GameLight - Warframe

Official Site: https://www.warframe.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/230410/
Source: Youtube Channel ForceSC2strategy

Warframe is a free-to-play online cooperative Action 3rd-person shooter in which the player and 3 other players join together in taking on instanced missions.  I never heard of the game before today and saw it show up on Steam and immediately downloaded it to try out.  In my own way of describing it, the player takes the role of a flipping alien ninja with guns, melee weapons and powers to subdue their enemies while fulfilling missions to escort hostages, destroy cores, and assassinate.  For the most part, the combat is a 3rd-person shooter utilizing rifles, pistols, shotguns and such with close combat involving axes, blades, and hammers.  The player will acquire abilities to go stealth, deploy decoys, jump higher, and many other abilities.  From the one hour I played of it so far, I enjoyed it.  The shooting is pretty solid, and melee combat is pretty fluid.  It's super easy to group up with other player and there's the choice to play solo too.  There's some platforming and keeps the game from being just about running forward.  Despite being really entertaining, there are some problems I have with the game.

My biggest gripe with the game is that the controls can't be changed.  Melee attack uses the "E" key and I generally like having my melee attacks on my side mouse key.  Interacting with objects is the "X" key and I would like to set it to my "F" key which is actually used for switching weapons by default.  It's not too big of a problem that it would mar the experience I've had with the game thus far, but it would allow me to change the key mappings to my own comfort.  Another problem is item acquisition.  Since it's free-to-play, it's not surprising to have a micro-transaction system built in.  Some items are exclusively for those who pay real money and can be pretty pricey.  Even with in-game credits, the items are still considered really expensive and will take a while to acquire.  With that, your gameplay might be the same for quite a while before you can change things up a little.  Still, the game is worth checking out and provides a decent amount of entertainment.

GameLight Review - The Darkness 2

Official Site: http://www.embracethedarkness.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/67370/
Source: Youtube Channel pixelenemy

Developer: Digital Extremes
Publisher: 2K Games
Platforms: [PC], Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Release Date: February 7, 2012
Genre: First-Person Shooter

Pros:
+ Incredible writing that entices the player's interest in the story and dialogues
+ Fast-paced and exciting with lots of fire-fights and close-quarter encounters
+ The Darkness makes the player feel empowered
+ The environment is lively and very immersive despite the colorful art style
+ Multi-player offers 4 player co-op online with a separate story
+ New Game+ opens up new possibilities for replay value
+ Never lose your way as the next checkpoint can be revealed at any time

Cons:
- Very short campaign of ~5 hours
- Multiplayer is a bit glitchy at times
- The ending made the player feel cheated

Recommended: Yes!  First-Person Shooter/Action fans would get a kick out of this

The Darkness 2 is one of the biggest surprises for me this year.  I had a bit of interest in the first one, but was turned off by the Black/Grey/Brown color palette of the entire game and for its slow-paced gameplay which made me end up not getting it.  Perhaps it was the trailers for The Darkness 2, or rather it was the fact I got the game for $6.  Whatever the reason may be, I am very happy that I got the game and played through it.  The Darkness 2 follows the story of Jackie Estacado, who is the Don of a Mob and possesses an entity called "The Darkness", where a cult tries to take the Darkness away from him and use its powers for their goals and purposes.  The game isn't entirely just shooting like in most First-Person Shooters as the player can utilize the Darkness' powers to throw heavy objects, grab and impale enemies, slice things up, and engage in all sorts of close-quarter combat with light puzzles on the side.  Both the story and gameplay stay compelling the whole way through with the addition of a skill branch system where the player can choose which abilities to acquire to fit their play style (I believe it's possible to acquire all skills when playing New Game+).  I didn't expect the game to be so fun, and I'm considering playing it again very soon.

