No Dead Island Riptide

No, I am not going to review Dead Island Riptide. I didn't like the first game and it sounds like this one still has all the problems the first game had. ...Also I'm sick and tired of zombies.

INJUSTICE: Gods Among Us Game Review

Injustice: Gods Among Us is the ultimate clash of the titans that every DC comics fan has dreamed about. From NetherRealm Studios (the guys now in charge of Mortal Kombat) introduced the game to the world at the 2012 San Diego Comic Con. It drew my interest with its highly detailed character models (most of which DC should really consider using in future movies) and highly interactive levels. With the game building hype over the past year, it is finally out and after playing it, I am very pleased. It’s a very fun fighting game and is what fans have probably been hoping for. Is it perfect? No. But let’s take a closer look.

STORY: Fighting games are not exactly well known from having good stories. They’re mainly just an excuse to give reason to why everyone is beating each other up. If you’re playing a fighting game JUST for the story, then, well, you’re doing it wrong. That said, I was quite impressed with Injustice’s story mode. If you don’t want any spoilers then I suggest you skip down to the next paragraph. Heavily influenced by the Crisis on Two Earths story arch, several members of the Justice League find themselves somehow transported to an alternate Earth. On this Earth’s timeline, Metropolis was destroyed by the Joker, killing millions including Lois Lane and Superman’s unborn child. In his blind rage, Superman killed The Joker and unleashed his power on the world forming a brutal global dictatorship under his rule. Anyone who did not join him, he destroyed. The Justice League from Earth One find themselves having to stop their alternate universe selves and team up some unlikely allies to bring down the rule of this evil Superman.

Like I said, for a fighting game, I usually don’t expect a good or long story. But Injustice goes the extra mile and delivers a compelling story worthy of any of their comics. The cut scenes were entertaining and the story moves at really good pace so it never gets too slow or too fast and the fights never feel just thrown in there or pointless. The short mode is short at around 3 to 4 hours but I can’t see it going on longer than that and there is plenty of other content on this game. The game’s fighting roster is quite impressive with 25 well known and more obscure super heroes from the DC universe. You have the big six: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and The Flash and their arch enemies like Lex Luthor, The Joker, Sinestro, Doomsday, ect. But you also have some lesser known characters like Shazam and Ares.  All of these characters are portrayed really well and all have their own unique game canon endings when you complete the classic arcade mode with them.

Now I may be a big Batman fan but I will admit that the roster is pretty heavy on Batman characters. Oh, and no Martian Manhunter. You see him in the background of a level but you never get to play as him. I am a bit disappointed by that. The only real negative thing I can say about the game’s story is that it really won’t appeal to those who are not fans of DC comics. There are so many references to the DC universe through the story and game, it might require a little research to figure out who some of these people are and such. If you don’t like the comics or the cartoon shows, then you probably won’t be able to get into the story. For those who are DC fans, you’ll hopefully love the story.

GAMEPLAY: The fighting system for Injustice can be described as easy to learn, difficult to master. Most of the characters share the same button combinations for moves but they are all different for each. If you can memorize most of those moves then you’re good to go. One thing new that Injustice brings to the table is the ability to tag moves on the move list screen and display them for you below your life bar in game. This is something that I hope all fighting games do from now on. This almost eliminates having to keep pausing and unpausing to try and pull off a move. Each character has a unique ultimate super move which will trigger a mini-cut scene if it connects. For example, Superman’s super move will punch your opponent into space; Superman will fly up and slam them back down to Earth. Obviously, this does a lot of damage. While pulling off these moves are simple (hit L and R trigger together when your power meter is filled) and they are satisfying, they only have one cut scene for the move so seeing these moves over and over will get old pretty quick, especially if you’re playing the same character repeatedly. Another gimmick the game has is the Clash wager mode. When initiated, a mini-cut scene will start and you must pick how much of your power meter you want to wager by pressing the buttons that correspond on screen and then the characters will attack each other in an epic clash. If you win the wager, then you hurt your opponent and you regain some health and vice versa. This also depletes however much of your power bar you wagered. The idea is cool but it has some major issues. First of all, I have no idea how to initiate these things. They seem to happen at random during the match and often cause me to place my wager before I know what is going on. Secondly, if you’re playing against the computer, it is always going to wager everything it has so if you don’t have a full meter, you’re screwed. This was a neat idea but it could have been handled differently.

The stages are designed to be multi-tiered and interactive. There are all kinds of things in the level you can grab, kick, and blow up to use in your fights. The stages also fall apart as the fight rages on. It is easy to know when you’re near something that you can interact with as the button you need to press will appear near your life bar. This adds another level of strategy to your fights and how to make the best use out of the stage. You can also knock opponents into other parts of the stage if you hit them hard enough on the far right or left side of the screen and send them flying. These are a lot of fun to pull off. Something else that Injustice does that I haven’t seen before in a fighter is the removal of rounds during a match. You have two life bars instead with a brief pause for the characters to get up or taunt the other before continuing the fight. This keeps the game flowing instead of the screen having to reset itself and announce what round it is. The character victory animations are amusing but they could have used more variation. The same pose or lines of dialogue after each match gets old. Also the game is all one on one. There are no team fights or tag matches. This is definitely a missed opportunity here because you could have made some really interesting teams with this game’s roster.

