Category Archives: Xbox 360

All Games related to the Xbox 360

Microsoft E3

Posted by Zachawrath on 10/06/2013 – 7:51 pm
Filed under Xbox 360, Xbox one

Microsoft has learned their lesson today and as soon as it started they had said that they are only going to show games and that is what they had brought out.  I was amazed of all the games that they had shown and surprising there was no kinect.  They did show voice support but they did not use the motion control and they are really trying to integrate smart glass. To open up I was surprised that they opened up with Metal Gear Solid Phantom Pain showing that it is now open world and a new generation of stealth and it looked amazing as it went from a cinematic to the game in a split second.   Before they had shown the rest of their games they had a few announcements for the 360 and that was they just now today put out on shelves a brand new 360 that has the looks of the Xbox One. The other announcement for the 360 was that now gold members starting July 1 they get 2 games for free every month.  Finally for the last announcement for the 360 is that now the World of Tanks is going to be on the 360 which is amazing to hear about and will give it a try.

Now for the Xbox One games, the first one they had shown after Metal Gear Solid was Ryse Son of Rome.  It is crytek’s new game in which its based in Rome and you are a commander of an army.  As you were on a boat to invade a city starting on the beach and you walk off of the boat I thought the game was still playing a cinematic but it was all game play there was no black out to the actual game, it started right there and as you walked little cut scenes would happen which was really impressive. It reminded me of a video game version of 300 as you will have slow motion combat. Next they quickly showed off a remake of Killer Instinct but didn’t really go into detail so not much to say there. The creators of Ratchet and Clank  series Insomniac announced a new shooter for the Xbox One and this game took my attention to the new cloud function of the Xbox for they had said that they can change weapons and events because of it so maybe online always may not be so bad and it was called Sunset Overdrive and looks very much like a cartoon. Not surprising was the showing of Forza 5 but one thing had caught my eye and that the AI will not just be set as easy or hard, no they will learn as you play and use the skills you used in racing because of the Xbox’s cloud function and when they showed game play it was all game play no cut scene.

As soon as Forza was over they came out showing Minecraft Xbox One edition which doesn’t seem all that big but its good to know it will be on my Xbox One.  The first game showing off the kinect voice and smart glass integration was called Project Spark in which you create the world you want to play.  Using voice you choose the environment and time of day and texture of the world and with the Xbox Smart Glass you can mess with the environment in detail and once you are done with that you can go down into the world you have just created and give it life with your character.  You can make villages and in the show they had shown that you can give a rock a mind and it would walk around and attack enemies as he created a goblin camp. You can then upload your world for many others to play from all over the world.  It felt like an Xbox version of Little Big Planet and maybe even better for it had shown that you can create side scrolling types of maps and top down shooters, the possibilities are endless.

Right after they had shown something that I thought was just amazing.  As one person was playing Ryse Son of Rome they were looking for a multiplayer match in the game Killer Instinct as they were playing Ryse Son of Rome and when it was ready they instantly went to the multiplayer game which was amazing and they showed how you can get clips of a game you just played and you can edit it and put it up and soon after that they presented that you can instantly stream your games on twitch which was really awesome.  After that they had decided to go back to xbox live information in which now there are no points its actual money and one thing that is really cool but also sketchy is that if one person has gold on your xbox you do not have to be signed in to play online, you can be on another account which helps when you are wanting to play with a friend online but how will it work if they are playing on another xbox and you want to play online? After they had shown a game called Crimson Dragon but it was a brief gameplay so don’t really know much about it.

Capcom came out to present Dead Rising 3 and it looked amazing.  But for a game that is known the comedic zombie game it seemed like it was going to be very serious.  You can still craft weapons and it seems like you don’t need to find a table like you did in the second game and you can use smart glass in the game as you can call air strikes on zombies.  They had said that there will be no load times what so ever in the game and its open world in this huge city, and there were enormous hordes of zombies. After that they had CD projekt red confirmed that Witcher 3 will be on Xbox One and will be completely open world and promising hundreds of hours  of gameplay, can it be the next Skyrim?

There was so many things this year for Xbox and I still have 3 more games to talk about.  They had shown Battlefield 4 in which it had shown you on a boat as it is being ripped apart in half it was amazing to watch.  As you are on the surface of an aircraft carrier planes are sliding down from the run way and using the Xbox One engine the game looks amazing.  Once they had killed all the enemies on the carrier you jump on a little boat that shows how amazing the water affects are.  Right after that a video started showing a hulking character in brown ragged robe is walking through a desert.  My first thought was Destiny as the character stopped and a whole in the desert was being pulled in and something big was coming out but thinking it was Destiny was completely wrong.  A hand peaks out and pulls a dog tag from his neck with a green armored arm and the wind is blowing.  What seems to come out from the sand was a ginormous robot it seemed and the wind blows the hood of the character and it shows Master Chief and I was just shocked.  After the video they had Halo on the screen and 2014 but they did not say it was 5 they just called it Halo but I am hoping that it will have 5 or else we will get confused when we say we are playing halo.

For the final game they had shown TitalFall  which was a sci-fi FPS and as it had shown gameplay it reminded me of a next generation of Brink as you play singleplayer it will search for players and you play on what seems like a domination game type but it didn’t seem much.  Though what was really cool is that you can hop in some mechs that seem to be the biggest part of the game.

Again I was just amazed at how many games that they had shown and they did announce the price of the Xbox One which is $499 which is quite a lot I’m sure in my opinion and many others but we will see what happens in the future.  Good job Microsoft

Eurogamer Expo 2013 Gaming Expo Ticket Giveaway

Posted by Bodrul on 16/05/2013 – 10:52 pm
Filed under General, iOS games/Android, Multi Platform, PC, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, PSP, retro, Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox one
Tagged as ,

Eurogamers 2013 Gaming Expo Ticket Giveaway

Firstly a Thanks to Tom Champion and Eurogamers who are providing the Tickets for the Expo,

As you guys know Eurogamers Gaming Expo is one of the largest gaming events Held in the UK every year since 2008 and as the years have passed it has increased in Size and the number of people who attend each year increase.

