My Top 10 of 2010

10 - Enslaved:Odyssey to the west - Had to add this on the list, straight from my last review. Enslaved is such a great single player playthrough, and also worth your time. Amazing character design and motion capture with real actors make these protagonists come to life. Monkey kicking ass with his staff, the element of quick and stylish combat is well done here. The game has drop dead gorgeous backdrops and the world of the mechs is something to look at. Piggy is a funny addition and mixes up the flavor of the narrative. Collecting tech orbs and leveling up Monkey made me want to go through and just jump back in when I was finished my game. Ninja Theory has done an amazing job at bringing these characters to life, I just wish that the game was longer. Need more Enslaved!

9 - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - The reboot of the Castlevania was either a love or hate thing for most people. Yes, its not like the old Castlevania 2d style sidescroller and just a God of War rip off type game, is some what true. But it's a re-imaging of the series people, something different and a damn good combat driven type game! This game is so good looking and plays and feels great ! It works. I believe. Was deep long single player, with enough extra stuff to keep you coming back for more. Then ending, yes you could see it coming, but I thought it was epic and out there. Kojima can make anything and I will eat it up. This Castlevania kicks ass, play it!

8 - Splinter Cell Conviction - Sam Fisher back once again! But he is straight pissed off, and fed up. The fifth game in the Tom Clancy fiction has taken a whole new direction in which you play Splinter Cell. This addition is a face paced, cover based but still has that killer stealth element to it. You can literally play this game as a straight up third person shooter if you wanted to. Hand full of weapons to collect and upgrade with xp through PEC challenges. Go online and play some co-op with a friend in a whole new story and different types of modes to boot! Splinter Cell Conviction had my doubts when I played the demo, but has proven itself a great addition in my library.

7 - Fallout: New Vegas - New Vegas is crazy. So crazy that I haven't even finished the game. This game was like crack to me, I couldn't stop playing it. 42 hours in a week or so was enough to say had to stop and play something else. New Vegas is so deep and rich with characters and story. You play Fallout 3? Times that by 3, you get Vegas. Bethesda continues to kill it when it come to the open world RPG on our current consoles. Yes, the game is buggy as hell - yes, its still just another Fallout and yes it the same engine from Oblivion or something! But its so good. You think you have seen it all in a Fallout game? Play this one, nuts.

 6 - Bayonetta - This is just one of the most craziest games that I have played all year, straight up. Bayonetta is like Devil May Cry and sex, it is a wild ride! The story for what it is secondary to all of the crazy shit that goes on in this game. This is Japanese action to the max on some next level. The style is sexy and the combat is rewarding and challenging to the max. There is even a full out guide to this game that cost $1200 on amazon. 6,000 hours of game testing to compile the complete perfection of this game on any skill level. Nuts. Bayonetta is something fresh and was just off the wall nuts. Lots of reference to past Capcom games is great touch. "Whatta ya Buying? Whatta ya Selling?" if its Bayonetta, cop that. Only on box though. Ps port is bad.

5 - Gran Turismo 5 - 90% done. 60+ hours in EASY. I have always loved the Gran Turismo series. The first game is what has got me into the Simulation driving game and kept me there ever since. GT 5 hate it or whatever, delivers. Photo realistic tracks and Premium car models have so much detail to them it's insane!!!! All the cars aren't fully modeled, I know it sucks. I hate it, but I still can't stop playing it. A sepc is a blast and B Spec I enjoy for down time, training your drivers is great addition. The extra modes are killer, not fan of the Nascar. The weather and water effects are crazy to drive on. Wiper blades going on in rain, can put the high beams on, come on! I can go on and on. Addition of new online challenges. GT 5 is 5 hand down.

4 - Alan Wake - Ah Remedy games. The Max Payne creators. Yes, this game took whatever, 5 years to make. There were times when I though it was never going to come out. Alan Wake is a great psychological action thriller game, like the box says lol. Caught up in his on mix of dream and his stories in his head Alan wake is just something different. It's not really a horror game, more of an atmosphiric thriller. Some say a Twin Peaks clone. The game plays out so good from start to finish, episodic adventures are a nice touch to the story line, always breaks it up on a hanger. You want more. Free DLC with the game adds to Alan Wakes insane fiction. The game is packed with tons of great touches. The constant chatter of Alan in his head is such a great story itself, reminds me so much of Max Payne. Which they do reference. A must play.

3 - God of War 3 - The end of Kratos' epic war against the Gods themselves. This is it, what the ending would be. The first two games drawn life and power to the PS2 like nothing else at the time. This is the same for the PS3. God of War 3 is epic. The game runs flawless and looks amazing is an understatement. Yes it is still just another God of War game, but it is hands down the best one. Brutal and deadly Kratos messes everything in his path to kill Zeus. This is one of the title that all PS3 owners have been waiting for, and no one was ever disappointed with it. Taken straight off from where the second game finished off and going back in to that God of War Greek Mythology again was amazing.

2 - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - Yes a PSP game. If you are a MGS fan and you own a PSP then you know exactly what i'am talking about here. Peace Walker is just insane. The story once again has another chapter added into it. The Metal Gear world is just something epic and has always been. The story, game, music, art, f***** box art is not messing around. This is a full on MGS game, and deep with tons of replayabilty. Like were talking serious hours. From the Art work of Ashley Wood in the cinematics, to the MGS music, the good old Big Boss and just that Hideo Kojima stamp on this game just makes it complete. If I would have finished this game, which I still play. I would have gave it 10/10 no problem. I salute you Kojima. Absolute Masterpiece.

1 - Mass Effect 2 - The Mass Effect universe is just something else all together. This game and the Mass Effect fiction has so much into it is amazing. The back stories and tales of all the races of aliens is overwhelming. The game takes new step forward with less RPG elements and more focused on combat. Bioware has taken full notice of all the first games faults and fixed almost everything. The game has some many turns and different ways to get in the story. Import from the last game, as Shepard try to save the galaxy again. Three playthroughs on the first game and over 60 hours on my first playthrough in this one and I still back want to get back into the universe. Mass effect 2 is one of the greatest games of this generation of consoles. Period.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (Xbox 360)

Enslaved is a third person action platformer from Ninja Theory set in a war torn Earth that was destroyed over 150 years ago, the world is almost extinct of the human race and over ran by robots/mechs. The humans that are alive are either forced be slaved or roam the world alone and helpless. The story kicks off in a slave ship where the main character Monkey is captive. He meets a woman who is captured and is freed from her captivity. Monkey and her basically escape ship before it plummets to the Earth and begin the journey in survival and answers to the many questions. Monkey who is hurt by the crash wakes up to find that Trip has put a Slave headband on him and has to be her slave. If Trip dies so does Monkey. Trip want's Monkey to take her to village hundreds of miles away and forces him to be her guardian. And the story begins.

The game plays much like a third person action game with platforming elements like Tomb Raider or Uncharted for the most part, but with a very stylistic touch added. Monkey is strong man, possess a shield for added protection against robot gunfire. Monkey has his staff as main weapon of choice. He uses it with light and heavy combos, and wide area attacks, he can also charge attack like Ninja Gaiden. Monkeys staff is also useful for ranged attacks, like taking out distant shielded mechs or turrets. He can pick up blast ammo and stun ammo for his staff, the stun ammo drops enemy mechs shields to make the vulnerable to the blast ammo. The gameplay is not that deep but very satisfying to bash down on some mechs with staff and his fists. Monkey also possess something called the "cloud", it is basically a "hover-board" that he uses on certain levels to get to certain points untouchable to clear a path for Trip. Trip has the ability to cast up a decoy when you are pinned down by mech fire. Planting the decoy is key to flank and getting closer to turrets and enemy mechs. She can also follow or stop at will, these commands are all done with a radius wheel like interface and easily accessible. Trip scan areas before entering to see any kinds of hazards in the way or alternate routes to take.

