's not a particularly subtle suggestion, the way Bioshock's opening moments cleverly hinted at the significance of "Would you kindly?" No, Infinite's is almost impossible to miss, and in hindsight, it's easy to see that the game's opening isn't designed for first-time players. It's designed for the player who is on his second, or third, or fourth play-through. If the kind of opening that tells you that there's something more behind the curtain, but gives you little context as to what that might mean.

And so, you forget about it. Your mind files it away as Booker ascends the lighthouse, and you see warnings plastered on the walls. "This is your last chance, DeWitt," they say. You forget as Booker rings the bells, and sits in a pod that rockets into the clouds, a scene that parallels the original game's reveal of Rapture.

"Hallelujah," a voice cries as Columbia comes into view for the first time, and you get that first, magnificent view of the city above the clouds. "Hallelujah."

The game continues at this pace for a while, allowing you to become acclimatized to the way things work in Columbia. It's a nice start, if a linear one, and it allows you to get used to the sights and sounds of the city before everything begins to spin out of control and the search for Elizabeth takes center stage.

And once things start spinning, they don't stop. Luckily, Booker is up to the challenge, and Infinite provides you with the standard Bioshock staples to combat any problems that might arise. Plasmids return as Vigors, and guns are plentiful and varied, though the game does limit you to two weapons at a time and a small amount of reserve ammo per weapon. These restrictions feel arbitrary, especially later in the game when enemies are both powerful and plentiful, and many combat arenas present situations when more options would have greatly benefited the game.

Infinite's combat is, however, superb. Guns feel powerful, shots have impact, and enemies react realistically to damage. And guns aren't the only solution to your problems. Ironically, outside of the two weapon limit, Infinite isn't afraid to give you options. The game supplies you with plenty of different Vigors of varying types, each with multiple effects. One allows you to possess machines, while another allows you to summon a murder of crows to distract enemies, and both Vigors and guns are upgradeable at the various Rapture-esque vending machines that are scattered around Columbia, provided you have the cash. Booker can also make use of the Sky-Hook, a rotating object worn over the hand which functions both as a melee weapon and allows access to Columbia's Sky-Lines, a rail system high in the sky that transports cargo and personnel around Columbia. Sky-Lines add an unprecedented amount of verticality, speed, and mobility to Infinite's combat, allowing you to rain death while zooming around at high (or low) speeds and to move seamlessly in across the battlefield at the press of a button. The Sky-Hook also opens any additional way to explore Columbia, and you'll have to keep that in mind if you want to acquire all of the game's many collectibles.

Like the original game, Bioshock Infinite features audio diaries recorded called voxophones that significantly expand on the game's plot, and essentially offer a finer understanding of both the story and the characters themselves. New to Infinite however, are infusions, which will allow you to upgrade your health, shield, or salts bar, as well as gear, which can be equipped in up to four slots and allows you to modify everything from weapon properties to the way your abilities function on Sky-Lines.

If all of this sounds like it's a lot to take, that's because it is. Infinite knows this, and the game continues the introduction's slow burn for some time, slowly introducing mechanic after mechanic and building Columbia as a world, until you finally meet the girl. Much has been said about the AI behind Elizabeth, but all the talk of Irrational's programming prowess can't do the character justice. Elizabeth is expertly written and phenomenally acted by Courtney Draper, and she will earn a place in your heart very quickly. Once you meet her, the thought of being parted from her company becomes painful. Elizabeth reacts realistically to events around her. If you're wandering around a crowded area, she might sit on a chair or talk to a nearby vendor. Other times, she'll examine pieces if the environment, pointing out interesting objects as she goes, and in some instances, she'll just lean against a safety railing, and take in the beauty of the city. Elizabeth the heart and soul of Bioshock Infinite, and you'll wonder how the game's admittedly masterful opening sequence ever managed without her.

However, Elizabeth isn't just a wonderful companion to explore Columbia with, and there is a lot to explore, despite the relative linearity of the game. She also provides new gameplay mechanics. Out of combat, she'll help you find money and items such as lock picks, which you can use to have her open doors and safes, should you have the required amount. But it's in combat that she really shines. Elizabeth has the ability to open "tears," which are essentially windows into other worlds. This ability allows Elizabeth to pull guns, health, mechanical companions, freight hooks for you to hang from with your Sky-Hook, and even cover into the world for you to use. In addition, she'll also supply Booker with salts, which are consumed when you use Vigors, as well as health and ammunition.

It would be easy for Elizabeth to completely steal the show in Infinite, given your reliance on her abilities as a player and how well the team at Irrational constructed the character. Fortunately, they've constructed another who is equally compelling in protagonist Booker DeWitt, voiced by the incredibly talented and increasingly prolific Troy Baker. The former-Pinkerton-turned-Private-Detective-trying-to-escape-his-past is an absolutely fascinating character, and easily one of the best protagonists to ever grace the medium. However, it's the way these characters play off of one another and the world and characters they encounter that elevates them to a whole other level, and watching their relationship evolve over the course of the game is one of Infinite's true joys.

Over the course of their journey together, Booker and Elizabeth begin to unravel the mysteries of Columbia and Elizabeth herself. Who is she, really? Why can she do the things she does? What exactly is she doing? What are the consequences? Bioshock Infinite asks these questions and more as it masterfully spins its yarn, all the while dealing with very real social issues such as racism, class divisions, the extent to which religion should be allowed to influence a government, and the idea of American exceptionalism itself. As the narrative unfolds, Booker and Elizabeth are drawn deeper and deeper into the conflict between Comstock and the Vox Populi, and soon, it becomes clear that events are far more complex than they appear. The amount of environmental storytelling present in Bioshock Infinite means that Columbia is just as much of a character as Booker, Elizabeth, or Comstock, and as the foundations of Columbia unravel around you, the world changes to reflect the growing intensity of the city's ongoing civil war. In the end, events build to an unpredictable and magnificent climax that will haunt your thoughts long after the credits finish rolling, and make you want to revisit the game again just to appreciate how well the game foreshadows and builds to its inevitable conclusion.

For all of these successes, however, Bioshock Infinite is not without its failures. Like the two weapon limit, the inclusion of gear feels arbitrary, and the system restricts you more than it should. Certain sections of the game feel drawn out to maximize gameplay, and a few plot points just feel out of place in the world Infinite creates, while others are only explained sufficiently through voxophones the player may not find. The much promoted Songbird is almost painfully underused, and a noticeable number of the game's major characters feel underdeveloped. For all of Irrational's efforts, and they are considerable, Comstock never escapes from the shadow of Andrew Ryan, and Columbia never comes together as a world the way that Rapture did so many years ago.

In the end, though, Infinite's successes are so great that its failures feel minute in comparison. In many ways, the game is a victim of Irrational's previous successes. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but something this ambitious rarely is. Infinite is, like its predecessor, a game that matters. It's a game that has something to say, about the medium, and about us. It's a game that will be remembered years from now, in the rare way that few games are. It's a game that you'll remember long after you play it, one that sinks its hooks in and never lets go. In many ways, Bioshock Infinite is a lot like Columbia, viewed for the first time in that pod, its magnificent shining towers coming over the horizon, a city we have never been to, yet know intimately. Brilliant, but flawed. Imperfect, but unforgettable.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"DarkLink77 reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PC..." was posted by DarkLink77 on Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:39:48 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810680/platform/pc/ Thu, 25 Apr 2013 04:13:01 -0700 web966 reviewed BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810650/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 10.0!!!

Bioshock Infinite is one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had with a video game. Every aspect of this game is of such a high quality that it was all that I was able to do and think about since it was released. Video games this good do not come along often, it is a game that will talked and argued about for years. It is incredibly ambitious and while it does falter every once in a while the overall experience is mesmerizing.

The city of Cloumbia is the single most alive and well realized video game location ever created. From the second you enter the city you will be completely overwhelmed by all of the amazing attention to detail and fantastic art direction. This is one of the most awe inspiring games I have ever seen. My jaw was open in wide eyed wonder throughout the entire game. Every new area was just as stunning as the last and the environment is littered with audio diaries and other clues as the what is going on in this city. The fiction and mystery behind the city is fascinating and was the main driving force for me to having to play the game as much as I possibly could. The music and sound design is also stellar and really helps in creating the games atmosphere.

The story of Infinite is impressive for a multitude of reasons. It features some amazing voice acting and writing that really bring Booker and Elizabeth to life. The facial animations of Elizabeth really are amazing and help make her one of the most unforgettable characters in any game I have ever played. Booker and Elizabeth's relationship grows over the course of the game and by the end of it Ineeded to protect Elizabeth, not because the game was telling me I had to but because I honestly cared about her. Among all of the other amazing accomplishments of this game, Elizabeth is perhaps the most impressive. The relationship that grow between her and the player makes everything that happens in the game seem vital.

The plot of the game is not at all predictable and always surprising. The game is constantly giving you little hints and clues as to what is really going on but they never give it away. The ending took me completely by surprise. I had no idea what was coming, but now that I have seen it the rest of the game perfectly builds up to it. After finishing the game I thought about everything I saw that I didn't understand and it all makes sense. It makes me want to go back and play the whole thing again immediately so I can see all the subtle clues and make sense of them. It is a perfect ending that even makes the title of the game make sense. I wont say anything else about the story so I don't spoil it, but know that is probably the best story ever in a video game that touches on a bunch of interesting themes like racism, nationalism, religion and even video games themselves.

Bioshock Infinite is also just a really fun playing video game. The combat still feels very much like Bioshock but with some really great improvements. You still have plasmids, or vigors as they are called in this game, and you upgrade them throughout the game. There are eight Vigors in the game and they are all fun to use and offer different ways to play the game. There is also the skyline system which creates some of the most exciting fire fights I have ever had. Attacking enemies from the skyline is exhilarating and just looks cool as hell. There are a bunch of different types of enemies as well and they are all interesting in their own way even if none of them are as iconic as the big daddy.

Bioshock Infinite is a tremendous achievement. It feels like I have been waiting for a video game to reach these heights my whole life. Infinite perfectly combines an amazingly well playing traditional game experience that we all love with an incredible plot and characters with adult themes that really makes you think. Most games are either a really fun well playing adventure with an average story or they have an amazing story but have to sacrifice some of the gameplay to make it work. Infinite has it all. One of the greatest games of all time that every gamer needs to experience.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"web966 reviewed BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360..." was posted by web966 on Thu, 25 Apr 2013 04:13:01 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810650/platform/xbox360/ Sun, 21 Apr 2013 02:32:17 -0700 JustPlainLucas reviewed Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/mario-vs-donkey-kong-mini-land-mayhem/user-reviews/810487/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

Mario's been battling Donkey Kong far longer than he's been battling his other nemesis Bowser. At first, it was just a bunch of ladders and barrels between him and Donkey Kong but over the recent years, he's been taking the fight to Bowser using clockwork Mini Marios. As the player, you needed to guide them to the goals of each level. In Min-Land Mayhem, the Mini Marios return, and this time you have a construction-based mechanic to help you accomplish your tasks.

There's not much in the way of a story here, as Donkey Kong kidnaps Mario's former squeeze Pauline and runs off with her. You'll be puzzling solving over a course of eight different amusement park themed worlds, each containing eight levels, a boss battle and a bonus game. You only get access to the bonus game, however, by collecting letters in every stage that spell out MINIMARIO.

The basics of the gameplay involve removing and placing girders, ladders, springboards, walls and conveyor belts all around the levels to create paths for the Mini Marios to reach the door. You can only place them in certain spots, and you have a finite amount of materials to work with. You can reuse whatever you need, and some of the more complex stages will require a good deal of multitasking to solve. The timer doesn't actually begin counting down until you touch one of your Marios, so you can actually study the level and begin placing girders and other parts before the stage even starts.

Mini-Land Mayhem starts off extremely easy. The level design is solid and varied, but many of the levels simply aren't complex or very large. Most of the game involves simple stages that can be completed in a about a minute and usually on the first try. Only when you get near the end of the game are you met with some real challenges. Once you finish the game, Plus Mode unlocks, so you can play the game again, this time with harder conditions. You also have a ninth special world consisting of 20 stages, and an expert world that requires a certain number of trophies to unlock each level.

