GameLight - Final Fantasy XIII-2

Official Site: http://na.square-enix.com/ffxiii-2/

Source: Youtube Channel gamespot

Final Fantasy XIII-2 released for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 last night at mid-night.  I've done my best to keep all materials of FF13-2 to a minimal for me since I haven't played through FF13 yet (The story does follow up from the first iteration).  It's sad, I bought FF13 on the first week it came out and I have yet to find the time to play it yet.  Since I am playing 9 different RPGs on PS3 right now, not even including FF13 which makes 10, FF13-2 is a low priority on my want list.  However, that doesn't mean that I don't want it at all.  I still love Final Fantasy very much, no matter the form or presentation it might show up in.  Right now, there are large rifts between among the community of people who stopped playing any Final Fantasy games, ones who never played it and love it now, veteran fans who hate it now, and some who still love it.  With the release of a very "noob friendly" FF13 and a "boring" FF14, the gaming community still wonders if there is still hope for the franchise, especially with the release of FF13-2.  So far, the game has been getting an average of high 70's low 80's on Metacritic after 16 hours of release.  The combat system is changed up a bit and so provides a slightly different experience for new players and returning ones.  A lot of players (not critics) seemed to not have liked the changes in FF13 in that it was too linear or easy.  For a series that didn't change its formula for 10 iterations, it's difficult to stay fresh and still please everyone.  FF11 was an online game and created an entirely different community and FF12 was so different that fans weren't sure what to make of it.  Much like what Koei had to face with their long running Dynasty Warriors series (changed everything in DW6 and a lot of fans hated it and then refined the old with the new in DW7 creating one of the best in the series), Square-Enix worked hard on addressing the problems with FF13 and accentuating everything that worked in FF13-2.  From what I've ready on critics' opinions on FF13-2 so far, the maps are a lot more open and the combat is a bit more dynamic from its "auto-attack" counter-part.  The graphics are still spectacular and just pure bliss to look at.  New characters are brought to the scene and the story continues from the first one which should be a real treat for those who liked FF13.  I'm definitely getting FF13-2, but not on the first week this time.

GameLight - Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Official Site: http://reckoning.amalur.com/

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

I finally found some time to try out Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning with the demo out on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.  I unfortunately didn’t get to try it out on console since I ran out of hard drive space on my PS3; however, I got a pretty good grasp of the game’s mechanics and gameplay for the PC.  Kingdom of Amalur is a massive open-world RPG, much like Skyrim.  The game feels a lot like an MMORPG such as World of Warcraft, Rift, or Aion as the game was intended to be one until the developers decided to create a focused single-player experience.  The combat feels a lot closer to games like Dragon Age 2 or Divinity 2 where it’s more action orientated, so action game fans might even be able to get into an RPG such as this one.  One of the game’s aspects that make it a unique RPG experience is that the player can work their character abilities and perks into any skill tree and create all sorts of special classes mixing between skills of Warrior, Mage and Thief (I know this has been done many times before, but it’s cool that it’s in this game too).  This allows players to create a build that fits their play style more comfortably and be able to experiment.  Even if the player doesn’t like what they went for, skill points can be reset and reallocated.  Once the player gets through the introduction and tutorial of the game, they are free to play how they want.

My first impression of the game was that it reminded me of Divinity 2.  What I first noticed and really liked was how the camera pulled back so that it made the character’s surroundings visible.  There wouldn’t be constant surprise attacks from a blind spot.  The combo system felt pretty slick with unique animations for each attack and weapon.  Stepping outside and playing the actual part of the game for the first time can be quite overwhelming for a “single-player” game as it’s much like an MMORPG where you pick up 3-10 quests just walking through a town.  Playing through all the quests is sure to make the game last quite a while.  The game’s graphics and environment has quite the atmosphere and really immerses players into its colorful world.  It is very much a “fantasy” game and doesn’t limit itself to being realistic.  Now that many gamers have had the chance to play the demo, it seems a lot of people are either more convinced to get it or not.  It seems that the juiciest parts of the game won’t be revealed until playing farther into the game.  The game releases on February 7^th, so be sure to pick a copy up if you’re looking for a large, open world, Action-RPG to play.

VGCulture - Anticipated Games of 2012

As you can see from yesterday's post, 2011 had a ton of great games, and we can only hope for more this year.  What I main want to see this year is more games release for the Nintendo 3DS as it is seriously lacking any games, let alone good games.  Still, it seems like some of the most anticipated games will be released for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.  Sony is launching their PSP Vita while Nintendo has hinted at releasing their new Wii U system for the holidays.  Here are some game highlights I have picked out for 2012:

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

It's not an "actual" sequel Counter-Strike and I don't even play Counter-Strike that much (I own both 1.6 and Source), yet I'm very excited about this new revamped version of Counter-Strike!  Counter-Strike is over a decade old yet so many players still play it (the original 1.6 version, I mean).  I still jump onto Source or even 1.6 once in a while just because of how strong the community is.  With so many multiplayer games, old or new, having deserted servers all the time, it's difficult to find a reliable First-Person Shooter that will ensure that you'll have people to play with (and fairly too, you know with hackers and all invading all those Asian Online shooters).  Thankfully, there always seems to be people playing CS whether it be with official rules, custom maps, or modded modes.  I'm expecting that Global Offensive will have the same quality and amount of fun that Counter-Strike always seems to have, so this is a sure buy for me.

Diablo 3

Source: Youtube Channel gametrailers

This is a day one buy for me (and possibly for many others too).  Diablo games have always had ingenious design that keeps the player dungeon crawling for hours on end and still not get sick of it.  It's also a really fun co-op game where everyone gets really involved as well as a competitive PvP mode for those who like to test their wits and reflexes against other players.  It's been a while since all my friends were excited about the same game, and I'm sure it'd be a good investment in the end after 100+ hours or so.

Dragon's Dogma

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

I know I kept talking about this game after it was announced in last year's E3 2011, but the battle mechanics and open world gameplay excites me.  I'm really hoping this will be a great game.  The fast-paced action of games like Devil May Cry, the varied play styles and RPG builds system of games like Dark Souls or Phantasy Star Universe, and the large open world adventure of games like Skyrim or Monster Hunter (more open map than world, but kind of like that).  This should be out sometime in Spring or Summer of 2012.

Kid Icarus: Uprising

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

The 3DS is lacking games, good games that make me want to buy the system in particular.  I'm not sure if Kid Icarus: Uprising will change my mind about buying the system (still waiting for a 2nd version with dual analog sticks), but at least it "might" add one more great title to the system to influence that decision.  The game seems to have rail shooting like Sin & Punishment or Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers and 3D action fighting like uh...like...God of War?  In any case, it looks pretty fun.

