payne6705's GameSpot Friend's Reviews payne6705's GameSpot Friend's Reviews payne6705's GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Fri, 24 May 2013 21:24:50 -0700 GameSpot payne6705's GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Fri, 24 May 2013 07:42:41 -0700 david_lck reviewed The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/the-walking-dead-a-telltale-games-series/user-reviews/811669/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

The stench of rotting corpses fills the air, alone and separated from your group, fear begins to set in. As you scramble gingerly and take a glance of the inhospitable surroundings, a slight misstep could spell the end. In the distance, the sound of chewing and gnawing is all too familiar. A horde of walkers have claimed yet another life. When will it all end?

Lee Everett, the game's protagonist is first seen in a patrol vehicle on route to prison. A former university professor, his reputation is now tarnished and battered. What he doesn't know is that the next few days will make all that pale in comparison. Within minutes, a walker causes the vehicle to swerve and tailspin onto the side of the road, spiraling out of control into a ditch. Dazed momentarily, Lee makes his way out of the wreckage by breaking the windscreen.

Lee's very first encounter with a walker is truly memorable as the policeman, or at least what's left of him is crawling menacingly towards you. A quick glance to the right, you notice a shotgun beside you. Left with no choice, you are forced to put it out of its misery. Fumble and take too long to react, and it could get messy.

The Walking Dead presents you with many different choices to play the game. Do you shoot someone to save them from the unimaginable pain of being eaten alive? Take supplies that isn't yours out of sheer desperation or risk starvation? Choosing to spare the life of a maniac isn't so easy when the opportunity presents itself. Be the guy who thinks of nothing but the safety of the group or one that everyone would loathe and despise. These are just some of the choices that the game presents to you. How you choose to respond, whom do you pledge your allegiance with, or decide to rescue – they ultimately go a long way in altering the game. Which is why, playing differently on your next session just to see what other alternatives can unravel is very much encouraged.

No zombie apocalypse would be complete without a well diverse cast, and this is where The Walking Dead delivers. Staples of the genre; college jock, the journalist with a keen eye, an overly protective dad, and an orphan are just some of the different people you will meet. Their motives and hidden agenda bring much conflict and tension once food and medication supplies run dry. Often at times, Lee will have to play peacekeeper and attempt to diffuse the situation.

With top-notch writing, initiating conversations isn't a chore but an integral experience. Friendships turn hostile, uneasy alliances are formed out of sheer desperation, romance could spark as you get to know someone, this game has emotion down to a pat. And in an industry marred with many one-dimensional characters that fail to engage, the cast here are well-rounded and relatable.

Players use the left analog to control Lee while the right one is reserved for looking around the environment. Everyday tools such as shovels, ladders and wrenches can be used to get out of a sticky situation or to fight off incoming walkers. Conversations are more often then not, timed as you are forced to choose from four options to respond. Get caught telling a lie and you will be called on it, raising further suspicion on Lee. Your actions are also tied and timed to the D-pad. Be too quick and press on the trigger, and it will alert walkers to your presence. With the onrush of footsteps and no escape in sight, scanning the environment for an exit or a tool that you can use, is bound to set your heart racing.

Point and click games will always have the issue of certain items and objectives not being highlighted clearly enough which is bound to frustrate and cause moments of aimlessly wandering around, but as they occur so rarely, it doesn't detract from the experience. If you appreciate a well woven tale that is high on drama and intrigue, $20 is all but a small sum. Ironically, The Walking Dead revives the slumbering point and click games from its grave to new heights, and sets the benchmark for others to follow. Season 2 can't come soon enough, and I am already waiting with bated breath.

Most bizarre moment (LOOK AWAY IF YOU HAVEN'T BEATEN THE EPISODE): Episode 2 will leave you disgusted once the motives of a group is revealed. Something about the St. John's just doesn't seem right. With those shifty eyes and Brenda's willingness to cook up a meal for our whole group, surely something is up. You see, they have a well thought out plan, survivors who wander onto the area will be presented with an offer that is too good to pass up on. Food for gas, you say? Fair trade in a world gone to shit. We will just keep you alive long enough and feast on your flesh. Its downright gory and sick, but that's what make this episode so awesome.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-walking-dead-a-telltale-games-series/user-reviews/811669/platform/ps3/ Sun, 19 May 2013 15:35:46 -0700 Ravenhoe reviewed Batman: Arkham Asylum for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/batman-arkham-asylum/user-reviews/811495/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

As every other geek on this planet, I am a big fan of the dark knight (even though I thought his last film was not that good despite the hype) and I am thrilled to say that this has been the purest Batman gaming experience I had the pleasure to taste so far. Yes, there are some shortcomings, but all fade away in the bright light of quality that Rocksteady delivered with Arkham Asylum.

The visuals, sounds, music and the great voice acting (especially Batman and the Joker) create a very broody, yet exciting atmosphere, a perfect fit for the dark undertone of the Batman comics, while maintaining the thrilling spirit of adventure that makes this franchise so energetic and popular.

The setting is a tad weird, a large island, which serves as an asylum, certainly makes it much easier to create the game in terms of level desing, yet I would have prefered some more realistic locations, in line with the comics / films / lore. On the other hand, the setting gave the designers the freedom to throw in all sorts of bosses (a who is who of batman villains, most of which are second class villains, I reckon they are saving Catwoman and The Penguin for some other time) and levels. The remote setting makes it possible to have a whole island taken over by plantlife without you getting the weird feeling that you are playing some weird Japanese RPG.

The combat is visceral and so is the level 'solving', even though I found the game quite easy to beat, unless you are trying to find each and every secret level and item that is, but I am not a completist and here to beat the single-player story and that's it, thank you very much.

When it comes to first person combat, be it medieval melee or martial arts, most games either lack the finesse and excitment of combat or have control schemes that make your fingers go all entangled on your ass (Severance, TMNT, Dark Messiah of M&M etc.). Batmam AA manages to make the combat easy to get into, yet you still feel that you are in charge of the action the whole time. The pacing is also very nice, with some parts relying on your stealth skills while other are just bedlam and brawling like there is no tomorrow.

The idea of leveling Batman up is neat but never really takes over the game like some RPG game would, but it is a nice addition to add some depth and tangible feeling of progress as you fight your way through hordes of people with make-up issues.

The story is nice, not a lot of twists and Joker wants to take over the world (O rly?). As usual, all the villains are never inclined to kill Batman when they have the chance but rather let him live, only to have him thwart they plans before curtain fall, ... what the heck, that is what it's like in the movies too eh ?

All in all, this game is loads of fun and I sincerely hope that the other games in the series (City and Origins) add a bit more spice to the levels and the story, but retain the tight and super-polished gameplay. SLICK !

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"Ravenhoe reviewed Batman: Arkham Asylum for the PC..." was posted by Ravenhoe on Sun, 19 May 2013 15:35:46 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/batman-arkham-asylum/user-reviews/811495/platform/pc/ Tue, 14 May 2013 03:20:10 -0700 PeterDuck reviewed Metro: Last Light for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/metro-last-light/user-reviews/811289/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

Don't you love that feeling - waiting for years for the game to be released and then finally playing it. Too bad it only happens so rarely but these moments are ever so precious. Anyways.

The story takes place a year after the events of the first game. The Metro factions are mobilizing to fight and take over the D-6 bunker with all its military goodies. You are sent to kill the last remaining Dark One....

The narrative is still here except it's more defined and refined. The story is mostly presented the same way as in the first game except with some added flashbacks and twists. The airplane sequence for instance, gave me goosebumps and almost brought a tear to the eye. I didn't expect that.

The Dev. Team once again did an outstanding job with the atmosphere. The details to the machinery, the tools, the make-shift equipment, it's all there. The graphics are pretty much the same as in the first game with minor improvements. One thing I can say for certain is that this game features the best fire and water effects than in any other game. The dialogue between NPCs is sometimes pretty long and is always interesting to listen to. You get to meet new characters and cross paths with the old ones. They also added a substantial amount of various NPC models and only after looking real hard did I manage to find twins. The game retains its dystopian feel that's interwoven with some black humor jokes, cultural references (largely unchanged Nazi and Communist ideologies) as well as signs of the new emergent civilization - the theater sequence was particularly appealing. The game is also noticeably longer than the first one so you are getting your money's worth.

The negatives include but are not limited to: Not being able to see your legs, not being able to see your reflection in the mirror and not being able to speak a single word (even though this is Artyom's story too). The instant someone is killed their head flight dies with them for some unknown reason. But at least this time around we can actually cast a shadow AND the bodies of the slain enemies no longer disappear, for the most part.

The game has some gritty and genuinely creepy WTF moments. The old monsters are more vicious and the new monsters are quite disgusting, truly. I could do without those evil vine monsters, they just don't sit right with me. In addition, the human enemies die from one or two bullets which is more than I could say for most shooters. The human enemies take cover, roll over, throw grenades, call in back up, retreat and advance. They tease you and they lure you out.

For the most part, the game is as linear as the first one. There is also more exploration to do in some chapters than others. The game mechanics remain unchanged. The stealth system still works pretty well and there are a few close-kill animations added. Not only that, you now have the option of knocking people out instead of slicing their throat.

There are a few new weapons. You can still do some minor customizations to almost each one of them which is certainly welcome, only if, you hadn't spent the first quarter of the game without your primary starting weapon since you keep getting captured over and over again...."sigh"

The engine has been optimized pretty well. I was able to get 60 FPS on my GTX 680 while recording with Fraps and while playing in 3D. (I get half that running same hardware on the first game). On the other hand, I am somewhat suspicious that some textures have been scaled down so that the consoles could run this game properly.

I've been playing on the Hardcore Ranger Mode and so far it's paying off. You can't just run around and slice monsters with your knife when you run out of bullets, two hits and you are dead, you can't see your bullet count and you can barely even discern whether you are using make-shift or the military-grade type of ammo. I do find it disturbing that they are charging $ 5 for the difficulty setting. Although, that point has nothing to do with the quality of the game. Make sure to add the line "r_base_fov 80" here %LOCALAPPDATA%4A GamesMetro LL to increase your field of view. It doesn't break the visual depiction of Artyom's arms too much. Make the cfg file read-only as well after you make the changes.

Overall, this a unique experience that was very much worth waiting for. The dread, the shudder, the melancholy, the distant clanking noises and the sound of Steven King's: "The MIST arachnids" will often send chills down your spine. The sheer feeling of sadness that this game radiates cannot be understated. What these Metro games do is allow you to experience a possible future (minus the mutants perhaps), so please support this developer. Make sure to listen to every dialogue and visit every last corner of this engineering marvel that stands as a potential savior of humanity, or in the least, as the protractor of its existence...

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"PeterDuck reviewed Metro: Last Light for the PC..." was posted by PeterDuck on Tue, 14 May 2013 03:20:10 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/metro-last-light/user-reviews/811289/platform/pc/ Fri, 10 May 2013 18:51:40 -0700 Pierst179 reviewed Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed for the Wii U... http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-and-all-stars-racing-transformed/user-reviews/811188/platform/wii-u/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

In all of the gaming industry, there is no niche where there is a domination as huge as the one that exists on the kart racing one. All games and teams that venture into the realm know exactly what needs to be done, which is to produce a game that draws positive comparisons to Mario Kart. After all, not only was it Nintendo that created the often-copied formula, but Mario and his crew have been executing it masterfully for over two decades. During that period of time, only a very restricted number of titles – out of which Diddy Kong Racing and Crash Team Racing stand out - were able to break the monopoly, each for their own reasons and pronenesses. Sonic Racing Transformed manages to enter that select group, and it does so by fixing the flaws of its predecessor, and offering a fantastic mix of challenge, content and outstanding track design.

