Dragon Age II
As a huge fan of Dragon Age Origins, this was on my "must have" list of games being released this year. When I first played Origins, it was unlike any other fantasy RPG I had played up til then. Of course it had it kinks, being closely related to an MMORPG setup with cool down periods for attacks. But I soldiered through and found it quite rewarding. The amount of work put into the lore astounded me, it was almost as rich as the Elder Scrolls' lore. An amazing story, well paced quests, and challenging at times made it one of the best games of 2009. But could a sequel hold up well in a game already packed with quests and extras? Well I set to find out the answer and what I found may not surprise.
At a first glance, Dragon Age II has gussied up for 2011 with new and improved graphics that add more definition to characters' faces as well as their blood soaked armor. Starting out, you get to choose your gender and class. Sad to say, they haven't expanded on the three classes from Origins so all your choices are, are Warrior, Rouge, and Mage. Being a fan of duel wielding, I went and picked a Male Rogue and was thrust into a heated battle with darkspawn. I was greeted with a welcome change to combat, real time. Every tap of the A button was a slash and eventually a combo, versus the "tap A to watch your character hack and slash slowly". The same talents showed up in the bottom right corner associated with the X, Y, and B buttons and an extra three slots upon holding down the right trigger.
I sat there, dispatching the darkspawn with little effort, being at home with real time combat. Me and my companion are rudely interrupted by an ogre and we quickly take care of it. The story is cut short however by a rather livid French..er...I mean Orlesian woman who is looking for the Champion. The story is being told by a rather cocky dwarf who admits to fibbing the awesome battle and starts the story over...from the beginning. We then are given a chance to edit our character's looks. Unlike the last game, Dragon Age II refuses to let you choose to be an elf or a dwarf, only human. This was done to keep the story consistent, I suppose.
The story is, you and your family are escaping from Lothering as it is being overrun by the darkspawn horde. Eventually you meet up with a Templar and his wife. You all fight through darkspawn and that terrible ogre from the opening sequence but your brother is killed in the process. Flemth, or the Witch Of The Wilds from Origins, swoops in and saves you from death at the hands of darkspawn. After a bit of dialouge and one Templar death, we come to find ourselves in Kirkwall, a city in the Free Marches, and the main setting of our adventure.
Getting out of specifics, the game is split into three separate acts, each of which are three years apart. Act 1 has you preparing for an expedition to the Deep Roads and it's where you can meet all of your party members. Act 2 has you dealing with the Qunari who have been squatting in the city for some time. And Act 3 has you settling a dispute between the Mages and the Templars. Overall the acts are well constructed and well paced, and can prove quite challenging at times.
So let's break it down into a few sections.
Story - Bioware has always been good about providing a great story but I felt this time they were lacking a bit. The amount of lore is staggering and they couldn't have done any better with it but as far as the main storyline goes, well to be frank, I felt like there barely was one. There's an overall theme of getting Kirkwall into shape, ridding the streets of criminals and the corrupt from power but nothing really goes on for too long. The most developed things were the companion quests, each one spanning the three acts. The most prominent story is the hostility between the mages and the templars. Overall, I felt there could have been a more consistent story rather than several mini ones.
Score: 7/10
Gameplay - There hasn't been much change in the way things are done. A new real time combat system makes basic attacking much easier and gives it a better feel compared to Origins. The Talent pools are also improved although I was sad to see that dual wielding full sized swords wasn't an option. One thing about them I would've improved was with the mages' choice of spells. There was only one companion who was there consistently that could use healing magic while others focused on buffs and debuffs. I also felt the requirements for weapons and armor are set a bit a high. I changed my armor and weapons maybe twice throughout the game not because I was powerful enough, but because I didn't meet the stats for it. The one thing that infuriated me the most was the fact that health and mana potions had a cooldown period. Several times I found myself running away from enemies waiting for the health potion to become available again and it even killed me a few times. Overall some areas have greatly improved while others need to tweaked.
Score: 6/10
Final Thoughts - Many people say that sequels never hold up to the original and in this case, they're half right. While I do enjoy Origins, there was a few problems that Dragon Age II addressed. The real time combat definitely was a welcome change. When and if Bioware makes a third game, all they need to do is blend the two games together and hold it together with another exciting story and I'll be sold completely. I recommend this game to any Origins fan, it was worth the buy.
Final Score: 8/10
Portal 2
Ah Portal. An unintentional success, Portal provided a fun, challenging and hilarious puzzle game. Using a unique portal system, players went through test chambers, solving puzzles involving cubes, energy balls, moving platforms, turrets, and momentum. The game also introduced one of the best video game characters of all time, GLaDOS, the insane AI super computer running the facility. Finally, after a few years, Valve hit us with Portal 2.
The game starts out inside a rather quaint motel room and a recorded message tells you you've been in stasis for 50 days and does a routine check up. This is to get you acquainted with the basic controls. You then go back to sleep and wake up to someone knocking on your door in your now, dilapidated room. The someone is Wheatly, a personality core in charge of the human stasis chamber. He hijacks the room and tells you he's going to get you out of there. After a long trip, you're thrust back into the same old routine of portals. Starting out with just one portal to get you use to it. You and Wheatly manage to get to the main chamber. HER chamber. As Wheatly tries to activate the escape elevator, power begins flowing into GLaDOS' body and she quickly repairs herself. She gets rid of Wheatly and sends you off to test yet again.
And that was just the first chapter. I won't go on to spoil anything else so let's break it down.
Story - Picking up 100 years after the first game, Portal 2's story is setup similar to the first one. Occasionally something will hint at something and there's a piece of dialogue that hints even more at it. The one thing I did really enjoy was the earlier Aperture Science was revealed as well as two new characters were introduced. Wheatly, the rather hilarious personality core who's just a little on the ditzy side and Aperture Science CEO Cave Johnson. Overall, the story, while not directly told, is fleshed out rather well.
Score: 10/10
Gameplay - Taking the same mechanics from the last game, Portal 2 seeks to challenge players with new puzzle elements such as light bridges, lasers, gravity funnels, and three special gels. The gels definitely added a new way to think up solutions, the first one, blue, allowed you to spring up to high places, orange allowed you to reach a faster speed, and white created portable surfaces. The biggest addition to gameplay was the co-op mode which I did play locally. I was surprised to find the puzzles actually challenging, incorporating teamwork in addition to the elements and portal system made for a really fun experience. Overall, with the new puzzle elements and co-op mode, Portal 2 provide a very entertaining and challenging game.
Score: 10/10
Final Thoughts: I really, really enjoyed the original Portal, so a sequel was bound to inch my way into my favorites real fast and it did. Beyond expectations even. So far, until I've had a chance to play Skyrim, this game has a spot as my Game Of The Year. I loved GLaDOS' new dialogue and perspective so to speak, I loved Wheatly and his dim witted humor, and Cave Johnson just added to the pile of greatness this game is.
Final Score: 10/10
L.A. Noire
It seems within the past few years, the early 1900s has been a popular setting for video games. Bioshock, Fallout in a way, and a few others, L.A. Noire picks 1946 Los Angeles to stage it's detective drama. Being a fan of basically every Rockstar game to be released, I wanted this game badly and after the small amounts of disappointment from Red Dead Redemption, I was hoping this game would fill Red Dead's lacking storyline and serve my craving for mystery solving.
