I'll be talking about all things video games. I'll be reviewing new and old games, talking about the latest news, and anything else that has to do with games.
The last piece of DLC for Mass Effect 2 was finally released and it sets up the third game very well. The DLC called “Arrival” sees Shepard taking on a mission for Admiral Hackett, the Alliance Admiral who gave Shepard missions in Mass Effect 1. A deep cover operative in Batarian space has been captured and Shepard has to save her from a Batarian torture camp.
The mission is fun and leads to a nice twist at the end but it seemed a little short, other pieces of DLC like “In the Lair of the Shadow Broker” seemed to have more substance to it however, the DLC does set the third game up nicely and sees Shepard making a very tough decision that seems like it will have major consequences going forward. Because of that the DLC is worth the price.
There isn’t much to say about the graphics and gameplay since it is all the same quality as the game itself, the DLC does introduce a new star system and some new scenery which is very well done. If you liked the game then you will enjoy this DLC pack, it is essential to the overall story arc and will get you psyched for the third game.
Hey guys, I know it's been a long time, I'm gonna try to update this blog more often. Anyway, I just need to vent a little frustration I've been having with my DLC of late.
Apparently, some companies (Bioware in particular) have changed the format of their DLC so that it can't be played offline. Now every time I attempt to load a Mass Effect 2 save game I get an error message saying that the game can't be loaded because the DLC is corrupt. I've had the same problem with Fallout games in the past and it really bothers me.
If I buy content and download it to my hard drive that copy of the content should be mine, not contingent on a factor like if I am currently connected to the internet. Especially at home, I play a lot offline and it is a real hassle to connect to the internet. My family's router is in the basement and my Xbox is in my room. I don't feel like shelling out $100 for a wireless adapter for the Xbox.
So if I ever want to have DLC I need to make sure I am connected to the internet and sometimes my connection isn't the best. The internet in my dorm is touch and go at times and I couldn't play Mass Effect 2 yesterday after I downloaded the new Arrival DLC because of it. I paid money for that DLC and now because of it, and several other pieces of ME2 DLC that I've purchased, I can't even play the game because all my saves have the DLC in them. So I would have to start a new game just to play at all, and that new game wouldn't feature the DLC that I paid for.
This whole system is completely messed up, it reminds me of the Amazon e-book thing, where the e-book wasn't authorized so they basically pressed a button and everyone who had a copy just didn't have it anymore. This caused a stir and for good reason, digital download may be quick and easy but it also lacks the permanence of a hard copy. Short of someone coming to your house, no one can take a disc or book away from you but apparently digital downloads can easily be stripped from you when the company feels like it.
This might not be quite as annoying if it wasn't so clear that the industry is heading towards more and more digital distribution. Most likely, game companies and console manufacturers will try to push all digital games and people won't be able to access them unless they are online. Online is great but it isn't accessible to everyone all the time, I don't feel it is a necessary step to be able to play a game. Needing a TV? Sure. Needing electricity? Fine. Having to be connected to the internet? No. Even if all Xboxes (is that the correct plural?) have WiFi, mine doesn't by the way, it still isn't fair to make a customer have a constant internet connection. What happens when we can't connect to the internet? We play video games, right? But if this keeps up the two will be in the same boat, when the internet goes down we also can't play games.
I connect to the internet at home only to download content that I can then play offline. If I want to play on Live then I use my brother's Xbox which has a wireless adapter. I might be in the minority with that but I still feel that a good amount of people have spotty internet connectivity at best and this really hurts their ability to play a game. At the very least it's a nuisance.
We'll that's my little rant, I'll try to post Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime and Mass Effect 2:Arrival reviews soon but I guess that all depends on if the internet is being nice to me or not.
InFamous on the Playstation 3 is one of the best games that I have played in a while. The gameplay, story, and graphics all combine together to create a great experience that gamers will love.
The story begins in Empire City as an explosion rocks the town and kills thousands. At the source of the blast is your character, Cole. Cole begins to develop electricity based super powers and he struggles to learn how to control them as the city is put under a strict quarantine. Cole and his friend Zeke attempt to escape the city but are thwarted by an overwhelming military force at the only bridge out. Cole is captured and given a deal by a woman named Moya. She will get him out of the city if he can find her husband and a piece of technology called the Ray Sphere that gave Cole his powers to begin with.