The first noticeable feature that makes Sonic Racing Transformed stay away from being just another kart game is exposed right on its title. The game does not focus solely on wacky automobile competitions. Instead, the races take place on the water, in the sky and on the land. It would not have been such a refreshing concept but for one detail: tracks are not based on a single vehicle; each one of them presents segments that demand different racing approaches, forcing characters to magically go from one vehicle to the other on the fly. With the exception of a few rare instances when the vehicles behave oddly in the milliseconds following a transformation, the transitions are mostly smoothly done and add a lot of excitement to the race. Aside from the fantastic visual value of, for instance, going up a ramp with a boat and watching as it turns into an airplane in the midst of a battle for a position, the transformations also have strategic value, because as flying is considerably faster than the other two options of movement, the racing tracks will offer opportunities to transform into a plane earlier, rewarding those who find ramps and taking off spots.

Speaking of the tracks, they are yet another point that heavily benefits from the blending of vehicles, and are the clear highlights of the game. Courses take advantage of that opportunity in two distinct ways: they are either built so that three vehicles are used during the same lap, or they present environmental elements that alter the path in between laps. Therefore, even though the game contains sixteen original tracks, plus four extracted for its predecessor - all of which are kart-only – it feels like much more, because as they mutate, tracks often become different to the point of not being recognizable. As if all that work was not enough, the game's tracks are also packed with alternative paths and shortcuts, which add a lot to both their already high replayability and to the element of surprise waiting within each race.

In a genre usually dominated by multiplayer-focused games, Sonic Racing Transformed brings forth a whole lot of single-player value. There are two main modes where the solo fun resides: Grand Prix and Career. The first one is nearly self-explanatory, players compete against nine other characters in four-race cups to see who ends up with the biggest amount of points. In total, there are ten cups, equally divided between regular and mirrored ones, and the difficulty of each can be chosen among four distinct options. Meanwhile, in the Career mode, through which most of the characters are unlocked, presents individual challenges that include regular races where players must finish in a certain position, time trials, boost challenges and racing duels against a series of characters. According to the difficulty chosen for each challenge, players will earn stars, which can then be used to unlock gates that are either protecting new characters or more challenges.

For a game as colorful and seemingly kid-friendly as this one, it packs an immensely surprising amount of challenge. While the high level of difficulty is extremely welcome, for it considerably boosts the time that can be spent playing solo, some of its implementation is questionable. Facing at least a portion of the game in the hard difficulty is key if players want to unlock certain characters, and open a few gates hiding some of the more advanced challenges. It is all fine and good if the player in question is experienced; youngsters, however, will most likely be overwhelmed by the many hours of practice one must go through if he wants to clear a good part of the game.

The core problem here is that practice is not the only thing required to go through the entirety of the game; patience is also extremely important. Like all games of its kind, Sonic Transformed presents an assortment of items that can be used during the race. Unlike Mario Kart, however, the items you get are not heavily dependent on the position you find yourself in. Meaning that while leaders are boosting their way through the tracks with powerful items, people in the middle of the pack might be struggling with simple powers. As a consequence, a big part of the game's result, especially on the hardest levels, relies on luck. Though those occurrences are annoying on Career mode, they can be even more frustrating during a Grand Prix, where three straight good races can be destroyed by a bad race where players - which always start at the back of the grid - are unable to reach the leaders because they are too busy being hit by an army of items. Regardless of how good a player is at speeding through the tracks, finishing 1st will usually demand many tries, and an eventual victory is most likely to come due to sheer luck of getting the right item at the right time.

In general, though, Sonic Racing Transformed is a very pleasant game to play. Not only is the game bursting with the personality extracted directly from fantastic Sega properties - including a vast selection of characters, each with very a very unique trio of vehicles - it is also a software that can be enjoyed with friends. The multiplayer gameplay is not restricted to especially designed modes. It is, instead, available in any mode of choice - with the exception of Time Trials - and, by taking advantage of the Wii U gamepad, the game allows for up to five players to battle each other on any of game's many Grand Prix tournaments, Career Mode challenges, or online matches. Whoever holds the Wii U gamepad - which on single-player works as a map display and a rear view mirror - will play on the controller's screen, which despite its average size produces very nice visuals, while those who hold the Wiimotes will share the TV. Though it is not used in any asymmetric and creative way, which is totally understandable given the nature of a racing title, it is nice to be able to avoid split-screen when playing in pairs.

While its predecessor suffered from constant frame rate problems, this is a game mostly free from that issue, and that is no small feat. The tracks are full of activity. Aside from ten racers throwing items and shoving each other, there are plenty of traps going around, scenario details to be processed at the game's relatively fast speed, and that all goes without mentioning how some of the courses suffer mutations in-between laps as a result of explosions, and other kinds of physical destruction. Throw into the bag the fact that the game looks really great, and holding it all together through the entirety of the race becomes quite a technical achievement. Besides being exciting by their fast and frantic nature, races are boosted by a nice soundtrack which is highlighted by some tunes that have been selected from games that present a very powerful soundtrack.

Often, when a good game of the kart racing genre hits a Nintendo platform early on, it tends to be labeled as a title that exists for the purpose of temporarily satisfying any racing needs that players might have until Mario Kart comes around. This time, though, the Nintendo Wii U has received a game that will not simply be thrown away once Nintendo unleashes a new installment on its longstanding racing series, but one that will be able to compete side-by-side with it regardless of how great the next Mario Kart will be. Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed has tons of content, which aside from simply racing include over 100 collectible stickers that serve as awards for the completion of achievements, a nice degree of vehicle customization, and a huge load of the undeniable charm of the Sega franchises. Put some good level of challenge in there, which is sometimes unfortunately done cheaply, and you have a lasting, fun and rewarding title.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Pierst179 reviewed Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed for the Wii U..." was posted by Pierst179 on Fri, 10 May 2013 18:51:40 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-and-all-stars-racing-transformed/user-reviews/811188/platform/wii-u/ Tue, 07 May 2013 15:08:22 -0700 WTA2k5 reviewed BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/811097/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Get the full article at GameSpot

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Get the full article at GameSpot

"WTA2k5 reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by WTA2k5 on Tue, 07 May 2013 13:42:46 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/811095/platform/ps3/ Wed, 01 May 2013 17:40:30 -0700 Pierst179 reviewed Nintendo Land for the Wii U... http://www.gamespot.com/nintendo-land/user-reviews/810919/platform/wii-u/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

It is undeniable that Wii Sports is one of the most successful games of all time. That statement may sound outrageously exaggerated - especially when the fact that its sales were inflated by the fact the title came packed with the Nintendo Wii is considered - but it becomes rather reasonable when we look at it as the doorway the gaming world, and those outside it, used as their entry point to motion-controlled games. In fact, the whole introductory experiment went so well that Nintendo once again attempts to capture lightning in a bottle with Nintendo Land. There is no better way to put it: Nintendo Land is this generation's Wii Sports; the first note on a brand new control scheme, and a game that offers twelve experiments and blueprints which display the system's capabilities. However, it is a game that is far more neatly produced, offers much more in terms of content and value, and has the irresistibly charming quality of being centered around the Nintendo Universe.

In the midst of all the great manners on which the system's controller is used, one of Nintendo Land's key components, perhaps its most original one, is its art style. Set in a fictional Nintendo theme park, the game features a central hub surrounded by twelve extravagant gates that lead into the attractions. Taking advantage of this make-believe scenario, Nintendo made sure to design everything as it were part of a nicely put together attempt to recreate the "real" worlds within their games. On The Legend of Zelda's attraction, the whole world is made of plush; Donkey Kong's ride uses a chalkboard as its background; and the recreation of the world of Pikmin is done with Mushroom Kingdom blocks, and robots that recreate the game's insects. Absolutely everything is exploding either from Nintendo self-references, or bits of detail that tell players nothing is what it seems.

Nintendo Land was built by giving designers the power to act as mad scientists working with a new potion, and such is the case with any experiment in creativity and insanity, some results are far better than others, but the twelve-game package is so varied that every single gamer will, at least, find four attractions he will greatly enjoy. While a player's most liked attractions will be the cause for many hours of gameplay, the least beloved ones will also warrant a visit, because Nintendo Land is packed with collectibles and achievements that are more effectively unlocked when all attractions are played. Every attraction features a number of stamps that can be acquired through the clearing of certain goals, and each one of them will also grant players a star or master rank according to the level of completion achieved.

As if that was not enough, the more levels are cleared, attractions are played, and stamps are acquired, players will gain a few coins, which can be spent in an arcade-like mini-game to unlock gift boxes hiding items featuring Nintendo icons that will decorate the central hub. There is an overwhelmingly great satisfaction in watching as your personal version of the park is populated by statues of Kraid, Ganon, Koopas and others. The quality of the games, the sensational multiplayer value that some of them possess, and the daunting challenges and levels that nearly all of them have would already be a valuable enough incentive to play the game for countless hours, but Nintendo added plenty of extras to keep players going, which goes to show that Nintendo Land is not simply a pack-in, it is a full fledged game that could be worth the full price.

The game offers three attractions focused exclusively on multiplayer. All of which take advantage from the asymmetrical gameplay allowed by the fact the Wii U uses two completely different controllers. In Mario Chase, while one player flees through a small arena others go after him. The twist here is that the player who controls Mario can see the whole map through the gamepad's screen, while the chasers have to explore the place looking for him without many visual clues. Both Animal Crossing: Sweet Day and Luigi's Ghost Mansion are slight variations of that theme: in the first, one player gathers candy around the village while the other controls, through the gamepad, two guards that move independently according to the movement of both control sticks; in the latter, one player acts as a ghost, being invisible to those who look at the TV screen, while the others must use flashlights to capture him. The three experiences are nicely balanced, and the couple of different approaches with which each of them can be experienced doubles the value of the whole thing. Playing them will surely guarantee plenty of laughter, exciting close calls.

On the other end of the spectrum, there is a group of six games whose focus is solo play, four of which are probably the weakest of the bunch: Captain Falcon's Twister Race, Balloon Trip Breeze, Takamaru's Ninja Castle and Octopus Dance. On Twister Race o, players must tilt the gamepad to control the Blue Falcon through a course divided in 16 distinct segments, all of which are times. Balloon Trip has players drawing air currents on the screen to move the character across a sky that is plagued by tons of enemies. On Ninja Castle, players must slide their fingers across the gamepad's screen while aiming at the TV to launch stars against deadly enemies. And in Octopus Dance, both of the pad's control sticks must be used independently to move the arms of your character in order to replicate the dance moves of a robot. Although those games are a lot of fun, they become the game's weakest link because their content is thin, since their value comes from the fact their arcade-like structure will have players going back to the very beginning whenever they lose their lives.

