It is common knowledge to online game players that holidays usually have special events for their favorite online games to get players hyped up to play more and bring in those who don't play very often just to participate in the events. Here are some of the events going on today:
[Guild Wars 2]
Source: Youtube Channel MMORPGcom
[Team Fortress 2]
[DotA 2]
[World of Warcraft]
[Aion: Ascension]
[Perfect World International]
[Continent of the Ninth Seal]
[Vindictus]
Be sure to check the official sites of Online games you play to see if there's a Halloween event that can score you some special items and/or provide a unique experience. Happy Halloween and stay safe for those going out!
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
GameLight - Clan of Champions
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/206230/
Source: Youtube Channel LordTronix
A game that has slipped past me entirely called Clan of Champions released today on Steam for North America and Europe thanks to the team over at NIS America. It was released in Japan on November 23, 2011 last year as a Playstation 3 exclusive but was mentioned at Tokyo Game Show last year that it would be released in Europe and North America sometime in 2012 published by NIS America. Clan of Champions is an Action-RPG with a fantasy theme around Humans, Elves and Orcs. There are tons of ways to customize a player's character through aesthetic designs, weapon choices, skills, and passive abilities. The game can be played single-player, 3-player cooperatively, and 3 versus 3 competitively. I suspect that the game is entirely instanced based where single-player and cooperative play is going through a level with a certain goal in mind depending on the quest while competitive modes places players in an arena. The combat style will be a bit of a hack-n-slash with magic (sword and sorcery deal). In all honesty, I don't see this game taking off. The game is developed by Acquire and they haven't had a strong following in the Western market. I personally like the Tenchu series, Way of the Samurai series, and Shinobido series that they've worked on, but I also have to admit that the quality in all their games isn't quite that high. Still, I'm interested in what this game might offer and will probably pick it up sometime in the future. Clan of Champions is now available on Steam for 20% off at a price of $31.99 until November 6th, 2012 and then will return to its original price of $39.99.
Source: Youtube Channel LordTronix
A game that has slipped past me entirely called Clan of Champions released today on Steam for North America and Europe thanks to the team over at NIS America. It was released in Japan on November 23, 2011 last year as a Playstation 3 exclusive but was mentioned at Tokyo Game Show last year that it would be released in Europe and North America sometime in 2012 published by NIS America. Clan of Champions is an Action-RPG with a fantasy theme around Humans, Elves and Orcs. There are tons of ways to customize a player's character through aesthetic designs, weapon choices, skills, and passive abilities. The game can be played single-player, 3-player cooperatively, and 3 versus 3 competitively. I suspect that the game is entirely instanced based where single-player and cooperative play is going through a level with a certain goal in mind depending on the quest while competitive modes places players in an arena. The combat style will be a bit of a hack-n-slash with magic (sword and sorcery deal). In all honesty, I don't see this game taking off. The game is developed by Acquire and they haven't had a strong following in the Western market. I personally like the Tenchu series, Way of the Samurai series, and Shinobido series that they've worked on, but I also have to admit that the quality in all their games isn't quite that high. Still, I'm interested in what this game might offer and will probably pick it up sometime in the future. Clan of Champions is now available on Steam for 20% off at a price of $31.99 until November 6th, 2012 and then will return to its original price of $39.99.
Monday, October 29, 2012
VGCulture - Halloween Sales 2012
Halloween is in two days, and it seems us gamers get some sales from it:
I'm not entirely sure if this applies to all stores in the country, but I suspect it does for the majority since it appeared on the official website.
You have your zombie games, horror survivals, and intense adventures on sale for this sale. So you can pick up games like Dead Rising 2 or Dead Space Pack for less than $10 each.
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier seems kind of out of theme with other demon and zombie slaying games such as the Devil May Cry Collection, Resident Evil 5 and Darksiders 2, but does it matter when you're getting a good deal out of it?
Have fun killing zombies and fighting demons. Stay safe for Halloween!
 |
| Target Buy 2 Get 1 Free Sale |
 |
| Steam's Halloween Sale |
 |
| Amazon Halloween Deals |
Have fun killing zombies and fighting demons. Stay safe for Halloween!
Friday, October 26, 2012
Retroview - From the Abyss
Aksys Site: http://www.aksysgames.com/games/fta/
Source: Youtube Channel TeamDSNEWS
From the Abyss for the Nintendo DS was on my list of games to check out long ago and I eventually played through it earlier this year. The game was like a very watered down "Secret of Mana" with its own little mechanics and gimmicks that sets it apart. From the Abyss is an Action-RPG that's dungeon based rather than an open-world. The player will go through different parts of the Abyss gate and travel through 4 areas before fighting the boss. The game is extremely difficult in the beginning as enemies take quite a few hits before dying and the player won't be able to withstand that many attacks before dying. Once I got through the first 2 areas for the first stage, I was strong enough to get through the rest of the game fairly easily with no problems at all.
The player will end up leveling up very quickly as long as they're killing enemies along the way. There's one problem already: not having a balanced leveling system that keeps the game challenging or fresh. I one-shotted most enemies if not within 3 hits and I had so much money that I could buy the strongest items several times over and still have some left over. The levels themselves go from one block to another much like the original Legend of Zelda games were like. Everything in that particular stage that you're on will look the same. Exploring everything didn't reward the player much as it "sometimes" gave a better equipment if not a regular potion to use, and so near the end I decided to rush the game and ignore going to dead ends if possible. There's the other problem: exploration wasn't fun. There wasn't much of an incentive to check the other paths because there was usually very little there or nothing at all. There there's the most important aspect of the game: the combat system.
The game is a lot like the Mana series where the player can switch between weapons to slash enemies, shoot them from afar, or cast spells. For melee weapons, the combo system was extremely stiff which left the player extremely vulnerable when attacking and fast enemies were annoying to chase after. For the ranged weapon, there was only the bow. The bow attacks really slow, it arcs in a short distance, and it had a very long animation which left the player more vulnerable than any other weapon. The gimmick the game possessed was the ability to steal enemy skills. Sometimes, it's a skill that the enemy doesn't even use but will be acquired anyways. These skills can range from extending a weapon combo, to a special weapon skill, or allow the player to cast magical spells. Magical spells took long to channel before casting and are generally weak if not useless. The most useful ones were heals and speed up. So how was I able to bear through the rest of the game?
The regular attacks from the weapons were ridiculous and useless, but some of the special skills acquired from enemies made them god-like. The one I used most was an extremely strong and fast arrow shot used on the bow which cuts across the screen and did an insane amount of damage. It made the game extremely easy and I ended up using it to mow through the rest of the game. It was semi-entertaining to kill through everything so quickly, but everything about the game just felt dumbed down. The story was very plain, characters were forgettable, levels were a chore to get through when running into a dead end 10 blocks later, the music was average, and the experience was very mediocre. There were a few times where some enemies and bosses gave me trouble as there isn't a grace period between each hit which meant an enemy attack can land multiple times as long as the player's within it (a tornado or enemy flying dive can hit the player 8 times in a row with a stun lock with the initial hit). But knowing to avoid those attacks and using the bow's fast attack skill made it really easy.
All in all, the game wasn't bad, it was just very average and perhaps a little boring. It's a forgettable game, but one that could provide some entertainment value. There are some downloadable sequels (sub-titled "Anonymous Notes") available on the eShop. If anything, they're good for passing the time.
Source: Youtube Channel TeamDSNEWS
From the Abyss for the Nintendo DS was on my list of games to check out long ago and I eventually played through it earlier this year. The game was like a very watered down "Secret of Mana" with its own little mechanics and gimmicks that sets it apart. From the Abyss is an Action-RPG that's dungeon based rather than an open-world. The player will go through different parts of the Abyss gate and travel through 4 areas before fighting the boss. The game is extremely difficult in the beginning as enemies take quite a few hits before dying and the player won't be able to withstand that many attacks before dying. Once I got through the first 2 areas for the first stage, I was strong enough to get through the rest of the game fairly easily with no problems at all.
The player will end up leveling up very quickly as long as they're killing enemies along the way. There's one problem already: not having a balanced leveling system that keeps the game challenging or fresh. I one-shotted most enemies if not within 3 hits and I had so much money that I could buy the strongest items several times over and still have some left over. The levels themselves go from one block to another much like the original Legend of Zelda games were like. Everything in that particular stage that you're on will look the same. Exploring everything didn't reward the player much as it "sometimes" gave a better equipment if not a regular potion to use, and so near the end I decided to rush the game and ignore going to dead ends if possible. There's the other problem: exploration wasn't fun. There wasn't much of an incentive to check the other paths because there was usually very little there or nothing at all. There there's the most important aspect of the game: the combat system.
The game is a lot like the Mana series where the player can switch between weapons to slash enemies, shoot them from afar, or cast spells. For melee weapons, the combo system was extremely stiff which left the player extremely vulnerable when attacking and fast enemies were annoying to chase after. For the ranged weapon, there was only the bow. The bow attacks really slow, it arcs in a short distance, and it had a very long animation which left the player more vulnerable than any other weapon. The gimmick the game possessed was the ability to steal enemy skills. Sometimes, it's a skill that the enemy doesn't even use but will be acquired anyways. These skills can range from extending a weapon combo, to a special weapon skill, or allow the player to cast magical spells. Magical spells took long to channel before casting and are generally weak if not useless. The most useful ones were heals and speed up. So how was I able to bear through the rest of the game?
The regular attacks from the weapons were ridiculous and useless, but some of the special skills acquired from enemies made them god-like. The one I used most was an extremely strong and fast arrow shot used on the bow which cuts across the screen and did an insane amount of damage. It made the game extremely easy and I ended up using it to mow through the rest of the game. It was semi-entertaining to kill through everything so quickly, but everything about the game just felt dumbed down. The story was very plain, characters were forgettable, levels were a chore to get through when running into a dead end 10 blocks later, the music was average, and the experience was very mediocre. There were a few times where some enemies and bosses gave me trouble as there isn't a grace period between each hit which meant an enemy attack can land multiple times as long as the player's within it (a tornado or enemy flying dive can hit the player 8 times in a row with a stun lock with the initial hit). But knowing to avoid those attacks and using the bow's fast attack skill made it really easy.
All in all, the game wasn't bad, it was just very average and perhaps a little boring. It's a forgettable game, but one that could provide some entertainment value. There are some downloadable sequels (sub-titled "Anonymous Notes") available on the eShop. If anything, they're good for passing the time.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
VGCulture - Left 4 Dead 2 Free Weekend
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/550/
Source: Youtube Channel Ve3troGamesMedia
In celebration of Halloween coming up, Valve is letting steam players play Left 4 Dead 2 for free from now till 10AM of Monday. Left 4 Dead 2 is a 4-player cooperative multiplayer, zombie survival, First-Person Shooter developed by Valve. Some players have played this game for hundreds of hours if not over 1000+ hours (I know someone who accumulated that much) and can still find a fresh and new experience each time. And if you like the game, it's $4.99 from now until Monday 10AM.
Source: Youtube Channel Ve3troGamesMedia
In celebration of Halloween coming up, Valve is letting steam players play Left 4 Dead 2 for free from now till 10AM of Monday. Left 4 Dead 2 is a 4-player cooperative multiplayer, zombie survival, First-Person Shooter developed by Valve. Some players have played this game for hundreds of hours if not over 1000+ hours (I know someone who accumulated that much) and can still find a fresh and new experience each time. And if you like the game, it's $4.99 from now until Monday 10AM.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
GameLight Review - Shinobi (3DS)
Official Site: http://www.sega.com/games/shinobi/
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
Developer: Griptonite Games
Publisher: Sega
Platforms: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: November 15, 2011
Genre: Side-Scroll Action Platformer
Pros:
+ Fast-paced Arcade action of the classic 2D Shinobi series
+ Great combat mechanics with very challenging gameplay
+ Even the easiest difficulty level will provide a decent challenge
+ It's possible to record an entire level to show off speed runs
+ Exciting boss battles that reminiscence gameplay from the retro days
Cons:
- A fairly short game of ~5 hours
- You will die a lot
- The game can be unforgiving with all sorts of enemies, traps, and pitfalls
- Some parts require a leap of faith or making mistakes to learn from them
- That last stretch can be quite a chore
Recommended: Yes, if found for less than $15 and is a classic Action game fan
Shinobi for the Nintendo 3DS revisits its classic 2D gameplay of the retro days. As with most Ninja-themed games, the story begins with the village under siege and the main protagonists goes out to fight this mysterious enemy. Much like the classic Shinobi games, the player keeps moving to the right unless stated otherwise to reach the next level. Between the start and end of the level are bottomless pits, hazardous traps, and dangerous enemies. The player, taking the role of Jiro Musashi, will cut, execute, jump, and grapple their way through monsters, ninjas, and formidable bosses. Unlike Shinobi Legions where the player can deflect projectiles with a sword swing, Jiro Musashi is able to parry many different attacks including machine gun fire. The flow of combat by utilizing shurikens, sword slash combos, and parries make for a satisfying adventure throughout the game. The game was extremely difficulty, but the easiest difficulty allowed a infinite number of lives and continues so that the player can get through the game at least once and know all the placements of traps and enemies before attempting a harder difficulty. It doesn't exactly capture the charm and memorable aspects of its predecessors such as The Revenge of Shinobi, but has possibly the slickest and most satisfying combat system out of all the 2D Shinobi series.