The upgrading system for Monkey is all done through Trip, killing mechs earns him tech orbs. Tech orbs can purchase upgrades for Monkeys' shield, health, combat, and staff. Learning new moves like counters and evades are good touch and keep you on your toes in heavy combat. The platforming parts of the game are done very well and play smooth. Much like uncharted you making that "leap of faith" to get to the next rock is well implemented in this game. The game is very linear in the sense that there is only one path through the game, but are lots of nooks and crannies for you to explorer to collect more tech orbs or masks. If monkey comes across a mask he head is filled with real images of something that is later explained at the end of the game. Mashed up visions of something in the real world from the past. The graphics in the game are amazing to say the least, great draw distance and very colorful art style for such a depressed world. The characters are what set the game off for me, the look and emotion of all (not many) of the characters is something else. With real actors working the facial expressions in the scenes, it brings those CG parts to life for me. Ninja Theory really knows how to do this really really good! I really felt an emotional attachment to these two characters and what they were going through in my playthrough of the game.

The boss fight in the game are well done and can be a challenge to some extent if you don't know what to do. They are very random and can happen at any time, which is a great mix up. Its not like most games where you know something is going to be coming up soon. Enslaved audio is of great caliber too, the voice acting is supreme. Even though its hard to bear the accent that is played for Monkey, Trip is very well done and such a great character because of her knowledge and delivery. The music is very subtle at times and ramps up on que when it needs to be, very cinematic and orchestral . The game took me between 8-10 hours to beat and I have to say was a great journey in the end. I wanted to go back and crank the difficulty and take another crack at it right away. The ending is something of a shock and doesn't seem like what you would think its all is about, but leaves you to wonder. If you are a fan of any of those third person platformers I mentioned earlier and a fan of good solid single player journeies then Enslaved will be worth you time for sure. Great style and character designs are just some of the many things this game does well. Solid game, just wish it was even longer. 8/10

Black Ops (Xbox 360)

Call of Duty - Black Ops or as I would like to call it -- "Blops" is the seventh installment in the Call of Duty series and the third game from Treyarch. Alex Mason a special ops operative in the Cold War in the late 60's. Captured and not know where he is, Alex wakes up in a chair being held for reasons he can not remember. This main section of the story is also plotted in to the main menu, which is a great but simple touch. The addition of mini games hidden in there is awesome too, no spoilers. The story for the most part, is a very new direction that the series has not explored before. As Alex you play through his memories of certain missions and experiences to try and make sense of imprisonment. The game plays just like any other Call of Duty games, but what is different is the perspective from just mostly one person. I found that helps hold the story in place where as other COD games have you jumping around from different characters not really getting a backing story behind them. As you play as Mason you will find out more about him and the story of his epic journey.


I have a bunch of problems when it comes to Black Ops in the story department. There are time when I think this is genius, and then that basically leads to disappointment and confusion. All the conspiracy stuff is well done in some parts and others is just uncalled for and rip offs of films and other media. The whole "numbers" in his head is just such a pull from Lost, it is silly! By the time you get to the end of the story, you already know what the ending is. And on top of that they repeat it over again and again like your a complete moron. There are so many parts of the story and settings that come straight out of films, it is really not impressive. The "over use" of the licensed music tracks that you hear in these movies as you are slaughtering the enemies down by the hundreds felt cheesy. The whole "USA s the best" is in your face and especially at the end! Boats, guns, american flags and jets doing insane barrel rolls with classic american rock cranked, is too dramatic -- overkill. The one guy I swear is a Metal Gear rip off of Big Boss aka Snake with his bandanna and voice. For fans that wanted more COD action you are definitely getting that, it is up close and personal. Many times you will stabbing and slicing up the enemy in close fashioned, very graphic. 


The AI in the game, both yours and the opposing forces is BRUTAL. The people you roll with have not a fucking clue what is going on half the time. Constantly either getting killed, not killing anything, or just in the way cause that is where they are scripted to be at the time. The enemy AI is a nightmare. They run around like chickens with their heads cut off. In full out warfare, they will run across the battle right up to you and not even fire or be killed. The enemies are all scripted and nothing organic is really seen here. The infinite waves of guys spawning is just not practical this far into the series, its bullshit. If you die, you retry and know exactly what the scene is -- a guy pops out this door and then two guys over here... come on. This is the problem, it is basically and on rail shooter at this point. The death animations don't feel organic and have no sense of physics what so ever. My biggest problem is no cover mechanic, why can't I lean against a wall in the heat of battle. Everyone else can ?!?! Rainbow Six Vegas did this and it worked, perfectly. All the vehicle sequence are uncalled for and over the top and not even fun to do really, seems like a wannabe movie at this point. I'm trying hard not to bash it that bad cause they're are times in the campaign that I though were excellent and well done, I love the sneaking around missions and the ones that feel more like ops missions rather then "world war" like missions. 


The graphics are still up to par with some of the best out there on the consoles. Solid 60fps frame rate for most of my experience, there were couple times when it hiccuped on me when action was going on. The sound effects were awesome, guns and chatter where well done. Lots of real life actors like Ed Harris brought the characters to life. Ice Cube was one my favorites too. The guy who played Alex Mason, by the end just was annoying. Times in the game there needed to be more clarity on what the objective was. Most of the game you just follow someone who has the word "follow" over their head, this can misleading and takes away from the natural feeling of the game play. Just doesn't look right when the game is that is so pretty. The game also glitched out completely cause the AI characters didn't come to the place in the level and I could not advance. I was forced to restart the whole level. Why? There is so much to like from this single player, but it is just broken and not even worth the time in the end. It just ends up being a disappointment. I love single player campaigns to death and being sucked into a games atmosphere and story, but with so many things upside down it really blew the experience for me.  


The online is no different in most from the COD games in the past, well at least the last three. You have your ranking up and your perks and kill streaks and all that jazz. It is fun, there is no denying that. But it is also frustrating. The addition to the COD points is a good touch. Now you don't have to rank up all types of stuff that you don't want to to get a certain item. You can buy the guns and equipment that you prefer with your COD points that you earn online. Wager is also great way to bet on matches and earn more COD points. The zombies mode is back too, still the same and with more to love. I never really got into it or seen the appeal to play it over and over again like some people. All the modes that you love are all still in there everything is still in tack, but its still just the same COD multiplayer. The game does not use Microsoft true skills ratings to matchmake you up with people in the same skill level as you, this is a problem. For people that seriously want to get good at this game or achieve a higher level will have to get there ass handed to them for a bit. I will take some serious dedication and learning all the maps before you can compete, that isn't fair to the average gamer. All the spawning is just ridiculous, everywhere and anywhere you just get tossed in and die in a second. It really is stupid. I needs to be set. Matchmaking also did not work that good either for a bit when I was playing it, you would lose people from you party or not even get into a game. 