The other two single-player attractions also feature the same sort of game over system, but they have a highly addictive nature that severely diminishes any frustration caused by having to restart from scratch. DK'S Crash Course offers a ten-section obstacle course inspired in the original arcade Donkey Kong title. During this attraction, players must carefully tilt the gamepad to move a little wheeled cart across many slopes, platforms and traps that are just waiting to crush your poor Mii. Meanwhile, on Yoshi's Fruit Cart players must draw a path for Yoshi to follow and eat all the fruits in a given stage. The twist, though, is that obstacles and fruit only appear on the TV, leaving players to utilize tiny visual cues to determine where exactly in the gamepad's screen are the objects located. Like every other attraction in the game, those two keep track of best scores achieved, which makes trying to outdo yourself a very compelling experience.

As a coincidence, or maybe not, the three greatest attractions found in the game are those that allow all three kinds of gameplay: competitive and cooperative multiplayer, and single-player. Metroid Blast, the finest one in the bunch, places up to five players in one arena (where one controls a ship through the gamepad and others play as Samus on the ground) to either blast each other to death or defeat hordes of different enemies in varied challenges. The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest offers nine familiar scenarios with temples, forests and volcanoes where a group of Link-dressed Miis must down many challenging foes and bosses with swords, or with the arrow and bow. Finally, Pikmin Adventure has one player lead the way as Olimar, while the other four control large and very powerful Pikmin to aid Olimar and the regular sized ones.

What is most impressive about those titles, other than the fact that they are fun - a quality that is shared among all attractions of the game - is that they have a load of content. Aside from the regular levels that must be cleared either alone or cooperatively, they also feature extra and very challenging stages (some of which are nearly impossible to clear by yourself), and a whole bunch of different modes to be explored. Another positive point, which is equally spread across the entirety of Nintendo Land, is how well the controls work, especially the gamepad. Moving Samus' ship by working with the control sticks and tilting the controller as if it were a window with which you can better glimpse what is on TV is absolutely fantastic, and the same can be said for moving the cart in DK's Crash Course, using the bow in Zelda: Battle Quest, or getting a totally different perspective through the controller's screen in the chase-centered attractions.

The cherry on top of this glorious pile of content is the game's integration with Mii Verse. Aside from seamlessly allowing players to share comments in-between stages and matches, and showing what other people around the world are saying about the attractions, Nintendo Land will populate the central plaza of the park with hundreds of real Miis from other players. Aside from serving as a visual prop, it is possible to select any Mii that is walking around the place in order to check where that person is from, what attractions they have been playing, how many coins and prizes they have collected, and how is their level of completion in all of the attractions. It's something so naturally done, and it is executed with such an incredible charm, that spending time around the plaza looking at other people's comments and records is a very valid activity. Although the game does not feature any kind of online gameplay, which is a shame as some games could have benefited from it, there is still a whole lot of connectivity.

Nintendo Land, therefore, serves three core purposes. Firstly, it is an extremely well-produced game that packs a whole lot of value; secondly, it serves as a blueprint so that gamers can know what their newly acquired system is capable of, and developers can use its concepts as a source of inspiration; finally, it is a great display of how Nintendo's MiiVerse can be integrated into a game in very meaningful ways. More than a bonus that comes with the system, Nintendo Land is a game that offers plenty of challenge for lonely moments, and a huge quantity of fun when two or more friends are gathered.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Pierst179 reviewed Nintendo Land for the Wii U..." was posted by Pierst179 on Wed, 01 May 2013 17:40:30 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/nintendo-land/user-reviews/810919/platform/wii-u/ Wed, 01 May 2013 11:04:52 -0700 Pierst179 reviewed Assassin's Creed III for the Wii U... http://www.gamespot.com/assassins-creed-iii/user-reviews/810901/platform/wii-u/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

The Assassin's Creed franchise is known for its size and ambitions. In fact, the franchise is so remarkably big that it took Ubisoft two games to get all of its details down, and the result was one unforgeable masterpiece in Assassin's Creed II. Coming at the heels of a series of minor releases derived from the franchise's Italian endeavor, the third major installment of the franchise feels a little bit like a step back; not because it is humbler or plays it safer than its predecessors, but because - much like the original title - while it is a triumphant success in some areas, it feels awkward and dull in others, as if the team behind the game suddenly forgot some of the lessons so effectively learned from the first game's reception. For that, while being frequently greatly enjoyable and invariably impressive, Assassin's Creed III never succeeds in rising to the stellar level of its mesmerizing predecessor.

It all starts when Desmond and his crew locate the temple that holds the secret that will save mankind from destruction. Upon finding the door, though, they discover that they are missing not only the key to open it, but the power sources to activate it. The solution, as expected, involves having Desmond relive the life of one of his ancestors in order to discover the key's location. Connor, our brave new assassin, is the fruit of the quick relationship between a British templar sent on a mission in the United States and a native woman, and he grows up to be an assassin whose targets are deeply involved in the American Revolution. Therefore, players will explore key locations of that conflict, such as Boston, New York and the little towns in its outskirts; meet historic figures; and aid the rebels in their quest for freedom. As it has become a standard for the series, the story is wonderfully told through impressive cutscenes made very believable by the game's great visuals and the good actors employed in its voice acting.

Though undeniably interesting and very exciting, the game's plot is indirectly responsible for the two biggest issues found in the game. First of all, Assassin's Creed III features, by a good margin, the most ambitious story development the series has seen so far. The game is not satisfied with simply focusing on Connor's life as an assassin; instead, it chooses to start from a point way before it all began: Connor's father, a man named Kenway, departure from Britain. Through a sequence of small hops to advance through time, we see and play as Kenway meets Connor's mother; the boy is born and plays with his friends as a child; grows up to be a leader in his tribe; and, finally, decides to train to become an assassin after he goes through a life-changing incident. The fact is that nearly half of the game's missions are spent getting things started. Before Connor is truly free to roam the expanse of the game's world, five of the game's twelve sequences will be finished. In Assassin's Creed III, gameplay serves its story; and not the other way around. As a consequence, the first five sequences are often dull and extremely restricted.

The second issue comes from its setting. As compelling as it may be to watch the revolution be born and then be a part of it, the large scale war is not exactly a scenario that is favorable to the style of gameplay the series thrives on. Assassin's Creed II shined, among other reasons, for the design of its missions, which often involved sneaking around, finding different ways to hide, and managing to kill a target silently. While Assassin's Creed III does offer a few missions like that, there are too many where Connor must either simply lead a battalion, fight out in the open or warn troops of incoming attacks. The game ends up being more about a huge conflict, than back-alley tactics that would usually be performed by a silent assassin. The war-related missions are fun and thrilling, but they do not capture the series' essence as well as the stealth ones do. It is a change of philosophy that will please some, but make others wonder why exactly such a shift occurred.

It's a shame, because in its gameplay, Assassin's Creed III - as expected - offers a wide range of alternatives that can be employed to remain anonymous. If players choose to avoid combat, Connor can rip posts off of the walls, bribe street preachers to talk about something other than his recent exploits, pay the presses that are printing the posters to stop doing so, start riots against the British, hide amongst the crowd, or use his uncannily impressive skills for climbing. Examining enemy patterns and the environment surrounding them in order to find a way to perform silent kills has always been one of the most engaging actions in Assassin's Creed games, and here they remain a clear prowess of the titles, even if those skills are not as frequently used as they should have been.

When the alternative chosen to handle some of the missions is direct combat, or if Connor's stealth skills are not sharp enough to make him invisible; then players will be treated to a fine combat system. Connor can defend opponents' attacks, break their defense, and attack. The game offers a wide variety of weapons that can be equipped - even some fire weapons - and though enemy variety isn't exactly a highlight, the battles remain entertaining and challenging all the way through the whole game.

If the fifteen-hour main quest has not remained solid in its quality during the transition between installments, the sidequests that populate the title remain quite engaging, and it feels like they have grown in numbers too. In fact, there are so many of them that according to the game's counter for percentage of completion, only about 30% of it is done once the main quest is wrapped up. Many quests that appeared in previous games of the series make a return. Connor will have to deliver letters, free prisoners, find high viewpoints in order to clear areas of the map, collect page's of Benjamin's Franklin almanac, recruit other assassins, engage in combats, find treasure, and find and break into heavily guarded forts that are hidden throughout the game's enormous world map.

In the end, more than twenty hours can be pleasantly spent simply exploring the world and finding its secrets. What is most fascinating about this sort of experience, though, is that sometimes the secrets are neither collectibles nor anything that contributes to the game's completion percentage, but small nuggets of details that show how much care was put into this ridiculously big world, which is on a level that cannot be compared to any other game out there. Boston and New York hide the old buildings and locations that are now known worldwide, or at least in the United States; while the Frontier, a forest-covered area with many hidden small towns, hides nice little places, creeks, waterfalls, mountains and people that add many layers of content to a game that is already swimming in impressive depths. Though the distance between goals might often been long, it is punctuated by little encounters that give it a lot of meaning.

Out of the numerous side missions the game presents, three are brand new and clear highlights. First of all, there is Connor's homestead. A big peaceful piece of land amidst all the chaos where Connor decides to build a small community under his protection. At first, it is an abandoned location, but little by little Connor will come across people in need of a home, and by helping them out players will get them to move to the homestead, and aid in its development and quality of life, which makes it the game's most satisfying quest. Secondly, as a native, Connor has developed the ability to hunt, and there is no better place for that than the Frontier. There, Connor can locate and kill many kinds of prey, such as hares, bears, wolves, foxes, and others. The capture of each animal requires a different approach, either direct or using traps, and capturing animals either in large numbers or by using unique techniques will fill up huntsmen challenges, which are both numerous and entertaining to perform.

Lastly, halfway through the game, Connor acquires one mighty ship, allowing him to perform naval quests behind the wheel. Those missions usually vary from navigating troubled rocky waters without taking much damage, to fighting a number of British vessels either through fire and cannonballs, or by boarding them. The ship's controls are easy to learn, and the ability to upgrade many of the ship's parts in order to be able to tackle tougher challenges makes those quests a real test of skill. In addition, they also happen to be extremely thrilling and exciting, serving as a great break from the game's regular missions.

Overall, Assassin's Creed III has more content than the average gamer is able to handle. It has a good, but irregular, central quest which is supported by an even more time-consuming set of sidequests that give plenty of life to this impressive world. Any game can claim to having one ridiculously gigantic overworld, but it takes a lot of creativity and care to fill it up with enough detail and life to give it some purpose other than padding the game to boring lengths. In spite of its flaws and the fact that it does not live up to its predecessor, Assassin's Creed III is a rare display of a game that big for a reason other than a shallow showcase of megalomania. It is a game filled to the brim with well-done characters, cutscenes, missions and great visual design; and though its sheer scope is cause for a few technical issues here and there, it is a more-than-welcome feature, because no amount of hours is enough to explore all of its fascinating corners.

