Review

I love Sucker Punch, I was a fan of the Sly Cooper series and I love the Infamous series. Anyone who knows me knew I was getting Infamous 2 after how much I loved the first one. I thought it was one of the best open world games ever and one of the most well done superhero games as well.

The story of Infamous 2 is similar to the original trying to power up to fight a main baddie and doing Karma choices to decide if you are a Hero or Infamous. I can't give much more away without spoiling some of the story from either games.

The audio is much better this time around. The dialog is fantastically delivered and the music is perfect for the New Orleans type setting, I love the haunting guitar and deep rhythms.

The graphics are great, my only complaint is that the faces all look a little too smooth. Granted I could be forever ruined by the technology behind L.A. Noire.

The gameplay is the real reason I love this game. You play a powerful but also vulnerable super hero. Cole has amazing abilities but can get killed quite quickly is you are not careful.

When all is said and done I of course love this game. I hope Sucker Punch keeps making them, and if they do I will keep buying them. Also the reason the picture is up top is of the Hero edition is because I bought it......mainly for the backpack and I love it.....I am such a Geek.

Review

When I played the first portal I was blown away. Not by the gameplay it was basically a first person adventure puzzle game, new yes but not overly impressive by any means. What blew me away was the execution how smooth and natural the whole thing felt, and of course the humor.

Any one who played the first one has all ready played Portal 2. Basically I am speaking to those who have yet to experience this series. Like all of Valve's projects the Portal series is a testament to creativity and polish. I can't say much about any Portal game without giving away anything important. Needless to say these games need to be played just like anything else out of Valve's library.

Dual Review

Two very different FPS games to review today. I heard a lot about both Brink and Homefront good and bad things.

First a look at Brink, this is a multiplayer only game. Not because there is no single player option but because there is no point in playing it alone. I only had fun when I was playing with other people. All together it is a solid package if you are looking for a multiplayer focused FPS. One thing I liked about it was how task focused it was. It was never just about shooting people there were always things to be taken, or captured, or defended. The SMART system was a little hard to get used too and I had played Mirror's Edge before. If you are not familiar with the SMART system it is basically the fact that you can move around the battlefield parkour style. I would recommend this game as a rental at least to give it a try.

Homefront was a game I went into with pretty low expectations. Another FPS only this time instead of being an American soldier in a foreign land you are a guerrilla fighter struggling against the foreign occupation of America. I was hooked in by this game within five minutes as I saw all the horrible things that were happening to Innocent civilians. And the feel of the great struggle never went away the whole time. If you are a fan of Red Dawn you need to play this game. Everything else was standard for an FPS so rent it and have fun with the very short but compelling campaign.

So I am going to be off grid for a little while since Infamous 2 comes out next week.

Review

Best selling game of all time? This is a joke right? Our gaming universe is over saturated with FPS games and some of them are great (Rainbow Six Vegas series), some of them are awful (Like that Rouge agent one or whatever it was called), and some of them are just levels of okay (Battlefield series, MW series, and COD series).

I finally played this game months after release because I keep getting bugged about playing it. I had it for about 48 hours before it was returned to Gamestop. Seriously the multiplayer was stale. Most FPS multiplayer is lame to me after playing so much MAG. The campaign wasn't bad but it wasn't great either, the set piece moments in it were nothing compared to something like the Uncharted games. The graphics, sound, and gameplay are all capable for our current generation but nothing to rave over.

Honestly I see no reason to own this game, like most FPS games it felt pointless to go back after the campaign was finished, and the only saving grace this game has is a zombie mode where you can play as JFK, Castro, and a few other political officials from the 60's.

Seriously people if games like these keep getting bought in such large numbers they will keep making them. We need something to break up the monotony in our current gaming trends. More projects like L.A. Noire (see below), or anything from team ICO, and maybe more like Heavy Rain. Honestly we just need games with more depth, enough with this FPS train that we all seem to be riding.

Review

I believe this game will be a changing force in gaming. It is also one of my top five games of all time.

Let's start with the graphics. This game is going to be known for it's facial animations; everything else in the game is standard for this generation, but the facial animations are unlike anything we've seen before in gaming. With the tech that Team Bondi used, you can actually see emotion in people! There were enough actors in the game whom I recognized, that I kept saying things like, "He is in Fringe" or "Hey, he was in Heroes". When my character would accuse someone of lying, and I'd see them freak out in front of me and display real emotion was a pure treasure for me. It shows not only how far gaming has come but the direction we could take adventure and RPG games in the future. To top it off the re-creation of 1940's L.A. was surreal.There are not enough good things I can say about this game!

When it comes to sound this game is on the level with great movies. The voice acting and delivery of the dialog is superb. I was also impressed by the 1940's music throughout the game as well.

This game played unlike anything before it. With the questioning of suspects and witnesses, and investigating crime scenes for clues, it gives a real freedom to how you approach things. It was also great to know you could mess up....miss clues.....lose suspects and arrest the wrong people. I think this game will play different for everyone depending on how they see the cases. There were several times that I felt I was arresting the wrong person even though the evidence said they were guilty.

The story is unbelievable, all I can really say is that if you complain about games being shallow and empty then you owe it to yourself to play this game. The story will sometimes play out in ways you won't believe.

In closing I love this game, as I said before it is now in my top five games of all time. I can't wait for the DLC to start to drop or for the PSN store to be back up so I can download the traffic case that I got for my pre-order.

Top 5 List if anyone cares (no real order to it)

Act Raiser (SNES)
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
Chrono Trigger (SNES)
Red Dead Redemption (PS3 & 360)
L.A. Noire (PS3 & 360)

*this post was lovingly edited and made easier to read by my super awesome wife*

Review

Now for a review of two very different shooters. Crysis 2 was boring for the first 5 or so levels but really picked up after that and became a lot of fun with all the nano suit powers to play with. However I enjoyed Bulletstorm so much more, it had better characters better weapons and much better gameplay. It was however much more vulgar....and filled with language.

I liked both of them as rentals but I would never own either of them.

Review

I remember spending hours in Diablo and Diablo 2 grinding levels but mostly looking for better loot. Now I am able to scratch my Diablo itch with Torchlight, this game is fantastic.

As stories go it is something a 5th grader could write, there is a town called Torchlight and underneath it there is a great evil. So you need to go down through the mines and unexplored ruins to vanquish it.

The sound is standard fair for a click and kill loot game nothing fantastic and nothing bad.

The graphics are nothing to marvel at but the art style brings this world alive.

The gameplay is why this game is so popular. It is very much a Diablo clone even down to some of the on screen HUD. There are three class types to choose from a warrior, a mage, and a rouge type. You also have a pet that follows you where ever you go and they will fight along side you killing weaker foes if they can. The big draw is what made the Diablo series great killing masses of enemies and finding new gear to make you better at killing masses of enemies. I have heard some complaints about this but honestly it is no different than playing a FPS and going through random rooms shooting cookie cutter characters.

In closing this game is great for adventure and RPG fans, and if you were a fan of Diablo you are doing yourself a great disservice if you do not play this game.