Over 50,000 people attended last year and tickets always sell out within days

So this is your chance to Get hold of Tickets for Thursday the 26th

You will Get Two Tickets for the Day to attend Eurogamers with anyone of your choosing, you don’t want to be enjoying such a gaming Event on your own now?

You will get to play some of the latest Games to be released and soon to be released
Enjoy the Developer Sessions.

So the Question you must be asking,

How do you get hold of these great tickets?

Simple Register at http://www.gamingrev.com/forum/ and Say Hello (Introduce yourself in the new member section) and then enter the competition in the giveaway section :)

sticking around is optional but welcome :)

Winners will be picked at the End of July.

Details on what is on

RULES


You have to be a Resident of the UK to Enter and Be able to Make it to London on the 26th of September

You must be 16 or over to Enter this Competition

Winners will be notified that they have won on the 1st of August

by Participating in this competition you agree that your Name, Date of Birth and Email Address can be shared with Eurogamers if you win, As they will be sending you the Tickets.

Good Luck to everyone that enters

 

WatchDogs Trailer + collector’s edition details

Posted by Bodrul on 29/04/2013 – 9:05 pm
Filed under Multi Platform, PC, Playstation 4, Wii, Xbox 360
Tagged as , , , ,

WatchDogs

 

 

WD_SPECIAL_EDITION_mockup_UK

D1 SPECIAL EDITION

Product Description

You play as Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker and former thug, whose criminal past led to a violent family tragedy.  Now on the hunt for those who hurt your family, you’ll be able to monitor and hack all who surround you by manipulating everything connected to the city’s network. Use the city of Chicago as your ultimate weapon and exact your own style of revenge

 

The Watch_Dogs special edition contains bonus in-game content: the Breakthrough Pack single player mission!

Digital bonus content

  • Breakthrough Pack – A secret gathering is underway. The Chicago Club is negotiating power with Corporate CEOs. The Club has hired scramblers to block surveillance devices. Drive around the city to find the scramblers and take them out. Retrieve all names from the meeting and upload their images to the world.

 

  • Rewards (Unlocked upon completion of the ULC mission)
  • VEHICLE EXPERT PERK: Get free vehicles from your Underground Car Contact and earn discounts on select cars.

WD_UPLAY_EXCLUSIVE_EDITION_mockup_UK

 

UPLAY EXCLUSIVE EDITION

Product Description

Exclusive edition available only on Uplay website!

 

You play as Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker and former thug, whose criminal past led to a violent family tragedy.  Now on the hunt for those who hurt your family, you’ll be able to monitor and hack all who surround you by manipulating everything connected to the city’s network. Use the city of Chicago as your ultimate weapon and exact your own style of revenge.

 

The Watch_Dogs Uplay Exclusive Edition is dedicated to gamers who want to expand their gaming experience.

This edition has an impressive amount of additional content: it includes almost 1 hour of additional gameplay through 3 single player missions. Get the power of hacking and develop your special skills: you’ll be rewarded upon completion of the missions.

In addition, to make experience even more special, you’ll receive a dedicated steelbook™ offer. You’ll also have access to almost 60 minutes of additional gameplay thanks to 3 single player missions, and rewards upon completion of the missions.

 

Physical content

  • Exclusive Steelbook™
    • Palace pack: A police raid is planned on the luxury palace of an Internet mogul. His impressive databanks have intimate details on thousands of people…including Aiden Pearce. Break inside, wipe the hard drives and escape before the raid begins.

Digital content

Rewards (Unlocked upon completion of the ULC mission)

  • INVESTIGATION BONUS: Unlock more investigative opportunities inside the network databanks.
  • ATM HACK BOOST: Boost your cash rewards when hacking bank accounts.

 

  • Signature Shot: A biometrics weapon has been smuggled into Chicago for a captain of the Black Viceroys gang. The weapon only works with the first person who holds the gun.

Breach a stronghold, steal the package and be the first to hold the weapon.

Rewards (Unlocked upon completion of the ULC mission):

  • BLACK VICEROYS GANG COLOURS OUTFIT
  • BIOMETRIC ASSAULT RIFLE

 

  • Breakthrough Pack: A secret gathering is underway. The Chicago Club is negotiating power with Corporate CEOs. The Club has hired scramblers to block surveillance devices. Drive around the city to find the scramblers and take them out. Retrieve all names from the meeting and upload their images to the world.

Rewards (Unlocked upon completion of the ULC mission)

  • VEHICLE EXPERT PERK: Get free vehicles from your Underground Car Contact and earn discounts on select cars.

WD_DEDSEC_EDITION_mockup_WITH_AR_UK

DEDSEC EDITION

Product Description

You play as Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker and former thug, whose criminal past led to a violent family tragedy.  Now on the hunt for those who hurt your family, you’ll be able to monitor and hack all who surround you by manipulating everything connected to the city’s network. Use the city of Chicago as your ultimate weapon and exact your own style of revenge.

 

The Watch_Dogs DedSec Edition is the premium Collector’s Edition ideal for any fan wishing to immerse themselves in this hacker fantasy world!

In addition to the Watch_Dogs game, this edition contains a unique figurine of vigilante hero Aiden Pearce, steelbook, an artbook, a map of Chicago, the official soundtrack of the game, a set of 4 iconic character cards, a set of 3 collectible Watch_Dogs logo badges.

You’ll also have access to almost 60 minutes of additional gameplay thanks to 3 single player missions, and rewards upon completion of these missions.

 

Physical content

  • A 23cm Aiden Pearce Figurine
  • Steelbook™
  • DedSec Collector’s box
  • Watch_Dogs Artbook: artworks and illustrations that inspired the game
  • Original soundtrack of the game
  • Watch_Dogs map of Chicago
  • Set of 4 collectible cards: discover Watch_Dogs iconic characters through augmented reality
  • Set of 3 exclusive badges.

 

Digital content

3 single payer missions: almost 60 minutes of additional gameplay

 

  • Palace Pack: A police raid is planned on the luxury palace of an Internet mogul. His impressive databanks have intimate details on thousands of people…including Aiden Pearce. Break inside, wipe the hard drives and escape before the raid begins.

Rewards (Unlocked upon completion of the ULC mission)

  • INVESTIGATION BONUS: Unlock more investigative opportunities inside the network databanks.
  • ATM HACK BOOST: Boost your cash rewards when hacking bank accounts.

