whiskeystrike's GameSpot Friend's Reviews whiskeystrike's GameSpot Friend's Reviews whiskeystrike's GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:53:23 -0700 GameSpot whiskeystrike's GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Sat, 01 Jun 2013 18:12:08 -0700 pokecharm reviewed Hitman: Absolution for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/hitman-absolution/user-reviews/811971/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

The Hitman franchise was one of the first stealth games I'd played when I got my PS2. The worlds were fairly open. You could move around and find a variety of ways to eliminate your targets. The AI was robust. The environments were varied. The story was passable. Some things haven't changed, while others have changed quite a bit. This is the first Hitman game on the next gen console, and the most noticeable difference is the polished graphics and environment. I never felt limited by the Playstation controls, but I didn't feel like there was a great leap in technology from the previous games, though my memory isn't what it used to be.

The game begins with Agent 47 on a mission to eliminate someone who worked within the agency and has seemingly betrayed them by kidnapping a valuable asset, a girl. When Agent 47 infiltrates the compound and has her in his sights, she divulges her reasoning for doing what she's done and the onus of the mission shifts to Agent 47. Once this shift occurs, Agent 47 must protect this girl and keep her from the clutches of the Agency. The two are separated and she is taken by a third party who has little to do with the Agency, but knows the value of the girl. Agent 47 must battle the crazed kidnapper and the Agency as he must go to great lengths to protect the girl and save her from a fate she didn't choose.

The game is broken up into sections, each one having a very different look and feel. The graphics are quite breath-taking, as I've discovered seems to be something Square Enix takes great pride in. What stunts the otherwise stunning visuals are the glitches that are far too frequent. Both the AI and Agent 47 seem to move through solid structures. Though the detail is clear in most environments and items, the detail doesn't surpass either Tomb Raider or even Deus Ex.

The voice acting is decent. The story isn't stellar, but the actors seem to do the best they can, playing up the stereotypical bad people they all portray. There was little depth in either the stories or the characters, no clear reason anyone was doing anything, other than because the story told them to. In many ways, it made the entire game seem inauthentic and difficult to feel invested in.

What keeps you playing, or at least kept me playing, was the game play. It wasn't amazing, it didn't do anything I hadn't seen before, but it made the game fun. There were a variety of ways to eliminate targets, in most sections and the gamer was rewarded for being creative and for not being discovered. I've always been a fan of stealth games, thank you Metal Gear Solid. And while this one doesn't bring much new to the concept, it brings just enough that I couldn't put the game down until I'd finished it.

The one thing I must comment on, the reason for a lower score than perhaps the game may deserve, the AI was predictable and yet unpredictable. At times, the game didn't seem to reset and I'd have to restart checkpoints to get the game to stop looping. It could have been me playing the game incorrectly, but the game should work and shouldn't glitch. This wasn't a terrible glitch, but it was frustrating at times. This is actually a very decent game, and for a lower price, well worth playing.

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"pokecharm reviewed Hitman: Absolution for the Xbox 360..." was posted by pokecharm on Sat, 01 Jun 2013 18:12:08 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/hitman-absolution/user-reviews/811971/platform/xbox360/ Sat, 25 May 2013 18:43:18 -0700 pokecharm reviewed Saints Row: The Third for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/saints-row-the-third/user-reviews/811721/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

Saints Row the Third has been compared to Grand Theft Auto, but silly and crude. That assessment, from what I can tell, is about right, though it doesn't give the game nearly enough credit. In Steelport, the Saints are a famous gang, one that does drugs, gets into trouble, shots up the place and generally carouses throughout the city. The game starts off with a bang as the leader of the Saints commits sepuka by taking an entire plane down to save the rest of the gang. You play the character that is then the de facto leader, or at least this was what I pieced together while only paying some attention.

Though it is perhaps not a fair comparison, Saints Row does remind me a great deal of Grand Theft Auto. The world is open, you can run around and to what you like, though there are always repercussions to your actions. The police and other gangs are looking for reasons to attack you. The controls are easy to understand, for the most part. There are variable rules, it seemed, for the controls of weapons while in a vehicle. Some vehicles came with weapons, some do not. When you have a gang member with you, they control the mounted guns, making some larger battle sequences amazingly frustrating because they don't shot or shot at nothing. This was the one down-side I found to the otherwise simple to use controls.

The colours, graphics and overall feel of Saints Row was authentic to the kind of city and atmosphere the game aims for. It does remind me of any big city with good and bad parts of town. Each gang had a different colour scheme, which helped slightly in understand what group you were challenging by driving through their area. The city is beautifully rendered, especially as the area becomes more Saints controlled and the royal purple surfaces more and more. Much like with the other open-world games, as you control more of the map, more of your supporters pepper the map, making it feel more homey.

The story was hilarious, I can't be more clear than that. I found it absurd, comical and a ton of fun. The voice acting made the outlandish plot that much more fun. My personal favourite was Shandi and the star-struck actor Josh who loved her. Silly and funny, and it doesn't take itself too seriously, which makes the whole game one that shouldn't be missed.

Having said that, the number of glitches I encountered were too many to count, and this is the major detraction of the game. When you have to stop playing, reload missions or shut the console down and still can't get things to work, the fun of the game becomes more frustrating than enjoyable. Some of the 'find' missions were just plain broken. I'm not sure how many times I attempted one of the vehicle thefts, but after an hour plus, I just gave up. The map, oftentimes, wouldn't work or display an actual direction, as if it didn't realise I was in the water and kept telling me to get on land or the other way around. Only when I was in the air did it seem to recognise that was where I was. The in-game GPS was like the one I have for real, for no particular reason, it would lead me to the longest, most convoluted ways around the map, purposely throwing me in the face of cars that materialised out of nowhere. Glitch after glitch after glitch and I finally couldn't take it anymore and burned through the last few missions just so the game would be over.

This is a fun game, no question about it. But technical issues, especially for a game that has been out for two years, is not acceptable. In retrospect, I might not have picked this game up at a low $30 had I known. And now that I've had this experience, I'm reluctant to drop money on a pre-order for the next one.

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"pokecharm reviewed Saints Row: The Third for the Xbox 360..." was posted by pokecharm on Sat, 25 May 2013 18:43:18 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/saints-row-the-third/user-reviews/811721/platform/xbox360/ Thu, 16 May 2013 21:17:45 -0700 Lucky_Krystal reviewed Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/hyperdimension-neptunia-victory/user-reviews/811401/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory is an extremely niche JRPG developed by Idea Factory/Compile Heart and published by NIS America. It is the third installment to the series, but knowledge of the past two games isn't really needed to understand Victory's story.

I'm going to say it again, because it's a very important point: Neptunia is an extremely niche game. Expectations are key. Neptunia is riddled with that quirky and silly brand of humor that parades almost all the games that NIS America localizes. It constantly pokes fun at itself and never takes itself seriously. If you try to take the game seriously for even a moment, your brain will explode. Trust me, don't do it.

It's heavily story driven nature, anime styled art, moe characters, and light hearted tone will undoubtedly turn some people off. But if you are okay with this sort of thing and give the game a chance, then you won't be disappointed.

Victory takes what mk2 established and further builds on it. In this installment, multiple additions are added to the gameplay. Victory introduces that scout system, used to send out your itty bitty minions to scavenge dungeons for loot. When they come back, they'll report to you, bringing you items, money, other scouts, and sometimes nothing at all. At rare times, they'll report that they've found a way to boost the amount of money and exp you can earn in a dungeon. Sometimes they'll report that they found a hidden area or a brand new dungeon for you to explore.

The game now features an in game achievement system. It calculates things such as number of jumps, damage dealt, damage taken, number of times KO'd, times fought on the front and back lines and so forth. Each time a character attains an achievement, a certain stat will increase.

The battle system has also undergone some slight alterations. The battle system is still turn based. When it's a character's turn, you are allowed to move a certain distance based on the character's MOV stat. You are given 3 kinds of attacks. One type focuses on raw power. Another focuses on breaking the enemy's guard. The last one is for building up the EXE gauge. The EXE gauge is a new feature that allows the characters to use powerful EXE skills as well as a special 4th attack, whereas in the last game, you had to build up a character's individual SP gauge to execute this. Characters are now given full SP stats. Your SP is fully healed only with items and by leveling up. So it's imperative that you spend your SP wisely.

You are allowed 4 members in your party at a time, but you are able to switch out with other members in the vanguard. Pairing up two girls will net you different bonuses in battle. It will also allow you to execute special assist attacks unique to different characters. Though this all depends on the revamped Lily system. In the last game, only Nepgear's relationships with the other characters mattered. This time around, each person has a separate level for every other character. The level must be at a certain point in order for the boosts to take effect.

The coliseum, item synthesizing, quests, and shares all make a comeback and play pretty much the same role as they did in the last game. Though this time around, the ending you get depends on if you've gathered a necessary set of items and scavenged for the hidden dungeons and viewed the cutscenes in these dungeons rather than shares. There are 3 possible endings: The normal ending, good ending, and true ending.

The battle system is addictive and loads of fun. One of my favorite parts is the ability to transform the characters into their far more powerful HDD forms. This mode jacks up their stats to give you the upper hand in battle. Some of your special moves and your EXE attacks will also don a different appearance. Also, the game once again gives you the option to customize your own combos.

The story is a silly, hot mess of gaming and anime references, playful banter, and random events. "It's so bad it's good" perfectly describes the story. It's intended to be something so thrown together and ridiculous that it induces laughter. Neptune gets transferred to an alternate Gameindustri in 1989. She meets alternate versions of the goddesses from her world as well as a new goddess ruling Planeptune named Plutia. A new group of enemies known as the Seven Sages opposes them. The Seven Sages aim to rid Gameindustri of CPUs and start a new nation without them. It's up to Neptune and friends to stop these dastardly evil doers.

The downside to the story would probably be the sheer volume of the dialogue. The game is very text heavy. And it's not even wordy for the sake of giving us some good exposition. Sometimes the characters just spend boxes and boxes of dialogue talking about NOTHING. There is both a skip and an auto advance option but even still, the dialogue could have been condensed considerably and the story probably wouldn't even have suffered. To add to that many of these cutscenes aren't voiced. Only a select few actually are, and it's great to hear the actual actors as opposed to just having music playing and reading unvoiced text. Whether you're playing in Japanese or English, the voice actors breathe life into these fun and hilarious characters each cutscene.