Aesthetics
Art Style: 2.5D Cel-Shaded
+ The animations between attacks, special abilities, and movement are really fluid
+ The 3D effects add a nice sense of depth to the environment
+ Cut-scenes are short, but tells the story pretty well without words
+ Sound effects played a big part in making combat satisfying
+ Music was really exciting
+ Level designs and their environment were varied and enjoyable
- Some platforms were hard to spot and hazards were out of screen
- Some effects were to have an oil paint look but turned out flat and unrefined
- Music was great, but not particularly memorable
Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons
Controller: Mostly all the 3DS keys with the touch screen utilizing the ninjitsu choice and for some mini-games
+ Classic run, jump, attack controls is nostalgic and feels great
+ The sword combo system makes for a really fun and satisfying combat
+ Attacks and actions are very reactive and precise
+ Key layout feels natural but can still be changed for player's preference
+ The new parry system provides a very wide range of approach in combat
- It can be difficult to memorize all the possible combos
Buttons: 9/10
Concept & Content
Core Concept: Side-Scroll Action-Platformer, get to the exit by going right unless stated otherwise while fighting off enemies and dodging hazards along the way
+ Level design rarely keeps the player from going just to the right
+ Enemies and bosses are challenging and a lot of fun to fight
+ Platforming can be difficult, but is rewarding as the player gets better
+ The combo system matched with the parry mechanic creates the best combat system in the 2D Shinobi series thus far
+ Shinobi would be an infuriating game were it not for the easiest difficulty (infinite lives and continues)
+ Players can trade special additional missions through streetpass
+ If the player gets certain achievements, specials are unlocked for freeplay
- Some parts of the game can be ambiguous of where to go and how to reach there
- There are checkpoints that are much too far apart, even for the easiest difficulty
- The difficulty of the game can be a turn off for a lot of players
- Chase scenes (Horse back, on top of trucks, on a jet) are strictly scripted and can be difficult to see in 3D when the camera angle changes around.
-There are certain parts in the game where the player will die a lot the first playthrough as some unexpected events will happen (learning through mistakes)
Concept and Content: 7/10
Duration
Completed Time: ~5 Hours
+ Great flow of action, platforming, and very light puzzles
+ Though not long, the time spent playing the game was enjoyable
+ The additional items and specials (auto parry) make for a fun replay
+ Freeplay is great for speed runners and high-score hunters
+ Higher difficulty levels are available for the most hardcore players which extend the replay value (much like classic retro games)
- 5 hours of gameplay for $20+ will upset some players
- Freeplay with the special abilities is more of a novelty than additional content
- Dying a lot will bring a halt to the pacing of the game if the player can't get past a certain point in a level
Duration: 7/10
Fun
+ First things to capture my attention was the 3D effects, combo system, and parry
+ The combo system and parry mechanic really rewarded the player for being creative with combining attacks and timing everything
+ As annoying as chase scenes were, they were pretty exciting
+ The difficulty did frustrate me at times, but I was generally rewarded with satisfaction at the end of each level
+ Boss fights can be really difficult, but they were really satisfying
+ The ending wasn't incredible, but finishing the game was gratifying
+ I think it'll be worth keeping the game to revisit freeplay mode with cheats or mission mode if not to replay the game over again
- It was annoying when check points brought the player back really far when dying
- All the little surprises of pitfalls, spikes, and enemies at the end of a drop were really frustrating and became more frequent near the end
- Sometimes, there are so many things flying towards the player that it feels impossible to counter, parry or dodge
- I'd probably be willing to play the game again, but I still wouldn't play anything beyond the easiest level just because of the many surprises that insta-kills me
Fun: 8/10
Overall
Shinobi definitely feels like an homage to the classics in the series with a more modern feel with its 3D effects and dynamic combat system. The controls are tight, the gameplay is challenging, but the game is sadly not as enchanting or memorable as the originals. Still, this iteration possesses possibly the best combat system out of all the 2D Shinobi games and is certainly geared towards gamers who want a challenge and to hardcore gamers who can show off their skills by reaching the highest scores with the fastest completion times. I can't say the game is for everyone, but those who know they enjoy a bit of difficulty in their Action-Platformers will be able to enjoy the game. Overall: 7.8/10
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
Developer: Griptonite Games
Publisher: Sega
Platforms: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: November 15, 2011
Genre: Side-Scroll Action Platformer
Pros:
+ Fast-paced Arcade action of the classic 2D Shinobi series
+ Great combat mechanics with very challenging gameplay
+ Even the easiest difficulty level will provide a decent challenge
+ It's possible to record an entire level to show off speed runs
+ Exciting boss battles that reminiscence gameplay from the retro days
Cons:
- A fairly short game of ~5 hours
- You will die a lot
- The game can be unforgiving with all sorts of enemies, traps, and pitfalls
- Some parts require a leap of faith or making mistakes to learn from them
- That last stretch can be quite a chore
Recommended: Yes, if found for less than $15 and is a classic Action game fan
Shinobi for the Nintendo 3DS revisits its classic 2D gameplay of the retro days. As with most Ninja-themed games, the story begins with the village under siege and the main protagonists goes out to fight this mysterious enemy. Much like the classic Shinobi games, the player keeps moving to the right unless stated otherwise to reach the next level. Between the start and end of the level are bottomless pits, hazardous traps, and dangerous enemies. The player, taking the role of Jiro Musashi, will cut, execute, jump, and grapple their way through monsters, ninjas, and formidable bosses. Unlike Shinobi Legions where the player can deflect projectiles with a sword swing, Jiro Musashi is able to parry many different attacks including machine gun fire. The flow of combat by utilizing shurikens, sword slash combos, and parries make for a satisfying adventure throughout the game. The game was extremely difficulty, but the easiest difficulty allowed a infinite number of lives and continues so that the player can get through the game at least once and know all the placements of traps and enemies before attempting a harder difficulty. It doesn't exactly capture the charm and memorable aspects of its predecessors such as The Revenge of Shinobi, but has possibly the slickest and most satisfying combat system out of all the 2D Shinobi series.
Aesthetics
Art Style: 2.5D Cel-Shaded
+ The animations between attacks, special abilities, and movement are really fluid
+ The 3D effects add a nice sense of depth to the environment
+ Cut-scenes are short, but tells the story pretty well without words
+ Sound effects played a big part in making combat satisfying
+ Music was really exciting
+ Level designs and their environment were varied and enjoyable
- Some platforms were hard to spot and hazards were out of screen
- Some effects were to have an oil paint look but turned out flat and unrefined
- Music was great, but not particularly memorable
Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons
Controller: Mostly all the 3DS keys with the touch screen utilizing the ninjitsu choice and for some mini-games
+ Classic run, jump, attack controls is nostalgic and feels great
+ The sword combo system makes for a really fun and satisfying combat
+ Attacks and actions are very reactive and precise
+ Key layout feels natural but can still be changed for player's preference
+ The new parry system provides a very wide range of approach in combat
- It can be difficult to memorize all the possible combos
Buttons: 9/10
Concept & Content
Core Concept: Side-Scroll Action-Platformer, get to the exit by going right unless stated otherwise while fighting off enemies and dodging hazards along the way
+ Level design rarely keeps the player from going just to the right
+ Enemies and bosses are challenging and a lot of fun to fight
+ Platforming can be difficult, but is rewarding as the player gets better
+ The combo system matched with the parry mechanic creates the best combat system in the 2D Shinobi series thus far
+ Shinobi would be an infuriating game were it not for the easiest difficulty (infinite lives and continues)
+ Players can trade special additional missions through streetpass
+ If the player gets certain achievements, specials are unlocked for freeplay
- Some parts of the game can be ambiguous of where to go and how to reach there
- There are checkpoints that are much too far apart, even for the easiest difficulty
- The difficulty of the game can be a turn off for a lot of players
- Chase scenes (Horse back, on top of trucks, on a jet) are strictly scripted and can be difficult to see in 3D when the camera angle changes around.
-There are certain parts in the game where the player will die a lot the first playthrough as some unexpected events will happen (learning through mistakes)
Concept and Content: 7/10
Duration
Completed Time: ~5 Hours
+ Great flow of action, platforming, and very light puzzles
+ Though not long, the time spent playing the game was enjoyable
+ The additional items and specials (auto parry) make for a fun replay
+ Freeplay is great for speed runners and high-score hunters
+ Higher difficulty levels are available for the most hardcore players which extend the replay value (much like classic retro games)
- 5 hours of gameplay for $20+ will upset some players
- Freeplay with the special abilities is more of a novelty than additional content
- Dying a lot will bring a halt to the pacing of the game if the player can't get past a certain point in a level
Duration: 7/10
Fun
+ First things to capture my attention was the 3D effects, combo system, and parry
+ The combo system and parry mechanic really rewarded the player for being creative with combining attacks and timing everything
+ As annoying as chase scenes were, they were pretty exciting
+ The difficulty did frustrate me at times, but I was generally rewarded with satisfaction at the end of each level
+ Boss fights can be really difficult, but they were really satisfying
+ The ending wasn't incredible, but finishing the game was gratifying
+ I think it'll be worth keeping the game to revisit freeplay mode with cheats or mission mode if not to replay the game over again
- It was annoying when check points brought the player back really far when dying
- All the little surprises of pitfalls, spikes, and enemies at the end of a drop were really frustrating and became more frequent near the end
- Sometimes, there are so many things flying towards the player that it feels impossible to counter, parry or dodge
- I'd probably be willing to play the game again, but I still wouldn't play anything beyond the easiest level just because of the many surprises that insta-kills me
Fun: 8/10
Overall
Shinobi definitely feels like an homage to the classics in the series with a more modern feel with its 3D effects and dynamic combat system. The controls are tight, the gameplay is challenging, but the game is sadly not as enchanting or memorable as the originals. Still, this iteration possesses possibly the best combat system out of all the 2D Shinobi games and is certainly geared towards gamers who want a challenge and to hardcore gamers who can show off their skills by reaching the highest scores with the fastest completion times. I can't say the game is for everyone, but those who know they enjoy a bit of difficulty in their Action-Platformers will be able to enjoy the game. Overall: 7.8/10
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
GameLight - Medal of Honor Warfighter
Official Site: http://www.medalofhonor.com/
Source: Youtube Channel eavision
If MoH: Warfighter is anything like MoH (2010), then I am excited. I have never really liked the MoH series for the longest time, but EA had changed my mind about that 2 years ago when they released a modern First-Person Shooter with Medal of Honor (2010). It still stands today to me as the FPS with the best audio I have ever experience. The graphics were clean, detailed, bright, and visually appealing. The story was compelling and made for a very exciting experience for the single-player campaign. If there were any faults, it was that multiplayer wasn't entirely refined. Multiplayer was a lot of fun, but level designs made the game imbalanced, certain weapons were clearly rigged, it was very easy to spawn camp, and there was a certain amount of lag that caused problems with gameplay. Now the game is back with a sequel and it's looking pretty good. I'm hoping that the developers experience with the first iteration of the new MoH has allowed them to work and refine the game to make it truly great this time around. As broken as multiplayer was in the first one, I had a lot of fun from it. It was neck to neck against Call of Duty: Black Ops that year with CoD:BO having a great story but boring gameplay for the main campaign while the multiplayer was also broken and laggy. Last year in 2011, EA was neck to neck against Activision with Battlefield 3 against Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The campaign was very disappointing for BF3 but made up for its multiplayer while CoD:MW3 was pretty solid on both sides. So right now, I'm hoping that MoH:WF will have a polished game experience for both campaign and multiplayer it competes against Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 this year. Medal of Honor: Warfighter is now available for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Source: Youtube Channel eavision
If MoH: Warfighter is anything like MoH (2010), then I am excited. I have never really liked the MoH series for the longest time, but EA had changed my mind about that 2 years ago when they released a modern First-Person Shooter with Medal of Honor (2010). It still stands today to me as the FPS with the best audio I have ever experience. The graphics were clean, detailed, bright, and visually appealing. The story was compelling and made for a very exciting experience for the single-player campaign. If there were any faults, it was that multiplayer wasn't entirely refined. Multiplayer was a lot of fun, but level designs made the game imbalanced, certain weapons were clearly rigged, it was very easy to spawn camp, and there was a certain amount of lag that caused problems with gameplay. Now the game is back with a sequel and it's looking pretty good. I'm hoping that the developers experience with the first iteration of the new MoH has allowed them to work and refine the game to make it truly great this time around. As broken as multiplayer was in the first one, I had a lot of fun from it. It was neck to neck against Call of Duty: Black Ops that year with CoD:BO having a great story but boring gameplay for the main campaign while the multiplayer was also broken and laggy. Last year in 2011, EA was neck to neck against Activision with Battlefield 3 against Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The campaign was very disappointing for BF3 but made up for its multiplayer while CoD:MW3 was pretty solid on both sides. So right now, I'm hoping that MoH:WF will have a polished game experience for both campaign and multiplayer it competes against Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 this year. Medal of Honor: Warfighter is now available for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Monday, October 22, 2012
VGCulture - Changing GameLight Review's Style
I want to change the review style a little more so that I can get major points across in a short and concise manner. I would like to change each category into bulletin points rather than writing one entire paragraph so that I have a decisive take on whether something is good or not. Here is a run down of how I'm going to be doing it:
[Title]: Of course, there's the title of the game.
[Official Page]: If there's an official site for it, it'll go here.
[Video Preview]: A video or picture will go here to preview the game.
