Hyrule Warriors – Review (Wii U)

It’s been a while, but I’m back with a new game review! This time, I’ll be giving my thoughts on one of Nintendo’s latest big releases, Hyrule Warriors.

More after the jump!

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (Review)

Platform: Nintendo 3DS

There are quite a few games I would like to see resurrected or have a sequel from the 8/16-bit era. Chrono Trigger, Blaster Master, Ninja Gaiden (NES storyline and gameplay, please), Final Fantasy VI, Actraiser… All of these games, in my opinion, deserve some kind of new, modern game that pays homage to their predecessors. There are probably millions of people out there who never played Actraiser, so they have no idea how great that game was. People have been clamoring for a Chrono sequel since Chrono Cross, and I fear that people may eventually forget about the series altogether if a new entry doesn’t get released anytime soon. A modern day outing would be a perfect way to expose gamers to classic games, while giving all of us that played them originally a way to relive the past.
Lucky for us, one of the greatest games of all time - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to The Past - has just gotten a sequel in A Link Between Worlds for the Nintendo 3DS.  I’ve got to say, I didn’t see this one coming. The question is, “does it live up to the original?”
Find out in my review… which just happens to be after the jump!

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (Review)

Platforms: PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, PC

Another year… another Assassin’s Creed. Is that a good or bad thing? Find out after the jump!

**WARNING!! There may or may not be spoilers for the game contained in the review. Do not read if you don’t want to have anything revealed too early!**

Killer Instinct - Review (Xbox One)

In the mid 1990’s, Mortal Kombat was huge, Street Fighter was pretty much just as huge and Killer Instinct was the new kid who sought to meld the two franchises into one unique fighting game. Though its time on the gaming scene was short, KI has been a much loved franchise and fans have clamored for a sequel since 1996’s KI2.
Originally published by Nintendo (developed by Rare, makers of the Donkey Kong Country franchise) in 1994, the rights to the Killer Instinct brand were acquired by Microsoft Studios when the company bought Rare back in 2002. For years, many KI fans hoped for a new sequel in the franchise and were hyped beyond belief when one was finally announced in 2013 as an Xbox One exclusive developed by Double Helix Games.
How have the 17 years between KI2 and the new game treated the franchise? Find out after the jump!

Xbox One - Console Review

The final next-gen console has been released and I spent almost the entire weekend playing it. Is the Xbox One good? Did mine actually work? What about that $500 down payment? My review is after the jump!

Beyond: Two Souls - Review (PS3)

In my opinion, Quantic Dream really hit it out of the park with Heavy Rain. It was a game that either punished or rewarded you for the decisions you made, just like so many great point-&-click adventure games before it. The thing is, though, Heavy Rain wasn’t really a game, it was an interactive movie. That isn’t said with any disrespect to Quantic Dream, it’s just the honest truth. Heavy Rain was focused more on its story and character development than actual gameplay, relying on phenomenal acting and writing to move the game along. Their latest effort, Beyond: Two Souls, does these same things, only on a much more epic scale.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn - Review (PC, PS3)

I’m not that crazy about MMORPGs. It’s not the genre itself, but the fact that you have to pay money to play them. True enough, every game costs money to play (aside from things like Rock, Paper, Scissors and playing Tic-Tac-Toe in the dirt with a rock), but MMORPGs usually charge a monthly fee in addition to the money you initially spend to take the game from the store or download it. Companies that charge players to play their games are basically doing so to run an ever developing game, one which will require server maintenance and constant patching. So in other words, it makes sense for companies to charge for playing something like an online RPG.

The Last of Us - Review (PS3) *Finally!*

(Note: Sorry about the extreme lateness of this review. I’ve been meaning to post it since I finished the game during release week.)

The Last of Us is one of the hardest games I’ve had to review yet. Based on the glowing reviews since its release, that probably sounds kind of strange. Have all the 9s and 10s the game has received been warranted? Perhaps.

Man of Steel - Nic's Impressions

Well Internet, I've seen Man of Steel. And, well, much like I was after seeing Star Trek Into Darkness, I'm conflicted.


Warning, SPOILERS follow...

Star Trek: Into Darkness - Nic's Impressions

Nic here. So of course I have to share my feelings about the new Star Trek film ("Into Darkness") with all of you on the Internet. I'm writing this article assuming that anyone reading it has seen the film as well. So, just to be clear...