Phantasy Star Online 2

Source: Youtube Channel EliteGamer

Oh man, if Phantasy Star Online 2 releases internationally AND is free to play online (Guild Wars online play system, pay for the game, play online for free), I would drop everything I'm playing and do nothing but play PSO2.  Phantasy Star Online Episode 1 & 2 for Gamecube is possibly the only game I've spent several hundred hours on (played offline too).  There's a certain charm about the Phantasy Star series that just keeps me coming back over and over.  With the experience that the developers had with Phantasy Star Universe, Portable, and Zero, I'm very excited to see what they have to offer for PSO2.  So far, it looks extremely promising with gameplay that is fast-paced, slick, and intuitive for modern day gamers yet it retains many aesthetics that draws upon so many fond memories for PSO veterans.  Even if it required payment for Online but still offered a offline mode for Single-Player, I'd be still willing to pay for it just to play solo!  No game has me more excited than PSO2 does, not even Diablo 3 (yes, I know that is a reaaaaaaaaally big claim, but I mean it).  Here's hoping that it reaches audiences outside of Japan~

Here's a list of games worth mentioning and looking forward to this year:

-Alan Wake’s American Nightmare

-Anarchy Reigns

-Animal Chrossing (3DS)

-ARMA 3

-Assassin's Creed III

-BioShock Infinite

-Blacklight: Retribution

-Blade & Soul

-BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend

-Borderlands 2

-Brothers in Arms: Furious 4

-The Darkness 2

-Darksiders 2

-Dead or Alive 5

-DmC: Devil May Cry

-DotA 2

-Far Cry 3

-Final Fantasy XIII-2

-Fire Emblem: Kakusei (3DS)

-Guild Wars 2

-Halo 4

-Hitman: Absolution

-Hybrid

-Inversion

-Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

-Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

-Lollipop Chainsaw

-Luigi’s Mansion 2

-Mario Party 9

-Mass Effect 3

-Max Payne 3

-Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

-Metro: Last Light

-NeverDead

-Neverwinter

-Ninja Gaiden 3

-Pokémon + Nobunaga’s Ambition

-Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney

-Prototype 2

-Resident Evil 6

-Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

-Rhythm Heaven Fever

-Risen 2 Dark Waters

-Rising Storm

-Rune Factory 4

-S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

-The Secret World

-Silent Hill: Downpour

-Skullgirls

-Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

-Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2

-Soulcalibur V

-SSX

-StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm

-Starhawk

-Street Fighter X Tekken

-Syndicate

-Tekken 3D: Prime Edition

-The Witch and One Hundred Cavalry

-Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

-Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Online

-Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

-Tomb Raider

-Torchlight 2

-Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

-Tribes Universe

-Tribes: Ascend

-True Crime: Hong Kong

-Twisted Metal

-UFC Undisputed 3

-Warriors Orochi 3

-WWE Brawl

-X Rebirth

-XCOM

Source:

-Wikipedia: 2012 in video gaming

VGCulture - Games of 2011

I have compiled an extensive list of games from 2011 (not all games from 2011 are listed here) here to share.  I have made short comments on ones I was lucky enough to play this past year.  I think 2011 was an even bigger year for gaming than 2010 was.

For a very condensed version of the list, scroll to the bottom.

Notes: Numbers after the title is the Metacritic score average

Games that Rocked

-Modern Combat: Domination (67) – This game alright for a downloadable game for only $7.  I ended up not buying since I don’t really like DLC games (I only have 80 GB on my PS3), but it was fun playing what I could from it.

-Two Worlds 2 (70) – Two Worlds 2 was surprisingly fun and so I’m waiting for the price of it to go down in Steam (and to finish other ARPG games) before I purchase and play through it.

-Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (84): Fate of Two Worlds – MvC3 was seriously a lot of fun, though I was hoping for more characters since there were so many to choose from in MvC2.  UMvC3 remedied that, and by adding Phoenix Wright to the mix!

-Hyperdimension Neptunia (45) – I was extremely worried when I bought the game since it received such low scores.  Fortunately, it turned out to be really entertaining!  The humor made me laugh and happy, the ability to customize combos made it feel more personal, and the easy going feel of the game made it really enjoyable to play.

-Bulletstorm (83) – It wasn’t mind blowing or crazy awesome as a whole, but there were crazy awesome moments that blew minds away.  The game was entertaining, but it’s not something I’d want to replay over and over.

-Dragon Age 2 (82) – Dragon Age 1 was kind of boring when I tried it, but when I played the demo for DA2, I had to get the game.  DA2 has a good balance between fast-paced action with the RPG elements of story, planning, leveling and such.

-Crysis 2 (85) – Although the story to Crysis 2 wasn’t as good as the first, the gameplay was far superior in every aspect.  Going stealth made a lot more sense, controls were tight, multiplayer was fun, everything about Crysis 2 was a huge improvement over Crysis 1 (albeit the story).

-Dynasty Warriors 7 (57) – Following up the disappointment of DW6, I didn’t want to get DW7 until I saw the gameplay.  One of the very few games I bought for full price in 2011, DW7 is possibly the best in its series and has become one of my favorite games for the PS3.  Story mode is a huge change from the previous 5 games and made me care about characters I didn’t before.  The game mechanics are more diverse and even more fast-paced than before.  I absolutely love this game!

-Portal 2 (95) – Of course Portal 2 would be a great game.  It’s a co-op centric game that emphasizes solely on team-work and is a great game to play with a friend.

-Mortal Kombat (84) – This iteration of the game is a lot different from its predecessors in terms of game mechanics.  It’s a lot more challenging, but fairer for a competitive environment.  Still, I’m not a huge MK fan and so I ended up not buying it.  But anyone looking for a fighting game should consider this version of MK as its one of the best they’ve done in a long time.

-Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (80) – Since I didn’t get the original “Super SF4”, I felt okay dishing out the $40 for what was only 4 extra characters and some new enhancements for those who already owned SSF4.  The treat for me between the “original” Street Fighter 4 and Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition was that the stories were different (cinematics essentially).  SSF4:AE is a solid fighter and one I should probably play more often…

-Section 8: Prejudice – I honestly don’t know why more people don’t play this online.  The game has nice twists to it, it’s different from other shooters, and it’s only $15.  I was lucky enough to play multiplayer with some people online before it died out entirely, and it was a lot of fun.  I mainly have it now to play through the story.  I think I can also play multiplayer against bots, so I might still play it for that too.

-Deus Ex: Human Revolution (89) – The game is a lot harder than I thought, but does have that open world environment that the previous installments did.  This will be one game that will take me the rest of the year to finish, haha.

-White Knight Chronicles 2 (60) – WKC2 comes with the first game which is good since I didn’t get it before.  WKC2 went far and beyond my expectations and is a lot more fun than I thought it’d be.  I didn’t expect there to be such a decisive story with cinematics and other characters joining you.  There’s a LOT of planning needed, but that’s half the fun when you get to invent your own combos and build your own type of character.  The combat is more entertaining than I had expected as the action gauge style put me off and I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the game because of it.  This will be one game I’ll be playing for a while.

-Dungeon Defenders (81) – Playing DD single-player is a really challenging task and a lot of its entertainment value comes from playing with other people.  I really like the game, but I do not like how it’s constantly charging more and more for DLCs like Magicka has been doing.

-Beat Hazard Ultra (64) – This was one DLC I was okay with as it didn’t cost too much (at least during sales).  Having those few extra bosses and perks changed the game around and added a lot more depth to it.

-Payday: The Heist (70) – I’m not sure if I could say that the game was awesome, but it definitely wasn’t terrible.  $20 feels like a bit much, but it provides a decent amount of missions to play on with a Left 4 Dead sort of gameplay along with character leveling to change the role/class one plays in the team.  It’s fun, I suppose, but it’s also really difficult.

-Dark Souls (89) – The level structure of Dark Souls is exactly how I imagined Demon’s Souls to be when I first heard about the Demon’s Souls.  Dark Souls has a lot more unexpected moments than Demon’s Souls does and it’s really frightening not having that feeling of respite that Demon’s Souls had inside the Nexus.  I do love the extended amount of freedom that Dark Souls offers and it makes it feel even more adventurous than before.  I’m not sure if I’ll be playing this as much as I did Demon’s Souls, but so far it’s been really fun.

-Battlefield 3 (85) – I’m going to be doing a review for it soon, hopefully.  The single-player campaign was boring and disappointing seeing how EA and DICE made a really fun campaign in Medal of Honor (2010) and Battlefield Bad Company 2.  Thankfully, the multiplayer is fun and exciting or I would have felt very ripped off.  BF3 feels more like a continuation of the Bad Company series than its main series in terms of the way the gameplay is setup, but it’s fun nonetheless.

-Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (88) – There’s a lot of love and hate for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.  I wasn’t going to get it just because of the dispute IW and Activision had with the result of having many great minds of IW leaving the studio.  But I couldn’t help myself as I really enjoyed MW2 and Black Ops disappointed me (to an extent, it was still fun) and so I ended up buying MW3.  Campaign has become routine and doesn’t seem to offer anything too new (it’s semi-entertaining at least).  Multiplayer is more challenging than ever with players knowing what they’re doing and not being able to take as many hits as usual.  I love the changes done to multiplayer and favors to more playstyles than just a few.  I still miss the great level designs that MW2 had (probably the best in the series), but it’s not worth paying $15 DLC map packs for.

-The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (92) – It is game of the year for a reason.  The world is huge, there’s lots to do, the player has tons of freedom, messing around is just as fun as the actual game, and the changes to class specific abilities emphasizes the advantages even more than previous installments.  Skyrim is my relaxation game, and it’s just a lot of fun.

-Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (80) – I think it was worth the purchase.  I’m upset that its essentially the same game with extra stuff, but the additional characters and mode made it worth while to play through if one has played through the original thoroughly or hasn’t even played it at all.  Playing as Phoenix Wright is a lot of fun~

-Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition (85) – This was, hands down, the best game when the 3DS launched.  The 3D was okay and the action perspective wasn’t incredible, but it delivered the solid console fighter really well on a portable system.  It is kind of hard executed 3 punches and 3 kicks without a dedicated button for it, but at least you can easily perform a special via the touch screen.

-Samurai Warriors Chronicles (61) – It’s an interesting take on the series.  I’m glad it allows the player to move freely around the whole map like the original game does as many portable version goes for a turn-based strategy sort of movement.  What the game lacked was extra content for the replay value.  It was an okay launch title for the 3DS and is at least a lot better than the other games that launched along side with it.

-Bloodline Champions (80) – It finally came out and eventually joined the many free MMOs on Steam’s list of games available for download.  A few of my friends thought it was boring so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  The game turned out to be fun, but really hard to learn everything so quickly.  It’s competitive, fast-paced, but ultimately an entertaining online game to jump on and play a few rounds once in a while.

-Monday Night Combat (82) – I’m glad the game finally came out on PC.  There are some issues with lag, hosting private games, and glitches within the game that deters me away from it, but it’s still fun.  The variety of classes offers many play styles and “tries to” promote teamwork.  Super Monday Night Combat is in the works right now, set to release this year.

-Who’s That Flying?! (76) – I’m not sure if I should place it under here.  It’s not a bad game, but it’s not great either.  It’s a pleasant distraction I suppose.  It feels a lot like a flash game played on a browser page.

-Magicka (74) – Magicka is both great and horrible at the same time.  Playing solo is frustrating and extremely difficult; however, playing multiplayer provides some of the most hilarious and whacky fun that a multiplayer co-op game could deliver.  The game is still bugged as balls with the game (or the entire OS) crashing, so that’s frustrating too.  I don’t like how it’s become so money hungry with all the DLCs that keeps releasing.  I’ve stopped buying DLCs and have settled for what I have now.

-Amnesia: The Dark Descent (85) – I definitely need to play more of this because the first two hours I played, I fell asleep (played during Halloween in the dark).  It’s a horror game!  I think this game would be more entertaining to play with a friend so that both of you can scream together.

-Atom Zombie Smasher (75) – It was mildly entertaining; A fun distraction.

-Total War: Shogun 2 (90) – I couldn’t believe how detailed and complex they made the game.  There’s so much you can do and plan to make the most out of your raids and attacks against the enemy.  This is one of those games where you can continually play for hundreds of hours.

-Forsaken World (69) – I can’t say that the game is incredible, but it’s decent WoW clone.  Quests can be kind of repetitive or mundane, but the game’s pacing is a lot better than the other hundred free MMORPGs out there.

-Sanctum (70) – It’s a fun FPS Tower-Defense game, but the game truly shines in multiplayer.  Single-player can be semi-relaxing to very frustrating.  It’s difficult to see what’s going on when the action finally starts.  It’s a game I jump onto to play once in a while.  I prefer Dungeon Defenders or Orcs Must Die! For Action Tower-Defense games.

-Capsized (80) – The game mechanics makes this quirky Action-Adventure game interesting, but I really don’t like the art style.  The colors, environment, objects and characters all clash and make it very difficult to see what is what.  Again: another fun distraction sort of game.

-Mount & Blade: With Fire & Sword (68) – I like the Mount & Blade series, but this latest one isn’t too big of a leap from Warband.  Still, the game is pretty fun if you can make it that way.  The Mount & Blade series has always been very open world and makes it hard to enjoy for new comers.  Having the guns fire a little faster would be nice.

-Terraria (83) – I love this game.  From the building to the looting, this Action-Adventure RPG Sandbox game offers so much such simplistic manners.  The graphics are 8-bit retro style, the combat isn’t super complex, yet the game has so much you can do and play from it.  I probably spent the most time on Terraria in 2011, but sadly I lost my save files when my laptop’s hard drive was wiped 2 weeks ago.  101 hours down the drain…yet I still feel like playing the game once more.

-Frozen Synapse (85) – Everyone who’s played this game seems to really like it for some reason.  The game takes quite a while to get the hang of and requires a lot of time to plan.  If the round didn’t go well, you felt like you’ve wasted a lot of time.  The simulation of movement, action/reaction, and strategy is pretty impressive, but I find it difficult to enjoy the game.

-Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony (81) – This game “can get” really difficult, but it’s so much fun.  Jamestown brings back the classic arcade shoot-em-up with impressive graphics, tight controls, and difficult levels.  The game also has 4-player local co-op.

-Dungeons of Dredmor (79) – Rogue-like RPGs aren’t popular anymore and have a small niche group, yet these daring developers decided to make one anyways.  This game is seriously a lot of fun.  All the sorts of ways to play and items to loot, the game randomly generates levels, items, and enemy placement for an infinite amount of replay value.

-Cthulhu Saves the World (78) – If you enjoy old classic RPGs from back in the late 80’s early 90’s, you’ll probably get a kick out of this game.  The game is mostly parody and hopes to keep the player humored and laughing.

-Breath of Death VII: The Beginning (N/A) – Same with Cthulhu Saves the World, the game is retro 8-bit RPG that mimics the gameplay of Dragon Quest, Wizardry, and Ultima while referencing a ton of pop-culture and videogames along the way.

-Tobe’s Vertical Adventure (75) – The game is more enjoyable with a friend than solo, but it’s a decent platformer.

-Chantelise: A Tale of Two Sisters (62) – I’m so glad they translated this game.  It’s a simple Japanese indie-developed Action game with some RPG elements mixed in.  It has a certain charm to it that only Japanese games seem to have that makes it so enjoyable.

-Bastion (88) – Like many other gamers, I loved the narration of the game.  It’s a great way to tell the story and added a lot of humor.  It’s quite a polished action-adventure game for an indie developed project.

-Blocks That Matter (76) – With a bit of puzzle solving and platforming, this makes for a nice distraction of my main games.

-Rock of Ages (74) – This game is trippy.  It’s like Super Monkey Ball versus.

-Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad (76) – I’m not sure if I really like the game yet.  The community isn’t as large as I thought it’d be, but at least I’m still able to play it (most people are playing in “realistic” servers, making it hard to learn).  The game is quite difficult, but it has a sense of realism that is both thrilling and not too punishing.  I hope I get more hours into it to make the payment worth it.

-Xotic (67) – This Action Puzzle platformer is pretty unique and though it isn’t mind blowing, it’s still a semi-relaxing game to sit down and play.