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"Pierst179 reviewed Assassin's Creed III for the Wii U..." was posted by Pierst179 on Wed, 01 May 2013 11:04:52 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/assassins-creed-iii/user-reviews/810901/platform/wii-u/ Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:25:46 -0700 Pierst179 reviewed New Super Mario Bros. U for the Wii U... http://www.gamespot.com/new-super-mario-bros-u/user-reviews/810720/platform/wii-u/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

After a lull of two generations, Nintendo has decided to go back to its roots and release, alongside a brand new system, a fresh Mario game. Differently from what other Mario games that kicked off a new Nintendo generation did, though, New Super Mario Bros. U is by no means a glorious display of what more powerful hardware can do. Instead, it safely bets on the gold mine that the sidescrolling franchise has become, and decides not to shake things up in any significant way or form. For most companies and studios, that would be a recipe for disaster, especially considering the fact that this is the fourth New Super Mario Bros. game to come out during the past few years. However, what surfaces from this new Mario adventure is a game that, through all its more than sixty stages, pulls of exciting and unexpected tricks using the same old mechanics. A game that is certainly worthy of being the opening note for a new console.

First, it is important to get the bad stuff out of the way: there is nothing incredibly mind-blowing or impressive about the bricks with which this game is built. The art has not received any tweaks, neither significant nor minor; the songs and sound effects remain as unchanged as they can be; the enemies and bosses are all incredibly familiar in their behavior, looks and weak spots; princess Peach is once again kidnapped by Bowser and his offspring; and even the themes used for the worlds are commonplace, not only in their nature, but also in their order, as Mario will start his adventure on some calm plains, move on to a desert, to a snow-covered land, and a few worlds later, wrap it all up among waves of magma. Nintendo is so aware of the repetition, that they do not even attempt to conceal it; they choose to thrive on it instead, and it is easily arguable that the mundane nature of pretty much everything about the game works in favor of the stage design, highlighting its sheer glorious brilliancy.

In its core, that is what New Super Mario Bros. U is all about: stage design. It is, once more, astounding what Nintendo is able to do with a limited set of power-ups, among which the return of the raccoon suit is the only real difference to its predecessor; and Mario's equally restricted array of moves. As usual, things start slowly and simple in the first world, but as the plumber moves on to the desert, New Super Mario Bros. U starts picking up speed, and - before you realize it - the game becomes a train of fun going downhill in full-speed with nothing in sight that can stop it. Within the same world, or even inside the boundaries of the entire game, Nintendo barely re-utilizes or recycles any tricks, making every single stage a different creature.

If there is a noteworthy change in the game's structure, that is its overworld. While not being a new concept, as it has been previously used in Super Mario World, the game features a single overworld map that presents the individual worlds in a fully connected manner; players can literally walk from stage one to Bowser's place continuously. Though equal to what Super Mario World brought to the table, it is plain to see that - in New Super Mario Bros. U - the map is far better designed. As players clear stages, especially the secret ones, the scenario will creatively shift its shape to open the way to stages and locations that are truly hidden, often opening up paths that will leave one world, go through a nearby one, only to end in some remote location in a third distinct place. It is even possible to argue that a big part of the joy of finding a secret stage is seeing how the world map will transform to accommodate it.

For those who have been rightfully complaining about the ever diminishing difficulty of Mario games, New Super Mario Bros. U is an oasis. Though simply finishing the stages isn't exactly painfully hard, going after the star coins will almost invariably lead to the need to perform complicated maneuvers that require both skill and timing. And, in a good sign that the game stays on the right side of the line separating frustration from difficulty, it does not matter how many times Mario falls to his death, players will always feel the urge to try once more. If looking for full completion, newcomers to the series will find one daunting task, and veterans will encounter a great deal of challenge, especially on the secret and special stages, which are worthy of their fame for being brutally tough.

New Super Mario Bros. U might not be an impressive technical display of the Wii U's capabilities, but it is a stellar showcase of how games can interact with Nintendo's Miiverse in an effective and game-improving way. Whenever players clear a stage while performing any significant achievement such as collecting all star coins, not taking any damage, or getting to the flag really fast, the game will automatically prompt players for comments on the stage so that they can be posted on the game's community on Miiverse so that the whole world can see them. The same will happen in frustrating situations, like when Mario loses way too many lives on a stage. In cases like this, though, the game will humorously ask players so send out warnings or angry letters to Bowser on how tough the stage is. Not only are those interruptions brief and seamless, therefore not disturbing the game's pace, but the manner with which comments are integrated into the game (either being shown in the overworld or while the stage loads in-between attempts) adds a lot to the experience.

And that ends up being New Super Mario Bros. U greatest victory. While the stages are astonishing, the graphics are smoother than ever, the multiplayer can range between cooperative (with two players) to maddeningly chaotic (with four players), and the game is packed to the brim with extras such as time trials, coin-collecting, and enemy-defeating challenges that extend the game's twenty-five hours of adventure into a package that can last for over forty hours of fun; all of those aspects are trumped by the novelty of the game's social factor. Sharing our achievements, failures and angry outbursts is a lot of fun, and the constant reminder that there are tons of people around the globe going through the same ordeals that you are experiencing somehow makes the whole game a lot more fun, and it will certainly motivate players to look into every corner of the game for every secret or achievement that is possible to find or accomplish.

At first glance, New Super Mario Bros. U does not seem to do justice to the past Mario games that debuted alongside a new Nintendo system, because it is devoid of any visual leaps or visible gameplay improvements, but in the end it is certainly worthy of carrying that legacy forward, as even though it is not completely built around Miiverse like Nintendo Land, it manages to integrate it very nicely to a genre where, initially, such connection would be hard to develop. As it is usual for a Mario sidescroller, New Super Mario Bros. U shows gaming at one of its purest and funnest forms, where everything exists for the sake of gameplay, but this time it comes packed with a delightfully fresh new component. It feels like a new generation has indeed started.

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"Pierst179 reviewed New Super Mario Bros. U for the Wii U..." was posted by Pierst179 on Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:25:46 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/new-super-mario-bros-u/user-reviews/810720/platform/wii-u/ Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:16:59 -0700 GeekyDad reviewed Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - Soul Hackers for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/shin-megami-tensei-devil-summoner-soul-hackers/user-reviews/810588/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

The review title is just a slight jab at the folks unable to appreciate anything in the Shin Megami Tensei (SMT) series that isn't Persona. Don't get me wrong, I love Persona 3 & 4, but this ain't like those games. Soul Hackers is more like the original SMT games, and to that end, it is pretty darn sweet.

Let me premise this review by saying I'm reviewing it as a classic game, not necessarily a modern 3DS release. Why? Well, this is kind of a love letter to fans from Atlus. The game originally released, as most of you probably already know, on the Sega Saturn and then was ported to PS1. Neither release was localized for the western world. Now, SMT fans get a chance to make their ends meet for the series, and considering the cost to find a hardcopy of one of the original versions, not even in English, this is a great opportunity for many of us.

Soul Hackers, with its cyberpunk setting, is surprisingly hip today, though the story and dialogue were written almost 15 years ago. Heck, this game was really ahead of its time in that regard. The presentation isn't going to bowl anyone over, but the voice work goes a long way to helping the transition to a modern handheld.

You probably know the premise by now. If you don't, go look it up – I won't waste time with that here. Suffice it to say, however, it's an engrossing story, one that dives deep into the metaphysical and emotional.

For the uninitiated, Soul Hackers' gameplay consists of first-person dungeon crawling with random encounters. Today's standard is probably the Etrian Odyssey series, and anyone who is familiar with those games can immediately visualize what you'll get here. However, Soul Hackers offers a more focused adventure, with interesting twists and turns.

Additionally, as is the norm for pretty much all SMT games, demon recruitment is a big part of the experience. SMT is basically Pokemon with an M-rating in that respect. That being said, demons don't level up in Soul Hackers, and you'll need to routinely recruit and fuse new demons in order to keep your edge. I really enjoyed this aspect of the game. It's old-school, sure, but it still works great today. It actually offers more incentive to collect and create new demons.

Demons are more than merely a gameplay device, though. The dialogue and interactions with them add a ton of personality to the adventure. Unfortunately, they don't animate all that much visually, and if you've been playing this series for a while, you've likely seen most of these demon sprites many times before.

The music, on the other hand, is fresh and varied. Some new tunes were added, along with a complete OST if you ordered a physical copy, and the sound effects hold up quite well. Wasn't terribly impressed with the character Nemissa's voice actress, but the rest of the cast were pretty great. You'll recognize a lot of the actors if you've been playing RPGs for a while. It's a fun crew for sure.

My only real gripes with the game – and let's face, they're really minor – are the things that weren't updated that probably should have been, as well as things that were updated that are kind of useless. The menu system feels clunky at times, and the touch-screen usage is absolutely lame. Rather than afford you the option to sift through the menu on the touch screen, its functionality has one use: to open the hack menu.

Speaking of hacks, they're basically cheats to make the game easier. There is an option to actually make gameplay more difficult, but I would have rather seen separate difficulty settings for each playthrough, something to work toward unlocking perhaps. Instead, Atlus went the Bioware route, giving you the option of changing the difficulty on the fly. I personally haven't touched a single hack, but I still don't like having the options there. It's a temptation I don't really care to have in my games. This ain't Animal Crossing after all.

In spite of these quibbles, we still get a wonderfully spruced up port of a classic SMT game most of us outside of Japan never a got a chance to experience. And it's a damn fine experience at that. Not everything is going to please everyone, yet there's still something here for almost everyone to enjoy. The grind isn't too heavy on the normal settings, and the dungeon designs, though visually unexciting, are interesting in terms of the goals set in front of you. There are light puzzle elements, but the story and demon interactions definitely take center stage in Soul Hackers. I recommend anyone interested in the game go ahead and nab a physical copy, since you'll likely get more value out of it with the included OST and extra box. Persona 3 & 4 fans may wanna watch some video before buying, as this might not be your thing, but SMT fans should swoop it up without worry. If you dig Etrian Odyssey gameplay but long for more substance story-wise, this will almost be a dream come true for you.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/shin-megami-tensei-devil-summoner-soul-hackers/user-reviews/810588/platform/3ds/ Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:07:19 -0700 danny_dm_moore reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810261/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

Innovation has long been a point of contention in gaming. With so many aspects to a game, not to mention genre's and systems, what can be instantly recognisable as innovative?

The game bearing name the Bioshock Infinite is a game that will spring to my mind from this point forward when discussing such ideas. While it does little to rewrite what a First Person Shooter is, the latest from Irrational Games innovates in so many other ways it is sure to become an instant classic that will be remembered long after this console generation is replaced.

Much like the first two Bioshock games, Infinite has a very unique setting, the floating city of Columbia serves as not only as the place to fight through, but also a living, breathing world, full of intrigues both large and small. The game is set in 1912, but why is a barbershop quartet singing a Beach Boys song? What technology is allowing an entire city to float above the clouds? What type of people want to live there?

You play as Booker Dewitt, former Pinkerton (FBI before the FBI, basically) and war survivor. Booker is in debt and so agrees to go to Columbia and bring back Elizabeth, a girl held in a tower. That is about all of the story your getting from me.

I could spoil every detail, give my own opinions on the intentions of Ken Levine and co and analyse every image, dialog and sound byte in the game, but that would make you miss just what makes Infinite so special and so you will just have to play it.

