Review

Everyone in the gaming community should appreciate the Deus Ex series (Invisible war does not count because it wasn't an actual Deus Ex game) it is a corner stone of first person RPG mash ups.

Deus Ex Human Revolution is a great addition to the series and hopefully it's success will guarantee additional entries into this stellar series. I can't reveal too much about the story, but I will say that it is full of mystery and conspiracies and you have to unravel them.

The graphics are good and the art direction is great, the world feels familiar and unique at the same time giving you a sense that this world is real.

The audio is stellar, voice acting is top notch with just a few hiccups of poor delivery only a very few times. The explosions, gun fire, and close quarters attacks ring with devastating beauty.

Of course the gameplay is what makes this game epic. The joy of Deus Ex is being able to choose your own path depending on your play style. You can sneak through air vents hacking security systems to unleash turrets or robots on their owners or you can equip a heavy rifle and politely knock on the door with a hail of gun fire. THe point is that no matter what your preference is you can play this game and have fun.

This game is a must play for this heavy holiday season and a great addition to any RPG lovers collection. My next holiday game I know I am playing is RAGE, and of course a review will follow it's completion. Hopefully faster than I am posting this one, since I am half way through my second play through of Deus Ex all ready.

(Hopefully some day I will get my hands on Dead Island, I am very interested in that title as well)

Review

Yes I am aware that Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is an older title, but I never had the chance to play it before. I think it is a big improvement over the original. The graphics are sharper, the gameplay is tighter and it covers a big topic in the Marvel Universe. The Super hero civil war over the registration act.

It follows the same pattern of the X-men Legends games and the original Ultimate Alliance. It is a top down view action RPG. One big draw is the ability to play online with friends up to 4 player co-op each controlling a different character. The fusion abilities of the characters are cool too. Being able to mesh powers for major damage attacks is always fun.

I am a huge comic fan, I prefer marvel to DC, and any game where you can play as Captain America is always worth a look to me. If you never hit this title and you are looking for an action game with RPG elements then give Marvel UA2 a look.

Any recommendations out there for games I should play? I am coming up a little unsure as of late, and none of my holiday titles come out until October.

Reviews

Okay so I have been very busy, between school, my family, and getting ready to move I have really slacked on updating my blog. I have several posts to do in order to catch up so I am going to do one massive post here of several reviews. Kind of like a shotgun......messy but effective.




First off I played two very different Fighting games. Mortal Kombat and Marvel vs. Capcom 3, as much as I love Marvel and Capcom I was not very impressed by this game. It played very erratically it was a complete button masher and there just didn't seem to be any tactics to the combat. Mortal Kombat on the other hand I was pleasantly surprised the fighting felt smooth and there was very deep levels of tactics on how to approach different encounters. If I had to recommend only one I would say go with Mortal Kombat instead of MvC3.



The next two games I have been played are both in a very similar boat and it is also the same situation that Tron Evolution found itself in and I liked that game too. It seems common place lately that games that aren't shooters keep getting bad reviews and I often wonder if it is because the market is so saturated with first and third person shooters that reviewers are somehow brain washed into thinking that if a game doesn't give you a gun then there is something wrong with it. Anyway first off we have Hunted the Demon's Forge, a fun and frantic hack and slash game with a few flaws but very solid mechanics and an intriguing story line to boot. I have high hopes for a sequel to this game so that the developer can fix the problems that it faced.



The last one, and one I bought on a risk, is Captain America Super Soldier. I picked this game up despite the many reasons that I shouldn't have: first it is a marvel game produced by Sega and they have a horrible track record thus far with the two Iron Man games and the Thor game; second that it is a licensed movie tie in game and frankly they are always less than good. But I love Captain America, he is my favorite Avenger, and my second favorite Marvel character overall. This game is not an amazing game, the story is a side story from the movie so at least they avoided that pit fall but it is not very deep as action adventure games go and the platforming is more of a following a line sequence than an actual platforming area. The thing that I love about this game though is that the combat is amazing, it runs on a free flow combat engine very a kin to Batman Arkham Asylum, and as Captain America with the shield it is even more fun than in Arkham Asylum. I highly recommend this game simply because I love the Cap, also as a side note the Movie was fantastic and you must all go see it.

Okay so that sums up the last few weeks of my gaming and I won't blog again until after the move. So read or not take my advice if you wish but don't be so quick to judge some games just because they aren't First Person Shooters.

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.