The English dubbing in particular has improved a great deal compared to the previous games. All the actors from the previous game make a great comeback, and it sounds like they have gotten far more comfortable with their characters. New additions such as Cherami Leigh as Plutia and Sandy Fox as Yellow Heart come in gun blazing, hitting all the right notes. But if you hate the English voices still or just prefer the original voices, you can switch over to the Japanese voice acting any time.

I have only a few complaints about the game. Dungeons and enemies are taken and reused from the previous game and stuck onto Victory with very little to no changes. There are some brand new areas and enemies but a lot of them are recycled. The fanservice is not as overblown or explicit as people make it out to be but it's still weird and unnecessary. The frequent innuendo the riddles Iris Heart's dialogue gets real old real quick. The game is also far more grind heavy than mk2. That isn't really a bad thing, seeing as it does give the game a bit of challenge. But not as much, seeing as all you really have to do to beat a particularly difficult boss is level up a bit, buff, and then spam your EXE attacks. The game still lingers on the easy side, though it is more difficult than mk2.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory is a splendid addition to the Neptunia franchise. Packed with a wealth of extra content and three different endings, this game will keep you coming back for more. Not everyone is going to enjoy this game. But the few people who do will find their trek through Gameindustri with Neptune and her eccentric band of weirdoes a marvelous and entertaining one.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/hyperdimension-neptunia-victory/user-reviews/811401/platform/ps3/ Thu, 16 May 2013 21:06:30 -0700 Lucky_Krystal reviewed Catherine for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/catherine/user-reviews/811400/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

Catherine is a horror adventure/puzzle game that is engrossing, interesting, and a total blast to play. It's bursting with that unique brand of Atlus quirkiness that us Atlus faithfuls know and love. Everything from the music, graphics, animated cut scenes, gameplay, and story come together for an experience you'll want over and over again.

The story follows our hero Vincent Brooks on his quest through his personal troubles with relationships by day and his trek up a nightmarish tower at night. The story is excellent overall, complemented by its colorful cast of characters. The story deals with themes of infidelity, relationships, maturity, and commitment. You are given the choice of how you want to act in the game. Do you want to live a life of quiet and familiar comfort or do you want a life of chaotic excitement? It's a question the game makes you consider, and your choices mostly revolve around these two questions.

Catherine sports a lovable cast of characters that are brought to life by the superb voice acting and the hilarious and well written script. You won't see any cheesy one liners, flat tones, and cringe worthy delivery here. The all-star cast of veteran voice actors were obviously having a lot of fun with their roles. In addition to the more serious scenes, Catherine has a number of comical moments that even make their appearance in the various endings. Its story has the perfect balance of comedy and thought provoking themes to keep you hooked from the very start. Though to be totally honest, there was a lot of room for Atlus to do much more flesh out the characters and further explore the themes presented. But as it stands, Atlus did a very admirable job in trying to explore more serious themes in a game.

The beginning of the game shows you the basics of scaling the tower. You will push and pull several sets of blocks in order to reach the goal. Each stage has a different setup and requires a different strategy. Each night you are put in a different dungeon with a different boss at the end. It sounds simple enough but there's more to Catherine's gameplay than simply pushing blocks.

The bottom of the dungeon will collapse, so you'll need to get up that tower quickly. As you advance through the game, you will be taught and expected to master different types of techniques for scaling the tower, especially if you choose to take on the harder difficulties. Different types of blocks are also littered across the tower. You have your normal white blocks, heavy blocks, immovable blocks, cracked blocks, bomb blocks, trap blocks, monster blocks, slippery ice blocks, trampoline blocks, and mystery blocks. These blocks can be a big help or an annoying hindrance. In addition, other sheep will sometimes block your path to the top. They'll move blocks to mess up your path, knock you off a block, and some may even kill you. You can also nab some pillows to gain retries and special items that will help you out of a jam, destroy enemies, or give you a special boost.

Catherine's puzzle type gameplay is oddly addicting and very fun. But it's also very hard, regardless of what difficulty you play on. You are given a choice to play on easy, normal, and hard (read: hard, torture, hell). It takes practice to get good at the game. That and the proper utilization of the techniques you learn. But the challenging gameplay never feels cheap. It's frustrating yes, but cheap? No way. Sure you'll rage quit quite a few times while playing, but you'll always want to come back. If not for the satisfaction of clearing a particularly difficult puzzle, then definitely to continue the interesting story.

Now that's all during the nightmare stage. When Vincent is awake, he hangs with his buddies at the Stray Sheep bar. Here you can drink to your heart's content, boosting your speed in the nightmare stages. You can also talk to the other inhabitants of the Stray Sheep. Many of the bargoers are deeply troubled individuals. The player will occasionally be prompted by various dialogue choices that will ultimately decide the fate of the character later in the game. You can also play Rapunzel, an adorable 8-bit version of the nightmare stages. You can also talk to Erica, Boss, Jonny, Orlando, and Toby for some often humorous and playful banter. You can send text messages to both Catherine and Katherine. When composing a message, you are given 2 or 3 lines to say your piece. Each line gives you 2 or 3 different sentences that you can mix and match to compose a text message. A lot of Vincent's actions will affect the little red and blue meter that pops up from time to time. This meter will play a hand in which ending you get.

It is possible to beat the game in a reasonable and even fairly short amount of time despite its difficulty. With 8 different possible endings that depend on your choices in the game, there is plenty of replay value.

Outside of the main story, there's the two player competitive coliseum and four extra stages known as Babel. Babel is a far more intense and punishing version of the nightmares stages that are unlocked by gathering enough gold prizes on normal and hard difficulty.

Packed with extra content, eight different endings, multiple difficulties, and a story you'll want to experience more than once, Atlus has really outdone themselves with this game. It's mature and interesting story along with its addictive gameplay truly make it one the most unique and enjoyable games I've ever played. I'd recommend everyone give this game a go. I guarantee you won't regret it.

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"Lucky_Krystal reviewed Catherine for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by Lucky_Krystal on Thu, 16 May 2013 21:06:30 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/catherine/user-reviews/811400/platform/ps3/ Thu, 16 May 2013 06:25:07 -0700 pokecharm reviewed Where's My Perry? for the iPhone/iPod... http://www.gamespot.com/wheres-my-perry/user-reviews/811368/platform/iphone/ ...and gave it a 6.0.

The Where's Perry app was the free app of the week at Starbucks this past week, so I took the time to sift through a little bit of it after playing the free version months ago. The principle of the game appears simple at first. The goal is to get Agent P, Perry the Platypus, through the tubes to thwart Doof by clearing the way of water through tunnels. The first few levels are simple, by using your finger, or a stylus, you clear the rubble away. Amongst the rubble are also secret agent files and other items as well as gnomes that can be collected. The water has to douse the gnomes in order for them to be considered collected.

The game is actually quite addictive. I played about 20 minutes yesterday, but thought it had only been five or less. The graphics are quite good, I'm using an iPad 2 and the voices, Major Monogram and Dr. Doofenshmirtz are spot on. There are, so far, no appearances of Phineas or Ferb as of yet. The unlockables as you move along are for either other agents, some seen in various episodes of the show. The other unlockables are for Dr. Doofenshmirtz's inators, which are also very amusing.

Though this game won't ever garner great recognition, it is a fun game, perfect for a tablet or phone. For the price, I believe $3 only, it is well worth the purchase.

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"pokecharm reviewed Where's My Perry? for the iPhone/iPod..." was posted by pokecharm on Thu, 16 May 2013 06:25:07 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/wheres-my-perry/user-reviews/811368/platform/iphone/ Wed, 15 May 2013 07:45:17 -0700 pokecharm reviewed Bulletstorm for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/bulletstorm/user-reviews/811333/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

Bulletstorm starts off with a bang and doesn't slow down, despite a heavy dose of sophomoric dialogue and meandering story. The game is a first-person shooter (FPS) style that follows Grayson Hunt who is the leader of a special operations unit. Within the first five minutes of gameplay it is soon discovered that Hunt and his team have been deluded and decide to take action against the man who set them up to kill innocent people. What follows is a quick game of shoot anything that moves with any variety of weapons.

What Bulletstorm lacks in story it more than makes up for with easy controls and game play. The weapons are varied and you're able to swap them in and out at regular intervals. The enemies are only slightly varied as you move through the game, but the way you interact with each does change based on what weapons you have and what is lying around. The game awards points based on skilful ways of killing people. If you just shoot them down, 10 points. If you use a piece of the environment, you can get 100 or more. This added element encourages you to use things around you and not just run and gun, as most FPS games do.

The voice acting goes only as far as the story will allow it. The story is predictable, but yet it doesn't feel stagnant. I didn't feel bored at any point even though I could have guessed what would happen next. The dialogue was purposely childish, pandering to the lowest common denominator for the target audience, yet I didn't find it nearly as distracting or disgusting as I thought I would. The fact that the story resolves itself in decent fashion makes the lacklustre story worthwhile.

The graphics were actually decent, not great, but decent. A had a few screen issues and once had to restart a checkpoint because I was lodged inside something. With no jump button, it made movement very linear. The sound was spot on, especially for most of the explosions that occurred throughout the game.

Bulletstorm will never be up for a Game of the Year award. What it lacks in story it more than makes up for in easy game play and just plain fun. The game is a hidden gem, one I acquired for a cool $2 used, no, I'm not kidding. For that price, I can't be disappointed with any of the game. There was a good variety of things to do and achievements to unlock. The game wasn't too hard, but did require precision at some points. Overall, if you can get it used, it is well worth getting.

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"pokecharm reviewed Bulletstorm for the Xbox 360..." was posted by pokecharm on Wed, 15 May 2013 07:45:17 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bulletstorm/user-reviews/811333/platform/xbox360/ Sun, 05 May 2013 16:44:24 -0700 pokecharm reviewed Resident Evil: Revelations for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-revelations/user-reviews/811037/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

Resident Evil Revelations was the first game that drew my attention to the 3DS. The story is just as derivative as you would expect with a series that has such a lengthy history, at points you're not sure which was is up, and I strongly encourage you watch through the credits for any hidden pieces.

