VGCulture - Dungeon Defenders welcomes the presidents

Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/65800/

Source: Youtube Channel TrendyEnt

Today's Presidents' Day in honor of what used to be Washington and Lincoln's Birthday but was put together because schools and work places had 4 day weekends or 2 consecutive 3 day weekends which disrupted academic lessons and productivity in February.  Anyways, the team at Trendy Entertainment has announced a new DLC that will be free to those who own the game for a limited time before it's up for sale.

The Presidents Day Battle Royale DLC Includes:
• Presidents Day Battle Royale Challenge Mission
• Squire Punching Gloves
• Monk Punching Gloves
• Democrat Donkey Pet
• Republican Elephant Pet

...and 4 Unlockable Character Skins!
• Monk -- President Obama
• Huntress -- Michelle Obama
• Squire -- Mitt Romney
• Apprentice -- George Washington

-Directly from the video info

It's cool that they keep the content up and thinks of the community who supported them.  The game does get quite a bit of DLCs that require some payment, much like Magicka does.  Too many paying DLCs makes me stop supporting a lot of Indie games as it starts to feel like greed practiced by big name publishers and less of helping the indie scene.  Still, this DLC in particular will be free to those who already own the game though requires some leveling and playing before acquiring them.

GameLight - Asura's Wrath

Official Site: http://www.capcom.co.jp/asura/

Source: Youtube Channel gamespot

Asura's Wrath is an Action-Adventure Beat-'em-Up announced back in 2012 to be an over the top game influenced by Buddhism Mythology and Japanese Animé.  The player takes the role of Asura, demigod guardian of Heaven and Earth, to exact revenge against his former allies who had killed the emperor, his wife, and kidnapped his daughter.  A demo was released just a short while ago.  Though I didn't get the chance to try it out, many who did claimed it was boring and repetitive.  From the gameplay footages, it seems that a lot of boss battles consists of quick time events where the player presses the buttons on the screen.  The styling of combat are similar to animé series' such as Dragon Ball Z, Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star), or JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) where Asura's attacks pummels his enemies with hundreds of strikes and at incredible speed.  That sort of over-the-top action sounds really entertaining, but many who have played the demo fear that the whole game is played just like what was available for the demo.  Others are staying optimistic to the case and believes that there's more to Asura's Wrath than was was presented to the public in the demo.  Here's a trailer to the opening of the game:

Source: Youtube Channel gamespot

I think Asura's Wrath might be a game I'd enjoy; however, I probably won't be getting it right away as I'm far behind my Action-Adventure games with Ninja Gaiden Sigma 1 (yes, 1!!!), Devil May Cry 4, and a yet to be open Vanquish (I'm even farther behind RPGs. C'mon 9 of them???).  I recently finished Bayonetta and it felt pretty lengthy to play even if it was just 12-13 hours of gameplay time.  I can't Action-Adventure games for long durations, especially if they're difficult.  Even if I wanted to play Asura's Wrath, I think I'd need to pick up Castlevania: Lords of Shadow first before I get around to buying it.  Asura's Wrath releases on February 21st, 2012 for $59.99 and if you pre-order from Amazon you get the Guardian Mode and Iconoclast Mode in the Devastator pack.

VGCulture - On Sony & Valve Hack incidents

I just read an interesting article discussing on the two hacking incidents on Sony's PSN service and Valve's Steam service.  Mid-year 2011, Sony was hacked and millions of players' credit card information, addresses, names, etc. that was submitted to PSN when players bought things in the PSN store.  Just a few months ago, Valve also had a breach in the system and the same thing happened to them and their community.  What the article pointed out was that the reaction from the community is quite different seeing how both companies were hacked.  The announcement from Sony that player's information has been taken by the hacker surged uproar from the players and media.  The criticisms were relentless and were very prominent to the public.  When Valve got hacked, they didn't receive the same hostility as those involved with Sony's predicament.