 

  • Signature Shot: A biometrics weapon has been smuggled into Chicago for a captain of the Black Viceroys gang. The weapon only works for the first person who holds the gun.

Breach a stronghold, steal the package and be the first to hold the weapon.

Rewards (Unlocked upon completion of the ULC mission)

  • BLACK VICEROYS GANG COLOURS OUTFIT
  • BIOMETRIC ASSAULT RIFLE

 

  • Breakthrough Pack: A secret gathering is underway. The Chicago Club is negotiating power with Corporate CEOs. The Club has hired scramblers to block surveillance devices. Drive around the city to find the scramblers and take them out. Retrieve all names from the meeting and upload their images to the world.

Rewards (Unlocked upon completion of the ULC mission)

  • VEHICLE EXPERT PERK: Get free vehicles from your Underground Car Contact and earn discounts on select cars.

 

WD_VIGILANTE_EDITION_mockup_UK

VIGILANTE EDITION

Product Description

You play as Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker and former thug, whose criminal past led to a violent family tragedy.  Now on the hunt for those who hurt your family, you’ll be able to monitor and hack all who surround you by manipulating everything connected to the city’s network. Use the city of Chicago as your ultimate weapon and exact your own style of revenge

 

The Watch_Dogs Vigilante Edition is dedicated to hard core fans who’d like to embody the hacker vigilante in real life! Thanks to the iconic cap and mask offered in this limited edition, you’ll feel just like a real modern day hero.

Also included in this edition: the Watch_Dogs official soundtrack and in-game bonus content: single player mission: Palace pack. Develop more hacking skills and unlock rewards.

 

Physical content

  • Vigilante Collector’s box
  • Aiden Pearce’s iconic cap
  • Aiden Pearce’s mask
  • Original soundtrack of the game

 

Digital content

  • Palace pack: A police raid is planned on the luxury palace of an Internet mogul. His impressive databanks have intimate details on thousands of people…including Aiden Pearce. Break inside, wipe the hard drives and escape before the raid begins.

Rewards (Unlocked upon completion of the ULC mission)

  • INVESTIGATION BONUS: Unlock more investigative opportunities inside the network databanks.
  • ATM HACK BOOST: Boost your cash rewards when hacking bank accounts.

Bioshock infinite

Posted by Bodrul on 26/03/2013 – 11:29 pm
Filed under Multi Platform, PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Tagged as , , , , ,

Welcome to Columbia
A far place from Rapture and the previous Bioshock Games.

Bioshock-Infinite-Logo-Large

Lets get started

You are Booker Dewitt, a former Pinkerton detective who has basically fallen  into the wrong crowd by gambling away his money and has debted himself, to get out of this debt he has agreed to take on a Job which will erase his debt to the people he owes the money to.

His Journey begins and his Job has been handed to him, Free and Elizabeth and hand her over to the people to wipe away his debts.

Unlike Bioshock 1 and 2 where you explore Rapture which is an undersea city and gloomy and very dark, Columbia is pretty vibrant floating city, where only few places are dark and miserable.

This is a big change from the previous games and something which strikes out most. not that I am complaining as I quite enjoyed not having to run around in the dark looking for objectives.

Speaking of objectives, One issue most people found in the previous games was a Loss in Direction when playing as they would get Lost, well Infinite has a solution for them.

A HUD which directs the user in the right direction of an objective, this is purely optional feature for players to use and something most people will just ignore while others who will use it.

 

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Skyline/Weapons
One great addition to this game and my favourite is Sky-Lines and the skyhook which allows you to travel from one area to another using the sky-lines.

now the skyhook isn’t some glorified tool used to just travel from area of the map to another, this is also a weapon used in melee attacks and can cause great amount of damage to your foes.

when you are in the tight position and you have some thugs or peace officers running at you and you don’t have your weapon ready, press melee and use your bruit strength along with the skyhook to take them out with ease.

While we are on weapons, I will be honest I don’t like the fact you are limited to how many weapon types you can carry, (you are restricted to two weapons) for me I found this to restricting as some situations call for long range sniper to close distant weapons.

It does add to the challenge on being ready and picking your weapons wisely and how you use them along with the abilities you gain as you progress through the game.

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Upgrades

you can still upgrade the weapons at terminals and aren’t limited to upgrading just one weapon, each kiosk allows you to upgrade as many items as you want (as long as you have the funds for it)
so you can upgrade weapons damage, Speed which is something which most Bioshock players are use to.

Now while we are on upgrading, You can also upgrade your abilities as you progress through the game, but this is limited and you have to choose which ability you want to upgrade.
Shield, Health or Salt.

remembering what you upgrade will affect you later on in the game,

For example upgrading Salt will give you more salt allowing you to use more powers over a longer period before needing o replenish yourself.

Same goes for Shield, this will allow you to take more of a beating before your health is affected and you need to start thinking about taking cover from the hail of bullets and beatings.

One last thing on upgrading, Yes that’s right you have more options on upgrading as you can upgrade your Vigors and make them stronger and more effective in the field.

For example would be Devils Kiss, this Vigor allows you to throw fire at opponents and set them alight, you can upgrade this for example to throw a bomb which splits into multiple fragments causing a larger scale in which it causes damage to opponents.

devilskiss_ONLINE

Enemies

One difference you will notice from the previous Bioshock games is that you are not fighting all deformed humans this time,
Bioshock Infinite brings you some new bad guys to kill and in some cases have your assess handed to you on a silver platter.

Yes you even get the privilege of having to go head to head with histories well known presidents George Washington even if it is his Robot counterparts.

Apart from taking on Robot replicas of George Washington you are also challenged by those who are dead and have been resurrected to those who are alive and well and not really seeing eye to eye with and really want you dead.

Now you might thinking ok this is all great and dandy and its fun shooting robots and humans, where are my monsters which Bioshock is known for? well don’t worry as you will also come face to face with supernatural beings and those who have been altered whom possess powers and abilities which are also immune to some of the Vigor you posses which requires you to think about how you fight them.