This is where the game begins in earnest, Moya sends Cole on several missions to reestablish power through underground substations. With each of these stations Cole recharges, he gains a new power. You have a meter that shows your electricity level, this allows you to perform special moves, you can recharge at any electricity source, like a generator. Doing this also heals Cole although he will heal with time but recharging boosts his healing time.
The main attack Cole hasis a shot of electricity from his hand, this does not drain any charge from the meter so Cole always has something to defend himself with. Cole will gain the ability to glide, form a shield of electricity, and grind on railroad tracks and power lines, over the course of the game. These abilities do not use up any charge and with upgrades, the grinding actually recharges Cole.
Other attacks include an electricity grenade, a lightning storm Cole can summon from the sky, (and you use Sixaxis motion control to guide it), and a precise shot feature which slows down the game and zooms in so you can hit enemies from a distance, like a sniper.
The game’s controls are impressive and they are relatively easy to master. The enemies are numerous and creative although it is never exactly explained where they came from or what they are (many are too large to be human beings) and many are wearing masks. Sometimes it seems like they take too many hits to die but that is part of the challenge of the game.
The game’s structure is open world, like Grand Theft Auto, where you can go to areas to advance the main story but you could also go off on numerous side quests. The side quests are ok but can be frustrating and a little repetitive (I ran across the counter-surveillance quest twice and it was climbing a building and destroying surveillance devices, they were hard to spot and the game didn’t need this kind of quest more than once.) I like this structure because I love a ton of side quests in the game but the first time through I like to beat the main story first.
The graphics are impressive and everything looks very good, I even like the cut scenes where they are like panels of a graphic novel. It is a fresh perspective and it is not used too much but just enough to keep it interesting. I didn’t really notice any framerate problems, there was some minor clipping but it wasn’t too bad and I didn’t get stuck somewhere because of it so it wasn’t too much of a problem.
The story is engaging, it pulls you in and keeps you guessing as several twists are added in and your actions, good or bad, can have real effects on the course of the story. The choices you make feed into a karma system where good choices make you more like a hero and bad choices make you more like a villain. This is present in other games I’ve played, like KOTOR, but the main difference here is that your powers are different if you choose to be good or bad. The upgrades will say good only or bad only and I like this because it adds to the replay value of the game and makes it really worth it to play both sides. Your karma also affects the side quests that are available to you.
Overall this game is fantastic, the graphics are nice and clean, the gameplay is smooth, the story is interesting, and the overall experience is one that I will definitely go back to again. I highly recommend.
Pros
-Great story, graphics, and gameplay
-Different powers and side quests for different alignments
Sorry for the long delay, I got lazy again but I've played several games since I last updated the blog so I have a lot of new material to get to. I bought a Wii and received a PS3 for Christmas so I'll be reviewing games on those systems as well. Stay tuned, I'll be posting some reviews very soon.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was released in 2008 and was one of the most successful Star Wars games released both critically and from a sales stand point. A sequel was expected and it has finally come. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 is the continuation of the story of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice taking place between the 3rd and 4th movies in the series. The gameplay is very similar with finishing moves still using a sequence of button combinations shown on screen and with the basic powers still being controlled by the same buttons. (B is force push, for example) The big difference is the addition of a second light saber that Starkiller uses. This allows for more combos and more destruction. The world is fairly destructible, about the same amount as in the first. There are some environmental puzzles to solve but none are too challenging. Visually this game hits the mark, the graphics and ambience are superb and the cut scenes are fantastic. The animations on the characters are great and you can see emotion in the faces of the main characters. The story is thrown together and doesn’t truly advance the story of Starkiller, most of the game focuses on Starkiller trying to track down Juno and protect her from the empire. The whole game seems like a prologue and just when I felt the game was about to begin it was over. That’s another issue with this game, the length is unacceptably short. It only took me a couple hours to beat and there are only a few levels. The first game was great for its numerous locales that contrasted one another nicely; there are only two real locales in this game with the rest happening on a ship in space. What we do see of the two worlds is impressive but it still is an underwhelming showing of the vast and colorful universe of Star Wars. With the vast array of possibilities for this game it should have soared even higher than the first but it ends up falling far short in the story department. The gameplay is fun and wreaking havoc on tons of storm troopers is fun but I can’t help but feel disappointed over the throw away story and the lack of locales. The game does lead into another sequel so hopefully the story will pick up in the third installment but if this is any indication the story is stuck in stagnation. Overall the game if fun to play but is too short, too one dimensional in its story, and is overall not the sequel I was hoping for. Pros -Fun gameplay -Awesome Force Powers Cons -Too short -Thrown together story 6/10
Fallout: New Vegas, is a sequel to the 2008 RPG hit Fallout 3. Bethesda Softworks tapped Obsidian, the developers of Knights of the Old Republic 2 to develop the game while Bethesda developers are busy at work on Fallout 4. The game was hyped up heavily and there were a lot of expectations going in, did the game live up to the hype? Let’s find out.