There are a lot of factors we can account for, but I think one of the main differences was that Sony had to take their entire service down in order to secure each player's account and to cease any further damage to the system the hackers had already done which disable numerous programs and access to certain games among other things while Valve simply apologized for the incident and asked to have players keep an eye on their credit card balance.  Steam and all its functions still worked.  This staggering difference is notable as having no access to PSN and little information to the progress of the situation seemed to have made many PS3 players uneasy, confused and left in the dark.  Steam users knew exactly what was wrong as dozens of other companies have been hacked before Valve did throughout 2011 and thus possibly taught many of us how to deal with situations similar to it.

Sony's PSN was back up after a few weeks it shut down and continued to provide its service as usual and seemed to have done quite well in the digitally distributed games afterwards.  Valve just recently made another announcement of its on-going investigation on the hacking incident and letting players know that they're still with them and haven't abandoned the case yet.

With the hack incident that Sony faced, many other game companies as well as the players within their community have learned from it and deal with the situation a lot more clearly.  It's still not fun for any of us to be "hacked" and told that our information is in the hands of a hacker, but I guess we've learned to do something about it rather than pointing fingers and finding someone to blame.

GameLight Review – Crysis 2

Official Site: http://www.ea.com/crysis-2

Source: Youtube Channel Crysis

Developer: Crytke Frankfurt, Crytek UK

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Platforms: PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360

Release Date: March 22, 2011

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Pros:

-Incredible city-scape environment with beautiful graphics

-Unique upgrade system favors to different play-styles for both single-player and multiplayer

-Immense freedom in allowing various ways to reach a goal

-Plenty of maps, weapons, and builds to keep multiplayer fresh

Cons:

-Story wasn’t as good as the first installment

-Odd glitches are prevalent throughout the game (though hilarious sometimes)

-Some checkpoints can be pretty far apart while others are very close

-Higher level players have a lot more abilities than lower level ones in multiplayer

The plot and progression of Crysis 2’s story doesn’t have the same surprising and engaging experience that the first one did; however, the gameplay excelled in every way.  The boost mechanic is simplified and works much smoother and efficient compared to the clunky wheel menu it utilized in the first one.  Combat is a lot more intense and dynamic with more upgrades, enemy types, weapons, and play style options.  Although I enjoyed the story to the first Crysis, I felt that it didn’t flow very well and that there were a lot of boring and/or frustrating gameplay.  Crysis 2 was constantly entertaining with tension always on the rise and challenges present in every battle.  What I really enjoyed in both single-player and multiplayer is the versatility in upgrade customization that changed the play style.  You could take it slow and eliminate enemies from far range, ram through with high armor and high rate of fire, or my favorite: you can discreetly eliminate enemies using a new and improved stealth mode that makes so much more sense than Crysis 1.  It was an overall enjoyable experience and possibly the best single-player campaign for a first-person shooter that I played throughout 2011.

Aesthetics

Crytek put a lot of time, effort and thought into how they were going to create an urban jungle out of the city of “New York”.  The environment is enormous, bright, clean, beautiful, and feels so good to look at.  The animations and effects to the destructible environment, alien objects, and objects are top notch with an immersive world presented by such details from the art department of development.  The animation to models and attacking also deserve praise for giving such a satisfying feeling after silently subduing an enemy or shredding through a horde of enemies with a turret gun.  The aliens were a surprise seeing how they differ dramatically from the ones from Crysis 1.  The design of each alien seemed carefully thought out so that the player had a general idea what threat each one might possess before even fighting them.  The HUD is clean and informative and was also used as a way to further drama during parts of the game when the suit wasn’t functioning correctly.  There were some problems with glitches that created some odd graphic problems.  Upon entering some areas, the enemies would be stuck in their T-stance and stay there until the player hit them or until they’re dead.  Other times, enemies would be stuck in objects or floating in mid-air.  The hit-box for some buildings or obstructions would not match the model and so gun fire at enemies behind cover would not connect when it’s clearly visible to a shot (this happens in both single-player and multiplayer).  The soundtrack and sound effects compliment the futuristic setting well though I thought the voice acting was standard (there weren’t that many chances to show that much emotion).  There was only one audio glitch I ran into while playing and it was my audio for sound effects were entirely muted in the middle of battle.  It did not return until after I had died and was reloaded to the checkpoint.  Graphics and music may not be the most important aspects in a game, but I believe that they were a pivotal aspect that made the game stand out from other shooters of its genre.  Aesthetics: 9/10