Noire follows the career of war hero, Cole Phelps as he signs on with the LAPD after returning from Okinawa after the war. We jump into the tutorial "cases" on the first desk, Patrol. After getting through these basic control and mechanics teachings we see Cole get promoted to the real first desk, Traffic. The cases themselves all have their own story to it as you proceed with your investigation and the cases can be solved in any way depending on how many clues you find, how well your interrogations go, and who you decide to charge at the end of the case if there is more than one suspect that hasn't been eliminated by the evidence. As the game progresses you start to get more of the over arching story of a stolen shipment of military grade morphine and a rather complicated conspiracy. Most of which you don't see normally until you pass through Homicide and start the Vice desk unless you were diligent beforehand and viewed the newspaper cutscenes involving Courtney Sheldon and Dr. Fontaine. After you pass the last desk, Arson, you switch to another character and proceed with the story through his own private investigation although not much is different other than no police policies to hold you back and no partner to yell at you for driving insanely through traffic.
So with a game as thick as this, let's break it down.
Gameplay: The main mechanic of the game is clue hunting. At the beginning of each case you must scour the crime scene to find clues that give you leads to possible suspects and more clues and so on. Each location you visit has at least one clue to offer and Rockstar was nice enough to include the option of having intense clue hunting music play while there are still clues to be found. So if you ever find yourself wondering if you could have missed something, if the music is still playing, you should search harder. I found myself a little annoyed at times searching all over the place for clues. Spending 20-30 minutes at the crime scene looking for the smallest cigarette butt can get to you. Nevertheless, I did enjoy it I just wished they had more clue indicators than music at vibrations whenever you approach a possible clue. The next big mechanic is interrogations, which reminded me a lot of Phoenix Wright. You are given a set of questions to ask the person about depending on what clues you have found and when asked, the person will tell you what they know and then it's up to you to decide if they're telling the truth or not. You have three options, Truth which means you believe the person is being honest and sincere, Doubt, which means you think they are lying but don't have any proof to back it up, and Lie, where you outright accuse them of lying and are asked to put forth evidence to support your claim. This is where I was quite frustrated with, people will give subtle body and facial cues to indicate they are stretching the truth, eyes looking around rapidly, not making direct eye contact with Cole, shifting their arms and legs around a lot, etc. Thing is, half the time I didn't know if I had any evidence to support my accusation of fibbing and while you can inspect your clues right there in the interrogation, some evidence didn't match up with the accusation. So instead, I doubted suspects a lot which usually lead to them not telling me anything. The one piece of advice I can give is listen closely on what they want you to prove they're lying about. Such as "How can you prove I was there with Bill that night?" and you have evidence of Bill's statement saying he was with him on that night. There is of course firefights in the game as criminals are not all willing to be arrested. In these situations, I was disappointed you couldn't use non-lethal shots to subdue suspects, like shooting them in the leg or shooting the gun out of their hand. Other ways of dealing with suspects is chasing them on foot and tackling them or keep the reticule on them long enough to fire a warning shot to intimidate them into surrendering. Car chases are also highly common and you must either damage their car enough for it to stall out in the road, or run them off the road with the assistance of your partner. The last mechanic is, tailing. Either by car or by foot this isn't too difficult, although on foot can be a bit more challenging to stay hidden and close to the suspect. There are also multiple collectibles including newspapers that offer cutscenes related to the over arching story, cars, and guns. Badges too if you happen to pre-order the game from Gamestop or downloaded the appropriate content. There are also several outfits you can unlock that offer different abilities though most are pre-order content. Overall, some room from improvement but otherwise very entertaining and challenging.
Score: 8/10
Story: Okay, here's where this might get long. I will warn you now, I will be spoiling some key story points here so you may want to skip down some until the spoiler warning is gone.
SPOILER ALERT!
There were two things that bugged me about the main story. The first being Cole cheating on his wife with Elsa. This comes completely out of nowhere with no build up whatsoever. Occasionally, after Roy Earle shows Cole the Blue Room theater, you'll see Cole relaxing, taking in the music after a case. I guess Rockstar had intended this to be a subtle hint that Cole might be up to something, but it's the only hint they give until they outright show him going to Elsa's apartment to have sex. I may not know much about writing, I never took a class, but I know if you want that big of a character development, you need to give it time to build up, give hints to it and add more and more as the story progresses. This was just out of nowhere and makes no sense given the personality and values Cole has been made out to have. The second problem was the ending. More specifically, Cole's death. While I did enjoy the whole thing with Elysian Fields, Jack, and Ira Hogeboom, Cole's death seemed rather unnecessary and again, out of nowhere. Plus, considering they killed John Marston at the end of Red Dead Redemption kinda shows their lack of closure for the game. It was a great way to end Red Dead, just not Noire. Much of the ending leaves you wondering what exactly happened with the entire conspiracy thing as the up and coming District Attorney Jack was working for presumably made a deal with the police chief while Jack and Cole rescued Elsa and Roy Earle and a few of the other conspirators are seen at Cole's funeral with a look of victory on their face. I suppose what one is suppose to take from it is that despite Cole and Jack's efforts, their plans went through after all and they were not punished which seems rather unfulfilled after all the work you did. Not to mention this entire game is suppose to be based on old 40s era film noirs that usually ended with the criminals brought to justice in some way. Alright, I'm done with the spoiler portion now. On to the generalization of it.
SPOILER ALERT OVER PAST HERE!
So overall, I did enjoy a lot of the story up to a certain point where things just came out of nowhere and closure desperately needed. I've always enjoyed the stories Rockstar weaves in the GTA series, Bully, and Red Dead Redemption but when it came to this game, I was disappointed. If they can learn to fill in the plot holes they leave while writing, they could make incredible stories.
Score: 5/10
Final Thoughts: When it comes to gameplay, I found myself entertained, fulfilled, and challenged. They put my brain to the test trying to figure out whodunnit. When it comes to the story however, I was strongly disappointed. Rockstar can definitely do better and I hope any future games fill plot holes properly and bring closure to the players. I value story quite highly and believe it's one of the two most important parts of a game and when it is lacking, the game suffers greatly.
Final Score: 7/10
Alice: Madness Returns
I never actually played the original American McGee's Alice on the PC, but the game did gain my interest because of it's incredible dark view of Alice In Wonderland, at least the world of it. The first game took place a few years after the first two escapades in Wonderland Alice had, "Alice In Wonderland" and "Through The Looking Glass", and shows how Wonderland has changed after Alice's mind was warped after the death of her family in a brutal fire. Alice manages to stop the Queen Of Hearts' rule over the new Wonderland and frees Alice's mind from insanity and she is released from the asylum and is taken under the care of one Dr. Bumby. This is where Madness Returns picks up.
The intro sets up Dr. Bumby trying to help Alice forget the memory of her family's death in the fire to help her reclaim her complete sanity and relieve her of her guilt. Alice refuses to let go of the memory and her memory of Wonderland, so Bumby finishes the session and sends her off to get pills down the street. On the way, Alice follows a white cat down some dark alleyways where she meets Nurse Witless from the asylum who tries to extort money out of Alice because she claims to know that Alice admitted to starting the fire during her stay. Alice then escapes reality into Wonderland where she learns that a new law has taken Wonderland and that they are all in danger, since Alice is directly connected to Wonderland, from the Cheshire Cat. She then embarks on her journey to find the source of her insanity and the truth behind the fire and her family's death.
So you have the basic setup, let's break it down.