[Developer]: As usual
[Publisher]: As usual
[Platforms] [Version Review]: I realize I never specify too much which version I'm reviewing, so I will do so from now on by placing a box around it.
[Release Date]: As usual
[Genre]: As usual
[Pros]: As usual
[Cons]: As usual
[Recommended]: I could put things like "for FPS fans" or simply "no" up on top for a direct answer of whether a game is worth getting/playing or not.
[Short Summary]: As usual, but I need to practice making this one paragraph more refined in the future.
-Game's Story and Concept: What the game's about/how it plays
-Presentation: Overall good or bad game?
-Thoughts: Personal opinions
So for all the major points, I'll be putting them in bullet form as a "+" or "-". For example, I could talk about the Aesthetics of a game and say:
+ Beautiful environments: The background was color and detailed with an immersive atmosphere that really sucks the player into the world.
- Horrible camera control: The handling of the camera was really poor which impeded the view of the enemies and environmental hazards.
In this way, I can get through more reviews as I already have a whole list of overdue reviews to do while it makes it easier for all the readers to get the gist of a game without having to read an entire essay and decipher whether an aspect made the game better or worse. I'll be testing out this method of review in the following weeks to come. Here's a quick overview of the aspects in reviews:
[Aesthetics]
-[Art Style]: The type of art style the game went for such as 2.5D Cel shaded, or 3D realistic, etc.
-Graphics: textures, sprites, models, effects, user-interface, menus and how they affect the game
-Audio: music, sound effects, volume balance, engineering, and the way they affect the game.
-Presentation
[Buttons]
-[Controller]: The kind of peripheral used such as a PS3 controller, a fight stick, wiimote with nunchucks, keyboard and mouse, etc.
-Controls: Key mapping, character/object controls, interface, motion control, ease of use, and/or bad design.
[Concept & Content]
-[Overall Concept of game]: This will make it easier to explain the rest of the game if I can establish what kind of game it is: free roam, mission based, side-scroll progression, etc.
-Design: Story, core concept, level design, goals/objectives, modes, characters, innovation
[Duration]
-Time: Pacing, length, and Replay Value
[Fun]
-First impression, Entertainment Value, and Last Impression
[Overall]
-Review of all the points, overall feel of the game, recommend it?
[Title]: Of course, there's the title of the game.
[Official Page]: If there's an official site for it, it'll go here.
[Video Preview]: A video or picture will go here to preview the game.
[Developer]: As usual
[Publisher]: As usual
[Platforms] [Version Review]: I realize I never specify too much which version I'm reviewing, so I will do so from now on by placing a box around it.
[Release Date]: As usual
[Genre]: As usual
[Pros]: As usual
[Cons]: As usual
[Recommended]: I could put things like "for FPS fans" or simply "no" up on top for a direct answer of whether a game is worth getting/playing or not.
[Short Summary]: As usual, but I need to practice making this one paragraph more refined in the future.
-Game's Story and Concept: What the game's about/how it plays
-Presentation: Overall good or bad game?
-Thoughts: Personal opinions
So for all the major points, I'll be putting them in bullet form as a "+" or "-". For example, I could talk about the Aesthetics of a game and say:
+ Beautiful environments: The background was color and detailed with an immersive atmosphere that really sucks the player into the world.
- Horrible camera control: The handling of the camera was really poor which impeded the view of the enemies and environmental hazards.
In this way, I can get through more reviews as I already have a whole list of overdue reviews to do while it makes it easier for all the readers to get the gist of a game without having to read an entire essay and decipher whether an aspect made the game better or worse. I'll be testing out this method of review in the following weeks to come. Here's a quick overview of the aspects in reviews:
[Aesthetics]
-[Art Style]: The type of art style the game went for such as 2.5D Cel shaded, or 3D realistic, etc.
-Graphics: textures, sprites, models, effects, user-interface, menus and how they affect the game
-Audio: music, sound effects, volume balance, engineering, and the way they affect the game.
-Presentation
[Buttons]
-[Controller]: The kind of peripheral used such as a PS3 controller, a fight stick, wiimote with nunchucks, keyboard and mouse, etc.
-Controls: Key mapping, character/object controls, interface, motion control, ease of use, and/or bad design.
[Concept & Content]
-[Overall Concept of game]: This will make it easier to explain the rest of the game if I can establish what kind of game it is: free roam, mission based, side-scroll progression, etc.
-Design: Story, core concept, level design, goals/objectives, modes, characters, innovation
[Duration]
-Time: Pacing, length, and Replay Value
[Fun]
-First impression, Entertainment Value, and Last Impression
[Overall]
-Review of all the points, overall feel of the game, recommend it?
Friday, October 19, 2012
VGCulture - Filler - Flowering Night
I'm still recovering from being sick this entire week and I need another day of break. Here's a variation of Sakuya's Theme Flowering Night from Touhou: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody.
Source: Youtube Channel Louchan2
I love this version of Flowering Night a lot. In any case, have a good weekend and see you next week.
Source: Youtube Channel Louchan2
I love this version of Flowering Night a lot. In any case, have a good weekend and see you next week.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
VGCulture - Playing Games without Playing at all
No, I'm not making a reference to Bruce Lee:
Source: Youtube Channel proWESnet
(who was actually referencing Sun Tzu), but rather a very common act and past time by a lot of gamers. A lot of us gamers in the past spent time watching our older brothers/sisters, fathers/mothers, uncles/aunts, friends or cousins playing videogames and shared the adventure and experience alongside with them when we weren't playing the game ourselves. Now let's fast forward into the year 2006 when video sharing starting becoming more viable and viral throughout the world. A trend called "Let's Play" that started on an internet forum called something awful where players took screenshots of their progress of a game and commented on each one started to catch on. "Let's Play" in video form is a pretty common trend nowadays with players playing through an entire game from beginning to end documenting the strategies they used, problems they faced and being informative to their viewers. These are sometimes considered as "video walkthroughs" although most walkthrough videos generally don't have voice overs. There are also "Let's Play" series where they're meant to be humor driven videos for viewers to enjoy.
Source: Youtube Channel RoosterTeeth
The common place for these types of videos now are: informative, humor-driven, and experience without the play. There was a certain period of time where some game publishers and the U.S. government wanted to ban the streaming and video uploads of a videogame playthrough as a lot of people began to watching full playthroughs of games to enjoy the experience without buying the game and playing it themselves. For the music industry, it was a huge problem (and still is a little, record companies are making money off it now). For the film and TV industry, this was a problem turned opportunity with Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll, and especially Youtube (well, more like Google) booming with business taking away the customers of DVD rentals. For the game industry, I don't see how this is a problem. Even when watching our relatives and friends play, it generally influences us gamers to play the game as well. And for video uploads, it only excites more gamers to know more about the game and eventually purchase it to play. So many other game developers and publishers fought back alongside the gaming community (as well as the rest of the internet population as it affected anything media related) to repel the ban of media sharing. Despite the new age of internet video streaming, a good amount of games are still sold these days.
For me personally, I generally watch pieces of a game to get through parts I can't get through and don't understand in text format, I'll watch speed runs to see how inhumanly possible it is to get through a game, and I'll watch alternative endings to a game so I don't have to play the entire game again just to watch it. And then there are times where I don't want to play through an old game and want to know what the rest of the game was like and watch a playthrough of that. Still playing games without playing them at all is probably a trend that will never die off any time soon.
Source: Youtube Channel proWESnet
(who was actually referencing Sun Tzu), but rather a very common act and past time by a lot of gamers. A lot of us gamers in the past spent time watching our older brothers/sisters, fathers/mothers, uncles/aunts, friends or cousins playing videogames and shared the adventure and experience alongside with them when we weren't playing the game ourselves. Now let's fast forward into the year 2006 when video sharing starting becoming more viable and viral throughout the world. A trend called "Let's Play" that started on an internet forum called something awful where players took screenshots of their progress of a game and commented on each one started to catch on. "Let's Play" in video form is a pretty common trend nowadays with players playing through an entire game from beginning to end documenting the strategies they used, problems they faced and being informative to their viewers. These are sometimes considered as "video walkthroughs" although most walkthrough videos generally don't have voice overs. There are also "Let's Play" series where they're meant to be humor driven videos for viewers to enjoy.
Source: Youtube Channel RoosterTeeth
The common place for these types of videos now are: informative, humor-driven, and experience without the play. There was a certain period of time where some game publishers and the U.S. government wanted to ban the streaming and video uploads of a videogame playthrough as a lot of people began to watching full playthroughs of games to enjoy the experience without buying the game and playing it themselves. For the music industry, it was a huge problem (and still is a little, record companies are making money off it now). For the film and TV industry, this was a problem turned opportunity with Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll, and especially Youtube (well, more like Google) booming with business taking away the customers of DVD rentals. For the game industry, I don't see how this is a problem. Even when watching our relatives and friends play, it generally influences us gamers to play the game as well. And for video uploads, it only excites more gamers to know more about the game and eventually purchase it to play. So many other game developers and publishers fought back alongside the gaming community (as well as the rest of the internet population as it affected anything media related) to repel the ban of media sharing. Despite the new age of internet video streaming, a good amount of games are still sold these days.
For me personally, I generally watch pieces of a game to get through parts I can't get through and don't understand in text format, I'll watch speed runs to see how inhumanly possible it is to get through a game, and I'll watch alternative endings to a game so I don't have to play the entire game again just to watch it. And then there are times where I don't want to play through an old game and want to know what the rest of the game was like and watch a playthrough of that. Still playing games without playing them at all is probably a trend that will never die off any time soon.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
GameLight - Fairy Bloom Freesia
Official Site: http://nyu-media.com/fairy-bloom-freesia/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/214590/ Source: Youtube Channel Throneful
From the developers of Ether Vapor Remaster comes an 2.5 Action game. From what I can see, Fairy Bloom Freesia boasts itself as a beat-em-up sort of Action game with crazy combos and abilities to chain together. There's also a leveling system in which the player will gain more abilities and types of attacks as they defeat more enemies. The game is now available on Desura, Steam, and Nyumedia's page for $7.99. When is Nyumedia going to bring Cherry Tree High: Comedy Club to Steam...
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/214590/ Source: Youtube Channel Throneful
From the developers of Ether Vapor Remaster comes an 2.5 Action game. From what I can see, Fairy Bloom Freesia boasts itself as a beat-em-up sort of Action game with crazy combos and abilities to chain together. There's also a leveling system in which the player will gain more abilities and types of attacks as they defeat more enemies. The game is now available on Desura, Steam, and Nyumedia's page for $7.99. When is Nyumedia going to bring Cherry Tree High: Comedy Club to Steam...
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
VGCulture - Diablo 3 Patch 1.0.5 released today
Official Site: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/7540457/
Source: Youtube Channel HunterStarcraft
The newest patch has released for Diablo 3 and it has many fans excited. Players can now choose a power level for enemy monsters that affect their farming. The higher the power level, the more health and damage enemies will have but will reward the player with more gold, experience points, and magic find. The high level items drop percentage is evened out between all four acts so that players in Inferno difficulty won't have to rely solely on Act 4 to get high level items. A re-balancing of classes will nerf and buff skills. All in all, it will reward players a bit more often rather than punishing them constantly just to get better loot and grinding for experience points.
Source: Youtube Channel HunterStarcraft
The newest patch has released for Diablo 3 and it has many fans excited. Players can now choose a power level for enemy monsters that affect their farming. The higher the power level, the more health and damage enemies will have but will reward the player with more gold, experience points, and magic find. The high level items drop percentage is evened out between all four acts so that players in Inferno difficulty won't have to rely solely on Act 4 to get high level items. A re-balancing of classes will nerf and buff skills. All in all, it will reward players a bit more often rather than punishing them constantly just to get better loot and grinding for experience points.
Monday, October 15, 2012
VGCulture - Filler - Irelia OP
I'm sick...so here's a video I found to entertain you all:
Source: Youtube Channel Yagamifyed
Source: Youtube Channel Yagamifyed
Friday, October 12, 2012
GameLight Review - Centipede Infestation (3DS)
Nintendo Page: Centipede Infestation
Atari Page: http://www.atari.com/buy-games/action/centipede-infestation
Source: Youtube Channel atari
Developer: WayForward Technologies
Publisher: Atari
Platforms: Nintendo Wii, Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: November 1, 2011
Genre: Arena Shooter
Pros:
-Great soundtrack (trailer doesn't use the in-game music)
-Straightforward gameplay; not complex
-Interesting boss battles
-The 3D looks pretty cool for the game
Cons:
-Non-emotional or odd situational voice-acting
-Cut-scenes were cool, but they played at 1-3 frames per second
-Boss battles were fun, but the rest of the game was pretty boring
-Without the 3D, the graphics were pretty outdated and ugly
As a fan of the original Arcade Centipede, I was curious seeing this title on the shelves for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo 3DS. I didn't pick it up until very recently when I bought my new 3DS XL and decided to give the game a try. Hearing almost nothing about the game and purchasing it used for $10 kind of gave me the impression that I shouldn't expect too much out of it. The game starts off kind of boring and eventually picks up as the difficulty rises, but ends up being a very standard Arena Shooter where the player avoids contact with any enemies and kills everything on site until the level is over. Honestly, what allowed me the patience to get through the rest of the game was the somewhat interesting story, amazing soundtrack, and challenging boss battles. The rest of the game was a repetitious cycle of running around in circles and shooting enemies with bad voice acting and mediocre graphics. Unless you'd want to buy the Wii version for really cheap (say $5-$10) to play a 2-player co-op game to pass the time, I can't really recommend this game to anyone else.