Buttons

I really liked how the controls to Crysis 2 felt.  I especially liked how the boost effects worked.  I no longer had to fumble around with a wheel menu and switch between 4-5 different modes.  Having armor mode and stealth mode was sufficient to create a dynamic combat experience.  I really liked how you can execute your enemy in stealth rather than just shoot them and causing attention to your position like the first one did.  The ability to jump incredible high, grab and hoist yourself up edges, and drop kick enemies “boot to the head” style felt so natural due to the familiar control layout and ease of use of them.  The usual “aim-shoot-crouch-run” key mappings are the same as other shooters and should be fairly easy to learn to even those who never played one.  Some of the difficulties in controls is bringing out grenades (double tap triangle, which can be troublesome when trying to quickly switch between primary and secondary weapons), switching between boosts in mid fire fight (in multiplayer), and when trying to ground pound as the right thumb needs to leave the right analog stick which leaves the player wide open if the attack didn’t kill the enemy (I guess PC players don’t have to worry about this).  Although the boost system is simplified and easier to switch between, the problem occurs when the player is practically out of energy but could use that 1-2 second of armor to win a firefight.  The player might accidentally turn it off when they want to turn it on or vice versa depending on the energy usage which causes the player to fumble between modes.  For the most part, the controls to the game are very smooth and fairly easy to learn after a while of playing and experimenting.  It’s also a whole lot of fun sliding around.  Buttons: 9/10

Concept & Content

As I’ve mentioned, the story isn’t that great.  Crysis 2 picks up shortly after the ending of Crysis 1 and introduces a new character that didn’t have that much of a personality.  There weren’t any other characters that were meaningful, interesting, or “that” important.  The enemy didn’t have a true face or leader, but rather the entire alien race is the enemy.  Crysis 2 is pretty much “guy fights to save world” kind of storyline.  I didn’t mind too much as I found the gameplay to be really engaging and challenging.  One of the aspects I thought they would take out is the freedom that Crysis 1 had since the 2^nd one was in a city and didn’t have that many vegetation and space to make it as large.  I was happy to be proven wrong as the city has sewer lines, subway stations, high altitude building tops, and all sorts of cover on ground floor to create a large, dynamic map to get through.  What really got me into the game was the new and improved stealth mode where the player can subdue enemies quietly and even avoid an entire fight by walking through enemy lines undetected.  The armor mode didn’t have too much of a change, but the player is still able to run quickly and have the strength to take down enemies if upgraded.  Because of this versatility, the developers didn’t stick with all the boosts that the first one had as switching between power, armor, speed, and stealth was cumbersome and annoying.  Crysis 2 didn’t seem to have as much dynamic variety in environment that Crysis 1 did, but I felt that the level designs were used much more creatively and effectively in the 2^nd one.  Still, there were some parts of the game where it was boring from the map being to empty or repetitive in task if not frustrating from having little to no ammo.  I was a bit disappointed with the last level of Crysis 2, but I don’t want to spoil anything so I won’t say anything past that.

As for multiplayer, utilizing all the skills, weapons, and abilities in online combat was truly a unique experience for a first-person shooter.  The level system is unbalanced and unfair for low leveled players after level 10 as those with high levels have a significant amount of abilities and weapons that does affect the balance in advantage unfortunately.  The level system; however, has a lot of depth and content for the player to unlock as a player puts more hours into multiplayer.  There’s a fair amount of maps and modes to play from, so variety isn’t too much of an issue.  Although multiplayer is quite entertaining, it doesn’t seem to have a pull factor where it makes me want to continue to play other than to unlock more items.  The original concept Crytek had for Crysis in futuristic abilities, open map goals, and dynamic load out customization is further used more effectively and creatively in Crysis 2.  Everything, in terms of gameplay, feels more polished and thoughout.  It’ll be interesting what Crytek will do next for the series.  Concept & Content: 8/10