I honestly think that the game takes very little skill to play once you have learned the maps and details of everything. The snap-to with the left trigger just needs to go. To kill someone -- see them, hold the left trigger then hold the right trigger down. Dead. Doesn't matter where you are or what you are shooting you can just hold down that right trigger and let her fly. Try to pick people off is useless and never barely works cause you be torn apart by some guy locking on to you and spraying. They need that Rainbow Six cover in there to balance it out, or you just get running and gunning once again. You can now dive as you run, so now you have guys running around gunning and diving. It just constant spawning and dying with no real consequences. There is so much they could have done to change it up in this series and take another leap to something higher, but they didn't. You basically get another Call of Duty game and that is it. I admit it is a good game there is no denying that in the end, and if your a hardcore COD fan the chances are that you will love this one and probably already own it. To me its the same Call of Duty game all around and only a rental. 7/10

My First Fan Expo

Ah! The Fan Expo. To Canadian gamers this is as one of the closest experiences you can have to say a Comic Con in the States. I have always wanted to experience a huge gaming convention, and dream of going to E3 just like any other. Up here in Canada we don't get to experience these massive conventions couple times a year like the States. The Fan Expo is held in Toronto, Ontario once at year, a showcase of games, movies, anime, and comics. I missed last years show and planned with a couple buddies that we were going to go next year, everyone was in. That morning we left early and head off to Toronto with no tickets and full of excitement, not knowing that what we were in store for that day. We were passed by the "Back to the Future" DeLorean, which meant something, right? Anyways when we arrived we parked, for a usual ridiculous amount of money it seems to cost to park anywhere in Toronto. We walked a couple blocks until we started seeing people walking the streets of TO all decked out in their characters costume. We were heading in the right direction, or were we? Nope, have to go this way. We then told to line up at the end of this massive line that was not short of couple blocks. Then handed something that looked like an info sheet to fill out. No one had a pen except me, smart thinking. I began filling out my form as everyone else seem to watch and ask for permission to use my pen. As I watched my best pen get tossed around a security man walked up and told us this is not the back of the line could you please move up. We casual starting walking up the walkway as I hunted my pen back to my possession. The people standing a line next to us on the right looked as we mobbed forward. We were all like "Hey, guy said to move up." As we reached basically the upper front of the line, we could see the goal. The entrance gates.

"Finally!", "Alright, we will be in no time!" was what we were saying to ourselves at this point. Thinking we be inside in hour, no problem. The sun was out that day, and couples hours had passed. "What is going on here?" The line has not budged. We all were standing around crammed in the middle of this walkway, looked like a scene from Dead Rising. Zombies, everywhere. People were getting restless at this point. A Fan Expo Coordinator guy came over and started to explain how the building was at maximum capacity, and could not let people in until people started to leave. He also informed us that the people in the left side are ticket holders and that they were first to enter. We weren't upset, cause we knew would should have bought tickets. How long should we wait? We all agreed we would wait another hour max and we were going to leave. By this point we were all hungry,thirsty and soaked from standing in the sun all day. I wanted to meet Victor Lucas and Scott Jones and had a good couple hour cousin when we we arrived, that was long gone. I even seen Scott walking by the line, was a piss off. Not too long after that they started letting people in, we were close enough to get into this wild pack of people and everyone rushed inside. There were kids running full tilt, people tripping and yelling all to each other trying to get in first. Waste of time, we basically ran into another waiting room inside. All lined up like we were at a bank, a zig zag pattern with the rope off. Waiting was the game at this point, there was giant curtain blocking our view of the insides. We could hear the chatter and laughter, but we, we were stuck waiting. Couple people behind us gave up and walked out. If they would have waiting ten more mins they would have been able to purchase their tickets and walk in, that's just what we did.

We all walked in in amaze, starving and probably looking like shit a this point. As we walked by the trash we all threw out our info sheets as they had no play into the "getting in" of the expo. Weird. Walking around there was so much too see and so little space to see it in. About 60,000+ people showed up this year, which I guess is almost tripled from last year. It was packed. We all agreed we needed to eat and get something to drink before we started looking around floor. That lasted probably a couple feet. As we scanned merchandise tables looking at figures, games, imports, and anything you wanted. If there was something, some collectible that you need for your collection you could more then likely find it here. Trying to make it to the food court was impossible. I seen the G4 and wanted to see who from G4 was on the meet and greet at that time. It was some of the cast from Reviews on the Run Daily. I met Miri Jedeikin, Steve Tilley and Raju Mudhar. I chatted and congratulated them on how much I enjoyed their work on the show. On my way out of the booth I seen Ben Silverman, quickly asked him couple questions and snapped a picture. It was cool meeting all of them and talking to them.

By this point we somehow managed to get our shit straight and get some food in us. We lined were they served hot dogs/sausage on a bun with water for like fifteen bucks. Yikes. We got that in us and headed out see if we could find the Pure Pwnage booth. We circled the place and looked at our complicated map lay outs and ended up looking at more figures along the way. The amount of poeple dressed up was crazy. Some were sloppy costumes and majority were all out replicas of the costumes. Was a lot of fan service for the Star Wars universe up in there! Tons of storm troopers everywhere. The Star Wars booth had tons of layouts of Star Wars toys in huge battle scenes under glass casings. They also had the Boba Fett action figure box you could stand in. We all snapped pics with the real Boba Fett too, well not really. We made way and found the Pure Pwnage booth. We the Noob Store was all set up and they had anything you want for sale. Jarett Cale (Jeremy) was at the booth at the time signing autographs and talking to the fans. We lined up and I talked to him about what he was playing these days, which he answered "Star Craft 2." I also asked him "Where is Dave?"  He told me that Dave actually is in China, which all gave a laugh to the people around. We also asked him how come T-Bag was not on the showcase Tv series? He told us that he died in a car crash and that is why they stopped making the web series. We all apologiesed cause we had no idea, and then he said it was cool and that they want to bring back and finish off the web series. We snapped some pics, got my program signed, and purchased some merch and left. We then started walking around the comic/artist section of the convention. There was so much beautiful art pieces for sale there, hundreds of artist had their work on showcase. So many prints to look at, we all wanted to get something but were just overwhelemed at all the great pieces there.

We then heard cheering and some amount of noise coming from the one corner of the floor. Heading over there I could read the signs that tournaments were going to be held. Upon arrival there was a Super Street Fighter 4 tournemnt being played. We stood around and watched a couple of matches, was good to see a real technical game of SF4. As we were watching, we were informed that we had to move because Adam West was leaning on the Batmobile and was doing a private signing. I said " were watching this man, were just standing here." He kicked us out of that little pathway after that, eventhough we werent even paying attention to what was going on with Batman behind us. We just said "screw watching the rest of this, lets go check something else out." Walking around I randomely snapped pics with any good costume I seen that had anything to do with what I liked. I thought it was so cool that people put that much effort into dressing up, like more the Halloween! And it was mostly chicks that were all done up, which was hot I had to admit. We stumbled upon the Sony booth that was set up. Wasn't that much set up really. Had Move, Lil Big Planet, and Gran Turismo 5 Racing Sim Booth set up. Orlando and I wanted to play the GT5 in 3d so we lined up. There was a kid playing this and he was awful at it, like I have never seen anything this bad. He was hitting every wall there was couldn't even drive straight on the straights, people were making calls on him. I was next, I proceeded and ask the woman who was setting up my game to put it on "manual please." She said sure, and I set up my seat. I have played GT5 Proluge and the GT5 online beta so i knew how to play. I wanted to see what they did with the 3d more then anything, which I was kinda disappointed. There was really no eye popping anything, seemed more the like image had little depth in the screen. Orlando played and said they same thing. Was "no biggie" i'm still going to buy the game, just wanted to check out what they were doing with that technology.

We made couple more passes around the convention floors, checking out the last of the vendors for stuff that caught our eyes. I had a headache by this point, think it was from the 3d or maybe lack of water? Looking at swords and weapons that cost up to a thousand dollars was different, all crafted to look like replicas of famous game swords. Walking downstairs on our way out we spotted the Back to the Future car again and walked around it and check it out. Yep, "Great Scott" that was the same one. I could barely walk anymore as we posed with more Jedi and Sith Lords and watched a robot chick talk to us. The show was coming to the end, and all in all was well worth that 3 1/2 hr. we endured. I didn't get to meet Victor or Scott, or did I get any of the games that I wanted at the time. We had a blast though talking and interacting with the people in that place. I wish that we would have left just a bit more earlier to get the full effect of the show and not have had to cram it all in one afternoon. Next year I can only imagine the turn out for the Fax Expo, it has taken over Toronto on that date. I suggest to anyone that has an interest in game, movies or comics to come and check it out. There is a lot to do and see and tons of celebrities to meet and greet. Its on all weekend so check which day(s) that suit what you want to do. Cosplay was bigger then I could have thought it would be, and I am very much looking forward to what next years turn out will bring to the show. I doubt that I will ever dress up. But hey, you never know when a Ninja might show up. The one thing I know that will happen next year, were buying our tickets in advance.