There are many game modes to unlock and play in this game. Aside from the story mode, you also have the classic arcade, heroes only, villains only, mirror matches, and at least 20 other modes to play. There are also the STAR lab missions which are around 300 mini-missions to play with each character. You earn stars for each objective you complete in the mission. These are neat but the only way to know what the objectives are is to view them on the mission select screen. You cannot view them while in the mission or if you can, they are not clearly visible. This game has lots of content to unlock as well. You gain XP in all the matches you take part in and level up which unlocks costumes, artwork, music, ect which can be viewed in the archives. You also unlock pictures for your fighter ID card which has become a big thing in fighting games over the past few years. Personally, I could care less about it. There are no characters to unlock that I know of but there is a character DLC pack coming out very soon which will include Lobo. Oh, we’ll be fun to play as.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND:  Like I said before, DC should really use these designs for future movies. All the super heroes look awesome and have excellent designs. They are a mix of designs from movies and the New 52 comics. Hawkgirl’s design stands out with her beautifully rendered wings. The stages are also beautifully detailed and filled with all kinds of references to various DC comics. The Arkham Asylum level is filled with references to the Rocksteady Arkham games including some cameos from some of its inmates. The graphics for the cut scenes during the story mode are slightly less impressive. The environments look rather dull and dry compared to the actual fighting stages but this is pretty common in fighting games. Dead Or Alive 5 had the same issue. The artwork for this game is amazing. Just look up some of it. The same style of artwork is used for the individual endings for the arcade mode.

The voice acting in this game is great. It includes many voice actors from various animated versions of the Justice League reprising their roles, the most notable being Kevin Conroy reprising his role as Batman. Jennifer Hale did the voice of Hawkgirl. She doesn’t say all that much but when she did, I couldn’t help but think of Commander Shepard from Mass Effect. Tara Strong reprises her roles as Harley Quinn (started with Arkham City) and as Raven though Teen Titan fans might be disappointed that she speaks in a deep demonic voice rather than how she talked in the show. Sadly, Mark Hamill does not reprise his role as The Joker. The new guy is alright but Hamill’s voice is sorely missing. The music is fitting with an epic sound but nothing I would write home about. The voice acting is what will stand out in the audio department to the fans.

Overall, Injustice is one of the best super hero themed games I’ve ever played and one of the better fighting games I’ve ever played. Those two things might be the game’s greatest strengths and its greatest weaknesses. If you’re not a fan of fighting games, this will not win you over. If you’re not a fan of DC comics, I have a feeling you’ll have a very hard time getting into this game. If you are a fan of both fighting games and DC super heroes, go get this game now. It has its flaws but for the most part it’s a sold fighting game with a great story, lots of content and modes to play. I hope to see in the gaming rooms at conventions in the near future. Thanks for reading! My next review will definitely be the much praised and hyped Bioshock Infinite.

OVERALL: 8/10

PROS:
-Fun and easy to use fighting system with awesome unique moves
-Excellent story with lots of legendary characters to choose from
-Lots of content and DLC support on the way

CONS:
-Clash wager system, while interesting on paper, is poorly executed
-Super moves and victory poses lack variation and can get old quick
-This game is not likely to appeal to those who are not DC comics fans

Batman Arkham Origins: Predictions and Speculations

I love Batman Arkham City. I played that game so many times. I’ve played it so many times that I know exactly where all the Riddler trophies are and the quickest ways to collect them all. Arkham City is easily one of the best games I have played in the past five years and I have been waiting to hear what the next move for Rocksteady’s Arkham series will be. Earlier this week we finally got some solid info on the upcoming Batman: Arkham Origins. While I heard about this title earlier this year, I was worried that since it’s not being made by Rocksteady, instead WB Interactive Montréal, that this wouldn’t live up to previous game. However, given what I’ve read about the game this week and the potential it has, I’m getting real excited.  This is going to be a rundown of what is known about the game so far and some of my own speculations and predictions for the game. I wouldn’t say any of this is spoilers but if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t want to anything about a game before playing it, I would suggest you stop reading here.  I might also being giving some spoilers about Arkham City so if you haven’t played that game, stop reading now and go play it.

It was announced some time last year that the next installment in the Arkham series would be a prequel, not a direct sequel to Arkham City. If you’ve played Arkham City, you’d know there were many things in the game pointing to a definite sequel. Also during the Joker ‘acceptance’ video for winning a VGA award, he drops a script called Batman: Arkham World and then says ‘Oops! Spoilers!’ So I was a little disappointed to hear the next Arkham game was going to be a prequel and said to be set during the silver age of the Dark Knight’s comics. It was clear that they were going the Metal Gear Solid route in making the third game a prequel before making the true sequel to the second game (ie: MGS4 is the true sequel to MGS2, not MGS3). I’m fine with that but when it was announced that Rocksteady wouldn’t be handling the game I became disappointed again fearing that this might just be a cheap cash-in game to keep the fans held over.  However, after looking at what was revealed this week, Arkham Origins holds a lot of potential.

WHAT WE KNOW: So far it has been revealed that this will be set in Batman’s early days with heavy inspiration from the Batman: Year One story arch but it’s not going to just be a game version of the comic. What I find that the Arkham games have done really well is set up its own Batman universe while drawing inspiration from pretty much every medium Batman has appeared in. While they have mainly used the comics as source material, they’ve also taken inspiration from the animated series and movies (I can’t help but think the shark in Penguin’s museum was a throwback to the DEADLY MANEATING EXPLODING SHARK from the 60s Batman movie). I honestly like the characters, setting, and follow through of the Arkham games a lot more than Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy.

The setting for Origins goes like this. It’s set on Christmas Eve in Gotham City and there is some kind of gang war brewing between Black Mask and the Penguin. As Batman investigates, he becomes the target of several world famous assassins who have come to Gotham to kill the Bat. In addition to defeating these assassins, Batman must figure out who is behind it. The game will be open world and we will have free reign to explore Gotham City including what later becomes Arkham City. You will also have access to a Batcave (I don’t know if is THE Batcave or not) and be able to use the Batwing as a form of quick travel system. Since the game is called Arkham Origins, obviously we’re going to be getting some origin stories here. They have made it clear that it is not Batman’s origin story they will be covering, after all, that’s been done to death as it is.