Gameplay: Alice is first and foremost a platformer. A really good one at that. A little different than most as the jumps you are expected to make seems almost unreachable if it weren't for Alice's incredible jumping prowess and floating abilities. I was a bit put off by this at first but after the first level you get use to it. Although it can be hard to tell which far off platform you are expected to jump to next. The platforming is further complicated by "invisible" platforms and walkways. Alice has the ability to shrink at any time she pleases and in this small stature reveals certain things not seen by normal sized beings. Therefore, a lot of the platforming involves discovering and using these invisible platforms and sometimes walk on them completely by faith. You can sorta make them out by the small purple particles that float around the basic form of them while normal sized. There are also shoot-able switches you'll need to focus shooting on for a while with the Gatling gun-esqe Pepper Grinder. Later in the game you'll need to activate them quickly before a timed switch runs out which can become really frustrating at times. The next platforming element is pressure switches which are essentially timed switches because you need to plop down a Clockwork Bomb which detonates after a short time on to the switch. All of these elements add for a really challenging journey through the fantastical landscapes of Wonderland. As for combat, you unlock five weapons and one defensive item throughout the game. Fairly early I might add. Your first and basic weapon is the Vorpal Blade from the first game. It doesn't do much damage but it's speed makes up for immensely. The second is your first ranged weapon, the Pepper Grinder. As I said above, it's very much like a Gatling gun, firing rapid shots of pepper and has to cooldown if fired for too long. The third weapon is the Hobby Horse which is your heavy hitting weapon. It can smash through damaged walls and break enemies blocks. I found myself using it frequently for it's heavy damage. The fourth weapon is your other ranged weapon, the Tea Cannon. This operates much like a grenade gun, firing lobs of hot tea at foes. Best used on large groups of enemies. If you charge it up, you can increase the area of damage. Lastly, you have your Clockwork Bomb which is mainly used as a tool to weigh down switches. Hardly ever used it for combat unless I needed to distract enemies for a short time. And if you need to deflect a projectile heading your way, you can use your Umbrella to deflect most attacks back at the offender. Many enemies are easily taken down in a few hits and later enemies will require you deflect a ranged attack or dodge at a certain moment or even use your full range of weapons to defeat it. In times when Alice was low on health, you can activate Hysteria, a berserker mode, that made Alice invincible and stronger. As for boss battles, there was only one which was the end boss which I was a little disappointed in. I was looking forward to fighting the Mad Hatter or the March Hare but it never did happen. There were also a few different sections such as a side scrolling platforming section, a side scrolling shooting game, slide puzzles, chess games, and even a section with a giant Alice. Of course there were collectibles like Pig Snouts that needed to be peppered, bottles to be collected, even memories of different people in Alice's life where collectibles. As for upgrades, you collected teeth in order to gain enough to upgrade your weaponry, and health was increased by finding Redula Rooms with the Cheshire Cat and completing the challenge in order to gain one fourth of a rose and, like Zelda, once you have four, a new piece of life is gained. Overall the gameplay was quite enjoyable but I found myself incredibly frustrated as to where I could go and how I could get there and the timed switches seemed incredibly short.
Score: 8/10
Story: What impressed me most about the story of both games has been McGee's interpretation of the story as a whole and the characters in it. I felt he captured the true meaning of the Lewis Carrol's story of Alice's decent into madness. Other interpretations see it as just a overactive imagination of a young girl which in itself is not bad but I prefer the more darker side of things. I found the story mechanic of Wonderland in the state it is because of Alice's state of mind very cool. The first game reflecting the insanity she felt after the loss of her family and the new Wonderland being under siege by something else in Alice's life. The characters of course are all awesome and really well written. The one that fascinated me the most was The Carpenter. A showman on the surface and a more devious creature underneath, I felt he could've been more focused on. Then again, from what I took of the whole thing, the story was more about Alice not Wonderland. Overall I found the story engaging, brilliantly written, and entirely satisfying.
Score: 10/10
Final Thoughts: While a few things in the gameplay annoyed me I found the game to be quite enjoyable, challenging, and I kept wanting more and more of it as I went. The landscapes and scenery are creatively dark and fascinating, the characters entertaining, and the story as a whole really impressed me. I would not be opposed to another game if EA decides to let us have one. I highly recommend this game to anyone interested and know this, as of this writing, June 6th, 2011, every new copy bought comes with a code for a free download of the original game from Xbox Live. It's also available on the marketplace for 800 MS.
Final Score: 9/10
Fallout: New Vegas - Honest Hearts
I immediately reserved a limited edition of New Vegas when it was announced and have played the hell out of it ever since. I've done pretty much everything that game has to offer. Traveled across the entire Mojave checking every nook and cranny, completed every quest in all possible ways, fought with every weapon, and when Dead Money was released, I was on a quest for answers to many questions I had about the graffiti I found at the Canyon Wreckage and what I got was more than expected. Small bits of dialogue relating to the mysterious courier who seems to know me and my adventures and talk of a battle at a place called the Divide which has been an annoying mystery to me ever since I heard talk of it. So when Honest Hearts came out, I went searching for more answers. I didn't find much but I enjoyed the time I spent in Zion National Park.
Once loaded, you get a new broadcast signal from Jed Masterson, head of a Happy Trails caravan looking to find New Caanan, a settlement of Mormon missionaries in Utah. You're then informed of the new level cap of 40. So I made my way over to the now unblocked Northern Passage and struck up a conversation with ol' Jed. He spoke of how New Caanan has been blocked off for a while and hoping there's a way in through Zion National Park, tribals running a muck, the 80s', White Legs, and raider, and mentions not to mention the name Joshua Graham around anyone. For those who don't know your Fallout lore, Joshua Graham was known as the "Malpais Legate" and was Caesar's second in command in the Legion. He commanded the assault on Hoover Dam but failed in taking the dam. Having to show that failure will not be tolerated in any position, Caesar covered Graham in pitch, set him on fire, and cast him into the Grand Canyon. Many people spread rumors that he was still alive and this made Caesar uncomfortable, so he forbade anyone from speaking his name, giving him the nickname "the Burned Man". Anyways, we head out on our expedition, after passing the weight limit of 70, and end up overlooking the beautiful vista of Zion. Jed realizes we cannot make our return trip the way we came so we move on but are ambushed by tribals, White Legs. The entire company is wiped out and I stand as the only survivor. And so began my adventures in Zion.
So let's break it down.
Gameplay: Not much is different in Zion. A few things have been added such as new perks, three new companions to travel around Zion with, and several new weapons. Most of your time in Zion will be exploring the park and searching caves and buildings for items required by Joshua Graham and his New Caanan friend, Daniel. There are several side-quest you can do to gain karma, extra supplies, and in one case a new weapon. Overall, the new weapons, perks, quests, and level cap offer a very entertaining time in Zion.
Score: 10/10
Story: The basic premise of your adventures in Zion is that you are caught in the middle of a war between Joshua Graham, his missionaries friend, Daniel, the two tribal gangs, the Dead Horses and the Sorrows, against the White Legs. Joshua and Daniel are the few New Caananites left after the White Legs wiped out New Caanan trying to gain a place in the Legion. They fled to Zion thinking they had eluded the White Legs and found a welcoming place among the local tribe, the Sorrows. However the White Legs follow them to Zion and start a war against them and the Sorrows. Joshua calls in the Dead Horses for support and the situation has been gridlocked for some time. Daniel is preparing the Sorrows for evacuation from Zion but Joshua doesn't seem to think that will solve the problem. After collecting all the supplies Daniel needs, the player is faced with a choice, take the fight to the White Legs and run them off from Zion or help Daniel and the Sorrows escape. Joshua also provides more insight into the mysterious courier looking for you and the Divide. He tells you that there is a frumentari from the Legion who wanders the Mojave as a courier and he mentions the Divide as a place just outside of Death Valley where something monstrous happened that scarred the earth and made it one of the most dangerous places around. One last bit of story I was rather fascinated with was that of Randall Clark or "The Survivalist". There are several caves that are marked with white hand prints and upon exploring them, you'll find stashes of supplies and terminals that contain the life story of Randall Clark, a young soldier returning from Canada that got caught in traffic just outside Salt Lake City when the bombs hit. He survived but his family didn't and he carried the guilt with him to Zion. The logs chronicle how he survives the harsh land in the wake of the bombs, how he met with the survivors from Vault 22...and killed them, how he took another wife from the survivors of Vault 22, how she died giving birth, and how he came to be "the Father in the Cave" to the Sorrows. Overall, the lore surrounding the place is just awesome and I really loved the involvement of Joshua Graham. Loved his character so much, I'm cosplaying as him the next convention I go to.