When you finish a stage, you earn points in three different categories. You have your general Game Score, Time Bonus and Collection Bonus. The Game Score is for finishing the stage itself while collecting tokens for more points, whereas the quicker you finish, the more points are attributed to the Time Bonus. The Collection Bonus is given when you grab every coin, M token and letter. If you grab every letter in each stage of a world, a bonus game unlocks, where you need to guide clockwork Mario characters into boxes safely before time runs out. Each stage also has a high score goal and if you surpass it, you're granted a trophy. It provides some incentive for perfectionists to keep trying.

Boss levels are scored as well, and you might need to do these over several times to get the trophy, as they can be quite chaotic. Your Mini-Marios will need to get up to where Donkey Kong is to either hit switches or kick objects at him, three different times. Not only do you have to build paths up to him, but he'll also disable certain girder points, causing whatever floor was there to disappear. Lastly, he'll start throwing things as your Mini-Marios, but if you have enough girders, you can simply block them by building a ceiling over their heads.

There's also a level creation mode called Construction Zone. In this mode, you can create levels with unlockable parts that you earn by clearing their respective worlds. You can also share these levels via Nintendo WiFi, and you can download other people's levels as well. It's a great way to expand the life of the game when you've finished all that is has to offer, and it's also a good training exercise as well.

The graphics of the game are very simple. Since it's a DS game, playing on a machine such as the 3DS XL might make the graphics look lower quality. Even though it's not impressive on a technical level, the art design is pleasant. Every level is colorful, and the animations of the Mini-Marios are cute and charming. You'll also come across some levels where you'll be guiding Mini-Donkey Kongs, Mini-Toads and Mini-Princesses to their respective doors and seeing these characters in mini form makes the game even more adorable.

Nintendo loves to dote their games with nostalgia, and it shows in Mini-Land Mayhem's audio. The soundtrack is loaded with recognizable music from other Mario games. You'll hear everything from Super Mario Bros. 2 to the castle theme from Mario 64. You'll even hear the underground theme that got its infamous start in the first Super Mario Bros. Sound effects are simple, but you always feel bad when you hear your Mini-Mario break. Also, every time you close your DS or 3DS, Mario says something along the lines of, "Ouch, my head!" or "Hey, get back here!" It's guaranteed to make you smile.

If you enjoy the Mario Vs Donkey Kong games, you'll find some enjoyment out of this one. It does take quite a while before its puzzles begin to challenge you, but the gameplay is solid fun. With the addition of Plus Mode after you beat the game, and the Construction Zone to build and share your own levels, you could very well keep playing the game long after you've finished it. Give Mini-Land Mayhem a look if you're after a decent puzzler.

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/mario-vs-donkey-kong-mini-land-mayhem/user-reviews/810487/platform/ds/ Sun, 14 Apr 2013 22:55:15 -0700 JustPlainLucas reviewed BioShock 2 for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-2/user-reviews/810257/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

DISCLAIMER: No amount of time was spend on the game's multiplayer, so this review is focused solely on the single-player aspect.

In 2007, 2K Games introduced the gaming world to a whole new world underwater. It was a submerged metropolis known as Rapture, promised to bring its citizens a life of utopia but it ended up being a disastrous dystopia instead. It had the player using weapons and special powers brought on by plasmids and an upgrading system which let you customize exactly how you wanted to play the game. Three years later, 2K brought it all back with Bioshock 2, but this time playing as one of the first game's most feared enemies: the Big Daddy.

Big Daddies have one purpose, and that is to protect the Little Sisters, genetically engineered girls who siphon off precious genetic material known as ADAM. Bonded by a symbiotic telepathic link, the Big Daddies will guard the Little Sisters with their lives. You begin the game as a Big Daddy, and your Little Sister is claimed by Sophia Lamb, who immediately hypnotizes you and forces you to put a gun to your head in front of your Little Sister Elanor. Years pass, and you hear the voice of Elanor awakening. She's alive, but most peculiarly, you're alive. She needs your help desperately, so now it's time to fulfill your role as a Big Daddy.

The majority of the gameplay of Bioshock 2 remains pretty similar to its predecessor. It's a first-person shooter that has you wielding weapons and plasmids, but this time your weapons are suited to your Big Daddy persona. They're the giant weapons you may remember going up against in the first game, from the machine gun to the spear gun, the rocket launcher and of course the giant drill. There's a visceral sense of satisfaction as you run up on a Splicer and press your spinning drill into its abdomen.

Although weapons still have alternate firing options, there's more of an emphasis on trap ammunition. One of your main duties as a Big Daddy is to liberate the Little Sisters from their respective Daddies and protect them as you have them harvest ADAM from corpses. When you set a Sister down to begin harvesting, Splicers will come out of the woodworks and try to kill her. You have trap rivets, trap spears, proximity mines and mini-turrets to help with your defense, and you'll be needing them, too. Fail to protect her or die in the process and you'll need to start over again from the very beginning.

It may seem like a lot of work, but using Sisters to harvest ADAM is imperative to the game's progress. As with the first game, ADAM is spent at Gatherer's Garden vending machines where you can buy new plasmid powers, gene tonic upgrades, new slots and increase your health and EVE (plasmid energy) bars. Again, you can choose to rescue a Sister from her brainwashing, or you can harvest her and collect extra ADAM. If you rescue them, you might not get as much ADAM, but there will be payoff bonuses in the end. Lastly, there's a new twist in the game called Big Sisters, and these female Daddies are faster and scarier and will come for you whenever you rescue or harvest all the Little Sisters in a given level.

There isn't much in the way of new plasmids, but old favorites have returned. Electrobolt, which paralyzes enemies and machinery; Incinerate, which immolates foes while you pump them full of lead; Winter Blast, which encases them in ice where you can shatter them to pieces; and of course there's Telekinesis which has you picking up enemies and bodies and flinging them around, or even plucking grenades out of the air and pitching them right back.

Hacking has returned as well, but the puzzle-based pipe minigame has been replaced with a simpler system of stopping the needle on bands of color. It streamlines the hacking mechanic, but it also dumbs it down and makes it a frustrating system to use for people who aren't good at timing. You can hack everything from security bots to turrets to health stations and even vending machines. New in Bioshock 2 is a hack gun that lets you hack machines from a safe distance, and there's even an auto-hack ammo type that lets you instantly hack whatever you shoot at.

The world of Rapture feels a little familiar, as many areas of the levels feel like retreads. You could have sworn you've been there before in the first game, and there isn't as much variation either. What is new, though, is being able to walk on the ocean floor in the open water, but these moments are so far in between and so short that they simply aren't exciting. Plus, there's no combat when underwater, and that just seems like a missed opportunity.

Bioshock 2 looks practically identical to its predecessor. The corridors are designed in the same fashion, and the colors and shading are used to the same effect. It's still an impressive looking game from a technical standpoint, but given the fact that it uses the same HUD as the first game, you'll have a difficult time telling the two apart. The water effects also don't seem to be as impressive, which is a shame considering that's one of the features that left such an impression on gamers when they first stepped foot in Rapture.

If the game looks the same and plays the same, there's a high chance that it will sound the same as well, which it indeed does. That isn't to say that's a bad thing, as the game sounds just as fantastic. You'll hear your giant footsteps as you walk around in your diving suit, and you'll make a grunt every time you're hurt. Your weapons make terrific sounds as they fire off, and explosions will rattle inside your helmet. The one sound effect that will terrify you is when the Big Sister starts screeching and howling, announcing her approach. The music is great with original orchestration and licensed music from the 40s era helps establish authenticity. Voice acting is as superb as ever and like the first game, voice recordings that you pick up along the way are delightful to listen to as they give you more insight into Rapture's world.

The prospect of playing as a Big Daddy is honestly the only new feature of Bioshock 2, outside of a few tougher mob types. Everything else seems practically lifted straight from the first. That isn't exactly a bad thing, but the game ultimately feels like an elongated expansion pack. It also doesn't carry with it a story as strong as the first and its ending is very anti-climatic as there's no final boss battle to be had. Still, it's a very fun game and if you enjoyed the first, you'll like the second. You can buy it dirt cheap now that it's been out for a few years but if you paid full price for it, you'd most likely end up somewhat disappointed.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"JustPlainLucas reviewed BioShock 2 for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by JustPlainLucas on Sun, 14 Apr 2013 22:55:15 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-2/user-reviews/810257/platform/ps3/ Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:11:23 -0700 DarkLink77 reviewed Journey for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/journey/user-reviews/810090/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

I remember the first time I saw my co-op partner. I was in a large, circular ravine, trying to rebuild a shattered bridge by collecting pieces of cloth that would span the gaps.

I had just collected one of the pieces of cloth, and turned to see what affect that would have on the status of my bridge. It was coming along nicely; the cloth I'd collected had just repaired the second piece of the bridge, creating a flowing red path to the next section. Then, something caught my eye: another adventurer, clad in a red shawl like mine, flying high on his scarf. Until that point I'd been alone, guiding my red-robed wanderer through the sands, exploring the remnants of a civilization forgotten long before my character shook the dust of his (or her, it's impossible to tell) robe, and began hiking towards the mountain in the distance. But here was another person, who was drawn to the strange mountain in the distance the same way I was. He must have seen me at relatively the same time, because I saw him alter his trajectory in mid-air, and angle himself towards me. We met somewhere in the middle of the sands.


There was so much I wanted to ask my newfound friend. Had he played Journey before, or was it his first time? What did he think of the game? What was his name? But I couldn't ask him any of those questions, because the co-op and communication in Journey is restricted. I didn't ask him to join my game, and he certainly didn't ask to join mine. There's no way to invite your friends, and neither he nor I could see one another's PSN IDs. In the same way, there's no way to talk to your partner, at least in the traditional sense. The only means of communication the game offers you is a small chirp, activated by pressing the circle button. Holding the button down "charges" the chirp, until your character practically jumps for joy, shouting at the top of their lungs, and the sand around you ripples in response. In addition, the chirp also serves to power up your partner's jump, which is the only other mechanic in the game besides your character's ability to walk.

At first, this may seem like an arbitrary restriction on the part of thatgamecompany, but it fits with the rest of rest of Journey's design. It's a simple and elegant game that polishes the few mechanics it has to perfection, and then invites you to use the mechanics it does have to explore the world it lays before you. Despite the limitations in communication forced upon us, my partner and I got along swimmingly as we stuck our noses into every corner of the game that we could, finding bits of cloth to jump from, little murals revealing bits of the game's backstory, and most importantly, the collectible glyphs that extend your character's scarf, and give you more air time whenever you jump. We even figured out how to communicate on a basic level.

If it seems like I'm spending a lot of time on Journey's co-operative mode, it's because of how essential it is to the game. Journey did something I never thought a video game could do: it made me care about my co-op partner, and not because my success was linked to his. There is no failure state in Journey. You can't die. The game will never get too hard, and it will never stop you from progressing. The only way to "lose" is to stop playing. Instead, the biggest tragedy is losing part of your scarf, and in turn, part of your ability to jump. Losing a piece your scarf is emotionally crushing. After all, it's a visual representation of how far you've come over the course of the game. However, it's far worse to watch it happen to your co-op partner and realize how powerless you are to help them. You can't defend yourself in Journey. You simply try to get through the things the game throws at you while maintaining as much of what you've gained as possible.

As disheartening as losing your scarf is, however, losing contact with your co-op partner is worse. It might mean losing them forever, or having them replaced with another player. In the latter case, you'd never even know it happened. Yet, the idea of losing my co-op partner was incredibly stressful. Every time he disappeared from my view, I would stop what I was doing and try to find him. Strangely enough, he did the same thing. There was no gameplay incentive for us to do this. I could have finished the game by myself. He could have, too. But that wasn't enough for either of us. I wanted to finish the game with the same partner I'd had since the beginning. We'd taken this trip together. We'd watched each other succeed and fail. We'd shared triumphs and defeats. We'd each led the other to hidden secrets within the game. This story belonged to both of us, and seeing it through alone would have defeated the purpose.