Duration

I’m actually not sure how long I spent playing Crysis 1 or 2, but I do know that Crysis 1 felt like an eternity while the 2^nd felt more leisurely.  The flow of Crysis 2 was a lot smoother and connected each event between missions.  The game constantly felt engaging and challenging at a fair level (though sometimes not) when compared to its predecessor where some events seems really amazing but is followed up by really annoying or boring gameplay.  Crysis 1 felt like a lot of great ideas pieced together along in a jumble.  Everything felt disconnected and the broken flow between fast-action fire fight, slow moments of sneaking away from a helicopter, and frustrating enclosed areas with minimal ammo made Crysis 1 very difficult to enjoy.  Crysis 2 had a lot of the same ideas with vehicle chases, enclose areas to fight, and some parts where the player can sneak through; however, the gameplay felt consistent and enjoyable throughout each of those events.  The different between the duration of Crysis 1 and 2 was that I couldn’t wait to reach the end of Crysis 1 while I didn’t pay much attention to getting to the end in Crysis 2.  I felt the campaign was a decent amount and multiplayer could have a lot of hours put in if I really wanted to continue playing it.  Duration: 8/10

Fun

I’ll admit it; I had a lot of fun with Crysis 2.  When the game was announced and finally released, I didn’t care too much for it.  When I finally decided to play Crysis 1 and somewhat enjoyed it and partially didn’t, I was skeptical about how the 2^nd one would be like.  I went and played Crysis 2 anyways as to continue the story that left off from Crysis 1 as it was one aspect I actually liked about the game.  Unfortunately, the game’s story just got really boring and I stopped caring; however, the gameplay was surprisingly fun for using similar concepts from the first one.  I essentially played the game like a stealth game unless I was found out and play the game like a brawler when I got close to the aliens.  I just had a lot of fun deceiving the enemy, silently killing aliens and having the occasional chaos blow up in their faces.  It was also fun utilizing the different abilities to jump around like a platformer, grab onto ledges, sliding around, and ground pounding from high up.  There were frustrating battles in some areas, but none compared to some of the shenanigans I had to perform in Crysis 1 in order to finish the mission.  I was also disappointed with the last mission as it lacked the challenge that the rest of the game had throughout my playthrough.  Still, it was fun playing through Crysis 2 and multiplayer was fun for a while too.  If I had the time and given the chance to play Crysis 2’s campaign again, I’d be willing to do so.  Fun: 9/10

Overall

Crytek pushed their technology as far as they could and revised the interesting concepts that made Crysis 1 a revolutionary game to the first-person shooter genre and create a compelling action experience in Crysis 2.  There’s beauty, creativity, and variety to make up for its lackluster story and that’s okay because the game is ultimately a lot of fun.  Whether you like to play games strategically, covertly, or outright gung-ho, Crysis 2 seems to satisfy all playstyles.  The freedom and challenging campaign is possibly the best of 2011 for first-person shooters while its deep and engaging multiplayer is sure to entertain casual and highly competitive players alike.  I would recommend this game to anyone who wants a fun single-player campaign or something different in their online multiplayer in their first-person shooters.  Overall: 8.6/10

GameLight - Love Plus 3DS

Official Site: http://www.konami.jp/products/loveplus/index.html

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

After a year of seeing videos and news reports of dating simulator/visual novel game "Love Plus 3DS", the game finally releases in Japan today on Valentines Day.  This is one game that's more than likely not being brought over to the western market.  Visual Novels based around love stories or love simulators where the player interacts with a virtual girl have been around in the Japanese market for over two decades and have become "sort of" normal there now (It's still weird to those who don't play it there I suppose).  In the western market, it is looked down upon as a terrible product targeting the single male population (or something they take as a normal oddity from Japan's otaku culture).