Warning: Serious Spoilers Ahead!!! Don't read on if you don't want me giving away major aspects of the film.

Star Trek: Into Darkness - Josh's Impressions (!!SPOILERS!!)

!!WARNING!! !Large SPOILERS for Star Trek: Into Darkness ahead!!

Injustice: Gods Among Us - Review

Note -This review is mostly an edit of my earlier IGAU: Demo Impressions article. Since this is a fighting game, the review format will be slightly different than other reviews. Sorry this thing is so late. I've been forgetting to post it. :P

Bioshock: Infinite - Review (PC)

Ah, Bioshock. I got into the series a little late, having gotten hold of the first game about 2 years after it was originally released. I had no idea what I’d been missing.

Tomb Raider - Review (PC)

I’ve always enjoyed Eidos’ Tomb Raider series, but it would be a falsity to lead one to believe that the series hasn’t had its fair share of pretty bad titles.

DmC: Devil May Cry - Review (PC)

I never really got into the original Devil May Cry series. I played a majority of the first game and a little bit of the 3^rd and 4^th ones, but it always seemed as though the series was a fairly good one; I was just involved with other games at the time. Apparently, Capcom felt the need to reboot the franchise, so they contracted UK developer Ninja Theory to handle the reset. Previously an action/puzzle solving hybrid, DmC (No, that doesn’t stand for DeLorean Motor Company) strips away most of the puzzle elements and relies on straight-up, over the top, demon-slaying action.

Assassin's Creed III: Liberation - Review (Vita)

Let’s be serious here - The Vita is a struggling handheld. In my opinion, there are only 2 games worth having (3, if you count Gravity Rush, which I hear is good): Mortal Kombat and Assassin’s Creed: Liberation. Personally, I think that the Vita is a great system, but the fact that Sony priced it so high crippled it as soon as it was released. That being said, Liberation is THE reason you should own a Vita.

Assassin's Creed III - Review (PC)

This is going to be a “nitty-gritty” style review, in that I will assume anyone who reads this is already somewhat familiar with the Assassin’s Creed series.  The review is based on my playthrough of the PC version.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II Multiplayer Review

I can’t help but, for the most part, feel ripped off every time a new Call of Duty title is released. It seems as though, after World at War, the series took a downturn and each title has gotten progressively worse. Is Black Ops II worse than Modern Warfare 3? Honestly, it seems about the same gameplay-wise, but due to some new mechanics, it definitely has the edge over its predecessor.

Perhaps the largest addition to this iteration of COD is the “Pick 10” system. In the past, your load out of weapons and perks consisted of a primary weapon, secondary weapon, grenade, tactical grenade and one each of 3 different perk types. BO2 takes that old system and completely throws it out the window. With the Pick 10 system, you are allotted 10 slots to put whatever you wish into your load out. For example, here’s my main load out that I use:

Primary Weapon: AN-94 Attachments: Target Finder, Fore-Grip, Silencer Perk 1: Blind Eye Perk 2: Cold-blooded Perk 3: Engineer, Dead-silence Wildcards: Perk 3 greed, Primary Gunner

Notice that in my load out I have a total of 10 items. Since I normally don’t use grenades of any type, I sacrificed those to give myself more options on my perks and primary weapon. I also got rid of my secondary weapon to free up one of my 10 slots. This is by far the best equipment system that COD has ever used. It is also the only good thing I can say about the game.

The 4 companies involved in the production of COD (Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Sledge Hammer, Activision) understand marketing and their fanbase extremely well, so they know that whatever they release, people are going to buy it. I’ve fallen victim to this on multiple occasions (MW2-BO2. That’s 4 games). I always hope that the franchise will either return to the glory days of COD4 and W@W or simply improve, but I continuously get burned. Because people keep buying the crap heaps that Activison shovel to them on a yearly basis, they refuse to innovate. Couple that with the fact that the games have been running on the exact same game engine for the past 5 years and you’ve got nothing but pure mediocrity.

These companies seem to have lost sight of what made them great in the first place (kind of like Square-Enix with Final Fantasy). What I’ll do here is show you COD’s lack of progression since COD4 in 2007. Ready? Here we go.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Infinity Ward Weapons: Well, duh. All “modern weapons.” M16s and the like. Each load out would consist of a primary and secondary weapon. The primary weapon could be equipped with 1 attachment such as a red-dot sight, or a silencer. Secondary weapons consisted of pistols and rocket launchers. Perks: COD4 was the first game to introduce the perk system. The player used 3 different types of perks that increased his/her abilities in some way. Only one per type could be equipped. Kill Streaks: 3 types. 3 kills=UAV, 5 kills=Airstrike, 7 kills=Helicopter Maps: Various sizes, all fairly balanced. Online play: Extremely good. Sure, there was lag, but it was nothing like what the series would eventually encounter.

