For this review I’m going to break down this game in three, different sections .

1.) Singleplayer

Well when I bought Bad Company 2 I didn’t plan on playing singleplayer at all but with all the server issues that EA has been having I started to play singleplayer. My first impressions were…. Wow this really sucks. It was dull and boring and felt like it was just tagged on. I kept on playing and it slowly starts to do more things then just run with a gun, shoot a rocket at the tank and pwn noobs. I still have yet to finish the singleplayer but from what I’ve heard it’s a great ending. One major thing that really bugs me is the amount of cussing in the story it seems like every other word is a guy screaming a F Bomb, which is a MAJOR turn off. Overall 6/10

2.) Graphics and Sound

Before I go ANY further in this review I must say the sound in this game is AMAZING! With my Tritton AX Pro headphones I could hear everything from a tank to a boat-from afar to the rockets being shot at my building. The graphics could be better, they don’t seem very polished. Not enough to make the gameplay any worse just something that EA screwed up on.. Overall I give the sound a 10/10 and the Graphics a 7/10

3.) Multiplayer

Now this is why everyone bought the game and I must say this is a BLAST. There’s always something to do whether it be raining down gun fire from a blackhawk or storming the base with tanks. One thing that I don’t enjoy about the multiplayer is the fact that the guns you get at a levvl like 23 can destory a team of level 10s. Overtime I could see it being a issue. One other thing I really enjoyed was the fact that you get blow up anything in your way like being a wall or a tank. I give it a 9/10

Overall I have to say this game is one of the best games I’ve played and if anyone asked me if they should buy the game I’d say YES!

My Overall score for the game is a 8.5/10 with a boost in the graphics for this game it would be a 9/10.

UPDATE:

This is a formal apology to Drew.  Jeff pointed out to me that it was him that wrote the article.  Upon looking at the author of the title, I see that it was Jeff that wrote the article.  Sorry Drew.  I have therefore removed all references to Drew. 

P.S.  You need to fix the forum posts on these articles.  It looks like Drew wrote them.

I was going to post this yesterday but did not have time.  Good thing.  Looks like Jeff has gone and trashed Heavy Rain and mocked the people who bought it.  I guess I will have to disagree with Jeff on this one.

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There is perhaps no other game in electronic gaming history as universally loved as the original Super Mario Brothers.  The game is nearly 30 years old now, and people are playing it to this day.  The bizarre combination of plumbers, turtles, princesses, fireballs, man-eating plants, lava, coins and of course mushrooms (which was perhaps the key ingredient the designers utilized when coming up with this strange game formula) somehow worked together to capture the imagination and attention of most the children, and even some of the adults in the 1980’s.

Mario, Luigi, Toad(s), The Princess and Bowser are back, but this time there is no taking turns.  Instead the designers have taken many of the successful elements of Super Mario Brothers 3 and Super Mario World and combined them with co-operative and counter-operative (I’ll explain later) elements for the most fun and infuriating side scrolling game I have played in years.  The game allows up to four players to go through the level simultaneously and does it with a high level of success.  Players can grab each other, work together for mega jumps, utilize Yoshi and the new propeller hat to help them go through levels with a new and simultaneously familiar design.  Where the counter-operative element comes into play is the fact that you cant just “run through” one another…you will bump into, jump off of, and be the victim of friendly turtle shell fire time and time again.  It’s one of those experiences where 80% of the time, it is annoying in that funny endearing kind of way, but there is that 20% of the time when peoples’ playing styles will interfere with one another.  You will get speed players (like myself) trying to fly through a level as fast as possible bumping heads with players who are more explorative (Like Jenn).  As long as you can both agree to a speed to going through a level, it is a ball and really takes me back to my childhood in a number of ways.

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Sega just released a demo for Alien Vs Predator which allows players to enjoy an 8 player deathmatch on one of the ship maps.  Players can party up and join a room with up to 8 players.  You can choose from Alien, Space Marine or Predator (while there seems to be a limit to how many Predators can play).  There are also locked options to choose from the class of character you play as.  For now there is a generic Space Marine and a basic Alien.  What is extremely unique about this experience is that each character is truly different from the others.  For instance, the aliens generally crawl on the ground, whip their tails and thrash with claws while the marines have the basic gun load out and the predator has slashing and shooting abilities.  The aliens can crawl all over any surface which can be disorienting at times but can also add a lot of fun to the game.  I have yet to be a Predator but the Marine has a flash light, can’t see well in the dark but his gun is very powerful against all enemies.

From what I could tell the game seems semi-language free.  There is a lot of blood and gore and the kill animations are pretty realistic.  It is definitely creepy to play as a Marine when you are battling alien races and can’t see infront of you.  Bare in mind that this game doesn’t come off as being tactical at all.  It felt more in the realm of Quake or Unreal Tournament where you play fast and die a lot.  If that is your thing than you may really enjoy this game.  The demo is free and you can try it out for yourself.

Have you already played the demo?  Let us know your impressions in the comments.

Battlefield holds a special place in my heart.  One which I can trace all my online gaming back to, so when I play a Battlefield game I have high expectations.  Lately I have also had some relatively high disappointments as well.  Battlefield Bad Company 2 released an online mulitplayer demo recently which allows players to play 1 map and attack and defend from each side.  There are plenty of tanks, helicopters and small vehicles to drive and lots of places to hide.

The first thing you will notice about the demo is the chaos.  I don’t know if I play MW2 too much but I feel like there is so much going on on the map that I don’t know where to begin.  I feel like the backdrop to the map also camouflages the enemies to the point where you don’t see them until they are right up on you.  The second issue I take with this game is the stiffness of the controls.  I feel like my player is on rollerskates running around on the map.  I am unable to take corners very well and it takes me 2 attempts to get into a doorway.  The weapons all start out with iron sites as well with the exception of the sniper rifle and due to the lack of smooth atmosphere I feel like shooting someone is like performing surgery.