Within the game, the player talks (from choosing multiple choices answers I suppose) to the characters in the game, goes out on dates, takes pictures, and simply interact with them as if they were real.  Konami added an extra function where players can receive virtual e-mails from the characters within Love Plus by subscribing for $4 per month.  I shouldn't judge, but Love Plus is after all still just a game and a player shouldn't get "that" involved.  The gyroscope (motion sensor), 3D camera, and dual screens allow the player to interact with their virtual girlfriend within their own environment with Augmented Reality.  You can see this happening at 2:05 in the video above.  Now if this can be utilized within the development of other games, we can see a lot of interesting gameplay from action, fighting, and adventure genres.

I don't pay much attention to these types of games mainly because they're rarely brought over or translated.  My interest in it lies within the story, though I can't really find any specific story for any of the characters for the game.  One such game series that played like a visual novel that captivated me is the Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney series, though that is quite a drastic difference between that and Love Plus.  There could be a chance that the western market would be a bit more open to the game if it was more emphasized as a game heavily based on "story" rather than just interactivity with the female character; however, the latter seems to be what works in Japan's marketing.  I hear the game has a manga series spin-off in the works, and so the focus on story would be interesting for the series.

In any case, Happy Valentines Day!

GameLight - BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend

Official Site: http://us.playstation.com/games-and-media/games/blazblue-continuum-shift-extend-ps3.html

Source: Youtube Channel jourdal

I'm both excited and disappointed with the release of BlazBlue Continuum Shift Extend.  I'm happy that there will be two new modes to play, all DLC characters added into the roster, a story mode for all characters, and the extension of some story paths from Continuum Shift.  The problem is that story mode will be the return of Calamity Trigger's Story and Continuum Shift's Story.  I was hoping that they'd reveal the next chapter of the universe of BlazBlue in their next game but it's pretty much a slight continuation of Continuum Shift and minor improvements here and there.  If you happened to have NOT played any BlazBlue games but have some interest in it, this next iteration would be a great purchase.  With a full roster of 19 characters, full story mode from both previous games for each individual character, 2 new modes with the 5 existing ones (Arcade, Versus/Network, Challenge, Legion, and Story), and a fair price of $40, BlazBlue Continuum Shift is a great purchase for anyone new to the series.  For those who own one or both of the first two iterations, it'll be more of an upgrade.  As I've discussed before in older posts on BlazBlue, I got into the series because of Guilty Gear and absolutely love the music done by Daisuke Ishiwatari.  What I didn't expect out of the game was how uniquely designed each individual character played and how deep the lore got when playing Story mode.  Story mode has had moments where it made me laugh, cry, angry, excited, and shocked.  It went far and beyond all expectations I had about the game and has become one of my favorite fighting games.  The combat system can be a bit tricky, but a beginner's mode allows even the least experienced of gamers to pick up the game and figure out how to do crazy combos and amazing abilities.  The game can get quite technical and challenge even the most elite 2D fighting game players at tournaments like EVO (recently added to the list of games played there).  BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend releases tomorrow February 14th, 2012 for $40.  I highly recommend this game to fighting games of all experience level and encourage those who haven't played fighting games before.  I think it's become a better starting game for most beginners than Street Fighter is (Street Fighter has become very technical).

GameLight Review - Battlefield 3

Official Site: http://www.battlefield.com/battlefield3

Source: Youtube Channel eavision

Developer: EA Digital Illusions CE (DICE)

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Platforms: PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, iOS

Release Date: October 25, 2011

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Pros:

-Huge maps with a large array of vehicles to utilize

-Sense of camaraderie and of belonging within a unit

-Beautiful visuals and powerful/realistic audio

-Level up system has a lot of depth in customization and item/ability acquisition

-Emphasizes cooperative play a lot more than most FPS games

Cons:

-Single-player is boring and forgettable

-The game is riddled with bugs, glitches, and server lag

-Communication and cooperation can be a problem for console players

-PC players have better graphics, but struggle with even starting a match successfully