WHO IS IN IT?
-Batman (Obviously): We have a younger and less experienced Batman here. That doesn’t mean he is any less badass or tough but he is less refined in his combat and tactics. Facing these assassins might serve as his first major challenge as a super hero.
-Deathstroke: One of the confirmed assassins to be hunting the Batman and probably one of his chief rivals in the game. Deathstroke is kind of like DC’s version of Dead Pool but not as funny. He is most well known as being one of the arch villains of the Teen Titans. He is easily a match for Batman in terms of fighting skills.
-Roman Sionis aka Black Mask: One of my favorite Batman villains and had a small cameo in Arkham City. Sionis wears a black skull like mask made from the coffin of his dead parents. He has a hatred for Bruce Wayne after he ran him out of business and turned to crime becoming one of the biggest crime bosses in Gotham.
-Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin: Penguin is one of Batman’s oldest villains and was one of the main villains in Arkham City. We see a younger Cobblepot in Origins and does not have the broken bottle shoved into his eye yet to look like a monocle which he sported in the previous game. He seems to be in a gang war with Black Mask
-Alberto Falcone: Son of the of crime lord Carmine Falcone. He is being held hostage by the Penguin for unknown reasons
-Jim Gordon:  We will see a younger Jim Gordon in Origins and he is still a captain in the GCPD.
-Branden: A character from the Batman Year One story arch. He’s the team leader of the GCPD SWAT unit and his looking to take down Batman. He might be working with the assassins.
-Alfred Pennyworth: Bruce Wayne’s trusted butler will probably be serving as this game’s radio and tech support much the way Oracle has in the past two games. While Alfred was in Arkham City, will probably play a bigger role and get some screen time in Origins.  

WHO COULD BE IN IT? (These are mostly my speculations)
-The Joker: When the game was first announced as a prequel, it was mention that the game would focus on the first time Batman encountered The Joker. While there was no mention of the Joker in Game Informer’s article, that doesn’t mean we won’t be seeing the rising of the Clown Prince of Crime in this game. I speculate that one of the assassins could be the first Red Hood. If you follow the comics, the most widely accepted Joker origin story is from the 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke where the Red Hood gets knocked into a vat of acid by Batman and becomes the Joker. We could see something similar in Arkham Origins. If the Joker returns, will he be voiced by Mark Hamill? In my opinion, Mark Hamill is the best Joker there has ever been. However, after Arkham City he said that it was his last performance as the Joker. But then a few weeks later he seemed to go back on it in an interview and then back on it again later. You know celebrities can be.
-Harvey Dent aka Two-Face: The district attorney who becomes the hideously deformed crime boss known as Two-Face was one of the major villains in Arkham City though he primarily acted as the rival to Catwoman more than Batman. We could see how he becomes scared in Arkham Origins and descends into madness or just see him as the DA before any of that happens. His character has not been confirmed so this is just my speculation.
-Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot: Deadshot was the villain for one of the side missions in Arkham City and is known as the world’s greatest assassin with a gun. I think there is a pretty high chance he could appear as one of the assassin’s Batman faces.
-Ra’s al Ghul: Another major villain from Arkham City, secret master mind behind Arkham City, and the head of the League of Assassins. There is a strong chance he could have a hand in who these assassins are taking orders from and create a greater connection to the previous two game’s story.
-Dick Grayson: We could see how Batman meets Grayson for the first time and how he recruits him to become the first Robin. Dick previously appeared as Nightwing in DLC add-ons for Arkham City.
-Selina Kyle: We could also see Batman’s first encounter with Catwoman or see how she becomes the Catwoman.

WHAT ABOUT ARKHAM WORLD?
As for what Rocksteady’s current project is, it is being kept under wraps for now. If it is the purposed Arkham World then it’s likely we won’t see it till 2014 or 2015 and could be on next gen consoles by then. In terms of story, I have no idea what it could be really. I just know it’ll probably be bigger than both Arkham City and Arkham Origins. It could also introduce the Justice League and maybe lead to a Justice League game. After the success of Batman Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, many fans have been wanting to see Rocksteady try to make a game just as good as their Batman games for other super heroes, namely Superman. Poor Superman really could use a good game and a good movie. We’ll see how Man of Steel does this summer. As for Batman: Arkham Origins, I have a feeling we’ll see a teaser trailer very soon. There is a high likely hood we could see it after Injustice: Gods Among Us releases next week. Speaking of which, be on the lookout for my review of Injustice coming in a couple weeks. Thanks for reading!

Tomb Raider (Finally) Game Review

I have never played a Tomb Raider game before in my life. All I knew about the series was that Lara Croft was one of the first sex symbols in video games for being a busty, hot pants wearing, duel welding badass. So I can say with no nostalgia or connection to the previous games that the Tomb Raider reboot is really good. It’s nice to approach a reboot with no experience with the series unlike the previous two reboots I have reviewed this year. Tomb Raider might be the best game I have played since Batman Arkham City and coming from me, that means a lot. This game does an amazing job of giving rebirth to the character of Lara Croft with dignity and showing us how she became the way Tomb Raider fans have always known her. Crystal Dynamics did an amazing job creating a beautiful adventure game and creating a strong start to a new Tomb Raider series. I was considering whether or not I should do a review for this game since main stream game reviewers have been putting out reviews for this over a month now. But after playing it I feel I really should throw my two cents in there and since you’re reading this hopefully you do care what my opinion might be. That said, while I am very impressed with this game and really enjoyed it, but like everything in life; it’s not perfect so let’s take a closer look.

