I am of the thinking that like beauty, gaming is in the eye of the beholder. I think one reviewer of Borderlands had made a statement that if you liked most of Fallout 3, COD: Modern Warfare, and Diablo then you will love Borderlands. Well I didn’t play Fallout 3, I may have played about 30percent of COD: Modern Warfare (and skipping the sequel), and Diablo I played ages ago but vaguely remember looking for better loot. Still with that said, Borderlands feel like a stolen piece from those games and then some; and I behold this game to be on the side of awesome. Now I’ve only managed to crack out, on a guess, about 4 or 6 hours but I couldn’t shake the feeling that there were parts of the game I’ve played before, and luckily it were the good parts.
The control scheme is all COD, and they add a brilliant touch to Infinity Wards perk of trying to take someone out before you die. Kill the enemy and you regain some of your life, if not then you just respawn at the last checkpoint station. The structure of the missions is reminiscent to any MMO (Guild Wars, World of War Craft, Ragnorak Online), and the loot do drop fast and furiously (Too Human). The weapon level up system will push you to use more then just one weapon at a time, being that you get better in the different styles of weapons as you use them(Fable 1 - 2, Secrets of Evermore). I know the premise of this game is to search for this mystical treasure, but with all the neat loot you get; will it be enough to compel you to beat the game? Only time will tell.
I do know that this game is a good at blending elements from other games that I love together. Not to make a new experience, but one that feels familiar and fun. In the words of Jay-Z (Blueprint 3) “Everyday A Star Is Born”; today that star is Borderlands/Gearbox and we as gamers should clap for em!
The lead up to Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 was full of promise. The long legs of the first title seem to have paved the way for another good beat-em up with an rpg feel to it. Will the newest entry make the former proud? Let’s take a look at how Alliance 2 stacks up.
Presentation 7.5
Now I’ve seen some pretty games and I’ve seen some ugly games, but you’ll be happy to know that Alliance 2 falls somewhere in the middle of these to ends. It’s no ugly duckling, but it’s not the hot prom date you’re hoping to brag about the morning after. All of the environments have a lot more detail over the 1st alliance, and there is improvement in the character models over the 1st Alliance. Still I feel that some of the non-playable characters got better treatment then the ones that were useable. Storm looked like an aging street walker, while Bishop and Cable looked exquisite in detail. A lot of the fusion moves look cool but, it’s not quite enough pop as the ultimate power attack of the first one and I’m going to go more into that in the next section.
Gameplay 6.5
I think the mistake here is that instead of Activision going with Raven Software, they instead turned the reins over to Vicarious Vision. It was almost like they looked at everything that made the 1st game great and decided that none of it was needed to come back. I don’t know if this was an insecure thing…you know how you make someone else feel bad to make yourself feel better; but it was not a good move. Here are just a few things that were stripped away from Ultimate Alliance 2 that were in the 1st game:
Simulator Missions were reduced from one per character with a few bonus missions thrown in to about 12
Unlocking new costumes used to also unlock new abilities; now it’s purely cosmetic.
Leveling up heros / villans not only made powers stronger, but gave you access to new powers. In U.A. 2, you’re locked into the 4 preset powers that are assigned to each hero.
Fusion powers while cool at first grows old fast because they tend to follow the same format just different animations per character. In U.A. 1 not only did you get a single ultimate attack, the ultimate would change if you had 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 keeping the variety fresh.
I think Vicarious Visions were striving to make the game more accessible, by stripping all of that stuff out. On the flip side of that having all of that stuff in the first place is what made the first Ultimate Alliance a blast to play. The one bright spot amongst all of this is that they made the equipment effect the whole team instead of an individual character. However, that lone bright spot is not enough to make this game feel like it has any soul.
Lasting Appeal 5
Ultimate Alliance 2 features two view points to play through; Anti-Registration and Pro-Registration. If you find yourself that invested with the events of the Marvel Civil War then you’re going to want to play this game twice. If you find that you really don’t care after your first run through then that’s the end of the appeal. I don’t think the allure of new downloadable characters can save this. It would have been fun to play as cable, and Bishop and some of the other cameos as it were fun to play with the Juggernaut; however it will not be fun to play with them in this shell of a game. This is a rent.
With all the vampire crazy going on now a days (True Blood the hit show on HBO, Twilight which is anticipating its sequel in theaters later this fall, and now the new series on the Vampire Diaries) I figured that it would only be right to do my first review on a vampire base anime and manga.
