Reviews

Fuz Rush Review

2013-06-13T14:00:24Z

I had the privilege to review another iOS game created by an indie group. This time around it was Fuz Rush, by Jet Stone Studios. In Fuz Rush you get to play the part of a squirrel who is desperately trying to out pace winter while navigating an ever changing landscape and collecting acorns. How long will you last, and when will winter catch up to you? Well only you can be the judge of that.

Graphically this game looks smooth. I do really appreciate the fact that there is a true randomness to the levels, and that even though they are random they fit together flawlessly so that you transition from section to section. I also like the fact that there is more to explore about each area than you actually think. The transition from a spring to winter is also very well done. I like the fact that you see snowflakes start to appear and then everything goes wintery right before a winter storm tries to eat you alive.

Now on the subject of sound, how can I put this, its music that belongs in a Merry Medieval Tale, or something it doesn't match up. Then there's the in game sounds that don't really work as well, the water effect basically makes my bladder scream, and that's not really a good thing, or maybe it is depending on if you need to use the restroom at that time or not.

The controls are pretty straight forward. You're going to be using the left and right arrows on the left hand bottom portion of the screen to move forwards and backwards. You're going to tap the screen to jump, double tap to double jump, and you'll slide your finger across the screen to do a dash after you jump.

So let me start off by telling you this game is free to download on to your device, but it should have had a price tag. I say this because this game will BORE you to death if you don't spend some cash and get the money add-ons to make collecting acorns worth the time. Basically you'll be collecting acorns one at a time, and then at the end of your run you'll be faced with store prices for items that are set at 500, 900, even 2000 or more. So you need to collect 500+ acorns, that's a lot of playthroughs as my current average, on a lucky run is about 60ish acorns. There's a right way and a wrong way of doing in game micro transactions, and I think these guys didn't get it right. I get so frustrated with the game that I don't want to spend money on it. Oh and plus you're going to be bombarded with in game ads about buying stuff at a pretty constant interval.

Then there's the flow of the game. You'll be collecting acorns and if you get hit you'll lose some of them, it kind of reminds me of Sonic the Hedgehog, which is a good thing, but the bad thing is apparently no matter how many acorns you have if you get hurt twice you are DEAD. If that is the case I shouldn't be losing acorns for accidentally hitting a spike. I think this game would have been better if you allowed the player to contine to play as long as they had acorns. You have a timer constantly counting down until winter arrives, so its not like players are going to be able to go at a leisurely pace.

Now at the end of your run you're given the option of purchasing new gadgets, which will help you if you're willing to run through the game a lot. The strange thing is that while in the shop this is your only opportunity to equip and change what gadgets are equipped. The other odd thing is trying to navigate out of the shop to get back to the game takes three different screens taps, that is WAY too many. Oh and there's a bit of false advertising going on in some of the helpful hints it says equip ANY two gadgets to help you with the game, well it turns out that a hat is a gadget, and so is gear, but they really mean you can equip one of each, which I really don't want to do, I want the mining helmet and the propeller hat. Oh and then there's the requirements to open other gadgets in the game, you have to buy so many gadgets before the next section opens, and upgrades to an already purchase gadget doesn't count (I found that one out the hard way).

Look, I'm not saying that the game is all bad, but the balancing, and flow of the game doesn't seem exactly correct. I love the challenge that the game presents, and there are so many interesting gadgets that you can use to really get into the game, but it is too much of a hassle, and there's too much bullying happening to get gamers to buy something with real money to make this game something that everyone is going to enjoy. So after all is said and done the best I can give this game, as it is right now, is a 6.8 out of 10.

Tomb Raider Review

2013-06-12T02:55:29Z

For more information on the rating click here

It is finally time to see how Lara Croft got her start, and in this game you get to peer behind that very curtain. You of course will be playing the part of Lara, a very, very reluctant archeologist/adventurer. She is accompanied by a band of friends, and one arrogant prick of an expert. You are in search of a hidden city that is said to be the throne of the Sun Queen, a being that was said to be able to control the very weather. Lara finds that they might be headed in the wrong direction and advises that they look in the Dragon's Triangle, and that's where the game truly begins.

Graphically this game is stunning no matter if its a cinematic, or if it is actual gameplay. This was a gorgeous game. The interesting thing about this island is that there are several different climate areas, and none of them look out of place, or poorly done. Sure there were a ton of henchmen you had to shoot down that looked identical, but everything else looked so good I didn't care. Sure there was some slight pixelation in some scenes, but the overall look of this game was just too good.