Score: 10/10
Final Thoughts: I love the Fallout series, even though I do think Obsidian shouldn't have had anything to do with New Vegas to begin with, so naturally I loved this add-on. Answered more of my questions and gave me another favorite character from the Fallout series.
Final Score: 10/10
Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues
Delayed a month, Old World Blues was one of the add-ons talked about that I really looked forward to. A pre-War dumping ground of powerful technology sounded like the place I wanted to be having been everywhere else available. So I downloaded it and jumped right in.
Once loaded, as per usual DLC protocol, a radio broadcast is picked up for a movie showing at the Mojave Drive-In at midnight. Upon arrival at the midnight premiere, you'll see a satellite crashed in the middle of the lot. Inspecting the device transports you to a new location. You find yourself in a hospital gown on an observation deck overlooking a massive complex. Once you get situated back into your wasteland apparel and find your way inside to The Sink and into the Think Tank, you'll discover a rather intriguing group of people. The Think Tank is made up of scientists that have preserved themselves within floating robotic husks with plasma screens and vivisectors although you get the sense they aren't as smart as they claim to be. Dr. Klein leads the group and he seemed rather confused as he thought my fingers and toes were extra penises not to mention he was shouting the whole time. Dr. O was the robotics expert, specifically the deconstruction of robots, and had quite the grudge against Robert House. Dr. 8 wasn't much of a talker, rather he just static'd a lot. Dr. Bourous claimed to be an expert in animals but also was confused about human anatomy. Finally Dr. Dala the only one in the group who seemed to have a grasp on anatomy, in fact she was obsessed, deeply with mine.
So now that we've met everyone except for the main antagonist, which I'll get to in a minute, let me tell you the essentials. You, like all visitors to Big Mountain, have been lobotomized. But unlike the rest, the Auto-Doc who performed the surgery outfitted you with an artificial brain, heart, and spine. Did I mention it got carried away? Anyways, upon meeting the Think Tank and convincing them you're intelligent, a transmission comes through from Dr. Mobius who's been plotting the doom of the scientists within the Dome. The Think Tank has a way to fight back but are too afraid to go out to the facility's grounds due to the dangerous things that lie in wait. So Klein tasks you with going out and retrieving three pieces of technology and help them defeat Dr. Mobius. And thus, your quest begins.
So we have a bit to get through, so let's break it down.
Gameplay: No real big changes were made. New weapons are introduced with a theme of 50's era futuristic laser guns. And not to worry, there still are regular guns within Big MT although they don't work well against the robots and experiments. Unlike the past two DLCs, you're on your own here. No Malpais Legates or mute Brotherhood Paladins to help you. In my opinion, this was an incredibly poor choice as the entirety of Big MT is infested with Lobotomites, rouge Robobrains, and Nightstalkers. Plus, the enemies are hardly alone. If you see one Lobotomite, there's bound to be six more behind the hill. There is one more gameplay aspect that interested me, but didn't impress me. Scattered throughout the facilities are holodisks that contain backup copies of The Sink's servants. The idea is to find and upgrade the servants so you have full access to your base's resources. Unfortunately, it's hardly worth the work. Unless you're a crafter, most of The Sink's services are useless. The only one I found myself using was the Auto-Doc and the jukebox, which re calibrated the Sonic Emitter which is required for most things. Sure the servants have novelty value with their personalities such as the Toaster's obsession with destroying the world or the fact that the plant machine used waaaaaay too many sexual innuendos, but that didn't mean they were worth the mileage to get. All in all, the new quests and weapons are fantastic but the insane amount of enemies and a frankly useless base hurt the gameplay score of this add-on.
Score: 5/10
Story: Now of course this add-on just piles on the lore and if you search every nook and cranny of the Big Mountain Research Facility, you'll even find more about the mysterious courier who seems to know you and shares a destiny with you. Let's start with the main story of the add-on.
SPOILERS!
So here we are, brainless, heartless, and spineless. Unable to leave and are now tasked to find three pieces of technology for these ancient scientists. Once you overcome the trials that await you within the research laboratories, you discover that they require you to going into the Forbidden Zone where Mobius is hiding out and that the reason you require the three technologies is that all three simulate a human heart, brain, and spine and that's what opens the door to the Forbidden Zone. Once inside, you face a Giant Roboscorpion that is quite powerful. Once it's disabled or destroyed you then meet the infamous Mobius who's a bit off his rocker. He explains he knows what lies beyond the walls of Big MT and if the Think Tank got out, they'd just ruin the wastes like they ruined Big MT. Then the matter of your brain comes up as Mobius had stolen it. In a bizarre twist (and no, I didn't have the Wild Wasteland trait) you enter conversation with your own brain who for some reason is British. You're then given the option to either convince your brain to get back inside your head or leave it be and continue brainless, heartless, and spineless. Once back at the Think Tank, you are faced with another decision, let the Think Tank loose on the wasteland, kill them all, or convince them to stay at Big MT. The latter is easy or hard depending on how many side quests you did for the Think Tank scientists. Now that was just the main story, the lore would take forever to get through but I will touch on the mysterious courier bits now.
Now those who've played Dead Money know that Father Elijah and Christine went through the Big Empty (or Big MT. Get it? GET IT?). It's where Christine had her unfortunate accident that caused her to see and think in numbers. There's only one place in the Big Empty that has medical facilities so I ventured there first. Once I got past the force field into the other room, I found a holotape of Christine talking about how she tracked Elijah to an old P.O.W. camp but was caught in an explosion and woke up inside the Auto-Doc there. She goes on but is cut off by an explosion. Thinking back to Dead Money, I remember her mentioning she was saved by a man, a courier, who wore and Old World flag on his back. I had strong suspicions before Dead Money the mysterious courier was Ulysses, a cut companion from the main game, but now it was becoming obvious. Putting my investigative skills to use, I figured they couldn't have gone far from the medical center and followed a dirt trail to a small alcove cave indeed called: Ulysses' Point. Inside, I found two more holotapes. This time, it held conversations between Ulysses and Christine. How he had been searching for a group who would help restore the Old World's glory and after meeting Elijah, said that the Brotherhood was no better than the Bear or the Bull, answering my question of whether or not he was Legion. He then says he's going to speak with the Think Tank, find an answer to a question. So that was my next destination. After so many dialogue options later I discovered that Ulysses came in shortly after Elijah tore the place apart escaping and asked Klein a question that greatly distressed him. So much so he forgot what the question was. Speaking to Dr. 0, I found out that they know things, and that Klein knows things they shouldn't. Again, another question was added to my list. The last thing I discovered was that he headed to the weather station on the outer limits and had left a map of some location, probably the mysterious Divide.
But enough of my babble, overall, the story and lore were excellent as usual.
Score: 10/10
Final Thoughts: Although it raised even more questions in it's nooks and crannies, Old World Blues proved to be a challenging, hilarious, and awesome experience. As of this writing, Sept. 1, Lonesome Road is the one thing I have my sights set on now.