The story follows various different characters, two familiar to long-time fans, Chris Redfeild and Jill Valentine. With those two, you also pick up a bevy of new characters who are both memorable and forgettable. My favourite is the kid paired with Qunit who's name escapes me. The story is set between Resident Evil 4 and 5, placing this after Leon's adventure and by far my favourite of all the RE games. Jill and Chris are separated for the beginning of the game, introducing two new characters, Parker and Jessica. Neither are all that memorable, but at the same time, I did feel like they were very dynamic characters, their motivations and dialogue leading you to believe they were real people and not flat characters as you would see in a Gears of War like game.

The story gets dizzying at times, but what stood out for me the most was the variety of weapons. You start off with a pair of standard weapons and one melee weapon. As you move through the game and go into different areas, as you get more items, you get more and more powerful weapons. Upgrades are found that can be swapped in and out of each weapon. Much like the recent change to Dead Space, you can apply an addition to each weapon, if you don't like how it works, you can swap it to another with no penalty. I ended up sticking with the shotgun and machine gun as my most favourite weapons, putting the most powerful upgrades in each.

The game is featured on a smaller console, and while I could tell the difference in the 3D, once again, I can't say I was overly impressed by the 3DS display. The cut scenes were decently rendered, but the actual game play graphics are limited by the tiny 3DS screen and the passable 3D graphics. I do wonder how they will upconvert the graphics with the console cousin coming out soon.

The controls and game play were easy to pick up and understand. During some of the boss battles, things would seem get frustrating, forcing you to press a certain button repeatedly to get up or force you to press the reload button when your character should auto-reload when you ran out of ammo. There was very little dodge to the dodge button, which also made some sequences tough. At varying points, you couldn't avoid hits from the enemies, making boss battles especially challenging.

The length of the game was appropriate given that it is a mobile game. I finished the game over the weekend, putting in less than 10 hours. While this isn't the best RE game I've ever played, it is the best one I've played in recent memory. The game does feel a lot like RE4 in both controls and story. It is well worth playing, though perhaps not for the full $40 I paid when it was released.

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"pokecharm reviewed Resident Evil: Revelations for the 3DS..." was posted by pokecharm on Sun, 05 May 2013 16:44:24 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/resident-evil-revelations/user-reviews/811037/platform/3ds/ Thu, 02 May 2013 15:55:54 -0700 NeonNinja reviewed Ys I & II Chronicles for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/ys-i-and-ii-chronicles/user-reviews/810943/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Ys I and II Chronicles is a history lesson from the 1980's worth discovering for the first time for those who have never played the games. The story of Adol Christin, the ancient land of Ys, its twin goddesses and the people of Esteria makes for excellent fiction and one of the best action RPGs, Ys I and II sets a template that would later be followed by more popular titles, including Secret of Mana. The bundle of games tells two halves to a shared story and should be played by fans of the genre and the 1980's era of gaming.

As a series, Ys is very focused on combat and intense boss battles and the tone is set in the first two games nicely. Combat in Ys I and II is based on the "bump" system. You run Adol into enemies and he automatically attacks with his sword. There is some strategy involved to it though based on your angle of attack as head-on attacks will allow enemies to attack Adol as well. In Ys II combat is further developed by giving you magic abilities. Only one of them is an offensive spell however, but it allows you to attack enemies with fireballs from a distance to chip health away as they close in on you.

The boss battles in particular are the highlight of the two games. Bosses often have attacks that spread across a wide area that you have to dodge before attacking. In Ys II the majority of bosses must be defeated by magic, as simply trying to attack with your sword will cause the boss to inflict massive damage on Adol. The boss battles in both games are excellent finales to each section you play through.

Unlike many RPGs, the first two Ys titles each take under ten hours to complete, bringing rough completion time to around sixteen or so hours for both games. However, the narrative told across the two games manages to tell a story that never deals with the padding, filler and fluff of many role-playing games. You still travel between various towns and speak to NPC characters, but you are never saddled with silly fetchquests or objectives that fail to add to the game, you simply handle your business as it comes to you. Because of both games' focus, grinding is a non-issue as you generally will be at a sufficient level to progress by simply playing.

The graphics are sprite-based and filled with some of the most beautiful art of the time. From the animated introduction sequences to the labyrinthine layouts of levels, Ys I and II are absolutely beautiful games. But the highlight of the series for many folks is the music. The tracks are absolutely stellar, and help give that nostalgic vibe of the 8-bit era that stands the test of time. The greatest part though is that you can change the music at any time from one of the three options, the 1987 and 1988 versions of the audio, the 2001 Complete version or the 2009 Chronicles version. Similarly the graphics can be slightly changed as well for the anime designs of characters you speak to, although it doesn't effect enjoyment of the game nearly as much as the music options.

I personally find it very hard to understand how Ys never gained popularity outside of Japan. These first two games are an excellent, almost Zelda like adventure. They tell a story that feels ahead of its time for when it released and features timeless game design that never feels broken or cheap. Prior to this year I had never played an Ys title before, but Nihon Falcom, and the talented localization team at XSEED, have provided some of the greatest games ever made. Ys I and II are classic and timeless games that should be played by anyone who has an interest in gaming's history and the Chronicles package on PSP and PC is an excellent way to experience these two stellar titles.

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"NeonNinja reviewed Ys I & II Chronicles for the PC..." was posted by NeonNinja on Thu, 02 May 2013 15:55:54 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/ys-i-and-ii-chronicles/user-reviews/810943/platform/pc/ Thu, 02 May 2013 09:07:07 -0700 pokecharm reviewed Tomb Raider for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/tomb-raider/user-reviews/810933/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

When it was announced that Tomb Raider would be re-released, I yawned. I had never played any of the previous games and hadn't thought to watch the Angelina Jolie movie either. I now consider myself thankful that I didn't besmirch this franchise when I get to have a fresh take that few gamers can boast, or perhaps be embarrassed about.

The game starts off with a tutorial, as most games do, introducing the gamer to the controls. The action genre doesn't get a great addition through the game play, but the controls are easy to understand and manipulate as the story charges forward. Simple button presses get you through QTE scenes, but there aren't so many that you get frustrated that you're hardly playing. The combination of melee and weapons worked well with the controls make combat quite fluid.

The sound quality was done well throughout. There are sections of the story where the voice acting felt forced, as the story seemed shaky in the middle. The notes that are found throughout the world were interesting, revealing more of the story, but now that I've seen that in so many games, it almost feels very done. The background noise for the game were accurate. If Lara forged through a forest, you could hear the grass. If she jumped into a body of water, you could hear the splashing. It felt very real and authentic.

The graphics were amazing, for the most part. I did suffer from occasional glitches, AI and Lara going through solid objects, most notably when I was falling off of great heights. The cut scenes were really well done. The people looked very real, hair still seemed slightly off. The weapons looked realistic to a degree. The modifications that Lara was able to make were not nearly as detailed.

Speaking of weapons, I have to say, though there were basically only four types of weapons, I loved the variety they managed to work into those four weapons. It was fun adding new things, the only disadvantage being once you added something. You'd spend the salvage points and couldn't try something else if that didn't work. That was one area where I would give Dead Space some credit. If something didn't work, you could remove it from the weapon and try it somewhere else.

The game was very linear, and while there were a lot of things you could pick up and find, it didn't really add a great deal to the story. Lara grows up in this game, and it is great to play. The trouble is that 'the coming of age' story isn't anything new, certainly not for gamers. The fresh take on the series is well done by Square Enix. I realise I've never played Lara Croft game, but this one sucked me in from the beginning and while I can't say it blew me away, I kept wanting to come back, I kept wanting to play more, to see how the story would end. And that, that my friends, is what makes a good game. Though we can argue about this to the end of time, the newest Lara Croft game is a good game. It keeps the gamer engaged from beginning to end and adds variety in every few chapters to allow you, and Lara, to grow and learn something new. Though Square Enix didn't consider this game a success, I really enjoyed it.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"pokecharm reviewed Tomb Raider for the Xbox 360..." was posted by pokecharm on Thu, 02 May 2013 09:07:07 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tomb-raider/user-reviews/810933/platform/xbox360/ Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:21:57 -0700 jg4xchamp reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810834/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Get the full article at GameSpot

"jg4xchamp reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PC..." was posted by jg4xchamp on Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:21:57 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810834/platform/pc/ Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:22:13 -0700 ShadowsDemon reviewed Sleeping Dogs for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/sleeping-dogs/user-reviews/810774/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