STORY: The young Lara Croft has set out on her first expedition with some of her close friends to find the lost island of Yamatai, an ancient country of Japan which they believe to be located in the Dragon’s Triangle (which is the Pacific version of the Bermuda Triangle). Their ship is caught in a sudden storm and cashes into an island. Lara washes up on shore to see most of the crew has survived only to get knocked out and captured moments later. When she comes to, she makes the horrifying discovery that this island is inhabited by insane cult who worships the ancient queen of Yamatai and is trapped on the island. Lara must now do everything she can to survive, save her friends and figure out the mysteries of this dangerous island.

While the story seems simple at first, it actually gets surprisingly deep and becomes very interesting as you try to figure out the island’s mystery. I won’t spoil it but it left me guessing for about 70% of the game. You find out more clues by collecting the many letters that can be found across the island. Unlike other games where finding letters and documents to read to get more insight to the story, which is rather boring by the way, in Tomb Raider, it’s actually very interesting. It helps that the letters are read to you with some great voice work and it’s clear that a lot of thought and research went into the story and setting by the developers. There are also some elements which really reminded me of Apocalypse Now, which is one of my favorite movies so it definitely scored some points there. But that’s not really the big focus of the game. The focus is on Lara Croft and how she goes from being a kind of nerdy grad major in archaeology to becoming the ass kicking survivalist she has always been known as. Lara goes through some rough stuff throughout this game. She gets all kinds of beat up, sees unspeakable horrors, and is forced to do things she never thought she would have to do. Thankfully, this is all handled and paced very well. It has some epic and triumphant moments that really make you connect with Lara as a character. This is not only done with the character development and voice acting but with Lara’s character model itself but I’ll get to that later.

Some people have complained that this game is short. Yes, maybe it’s short if you speed run the game, ignoring all the collectables, tombs to explore, and all the cute scenes. This game isn’t super long but it’s not super short either. It took me around five days to complete the main story and there is plenty of stuff in the game I have yet to find or explore. If you want to play through it and get a 100% it’ll take you awhile. The game also has a good ending that sets up the new series of Tomb Raider games. I can’t wait.

GAMEPLAY: First let’s look at the good and there is a lot of good. While the island isn’t completely open world, it does have a lot to explore. There are so many nooks and crannies to find the many relics, letters, weapon parts, tombs, and other collectables throughout the game. You have an instinct mode that you can flip on to see collectables and stuff you can interact with in the environment. It reminds me a lot of detective mode from the Batman Arkham games. The plat forming used to explore is where this game gets really fun. It requires you to really think about how to reach a certain areas. Most of the time, this is easy enough but then there are the optional tombs that really put your plat forming puzzle skills to the test. By the way, solving the tombs is important to fully upgrade your weapons. Rock climbing, making zip lines, and traversing across the varied plat forms across the island made of old Japanese buildings and scrap from planes and ships becomes second nature and is a lot of fun with the game’s tight controls. Lara is a very good jumper. I guess she played some B-Ball in college.

The game’s combat is its other strong point in terms of gameplay. Lara gets a bow and arrow, hand gun, shotgun, and assault rifle throughout the game that are upgradeable. You acquire upgrades by finding scavenged parts all across the island and in the tombs. While all the weapons are fun to use, I found myself using the bow and arrow the most. What I also like about the weapons is that they have more than one function. The bow and arrow can be used to create zip lines or use fire arrows to burn away blocked paths. The shotgun and grenade launcher can blow open new paths. The rock climbing ax is also a melee weapon.  Combat itself is very fun once you get the hang of it. It’s not like most shooters where you can run in and mow people down with no problem. You have to use stealth and be strategic when confronting enemies. If you go charging in shooting at everything, you’ll just get your ass handed to you. This can be frustrating at first but you aren’t thrown into the more difficult fights till later on so hopefully you’re comfortable by then. Lara also levels up and gains skills that improve various things from rock climbing speed, melee combat, finishing moves, ect. Once you have some of these unlocked, combat becomes much more fun.

Now to some of the things that I didn’t like: Quick Time Events. Over the past couple of years, I have really come to hate QTEs and sadly, Tomb Raider has them. I will say most of them are not too bad and happen not all that often but the ones that require you to hit a certain button at just the right time always messed me up. There was one part where I died five times in a row because I couldn’t get the timing right.  However, I don’t find this to be a deal breaker as they can be in other games (Resident Evil 6) as these types of QTEs are pretty rare throughout the game. It also comes in the form of a dodge mechanic in combat but it’s easier to pull off then. So yeah, the QTEs can be frustrating but I’ve seen worse.

The rest of the game’s short comings mostly just come in the form of missed opportunities. There is a hunting mechanic but other than just getting some extra XP it’s rather pointless. The only time you have to hunt is for the tutorial and after that you don’t have to do it anymore. There are lots of games that have a hunting mechanic but I’ve only seen two that require you to hunt and do it more than once in order to progress through the game: Metal Gear Solid 3 and Far Cry 3. It falls flat in Tomb Raider because Lara has regenerating health like most games these days. While Lara can’t take much punishment, all she has to do is get into cover for awhile to recover.  Having to collect animal meat and use it to replenish a health bar (don’t see those too much these days anymore) would have added another element to the game instead of the all too common recover system. A body temperature mechanic would have been interesting to see as there are parts of the game where Lara is up in the mountains. I’m wondering how she did not freeze to death wearing that tank top up there. Once again, having to keep watch of how cold she got could have added another element to the survival theme they were going for. Also there is no new game plus. You can go back to the island once you’ve beaten the game but there are no enemies to fight and it’s pretty much just if you want to collect everything in the game. With the enemies missing, it makes things less interesting. I’d rather just try to collect everything again in another play through. One last bit of disappointment is the pointlessly tacked on multiplayer. It’s just a third person death match type thing. I have no interest in it. I find it kind of annoying that so many game developers think they need to shoe horn in a multiplayer mode when the single player is more than good enough.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND: This game is amazingly beautiful. It’s one of those games that you look at everything on the screen and marvel at its beauty. A lot of work went into the landscape of the island and levels designed around it. There are also some very graphic tombs littered with dead bodies. This is a very violent game by the way. Speaking of violence, Lara experiences some Resident Evil style deaths here and there throughout the game if you fail certain sections and many of them are pretty graphic. I think the biggest technical achievement of this game is the character model of Lara though. The way Lara moves, acts and reacts to various environments and events in while game is very impressive. She moves like a real person. I’ve never seen anything like it really. It gives an excellent level of connection to the character. The other characters look great as well but you can tell lots of extra care when into designing Lara. A friend of mine said the graphics on Lara were almost too good.

