Thursday, October 20, 2011

Batman: Arkham City, Review


Batman Arkham City is the first game I have played and written a review for in quite some time and I gotta say it kind of made me miss doing these reviews, so lets dive right in. 
Being a fan of Arkham Asylum, I jumped into this game and immediately felt comfortable with the controls, look and feel of the game, so anyone who played the first game should be able to jump right in and start playing. As for anyone new to the series would probably need a bit of time to get used to all the controls and and all the cool things you can actually do as far as combat goes. 
As for the mechanics, they are still a bit rough and stiff just like the first game however this doesn't take anything away as it makes you feel more like how you would expect Batman to move with all his armor. There is of course a ton of villains and if you are unfamiliar with the game and just wanna get through it as fast as possible you'll probably end up getting bored and exhausted, but if you are someone that is more experienced with the types of combat and maneuvering that Batman has to offer you should find it fun and interesting (or if you're someone like me who just likes to hang people from gargoyles whenever the opportunity presents itself you're still guaranteed to have a good time).  
Batman: Arkham City does basically everything right, I cant really find any aspect of the game that I hated or even disliked in the slightest. From the amazing voice acting, to the great story line and amazing combat and maneuvering it all just fits together so well and really makes you feel like The Batman. 
This game is a must for fans and newcomers alike, I highly suggest you guys pick this one up.


Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Wii U, Specs

The biggest thing that happened at E3 this year was Nintendo announcing the Wii U, curious about this system I dug up the specs and I thought I'd share it with you guys.

Specs directly taken from Nintendo:
Launches: 2012
Size: Approximately 1.8 inches tall, 6.8 inches wide and 10.5 inches long.
New Controller: The new controller incorporates a 6.2-inch, 16:9 touch screen and traditional button controls, including two analog Circle Pads. This combination removes the traditional barriers between games, players and the TV by creating a second window into the video game world. The rechargeable controller includes a Power button, Home button, Control Pad, A/B/X/Y buttons, L/R buttons and ZL/ZR buttons. It includes a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope, rumble feature, camera, a microphone, stereo speakers, a sensor strip and a stylus.
Other Controls: Up to four Wii Remote™ (or Wii Remote Plus) controllers can be connected at once. The new console supports all Wii™ controllers and input devices, including the Nunchuk™ controller, Classic Controller™, Classic Controller Pro™ and Wii Balance Board™.
Media: A single self-loading media bay will play 12-centimeter proprietary high-density optical discs for the new console, as well as 12-centimeter Wii optical discs.
Video Output: Supports 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i. Compatible cables include HDMI, component, S-video and composite.
Audio Output: Uses AV Multi Out connector. Six-channel PCM linear output through HDMI.
Storage: The console will have internal flash memory, as well as the option to expand its memory using either an SD memory card or an external USB hard disk drive.
CPU: IBM Power®-based multi-core microprocessor.
Other: Four USB 2.0 connector slots are included. The new console is backward compatible with Wii games and Wii accessories.

Monday, June 6, 2011

E3 Day 1 Recap

E3 kicked off today with press conferences held by the major gaming corporations such as Microsoft, Sony, EA and Ubisoft. I'll briefly discuss the Microsoft and Sony press conferences since I think they were are the most relevant to everyday gamers.

Microsoft's press conference started off great with a long COD Modern Warfare 3 demo which looked totally badass much like we have come to expect from the COD franchise. Then we were given a look at the new Tomb raider game which again looked pretty good, definitely going to keep following it until release to really make up my mind on it as not too much gameplay was shown. There was a quick look at the Halo anniversary remake which I personally would  not waste money on as it's just Halo 1 with a graphics upgrade. Then Microsoft brought out the Kinect and it was basically downhill from there, they announced that Mass Effect 3, Forza 4 and Tom Clansy would all be supported by Kinect which I don't really see a need for (although the Mass Effect3 demo with Kinect actually looked like it could work due to the voice commands etc.)  but suddenly they brought out the new Kinect games and it was like 2010 all over again with games like Disney World Adventure, Dance Central and Star Wars with each looking even more disappointing then the previous, especially the Star Wars game, there is no word to actually describe how bad it looked. They closed with the announcement of Halo 4 so I guess it wasn't all bad.