Aesthetics
My first impressions when seeing the title screen and the cut-scenes with the 3D enticed my attention as it was my 2nd game for the 3DS XL and I thought it looked pretty nice. But once the actual game started, I quickly realized how ugly the graphics were. The environments were darker and muddy in color compared to the Wii version which really made it a problem when the enemies were tiny and dark in color as well. The explosion effects were dark and cloudy which hid enemies from view. The weapon projectiles weren't very flashy and didn't feel visceral which would've helped with the gameplay as combat would've felt more satisfying (if you have a mechanic that's seemingly repetitive, make it so that players would enjoy it). The models were really blocky and the cel-shaded art style made it even more prominent. The major redeeming factor for the graphics was that the 3D effects were nice. It added depth to background and form to environmental objects. There were quite a few times where some of the flying enemies really felt like they flew out of the screen at right at me. So without that 3D effect, I imagine that the Wii version had considerably bad graphics as well, though enemies do look more visible from the trailer above than they did in the 3DS. The cut-scenes were another thing that was a bit disappointing. The art is done in the style of Saturday morning cartoons; however, the animations weren't smooth and had 2-3 frames between each movement. They should have went all the way with the idea of cut-scenes, they were pretty interesting.
Audio has a bit of mixed feelings as well. The sound effects weren't that bad. All the weaponry and enemies were believable in the context of its art style. I think the killing sound effects mixed with better graphic animations for the weapons would have made combat feel a lot more satisfying as the fighting felt a lot like shooting nerf guns at blocks until they exploded. It would have made the game better overall, but it sadly didn't feel that way. The voice acting was pretty bad. In a lot of the cut-scenes and cinematics, the characters voice tone and emotion don't match up to the situation and expressions on their faces. There was actually some progress through the game as the voice acting got a little better in the last half of the game. There could be some blame to how this part of development was handled and not the voice actors in general. Sometimes, voice actors don't get to see the game, or the graphics to which lines they're recording (sometimes to avoid leaking assets to the public) so the voice actors have to guess what the situation is like when speaking. There's also some blame to the writing as a lot of the lines were cheesy or groan worthy. What impressed me more than anything in the game was the soundtrack. There's an obvious influence of the new wave of electronic music, dubstep, drum 'n bass and such in the music. The style of music was very familiar to me and I had an idea of who wrote it. I looked it up and sure enough the music was composed and produced by Jake Kaufman who has worked with WayForward Technologies in the past. The music is enjoyable to listen to. But more than that, it created an atmosphere to the game that was both dark/daunting and energetic that really melded well with the action and waves of enemies that runs toward the player. It's also the fact that it's so unique for music in a videogame that really impressed me.
Lastly, there was the story. The story seemed rather cheesy and something to be overlooked in the beginning, but it actually got pretty interesting as the game progressed. Despite the bad voice acting, the story had a cohesive tie with the gameplay which explains why the main protagonist is fighting these bugs, where the gardens were coming from, why flowers turned into turrets, and gave a bit of personality to the characters. It got to a point where I actually started caring about the story and the characters. The problem is that the story sets up a lot of plots, but never develops it. They didn't go all the way with it so it fell short of at least becoming a memorable story. I don't want to get into details as it might spoil the story for those who haven't played it who's willing to give it a try like I did. The aesthetics could've helped the gameplay tremendously, but I suppose it's too late for that now. Aesthetics: 5/10
Buttons
The controls for an arena shooter such as this one is okay considering the 3DS has an analog stick to move around compared to how the DS only had a digital pad to move around for its release of similar games such as Geometry Wars. Shooting is what makes it a bit more tricky as the face buttons represent a direction to shoot at. Generally, these types of games are played on dual analog sticks, but as far as I know Centipede Infestation is not compatible with the 2nd analog circle pad attachment for the 3DS. At least the player can choose a direction to shoot at as opposed to the Wii's wiimote and nunchuck combo. Weapons are switched on the bottom touch screen as the player picks them up. The player can also use the should button to stomp the ground to push away enemies or kill them if their hp is low enough. The controls were quite responsive and easy to grasp, but I think innovation could've been a bit more involved for this type of game. Buttons: 8/10
Concept & Content
The original Centipede was an Arcade shooter where the player had a limited space on the bottom of the screen to fire at incoming enemies with each wave progressively stronger and faster. Unfortunately, retail games now can't get away with game designs like that if they plan on charging $30-$40 (I think it was $50 on Wii) for the game. So the game isn't really a remake of the original but rather a game tied to its legacy. There will be at least 1 Centipede for the player to fight each stage, but the attention doesn't seem to be so much on them as much as it is on the other bugs attacking the player. The basic concept of the game is that the player goes from one stage to another with different looking environments and slightly different level designs to kill off all the bugs there, fulfill a task, or reach the exit. The whole point of the game is to kill bugs. There's actually nothing wrong with that had it been done better. In terms of aesthetics, the combat didn't feel very satisfying and harder difficulties just made it a chore as it takes significantly longer to kill the enemies. Everything in-between the basic concept should be designed to make killing the bugs fun. A variety of weapons should be one of them; however, the weapons available have little differences between them as most of them just do extra damage, vary in range and have a different animation effect (with the exception of the frost gun which slows enemies down a little). This made some of the weapons pretty useless (such as the shock gun) which rules out one of the factors that should have made the game fun. Another aspect implemented was having different challenges such as the different tasks the player had to fulfill besides kill the bugs such as protecting another character or activating a power source. These were good attempts, but it didn't change the gameplay very much as the player still ran around in circles a lot to avoid contact with the bugs while shooting them. Then there's the bugs themselves. Each bug had a different strength that made them more difficult to kill than the others. Some moved fast, some charge at you and some exploded. This at least challenges the player to approach each enemy differently. The problem is that they all have the same programmed AI: run towards the player. With that in mind, the player just runs in circles a lot to get the enemies to fall in line so that a good amount of them will fall under weapon fire. One of the better design choices in the games was the boss battles. Bosses didn't just stand there to take damage. The player actually had to move around and not just in circles. The player would have to learn the enemy's pattern and avoid waves of projectiles. Sadly, there were only about 5 bosses total in the whole game. The game has about 45 stages total, a fair amount since I was expecting 16 or lower. Other than the core game, there's 2-player cooperative play, unlockable characters and outfits, accomplishments (achievements essentially), some extras such as the jukebox (which I ended up using to rip the entire soundtrack since I liked it so much), concept art, and streetpass mode. To sum it all up, the game had a lot of potential and I could see it being a lot more fun if developed further. Concept & Content: 6/10
Duration
The game took me around 7 hours to complete according to my activity record on the 3DS. The length in general isn't too bad for a retail game, but the game did feel rather dragged out. The pacing felt very slow throughout the game with the exception of certain stages and boss battles. The replay value relies solely on its campaign with all the aspects with it: difficulty level, 2-player cooperative, accomplishments, and unlockables. Had the combat been developed with more depth, an endless mode or boss rush mode would have been nice. It's not a game I really feel compelled to play again (which is why it's one of the extremely few games I have ever returned; I bought it used). Duration: 6/10
Fun
I got bored of the game extremely quickly after the first 3 stages. What eventually compelled me to continue playing the game was the story and the music. I can't say I didn't have any fun with the game as some stages did feel a bit entertaining destroying waves of enemies with missiles. When I completed the game, I felt empty. There was no satisfaction in completing the game and no lingering interest in playing it again. It was much more of a study game than anything else, to learn what could have made a game such as this better. Fun: 5/10
Overall
Centipede Infestation wasn't a bad game, it was just a boring one. The game is certainly playable and isn't riddled with game breaking bugs (though enemies do get stuck now and then due to their very simple AI script), but it wasn't very engaging or entertaining. The only reason why I'd tell anyone to give this game a try is so that they can play a 2-player co-op game with a friend, listen to the music, and/or experience a bit of the story. This could've actually been a really fun game, but as it stands there are better Arena Shooters out there. Overall: 6/10
Atari Page: http://www.atari.com/buy-games/action/centipede-infestation
Source: Youtube Channel atari
Developer: WayForward Technologies
Publisher: Atari
Platforms: Nintendo Wii, Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: November 1, 2011
Genre: Arena Shooter
Pros:
-Great soundtrack (trailer doesn't use the in-game music)
-Straightforward gameplay; not complex
-Interesting boss battles
-The 3D looks pretty cool for the game
Cons:
-Non-emotional or odd situational voice-acting
-Cut-scenes were cool, but they played at 1-3 frames per second
-Boss battles were fun, but the rest of the game was pretty boring
-Without the 3D, the graphics were pretty outdated and ugly
As a fan of the original Arcade Centipede, I was curious seeing this title on the shelves for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo 3DS. I didn't pick it up until very recently when I bought my new 3DS XL and decided to give the game a try. Hearing almost nothing about the game and purchasing it used for $10 kind of gave me the impression that I shouldn't expect too much out of it. The game starts off kind of boring and eventually picks up as the difficulty rises, but ends up being a very standard Arena Shooter where the player avoids contact with any enemies and kills everything on site until the level is over. Honestly, what allowed me the patience to get through the rest of the game was the somewhat interesting story, amazing soundtrack, and challenging boss battles. The rest of the game was a repetitious cycle of running around in circles and shooting enemies with bad voice acting and mediocre graphics. Unless you'd want to buy the Wii version for really cheap (say $5-$10) to play a 2-player co-op game to pass the time, I can't really recommend this game to anyone else.
Aesthetics
My first impressions when seeing the title screen and the cut-scenes with the 3D enticed my attention as it was my 2nd game for the 3DS XL and I thought it looked pretty nice. But once the actual game started, I quickly realized how ugly the graphics were. The environments were darker and muddy in color compared to the Wii version which really made it a problem when the enemies were tiny and dark in color as well. The explosion effects were dark and cloudy which hid enemies from view. The weapon projectiles weren't very flashy and didn't feel visceral which would've helped with the gameplay as combat would've felt more satisfying (if you have a mechanic that's seemingly repetitive, make it so that players would enjoy it). The models were really blocky and the cel-shaded art style made it even more prominent. The major redeeming factor for the graphics was that the 3D effects were nice. It added depth to background and form to environmental objects. There were quite a few times where some of the flying enemies really felt like they flew out of the screen at right at me. So without that 3D effect, I imagine that the Wii version had considerably bad graphics as well, though enemies do look more visible from the trailer above than they did in the 3DS. The cut-scenes were another thing that was a bit disappointing. The art is done in the style of Saturday morning cartoons; however, the animations weren't smooth and had 2-3 frames between each movement. They should have went all the way with the idea of cut-scenes, they were pretty interesting.
Audio has a bit of mixed feelings as well. The sound effects weren't that bad. All the weaponry and enemies were believable in the context of its art style. I think the killing sound effects mixed with better graphic animations for the weapons would have made combat feel a lot more satisfying as the fighting felt a lot like shooting nerf guns at blocks until they exploded. It would have made the game better overall, but it sadly didn't feel that way. The voice acting was pretty bad. In a lot of the cut-scenes and cinematics, the characters voice tone and emotion don't match up to the situation and expressions on their faces. There was actually some progress through the game as the voice acting got a little better in the last half of the game. There could be some blame to how this part of development was handled and not the voice actors in general. Sometimes, voice actors don't get to see the game, or the graphics to which lines they're recording (sometimes to avoid leaking assets to the public) so the voice actors have to guess what the situation is like when speaking. There's also some blame to the writing as a lot of the lines were cheesy or groan worthy. What impressed me more than anything in the game was the soundtrack. There's an obvious influence of the new wave of electronic music, dubstep, drum 'n bass and such in the music. The style of music was very familiar to me and I had an idea of who wrote it. I looked it up and sure enough the music was composed and produced by Jake Kaufman who has worked with WayForward Technologies in the past. The music is enjoyable to listen to. But more than that, it created an atmosphere to the game that was both dark/daunting and energetic that really melded well with the action and waves of enemies that runs toward the player. It's also the fact that it's so unique for music in a videogame that really impressed me.