Call of Duty: World at War - Treyarch Weapons: Same as COD4, only WWII based. Perks: Same as COD4, but with slightly different names assigned to certain perks. Kill Streaks: 3 Kills=UAV (Recon Plane), 5 Kills=Mortar strike, 7 Kills=Attack Dogs Maps: I may be biased to this game in particular since it’s my favorite, but in my opinion, W@W had the best maps of the entire series. And some of the largest. Having large maps meant that sniping could be somewhat useful. Online play: Extremely good depending on what gametype one played. The Hardcore game modes were the most balanced. Core modes were a bit imbalanced and could be extremely frustrating due to hit detection and lag compensation issues.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Here’s where things start to go south) – Infinity Ward Weapons: Unlike the previous 2 games, MW2 allowed the player to put more than one attachment on their weapon by using a certain perk. Perks: More perks were present this time around. Still used the 3 type system. Kill Streaks: Ugh. MW2 allowed the player to create custom kill streak load outs. Rather than use the simple 3, 5 and 7 method, player would have the option for how many kills they would have to get before earning a kill streak. By using a certain perk, the player could even set it to get his streak reward one kill earlier. MW2 also introduced the care package, a kill streak that when earned would send a box from the sky containing a random streak reward. MW2 was very kill streak heavy and this is what started the imbalance trend. Maps: The maps in MW2 were decent, but when having to deal with CONSTANT kill streaks flying around the map, the level of fun and actual skill involved was significantly decreased. Online play: Due to the above mentioned imbalances, online play was far too hectic and resulted in a lot of frustration for players (myself included) used to the 2 previous games.

Call of Duty: Black Ops - Treyarch Weapons: Same as MW2 Perks: Same as MW2 Kill Streaks: Same as MW2 (noticing a trend here?) Maps: Far too small. Few large maps. Most were medium to small sized. Online play: Same as MW2, but with a little less emphasis on kill streaks.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – Infinity Ward/Sledge Hammer Weapons: Same as MW2 and BO. Perks: Same as MW2 and BO. Kill Streaks: Same as MW2 and BO. (Yup. There’s a trend, for sure.) Maps: No large maps. All medium to small. Online play: Same as MW2 and BO. Game, as a whole, seems as though it’s just a map pack for MW2.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II - Treyarch Weapons: New pick 10 system. Great addition. Perks: Mostly new perks. Kill Streaks: Same as MW2, MW3 and BO, only instead of earning streaks by kills, one now earns them from game score. Maps: Same as MW3. Online play: Same as MW2, MW3 and BO on the lag level. The kill streaks are toned down significantly from the last 3 games because of being harder to earn.

What I’m basically trying to get at here, is that Activision basically keeps giving players the same game year after year with small updates. The same can be said for most EA sports games. Is Madden ’11 that much different than Madden ’12? No. There are a few extra modes and options, but the game is basically the same thing people have been playing for years. I’m all for the “if ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality, but the additions COD has received over the years have done nothing but make the game increasingly worse. Will COD ever get better? Not, unless the game buying public stops buying the games year after year.

In closing: Is Call of Duty: Black Ops II worth the $65 price tag? Absolutely not. Don’t believe the hype, people. Places like IGN are paid extremely well to review huge selling titles favorably (I believe it got over a 9.0 on there). My advice is to steer clear of this one. Trust me, unless you feel like paying $65 for some new, mediocre, maps and a new equipment system, you’ve already played this game… 3 times before.

Final score: 3/10

-Josh

The Avengers Impressions

Tomorrow (Sept 25th), The Avengers arrives on Blu-ray to the delight of  millions of people. In light of this...and in light of the fact that we never did one...I thought now would be a great time to offer my informal review/impressions of the wildly successful superhero ensemble movie directed by TV's Joss Whedon.

Warning: Past this point there be spoilers.

An Overview of Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy

Disclaimer: Sorry about the lack of spaces that may be present in this article. For some reason, the blogger program messes up sometimes and removes them when I post from my phone. Also, watch out for MAJOR SPOILERS below!!!