-Multiplayer experience relies heavily on the players one sides with

It is clear that all efforts and resources were focused on the multiplayer side of Battlefield 3.  If you’re one to look for a strong cooperative, team-based, first-person shooter to play online, then perhaps Battlefield 3 is the game for you.  If fighting solo and instant action is one requires in their online multiplayer, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 might be more appropriate.  If one seeks a fun and intuitive single-player experience, I would recommend Crysis 2.  Cooperative scenario modes are rare, but perhaps Resistance 3 might be a better choice for an FPS player if they want to play next to a friend in the same room.  Battlefield 3 may be an FPS game, but it’s not for all FPS fans.  Battlefield 3 doesn’t have a very good single-player campaign, but those looking for an extensive online multiplayer experience will be able to enjoy playing the game for the rest of the year and beyond should the community stay strong.  There are plenty of vehicles, weapons, gadgets, classes, and unlocks to keep the game fresh and keep players intrigued to try something new.  The game does suffer from many technical problems, but the developers have always been diligent in correcting them as quickly as possible should any arise.  The game feels a lot more like a sequel to the Bad Company series than the main series, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a lot of fun and challenges even the most experienced FPS players.

Aesthetics

The graphics in Battlefield 3 are beautiful.  I think what I really like about the style of graphics done in the game is how bright and inviting it looks.  FPS games in the past have been mostly dark, brown, muddy, boring, and difficult to distinguish objects.  Battlefield 3 has an amazing lighting system that just makes everything pop out and bring it to life.  The physics and effects are very detailed to get the most out of explosions and destructible environments.  There’s also an improvement in the audio from Bad Company 2; however, it’s still not as powerful and life-like compared to DICE’s previous work on Medal of Honor (2010) (it still has the best audio for a military shooter I’ve heard so far).  While the graphics might be incredible, it’s mainly for those who have a PC that can handle them.  Console players will have textures with a lower resolution than the PC, so it sadly has graphics that are great but not incredible compared to the PC put on max settings.  The load out screen right before deploying can be a bit difficult to get used to on console as it was set up originally for the computer mouse on PC, but it eventually makes enough sense to utilize.  I really like the neon-like layouts for the mini-map, HUDs, and menu.  It sets a certain atmosphere to the game that distinguishes itself as “Battlefield 3”.  Some of the problems within aesthetics are texture glitches, objects disappearing, players getting stuck in each other or pushed into a wall when spawning, graphics lag from explosions and smoke, and the audio of gunfire suddenly going silence for an entire match.  Aesthetics: 8/10

Buttons

Playing Battlefield 3 on console is a lot different than playing on PC.  It’s much easier to tag people while still moving on the keyboard.  On a controller, the player has to leave their analog stick in order to press the select/back key (PS3/Xbox 360) in order to tag enemy units which sadly leads to players tagging a lot less on consoles.  The load out menu is a bit confusing between choosing a class, weapons and gadgets, but it eventually makes sense.  Those who have gotten used to the usual FPS settings on controllers will need to adjust a little as keys cannot be customized or changed.  The right thumb stick will be to crouch or prone instead of a melee.  R2 will be the key used to knife.  L2 tosses a frag grenade.  The circle face button is used to interact with gadgets, setting a bomb, defusing one, etc.  I mainly find the spot key to be the biggest problem as tagging enemies is a pivotal action in team fights but leaves the player vulnerable while doing so.  Not being able to customize the keys and switching them around from the norm does make it confusing and takes some getting used to, but it makes sense for multiplayer (for the most part).  Buttons: 8/10