God of War 3 (Playstation 3)

The third and final chapter of the God of War series is here and has surpassed all of its past games and some, Kratos is going all out! The game starts off right where the second game left Kratos at, climbing up Mount Olympus on the back of a the massive Titan Gaia. With the famous words "Zeus, your son has returned! And I bring the destruction of Olympus with it!" The second game ends on that, Zeus is gathering the Gods of Olympus to help stop Kratos in his path of destruction and revenge. Kratos has gone to hell and back if you are not familiar with his journey so far. Here is a summary. God of War is loosely based on Greek mythology set in Athens and all about the main protagonist, a Spartan warrior named Kratos. After almost losing his life in battle as a spartan. Kratos asks for help from the God of War, Ares. Ares saved his life and enslaved him to the "blades of chaos." Kratos is a servant to Ares. One night Ares tricks Kratos into murdering his wife and child to see the true potential of this warrior. Kratos seeks revenge on Ares and has to find "Pandora's Box." The Box has the power to kill a God, The Blade of the Gods. With the help of Athena the goddess of Athens, she guides him to Pandora's Box to retrieve the sword. After the defeating Ares, Kratos is appointed the God of War. As the God of War Kratos commands his Spartan army to seek the destruction of the Gods. 


Cursed as the "Ghost of Sparta" Kratos is haunted in nightmares of his past, killing his family by his own hands. Zues strips him of his godly powers and offers Kratos the Blade of Olympus, in which he kills Kratos with. Before Kratos is sent to his death in the underworld he is saved by by the Titan Gaia, Mother of Earth. He is informed he must find the Sisters of Fate, who can change his fate and prevent his death at the hands of Zeus. Thus the plot of God of War 2. After Kratos has proven himself worthy to The Sisters of Fate by defeating them, he is returned to point at which Zeus killed him. Kratos has the Blade of Olympus and set to kill Zeus when Athena intervenes, to tell him not to kill Zeus. Athena kills herself to stop Kratos from killing the God, and informs him that he is in fact Zeus' son. Kratos saved the Titans, now needs there help to climb Mount Olympus and the journey to the top finally begins. God of War 3.


God of War 3 is something else, and anyone who is a fan or played the past games, you must play this. The open cinematic alone will sum up what my first couple paragraphs were about, it is done in such a great artistic style of representing what happened in the games so far. The game plays just like any other God of War game, for the most part I don't think that is a bad think. I'm not going to ruin the story of the game because I believe it is something that you have to experience as a fan. You basically know what you are in for when it comes to this game. The combat looks way more fluent and stylish, with all the hyper lighting effects on the weapons as they slash and whip around. The amounts of enemies on screen are impressive at times, especially with the scale of the whole backdrops and environments set in the game. The opening level alone, being on the giant Titan Gaia. Massive scale doesn't explain it, it something you have to experience. The game does not let down for what it needed to do to finish off the series. They needed to come out with something that pushed the Playstation to the max, and that had to up the previous games like they all did before. For that, Santa Monica Studios did a great job.


The graphics in this game are some of the best in the business and on the system. The level designs are huge and have such a scope to them. There always something moving going on in the background as you move through this experience. The character models are also fantastic, Kratos has never looked so good. He gets covered in blood in the battles, and his facial expressions in the cut scenes show is true emotion! Which is anger by the way, this man has been angry since he started all this. The character you encounter are well modeled and have such a high polished to them, that said everything in this game has that high polished look. The detail in this game is phenomenal, you can see they must have crammed that Blu Ray disc to the max. The voice acting is done very well, with tons of appearances from famous actors to come and do parts. They actually got Kevin Sorbo who plays Hercules on the old tv show, to come in and voice Hercules on the game. Rip Torn as Hephaestus the Smith God, was such a good performance. You can feel the emotion and work that all these actors did to bring this game to life one more time.


The intense gore and violence still remains the wow factor in God of War. Always thought to myself "could they make it more bloodier then the last one?" Santa Monica did not hold anything back when it comes to the violence in this game at all. They pushed it once again, from pulling Helios' head off straight from his neck to slicing the guts right out of a Centaur General. The game is very graphic and detailed on showing you everything. The music in the game is amazing. Soon as you fire the game up and the main menu screen come up, you can hear that orchestral score bumping and pounding out. Wow! I always thought that the music in the God of War games are some of the most powerful gaming music, and fit the game to a "T". This game does not disappoint at all when it comes to this, it over shines the previous ones. The music fits that dark and gritty battle music that is God of War, and also the music is memorable. I constantly found myself humming the theme songs when I wasn't playing the games, and thats how you can tell that the music made it to the player. The battle effects all sound good, your classic Kratos grunting and sword swinging noises are all here and sound great cranked up.  


Kratos is armed with four main weapons once again. The Blades of Exile, Claws of Hades, Nemean Cestus and the Nemesis' Whip. All four weapons have sets of combos/moves to unlock, just like in previous game you have to kill enemies to earn the red orbs to purchase the upgrades. They majority of them seem all like the same, except for the Cestus which are like very powerful guantlets. The weapons all have there own special magic attack to them. Example the Blades of Exile, when you press the R2 trigger to activate the magic Kratos is surrounded and protected by a spartan shield barrier. The shields blocks you but also delivers a big blow, with spears being pierced out the side. Kratos must defeat the Gods to posses all the weapons in the game. Kratos also has three secondary weapons. The Head of Helios, Bow of Apollo, and the Boots of Hermes. All offer something new to the table. The Head of Helios acts a light in dark areas, it also shows you things that a mortal could not see such as hidden chests. The Bow of Apollo is used the same in other games, sets enemies on fire and can be useful when trying to shooting Harpes, to use them as a way across a section. The Boots of Hermes allows you to run up and across marked walls and lets you dash in combat, which makes it almost slow motion effect with knocking the enemy in the air. Nice touch.  


Gameplay hasn't changed that much at all really, it is still God of War with some new touches to it. The quick action sequences are all done the same except now the action button doesn't come up in the middle, it is located at the side of the screen that the button would be laid out on. Example would be X would be at the bottom and O would be on the right. Makes it easier really, but I think it lets you see and focus more on the action and what is going on in that sequence. Jumping in this game is my only compliant. Well double jumping in this game is I mean. I find it hard that you just can't hold down your first jump and tap and hold for the next one, you cannot do this. Kratos will fall to his death. Double jumping only works if you tap the first and hold the second. Doesn't seem like much but it is, because i'm used to holding my jumps until the next, and learning that from other games. There is still the sex mini game, and the chest finding and all the orb collecting madness that is God of War present here.