Yes, Journey does have a story, and make no mistake, it goes far beyond the game's initial suggestion that you climb that mountain in the distance. It's played out through mostly silent, beautifully directed cutscenes at the end of certain gameplay segments. It's hard to describe what it's about without spoiling anything, so I'll simply say that the beginning is the end is the beginning, and leave it at that. And, of course, every story beat, and every part of the game, for that matter, are supplemented by Austin Wintory's masterful score.

It might be easy to say that Journey succeeds because it is more than the sum of its parts, but it wouldn't be accurate. Journey is the sum of its parts. It can be nothing else. It's a rare kind of game: the kind where every element is crafted to further one singular purpose. It's the kind of game that wants to offer you an experience, one best enjoyed with a stranger. And you will remember those experiences.

One particular moment stands out for me. My partner and I were moving through some ruins. It looked to be a structure of some sort that had fallen over onto its side. The sun was low in the sky, casting a bright orange glow over the world. We came to the end of the structure, and gazed out the opening on the right side. The world sloped down gracefully below us, into a ravine, the sand a sparkling orange under the light of the sun. We'd surfed the sands briefly before, but nothing like this. I gave a quick chirp, which had become code for "Ready?" In response, my partner leaped off. I followed after him, my character moving effortlessly down the shinning mountain of sand, my eyes searching for my companion. I looked and looked, but I couldn't find him. Just as I was about to give up hope, something caught my eye. A robed figure, like mine, further down the mountain. I sped up. He must have been looking for me as well, because he slowed down. We caught up with one another on the edge of the next platform, another twisting river of sand spread out below us. This time, he gave the first chirp, an apology and a question all in one. I gave a quick chirp, then leapt and sped off into the sands, wondering if he'd be able to catch up. Then suddenly, he was past me, and slowed himself. I caught up, and we raced down the sands, through the arches and the ruins, over the remains of a city the world had forgotten. Together.

Journey is adept at creating moments like that. It's a game that provides equal parts tragedy and victory, joy and sorrow. For all its mastery, however, the genius of Journey is that you will not remember it for the moments it builds for you. You will remember it for the moments you and your co-op partner build for yourselves. You will remember how those moments made you feel long after the credits roll, and that is Journey's triumph.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"DarkLink77 reviewed Journey for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by DarkLink77 on Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:11:23 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/journey/user-reviews/810090/platform/ps3/ Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:54:47 -0700 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Final Fantasy: All The Bravest for the iPhone/iPod... http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-all-the-bravest/user-reviews/810055/platform/iphone/ ...and gave it a 1.0.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Final Fantasy: All the Bravest
Platform: iOS
Developer: Bitgrove
Publisher: Square Enix
Genre: Action RPG
Age Rating: N/A
Release Date: 17th January 2013
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 1.1/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
All the Bravest's mindless gameplay, stupid micro-transaction problems make this application a total insult to both fans of the series and to video games in general.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Throughout the years Final Fantasy has had of case between great games during the 8 bit, 16 bit and the PlayStation eras. However since Final Fantasy XI, the series has gone a different direction and it's gone between both good remakes of the old games and Tactics while releasing a series of completely terrible games. We were hoping for Square Enix get on with Versus XIII but instead we get this time around is a god awfully abysmal game for the Ipad that comprises on micro-transaction deals. It's result is Final Fantasy: All the Bravest for the iOS which no hardcore or causal gamer should ever, ever play.

There is only one factor about this game that I like and that it does feature classic tunes from each of the represented titles like the battle music and the overworld maps from each of the games, the rest of the games features carry nothing but serious issues. Technically speaking, the game's graphics are nice and it does feature some nice character and monster sprites even if there animations are laughable. Spell effects and summons do fair much better though.

First up this game is supposed to be an RPG with a storyline right, well guess what? There isn't to this game. Basically all your favourite sprite based heroes from the originals all the way up to XIII join forces together for whatever reason to take down all the monsters and bosses without any dialogue what-so-ever. Instead characters go from one spot to the next to fight a series of monsters and eventually fighting a boss. You'll gain EXP and level ups as well as Gil but however there isn't any in the game what-so-ever, eventually you'll gain additional weapons which can allow characters to deal greater damage and it's automatically equipped to your party members.

The game's giant and fatal flaw with All the Bravest is the gameplay. One of it's main features is that the game has a micro-transaction deal where you need to pay real money for adding characters to your party. Instead of having 4 members you get to control up to 30 characters at Max together and it costs 0.99 to get a random character from the series into your party. This costs over 27.72 for the full party in total and worst off it's randomized so you can't pick who you'd want in your party and also it will always be different so if you were hoping to get Cloud Strife in your party only for you to get someone else that you don't want. You do have 25 job characters that you can unlock as you go and enlist them to your party. On top of Square Enix's scam list, you want to know how to get to the other locations in the game? Pay 3.99 to in which you have dozens of Gil in the game at your disposal that you could have used instead. It's just totally stupid for the company to take your hard earned money since an average playthrough will probably cost you over 40.00 top of the game's cheap download price.

The worst thing about the game is it's battle system. Sure it uses the Active Time Battle system where characters have to wait for their bar to be full before they can attack but however all you do in the battles is mindlessly tap or swipe your finger across your party and they will automatically attack the enemy on screen. You simply cannot simply command them to attack whatever enemy on the screen. All characters including the white mage characters jut simply attack but they have their own attacks to deal damage to the enemies. What's bad about this system is that all battles relay why to much on mindlessly swiping the screen and on top of that it really tires your hand out after only the first few battles you have in the game but that ain't the worst of the battle systems problems.

The characters can die in one hit when attacked and when your party is wiped out you have 2 very stupid options instead of just selecting the retry battle option or using a Phoenix Down when one member dies. Your First option is wait for 3 minutes for one member to be brought back to life only to get his backside handed to him again, this would however take about 90 minutes for your entire party to be revived. Your second is to use an Hourglass which instantly revives your allies and resume the fight. OKAY HANG ON! How do Hourglasses revive party members? That doesn't even make any sense at all. On top of that you need buy them as well as if you've already spent your entire allowance on the maps and characters in which again why can't you just pay for them with your Gil instead.

After only nearly an hour with the game. Your hand would be tired out when playing and you would simply figure that you regretted ever buying this game. Overall Final Fantasy: All the Bravest's mindless gameplay, stupid micro-transaction problems make this application a total insult to both fans of the series and to video games in general. If you see this game in the app store, don't even think about downloading it let alone look at it. With the original Final Fantasy games already available on the app store, your better with those games instead.

Seriously avoid this game at all costs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Good Points:
1. Features classic tunes

The Bad Points:
1. Terrible and mindless gameplay that relies nothing more then screen swiping
2. Costs money to unlock all the content
3. Micro-transaction deal of picking out random characters as well as additional for reviving which is annoying
4. Features little to no story, and gameplay is completely boring and devoured of any substance
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-all-the-bravest/user-reviews/810055/platform/iphone/ Tue, 09 Apr 2013 06:02:56 -0700 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Orcs & Elves for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/orcs-and-elves/user-reviews/810036/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Orcs & Elves
Platform: Nintendo DS
Developer: id Software, Fountainhead Entertainment
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: Fantasy Role Playing Game
Age Rating: PEGI: 12+, ESRB: T for Teen
Release Date: March 13th 2007 (US), March 16th 2007 (UK)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 7.5/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
It's a short-lived experience but however Orcs & Elves has a well balanced and fast paced RPG game design that's both accessible and fun.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's incredible to see that the mobile phones are capable of gaming as they do exist some games that are actually impressive. Id software did an RPG version of it's popular Doom games as well as it's lesser known but well received mobile title that is Orcs & Elves, which is ported to the Nintendo DS a year later. For it's translation from mobile phone to the DS it's impressive in spite of it's overall length.

You play as an Elven warrior named Elli who is accompanied by a magical talking wand named Ellon. He is tasked with the goal of travelling towards the mountain of Zharrkarag where a tribe of dwarves have been overrun by a massive load of evil Orcs and all that remain of them are their spirits. You dive into Dwarfen territory to find out the source of the problem, but eventually you learn about the true evil behind the assault and also the death of the dwarves king named Brahm. It's a simple plot but however the characters are interesting by the Dwarfen spirit's dialogue being spoken in ghostly text and also sticking to the old English language which is refreshing for them and each spirit you meet later on in the game has some personality to them. As for your talking wand Ellon, he has a cheeky but proud personality as he served Elli's father and also tends to insult the bad guys pretty much which is amusing.

Orcs & Elves takes place in First Person where the game plays like a classic dungeon crawler much like the Eye of the Beholder series. In the dungeons you'll spend the entire game looking for gold and treasure, enemies to kill, secrets areas to discover and of course earning EXP and Gold from monsters which can level up your character. One of the key features of the game is that it focuses on turn based combat even though the game is in First person. Everything you do such as moving, using potions, attacking enemies and so on all use up one turn and each enemy you face in the game will use it's turn as well.

You control your Character using the control interface on the Touch Screen or by using the DS face controls. The D-pad moves your character and using the L or R strafes and since it is turn based your movement is grid based. You use the A button to use your current weapon and also you can use the X Button to cycle between your available weapons. You can use the Y button to skip your turn which actually helps to let the enemies get close to you and finally the Select button brings up the Map for the bottom screen. You can also use the icons on the touch screen to touch the equipment you want to use, activate the map or repair your armour. In my opinion the DS face controls work better but using the Touch screen controls is a nice mechanic.

What's impressive about Orcs & Elves is how well each dungeon is designed. You wonder around each of the games varied dungeons where you'll have enemies to fight against and also you'll need to find some treasure and items lying around that will be a variety of different potions and ales as well as ammo for other weapons that you can use when you're in danger. If you explore hard enough through the levels and have the map activated on the bottom screen, you'll find secrets with hidden and rare items inside. Should you eliminate all enemies and find all the hidden secrets of each level, you'll get a bonus amount of EXP for 100% completion which is helpful for easier level ups.

You'll have a few puzzles to solve such as talking to the spirits which can give you the code to open locked doors, getting through walls that can crush you before you can deactivate them and moving boulders out of your path. Each of these environments are well paced and they are well designed for the main purpose of the game.

Once you go through the dungeon you'll discover a Fire portal which takes you to the Dragon's Lair which is guarded by the Mighty Dragon Gaya who in which has a shop allowing you to buy weapons, rings and potions. You start out with your basic sword and armour as well as your talking wand but eventually as you progress further into the game you'll eventually gain better weapons like a Flaming Sword, a Vorpal Sword which gives the power of lighting, powerful crossbows, phoenix eggs that are like explosive bombs, a dragons breath which can burn enemies, a powerful hammer named Abraxas which crush enemies and can target enemies that surround you. and finally the scroll which can petrify monsters.

Eventually your magic wand will gain new spells and become more powerful as you advance through the game. It will grant you 4 spells that are Lighting and Fire which are powerful against some types of enemies and there is Stun which can stop enemies for a few turns and the last spell is Force which can shove enemies out of your way. Most of the spells are useful but sometimes you won't end up using most of your other arsenal you have until later portions of the game where you need to use a scroll or a long range weapon to knock down a boulder for you to safely move on. Be careful though as you'll also have a rat that will try to steal some of your stuff such as gold or in one segment of the game your wand. At the end of most dungeons there will be a quick boss battle which takes several hits and few potions to be put down but there's not much strategy needed for them.

The main issue with the game is that the overall game's length is about 6 hours which is incredibly short when you just scratch the surface of the games main content, however searching for secrets and defeating all enemies in each dungeon can extend it to nearly 7 to 8 hours of gameplay from start to finish. You're actually are better playing it on the harder difficulty settings which does provide more of a reasonable challenge then the default Normal. This is because it takes longer to beat since you need to spend time grinding and thankfully the respawning enemies on Nightmare will happily help with that since their corpses that you don't destroy will come back to life to attack you again. Yes, I actually managed to beat Nightmare mode on Orcs & Elves and I was Level 35 when I finished it and it's a great achievement for me.