Lastly, there was the story. The story seemed rather cheesy and something to be overlooked in the beginning, but it actually got pretty interesting as the game progressed. Despite the bad voice acting, the story had a cohesive tie with the gameplay which explains why the main protagonist is fighting these bugs, where the gardens were coming from, why flowers turned into turrets, and gave a bit of personality to the characters. It got to a point where I actually started caring about the story and the characters. The problem is that the story sets up a lot of plots, but never develops it. They didn't go all the way with it so it fell short of at least becoming a memorable story. I don't want to get into details as it might spoil the story for those who haven't played it who's willing to give it a try like I did. The aesthetics could've helped the gameplay tremendously, but I suppose it's too late for that now. Aesthetics: 5/10
Buttons
The controls for an arena shooter such as this one is okay considering the 3DS has an analog stick to move around compared to how the DS only had a digital pad to move around for its release of similar games such as Geometry Wars. Shooting is what makes it a bit more tricky as the face buttons represent a direction to shoot at. Generally, these types of games are played on dual analog sticks, but as far as I know Centipede Infestation is not compatible with the 2nd analog circle pad attachment for the 3DS. At least the player can choose a direction to shoot at as opposed to the Wii's wiimote and nunchuck combo. Weapons are switched on the bottom touch screen as the player picks them up. The player can also use the should button to stomp the ground to push away enemies or kill them if their hp is low enough. The controls were quite responsive and easy to grasp, but I think innovation could've been a bit more involved for this type of game. Buttons: 8/10
Concept & Content
The original Centipede was an Arcade shooter where the player had a limited space on the bottom of the screen to fire at incoming enemies with each wave progressively stronger and faster. Unfortunately, retail games now can't get away with game designs like that if they plan on charging $30-$40 (I think it was $50 on Wii) for the game. So the game isn't really a remake of the original but rather a game tied to its legacy. There will be at least 1 Centipede for the player to fight each stage, but the attention doesn't seem to be so much on them as much as it is on the other bugs attacking the player. The basic concept of the game is that the player goes from one stage to another with different looking environments and slightly different level designs to kill off all the bugs there, fulfill a task, or reach the exit. The whole point of the game is to kill bugs. There's actually nothing wrong with that had it been done better. In terms of aesthetics, the combat didn't feel very satisfying and harder difficulties just made it a chore as it takes significantly longer to kill the enemies. Everything in-between the basic concept should be designed to make killing the bugs fun. A variety of weapons should be one of them; however, the weapons available have little differences between them as most of them just do extra damage, vary in range and have a different animation effect (with the exception of the frost gun which slows enemies down a little). This made some of the weapons pretty useless (such as the shock gun) which rules out one of the factors that should have made the game fun. Another aspect implemented was having different challenges such as the different tasks the player had to fulfill besides kill the bugs such as protecting another character or activating a power source. These were good attempts, but it didn't change the gameplay very much as the player still ran around in circles a lot to avoid contact with the bugs while shooting them. Then there's the bugs themselves. Each bug had a different strength that made them more difficult to kill than the others. Some moved fast, some charge at you and some exploded. This at least challenges the player to approach each enemy differently. The problem is that they all have the same programmed AI: run towards the player. With that in mind, the player just runs in circles a lot to get the enemies to fall in line so that a good amount of them will fall under weapon fire. One of the better design choices in the games was the boss battles. Bosses didn't just stand there to take damage. The player actually had to move around and not just in circles. The player would have to learn the enemy's pattern and avoid waves of projectiles. Sadly, there were only about 5 bosses total in the whole game. The game has about 45 stages total, a fair amount since I was expecting 16 or lower. Other than the core game, there's 2-player cooperative play, unlockable characters and outfits, accomplishments (achievements essentially), some extras such as the jukebox (which I ended up using to rip the entire soundtrack since I liked it so much), concept art, and streetpass mode. To sum it all up, the game had a lot of potential and I could see it being a lot more fun if developed further. Concept & Content: 6/10
Duration
The game took me around 7 hours to complete according to my activity record on the 3DS. The length in general isn't too bad for a retail game, but the game did feel rather dragged out. The pacing felt very slow throughout the game with the exception of certain stages and boss battles. The replay value relies solely on its campaign with all the aspects with it: difficulty level, 2-player cooperative, accomplishments, and unlockables. Had the combat been developed with more depth, an endless mode or boss rush mode would have been nice. It's not a game I really feel compelled to play again (which is why it's one of the extremely few games I have ever returned; I bought it used). Duration: 6/10
Fun
I got bored of the game extremely quickly after the first 3 stages. What eventually compelled me to continue playing the game was the story and the music. I can't say I didn't have any fun with the game as some stages did feel a bit entertaining destroying waves of enemies with missiles. When I completed the game, I felt empty. There was no satisfaction in completing the game and no lingering interest in playing it again. It was much more of a study game than anything else, to learn what could have made a game such as this better. Fun: 5/10
Overall
Centipede Infestation wasn't a bad game, it was just a boring one. The game is certainly playable and isn't riddled with game breaking bugs (though enemies do get stuck now and then due to their very simple AI script), but it wasn't very engaging or entertaining. The only reason why I'd tell anyone to give this game a try is so that they can play a 2-player co-op game with a friend, listen to the music, and/or experience a bit of the story. This could've actually been a really fun game, but as it stands there are better Arena Shooters out there. Overall: 6/10
Thursday, October 11, 2012
GameLight - Realms of Ancient War
Official Site: http://www.raw-thegame.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/209730/
Source: Youtube Channel focusinteractive
I mentioned this beautiful looking Action-RPG, Hack-n-Slash two days before the release of Diablo 3 as my anticipation for D3 had caused me to look at other games to divert my anxious heart for its release. Realms of Ancient War (RAW) had been under my watchful eyes to see what becomes of it, and I apparently wasn't keeping a close enough watch since the game released today without notice. The game looks amazing with beautiful graphics, slick animations, flashy abilities, and fast-paced hack-n-slash action. What I'm mainly curious about at the moment for the PC version is whether the game can be played like a point-n-click or if it plays like the consoles where it uses a controller. The game seems to play more closely to games such as Gauntlet than Diablo where attacks are more directional rather than target based. I love assassin-based classes in RPGs, and so the Rogue is the character I'm most excited about playing if I get the game. What a lot of players will be sad about is that the game doesn't support online gameplay with other players. It can be played co-op with another friend, but only locally. For console players, this won't be too much of a problem having multiple controllers and playing on the usual TV screen, but this might be a bit of a drag for PC players who will need to find gamepads to play with a friend and share a screen that may or may not be really tiny depending on the monitor size. Still, the game looks like a really fun adventure and I'm very willing to play through it for a single-player experience. RAW is available today for Playstation 3's PSN download, Xbox 360's XBLA download, and PC download including Steam for $14.99 (currently 25% off on Steam for $11.24).
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/209730/
Source: Youtube Channel focusinteractive
I mentioned this beautiful looking Action-RPG, Hack-n-Slash two days before the release of Diablo 3 as my anticipation for D3 had caused me to look at other games to divert my anxious heart for its release. Realms of Ancient War (RAW) had been under my watchful eyes to see what becomes of it, and I apparently wasn't keeping a close enough watch since the game released today without notice. The game looks amazing with beautiful graphics, slick animations, flashy abilities, and fast-paced hack-n-slash action. What I'm mainly curious about at the moment for the PC version is whether the game can be played like a point-n-click or if it plays like the consoles where it uses a controller. The game seems to play more closely to games such as Gauntlet than Diablo where attacks are more directional rather than target based. I love assassin-based classes in RPGs, and so the Rogue is the character I'm most excited about playing if I get the game. What a lot of players will be sad about is that the game doesn't support online gameplay with other players. It can be played co-op with another friend, but only locally. For console players, this won't be too much of a problem having multiple controllers and playing on the usual TV screen, but this might be a bit of a drag for PC players who will need to find gamepads to play with a friend and share a screen that may or may not be really tiny depending on the monitor size. Still, the game looks like a really fun adventure and I'm very willing to play through it for a single-player experience. RAW is available today for Playstation 3's PSN download, Xbox 360's XBLA download, and PC download including Steam for $14.99 (currently 25% off on Steam for $11.24).
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
VGCulture - League of Legends Semi-Finals continue
Official Site: League of Legends Official Site
own3D.TV Site: http://www.own3d.tv/game/League+of+Legends
Last week, the semi-finals for the League of Legends tournament never finished because of technical problems that prevented the first team from even finishing their game. So the tournament is being held without an audience with the same hi-quality stream they would have had for an on-site tournament. There are only 4 teams left. Which 2 teams will go onto the grand finals?
own3D.TV Site: http://www.own3d.tv/game/League+of+Legends
Last week, the semi-finals for the League of Legends tournament never finished because of technical problems that prevented the first team from even finishing their game. So the tournament is being held without an audience with the same hi-quality stream they would have had for an on-site tournament. There are only 4 teams left. Which 2 teams will go onto the grand finals?
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
GameLight - Code of Princess
Official Site: http://www.atlus.com/codeofprincess/
Source: Youtube Channel AtlusUSA
Code of Princess is an Action-Beat 'em Up with RPG elements that's reminiscent of Guardian Heroes back in the Sega Saturn days (and a game of fond memories for me). There are a lot of characters to choose from and in some of the modes there are over 50 characters to choose from (including the last boss). Two of the developers that worked on this game worked on Guardian Heroes, so some of its influence is probably still there. What made Guardian Heroes so great was the cohesive mixture of vibrant and colorful characters, intense combat, branching story paths that brought the players to many conclusions, the exciting and memorable music, and crazy multiplayer gameplay in both cooperative campaign and competitive combat. From what I understand, Code of Princess won't have branching story paths and the main characters will essentially go through the same storylines. The highlight of the game is probably its ability to play online with other players cooperatively and competitively. For cooperative play, four players can link together online to possibly play through campaign (not entirely sure yet) if not helping each other on the 100+ quests within the game. I think competitive multiplayer is still limited to 4 players as Guardian Heroes was up to 8 (or was it 10?) players at a time. I'm very curious about this game as I love beat 'em ups and they're quite rare now. The game seems to have great lasting appeal and replay value, but a lot of that comes from the online multiplayer. What usually happens is that people stop playing online as Nintendo still haven't found the best way to deliver online multiplayer on their platforms yet (although the handheld market is definitely better than what the Nintendo consoles have done). I guess I'll be picking up this game eventually. Code of Princess is exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS and is available at your local game store or favored online shop.
Source: Youtube Channel AtlusUSA
Code of Princess is an Action-Beat 'em Up with RPG elements that's reminiscent of Guardian Heroes back in the Sega Saturn days (and a game of fond memories for me). There are a lot of characters to choose from and in some of the modes there are over 50 characters to choose from (including the last boss). Two of the developers that worked on this game worked on Guardian Heroes, so some of its influence is probably still there. What made Guardian Heroes so great was the cohesive mixture of vibrant and colorful characters, intense combat, branching story paths that brought the players to many conclusions, the exciting and memorable music, and crazy multiplayer gameplay in both cooperative campaign and competitive combat. From what I understand, Code of Princess won't have branching story paths and the main characters will essentially go through the same storylines. The highlight of the game is probably its ability to play online with other players cooperatively and competitively. For cooperative play, four players can link together online to possibly play through campaign (not entirely sure yet) if not helping each other on the 100+ quests within the game. I think competitive multiplayer is still limited to 4 players as Guardian Heroes was up to 8 (or was it 10?) players at a time. I'm very curious about this game as I love beat 'em ups and they're quite rare now. The game seems to have great lasting appeal and replay value, but a lot of that comes from the online multiplayer. What usually happens is that people stop playing online as Nintendo still haven't found the best way to deliver online multiplayer on their platforms yet (although the handheld market is definitely better than what the Nintendo consoles have done). I guess I'll be picking up this game eventually. Code of Princess is exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS and is available at your local game store or favored online shop.
Friday, October 5, 2012
GameLight Review - New Super Mario Bros. 2
Official Site: http://newsupermariobros2.nintendo.com/
Source: Youtube Channel Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: August 19, 2012
Genre: Platformer
Pros:
-Back to the basics and still a lot of fun
-The 3D is really cool for the 2D Mario game
-Addictive focus on collecting coins
Cons:
-This Mario game makes you really greedy (leading to falling into bottomless pits)
-Significantly easier than past Mario games, even its predecessor New SMB1
-The game is pretty short
I wasn't too keen on buying this game outright as I knew I'd be able to finish it fairly quickly. But I had bought a 3DS XL and had no games on hand and New Super Mario Bros. 2 seemed like the best bet to start off with. It's a Super Mario Bros. game, so it's pretty obvious what to expect when one is familiar with the series. The game is a lot of fun, there's tons of secrets hidden throughout the game, and this time around you can play 2-player co-op through the whole game. One of the major differences in this iteration of Super Mario Bros. is that there is an extreme focus on coin collecting. The game records an overall collection of coins and is shared universally through Nintendo's data servers and shows up on the official website of how many coins have been collected by players in total. The game is a lot easier than the first New SMB and is fairly short, but it still provides plenty of entertainment finding secrets, rushing through levels, and furiously collecting coins. This is one game that could be fun for most gamers of any age or skill level and a definite must for Mario fans.