BioshockInfinite_MotoroizedPatriotFeaturette_1280x720

Elizabeth

One great addition to Bioshock infinite is Elizabeth and her ability to open up windows and bring in objects from other realities to help Booker in fights,  this ability can’t be used to randomly bring in any objects randomly but only where there is a tear and objects from other dimensions are visible can you ask her to bring it through to support you.

This can range from simple supplies to turrets to suppress incoming targets or to completely neutralize them.
 
The added companion is great as she comes in handy when you run out of ammo or are running low on health as she scours the grounds while you fight and throws you health, ammo and salt to help you out in combat.

lizbook_ONLINE

The graphics

The graphics for Bioshock is amazing, it has grown and it has adapted and improved much over the years, The texture even during game play is superb.
and I don’t mean it in a cheesy way as you start the game and you first set your eyes on Columbus and you see how vibrant it is. for me this was implemented perfectly.

Oct22-Screen04-Web

The Story

The story its self is pretty straight forward and not to complicated and without going into it as it would just rip it all apart for those who haven’t played it and spoil the hell out of it.

as you progress through the game you learn new things about your mission and Elizabeth how you two are interconnected.

this is made clear at the end as you see everything unfold in front of your eyes.

Personally I feel the ending lacked the same feeling  as the first and second one had on me, this is mostly one thing that disappointed me about the game as it lacked the same impact.

Apart from the story and the one issue I had with it, Bioshock Infinite was a great game and I will be honest about it, well worth the wait (even so it has been delayed so many times)I would say that delay has been worth it.

and I would recommend people to play this game and if you are a Bioshock Fan, what are you waiting for if you have not bought this already? Go out and buy it lol

What I would Rate the Game
Graphics : 10/10
Story: 8/10
New additions (weapons and Vigor) 7/10 , reason for this is limited weapon slots
Ease of play 10/10

Total score 9/10

 

The Wacky, Limb-Lopping Weaponry of Dead Space: Don’t Worry, They’re ‘Armless!

Posted by Retired on 10/03/2013 – 6:45 pm
Filed under Multi Platform, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Tagged as , , , ,

Dead Space Header

Dead Space made its inaugural appearance in 2008. It’s a futuristic, third person horror shooter, akin to the much-vaunted Resident Evil 4 (well, y’know, with more spaceships and less syphilitic farmfolk with craptacular beards/furious albino monks brandishing Medieval maces at your genitalia) in many respects. The rural, (presumably) urine-stained streets of Resident Evil‘s ‘somewhere ghastly in Europe’ village and Dead Space’s circa-2400, clinical spacecrafts are shockingly disparate notions, of course, but the two titles are both contemporary pioneers of the same genre-splicing sensibilities.

Nevertheless, while recent entries in Capcom’s seminal series have been the subject of disdain and contempt, and caused flaming bags of excrement to be placed on the doorstep of their HQ (how many expensive Japanese businessmen’s shoes were ruined by these -hypothetical- antics? HOW MANY?) for eschewing its horror origins in favour of balls out action WITH ITS BALLS OUT, this has not been the case with Dead Space. Why, prithee? I’d venture that it’s primarily due to the weaponry.

Lest we forget, Isaac Clarke (protagonist and possessor of the finest designer stubble in the cosmos) is an engineer. He is in no badass, renegade space marine from the depths of the devil’s dangling manplums (a la the entire cast of Aliens). As such, there was scope for EA to bolster the impact of this sci-fi horror franchise with elements pertaining to Isaac’s personality and abilities.

Psychological horror has always been a stalwart feature of the series. I’ll concede, there’s excessive gunplay, cruising inadvisably through darkened corridors only for something to spring from a corner and leave a trail of terror-urine streaking down your trouser legs and other such archaic elements of the genre -as seen in every damn horror movie in existence- but they are there merely to complement the tension of the mental aspects. Dead Space’s hallucinations, its traumatic visions (those of Isaac’s girlfriend Nicole beset him with alarming frequency throughout the second title, for instance), demonstrate the effects of a Necromorph outbreak beyond the physical. To wit: they’ll pluck your sanity from your ear with gleeful abandon, caress it momentarily in a manner akin to a lonely pensioner with their cat Herbert, before trampling it into the muddy, muddy ground.

Assailing an average, non-military ‘everyman’ with these psyche-ravaging events makes our protagonist and his plight more relatable. Do we want another space marine, unfazed by the fact that hell’s anus has opened in the middle of his kitchen linoleum and spewed all manner of demon abominations RIGHT AT HIS FACE? We don’t. What we need, and what we have in Isaac Clarke, is a guy that proclaims, “Holy balls. This is, to be frank, rather an uncool situation just here. Have I just fouled my space underpants? Yes, yes I have.” Or something to that effect.

Most pertinently, though, his occupation dictates the manner of combat that we indulge in with Dead Space. The ‘pistol,’ with which we begin every game of the franchise, has been dubbed the plasma cutter. It is a reappropriated mining implement, firing streams of laser-esque plasma to penetrate mineral obstructions and to ‘dig.’ Nevertheless, in hazardous situations (for which ‘having you gonads bitten on by a zombie/alien/ungodly thing’ would, I’d venture, qualify) it can function as a rudimentary gun.

Dead Space Screenshot 1

This notion of improvisation and opportunism prevails throughout. Other series stalwarts include the line gun (or, to use its technical moniker, the ‘im-82 handheld ore cutter line gun’), which -in Dead Space lore- was originally utilised for heavier-duty mining work than the plasma cutter. In our hands, it will dispatch opponents with a ludicrously lethal, wide beam-o-death. I’ll concede, the Dead Space trilogy has also granted us more conventional weaponry, such as the recurring military machine gun that is the pulse rifle, but these merely serve to complement the resourceful, scavenged air of your arsenal at large.

Further, it is the concept of brandishing cutting tools as opposed to bullets that enabled the games’ much-vaunted dismembering mechanic. Your hideous assailants, the necromorphs, cannot be dispensed by a simple headshot, as is often the wont of the genre. Instead, we must slice away their limbs by means of our laser beam-tinged equipment. It is, naturellement, rather a ghastly concept, to use rock-cutting tools to cleft the limbs from these ungodly marauding beasts, which is precisely why developer Visceral Games revels in it. Dead Space is renowned for its disconcertingly gore-drenched gameplay. It is exuberantly, excessively violent -rather akin to an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon, with less cats being stabbed in the eyeball- and conventional gunplay alone would do little to facilitate this. Remember that day it rained BLOOD-LEAKING LIMBS? Isaac does. That’s every setpiece in the game, right there.