I enjoyed the voice work in this game, and I have to say that I was emotionally invested with some of the characters. The music was kind of minimal allowing the gamer to really get immersed into the flow of the game.

The controls in this game work, you're going to be using square to do your main actions, you're going to use X to jump, you're going to use circle to dodge, and triangle to do your scripted moves in dodges and to finish individuals off. You'll also be using the shoulder buttons to do your aiming and fiing of your weapons.

This is just a well put together game, though it is a bit odd that you're going through a very linear storyline, and there are times where your path will be destroyed behind you, and yet you can fast travel from certain campfires to any campfire in the past. There's also a lot of collecting that's going on that sometimes takes away from the gameplay as you're trying to find that hidden trinket instead of trying to advance the story. There's also the leveling up of weapons that to me is hit and miss. I never had an issue with the guns kicking back at all, and yet there's an upgrade that I thought was completely unnecessary. Then there's also the leveling up of your character, many of the skills that you'll have to choose to unlock the better ones are completely worthless. I understand that Square Enix's name is on the game, but I would have really liked a little less RPG in my action/adventure game. I'm not saying that it was bad, but it felt slightly out of place. There's also the weapon piece search that randomly is going on. Throughout the game in random salvaging attempts you'll find a weapon piece, find enough and your weapon will upgrade allowing you more options to apply salvaged material on, which to be honest I'm not sure how that translates into some of the pieces that you magically turn into weapon enhancements.

The thing, though, at the end of the day, I enjoyed this game. Sure it had some quirks, and sure there were pieces of the game that I didn't think needed to be there or sometimes took some trial and error to get through, but this is such an amazing game, that at the end I wanted to know what was the next chapter, where was Lara going to go next, and how do I go about getting to be a part of that adventure ASAP. This game gets an 8.9 out of 10.

Home | Reviews | PlayStation 3

Sleeping Dogs Review

2013-06-07T13:45:01Z

For more information on the rating click here

Sleeping Dogs takes you to the streets of Hong Kong as a police officer trying to weasel his way into the ranks of one of the biggest Triad organizations. What could go wrong, right? You play the part of Wei, a guy who has a past with a lot of the now in power Triad members. Can you rise through the ranks and help bring down the organization?

Graphically this game is basically on par with the latest Grand Theft Auto. I say that because the game is basically GTA, but kind of not. The different areas that you'll be navigating in all have a distinctive look, and they all have that aged effect as well. It's a dirty city, filled with corruption and crime, and it shows. There of course will be a ton of enemies out there who will look like they are part of a quadruplet gang, but we'll just have to ignore that. You'll also have a wide selection of vehicles ranging from cars, motorcycles, and boats.

The voice work was amazing, but there was an issue with it, and that was that they had some big names attached to this game, but in all those big names had very small parts that quickly came and went in the overall game. None of them really had important roles in the story, they were more like optional pieces to the game. It was interesting to listen to "Hong Kong Radio" and after awhile it just blended into the background, though there were times where I was in a very intense moment in the game and I had to hijack a car only to discover that the radio was set to classical music, and not the stormy kind but the light hearted frilly stuff, which made the chase scenes seem quite odd.

The controls were solid, and they needed to be. You see unlike GTA where your main way of attack is going to be weapons, you're going to be relying HEAVILY on your hand to hand fighting skills. You'll be dealing out punches, kicks, counters, and grabs. Sure there are times where you'll have a weapon but most of the time the buttons are going to stay the same, unless you are lucky enough to stumble upon a gun, that will require the trigger buttons.

So this was an interesting game simply for the fact that it was GTA, but wasn't. I have to say that I did enjoy the more hand to hand combat feel, and the special moves you can unlock as the game goes on. You can gain these moves by returning stolen statues to your old dojo. There's a ton of side missions in this game as well. You can be a street racer, you can be a brawler, you can gamble on tiles, and you can gamble on cock fights. There's also quite a few "help a cop out" missions that you can also take part in, but the main mission is to help the HKPD (Hong Kong Police Department) take down the Triads to try to make the streets safer. Well that was the plan at first, but things will change, things will happen, and of course some twists will occur. I enjoyed the story, and thought it was well done, but as I stated before there were some big names added to the voice list, but they were present and then gone in a heartbeat. Ironically it was basically all your love interests. The odd thing was that you got to go on one date each with them, and then they disappeared forever, which I found a bit odd.