First, the anime movie “Blood: The Last Vampire” directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo is truly not the typical vampire story I am use to. The move is a must watch! It kind of reminded me of “The Dark Knight” in the sense that “Blood: The Last Vampire” is well dark. The movie is sweet, short (I actually was expecting to see more) and to the point: Saya (the main protagonist, a half breed human) must slay the Chiropterans, a vicious breed of bat-like creatures.
Saya who works for a secret American government organization called Red Shield. David who works for the organization helps her from time to time in the film and seems to care for her well being besides the fact that she is the only one that can handle these creatures. After all she is the last vampire.
So I don’t want to give the movie away but I will give you the pros and cons! The pros: The opening scene alone is bloody and action-packed! Like I said before the movie is short and to the point so you will get all the action (and not much talking). This is where a con comes in. Since the movie is short you don’t have that character development you usually get in movies. This however does not take away from the good script or from the story. It is well execute and if you are a fan of guts and blood then this movie is for you. The animation is ground breaking in my opinion and will enjoy every moment of it!
So I don’t want to give the movie away but I will give you the pros and cons! The pros: The opening scene alone is bloody and action-packed! Like I said before the movie is short and to the point so you will get all the action (and not much talking). This is where a con comes in. Since the movie is short you don’t have that character development you usually get in movies. This however does not take away from the good script or from the story. It is well execute and if you are a fan of guts and blood then this movie is for you. The animation is ground breaking in my opinion and will enjoy every moment of it!
My final word is that if you haven’t seen you should! It won’t let you down!
As for the manga, written by Asuka Katsura, I wasn’t sure what to expect because it was the first time I was reading a piece of work by him. The “Blood” manga series is written in three different series and by three different writers. The first series “Blood” written by Katsura is aimed for a more mature audience. This first series is compromised of five volumes. But unlike its anime counterpart is has a more light hearted feel to it.
The protagonist here is also named Otonashi Saya (Japanese write the family name first then first name). She is also the only one that can kill these Chiropterans but she has no relocation of her past violent life. She is now adopted by a man named George who knows of her past and two other adopted boys who are Saya’s older and younger brothers. She leads a normal life under this family and cannot recall anything before the year of her adoption.
I do enjoy the humor Katsure adds to the manga but I was hoping the grim moments the anime film provided. I am not sure that Katsure nicely executes the harmonious balance between your happy go lucky moments and your cold hearted I will rip you guts out moments. I will give this series another shot being that there are only five volumes but at the moment I don’t highly recommend this as a must read. For now I think you guys can do without.
Since this site is video games based I will not let all you gamers out there down! I, myself did not grow up on video games only because my parents thought that it was a waste of time and money and that I would get addicted to it. The only games I ever owned in my life were Mortal Kombat 3 and Donkey Kong for Super NES (yes I know that was back in the day). Although I do thank my parents because the money I did save from not buying the latest in video games I was able to start my addiction in comics and mangas. Sorry mom and dad but I had to keep out of trouble somehow!!
However there is a video game out there based on the “Blood” manga/film/anime. If any of you out has played it lets us know!!! I would love to hear from you!!
Finally let me also know what you think about the reviews! Let me know if there is something you want to read about or anything you want to know more about the comics/mangas/games world out there! As a reminder to you gamers out there! The NY Games Conference is this Wednesday, September 30th – Thursday October 1st, 2009! Get more info on NY Games Conference. Come back and blog about!
My name is Kino Haruka and I will be back next week with more reviews and news on the fabulous world of video games and comics! Have a great week ahead and keep gaming!
Hey Gamers it’s your boy PoeticChaos coming back with another title game that you just might want to actually buy. Fight Night Round 4 is a game that just might surprise even the ordinary gamer. Here are the top 5 reason why Fight Night Round 4 should be a must buy.
5. Fight Night Round 4 is amazing when it comes to the detail of its fighters styles which makes the player actually feel like they are seeing a real fight occur.
4. The Fight Night A.I. is amazing during season mode as it gets more difficult to fight contending boxers.
3. F.N.R. 4 displays every little detail that makes gamers feel like he or she is the boxer themselves. From the repeated quick jabs to the eyes from the first cut; the action the game brings makes you feel apart of it.
2. F.N.R. 4 have some of the best graphics I have ever seen on any game as each thrown punch sends ripples through the jaws of your opponent.
1. The number one reason why Fight Night Round 4 should be a must buy is because it is a great two player game; F.N.R. 4 allows for a true gamer to see how well they can test their metal up against other gamers who started out at the same level as they did.