You play as Wei Shen, an undercover cop in the Triads. This open-world game set in the crime-ridden city of Hong Kong lets you experience the best of both worlds and how Wei struggles within both sides.
Single-player:
Let's get one thing straight before we even begin guys. Not only is Sleeping Dogs is everything that Grand Theft Auto should have been, it excels and dwarves almost every single open world game out there (excluding RPGs of course). It's one of those games that you'll be able to play endlessly, and never failing to be amazed at its stunning and brutal world.
So, what's the whole background of Sleeping Dogs? Well you play as Wei Shen, an American-Asian police officer who has been assigned with infiltrating the Triads of Hong Kong, called Sun On Yee and take them down. The plot sounds simple, but in reality it is anything but. Wei becomes engaged in brutal war that involves multiple gangs within the Triads such as the Water Street Gang, the Jade gang, racers, drug dealers, the police and more. It's a complex tale that has you question your original assumptions of good and bad once you realise that they aren't really so clear-cut as you believed them to be. As you continue through the story, and grow found of characters such as Winston Chu and his crazy mother, Jackie Ma, Uncle Po, your multiple girlfriends such as Amanda Cartwright (voiced by The Amazing Spiderman's Emma Stone) you'll discover their secrets, passions and goals, and you'll see that they aren't all the typical gangsters you'd automatically perceive them as. It's sobering to know that these people are regarded as evil when subjects as such family and honour mean so much to them.
The story interweaves between multiple objectives set you to by friends, the triads, police and alike. Even though most of the missions are similar, they have a distinct feel to them, and allow you to delve a little deeper into the world of Hong Kong's Sun On Yee and its complex members within.
The best thing about this game is the atmosphere. It's delicious and steamy layout does the inside of Hong Kong justice, and as a person who has visited the island, I can vouch for its authenticity. You can wonder into the night market, and rub shoulders with the locals as you hear their broken English and fluent Mandarin as the shopkeepers cry out and beg you to shop at their stall, which they insist is 'da best place you can buy, sir, I show you, yes', despite pretty much all the shops selling the same clothes. You can pick up a new mattress for your apartment, some pets and more. You can stop by the many food-stalls and buy delicious Asian food such as Pork buns and fish curry balls. Feeling tired? Go for a massage. In the mood to win some cash? Gamble your money on cock-fights. Now before you all buy the game, it's cocks as in chickens, thus chicken-fights.
All this adds up to make one of the most atmospheric games in recent memory. The rich neon lights that hang over you as you explore every inch of this city is a blast. There's also sightseeing to do, the malls to visit, and karaoke to sing. If you're feeling religious, you can even pray at the many shrines around the city, which will also increase your health. Even when bumping into people on the street, their irritated cries and curses in broken English assist in making Sleeping Dogs a genuinely immersive game that you can easily get lost in. It's stunning production values and variety of quests, missions and objectives keep the game from going stale. Unlike so many other games like it, Sleeping Dogs goes into great detail with everything, from the smallest rooms to the city view at night. You can tell that the developers made a real effort to make their game as tangible as possible, and that's something you cannot possibly deny.
The world of Sleeping Dogs is brutal, violent and complex, but in despite of that it manages to create a compelling narrative in an immersive world. This is everything that Grand Theft Auto should have been, and thus is one of the best single-player campaigns you'll come across this year.
Gameplay:
The gameplay in Sleeping Dogs allows to do anything at any given time, each other crazier than before. Are you in a high-speed chase? You can jump from one car to another as you speed along the highway. Are you getting pursed, by either the triads or the cops? You can shoot out their wheels, and then observe the carnage in slow-motion. You can do the same when in a gunfight, the slow-motion battle feeling as awesome as it is brutal. If you've played Vanquish, you'll feel right at home here.
But the best part of Sleeping Dogs where gameplay is concerned is the combat. Very much like Batman: Arkham City, you'll face off in some cases over a dozen thugs with brutal moves and techniques. However, unlike Arkham City, you can actually kill your opponents, and sometimes with the aid of the environment. One of the best (and most gut-wrenching) environmental kills comes from forcing the heads of your enemies over a burning furnace, and then watching as they burn to a crisp. Other options, such as throwing them in garbage bins, smashing them against walls and fans, not only look awesome, but earn you face points as well, which can then be used to deal extra damage to your opponents, and force them to cower in fear.
You have a number of unique moves at your disposal, increasing as you complete a particular side quest. The unparallel violence is enhanced through the slow motion kill cams, as the blood sprays, bones break and the screams of pain are heard. Even better, you can equip a weapon such as a tire-iron or kitchen knife – which can be dropped by your opponents – and use them to your advantage.
But that's not all you can do, however. In the game's many thrilling car chases you can hijack the cars, meaning you can jump from one to the other within seconds, and take control of the cars. It's the sort of work that gets your blood pumping and has you craving for more. The game of course has guns, and has been tweaked to feel surprisingly meaty and effective, unlike so many other third person shooters. It's not that all realistic, considering you can simply pick up a shotgun and let it rip, but the way in which the game allows you to shoot, especially when in slow-motion, gives a sense of gory satisfaction and weight. I will, however say that in the midst of these gunfights, the controls become clunky and unresponsive, especially when trying to duck for cover or run away. You end up feeling like an idiot as the enemies puncture you with bullets.
The AI aren't exactly smart enough to all gang up on you, such as in the game like The Witcher 2, but they know when to strike, and when your back is turned in combat. They even position themselves in such a way that makes your escape even more difficult, and they will pull you out of cars if you – like me – decided that running them over instead of fighting them would be an easier solution. They become even smarter in gunfights. They only fire when it's possible to hit you, and they won't spray either. They'll duck for cover and then only peek out to fire a couple of rounds – all together, might I add.
The gameplay in Sleeping Dogs is brutal, weighty, and satisfying. It's got everything you could want from an open world game, from brawls to car and police chases to minigames like karaoke and gambling, and everything the game does do it does smoothly. The gun fights leave a lot to be desired, but the game fulfils your expectations from the first moment to its last.

Presentation:
The virtual version of Kong Kong is utterly drenched in detail and brilliant design. The city and markets come to life with huge neon signs and lit up buildings. The many shops have aisles and stacks of products with writing you can read. The fluent Mandarin spoken by the locals is often hilarious and thoughtful, especially when you bump into them. The visuals shine both technically and artistically, though a little weaker on the artistic side. Regardless, this is one of the best open world games you'll be coming across, and it damn sure looks sweet.
The voice acting is solid, with hundreds of hours of genuine Mandarin script and voices with use great gusto such as Mrs. Chu, Wei Shen and Winston. Sleeping Dogs does everything it can to make this world feel real, and it does so to its best extent.
Another praiseworthy aspect is due with the radio stations. Many real bands such as Queen appear on the radio, along with advertisements and radio shows, both in English and Mandarin, adding yet another layer of complexity to the game.
Trophies:
The Sleeping Dogs isn't that hard, it's merely time-consuming, but in a good way. You'll need to win a certain amount of cash at gambling, kill any enemy with each type of gun, among other things. Regardless, Sleeping Dogs provides an enjoyable, albeit long, journey to its platinum trophy.
Conclusion:
Sleeping Dogs provides you with a complex story, a dark world in which two sides blend into one, brutal combat and gunplay, brilliant design and fantastic replay value. It'll take ages to complete and find everything, and you'll enjoy every moment of it. Sleeping Dogs is not only one of the best games of the year; it's one of the best open world games of all time. It's everything that GTA should be and more. This is one adventure you don't want to miss out on.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"ShadowsDemon reviewed Sleeping Dogs for the Xbox 360..." was posted by ShadowsDemon on Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:22:13 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/sleeping-dogs/user-reviews/810774/platform/xbox360/ Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:21:08 -0700 ShadowsDemon reviewed Final Fantasy XIII-2 for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-xiii-2/user-reviews/810773/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 7.5.


FF13-2 is one of those titles that's exactly the same as it's prequel in some areas and the complete opposite in others. The gameplay is somewhat similar, with the battle system containing 6 roles, ATB bars and micromanaging your own spells and abilities. This time around though you have the opinion to change your party leader, even in the midst of a major battle. You can also "tame" your former enemies, getting them to fight at your side in battle. There's nothing better than working with a chocobo to slain a monster 100 times bigger than you. The trouble with the game though lies within the story. There's a lot going on with time, paradoxes, seeing the future and in short what's happening around you. It's a well done tale with a lot of twists along the way, but you'll be confused for the most part for where exactly you want or need to go. You'll be given multiple time gates that allow you to travel back and forth – like using the ship in the old FFs in a way – and doing this over and over again gets confusing to say the least. Not to worry though, it's as fun as ever.
The technical side the game has dramatically suffered with Square deciding to squeeze the game onto a single disc for the 360 unlike for the last game. The graphics aren't quite as crisp as they were previously, and there's a lot less of those stunning CGI cut-scenes to gawk at. The soundtrack also suffers. A strange blend of metal, techno and party music does little to suit the atmosphere in some cases. Even small quirks like enemies becoming one with the battlefield and popping up randomly is a sign of a drop in quality. However, the gameplay is more enjoyable and complex in battle. You'll have a blast, and with the linear aspect completely gone FF13-2 has an extremely enjoyable, albeit a short, single player experience.
FF13-2 doesn't quite match up to FF13, even though the gameplay has improved and the linear aspect done away with. It's still a fantastic title however that is well worth your time.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"ShadowsDemon reviewed Final Fantasy XIII-2 for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by ShadowsDemon on Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:21:08 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-xiii-2/user-reviews/810773/platform/ps3/ Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:19:56 -0700 ShadowsDemon reviewed The ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/the-ico-and-shadow-of-the-colossus-collection/user-reviews/810772/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

Overview: It's been six years since we mustered up the courage to slay 16 shadowy monsters as big as mountains to save the life of a loved one back in 2005. Now we get the chance to re-experience the glory in HD. Will Shadow of the Colossus maintain its memorable gameplay and stunning presentation on the PS3, or will it just turn our nostalgia sour?

Gameplay:
If you ever want to set yourself a messy and difficult job, you could try to describe the gameplay of a game that's from the last generation and compare it to the video games seen in recent years. It's about as simple as nailing jelly to a tree. But I'll try to do my best.
Over the years video games have dramatically changed in terms of gameplay. The reactions are sharper and less clunky; there are less glitches and more flexibility. As these elements continue to improve we strive forward in the world of electronic games and achieving near flawless results as we enter the realm of a masterpiece. But then what if we look back and see just how far we've come?
When Shadow of the Colossus came out – it was like nothing that had come before it in terms of gameplay. With your bow and dagger you toppled beats as big as mountains. We were blown away back then, and it's something that will always be remembered. Then suddenly here comes the catch: with the gameplay seen today how well does SotC hold up?
One could say that it is near impossible to compare the two generations, and it is. But with the HD remake hitting the shelves the page is ready to be written on. SotC appears deceivably simple at first. You ride your horse around a deserted land (you might want to adjust the button configuration before heading off. Yes, it's been that long) and hunt down the colossus with your weapons.
The colossus's seem simple enough to kill to start, but then you'll find that you'll need to make use of the environment in order to topple them. In some cases you'll need to hide yourself and climb up its beard when it searches the cave for you. In other instances the only way to get the better of them is by waiting until they climb up on the wall of a building and then knocking them down. This added element of complexity increases with nearly every encounter. Part of the thrill of slaying these monsters is by discovering their weak point by means of a sophisticated way and then plunging your dagger into them.
Doing this is by no means easy. You are rarely given clues or hint how you can get the better of them, and even when you do the clunky controls will frustrate you more times than you'd like. We just have to remember how long ago it was in comparison to the games we get treated with today. However that won't be too likely as you fall of a colossus once again because you accidently let go. Climbing the colossus shouldn't be this much off a chore, and as you constantly fall off or press the wrong button your patience may give in too soon. Of course, everyone who played the game when it came out is expecting this. Newcomers might be disappointed and unpleasantly surprised at the game's harshness.
It's great to know that the using your weapons is spot on in terms of smoothness. As you plunge your dagger into the colossus's weak points and aim your bow there's a feeling of strength and accuracy. Riding your horse and aiming at the same time with your bow bonds the hunter and his horse a realistic and pleasant way.
You may find yourself getting continuously irritated at the dated, clunky controls, but you have to remember how excellent it was back in 2004. This HD remake will shock first timers until they slowly adjust to the game and appreciate it's art, whilst those who had played the game on the PS2 will be right at home.
Single Player:
At the start of the game you see Wander come into the Shrine of Worship and lay down a person wrapped in white sheets. Without spoiling too much, if you want to bring your loved one back to life then you must kill 16 giant colossus that roam free in the area, and destroy the 16 statues in the shrine. You then set off on your quest with nothing but a dagger and a bow to slay these beasts the size of mountains.
The story isn't memorable to start, and often you'll be wandering..sorry..wondering if this is all there is to it. The area of which the colossi roam free is completely devoid of other life sources apart from a few scattered lizards, birds, fish and your single trusty horse – Argos. It feels lonely and empty; somewhere you'd rather not be in as you seek to bring your loved one back. The story isn't a main factor in this game, and you'll wonder why it's even there to start with. By the time you reach the end the story takes you by surprise as you await the shocking ending that you probably knew was going to have to happen.
Other than hunting and toppling the colossi there's absolutely nothing else to do in this world. You can eat fruit off the trees and lizards to increase your stamina and health, but there is literally nothing else in the world of any interest for you. It increases the sense of isolation and exploring the unknown that some may find appealing. If you had to explore a magical kingdom populated with towns, castles and bustling people then this game wouldn't be the same. There's no inventory, no sense of progress or interaction. It's just a Wander, his horse and the massive colossus.
Looking at the glass half full there are no distractions or branching options that draw you away from your main quest, giving you the sense of little time left as you seek the next boss after the other. It's not something everyone is accustomed to, and will unquestionably leave a lot of people underwhelmed. Then again it's extremely effective in terms of creating a brilliant atmosphere and environment for you to explore.
It's a very different aspect to consider, and will leave a lot of people asking that age old question: "What were they thinking?" It also provides you with a mysterious story, an isolated and shadowy land and a unique environment. It's an acquired taste, and those who don't have the stomach for it will possibly be turned off until the spirit of emptiness summons them to return once again.

