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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Trials 'N Talking: Change In The Game Industry and E3 Anticipations

Hey, I've started a new series (a little while ago actually) and I just talk about random topics while playing Trials Evolution Community Tracks and Online Matches. Check 'em out!


You know I really wish you could show video by URL, but it can't so here is the other video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m30tXaiimT4

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Been A while

Sure has here is my FUSE review and I might wright one for The Last Of Us, stay tuned and subscribe to my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/OstracizedGamer

It's not popping up on the feed click this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wiadqy5hqZk

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Review

Did just a video again. I really don't know if I want to continue this way or not, but here it is!


Friday, April 26, 2013

Injustice Review

Surprise! I didn't even write this review! Wait, I mean I just wrote out a script and then recorded the video review. Trying to mess around with HTML to get the video size, SCREW IT! Just watch it on YouTube and maybe throw a subscribe or two my way?


Saturday, April 6, 2013

Legend of the Slender Man. Slender: The Arrival Review


Page 1: ...

Slender: The Eight Pages. Need I say more than that? We know that game more than the actual mythos of the Slenderman by Marble Horents. Either you watched a crap ton of youtubers play it or experienced the raw virtual terror of the Slenderman yourself. Created by Parsec Productions, Slender: The Arrival is the reboot to The Eight Pages. The name could be stating that Slender has officially arrived. Knowing that the original spawned off so many other maps each still as horrific as the the next. This game was the scariest thing I ever played. There really isn't a whole lot to say, because the more knowledge you have, the less unknown and scary our tall, long appendaged friend is


Page 2: ALWAYS WATCHES NO EYES

Well, it's both great and awful to have eyes while playing this game, no pun intended. You also would need a good computer to set this game on ultra high. You may also need to tell your graphics card to process all of this game's graphical details. Now I never try and poke at the technical aspects, but it was pretty aggravating that the game was lagging so much when I first played it and I have a great computer. Like I mentioned quickly above, I had to go to my NVIDIA dashboard and manually select my High-performance Graphics Processor because it detected and used the integrated processor, which is only for smaller tasks on the Windows Explorer. Despite the anger and search, it was very easy to fix. It honestly should be fixed in the program asap, because some people may not know how to fix it themselves. When it all works, it looks amazing for any indie game. Who ever made the game world, you have a really bright future in this industry. Later during the game, at night, the game world appeared even better than Alan Wake. You take that plus Slenderman, your f***ed!

The game's sound effects and music were also very well done. I could easily tell that the developers did use many sound assets from the original game, but I feel it was necessary to keep that perfect level of sh**-you-pants scary. The music was also crippling to hear floating in your ears. Overall, the art presentation was shocking, creepy, and beautiful. You still have to play game you know. Yes, I know...


Page 3: CAN'T RUN

You can try, but you may not get very far. To be honest, I really had idea has to expect what the gameplay in this game would be. I recall that the game was pre-ordered, there was an upgraded version of the original game. Later, I noticed that there is 5 stages in all and you can go back a select any of them after completion of the game. The eight pages is still present in is own stage and I don't want to reveal the rest of the game, but I will say most of them do involve the one item scavenger hunts. Each one is not as it seems though, well, expect the Eight Pages stage. I would also like to note that the classic portion of the game is the hardest, and by that I mean really difficult, at least, for me. If you've beaten the classic game, then this wont be a big trouble to you. Then when you beat it, play it on Hard Core for a special surprise at the end. This game is for the veterans of the original and not the beginners, unless you are a quick learner. It's also not a long game at all, but it will still scare most anyone even after over hundreds of playthroughs.



Page 4: HELP ME

Like I said before, I do not want to give too much away, because I tended to do that early in my reviews. The story concept of this game is much like that of Metroid, where the player is dropped in the game with absolutely zero understanding of the history or current situation. I've always loved that concept, of course if it's done well, that is. Just like the movie Memento, the player soon finds clues to add up into a story of their own up until the end of the game. It's expertly well done in this game and it still has one wondering about the story after the end, but not enough to feel as the game left a plot hole. Overall, Parsec Productions does an incredible job of delivering such an immersive, frightening, hopeless, and unknowing story. It is called Slender: The Arrival for a reason, that must mean he has just arrived and there may be another game. Here is the basic story of the game; you go to a friend's house and then Slender is after you. Now I just left out a whole lot of info, you will have to discover a piece together yourself, if you're courageous enough.


Page  5: LEAVE ME ALONE

Slender's reboot, Slender: The Arrival is a will shattering game, that can scare you to the core of your nerves. The games presents and beautifully horrific, artistic style rivaling games in our recent past. The sound design is recycled from the last game, but it needs to be. The gameplay is that of the original game with a few more additions for more content. It is very challenging game, depending on who you are. It's a game made for the horror game vet and the quick to jump learner. The game'sun revealed story is a nostalgic scare trip into the darkness. Despite the shaky start and difficult gameplay, it's a very well put together indie game. Slender: The Arrival still keeps me up at night, 5 eggs out of 6.


 Just don't get too scared of the Slenderman, because, as it goes; if you are afraid of him, he will get you!


