When you think about the perfect game what comes to mind? Action, explosions, gunfights, running and jumping off of cities that are being destroyed?! Well Uncharted 3 has all of these things and a heck of a lot more to give to you and it satisfies. Back in 2007 when Naughty Dog released the original Uncharted people were stunned, the game was advanced in every way with fluid combat and an engine that pushed the boundaries it was hard not to be. This was improved with Uncharted 2 and not by any little amount either, the game was awarded game of the year by multiple critics. Now Naughty Dog continues to create cinematic greatness in the realm of video games with Uncharted 3:Drake’s Deception Continue Reading
First of all, let me apologize to everyone for the delay in getting this posted… I’ve been unable to put the game down long enough to write this. So, after I’ve just completed another Co-op mission, I’ve decided to get this out there for the masses.
For many, Battlefield 3 was one of the most anticipated video games and First Person Shooters of the year. Creating the game’s very own dedicated graphics engine to enable players to feel as if they are right in the middle of the fire fight, Battlefield 3 definitely does not disappoint. Continue Reading
Ratchet and Clank has been around since the PS2 and was known for it’s guns, comical tone and stylish setting. But the Ratchet and Clank games have also all been solo besides the versus modes that were in a few of the games. All 4 One is the game that changes the pace for the series by making coop a requirement. Me and my girlfriend are always on the lookout for a good coop game, while the competitive games are always fun to play, coop games give a whole different experience. Lucky for us and any of you who are also big coop players, this month seems to be a heavy coop month with the releases of games such as Dungeon Defenders and Payday: The Heist and many more. The Coop lineup kicks off with the release of Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One!
All 4 One tends to go along the same path as the other Ratchet and Clank games as the story starts off as the heroes battling the evil Dr. Nefarious but the game somehow manages to bring him onto the good side and all four of the characters (Ratchet, Clank, Qwark and Nefarious) work through the game to complete various tasks. The game heavily emphasizes the coop by making parts of the game that requires more than one player to complete. Enemies are also killed easier and faster if more than one player is attacking the same one. And while all this is happening you are still competing to see who can get the most bolts to upgrade their guns! While playing through the game I was very much reminded of the fun the first time I played Castle Crashers and Little Big Planet as I laughed and had fun taking other players and sabotaging them by scooping them up in my vacuum and shooting them off the side. And I think that is one of the greatest aspects of this Ratchet and Clank being a coop game. While most multiplayer games are frustrating and irritating, this has more of a light tone and allows the players to have fun. But this does not go without saying a lot of the good things about the other Ratchet and Clank games are missing. Continue Reading
BlizzCon 2011 started today with CEO and Founder, Michael Morhaime, making some big announcements, followed by a crowd favourite, Chris Metzen.
Biggest announcements for each of Blizzard’s big franchises include the new World of Warcraft expansion, Mists of Pandaria, which was leaked several months ago but has now been made official.
With the new expansion, there will be new PvE zones and general content, along with the new race (of Pandas) which can be played by both Alliance AND Horde, the new class, Monk, and the level cap goes up to 90. There will also be a new talent system, and more PvE content that will convince you to play more out in the world, rather than sitting around cities.
Diablo III is now “on the home stretch,” said Metzen, with still no official release date, due to Blizzard’s usual process of it being released “when it’s done.” Diablo 3 Collector’s Edition includes in-game items for D3, SC2, and WoW, as well as an art book, and a very awesome 4GB Soulstone USB device.
As of now, you can purchase a World of Warcraft Annual pass – a year’s subscription that you pay for monthly, but you get some excellent goodies, including a digital version of Diablo 3 for free, access to the new WoW expansion beta, and an in-game mount: Tyrael’s Charger.
With Starcraft 2, there has been various units released for Terran, Protoss, and Zerg, but the focus this year is on the expansion, Heart of the Swarm, which continues the epic storyline with Kerrigan in the campaign, as well as new multiplayer modes that are yet to be seen.
You can still purchase a BlizzCon 2011 Virtual Ticket to see the upcoming panels, competitions, and tournaments, and still get the Murkablo WoW in-game pet and see Foo Fighters live tomorrow night. Blizzard have also released three EPIC trailers for each game that can be found online now, including the especially epic Diablo 3 trailer, The Black Soulstone.
Akardo
RAGE is the latest from id Software, a name you will recognise when you think of Doom, Wolfenstein, and Quake, making them more than qualified to tackle the action-packed post-apocalyptic world of RAGE.
The game starts with an asteroid (named the “Apophis”) crashing into the Earth in the year 2029, wiping out most of the human race, the only survivors are those who were frozen into arks before Apophis hit. You play as one of the Ark-survivors, which makes you a target for the Authority, the new governing body and your new enemy as part of the Resistance.
Unfortunately, I haven’t finished RAGE yet – making this a bit more of a first-impression, than a review – so I can’t get too in-depth with the storyline, but so far it’s rather enjoyable, except it isn’t the sort of game that you would get just for the story, and so I shan’t say much more on that.
The good parts of RAGE include the visuals, which are really nice, despite being ruined by the screen-tearing – which you have probably heard about – and while they’re supposedly more of a Radeon-issue, that’s not much of an excuse. It’s playable, and I still enjoy the game, but I have given up on a real immersive experience as a result.