Technical:
This is where it becomes extremely difficult: how do we compare the graphical and technical presentation of the HD remake of a 2004 game? To say the least even with an expensive makeover the technical side hasn't fared well. Characters appear to be no more than cardboard cut-outs at times, and trees seem to be second-dimension at times. This is strangely the polar opposite of the artistic side of the game, despite the land sometimes being one gray corridor after another or shape lumps of rocks jutting out of nowhere. You really get a massive scope of the land and it's emptiness by gazing at its clever art design. It's excuse for running short on the technical side is of course that the game was originally on the PS2, and when it came out on the console at the time it blew everyone away. This is what we'll remember for years to come – when we gasped at the unbelievably visuals back in 2004. Strangely enough the visuals in with the HD remake look half baked at times – though this is often seen in open world games.
But what it disappoints in visuals in makes up in audio. The sound design is brilliant as is the soundtrack, sending chills of nostalgia tingling down our spines as we yet again get treated to one of the most astounding soundtracks in gaming history. It may be impossible to ever top SotC's mighty soundtrack, and if it's one thing we'll remember the game by it's from its audio and soundtrack. It's a shame the visuals don't match up to our expectations but the soundtrack will never let us down, and will be the benchmark for all future gaming soundtracks that many developers have strived to match.
Trophies:
The trophies in SotC aren't difficult, but merely time-consuming. Multiple playthroughs will keep your entertained as hunting for all the fruit and lizards will. Granted it's not a weekend platinum and will often frustrate you at times, but SotC contains a trophy set that is mildly challenging but takes a fair amount of time.
Closing Thoughts:
Shadow of the Colossus is an extremely difficult game to review, especially in comparison to how we viewed it on launch and how we view it today. Those would played the game back in good ol' 2004 will be right at home here and will love the game just as much as they previously did. Those who haven't will unquestionably be shocked by the clunky controls and tattered visuals until they get a grip and see the brilliant works behind this ancient masterpiece. It doesn't matter if you've been eagerly waiting for a shot of fresh nostalgia, waiting to get your teeth into the game once again, or a newcomer who wants to see what the hype is about, Shadow of the Colossus is a game that everyone should try for themselves and see what's behind the curtain. Some will be turned off by its dated and unusual gameplay and tale, but that's a judgment you'll come to make for yourself.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-ico-and-shadow-of-the-colossus-collection/user-reviews/810772/platform/ps3/ Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:18:49 -0700 ShadowsDemon reviewed Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/ratchet-and-clank-all-4-one/user-reviews/810771/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 4.0.

Overview: Our old Lombax friend, his robotic sidekick, the green clown in green and evil genius with a few screws loose all team up in the latest Ratchet and Clank game from Insomniac. Has this game lived up to its worthy predecessors, or has it taken the evitable turn for the worst?
Gameplay: Ratchet and Clank is probably best known for its meticulous and ridiculously fun gameplay. After taking a dab in the shooter genre with Gladiator, the gameplay continuously kept improving from Tools of Destruction, before giving us the innovative Clank time mechanics and more in A Crack In Time. Where does that lead up to in R&C A4O?
You basically get a similar experience for the most part that you got in the previous games; you bought and upgraded bizarre weapons, you solved puzzles and leapt across bottomless pits, and you used as many gadgets as you could possibly handle. It's all here in Ratchet and Clank: A4O, but it doesn't do it quite as well as it did in the previous games. The camera angle continuously struggles to keep with you and your buddies, for instance. It'll be jerking all over the place, and you'll be unable to focus on your objective simply because you cannot get to it. Even as the AI characters will be busying doing something else that they happen to believe is more important than the situation or objective at present.
The controls also infuriate you time after time. You'll often clear a gap and then suddenly slip off for no apparent reason. Other annoying quirks like getting the aim and select weapon analog sticks confused are more plentiful than they should, and will most likely turn you off after a short while.
Never the less, the gameplay is as fun you'd expect it to be, and with the classic bolts, creates and more, A4O does at least do the franchise dignity by supplying us with enjoyable gameplay and co-op craziness. Now that you're able to play with a total of four people you'll have action and carnage a plenty as you all rush to the bolts or rescue a friend from a close shave with a razor saw. As expected, many puzzles and bosses can only be beaten with steady co-operation from all four players. The sense of victory achieved from pure teamwork is well worth the effort in every instance. Having a few buddies over or playing with other gaming dweebs online is a blast. The clunky controls are slightly less noticeable in co-op, which is a great thing as there are enough problems playing co-op as it is thanks to the jerky camera angles.
Thankfully for previous entries in the series brushes with glitches have been kept to a minimal. All 4 One has obviously decided to make up for it, as the glitches are worse than they should be at any rate. You'll regularly die expectedly; the enemies will be un-killable or certain section nigh-on impossible unless done with fewer or less people. The Ratchet and Clank franchise has built itself on tight controls and ridiculously fun gameplay; and whilst it still has that the game feels as if it's been rushed and dumbbed down.
Ratchet and Clank: A4O's gameplay is close enough to the core to remind us of its origin, but simultaneously it's too far to match up to any other previous installment on any scale. The glitches are also more than annoyance, but you can get by for a good amount of the time.
Single-Player:
Our two heroes can never seem to catch a break, can they? From stopping Dr. Nefarious' plan to turn the universe's inhabitants into robots and being held hostage by an organization baying for blood, to running from a certain Cragmite and racing against time, Ratchet and Clank have always had their more than fair share of action and adventure in a (mostly) light-hearted universe. The stories were always comical and intriguing, particularly A Crack In Time which possessed the most powerful and awe-inspiring stories ever created by Insomniac Games. Plenty of replay value and goodies always kept you coming back for more through the fantastic campaign.
So what went wrong this time?
Ratchet and Clank have finally decided to retire from playing the roles as heroes, but the universe has other plans for them. Captain Qwark and Dr. Nefarious are also thrown into the confusion as the four are marooned in foreign territory and struggle to find a way back home. Now, as if this didn't sound tacky enough as the four work together to get home they come across Ephemeris the Creature Collector and have to save the universe once again. This sounds the standard procedure for Ratchet and Clank, but in truth it's anything but. The story gets no form of attention or care of any sort. You wouldn't be able to care less about our heroes or what they're getting up to this time. There's nothing to hold your interest or imagination. You'll trudge through the levels continuously without even noticing them slip through your fingers, and then you'll come to the end of the single-player in near to no time at all with a story that is underwhelming simple and poorly constructed.
Even the level design is simple and straight forward. You'll clear gaps, fire your guns, solve simple puzzles and plod along with barely anything holding your interest. It's tragic that Insomniac had to soil the franchises reputation for their lengthy and enjoyable single-player campaigns. Instead they give us the complete polar opposite. Avoid like verenal disease.
Multiplayer:
If there's one area where R&C A4O shines the most it's in the co-op without a doubt. Solving puzzles, leaping across gaps and exchanging insults with three other buddies is a pure blast. It's enough reason to play the game alone; not that there's many other reasons at all that this.
As enjoyable as it may be – the server issues cause a severe headache. Constant lobby crashes, excruciatingly long loading times, connection errors and more will send you into an occasional fit. Even when you've created the lobby the game will freeze suddenly when someone wants to join. You'll be unable to exit out as they attempt to join the lobby, and then in the end they won't end up joining. Even finding a lobby that isn't full can prove to be a challenge, and for some reason people seem to be fighting over Ratchet – which cuts down the available lobbies even more so.
But when you do happen to find a lobby that you can have a game in – or get three friends to share with the tiny couch with at home, you'll enjoy the co-op even more so. Firing your guns rapidly together to create an explosive effect and working together with each of your unique abilities is somewhat similar to LittleBigPlanet, albeit a much timid version.
The multiplayer is enjoyable, explosive and will get a few good laughs out of you. The many problems with match making and alike will frustrate you, but for the worst part it's worth putting up with it until the end.
Presentation:
Rich and deep colours inspired the artistic visuals behind R&C A4O, as well as a silky smooth framerate and very rare moments of slow-down or texture pop-in. They aren't as smooth as R&C ACiT, nor are they as technically outstanding, but they do a fine job regardless.
The soundtrack is designed by Boris Salchow, the same mind behind the works of ACiT's soundtrack. Comical and light-hearted tunes occupy your mind as you play through the game; though it's noticeably less brilliant than ACiT's. The audio design is above average at best, neither being particularly poor nor fantastic.
Closing thoughts:
Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One shows us exactly what happens when you turn a series into something that is the complete polar opposite of the previous games. It's almost as if Insomniac Games wanted to disappoint their fanbase. A4O doesn't feel like a feel Ratchet and Clank game, and if it weren't for the title name the game would be called back off the shelves. The comical humour and enjoyable co-op do ease the pain of seeing this franchise hit rock bottom, but maybe this is just another lesson learned; and our creative designers at Insomniac have humbly released their mistake and will bring the real franchise and its dignity back.
You got what you deserved Insomniac.