Monday, April 1, 2013

Two Heads Usually Better Than One. Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel Review


Friendly Wave Goodbye

*Reading up on the history of game and developer* Says here on Wikies that EA (or Visceral)  Montreal, is, shut down... Well, that's sounds like a great time to be had. I just don't want to think of why it happened. I feel that their lack of game sales may have contributed to this developer falling in shambles, but my ignorance finds bliss. Other than Army of Two, most of their games seem like ports are or just small spin-offs of big franchises. I digress, this is about Army of Two; a series that I've heard of, played a demo for, and only 1 friend I have plays it. It always appeared as a fun co-op game, but I never got real into it. After a bit of thought, I can say that these games have a realistic action movie (if at all possible) sense to them. For one, gameplay concept of "Aggro" or, basically, one person shooting or exposing themselves to the enemy will draw their attention towards the corresponding player, really possessed a form of realism that most games then (2008) did not have. Unfortunately, I never felt purchasing one as being necessary for my gaming experience. I wonder if this game will change that? It didn't help, that's for sure.



It's Not Halloween! Why the Masks?

I wanted a title to fit the visual and artistic presentation of the game, there...

The music in this game is worth just as much as music in a Gears game, it's just for background and nothing more and else. It's not terrible music, it's just decent enough to have no complaints and deduction to reserve. I feel that sound effects should be noted though. The metal parts flying everywhere and explosions going off really set a sort of realism in this action movie world. The guns sound like COD guns, but the sound effects are over all great, but okay with music. Now, for how the game appears.

The previous two Army of Two games used the more so typical Unreal 3 engine, which at the time(s) looked pretty decent, but not great. This time, Army of Two utilizes Dice's Frostbite 2 engine  Okay, wow what a switch. For that, it's quite a pleasing for this game to run. Physics look very natural and clean, with some well rendered worlds and models. When the game is first launched, the offers an HD texture pack install; playing with it off and then on, I have to say that does not look a.. whole... lot different. At least I mention that for fabric texturing quality, it burray! From a third person distance, it appears tolerable and that's all to say. The guns and masks look new and shinny. Speaking of Masks, would this be an adequate place to mention customized masks? You can make a customized mask! It may have doable before forgive me for lack of knowing. Sadly, it is not as good as Call of Duty emblem editor, but it's cool to make your own mask or attempt to make a Slipknot looking one. On to the characters behind the masks!


Paper Loses to Rock, yep...

Seeing as there are always just two main characters, making them likable is pretty much key to even a remotely decent game. At first, a really wondered why we didn't play as Rios and Salem, but that will come soon, get ready for the worst of that. For the characters you do play as, Alpha and Bravo; they start off pretty mindless, but soon their personalities come through. Unfortunately,  Rios and Salem seem a bit stale, but once in a rare while they will crack or just apart of a joke made by Alpha or Bravo. Theirs names are another interesting point, they never tell you them. I really don't understand why; is it trying to make it feel as though the gamer is one of them? Well, that just does not work in this day and age. The only way to do that is have custom facial features and being able to name the first name. Been done very well many times before, if you don't do it to the "n-th" degree, just don't even try. The characters are adequate, to mildly put.

Now for the story. There is no way for me tell my opinion about this without giving away the biggest spoiler, I will put the spoilers around quotes. You are not prepared: So, we start off in training with A&B (Alpha/Bravo) not so hard. Now it gets confusing and from I gathered you are going to rescue this person and there is this cartel that attack you and then see the main bad guy and then you fight in and out. Salem grabs a car and you drive until it flips over and Salem gets trapped under neath. Then Rios tries to get him out, but the cars explodes with him inside, a he dies...

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

"but he doesn't and no body knows. Years later we find a mayor wants to put and end to this drug cartel's reign. So then after a few levels you meet that same person you saved and she wants to destroy the cartel for kidnapping her, oh how convenient. You find out that a guy who also wears a mask works for the cartel. Later you find out it is Salem and he is disgruntled that you left him to die when he clearly was dead. Five reasons this makes no sense: 1. You don't survive with a few burns after a car explodes from the inside. 2. The cartel would kill him instantly. 3. If he did survive, he should have known what kind of jobs he did for years. 4. Apparently he does not care about his friend Rios whose has saved his life and all the other crap they've been through, like starting up TIIIO. 5. He's a bitch. Cry me a river. Right at the very end, Salem scratches the name of either Rios' girlfriend or sister on the wall of his prison cell, that is no April Fools"

I'm done, I'm SO DONE! It is that horrifically bad, I mean it's the most asinine storyline I've ever experienced in my life of playing video games. It makes no sense, has no point, and has a "The Departed' ending, but with a little more bullspit at the end. Other than the barely revealing characters, the storyline is a typical destroy the drug cartel, and that the thing with Salem kills the entire thing. Did M. Night Shyamalan write this piece of crap? It's, it's bad, not so bad, good, but so bad, bad. This game has the one of the worst storylines in modern game history, period. Oh yeah, it's ending is pretty much 10 times worse than Mass Effect 3, if you hated that ending. Overall, this is, *long sigh* moving on...