While the gameplay of Orcs & Elves has been translated well from the mobile, the graphics have been improved well from it too. The enemy and weapons sprites as well as the ghostly 3d models of the dwarfs are impressive. The environments as already stated are well designed to the whole medieval setting and the animations for the ghostly dwarfs texts are impressive with the way that the words animate.

As for the soundtrack it's mostly heard on the main menu and at the games background story rather then the gameplay. Still it's decent orchestral music and the sound effects for the monsters and weapons are impressive.

For a Mobile Phone game it's impressive for it to translate it nicely to the handheld. It's a short-lived experience but however Orcs & Elves has a well balanced and fast paced RPG game design that's both accessible and fun. If you can get at a cheaper price rather then full price then this game is worth it but however you will be disappointed at it's overall length.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Good Points:
1. An excellent translation from mobile to the DS
2. Nice control interface and turn based combat
3. The Dungeons are nice and are well designed

The Bad Points:
1. It's very short.
2. No music during the gameplay
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the full article at GameSpot

"AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Orcs & Elves for the DS..." was posted by AQWBlaZer91 on Tue, 09 Apr 2013 06:02:56 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/orcs-and-elves/user-reviews/810036/platform/ds/ Sun, 07 Apr 2013 15:01:39 -0700 gbrading reviewed Black Mesa for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/black-mesa/user-reviews/809984/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

When Half-Life: Source arrived, without much fanfare in June 2004, many people were disappointed. Half-Life is of course one of the most cherished and revered games in video game history, but people had expected that when Valve ported the game to their new Source engine, they would get something that looked a lot closer to Half-Life 2. Instead, Half-Life: Source was a straight port of the original game, using the same textures, guns and sound effects. The only noticeable improvements that were made were the introduction of more realistic water effects and a 3D skybox to replace the old 16-bit bitmap images. Half-Life: Source was Half-Life: No more, no less. This lead some plucky, aspiring mod developers to wonder what Half-Life would look like if it was rebuilt from the ground up in the new Source engine, taking advantage of all the benefits it would bring, to recreate the a familiar but truly new experience. Now, 8 years later, Black Mesa is the sum of this great endeavour. For many years, rumours circulated that Black Mesa was merely vapourware: The promise which could never live up to expectation; the dream which would never be realised. It is with a certain delight it can be said that the naysayers were wrong: Black Mesa is, without doubt one of the finest modifications ever created, being both a faithful adaptation of Half-Life, but introducing enough original content to make you feel like you're playing something brand new. The mistakes it makes are minor in comparison to the triumph of creating a free first-person shooter which could easily be sold as a retail product.

For the 0.5% of people out there who don't know the plot of Half-Life, allow me to give you the condensed highlights. You are Dr. Gordon Freeman, a bespectacled, bearded research associate at the Black Mesa Research Facility: A giant underground complex in New Mexico of offices, laboratories and test chambers where experiments of dubious ethical and scientific value are carried out. Freeman has a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from MIT and appears to be just your average scientist, until the fateful day arrived when everything was thrown out of the frying pan. At the beginning of the game, you take part in an experiment which results in a terrible disaster befouling the Black Mesa Research Facility: Massive damage is sustained and portals to an alternative alien dimension open up across the complex, with all manner of dangerous animal life stampeding through, wreaking havoc. Most of the game is comprised of your attempts to escape the facility and also to avoid the marines of the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, who have been sent in by the US Government to "liquidate" the situation, including all Black Mesa personnel. Black Mesa doesn't alter any of the story beats of the original game, and includes line-by-line many sequences from the original game. However it does often extend dialogue and conversations by adding in additional flavour text and incidental chit-chat, all of which feels true to the spirit of the first game. As of the time of writing, Black Mesa does not currently offer a complete recreation of the original game: The levels which take place in the alien world of Xen are still to be completed. Nonetheless, this is still a lengthy game which will take approximately 10-12 hours to finish, feeling very one-to-one in terms of length with the original Half-Life.

Gameplay itself hasn't been drastically altered from the original. Freeman has access to the same arsenal of weapons, from his trusty crowbar to the MP5 submachine gun and several more experimental weapons later in the game. The enemies you meet along the rollercoaster journey are just as varied, ranging from the ubiquitous headcrabs to the HECU Marines. The shooting of Black Mesa feels comparable to the original game, but certain weapons feel either slightly more powerful or less so. For example the crowbar now has less reach and takes several hits to dispatch a headcrab, whilst the shotgun can bring down a marine or vortigaunt with a single shot at close range. All of the memorable set pieces from the original game make a return, normally with a new spin on a familiar theme, or introducing a new physics puzzle into the mix, similar to those encountered in Half-Life 2. An example for this might be you need to turn off the valve where gas is escaping in order to extinguish the flames. In the original, you'd just turn the handle and be done with it, but in Black Mesa the handle is actually missing, necessitating a brief search before you can reunite handle with lever.

Graphically is naturally where most of the time and effort of crafting Black Mesa has been invested. The game is similar in detail to the original Half-Life 2 and borrows many lighting effects from Episodes One and Two. By and large, it looks great. It's not going to win any awards for graphical prowess, but if the objective of Black Mesa was to bring Half-Life up to the standard of its sequel, then it definitely succeeded. The amount of custom geometry, taken for granted in any retail game, is very impressive, with an absolute minimum of props being imported from the standard Source list, ala Garry's Mod. There are many gorgeous high-resolution textures which have been finely constructed (my personal favourite being the health kits) and all of the character models look as good as anything Valve put into Half-Life 2. Black Mesa uses a rather sophisticated face creation system which generates semi-randomized character faces, which means you're unlikely to see the same character twice. Level design is by and large a straight up-rezzing and improvement on the original layouts, but many areas have been altered and extended for the sake of continuity. For example, there used to be a very sudden jump between the laboratory areas of Sector C to the more industrial ones, but now this change happens more gradually. Nonetheless, every room, corridor and outdoor vista feels true to form, and you will recognise many famous areas including the Hydro-electric Dam, the lobby of the Biodome complex and of course the Lambda reactor core. There are many highlights to the experience, but my personal favourite was Questionable Ethics chapter, which raises the game in terms of atmosphere by posing many questions about whether the Black Mesa scientists are as innocent as they appear, given the highly controversial experiments.

Black Mesa really excels in the audio department. The game has been fully re-voiced by a volunteer cast, all of it recorded professionally and delivered flawlessly. Some lines are a word-for-word repeat of the dialogue from the original game, but many character interaction moments have been elongated or changed to include further chatter and ambient conversations. Pressing the E key on any character will normally yield another line or two of flavour dialogue, often unique to that character. In a conscious effort to secure continuity with Half-Life 2, the named characters of Dr. Isaac Kleiner and Eli Vance feature in the game, as does security guard Barney Calhoun in the most fleeting of cameos. The musical score has also been completely redone, drawing a heavy influence from the original music but delivering something with feels completely fresh. Valve games have never been particularly acclaimed for their music, but the soundtrack to Black Mesa provides a suitable backdrop to the various hectic goings-on at the research facility.

Black Mesa does make one or two relatively minor mis-steps, the biggest of which may be the overreliance on the oft-fabled crouch-jump. In Half-Life original, you might have had to use the crouch-jump manoeuvre (jumping and crouching at the same time in order to achieve a higher or longer jump) maybe once or twice throughout the campaign. In Black Mesa, crouch-jumping is an essential skill you must master early on if you want to jump into vents, or cross gaps which are impassable using the normal jump. This can lead to occasionally frustrating sections where you make multiple attempts at the same jump, quicksaving and reloading after each try and inevitable plummet to your death. The epicentre of this frustration is definitely the trip-wire mined room in the Surface Tension chapter, which was maddening enough in the original game but is even more so here given the fact that you must crouch-jump over a laser line which you have no idea if you will hit or not because Gordon isn't body-aware (when you look down, you can't see his feet). There are also infrequent technical glitches including long loading screens and crashes to the desktop, but no doubt when Black Mesa is officially released on Steam via the Greenlight initiative, these will have hopefully been patched out.

When it comes down to it, the most amazing thing about Black Mesa is the fact that it exist at all. After 8 years of intrigue, disappointment, excitement and regret, it is incredible that a team of volunteers, paid nothing and doing all coding, designing and building off their own backs, sitting through years of whinging, moaning and apathy from the Internet, managed to create a game in the first place, let along create a game which is a great experience. Although that experience is still not truly complete, it is certainly worthy of your time, especially given the incredibly low barrier to entry. Black Mesa reminds us of everything which made Half-Life great, and yet it is also an education in what aspects of it weren't so great. Games have moved on a lot since 1998, but the core appeal of a shooter has not changed. Half-Life raised the bar for storytelling, atmosphere and action; Black Mesa can be proud to say that it can jump just as high. Now you can experience an updated version of one of video gaming's most historic titles, and it won't cost you a nickel.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"gbrading reviewed Black Mesa for the PC..." was posted by gbrading on Sun, 07 Apr 2013 15:01:39 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/black-mesa/user-reviews/809984/platform/pc/ Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:26:30 -0700 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-xi-seekers-of-adoulin/user-reviews/809498/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 2.0.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin
Platform: Xbox 360/PC
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Genre: MMO RPG
Age Rating: PEGI: 12+
Release Date: PC version: March 26, 2013 (US), March 27, 2013 (Europe, Australia, Japan)
Xbox 360 version: March 26, 2013 (US), March 27, 2013 (Japan, Australia, Europe)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 2.0/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
It's another mission pack for this already shallow RPG that is simply worse then the other packs avaiable in all regards.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After 5 years of one of the most disappointing online games that kept gaining money from fans for so long, It was at last we can finally put this travesty down for good. However Square Enix planned to make another Final Fantasy Online game that was XIV and we all know how bad that trash was. Final Fantasy Online continues it's long going disappointing spree with their announcement of XIV: A Realm Reborn and also it's latest Final Fantasy XI Mission pack which is no doubt the worst of them all and why did it have to exist is beyond us. This mission pack expansion is called the Seekers of Adoulin and it's available for the Xbox 360 and the PC.

This is a game that should have just been it's own game and also being that it's online that still plans to be a pay to play is disgusting. Getting the new content out of the way first, there are 2 new classes that are Geomancer and Rune Fencer that try to add new elements and also there are also 8 new enemies, a new region to play which has 12 areas to visit if you so chose to.

Sadly Final Fantasy XI's gameplay doesn't hold up at all and it's a shame XIV never solved it's issues. Basically you run around each town or dungeon talking to people to get quests to do where's all about fighting against types of monsters before taking on the next. It gets really boring quickly and worse off the battle system is super slow and uninteresting to handle.

In case anyone has thankfully never ever played Final Fantasy XI before, basically there is no battlefield when you start battles, instead the entire dungeon and overworld is treated as it's own battlefield and battles are started by walking towards enemies on the map and selecting the attack button on the command menu. You simply just watch as you and the enemy take turns to attack each other. You can select Magic spells and other abilities in the battle menu by selecting but however their set up is very confusing at times. The main feature of this being an MMO is having a party together with other players but only then the battles becomes uninteresting because the turn based battles are extremely slow and boring to play since you're mostly watching the battles. You can try and run away from battles if you possibly can and also it becomes annoying when you're attacks keep missing the target even if you as close as possible.

Final Fantasy XI's graphics won't impress anyone on the Xbox 360 version with dated visuals, blend environments and dull magic spell effects. Basically it looks rather outdated even the PC version doesn't fair better in that department. The character animations are only decent and there each of them can look good in any different kind of available outfits and armours. The soundtrack is the only thing that is good about the game. Each track features plenty of impressive beats and orchestral pieces and the sound effects are good at least.