Sony was basically the same thing, started off great with a look at Uncharted 3 and it looked amazing. Then we got a look at Resistance 3 which came off as OKish, nothing too impressive and they went on about 3D and ended up announcing a PS3 3D TV thing that wasn't appealing at all as it was basically a 24" 3D monitor for $500. Slowly but surely they got to the Move and a NBA2k12 demonstration with Kobe Bryant and it was basically terrible... following were a whole bunch more motion control games that looked less then impressive. There were a few up-sides with a new Sly Cooper cinematic and a look at Bioshock: Infinite which works with motion controls apparently (don't really see the point of this). Next up was the NGP (sony's new handheld) which ended up being called the PSVita, there was an Uncharted demonstration for the vita that looked pretty fancy with all the touch screen controls and graphics, followed by another Vita game, Ruin which is a diablo style rpg type game that seemed ok. Followed up with some actual interesting titles such as Street Fighter X Tekken, Little Big Planet, SSX and Need For Speed and that pretty much wrapped up a pretty bland press conference for Sony

Saturday, June 4, 2011

MLG

MLG is probably the biggest LAN held in the US, it features the best players from the US and all around the world for games such as COD, Halo and StarCraft 2, but the coolest thing about MLG is that anyone can participate and get their chance to prove themselves against the pros.

This weekend is the 2nd MLG event of 2011 and if you are a gamer you should definitely be watching and supporting the players as well as MLG for putting such an amazing event together. Tune in live right now and follow your favorite games/gamers. MLG Live

Monday, May 23, 2011

E3 2011: Games to look for



With E3 around the corner (starting June 6) I though it would be a good idea to post a short list of the games that I am most looking forward to.

- Bioshock: Infinite
- Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Battlefield 3
- Mass Effect 3
- Star Wars: The Old Republic
- Gears of War 3
-  SoulCalibur V
- Ratchet and Clank All 4 One
- Resistance 3
- Uncharted 3
- Warhammer 40k: Space Marine
- Ninja Gaiden 3
- Assassins Creed Revelations
- Batman: Arkham City
- Duke Nukem Forever

Aside from the list above there are a quite a few more games and possibly even new consoles that will be making an appearance at E3 and I will do my best to cover and discuss it all once E3 begins.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Rift: Review

Rift is a fairly new MMORPG with gameplay much like WoW, WAR and EverQuest, but with a bit more complexity and options in both your character choice and gameplay. There is a fairly nice balance of complex and simple gameplay so the newer MMORPG players don't get too confused and for the veterans of the genre to feel challenged.

The game starts off very simple, you first create your character out of four classes (Warrior, Mage, Cleric, Rogue) but as soon as you enter the starting zone and begin questing you get three souls (basicall your skill trees) you are free to choose your souls out of the 9 provided for your class which quickly gives you a sense of diversity as you separate yourself from the pack. You can basically build your character any way you like and have many diverse combat options to switch between.

Although this system gives you tons of customization it can also get very confusing even for experienced gamers because with all the creativity its easy to at first end up with a very mediocre character, but as you figure it out you can really make a very unique and versatile character.

As for the name Rift it is named for the rifts that tear open the sky in random locations on the map and spill out monsters for you and your fellow gamers to battle and in turn close the rift. This feature adds a bit of surprise to the game as you never know when you will encounter one and how strong the monsters will be. This gives a little bit of dimension to the static questing and grinding.

As for the gameplay, this game looks and plays beautifully, it definitely has the graphics to stress most mid-high end video cards as well as a very polished combat and movement system that you will fall in love with if you familiar with other MMORPG combat systems that feel very stationary and glitchy as well as how difficult it can be getting from place to place due to geographical obstacles.

This game is by no means revolutionary or even particularly new it just takes things from previous MMOs and makes them better even the whole rift system is just a better version of the public quests found in WAR. However it is well worth a try if you are in the market for a new MMO or if you are like me and need something to kill the time as you wait for D3 and GW2.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Batman, Arkham City



The Dark Knight is back this fall and is looking better then ever in Batman, Arkham City, the follow up to the 2009 Game of the Year, Arkham Asylum. We are not given a whole lot of information on the game as of yet other then some gorgeous looking trailers, the studio is probably saving most of the reveals for E3, but we do have an idea of most of the characters and mechanics to look forward to.