I Declare A Thumb War

The gameplay is actually very delightful. There. Is that enough? Of course not, the storyline only beats it half to death. The gameplay feel is very clean and smooth, with a very nicely made, fluid cover/movement system. When being ostracized, such as myself and are playing solo, the partner AI, is pretty smart to the apex that he can actually kill multiple enemies and 90% of the time actually revives the player in reliable time. That's if your aren't stupid and run out in the field to just get mowed down. In the final room of the game, the AI goes full-on mentally challenged by straying away from you and walking around aimlessly. The final boss is much easier if he is kinda of helpful, but that happens on and off. The games also has a good length to it with a total of 50 "level segments" that run a pretty decent amount of time, about 10-20 minutes to complete each one. It's also made for some great chaotic co-op fun. I did encounter 4 very similar bugs that just kept the level from progressing, but can be fixed by restarting the checkpoint. The game also has some really easy to challenging difficulty levels that take some tactical thought to finish. I'm not done yet, just a bit more.


Co-op Customization

In Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel, I didn't know you could customize weapons until an hour after playing, I should have looked a bit harder. You can! I really enjoyed this feature, it was cool to "Call of Duty" or "Ghost Recon" personalize your weapon for a third person co-op game. It really lets the two players stand out from one and other, which in turn, let's them fight over who's cooler than the other. Probably should have put the custom Mask creation thing here, oh well, it's up by the art style portion of this review. The game also features a leveling system, in which after two playthroughs, will get you the highest rank of level 25. Good news is there is no tacked on multiplayer and co-op is very enjoyable. You can also earn money that can be used to purchase a small abundance of Weapons (and attachments/camos), Outfits, and Masks. The money also progresses leveling up and acts as an arcade-like scoring system, which is pretty neat considering most games have points and an a game economy separately. That may seem like a lazy way to implement, but I find it fresh to see. The overall gameplay is fun and energizing, but really can't fully save this game. On the other hand, the gameplay alone may be enough to have a go at this game.


It Takes Two...

...too really enjoy this game, if you can get past the annoyingly terrible and bland storyline. The look of the Frostbite 2 engine is decent, even with the texture pack, feels natural. The music is what you'd expect and not so bad. The story... *uhck*, is not good to say without freaking out about it. The gameplay is intense and gripping. This game is an alright single player game and a prefect buddy game to play. Worth to me about 30 bucks, seriously, they might as well have no story. To continue, the gameplay is by far the best aspect of this game and is actually quite enjoyable. If you like shooters and don't care about storylines, and you have a buddy to play with or online "social skills", give it a rent and see this shi-I mean alright action game is a consideration for purchase. *cough* torrent *cough, cough* Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel, is the worst game I've reviewed so far and it did not have to be, it earns 3 eggs out of 6. This was not an April Fools joke.







Sunday, March 24, 2013

Another COG in the Gear of War Judgment Review


2011 - present...

A while back, another Gears of War game was said be in development. I knew right then after my completion of Gears of War 3, what that statement meant, one or more prequels. It seems that prequels are all the rage lately in the seventh generation of gaming. So now, here we have Gears of War Judgment; that is a suspicious title to say the least. It is interesting to note that Cliff Bleszinski did not even touch this game, period. Well, he might have played it, but he still had no hand in the actual development. Now I know what you're thinking, don't jump too far ahead now, the rest of the developers at 'People Can Fly' got a year and half to create this game. I can now take it off the shelf (from the video rental store) and examine this compact duel layer DVD newly born in the Gears of War family. Here I will let you know if this game is just another COG in the Gears of Microsoft's money machine or if it can stand in with a bloody good game series.


...And Justice For All

Gears of War Judgment is a prequel to the original game and surrounds the characters Baird, Cole, and two new character's: Sofia Hendrik and Garron Paduk. The main levels of the game are the squad member's flashbacks that serve as testimonies during a military tribunal. Each member tells a different part of the story, when they traveled to a COG base and launched a lightmass missile without authorization and now face execution. That's our Baird! I find the storytelling and narrative in this flashback format to be quite unseasoned for a game like Gears, and it's a nice tweak. I believe that most fans will still enjoy it just as much as the other titles. Once the story is completed, it's time to hit it up right before Gears 3, with a story extension called Aftermath. It takes place just moments before the Imulsion cure is released. Basically, before heading to Azura, Baird, Cole, and Clayton Carmine attempt to find a transport and reinforcements. I don't want to give it away, too much, but Aftermath follows a more traditional narrative path of a Gears game. The standard story almost felt more akin to a sci-fi noir game like Halo 3: ODST, and I will come back to that game. Each character has a different chapter to tell and investigate.

The characters the player jumps into correspond with each individual testimony and different area of the game. It was neat to witness the different character's perspective and ongoing, changing attitudes towards the other members, their mission, and the war as a whole. At first, I only appreciated Baird and Cole because we've had the three games to get to know them. Most would like Paduk just because of Russian-like voice and stereotypical attitude. With time, just a little time, I figured out his background and could sympathize with his motives, but still could argue with a few things he says. Unfortunately, Sofia didn't really hit it off with me at all. She seemed like a detached character, that annoyingly does it all "by the books". By the end of Aftermath though, I finally felt for her, but it took a while. Gears of War Judgment follows our two favorite characters into battle and does a favorable job of developing some new ones to tag along.


