A paper I forgot about

Read the title. If I decide to review SSX, it will be done before Mass Effect 3 comes out. Hmm wonder why... I am reviewing that for March.

Alan Wake's American Nightmare Review

                        

What you are about to read may entice the world of one's imagination, where games and stories converse into one being. Where one's look at something stirs one of an other's criticism on another creation of a group of artists: The Alan Wake's American Nightmare Review.

    Intro: Previously at Remedy Entertainment

Two years ago Remedy Entertainment released the "First Season" of their second video game franchise, Alan Wake. The last franchise they developed was the critically acclaimed games, Max Payne. Alan Wake is about a writer (Alan Wake) who writes things that come true, but are twisted by a dark presence. He is able to fight by using a flashlight and a gun. Now, Remedy has released a 'stand alone' sequel to Alan Wake, but is no way Alan Wake 2. The developers stated this game as a "Pulp Action Thriller", as opposed to the first game's "Psychological Action Thriller".  Alan Wake's American Nightmare is an Xbox Live Arcade game that really seems to push the boundary on arcade title.

Part 1: New Nightmare

After two years of being in the "Dark Place" , an evil doppelganger of Alan Wake has been created and he is Mr. Scratch. Mr. Scratch is the accumulation of all the urban legends about Alan Wake the crazy writer that where made up during the time of his disappearance from the real world. Mr. Scratch is a malevolent caricature of Alan Wake who impersonation him to try and open the door between the world of imagination and our world. The real Alan won't let that happen. There are three more new characters in this game, all of which, are not very fleshed out, but there is no time for that in an arcade game. The voice acting of these new characters is very mediocre, but the voice of Alan Wake and Mr.Scratch is as excellent as ever.

The  game begins exactly like an episode of the fake TV show from Alan Wake called Night Springs (Twilight Zone copy). The narrator does a fairly good Rod Serling impersonation throughout the entire game, but not annoyingly so. Alright, so the story is cool and all, but the character gets stuck in a time loop. A concept like that is a perfect match for a Twilight Zony pulp story to it. The game also features TVs, Radios, and Manuscript pages to interact with to give a little back story to each element and story in this game. One must have a very open mind when trying to enjoy this story. It is definitely a great spin off story for the Alan Wake fan. For any new comers, play the first one, then play this one or if not, just keep an open mind while in this one. 1 egg and a half for Story and Characters.

Part 2: The Flashlight is mightier than the Gun

 The gameplay of Alan Wake is something very different and never done before. Instead the Run-And-Gun approach that Max Payne had, you need to play much more defensively. The player must use the flashlight to burn the surrounding darkness away from the "Taken" (taken over by darkness) and only then can you shoot them. Sometimes the player must dodge to avoid getting hurt and use anything that can convey light to fight your foes. Some objects can become possessed and you can only burn the darkness away to destroy them.

It would seem that such a gameplay style would get very boring, but Remedy remedies (lol) this situation with a change in enemy combat and storyline gameplay. For example, some enemies like the Splitter are very hard to kill as one, but you can shine the light on them to split them up twice and make them easier to kill with more numbers. Other enemies such as the Birdmen turn into a flock of ravens when impacted with light. The Grenadiers use dark grenades, are easy to burn dark off, and attack at longer ranges. They even introduce an enemy called the Giant, he carries an enormous buzz saw and is about 8 feet tall and take a lot of light and bullets to kill. Certain parts of the game make you look at a manuscript to set up the change in reality, but presents no more challenge then do this and that in any dumb order and fight a  bunch of guys.

Where the gameplay really shines is in the new wave based mode called, Fight Til Dawn. In this mode you have 10 minutes until dawn breaks and you must survive waves of increasing difficulty Taken. You can just evade until dawn, but there is no fun or points to be awarded in doing that. This mode features 5 different areas and 5 of the same with the Nightmare difficulty. None of these levels are at all easy and you will be screaming after playing some of the Nightmare ones. 2 Eggs for Gameplay.

Part 3: Pulp is a type of paper!

Alan Wake's American Nightmare uses the same stunning graphics as the previous title and as a 5 hour long arcade title. I give much praise to Remendy for doing such a great thing. They really made this game look like a convincing direct sequel even though its not nearly as long or uses a disc to play. Small parts of this game use live action cut scenes and they are also during the TV interactions (by that I mean turning on and viewing) much like from the first game.