Lets get into the story a little bit before we get sidetracked, basically Quincy Sharp (the warden of Arkham Asylum) is now the mayor of Gotham and as his first action he buys a large portion of the Gotham Slums and walls it off creating Arkham city in which the prisoners have free reign and can do as they like as long as they don't try to escape. Hugo Strange (basically a mad scientist) is put in charge of Arkham city in order to ensure that no one is attempting an escape and according to the trailer Hugo knows about Batman's secret identity and as it stands now it seems like Strange will be the main villain of the story. However just because Hugo is the main villain that doesn't mean that he is the only one you will be battling, most of the major Gotham villains make an appearance in the trailers (Two-Face, The Riddler, The Joker and there will be at least one more yet unannounced villain). Catwoman also seems to play a large role in the story as a colleague (not much else known about this).

Now we can get sidetracked with all the cool mechanics that this game has to offer. First off Batman will have all of his major gadgets at the very start of the story so you have less unlocking and more ass-kicking to do, Batman also seems to have quite a few new moves and take-downs shown in the gameplay trailer. The major villains will each have their own gang which wonder around the city and cause trouble, this brings into play a territorial battle between the villains which Batman will be in the middle of, not only this but I'm sure there will be some escape attempts which will bring Hugo Strange and Tyger (Hugo's mercenary force) into the story. Along with all this we are promised even more puzzles and riddles to solve as we have come to expect of a Batman game.

As to why Batman is investigating Arkham City still remains a mystery, along with much more of how the story will play out and how Hugo Strange knows about Batman's identity and what he plans to do with the information. Lets hope Rocksteady studios brings their A game to E3 so we can have some of the blanks filled,  along with more of the unique and flashy gameplay shown in the trailers.


Batman, Arkham City Official Trailer

Sunday, May 1, 2011

The Elder Scrolls V, Skyrim

Skyrim, is the latest installment in The Elder Scrolls  saga due to be released on Nov. 11, 2011. The Elder Scrolls began with Arena in 1994 and since then has evolved into one of the most popular single player RPGs to date, most recently The Elder Scrolls 4, Oblivion won numerous awards including Game of the Year at Spike TV's Video Game Awards in 2006 and is regarded by many as the best single player fantasy RPG of its time.

Although there's not much gameplay out there at the moment we still have a fairly good grasp of what Skyrim will look and play like. The most important thing is that  the game looks gorgeous from what I have seen in screenshots and the gameplay trailer, this is thanks to Bethesda Studios going back and rewriting the gameplay engine to try the get the most out of the current gaming systems.

Other then the look of the game there is quite a  few other changes from Oblivion to Skyrim, such as the original 8 attributes in Oblivion are now down to 3 in Skyrim. The story quests work much more dynamically and are given to you at different stages of the game depending on what you have done, for example if you have played the game by avoiding large clashes dragons then the story will bend and force a dragon encounter (sounds awesome, i know). The game even gets a perks system much like in Fallout 3 where every time your character levels you will get to choose from a variety of unique and diverse perks (that's basically all we know about this as of right now).

Overall Skyrim comes off as a very promising continuation to The Elder Scrolls saga and I cant wait to get my hands on this and really get a feel for how this game will play.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Gears of War 3 - Multiplayer Beta

For those that don't already know the Gears of War 3 beta  came out recently, and those of us that had pre-ordered the game at Gamestop were able to get in and try the game out on week 2 of the beta. Overall the multiplayer is looking pretty good, with a handful of maps, 2 game modes (King of the Hill and Team Deathmatch) and unlockable features such as characters, weapons and weapon skins. Also each weapon has its own finishing move which actually adds quite a bit to the look of the game as you get into it.
Overall the beta is looking very promising and  anyone who plans on buying the game when it hits retail in September should pre-order it as the beta will be up until may 18th so there's still quite a bit of play time to get involved in.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Legend of Zelda, Skyward Sword