Blackened

The visual style and graphics of the Gears games hasn't really open eyes very wide, but it did progressively get better and better. One look at the title screen and you'll know if the game's graphics and style will do justice for a current generation. The graphics in this game are of the best and even slightly better than Gears 3. Every location looks so freshly abandoned and demolished, it looks great. As you can see, fire is pretty much everywhere in this game, and it looks really bright and awesome. The reflective and shine effects look quite gorgeous and I did find myself looking at the scenery quite a lot. It is, by far, the best in the series. The cut scene graphics however look exactly the same as the third game, but to improve that takes some more time and money. I have seen the skeleton and the basics of the UDK 3 engine and I have to say, this engine is about as good as it's going to get and looks great for being almost 9 years old. As you can also tell, I based the title of the paragraphs off of a Metallica's ...And Justice For All tracks. The Judicial statue in this game reminds me of that album cover. I know that figure was designed much earlier, but the dark tone of both works fit considerably well with each other. Speaking of music, the soundtrack of this game sounds like a rehashed version of the Gears 3 music. Music in these games is just for background noise, nothing great. The graphics and art style of Judgment are improved a tad bit and still looks great for an aging game engine.


The Shortest Straw

The gameplay of Judgment is not any different or fresh in any way: It's Gears 3 in a different environment basically. It has its ups and downs, I feel like each battle encounter is just a, "Here we go again...". Compared to the other games, it's the same old tired thing. I will give some credit though for the implementation of the star ratings, Horde-like battles and Declassified missions. The star rating system really adds to the replay-ability and challenge of the game, much like in the recently released Metal Gear Revegeance, but not as fun and intense to go for. The Declassified Missions just alter the current mission to a certain criteria for a change of pace, and eh I did them because of Achievements. I did like the Horde sequences, but soon after, they get tiring and aggravating to go through. I will say, this was just what it needed to get this game off the ground, for a little while at least. The campaign has a decent length to it, but when it's done, there isn't much of a motivation to play it again. The gameplay of Gears of War Judgment is the same thing with just a few interesting things joined in.


One

Well, maybe a bit more than just one or it's not multiplayer. Many games rushed out this past month have had their share of tacked-on multiplayer. Gears of War games have always been created with multiplayer in mind and it has never felt tacked-on. Judgment tries to take its word up on that, but falls just short of the fun the previous games contained. Some players are just going to be so much better than most and it gets annoying, but that's dedication and that gives it some good. Gears fans will enjoy it more than casual players such as myself will. In Team Deathmatch, it is a who is better contest and same with Free For All. I will say, that Domination is quite enjoyable for a while and it actually keeps the team doing something unlike many others multiplayer now. The game has also gotten rid of active, reloading, DBNO, and executions. Why? I do not understand this decision at all, that was fun to do. They also got rid of the Locust team and now the sawed-off is two shot and weaker now. I really cannot comprehend this and it seemed like a lazy attempt to change the game. Not a good thing.

In addition, there are only four maps and despite how well designed each are, we could have had at least a couple old ones chucked in for some more content. The controls have also been more streamlined with the left bumper being the grenade button and Y being the weapon swap. A good modification, but this takes away the ability to plant grenades and support and third side arm weapon. Okay, it's not all bad. The game type Overrun is a whole lot of fun to be had. You can play as the Locust and kill the COG or be the COG fending off the Locust. It's a entertaining mix of Horde and Beast with a Battlefield-like objective and progression. It needs to be played to be understood and appreciated, it's very good to say the least. Go and try the demo to see my point. Survival is the last mode and it's just Overrun with AI, so... that's it. Still not happy? In due time, the game will get the addition of the Execution mode and couple maps for free. That's great news, I feel this game is lacking a bit of content, but at least the game works properly.


Harvester of Sorrow

RANT TIME: That gun... This really got to me. You had to pre-order this game to obtain the Classic Hammerburst from the first Gears game. Oh and it's not the same gun, it's a burst fire. I know what some may think, "Oh it won't affect the balance". Do some forum surfing, you'll find that people really think this gun is really good. They make you pre-order or soon possibly purchase the weapon from the Xbox live Marketplace, to get the advantage. I feel the blame of this falls squarely on Microsoft Game Studio, and potential feeling that this game would be terrible. Then they make you get stuck with the game not knowing if it is good or not if you want the gun. Buying optional things that are for aesthetic purposes is alright, but they went way too far this time. This is worse than the micro transactions the EA has now. There is even less items to unlock in this game, but they do give you prize boxes from completing certain goals, but most of those are just XP awards. So much more content could have put into this game. Microsoft, wake up and give everyone that gun! Don't be like EA!


Eye Of The Beholder

Gears of War wasn't done yet, and I knew its next direction. I bet many others predicted something along those lines too, and it's not disappointing, to some. The narrative was very intriguing and neat to follow as a first approach in a Gears game. The characters we knew where great, and other characters where what they could be, nothing more. The graphics don't change a whole lot, but still appear as well they can on and old engine. The visual style is unchanged, but is alluring enough to take a second glance at the scenery. Neither aspect is grand or even memorable for any of these games. The gameplay is identical to the other games, but adds infrequent changes in play. These, more so additions, give a little more, but get tiresome after some time. The multiplayer shallowly deletes some fun features and has only two fun game modes: Domination and Overrun. In all, the game feels less, in terms of content while comparing it to Gears 3. I think of this game like Halo 3: ODST. It should have been called Gears 3: Judgment and priced at around 45-50 dollars. It's for the huge Gears fans, not anyone else. For a causal player like me, if you want it enough, wait for the price to go down for your own good and bite through being murdered by the Classic Hammerburst. It is not worth 60 bucks. Gears of War Judgment is just another polished COG in the wheel, it stands in the corner of the series at 4 lukewarm eggs out 6.