When a series exhorts us to stamp on the bodies of fallen foes to shatter body parts further (so as to accrue extra pick-ups from them) we can expect nothing less.

The most recent iteration, Dead Space 3, bestows a remarkable range of weapon customization upon us. Again utilising our man’s proclivity for engineering-ness, he can assemble parts that you have gathered into you own perfect demise-dealer. Convention has a place once more with such business as a shotgun, and you can fuse an upper and lower tool (serving as primary and secondary fire) to enable all manner of oddities. An acid-spewing machine gun AND a freezing force gun in the same weapon? Huzzah!

Introducing this capacity in the third game was a masterstroke on Visceral Games’ part. It demonstrates how wonderfully disparate the gunplay of the series is from other games. It renders Dead Space 3 infinitely more replayable than its predecessors. I’d venture, also, that these new mechanics demonstrate how effectively these absolutely NOT a gun tools have been implemented. Working in tandem -in the most literal sense, they’re fused together in the same weapon- with coventional ballistics so seamlessly.

Images source: onlinegames.cat

Enchanted Arms

Posted by Retired on 01/03/2013 – 4:34 pm
Filed under General, Multi Platform, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Tagged as , , , , , , ,

Enchanted Arms.

Published by Ubisoft on 08 September 2006
Developed by FromSoftware Inc
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Role-Playing

 

I’ve Seen this Before somewhere…

The story goes that over a thousand years ago, war broke out. No-One alive today knows why it begin, or what it was about. (probably due to civilization as they knew it being wiped of the face of the the earth). For whatever reason, At some point during this war one side decided to create a group of self-Aware robots known as golems. these golems would do exactly as commanded even after the person giving the orders died (Despite being Self-Aware), and so consequently destroyed the world.(Though I’m not sure why!)

One day they stopped, for no reason at all (presumably they got bored.)

The humans came out of hiding, swiftly built the land using enchantment, conveniently forgot about the All-Powerful Devil-golems they’d created and pretty much everything they knew up til then, except enchanting.

Now skip forwards a thousand years and our slightly whiny protagonist Atsuma and his awesome friend Mary-sue, I mean Toya (who is so amazing that he has his own fan club and his lover follows him everywhere he goes. ) are busy skipping school to illegally battle golems and generally enjoy the festival the town has going on to celebrate something.During these celebrations, the town is destroyed and our plucky heroes run off to investigate and accidentally awaken the Queen of Ice, A dark and ancient devil golem, where a severe clothing deficiency.

Now the entire world is in Danger and only our band of misfit heroes can save it…

Seem familiar?

It should as this is pretty much the plot to every JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game) ever made. Even the robots aren’t exactly original.

 

All your base are… wait wrong game.

But just as poorly translated, a few times you will be given options and only be able to pick one because the rest mean nothing in English, it’s almost as if they used Google to translate it without actually checking what was being said.

Some of the Characters are fairly decent despite most being stereotypical of the genre, (the fanatically loyal knight, The wandering warrior princess, The self-obsessed reluctant hero… Etc… ) though they do develop and change throughout the story so at least that is a bonus.

The script is awful and uninspired. I can guarantee almost everyone will have, read, played or watched an incarnation of this story before. Characters will often expressly say how they feel instead of showing it as is the golden rule of storytelling. (though this could be because of the poor translation.) The English voice acting is terrible, emotionless and flat. ( the golems were never translated.) Fortunately there is an option to switch to the far superior Japanese voices. (possibly because I can’t understand them) and but at least they has some emotion in them.

 

Now for the good bit…

The gameplay is unfortunately very predictable and unless you are new to this particular sub-genre of gaming it holds no surprises. there is also a distinct lack of side-quests making it extremely linear. Which is a shame because it would have vastly improved both the game and it’s sales has they created more to do.

However the battle system is pretty cool and relatively unique. You take turns fighting and moving about a 3 x 4 grid and pick your attacks (much like final fantasy in layout) which have a limited range and require you to move  your team around the board in order to do the maximum amount of damage. (simple right?)

One of the best things is the amount of golems you have access to, well over a hundred different options with their own unique abilities abilities and skills make customizing you team very fun and enjoyable allowing you to play in the style and with the strategies you prefer. Your characters are also very customizable with a great deal of skills and powers available. although unfortunately the golems are not.

If your feeling lazy or just want to get the battles over quickly it can also be auto fought. which is helpful later on when you are required to grind out levels to beat the final boss.
It does have a mutliplayer mode however I’ve never seen anyone online so I personally have no idea how it plays. I would assume it’s much like the battles in the actual game so if you do get a copy of this game it’s well worth a shot to try the online with a friend as they servers are empty.

Apart from the very last boss who requires hours of levelling up, the rest are very underwhelming you often only realise that you’ve just fought a boss feel when either an achievement unlocked or a wall of text has stalled you for ten minutes.
On the visual side of things.  The game starts out beautiful then starts to get bad towards the end with textures and areas repeating themselves making it look like a bad port for the original Xbox and making it feel like it was rushed.

 

And finally…

The achievements in this game are really easy to get as they are given for just playing through the story. One playthrough should net you a full 1000g although two at the end are miss able if you make the wrong choice. for those who really loved the game or just want to ramp up that high score the game is also available in Japanese and Korean and allows you to net a total of 2700G out of 3000G for this game (the Korean version is glitched and some achievements will not unlock). Provided of course you own an NTSC-J console.

 

Summary

It’s a below average JRPG with an interesting battle system and some initially interesting graphics. It’s fairly user friendly with a decent battle system, easy to pick up and play and would make a great introduction to JRPGs if you have never played one, however for those with a lot of experience with the genre will probably find it uninteresting and below par.

 

 

If you want me to review anything in particular just message me on the forums, (Tcio123) or through Xbox live (Nomstuff) If I have it then I will review it, if not then I’m afraid I can’t help you.