-Rusty Hearts (79) – I waited quite a while for Rusty Hearts to release internationally, and I was happy when it finally did.  The game plays well for an online beat-em-up and the humor has me interested in the dialogue and story.  This was probably my favorite free MMO for 2011.

-The Binding of Isaac (83) – The game is disturbingly grotesque with a creepy atmosphere and gross humor.  The creators of Super Meat Boy did a pretty good job with The Binding of Isaac in creating a high replay-value Action-RPG arcade shooter with Rogue-like aspects.  It’s challenging, provocative, and keeps calling you back for more.

-Orcs Must Die! (83) – With a dumb and generic name like “Orcs Must Die!” I didn’t expect the game to be so dastardly fun.  It’s such a riot seeing mobs of Orcs get flung around by traps, explosives, and your own weaponry.  This would probably make a really fun co-op multiplayer game, but it does really well as a single-player game.

-Sequence (68) – The unique blend of music rhythm and RPG made for a tempting purchase, yet I was so confused when trying to play the game.  Once I got the hang of it, it was kind of fun.  I’m hoping that the music rhythm part picks up and has some challenging and fun beats to play to.

-Cave Story+ (N/A) – I had finished the original game back in 2008-2009 but loved it so much that when I saw it available on Steam, I bought it.  I don’t particularly like the “new” music and graphics, but it is optional so I can change it back to the original assets if I wanted to (I’m giving the new stuff a chance).  There’s also a remastered soundtrack as well.

-APB Reloaded (59) – It doesn’t seem like too much has changed from its original launch, but at the very least there are more players on now.  I really like the immersion in the game.  Perhaps I’ll play it a bit more and see if it’s worth sticking to.

Games that did not

-Homefront (70) – The game wasn’t terrible per se, but players spent $60 on a 4 hour campaign mode.  And although multiplayer was fun, it was still glitchy, lacked content, and eventually the community died out which made multiplayer a pointless mode to have.  I was disappointed.

-Brink (72) – Years of waiting led to a disappointing shooter that SHOULD have been awesome.  The core concept of team-work in this FPS was a good idea, but not entirely thought out.  For a game to rely solely on multiplayer, you’d think the developers would hold up a dedicated community for it.  Nope!  Community died out and the game was pretty much not longer playable.  You can play with bots, but the ally bots are so dumb that all responsibility will fall on the player.  It’s frustrating playing with bots (though it was with human players too) and the challenges weren’t entertaining enough to warrant spending any more time with it.  This game had a ton of potential, but it didn’t live up to it.

-Dungeon Siege 3 (71) – It wasn’t what I was expecting, and I suppose I haven’t played enough of it to have a solid conclusion that it wasn’t that great.  The first two games were fun, despite being slower paced and open-ended.  DS3 is more action-orientated, but it felt boring for some strange reason.  I kind of gave up on it, but perhaps I’ll revisit it and give it another try.

-Lord of Arcana (53) – This game made me really sad.  The main reason I decided to try the game out was because the score was written by Nobuo Uematsu (famed composer for the Final Fantasy series).  Sadly, the game is extremely multiplayer centric to the point where it’s boring/impossible to play alone.  The opening tutorial was pretty fun, especially with the boss fight.  Then I wasn’t able to progress any further after the 2^nd mission because it no longer gave me Guild points to get a new mission and the multiplayer map is impossible alone.

-Breach (61) – I wasted money on this, but I sort of enjoyed the game a little.  This FPS had a lot of aspects of great shooters such as R6: Vegas’s 3^rd-Person View cover and shoot, BF: Bad Company 2’s destructible environment and CoD’s leveling up and shopping for upgrades and equipment.  The mouse aiming was unruly and very floaty, lag was a huge issue, and it was glitches galore all over.  Despite having bad controls and issues, the game was pretty fun and the community was incredibly civil (like, uncharacteristic of the internet type of kindness).  The game was poorly developed, but I had good memories of it for some strange reason.  Multiplayer is dead now (of course).

-Battlefield: Play4Free (68) – Let me say first that I did enjoy the game when I played it.  It has all the basic things you would want from a Battlefield game.  It’s similar to Battlefield Heroes in that the class that they choose is what they’re stuck with unless they create another character.  It is inevitable that there will be glitches and lag issues when it launched.  I stopped playing it after a while because it didn’t hold my interest as strong as I thought it would.  I heard later that paying players had too much of an advantage, and then after a nerf or two paying players were ripped off.  It lacked a variety of maps, leveling was slow, and it was difficult acquiring new weapons.  It has the lowest user score of 0.7 average I have seen on Metacritic.  It’s free, it was fun, but I lost interest in it.  It could have been a lot better.

-Darkspore (65) – It was a good attempt at a top-down Action-RPG, but it just wasn’t interesting after a while.

-Garshasp: The Monster Slayer (49) – The artwork and graphics were unbelievable for an indie-made game; however, the game was poorly constructed.  Combat is kind of fun, but has a clunky combo system, odd jumping animations, and the quick-whip camera angle change which throws me off.  The game mimics many other Action Adventure games such as God of War and Prince of Persia (the 3D ones), but doesn’t have the same polish which makes it seem like a lesser game.  I think this was a good game for me to “study” and see all the problems that can go on in an Action-Adventure game.

-Steel Storm: Burning Retribution (55) – It has a nice arcade-like action to it, but it gets kind of boring after a while and back tracking makes the game feel very slow and tedious.

-War Inc. Battlezone (N/A) – A free2play 3^rd-Person Tactical shooter.  The game is mildly entertaining, but lacks content, polish, and is riddled with problems such as server lag, graphic/hitbox glitches, spawning (literally) right behind an enemy, etc.  The game’s community eventually died out and only 1-5 servers will be active if one should want to play.

-E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy (60) – The game is interesting and has a nice immersion to it; however, the game is so horrifically bugged that it’s near impossible to play without it crashing every level.  The inventory and skill tree is also poorly designed as it’s cluttered and messy.  I’ll eventually do a full review of it.

-Rise of Immortals (N/A) – It’s a good attempt of a MOBA, but RoI doesn’t have enough content, is seriously unbalanced, and has too slow of a reaction to clicks and movements to be enjoyed by the community as a whole.  There seems to be people still playing it.  If the developers still stand true to their game, then I hope that they polish it up and make it playable.

Games that were probably great

-LittleBigPlanet 2 (91)

-Dead Space 2 (89)

-Dead Space: Extraction (79)

-Back to the Future: The Game (75)

-Killzone 3 (84)

-Fight Night Champion (84)

-MLB 11: The Show (90)

-Yakuza 4 (78)

-Hard Corps: Uprising (76)

-Top Spin 4 (82)

-Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel (61)

-Shift 2: Unleashed (81)

-Arcana Heart 3 (73) – I want a retail version!!!  80GB in the PS3 is not enough space!

-SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs (67)

-MotorStorm: Apocalypse (77)

-L.A. Noire (89)

-DiRT 3 (87)

-inFamous 2 (83)

-Record of Agarest War Zero (50) – User Score: 8.5

-F.E.A.R. 3 (74)

-Shadows of the Damned (77)

-Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 (58)

-Catherine (80)

-El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron (78)

-Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition (86)

-Driver: San Francisco (79)

-BloodRayne: Betrayal (69)

-Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten (80)

-Resistance 3 (83)

-Dead Island (71)

-NHL 12 (86)

-From Dust (80)

-God of War Origins Collection (84)

-Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (67)

-Child of Eden (81)

-The ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection (91)

-Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 (80)

-Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland (74)

-NBA 2K12 (90)

-NBA Jam: On Fire Edition (81)

-Rage (81)

-Spider-Man: Edge of Time (58)

-Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny (56) – User Score: 8.4

-Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (71)

-Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (76)

-Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (77)

-Rocksmith (83)

-Batman: Arkham City (96)

-Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (92)

-Sonic Generations (76)

-Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (90)

-Rayman Origins (87)

-Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends (64)

-Saints Row: The Third (82)

-Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (80)

-The King of Fighters XIII (78)

-Trine 2 (86)

-NFL Blitz (80)

-Kirby’s Return to Dream Land (77)

-The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (93)

-Gears of War 3 (91)

-Dance Central 2 (86)

-Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (87)

-Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! (68)

-Shift Extended (76)

-Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle (65)

-Gods Eater Burst (71)

-Jikandia: The Timeless Land (60)

-Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy (78)

-The 3^rd Birthday (70)

-The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (79)

-Patapon 3 (74)

-Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection (77)

-BlazBlue: Continuum Shift 2 (PSP – 77, 3DS - 64)

-ClaDun x2 (74)

-Shin Megami Tensei Persona 2 – Innocent Sin (75)

-Fate/Extra (57)

-Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars (77)

-Ridge Racer 3D (75)

-Dead or Alive: Dimensions (79)

-The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (94)

-Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (65)

-Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked (80)

-Star Fox 64 3D (81)

-Bit.Trip Saga (75)

-Tetris Axis (74)

-Pokémon Rumble Blast (56) – User Score: 8.5

-Cave Story 3D (82)

-Super Mario 3D Land (90)

-Shinobi (69)

-Mario Kart 7 (85)

-NightSky (78)

-Men of War: Assault Squad (77)

-Din’s Curse: Demon War (75)

-Gemini Rue (82)

-Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution (80)

-Rift (84)

-SpaceChem (84)

-Risk: Factions (77)

-The Sims Medieval (77)

-LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (76)

-Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (88)

-Anomaly: Warzone Earth (80)

-World of Tanks (80)

-Hector: Badge of Carnage (75)

-Universe Sandbox (83)

-Avadon: The Black Fortress (77) – Bought it, just haven’t played it yet

-The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (88)

-Fable 3 (75)

-Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 (77)

-Critical Mass (81)

-Runespell: Overture (69)

-LIMBO (88)

-Tropico 4 (78)

-Serious Sam: Double D (66)

-The Baconing (63)

-F1 2011 (83)

-Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes

-Worms Ultimate Mayhem (66)

-Might & Magic Heroes VI (77)

-Serious Sam: The Random Encounter (64)

-Renegade Ops (75)

-Minecraft (94) – Considered officially out now?

-Serious Sam 3: BFE (72) – Sam is still taking the spotlight away from Duke Nukem

-Star Wars: The Old Republic (85)

Games that weren’t 1^st rate

-Venetica (47)

-DC Universe Online (67)

-Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 (63)

-Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll (55)

-Knights Contract (51)

-Warriors: Legends of Troy (44)

-Battle: Lost Angeles (46) – I want to play this just to see how bad it actually is.

-Rush’N Attack Ex-Patriot (47)

-Thor: God of Thunder (39)

-Armageddon Riders (62)

-Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale (53) – Yet I still bought it, haven’t tried it yet

-Hunted: The Demon's Forge (57)

-Operation Flashpoint: Red River (67)

-Red Faction: Armageddon (71)

-Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters (61)

-Alice: Madness Returns (70)

-Duke Nukem Forever (51)

-Transformers: Dark of the Moon (57)

-Call of Juarez: The Cartel

-Bleach: Soul Resurreccion (58)

-Bodycount (50)

-Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (70)

-X-Men: Destiny (50)

-The Cursed Crusade (45) – I was hoping for this to be good…

-The Lord of the Rings: War in the North (63)

-GoldenEye 007: Reloaded

-Need for Speed: The Run (64)

-Air Conflicts: Secret Wars (51)

-Heavy Fire: Afghanistan (42)

-Tekken Hybrid (64)

-AMY (33)

-Conduit 2 (64)

-Ys 1 & 2 Chronicles (63)

-Naruto Shippuden: Kizuna Drive

-Asphalt 3D (43)

-Madden NFL Football 49 (49)

-Bust-A-Move Universe (49)

-Steel Diver (58)

-Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 3D (53)

-Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions (60)

-Driver: Renegade (48)

-Pac-Man Party 3D (45)

-Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic (56)

-APOX (48)

-Magic: The Gathering – Tactics (62)

-The Ball (68)

-Dungeons (65)

-Painkiller: Redemption (43)

-Trapped Dead (50)

-Fate of the World (70)

-Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime (43)

-Theatre of War 3: Korea (49)

-Hoard (65)

-Shadow Harvest: Phantom Ops (34)

-Dino D-Day (53)

-Elements of War (49)

-The Rockin’ Dead (45)

-Your Doodles Are Bugged!

-Fortix 2 (73)

-Lume (68)

-Hydrophobia Prophecy (64)

-Allods Online (69)

-The First Templar (57)

-Solar 2 (72)

-Lucid (N/A)

-Dead Horde (45)

-Trauma (62)

-Edge (74)

-Space Pirates and Zombies (74)

-Age of Empires Online (71)

-Sengoku (70)

-Hard Reset (73)

-King Arthur: Fallen Champions (54)

-A Game of Thrones: Genesis (53)

-Stronghold 3 (47)

-Global Ops: Commando Libya (46)

-Sword of the Stars 2: Lords of Winter

-Grotesque Tactics 2 :Dungeons of Donuts (47) – Really?  I thought it was supposed to be pretty good?

-FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction (22) – Ooo, ouch, 22?

-Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon (67)

-Postal 3 (27)

Condensed Version
Overall, these were the games I really enjoyed from 2011 the most:
-Hyperdimension Neptunia (PS3)
-Crysis 2 (PS3)
-Dynasty Warriors 7 (PS3)
-Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition (PS3)
-Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PS3)
-White Knight Chronicles 2 (PS3)
-Dungeon Defenders (PC)
-Dark Souls (PS3)
-Battlefield 3 (PS3)
-Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (PS3)
-The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PS3)
-Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 (PS3)
-Magicka (PC)
-Terraria (PC)
-Dungeons of Dredmor (PC)
-Rusty Hearts (PC)
-Cave Story+ (PC)

This was a difficult year for Nintendo as no new Wii games really came out that was worth while other than Kirby and Zelda.  On the bright side, Nintendo sold millions of 3DS units after they dropped the price.  I just hope better games are on its way as the 3DS is lacking good games.  Xbox 360 had a lot of great games that was also available on PS3 (so a lot of the ones up above are on Xbox 360 and PC as well) with the exception of highly acclaimed shooter "Gears of War 3".  Out of the condensed list, I would recommend Dynasty Warriors 7, Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition, TES5: Skyrim, Ultimate Marvel. Vs. Capcom 3, and Terraria to any and all gamers.