Friday, February 22, 2013

Cut and Take this Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Review


The Rise

Metal Gear Rising was first hinted after the release of Metal Gear Solid 4. It was originally meant to be a interquel that showed Raiden's transformation between MGS2 and MGS4. It was finally announced at the Xbox conference at E3 in 2010, but later was "quietly" cancelled because Kojima Productions could not successfully design this particularly new "cut at will" gameplay mechanic. They did however, fully develop the stories and in-game scenarios. Kojima later met up with a producer of Platinum Games and requested them to work on it. The new current version was then revealed with an actual trailer. After development began, they discarded stealth as a main element and included high speed hack and slash. They stating the original game as being very "dull",  much unlike the High Frequency Blade weapon. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance became the Lighting Bolt Action game we see now.

Enough of the history, Metal Gear Rising is not Metal Gear Solid, it's a spin off time. The gameplay, as we all know, is a huge leap away from the stealth Metal Gear is known for. No more emphasis on guns and silence, rather now it's sword play and slicing. Speed and reflex is key now, not slow and steady. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance may create a great spin off a successful different gameplay of the ninja we saw first as a kid that has been through the worst imaginable. It could also unfortunately be another stereotyped sub-par Japanese video game. Let me, take a slice at this reviewing thing.


Realistic vs Pretty

Many early gameplay demos of Revegeance showed the world as being very clear and colorful. The current game looks nice, but many of the levels at the beginning of the game have a very brown and grey tone to them, with little more vibrance as the game progresses. The environment does break into some neat looking scenery, but it's not gorgeous. It's more realistic than pretty, but is that bad thing? Standing from the slightly lower end Xbox 360 console perspective, the rendered characters and cut scenes look very nice, seeing as how they are at least half the game. Hey it's Metal Gear, it has it's large emphasis on story, which will be discussed soon. Most of the objects in this game are "slice-able" and when you deiced to just start slicing everything up like lettuce, you'll know how cool it looks. All of those sliced objects will disappear quite fast, but I can understand with this generation of consoles. You cut into an object enough, the game starts to lag a bit. Along with just cutting the world up, this game sure is violent! Not as much as Prototype, but even slicing up these red blooded cyborgs gets a little gruesome, but oh so satisfying. Lastly, all of the city environments seem to be magically empty except three hostages during the entire game. At two points in the game, the characters mention an evacuation, but the cities just seem too dead and not very modern. Overall, Metal Gear Rising visually appears alright, not as good as I wanted to think.

Metal Gear Solid always have some grand beautiful and hectic musical scores. Metal Gear Rising also takes a leap in terms of this, to more of making it sound like some bad copyrighted music that was made for a game. The music sounds exactly like the rising in popularity, metalcore music. I mean, I love metal, but I am not a fan of that kind of metal. Although the instrumentals are really decent, I really wish the vocals could be turned off. I feel that lyrical music fits best with driving games and shooting games or just at the credits. I will say, it is good for this game to have fast chaotic music, but oust with the vocals please.


Stories from Kabuki Theater


Now don't quote me on this, but I've read that Metal Gear-ish games had a large influence from Japanese Kabuki theater. That must be why the Metal Gear games have always felt a little odd with the characters. It could also just be influence from Japanese Anime. I do love this series, but I am not into the Anime stuff at all. Metal Gear Rising is no different in this aspect. Some of the actual American characters act, let's say more realistically American than others. An American senator acts like a Sumo, fat Yakuza boss. An American senator, from Colorado! Many of antagonistic characters like to do the point and then dramatically clench their fist action. To put it plainly, all the enemy characters act ridiculous and way over-the-top. I wont criticize that, but I will take into account the addition of a lot of profanity. I am in no way adverted to it, but it is just so out of place. If characters act ridiculous and start swearing, it makes their madness seem so fake. It only works for Raiden who has been through the worst in life and does not act so insane, until his "Jack the Ripper" persona emerges. Even in that act, the profanity is still feels more in place. Over the top characters, even more so than the Metal Gear other games.

As for the story line, it is sub-par at the least. The main concept is about Raiden trying to prevent this corporation that is taking 3rd world children's brains and training in advanced VR to become super genocidal cyborgs. These brains would be trained to kill and cause war to break out, reviving the dead war economy from the previous game. It's about cyborg bodies, there, see, it's a little out there. The one thing this story does do well, is it vividly keeps you interest even though the ridiculous characters are present. Metal Gear Rising even makes references to Raiden's past along with many tongue-in-check recalls of the main series. The game still contains the codec sequences that drag on a bit, but most of the characters do have something interesting to say both for the game and even our our reality, how interpreted is up to the player. Metal Gear Rising has decent writing, with over dramatic characters, but it manages to make you think about the real world. Metal Gear games have always been very aware and smart in philosophical ways. This game does another, okay job in terms of narrative.


Hard and Short... uh, the game...