©2013, Nomstuff, Nomsheep, Tcio123, All content is my own.

Super Meat Boy – a tasty treat

Posted by Shiznit1991 on 21/02/2013 – 11:43 pm
Filed under General, Multi Platform, PC, Xbox 360
Tagged as , , , , , ,

 

Developers Team Meat hand over control of our indie hero, “Super Meat Boy”, with eyes, ears and legs to give us a piece of cubed meat on a mission to save his damsel in-distress, “Bandage Girl”. An evil baby smartly dressed in a jar, appropriately named “Dr Fetus”, stars as his nemesis and captor of his damsel in distress (Sounds weird? Well I haven’t seen anyone question a certain super-fast blue hedgehog?). Armed with the speed to match Usain Bolt, you must run, jump, slide, rinse, and repeat multiple times through this timing based plat-former in an effort to save the love of our hero. Heard of this before? With the formula that seemingly every retro plat-former brings, Super Meat Boy adds some chaos amongst normality that we’re used to seeing in these types of games.

Firstly, I’ll begin with the graphics. Set in a 2D world the flat background compliments how it is meant to be played: in a typical retro platform fashion. There are multiple worlds to go through and with each environment there is its own style with various ways to bring about a fatality. With several worlds and multiple surroundings available, it comes with an array of different fatalities and formidable layouts for you to traverse, and subsequently annoy you with. The graphics are easy on the eye and they probably help nullify the anger that you shall no doubt feel whilst playing this game. That being said, the graphics are not what this game is about, that lies with the game play.
The game play consists of pure twitch thumb stick action. There is no other game where you shall hear the thumb stick hit the boundary more times; it is quite a fierce game on your nerves, emotions and the controller’s rubber. With the pace of the game, you may expect a slow response from the controller, but it’s actually quite amicable. The aim is to reach your goal at the end of each level, in the form of Bandage Girl, using your repository of skills: running, jumping and sliding down walls all whilst avoiding all things that could rip you apart, which are typically most things.  With the inclusion of over 300 levels across both easy and hard worlds through the ‘light’ and ‘dark’ respectively, there is plenty to be occupied with.

Finish times make this game competitive; there is an award for speed, with a set goal time visible to beat for an ‘A+’ grade, as well as bandages to collect from challenging positions for you to try and obtain in certain areas in addition to completing the level. These bandages are used to unlock other characters from both: different games, and from the Super Meat Boy game, for example, you can control Alien Hominid and Bandage Girl with enough bandages collected. Each character has a unique ability and characteristics; Alien Hominid can fire his gun downwards to give you a propelled jump. This game has a perfect mix for those looking for a challenge and casual gamers.  It also has boss battles, adding for extra difficulty which at times, can be quite challenging. I got stuck on one particular boss for a very long time; in fact I believe I rage quit it. A quite humorous inclusion (besides the cut-scenes), is the death montage visible once you complete a level. Each death is recorded and then played back to you once you complete the level. It’s a fairly mocking way of showing you your accomplishment, but it’s still a nice touch.

The games sound track blends fast paced, heavy, 8-bit like sounds in a concoction of Sonic and Metallica with both elements pulsing out to emphasize the game’s story and appearance. I’m a huge fan of what a game offers musically, with my favourites being the classics of Zelda and Super Mario (obviously) and this one may be up there now. “Super Meat Boy” gives something different to your listening pleasure. You can play the game and listen to the game consciously without being engulfed in the story which a lot of games miss out on. Unless there is a distinct part of the game where you can fully focus on the music, then most players miss the music in other games. With Super Meat Boy’s simplistic game play, you can both enjoy the game and listen to what it has to offer without losing out on anything. A link to the soundtrack can be found here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiki4UQEayw

What you find in this game is a gigantic mix of hatred and love. You can’t but help but fall in love with the game play  the soundtrack and the characters plight and desperation to find his love and defeat the antagonist; but you grow to hate the amount of times you try to repeat a level doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. It’s not the games fault; there are no glitches to blame and every time it is your fault as nothing changes upon restart, making it even more annoying. The split second difference between success and failure is emphasized marvellously in this game and can truly test patience and control.

For me, I’m extremely glad I purchased this little indie game, despite how long it took me to finally decide that I should. For those who love Super Mario Bros, then you can relate both through the title and through certain elements of the game play and will most definitely not be disappointed but this is definitely taking the plat forming genre to a new level. I would highly recommend this game to anyone looking for a challenge as it’s one of the hardest games out there but it is also simple and fun for those not willing to pull out their hair. Any game with a leader board pushes players to go faster than their friends and this will continue to do so. It may not be on the level of participation and aggression in beating your friends as games such as the Trials franchise, but it will definitely leave you sneakily trying to top your friend’s speed score without them knowing.

Overall I would give it an 7/10, but this doesn’t reflect the need to purchase it, which is a definite 10 rating! At only a cheap price of 1200 points on the Xbox Live Arcade I can’t believe it took me so long to invest in this adrenaline pumping plat-former. This game is also available on PC, Mac, and Linux.

 

 

Achiev(ement)ing the Impossible: What Drives Gaming’s 100%-ers and Collectaholics?

Posted by Retired on 27/01/2013 – 7:28 pm
Filed under Multi Platform, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Tagged as , , ,

Achievement 1

The longevity of a video game is an oft-maligned factor, and rightly so. With the ever-extortionate pricing of systems and titles, the canny player wants to be somewhat sure that their investment will pay dividends in terms of sustained entertainment. If they do not receive a prolonged barrage of fun-bullets straight to their delicate gonads -even the women- you can wager your wang -again, even the women- that the internet nerdsassins will disparage the game far and wide, even as they nurse a terrible rage-embolism and/or foul themselves in their outrage. WHERE IN THE NAME OF THE DEVIL’S DANGLING MAN-PLUMS DID MY MONEY GO, they’ll entreat. Or something to that effect.