VGCulture - Short Rant about Indie Games

I watched one of Dorkly Bits newest videos yesterday and find it to be one of the best ones they've made:


The indie game community, for the most part, is alright.  There's lots of laid-back, innovative individuals who like to experiment and find something new and fresh to make or play.  But there still are those, like many indie music fans, who find the indie scene to be above and beyond the main stream because it's considered different.  I think that's the joke that they're going for here in this video.  Saying that indie games are "original" compared to main stream isn't very accurate as most genres, concepts and tropes have been firmly established.  Much like art, indie games rely a lot on innovation rather than trying to be "original".  From the three indie games referenced in the video (Braid, LIMBO, and Super Meat Boy), what made them so fun was that it fell back to the concepts that made games like Super Mario Bros. fun = simple, but great design.  All three games involve jumping a whole lot, but the way they establish the concept with level designs, core gameplay aspects and how they're utilized is what makes them so fun.  Indie game developers (at least most I've heard of) know that their game will be referenced upon other games, but they also know that accepting that fact will help them establish a more well thought out game.  I feel like indie gamers would argue the former more than developers would, but I've luckily haven't met a pretentious indie gamer who finds himself and indie games king among the "garbage of the world".  I have met a lot of people who hate Call of Duty just for being too main stream, mainly because Call of Duty was "sorta" indie-ish in its own way when it had its humble start on the PC and is considered "complete garbage" when it hit main stream audiences with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.  I think Indie games are becoming more main-stream with digital distribution becoming a norm in everyday gaming.  Indie games are available on Steam, Desura, PSN, XBLA, WiiWare, DSiWare, and 3DSware.  Anyways, if you want to check out the games referenced, they're all available on Steam (albeit Super Mario Bros.):
-Braid: A Puzzle-Platformer manipulating time and alternate realities
-LIMBO: Simple platformer with challenging level designs
-Super Meat Boy: Fast-paced, hardcore platformer with wall jumping
-Super Mario Bros.: C'mon now...anyone who hasn't heard of this game needs to play it right now

GameLight - Super Mario Bros. Crossover 2.0

Source: Youtube Channel machinima

Gah, I don't know how I missed this.  This news is actually 5 days old now, but sadly the game isn't out yet.  So if you've played the original Super Mario Bros. Crossover project, you'll be excited to hear about all the crazy new things being put into the next one.  Along with the SNES version graphics and music, we have returning characters such as Link, Samus, Bill, Ryu, the tank from Blaster Master, Megaman, Protoman, Bass, Simon, Trevor and now Luigi (not sure who the Demon is from, Castlevania?).  There will also be GB counter-parts of levels, characters, and music (or so it seems).  If you have never heard of the project, it's essentially the original Super Mario Bros. with the ability to play as many other classic Nintendo characters from the NES days.  Each character has their own ability and mimic the skills and move sets of their game counter-part.  The game is free to play on exploding rabbit's site linked right above.  You can also make a save file on your computer and load it to continue where you left off.  It's a fun little distraction and this newest update will sure to provide that much more to do and play.

GameLight - Warriors Orochi 3

Official Site: http://www.tecmokoeiamerica.com/orochi3/

Source: Youtube Channel ZhaoYun2011

Happy Lunar New Years Everyone!  According to the Eastern Animal Zodiac, it is the year of the Dragon.  Speaking of dragons, the dragon of the Hayabusa clan is returning in a new game; and I'm not talking about Ninja Gaiden 3.  RYU HAYABUSA IS IN WARRIORS OROCHI 3!!!

Source: Youtube Channel KING90I

Oh man, a chill went down my spine when I heard the remixed version of Ryu Hayabusa's original tune from the NES days come on.  I didn't pay much attention to Warriors Orochi 3 after I learned that it wasn't going to be brought over to the Western market early last year.  So it was a huge surprise when I heard today that it was going to be released in North America in March this year!!! (Supposedly March 20th)  Even more surprising was that Ryu Hayabusa of the Ninja Gaiden series was going to be in it!  Not only that, but characters from Warriors: Legends of Troy, Bladestorm, Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll and Dead or Alive are also going to join the huge cast of characters from Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors:

Source: Youtube Channel ZhaoYun2011

Altogether, the game has 120+ characters to choose from!  For those unfamiliar with the Warriors Orochi series: It's a spin-off that started with only Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors back on the Playstation 2.  A dimensional rift pulls the warriors of Ancient 3 Kingdom Era China and Sengoku Era Japan together to a strange land where they either join or oppose the Snake King "Orochi" (A snake demon in Japanese culture).  Some major differences in gameplay are the ability to switch between any three characters chosen for battle at any given time, chain attacks from multiple characters together, every individual character has a special attack unique only to them, and your proximity to allied troops has an influence to how they act on the battlefield.  Warriors Orochi is possibly the best spin-off Koei has done for the "Warriors" series and am incredibly happy to hear that it's being brought over.  I'm saddened that I never got around to getting and playing Warriors Orochi 2, but I had anticipated a 3rd one to come out and didn't get it.  So upon hearing that it wasn't being brought over made me lose my interest in pursuing the series any further.  Now I'm more excited than ever about its release, especially with even more collaborated games from within their IP.  If you're new to the series, I highly recommend picking up Warriors Orochi 2.  It's really a lot of fun!  THANK YOU TECMOKOEI!

GameLight - Pokémon Plus Nobunaga's Ambition

Official JP Site: http://www.pokemon.co.jp/ex/ranse/
Wikia Page: http://koei.wikia.com/wiki/Pokémon_Plus_Nobunaga_no_Yabou

Source: Youtube Channel ThePokemonCompanyCH

A new Pokémon game is coming out (at least in Japan)!  But it's not what most are expecting.  Nintendo has teamed up with historical war game developer Koei in creating Pokémon plus Nobunaga's Ambition, a Tactical Strategy RPG for the Nintendo DS.  When I saw the video on Kotaku, I was excited.  "Whoa, Sengoku era warlords fighting with Pokémon?  Awesome!"  The article shared on Kotaku was written by Brian Ashcraft (I go to Kotaku specifically to read stuff he writes) and he explained his reaction of watching the trailer with his 8-year old child.  They were both perplexed and confused with why they would do such a cross over.  This is not surprising as it's a strange mash-up.  I told my father, once an avid player of Nobunaga's Ambition back in the NES days, about the cross over and he thought it was absolutely absurd.  "It's just too strange."

Just some background on what Nobunaga's Ambition is about: It's part of a long series of historical strategy games developed by Koei based on Japan's Sengoku Period (1467–1573) where many feudal warlords seeked to conquer and unify Japan.  Among those leaders was a man named Nobunaga Oda who held one of the largest armies and was a forced to be reckoned with.  Games based off that time period are numerous and should be familiar in one name or another.  Some of these games, aside from Nobunaga's Ambition, that is based off the history or references historical figures are: Sengoku Basara (known as Devil Kings in the Western market) (Capcom), Onimusha (Capcom), Samurai Warriors (Koei), Kessen 3 (Koei), Shogun: Total War (Electronic Arts, Sega), Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties (Microsoft Game Studios), etc.

I'm guessing that the team behind the Pokémon franchise wants to try something new and grab a new audience, specifically those who are interested in historical Japan/the matured audience exposed to the history.  In all honesty, I'm really sick of the same Pokémon games that have been spewing out over and over.  So whenever Nintendo decides to develop or have another company develop a new type of game like Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Pokémon Pinball, or Pokémon Rumble, I get excited and am willing to try it out.  With a crazy mix between Pokémon and Samurai fighting, I say "why not?"  I'm hoping that it gets brought over to the Western market, though I'm not sure how well it would sell.

Source:
-Kotaku: Watching the New Pokémon Trailer with an 8-Year-Old

Retroview - Sonic the Hedgehog CD

Official Site: http://www.sega.com/games/sonic-cd-2011/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/200940/

Source: Youtube Channel rogueyoshi

Sonic CD was re-released today on Steam as well as other major systems (PC, PS3-PSN, Xbox 360-XBLA, iPod touch, iPhone, mobile android, iPad).  When I saw it on the steam page, I was thinking "hey, I remember that game!  I feel like playing it again."  Well I can't find it and it's somewhere in my room, haha.  Sonic CD was a unique game compared to the other Sonic games being developed.