Now something you didn't expect to be reviewed, the writing and music! The writing was very interesting and didn't seem to have that same worry about everything the first game had. The manuscript pages seemed more poetic and also blatantly explanatory of some situations faced in the game. One must realize that these pages were written to explain the other parts of the game looked into as apposed to telling a story the way the previous game did. The composed music wasn't very special and it was weird having the Kasabian Club Foot song the game and Ed Harcourt's Watching the Sun Come Up fit better because of the title more than the lyrics. A group by the name of Poets of the Fall with two songs make the music in this game great. They have a song called The Happy Song (I'm a physco!) and song called Balance Slays the Demon (as Old Gods of Asgard) If the first Alan Wake didn't get you into Poets of the Fall this one should. 1 and a half eggs.

Extro: Only in....

Alan Wake's American Nightmare is a fairly good spin-off to a very good game that must be tried by anyone who even thinks one second about it. This game keeps the fun gameplay of Alan Wake and pushes it a bit further; it also challenges the player in Fight Till Dawn and finishes off smoothly. It may lack in suspense and acting, but is not big price to pay for a much worth $15 for a game. Go get the trail version right now and enjoy it, because it is good. That's the bottom line.

A video game is meant to be a world of mystery and fantasy, not at all of events that took around in a certain time and place. Only a near disposition of a false reality and horror. Would we ever know if such events in this game happened? Would we really know what are in these eggs of light or dark. One could guess and be right or wrong in their imagination. False would be true only in Night Springs.

Hmmm Next Reviews

I'm going to review SSX and Alan Wake's American Nightmare, which came out today. Both I hope to have done by the end of this month.

METAL GEAR! Solid HD Collection Review

Are video games art? Yes they 100% are and Hideo Koijma proves it with this amazingly unique and strange storytelling, amazing art style, and fascinating gameplay of METAL GEAR! The Metal Gear Series has stood the test of time again and again and now they brought it back to the Xbox!!! Well obviously the PS3 too, but on the Xbox too!!! The original developer for Metal Gear was of course Hideo Kojima and some others and then Koijma Productions (made by durrr Kojima) made the much more acclaimed Metal Gear Solid series. Anyway this is about the HD Collection not the original games. GO!

Ok so a game developer called Bluepoint games neatly put God of War 1 & 2 on PS3 in the God of War Collection, then they made MGS HD; that is what I am reviewing right here and now, for Xbox, PS3 and soon the PSVita (yes it is true). I wonder if- never mind the God of War Collection is in "HD". The most amazing thing about this how they were able to put Peace Walker, which is a PSP game, on the freaking Xbox? It is mind blowing! Well maybe not, it's more like too good to be true, but it is and I have it! Now for the real review.

Metal Gear? METAL GEAR!

This game has at least *counts on fingers* 1...2...3...4...5 Five different time periods in all that will take a long time to explain. The whole Metal Gear Series is for people who can comprehend such an immense, rich, and very large storyline. The most abridged way to tell the Metal Gear Story.

Metal Gear: Your a guy named Snake and you fight big robot thingy called Metal Gear.

Metal Gear 2: Bad guy is not really dead fight Metal Gear and more action.

Metal Gear Solid: Your "brother" betrays your former group called FoxHound they get you to kill him, grand story line and great action. Fight Metal Gear.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Snake teams up with some one good from MGS1 to destroy all other Metal Gears that were made by the U.S. ad black market. Snake perishes in tanker ship mission (you play in). Then you play as a new member of FoxHound named Raiden (pronounced Ryden). Finds some one who looks like Snake. Raiden discovers his past and Fights huge ass Metal Gear.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Origins of Snake and Big Boss (bad guy from Metal Gear). Play as Big Boss whose name then is Snake (not Solid Snake) to kill his mentor named The Boss, she turned commie. Fight Metal Gear Prototype. You fight her.

Metal Gear Solid 4: The Epic conclusion all the games come to together it is one of the best video games ever.

MGS Peace Walker: The beggining of Outer Heaven and leads right into Metal Gear

*gasp* Thats only one twentieth of the whole story for all the games!

It is one great and awesome storyline that even I can't wrap my entier head around. You just got to let all of your baises go to enjoy these games. One sad point is that there is no way MGS 4 will come to Xbox 360 maybe the 720, it will at least give players time to soak in all the story juices. Don't worry about the first Metal Gear Solid, just torrent it or something. You didn't hear it from me though...