So lets talk about some of the issues in the game, real quick. First off I hated dealing with the camera when it came to riding motorcycles, no matter what I did the camera would move all over the place and disorient me, and I usually would crash before getting very far. Now this only starts when you first drive the bike, this isn't something that is going to happen constantly. Another thing that bothered me was that there were times when I had a gun on me, but then I went to do something, a side mission, or go to sleep, and then magically the gun was gone. There are definitely parts of the game that you're going to want to have a gun, and to have it just randomly disappear can really suck.

Alright and now back to some of the mechanics of the game. There's also a piece of the game where you can go to known drug exchange locations and attack a certain number of people to clear the place out. You can then hack the camera, and go back to your place and point out the dealer which will send cops in and cause that location to no longer serve drugs. The thing is that there were times where trying to beat the guys was a nightmare because where there are 6 guys standing around you really have to take down 18 of them who magically just keep showing up, and once you hit that magic number, any other guys who were fighting you just decide to leave. Now the hacking part was kind of entertaining, you're going to be using a unique 4 digit code to hack the camera, and you'll get so many tries to find out the numbers and their placement in the 4 different slots. I know most of us have played that type of game, so it came naturally.

There were also areas that had bad guys camped out where they were guarding a locked briefcase. Once you've defeated those guys you might find that the case was unlocked, or you might find that you're going to get to use the safe cracking software that is conveniently on your phone. Speaking of phone apps, you'll also get to use it to triangulate phone calls to find people to further your investigation, and you'll also be using it to fine tune bugs that you'll be placing to try to pick up dirt on people of interest.

Overall I had a lot of fun with this game, and even though I had a part time not doing property damage during missions (that takes away from your COP score for the mission), the game was good from start to finish. Crap I said COP score, so real quick when you go on missions there's a COP score, and a TRIAD score, you'll be wanting to score as high as you can on both so that you can unlock bonuses for your character such as unlocking cars without setting off the car alarm, or the ability to disarm your opponent. So basically like any game you're trying to to achieve perfection so that most of the game opens up to you and makes life a bit easier (especially when you max out the COP stuff, then you can walk up to any cop car and pull guns out).

Alright so here's the deal, if you are a GTA fan and are looking for something a bit different, this game is definitely for you. If you're the kind of guy who likes third person shooters with a bit of a challenge set in an open-ish world, you might want to check this game out. If you don't like violence, I'm not even sure why you would be interested in this game. So in the end this game gets an 8.2 out of 10.

Home | Reviews | XBOX 360

Run & Roll Review

2013-05-30T14:46:31Z

So there's a brand new game on the iOS AppStore called Run & Roll created by a team of indie developers out of Slovenia, Europe. In this game you will play the part of Joe an avid snowboarder who accidentally ruins a bears attempt at making a house of cards. In fear you start running hoping to out pace the bear, and that's where the story starts.

Graphically I have to say that I was very impressed with the character model of Joe and how smoothly he interacted when moving from side to side, rolling, and jumping. As far as I can tell there are two levels (areas) that you'll be interacting with, a snow level, and a forest area. You can tell that the snow level has seem a bit more polish than the forest level. There's also well made obstacles in your path such as trees, rocks, ramps to jump over things, holes, some of which hide a deadly secret, and more.

The music is a very simple beat that fits very well with the game. I'm no longer playing the game and yet the music is still playing in my head, and that, in my opinion is a good thing. There are a couple of small audio issues that I experienced, but it wasn't consistent enough for me to get pissed off. I will tell you that there are sometimes when some of the sound effects don't seem to turn themselves off and seem on repeat or all of a sudden increase in volume, but as I stated before it happens rarely.

The controls are really simple. All you're going to have to do is hold your device in profile orientation and then tilt it from left to right to control Joe as he's running down the screen.

So I know that this game has just been released, and I'm sure there are going to be patches and fixes on the way, but this is a great way of telling how much a team put in before they decided that it was worth showcasing it to the world as a finished product. Now I do want to point out that this game is free in the store, but there are some in-game transactions, if you want to help get the game going. So lets get into the meat of this game shall we?

As I stated before you're playing the part of Joe, and you're trying to get away from an angry bear, a bear that once the game is 2 seconds into you'll never see the bear again, so why is Joe continuing to run? There's also the fact that there are parts of the game that don't quite match. Apparently you're trying to go as far as you can go, but on the way you're trying to collect coins that will unlock bonuses for you on later runs through the game. The problem is that I'm not sure I'm looking at a score that sometimes gets multiplied by two, but the coins never do, or if some how magically I'm moving faster but still going at the same pace and so I'm getting credit for more meters than I've really taken. I know this because of the simple fact that every time I'm jumping between the first level and the second I'm always at a different score.