Aesthetics
Art Style: A colorful, almost cartoon-ish 3D cel-shaded style.  It's similar to Borderlands 2, but it still retains a dark atmosphere when needed.
+ The amount of detail put into the environment is beautiful
+ I prefer the colorful art style over the more realistic style of its predecessor
+ Animation for all the enemies and kills add to the satisfying feel of combat
+ Voice-acting brought out some very memorable characters

- Some of the animations (especially executions on multiplayer) are very odd
Aesthetics: 8/10

Buttons
Controller: Keyboard and Mouse; controller compatible
+ Melee combat had a unique mechanic to attack horizontally or vertically
+ Gun control felt great and responds very quickly
+ Aim-assist is available to those new to FPS games (on by default)
+ Controls feel natural and actions flow very well with the pacing of the game
Buttons: 9/10

Concept & Content
Core Concept: Kill enemies, move forward, listen to some story, repeat
+ There's a nice balance between gameplay and story, never too much of either
+ Combat isn't solely based around guns which is probably what makes it unique
+ Plot is very simplistic, but the way it is told is what makes it so interesting
+ The writing to dialogue and the voice acting made memorable characters
+ New Game+ was a good idea to extend the replay value of campaign
+ Vendetta mode opens up to those who want multiplayer or more content
+ Skill tree and various characters offers different ways to play the game

- There isn't that much content for those who paid $60 for the game
- Ending of game doesn't leave the player off on a good note
Concept & Content: 10/10

Duration
+ Pacing was fast and progressed nicely with an even flow of combat & story
+ New Game+ and Vendetta offers a bit more replay value
+ Multiplayer, difficulty levels, and finding relics are the main replay factors

- Main Campaign takes only ~5 hours to complete, even shorter if story is skipped
- Vendetta mode is also pretty short and doesn't randomly generate enemy layout
Duration: 6/10

Fun
+ It was very empowering being able to run in and decimate your enemies
+ The environments blew me away, it's so beautiful and artfully crafted
+ Although guns were limited in variation, they all felt really useful and strong
+ Combat was satisfying, but listening to character dialogue was also entertaining
+ I was happy to know there's a New Game+ and that Vendetta mode offered new story, gameplay, and play-styles to the game
+ The skill tree mechanic is a good incentive to get more points
+ Boss fights were pretty fun and challenging

- The ending made me feel cheated and a bit empty
- The game's really short.  I'll replay it, but I'm practically done with the game
Fun: 10/10

Overall
The Darkness 2 is a really good game, despite being so short.  But with what I paid for it, I can't complain at all.  I liked the story, the art style was pleasing, characters were memorable, combat was very satisfying, but the ending did leave me feeling a bit doubtful.  I don't want to spoil anything, so I didn't mention anything about it throughout the review.  If I were to hint anything, it would be that it's a huge cliffhanger.  Still, it was a very enjoyable game and one I would definitely recommend.  Overall: 8.6/10

GameLight - Homefront Multiplayer

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

Source: Youtube Channel Gamehelper

I mentioned this a few time before, but I saw banners for Homefront in the hallways at last year's E3 2010 and didn't see any booths or videos for the game.  I eventually found information on what the game was about sometime after I got back from E3 and was astonished at the premise of the story taken place.  I find the idea of both North and South Korea to unite and suddenly attack America to be a frightening story to tell at such unstable times for North Korea's Government and the rest of the world's economic crisis.  Story aside, there wasn't any gameplay footages for the longest time.  Recently, there has been single player and multiplayer videos floating around here and there and I finally saw the video shown above.  It's kind of what I expected for multiplayer: Military Tactical shooter, urban areas, vehicles to drive around, deathmatch/capture points type modes, points system to level up, etc.  The footage didn't capture me like Crysis 2 did, but the game does look interesting and I'm considering on purchasing it for PC if my laptop can handle it.

What I'm hoping for:
-More strategical push factor like in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 or Frontlines: Fuels of War
-Lots of weapons to choose from as well as gadgets and vehicles
-My laptop can at least run smoothly on the lowest settings

Concerns:
-Lag!  Lag is a very common problem in first-person shooters that kills the experience
-The graphics too demanding for my laptop to handle even at the lowest settings (like Crysis 2)
-Nothing new to present.  What if I don't like the game?  I don't want to waste $50-$60 for that

Here's hoping for a great game!