Snake? SNAKE. SSSSSNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

It had to go on another line, for comedic reasons.

When you die in this game and every game in Metal Gear Solid some one is always screaming for the character it is very annoying, but a definitive hallmark at that. As listed above, you can see that there is a grand tale to be told and it really is another great incarnation of good versus evil with long lasting morals and lession to be learned.

The preservation of the each game's gameplay is perfect or as good as it is even going to get. Each game takes a bit thought before tackling each situation and boss battle. Some times it can feel impossible to beat, but with some though and patience it can all be over come.

HD not updated Graphics

So that there is no confusion, this game is not at all like Halo: Anniversary Edition; there are not upgraded textures and sounds. It is the same games from ever so long ago put together to play on HD TVs and that's all. It looks quite great all in one neat package and it is only 50 bucks. The graphics for Metal Gear Solid three look amazing even compared to current games.

Now lets focus on Peace Walker for just a little bit. It was on the PSP and they put it on the Xbox! It has never been done before and let me say it looks great. Peace Walker in graphics rivals MGS2 and it is even said to be the biggest Metal Gear ever! I give great kudos to Bluepoint Games for doing the best HD game converting ever!

It is a very Artisitc Video Game

As anyone should know Metal Gear Solid is a Stealth action game, but it is really more than that. It is a game that redefined all of video games. There are no gimmick like motion controls and whatever else it is the golden age of the handheld joysticked controller. Hideo Kojima is a master game designer and his older games need to played by a newer generation or the retro gamers who love it and wish to revisit it in a new setting.

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That's Goood Subsistence!

Both MGS 2 and 3 come with their expanded versions of the games. Metal Gear Solid 2's extras are the inclusion of an extra mission modes with 300 virtual reality training missions set in a computer-constructed environment and 200 "Alternative Missions" set in areas taken from the main game. The player can choose to play these missions as Solid Snake or Raiden, with alternate outfits for both characters becoming available as the player progresses. Mission objectives include reaching the goal undetected, target practice, eliminating enemies, bomb disposal and a set of miscellaneous missions that include protecting a wounded ally from enemies or fighting a series of enemies. There are also a set of missions simulating a FPS game. The only different thing in MGS 3 is the newer camera style that you can move around and the inclusion of Metal Gear 1 and 2, but it is enough.

Now Peace Walker comes with a Monster Hunter (yeah the Capcom game) and some other "Extra Ops" to play in the same Peace Walker way. They where in the original game, but are very worth noted as well. Now the one thing that makes me a little aggravated is the "Versus Ops" mode. I mean why the eff have it? Haven't you figured out that by now that Portable Ops sucked online? Guess not and it's alright because they put not real effort into it either. They did what Uncharted 3 should have done, tone down the multiplayer and tone up the single player.

Where do we go from here?

Well if these games where re-made in HD for the Xbox 360 and PS3, it's safe to say that Koijma may want to put MGS4 on the next Xbox or even the Wii U (if it can handle it). There are even speculation that Metal Gear Solid might be remade completely, but I don't know if that should ever happen. We also got Metal Gear Rising: Revengance coming out in the Fall, but it's not being made by Kojima Productions anymore. All in all it is one the greatest video game franchise ever and it will not be easily forgotten. Metal Gear Solid HD Collection has earned 4 and a half eggs out of 6.

Mmmm! That's delicious!

1 Year Anniversary Jan 25

It has been almost a year since I started this website! Where as the time gone and so forth with that cliche. I think I would review something special. So I've decided to review the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection and it will be out on January 25, 2012. I will also change the picture of the game on the TV screen at the top to I don't know yet. Cya.

A very late Uncharted 3 Review

The Uncharted franchise has been a revolution in modern video games by developer Naughty Dog who took a another dive in making the 'Indiana Jones' of video games. After well Indiana Jones video games and Tomb Raider games, this is a game series that as never failed to impress, Uncharted is a game that seems to delve in to some Uncharted territory. Maybe not so Uncharted territory, but definitely took a same yet different path as an Archeology-ish Action Adventure Game. Uncharted will stand the test of time because of its many achievements and of course memorable gameplay.