Anyone who is a Zelda fan like myself knows that Nintendo recently announced another Legend of Zelda game, this one will be called the Skyward Sword and will basically take place before all the other games in the series, it will tell the history of Hyrule and the Master Sword.
The most interesting thing about this title is that it will be played on the Wii  with the Motion Plus controller, so if you're like me and haven't played the Wii in the past year you'll probably have to go out and buy the motion plus plug-in for you wii mote. In my opinion the controls will make or break this game as the players motions with the wii mote will  control your in-game sword while the nunchuck will control your shield, if this system is fluent then this game will be a huge hit with both the current Wii and Zelda community. Most of the motion controls for 1st and 3rd person games on the Wii have not been all too impressive and I am hoping Nintendo really pulls through on this one because they aren't doing all too well to compete with Sony and Microsoft and a successful Zelda game with its massive fan base would be a great start as they try to regain some of their lost audience since the release of the Wii. As for a release date nothing is confirmed but according to speculation it will be released on Sept. 25th, 2011. All we can do as of now is hope and pray that Nintendo pulls through on this and gives us a much anticipated hit for the Wii.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Guild Wars 2

Since we are already on the topic of MMORPGs lets talk a little bit about Guild Wars 2. The first Guild Wars basically redefined what MMORPGs were, it was the first of its kind to offer so much and remain free to play but over the years it has lost its dominance in the MMO genre. With Guild Wars 2 ArenaNet intends to recapture its lost audience with the promise of bigger battles, larger environments,  more playable races and an even more interesting story all while remaining free of monthly charges. Not much else is known about the game as of today, but we should have a better idea of what to expect as the release date for Nov. 2, 2011 nears. I will definitely be following this game and I think everyone looking for a free, fun and cooperative online gaming experience should do the same.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Star Wars The Old Republic

Star Wars the Old Republic is definitely a game that I am looking forward to, although I am not a huge fan of MMO RPGs  this game seems like it has the potential to be a great game. There is no set realease date but it is set to be some time this year, and seeing how beta testing is already under way and is said to be going smoothly I don't see any reason for it to be pushed back.
When I first found out about this game I was quite skeptical about Star Wars, one of my favorite movie franchises of all time being turned into a World Of Warcraft-like MMO, but as I started looking into it and following its development I started to think that, hey this could work and with BioWare working on the game it could easily become one of the most popular MMOs out there. For those that don't know about BioWare they are the ones behind games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, both of which have had squeals made due to their success and are exceptional games especially Dragon Age: Origins which is one of my favorite RPG's to date and although they are stepping into a different genre I am confident that BioWare can make this game into a hit. Star Wars the Old Republic is definitely something worth looking into if you are a big MMORPG or Star Wars fan.

Portal 2

Basically everyone who is into gaming has heard about portal at one point or another, it started out as an independent game but was picked up and released by Valve with great success. It was a game I fell in love with because it was so different from everything else I had played, it made me think in a "portal" mindset. Which basically means I didn't just have to rush into a room with a weapon and shoot the bad guys, it encouraged creativity. As for the sequel although it is VERY entertaining and probably worth the buy for most portal fans still lacks the ability to become a stand alone game. Altogether I got probably no more then 15 hours of play time between single player and co-op which was quite disappointing seeing how the game cost me $50. Not only this but the game has no real replay value other then showing it off to your friends who have never seen the game before and impressing them with how cool and innovative it actually is. Anyhow still a great game but could have been so much better if it had something along the lines of a level customization/creation for online play.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

First Ved Game to Look Forward to in 2011


The very first ved game that I personally cant wait for is Dota2, most of you have probably never heard of this and thats fine since it really hasn't been marketed at all yet.... but its set to be an amazing game, I mean cmon it will be designed and published by valve after all.
For those of you that haven't previously head of Dota, it was a very successful warcraft3 custom map which created a new genre for PC gaming, MOBA(Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas), where you control 1 hero in an RTS fashion, sounds simple...the concept is,  however it's incredibly fast paced, and you will get beat down faster than you can blink, and most importantly, it's highly addicting (i speak from personal experience with dota).... If you want to get a feel for the game before its released I suggest playing League of Legends as it is in the same genre and completely free to play.

First Post

So for my first post we'r gonna start with something simple, an amazing song with an equally amazing ved

Check it out!