Luckily, playing the game is a lot of fun. Personally I never had an issue with the combat in the previous Bioshock games, but I can also tell that everything is tighter here, and in an FPS that is a basic fundamental that needs to be nailed, and it is with aplomb.

Your right hand has your currently equipped weapon, while your left has your currently equipped vigour. Vigour's are functionally the same as plasmids from Bioshock, granting you special powers such as the ability to throw fireballs or electrocute enemies. The various powers can be combined, so turning an enemy to your side then hitting them with a fireball will set them alight and allow them to set others ablaze, its a good system that works well, allowing experimentation with the powers.

It does allow said experimentation, but whether you actually want to or not is another matter. I found that while I could combine effects, it could prove stressful to remember to change powers in the middle of combat. I found it much more effective to combine powers with the various weapons to help deal with large crowds.

Which brings me to my only real problem with the game. The weapons feel really good to fire, and that makes the game fun apart from two things: 1) Hard difficulty and above can get frustrating and 2) there just two many of them. To the first point, Hard mode in a game should provide a decent challenge and to be fair it did here too, but death got to be such a huge thing that while there is no real way to fail it became frustrating to go into every encounter knowing for certain you will die and do it often.

The second point is an interesting one because FPS games are usually stuffed with weapons so that you can pick and choose. However, this is a title less about the weapons and more about story and setting. You don't need three kinds of assault rifle/machine gun along with the usual RPG, shotgun and sniper rifle. Four or five weapons would have been more than enough, and you can easily get through the entire game using less than that. Its a silly thing that brings nothing to the title and feels out of place.

My recommendation is to play on normal and choose two or three weapons early and keep using them. It will see you through almost all encounters and the vigour's allow more combat options than the same gun with a different skin.

The game looks and sounds fantastic, and while the PS3 version I played had a little screen tearing, it is nothing that can really affect the game and to be fair, you get so immersed in the world that you wont notice it that often anyway.

Columbia is a joy to just walk through, with no combat at all. It's cool to see the massive engines keeping the city aloft as the buildings above them bob gently in the wind, the clouds slowly moving by. Every place is connected by 'sky-lines' - basically roller coasters that allow you to move between area's of the city pretty quick. Of course, you may have to fight on these things, and I didn't find that particularly easy to do, but you don't have to jump onto a sky-line while in combat so its not really an issue.

It feels like a living breathing place, and while yes, that is a clich–, it is one I am happy to revel in. One scene where Booker ends up on a 'beach' with people sunbathing and hanging out with friends and family shows this particularly well.

The sounds add to this at all times, especially the dialog. Though some parts can repeat a bit too often, it's a thing that happens in all games so there is little reason to care. The voice acting is outstanding and really helps sell the story and audio logs scattered throughout the city.

Elizabeth is a female companion to a male protagonist, and as such you might feel like you know exactly where that particular story is heading from the first time you meet. You would be half right and that is all I am going to say. In gameplay terms, she is actually very useful and at no point does the game devolve into an extended escort mission.

She never comes under fire herself and runs around the area seaching for health pack or salts (think mana) to throw to you to keep you going. It allows for your full concentration to be on the task of fighting and there are times when you will need all your wits about you just to survive. It may seem weird that all the guys attacking you never turn on her, but in the context of the story it makes sense.

Infinite is a game that defies expectations, one where you may think you have figured it all out, but that makes the actual revelation all the more brilliant. It sets a new bar for storytelling in games and shows just what imagination can do when unleashed with a clear vision.

Bioshock showed just what types of games can be done on the current generation all those years ago, and so it is fitting that one of the last few big names of that same console cycle is also a deeper, better, more thought provoking game to bare the Bioshock name.

Infinite is a game you should play for many reasons: Its a great and fun FPS, it is visually and aurally gorgeous and its story is a masterpiece of fiction in any medium. Drop what you doing and start playing right now, trust me, you wont regret it.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"danny_dm_moore reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by danny_dm_moore on Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:07:19 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810261/platform/ps3/ Sat, 06 Apr 2013 13:48:12 -0700 Pierst179 reviewed Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/luigis-mansion-dark-moon/user-reviews/809947/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

Differently from every single home console released by Nintendo up to that point, the Nintendo Gamecube did not feature a major Mario adventure among its starting lineup of games. Coincidentally, the system that usually stands as the black sheep of Nintendo's hardware collection - if you exclude the virtual boy - kicked things off with an often overlooked character: Luigi. Appreciation for Luigi's Mansion would steadily grow over the years, and for a game that originally appeared as an average launch title, the franchise ended up with a surprising and deserving amount of voices supporting an eventual return. More than a decade later, Dark Moon comes around to expand on the concept of the first game and give it a heavy infusion of the clumsy personality that Luigi has gained during the past few years on his RPG incursions. The result of it all is the very best game the Nintendo 3DS has to offer up to this point in its lifespan.

The game, seemingly eager to display its glorious blend of eerie environments and slapstick humor, shows its nature from the get go. Luigi sits at home watching TV when, suddenly, Professor E. Gadd interrupts the signal to summon Luigi to yet another creepy quest. The ghosts of Evershade Valley had been exhibiting a very peaceful behavior in recent years. Unfortunately, during one apparently normal night, the spirits begin to act up; destroying everything in their surroundings and haunting the abandoned locations of the valley. An awfully frightened Luigi tries to hilariously deny the invitation for an adventure, but the Professor promptly transports Nintendo's second plumber to the valley and - thankfully, for us - sends him ghost-hunting around the valley.

Instead of featuring one large mansion where the whole adventure takes place, Next Level Games cleverly decided to split the game in five distinct manors. The geographical separation of the houses allowed the developers to create one overall theme for each one of them, and that wider potential for creation was very well explored. While the first location is your average haunted house, the others go on to explore themes like ice, plants and clockwork; the last of which strays away from the regular assortment of Mario themes and ventures into a theme that is fantastically adequate for a haunted universe. The mansions are throughly impressive in both their visual and structural design and they never cease to amaze: every turn and corner hides the possibility of a surprise and the rooms are packed to the brim with objects and contraptions that Luigi can interact with, which often generate some truly funny results.

The amount of stuff that can be pushed, pulled, sucked, and moved is enough for the mansions to receive many accolades for stellar attention to detail, but while Next Level Games was clearly worried about the finer grains of the mansions' environments, they also took excellent care of how they were built. Set up in ways that tend to remember some Zelda dungeons, moving around the mansions becomes a puzzle in its self. Invariably, during the game's missions, the location that serves as Luigi's current destination will be neatly highlighted in the map. Getting there, though, is usually not as straightforward as the map will let on, as it will involve deep exploration of the surrounding rooms, puzzle solving, the finding of keys, ghost encounters and other events. Once they are cleared, the mansions will not seem like they are enormous, but the game is so densely filled up with mystery and riddles that at least three hours are required to clear each one of them.

In respect to the game's handheld nature, Next Level Games took a decision that certainly causes diverging effects. The game is completely structured around missions, usually featuring six for each house plus a boss battle and a mindless ghost hunt against the clock. The benefits of such an approach is that, besides making it possible to play the game in short bursts, the game gains a lot of replayability because players are awarded a rank for each missions based on money acquired, ghosts captured, time spent and health lost; and the mansions go through some significant changes between missions. However, as Luigi has to return to E. Gadd's lab every twenty minutes, the game loses a bit of its haunting immersion - slightly harming the company's environmental work - and occasionally does not allow players to go into certain areas of the mansion during the course of some missions, which goes against the natural urge players will get to explore the very well-done locations. Also negatively affecting the game's sense of isolation is the fact that E. Gadd is often calling up Luigi in order to give him details of where to go and what to do. While the interruptions do diminish as the game advances, they remain an issue through the adventure.

Those flaws, though noticeable, are ridiculously tiny compared to the game's flooring qualities. Everything in Dark Moon is nicely done. The controls are tightly done and make battling ghosts a huge thrill; a positive factor that is multiplied by the nice variety of ghosts that the game throws at Luigi. The simple controls and Luigi's limited set of instruments - he only packs his trustworthy glorified vacuum cleaner and a flashlight that either makes environments brighter or reveals hidden objects - are used to an incredible degree, and the quantity of different puzzles that the developers were able to come up with having only a few tools at the character's command is beyond remarkable. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is one of those games that amaze every step of the way, and whatever issues individual players may encounter during the adventure will be easily overshadowed by everything else.

If on the creative front Dark Moon is spectacular, its technical departments shine equally bright and set new high standards for the system. The game's visuals are absolutely astounding. The fact that the game takes place in tiny rooms instead of open environments allowed Next Level Games to go all out with textures, effects and details without fear that the game's rendering performance would suffer. Few Nintendo games have ever offered such detailed scenes, and delicate precision with each lights and shadows have been implemented - a key factor for a generally dark game - is quite a sight. The music and sound design are also very well done. Taking advantage of low-key compositions and punctual sound effects, the game crafts one tense environment which has its darkness balanced by the cartoonish sounds emitted by ghosts, Luigi's always amusing voice tonality and the fact that he often likes to hum along with the tune that is playing on the background.

Where Luigi's Mansion is most impressive, though, is in its animation. Anyone who stops to pay attention to the way Luigi moves will certainly burst out laughing at how he walks, runs and looks around in ridiculous fright. The highlight comes around in the small custscenes that punctuate the exploration. The mansions are full of holes in the wall through which Luigi can check out what ghosts are doing when they think he is not looking. Those little peeks into their behavior tend to be accompanied by comical cutscenes of their wild interactions with each other and it is easy to lose a few minutes looking at what they are doing while taking in the cleverness of it all.

If an adventure that can stretch out for over fifteen hours - especially if players decide to go after the collectible gems and boos - is not enough to satisfy the needs created by more than one decade of waiting, then the game packs a very solid multiplayer mode. In it, four players explore mansions that can range from five floors to twenty-five in three different modes that share the same goal: finding a way to get to the top of the mansion by unlocking doors, capturing ghosts and enduring the many challenges of working as a team. The mansions in the multiplayer mode are randomly generated, which adds a good deal of value to the whole experience even if there is a limited set of rooms from which mansions are created. However, as the fun comes from working together with other Luigis, capturing ghosts and defeating a boss every five floors, the multiplayer remains a strong and alluring option either as a break from the main adventure or as a source of fresh fun after the game is done.

Two years into the 3DS' life, Luigi's Mansion is, by one considerable margin, the best and most complete game to show up on the system. If more than a decade ago the lack of a Mario game on the Gamecube's launch lineup was a reason to delay the purchase of the system, this time around Luigi trumps his brother and becomes the ultimate reason why owning a 3DS is worth it.

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"Pierst179 reviewed Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for the 3DS..." was posted by Pierst179 on Sat, 06 Apr 2013 13:48:12 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/luigis-mansion-dark-moon/user-reviews/809947/platform/3ds/ Tue, 26 Mar 2013 02:21:48 -0700 PeterDuck reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/809356/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

It's finally here.

Nearly 6 hours into the game and it still feels like I just started playing. Yeah, you could guess it's one of those kind of games. Anyways.