The gameplay of Metal Gear Rising is not stealth, but more of a button mashy hack and slash. The general game feels like a mix of Devil May Cry and God Of War. For a Metal Gear game, it still contains very intense action sequences, but like times 10 more chaotic.  It also has... those... quick time events. Don't worry, they're present like any other hack and slash game, but not an overabundance. Unfortunately, there is still a sliver of stealth, and it just does not work at all. The game offers moments to be stealthy, but it asks for too much and when you fail, your punished. Also, there is no need for the alert counter either, it's unnecessary and detracting. There was no need to keep any amount of stealth you guys! Usually after the BRIING!, two larger enemies than the one you startled get called to kick your ass, which leads me to the difficultly. It's a hard game, it's really hard. It is almost impossible to not get hit during any fighting scene, not to mention boss battles. Okay, well to top that off, the game is about 8 hours in gameplay time, not counting the cut scenes. The challenge of the game is beatable, which is probably what the developers wanted to do to make the game's playablity last longer. It may sound bad, but for this game it works because it's just hard enough to want to get that 100% completion. For a short story, you will spend many hours on the full completion along with VR mission too. Timing and timing alone will keep you alive in this world. There is no forever blocking system like most games; rather a wait for the right parry to stirke. You cannot dodge, which is really bad seeing as not every enemy attack is blockable. It's hard, but oh so rewarding, especially to slice the enemies into a million pieces.


True Hack and Slash

That is correct! Even a Star Wars game has not been developed with the ability to cut almost anything down, apart, in the middle, and what have you. Now, to precisely cut anything, you need to go into what is called "Blade Mode", which is only available when your meter under the health is blue. You can then hold the mode down until the bar is empty. To coincide with the difficulty of this game, you can't just willy nilly hack every guy up you see. Most enemies take a number of hits in certain areas that will turn blue and allow the blade to cut through. When this mode is activated on a damaged or weak enemy, you can cut for a target that will allow Raiden to snatch the cyborg's energy source to regain full power. This is known as Zan-Datsu or "cut and take", as the game refer's to. Adding even more to this great risk and reward system are the challenging and blade wearying boss battles. One is based on speed, one can split off segments of his body to avoid your blade, and you just have to play it. The boss variety and challenge of your sword is really quite aggravating and, yet again so rewarding to beat. Here's another thing, you can save a whopping three different hostages, okay, yeah. They don't matter, you just get pitied for not saving them, WHOOPS! The game also has running system that is very much like in Mirrors Edge, called Ninja run. You can run with great speed and vault over any short object or obstacle, which adds to the intensity with exhilarating running sequences. The game also has a small upgrading system that will allow extension Raiden’s cyborg body and usage of boss weapons.  The overall gameplay is very fresh, very hard, and very rewarding. It is, by far, the strongest aspect of the game and saved it for me in so many ways... besides the length.


OH MY GAWD, MEDAL GEEEEEEEAAAAR!

Yeah, yeah it's an Egoraptor reference when you can't think of an original caption. Metal Gear Rising Revengeance is only part of Metal Gear by name and story, with only a touch of useless stealth. By it's self, it's a God of War action game with amazingly fresh and fun gameplay. It also has a bountiful amount of references and undertones with bizarre characters. Set in bland and not so realistic settings, this game keeps the interest through and past the game's entire story to warrant a replay. It is a very challenging game, but if you enjoy it enough and develop the motivation for major risk and reward, you will have many hours of the game to earn a 100% completion. If you want to try it, just get a 2 night rental, you'll beat it on easy for sure. If you want to feel good about defeating such a hard game like every other Metal Gear, you should buy it. I do suggest waiting for a price drop though. Everything about this game, except the side story interest and the gameplay, are just okay. It's Short, difficult, dramatic, frustrating, reflex stimulating and; however you cut the cake, it's earns a 4 and a half out of 6 eggs.



Wednesday, February 20, 2013

PS4

Yep, got announced, dup. No real info, just saying stuff that may or may not be on it when it ships. I might make a video talking about it. Dunno what game to play while talking though...

Friday, February 15, 2013

My Rating System

Basically I review based of three criteria that I rate the quality of. That includes, the overall Gameplay, Story (Narrative/Characters), and Art (Sound/Graphics/Visual Style). Depending on what each criteria should be it will get between zero and two Ostrich Eggs. 6 Eggs would be the highest rating for a game. The reason I chose out of six is because it's a good even number, but not as simple as a 10. A game that would get a 6, is a game that's mind blowing and innovative. A 5 is just a really great, game except for a few minor flaws. A 4 would be a game that's decent to good and could use changes that could make it much better. A 3 is a game that is not very good or it's okay, but suffered from many problems that may or may not be able to be corrected. A 2 is not at all, a good game. It is being killed by bugs and terrible mechanics. 1 is hell, a game that tortures you in every way, the worst of the worst. 0 is not a game, it's something that is so broken, it can't be completed. In that case, it cannot be not reviewed. If this rating system starts to fall on it's head, I will change it.

In the case of Dead Space 3, I really enjoyed the game, but a few little things did get to me, that will take some time to get used to. It's a very good game, but it is not as 'great' as I wanted it to be. I will be spending many more hours on it. I enjoy it.

This might make things easier, my approval rating out of 100:
0 eggs= 0-15
1 egg= 16-24
2 eggs= 25-42
3 eggs= 43-59
4 eggs= 60-80
5 eggs= 81-91
6 eggs= 92-100

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Predictable...