Final Score: 9/10
Dead Island
To be honest, I wasn't really thrilled to get this but it was on my must-have list, purely because as a zombie slayer, I'm obligated to fight the living dead in any incarnation. Dead Island is a cross between Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising 2, and Borderlands and it's painfully obvious where they stole the ideas from. The basic plot is that island of Banoi off the coast of Papua New Guinea has come under siege by a zombie virus and you and three other survivors are the only ones immune to the virus. It isn't really a spoiler to say the reason for this is because all four are the same blood type although I find it hard to believe only FOUR people on a resort island are the only ones with that blood type. You wake up inside your hotel room after apparently having an altercation with yourself the previous night and embark on a journey to survive, assist others, and get off the island.
You get a choice between four, severely different characters. Logan, "The Jack Of All Trades", an ex-NFL player who's an expert in throwing weapons. His skill trees consist of a little bit of everything as well as buffs for being drunk. His Fury ability is throw limitless incendiary knives at multiple targets. A solid choice for your first time through. Then there's Purna, "The Leader", an ex-cop from Australia, she's the firearms expert. Her skill trees consists of some gun boosts and sharp weapons boosts because guns are few and far between. Her Fury skill is to pull her private sidearm, even if she doesn't have a gun or ammo in her inventory, and use it. She's an excellent choice for a player looking to co-op play as her Survival skills involve party buffs. Then we come to Sam B, "The Tank", a one hit rapper from New Orleans who's the blunt weapons expert. Sam has the most HP out of all four and his first Survival skill is the ability to regenerate health. Obviously his Combat skills revolve around blunt weapons and his Fury skill to put incredible strength and endurance behind his bare fists. Finally we have the character I chose, Xian Mei, "The Assassin", a Hong Kong undercover officer who specializes in sharp weapons. Her Survival skills revolve around Med kit effectiveness which makes her a dual purpose character as the rouge and healer. Her Fury skill is a boost in stamina, strength, and accuracy with her weapons. She has the lowest amount of health out of all but has the most stamina.
Now that we've got that out of the way, let's break it down.
Story: There honestly isn't much to the story so I'm just going to go through it all so SPOILERS!
Being the only four survivors immune to the disease, you go out and around helping people trapped, lost, in need of supplies all in the pursuit of looking for an escape. There are some promising options, a commercial airline that touched down in the jungle, a Russian who has comrades off the coast in a boat, and the mysterious man who helped you out of the hotel. There's minor character development from Jin, the daughter of a mechanic that helps you outfit an armored truck to smash through a tunnel into town. You head into the city to find food for the lifeguard station, lighthouse, and church survivor groups which you do but are told by the mysterious man to head into the jungle to find the men who can take you to him. While in the jungle, between fighting tribals and mercenaries, you discover a laboratory that was studying the disease and figure out the virus is a mutation of kuru. You finally get a sample of an antidote and are told to bring it to the super max prison off the coast. You help out the inmates there in order to get to the mysterious man who reveals himself to be Ryder White and a liar. He knocks you all out and takes the antidote for his wife. The group fights off his mercenaries and catches Ryder before he takes off in his chopper and gets bit by his own wife which causes him to take the antidote which mutates him into a bigger, more horrible zombie, after shooting Jin in the head. The group fights him off and leave in the chopper as the firebombing begins, leaving all those survivor groups to die.
All in all, it's nothing special, very generic, and unsatisfying. I know weaving a thick story into an RPG is hard, but it isn't this hard.
Score: 2/10
Gameplay: Okay here's where the game shines. Dead Island is a first-person RPG. Which in itself isn't special but when you bring zombies into the mix, it is. First off, you have a hierarchy of zombies. There's the slow, shambling dead called Walkers, the fast, screaming, and spamming, Infected, the lumbering, powerful, Thugs, the big and fast Ram, the ranged Floater, and the crazed Butcher. Then you have the weapon modding system which is fantastic if you can be arsed to hunt down components. Finally there's driving and co-op. The zombies are fantastic except for the Infected, they always circle you making it hard to fight back and they tend to spam a windmill punch which if there are only TWO of them, can kill you dead. Driving is stiff and hard sometimes when needing to backup as you can't look behind you. Then there's the co-op. I can't say that the co-op is shit because I played the second chapter with a friend, but there is a limit to my tolerance of it. The game is INSANELY hard to beat on your own if you're not Logan or Sam B. Even so, it's a bitch. It's one thing to have perks of playing with other people, but damn near forcing it is ridiculous. Overall a few things need to change. Mainly difficulty, Infected, and driving. Otherwise, stellar game.
Score: 6/10
Final Thoughts: I didn't enjoy the fact that soloing is a herculean task and playing with others, which is suppose to make things harder mind you, is a walk in the park. Driving and the Infected definitely need fine tuning and the story leaves something to be desired. A great concept but again it's a case of execution.
Final Score: 4/10
Fallout: New Vegas: Lonesome Road
Okay, I need to give a bit of back story behind this particular DLC. When New Vegas first released, me and my friend spent a week going over every nook and cranny of the game and by Monday of the following week, we had conquered the Mojave. My Courier, experienced and tired happened upon the Canyon Wreckage fairly early on in his travels and the graffiti that littered the trash caught my attention. I'm a huge fan of mysteries. I push myself to solve whatever I face so I went back out into the Mojave looking for clues. Two people in the entire desert had knowledge of "The Divide". Johnson Nash, who spoke of another courier who was suppose to take the Platinum Chip to The Strip and that he refused the job because of me, and Cass informs you about how she learned how to use dynamite as tornadoes in the Divide can block off a passage real quick. So here was the facts:
- Another courier was tasked to make my delivery but refused the job when he heard I was alive.
- There's a dangerous place in the wastes called The Divide where storms kill.
I was moderately curious at this point but I let it be...until Dead Money came out. Christine, the mute Brotherhood Knight, mentions she followed Elijah into the Big Empty where she was rescued by another courier who wore an Old World flag on his back and said he knew how it felt to look for someone who had such an impact on your life. Surely she meant, Ulysses, a cut-companion from the main game. My interest had been peaked yet again. When I finally made my way inside the Sierra Madre's vault, Elijah told more of the storms of The Divide and that he recalled another courier there in Big Empty. It wasn't until the epilogues that my interest hit it's peak. When God/Dog and Christine told that the Legend Of The Divide had reached their ears. A battle between two couriers, under torn skies and Old World flags, each bearing a message for the other. I was invested. I had an answer to one of my question. Ulysses was the other courier and somehow, my Courier had a big impact on his life and we would one day meet at The Divide. But more questions arose. What exactly was The Divide? Where was it? What impact did I leave on Ulysses? I needed answers.
Five months later, my Courier, well rested from the trials of the Madre, hooked up with the Happy Trails Caravan and headed to Zion National Park where he would meet a legend. I thought maybe I could get lost in the paradise of Zion and the mystery of Joshua Graham, the fabled Burned Man, the Malpais Legate. But I was wrong. A few sentences into his greeting he mentioned he expected another courier, but he didn't think he would come with a caravan. He then told me that some frumentari of the Legion walk the wastes disguised as couriers. Another question appeared. Was Ulysses loyal to Caesar? He had originally been intended to be the Legion sympathetic companion. I brushed the thought aside and continued my adventure in Zion. But Graham said one more thing before I left Zion. He talked about The Divide, about how it use to be a big supply line for the NCR, but something horrible happened. Tore the skies and scarred the earth. What the hell happened there? Yet another question without an answer.