Seekers of Adoulin won't be able to redeem any of the poorly delivered content, battles are slow and boring to play or even watch even with friends. The command interface is still terrible and also dying causes you to lose experience which is just very stupid especially if you worked really hard gaining it all only to lose it at the hands of a powerful enemy. Overall this is a poor excuse of a mission pack and it really doesn't do anything to enhance the experience of this already terrible MMO RPG game and this is overall just another mission pack for this already shallow RPG that is simply worse then the other packs available in all regards.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Good Points:
1. At least the audio is good and that's it

The Bad Points:
1.It's still a pay to play game by monthly basis
2.Dated graphics
3.Bad user interface and the battle system is slow and boring even with friends
4.A waste of extra space and money
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-xi-seekers-of-adoulin/user-reviews/809498/platform/pc/ Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:24:30 -0700 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-xi-seekers-of-adoulin/user-reviews/809497/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 2.0.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin
Platform: Xbox 360/PC
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Genre: MMO RPG
Age Rating: PEGI: 12+
Release Date: PC version: March 26, 2013 (US), March 27, 2013 (Europe, Australia, Japan)
Xbox 360 version: March 26, 2013 (US), March 27, 2013 (Japan, Australia, Europe)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 2.0/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
It's another mission pack for this already shallow RPG that is simply worse then the other packs avaiable in all regards.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After 5 years of one of the most disappointing online games that kept gaining money from fans for so long, It was at last we can finally put this travesty down for good. However Square Enix planned to make another Final Fantasy Online game that was XIV and we all know how bad that trash was. Final Fantasy Online continues it's long going disappointing spree with their announcement of XIV: A Realm Reborn and also it's latest Final Fantasy XI Mission pack which is no doubt the worst of them all and why did it have to exist is beyond us. This mission pack expansion is called the Seekers of Adoulin and it's available for the Xbox 360 and the PC.

This is a game that should have just been it's own game and also being that it's online that still plans to be a pay to play is disgusting. Getting the new content out of the way first, there are 2 new classes that are Geomancer and Rune Fencer that try to add new elements and also there are also 8 new enemies, a new region to play which has 12 areas to visit if you so chose to.

Sadly Final Fantasy XI's gameplay doesn't hold up at all and it's a shame XIV never solved it's issues. Basically you run around each town or dungeon talking to people to get quests to do where's all about fighting against types of monsters before taking on the next. It gets really boring quickly and worse off the battle system is super slow and uninteresting to handle.

In case anyone has thankfully never ever played Final Fantasy XI before, basically there is no battlefield when you start battles, instead the entire dungeon and overworld is treated as it's own battlefield and battles are started by walking towards enemies on the map and selecting the attack button on the command menu. You simply just watch as you and the enemy take turns to attack each other. You can select Magic spells and other abilities in the battle menu by selecting but however their set up is very confusing at times. The main feature of this being an MMO is having a party together with other players but only then the battles becomes uninteresting because the turn based battles are extremely slow and boring to play since you're mostly watching the battles. You can try and run away from battles if you possibly can and also it becomes annoying when you're attacks keep missing the target even if you as close as possible.

Final Fantasy XI's graphics won't impress anyone on the Xbox 360 version with dated visuals, blend environments and dull magic spell effects. Basically it looks rather outdated even the PC version doesn't fair better in that department. The character animations are only decent and there each of them can look good in any different kind of available outfits and armours. The soundtrack is the only thing that is good about the game. Each track features plenty of impressive beats and orchestral pieces and the sound effects are good at least.

Seekers of Adoulin won't be able to redeem any of the poorly delivered content, battles are slow and boring to play or even watch even with friends. The command interface is still terrible and also dying causes you to lose experience which is just very stupid especially if you worked really hard gaining it all only to lose it at the hands of a powerful enemy. Overall this is a poor excuse of a mission pack and it really doesn't do anything to enhance the experience of this already terrible MMO RPG game and this is overall just another mission pack for this already shallow RPG that is simply worse then the other packs available in all regards.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Good Points:
1. At least the audio is good and that's it

The Bad Points:
1.It's still a pay to play game by monthly basis
2.Dated graphics
3.Bad user interface and the battle system is slow and boring even with friends
4.A waste of extra space and money
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-xi-seekers-of-adoulin/user-reviews/809497/platform/xbox360/ Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:36:16 -0700 JustPlainLucas reviewed Brain Age: Concentration Training for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/brain-age-concentration-training/user-reviews/809182/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 6.0.

Do you remember Brain Age? Wouldn't it be funny had you played Brain Age but forgotten all about it? The DS was treated with two Brain Age games, designed by Japanese neuroscientist Dr. Ryuta Kawashima. Using the DS's unique hardware features such as the microphone and touch screen, those two pieces of software presented the gamer with different training exercises to enhance a multitude of different brain functions. It's been quite some time, almost six years, since the second Brain Age, and now Dr. Ryuta Kawashima returns with a new Brain Age, this time for the 3DS.

Brain Age: Concentration is quite different from the previous two games. Concentration focuses on our declining ability to focus and, well, concentrate on matters at hand. When you first start up the game, Dr. Kawashima, who now speaks to you with his own voice, introduces himself to you with a mini-lecture about how addicted we've become to information. We're constantly checking our email on our laptops or fiddling around with our phones, unable to focus on our work. The clinical term is called "information addiction", and the good doctor has designed Brain Age: Concentration to help combat it.

Kawashima's new series of brain training exercises is called Devilish Training. You'll notice that when you select Devilish Training, Kawashima's virtual visage is now adorned with horns. Yes, these training exercises are hard, which is why they're called Devilish Training. There are eight exercises in this mode, and they all grow increasingly difficult the better your performance. If you start having trouble, the difficulty scales down to adjust to your current ability. Gone is the actual Brain Age, where you received a number that corresponded with your actual age, and now you are ranked with a training grade which is worn across the chest of your Mii.

Devilish Calculations will have you memorizing answers to previous equations. Devilish Shapes is just like Calculations, but you'll be remembering random shapes instead, and Devilish Listening is like Calculations as well, but Ryuta will be speaking out the equations. Devilish Mice shifts the positions of mice hidden behind tiles and Devilish Cups shifts numbered balls around like a shell game where you need to answer in sequence. Devilish Pairs is like the classic Memory game, where you'll need to flip cards right side up and match them, while Devilish Blocks has you memorizing the positions of blinking blocks. Devilish Reading is the only exercise in the game where it's almost unplayable. It has you reading sentences out loud and memorizing underlined words, but the microphone doesn't pick up on what you're saying well. You pretty much have to scream at the 3DS to get it to register and you're so focused on trying to get the game to hear you, you start forgetting what the underlined words are.

The game is designed to improve your memory, and you will see benefits if you really try to stick with it, but it comes at a cost. Unlike the previous Brain Age games, these exercises prove to be more frustrating than they are fun. One such problem is that Concentration suffers from the same issue as the other games in that its handwriting recognition is still shoddy. Sometimes you will write a three that is very easily legible as a three, but the game thinks you wrote a seven. Once that happens, the game will buzz or Kawashima will go "Uh oh." Kawashima also continues to say things to you while you're trying to focus on these exercises, and that can be counter-productive at times.

Fortunately, the game has more than just Devilish Training. There's other modes, such as Supplemental Training and Brain Training. Supplemental Training focus on improving the speed of your working memory, while Brain Training is centered more around the cognitive functions of your brain. Both modes bring back training exercises from previous games, such as Piano Player, Calculations X 20 and Change Counter, but they also have some new ones as well. Brain Age has many different solitaire games ranging from classic Klondike to Peg to Mahjong.

Relaxation Mode is available to you in case you've had enough hard thinking for a while. Blob Blast has you matching up rows of different blobs and clearing them before the ceiling closes down on you. There's also Germ Buster, which is a remix of Dr. Mario. Then there's Music Appreciation, but it isn't a game at all. All it does is play different pieces of music while it displays some relaxing scenery. The real letdown of this entire package is that it's completely devoid of Sudoku. It also takes 40 days of training before you unlock everything, which means sometimes you go a few days without anything new to play, and once you get something new, it's a revisit to a training exercise you've already done in both Brain Ages.

It's hard to really go into depth about the graphics with a title such as this. Dr. Kawashima's virtual face is rendered and animated better while still continuing the defined polygonal aesthetic Brain Age fans are used to. For the most part, you're just going to witness simple graphics that display basic shapes and white backgrounds that have black text. Aside from a little added definition, there's no real use of 3D in the game.

The same can be said with the audio. Since this isn't really a game per se, there's no need for fancy sound effects. You'll just hear positive bings and negative bongs and scribbles as you write things down and squeaks from mice as they get shuffled behind tiles. There's occasional music that plays while you're shuffling through the game's modes and it's soft and relaxing. When you play Germ Buster, you'll recognize the arrangements of the classic Dr. Mario music, although they are far too tuned down. Dr. Kawashima's voice is pleasant to listen to, but sometimes he can come off a bit patronizing.

Brain Age: Concentration does serve a purpose. It's a harsh reminder that we have become entirely too distracted in the ever-growing Age of Information. Dr. Ryuta Kawashima does come right out and apologize early for his Devilish Training, because it is quite hard. Fans of the previous Brain Ages will take to this game differently; some will appreciate the fresh new take on the series, but others will grow entirely too frustrated with it. Leveling up on a Devilish Training only to level down again can be very discouraging to impatient games. Plus, the value of the game seems to be lacking, as many of the Supplemental and Brain Trainings are repeats. Again, there's no Sudoku, and if anything was going to be repeated, it should have been Sudoku. If you feel you really need help with improving your memory, by all means, give it a look, but just be warned: Ryuta Kawashima is indeed a devil.

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/brain-age-concentration-training/user-reviews/809182/platform/3ds/ Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:18:02 -0700 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/peter-jacksons-king-kong-the-official-game-of-th/user-reviews/809168/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 1.5.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Peter Jackson's King Kong The Official Game of the Movie
Platform: Nintendo DS
Developer: Ubisoft Casablanca
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Action
Age Rating: PEGI: 12+, ESRB: T, Cero: A,
Release Date: 21st November 2005 (US), 2nd December 2005 (EU), 15th December 2005 (AU), 25th May 2006 (JP)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 1.5/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
Kong Kong on the DS is extremely terrible, uninspiring and worst of all it's really, really broken and buggy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While the giant ape would have it's place to shine on most other consoles, DS owners would be introduced to not only one of the worst movie tie-ins it has but as well as being one of the worst games on the platform period.

When you first boot up the game you are introduced to it's first of many problems with the game. There are no extra modes to play so you're stuck with the main game only and there are no options mode to change your settings.

Now you get into the story. You remember the plot of the King Kong movie versions right? Basically Carl Denham wants to build his movie in the legendary skull island which is located in the Pacific Ocean. Jack Driscoll his screenwriter invites the movie heroine Ann Darrow and Green Beret Hayes into the island. What they soon discover that it's home to a 25 foot giant ape called Kong who kidnaps Ann. In the DS version the cutscenes are told through stillframe images detailing some events but other then that there isn't any voice acting portrayed.

There are about 17 levels in the game and they are shared between both the First Person Shooter stages where you play as Jack and every now and then you'll be able to play as Kong for one segment before playing as Jack again for a few more levels. These levels are extremely short and also there very few Kong levels in the game.

The first gameplay perspective is the First Person shooter stages where you play as Jack as this style is like the early Turok games on the Nintendo 64. You control Jack with the D-Pad, sliding the stylus on the touchscreen and using weapons with the L button. These are the controls for left handed players but also the controls are available also for right handed players. You can use the touch screen to order your partner to open up doors and plant bombs by the arrow which allows you to order your allies. You can also activate switches by standing close to a switch and holding down the L or R buttons. Aiming is automatic which can be annoying like when you're trying to shoot down a hive when there's bees that are constantly coming at you and you're automatically targeting them instead.