I think we all know how "well" Aliens: Colonial Marines did... That's what happens when a game is forced through development and, for some reason, can't wait until summer for launch. I don't understand,  maybe I don't know yet, but it's like there is a phobia for releasing full title games in the summer time. School is over, what better way spend on, than games that were better than if they were crunched like the real nightmare we are seeing in the gaming industry. To add to that, I won't be doing a legit review of Aliens, but when I do get a break from school, I will put together a comedic style review of it, you'll have to wait and see. That will be same with how these next big games to come out this month and next month fair. I are really scurrd friends!

No Space For Fear... Dead Space 3 Review


Visceral Minds

The beginning of the Dead Space franchise will turn into a five year demented child this October. A King Diamond's 'Abigail', if you will. Another cult following to AAA EA title, the original Dead Space was a huge Sci-Fi scare, at least, to most. To me, it was beyond any scary, horrific game or experience in comparison, at the time. Sure, it was and is no Slender, but as a full length game, it combined the perfect blend of action, horror and, even a bit of puzzle elements in a creepy narrative with a real humanistic undertone in the grand story arch.

Here is the thing, ha ha, like the movie. If you couldn't already tell or your're just too young to want to see it; the movie, "The Thing" was the largest creature style influence on Dead Space. Fortunately, in Dead Space, you can actually kill these things. The real 'thing' I want to skim over is the sick, twisted, and even friendly game developer, Visceral Games. When the company was born, it was basically another company name under EA, where, based on their location, was cleverly named EA Redwood Shores. Under that name, they would go to make two 007 and LOTR games, The Godfather I&II, and the first Dead Space. I would only guess that the company's name change was to be eponymous with one word that could best describe their most original game, visceral. Then, a Dead Space Wii game was soon to come, along with Dante's Inferno. Now it's been only Dead Space games up yours truly and soon, Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel. To think, it has already been 2 years since the launch of Dead Space 2; makes you feel old... Was this break and long awaited return of my favorite horror series worth to see a Cabin in the Woods or is this another game horrorbly morphed into the action genre?


Is More Really Less?

F**K NO! Let's get to the new stuff right away. From pointless competitive multiplayer in the second game, EA-uh-I mean Visceral Games, decided to put co-op in this iteration. I will say at first thought, like most others, was this game just got less scary. Let me tell you, the horror within the story is amplified in the co-op missions, as John Carver enters the same violent dementia Isaac did last time. Be sure to prepare Isaac to be helpless and Carver to be horrified as he battles his own "Nicole". Dead Space 3 also adds a few optional missions that give more insight on the game's story. Some of the missions do have very similar level designs, but still are interesting to have. Something that sure horrified some other gamers, t-t-the word, of the devil! Micro-transactions... What's the big deal? People that have time to play the game, such as the fans and even some newcomers will really have no problem here. You don't need to pay to get a great advantage. I'm sorry that some people want a game to spend no time and effort in completing. Remember that Mass Effect 3 multiplayer has micro-transactions and there is no problem if you just play the damn game! Find those glitches that EA won't fix while you're at it and stop crying. I will say though, what really aggravates me is EA forcing out these Day-One DLCs, shame on them for that garbage. Now that we finished with the complained additions to Dead Space 3, can we please get to something good?


I Got Some Duck Tape!

Resource management is what makes a horror game, survival; and the previous games did have some of this with limited slots, random unwanted item pickups, and a store system. I realized during Dead Space 2, after 3 playthroughs, I had so many items, it didn't feel like survival anymore. The original Dead Space had slow movement, clunky controls, and less item drops that still makes it terrifying today. Dead Space 3 doesn't feature credits anymore, but different resource materials you can gather with new Scavenger Bots. These new friends can sense very feasible "scavenging" areas. With the 1 plus robots, they will gather materials for crafting items. It is quite tedious to find the points and drop the bot and then go to the crafting bench, but it's worth it. Craft-able items are everything! You can craft Health Packs, universal ammo. and even weapon parts! Weapon crafting was a huge deal, because we could now play Dead Space the way we want to. You can literally build any weapon combo in this game: Carbine/Ripper Blade, SMG/Plasma Cutter, ect. You can even add attachments that can help you and your co-op partner as well. Materials can also be used to upgrade your RIG. One gripe I have, is with picking up the resource boxes, weapon attachments, and upgrades when you are running out of space. You cannot drop any of those items! It would be neat if you could drop the Scavenger Bot, that could carry your newly found items to the bench. At least update it to let us drop them!


Thinking With Stasis!

As an engineer, Isaac needs to stay in practice! The main Dead Space games always wanted you to think to figure out quasi-puzzles and do other certain hack jobs to get around those Necros. Each new game seemed to add a couple new mechanisms in the world. Dead Space 3 includes all the same, plus many more. Most of the puzzles at the beginning seemed to be too easy and even babyish in completion. I will say that this game does have slightly annoying tutorials that seem to go away later in the game, which is only good for the noobs. After all that hand-holding, some of the later puzzles begin to get a little cryptic and soon you just keep trying random ideas until the light changes to blue. Makes you think 'til rage, I'd say. This is another thing that makes me rage, there are no save stations anymore! I really enjoyed that futuristic Resident Evil typewriter and now you have to wait an unknown amount of time until a save hits. It is also aggravating when it does not tell you when a checkpoint is reached. There were many times I died and I assumed a checkpoint was reached, but NNOOOOPE! What adds to that is the difficulty. It's overall a harder game now. It's good, I mean I wanted that, but I think asked for a bit too much. I love these games, so just more time to play it!