A month later, my Courier received a strange signal, and being the curious man he is, he got sucked into the Old World tech graveyard known as the Big Empty (Or Big MT). This time, I knew better than to think I would be able to forget the questions that burdened my mind and went actively searching for answers. I had finally wandered into a location Ulysses had been. During my long conversations with the Think Tank, I divined that there had been three previous visitors. The first, Elijah, attacking the Think Tank, stealing Holorifles and bomb collars, then wrecking the trains to escape. The second, Christine, pursuing Elijah but getting caught in an explosion and taken to the Y-17 Medical Center. The third, Ulysses, asking a question so extreme, it made the Think Tank forget. Klein remarked that he wasn't brain-scrubbed so he might've left with information he shouldn't have. i left The Sink decided to track Elijah's movements from The Dome to his escape. Wandering the Big Empty, I saw various red, white, and blue Old World flags plastered to buildings and rocks. He was here alright. I tracked Elijah from the Dome, to Little Yangtze where he acquired the bomb collars and lost Christine, then to Signal Hill where he mentioned Ulysses had gone northwest to a nearby weather station, then finally to his camp above the train tunnel he used to escape. I first headed to the weather station to see what Ulysses wanted there. The only thing I found was a map. The Divide? I decided then to track Christine's movements. From Little Yangtze to Y-17 and from there to Ulysses' Point, a small cave nearby where I finally heard the voice of the man I'd been hunting. He spoke to Christine about the incompetence of the NCR, Legion, and Brotherhood and then spoke of The Divide. "Where America sleeps". He then went to the Think Tank to ask his questions and left.
So many questions clogged my mind. Why this or what is that? I was angry and confused. I needed those answers. I needed the closure. I waited two months and finally my salvation came.
Nearly a year since my quest for answers began, I received a message from the man that haunted my thoughts. He told me he would explain everything if I did one last job. I gathered up my weapons I had collected over my travels. Joshua's trusted Light Shining In Darkness, Randall Clark's Survivalist Rifle, an Automatic Rifle I scrounged up from the Villa, I threw on my Desert Combat Armor and I headed to the Canyon Wreckage where it all began, a lifetime ago.
There I stood before The Divide, a baron wasteland of wreckage and ruin. The sky, red and torn. The wind blowing death through the canyons and skeletons. I entered the nearby silo and started a journey I will never forget.
There's only one thing to really break it down to so let's do it. No holding back. No spoiler alerts. My story will be told, uncut and true.
Inside the Hopeville Silo I saw the same graffiti that haunted me. "Lonesome Road", "You can go home, Courier.", "Courier Six?". I was being taunted, dragged into the mouth of hell itself, but I wasn't turning back. Not after all I had been through. I would see this through. There was only one way to go at present, it lead to a room with a stasis chamber that contained an Eyebot. ED-E to be specific. A different version. A newer one. He assisted me in getting out of the silo through the launch shaft of a nuclear missile, Old World flag slapped on it. America sleeping in it's bed. I ventured forth outside, into The Divide proper. ED-E turned and that voice, HIS voice, talked to me. He told me he had waited for a long time for me to come, he got tired of trying to find me, waited instead. He told me he wanted me to see what had happened here, what was left behind in the dust and dirt. Then he answered one of my questions. The Divide, with it's deadly winds and battered earth, it was the cause of the missile silos underground. The nuclear devices stored there from an age long dead, exploded in their cages, ripping the earth open and raking the sky with radiation and debris. He told me I would need to earn more answers then sent me along my way to walk the Divide. "Sink my feet into sand of the Old World."
I made my way through the Marked Men camps and bases. NCR soldiers and Legion warriors, stained by the horrors of The Divide, clinging to life and the convictions they once held. With Hopeville behind me, I wandered through the Overpass Tunnel, filled with mutated creatures only known as Tunnelers. When I reached the High Road, Ulysses contacted me again. He spoke more of my allegiances to the Bear and we spoke more about how he knew me. He had followed me, my career. How I was the sole reason The Divide existed. I had walked the road so many times in my travels, it became my home. A community built around it and the NCR and Legion soon were upon it. I learned that Ulysses was indeed part of the Legion at one point. Through holotapes, I discovered he was once part of a tribe called Twisted Hairs who were absorbed by the Legion. He then served Caesar, he even taught the White Legs about guns and gave them the message that Caesar wanted New Caanan to fall. As I collected more of his recordings I had another question answered. The question he asked the Think Tank: "Who are you, who do not know your history?" This awakened their true selves, and they told him of the secrets that lie within the heart of The Divide. I reached the end of the High Roads, at the Ashton Silo. Having no idea how to enter, I pulled the switch nearby. A nuke launched. Soaring across the sky, back toward Hopeville. What had I done?
I worked my way through the machinery and robots of Ashton, strengthening my friendship with ED-E Mark II. When I emerged at the divide of The Divide, Ulysses spoke again. This time, he explained everything. He watched as I brought life to The Divide and how he finally saw a place he could set down his flag, a place where America could not be held down by the Bear or the Bull. But one day, I had brought a package there. Marked with symbols of the Old World. It was some sort of machine, it spoke, and The Divide exploded. Tearing, clawing, scarring it asunder. Ulysses was the only survivor. That day, Ulysses saw that a nation can die, can buckle, under the actions of a courier. Just one. It changed him. He became obsessed with The Divide and hoped that one day, he'd find me, and give me the same message I gave him. He intended to destroy a nation. Not just any nation. My nation. The NCR. I had to stop him.
Eventually I reached his temple at the end of The Divide, through the trenches and wreckage. His new home, here, amongst dead men. He confronted me. Told me I couldn't stop what was happening. He had armed a nuclear missile to strike in the heart of NCR territory. I was angry. A man so intelligent, so full of vision, changed by an accident and he couldn't see reason by himself. So I made him see it. I convinced him that my nation could thrive given the right direction. The right push. The right courier. Destroying it would do nothing, but give another example of the destruction we could cause. He paused. For the first time, he was speechless. He listened to the words I spoke and agreed. But the missile wasn't the only worry, Ulysses had set a trap had I killed him, Marked Men were flooding in to cut off our escape.
So there we stood. Two couriers under the flags of the Old World, fighting to save a nation, ourselves. We dispatched row after row of long dead soldiers and warriors. NCR and Legion. We won. The Marked Men's corpses littered the silo. The missile was close to launch. I had to act quickly. I had to make a decision. Let the missile launch, reset the coordinates to destroy the Legion, set them to destroy both, or attempt to stop the launch. I needed help stopping it so I turned to my faithful companion, the one friend I had throughout my travels, even in the Mojave, ED-E. He could break the encryption but he would fry himself in the process. I refused, I wouldn't let him sacrifice himself, but he insisted. With one last sounding of his battle music, slow and sad, ED-E broke the code and stopped the launch. With the troubles over, me and Ulysses turned and walked. He stayed behind, I left for the Mojave, a nation in waiting.
Before I headed out to win the Second Battle Of Hoover Dam, Ulysses had one final message for me. He told me that couriers are powerful people, they can shape and destroy nations. He cautioned me to choose wisely who would win the Dam. To place my convictions in the right nation.
"War...war never changes. But men do, through the choices they make." - Ulysses
I finally had my answers. My burden relieved, I strode into the Mojave, into the company of friends and foes alike and we won the Dam. The Courier's road came to a close. The places he traveled, the people he met, and the lessons he learned would live on to the next person who had the power to change a nation.