The games main story will take you anywhere from 10-12 hours to complete based on the difficulty settings and your skill to be honest. When you beat the game it will unlock a harder difficulty, the Challenge Mode, and Videos of the game and behind the scenes stuff. The video documentary on the making of the game is awesome, a must check out if you are a fan. You get to see the man behind Kratos voice, all the celebrity voice actors, see all the art desgins, and just the process and work it takes to make this great game possible. If you never have played the first two games on the Playstation 2, you must play them. They are some of the must play games for the last generation consoles, and Playstation owners. If you own a Playstation 3 you can play them on the God of War Collection, which has both games on a single blu-ray remastered in high definition. If you have played them and haven't played this game, I high encourage you to get this game and experience Kratos' last stand. A truly epic game for the Playstation 3. 9.5/10

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (Xbox 360)

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is made as a reboot for the Castlevania franchise in the next generation of gaming, that isn't done as a 2D side scroller. Time and time again Konami has tried to bring this series into a 3D action platforming game in past console generations, with little or no success. The game was suppose to be a remake of the first game, the story of Simon Belmont. But was scrapped to be an all re-imagination of the Castlevania world with the help of Hideo Kojima, mostly known for creating Metal Gear Solid series. I believe for the most part this game is a very good. I will have to say before I start talking about this game that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow for the most part, at least in gameplay department is somewhat a ripoff of a bunch of great action games. This is a big let down for some fans of the series, but I believe that if you were going to do a Castlevania in 3D they did it just right.

Castlevania is set in the late year of 1047, in a world that is torn by the Light and the Dark. The land is overcome with the presence of the Lord of the Shadows. A Dark force that has cursed the Earth with a spell that has stopped the dead souls from leaving and has put them in Limbo. The world is inhabited by evil creatures who stalk and kill the living. The main character is Gabriel Belmont, a member of the Brotherhood of Light. The Brotherhood is made up of Holy Knights that defend and protect the Earth from the evil creatures that grace it. Gabriel's wife Maria, was killed at the hands of the Brotherhood and remains in purgatory. She knows what challenges Gabriel must face ahead, and guides him on to save the world from the Shadows. Gabriel teams up with one of his mentors Zobek (voiced by Patrick Stewart) to hunt down the three factions of the Lords of Shadow, and regain the Masks of God and the Devil to bring back his wife.

The game plays just like God of War for the most part. You have your short and ranged attacks with Gabriel's Combat Cross, which extends with chains. Gabriel can upgrade his Cross with couple add ons to make it more powerful with the experience he earns from killing enemies. The combo combinations can be unlocked with xp earned, with a impressive number of over 40 combos. The combos are laid out and presented with a nice touch. The animations are all previewed with a well done hand drawn black and white Gabriel displaying and performing the move sets. You collect gems all over the levels to extend Gabriel's life and magic bars, no different then God of War. His magic consists of Light and Shadow. Killing enemies, Gabriel can absorb the energy to fill up his Light and Shadow magic. With Light magic activated, Gabriel can strike enemies and gain back health while also performing Light magic moves if purchased. With Shadow magic activated, striking enemies causes double damage and is more powerful then the Light magic. Dead Brotherhood members are found all over the Earth, most carrying either Gems or Scrolls. Scrolls have tales of the fallen and how far they have made it on this journey others with keys to puzzles. There is a lot of platforming, where climbing and scaling walls is easy and done very fluently. There is also the use of the chain for swinging across environments, which is used in most, if not all Castlevania games.

The enemies come in a wide range from typical things you would battle in this series. You have your werewolves, vampires, trolls, and all things evil to battle in this game. The bosses come very often and come at you hard in all shapes and sizes. Couple of the giant boss designs are basically a direct rip from Shadow of the Colossus, in which you must scale them and and stab there weak points until they drop. While others are set more like a Ninja Gaiden style, were they are very fast paced with sword play. They offer quite the challenge to you as the player, which is why I enjoyed it so much. The action sequences, or quick time events are played like God of War for the most part. The only difference is one type you push a button combination and the other you would have to wait for a circle to shrink into another circle and hit any action button to perform the move right. The game is set over 12 missions or chapters if you will, set inside a book. Inside each one of this chapters is a set of levels, there are over 45 levels in the game. There is four levels of difficulty to the game, and each level unlocks a trial for that level. The trials consist of different challenges in that level, whether it be beating the level in set time or not using your magic for the entire level.

The graphics in this game are absolutely gorgeous. The vistas and backdrops set in the levels are some of the best I have seen in awhile, and are done with amazing artistic style for the game. They really nailed that one I think. But, what they didn't get right was the frame rate. This really hurts the game if anything does in my opinion. The game can crawl at some spots when in mid fight. For the most part it hiccups, always, when in battle. The game also froze on me on multiple occasions, which is unexceptable. This is a real let down, cause I expect something of this caliber to deliver. The camera is also fixed and can not be controlled by the player. This can frustrating when in mid battle your forced in a corner and can't see, or enemies will be off screen and you can not react properly to their attacks. The audio on the other hand, is composed with some real heart into the game. Every orchestral theme pounds out and sets the tone in this Castlevania universe. The voice over work is excellent, Patrick Stewart narrates the whole story as the game loads and really does a good job. The other voice overs are done well too, the relationship of Gabriel and his lost wife Maria comes together on this performance. Load times are fast and get you right into the action, coming off of Dead Rising 2 this was a real treat. 

The overall design and presentation was done exceptionally. Slick menus with other little touches like when you paused the game, the screen would go into the pause menu book and be all done hand draw frame. I loved that. The game featured some awesome variety of puzzle designs too. One puzzle you were shrunk in to a music box and had to play a song a certain way to escape from it. Collecting gems through sets of trapped corridors, different coloured gems played different parts of the song to advance farther in to the song. Other consist of you using your Light and Shadow powers in different sequences and riddles. The game is only a single player experience, which I think is a perfect choice. It almost was twenty hours to playthrough the whole game. I might note that the games ending cutscene was well done, and left questions for a possibly a sequel. Great touch. I was truly impressed. With all the combos and magic powers to be unlocked, the Scrolls and Gems to be collected, and the trials for each level. This game offers enough replay value of that can be matched with some of the great action hack and slash games to date. All the slow downs and freezing that happened when I played this game should have turned me off, but it didn't. When I was done playing through the first time, I just wanted to jump back in and keep going. 8.5/10

Dead Rising 2 (Xbox 360)

Dead Rising 2 is the story of Chuck Greene living in the post zombie apocalypse. Chuck is an ex motor cross champion that has hit a low in his life and has to work on a pay-pay-view reality like game show, that involves the slaughtering of the undead. The "Terror is Reality" show is hosted by T.K. the money hungry millionaire, and demands Chuck to put a good show for the fans. Learning that Chuck and his daughter Katey were previously in a zombie outbreak incident, that cost his late wife life. Chuck has all the hate for killing zombies and the protection of his daughter. The game starts at just that, you play in an event in the show. Slicing up zombies for points on your motorcycle, that has duel chainsaws. After the show is done and Chuck has won, an explosion takes place. The zombies have broken out of the arena, in Fortune City where the show was being hosted at. Chuck must take his daughter to safety.

In a Safe House where he ends up he will encounter other survivors around Fortune City, you also learn that Chucks daughter was bitten once before. Since the outbreak of the first game, 5 years has passed. A company has came out with Zombrex, a 24hr solution to stop the outbreak from starting transformation. This is a key new item that Chuck must locate every 24hrs for his daughter. Dead Rising 2 is an improved version of the first game. The game is once again a 72 hour challenge basically. You have three days to complete case scenarios, that Chuck can't miss on time or he will lose the case and the game is over. Chuck can also do other side mission such as rescue survivors or fight psychopaths while you wait for the next case to start at a specific time. Rescuing and guiding the survivors has greatly improved from the first game. They can defend for themselves better and keep a good pace with him at the beginning. The psychopaths are just they same on the other hand. Way to powerful.  Some are very tough to beat alone, when Chuck is not leveled up he can be cut down to size rather quickly.