Let's talk about the bonuses real quick. As you'll see in the game you'll be able to obtain rocket boost which will double your score (not your coins), and it will also make you go faster (in a ball) and reduce damage while in that state (at least that's what I'm told though sometimes it looks like I do take some serious damage). There's also the meteor boost which shoots you up in the air and then you'll come down which such force that all around you will explode and then you'll continue on. The next bonus is the health kit, something vital to every game that has a health bar, and you'll need to keep your eyes out for this as you're sure to take some serious damage at some point. The final one is the tank boost, this will basically turn you into steel for a short amount of time and allow you to walk through almost anything, destroying it and allowing you to take no damage. Finally there's the magnet boost which basically grabs at any coins around you and brings them to you.

There's also some other helpful bonuses that you can purchase in the shop once you've accumulated enough coins. The first is the head-start, this will allow you to go about half way through the first level before having to even worry about a thing (though in reality I see this as a disadvatage as your score and coin collecting will suffer for that run). Then there's the extra boost of health. This one you'll get an icon when your health is low and it will allow you to recover your health so that you can continue on through the game. Finally there's the resurrection boost, this one allows you to return back from the dead ONCE (if you think you're smart like me and have stockpiled those suckers, and die a second time you're in for a rude awakening when the game just ends).

So here's my issue with the boosts that you'll collect in game, you have the ability to upgrade (I think) the potency of the boosts, the problem is the description in the shop doesn't tell you want buying that upgrade(?) will do for you, it only gives you a description of what the boost is. I've tried to put a couple into health because we all know we need to stay alive to get as far as we want to get, and yet I don't really see that big of a difference, if there is one. The same goes for some of the other boosts that I tried as well. If there are enhancements to the boosts its so minimal that it really doesn't show up.

Now lets talk about the damage you're going to be taking in this game. As I've said a couple of times you're going to need to heal, so what is causing you all this pain? Well its really just running into things, be it rocks trees, the side of the trail, the side of the ramp, and whatnot. The issue I have is that the damage done doesn't seem consistent. There are times where I bump into a rock and no damage is given and then there are times where I bump into a tree and I feel like I just lost half my life. There's also the issue of if you run into a group of obstacles and are trying to get back into the flow of the game, instead of decreasing or turning off the damage until I'm back up to my pace I'm getting destroy with devastating amounts of damage for just walking very slowly (thanks to collision detection) across a group of obstacles.

Now with all this said, and a couple of other small minor issues, I kept coming back to play this game. I wanted to get the better score, I wanted to see if I could survive that much longer. I have become obsessed with bettering my score, and of course making sure I have a health boost and a resurrection boost just to make sure I can get to where I feel at bare minimum I need to get to. This is the kind of game that you can zone out to and time will fly. I'm not saying that its the perfect game, but there's something about it that makes it fun, and enjoyable, and that to me is a good enough reason to make sure that this is on your iOS device. This game, when it is all said and done, deserves a 7.5 out of 10.

Torchlight 2 Review

2013-05-28T18:31:23Z

For more information on the rating click here

It's been a while since I've wanted to sink so much time into a hack and slash game, but just as the original Torchlight did, this one was no exception. I actually felt like this was a more polished version of the first. You once again have to go out into the world and save it from the Alchemist who has been corrupted and is trying to open up a portal of pure evil. You'll have to slay many beasts and monsters, but if you're brave enough and strong enough you will see that you are just what the world needs.

Graphically this game sticks with the slightly fantasy/cartoony look of the characters, and it looks right at home in this game. You'll get to travel through crypts, forests, deserts, underworlds, and more. There will be larger than life enemies that will try to destroy you, and all that will save you is your trusty pet. I do like the fact that your pet comes in a couple of different varieties, and that whatever you put on your character is what is shown in the game. Do you have a huge helm of awesomeness, well your character will be wearing it. Do you have a blazing sword of glory, well your character will be wielding it. Even though the landscape it 3D you'll still be able to make out anything that might be hiding close to a wall thanks to the shadow representation and outlines.

The music of the game SCREAMS original Diablo, which I guess isn't too hard to see as there are those who worked on this game that were apart of that team. The voices definitely not the focus of the game as I really don't remember talking to many people, but I will tell you this, they did a convincing job when called upon.

The controls are your standard point and click to attack, point and right click to do your secondary attack. You're also going to be using 1-0 as your hotkey bar to give your character potions, or to cast other spells.