Final Score: 10/10
Dead Rising 2: Off The Record
Me and the Dead Rising games have a wonderful relationship. At first, it was very awkward as me and the first game took small steps to get through it's story. Eventually, I became a zombie master within the confines of the Willamette Mall, slaying psychopaths with ease and saving survivors left and right. I was king. Then came Case Zero which served as a taste for what Dead Rising 2 was bringing to the table. After mastering Stillwater Creek, I felt that Dead Rising was in good hands with Blue Castle and I was not wrong when Dead Rising 2 came out. Although I enjoyed Chuck Greene I felt myself longing for the days where me and Frank would strike down crazed terrorists with bowling balls and hysterical clowns with an assortment of sea life. I screamed like a giddy schoolgirl when Case West released on XBLA and was left still hungry for more of Frank and Dead Rising. Then, Off The Record. As a way to hold the fans over until the inevitable third installment of the series, Off The Record is set up to provide a "what if" scenario. What if it had been Frank who was at Fortune City? What would he have done differently? What would've happened? Well, without further a do, let's find out.
Story: Sticking to the canon, OTR begins with Frank telling how he was a big celebrity after the Willamette outbreak writing a successful book and even hosting his own talk show. But soon, his fifteen minutes were up. Switching to what if mode, Frank gets offered the opportunity to star in the controversial game show Terror Is Reality during their show in Fortune City. Frank desperately chasing the spotlight agrees and is signed on to a gladiator style game where he takes on groups of zombies by himself. Frank being the original zombie king, of course wins first prize in the show but feels disgusted at himself for the amount of disrespect he just showed and decides to take his prize money and leave Fortune City. As he's leaving he over hears a conversation between TIR's host, Tyrone King, and a CURE activist, Brandon Whitaker that reveals a plot involving a keycard and a time bomb. Frank is caught eavesdropping and is forced to kill the mercenaries just as the outbreak begins. He escapes the Arena and makes it to the safehouse. The game then officially begins. The plot for the most part stays the same where the majority of your time is spent trying to figure out who cause the zombie outbreak but not to clear your name. CURE is blamed for causing the outbreak and Stacey Forsythe is put under careful watch and Frank searches for the truth as is his nature. Most of the major events from DR2 happen just the same. TK still tries to rob the city, Rebecca gets kidnapped by the Twins, Frank manages to stop TK from leaving the city and captures him, the gas zombies appear when the military arrives, Sgt. Boykin kidnaps Rebecca, the bunker gets breached, TK needs Zombrex, the firebombing becomes a problem, and Phenotrans is still behind the outbreak. There are minor discrepancies to these plot points such as Brandon being a story psychopath, you're told to be Rebecca and her source at a different place and time but then are told to bring a million to the nightclub (and lose that million), but for the most part it's the same. The point where the story takes a change is at the end of the 72 Hour Mode.
MAJOR SPOILERS!
In Dead Rising 2, when Chuck brings back the laptop incriminating Phenotrans as the culprits and the satellite phone, Sullivan reveals himself to be a Phenotrans agent, kills Rebecca, and makes off with the laptop to the rooftop of the Yucatan Casino where the final showdown is made. In Off The Record, things transpire rather differently. When Frank brings the laptop and phone back to the bunker, Stacey Forsythe reveals herself to be the Phenotrans agent, shoots both Rebecca and Sullivan, loses her ponytail, and escape to the Uranus Zone (a new theme park area added). Frank must destroy the harvesters in the Platinum and Silver Strips before confronting Stacey in the theme park. When he finally does confront her, she takes control of one of the robotic looking rides and Frank is forced to fight her that way. Eventually, Frank defeats her and calls Channel Six Action News for the rescue. Now depending on if you gave TK Zombrex or not depends on whether Rebecca lives or dies. If TK was given his temporary cure, he kidnaps her like he kidnaps Stacey and Katey in DR2. And the rest plays out the way it does in the original game.
Overall, not much in the way of story is changed. Some locations are different, changes in dialogue, and an entire differently ending to 72 Hour Mode. Now don't get my words mixed up, I actually thought everything was perfect. They didn't stray too much from the actual plot which it wouldn't in real life. The difference of one person being there instead of another wouldn't cause too drastic changes and I did like the twist ending. I mean if you can play a game and know it's story and be completely surprised when a what if scenario comes around, wow.
Score: 10/10
Gameplay: Obviously not much has changed since DR2. A few general optimizations were made to gameplay and load times, more combo weapons, survivors, and melee attacks were added, and my favorite change is the addition of two new psychopaths and the re-done psychopaths. The drive for most of the psychopaths from the original game for attacking Chuck were usually because of him being implicated in the outbreak but since Frank hadn't been accused, they needed new reasons for attacking. For example, Brent Ernst aka "Slappy" thinks Frank can help bring his crush back to life but when Frank says he can't help, Slappy attacks. The two new psychopaths were exceptionally well done and I was pleased with both immensely. The first is a replacement for Leon Bell, the asshole green motorcyclist that taunts Chuck at the beginning of DR2, it's none other than Chuck Greene himself. Albeit, a drunk, worn version of Chuck. OTF assumes Chuck lost both his wife and Katey in the Las Vegas outbreak and by the time he gets to Fortune City, he's a wreck, still thinking Katey is alive and carrying around a doll that looks like her on his back. When Frank makes the mistake of mention his daughter, Chuck turns hostile and attacks Frank with his slicycle. When Frank defeats him, Chuck crawls towards the doll and holds it close remarking that she'll always be safe with him. Frank looks away for a minute to pick up a key he drops and when looking back, Chuck's body is gone. The other new psychopath goes by the name Evan MacIntyre. Astute fans will note that Adam The Clown from Dead Rising 1 had the same surname and Evan is in fact, Adam's little brother who works as an ice cream selling clown in Fortune City during OTR. At first he has no idea who Frank is and tries desperately to sell him some ice cream until a picture of Frank he autographed for the stagehand in the intro blow past his face and Evan realizes who he is. Evan then attacks Frank in an attempt to avenge his long dead brother. Once down to half health, Evan falls off his stilts and Frank walks away whistling the Willamette Mall music but Evan furiously attacks Frank again. Frank fights him yet again and when he's defeated, the little guy stumbles towards his truck trying to get an ice grenade he left on top of the truck but ends up knocking down one on his face and it freezes him into a statue which Frank kicks over and smashes. Now I may be alone in this, but I LOVED Adam in DR1 and I was disappointed there wasn't anyone as equally as insane as he was in DR2 but when they added his little brother in OTR I had a fangasm like you wouldn't believe. I really hope they add more of the MacIntyre family in future installments.
Score: 7/10
Final Thoughts: I enjoy the hell out of the Dead Rising series. It's got an amazing storyline thus far, amazing characters, amazing gameplay, everything. So it's not a stretch to say this installment was not a disappointment like so many said it would be. You can complain they didn't do anything but replace Chuck with Frank but they added so much more the game when they did it and even went to the trouble of writing different dialogue and ending. Personally, I really enjoyed it and I cannot wait for Dead Rising 3.
Final Score: 9/10
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigation Service
You know, I'm not even sure why I'm reviewing this game. I literally just beat it three hours after purchasing it from Gamestop for what I now know is an unreasonable price of $40.00. I have a varied stance on games made from movies and TV series. Most of the time it's an attempt to appeal the fan bases of the shows or movies and rarely does it stand up to the criteria that is expected from regular games. Sometimes they can prove successful such as the many Star Wars games on the market but most of the time, they never live up to their potential. Now, I picked up this game mainly because NCIS is the only crime show I can really stand besides Psych. It's the only one I found myself actively seeking out on DVD. So this buy wasn't the most logical. I just NCIS on a game box and bought it. So, without any further a do, let's jump in.