Aesthetics
The graphic style and quality is essentially the same as the first New Super Mario Bros. 1 released on the DS and is possibly run on the same engine. The biggest pull that differentiates this one from its predecessor in terms of graphics is the ability to display images in 3D. The objects don't really jump out of the screen like most people imagine 3D images to do, but it does provide a different form for players to look at and play on. It definitely accentuates certain objects in the game that are either important, dangerous, or useful while playing. In terms of audio, I don't think anything has changed at all. The music is the same main theme used in the first one with a lot of variations throughout the game and the sound effects are a direct port with some additional new ones. We don't need to discuss story as most gamers already know and accept that story isn't important in a Super Mario Bros. game. It was still kind of aggravating seeing Mario and Luigi waving off good-bye to Princess Peach only to see her captured once again. You'd think that they'd have more guards around her considering her history of getting kidnapped. So despite having a lot of the same assets and materials used in the first game in the second one, they were still able to keep the game fresh, lively, while making the game mechanics work along side the aesthetics. Aesthetics: 10/10
Buttons
One of the aspects of Super Mario Bros. games I've always loved in the platforming genre is how incredible the controls are. Although the game only utilizes 2 buttons, the developers make creative uses of them through level design and character ability. In the newer Super Mario Bros. games, new abilities have been added alongside new power-ups. Super Mario Bros. have always been a lot of fun with just running, jumping and abilities from the power-ups to fly and throw fire; however, the ability to wall kick jump, triple leap jump and smash down adds in all sorts of different puzzles and challenges for the player to encounter and overcome. Players who've played through the original Super Mario Bros. 3 game will feel pretty comfortable with the power-ups while those who've played New Super Mario Bros. 1 will know the exact controls and abilities as nothing as changed. What really makes these abilities shine is actually the level designs, but the controls themselves are really tight which should be true for any platformer. The controls for Super Mario is the best in its genre and this game proves that it still hold true. Buttons: 10/10
Concept & Content
So the goal of the game is still the same since its first in the series: Run right to reach to the goal without dying. Throughout each iteration, little things in-between the start and the goal has changed. Much like its predecessors, there are power-ups to help the player out, hazards to watch out for, and secrets/rewards to find and collect. There is a huge emphasis on collecting coins and there are tons of ways of collecting coins with the new gold block head, golden power flower, P buttons and such to bring out a ton of coins. With this in mind, players also have to fight off greed as a lot of special coins and coin collection events can lead to falling into pits, lava, enemies, and other hazards. Still, dying isn't much of an issue as the player will collect hundreds of lives along the way. I honestly don't know why there is a "lives" system in this iteration. They should've just allowed infinite lives while having a counter of how many times a player died and in what form (enemy, bottomless pit, time over) instead. The boss battles is reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World as Bowser's children return. The game overall felt really easy which made me question why it was so fun. I guess it felt easy because I didn't have to worry about a Game Over for all the lives I gained and it was still fun because there were still challenges throughout the entire game that rewards the player little by little. Besides the main worlds, there are the alternative worlds and a special world. When you complete a world, levels from that world are unlocked in Coin Rush. Coin Rush is a special mode where the player has to collect as many coins as possible without dying in a short amount of time through three randomly selected levels. Coin Rush is the main mode to keep the replay value of this game high. The player can also play co-op campaign with another 3DS owner with their own cartridge simultaneously, much like the Wii version of Super Mario Bros. I'm a bit disappointed that the 2-player competitive mode from the first New SMB didn't make a return with even more levels as it was an incredibly fun mode. Just recently, Nintendo has announced 3 DLC packs that adds more challenges in Coin Rush mode (3 extra levels each from what I understand). It bothers me knowing that even Super Mario Bros. has DLCs now, but the game provides the full package with the DLCs being additional replay value. The DLCs are $2.49 each and can be bought through the eShop. The game stayed true to the classic Mario games with its own twists, though it'd be nice to see some additional modes or the return of competitive multiplayer requiring only 1 cartridge to further extend the replayed value for a launch cost of $40 for the game. Concept and Content: 9/10
Duration
Even though the main game was somewhat short, I was pretty satisfied when I completed everything (other than grabbing all the special coins). The pacing was fairly quick and I never got bored in-between. There were parts in the game where I kept dying because I kept getting greedy and I realized if you die 5 times or more, you get the special invincibility leaf. It's pretty much telling you "you're sucking too hard, take this." I've played roughly 10 hours of the game rushing to the very end, then replaying the levels to grab the special coins, unlocking the alternate worlds, and completing the secret world. I suppose Coin Rush could provide some replay value for me, but I'm practically done with the game and don't really plan to play it all too often anytime soon. Duration: 9/10
Fun
I immediately fell back in love with Super Mario Bros. when I started up the game and felt all the tingling sensations back in my thumbs as I breezed through the game. The game is significantly easier than the first one, but I really didn't mind. I laughed at how much lives I accumulated throughout my first play through rushing to the end of the game in which I ended up with 256 lives. The focus on coin collecting was a bit distracting at first, but I eventually got used to it and either embraced it in certain levels or completely ignored it if it was causing me to die one too many times from being greedy. I felt pretty good after completing the game in its entirety (though I didn't 100% on the special coins), but did feel a bit bad about spending $40 on 10 hours of playing. All in all, it was a really enjoyable Mario game and a big sigh of relief knowing that I can still enjoy platformers. Fun: 10/10
Overall
$40 is a bit pricey for the amount of time I spent on the game, but the quality is definitely there. I would probably still buy the game if I had to choose all over again whether to get the game as my first 3DS game or not. It doesn't try too hard to be different or ground-breaking while still being able to deliver a different experience that players have had in the previous Mario games. Any fan of platforming and definitely fans of Mario should play through New Super Mario Bros. 2 at one point. Whether the $40 is worth it depends on whether an individual is okay with the one playthrough or if they can make the purchase worth it through excessive play of coin rush (I know some people out there are doing it if we have over 165 billion coins collected in total). Overall: 9.6/10
Source: Youtube Channel Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: August 19, 2012
Genre: Platformer
Pros:
-Back to the basics and still a lot of fun
-The 3D is really cool for the 2D Mario game
-Addictive focus on collecting coins
Cons:
-This Mario game makes you really greedy (leading to falling into bottomless pits)
-Significantly easier than past Mario games, even its predecessor New SMB1
-The game is pretty short
I wasn't too keen on buying this game outright as I knew I'd be able to finish it fairly quickly. But I had bought a 3DS XL and had no games on hand and New Super Mario Bros. 2 seemed like the best bet to start off with. It's a Super Mario Bros. game, so it's pretty obvious what to expect when one is familiar with the series. The game is a lot of fun, there's tons of secrets hidden throughout the game, and this time around you can play 2-player co-op through the whole game. One of the major differences in this iteration of Super Mario Bros. is that there is an extreme focus on coin collecting. The game records an overall collection of coins and is shared universally through Nintendo's data servers and shows up on the official website of how many coins have been collected by players in total. The game is a lot easier than the first New SMB and is fairly short, but it still provides plenty of entertainment finding secrets, rushing through levels, and furiously collecting coins. This is one game that could be fun for most gamers of any age or skill level and a definite must for Mario fans.
Aesthetics
The graphic style and quality is essentially the same as the first New Super Mario Bros. 1 released on the DS and is possibly run on the same engine. The biggest pull that differentiates this one from its predecessor in terms of graphics is the ability to display images in 3D. The objects don't really jump out of the screen like most people imagine 3D images to do, but it does provide a different form for players to look at and play on. It definitely accentuates certain objects in the game that are either important, dangerous, or useful while playing. In terms of audio, I don't think anything has changed at all. The music is the same main theme used in the first one with a lot of variations throughout the game and the sound effects are a direct port with some additional new ones. We don't need to discuss story as most gamers already know and accept that story isn't important in a Super Mario Bros. game. It was still kind of aggravating seeing Mario and Luigi waving off good-bye to Princess Peach only to see her captured once again. You'd think that they'd have more guards around her considering her history of getting kidnapped. So despite having a lot of the same assets and materials used in the first game in the second one, they were still able to keep the game fresh, lively, while making the game mechanics work along side the aesthetics. Aesthetics: 10/10
Buttons
One of the aspects of Super Mario Bros. games I've always loved in the platforming genre is how incredible the controls are. Although the game only utilizes 2 buttons, the developers make creative uses of them through level design and character ability. In the newer Super Mario Bros. games, new abilities have been added alongside new power-ups. Super Mario Bros. have always been a lot of fun with just running, jumping and abilities from the power-ups to fly and throw fire; however, the ability to wall kick jump, triple leap jump and smash down adds in all sorts of different puzzles and challenges for the player to encounter and overcome. Players who've played through the original Super Mario Bros. 3 game will feel pretty comfortable with the power-ups while those who've played New Super Mario Bros. 1 will know the exact controls and abilities as nothing as changed. What really makes these abilities shine is actually the level designs, but the controls themselves are really tight which should be true for any platformer. The controls for Super Mario is the best in its genre and this game proves that it still hold true. Buttons: 10/10
Concept & Content
So the goal of the game is still the same since its first in the series: Run right to reach to the goal without dying. Throughout each iteration, little things in-between the start and the goal has changed. Much like its predecessors, there are power-ups to help the player out, hazards to watch out for, and secrets/rewards to find and collect. There is a huge emphasis on collecting coins and there are tons of ways of collecting coins with the new gold block head, golden power flower, P buttons and such to bring out a ton of coins. With this in mind, players also have to fight off greed as a lot of special coins and coin collection events can lead to falling into pits, lava, enemies, and other hazards. Still, dying isn't much of an issue as the player will collect hundreds of lives along the way. I honestly don't know why there is a "lives" system in this iteration. They should've just allowed infinite lives while having a counter of how many times a player died and in what form (enemy, bottomless pit, time over) instead. The boss battles is reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World as Bowser's children return. The game overall felt really easy which made me question why it was so fun. I guess it felt easy because I didn't have to worry about a Game Over for all the lives I gained and it was still fun because there were still challenges throughout the entire game that rewards the player little by little. Besides the main worlds, there are the alternative worlds and a special world. When you complete a world, levels from that world are unlocked in Coin Rush. Coin Rush is a special mode where the player has to collect as many coins as possible without dying in a short amount of time through three randomly selected levels. Coin Rush is the main mode to keep the replay value of this game high. The player can also play co-op campaign with another 3DS owner with their own cartridge simultaneously, much like the Wii version of Super Mario Bros. I'm a bit disappointed that the 2-player competitive mode from the first New SMB didn't make a return with even more levels as it was an incredibly fun mode. Just recently, Nintendo has announced 3 DLC packs that adds more challenges in Coin Rush mode (3 extra levels each from what I understand). It bothers me knowing that even Super Mario Bros. has DLCs now, but the game provides the full package with the DLCs being additional replay value. The DLCs are $2.49 each and can be bought through the eShop. The game stayed true to the classic Mario games with its own twists, though it'd be nice to see some additional modes or the return of competitive multiplayer requiring only 1 cartridge to further extend the replayed value for a launch cost of $40 for the game. Concept and Content: 9/10
Duration
Even though the main game was somewhat short, I was pretty satisfied when I completed everything (other than grabbing all the special coins). The pacing was fairly quick and I never got bored in-between. There were parts in the game where I kept dying because I kept getting greedy and I realized if you die 5 times or more, you get the special invincibility leaf. It's pretty much telling you "you're sucking too hard, take this." I've played roughly 10 hours of the game rushing to the very end, then replaying the levels to grab the special coins, unlocking the alternate worlds, and completing the secret world. I suppose Coin Rush could provide some replay value for me, but I'm practically done with the game and don't really plan to play it all too often anytime soon. Duration: 9/10
Fun
I immediately fell back in love with Super Mario Bros. when I started up the game and felt all the tingling sensations back in my thumbs as I breezed through the game. The game is significantly easier than the first one, but I really didn't mind. I laughed at how much lives I accumulated throughout my first play through rushing to the end of the game in which I ended up with 256 lives. The focus on coin collecting was a bit distracting at first, but I eventually got used to it and either embraced it in certain levels or completely ignored it if it was causing me to die one too many times from being greedy. I felt pretty good after completing the game in its entirety (though I didn't 100% on the special coins), but did feel a bit bad about spending $40 on 10 hours of playing. All in all, it was a really enjoyable Mario game and a big sigh of relief knowing that I can still enjoy platformers. Fun: 10/10
Overall
$40 is a bit pricey for the amount of time I spent on the game, but the quality is definitely there. I would probably still buy the game if I had to choose all over again whether to get the game as my first 3DS game or not. It doesn't try too hard to be different or ground-breaking while still being able to deliver a different experience that players have had in the previous Mario games. Any fan of platforming and definitely fans of Mario should play through New Super Mario Bros. 2 at one point. Whether the $40 is worth it depends on whether an individual is okay with the one playthrough or if they can make the purchase worth it through excessive play of coin rush (I know some people out there are doing it if we have over 165 billion coins collected in total). Overall: 9.6/10
Thursday, October 4, 2012
VGCulture - Rant on Metacritic
Official Site: http://www.metacritic.com/
Metacritic used to be a sort of a respectable source for reviews of movies, shows, music and games; however, it has now become a place for enigmatic reviews by editors who are very hard to please (who might also require paying the site to allow their piece to be added to the critic side) and incomprehensible reviews/rants by users who have never watched/heard/played the material and decided to defame its name. Still, I had started posting introductory reviews on the user side of games on Metacritic while linking it to the full review here on Superpad Unplugged. Unfortunately, all my posts were deleted and I can no longer submit reviews anymore. I found out yesterday when I was about to post my review for Diablo 3 when I tried to submit my review and saw this: "You may no longer submit a review due to the content of your previous comments or reviews." Considering that I didn't break any of the rules of regulation on their Terms of Service, I can only guess that I was banned for linking my page on Metacritic. After re-reading the Terms of Service more closely, I didn't see any regulations against linking to my blog for the full reviews of the games I had wrote about. It did say; however, that they would delete posts and ban accounts without warning or reason. I find it infuriating that I've been writing objective and informative game reviews on metacritic for the past 2 years while it has been overwhelmed by posts by users who obviously haven't played the game yet so that they can defame it. Resident Evil 6 is a sad example of what Metacritic has become. Perhaps it's for the best. It doesn't seem like participating in user-score reviews is beneficial or remotely helpful any longer. All reviews will stay on the blog now.