And who wants that? No one, that’s who. To curtail this situation, developers would be advised to implement an expansive campaign/multiplayer component/both/whichever is appropriate to the title concerned. Let’s consider Resident Evil 6 (hold your nose, cork your buttocks, and tentatively approach it). Primarily regarded as a ghastly travesty from the depths of Satan’s underpants by players and critics alike, there was one element upon which Capcom did not scrimp: content. The latest iteration of Resident Evil is a vast prospect, with multiple scenarios, another to unlock, alternative characters that have a (slightly, I’ll concede) different journey through said campaign, an array of co-operative and competitive online modes… it’s a formidable undertaking.

As such, players with a penchant for its action-tastic shenanigans will certainly get their money’s worth, in a manner that innumerable ‘superior’ titles could not achieve. It’s a meaty offering, indubitably, even if said meat does taste akin to that diseased horse found in the trenches of World War I in a puddle of urine, presumably stewed by ravening soldiers.

Most pertinently, artificial manners of extending games’ lifespans are common. The advent of achievements and PSN’s trophies has ushered in a brave new epoch of ludicrous, pointless and infuriating enough to drive us to punch our own eyeballs in the face tasks. These will run the gamut from the conventional (subsequent playthroughs on elevated difficulty levels and suchlike) to the remarkably demented (screw you, Gears of War 3 and your ‘Seriously 3.0′ task! Screw you always!). Oftentimes, there will be no in-game salutation to your challenge-accomplishing prowess. A meagre, superfluous logo of said title added to your completed games list is not, I’d venture, cause to burst into exuberant song and/or slide down banisters on your ass like Mary Poppins. This is often all that your trophy/achievement electronic wang-waving will yield.

Achievement 2

Why, prithee, are we so beguiled by this very notion? Microsoft dubbing the fruit of the scheme ‘gamerscore’ is surely a contributing factor. If there’s anything us denizens of the virtual realm savor, it’s bolstering a score. In tandem with this, percentage bars and empty slots are a remarkable compulsion for many players. There’s a prevailing OCD-esque tendency to ‘exhaust’ every semblance of entertainment value from a game, like a vast… fun-sponge, if you will.

However outlandish an achievement or trophy may be, enterprising gamers will strive to vanquish it. With no real tangible reward for doing so, it becomes a fundamenal issue of pride and personal skill and/or tolerance for rage-inducing, tedious time-wastes. It’s an attitude rather akin to that of George Leigh Mallory, who partook in a doomed excursion to reach the summit of Mount Everest in the Twenties. What was his prompt response to the query WHY IN THE NAME OF SATAN’S SCROTUM WOULD YOU WANT TO ATTEMPT SUCH A DAMN FOOLHARDY THING? (This may -may- not be the precise question that he was posed, mark you.)

“Because it is there!”

This, as I’m sure us gaming afficionados will all attest, says it all. Hypothetically, a Metal Gear Solid game may proffer the trophy ‘Close Shave’, for instance. To attain this, one must shave Solid Snake immediately upon gaining control of him. Whereupon, you must utilise ACTUAL ARCANE VOODOO to bring one of the stubbletastic hairs to sentient life, and complete the entire game as said beardy-bit. Obscene as this patently is, there’d be a great gaggle of online guides to achieving this feat, and gamers attempting it, had Hideo Kojima deigned to include such a concept.

Before the advent of gamerscore, trophies, and other assorted incentives, we opted to impose our own challenges. We still do. I am currently in the midst of an umpteenth run through Final Fantasy VIII, in which I successfully endeavoured to acquire the ultimate weapon, the Lion Heart blade, at the earliest eventuality possible. Doing so necessitated many hours of the infernal Triple Triad card game, and an equally strenuous slog against malevolent dragons which WOULD NOT GIVE ME THAT LAST GODDAMN ITEM (Hey, Grendels! My middle finger remains eternally raised in your direction!) These shenanigans were entirely optional, and self-imposed.

That shield is so shiny... I MUST HAVE IT!

That shield is so shiny… I MUST HAVE IT!

Further, it is telling that I steadfastly insisted upon exacerbating the effort by acquiring the finest weaponry for the rest of my party at the same time. It is not a difficult game, per se, and you could merrily stab all the monstrous abominations that you face right in their scaly genitals sans ultimate weaponry. But would you?

It is a trope frequently found in the RPG genre. Everybody’s best equipment has a proclivity for being hidden SOMEWHERE IN AN OBSCURE CORNER OF THIS BIG-ASS WORLD MAP. Such wonderment cannot be purchased from an overweight shopkeeper that smells of garlic and body odor like everything else. That would be logical and convenient! Nuts to that! In lieu of any of that sort of business, you must traverse an underground labyrinth, wrestle a gaggle of furious Tyrannosaurus Rexs, locate the seventeen rings of power, and watch a couple of hours of Lifetime TV without vomiting outraged blood from your eyeballs. Only then shall the game deign to permit you to equip Excalibur: the Legendary Sword of Stabtacular Glory, Imbibed With a +11 Charm of Death-Inducement (Point Away From Face).

Will you do so? Of course you will.

Images source: www.videogamesblogger.com

Fantastic four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Posted by Retired on 24/01/2013 – 5:33 pm
Filed under General, Multi Platform, Xbox 360
Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

Published by Take 2 Interactive on 15 June 2007
Developed by Visual Concepts
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Action

 

Right, so for my very first review on this site I shall begin with my least favourite type of game…

 

…Movie tie-ins.

 

I’ve played quite a few movie titles before, (Enter the Matrix, Blade etc). Some of them were amazing, but most were horrible disappointments, so I understandably went into this game with very low expectations.

 

I would love to tell you all that I was surprised and Fantastic four turned out to be the best thing I’d ever played (I really like Marvel.) However, unfortunately I would be lying, for this game was painfully average.

 

First up a very quick summary of the story-line for those of us who haven’t seen the film. The silver surfer has come to earth as a herald for our planets destruction, he is soaking the world in cosmic energy to allow Galactus (the devourer of worlds) to come forth and much up our planet.

 

It’s now up to you and the rest of the fantastic four to stop him and save the day…

 

Throughout most of the campaign you will play as one of the members of the Fantastic Four. You can choose between The Thing, The Human Torch, Invisible Woman or Mr fantastic. If you wanted to you could also bring in up to three buddies to play with you as the game is co-op, the co-op all works on the same screen so like all same-screen co-ops it’s a confusing mess. It isn’t something I’d subject my friends to, but then I like my friends.