A lot of these levels involve you picking up spears and using them to take out crabs, bees and a raptor. In every level you'll always be fighting crabs which gives the game a real lack of variety but where they spawn from gets annoying. In some fights 2 of them can ambush you which can surely result in your death and sometimes these ambushes can appear frequently. Whenever you take a hit the screen flashes red and you die if you take another hit. One thing also is that Jack can't do use any Melee attacks and you can only carry one gun at a time. These guns include a handgun, shotgun, machine gun or a sniper rifle so if you run out of bullets or haven't got a spare spear with you. You're screwed and you'll have to restart the stage again. The worst thing is that when you complete a stage, the game magically takes your equipped weapons away for no apparent reason what-so-ever which can sometimes leave you unarmed in a segment or 2.

When the game gets to the Kong stages the game doesn't fair any better then Jack's stages. Simply Kong's levels take place in a Third Person perspective as you climb up vines and walls to reach other areas and also you'll fight off against giant dinosaurs and raptors with button mashing skills and also using finishing moves to break the enemies jaws and hearing Kong's trademark roar when you win. Mostly these fights can only be won by mindlessly button mashing and also there are also very less Kong stages and also this version of the game has the stage where you rampage the city and the stage where you destroy the planes is also not playable which is very disappointing. Damages done to both Kong and the enemies also lack any impact.

The worst thing about the game is that it is broken. It's extremely buggy and glitchy in nearly every aspect of the game. The ingame graphics have outside lines showing and sometimes you'll might even fall through solid walls which leaves you dying inside the polygonal abyss. The crabs respawn in such a way that they can scare you at times, usually right in front of you and worst off is that spears can ultimately go through enemies at point blank range. There is also a badly distanced fog which makes the game even terrible to look at and it's even worse when an enemy is within the fog. Other problems include the game resetting when you get to Stage 9 and also humorously some enemies can instantly zoom away from you after they landed an attack on you or disappear through the walls. Until you get close for them to appear again.

On top of the bugs and glitches, the graphics themselves are horrendous and is really ugly to look at. The character models look like zombies, the weapon firing has a huge polygon mesh which makes the weapon even uglier then it always is. Even if your equipped spear has not been thrown it can go through walls and also there are no special effects in the game at all.

The only redeemable quality is the soundtrack which is aright by the systems speakers, the sound effects are poor and again there is no voice acting accept for when Jack is commanding his allies.

There is really no excuse for a game like this to really become this bad. On the plus side it will only last for about 2 hours. There is replayability or any unlockable content available for when you beat through the game and you can't replay the levels you played and you would have to erase your save to replay them again. The Metroid Prime Hunters Demo and Goldeneye Rouge Agent on the DS showed how good FPS's can be but however this version of the game just shows how lazy the game designers where when they programmed it. Overall stay away from this version of the game at all costs and stick to the superb console versions instead, it's extremely terrible, uninspiring to play and worst of all it's really, really broken and buggy which in my personal opinion makes it the worst game on the DS.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Good Points:
1. The soundtrack

The Bad Points:
1. No unlockable content or any replayability
2. Slow paced linear First Person Shooter levels and are poorly designed
3. Kong's fighting controls are monotonous to handle
4. Loads of Bugs and glitches show of the game's lazyiness in polish
5. A very uninspiring port
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/peter-jacksons-king-kong-the-official-game-of-th/user-reviews/809168/platform/ds/ Tue, 12 Mar 2013 23:06:35 -0700 JustPlainLucas reviewed Tomb Raider for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/tomb-raider/user-reviews/808743/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Disclaimer: No amount of time was spent on the multiplayer, so this review is reflective of the single player portion only.

A couple of years ago at E3, Square-Enix unveiled a new Tomb Raider. This new Lara Croft was instantly perceived as completely different. Very quickly, she was beaten up, bruised, battered and bashed and wore the battle scars from it. It was immediately apparent that this was going to be far from your typical Tomb Raider. Ever since its first unveiling, the gaming world has been keeping a close eye on Lara. Now her new adventure is finally underway, carving out a survivalist origin story with every life-threatening fall she takes.

Lara Croft is fresh out of University, chasing down the myths of a goddess lying in the ancient city of Yamatai. Treasures abound, but they lay hidden in a section of the ocean called the Dragon's Triangle, an area of water that makes the Bermuda Triangle look tranquil. Many of her fellow friends and shipmates do not want to make the journey, but the captain sides with Lara so they sail into the triangle. Just as they enter, a maelstrom swallows them whole and splits the ship in two, washing any survivors ashore a mysterious island. Lara, coming to, sees her friends suddenly overtaken by armed strangers and then gets knocked unconscious. She wakes to find herself hung upside down and now she has to find a way to escape, find her friends and fight for her own life every step of the way.

A lot more has changed besides Lara Croft's more realistic look. The gameplay has been practically reinvented. Traveling from one distant location to another to explore massive tombs has been replaced by one massive tomb spread throughout an entire island. The island that Lara Croft will spend roughly 15 hours in varies itself in scenery quite regularly. She'll be trekking through forests, climbing snow-capped mountains, jumping across rooftops in a shanty town, wandering through ancient shrines and exploring wrecked ships along a sandy beach. Every region of the island will also be peppered with collectable relics and GPS caches, along with documents that fill in bits and pieces of the island's backstory.

It's unfortunate that there are no major tombs to explore and complex environmental puzzles to solve. Sure, there are hidden tombs tucked away behind rivers and buried under rubble, but these tombs are small with puzzles that only take a couple of minutes to solve. You're rewarded with a treasure map that reveals more documents and relics in the region, but you're left wanting more. You see shadows and silhouettes of old Tomb Raiders that never seem to emerge past the background, so every time you come across a new hidden tomb, your excitement tapers a little.

It is fortunate, though, that the rest of the game is extremely solid. While Lara's climbing cliffs and jumping across chasms, she'll be encountering a number of armed guards of a previous expedition and cultists who call themselves the Solarii. Gone are the days of jumping around the playing field like a gymnast firing away duel-fisted with unlimited ammo. Lara's extremely fragile in this reboot, and the game does a great job reminding you of that. She'll need to take cover behind obstacles, but there's no blind fire option. When you pop up, you'll need to make each shot count, or you'll take too much fire and die quickly. Plus, the enemy AI is quite intelligent, and will assault your cover spot with Molotov cocktails and dynamite frequently. They'll also take cover themselves and will work together to flank or sneak up behind you.

You are not without your own means of defense, though. For most of the game, your go-to weapon will be a bow and arrow, but you'll also come across a shotgun and assault rifle as well. One of the most poignant moments in the game is when Lara obtains a handgun from her would-be killer and kills him in self-defense. This is the first time that Lara's killed someone, and it leaves a visible emotional scar on her. It has been quite some since acquiring a weapon has carried that much impact. Each weapon can be upgraded by finding parts and collecting salvage from boxes, enemies and prey that Lara can hunt. Improvements include more powerful arrows, reduced recoil and better weapon efficiency for extra damage. There are also secondary fire options that can be unlocked as well, such as a grenade launcher for the rifle and a focused shot from the shotgun.

Just about everything that Lara Croft does in the game earns her experience points, from killing animals and guards to advancing through sections of the game. Once she earns enough XP, she's granted a skill point that she can use to unlock new abilities and perks from one of three skill sets: Survivor, Hunter and Brawler. She also has a very useful ability called Survival Instinct, which turns the world black and white and highlights objective markers, pick-ups and puzzle-related objects. Some might consider it a crutch, but it's entirely optional and if you want to rely on just your own senses, you're more than welcome to do so.

Ever since the gaming community has been following Tomb Raider, the unavoidable comparisons to Uncharted have been made. This is in large part to the set pieces that have Lara constantly running across the rooftops of collapsing buildings, crashing through cavern floors, and parachuting from wrecked fuselages teetering on the edge of a cliff. They are exhilarating, but don't quite match the cinematic experiences perfected by Uncharted 2 and 3. Lara also climbs set paths along cliffs and wreckage, but it doesn't have the same epic scales as previous Uncharteds. What Tomb Raider does better than Uncharted is its pacing. Instead of funneling you from one scenic set piece to the next, the game lets you breathe and take in the beauty of the island, exploring for hidden nic nacs and figuring out just how the heck you're supposed to get up there! Plus, there are base camps that allow for Fast Travel, meaning you can revisit any area of the island you wish at any time.

Although Tomb Raider might not be as sharp as the Uncharted games, it does pack its own visual flair. The island is painstakingly detailed, creating and upholding a terrific sense of atmosphere thanks to its art direction. The special effects serve to continue the sense of realism with blowing winds and rushing water and settling dust being reflected by Lara's torch, whose fire has a life all its own. Sometimes, the atmosphere can be so immersive, you'll develop a sense of claustrophobia from the dusty and dank caverns. When you come across the light and exit out of the other side to be met with blue skies, you can almost feel the fresh air wafting over you. Animations are also very realistic, with enemies reacting to being hit with painful accuracy. Sometimes Lara's own animations tend to be a bit jerky or spastic depending on what you're trying to do, but it's not that big of a deal.

The audio of the game that compliments the visuals is exemplary. Each weapon fires with its own distinct report, and every explosion rumbles deep into your chest. Lara dies in a number of different ways and hearing her get impaled or have her head smacked on a rock underwater makes you jerk in reaction. Zipping down zip lines carries with it a sense of urgency, and hearing chimes lets you know you're close to a hidden tomb. The soundtrack is terrifically composed, playing very well to the ongoing action of the game. Voice acting is solid all around, with Camilla Luddington playing a great Lara Croft, but the voice acting from the thugs isn't anywhere near on the same level.

Tomb Raider is an exceptional reboot that's drawn the interest of people who may have never cared for Tomb Raider. By its new approach of cover-based gameplay and a large island filed with exciting set pieces, it's also turned away some very loyal fans looking for traditional gameplay. They will miss their classic Tomb Raider elements but if they approach the game with an open mind, they'll find it to be a lot of great fun in its own right. Crystal Dynamics has developed a new foundation for the Tomb Raider franchise with their new engine, so let's hope that they can wrap it around larger, more memorable tombs for the sequel.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"JustPlainLucas reviewed Tomb Raider for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by JustPlainLucas on Tue, 12 Mar 2013 23:06:35 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tomb-raider/user-reviews/808743/platform/ps3/ Fri, 08 Mar 2013 22:35:23 -0800 JustPlainLucas reviewed Shinobi for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/shinobi-2011/user-reviews/808534/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

Remember when games used to be hard based on the sole premise of getting everything done right in a handful of lives or it's back to the beginning of the level? No check points, no regenerating health. Just a reliance on gaming skill; sharp reflexes and expert timing. Shinobi for the 3DS is one of those games. If you've let yourself grow soft from the hand holding that most modern games have been doing lately, you're going to get a swift ninja kick in the teeth.

The story of Shinobi 3DS centers on Jiro Musashi, father of Joe Musashi, ninja master of the olden Sega days. There isn't much to the game's narrative, and what's there is told through quick anime-style cutscenes. Without digging into the story deeper from external resources, all you're able to glean is that Jiro somehow enters a time portal into the future. Once fighting ninjas in forests, he's now fighting mutants on trains, aliens in space ships and giant robotic sharks in facilities hidden fathoms beneath the earth's surface. Trying to keep up with the story presented in bite size pieces just makes you not really want to care, and it would have been better not to have any story presentation at all.

Shinobi 3DS is a mixture of action and platforming. The action requires memorization of enemy patterns and reflexes to parry, dodge and counter-attack effectively. The platforming requires split-second timing to avoid spikes and other hazards. It gives several nods to arguably one of the best Shinobi games of the franchise, Shinobi III. There's a horseback riding level, mutant brains burst from tanks to attack, Jiro makes his way across a gunship fighting massive energy cannons and more. It's fantastic to see these throwbacks, because it helps deliver nostalgia.