When Uncharted 2 came out it ended up as the game of the year. Did Naughty Dog's third attempt beat or at least bear the same weight as the preceding game? Looking over Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, in terms of its overall gameplay, narrative, and visuals should give a better understanding as to say how this one compares to Uncharted 2 or if it is a good deal for your money which is honestly what I look for.

It Belongs in a Museum!

Uncharted 3 continues 2 years after the previous game, staring Nathan Drake who goes on a quest that surrounds his "relative" Sir Frances Drake. Playing the game will let you know why I put that in quotations. Anyway, him and Victor Sullivan (Sully) go on an adventure solving puzzles, picking up artifacts,and searching for a lost city of  Ubar, aka Atlantis of the Sands. It seems that there is some actuality to this place because there is a lost city that as been given that same name that was said to be destroyed by an "Act of God".

It is also apparent that a rival,  in all stories like this, is after the same city, but for a different reason and one we find out much later. Her name is Katherine Marlow, she has endless amounts of money, henchmen and all other villainous resources to give the player a challenge. So really nothing too surprising there. We Ride!

Tomb raiders or preservers?

That's a little hard to say, first Nathan and Sully want the "unmeasurable wealth" that is said to be in the city and then they want to save the world and destroy it. I guess it is a tomb raid after all.

Uncharted 3 keeps a same formula of gameplay setup the game has a number of large climbing obstacles, unique puzzles, and of course the hand to hand and gun combat. The new melee system is fun, effective, but dangerous. I mean it's so fun to just run out in big battle a smack the crap out of guys and it is easy to get a little carried away and well lets say don't bring fists to a gun fight unless you are Indiana Jones with some loud punching sounds. Melee combat is fun, fresh, and very well polished.

Oh What a Wonderful World

Are there talks of an Uncharted movie? Please no! A game like this continues to show that a movie can not match the likes of a game such as this one. The game world seems just as large as the real world. It is very easy to get lost all around there. That is until Uncharted 3's movie-like cut scenes take a smooth turn away from the large world. These qualities of Uncharted and any other game like it to expected and least surpassed in one way or another.

Unfortunately Uncharted does not really up the ante of visuals since Uncharted 2. Naughty Dog took what was expected and just ran with it and did little to surpass it or go above and beyond to further present a shock awe affect as it should have done.

Too Many Already?

As the game begins it tries to make the gameplay seem up and over way more than visuals. Each new emphasis on climbing, fighting, and solving comes to a more a more slow and boring pace as the game progresses leaving sometimes in question "What was the point of that?" Each gameplay element is fun and interesting, but why no real explanation for it.

Much like Modern Warfare 3's campaign, each moment of intensity is almost too fake to stand, but for a game like this, each destructive moment is more and more fun which is a huge plus to any Action Gamer with a PS3.

Another quick part to discuss is the use of supernatural elements and it is not really supernatural like in the previous 2 games, with the weird Nazi Hulks there, and Yetis here, and the Evil Avatar looking guys around there. Its just drugs! I mean the only bit of supernatural is in the water supply of Ubar. Some genies were cast to the bottom of the lake where the water is from and now the water has some crazy shroom mix in it. Which the hallucination scenes are a trippy good change of pace just to mess with ta! Fun!

I Will Get By Without a Little Help from my Friends...

Multiplayer, yeah they still have it and they just had to improve it. Lets face it, mulitplayer in these games are just a gimmicky tack to try and extend the play life of the game. You don't need it! The game would have been much better without it. Naughty Dog should have made this story longer so when you play it again it well be fun a long while.

Don't get me wrong it's fun and I loved the beta, but it is not a game to play online nearly as long as Call of Duty or Battlefield. It gets boring fast the single play experience far out weighs the multiplayer experience and that is a reason why it gets boring.

Uncharted 2 had multiplayer to save for a quick time kill and maybe the story was better than this one because of the very light blink of focus on multipayer and bloodshot stare on single player.

The End... Or is it?

It is the last one? Probably not, but we do know for sure that this game is not as good as number 2, but better than first. This game lives a step back from the Uncharted 2. Was it too soon to see Drake again or just too frequent? Think of finding the best one is still like finding the Lost City of Atlantis. Isn't better to have us not find it and still think about its wonders rather than to find it and forget about it, only time will tell.

Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception earns 4 out of 6 golden eggs.

VGA Wrap Up

Well I was right Skyrim won game of the year and rightfully so. One of my friends had me play a bit of it and I am soo gonna buy that game! Check out the other winners here.