The game feels simply, easy to pick up, but the beauty is that once you do that you're stuck in the game. You don't want to put it down. You'll want to kill that many more creatures so that your character can level up and you can gain those extra attribute points and skill points to help craft your character into that tank, deadly assassin, or powerful magic caster. Yes the game has a linear storyline but I had so much fun going through all the side quests in each area that it, for the most part felt wide open. One of the down sides to the game was the fact that they took out the ability to combine shards like the first. You couldn't just stockpile them and them create an uber awesome gem. They do allow for combining of items, but I never saw the need to use that mechanic. There's also those who will enchant your items, to imbue it with a little something extra, and there's those who will destroy an item to get a gem or the other way around at your disposal. One weird thing that I did notice is that at about the half way mark your storage chest in town kind of disappears. You get used to dumping the unique items, or maybe items you'd like to use if you had another character that was going to run through, but then all of sudden the chests vanish, and that's just a bit weird.

There's also the ability to add mods, some created by Runic Games, and then there's a ton out there created by us the users. So there's variety added to the game all the time. Even though I've only played through once, I can honestly say that if given some extra time I would jump back into this game in a heartbeat and try my hand at another character. This game was strong from start to finish, and with that I have to give it a 9.4 out of 10.

Home | Reviews | PC

Neverwinter MMO: Early thoughts.

2013-05-28T02:12:28Z

I recently started playing a new action-MMORPG, Neverwinter, which is currently in Open Beta. Neverwinter is based off Dungeons and Dragons (I've been told 4 ed.) and takes place in the Fogotten Realms universe, which should be well known to any Drizzt Do'Urden fan out there. Like many MMOs out there, Neverwinter is Free To Play. So far at least, one thing I enjoy about Neverwinter is all the content is unlocked. This is unlike Turbine's DDO F2P MMO, where some content is locked up unless you get enough credit to unlock it. So, what is Cryptic Studio's business strategy with F2P? Well, I know it's not supposed to be Pay 2 Win, but a player certainly can get a leg-up on the competition by purchasing Zen points with real money, which can also be converted to Astral Diamonds to purcahse in-game items. Now, as far as I can tell, they don't directly sell Flaming Sword of Ultimate Wrath +18. However, what they do sell are Companions (more on that in a bit), enchantments to enhance your character's companions & items, Mounts, and probably most importantly, keys to unlock Nightmare Lockboxes that drop in the game. It holds pretty sweet loot, and the keys can only purchased with Zen. All purchasable items to make gameplay easier and enhance your stats, but certainly not necessary (so far at least) So, that out of the way, how about gameplay?

So far, I'm enjoying the gameplay quite a bit. While there is open world to explore with others, it is not nearly as open as some MMOs such as Guild Wars 2, World of Warcraft, & Rift. However, Neverwinter makes up for this by using Guild Wars 1 approach of utilizing quite a bit of instanced solo + companion dungeons. An approach I enjoy. The combat tends to be fast paced (hence the action-RPG moniker), as your character will utilize a retical to “target” the enemy- in this case, targeting is simply moving the retical over your enemy in firing, very much like FPSs. Your primary attacks are left & right click mouse buttons, with special cooldown abilities getting mapped to Q, E, R, 1, & 2 by default. Again, I like having only 5-6 main attack abilities to utilize (like GW2) instead of 40 abilities on 4 action bars, 3 of which I use once a year. Enemy almost always come in multiples, usually with a few weaker enemies and 1-2 stronger baddies to deal with. Players must be aware of what is going on and pay attention to the stronger enemy attacks, or they may suffer a whole lot of damage. For instance, if facing a Berserker, they'll start to do a swooping action indicating their massive attack is coming. This is the time to run through the Berserker instead of just standing there like a fool. A number of baddies also do some kind of cone are circle attack as designated by parts of the floor lighting up red. Red = run!

As I mentioned, you get companions at level 16 for free, though you can get them earlier. They start at level 1, and must be sent off for training to level up. You can spend Astral Diamonds to speed up training, obviously with the hope players will spend Zen to get some. There are a variety of companions, ranging from a Cleric healer to a single-target DPS to AoE DPS, to many others you can purchase.

There's also crafting, which is a tad different than most MMOs in that you don't just train based off ore mined, but rather hirer somebody to make objects, which takes a period of time. Which, once again, can be sped up with Astral Diamonds. One cool thing about crafting is you can train via a web portal, which is a nice feature since some will take hours or even days. The one annoying thing is whenever you close your web browser, you get disconnected and must log back in- particularly frustrating if you're using a Smartphone or tablet. I'd rather a persistent login (think Facebook, your e-mail, etc) or a Application to keep your permanently logged in.