"Following the release of Sonic the Hedgehog, Lead Programmer Yuji Naka had grown dissatisfied with the rigid corporate policies at Sega and moved to the United States to work with the Sega Technical Institute, along with several members of Sonic Team, to develop Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Meanwhile in Japan, a separate development team headed by Sonic creator Naoto Ohshima handled development on Sonic CD. This game and Sonic 2 were initially intended to be one and the same, but during development, Sonic CD evolved into a vastly different type of game." -Wikipedia

Sonic CD is seemingly longer and more difficult than the first Sonic that was released.  It was initially released for Sega Mega CD in 1993, and later on Windows 9x's series in 1996.  Since a CD was able to hold more data, the animations, graphics, and music was more advanced.  It was the first Sonic game to include animated cinematics.  Most people probably haven't heard of Sonic CD as the most popular Sonic games came from the Sega Genesis.  Sonic CD is like the "Rondo of Blood" of its series, albeit the fact that it was actually released in the Western market when "Rondo of Blood" wasn't brought over until much later.  It was released on a console that didn't take off and was thus neglected by the mass market as well.  This re-release doesn't seem to have anything new other than the fact that you can play as Tails as well now.  They might have taken out some of the those glitches you can see from the Tool-Assisted Speedrun (TAS) video above.  Sonic CD still had that fluid platforming mechanic that made Sonic feel really fast and exciting.  Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode 1 was also released on Steam today with a reduced price from its console counter-parts.  Sonic 4 seems to have lost that ability to convey fast and fluid gameplay with its clunky controls and floppy running animation.  As many Sonic fans or even general gamers might know, the Sonic series has had a very difficult time keeping up in the market and satisfying its fan base ever since it left the console wars (and to some, ever since it left the Sega Genesis).  I suppose Sega's decision to bring back the classics, both "figuratively" (same mechanics as its retro counter-parts in Sonic 4 and Sonic Generations) and "literally" (Sonic CD, Sonic 1-3, Sonic 3D Blast, etc.), is a way to remind their fans why they loved Sonic in the first place (and to make money for course).  I loved Sonic and I still do.  Something about its colorful environments, fast-paced action gameplay, and unique characters has me consistently interested in the series, despite not having played a lot of the 3D ones (ever since the Genesis days, I've played a little bit of Adventure, Heroes, and then played mostly the handheld ones such as Sonic Battle and Sonic Rush).  Since I can't find Sonic CD, I'm thinking of getting it off Steam as it's selling initially for $4.99.  During a sale, it might go down to $2.49.  Also, Steam players who also play Spiral Knights (a free-to-play Action Online RPG published by Sega) will also get a Sonic and Tails Chassis to wear in the game.  If you have never played a Sonic game before, go onto Steam, Playstation Network, or Xbox Live Arcade and grab a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2 or 3.  You'll be able to experience a videogame in its purest form of entertainment: Simple to learn, challenging levels, catchy music, bright and vivid graphics, and being able to have fun!

Seriously though, even with all the poorly received games in the past 1.5 decade, I want to eventually one day buy every Sonic game I haven't played yet and go through them.  I just can't bring myself to pay money on the ones that are considered "bad" since they're still $20-$40.  I'll make Sonic Generations an exception since that looks really fun.

NewNews - SOPA and PIPA endangers the internet

What is:
-Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
-Protect IP Act (PIPA)

So anyone who uses the internet on a daily basis must have heard about the two bills put into consideration of passing that protects the rights of copyright holders (in other words, corporations).  That, or some may realize that their favorite search engines, online encyclopedias, web-comics, and gaming blog news have been blacked out or references it.  It's a bit complicated to describe what SOPA and PIPA would "exactly" do as it is a bit vague in itself of what would be considered legal or not when the bill passes.

I'm not entirely sure of every detail of the bills, but I will try my best to explain what would happen were the bills passed: Any sign of copyrighted materials not belonging to the owner of the site it's on is susceptible to having the site shut down for copyright infringement.  These two bills are being discussed as a method of stopping the circulation of copyrighted piracy and counterfeits.  That is the gist of it.

It's great that the government wants to protect people and companies of their intellectual property (IP) and copyrights, but such an extreme method would solve very little and harm a lot to free speech and to the economy.  Imagine if the bills were passed and websites started to blackout:
-Social sites such Facebook, LinkedIn, or MySpace would longer be able to share links, pics, or videos
-Friends would no longer be able to share links or videos on sites or forums
-It endangers sites of collected information such as Wikipedia, VGmuseum, etc. from continuing
-User created or fan-made media wouldn't be allowed (Youtube, Deviant Art, SoundCloud, etc.)
-Any hint of copyright infringement may cause sites to go down and go into long delegations of resolution
-Foreign sites, personal sites, and small business sites would/could be blocked out from search engines
-No freedom to share and talk about interests of copyrighted materials (such as this blog)
-Small businesses and entrepreneurs wouldn't be able to mediate against user shared materials on their sites before they get their site shut down
-Major news media wouldn't be able to report anything (yahoo, AOL, gamasutra, maybe even CNBC)

The list can keep going as it affects many sites, users, and companies that have nothing associated with copyright infringement, piracy, or the circulation of counterfeit materials.  The internet would become extremely business and corporate orientated that it will just come down to making more money for those who own all the major businesses.  Innovation would be impossible and shared knowledge would cease.  All these two bills would do eventually in the future is blind everyone from everything else in the world and show only things the government wants us to see.  Anyone and everyone can help stop these two bills from passing.  To learn more, check out the links below.

-Contact your representatives with Wikipedia
-Learn more about SOPA and PIPA from:
  -Wikipedia
  -Google
-Companies and Media who are opposed to SOPA and PIPA and their thoughts

GameLight Review - Homefront

Official Site: http://www.homefront-game.com/home

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment


Developer:  Kaos Studios, Digital Extremes (PC)
Publisher: THQ
Platforms: PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Release Date: March 15, 2011
Genre: First-Person Shooter

Pros:
-The game wasn't revolutionary, but it was fun
-Multiplayer was a nice blend of Call of Duty's fast-paced action and Battlefield's vehicular warfare
-The class and point system in multiplayer encourages using all classes and learning their role

Cons:
-Single-player Campaign took only 4 hours to complete
-The game's graphics is still not optimized (for the PC version) just like previous games like Frontlines: Fuel of War
-Maps were sometimes too large for on-foot fighting and too small for vehicular warfare
-Servers were laggy when there were a large amount of players connected
-Multiplayer is completely dead now (On PC at least)

With the controversial (even if it is fictional) plot the game is set in and Kaos Studios' previous mediocre game Frontlines: Fuel of War, I wasn't sure what to expect out of their newest creation Homefront.  After watching some trailers, I was finally convinced to try it out and added it to my list of most anticipated games of 2011.  The single-player wasn't revolutionary and is what one would expect from a typical military tactical shooter campaign, but it was at least pretty fun.  The problem was that it only lasted for 4 measly hours.  Multiplayer was interesting with the ability to use vehicles, special equipment, and choose from different classes; however, there were problems with lag and level design.  Homefront is still being sold for $30+.  With a 4 hour campaign and a dead multiplayer, there is less of a reason to get the game than when it was $60 when it still had a decent multiplayer.  Possibly the biggest problem it probably faced was that it was sold at a price that didn’t reflect the expectations gamers had for it.  If you just want to play the campaign for the experience, play it at a friend’s house or rent it.