Story: The game doesn't last too long. As I said, I had this game finished within three hours. There are four episodes each dealing with the murder of a Marine or Navy member or some sort of terrorist plot. In fact, the first three episodes are nothing more than build ups to the terrorist plot of the final one. There really isn't much to the episodes but for what is there it generally stays true to the style of an actual episode of the show. McGee does the computer centered stuff, Abby has forensics, Ducky performs the autopsies, and Gibbs, DiNozzo, and Ziva investigate crime scenes and interrogate suspects and witnesses. But for a game that is trying to appeal to the fan base with the style and writing of the show, they didn't get many of the actual actors to voice the main characters. In fact, they only had two. David McCallum voices Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard and Robert Wagner reprises his role as Anthony DiNozzo Senior. The other voice actors...don't necessarily do a bad job of portraying their character they just aren't Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Sean McMurray, Cote De Pablo, and Paula Perrette.
Score: 5/10
Gameplay: So here's where I really get at this game. Generally, crime investigation games DO NOT WORK! Especially if you can't find varied ways to analyze and collect evidence, pursue suspects, and interrogate them. Honestly, until L.A. Noire came along I didn't think it was possible for a crime game to really do the genre some justice. The biggest issue I have with how NCIS: The Game is set up is that it doesn't feel like I'm an NCIS agent. I'm a cursor on the screen, clicking in eighty different places, leading DiNozzo around a warehouse like he was a Sim. There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to control his walking and actions like you do with any other third-person game. Anyways, the gameplay can be split into five portions: crime scene investigation, interrogation, forensics, hacking, and autopsy. When an episode begins you're treated a lovely 3D still motion, comic book style intro then you're placed at a crime scene and given a list of things to do. Although they use words like "collect" and "bag and tag" you don't actually pick up anything, you take pictures. Literally half of what you do is take pictures of all the evidence. The other half of what you do is moving things. Either to get to a piece of evidence or to progress in the crime scene. This involves moving the cursor to a circle on screen, holding down A, then moving it either up, down, left, or right. This is how the final climax of the game is played out too. Once you've photographed all the evidence you usually are taken to a witness or suspect to question them which involves nothing more than just hitting A before the little blue circle around the A icon goes away. Occasionally this involves pulling a piece of evidence that makes sense but otherwise it's just pressing A. Forensics with Abby involves little else than pressing a combo of buttons to lift fingerprints or match one image up with another. You also partake in the "deduction board" during forensics, hacking, and autopsy which is connecting all the pieces of evidence you have with information which is not challenging at all. Hacking is just dumb as half the time, McGee is trying to access public information so therefore he wouldn't NEED to hack but it's usually one of three mini games, a memory game where you click the right sequence shown to you, hit the lit buttons in time, and match the symbols. You also track GPS and cell phone signals by holding your cursor over a dot until a circular bar fills up three time and it gets annoying as the car starts making more turns than there should be in a city. Autopsy is just crime scene stuff looking at human body with the important areas glowing red. None of the mini games or puzzles are challenging just annoying, the crime scene investigations are really under done, and interrogation needs a desperate overhaul.
Score: 0/10
Final Thoughts: When it comes to crime games, it's hard to really pull off proper gameplay and when it comes to TV/movie games it's hard to not only remain true to the source material but also create a new and engaging story and when you put them both together it makes for one hell of a high hurdle. In a way, I guess I'm saying I don't blame the programmers and writers for this particular game being a flop. For the most part they did stay true to the style of NCIS story wise, it just needed to be more fleshed out than it was. Gameplay was definitely something that needed more added to it or improved. As a fan of the TV series, it's worth it to rent for a day, as a gamer, it's not a game to pay $40.00 for. Maybe $3.00 in the bargain bin.
Final Score: 3/10
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Let me tell you the tale of a young 17 year old gamer who watched the VGAs, disgusted at the terrible choices they made, and saw the official trailer for the next installment of the Elder Scrolls. But to my horror I saw the release date of 11/11/11, a full year away. I sobbed uncontrollably and hid myself from ANY information on the game. For I wanted it so bad, if I saw anything of it, I would induce a coma until it released. I managed to shield myself from all info on the development and when the 10th came along, I merrily made my way down and sat in front of Gamestop, at the front of the line, for nine hours waiting for the game to release at midnight. I purchased the Collector's Edition along with the Collector's Edition guide, got home, and disappeared from the world for weeks. Needless to say, I wanted this game. I needed it. So let's begin.
Story: We begin sitting in a horse drawn carriage with four other people, hands bound by rope. We had all been apart of a Legion sting operation while crossing the border into Skyrim. It becomes abundantly clear we are assumed to be in cahoots with the Nord sitting next to me, Ulfric Stormcloak, leader of the Stormcloaks, a rebellion army who seeks to oust the Imperial Legion from Skyrim along with all the other races. We're brought before an Imperial officer who asks me for my name and then I'm prompted to create my character. I make the careful decision through way of eeny meeny miny moe to decided to be an Imperial who ended up looking a lot like the village chief from Resident Evil 4. I name him Lucien after one of the greatest assassins to ever live and it seems like this young Imperials life is about to run out as we stare up at the executioner from the chopping block. But suddenly a thunderous roar spreads through the fort and someone cries out "DRAGON!" My eyes no longer focus on the hooded man but the jet black dragon that looms over us all from his perch on the castle tower. He lets out another roar and soon I'm running for my life as the beast rips apart the soldiers. My fellow prisoner Ralof helps me free of my binds and we race through the hell unfolding to an escape to the nearby hamlet of Riverwood where our adventure really begins. Eventually, young Lucien slays his first dragon in the defense of the city of Whiterun and absorbs the dragon's soul and gains the power to Shout in the tongue of the dragons. His destiny is then revealed to him as one of the soldiers tell the legend of the Dragonborn, a person born with the power of the dragons and the only one who can truly kill dragons by absorbing their souls. And that's all I'm willing to spoil.
Score: 10/10
Gameplay: If you're familiar with Morrowind, Fallout 3, Oblivion, and New Vegas you'll feel like you're in familiar waters but hold on just a minute, this is a brand spanking new engine, built just for this game. The new engine brings the stunning beauty of Skyrim's snow-capped mountains, aurora borealis skies, and highly detailed people to life. But there's more than just a graphics change, gameplay has had severe improvement since Oblivion. You can now dual wield anything; two hands of a flame spell, a sword and shield, a sword and spell, two swords, a shield and spell, the combos go on. Leveling up has also changed with the new set of skills. Instead of Blade and Blunt you have One-Handed and Two-Handed and Smithing, Enchanting, and Pickpocketing are now skills. You level up skills through use of them which in turn adds to your overall level and when you level up you choose to improve Health, Magicka, or Stamina then you can pick a perk from one of the skill constellation trees. Crafting armor and weapons adds another seven thousand hours of playtime. Being able to go out, collect ore, hide, and materials, then smelt, forge, and improve weapons and armor really adds to that sense of becoming more powerful. You can further power up by enchanting your equipment which now involves disenchanting an already enchanted item, destroying it in the process, and gaining that enchantment. Questing will be a huge part of your time in Skyrim. Side quests especially. I had a very clear objective of joining a certain faction right off the chopping block but instead, I spent TEN HOURS side questing. There's just so much to do and see and experience I can't even cover it all here without spoiling the feeling of it all.
Score: 10/10
Final Thoughts: This game, without a doubt, is my game of the year. An amazing story, amazing gameplay, amazing everything. I can't even eloquently describe the epicness and perfection that this game achieves in my eyes. It was a fantastic end to the 2011 gaming year and I await the DLC with so much anticipation.
Final Score: 100/10
No comments:
Post a Comment