Fight Night Round 4 has so much going for it that it should be recognized as one of the best boxing games ever created. From the boxers fighting styles to the off the hook custom soundtracks; F.N.R 4 is by far one of EA sports best and I personally can’t wait to see what next have to offer. Hopefully Fight Night Round 5 might come with a two player legacy mode.
Realtime Worlds has recently released the official trailer to APB (All Points Bulletin). This massively multiplayer online game breaks the mold that most other mmo’s are made from. No goblins here, no flying unicorns, no crazy hammer of rah is gonna be found in this game at all. Instead Realtime Worlds is gonna inject a jolt of life into this stale genre with a cops and robber system, promising deep character and vehicle customization and a persistant world where onside is the cops and the other side are the robbers. It would be nice to see if APB ever makes it way into the console universe, but for know PC owners can jump into a mmo that looks to be filled with awesome!!!
Listen up Gamer Fans, now I know many of you have played or heard of Eternal Sonata. For those of you who have not; Eternal Sonata is a RPG that tells the story of Frédéric François Chopin, a pianist who died in 1849 in Paris. For those of you who are reading this right now and are saying to yourself who in the world would want to play a game about a pianist? Well that is an excellent question. Here are the top 5 reasons why game stores should pay their customers to play Eternal Sonata:
5. The game puts you to sleep.
4. The game has nothing solid about it that would keep the gamer interested in seeing what would happen next within the game.
3. The game play for Eternal Sonata is interesting but not spectacular. The characters have good attacks but are limited to using certain attacks if they are in the light or the dark.
2. ZZZZzzzzzzzzZZzzz….. Oh sorry, even writing about Eternal Sonata would put you to sleep.
1. The number one reason why game stores should pay their customers to play Eternal Sonata is the story line. I am sorry, but the story line for all games is the key to determining if the game is worth playing. For one Eternal Sonata you have three different story lines being thrown at you. The First is what suppose to be a story involving the real world, the second is what suppose to be a story about a the dream world and the last is a detailed scripture on Frédéric François Chopin. Who in the world would want to follow all these story lines?
Now there is an upside to Eternal Sonata, and only one upside. The graphics is amazing, and that is all I can say. No matter how well you can make a game look if there is nothing exciting about the game and it dose not have any type allure to it then it will not do as well as it should. Games like Enchanted Arms, Star Ocean, Blue Dragon, and Final Fantasy have been made to capture the gamer in a world that would want a gamer to be in it. These games are far superior to that of Eternal Sonata and I am sad to say that. Sorry on scale of five stars Eternal Sonata receives a one and only for graphics.
Take super producer Timbaland; allow him to put his influences on the PSP, and you get the sole reason why the PSP should get the second glance over the DS. Now normally we at BG21gamers don’t cover portable games because there’s too many and we are too few, but Beaterator looks like it’s ready to bust out stupid dope moves. Check out this trailer, and let the super producer inside of everyone of you come alive.
The summer of arcade now official over with the latest release of Shadow Complex. I managed to get a quick fix to see why this game was hogging all the spotlight from Trials HD. After taking out the first boss, I knew that this game was something special yet familiar. Everyone seems to draw the comparison to Metroid and Castlevania; with no other games being mentioned beyond those two. However, it should draw a comparison to every old school action platformer that encouraged exploration as a way to become powerful and to move on to the next stage of the game and to reach places you couldn’t reach before. Games like Mega Man, and Blaster Master could fit into these molds as inspiration to Shadow Complex as well.
Though this article is not about what makes Shadow Complex a great arcade game, it’s about a growing trend or a changing of the guard. The first mark of this trend was Warhawk released on the PSN. Warhawk don’t share any similar game mechanics as Shadow Complex but, they both fall into a new way to approach bite size gaming. Most games that have fallen on to both the PSN and Xbox Live have been either smaller casual experiences such as Flower, Flow, Pixel Junk Series, or nostalgia laced experiences ranging from TMNT to Street Fighter. Now the time has come for Battlefield 1943, Warhawk, Trails HD, and Shadow Complex to be viewed as a level above what an arcade game is perceived to be.
To be quite honest I would like to see more of these enriched bigger game concepts scaled down for both of these services. We already seen that these types of games can indeed become profitableand be a huge hit among gamers. Now we need developers to really start opening up the flood gates with more genres. Let’s start to get RPG’s designed by Square or Namco for PSN and XBLA, fighting games being built by Capcom, or Tecmo. It’s time to stop with the nostalgia of the past and present to the audience a new form of classic games that one day in the future could be looked back on with fond memories. Lets all hope that this is not a short live trend and look forward to a bright gaming future.
Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts
Loading ...