Chuck can level up to a maximum of level 50, which hasn't changed. He collects PP from killing zombies, rescuing survivors, beating psychopaths, and complete cases. As he levels up, his attributes increase, such as his speed and strength. Also learning new skills, like the Stomp and the Double Drop Kick. Chuck can wield over 300 types of weapons. Anything you can see, he can use or kill a zombie with it. Chuck can also use maintenance rooms to construct two weapons as one, which he learns from unlocking Combo Cards as he levels up. Any weapon that has a wrench on its icon can be used to create some hilarious and powerful toys. Using something like a helmet and power drill, or gems with flashlight for a decent light saber. He earns double PP with theses various combined weapons. In Fortune City, which seems to me like a big mall again with casinos. There are tons of shops and places to explore and run around for zombie killing. There are looters that go around and rob stores and try to jack Chuck for his money and weapons. The looters also run pawn shops where they sell rare weapons and of course Zombrex, for a price. It is a neat touch to see more human like people around the game. But it's not too much more then the first.

The zombies come in packs and the come at Chuck in all sorts of manner. Slow, running, or not even paying attention to Chucks presence. The controls of the game seem the same, a little more tighter but thats about it. The radio calls he receives are just like the first, and are so annoying. Chuck has to stop to take the call and you have try to avoid zombies while reading small text, they need to change this. Some audio would really help out here. The graphics are a nice lift, everything is polished nicely and it stands out good on the screen. Presentation and style is what has cleaned up really good. After comparing the two I could  see it in the menus and overall look in game. The audio is decent, there isn't that much music to speak of. The voice over work is solid for the most part and zombie noises are always well done, but the survivors can be repetitive. Yelling at me, screaming for no reason and saying the same things over and over, did it for me. The story is okay. The one thing that got me was I actually felt for this guy and his love for his girl.

The single player lasted from 8-10hrs of gameplay. I couldn't keep track of it, because there wasn't a built in timer. There are now three save slots now, instead of the one. Which is a big deal because most people couldn't finish Dead Rising in time. They would save and be screwed over with not enough time to complete the cases, resulting in having to start over. This helps a lot. Saving multiple saves is key. If I didn't think I would have enough time I could always revert back to an older save and not have to restart over. I never once had to start this game over to complete it. There are couple different ending, which result in the Overtime Mode unlocking. The drop in and out co-op seemed to work good. People would call your radio, you could accept and invite them in to assist you in your campaign. I noticed that when I went to save, that the player in my world would lose connection to my game and get kicked out. I have no idea if it's meant to do that or they will patch that soon.

The multiplayer is new to the Dead Rising game. Players can now hop online and play some four player Terror is Reality online. You can play ranked or player matches, and be joined up with three others to compete in three random events. Ended with a final event where winner takes the top money spot. The games are fun, mindless "American Gladiators" style events where you slaughter zombies for points. players earn money in every event. Players can also use the money they earn online for their single player character. I played 3 or 4 rounds and seen it all really. It was something that really didn't needed to be added in the game, but, the money does help you out in the end.

All said and done, if you liked the first cult classic then there is definitely some improvement that all fans can enjoy. The single player can still stress you out at times, but if you stick it out it is worth the playthrough. Two playthroughs will help you see Chucks full potential at level 50 and possibly seeing both endings to the game, which help the legs of this game. The achievements in the game are tough to get and will also help the lasting appeal of the game, if time is put. Dead Rising 2 is worth the time of any zombie killing lover and fan of the first game. 8/10

I Can't "Kinect" With This Next "Move"

With the holidays coming up, it is a prime season for the big video game companies. There is always anticipation for around November. Where the biggest titles are always released and new consoles seem to always fall around the month before holidays. This November will see only one new hardware upgrades for the next generation consoles. Microsoft will be launching Kinect on the 4th for around $150 for the device. Sony's Playstation Move launched mid Sept, earlier then the competition. It retails with the camera, one wand controller, and Sport Champions for $100. There is also another controller available, the navigation controller that sells for $30, its basically the "nunchuck."  So over all the Move is about $20 buck cheaper out the gate. It can be even more cheaper if you own a Playstation Eye camera, and all you would have to do is buy the controllers and the games. But on Microsoft's side, all you have to do is buy Kinect and that is basically it. No controllers are going to be needed, and no batteries or chargers are going to have to be purchased versus the Sony set up.

First off, I want to say that this is all targeted towards the "casual gamer" audience, it seems so far. Well at least Microsoft has admitted thats who they are after, i'm assuming Sony is after the Wii audience also. That's what it is all about! Taking as much away from Nintendo's very popular Wii sales. They achieved this with a more affordable price point at launch and the casual games they offer for all audiences. I consider myself to be a "hardcore" gamer. I didn't purchase a Wii or plan too, just something that doesn't appeal to me. It doesn't cater to a lot of gamers, and those gamers are the ones who went out and bought the Xbox 360 or PS3. We wanted the better graphics, faster processors, the online community and hardcore titles they offer are the best on the market. So first sights of something coming towards what I play, I was a little skeptical, and I still am now.

I will start off with move first and talk about what its all about and its features how it fairs right now. The move is basically a direct rip off off a Wii-mote, no getting around that fact. But what it is set out to do, which the wii doesn't offer, is true 1 to 1 control. The Wii controls for the most part besides a hand full of games out there, is poor. They had to release a controller add on, the Wii Motion Plus to try to tighten up the controls, and charged the customer for it too. Thats BULLSHIT! Sony must have seen this mistake and tried to make something that is superior over the Wii controls, thus came the Move. The Move uses the Eye camera and the Balls on the end of the remotes to track the motions at a claimed 1 to 1 ratio, meaning it will work better the Wii. The games that launched with it have had mixed reviews about how they handle, and the complaint about how the buttons are very hard to press and basically confusing keep stacking against them.

For the most part this whole package not assuming you own a Playstation 3 will run you about min. $450 doesn't seem to be appealing to the casual person who can just get a Wii for under $200. Kinect and a Xbox go for about $300, but thats with a 4GB Hard drive. I don't recommend that at all. Stupid marketing on there behalf. The $300 360 comes with 250GB hard drive, that is what you will need to get all out of the system. So with that and Kinect your looking at $450 min, still not close to the Wii. Out of the two new hardware upgrades I believe that the Move has more promise then the Kinect. If the controls do work as promised, games could be interesting such as an Oblivion or any FPS game where the controls would fit better suited. But titles like Kung Fu Rider make these seem, well a far cry. This $50 title is nothing more then a $10 downloadable game, if that. You ride down a hill in this acrcady old Taxi Driver style game play that is not even worth talking about. Where as Eye Pets and Sports Champions far much better and some what show case the experience to casual consumers. It still isn't going to make any core gamer want it in my opinion.

Kinect is just something else all together. A devices that sits above or below your tv, plugs into your 360 and offers you a gaming experience with no controllers. I don't ever bet on seeing this being as good as the controlls of an analog/button scheme layout, impossible. You need quite the amount space in your gaming environment to play this, which wont appeal to people that just don't have that kind of space. The games that they have show cased so far look terrible! And that is being nice! Games that have mini games attached to them. Like WTF! All that the Wii has become is just that, mini game garbage for the most part. That is just one of my beefs with this product. The dashboard will be updated so you can browse through it will your hand gestures. When you walk in front of the camera it will sense that you are there and log you into your profile. You can set up voice recognition, and talk to the system and tell it to turn off or play movie or music in your library. Those couple features seem cool, I have to admit. But as far as the most important part, game play, nope.

The Kinect is just a bad idea. I could be proven wrong, but from what I have seen it will have to be awhile before i'm ever sold. I seen footage of people playing this and it looks so stupid. People flailing their arms and legs around trying to hit the in coming balls in some preschool looking game. I can see the enjoyment for the younger audience and non games, which is where they're heading will all this. The average person who plays there box for hardcore games looks as this as a joke. I just hope that they don't plan on moving it all to this style. It would never come to that I don't think, but you never know. Like how good would a Forza game be on this? No controller for precise turning, gas and breaking? And there is no buttons, how the fuck can that possibly be any good for core gaming? There is a lot to witness over this holiday season in gaming and with all these new devices. So we will just have to see. If it proves me wrong, I will be shocked! But for now I will just watch it hopefully flop, and fade away!