The graphics:

Not much improvement here since the last two games. This is still Unreal Engine 3 with much added Bloom effect, some good lightening and that's pretty much it. The water still looks the same way it did back in 2007, as in average at best. And may I mention that 6 years is a loooong time in Game Years. The sky is static but pretty. You still cannot cast a shadow and you cannot see your legs but at least you have a voice and you also hear your own thoughts. Visually speaking however, the game impresses with its artistic design, scope and ambiance. The Field of View can be set to 65, which I still found too constricting. By going to My Documents/My Games/Bioshock Infinite/Xgame/Config I was able to set my FOV to 90 which greatly improved the panoramic feel of the game. I strongly advise doing the same thing. The game also occupies 17 GB. This means a really really long game and lots and lots of textures upon textures upon textures for the eye to relish in.


The game is actually pretty easy, especially if you upgrade your shield, even on hard. Hopefully, the 1999 difficulty would make it more challenging. At first, you get revived through another version of the Vita chamber (accompanied with you losing money and with the nearby enemies healing themselves) which I really could not stand in the first two games until they gave you the option to play the game without them. Playing without the Vita chambers made you play the game more carefully. Eventually, Elizabeth starts reviving you. The plasmids are also kind of back although they are now called Vigors.

Speaking of Elizabeth. They really did put a lot of effort into creating her character. She learns about the outside world and applies her knowledge from the books she read. She matures and kind of grows on you. She quickly adapts to any environment that you are exploring and participates in looking for items, looking around, picking locks (although you have to look for the lock picks), taking cover from gunfire and providing support by giving you weapons, ammo, health and coin. If you aim at her, she will move away from your line of sight. All in all, she is a pretty cool side-kick.

Some of the game play is coincidentally similar to Dishonored, as far as versatility and assaulting from the height goes.

They kind of messed up with the aiming since every time you press the Zoom button when shooting you have to UN-zoom yourself every time. Why can't I toggle the zoom option for when I hold the zoom button? I am glad to see that they scraped that awful huge crosshair and replaced it with a small dot.

Also, you can only carry 2 weapons now which somewhat adds to realism. However, you won't see anymore 3 different ammo types for each weapon. This means that you no longer have to apply any tactics to killing various foes. They will simply become bullet sponges OR you will be able to pull off those one shot on kill scenarios. That being said, you never really feel that character progression. The ammo is also quite plentiful unlike in the previous two installments where you had to make every round count. The upgrades for weapon are much more frequent than in Bioshock 2 and therefore cause less excitement and feeling of accomplishment. Also, you cannot see the upgrades that get attached to your weapon. Why? That was such a cool thing in Bioshock 1 & 2. You may kill 20 grunts but nothing comes close to killing a Big Daddy or a Big Sister. You may also update your gear. You have 4 slots which you can use to wear specialized, hat, pants and what not. These perks increase the chances of incinerating someone when you melee as well as increasing the critical hit chance and so on.



One of the things you find out pretty soon is that Columbia's existence is not a secret to America nor to the outside world. I found that slightly disappointing. Rapture, on the other hand, was made to look like a secret city. The constant sense of dread of being underwater as well as the feeling of abandonment and near total isolation coupled with leaky pipes, Big Daddies and splicers combined into an original form of creepy anxiety.

The nature of Columbia's existence and it's role eventually takes on a new form as you play. Also. whereas Rapture was mostly confined to small areas and corridors, Columbia offers more real estate to explore. I am not comparing Rapture to Columbia for the sake of arguing that the former is better than the latter necessarily. I am simply saying that Columbia invokes different feelings. You are not fighting crazed mutants driven by their addiction to Adam in poorly lit environments of a dying city. You are mostly fighting brainwashed humans driven by their devotion to Comstock in the open skies of a prosperous city. Take your pick.

The city is welcoming and brooding at the same time. The dichotomy is only felt to an outsider. Even the African-Americans are accustomed to their mistreatment. The city demonizes Lincoln and reveres Washington as well as John Wilkis Booth. Throw in racism, some veiled Christian Fundamentalism and intolerance, some alternative science run amok and you have your floating untouchable and powerfully uncanny Confederacy.

This is one of those few games that borders the fine line that separates great games from perfect games.

No need to write anything else. The game will sell itself.

P.S. Those who watched and enjoyed Fringe, you're in for a treat. Also, the last 10 minutes of the game will hint at the meaning of the subtitle "Infinite".

Get the full article at GameSpot

"PeterDuck reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PC..." was posted by PeterDuck on Tue, 26 Mar 2013 02:21:48 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/809356/platform/pc/ Sat, 23 Mar 2013 11:14:54 -0700 PeterDuck reviewed Resident Evil 6 for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-6/user-reviews/809255/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 2.0.

What went wrong here? Well, everything.

The gameplay, arguably the most important part of most if not any game, is broken. The camera, which was allegedly fixed shortly after the console release, is still broken. Basically, it jerks you around every time you are trying to do anything. When you are running, the camera pulls back and views everything from the low vantage point. Basically, it makes you NOT see your surroundings pretty well. When you try to melee someone, it pulls your forward and then in all different directions.

Another thing, Dead Space 3 introduced the roll option. I barely used it and didn't like it much. DS2 worked perfectly fine without it. However, all you needed to do was use your WSAD keys along with the SPACE key to pick which way you wanted to roll. Pretty easy. Not in this game. If you want to roll left, click Z. If you want to roll right, click C. If you want to roll back, click X. If you want to roll/slide forward, click 2. Convenient, huh? Don't bother using it, because when you divert one of your fingers to try to roll left or right you will expose yourself to harm by not being able to use WSAD effectively because you only have 5 fingers.

I also had to turn brightness all the way up. Why? Well, evidently folks at CAPCOM were creating this game for consoles without PC in mind. So when you are walking in a dark environment and looking straight you see that 'dark fog' slowly lifting up revealing everything (like in the good old days on PS1). THEN, all of a sudden you see a zombie 3 feet away that jumps you. WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?

Should I mention there are re-spawning enemies in most areas? Should I mention how frustrating it is when you try to make a pathway for your partner but the enemies keep respawning behind you while your partner is running out of bullets since it takes good 10-15 to turn that wheel and lower the bridge? Hell, they also have respawning enemies on a falling airplane!
Also, two people pushing a 20 ton rock boulder?

Yeah, Count me out.

One of the most annoying things in this game is the jumping zombies. Yeah, one second they are slowly walking towards you and another moment they are flying towards you with their arms open. Then they knock you down which is when you have to press WSAD keys all over the place to get them off. However, while doing so your health will STILL DRAIN. Oh, and another thing about health. This is how you heal. You first combine green and red herbs by pressing R in the small menu, when you figure out how to do that you have to look at the bottom right to see how many pills you have. The amount of pills = the amount of health bars. If you want to use it then click 1 three times. Yeah, I know, it's totally idiotic. Try to figure that out during battle. Better yet, try to figure out how to use the spray quickly. 4 hours into the game and I still had trouble healing myself quickly because the menus ARE CLUNKY AND BROKEN.

There are so many other negatives in this games. The more I played it, the worse it got. I thought about RE5 and just how much more superior it was to this game. RE5 graphics were better for one thing and that was 5 years ago. RE5 had directx10, a semi-bearable story, better refined gameplay, cool environments, decent textures, worked out physics (shooting with a shotgun actually meant 3-4 zombies flying back), plenty of hidden treasures, etc. Each enemy required some kind of accuracy and finesse. In RE6 however you just punch zombies to death, and even THAT doesn't always work. If you have one health left your punches don't mean a thing and your screen flashes constantly with the white and red vomit inducing in-nauseating glow. And when you or your partner gets knocked down your screen flashes for 2 seconds with white and red so that you can't see anything. THEN, right after that you try to figure out who exactly got knocked down, your partner or you? I KID YOU NOT.

Btw. why does Ada Wong look Caucasian? She definitely did a nose job. Perhaps Capcom was hoping to attract more Western players or something?

Oh, did I also mention that cutscenes during boss battles don't leave you immune from small enemies? Yeah. Let's say you are fighting a boss and then they show a mid-battle cutscene, you WILL get hurt by a nearby zombie during that time.

One of the mistakes they made is give you the ability to punch, kick and kick in mid air after running (Like in Double Dragon). Which is a yet another insult to the series. Another mistake is giving you the ability to punch ANYTIME you want, and not just when there is a dazzled foe in front of you. So you may just end up spamming the punch button all over the place until you basically clubber the zombie into the oblivion. If you do a finishing move and there is a zombie that's swinging a shovel at you then you WILL get hit right after your finishing move.

There's no more $ that you collect and use towards purchasing weapons and upgrades anymore. Noooo, they scrapped all that. Now you pick up "skill points" after slain enemies and then and then and then....Oh that's right, when do I use those skill points towards upgrading my character? Umm, NEVER in the game. (I was playing on the highest difficulty so maybe that's why, but regardless). You have to quit the game and go into main menu, click campaign and then click SKILL POINTS. And then you have about 30 skills or perks to buy and upgrade and only 3 SLOTS to put them in. This is useless. You can't buy any weapons, you will find a few extra though but you will still be using your main beginning pistols for most of the campaign.

Anyways, I am sure more things will come up. I just can't think of every single idiotic point about this game so I will keep updating this review.

I don't know what else to say. I felt a lot of hate from Capcom. I felt that I was being punished for something. It seems like they made this installment simply because it was that time to make another RE game.

SAVE YOUR MONEY.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"PeterDuck reviewed Resident Evil 6 for the PC..." was posted by PeterDuck on Sat, 23 Mar 2013 11:14:54 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-6/user-reviews/809255/platform/pc/ Thu, 21 Mar 2013 02:03:30 -0700 danny_dm_moore reviewed DmC: Devil May Cry for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/dmc-devil-may-cry/user-reviews/809147/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

It's only recently that the concept of the reboot has entered the world of games. Movies have been doing it for decades, but gaming hasn't really been around long enough for franchises to build themselves up to a point where a reboot makes sense, at least until now.

Other series have tried and failed, but Capcom made the wise decision to hand one of its most popular, but sadly flagging, franchises over to Cambridge developer Ninja Theory to deliver a reboot, and boy were they successful. DmC Devil May Cry reinvents series anti-hero Dante in a meaningful, mature way, does away with a lot of the 'Japanness' of the series and still manages to retain that sense of wise cracking bad-assery that the game needs.

They haven't done anything nuts like change it to a first person shooter, this is still a character action game through and through, only now the story is way better than past games in the series. We join Dante as a young man, struggling to find his place in the world and not remembering exactly who is parents are and what happened to them. It's a bit of a clich–d tale to start with, but as the story builds and we see Dante develop as a character, it grows into a good start for a series that severely needed something new, while also keeping a great sense of fun and humour at all times.

Changes to the gameplay are meaningful as well, striking the right balance between accessibility and depth. Normal strikes are linked to triangle, heavy to circle and shooting to square. That may seem like a simple control scheme, and to be fair it is, but as the game progresses and more weapons are unlocked and abilities upgraded, it is more than enough to provide plenty of depth as you rip your way through hundreds of enemies.

As the story progresses, Dante is granted access to 'Demon Weapons', changing his regular Rebellion sword into Demon or Angel weapons, such as an angelic Scythe or Demon Axe. Why Angel weapons you ask? Well Dante's mom was an Angel, and his father a Demon, so you know, story reasons. It makes sense, and these weapons provide new ways to attack, mixing up streaks of hits as well as providing new evasion options.