Keep in mind the game is still in Open Beta. When first playing, I didn't intend to play much beyond level 10 thinking, “What's the point of investing a bunch of time into a game when my character will just be wiped anyways.” However, the FAQ states there will be no more character wipes, so one should be able to assume players are safe to go crazy and play away. With opening the Zen market and real-world money involvement, it makes sense with no more character wipes. Of course, there's a good reason it's called open beta: just recently, there was a 7 hour server rollback because the auction house was exploited to make billions of astral diamonds by bidding on negative auctions. It seems that open beta is the new soft launch for MMOs, allowing developers to release the game to public for testing while making money off micro-transactions. One weird quirk of being in Open Beta is there aren't any reviews on Metacritic.com since it hasn't technically been released, even though it is kinda released.

Bottom line is that for anyone who enjoys MMOs and a flair of action-RPSs, Neverwinter should be right up your alley and worth playing for the low low cost of free as in beer. I've already invested a number of hours into the game, and have only spent $5 to purchase an additional 2 character slots (this seems to be the standard for F2P MMOs if anyone wants more than two characters). Beyond that, I haven't felt pressure or like I'm missing out on not spending money, which is a good sign. Definitely a game I'll be keeping an eye on.

Home | Reviews | PC

Lollipop Chainsaw Review

2013-05-19T14:33:43Z

For more information on the rating click here

After playing this game I kind of feel dirty. Now that's an opening line for you, but in part it is true. You'll be playing the part of a blonde cheerleader named, Juliet, whose family is actually a bunch of demon hunters. On the menu in this game is zombies, and a ton of them. They come in all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately all of this happens on Juliet's birthday, and her strong innocent boyfriend doesn't last too long, well most of him doesn't. Turns out that Juliet also knows so magical spells that she uses to keep her boyfriend alive as just a talking head.

Graphically this definitely screams Suda 51, and its a good thing too since he helped make this game. You'll definitely get to see a lot of different areas, I think 6 to be exact if I'm counting right, and in each of those areas you'll get to see a rooftop, a farm, school, a downtown area, a Viking ship, a junk yard and more. The thing that really stood out for me was the bosses, they really had their very own twisted zombie look. You had the punk rocker, you had the Elvis Wannabe, you had a Viking with a bear's head attached to him, and an OVERLY gothic dude who needs to be put into his place.

The voice acting was over the top at all moments, but I guess that's where it had to go when it came to dealing with a ditzy cheerleader, her airhead of a boyfriend, and her crazy family.

The controls didn't really matter all that much for me as I was mashing different combos of A, Y, and/or X. Those are you're attack buttons, and you're going to be using them alot. You will also notice that there are special combos that you open up as the game goes along, which can look pretty sweet when you pull them off.

So you're Juliet, and you're killing swarms of zombies. If you do it with enough style you'll get special medals, if you get enough of them you'll be able to unlock new outfits for Juliet to wear, instead of her skimp cheerleading outfit. You'll also be collecting coins that you can turn around and use on new moves or items that will make Juliet stronger, or last longer. To be honest most of the stuff stayed locked for me probably because I didn't chain enough attacks together to bring in the big bucks, but there were some impressive sounding moves that I really wanted to unlock that I didn't get a chance to do. Now an interesting mechanic that was put into the game was Juliet's modesty, if you try to aim the camera for an upskirt shot she will instinctively cover her butt with her hand. The one problem I had with this game is that each level felt like its own mini-game. There were specific things that you would do in each level that never really showed up again later in the game. One was zombie basketball where you're trying to decapitate zombies, and as you do so their heads will fly to the basket. There's also zombie baseball, the freaking bane of my existence. You see you can put Nick, the boyfriend's head, on any headless blue glowing zombie, and in zombie baseball you'll have the chance to use a zombie blaster gun to try to keep the zombies off as Nick runs the bases. Problem is that he celebrates a lot when he gets to each base, then there's also the issue with the aiming mechanic that when you aim it automatically aims at the closest zombie, and if you've ever played baseball you know that second bases is the furthest base away, so if there's a swarm of zombies there you're in a bit of trouble. Anyways you have to round the bases three times, each time with more zombies popping up, I had to try it about 20+ times before I lucked out.