The game feels incredibly natural, just like past Shinobis. Double jumping and dispensing kunai is a staple technique that has returned, and Jiro can now perform combo slashes and other sword techniques. Ninjitsu returns as well, allowing Jiro to attack with fire kunai, protect himself with lightning and use the power of water to jump higher into the air. Jiro can also parry to block just about every attack, but your timing needs to be perfect; there is no constant blocking. There's also a score multiplayer that's been added to the game that increases with each successive hit. Once you take damage, that multiplier resets to zero. After you finish a level, you can also save the replay of it and share it via StreetPass. If you're the type of gamer who loves playing games for high scores, you'll get a rush going for perfect runs.

With all of Jiro's old and new moves, there's a slight problem with the game's controls. During many of the game's more challenging platforming segments, wall jumping will be required. The problem is when you're trying to jump off a wall, if you have not started descending from your apex, you'll double jump instead. Having to pause momentarily before you start wall jumping means you'll need to adjust your reflexes. In the later levels where the platforming becomes devilishly tricky, this will cause several trips to bottomless pits and a good deal of frustration, since you'll have to start from the beginning of the level.

Every level also has secret areas that hide away coins and other tokens. If you collect the bonus coins, you'll get to play ninja star throwing mini-games, like the ones in the old arcade games. Achievements can also be earned by performing well during the game, such as finishing off bosses before enough time has passed. These achievements unlock extras such as different combos and cheats to be used in the game's Challenge Mode. The challenge stages are specially designed stages to test your gaming skills to the limit, while also establishing impressive scores and times.

Shinobi isn't a bad looking game, but it's far from being an impressive game for knowing what the 3DS can do. In spots, it doesn't look any better than the best looking DS game. Animations are smooth and special effects are nice, such as the metallic sparking of projectiles being deflected by Jiro's sword and enemies crumbling in a pile of bones. The levels are designed well, though, and showcase some pretty nifty art direction. You can actually feel the heat the volcano and smelting stages give off. The 3D effect actually harms the game, however, as all it takes is a bit of crosstalk to make you misjudge a jump you have the smallest margin of error for. The way the camera's designed as well poses its own set of perceptional difficulties, as sometimes you can't see what's below or above you until it's too late.

In the audio department, Shinobi holds up well for a side scrolling action game. The sounds of kunai cutting through the air and then being deflected with metallic twangs accentuates battles. Kicks to the head sound like they hurt, and the fleshy sounds of a sword slashing into enemies is nasty. There's explosions ranging from flamethrowers as their tanks blow up and helicopters as Jiro lands the final blow. One of the craziest levels in the game has you fighting on the top of a jet fighter in the middle of combat, and it sounds like you're fighting in an Afterburner game. The soundtrack is also pretty good, but it's not as memorable as the franchise's best, Shinobi III.

Every once in a while, we need to be remembered what games were like. Shinobi for 3DS is one of those games. You'll need to brush up on your skills, because they'll be the only thing carrying you through the game. You'll need to give it your undivided attention to learn where every enemy is and how to react to them and how to handle every jump or risk not having enough lives when facing off against the boss. It requires practice, patience and perseverance, because once you finally get the level down and are able to clear it in just one life, it's a fantastic feeling. Shinobi's a solid game for any 3DS action lover and long-time fans of the franchise.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"JustPlainLucas reviewed Shinobi for the 3DS..." was posted by JustPlainLucas on Fri, 08 Mar 2013 22:35:23 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/shinobi-2011/user-reviews/808534/platform/3ds/ Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:43:49 -0800 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas for the PlayStation... http://www.gamespot.com/die-hard-trilogy-2-viva-las-vegas/user-reviews/808439/platform/ps/ ...and gave it a 5.0.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas
Platform: PlayStation
Developer: N-Space
Publisher: Fox Interactive
Genre: Action
Age Rating: BBFC: 15+. ESRB: M for Mature
Release Date: February 28th 2000 (North America), 2000 (Europe)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 5.0/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
John McClane fails to take justice in a poorly delivered sequel which ultimately fells way to similar or worse then it's predecessor.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oddly titled Die Hard Trilogy 2, it's a sequel to the superb PlayStation hit Die Hard Trilogy with the same three in one gaming perspectives. The ending result is a game where it fails in mostly fronts that leaves you to Die really Hard.

The game takes place inside a holiday city that never sleeps called Las Vegas where John McClane's old friend invite him to a party for his celebration of being the warden of Mesa Grande Prison. John McClane soon gets himself into big trouble when inmates run riot and prison guards helping them escape...for some reason, why I do not know. John's best solution to those issues is to point and shoot at bad guys without much in the way of giving doesn't much F-Bombs and the way Brace Willis has always portrayed his character in the movies. On the plus side there is some decent voice acting dispute a few dry lines including John's famous line "Yippe kai yay!" and also Brace Willis does not portray his role of John McClane like in the movies.

Just like with it's predecessor Viva Las Vegas has 3 different perspectives. One game places John McClane in a third person shooter where you shoot down bad guys, solve some environmental puzzles to advance further and collect better weapons as you go. The second game is an On-Rails Shooter where Light Gun is supported, you shoot down bad guys and you can get power-ups from some downed enemies. The Third game is a driving game where like in the original trilogy you got to disarm Bombs across Las Vegas by driving over them before time runs out. You can find extra time, repair kits and nitros laying each area to make driving a lot easier especially during car chases. You can play through all three of these games through the Story mode or you can play through one of either game types through Arcade mode or Practice mode to practice before playing the main games.

The flaws are as follows: In the Third person shooter levels you wonder large levels that are mostly uninteresting to play. There are a few puzzles like finding keycards and switches which allow you to access locked areas to rescue hostages and find better weapons and explosives. The AI is very flat and also the controls are very difficult to learn. There is a auto aim system which eliminates the First person aiming aiming system that you have.

There is also the driving stages which at first controls way better but each stage is nearly the same as the original trilogy. You drive over bombs to defuse them which sounds simple but however car chases appear far to frequently this time and they can sometimes be annoying as they can easily avoid you and can sometimes plant mines on you. There is a simple time limit this time I should like to point out and it goes up to 3 minutes.

Lastly there are the Light Gun levels which are the best in the overall package. You shoot bad guys before their crosshair turns red which they will shoot you. There are plenty of Health and Armour power ups as well as other weapons you can use. You can switch weapons unlike the original and also the game supports the Mouse as well as the Konami HyperBlaster and also the game finally allowing the Namco Gun to be compatible. Still there are issues like the Light Gun accuracy being inaccurate unlike the Namco titles and also there are some parts where enemies are planted across the screen in which you're always taking damage, the Hostages are extremely dumb and won't hesitate to literally dive into your line of fire and sometimes also the enemies which can sometimes make these levels very frustrating. Overall the entire gameplay is well spent on the Light Gun levels while the Third person and Driving aren't enjoyable at all and can also be frustrating.

The graphical are also very similar to the original with minor enhancements to the character models. Their animations are dimwitted and it's pretty stupid to see someone rolling around like crazy after being blasted by a rocket launcher. Still the environmental details do look nice and the explosion effects are pretty cool. In the Third Person levels John McClane has the power to see through the environment since it allows you to see who is inside the rooms. The sound effects are aright, the music tracks inspired by BT, Lil' Zane, Black Rob and Tony Touch are decent mixes of technical beats and rock music.

Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas isn't a sequel that really is made for Die Hard fans of the franchise. Having three gaming perspectives in one is great and all but however each gametype has a series of flaws that Bruce Willis would be disappointed to hear about. It's good for a cheap buy but you're better off with the original trilogy which is way better.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Good Points:
1. 3 Gaming Perspectives in one game
2. Finally has Namco gun support

The Bad Points:
1. Third Person stages are very uninteresting
2. Hostages are very stupid in the Light Gun Levels
3. Driving stages can sometimes be frustrating
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/die-hard-trilogy-2-viva-las-vegas/user-reviews/808439/platform/ps/ Sun, 03 Mar 2013 17:11:14 -0800 JustPlainLucas reviewed River City Ransom EX for the Game Boy Advance... http://www.gamespot.com/river-city-ransom-ex/user-reviews/808211/platform/gba/ ...and gave it a 6.0.

The 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System was a beloved machine because it put out so many classics. One such classic was a game by American Technos Inc. called River City Ransom. This side-scrolling beat 'em up had you controlling either Alex or Ryan on a quest to River City High to save Alex's girlfriend Cyndi from Slick, the leader of River City's gangs. It also featured a bit of RPG elements in the way of hit points, shops and increasing stats. In 2004, Atlus published an enhanced remake for the Game Boy Advance, but added some features that didn't really help.

The structure of the GBA version is identical to the NES original. You start out at your own school of Crosstown High and must work your way through River City to River City High beating up various gangs during your progress. You start out with basic punch and kick attacks, but in the EX version, they've been kind enough to start you out with the Dragon Kick technique, an ability that lets you kick three times in quick succession. As you beat up thugs, they drop coins, and each tougher gang member drops more coinage. Bosses will appear in certain areas after you've mopped the streets with its occupants, and each boss will tell you where to go to face your next challenge. Only after you've beat every boss will you be granted access into River City High.

You can pick up and use weapons along the way from lead pipes to chains to trash cans. The EX version has also introduced new weapons such as longer chains and ladders, introduced by new gangs such as The Eagles and The Entrees. You can swing or throw each one, and you can also learn techniques that will bestow upon you new fighting moves. The EX version has included several new techniques, such as Bicycle Kick and Helicopter, but for the most part the old techniques of the original still work the best.

If you've been doing a good job of picking up cash from defeated hoodlums, you can spend your dough in a number of different shops in several malls that you'll pass through. You'll remember all sorts of items and books to learn techniques from, but unfortunately it's a lot more irritating to shop now. The EX version has included many more items for each shop, but the list of items is randomly generated, and you do not have access to the full stock all at once. You might need to enter and exit a book shop more than twenty times until you see that wonderful Grand Slam book that teaches you the ability to swing your weapon three times in succession; it's a royal pain.

Speaking of royal pains, your AI partner is one. Since there is no two-player option (no link support), developer Million included a computer controlled character, but he's no help at best and can kill you at worse thanks to friendly fire. If he throws his weapon and hits you, it can hurt you or even interrupt your attacks to the point where the enemy can get the upper hand and kick your butt. You can tweak his AI behavior to make him less accidentally hostile towards you, but since he's still dead weight, the game's simply better by getting rid of him completely.

There's also an options mode that lets you practically debug the game. You can increase or decrease the power of your punches, kicks, weapons, etc., or you can even play around with the physics and gravity to make the game play wonky. Of course, this would be considered cheating but since it takes some grinding to become strong enough to beat the end bosses, it is a nice feature for those who just want to rush through the game (although the game takes roughly two hours to beat anyway).

The new save system is a double-edged sword, however. Gone is having to write down a 33 character password; you can now save on the spot. The irritating thing is that you cannot save over an existing file, so the game will just keep creating new files each time eventually clogging up the menu until it starts deleting the oldest file. It also only saves your current stats and amount of money so when you turn on the GBA again and resume, you'll be started at the beginning of the game, having you beat each and every single boss all over again. This in conjunction with other convoluted menus and navigation makes the EX version a little more irritating to play versus the original.

The 8-bit graphics of the original have been given a 16-bit face lift. For the most part, the environmental art hasn't been reworked, so every street scene should be instantly recognizable. There were some liberties, however, with the characters as Alex is now in all white and Ryan is now in all blue, instead of a mix of white and blue tops and bottoms like in the original. Gone also are some of the glitches of the original, such as characters stuttering in and out of existence.

The audio of the game has been improved somewhat as well. It still retains all those classic sound effects of punches and kicks and weapons being flung into enemies. There are a couple of sound effects, though, that aren't quite as good as remembered, such as when rocks and brass knuckles fall on the ground. The soundtrack has been preserved, so if you have fond memories of the music, you'll enjoy revisiting the game. Plus, the pinnacle moment when you hear the Double Dragon theme when you encounter the Twins makes that something to look forward to again.