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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/ratchet-and-clank-all-4-one/user-reviews/810771/platform/ps3/ Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:17:15 -0700 ShadowsDemon reviewed MotorStorm: Apocalypse for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/motorstorm-apocalypse/user-reviews/810770/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

Single Player:
Goodbye the beautiful beaches and rainforests, hello to the crumbling cites of America, where the buildings that tear themselves away from the ground to crush you, the civilians shoot at you, and where a mistake will not only cost you the race, but your life.. Welcome to the apocalypse, baby.
What's your first thing that comes to mind when you read those words? If it's pure chaos, beautiful madness in a frenzy of cars, buggies, ATVs and monster trucks, all willing to kill to stay ahead of hell, then you've got the perfect image in mind that sums up MotorStorm: Apocalypse.
You might be surprised that this game is actually superior to its past games, considering that most of the locales aren't as varied as before. You won't be racing across beaches, lush tropical jungles, hot volcanoes and mudcliffs. Most of the racing takes part in industrial areas, the city streets and even on top of skyscrapers. While this isn't exactly for the best, the way in which it is handled causes you to wonder what you saw in the past games compared to now.
You might be surprised to learn that this game actually has a story. You play the role of three different characters, Mash "The Rookie", Tyler "The Pro", and Big Dog "The Veteran". Each of these characters offers a different perspective of the game's story as well as an altered difficultly level, which offers multiple play throughs. Instead of just selecting the levels and tracks that you choose to race in, after each race you will be progressed to the next one, with some text and dialogue that allows you to catch up on what's happening. It's a good way to get the story flowing, and the tracks that are given to you are varied and in complete different locals, which allows you to taste the full spice of life that the apocalypse has to offer. New additions include superbikes, hot hatches, and supercars, each with their own certain advantages and disadvantages. In some cases it's up to the personal player in choosing the perfect ride for themselves, or the track in-particular.
One of the best things about the single player campaign, however, is that the race track constantly changes. You might be burning your way across a certain path, but then suddenly a building collapses in front of your very eyes, forcing you to change your direction within a split second to avoid crashing. The track is completely altered, forcing you to go an entirely new direction, or in some cases drive under or above the obstacle. It's a great sensation to wonder when the track will change, offering some new burst of excitement just when you thought the track was going to get dull.
Sadly, in terms of the games' story there's no real backbone to substantiate any genuine reason to care about the tale. The story is merely a flimsy hook to hang the progression of your career and edge you along. Then again, not many racing games actually employ any form of a story at all, so the mix up is nice to see once in a while, even if you won't really be getting much out of the story at all.
MotorStorm: Apocalypse provides a great single campaign, albeit a poorly shaped story, that gives you pleasure to constantly experience. The tracks are well designed, the variety brilliantly maintained, all of it soaked in the brutal reality of a real apocalypse.
Gameplay:
If you've ever played a MotorStorm game before, then you'll know exactly what to expect. However, the way in which Apocalypse handles it is quite unique. The steering is drastically improved, the handling and way in which you maintain a steady flow throughout the race has been tweaked to be much more enjoyable. In addition, collapsing buildings, tornados that throw cars at you, helicopters, earthquakes, and gunners try to do everything in their power to turn the race into a playground of burning and twisted metal and fire. It's your job to stay ahead of that, and that element is what makes MotorStorm: Apocalypse so enthralling.
There's always something going on, be it a building collapsing, a helicopter flying through the air, or the stupid locals trying to chuck grenades at you, there's always something on the screen to entertain you that just adds to the mix of adrenaline, speeding up the race. The mix of fire and water also adds another layer of complexity, meaning that you have to be careful when to use your boost. That ledge might give you the extra height or might be a short cut, but if you're in critical mode with your boost and that "short cut" has fire scattered all over it, or some locals and a helicopter decide to fire some lead in your direction, it might just cost you the race. Be careful, and while you always want to get to the finish line as soon as possible, going too fast in some tracks can be the worst thing you could do. Unlike in previous games, Apocalypse is about so much more than just winning the race. It's about a brutal mix of insanity as you burn your way through a track that falls apart as you speed through it. And if there's three massive trucks, all trying to get in that small space that only one of you can fit in, then it's ram, or be rammed, my friends. And boy is it fun to ram and punch (depending on your vehicle and the other vehicle, of course) your opponents to a sudden crash or even causing them to fall off the building. It's hiliarious stuff, especially when you're in the middle of the air, trying to all land in a difficult spot, and you all end up totalling each other. The game often takes itself very seriously in its context and story, but in moments like these you'll realize just how much fun it can be to all crash yourself in the middle of the Apocalypse.
However, this game is significantly easier than the past entires, which is both a good and a bad thing. The learning curve is smoothed out and is a hell lot easier to get accustomed to. However, the desperation of trying to get in that first place is gone here, as the benchmark for many races is 5th place instead. Not only that, many opponents seem to slow down when you get far behind, and seem to crash more. And when you boost ahead, they seem content to let you stay in that position. And quite frankly, I highly doubt that in a real apocalypse that your opponents would be so forgiving.
Apocalypse does a fantastic job of setting the standard for racers, and is more than a pleasure to experience as you crash your way more often than not through the track. The gameplay is slick, tight, and best of all: fun.

Multiplayer:

The core element of MotorStorm: Apocalypse and maybe even the best multiplayer I have ever experienced in any online racer, it's that superb.
You can race with up to 15 other players online, and that creates even more mayhem and destruction than before, as your online opponents seem to love ramming you as much as you love ramming them.
As with every online game, there's ranks to gain, achievements and medals that you can earn that boost your stats, and even create new loadouts for your game. In fact, this is probably the closest any racer can get to have FPS aspects within its multiplayer. And boy does it work well. These loadouts can give you some extra boost, better drift, and so on. You have to adjust it to the actually vehicle that you're driving, as it would be pretty pointless to gain extra drift for a mudtruck.
In addition to standard racing there's a mode called elimination, which creates even more madness in order to struggle out of the danger zone. The way it works is by every 30 seconds or so eliminating the player in last place, and even then if the last two players are close together, it holds a "second chance" system, which will kick the player that falls drastically behind the other. It's even more fun than the standard race, and provides so much entertainment. And be wary that all the earthquakes, crashing buildings, etc, take place in multiplayer too, so if you want to time that ram of yours to send your opponent flying into hell, do it before they do. There's no mercy in the apocalypse.
Another great aspect of the multiplayer is that unlike so much games now days it provides offline, split screen multiplayer, that including
All in all the multiplayer in MotorStorm: Apocalypse is fantastically crafted and will unquestionably provide you with hours upon hours of entertainment and joy. Prepare to get lost in a realm of fun, insanity and mayhem.
Technical:
The gritty urban visuals continuously impress, and the frame-rate never fails, even when a hundred and one things are exploding in your face at once. You won't experience much – if at all – lag, even when playing online, or in the middle of a single player race. The loading times do leave a lot to be desired, however. It's a pain to just sit there and wait for the race to load when you know that it really isn't that big of a file. But regardless, the game runs smoothly, the textures are nice and crisp, and the visuals awesome. If you're one of those few people that actually owns a 3D HDTV, you can try the game in the third dimension. Sadly though, I don't have thousands of dollars to burn, so I can't deliver my own opinion on the matter. I can say, though, that the game would look awesome in 3D, which all the water getting splashed on the screen.
The audio is ace, the soundtrack less so. Thankfully, the developers decided to be smart and allow you to play your own custom music while in any race. So instead of the awful mash of random music that's carelessly slapped together, you get to listen (or at least in my case) to the likes of Metallica, Nirvana and Rise Against. It's great stuff, especially when a song equalizes in tune to the track.
Trophies: Don't expect an easy platinum, but I'd say that you can bag this one without too much trouble. At the rate of how superb the online is and how often you'll probably replay the single player, there's no reason why you shouldn't get this soon enough.

Conclusion:
MotorStorm: Apocalypse delivers a mix of a flaming ball of insanity tumbling down to a highway of superb action with a splash of a story to keep the ball rolling. Sure it isn't that good and the loading times leave a lot to be desired, but this is by far one of the best, if not the best racer that we've had in years, offline and online, and this is coming from a person who dislikes the genre. If you only buy one racer, make sure as hell it's this one.

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"ShadowsDemon reviewed MotorStorm: Apocalypse for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by ShadowsDemon on Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:17:15 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/motorstorm-apocalypse/user-reviews/810770/platform/ps3/ Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:15:13 -0700 ShadowsDemon reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810769/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 10.0!!!

