Introduction:
It delivers scorching multiplayer, fitting of its decade-long pedigree of famously expansive big-team battles, but stumbles over a generic single-player campaign that feels like a different game.
While DICE may not deliver a memorable story here, it doesn't need to when Battlefield 3's online warfare raises every bar imaginable, delivering one of the best multiplayer experiences of the year. I doubt Battlefield purists will complain much about the campaign, honestly; I know you're enlisting in this battle to bring down entire armies online.
14.10.2013
11.10.2013
Review #7 - Forza Motorsport 4
Credits: IGN (Thank you for supporting me.)
Introduction:
In Eric Bana's 2009 documentary Love the Beast, Bana and Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson are sitting at a picnic table on an overcast day talking about cars. They're talking about Bana's first car, a 1974 Ford XB Falcon hardtop that he purchased at the age of 15 – and car he still owns, and the car around which the documentary itself is based.
Clarkson is making a point about car people and non-car people; he believes non-car people just can't see beyond the wires, glass, metal and rubber. They can't see the personality behind the engineering, the soul beneath the surface. It's a position Clarkson expands upon in the introductory sequence of Forza Motorsport 4; that car lovers are being marginalized in a world where practicality trumps adrenaline. A world where we're told to think of economy and the environment rather than excitement and enjoyment.
With Clarkson's help Forza 4 is positioning itself as an ode to the automobile of sorts. A celebration of all things four-wheeled and fun in one accessible package. Forza 4 is Turn 10's tilt to create the world's best and most comprehensive racing sim, to build an essential destination where car lovers can gather to trade, tune and take each other on.
And it's hard to argue the crew hasn't succeeded.
Introduction:
In Eric Bana's 2009 documentary Love the Beast, Bana and Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson are sitting at a picnic table on an overcast day talking about cars. They're talking about Bana's first car, a 1974 Ford XB Falcon hardtop that he purchased at the age of 15 – and car he still owns, and the car around which the documentary itself is based.
Clarkson is making a point about car people and non-car people; he believes non-car people just can't see beyond the wires, glass, metal and rubber. They can't see the personality behind the engineering, the soul beneath the surface. It's a position Clarkson expands upon in the introductory sequence of Forza Motorsport 4; that car lovers are being marginalized in a world where practicality trumps adrenaline. A world where we're told to think of economy and the environment rather than excitement and enjoyment.
With Clarkson's help Forza 4 is positioning itself as an ode to the automobile of sorts. A celebration of all things four-wheeled and fun in one accessible package. Forza 4 is Turn 10's tilt to create the world's best and most comprehensive racing sim, to build an essential destination where car lovers can gather to trade, tune and take each other on.
And it's hard to argue the crew hasn't succeeded.
10.10.2013
Review #6 - Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3
Introduction:
I will go ahead and get this out of the way: Naruto Shippuden is one of the greatest television shows I have ever watched and it is something I continue watching to this day.
And yes, you read that correctly. Television shows, not anime.
I remember being bored one day during summer before my senior year of high school in 2009. As a seventeen-year-old guy bored out of my mind, I had to find something to occupy myself before the dawn of my last year in high school.
In a final effort to find something to do, I decided to watch Naruto Shippuden since my cousins were nagging me to death to watch it. They claimed it was not like Naruto, a series I honestly dreaded watching because of how much it dragged on, so I figured Naruto Shippuden would be the same cup of tea, but with a random Japanese word after the name. I was not fond of subtitles either.
Since then, I have never once regretted watching the marvel that is Naruto Shippuden (even with filler). I could easily write another article over why it is such a great series, but I will keep it brief. Shippuden has a fantastic and wide cast of characters, epic battles, wonderful music, it is inspirational and it contains one of the deepest, most enthralling storylines I have ever had and continue to have the pleasure of witnessing every Thursday after classes.
09.10.2013
Review #5 - Mafia II
Introduction
Mafia II is upon us and ushering in a new era of wise guys and made men. If you've been waiting for this one, there is good news – the game is fun. Having shootouts in bars while bottles explode and glass flies, finding a mob hacking your friend to death, and going to brothels are all great times. Still, those moments aren't the entire game, and the accompanying parts hurt the whole.
Mafia II casts you as Vito Scaletta, a young Italian who returns from World War II to find his mother and sister on the hook to a loan shark. Like any gangster in a gangster movie, Vito decides he doesn't want a subpar life of the slums and goes down the organized crime route to make some cash. You'll be with Vito as he whacks dudes, steals cars and tries on all sorts of snazzy outfits.
Mafia II is upon us and ushering in a new era of wise guys and made men. If you've been waiting for this one, there is good news – the game is fun. Having shootouts in bars while bottles explode and glass flies, finding a mob hacking your friend to death, and going to brothels are all great times. Still, those moments aren't the entire game, and the accompanying parts hurt the whole.
Mafia II casts you as Vito Scaletta, a young Italian who returns from World War II to find his mother and sister on the hook to a loan shark. Like any gangster in a gangster movie, Vito decides he doesn't want a subpar life of the slums and goes down the organized crime route to make some cash. You'll be with Vito as he whacks dudes, steals cars and tries on all sorts of snazzy outfits.
07.10.2013
Review #4 - Call Of Duty: Black Ops II
Introduction:
We wake up at midnight to get our copy of the game, stay up all night playing online, call off work, and press reset when he the level cap, prestiging through all the levels once more. The only difference in the game being a few minor tweaks to the gameplay engine, a few different weapons to choose from, and some more maps to play on.
Call of Duty deserves a breath of fresh air. The franchise needs a break. When we look back at arguably the single greatest video game franchise in history, do we want to reflect upon the fact that we killed it off? Milked it for all the money it could offer?