The game takes place a few years after the events of the previous game but on the other side of the country so is no story overlap and you do not see a continuation of the Lone Wanderer’s story. Instead you play a courier who is ambushed by some thugs, shot in the head, and left for dead in a shallow grave. A robot named Victor pulls you out and brings you to the local town of Goodsprings where the local doctor patches you up. From there the game begins in earnest and the entirety of the Mojave wasteland is open for exploration.
The Mojave wasteland is about the same size as the Capital wasteland and there are just as many, if not more, things to see and do. Numerous side quests are available as you venture into the wasteland but if you want to find out who tried to kill you, the main quest is the way to go.
A key difference from Fallout 3 is the reputation system. In New Vegas there are numerous groups vying for control and you will earn a reputation with each group as a loved figure, a villain, or something in between. This is not in place of the karma system which is still in place but is not as prominent as it was in Fallout 3.
The controls have remained mostly the same so players should have no trouble slipping into the shoes of the courier and going for an adventure. The VATS combat system has remained unchanged and a new “iron sights” mode allows you to look down the sights of a weapon, which makes it feel more like a shooter.
The level of detail in the game is amazing; there are so many quests, items, upgrades, ammo types, and other things that you could spend an eternity trying to figure it all out. The Fallout mythos from the first two games is brought back to life as the New California Republic makes an appearance along with the Brotherhood of Steel. The super mutants are not the same yellow monsters from Fallout 3’s vault 87, they are much more like the ones in the original two Fallout games.
One main attraction of the game is the New Vegas strip, which is still receiving power from the Hoover Dam and several casinos are up and running. When the bombs fell in 2077 none hit Vegas directly so many of the buildings and infrastructure remained intact. Once the player gains admittance to the Strip all kinds of things can be enjoyed like shows, card games, slots, and more. Although the Vegas casinos still run the developers did an excellent job of showing the decay that would occur from almost 200 years of non-use. The buildings are not clean, the streets are cracked, and it still looks like Fallout. There is definitely a 50’s vibe to the city with one group being a bunch of Elvis impersonators.
While there are many things to see and do the game does suffer from flaws that hold it back from being a great game. Several of the side quests are glitched and one cannot be successfully completed as of right now. There were several instances of unusually long load screens, freezing, clipping, and other technical problems that should have been polished out.
Along with these problems are followers who don’t follow you, or appear randomly in a fight. Also whenever the last enemy of a group is killed there is a slow motion kill cam but this can be triggered by your companion and when this does happen your character turns around. It may be a small thing but it is annoying to be pointed in the opposite direction of where you want to go just because your companion decided to not bypass the radscorpion 200 feet away from where you were walking.
In terms of the ending, without spoiling anything, I will say that is suffers the same problem that the pre-Broken Steel Fallout 3 had. They develop this massive world but don’t let you explore in it after you have completed the main quest. Hopefully this will be fixed with DLC like Fallout 3 was but for the mean time it is a big annoyance.
I could go into detail about a lot of the other aspects of the game but that would drag on. The game is fun for sure but it doesn’t meet the high bar that was set by Fallout 3. The technical issues are annoying and the whole world just doesn’t seem to have the same charm as the Capital wasteland, even the disc jockey isn’t as charismatic or as fun to listen to as Three Dog. Overall the game is a fun romp through Vegas but not on par with its predecessor.
Pros
-Massive open world with incredible detail and tons to do
-Imaginative storyline and well developed characters
Hello and thanks for checking out my blog. I'm a 23 year old graduate of Fordham University. I am a video game journalist working at VGutopia.com and an avid Ghsotbusters nut.