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Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment, an Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network game, is a great example of a tactical RPG, or may be described more accurately as a platform turn based strategy RPG. This game reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy Tactics how you can move your characters from one box to another. You are to use these characters you are given against a pre-determined amount of “baddies” on that particular level. In the training exercises that they have you do at the beginning of the game, you are Tobias, a young boy, who is, you guessed it, just learning about the ways of the sword, the bow, and magic. This does not mean that you are restricted to controlling only one character, you control everyone on the battle field unless there is a special character that assists you in that specific battle.

The game play aspect started out a little clunky and slow but once the game got going it really felt like you could get sucked in and keep playing this game for hours at a time. You are able to use different types of physical attacks such as a regular sword slashing attack and a long range attack that you can switch to, like a bow or another long range weapon and target your enemies from afar. There are also magic attacks like a regular damage attack used to hurt enemies directly, hexes that can slow down or hurt enemies over time like a snare or poison; your magic can also be used to help your characters like the heal spell that gives an ally of your choosing his/her health back, or cure that can take off poisons or snares. Even the technical aspect of this game is exceptional; for example, some regular attacks that you do can actually hurt allies standing next to you if you swing a huge weapon around. The same thing goes with magic, if a magic spell that you use has an area of effect damage to it, you will hurt any allies in the area. So be careful when you choose to unleash a huge magic spell around your allies, because your enemies may die but your allies probably will as well.

The graphics in this game were decent as far as the reactions to attacks and the magic spells that are cast for an arcade game. But as far as the surroundings you can tell that there wasn’t that much put into it and that they were more focused on the game play aspect instead of how the game looked. There were no problems with any of the sounds while attacks were being made, but the surrounding ambiance sounds were very plain.

This game is rated teen for blood, fantasy violence, and mild language. When playing the game, the blood was squirts of red bubbles coming up from a character or enemy that had been attacked, and a prolonged squirt when that character or enemy dies. As far as fantasy violence goes, the above fight sequences is as much violence that you are going to get from this game. If there is any language it is unnoticeable and not overly vulgar.

This relatively new XBLA/PSN game is developed by Hijinx Studios LLC (previously known as PhoenixSoft) and published by Konami Digital Entertainment Inc.

Legion was released last Friday in theatres everywhere.  The premise of the movie is that Michael the Archangel comes to earth to save a woman and her baby from being killed by God’s wrath as He passed judgment on the world for it’s sin.  The movie had some interesting moments that I am unable to explain without giving away some of the plot.

“Continue Reading” to find out what I thought about Legion and why I didn’t like it. *Spoiler Alert* (more…)

Story:

A Crack in Time is the conclusion of the Ratchet & Clank Future trilogy.  I will not go into the specifics of the story but Ratchet is still trying to find Clank after the Zoni took him at the end of Tools of Destruction (the first of the trilogy).  Mean while Clank has been charged, by his maker, with the repair and maintenance of time in the universe.  Your main enemy this time is once again Doctor Nefarious, who is trying to use Clank to alter time for his benefit.  It is ultimately a story of whether Ratchet and Clank are destined to be together.

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As a huge fan of all things zombie and the first Left4Dead it was only natural that I purchase Left4Dead 2 even if was released soon after the first game.

The premise of the game is the same, you and 3 other survivors are trying to move from one safe house to another while destroying onslaughts of zombies one right after the other.  In this respect the game plays out the same way as the last but the devil is in the details with Left4Dead 2.  Valve has introduced melee weapons, which at first don’t seem to make a huge difference but as you come to find out in the game melee weapons are in fact necessary.  If you run out of ammo (which you will) you will be forced to either use a pistol or your melee weapon such as an axe, frying pan, chain saw or baseball bat etc… The melee weapons not only kill zombies but ultimately will replace your need to constantly shove the zombies away since there is a limiter on your shoving.  The more you use the left bumper to shove, the longer you will have to wait until the shoving option reloads leaving you vulnerable for a period of time.

Another drastic difference in the game is that you actually have objectives in the maps aside from the normal “wait here for a hoard and then run” scheme from the first game.  Now you may have to fend off a hoard while one of your teammates looks for some gas cans in order to refuel your getaway car or you may have to travel all the way through a map only to turn around and make your way back to the beginning.  The scenarios have changed and it’s for the better.

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Chances are very good that most of you that will give this review a glance already purchased Infinity Ward’s sequel to the massively successful and well-received Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Heck, a lot of you probably bought it early from one of the many retailers who broke the street date. This review is not for you folks. Nope, this is for those of you still on the fence. Still unsure about dipping your toes into this particular pond?

Don’t be. Speaking as a man who is just about sick of first-person shooters, and also as someone who doesn’t often enjoy multiplayer, I’m happy to report that Modern Warfare 2 is worth every bit of hype. The single-player story is more outrageous and Tom Clancy-esque than the original, but still nail-bitingly exciting from start to finish. The multiplayer is built on the same core as the original Modern Warfare but with several additions and upgrades. These upgrades will seem subtle to most, but they aid in increasing the multiplayer’s replayability for new players and veterans alike. There’s also a Special Ops mode which acts as the game’s co-op component, allowing two players (or you can play solo) to blast through special missions to earn stars. This mode doesn’t have an over-arching story like single-player; just objectives to complete. Even so, it’s a fun mode, best played with a friend who you trust on the battlefield. (more…)