Mixing up attacks is highly encouraged, with the style points system from previous games making a return here. Now, I personally always found this system to be a strange disconnect in previous games, not really meshing with the rest of the title. However, here I find it a fun way to make you mix up attacks and string together demon destroying combos. That may sound strange, but I think it is due to the less complicated control scheme allowing me to actually rack up the odd 'SSS' rank and make me feel like a true demon hunter.

To gain said rank, you must switch weapons in the middle of combo's, as well as use different attacks with each one. The demon weapons are activated by pressing L2 for the angel weapons and R2 for the demon weapons and keeping them held. Attacks are pulled using the previously mentioned controls and it works brilliantly. There is nothing like shooting a demon with iconic guns Ebony and Ivory, following with a couple of sword strikes and launcher, jumping to the victim, slashing them with your angelic Scythe then slamming them back to the ground with your demon Axe.

I am not the worlds greatest DmC player, not by a long shot, but when even I can pull off some killer combo's, not getting hit once and ripping through hordes of enemies you know that the game is doing something right. I played on normal difficulty and it provides more than enough of a challenge, though hardcore players of previous games may want to increase it a bit.

Boss battles are excellent, forcing you to use all of Dante's abilities to beat them and providing excellent reasons as to why you are fighting them. The final boss is a little too easy I felt, but I also didn't have to spend an hour just trying to figure out how to beat it either. The look great and can easily rival things found in similar games.

The game looks gorgeous, the real world sections looking appropriately decayed and 'inner city', while Limbo, the alternate reality Dante is pulled into to fight, and where most of the game takes place, looks appropriately other worldly. Things that happen in Limbo can affect the real world and that is a very nice touch, foregoing what could have been a glaring disconnect in an otherwise very cohesive game.

It does suffer from graphical oddities however. There can be some very bad screen tearing during cut scenes, and some strange jerking on character movements. It doesn't make the game completely unplayable or unwatchable, but it is enough that it can throw you out of the game. However, that is the worst thing I can really say about the game on a technical level, and that achievement cannot be lauded enough.

DmC Devil May Cry is one of those titles that does everything right, but just feels a little bit lacking. It is my firm belief that this is mostly down to it being essentially the first game in the series, with the developer finding its feet story wise and establishing a new mythos and characters ready for the sequel. It plays fantastically, but by the end of the game I still wanted just a bit more of...something.

The games meta story of how society is a slave to consumerism and just how much power the media can have over us is admirable, and something more games need to look at - having something to say about real life is no bad thing. DmC is a fantastic game, brilliantly fun with a good story and a great sense of humour. It provides everything you want from a reboot of this classic franchise, with a deceptively deep combat system that allows for killer combos that make you feel like Dante - a wise cracking, demon slaying bad-ass, and that is no bad thing, I just wish it had a little bit more bite.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"danny_dm_moore reviewed DmC: Devil May Cry for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by danny_dm_moore on Thu, 21 Mar 2013 02:03:30 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/dmc-devil-may-cry/user-reviews/809147/platform/ps3/ Wed, 06 Mar 2013 03:56:22 -0800 danny_dm_moore reviewed Dishonored for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/dishonored/user-reviews/808337/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Much has been made of video game violence over the years, especially in the last few months, and it can be hard to argue with some of it. Games do certainly give you hundreds of enemies to kill in some pretty inventive ways, none more so than in first person shooters, where killing is pretty much the meat of the game.

How refreshing it is, then, to spend several hours with a first person game and during that time kill maybe 15 enemies, and those were generally accidents due to either a lack of familiarity with the controls at the start of the game, or poor planning in the later sections. Yes, Dishonored affords you the ability to take out even key mission targets via non lethal means, and it is a brilliant game for it.

You play as Corvo, bodyguard to the Empress of Dunwall and her daughter Emily. The Empress is brutally murdered and Emily kidnapped, leaving you to be framed for the whole thing. Six months later, you break out of prison and start a quest for revenge on those who framed you, helped by a group of people loyal to the Empress and a mysterious being known as 'The Outsider' who grants you mystical powers to help you on your path.

It is these powers that allow you to going through the game and not take a life if you so desire. The most useful of which is Blink, a short range teleport that allows you to zip around levels and climb over buildings. The brilliantly designed levels give you multiple paths to success, allowing for a totally stealth run, a kill anything that moves run, or a combination of the two.

Using Blink allows you to knock someone out/kill them, teleport to the chandelier above you, then jump down and take out the person that comes to investigate the body. You can use it to sneak around the rafters of a building to find evidence or information on your main mission target, or hunt upgrade currency in the form of runes.

Runes allow you to make your powers better, up to two levels. Level 2 Blink means you can move further, while upgrading your possession ability gives you power of the mind and body of enemies. To be honest, Blink and a couple of other powers where all that I really required for the entire game, and hunting down runes (using a very useful clockwork heart that highlights their location) grants you their full usefulness before the game is done. However, I was playing as a non lethal (for the most part) assassin who chose to knock out rather than kill, so the abilities I required for that where different to those that I would have required if I had gone in sword swinging and guns blazing.

When you do enter full blown combat, you can fight your way out, killing all who stand in your way. Again however, the powers allow other methods. You can teleport way, possess a rat and scurry through pipes, even stop time and make a run for it. The possibilities for forging your own path through are myriad, and it makes for deeply satisfying game play.

Dishonored doesn't come with out some problems however. The city of Dunwall looks amazing, and the game overall has a fantastic art style, but said city is pretty devoid of life, and what is there follows pre-set patrol paths very rigidly. Dunwall is plague ravaged city, but that conceit falls a little flat when the only people you find are enemies on patrol.

The story can be predictable in a few spots, which is a shame but doesn't harm the game that much. I did encounter a sound bug that created lag on all sound effects, but that was resolved by closing and reopening the game and only happened once.

The biggest problem with Dishonored is more to do with stealth in games in general rather that something specific to this title. You can think you are hidden and out of range of enemies view, but they suddenly detect you and you have multiple threats converging very quickly. This is due to a lack of information on exactly where and how far enemies are looking. A lot of games fall into this trap, and while Mark of the Ninja showed how to do it correctly, there is still a ways to go before such things are common place.

Stemming from this, when you are detected, more enemies spawn in from apparently no where, and if you manage to leave an area you where detected in bad guys from the new area know your there despite not seeing you in the previous area. It's a little weird, but doesn't harm the game that much.

That's the mark of a truly great game. The problems I have outlined are relatively minor and while they do mar an otherwise great game, Dishonored will become a classic purely for being a title where killing everything in sight isn't the only option, during a time where if you view it in first person, destroy it. That's a generalization, but a valid one.

Dishonored then, is a master class in level design and game play. It gives you to the tools to go about your goals how you see fit, and the ability to get out of sticky situations when less than careful planning results in unwanted combat. Corvo may not be the most charismatic protagonist in the world, but he does the job and leads you on a revenge tale that lets you role play how you would react in the same situation. It is fantastic, and highly worth your time.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"danny_dm_moore reviewed Dishonored for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by danny_dm_moore on Wed, 06 Mar 2013 03:56:22 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/dishonored/user-reviews/808337/platform/ps3/ Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:31:30 -0800 JokerPRO10 reviewed Assassin's Creed III for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/assassins-creed-iii/user-reviews/808058/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

No Doubt that Assassin's Creed III compared to Assassin's Creed II [Which is my most favorite game of this generation] is a huge disappointment, since AC2 delivered a sequel that improved a lot of the mechanics of AC1, same was expected for AC3 to overcome AC2.

Sadly it didn't happen with this game, AC3 continues right after the ending of AC Revelations, And promises to end Desmond's Storyline, it does that only the ending itself is executed in the worst way possible! This time Desmond's Sections of the game include its own levels in Modern Day Era, there are 3 levels that are playable with Desmond only and while they are heavily scripted it was nice to see a change of scenery from the Italian Renaissance and the 18th Century America, the level design in these particular levels are very well done! However Something that is not well done is the facial animations of the Modern Day gang, they look Completely Different from the past 3 games, and Desmond himself looks the worst!

This time around there's a new protagonist and a new era, Connor is a decent character but compared to Ezio he is really bland and boring. The New setting which is Colonial America is interesting and perhaps even Highly accurate but its not fitting the AC franchise since all of the houses are small compared to the huge buildings of Rome and Venezia, which is a shame since the Free Running mechanic in this game is the best in the series! Combat is slightly different this time, unlike in the previous games where most of the times you will be using a hidden blade this time you will be using an axe and a pistol, its not drastically different but its a good change of pace since the previous games.

AC3 followed the tradition of including multiple Cities/Locations this time, as a full pledged sequel. [Since AC1 had multiple locations, and AC2 also Had multiple locations] This time you will be visiting Boston and New York with the addition of the Huge Frontier and Davenport Homestead. Frontier is particularly interesting since this time you can hunt for different animals, killing them with bows or the hidden blade will grant you their skin and sometimes even more, however shooting them will only give you a damaged pelt.

The game is visually stunning however there are a lot of visual glitches which shows that the current gen of gaming start to show its age, Probably the best looking aspect of the game is the new Naval Warfare feature, which lets you control a ship and storm the Carribean and the Atlantic seas! Its a welcome addition to the series and probably the closest you will get to feeling like pirate in a video game.

AC3 in my opinion is a huge letdown, despite the combat and the free running being the best in the series the game feels rushed and the ending is extremely disappointing, there are too many bugs both visual and technical. MP is better than ever but only for those who like it!

I Give this game a 8/10!

Get the full article at GameSpot

"JokerPRO10 reviewed Assassin's Creed III for the Xbox 360..." was posted by JokerPRO10 on Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:31:30 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/assassins-creed-iii/user-reviews/808058/platform/xbox360/ Sun, 24 Feb 2013 14:56:55 -0800 masterpinky2000 reviewed Far Cry 3 for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/far-cry-3/user-reviews/807952/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Ubisoft Montreal is arguably this gaming generation's signature contrarian. While other games have become exceedingly linear, and shooters in particular have grown into very short, episodic affairs -- the Call of Duty series is emblematic of this trend -- Ubisoft has consistently eschewed this model of gamemaking in favor of open-world designs that give the user a more varied, richer single-player experience. As Assassin's Creed II is to Uncharted 2, so Far Cry 3 is to Call of Duty.

Far Cry 3's ambition is not solely confined to its structure, however. The game features a storyline that is substantially deeper than in other games, with themes ranging from insanity and madness to the geopolitics of drugs and the slave trade. In many ways, this closely resembles the team's previous effort in Far Cry 2, in which you hunted a psychopathic mercenary through Africa in a storyline meant to recall Heart of Darkness. Here, the literary inspiration is Alice in Wonderland, a novel that is quoted during certain transitional loading screens throughout the game, and which underscores the themes of madness, surrealism, and unreality that permeate the game's long narrative. The story is not without its faults; the tribal warriors who are your allies throughout the game are painfully stereotyped as primitive, mystical, clad in their animal furs and bedecked in face paint and tattoos. But overall, the game at least tries to be somewhat serious, and it's a testament to the writers that it succeeds in part.