Bayonetta (Xbox 360)

Bayonetta is a high quality, fast paced action game in the same category of the Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden series. Over the top non stop action games that demand timing, patience, and skill to master. I'm a huge Gaiden and DMC fan, so I was excited to get into this game. In Bayonetta you play as a witch woken up 20 years or so ago with no complete memory of her past. You set off to find the "Right Eye" which is one half of the "Eyes of the World." Basically there are two factions of witches, light and dark respectively. Bayonetta learns she has the "Left Eye" in a red gem she possess, and is trying to piece back her memories while searching for the "Left Eye."

The game is set in a European style fictional city call Vigrid. The art style of level design is well crafted, I really was sucked into the games setting right off the hit. She come to find that the "Left Eye" is another witch names Jeanne and that she has sided with the Angels. The story is very out there and over the top and frankly not the best story ever told in an action game. But majority of these games don't have amazing stories, it's more about the gameplay aspects. The main enemies in this game are these futuristic looking angels that have all different types of attacks and counters. There design is very well done, with halos above their heads and high detailed armor. Feathers fly off them as your kicking the crap out of them. They attack quick, and in packs that vary in size. They're some Angels shaped as flying snakes to huge enemies with mythological faces. The game really has really has a consistent design across all enemy designs.

Byonetta herself is armed from head to toe. She can wield up to four weapons at a time, one on each arm and each leg. You can assign what you want for her to use from assortment of guns and swords. Pistols and katanas are always my weapons of choice. She can perform tons of moves, and learn new ones too. She can evade attacks, slow down time with Witch Time and also perform attacks called torture attacks. A torture attack is triggered by a quick time button sequence to pull off a great finishing move on an Angel. Bayonetta can also use her hair. Yes her hair, like no other woman protagonist in gaming. By transforming her hair it into huge monsters that can devour bosses whole! This might sound bit over the top, because this game is flat out insane. Its like an arena battle style game taken straight out of the DMC series where you enter a area and its blocked off by a force. After she defeats all the enemies in that arena and she blows a kiss to shatter the barrier to move on.

She collects halos from the enemies you have defeated, they are the currency that you to use to shop called The Gates of Hell. The store is ran by a bartender/arms dealer named Rodin, who made a excellent comical reference to the merchant in Resident Evil 4. Raised a laugh out of me. Rodin sells you all types of moves, techniques, weapons, costumes, and power ups that you need along the way. Also helps replay value. There is a whole list of various moves/techniques to master and outfits for purchasing which gives you reasoning for multiple playthroughs. The combat is amazing. Bayonetta is very fast paced and keeps you on your toes, it is a treat to watch this game in motion. The battles are fierce and have a lot of animations running on screen at once, for the most part it can handle that. I noticed a bit of choppiness when running around environments, but nothing that hurts the overall experience.

The audio is very solid too. The japanese pop music blares out in battle segments, and does get a bit repetative in the long run. It is like classic Sega rocking out music or J-Pop if you will, that suits the game very well. The voice acting is done well, but nothing really to brag about or the even caliber of story driven game such as Mass Effect. There are sequences in certain levels where Bayonetta is on a bike and something like a hover board that i felt didn't fit in well. It is on rail almost where you battle oncoming enemies at very high rates of speed. It got annoying and frustrating at the same time, and the controls weren't as tight as the ground combat. I didn't feel right in this kind of game to me, and could have done with out in my opinion.

Overall Bayonetta is a very sexy stylish game that delivers great sword and gun play action to any fan of this genre. The games single player took almost 15 hours to complete which is well worth the price of admission. The hard mode unlock offers an extreme challenge to those that dare to attempt it. The enemies are harder and stronger and are in the mix earlier then the normal mode to offer the ultimate challenge to hardcores. I read once that the game ran better on the Xbox 360 then Playstation 3, I can't confirm that they patched this up yet for the PS3. When all said and done, Bayonetta deserves the respect of being one of the best action game on the 360 of last year. If your a fan of this genre, its not one to missed. 8/10

Bioshock 2 (Xbox 360)

Welcome back to Rapture friends and past visitors. If you have never played the first Bioshock, you are missing out on one of the most original IP's to come around in years. I will quickly sum up what the first game was all about in a nutshell. The first game is set in this late 60's vibe, your name is a Jack and he is flying somewhere important when his plane crashes and strands him in the middle of an ocean. Seeing a light house or what seems to be, swimming towards it reveals an entrance to Rapture.

Rapture is a place that seemed full of hopes and dreams, to mix humans with genetic enhancements called plasmids. Plasmids are human wielded powers such a shooting fire or lightning out of their hands and all types of other super human enhancements. Anyways, greed took over this whole underwater city and people turned into basically "crack heads" over plasmids. Everyone is like Junkies! Killing and stealing of each other, overdosed and most are mentally ill by now and very dangerous! These people have the nickname of "Splicers". Everyone is trying to find Adam, which is the you can use to buy more Plasmids. Everyone looks to find the little sisters who carry the Adam. Defeating the Big Daddy who protect them gives the choice to either save or harvest Adam from the little sister. If he harvest he gains a significant amount more Adam then would, if he saved them. So the whole story is to find the man that started this underwater hell in the first place, Andrew Ryan. I won't ruin the story so if you haven't played it, its a must.

In the sequel you play as a Big Daddy prototype called "Subject Delta" ten years after the first game took place. Back in Rapture once again. Making way again through the underwater city, trying to find out whats going on. There are splicers once again being shady and trying to take your life for the smell of Adam. The game doesn't feel as eventful as the first, but it is still atmospheric. The game still doesn't seem to compare to the first experience of being in Rapture. There was definitely more chills in the first game and more excitement of seeing more parts of Rapture, but the second was still not a let down. The visual are as gorgeous as the first if not a bit more. So may layers and textures on the character models and levels, it's is very impressive. The sounds is always been an amazing part of the first one, and it does not let down in the one either. All these classic 60's-70's songs randomly playing on broken speakers while some Splicer is ranting about something he forgot to do ten years ago, it really put me back in the atmosphere.

The combat in this title is nicely laid out. The plasmids are on your left trigger and to fire your weapon it is your right trigger. This is different from the first in that, before Jack would have to either choose which one he wanted to wield. He couldn't duel wield like the Big Daddy played in the second. It was a nice touch, but I have to agree it does make the combat a lot easier to handle not having to worry about busting out the plasmids arm when getting rushed by a pack of Splicers. So playing as a Big Daddy you get to use the Drill and level that up too. Almost all plasmids and some weapons can be leveled up. The Drill is handy for close combat and later in the game I learned to dash forward with it, and that is awesome. Seeing a Splicer, dash across the room at him, and spin him up! The hacking is back too. You can still hack turrets, cameras, and security bots by running up to them or you can use the hack tool to shoot darts that auto hack for you. I still think that was another takeaway to the gameplay, it makes it more easier. But different.

In the first game Jack would research enemies with cameras, this one is sort of the same but with video. So instead of taking a pictures you run film while fighting the enemies. The more damage or variety of plasmids I used on enemies, helps your score. What the scores does, is give me perks against that enemies permanently. Such as bonuses to make them weaker against your attacks. New type of Splicers show up in this game to, brute splicers. They are very bulky huge splicers that stomp around and threw various debris at me, one of tougher types. There is a lot of different types of Big Daddies too. There all are different models of the Big Daddy with names suck as "Alpha" Daddy for example. They still highly dangerous and always full off goodies if you decide to take them on.