Metacritic used to be a sort of a respectable source for reviews of movies, shows, music and games; however, it has now become a place for enigmatic reviews by editors who are very hard to please (who might also require paying the site to allow their piece to be added to the critic side) and incomprehensible reviews/rants by users who have never watched/heard/played the material and decided to defame its name. Still, I had started posting introductory reviews on the user side of games on Metacritic while linking it to the full review here on Superpad Unplugged. Unfortunately, all my posts were deleted and I can no longer submit reviews anymore. I found out yesterday when I was about to post my review for Diablo 3 when I tried to submit my review and saw this: "You may no longer submit a review due to the content of your previous comments or reviews." Considering that I didn't break any of the rules of regulation on their Terms of Service, I can only guess that I was banned for linking my page on Metacritic. After re-reading the Terms of Service more closely, I didn't see any regulations against linking to my blog for the full reviews of the games I had wrote about. It did say; however, that they would delete posts and ban accounts without warning or reason. I find it infuriating that I've been writing objective and informative game reviews on metacritic for the past 2 years while it has been overwhelmed by posts by users who obviously haven't played the game yet so that they can defame it. Resident Evil 6 is a sad example of what Metacritic has become. Perhaps it's for the best. It doesn't seem like participating in user-score reviews is beneficial or remotely helpful any longer. All reviews will stay on the blog now.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
GameLight Review - Diablo 3
Official Site: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/
Source: Youtube Channel machinima
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Platforms: PC
Release Date: May 15, 2012
Genre: Action-RPG
Pros:
-Fast-paced gameplay with satisfying combat mechanics
-High replay value with variable play-styles and randomly generated content
-Vast array of abilities and runes to customize a class
-Easy drop-in/drop-out multiplayer with little to no problems connecting
-Incredibly detailed work in aesthetics, game mechanics, and end-game content
Cons:
-Requirement of persistent internet connection causes some problems
-Lots of imbalances in classes, items, difficulty, and content
-Auction house breaks some of the game mechanics
-Although high in end-game quality, game lacks content quantity
-Eventually becomes a never-ending grind/farm fest
I think I'm finally ready to give a review, and even now I feel it might be too soon to give one. There is no doubt in my mind that I found Diablo 3 to be a lot of fun; however, I also have my complaints about it much like others have. The biggest complaint I probably have about the game is that it wasn't entirely complete when it launched. The game still had bugs that broke the game or allowed players to exploit them to gain an unfair advantage. There were imbalances to classes where one was significantly stronger than the others. Items were also incredibly imbalanced where uncommon items were stronger and better than rare or even legendary items making finding unique items pointless. Player versus player is still not implemented yet for good reasons of the game not being entirely balanced yet. There was a point in the game where no one could get past the last difficulty level and it became a long and difficult farm for better equipment. Blizzard has been hard at work at balancing the game so that players can still enjoy the game, even at end-game. Since launch, connection issues have been resolved, items and classes have been constantly getting balances, a new level mechanic called "Paragon Levels" was implemented to allow an extra 100 levels past 60 to be gained so players would still gain some sort of progress while playing in the Inferno difficulty, and even now more mechanics such as enemy strength levels is being tested and put into the game. The game is definitely more fun with friends than playing solo or with public players, so that's another factor to consider when deciding to buy the game. To put it simply, the game was worth the $60 I paid for it and I can see myself continuing to play the game for quite a while. The thing is, Blizzard hasn't abandoned the game and its players as they still continue to update the game and probably will years afterwards and so the game will progressively become better and more refined as time passes.
Aesthetics
This is a tricky category to go through. For sure, hands down, the graphics and art of the game is top-notch and some of the best you'll see for a top-down action-RPG. The environment might not be as atmospheric and dark as the first two Diablo games in the series, but it certainly brings the world to life with detail in every aspect. Every object, model, animation, particle effect, and subtlety in the game has a purpose in bringing the player closer to the world they play in. The cinematics are possibly some of the best Blizzard has ever done in their career with beautifully crafted environments, involving characters, and exciting choreography. The combat animations and effects are flashy but not distracting and yet still retains a very fast-paced gameplay akin to its predecessors. The user-interface is compared a lot to Blizzard's other game "World of Warcraft." I really love the user-interface for Diablo 3. It's clean, straight-forward, and aesthetically pleasing. It really bothered me in the first two Diablo games where I couldn't see what skills I had and their key placements weren't ideal. Some prefer the darker look of Diablo 1 and 2, and for atmospheric purposes it worked. In terms of gameplay though, it was actually very annoying when enemies blended in with the environment. So development worked around it and made sure enemies were visible and in clear view while still maintaining a believable color palette and design of the world within Diablo 3. If anything, the level designs and fight mechanics for the bosses in the last half of the game was possibly the only thing that really disappointed me mainly because of how incredible the first half of the game was like. Seriously, one of the bosses in the game is absolutely the best boss fight I have ever had in terms of aesthetic and AI mechanic design throughout the entire series. That boss is how all the boss battles should have been like throughout the game. I won't say which boss battle it was *COUGHACTTWO* but most players will know which one I'm pointing to if they come across it. So all in all, visuals are almost perfect in the game.
For audio, sound effects and voice acting were great. I was pleased to see that the player's character had speaking parts to the game and was more involved with the people around them rather than being the silent hero that kills everything. It really brought out each of the character's personality and made them more believable in the world they're fighting in. Sound effects were just as detailed as the visuals. In the visuals, even tiny things such as leaving footprints and rag-doll effects to dead enemy bodies were accounted for. So for the sound effects, every little object, attack, enemy and environmental effect had their very deliberate attention to how they sounded like. A player can tell what kind of enemy is right outside of the screen, what kind of item dropped, or what to be cautious of because of how unique each sound effect was and how the player reacts to them. Even if a player doesn't hear a trap or see an exploding mine, they'll heard the initial start-up and know to be careful around them.
The music is another story. There isn't anything wrong with the music in Diablo 3. They're appropriate, they intensify the mood, and they do their job as background music. Unfortunately, none of them really stuck. The most recognizable track is probably the log-in screen, that also plays right before you reach Diablo, and even that doesn't really have much of an impact. I was hoping to hear at least one track that I'd really enjoy listening to, but they were all just..."there". Then again, music is very subjective and some people may really enjoy the music done in Diablo 3 aside from hearing it in-game.
What bothered me more than anything in the game was the progression of the story. I won't delve too deep into details as it might spoil some plot points for those who haven't played the game yet. To be frank, there were a lot of points in the story where I just felt dissatisfied even though some of the plot twists were predictable. There were so many ways to have made the story so much better, but the game went for cheap emotional reactions and typical story changers. I also really didn't like some of the writing for the last half of the game. All the main enemies constantly threatened the player so often that it became a joke rather than a daunting foreshadowing. You will probably hear the lines "it is futile" or "but it is of no matter" from the enemies more times than you will ever hear in all the games you've played throughout the year combined. Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons
The biggest improvement from the previous two games to Diablo 3 is the controls of the game. Skills were always juggled around to be used effectively in Diablo 2 and more so in Diablo 1 and it didn't make it easier that there wasn't a definitive user-interface that was easy to use. Blizzard's simplified combat mechanics with 4 slot skills and two mouse skills make a comfortable and highly viable control scheme that works alongside their "customizable class build" mechanic so that players can still be unique despite having access to all the same skills. No longer do you have to click every individual gold piece in order to pick them up as it made no sense to force a player to do so if they're going to pick them up anyways (You can walk over money to automatically pick them up now). No longer do you have to pick up or buy identify scrolls or teleport tomes as the player in Diablo 2 would eventually have so much money or find them so often that they never ran out (In Diablo 3, you right-click an item to identify them and you can activate a portal to town whenever you want once you have the item for it). In terms of controls and inventory/statistics window mechanics (which doesn't block the entire screen anymore), Diablo 3 is definitely the best out of the series. All the controls, keys, and user-interface makes the most sense (also, hotkeys can be customized to fit any sort of layout needed). Buttons: 10/10
Concept & Content
Diablo 3 is obviously a different game from its predecessors despite having the same game type layout (Kill, loot and level). There were many players upset about the new skill mechanics where the player eventually receives everything at max level and can switch them around. It isn't like most traditional RPGs where a player had control over their attributes and chose a skills tree to focus on so that each character was unique. I love the new mechanic and accept it whole-heartedly as I've played so many RPGs and am done with having to start an entirely new character of the same class just to experience a different build. With the new skill mechanic, I can experiment with all sorts of builds without having to start new characters and be creative with my play-styles. And since end-game mostly consists of grinding and farming, I can have fun changing up my build and sometimes challenging myself into crazy non-conventional skill sets. There are currently five classes to choose from and I've tried most of them out, albeit my witch doctor isn't very far. Each class provides a unique experience throughout the game. The core game hasn't changed much: talk to town NPCs for quests, kill enemies along the way to the next part of the story, loot for better equipment or junk to sell, level to become stronger and gain more abilities to utilize until you beat the game. Once you beat the game, you play the game over again with a higher difficulty choice. Besides stronger enemies and better loot, you also encounter special mobs with more special abilities. Some of those special abilities can provide quite a challenge where they can snare a player, pull them into a mob, create a pool of lava under them, or freeze them in place. After the player has reached the hardest difficulty level and beaten that, it's a hardcore grind from there on out. The player will mostly be killing, looting and leveling in an infinite loop to prepare for the release of Player vs. Player mode. In terms of content, there's quite a bit of items to collect; however, the nice ones are incredibly rare. What was mentioned about the game that didn't seem to really reach full potential was the spontaneous special events. It's true that there were some, but there wasn't really enough to keep the game dynamic aside from the randomly generated special mobs. The one factor that might have broken the game is the Auction house. You can see it as a way for Blizzard to make extra money, or you can see it as Blizzard's way to protect its players from fraudulent trades from a third-party, it still factors in as part of the game. The auction takes out a lot of the excitement of finding items on your own in the game and a lot of the social aspect player experienced in Diablo 2 and 1 with players bartering and trading on their own in the lobby chats. I know people who spends hours just going through the auction house trying to find the best items and trying to make money off them. It doesn't really affect individual players right now since a player can choose to use the auction house or not, but it will definitely make a difference once PvP comes into play and those who have the money or gold will have an obvious advantage over those who don't use the auction house. Blizzard is still adding more content to the game with no additional charge and has a history of updating games well after its release, so I still have high hopes that Diablo 3 will continue to grow and provide entertainment value for the next few years. Concept and Content: 9/10
Duration
Normal difficulty doesn't take that long to complete if the player goes straight through it. Normal difficulty is practically one huge tutorial so that players can get used to the game so that they'll be ready for the real challenges the game has in store. Diablo 3 is actually slower in speed than Diablo 2 yet it has a nice pace to it. It never gets dull and draws the player in while never letting going. It's pretty satisfying killing one large mob after another to level up and get better loot to kill even stronger enemies. I have around 90 hours on my main character and close to 200 hours with all my characters combined and I still have more hours I can pull out of it by playing my other characters with friends or grinding my main character to increase her paragon level. Diablo 3 is definitely a game I'll keep coming back for, even if just to login to kill stuff. Duration: 10/10
Fun
My first few hours with the game was horrible because of my laptop. It took forever to install and the graphics were so messed up and it was impossible to see anything. I eventually got the graphics to be somewhat visible, but it was still pretty difficult to get through the game. I eventually bought a new laptop specifically geared towards gaming and my experience with the game changed a lot. Diablo 3 is definitely a lot of fun and I still get my enjoyment out of it playing different classes and trying different builds out. I don't really have an ending impression on it as I'm still currently playing the game and still enjoy it. Despite some of the disappointments I faced throughout the game, playing the game was and still is entertaining. Fun: 10/10
Overall
Like mentioned above, "despite some of the disappointments I faced throughout the game, playing the game was and still is entertaining." I don't regret buying the game on day 1 for full price as it has become the most played game out of my entire library. The combat is satisfying, playing with friends can be quite the bonding experience (especially against the special mobs in Inferno difficulty), and replay value is high so the game wouldn't burn out that quickly for those wanting a game to play for a long time. For some, Diablo 3 is over-hyped and over-rated, but it is undeniable that it's a fun game for those who enjoy top-down, point-n-click, Action-RPGs. Overall: 9.4/10
Source: Youtube Channel machinima
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Platforms: PC
Release Date: May 15, 2012
Genre: Action-RPG
Pros:
-Fast-paced gameplay with satisfying combat mechanics
-High replay value with variable play-styles and randomly generated content
-Vast array of abilities and runes to customize a class
-Easy drop-in/drop-out multiplayer with little to no problems connecting
-Incredibly detailed work in aesthetics, game mechanics, and end-game content
Cons:
-Requirement of persistent internet connection causes some problems
-Lots of imbalances in classes, items, difficulty, and content
-Auction house breaks some of the game mechanics
-Although high in end-game quality, game lacks content quantity
-Eventually becomes a never-ending grind/farm fest
I think I'm finally ready to give a review, and even now I feel it might be too soon to give one. There is no doubt in my mind that I found Diablo 3 to be a lot of fun; however, I also have my complaints about it much like others have. The biggest complaint I probably have about the game is that it wasn't entirely complete when it launched. The game still had bugs that broke the game or allowed players to exploit them to gain an unfair advantage. There were imbalances to classes where one was significantly stronger than the others. Items were also incredibly imbalanced where uncommon items were stronger and better than rare or even legendary items making finding unique items pointless. Player versus player is still not implemented yet for good reasons of the game not being entirely balanced yet. There was a point in the game where no one could get past the last difficulty level and it became a long and difficult farm for better equipment. Blizzard has been hard at work at balancing the game so that players can still enjoy the game, even at end-game. Since launch, connection issues have been resolved, items and classes have been constantly getting balances, a new level mechanic called "Paragon Levels" was implemented to allow an extra 100 levels past 60 to be gained so players would still gain some sort of progress while playing in the Inferno difficulty, and even now more mechanics such as enemy strength levels is being tested and put into the game. The game is definitely more fun with friends than playing solo or with public players, so that's another factor to consider when deciding to buy the game. To put it simply, the game was worth the $60 I paid for it and I can see myself continuing to play the game for quite a while. The thing is, Blizzard hasn't abandoned the game and its players as they still continue to update the game and probably will years afterwards and so the game will progressively become better and more refined as time passes.