This is the type of game that never seems to click through most of it, and then all of a sudden when it does you'll be thinking to yourself, man I wasted a ton of time on the front end of this game. Well I'm hear to tell you that this is the kind of game you want to borrow, or perhaps rent. Sure there's something to do after you defeat a level, and that's to try to do the level again, but this time going for a high score. Personally, one time through each is enough. I will tell you this, without giving away the ending, there's multiple endings, so there's also that if you're into that. This game gets a 7.2 out of 10.

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Max Payne 3 Review

2013-04-29T17:02:45Z

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I'm going to just start with I've never played the previous titles, so I walked into this game not knowing much of what has happened, and as I've been told several times, don't even dare to bring the movie into the discussion. So here we go... You are Max Payne, you're sick of being pushed around, and you need an escape from your normal surroundings so after a run in with an old academy friend, and a little extra persuasion you decide to take a private security gig in Brazil. Your job is to protect a very high and influential family, which as the game progresses becomes one hell of a hard job to do. You're going to have to fight commandos, gangs, even police if you're going to make it through the game. There are plenty of areas to search to find pain killers (your only true friend), and of course golden gun parts which from my understanding will amp up the damage the gun can do when you pick it up during the game.

Graphically I liked the overall game. The scenery and the levels looked crisp, even though there were plenty of cookie cutter feeling to them. There's the quintessential back alley in New Jersey, the generic office spaces, and more. The one thing that did get to me was the weird intentional graphic glitches that through a couple of colors slightly out of focus. I had to stop a couple of times in fear that I might develop epilepsy. There's also the very unique way of emphasizing words in the cut scenes by plastering them visually on the screen. Not the whole dialog just specific word(s) in the sentence. There were a couple of clipping issues when it came to guns colliding with cover, and there were times during the cut scene where movement became pretty mechanical looking.

I did like the voice acting in the game. Max Payne was as gritty as I would have thought, and the Latino way of talking was a bit over the top, but fit with certain characters.

The controls were a bit harder to handle, there might have been, though not obvious at all, a way to switch quickly between guns, but the only way I could do it was either running out of bullets or holding down the shoulder button to bring up my selections. The rest of the controls were pretty smooth, there were a couple of times where I couldn't quite get the cover mechanic to work, or I somehow just started standing up from cover, but overall that mechanic and the rest worked just fine for the game.

I have to say that even though there were sections of this game that greatly frustrated me, the designers made it all better. You see if you die too many times at a specific point you start getting extra pain killers equipped to your character before you start the section again. The pain-killers can either be used to heal yourself (which is a bit odd, that would never work in real life, but hey that's just the power of video games, or perhaps this is just the good stuff that can magically heal bullet wounds that the FDA just hasn't licensed yet), or if you get hit with a kill shot you're thrusted into bullet time mode, this will be your chance to one shot the individual who tried to kill you, kill the right person and you're born again with just a little less damage than it would be if you were dead. There are a couple exceptions to the rule, but for the most part that's how you're given some extra chances and not automatically dropped back at the last check point. Now of course you can enter bullet time in other cases, by clicking the right analog stick. There is a meter that builds up over time and once you go into Bullet time it starts to decrease until it is all gone and you're no longer allowed into that mode for a while.

There are tons of guns to mess around with, though there are some restrictions to what you can carry. You can only carry two one handed guns at a time, and one two handed gun. So for example two pistols, and a rocket launcher. Not that I'm complaining, but it would have been fun to allow two two-handed weapons as well so that I could have the assault rifle, and the shotgun at the same time.

There's a ton of objects that will degrade or blow up with enough bullets being put through them, but the doors that aren't supposed to open will NEVER open, so even though you just blew up a ton of planks in a well made fence don't for a second think that a flimsy door will fall before your hellish rain of gun fire.

There are a lot of twists and turns in the game, there's also a fair amount of flashbacks to fill some of the holes, but at the end of the day the game does have a pretty satisfying finish, and there's a couple of twists that might not be so obvious until you're upon them, but they are still good for the type of story being told. All in all I don't think that this is a game that one should pick up if not a fan of Max Payne, I'm not a fan and it just sort of hooked me. With that being said I've got to give this game an 8.3 out of 10.

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Arcade Slots Review

2013-04-24T22:47:11Z

Arcade Slots is a game created by K.G. Studios, in this game you're going to get to play one of the more popular yet dangerous games you can play in a casino, a slot machine. You'll have to first create a user in order to keep track of your gaming and hopefully winnings. I'm always honored to review games from the indie scene, and this was yet another one that I was lucky enough to be able to sample.