Excellent voice acting helps back up the great character designs. Camilla Luddington voices Lara for her first VA role in a video game and she does an amazing job with capturing the emotions that Lara goes through in this game. I look forward to hearing her reprise the role in the future. The music is fitting but nothing I am willing to go out and download to listen to in my spare time but it fits the Japanese island theme and has some powerful and epic moments as well.

Overall, Tomb Raider is an excellent reboot to a franchise I previously did not care about. It has its flaws but I do not feel that they bring the game down very much. I was originally planning to give this game 10 out of 10 but those damn QTEs really make it hard for me to honestly give it that high of a score. Regardless, this game is a must play for adventure fans and long time Tomb Raider fans. If you’ve never been interested in the series or never played it like me, this is a great place to start and the start of a promising new future for Lara Croft with lots of potential. This is a strong contender for game of the year. Thanks for reading and look for my next review on Injustice: Gods Among Us coming in a couple weeks. I will be reviewing Bioshock Infinite but sadly, due to finical reasons, it’s going to be awhile before I can get to it.

OVERALL: 9/10

PROS:
-Excellent graphics and gameplay
-Lara Croft’s character and character model are extremely impressive
-Great story

CONS:
-Some frustrating QTEs
-Missed opportunities with the survival theme
-Needlessly tacked on multiplayer

BEAR Game Review

Fallout 3, Uncharted, Assassin’s Creed, Skyrim, Super Mario Bros 3… These games are nothing compared to the pure brilliance and epicness that is BEAR for the Xbox 360! You will never have a more amazing and immersive experience than being a BEAR in the Alaskan wilderness. This is the definitive BEAR experience we have all be waiting for. I smell a GOTY on our hands, folks.

STORY: You’re a BEAR … HELL YEAH! You’re hungry, slightly agitated, and you need to find enough food to hibernate for the winter.  Your father was killed by a hunter and you want blood thirsty revenge before the winter comes as well as finding a suitable mate. Truly a gripping story as you move through the woods and mountains looking for deer, salmon, cows, and humans to feed on. With a nearly 4 month gameplay length and multiple endings, BEAR has one hell of a compelling story.

GAMEPLAY: As a BEAR, you can swat, charge, roar, tackle, poop, and bite your enemies and food. Seamlessly switches between first person and third person to deal to your foes the types of punishments that only a BEAR can deliver. With over 20 different mate choices, the game also makes for a great dating sim. The salmon catching mini-game is a lot of fun as is the hunt or hunted mode where you hunt people. The game has over 40 areas to explore such as the wilderness, mountains, and suburban Anchorage. The multiplayer is also awesome! Move over Call of Duty! With over 60 customizable BEARS to play as in death matches, capture the cub, and king of the cave matches. The multiplayer for BEAR is a lot of fun and addictive.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND: Simply amazing. The most photo realistic game I’ve ever seen. Even more so on the PC. It feels like a bear is going to reach out of the screen and eat you and you can taste the salmon. BEAR boasts an epic sound track preformed by Hans Zimmer. The voice acting of the bears is just amazing. I think they flew in some grizzlies from Yellow Stone Park to do the voice acting and it really stands out as some of the best VA work I’ve ever heard in a video game.

Overall, BEAR is a must have game for anyone ever. You will not leave your tv or PC while playing this amazing game because it is just so good. Trade in or throw all your other games away because this is the only game you’ll ever need from now on. Go play BEAR now. NOW!

OVERALL: 9001/10

PROS:
-You’re a BEAR!
-You get the kill and eat stuff!
-Did I mention that you are a BEAR?!

CONS:
-APRIL FOOLS!

Resident Evil Revelations (3DS) Game Review

Resident Evil sure has gotten a bad rap over the past couple years. Once the premiere game that paved the way for the survival horror genre has now become anything but horror. The most recent installments in the series have become way too action oriented and relies heavily on quick time events around every corner or just feels like a generic third person shooter. Resident Evil Revelations, however, tries to please fans that have grown tired of the Michael Bayness that the main series has become. Revelations seemed to fly under everyone’s radar when it was released early last year. Is it because everyone was too busy complaining about the other RE games, especially RE6 when it came out? I have a feeling it is probably because, at the moment, it is only on the 3DS. For a long time, games released on hand held consoles were usually watered down copies of games that were already on home consoles and usually not considered canon in a video game series. But hand held systems have come a very long way. The last Nintendo brand hand held system I owned before getting a 3DS was the Gameboy Color so, naturally, I was very impressed with the 3DS and all that it can do. Now I only own three actual 3DS titles. I also have a few DS games and several NES and original Gameboy titles I downloaded via virtual console. So I’m a little out of my element when it comes to playing 3DS games, so maybe Revelations isn’t anything special compared to other 3DS titles? I don’t know. But this is definitely a Resident Evil title that shouldn’t be ignored by the fans of this classic survival horror series.