Aesthetics
This is a tricky category to go through. For sure, hands down, the graphics and art of the game is top-notch and some of the best you'll see for a top-down action-RPG. The environment might not be as atmospheric and dark as the first two Diablo games in the series, but it certainly brings the world to life with detail in every aspect. Every object, model, animation, particle effect, and subtlety in the game has a purpose in bringing the player closer to the world they play in. The cinematics are possibly some of the best Blizzard has ever done in their career with beautifully crafted environments, involving characters, and exciting choreography. The combat animations and effects are flashy but not distracting and yet still retains a very fast-paced gameplay akin to its predecessors. The user-interface is compared a lot to Blizzard's other game "World of Warcraft." I really love the user-interface for Diablo 3. It's clean, straight-forward, and aesthetically pleasing. It really bothered me in the first two Diablo games where I couldn't see what skills I had and their key placements weren't ideal. Some prefer the darker look of Diablo 1 and 2, and for atmospheric purposes it worked. In terms of gameplay though, it was actually very annoying when enemies blended in with the environment. So development worked around it and made sure enemies were visible and in clear view while still maintaining a believable color palette and design of the world within Diablo 3. If anything, the level designs and fight mechanics for the bosses in the last half of the game was possibly the only thing that really disappointed me mainly because of how incredible the first half of the game was like. Seriously, one of the bosses in the game is absolutely the best boss fight I have ever had in terms of aesthetic and AI mechanic design throughout the entire series. That boss is how all the boss battles should have been like throughout the game. I won't say which boss battle it was *COUGHACTTWO* but most players will know which one I'm pointing to if they come across it. So all in all, visuals are almost perfect in the game.
For audio, sound effects and voice acting were great. I was pleased to see that the player's character had speaking parts to the game and was more involved with the people around them rather than being the silent hero that kills everything. It really brought out each of the character's personality and made them more believable in the world they're fighting in. Sound effects were just as detailed as the visuals. In the visuals, even tiny things such as leaving footprints and rag-doll effects to dead enemy bodies were accounted for. So for the sound effects, every little object, attack, enemy and environmental effect had their very deliberate attention to how they sounded like. A player can tell what kind of enemy is right outside of the screen, what kind of item dropped, or what to be cautious of because of how unique each sound effect was and how the player reacts to them. Even if a player doesn't hear a trap or see an exploding mine, they'll heard the initial start-up and know to be careful around them.
The music is another story. There isn't anything wrong with the music in Diablo 3. They're appropriate, they intensify the mood, and they do their job as background music. Unfortunately, none of them really stuck. The most recognizable track is probably the log-in screen, that also plays right before you reach Diablo, and even that doesn't really have much of an impact. I was hoping to hear at least one track that I'd really enjoy listening to, but they were all just..."there". Then again, music is very subjective and some people may really enjoy the music done in Diablo 3 aside from hearing it in-game.
What bothered me more than anything in the game was the progression of the story. I won't delve too deep into details as it might spoil some plot points for those who haven't played the game yet. To be frank, there were a lot of points in the story where I just felt dissatisfied even though some of the plot twists were predictable. There were so many ways to have made the story so much better, but the game went for cheap emotional reactions and typical story changers. I also really didn't like some of the writing for the last half of the game. All the main enemies constantly threatened the player so often that it became a joke rather than a daunting foreshadowing. You will probably hear the lines "it is futile" or "but it is of no matter" from the enemies more times than you will ever hear in all the games you've played throughout the year combined. Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons
The biggest improvement from the previous two games to Diablo 3 is the controls of the game. Skills were always juggled around to be used effectively in Diablo 2 and more so in Diablo 1 and it didn't make it easier that there wasn't a definitive user-interface that was easy to use. Blizzard's simplified combat mechanics with 4 slot skills and two mouse skills make a comfortable and highly viable control scheme that works alongside their "customizable class build" mechanic so that players can still be unique despite having access to all the same skills. No longer do you have to click every individual gold piece in order to pick them up as it made no sense to force a player to do so if they're going to pick them up anyways (You can walk over money to automatically pick them up now). No longer do you have to pick up or buy identify scrolls or teleport tomes as the player in Diablo 2 would eventually have so much money or find them so often that they never ran out (In Diablo 3, you right-click an item to identify them and you can activate a portal to town whenever you want once you have the item for it). In terms of controls and inventory/statistics window mechanics (which doesn't block the entire screen anymore), Diablo 3 is definitely the best out of the series. All the controls, keys, and user-interface makes the most sense (also, hotkeys can be customized to fit any sort of layout needed). Buttons: 10/10
Concept & Content
Diablo 3 is obviously a different game from its predecessors despite having the same game type layout (Kill, loot and level). There were many players upset about the new skill mechanics where the player eventually receives everything at max level and can switch them around. It isn't like most traditional RPGs where a player had control over their attributes and chose a skills tree to focus on so that each character was unique. I love the new mechanic and accept it whole-heartedly as I've played so many RPGs and am done with having to start an entirely new character of the same class just to experience a different build. With the new skill mechanic, I can experiment with all sorts of builds without having to start new characters and be creative with my play-styles. And since end-game mostly consists of grinding and farming, I can have fun changing up my build and sometimes challenging myself into crazy non-conventional skill sets. There are currently five classes to choose from and I've tried most of them out, albeit my witch doctor isn't very far. Each class provides a unique experience throughout the game. The core game hasn't changed much: talk to town NPCs for quests, kill enemies along the way to the next part of the story, loot for better equipment or junk to sell, level to become stronger and gain more abilities to utilize until you beat the game. Once you beat the game, you play the game over again with a higher difficulty choice. Besides stronger enemies and better loot, you also encounter special mobs with more special abilities. Some of those special abilities can provide quite a challenge where they can snare a player, pull them into a mob, create a pool of lava under them, or freeze them in place. After the player has reached the hardest difficulty level and beaten that, it's a hardcore grind from there on out. The player will mostly be killing, looting and leveling in an infinite loop to prepare for the release of Player vs. Player mode. In terms of content, there's quite a bit of items to collect; however, the nice ones are incredibly rare. What was mentioned about the game that didn't seem to really reach full potential was the spontaneous special events. It's true that there were some, but there wasn't really enough to keep the game dynamic aside from the randomly generated special mobs. The one factor that might have broken the game is the Auction house. You can see it as a way for Blizzard to make extra money, or you can see it as Blizzard's way to protect its players from fraudulent trades from a third-party, it still factors in as part of the game. The auction takes out a lot of the excitement of finding items on your own in the game and a lot of the social aspect player experienced in Diablo 2 and 1 with players bartering and trading on their own in the lobby chats. I know people who spends hours just going through the auction house trying to find the best items and trying to make money off them. It doesn't really affect individual players right now since a player can choose to use the auction house or not, but it will definitely make a difference once PvP comes into play and those who have the money or gold will have an obvious advantage over those who don't use the auction house. Blizzard is still adding more content to the game with no additional charge and has a history of updating games well after its release, so I still have high hopes that Diablo 3 will continue to grow and provide entertainment value for the next few years. Concept and Content: 9/10
Duration
Normal difficulty doesn't take that long to complete if the player goes straight through it. Normal difficulty is practically one huge tutorial so that players can get used to the game so that they'll be ready for the real challenges the game has in store. Diablo 3 is actually slower in speed than Diablo 2 yet it has a nice pace to it. It never gets dull and draws the player in while never letting going. It's pretty satisfying killing one large mob after another to level up and get better loot to kill even stronger enemies. I have around 90 hours on my main character and close to 200 hours with all my characters combined and I still have more hours I can pull out of it by playing my other characters with friends or grinding my main character to increase her paragon level. Diablo 3 is definitely a game I'll keep coming back for, even if just to login to kill stuff. Duration: 10/10
Fun
My first few hours with the game was horrible because of my laptop. It took forever to install and the graphics were so messed up and it was impossible to see anything. I eventually got the graphics to be somewhat visible, but it was still pretty difficult to get through the game. I eventually bought a new laptop specifically geared towards gaming and my experience with the game changed a lot. Diablo 3 is definitely a lot of fun and I still get my enjoyment out of it playing different classes and trying different builds out. I don't really have an ending impression on it as I'm still currently playing the game and still enjoy it. Despite some of the disappointments I faced throughout the game, playing the game was and still is entertaining. Fun: 10/10
Overall
Like mentioned above, "despite some of the disappointments I faced throughout the game, playing the game was and still is entertaining." I don't regret buying the game on day 1 for full price as it has become the most played game out of my entire library. The combat is satisfying, playing with friends can be quite the bonding experience (especially against the special mobs in Inferno difficulty), and replay value is high so the game wouldn't burn out that quickly for those wanting a game to play for a long time. For some, Diablo 3 is over-hyped and over-rated, but it is undeniable that it's a fun game for those who enjoy top-down, point-n-click, Action-RPGs. Overall: 9.4/10
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
VGCulture - October is filled with games
I have returned from a week's worth of hardcore working. I was dealing with a schedule of the moment I wake up until 11PM at night for 7 days to meet deadlines that are coming up fast. With the blog, I have a large amount of game reviews lined-up that I haven't gone through yet just because of how long they take. This next month will truly be a test of focus and endurance as I stuff a ton of work into a short duration.
It will be a busy month for you gamers out there too with these upcoming games:
-Resident Evil 6 (PS3/Xbox 360) - October 2nd
Source: Youtube Channel curseentertainment
-RAW: Realms of Ancient War (PC) - October 4th
-Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 (DS) - October 7th
-Code of Princess (3DS) – October 9th
-Dishonored (PS3, Xbox 360, PC) – October 9th
-XCOM: Enemy Unknown (PS3, PC, Xbox 360) – October 9th
-James Bond 007 Legends (PS3, Xbox 360) – October 16th
-Mark of the Ninja (PC) – October 16th
-Mugen Souls (PS3) – October 16th
-Ragnarok Odyssey (PSV) – October 16th
-Rocksmith Guitar and Bass (PS3, PC, Xbox 360) – October 16th
-Silent Hill: Book Of Memories (PSV) – October 16th
-Ravaged (PC) – October 17th
-Doom 3 BFG Edition (PS3, PC, Xbox 360) – October 19th
-Killzone Trilogy (PS3) – October 23rd
-Medal Of Honor: Warfighter (PS3, PC, Xbox 360) – October 23rd
-Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz (PSV) – October 23rd
-Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward (3DS) – October 23rd
-DJMAX Technika Tune (PSV) – October 26th
-Street Fighter x Tekken (PSV) – October 26th
-Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (3DS) – October 28th
-Guns of Icarus Online (PC) – October 29th
-Assassin’s Creed 3 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC) – October 30th
-Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation (PSV) – October 30th
-Marvel Avengers: Battle For Earth (Xbox 360) – October 30th
-Zone of the Enders HD Collection (PS3, Xbox 360) – October 30th
-Blood Knights (PSN, PC, XBLA) – October 31st
That's quite a bit of games for October alone, but I suspect most of the game releases will be in the next 3 months as the holidays creep up on us.
Source:
-Trendy Gamers: http://trendygamers.com/october-2012/
It will be a busy month for you gamers out there too with these upcoming games:
-Resident Evil 6 (PS3/Xbox 360) - October 2nd
Source: Youtube Channel curseentertainment
-RAW: Realms of Ancient War (PC) - October 4th
-Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 (DS) - October 7th
-Code of Princess (3DS) – October 9th
-Dishonored (PS3, Xbox 360, PC) – October 9th
-XCOM: Enemy Unknown (PS3, PC, Xbox 360) – October 9th
-James Bond 007 Legends (PS3, Xbox 360) – October 16th
-Mark of the Ninja (PC) – October 16th
-Mugen Souls (PS3) – October 16th
-Ragnarok Odyssey (PSV) – October 16th
-Rocksmith Guitar and Bass (PS3, PC, Xbox 360) – October 16th
-Silent Hill: Book Of Memories (PSV) – October 16th
-Ravaged (PC) – October 17th
-Doom 3 BFG Edition (PS3, PC, Xbox 360) – October 19th
-Killzone Trilogy (PS3) – October 23rd
-Medal Of Honor: Warfighter (PS3, PC, Xbox 360) – October 23rd
-Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz (PSV) – October 23rd
-Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward (3DS) – October 23rd
-DJMAX Technika Tune (PSV) – October 26th
-Street Fighter x Tekken (PSV) – October 26th
-Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (3DS) – October 28th
-Guns of Icarus Online (PC) – October 29th
-Assassin’s Creed 3 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC) – October 30th
-Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation (PSV) – October 30th
-Marvel Avengers: Battle For Earth (Xbox 360) – October 30th
-Zone of the Enders HD Collection (PS3, Xbox 360) – October 30th
-Blood Knights (PSN, PC, XBLA) – October 31st
That's quite a bit of games for October alone, but I suspect most of the game releases will be in the next 3 months as the holidays creep up on us.
Source:
-Trendy Gamers: http://trendygamers.com/october-2012/
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