Black Ops 2 is a good game, there is no doubt about that fact. But, it feels like a stale game that was only held down by its highly over-saturated nameplate. I appreciate the effort Treyarch put forth into trying to evolve the Call of Duty brand into something else, to make it feel new again. Unfortunately, they dabbled with ideas that they weren’t yet the masters of providing, and they ultimately fell short…
A lackluster campaign fixated with an interesting plot !
We wake up at midnight to get our copy of the game, stay up all night playing online, call off work, and press reset when he the level cap, prestiging through all the levels once more. The only difference in the game being a few minor tweaks to the gameplay engine, a few different weapons to choose from, and some more maps to play on.
Call of Duty deserves a breath of fresh air. The franchise needs a break. When we look back at arguably the single greatest video game franchise in history, do we want to reflect upon the fact that we killed it off? Milked it for all the money it could offer?
Black Ops 2 is a good game, there is no doubt about that fact. But, it feels like a stale game that was only held down by its highly over-saturated nameplate. I appreciate the effort Treyarch put forth into trying to evolve the Call of Duty brand into something else, to make it feel new again. Unfortunately, they dabbled with ideas that they weren’t yet the masters of providing, and they ultimately fell short…
A lackluster campaign fixated with an interesting plot !
05.10.2013
Review #3 - Call Of Duty - Modern Warfare 3
!!!SPOILERS!!!
Introduction:
People love to hate it, but the Call of Duty franchise is successful for a reason. No other first-person shooter has the same flair for visual spectacle in its singleplayer campaign, and few can match its utterly addictive multiplayer. While Call of Duty games have become formulaic at this point, as evidenced by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's muddled narrative and at times frustrating design, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games have refined and polished the Modern Warfare experience to produce the best of the series with the third installment.
Introduction:
People love to hate it, but the Call of Duty franchise is successful for a reason. No other first-person shooter has the same flair for visual spectacle in its singleplayer campaign, and few can match its utterly addictive multiplayer. While Call of Duty games have become formulaic at this point, as evidenced by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's muddled narrative and at times frustrating design, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games have refined and polished the Modern Warfare experience to produce the best of the series with the third installment.
04.10.2013
Review #2 - League Of Legends
Introduction:
"Everyone's doing it. Guys are doing it with girls. Girls are doing it with other girls. Some get together in groups and do it! Some even do it with complete strangers! Some people like to do it hardcore. Some people like to watch others doing it. Over 20 million people are doing it. Safe to say, everyone's doing it." - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 advertisement
No, this isn't a review of Call of Duty. I opened with the advertisement quote because it is very applicable to League of Legends' current situation. There aren't quite 20 million people playing the game daily, but the actual figure is very close. Everyone and their grandmother (probably their dog, too) is playing League of Legends now, and the player base continues to grow larger. If you're thinking about joining the horde of League fans around the world, continue reading for confirmation on why you should play this game.
Many existing GameFAQs reviews of this game are pretty outdated; League of Legends is updated regularly and much has happened since its release in 2009. I decided to write this review to bring justice to a game that has mostly been scorned by previous reviewers.
/ GAMEPLAY \
"Everyone's doing it. Guys are doing it with girls. Girls are doing it with other girls. Some get together in groups and do it! Some even do it with complete strangers! Some people like to do it hardcore. Some people like to watch others doing it. Over 20 million people are doing it. Safe to say, everyone's doing it." - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 advertisement
No, this isn't a review of Call of Duty. I opened with the advertisement quote because it is very applicable to League of Legends' current situation. There aren't quite 20 million people playing the game daily, but the actual figure is very close. Everyone and their grandmother (probably their dog, too) is playing League of Legends now, and the player base continues to grow larger. If you're thinking about joining the horde of League fans around the world, continue reading for confirmation on why you should play this game.
Many existing GameFAQs reviews of this game are pretty outdated; League of Legends is updated regularly and much has happened since its release in 2009. I decided to write this review to bring justice to a game that has mostly been scorned by previous reviewers.
/ GAMEPLAY \
03.10.2013
Review #1 - World Of Warcraft
Introduction
MMOs are a strange beast. They are designed to make you play as much as possible, yet addictiveness does not always equal fun. In the field of pyschology, there are several kinds of rewards systems, and the one that seems to be the most successful is the random reward introduced at a random time. Sometimes you click the button, and nothing happens. Sometimes you click and get the food pellet. It's this mechanism that fuels the slots in Vegas, and when you walk away empty, as is statistically inevitable over a long enough stretch of time, you tell yourself that the overall value was the experience itself, since you come away with nothing tangible. MMOs take away your time and they never deliver a discreet conclusion.
I played a ton of Dark Age of Camelot shortly after it launched, and I find myself reminded of it negatively every day that I play World of Warcraft. To discuss the differences in favor of WoW would be an article in itself, but I'll try to keep to the main points.
MMOs are a strange beast. They are designed to make you play as much as possible, yet addictiveness does not always equal fun. In the field of pyschology, there are several kinds of rewards systems, and the one that seems to be the most successful is the random reward introduced at a random time. Sometimes you click the button, and nothing happens. Sometimes you click and get the food pellet. It's this mechanism that fuels the slots in Vegas, and when you walk away empty, as is statistically inevitable over a long enough stretch of time, you tell yourself that the overall value was the experience itself, since you come away with nothing tangible. MMOs take away your time and they never deliver a discreet conclusion.
I played a ton of Dark Age of Camelot shortly after it launched, and I find myself reminded of it negatively every day that I play World of Warcraft. To discuss the differences in favor of WoW would be an article in itself, but I'll try to keep to the main points.