The graphics are stuck in the early 90s, there is no real character to the look of the game. There are themes that you can set your game to, but it is just a change of color pallets that look drab, and not very inviting. There's also the size of the screen to take into consideration. It is very small when put on the standard dimensions of computers now. Another issue is the cursor is oddly a very skinny plus sign that you'll be using to I guess control the game. The game art, the pieces in the nine different windows seems like ancient clipart that was found for free. The slot animation looks really bad, its just the art clips flashing in place.

There is no sound in the game which further takes individuals out of the game. The only sounds you'll hear are the system dings when a popup appears.

The controls as stated before are simply the mouse, where there should be other control means to play the game.

I admire the want to make a game and share it with the world, and I'm sure there are many friends and family members who have been there from the start who enjoy this game for the creators' sakes, but this game isn't ready for mass market consumption. To be honest this looks like one of the first or second projects an instructor asks you to create in Visual Basic. I know that there are some of you out there who might not know this language, but it was a fun one that allowed aspiring programmers to get a taste of what is ahead of them. There are a lot of issues with this game, though the one that bugs me the most is the fact that it isn't very stable at times, and there are other times where if you ignore the error the game will continue, but you don't ever want your customers to be fast with an issue like that. The other thing is that there isn't a bet all button, I personally would have really like that. I'm also not a fan of every time I bet everything I get an immediate pop up telling me that I've run out of money, even before the slots are done, and 9 out of 10 times I've actually got a combination that will allow me to have more money to play with. There's also a very limited range of amounts that you can bet which for veterans of the slot machine seems a bit odd.

I'm glad these guys decided that it was time for a review of the game to be done, I just wish they had more to show for it. This is a game that is a good example of what gaming looked like back in the infancy of Windows games, we're talking maybe Windows 3.0. With that being said, and knowing what I know about Visual Basic I really have no choice but to give this game a 1.9 out of 10. I hope that these guys keep learning the trade and can advance in coding, art, and design, but for now there's not enough for them to really get any traction.

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Secret Castle Review

2013-04-18T19:06:33Z

I somehow stumbled upon this iOS game by Platronic Games and decided to give it a try, not really knowing what it was, or what it was about. It turned out to be a hidden object game that utilized the gyro built into the iPhone/iPad. You can tilt your device to reveal more of the room, or to line pieces up. You are Jonas, I boy who doesn't really dream, and who has been forced to pack up and leave his normal life with his mom to go stay at his aunt's house. When he gets there there's something not quite right with the place, but you try to make the best of it. The first night you're there you start reading a book about dreamwalking, and you also find a mysterious mirror. Having tired yourself out you fall asleep and dream for the first time in a long time, but there is something odd about this dream, its more like you've been transported somewhere else and not just a dream. A few days and dreams later you find a very enthusiastic girl named Ava that wants to help you solve what is going on. She quickly finds out that you're being transported to a place called Pelladonia, a land that your aunt actually wrote about in one of her books. Thinking it's just fairy tales you're not prepared for what happens next.

Graphically this is a very well done game, sure most of the actual objects you're dealing with are two dimensional but that just makes it easier to tilt your device and look around objects. Each of the 10 areas has a different look and feel to it, though it is a bit depressing that once you know where the objects are you can go back through that section in half the time. I'm not going to lie though I like the fact that you can tilt your device to change your perspective and then freeze the screen so that you can zoom in and out. My favorite part though is when you have to find objects that are actually broken into different parts and you have to use the angle of your search to line them up so you can pick them up.

The cinematics, and I use that term loosely because its basically one panel comics with lots of words to read give you what is going on in the story, but it does get a bit wordy from time to time, and for some reason the font that was chosen doesn't always play nice with itself as there are certain letters that will try to meld into one. There's also the issue with some of the dialog boxes, having two layers, the top layer not being centered in the background.

The controls are really simple you're going to tilt your device in different ways. You're going to double tap the screen with two fingers to freeze the scene, you'll use your fingers to zoom in and out by pinching and whatever the reverse of pinching is. You'll also be using one finger to tap on the object, while in frozen mode, to pick it up.

This is definitely a game you're going to want to play on the iPad simply because you have more space to mess around with, and sometimes the objects can really blend in on the iPhone. I have to say at the end of playing this game, even though it had a couple of small glitches here and there, and there were times where I was just tapping the screen to unfreeze but ended up finding an object I wasn't even looking for, this was a fun game, it had some depth to it, maybe a bit too much at points with the mountain of dialogue, but it is a solid game. Also for the $2.99 price tag it's, in my opinion, something you don't want to pass up. This game gets an 8.7 out of 10.

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