'Til We Die

I always enjoyed the story-line of Dead Space, to say the least. Original? Not really, but it took quite a few elements from already creepy horror stories and made it something special. To me, this game is a horrific metaphor for all the troubles us humans and our sick natural thoughts go through all the bad times life and how if we don't get past those times, we could die. Not trying to be melancholic and philosophical or anything, just what this game has kinda meant to me. It can really make it a good experience to add your own life to and immerse in as well. The final story is fair to say the most, but it's not bad to say at all. The story does what it can to slowly wrap up such a awesome and chaotic strung up narrative. I want to take this time to explain why a series ending story can be a question of quality. With Mass Effect 3, there was so much crap happening  someone had to go. The "perfect ending" is a cliche and it does not make you reflect on your own life and world we're all stuck in. If you want a happy game, your shallow, and not really a legit gamer. I give Bioware credit for a ending like that. How could a game as crazy and messed up as this have a "good" ending? Once I knew another Dead Space was coming I knew this was a series that our protagonist would not finish it out alive. Don't worry, I have not completed the game yet; I got the last chapter to go. Let's see how the characters deal with this epitaph.


To Save Humanity

The characters have always had a large part of the Dead Space series. Even when Isaac didn't speak, Nicole, Hammond, Kendra, Dr. Kyne, Mercer, and various logs kept the motivation and momentum of the game. Then Isaac finally spoke, and he added more to the life of Dead Space. Dead Space 3 if you have not guessed, is all the same and it's never better. I've have snooped about to find that some people refrain from calling these characters 'memorable'. If realistic is not memorable, then take a look in the mirror. How would you like to go through this scenario? Depressed, angry, and argumentative is something out of The Walking Dead and it's what you would see in a game like this. It makes you feel better that you are not there, with a bit of extremely dark humor tacked on to give some life. Everyone in this game is a  reluctant participant and Isaac is the one who will not stop until he dies or it's all over. We cannot forget the crazy religious character that is ignorant beyond comparison  He is less inspired, but the others make it up. I enjoyed the characters and will remember them as pretty decent 'last ones' to end a great series.


Cold As Ice

The first two Dead Space games always held the player in tight corridors with the slight potential for a jump scare. Dead Space also had very disturbing moments to try and make the player cringe. At so many times, moments in the original game gave me nightmares for nights. I could not even play it for certain extended periods of time. Then Dead Space 2 came out and still gave me a similar effect, but maybe I was too desensitized by the first one. After playing this, I can safely say that Dead Space 2 just a bit scarier, but doesn't contain the amount of anticipation and intensity that the current game has. It's mainly due to it losing the dementia sequences and some of the unpredictably. Do not fret, Dead Space 3 stills has it's creepy and jumpy moments that we've come to enjoy. At the beginning of Dead Space 3, Isaac revisits the cold ship corridors that gave this franchise it's Alien-like quality. Then following a very nicely rendered crash sequence, you wake up in a winter hell. Right out of the bag, having low visibility, immediately made me think of Silent Hill. Dead Space 3 retains that feeling of claustrophobia, while somehow adding kenophobia with a solid black fog wall. This game takes the environment horror of Silent Hill and The Thing, and conveys them together really well. The setting does break into familiar corridors occasionally.  I will say that it is nice to get a break from the unknown cold, once in a while. Then you go inside to find what lurks in the dark.


Who Goes There?

The first question you ask before running for your life in first time you see and hear the scariest creatures in video game history, the Necromorphs. The design and sound of these creatures is terrifying in every way imaginable and gave me blood curdling nightmares, until I learned to destroy them with ease. The fear still lingers on, even in Dead Space 3. At first, I saw that the Necromorphs appeared less bloody and more dirty color, I thought they really toned down the fleshy-ness and therefore less scary. I soon realized the fact that they could pop out from the snow from anywhere and charged faster. The glowing eyes always get me though. Regardless of how they appear, they sound more horrific than before. The new "Feeders" might sound silly at first, but you will feel them rip you to pieces. You will fear that noise and they won't stop until you die! The music added to this game kinda sounded like Batman and Bladerunner combined, it's good, but too odd. When that cliche epic Sci-Fi music picks up, the game's intensity really ramp's up and can knock you around. There are also many moments when you get hit by some "Shining-like" chiller sound effects that makes it feel like this horror has been experienced before, but Dead Space 3 holds it's own just below the original game.


It's Dead For Now

Another trilogy has ended, and only time will tell when EA will force more out. Until that time, Dead Space has ended, at least I think. Dead Space 3 adds some neat, new gameplay features that have a fresh impact on the game. It also has had taken away some familiar features that can make the game a bit aggravating from time to time. The story grabs you to wrap up as neatly as possible with characters I could tolerate. The scare factor is a little less present than the last game, and that might be because of the intense action. This is really expected, but not praised in this period of gaming. Visceral Games also borrows horror elements from other stories and can still freak the hell out of people. Dead Space 3 may not live up to already, very high expectations or even compete with the first title, but it holds up just a bit higher than the previous game. It ends as good as it can, and what more could you ask for? If your a fan, you'll need it and if your new, just rent the game or buy the first one for cheap. If you like horror games, but never played this, then try the Demo. Looking back, I did really overrated Dead Space 2 by some, but Dead Space 3 earns 4 1/2 rich eggs out of 6.