Concept & Content

I was very disappointed with the single-player campaign as I enjoyed DICE and EA’s last two game’s campaign modes (Medal of Honor 2010 & Battlefield Bad Company 2).  The story was told very similar to Call of Duty Black Ops in that the main character is being interrogated and the player relives all the flashbacks.  The progression of single-player is extremely sectionalized with the player just constantly going forward requiring that the player stays undercover for long durations and popped their head out once in a while to fire at the enemy (at least for the more difficult settings).  The story wasn’t cohesive, the gameplay was boring, and the level designs were odd considering its core concept (you have to be under cover a lot, but there is VERY little cover in every level and they can be blown apart).  One thing I have to praise the single-player for is its incredible settings and environment.  Sadly, the campaign mode didn’t feel like there was a lot of thought and consideration put into it.  Co-op mode is unfortunately online multiplayer only and won’t be as fun unless you have friends that you know you can play with (and cooperate with).  I would’ve been nice to have SOME sort of local multiplayer, but there isn’t one.  Thankfully, online multiplayer is really fun (or I would have felt ripped off).  There’s a variety of maps that are large (sometimes too large for its player capacity), plenty of things to unlock as the player progresses their level, and an array of vehicles to fly and drive.  After a good dozen hours of playing multiplayer, I realized that the game still has problems with glitches; however, I already saw problems from the beta fixed while new ones are quickly addressed and remedied.  Multiplayer actually feels more challenging than Bad Company 2 did, but it also feels more balanced.  Consoles unfortunately have half the player capacity that PC players do and it can be difficult to find or even see any enemies for a while.  I find it upsetting that the DLC was planned from the beginning to be sold separately, but I can’t say I’m surprised seeing how a lot of game developers and publishers has turned to purposely excluding content from a game to be resold to players.  Still, the core content within Battlefield 3 is enough to satisfy me on what I want out of it for the rest of the year.  Concept & Content: 7/10

Duration

Single-player wasn’t very long, and that’s alright by me since I didn’t enjoy it that much anyways.  I’m not sure what to say about online multiplayer.  I’ve barely scratched the surface of multiplayer and I’ve already played 10-20 hours on it.  I’m mainly playing as assault as I’ve come to enjoy playing healers in games now (this started when I realized other players not doing their jobs when choosing to play as one).  There’s a lot of things to unlock and experiment with and each match can last anywhere from 10 minutes to half an hour.  The gameplay is slower paced than most FPS games, but that tension right before a really big fight is what makes the game so exciting.  Other times, it’s not but action and both sides are constantly in a fire-fight.  I have to admit that I can’t play the game for long durations (it can be a tiring game), but it’s a game I feel comfortable revisiting again and again as long as I feel up for playing it.  Duration: 9/10

Fun

I had mixed reactions throughout playing Battlefield 3.  I started with campaign first and marveled at the amazing graphics and how breath taking the environment was.  The gameplay was okay for a while and then I started realizing how very little safe cover there were in every area.  Enemies were killing me in 2 shots if not one and that led me to staying in cover a lot.  As the game progressed, it got worse and the story didn’t interest me anymore.  With multiplayer, it was difficult to adjust to the controls in the beginning.  I died a lot trying to knife but ended up crouching or trying to throw a grenade and accidentally knifing the air.  I really hated how the spot key was in a position where I had to leave my analog stick.  It was mainly getting used to playing on controller as opposed to keyboard and mouse (I purposely chose to purchase the console version because the PC version had so many problems that I couldn’t even start it).  After having a grasp at the concept, controls and area of each map, I began to play a lot more naturally and enjoyed the game.  Then there are times when I play multiplayer and can’t enjoy it because no one on my team seems to want to fulfill the main objective and I’m always put in the losing team (which makes sense because the only games with free slots are ones with players leaving a losing game).  When all goes well, I get a game where I get tons of kills, lots of points from healing and support, and the whole team wins which feels so good.  It’s like a crazy roller coaster ride with Battlefield 3.  Fun: 8/10

Overall

The single-player campaign wasn’t that great.  Co-op is only online play and it’s difficult to coordinate on console if you don’t have a microphone (which most people don’t even use for team-work in the first place).  Content that could’ve been in the game to begin with is cut out to be sold as a DLC.  There were plenty of reasons that made me look down upon BF3 and made me wonder why I got it.  Battlefield had always excelled in is multiplayer mode, and although BF3’s multiplayer is really fun, it’s not entirely polished.  I would much rather have had the developers focus on the multiplayer and take out all the problems before it actually launched, have the content that should have been in there stay there and justify the $60 it charged players, and truly have a complete multiplayer.  Still, I thought they did a good job on rebalancing the game from what they did for Bad Company 2 such as changing the roles of each class and the power output of each weapons.  Teamwork is still a must and does a good job emphasizing it by punishing those who go off on their own through its game design.  The game isn’t entirely up to expectations from all the hype it gathered, but I still ended up enjoying it for the most part.  Overall: 8/10