Single-player:
The premise of the game alone shows you that you're going to be in for one hell of a ride. The year is 1912, and Colombia is a floating city in the clouds. You are Booker DeWitt, a mercenary who is in deep shit. Specifically, he's in debt to certain people who aren't so forgiving about forgetting to cough up what they're owed. His last chance to rid himself of the burden is to rescue Elizabeth, a mysterious girl held captive in a tower that is protected by an angry, mechanical bird, and deliver her safety to New York. It may sound deceiving simple, but in reality there is nothing 'simple' about this game and the twisting tale that it tells.
From the game's opening lines (Woman: "Do you fear God?" Man: "No, I fear you.") you know that this is going to be a game layered with religious, political, moral, and philosophical overtones. That's nothing different from traditional Bioshock lore, but the way it is hammered into your skull time and time again shows just how different Colombia is from Rapture. Rapture was mainly about "no government, no god, just people", and all that propaganda. In Colombia, signs and billboards advertising the theocratic government and system along with referring to numerous Bible texts, quotes and tales highlights just how deeply religious (and crazy) this place is. Don't worry; it just gets better from here.
Shortly after you arrive in Colombia and stumble upon a carnival show the mystifying initials "A.D" appear on your right hand. In the lore of Bioshock and Colombian culture this is equivalent to 666 or having a pentagram stencilled on your chest. You are seized by authorities and about to be taken away and killed as a 'devil' and 'false prophet' when you escape, slaughtering the police even though you have no idea why they're after you and what this 'false prophet' represents. Numerous flashbacks, subtle hints, audio logs and cameo appearances by a strange duo all do their part in leaving you itching to see what happens next and figure out the entire plot.
As before, the moral choices and different pathways are given to you, although they are not as painstakingly clear as they were in the previous games. They will, however, affect the way people see you and alter elements in the game. If you decide to blast everyone in the ice-cream parlour to hell with a shotgun and steal their cash, the police will more than likely come running. Just maybe.
A fair warning here, though; this game will possibly offend you if you're a devout, religious person or celebrate American idealism the game will likely inspire outrage and anger. Bioshock Infinite is not afraid to ask questions that revolve around the taboo and fragile subjects such as racism, religion, god, political, reality and moral perception. It's the sort of game that thrusts the questions out there and leaves us to make up our own mind concerning the various topics at hand. I have to say, though, that the game does this in a truly spectacular way. This is a tale of turmoil and strife, of lust and greed; of sin and redemption. On top of the invigorating and heady themes that the game handles, as you get closer to the end you are left with more questions than answers, and the questions that you already were posed at the start of the tale evolve and twist beyond recognition as things start to seem as if they are contradicting each other. You turn off the game with these various questions still in your mind, the gears spinning in your brain as you fall asleep. You'll be so desperate to know the end that you'll almost wish the game was shorter so you could uncover the dark and evil mysteries at the heart of this dystopic and broken city. Alas, you'll have to endure the many hours that only leave you more and more bewildered. But that's a good thing, as it makes the ending pack one **** hell of a punch. But I'll talk about that later.
One of the best things about this game is that it doesn't ever treat you like an idiot; it doesn't hold your hand down the merry lane and pointing at what you have to do and how to reach your goal. Sure, there's a waypoint, but the way you get there and what you do in the meantime is up to you. For example, I decided to plod around and visit the ladies bathroom (creepy, yes I know), and Elizabeth makes some sort of subtle joke at me being a pervert. Then I visit the mens, and then she exclaims, 'I hope you aren't expecting me to follow you in there.' It's these little, subtle touches that I appreciate. They aren't apparent at first, and reward those who seek them out. Even better, the side missions aren't slapped in your face, either. For instance, Elizabeth might remark about a bookstore, or suggest that we explore the boardwalk for a little bit before moving on. In the store I discover multiple weapons, cash registers, and more. I also discover an audio log. Listening to the audio log I figure out that someone has a listen hold in another shop, and Elizabeth urges me to discover it. I do so, and when I open up the secret hatch I find a codex book (which will assist me with another side mission) and more audio logs. In these audio logs there are references to the past games, lore, and other titbits that are useful in forming the enigmatic puzzle that the land of Colombia is.
Now, onto the ending:
It's not good. It's not great. It's not even fantastic. It's **** incredible. There is no other way to describe it. I was expecting a plot twist, but the ending to Bioshock Infinite just blew me out of the water. I can with all seriousness say that Infinite's ending will be the standard for all games to come. Each time an amazing game ends with a fantastic conclusion, it must be compared with Infinite, and even then will likely fall short in a dramatic way.
You probably think I'm exaggerating or even feigning enthusiasm just for the sake of it, but you could not be more wrong. The twists, the absolute jaw-dropping moments, the dialogue and the slow realization as you piece the ending together will stay in your mind until the day you die. It's impossible to explain why without spoiling it, and believe me, this is one game that you definitely don't want to be spoiled. It's an ending you need to see for yourself, and as the gears spin in your head long after you've finished it you will come to countless theories and alternative conclusions, and will then be discussed and dissected for years to come. The ending is completely and utterly unprecedented on every possible scale, and will find its place in your mind and hearts until the very last breath leaves your body.
Gameplay:
Bioshock has always maintained a unique, albeit clunky and awkward style of gameplay. I don't mean the gameplay itself per-say, but the shooting mechanics. They were clunky, unresponsive, and downright piss-poor. That's not the case in Bioshock Infinite. The guns are an absolute blast to use (no pun intended) from the powerful shotgun to the accurate carbine to the RPG with incredible splash damage. Ploughing through the streets of Colombia, blowing off heads and shooting off limbs has never been more enjoyable. Of course, half the joy comes from vigors. If you've played any previous Bioshock games you'll know what plasmids are, and in Colombia, plasmids are vigors. If you don't know what they are, I shall explain.
They allow you to use unique and powerful abilities to screw up, harm, confuse, possess, and piss off enemies. You can use a certain vigor to possess a machine and cause it to attack your foes. You can use the Murder of Crows vigor to send a blast of ravens at all enemies in your radius. You can fire a bolt of electricity that channels from one enemy to the other. Combined with multiple vigors and your weapons, you can a create a mini version of World War III in the streets of Colombia. They're immensely enjoyable to use, and even more enjoyable to deal out punishments with. In BioShock 2 you had a bloody big drill to use. In Infinite you have some sort of cross between a hook and a cleaver. It's good for two things; the first of which is slicing the heads of those who are too stupid to come close to you. The seconds is used for sky-lines. These massive metal railway-like poles suspended in the air can be used to travel on at incredible speeds, firing as you go and gaining access to new areas that were previously out of reach. Even better, you can perform aerial assassinations and surprise your enemies. The sensational joy of speeding along these skylines at break neck speeds never gets old. It's unparalleled joy that was never experienced in any previous games. You'll also go up against a variety of challenging enemies, the most iconic of which is named Patriot and looks suspiciously similar to George Washington. Between cries of 'may the lord guide thee' and ''tis but a scratch' and 'the lamb our saviour' he'll focus his crank gun on you until your health drops to zero. He's a challenge, but a welcome one. Just be glad that religious freaks in real life aren't equipped with crank guns. Most of them, anyway.
As with the previous instalments, you'll purchase upgrades, health and ammo from various vending machines. Unlike Bioshock 2, the vendor doesn't simply shut down after you upgrade a single weapon, so your progress is only limited by the coin in your pocket. In order to get filthy rich you'll need to explore the rich vastness of Colombia. Exploring a secret room and finding dozens of goodies will etch a grin on your face as you listen to the your latest audio log.
A new addition to this game is gear. There's four pieces; the hat, torso, pants and shoes. You'll find them scattered around Colombia, and they provide incredible help to you on your journey. Wearing certain pants give you a 40% chance of having your weapons auto-reload. Maybe a top-hat you found in a deserted garden gives you extra health when you gain a kill. These game-changing clothes allow you to make your own custom strategy and the way you play the game. It allows you to feel as if you're in 'control'. You have a choice. This alludes back to your game changing decisions and pathways that you experience, showing you that Bioshock Infinite is not just a great game where it feels it's convenient to be. Rather, it builds its entire game around a certain set of rules and never falters from the path, no matter how tempting or 'easy' it may appear to be.
That is a sign of a dedicated, firm, and quality game.
Presentation:
From lush green gardens aripe with blood-red roses and grand bronze statues, to the sweeping steam punk landscape of cranking gears and pulsing machinery, Bioshock Infinite never lets you forget where you are. In contrast to Bioshock 2, where almost every neighbour and locale appeared to be the same, each section of Infinite is uniquely crafted and never lets you forget where you are. The incredible blue sky and the golden yellow sands make each area distinct and provide their own special flavour.
Technically the visuals are stunning, and light years ahead of Bioshock 2. However, I did experience a few instances of screen-tearing, jagged edges and extended loading screens in the middle of a level. These minor faults do little to irritate, but they are noticeable. Whilst the graphics of Infinite are fantastic; they aren't ground breaking or 'next-gen'. The audio is where it really hits home, though. The dynamic and sweeping soundtrack binds you in its spell and makes you sway to its dance of beauty. The intense effects don't meet up to those in Bioshock 2's, but the overall soundtrack far surpasses anything in the last two games. Voice acting is solid and are voiced with great gusto, be it political and religious propaganda booming from the speakers, or the audio logs that you will be sure to find in the game. It's very easy to forget this is a game and not actual, genuine recordings done by people in real-life situations. Oh yeah, it's that good.
Trophies:
A lot easier than Bioshock 2's and way easier than Bioshock 1's, the trophies are challenging, but not frustrating. I achieved around 70% of trophies without even trying to earn them. Frankly, the only things that could piss you off is completing 1999 mode without using a vending machine, and finding the seemingly endless collectibles. Nothing that will have you ripping your hair out, though. Overall:
Bioshock Infinite is not a mere game; it is a work of art. It's a game that will cause your jaw to drop and turn your nights into sleepless toss-abouts as you go over the ending repetitively, spinning around in your brain like a marble in a whirlpool. The dark and devious tale will hit you at full impact, and as you think it over and come to another realisation you will be more shocked than before. You'll then want to replay the game, looking through a shaded lens that you'll never be able to un-see again. An incredible, ground-breaking and sublime masterpiece, Bioshock Infinite is nothing less than one of the best games of all time, and will be held as the standard for all games for years and years to come. It will be recalled by gamers with teary eyes, hearts filled with nostalgia and incredible memories that will linger in your mind for decades. You say I'm exaggerating do you? Play the game for yourself and see if what I say is true.
Infinite is a game that only comes once in a lifetime. There may never be a another game like it, and if there is, it must be measured to Infinite's standard as the final judgement. Infinite is not one of the best games of this year, nor it is one of the best this generation. It is one of the best games of all time.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a fact.

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"ShadowsDemon reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by ShadowsDemon on Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:15:13 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810769/platform/ps3/ Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:39:48 -0700 DarkLink77 reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810680/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

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"DarkLink77 reviewed BioShock Infinite for the PC..." was posted by DarkLink77 on Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:39:48 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810680/platform/pc/ Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:20:16 -0700 NeonNinja reviewed Ys Origin for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/ys-origin/user-reviews/810641/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

Ys Origin is set 700 years before the events of the first two games in the Ys series. As demons swarm the land of Ys, the two goddesses, Reah and Feena, raise Solomon Shrine into the sky. But just as quickly, the demons build a tower to try and reach the heavens. As the tower nears completion, Reah and Feena leave Solomon Shrine without saying a word. Once it's discovered that the two goddesses are missing, a search party of twelve is sent down to the surface, composed of sorcerers and knights. As they descend, a powerful force attacks the group and they scatter. And like that, you begin a journey to scale the tower and find the goddesses.