Far Cry 3 is perhaps best described as an open-world combat-puzzle game. Unlike the Call of Duty model of moving forward as quickly as possible in order to see the next grand finale of explosions and "surprise" twists, this game lets you move at your own pace. Almost every combat scenario presents you with some sort of defended structure or location that you must unlock with stealth, long-range sniping or archery, or with guns ablazing. How you approach these challenges is up to you, although I found that the game heavily favors the stealth or sniper player over the "heavy." In particular, when attacking outposts, there are alarms that the guards can sound to bring in reinforcements -- which often doubles or triples the number of enemies you have to kill. Thus, the best strategy is usually to sneak around and kill enough enemies so that you can deactivate the alarms. Only then is it a viable option to pop out of hiding and lay waste to the remaining foes.

The open world, like that in Assassin's Creed, also offers some interesting optional side quests. For instance, there are radio towers -- essentially the equivalent of the towers or vantage points in the Assassin's Creed series -- which unlock more and more of the global map. You must climb these towers to activate them. In addition, there are enemy outposts to conquer, hunting quests, and assassination missions. To say that the game takes an idea or two from Assassin's Creed would be putting it lightly, as everything that worked well in that series has been imported into this game, with the only major change being that you do it in first person now rather than third.

Overall, I highly recommend this game. For those who enjoyed Far Cry 2 but were intensely frustrated by its flaws, you will find that Far Cry 3 improves on almost every aspect of its predecessor. For those who want an open-world shooter rather than a corridor-slaughter-fest, this is the game for you. And for those who want to see an action game attempt an ambitious storyline, this game is . . . well, you get the idea.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"masterpinky2000 reviewed Far Cry 3 for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by masterpinky2000 on Sun, 24 Feb 2013 14:56:55 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/far-cry-3/user-reviews/807952/platform/ps3/ Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:59:06 -0800 GeekyDad reviewed Fire Emblem: Awakening for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/fire-emblem-awakening/user-reviews/807842/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Over 100 hours later, I'm ready to weigh in on Fire Emblem: Awakening. For full disclosure, I've been a moderate fan of the series up until now. In that I mean, I've only played three other FE games before this one. With that in mind, I approached my first playthrough (currently on Chapter 15 of my second playthrough, with a concurrent Lunatic Mode playthrough ongoing) on the Hard/Classic difficulty, and it's been nothing but fun, fun, fun.

For the uninitiated, Hard Mode is about on par with the Normal Modes of past FE games released in the States, and Classic signifies that when your units die, they stay dead. There's also a Casual mode, which allows players to regain their fallen comrades after a skirmish. Though I didn't make use of the Casual mode myself, I'm glad to see it added to FE. It's something that has obviously invited in many new players, and this series surely deserves it.

The story follows the exploits of the Ylissian prince, Chrom, and his new best friend (either male or female), an avatar character which you create at the beginning of the game. There are a few twists and turns here and there, as well as ample character development, but honestly, Awakening's story is a mishmash of engrossing, disjointed, and simply ridiculous. There are elements that do a great job drawing you in, but there is also major plot development missing. The dialogue can be over-the-top, and though the overarching story is solid, the glue that's meant to hold it all together is terribly weak.

In spite my disappointment with the story, the characters grow on you. This is due in large part to the huge amount of character building the game affords you. The Support system is a major boon, allowing you to form relationships with units that will ultimately fall in love, marry, and sire children you can later use as playable characters. A lot of this is obviously a throwback to FE4, but it's mostly new to us outside of Japan.

The Support system is also more organic than it perhaps was in games like Radiant Dawn, as characters form bonds based on fighting near one another, rather than simply initiating conversations back at base. Stats are raised when fighting side-by-side, and as your relationships grow stronger, so do the benefits units bestow upon one another. You can pair units together, which completely alters the approach of strategy. Building up relationships not only reaps gameplay rewards but also treats you to some of the most entertaining dialogue the game has to offer.

One major change to the Fire Emblem formula is the ability to pretty much endlessly grind. Though you could level up units in the tower of Sacred Stones, and other mechanics in past FE games may have given players the opportunity to beef up their characters in other ways, Awakening really opens the flood gates in that regard. Random encounters appear periodically, as well as StreetPass battles, and a plethora of DLC (available and on the way) give you the option of gaining quick XP, unique characters and weapons, as well as Limit Breaker, a scroll that boost max-character stats by 10 – all re-playable to your heart's content.

However, none of these additions subtracted from the experience for me, personally. The opposite was true. Though you could probably zip through the story in about 20 hours, much of my time was spent noodling with building up my characters and forming relationships. And you can't really experience everything the game has to offer in a single playthrough–or even two for that matter. There are tons of conversations to enjoy, tidbits of backstory, and loads of cool pair-ups to experiment with.

The game's also quite gorgeous. I enjoyed the visuals and 3D in Ocarina of Time and Resident Evil: Revelations, but this is the first 3DS game in which I found it impossible to turn the 3D effect off. The action in other games often makes it hard to fully enjoy the 3D, since you're inadvertently moving your system around. With a game like Awakening, though, you have more time to sit and enjoy the view.

I also rarely turn off the battle animations, which are comprised of beautiful landscapes and character models. The battlefields are easily my favorite visual highlight. The 2D sprites look fantastic atop the polygonal overworlds that are chock full of wonderful details, such as birds flying above the 3D screen – absolutely stunning.

The same can be said about the music. It seems Nintendo finally "gets it" when it comes to real orchestrations over outdated MIDI sequences. There is an incredible variety of powerful themes littered throughout the adventure, and when you complete the story, you can go back into the extras and enjoy them alongside the Unit Gallery. There's also a cute, little Hubba Tester that can make faux romance determinations for all of your unlocked characters, and if you ever want to go back and watch the story cutscenes (which are amazing in 3D) again, you can do so in the game's theater mode. Intelligent Systems really spared no expense.

Fire Emblem: Awakening may not be the perfect SRPG, but good Lord, if it isn't one of the best this generation. The interface (you can touch on any element of the touch screen for a detailed description of stats, items, etc.) is the best the series has seen, and the helpings are robust. The story is disappointing, especially when graded against such game giants as Final Fantasy Tactics (War of the Lions version, that is), and the DLC is overpriced, not to mention a little bit tasteless at times (some DLC is designed to allow players to pay to make the game easier). Nevertheless, this is absolutely one of the best values I've gotten out of my 3DS. The gameplay is addictive, and the community is abuzz. If you're a longtime fan, jump right in; if you've been scared off by the series in the past, this is your opportunity to finally enjoy a great (and completely unique) SRPG series without being intimidated by unforgiving systems.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"GeekyDad reviewed Fire Emblem: Awakening for the 3DS..." was posted by GeekyDad on Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:59:06 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/fire-emblem-awakening/user-reviews/807842/platform/3ds/ Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:18:20 -0800 PeterDuck reviewed Aliens: Colonial Marines for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/aliens-colonial-marines/user-reviews/807406/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 3.5.

They said this game would look best on the WiiU. I am guessing what they were trying to say is that the way the game looks on the WiiU is as best as it's going to get. They KNEW it was bad.

Before you decide to buy this game, I would advise you to take a careful look at the screenshots of this game on this very website. Looks good, right? Crisp, sharp, good lightening, decent textures. Well, that's not how the game looks. Either that, or they really did some good work on making the best possible screenshots to deceive the public.

The fire looks terrible and so does the smoke, the explosions and the water. The textures up close date back to 2004 at least. The broken glass windows break into several small pieces when shot and disappear in mid air. The dead aliens disappear too in their puddle of blood within 4 seconds. It also says the game uses PhysX but I don't see it. I found out that the game is supposed to be using next gen lightening, but I didn't see it either. Actually, I know that cannot be true since this game uses DX9 and the 2010 AVP used DX11. Talk about taking a step back. You can't see your legs but at least you cast a show [with legs].......Courtesy of the Unreal Engine 3 that frankly won't die and that is being kept on life support at this point.

There's no friendly fire, so when one of your buddies get surrounded by the xenos, then just spray left and right until the last xeno dies. There is no carefulness nor any meticulous shooting involved at all. The ammo is mostly plentiful but fear not! The melee button is there to save the day but more on that later.

Paradoxically speaking the 2010 AVP's graphics excel these my a huge margin. I understand it's the different developer but damn! Regardless, both of these games are a far cry from AVP 2 which is still the best game in the "series" and possibly one of the best games ever made (retro-wise, at least).

The physics are horrendous. The aliens look like they however when they crawl on the walls, but at least they can jump ahead once again (even that looks sloppy especially when they sometimes rotate 180 degrees mid air). When you step on their acid, you don't get hurt. When they rush, you just melee them (like in 2010 AVP) and see a nice little auto-aim animation even if you are six feet away. First you are here, and then you press the melee button and you are right in front of the alien, and the two of you are literally having a boxing match, which you will always win. Remember that from the movie? And when you play on the hardest difficulty and die you just start from the last checkpoint (unlike from the beginning of the level like in AVP 2). When you play without the cross-hair, the red cross-hair still appears when you are shooting the alien. Why? I don't want cross-hair and I don't want the in-built auto-assist either, I'm using a mouse, thank you very much.

All in all, this game seems to forget that the aliens barely, if ever, attacked in force. They are cunning creatures that hide in the dark, that flank you, that surround you and then attempt to capture you alive if possible. What they do in this game is simply rush you from many directions. There is barely any tension involved. Any build up of anticipation for the next fire-fight is practically nonexistent, because in truth, the xenos are pretty easy to kill. I remember that in AVP 2 two Xenos could take you out on easiest difficulty in seconds. The solution for this game? more xenos. Oh, and don't forget about having to fight waves of human and droid enemies too. Remember THAT from the movie?

Co-op doesn't save the day. There's barely any "Co-Op" to begin with. Just running around, getting into each other's line of fire, and trying to kill as many xenos for experience to use for your next gun, remember that in the movie? Remember the marines being all psyched for the next alien encounter?

I also love it how Steam says it's a 20 GB game making you think that it's gonna be a huge game with rich textures, long campaign and decent multiplayer. However, when you start downloading the game, it only weights around 6-7GB. Watch out, I guess it's gonna be a short campaign! and then...game over, man. I am trying to be funny which is a self-defense mechanism since I have just shelled out $ 50 for this tripe.

There are also bugs. Sometimes you see human enemy AI stuck. Then when you approach them they start shooting you. When you die and reload the checkpoint those very same enemy AIs are gone.

In the very least, this is an arcade shooting game, with decent sound, where you get to shoot aliens, and people while upgrading your arsenal, err...right? If you want a better, longer, cheaper and much more interesting campaign, play the Marine Campaign in AVP 2 (2001).

OR, you can wait until they finish that Crysis 2 -Aliens vs Marine mod which will probably be free anyway, so save your money, pickles.


P.S. Spoiler or not, the scene with the Marine who decides to blow himself up with a grenade and endanger his friends as well as the ship was really stupid. Way to go, bro, take out your brothers with you.

"Semper Fi, do or die"

I guess DIE. Welcome to DIE.

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"PeterDuck reviewed Aliens: Colonial Marines for the PC..." was posted by PeterDuck on Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:18:20 -0800
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