The biggest addition would have to be the Big Sister. The sisters are relentless when they come. When I found a little sister I would save them. Right after that I would hear a high piercing scream and knew something is coming for me, these battle were the high of the game to me. They attack fast, run around the place, jumping, and are all out to for my death. They are tough to take down, great new addition. The story is about 10 hours long, and definitly worth the play through. The game on 2 different endings I believe, and playing it on the hard difficulty and go back and find all voice recordings. Thats all the single player has to offer for replay. This game is worth two playthroughs.

The multiplayer in this game is decent. I tried it out a couple times and had no problem hoping online and getting into some standard team deathmatch. You choose an avatar, which all look like splicers. Add accessories to them and create a class with all the weapons and perk I had unlocked. There is some joy to running around using the plasmids and shooting each other, but that novelty wears off quick. Here is my biggest beef with Bioshock 2, there was no need to add mutiplayer to this once amazing single player experience. The first game did it so well, and that's all it was. All the effort and time was put it in that amazing outing in Rapture. This game should have been the same, it didn't need this tacked on multiplayer. I don't think you need a multiplayer mode to make your game sell, a good lengthy single player game will sell for itself! Just like the first one did! 8.5/10

My First Wow Raid

So my friend. Lets see, we'll call him Dan for the sake of his addiction. lol Asked me what I was doing last Saturday night? I told him that "I had to work during the day and that I was free that night." Dan said "why don't you come by my place and watch the raid that I will be in?" Mind you he has been trying to get me to download the "10 day trial" for about a year now. Always asking me to come and play it, constantly talking about it whenever gaming comes up between us. I have been curious about the game, I have seen him play it before at the earlier stages of his "Wow career", like level 5 or so. He is now a level 80, and working on 3 other character. He is also in a guild with a bunch of people online and loving it for the most part. He plays it to the max, so far to ignore texts from friends cause he is so in to the game. Point being, he does get his $12 a month out of it. With me being on 360 and Ps3, I just never seen the point to pat that much a month to play one game. I guess it is for the whole service and experience. They seem to patch the game up a lot and always have millions of people playing it at once. Dan claims that its endless and always stuff to do, I just don't know what to think. So back to our conversation, I was like "sure man I come see what this hype is all about."

Saturday night comes and i'm done work for the day, off to Dans house for the night. He text me earlier in the day and told me that the raid is scheduled for 9pm. For those who don't know what a raid is, it's basically I group of players up to 40 players get together and go through massive levels of huge mobs and boss fights. The advantage to this is you find rare items and get to loot a bunch of cool shit, and of course play crazy boss fights with tons of players. So I get to Dans house and he has his computer already running Wow,  he is on it running around the place in this main town. Storm Wind I believe. The place was packed with players everywhere, hanging out, talking, and planning missions. That was only in one main town, in a continent! This game is fucking huge! Tons of space and places to go and see just filled with tons of design. Graphically the game isn't close to anything of modern games, but its catered for really anyone to play. which is smart.

So were sitting there trying find out what is going on for tonights raid. He is pulling up chat bars, friend bars, guild bars, chatting and seeing who is online. At first glance, there is so much fucking stuff on the screen at once. You can see in my tilted picture at the top, all the little icons of moves, actions, spells, potions, and on and on..... I didn't even get it all in there! But it seems to me very overwhelming. I had to take in count his character is at this highest level cap too, so it will be a little to hop in and understand what every little button was for. I asked frequent questions about certain things, cause I knew once the raid kicked off he be in full battle mode and zoned in on whats going on. So we find out there all getting together at this certain Tower in the game world, and everyone is going to meet there now. So we head there by flying on some creature, and you actually have to sit there and watch him fly there. Different. So we get to the meeting spot and Dan tries to get a program were everyone can talk together to work (I try find out the name). He had it set up, but as the clutz that his is, he deleted some networking information to get in this chat room. 

So trying to figure this out,  I snapped that picture of everyone standing around at the meeting spot and beginning of the where the "raid dungeon" starts. Eventually he got it working, but it already kicked off people were on the move. The raid was 25 man(woman) made up of two guilds working together, and everyone is paired up into groups of 5's.  There are different stat boards that pop up on scree to tell you who caused the most percentage in damage and what not, that everyone seems to gets addicted to. Dan was yelling about how he was "DP" was "pulling"... which means he is started to more damage and climb up the leader board for the Party damage. They would fight a Mobs of tough level 80 goons that were little taller and could take quite the beating, you definitely need pure communication through the different characters and their classes. You would have people healing each other, characters casting spells, and there would be the Tanks that do close combat and can take and deliver the most damage. Dans Wow character is an Archer type character that stands back and launched magic arrows with a giant bow, he also could cast some magic but not as affected as other Mages. 

The video I posted showed on the first bigger enemies that came up I was like "holy shit, that guy is huge!" He wasn't even a boss, or anything out the ordinary I learned after I seen that enemy several times later in the raid. The First boss, was a giant skeleton that floated in the air with a huge axe. It was Massive. Everyone was just on the outside not attacking the boss, regenerating their health, magic, and what not. They all the were chatting, I could hear them cause Dan had it going through the speakers. Who was going to do what, and what the strategy was to defeat the boss. It was apparently pretty easy from what I seen them do it in, it was the first boss so people must have done this before. It did take maybe 10-15 mins to take down, but yeah some of those mobs of enemies took the same. The screen in combat is always filled with HP numbers coming up, how much damage was laid out! If 25 people are attacking, there is a lot of numbers on screen coming up. If you sit through one of these raids you knew that you were in for the long haul. Couple hours in I seen a couple more boss fights, and there were couple times the team would go down and have to go find your body again or wait for someone to raise you from the dead. That would take 15 mins to reorganize everybody back together and head back in.

Hours into this I realized, its not fun really to watch the game. There was times it would take 20 mins to take down one enemy. It wasn't boring but I seen it all really, and its something you have to play it yourself to enjoy the most. A single player experience would be best way to experience it, and your always online for playing with people and getting help with things. In the background of his place I could see his tv had the Premier League Football on, so if I got bored of watching that same fight I would glance at the tv. lol There was a lot of frustration near the middle of the raid it was like 3 hours in. Dan still couldn't find one piece of any item that he wanted or needed. If you find the piece you can roll the dice on it and who ever wins the roll gets to keep that item. There were car racing shows on the tv at this point, I was keeping my eye on some of that. The raid had a break for 15 mins, Dan could finally get a drink or go to the washroom. Same with everyone else that was playing. Once they all got back they planned for the next step. It seemed that it was all like a ladder that you get up, fight bosses get farther and farther. There were checkpoints after each big encounter, and thats where everyone would stop and wait and discuss strategies.

The final end of the raid was at a boss fight, everyone was getting wiped out. I stayed to see maybe 3 replays of the same part. The last one was definitely the closest, people were complaining about how other player weren't guarding there side. Enemies would spawn from right and left, you had to have people taking them out or it was over. Plus there was the main boss that the Tanks and Mages would be trying to suppress. people would either try to attack the boss and get defeated from either end or vice versa. It was like 1:30 am at this point and I was out of town, I was like Dan "Thanks for letting me come over and check this out, but I have to head out." Time flew by for the most part. I can see why he is caught up in this game and community, which that is what it is really. As for me I still have been thinking about playing it and getting into it, I just have so much other fun playing all my games on the consoles. It could be for me, but I just don't want to take away from all that. If they were to come out for one on the consoles, I would try it. Final Fantasy XI was the only mmo on 360 and that was $11 bucks a month. I couldn't do it,  when I already pay $60-70 a year for the Live service. Anyways, as for Dan. I will just keep telling him "My Pc won't be able to run Wow!" lol

I tried the upload the video of the Raid for 8+ hrs, it never worked. Wtf Blogger ?