 

The actual levels where you are part of the team are really, really poorly designed and very linear even though you do require to use all characters at least once in the game, throughout you’ll regularly get a feeling of deja’vu. It has a very simple pattern, the more you play the more you’ll begin to notice it. Cutscene, go through a door, fight hordes of exactly the same looking bad guys, activate a button(s), activate an elevator(s), move on, more cutscenes, rinse and repeat until you get to a sub-boss or mini-game, kill him or fumble through and return to the previous formula.

 

There are also a few flying mini-game sections which I would assume were put in to break up the monotony of the elevator formula. but these are somehow far, far more tedious than even that. You play as Johnny and spend up to ten minutes flying through exactly the same two sections of tunnel over and over again until you have finally caught up with whatever you’re chasing.

 

The final type of section happens once for each character (with the exception of johnny, who has the mini-games.) You have to solo for a few minutes. The characters end up being pitched against enemies that they are entirely ineffective against and will knock you flat and stamp on you, pretty much taking all of your life away.

 

The game play is really underwhelming, it’s almost impossible to die even on fantastic difficulty as your characters will revive themselves within a few seconds, rendering the difficulties useless (unless in solo section). Although If you do die as your main, just move to a different one and go hide until he’s back.

 

Everyone except Ben is under-powered with pretty much useless powers, the ones that are useful are almost impossible to aim so they never hit their target anyway. playing with Ben however well make you almost invincible as almost nothing except the bosses can actually hope to down him. the higher up his levels go the less skill required to play since why us skill when button bashing works so much better?

 

The boss fights themselves are pointless, they feel more like puzzles than actual battles. you go in expecting a epic battle versus a supervillian and end up having to arrange lasers. Not quite what I had in mind when I picked up an action game.

 

The graphics aren’t spectacular although they aren’t awful. they are pretty much average. Though as the cut-scenes load up you’ll quite often see the details slowly appear on the character.

 

The game actually has collectibles and extras which are made nigh on impossible to locate because of the repeating backgrounds, they also feel as though they were added as an afterthought since most are directly in the open.

 

The extra’s add some cool concept art and the ability to watch the cutscenes again but nothing too special.
The achievements for this game are pretty easy to obtain and most will unlock within the first playthrough, though you will have to go twice if you want to get 1000G. And once you’ve done them it really doesn’t feel as if you’ve achieved anything.

 

However on the plus side, lest this become just one long compliant. the controls are relatively simple to work with and master. The powers are varied albeit they’re a bit lacklustre. The cutscenes are quite well animated and contain a lot of the same humour as the films, though that’s probably because they are ripped straight from the films. they game loads quite quickly so you’ll have no issue getting into the ‘action’, and experience was plentiful so my characters could rise in level pretty quickly.

 

To summarize   This game plays rather poor movie tie-in which plays much like Marvel alliance except with a lot less variety and fun. it does require a previous knowledge of the fantastic four as it will often give you a name but never tell you which character to select. There are much better comic book games out there (the Punisher for PS2 springs to mind). Depending on what you’re playing it for depends on if it’s worth it. If you’re looking for quick easy gamerscore then go of it. if you’re looking for a fun co-op to waste an afternoon with your mates, don’t bother. Even though it’s only a fiver it’s not worth it, it really does belong where I found it: the bargain bin or for that matter any bin.

Tcio123

If you want me to review anything in particular just message me on the forums, (Tcio123) or through Xbox live (Nomstuff) If I have it then I will review it, if not then I’m afraid I can’t help you.

©2013, Nomstuff, Nomsheep, Tcio123, All content is my own.

Assassins Creed 3

Posted by Bodrul on 10/10/2012 – 5:48 pm
Filed under Multi Platform, PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Tagged as , ,

Assassins Creed 3

Well guys less than a month till Assassins Creed 3 will be hitting the shelf’s and this year I am happy to say unlike the previous year’s Ubisoft have gone ahead and allowed players to play campaign mode at Eurogamers expo.

This was a great bonus as it allowed us to truly explore the game play of Assassins creed and test out the new engine of the game.

Previously we were only able to play Multiplayer aspect of the game and it didn’t really give the feel that you want from a new release.

this time around you got to see the new features in action and try them out.

So Thank you for that opportunity

Quick Recap on what Assassins Creed 3 is about,

you are Connor Kenway and you are torn between literally two worlds,
as you fight for what you believe to be the true cause, born into a family of Britain’s and Natives you had to choice which side you want to fight for, of course you picked Liberty and Freedom on the side of the Revolution.

Unlike previous Assassins Creed games where the A.I always seem to take it in turns to attack you, in Assassins creed 3 its more adapted where the A.I will attack together and with the introduction of Rifles a new type of combat system has been introduced,

Meaning you have to think on your feat this time ;)

Meat Shield, when you have a group of men pointing their rifles at you and you really don’t have an option to run, what better way than to grab a soldier and use him to stop the bullets from touching you.

One great thing about this is it means no more running straight into the line of fire but more planned attack where you have to think about how you are going to take on a group of soldiers as fast and most effectively as possible.

Duel welding weapons, come on who doesn’t love this concept in games, only thing that came close to duel welding weapons in Assassins creed has been the two hidden blades but for full on combat their effectiveness wasn’t that great.

allowing Connor to use different weapons allows the user to use different combat methods to take on multiple enemy targets simultaneously and more effectively.

This is my Favourite and everyone will know why

The Hook and the Rope, sit in a tree or a building and go spear fishing for enemy targets as they walk past, throw and winch them up and leave them dangling.

what better way to kill an enemy target?

I Have left the best for Last, Open world got even more open with Conner being able to interact with more of the surroundings, this is notably being able to jump through the woods as this is set during the colonial period where it was mostly settlements and more forests.

This means you are able to climb up more areas then you have been in the previous games as the environment and times has changed considerably.

you get a better feeling for your surroundings as great work has been taken in the detailing from the texture of the environment to hunting wild animals, which I will have to hand to them they did a great job with as there is a large verity of wild animals to interact with.

One great thing about Assassins Creed 3, unlike its predecessors actually has more new features and it’s great to see Ubisoft develop such a great game.