STORY: Set in 2005, between the events of Resident Evil 4 and 5, you primarily play as Jill Valentine as she is sent to a cruise ship that has been missing on the Mediterranean Sea for some time. She arrives there with her new partner, Parker Luciani, as they investigate the supposed disappearance of Chris Redfield and his partner Jessica Sherawat, their last known location being aboard the SS Queen Zenobia. But with a title like Revelations, not all is as it seems. Jill and Parker discover that the ship is overrun with BOWs that look like they are made of whale blubber and there seems to be the resurgence of a terrorist group known as Veltro that plans to unleash a new version of the T-virus into the world’s oceans as revenge for events that happened a couple years earlier.

Like most RE games, the story is pretty crazy with lots of twists and insane situations that our heroes must survive. However, unlike RE5 or 6 that has some kind of explosion or horrible giant monstrosity coming at them every five seconds, Revelations is generally much more subdued and paced better. It starts out slow but builds the atmosphere and does a good job of making the setting of a ghost ship filled with monsters scary. Yes, this game actually managed to scare me. This is the first RE game since RE4 that has actually managed to do so and not just in cheap pop out scares but in tone and setting. That especially goes for one boss battle that literally had me freaking out. While most of the scary atmosphere is near the beginning, it does sadly kind of wear off near the middle as, by then, you’re used to the horrors on the ship and used to the enemies as there is far less of a variety here compared to the main games. However, most of them are original to this game, minus the Hunters.

I said you primarily play as Jill in this game but you do occasionally switch to other characters in some of the missions like switching to Parker in flashbacks or as Chris or two of the worst characters in RE games yet… But I’ll get to them in a minute. Don’t worry though, you do play as Jill about 80% of the game and playing as her on the ship is best part of the game. Jill is still a brunette; this is before she gets captured by Wesker or whatever. She’s a strong character as usual but I can’t say she has too much character development. Chris is the same guy we are used to; buff and leveled headed. The already established characters are great but the new characters for the game are a little lack luster. Parker, Jill’s main partner, speaks in a Russianfrenchitalianhungariangermanese accent and looks like a beefed up Russell Crowe with shaggy hair. Other than not knowing what country he is from, he’s actually a pretty badass dude. O’Brian is the BSAA director, Jill, Chris, and Parker’s boss and he reminds me of Columbo. Seriously, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s who he was based on. Jessica, Chris’s partner, is pretty annoying as she flirts with all the men and wears some very unpractical clothing for missions where you fight monsters. But the grand turkey award for worst characters in an RE games goes to Quint and Keith. Oh good god, what were they thinking? It’s like they took Pauly Shore and Marlon Wayans and teamed them up. They’re like those annoying characters in a kids movie that are there only for comic relief and to make has many pop-culture references as possible. Seriously, they stick out like a sore thumb compared to everyone and everything else in the game and franchise. Their call sign on the radio is ‘Jackass’ so that can hopefully that can tell you how bad these characters are and how annoying they are. Thankfully, you only play/deal with them for about 20 mins tops.

Much to my surprise, this game was a lot longer than I thought it would be. It took me a little over 7 hours to beat. I don’t know how long the average 3DS game is but 7 hours is longer than the length of some console games out there. It’s nowhere near as long as Resident Evil 6 but then again, Revelations isn’t trying to be 4 games wrapped into one.  Quite a few times I thought I was about to beat the game but no, it wasn’t over yet and bam I had another level given to me. The game is divided into 12 episodes and each is divided into two parts. It even has a ‘Previously on Resident Evil Revelations’ cut scene to watch that catches you up to speed on what has happened so far when you pick the game back up. While it has its crazy plot twists, Revelations has a stronger, more straight forward, and easier to follow story than RE6 or RE5. It’s also not like a Michael Bay film at all. That’s a step in the right direction in my book.

GAMEPLAY: The gameplay of RER is closest to the controls of Resident Evil 4. You’re not as flexible in movement as you were in RE6. This in itself might be a deal breaker for some people. Aiming and shooting is easy enough but movement other than walking is a little tricky. You move fast enough but you cannot sprint or if you can, I don’t know how and it’s not explained. The game was designed to be used with the circle pad pro which is just an attachment that adds another circle pad to your 3DS. You don’t need it to play but then again, I don’t know if it improves the controls or not since I do not have one. The biggest problem I ran into with the controls was not from the game but from the console itself. Since you have to push the circle pad in one direction most of the time, I found my thumb slipping off the circle pad a lot. This is due to the lack of any kind of grip on the circle pad. This is obviously not the game’s fault but most of the time I would have to stop mid motion just to put my thumb back before it would slip off. There is a dodging mechanic but I don’t really know how it works and I found it just worked whenever it felt like it. Now this probably doesn’t sound good to most folks but I have to admit, I kind of like the controls like this. Why? It definitely adds to the tension to the horror this game is going for.  The level design plays into this as well. You’re on a ship with tight corridors, rooms, and corners with monsters coming out from all over the place. It really adds to the tension and makes you freak out more because there is nowhere to run or hide unlike the RE games with huge settings.

Another thing that adds to the fear factor is that the enemies do not drop ammo at all. In RE 4, 5, and 6 enemies constantly are dropping ammo left and right so you have no fear of running dry. But in Revelations it goes back to the old school RE style of having limited ammo. Of course, you find good amounts of ammo across the levels but you have to look for it. Many times I found myself down to one round after a difficult fight, fearing that I don’t run into anymore enemies or find myself having to use a weapon not suited to the situation I am in because it’s the only type of ammo I have left. That is the Resident Evil I have missed. In addition to your usual weapons, you have this device that lets you scan rooms for hidden items and scan enemies for percent points that once added up to 100% gives you a free healing herb. This creates a risk reward system when encountering enemies. Do you just try to kill it or do you scan it before it gets near you to try and earn points towards some health? Healing is handled well with simply the press of a button so you don’t have to go through an item select or anything. However, there is no health bar or any HUD on the top screen at all. You can only tell how your health is by the screen getting a bloody coding around the border of the screen. Your item select, maps, weapons, and other stuff are handled on the touch screen and it’s very easy to read and use. A couple other novel things the touch screen does is act as a finger print scanner to open some doors and a welding mini-game to get sealed doors open.