Aesthetics
Anyone who has played a modern-warfare military tactical shooter should be familiar with the controls, thematic look, HUDs, and story concepts.  The game is mostly set in urban streets and houses of California.  It has the same action and feel of games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with scripted scenes, explosions, firefights, and cinematics.  The graphics were alright, but they weren’t optimized for the PC just as Frontlines: Fuel of War wasn’t.  This caused the game’s graphics to skip, glitch, discolor, and impede on the experience.  The HUD system is fairly easy to understand, and it was very clean for multiplayer as well.  The voice acting was pretty good for the most part, but the story never really evolved past “we’re oppressed and we’re resisting it”.  The audio for the guns and effects were decent and worked well for both campaign and multiplayer.  The game looked, sounded and felt very average though.  It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either.  Aesthetics: 7/10

Buttons
As mentioned in Aesthetics, anyone who’s played a modern-warfare military tactical shooter should feel at home.  Campaign feels a lot like Call of Duty or Battlefield Bad Company’s style of singe-player with cinematics, point-to-point objectives, and vehicle chases.  The controls are the same with aiming-down-sight (ADS) system, sprinting, crouching, etc.  Some of the differences would be the equipments in both campaign and multiplayer.  There are certain computer controlled vehicles the player can command using devices to target enemies or mini-copters, etc.  There was nothing really new about the concepts and controls which was alright because it worked for the game.  Anyone who was familiar with First-Person Shooters could easily pick up the game and know how to play it albeit learning the maps and new equipment for multiplayer.  Buttons: 8/10

Concept and Content
Homefront isn’t as unique as Kaos Studios’ previous games Frontlines, but it felt more polished and engaging.  The story is a lot more provocative and controversial than Frontlines which caused quite a stir in the media.  The problem is that the story didn’t go any farther than people resisting the oppression.  All the objectives are point-to-point which leaves the player with very little freedom but marks the goal very clear.  There were a few variations in the campaign such as chase scenes and sniping, but not much else.  Multiplayer had an okay amount of choices between classes, weapons, and equipment, but it didn’t really provide that large of a difference in play styles overall.  Also, there were that many maps to play on for the initial $60 the game charged and DLCs didn’t help very much.  Now the multiplayer community is dead and so campaign is the only thing going for the game.  With no other modes other than campaign and no support for the multiplayer community, a $30 charge for a 4 hour campaign doesn’t justify the purchase for it.  Still, the game’s campaign was fun and I would’ve still been playing multiplayer if there were others still playing so it isn’t completely disappointing.  Concept and Content: 6/10

Duration
I keep mentioning how the campaign is only 4 hours long, but my main concern isn’t even the length of the story.  It’s that customers were being charged $60 for a 4 hour campaign that bothers me.  Perhaps it is correct to say that most people were paying for the multiplayer, but it took no longer than a month after I purchased it before the entire online community bailed out and abandoned the game completely.  The pacing of the campaign moved along pretty well and delivered a decent single-player experience in terms of gameplay; however, the story didn’t do much.  Multiplayer was actually pretty fun.  It had its high-action moments with fire-fights between teams and then there were the more tactical times where teams flanked, used vehicles, and went around enemy lines that made it more strategically challenging.  Unfortunately, multiplayer quickly died and I pretty much lost all interest in the game with not extras modes and no desire to replay campaign again.  If only multiplayer were still alive, the game would probably be viewed differently.  Duration: 4/10

Fun
The opening scene and first mission of Homefront had the most impact throughout the game.  The story had a lot to do with the flow of the game and the tension it conveyed throughout the campaign.  As part of the resistance against the oppression of the Korean military, the player will continually have a sense of desperation, struggle and helplessness.  There were a few scripted scenes where I felt it was unnecessary or slow, which might have been used to add the length of the short campaign.  The game was entertaining for the most part.  The gun firing felt powerful enough, the HUD felt comfortable to the eye, the various guns was fun to experiment with, and some of the gadgets were pretty cool.  I got to play multiplayer for a short while before the community bailed and it was actually pretty interesting.  Getting enough points from fulfilling goals and helping team mates granted equipment such as the mini-copter or a RPG.  Some of the vehicles were fun to use.  Other times, they’re a hindrance since the maps sometimes have very little room to maneuver around.  Some of the problems with multiplayer are that some maps are too big for ground fighting while some are too small for vehicular warfare, the network starts to lag for everyone when it starts to get populated, and some parts of the map are poorly designed to create one-sided battles for certain modes (such as one of the maps for capturing points had a high hill above one of the points for opposing teams to camp and snipe on the other team trying to capture it.  I would probably still play Homefront now for the multiplayer, but no one else plays it which pretty much makes it pointless to play it anymore.  Fun: 7/10

Overall
Had THQ sold the game for $15 or even $20, the game wouldn’t have been looked down upon by so many of those who paid $60 and felt like they didn’t get their money’s worth and those who didn’t want to pay for that much would be more willing to buying it to try it out.  The game is fun, but it doesn’t have as much content as other games being charged $60 to live up to the price tag.  It’s a wonder why it’s still being sold at $30 or more right now when a major component to the game’s content is within the multiplayer.  Without the support of players and servers for multiplayer, the game is hardly even worth a $5 purchase for its campaign.  I’m glad I got to play Homefront, but I still feel ripped off with my purchase as I spent the same amount of money on games that provided me with more gameplay time and entertainment.  If you want a single-player experience, rent the game or borrow it from a friend.  Otherwise, you’ll still be paying a hefty price for a short campaign.  Overall: 6.4/10

VGCulture - Technical Problems

In the middle of writing a game review yesterday, my laptop decided to go crazy, caught a really nasty trojan/virus/worm/whatever and destroy all major components of my windows.  One thing led to another and I ended having lost a lot of valuable information that I won't be able to get back.  I am now recovering at least a functional OS and programs in order to continue working, but it's going to take some time.  I'll be back on Monday January 16th.

VGCulture - Razer's Portable PC gaming peripheral

Official Site: http://www.razerzone.com/projectfiona

Source: Youtube Channel cultofrazer

Razer talked about the Razer SwitchBlade, and then the Razer Blade for portable PC gaming.  Today, the Consumer Electronics Show began and Razer revealed a new concept in the making: Project Fiona.  Project Fiona is a Tablet with "ergonomic" controllers made for true gamers with the ability to play PC games.  In the past decade, the rise of casual gaming on touch screen portables such as palms, phones, and tablets has inevitably strayed many game developers to creating games for the casual audiences.  Touch screen controls are unruly and obstruct the view of the player.  So Razer decided to jump onto the bandwagon of touch screen tablets by creating one with a strong enough processor to play the latest PC titles as well as adding tactile peripheral controllers.

Now that you know what it is, I can start yammering about what I think.  Tablets are a new trend, even though they've been around for quite a while.  A lot of games on tablets mimic those on PC or consoles and end up with clunky controls and poor game design.  The most successful games on touch screen consoles are ones that require very little controls, buttons and such (such as Angry Birds).  They're also made so that a player can jump in and out at any given moment while on the go.  PC games were developed under the impression that the player will be sitting down with enough time to play for a while.  The idea for Project Fiona is really cool in that you can bring your PC games around with you and play with tactile controls and not touch screen ones; however, it just doesn't seem very practical for the average PC gamer.  It'd be nice to bring it along and play it at a hotel during a business trip (or if you're younger to a relatives house), but it doesn't exactly look that portable compared to a 3DS, PSP, or even a regular tablet.  The thing that makes it easier to play PC games on a tablet is what makes it not portable (the two side controllers).  Also, to hold something that large up to play a PC game for long durations can't be comfortable.  The most practical form of PC on the go from Razer right now is the Razer Blade ($2799.99, yikes) as most PC gamers will want a familiar form of PC gaming to play with where they can bring it along anywhere.  Most PC gamers won't want to whip out their games in the bus or in line because they'll surely need more than 5-10 minutes to finish one match of League of Legends.  Most gamers will still want a portable system that allows them to play anywhere from 2 minutes up to an hour at any given moment, not a larger system system that will take long durations to play.  And if it ever goes back to my previous statement of bringing it to a hotel or relatives, why get this with unfamiliar controls and clunky transportation when one can just play on their laptop?

I'm a bit doubtful for the Razer Switchblade, but I think it's more viable for portable PC gaming than Project Fiona is.  It'd be a fun novelty gadget to be able to lug around and play, but it's not as practical as bringing a laptop around with an actual keyboard and mouse.