Ys Origin features three playable characters, Yunicah Tovah, Hugo Fact and a third character that is unlocked after completing the game once. It is worth mentioning that each character has a very specific story. All of the narratives follow the same basic structure of scaling the tower and rescuing the goddesses, but each one features variations on boss battles and dialogue. And to be clear, the third hidden character is the obvious canon entry. But to get the full understanding of various character motivations it is recommended that all three stories are played through, and in the specific order of Yunicah, Hugo and the hidden character. Not doing so will definitely dampen the experience at large.

This is a problem I have noticed with the reviews for the game, and even many of the discussions. They seem to be based on a single playthrough and not the full experience. However, Ys Origin deserves to be played through three times, if not more. Each character brings a different style of play to the experience, Yunicah is the traditional warrior class, she attacks with a battle axe, Hugo is our mage and attacks from distance and moves far slower. The third character is a lightning quick berserker who has to get in close for damage. Each one has different abilities in combat as well. For instance the wind power for Yunicah allows her to whirlwind into battle, attacking enemies on all sides. Meanwhile for Hugo it becomes a forcefield that negates damage as he fires from a distance. So the difference is in both gameplay and narrative.

At its most basic level, Ys Origin is a dungeon crawler, but it stands head and shoulders above any one that I have ever played. This is a better and more fully realized game than any of the Diablo or Torchlight titles. Despite the copious amounts of loot in those games they lack the basic feel of progression in Ys Origin. This is a better game than Bastion, which despite its innovative use of narration, lacks the replayability of Ys Origin. Playing through Ys Origin is a delight each time, and that I found myself compelled to do it back to back to back should say plenty about the game's quality. Barring a hatred of RPGs, there really is no reason to not play Ys Origin.

Combat is the meat of the experience and involves basic attacks, magic attacks and the boost ability, along with some platforming sections. It's your job to determine what attacks enemies are weak against and to exploit those weaknesses. Some may be resistant to magic and require the basic attacks, others may be resistant to physical damage, and of course Boost amplifies your abilities greatly for a short period of time. Interestingly, unlike other dungeon crawlers that simply place new power after new power in your hands, Ys Origin opts to let you upgrade your powers instead, so there is a feeling of true progression for players that explore. You will want to max out the potential of your weapon and magic abilities, while expanding on other skills like boost recovery and MP usage.

Ys Origin's roots in Japanese design are obvious as well since many enemies, particularly bosses, litter the field with patterned projectile attacks that you have to dodge or counter. Some of the bosses literally scream danmaku in their attack patterns. But it's fresh and exciting to fight bosses that are more than tanks and require you to spawn town portals to survive. Ys Origin is a game of skill, moreso than Diablo and Torchlight, moreso than Bastion and moreso than the majority of the action RPG games available.

The boss battles in particular are absolutely stunning! Running across the backside of a giant centipede, hacking away at its armor to reach its head is as exciting as it sounds. Foes are enormous and their attacks can take up the entire screen at times. But the frantic pace of combat makes it all feel like more than window dressing like many games and actually makes them impactful and threatening.

There are five difficulty levels in all, Normal and Easy are the two I recommend for first timers. The main difference in challenge is based around how much damage enemies do and how much experience you gain from combat. So grinding is generally a non-issue unless you go for the higher difficulty levels. I found Easy more enjoyable as I rarely went back to clear out rooms of monsters unless I wanted to.

The game's level design is spectacular. You spend the entire time scaling the twenty five floors of the tower, but nothing feels cheaply placed. Everything flows and powers, from dashing to double jumping become available at a pace that keeps you coming back for more. Levels range from the basic tower design to water, fire and desert sections only to then hit the more demonic sections of the game.

Each playthrough of Ys Origin takes roughly eight hours, and in those eight hours Ys Origin packs a far more meaningful and interesting narrative with actual character growth and villains with true motives than the majority of the 60 to 100 hour long role-playing games on the market. There is no filler at all, everything makes sense and clicks together. And while the narratives each work as standalone stories, you should still play them all. Yunicah and Hugo both have interesting character arcs and narratives. But the final hidden character's story uses events and character motivations that occur to those two as you scale the tower on your own. So skipping one of the first two to dive into the third one may have you questioning why a certain character acts one way or another. The final story is also just too entertaining and features one of the coolest character arcs to come from a Japanese RPG in some time. And of course, the true ending is as poignant and beautiful as I could have hoped for it to be.

Ys is a series most famous for its music, and I have to agree with all of the praise. Ys Origin has such a cool soundtrack I'm almost tempted to call it one of the all-time greats. The music I heard in the trailer afterall is what tempted me to purchase the game and right down to the final events in the game the music is actually used as diegetic sound. It's spectacular and catchy and just gets you pulled into the experience at large. The audio track played for the 25th floor of the tower is by far the singular achievement of the soundtrack and helps to end the experience on a powerful high note, leading up to the biggest and most exciting showdowns against rival characters before hitting the summit.

The graphics are basic, yet beautiful. The art design is very much Japanese in nature, with anime styling all over the game. The tower itself is wonderfully realized and enemy designs are spectacular and often imposing despite the dated look of the visuals. It's hard to imagine this as a 2006 PC release when American developers were releasing games like Gears of War and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. But it takes more than pretty graphics for a game to shine and Ys Origin stands head and shoulders over those two games, and many more, in pure quality.

While it took six years after its Japanese release for Ys Origin to makes its way to North America, it remains as proof that excellent gameplay design can make a six year old game feel better than the majority of modern game releases. Ys Origin is the best dungeon crawl I have played yet and it succeeds because it nails every element a game needs in order to succeed: its fun to play, is spectacularly designed and features some great writing and characters that you will care about. The combination of the beautiful soundtrack with all of these elements helps solidify its place amongst the RPG greats.

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"NeonNinja reviewed Ys Origin for the PC..." was posted by NeonNinja on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:20:16 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/ys-origin/user-reviews/810641/platform/pc/ Mon, 15 Apr 2013 23:13:34 -0700 pokecharm reviewed Gears of War: Judgment for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/gears-of-war-judgment/user-reviews/810293/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 6.0.

Gears of War is known for its multi-player and cover shooting mechanics. That is to say, the story isn't at the forefront, and this is no exception. The game progresses exactly as you'd expect. The story is almost laughable, something out of a B action movie with overpaid actors and little substance. The cover shooting is as exceptional as ever, cover placed throughout to save you from using any type of skill to navigate through the game.

The controls are the thing that impressed me, if you could even say that. The controls are always very polished in a Gears of War game, since there is little else to bring you to the series. The controls haven't changed greatly since last year's entry, but at the same time, that familiarity helps you understand the mechanics and ways to take advantage of the way the game is designed. Once again I found myself not using anything other than the Lancer or Longshot, something for close combat, something for distant combat. I've never been a fan of the other weapons, the variety isn't lost on me, but the control is. I like to stick with what I know and those two weapons are my go-to weapons for Gears of War.

The voice acting was passable. The actors sounded exactly the same as they always do. With a beef cake style story, there isn't much for them to do, I imagine. The story was meandering, at best. The unlockable Aftermath was the height of pointless, adding nothing to the series. While I am happy to see another game in a long-standing series, what I don't like is something that feels like an add –on, an afterthought, and that is what this entire game felt like.

The sound and graphics were on par with other Gears games. There were no great strides forward in either, the backgrounds were decently detailed, but nothing blew me away. At rare times I did suffer some slight screen tearing and visual inconsistences, AI going through walls, but otherwise, nothing I can complain about.

Overall, the game was decent. If you ask me honestly, it isn't worth $60. The game was too short and suffered from feeling like I'd played it before. I think new entries in series should add to them in a significant way, not just be made for the money, which it is clear that this game suffered from. Even the most die-hard of Gears fans might feel jilted by this paltry entry.

I will fully admit I didn't get around to playing the multi-player, something that Gears is known for, so I can't comment on that and my score doesn't reflect that. However, I will say I have heard great things about it and expect it is as good as it has previously been, at least.

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"pokecharm reviewed Gears of War: Judgment for the Xbox 360..." was posted by pokecharm on Mon, 15 Apr 2013 23:13:34 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/gears-of-war-judgment/user-reviews/810293/platform/xbox360/ Sat, 13 Apr 2013 11:12:41 -0700 pokecharm reviewed BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810194/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 10.0!!!

A highly hyped game is usually a major disappointment once I get to it, this was not the case with BIoshock. The game is all it is cracked up to be and then some. As I played the game, the thing that stuck out to me the most, that made Bioshock so affecting, was polish. The game was polished. The story was fully told, the graphics were fully realised, the voice acting was spot on. In every aspect of the game I could think of, it impressed me.

Spoliers are tough to avoid, so I'll say this about the story, the characters were well rounded. When you first meet some of the supporting characters, it would be easy to say they felt inauthentic, as the game progressed, the story resolved the issue, doling out morsel of information through the audio logs that are found throughout the world. The title characters, Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth grab your attention and make you emotionally invested in the game almost instantly. The supporting characters reveal themselves in turn, the back story is well worth discovering.

The voice acting was brilliant. The characters come to life through dialogue, and as the viewpoint of the game is first person, being unable to see Booker's expressions, his voice has to relay everything he's feeling, and it does so well. The graphics of the game were flawless. I never suffered from any screen tearing or other visual inconsistencies. The background and items you interact with are highly detailed.

The game play is a similar to previous Bioshock games. Luckily the game follows the second one in the series, allowing you to use the left and right hands almost at the same time. The weapons were varied, I ended up sticking with the shotgun, carbine and sniper rifle through most of the game, using Possession and Shock Jockey the most from the choice of vigors. The variety with both types of weapons were fun to experiment with.

The story was not as mind blowing as I may have hoped, but it was well worth the investment of time to play. The hype around the game was well earned and executed. Every little piece of the game contributed to the overall experience, including the haunting soundtrack that played through the credits. Bioshock is one of those rare games that, entry after entry, has improved the story, adapted to evolving game play and gamer intelligence. The game keeps you engaged, keeps you challenged and keeps you guessing. This is a game you absolutely do not want to miss.

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"pokecharm reviewed BioShock Infinite for the Xbox 360..." was posted by pokecharm on Sat, 13 Apr 2013 11:12:41 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bioshock-infinite/user-reviews/810194/platform/xbox360/