 The partner AI is rather limited though. They seem to just be there to talk to you and shoot at things. Just shoot, not kill. I don’t think I saw my partners actually kill anything. It was always ultimately left up to me to finish an enemy off. One very good thing is that there are no quick time events in this game. If you’ve played the past three installments, you know the games are filled with QTEs in game and during cut scenes. It is very nice to not have to deal with them in this game.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND: For a hand held game, this game looks really good, on par with RE4 and maybe slightly better. The cut scenes are very impressive and very well animated. The in-game graphics look just as good and the character models and level designs look great, especially the fancier parts of the ship. The monster designs are disgustingly creepy. Only down side is that the character’s mouths do not move when they are talking in game. This comes off a little cheap.

The sound steals the show though. Often I found myself stopping and wondering ‘what was that noise?’ unsure if it was just my character walking or was there something else in the room with me. This is a game you should play with the headphones on and the lights out. The music is equally unnerving and very pretty at times as well. The voice acting is a mixed bag. Most of it is done well including Jill, Chris, and Parker, minus is silly accent. But then you have Keith and Quint and you will just be screaming at the screen for them to shut up whenever they talk. God, I couldn’t stand these too. The dialogue is on par with most RE games but not nearly as emotionally strong or preformed like it was in RE6.

Overall, Resident Evil Revelations is must own for RE fans who have a 3DS and is a good stand alone time in the series. Is it the scary Resident Evil game that truly gets back to its roots that fans have been waiting for? No. But it does come closer to the classic RE games than the recent entries in the series. The first 30 mins of Leon’s campaign isn’t good enough, RE6. Some people will either hate the controls or learn to live with them but I say learning to live with them is worth it and adds another element of fear that should be in a survival horror game. If you do not own a 3DS and want to play this game, you’re in luck. Revelations is coming to the 360, PS3, and Wii U on May 21^st. I have a feeling this will be best suited to the Wii U with its touch screen controller. I’m not sure how it’ll work for the other two systems. If you do have a 3DS, it’s a pretty cheap find on amazon now so you should check it out. Thanks for reading! I was hoping to do a review of the new Tomb Raider but due to money saving, I probably won’t be able to get to that till next month along with Injustice: Gods Among Us. See ya next time!

OVERALL: 7.5/10

PROS:
-Good story and closer to older RE games
-Good graphics and gameplay
-Actually has some scary moments

CONS:
-Controls much more limited than other newer RE games, might turn people off
-Some control aspects not explained well
-Some of the new characters are very annoying

Crysis 3 Game Review

The Crysis series has been an excellent example of state of the art graphics and FPS gameplay. Crysis 3 bring an end the trilogy nicely. The series started in 2007 on the PC and became well known and, at the same time, notorious for its amazing visuals using the CryEngine. I, personally, have never been able to play the first Crysis since I do not own a super computer and the blood of a virgin to run the game’s steep system spec requirements. My first experience with the series came in 2011 with Crysis 2 which saw console release. Even on the Xbox, I was impressed by how amazing the game looked and the gameplay style. For me, Crysis blows away Halo and Call of Duty in the gameplay department. Unlike Halo, you actually do feel you are wearing a power suit and are able to use it to its fullest abilities.  I liked Crysis 2 so much that I named it my 2^nd best game of the year pick for 2011. It’s also a game I feel is rather underrated.  Crysis 3 launched a couple weeks ago and I can honestly say that it improves on most everything from Crysis 2 and surpasses it. It continues the amazing visuals and gameplay with the CryEngine 3 and is one of the best shooters I’ve played since, well, Crysis 2. It’s not perfect though, so let’s take a closer look.

STORY: Set in the year 2047, 24 years after the events of Crysis 2, the CELL Corporation now has a massive monopoly on the world’s energy supply using something inside what is now called the Liberty Dome. The Liberty Dome is what New York City has been turned into after the Battle of New York in Crysis 2 and is now a massive tropical rain forest under the nanodome it is encased in. Prophet is the last man to be wearing the Nanosuit, a powerful exoskeleton suit built using alien technology to change the face of warfare, is rescued by a team of insurgents lead by his former team member code named Psycho. They enlist Prophet to help them break into the Liberty Dome and shut down CELL’s stranglehold on the world’s energy for good. However, Prophet knows the real thread is The Ceph, the hostile alien race that invaded New York years earlier. The Ceph are long thought to have been nearly wiped out and only a few living in the Liberty Dome but Prophet knows there is more to the remains of New York than most people think.

The story of Crysis 3 actually does a good job of explaining what happened in previous games with the help of a handy ‘previously on Crysis’ option before starting the game. However, there is little to no mention of Alcatraz, the guy you played as in Crysis 2, in the game or any of the other characters from the previous game. This would be a bigger deal if Crytek hadn’t done such a good job with the characters in this game. Thankfully, Prophet is not just another silent protagonist. He talks and has character to him and tackles deep subject matter like what it is to be human and how far he will go to lose his humanity to defeat the Ceph. There are only really three supporting characters in the game but they a good job of dealing with the themes this game is trying to convey. As a result, we have much stronger and interesting characters than seen in Crysis 2. It even has a Mass Effect 3 kind of feel with the heavy emotion this game is going for. Not as good as ME3, but feels like they are trying. It is much more character focused than the previous games which gives it a smaller picture feel which works considering it is set in a domed covered city yet the world is at stake.