Another good thing in RAGE is the multiplayer – there’s none for your regular story mode, but there is a Legends mode, where you and a friend (only 2-player) complete missions separate from the story, there’s several of these, but still not enough as they’re all very fun with a mate. There is also an online racing mode, racing here contributes nothing to your single player campaign game, but you can upgrade your vehicle and get more weapons and toys for fighting other people in this online battle mode.
Apart from the screen-tearing, which is simply a technical issue, there isn’t much wrong with the game. At first, I really struggled with changing weapons, as it seems like a console port, with 4-slots for weapons with the rest sitting around your awkward inventory, forcing you to choose which weapons you want ready for switching to and for fast ammo-switching. After several hours, I was pretty much over this as I had a few preferred weapons, though it’s still annoying when I run out of ammo for, say my Authority Machine Gun, so I switch it out for my Settlers Assault Rifle, only letter to go through the same arduous process.
RAGE is fun to play, and that’s what really matters once you start playing a game like this. Enemies move [almost] intelligently, making it satisfying to shoot them when they’re trying to crawl away while still shooting at you. And when you’re bored of the run-and-gun (which early on, there is surprisingly little of), you can do some non-compulsory races to upgrade your vehicle, or there are some mini-games dotted around the settlements, including a card game, which you collect the cards for as you travel around the world.
I quite like RAGE. If you want to compare it to Fallout 3, then the latter probably wins due to it having more RPG-elements (which I personally prefer), but also because of that, they shouldn’t be compared like that. I find Fallout 3’s story has a bit more to it, but RAGE is newer and plays better, with really pretty graphics. This one is definitely recommended.
Akardo
In gaming originality is one of the most important aspects of all. Nobody wants to play a game that they have played before only with a different skin. There is a question today about whether or not this is true as we see many of the games we once loved staying in the same format they had back when they were games on NES and Genesis. Famous characters like Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong, Rayman, Pokemon, Kirby, Metal Slug and even Mario have all fallen under this category as they all release games that, instead of moving forward and innovating their titles, fall back safely on formulas that have made money before. Some of these games are not even bad, some of them even great! But the problem is wondering if the characters we once loved can do something that competes with other games in their genre. The other question is if some of these games can even come out as a good game in a new, fresh format. Could Metal Slug compete with games like Team Fortress or Serious Sam? Can there be a platformer other than Mario that succeeds at transforming into 3d? We will take a look at games that haven’t changed, could change and should change. Continue Reading
Yesterday it was announced that Steve Jobs had passed away at the age of 56 due to terminal cancer. This sent shockwaves throughout the world, not just to Apple lovers or tech fans but rival companies (Bill Gates), world leaders (Bill Gates) and more. Everyone is mourning the loss of a great inventor. Some have proclaimed him as the modern Henry Ford (Creator of the first modern production car) and I’d be inclined to agree. After returning to Apple in 1997 he’s headed a company which has sparked a massive technological innovation for our generation.
He made music portable with the launch of the Ipod, smart phones simple and cool with the launch of the Iphone and he caused tablets to actually take off on a large scale with the Ipad, something even Microsoft couldn’t pull off some years ago. Continue Reading
As any good Star Wars fan knows, on December 20th (USA), Star Wars the Old Republic will be released. Lucas Arts, EA, and BioWare have once again teamed up to bring the Star Wars experience to the MMORPG generation. Now, this post may not have any new information for those who have been following The Old Republic since it was announced nearly a year ago, but hopefully this will be some insight into some of the features not many have gotten to experience. Continue Reading
The Resident Evil franchise has been one that has held its fan base over the years. With the first Resident Evil game in 1996, Capcom became the pioneers of the survival-horror genre. Stellar graphics for the time, a very unqiue story line, combined with smooth gameplay helped build a game that pulled the player in, and Capcom didn’t stop there. With the success of Resident Evil, Capcom continued to build on the story that started as the foundation for this amazing game, Resident Evil 5 being the latest addition to the franchise. In December, Capcom will be adding yet another game to the survival-horror collection it has created, however, this game will be unlike any Resident Evil game we have seen in the past.
Resident Evil – Operation Raccoon City takes us back to 1998, a time between Resident Evil 2 and 3. Instead of rehashing the story from the already known perspective, Capcom and Slant Six Games have decided to retell the story from the Umbrella Security Services point of view. Yes, that’s right, in Operation Raccoon City you are thrown straight into the mix as one of Umbrella Cooperation’s very own.
When a person thinks of an X-Men game they are excited! Mutant powers, evil villains and an awesome story! What else could a person want? Most of the X-Men games have been appealing because of these aspects and now Silicon Knights has taken on the challenge of creating one themselves.
X-Men: Destiny takes place in a new world in the X-men universe where Professor X has been killed whilst defeating an evil robot from the future who has the mission of destroying all the mutants in the past. The game begins at a rally in support for the alliance of humans and mutants together lead by Cyclops and Luis Reyes. However, as the rally is being held it is interrupted by a chaotic storm of what seems to be powers of the mutants in The Brotherhood. At this point you choose from three different normal human characters to control that suddenly realize they have the amazing power of being a mutant, how convenient! Though this is where we see the main focus of Destiny, the power of choice. Continue Reading
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