Depending on how cheap you can find River City Ransom EX, you may want to consider buying the NES version off the Wii's Virtual Console for five dollars instead. The problem with playing EX on the Game Boy Advance is that if you own an SP, this is one of those games that unfortunately does not utilize the system's sleep mode. Unless you want to start all over from scratch, (aside from saved stats), River City Ransom EX is something you're going to want to slot yourself a couple of hours to play through. Besides, the purity of the original game is better cherished if you really want to reminisce with River City Ransom.

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/river-city-ransom-ex/user-reviews/808211/platform/gba/ Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:55:39 -0800 JustPlainLucas reviewed Bulletstorm for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/bulletstorm/user-reviews/808114/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Most first-person shooters these days take themselves too seriously. They try to establish tension and meaning in their narratives, attempting to fill the void from point A to point B with purpose. They give you colorful characters to follow you around in to provide some sort of emotional fodder when they inevitability get killed by a stray bullet. Not Bulletstorm, though. Bulletstorm takes itself about as seriously as a clown hopped up on nitrous oxide. Bulletstorm is about being over the top in its gameplay and purposefully offensive in its presentation. It's everything a crazy shooter should be.

Gray is angry. So angry that he's sacrificing the life of his crew aboard his ship to take out the Ulysses, his ex-commander Sarrano's ship. Sarrano has been using Gray and his squad of Dead Echo to carry out assassinations of innocent people, targets of the Confederation. Gray's alcohol-imbued impulsed idea may have worked in taking down the Ulysses, but it failed in killing Sarrano while killing everyone aboard Gray's ship, except for Ishi. Having undergone massive cybernetic implants to save his life, Ishi is now more computer than he is human. Feeling guilty for what happened to Ishi, Gray now has another objective aside from getting to Sarrano: to get Ishi off the Godforsaken planet they've crash landed on. There's going to be a storm of bullets along the way!

Bullestorm may not seem that special when you first begin, but once you pick up your first toy, the Leash, things get interesting very quickly. The Leash is an energy whip that can grab objects and enemies and yank them your way. As enemies get closer to you, they slow down due to an anti-gravity field that surrounds them. By kicking them with your gravity boots, you also produce the same effect, except they start to slowly move away from you. This allows you time to aim at different parts of their bodies and perform what it called Skillshots, and oh boy, are there a ton of different Skillshots!

Skillshots are how you earn points in the game, which you'll use to upgrade weapons and purchase ammunition at different drop boxes. To get Skillshots, you'll need to do such things as shooting an enemy in the privates and then finishing him off in the head, wrapping a flail grenade around a baddie and then kicking him into a group of his cohorts to act like a human bomb, flinging enemies into cactus, into spinning fans and broken wires, and much, much more. There's also a slide kick that helps you set up Skillshots, while also allowing you to cover ground quickly and safely. There's so much variety to slaughtering that the game never, ever gets old.

Your arsenal is full of fun toys as well. There's the standard assault rifle, the quad-barreled shotgun, the sniper rifle, the flare gun, flail gun, a crazy grenade launcher that shoots bouncing bomb balls and the vicious drill gun that impales enemies with spinning drill bit spikes. Each gun also has a secondary fire option that requires purchased charges to use. They can come in really handy when you're up against a group of foes or a particularly nasty individual. Also, you can even steer the shots you fire from the sniper rifle to ensure you get that critical skill shot. And yes, every gun you unlock also unlocks an entire set of unique Skillshots.

What makes the game even more fun is the massive levels that you'll traverse through. There are deserts outposts. subterranean prisons, overgrown botanical gardens and dilapidated skyscrapers with gaping holes in their walls. You'll need to stop from time to time just to enjoy the beautiful but bleak scenery of the game, as the desolate world is quite captivating in its own way. The levels are chock full of all sorts of environmental hazards as well, from the basic rebar spikes jutting from broken concrete walls to crackling electric storms that blanket the many war-torn buildings. One of the game's most exciting levels has you controlling a giant robotic dinosaur, complete with laser shooting eyes.

And when you're running from point A to point B with nothing to shoot, you're treated to some really well-written dialogue, in a very crass and cheesy sort of way. If you take this game in any serious way, you'll find the lines to be painful and cringe worthy, but if you accept the game for what it is, then you'll laugh at the ludicrousness of the dialogue. To be forewarned, there are a lot of references to male genitalia and many jokes that could be construed as homophobic, so if you're at all bothered by content like that, you should avoid Bulletstorm. For the nature of the game, and considering Gray is a scruffy war-hardened mercenary, the dialogue actually fits perfectly.

When you finish the campaign, there's always multiplayer, but of course it's a ghost town with the game being two years old at the time of this writing. There is, though, Echos which lets you play segments of previous levels over and over again to get higher scores. This is where you can hone your Skillshot abilities to rack up some really high scores and unlock access to new levels. Your scores are also ranked, so if you love to climb leaderboards, you have that much more incentive to keep playing.

Graphically, Bulletstorm is a looker. There's a lot of great texturing, lighting and shadowing, but the game's color pallet is a bit limited. There's a lot of usage of browns and blues and oranges and grays, so when the game mixes nature with urban areas, it isn't as impressive as it should be. Still, the artistic direction is something to behold. They've done an excellent job in making the world seem like it's been through complete and utter hell, and the feel and scope of the game is just massive. There's also the matter of blood, and there's lots of it. You'll see heads implode and bodies get impaled. Torsos separate from legs when shot at pointblank range with the shotgun and bad guys light up like the Fourth of July when shot with the shotgun's molten rounds.

If there's one thing Bulletstorm does well with its sound design is make you squeamish when you're killing people. Hearing your first body get impaled on a cactus is just nasty. Bones being broken and flesh being pulverized establishes quite well that this is a violent video game. Each gun has its own unique report from the cracks of sniper rifles to the firecracker whistlings of flare guns to the metallic banging of the Bouncer balls. The music is well-composed and is as perfect for an action game as any other soundtrack. Fans of MadWorld and Anarchy Reigns will also recognize Steve Blum, as he voices the main character Gray. He gives a fantastic performance, and his gruff voice is perfect for the rogue soldier.

Bulletstorm will not win any awards when it comes to class. It knows that and is proud of it. It flips conventional FPSs a middle finger and goes about its merry way. It doesn't care if you're offended by its language, or if the thought of skewering three people with one drill bit spike repulses you. You're going to play this game and like or it's going to put its size 15 gravity boot up your backside. Bulletstorm is quite the ride, and the fact that it's so unique and so outlandish is the game's best feature. If you're tired of the same old FPS, you'll really want to check out Bullestorm, especially now that it's super cheap.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"JustPlainLucas reviewed Bulletstorm for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by JustPlainLucas on Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:55:39 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bulletstorm/user-reviews/808114/platform/ps3/ Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:19:35 -0800 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Die Hard Trilogy for the PlayStation... http://www.gamespot.com/die-hard-trilogy/user-reviews/808099/platform/ps/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Die Hard Trilogy
Platform: PlayStation
Developer: Probe Entertainment
Publisher: Fox Interactive
Genre: Action
Age Rating: ELSPA: 18+
Release Date: August 31st 1996 (North America), November 1996 (Europe), December 13th 1996 (Japan)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 8.0/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
3 solid Die Hard games in a single game is a superb and fun deal that Movie fans can really appreciate.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most Movie licensed video games are just complete rubbish cash-ins which attempt to make a quick buck but however very rarely there is a licensed game that is actually good. One of those kind of games is Die Hard Trilogy. This game is a 3 in 1 compilation which fans of the movies will not be disappointed about. Believe it or not unlike many other movie licenses this package is actually great to play.

Die Hard Trilogy consists of 3 different games which all have different perspectives. You have Die Hard 1 which plays as a simple 3rd person shooter, Die Hard 2: Die Harder which is a On-Rails Shoot-em-up and finally Die Hard: With a Vengeance is a driving game. All 3 of these games are very faithful and also resemble many of the locations seen in the movie.

I look at Die Hard 1 first and it's a Third person shooter where the camera the behind the player and your goal is to run around a closed building one floor at a time and then shoot down the terrorists while rescuing Hostages. Each level has a set number of enemies and hostages to be sorted out before you need to find the elevator with a bomb to defuse and take you to the next level. You control John McClane with the D-pad and using X to shoot, Circle cycles through your other available weapons, Triangle jumps, L1 and R1 strafe and L2 and R2 buttons do a side roll. You'll also find different weapons lying around inside crates or large boxes and also some enemies will drop them such as Grenades, rifles, machine guns and armor to protect you from damage.

While enjoyable the game does surprise you with a bomb sequence where if you think you've finally finished a stage you'll have a 30 second timer to find that elevator before the bomb explodes which delivers some heart pounding moments that you don't want the building to blow up. Whenever you fail at reaching the bomb you'll lose a Life and you have to restart the whole stage again.

Sometimes you'll be faced with loads of enemies which can damage you easily so the best idea is to wait for one guy to come to you so that you can pick them off easier. Always watch out for Hostages cause shooting one will cause you lose points. Die Hard 1 is fun but it just gets more harder and harder that you'll be desperate for extra lives. There are only some by the way.

On to Die Hard 2: Die Harder which is a On-Rails shooter much like Virtua Cop and also it's compatible with the Light Guns that are the HyperBlaster on the PlayStation version but it's unfortunate that the game does not support Namco's G-Con 45 controller. You can also use the standard controller or the PlayStation compatible Mouse. I mostly played this with the Light Gun. When bad guys show up they will have a crosshair on them to tell you to shoot them and they have arrows which go anti-clockwise while the screen zooms in at the target and when it's finished reaching the centre then the enemy shoots you. You have about 6 Lives and if you get shot with no lives left then you die. You have to aim carefully at the bad guys cause some guys can use hostages as baits to get you to shoot down the hostages causing you to lose points. There are about 8 stages and unlike the first game you get additional points for stage success and you do unlock secrets by perfect shots and avoiding to shot civilians.

The 2 main issues I have are: one the camera in which when I shot one guy the camera can immediately shift to another guy when I'm about to another guy instead killing a civilian by accident. The second problem is that you cannot calibrate the Light Gun controller which means you'll most likely have problems aiming more efficiently. Dispute these issues it's fun to blast through waves of enemies in an On-Rails fashion and there are plenty of destructive power ups and your main weapon can be instantly swapped permanently for a better weapon as a reward.

Die Hard: With a Vengeance is a driving game where your goal is to drive around streets, warehouses or the seaside to locate and destroy the target bombs within the time limit. With each bomb you catch the time limit increases but however should the timer go out, they city is blown up and you'll restart at the last checkpoint. You'll occasionally find a few power ups such as Extra Time, Bonus Points, Turbo Boosts and Rarely you'll get an Extra Life. After each stage you'll enter a subway stage where you challenge a truck racer who is nearly faster then you but I managed to win against the big truck every time.

It's aright but however the driving controls are very awkwardly set up on the controller and takes a while to get used to. Some chases with bomb cars can be annoying when they try to delay you from bashing right into them. You'll might spend a lot more time running over civilians by accident.

Die Hard's graphics are quite good, the environment details from the movie are rendered nicely and the models while facial features are rough are quite good. The amount of destruction you can do in the games are impressive as each area can be damaged or blown up. Each explosion causes the screen to shake and also in Die Hard 2, the screen does a warp effect each time you are shot and you are given a white flash effect when you die. During the results screen you'll enjoy watching people burn to death and watching people people mess around at the results screen while it's amusing for each character to hold up letters for you to select.

The game's soundtrack is impressive if not relatable with the movie, the voice clips are detailed nicely but the phrase "Yippy ki yay" has the F part edited out.

All three games in this package are amazingly enjoyable and a superb and fun deal that Movie fans can really appreciate. If must movie licenses where that bad before this one and also Goldeneye on N64 then maybe it's time for most game developers to encourage themselves in watching the movie first before even deciding to make one. Of the available versions of the game then I recommend the PlayStation it does feature Light Gun support and also the graphics are way better to look at.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the full article at GameSpot

"AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Die Hard Trilogy for the PlayStation..." was posted by AQWBlaZer91 on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:19:35 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/die-hard-trilogy/user-reviews/808099/platform/ps/