This game is shorter than Crysis 2, however, but doesn’t exactly feel like it. It has far fewer levels. Only 7 while the previous game had 25. The missions are not short though. Each one lasting around 45 minutes to an hour depending on much you explore and the difficulty you are playing on. I beat the game in around 6 hours which is painfully average for most games these days but it felt longer. The game does have a really well done last boss battle and a good ending which does wrap up the game and series nicely.

GAMEPLAY: The thing that I love about the Crysis games is the Nanosuit and how it is used in actual gameplay. I can’t help but compare it to Halo when I bring this up. Think about it. In Halo, Master Chief wears a power armor suit but do you ever feel like you’re actually in a power suit with amazing strengths and powers outside of the cut scenes? For me, other than the regenerating shield, no. You’re still just a guy with a gun. The Nanosuit, however, has powers that you can use at any time and this allows you to play the game however you like. Want to run and gun? Sure! Make good use of that max armor shield. Want to sneak around? Use the cloaking feature to sneak around enemies or ambush them. Hack enemy traps and defenses to turn the tables on them. Use Nanovision to see everything in thermal imaging (which looks amazing by the way). You can even do the Iron Man ground pound move. It’s not the most effect thing but it sure looks cool. This is all governed by a power bar that drains at different rates depending what power you are using so it’s up to you to figure out the best way to regulate the power gage. There is so much more that you can do with Crysis in terms of gameplay compared to a game like Halo. All of this I loved in Crysis 2 and it continues in Crysis 3 and runs much smoother. Grabbing objects and enemies looks less awkward and does not require a charge to throw them.

The weapons are a good mix of new and old weapons from the previous games plus the ability to use Ceph weapons for the first time. Prophet also has a compound bow to use which is predominantly featured in much of the game’s promo pictures. The bow and arrow is fun to use as it kills in one hit and it does not break the cloak so you can get kills off without getting spotted at all. There are different types of arrows that can be used like explosive and electrical. Most of the guns in the game can also be fully customized with different optics, attachments, and specialized ammo. Like in the other Crysis games, you can customize your weapon at most anytime. One problem I did have was trying to switch between the C4 and the rocket launcher. In Crysis 2, you simply pressed right on the D-Pad twice to switch between the two. In this game, it doesn’t seem to work like that and I guess I just don’t know how to do it. I’m sure it is easier to do with the PC version. The visor mode, on the other hand, is greatly improved. In the previous game you could only really use it to highlight three enemies in the area and spot ammo and weapons. In Crysis 3, it is far more useful. You can now tag all the enemies in the area, weapons and ammo points, collectables, traps and turrets, and locate secondary objectives. You also use visor mode to hack turrets and traps by getting in range and engaging in a quick mini-game to take control and turn them against the enemies.  You can also upgrade your suit’s abilities on the Nanosuit customization screen that looks kind of like a slot machine. You can pick up to four powers and mix them together and even select and save different power combinations for later use. You unlock these powers by finding Nanosuit packs that are hidden throughout the levels. This gives more incentive to explore the large and detailed levels of the game.

The setting of a New York City over taken by nature makes for some awesome level designs and very big ones. They are surprisingly big and offer many routes to travel and explore. This allows you to go about completing your objectives in any manor you want and however you want. I’m sure there are many more paths to explore that I didn’t even notice during my play through. There may be fewer levels than in Crysis 2 but the levels are much bigger in Crysis 3. This does lead to some small problems though. A couple times I found myself getting lost trying to figure out how to get to an objective nav point. The ruins of New York can very much be like a maze. Also you do have secondary objectives that can are optional to complete, however, many times I would be unaware of them till it was too late or have trouble locating them with the visor mode. It doesn’t ruin the overall game at all but if you’re a perfectionist, it might drive you crazy. Finally, I will mention that the game did freeze on me a couple times but this might not be an issue for PC versions. Also on the Xbox version, I noticed that it uses the cover for Crysis 2 on the Xbox dashboard. 

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GRAPHICS AND SOUND: What can I say? This game is freaking gorgeous and, obviously, it is even more jaw droppingly beautiful on the PC. Is there even a reason for me to say that anymore? If the absolute best graphics are what you need to enjoy a game, you must play this on the PC. That said, this game still looks amazing on console and is the best looking game I’ve seen on the Xbox since Halo 4. And if you think that the 360 version of Crysis 3 looks ugly compared to the PC version, then you have unrealistically high standards of graphics. The character models from the Nanosuit, humans, and the Ceph look great and are very detailed but it’s the New York City that nature reclaimed that steals the show. The mix of ruined urban buildings and plant life is something that is haunting beautiful. You even run into wild life here and there like deer and squirrels. You have to really go out of your way to find poorly rendered textures. Crysis 3 is a strong contestant for best graphics of the year.

The voice acting in the game is generally well done. The one that stands out the most is the voice of Psycho with his angry British accent. The weapons and explosions sound good and are satisfying to use. The Ceph still sound and look scary. They are some of the best alien invaders in video games. The music is beautifully done and has a strong emotional tone to it rather than the heroic feel from Crysis 2. It reminds me a lot of the music from Mass Effect 3 which pulled at the heart strings. It fits the deeper themes they were going for in this game.

Overall, Crysis 3 wraps up the trilogy and gives it a fulfilling end to this technologically impressive series of shooters. If you’re an FPS gamer; you must play this game and the other games in the series. That goes double if you are a PC gamer. While it is shorter than the previous game, it feels more rewarding. If you’re a Halo fan or just tired of Call of Duty and games that try to be like it, you should definitely check out Crysis 3. Thanks for reading and I plan on playing and reviewing the Tomb Raider reboot next.

OVERALL: 9/10

PROS:
-Many ways to play and carry out missions
-Huge levels with multiple paths
-Best story out of the series so far and beautiful graphics

CONS:
-Finding objective nav points can be confusing at times
-Explosive weapons switching is confusing
-Shorter than Crysis 2