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Sunday, October 30, 2011

Batman Arkham City (I will review it)

Hey guys!


Now it's not strange that we've been hearing great things about this game but I will still review it based on my experience. However, it will take some time for me to review it seeing that there are so many things to appreciate the game.

I’ll be out on a holiday next week so that’s a great time for me to play the game more enough to make a review. Till then please be sure to check out my previous reviews and stay tuned.

Many thanks for the followers and game on!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Review: Ace Combat: Assault Horizon

Developer(s) Project Aces


Publisher(s) Namco Bandai Games

Platform(s) PS3 & Xbox 360

Release date October 2011

Genre(s) Arcade, Combat Flight Simulator

Mode(s) Single player, Multiplayer

Rating(s) ESRB T, PEGI 16


                                             The antagonist himself


“Make Metal Bleed” as the back cover of the game said

If you ask me what’s my best jet fighting simulation game i’ve played in my life, that would be Ace Combat series. I played most of them since the first one on PS1. All my life, i never found another game that can par with NAMCOs’ masterpeice.

After a long wait for consoles since Ace Combat 6, it’s back with agressiveness pushing away other games that tried to challenge one of NAMCOs’ pride and asset.

Though did it delivered well? We shall see as i share my thoughts on the game.


                                              That sweet feeling of victory on each and every kill you make
Presentation:

“Modern Warfare in the sky”

The set up is now mentioned in actual world locations, mentioning from previous trailers are Miami, African locations and many more. Surely the game won’t be complete without a storyline and now it’s been aided by a New York Times bestselling military author Jim DeFelice and shaped a story about Lt. Colonel William Bishop from the Warwolf Flight Squadron and his quest to stop a Russian terrorist named Col. Markov “Akula” who has a weapon that can blow up pretty much a city. Unlike the previous and traditional Ace’s direct mission briefing then take off segment, they added some QTE (Quick Time Event) elements for you to react while off the plane (Heavy Rain-ish) which basically pointless for me to be honest. But gladly the phasing is fast & it won’t take long till you get on a mission. It’s a new gesture from the game and also trying other weaponries and aircrafts. Let’s say aside from flying planes, one of them is you can fly an AH-64D Apache Longbow, a gunner on MH-60 Black Hawk and other planes with different functions depending on the given mission. So basically it’s a different curve but it’s still a welcomed add on.

                                              inside the SU-35 cockpit, one of my fave planes in AC games
Graphics:

There are no traces to disappoint the game in terms of visuals. The textures on a blown enemy aircraft is spot on, however I laughed when I saw a blown pilot wasn’t ripped to shreds as I blew his plane sky high. But I guess to avoid being flagged as a bloody game perhaps. But none the less, seeing a shattered plane gives you the sense of sweet victory after taking them down on plane after the other.


                                            yeah a new gameplay comes with flying this chopper
Gameplay:

You fly a plane & blow some stuff up, simple? Well it used to be like that but the new installment has some treats to keep you occupied for a bit by flying attack choppers, bombers and also a gunner. Though the main meat of the game is to be the Ace in the air and fly planes with different specs and specialties for each given mission. The new main element of the game is the Close-range assault “Dogfight mode”. It can be activated when you’re close enough to an enemy plane; there, the controls will turn into a semi automatic tailing enemy planes (which is a bit silly for me but it made up by taking control on a close range attack) and stick with them as long as you can till you destroy them in mid-air, that way you will feel the sense of satisfaction after each kill. However there are two kinds of control mode whereas semi auto pilot “Optimum” for those who are new in the genre (which I don’t like to use) & the “Original” mode for those who are veterans (like me) on the game that will let you fully control your plane and do as many barrel rolls as you pleased.

Each plane has their own special weapons and class whether a bomber, an air-to-air or both. There are tons of planes to choose from and that will also please the fans and keep them busy searching for their favorite plan/s (where are my Su planes from the start of the game!!!).

                                               As a gunner, wasn't that bad
Aside from the single player, the multiplayer is back with co-op or a death match for all 16 players and plane customizations.

In co-op mode, you can team up with a trusted buddy while on 16 multiplayer, first there’s Capital Conquest where each team has a group base to protect and destroy the other team’s base; there’s also Domination where you capture ground installations and lastly there’s the classic deathmatch where it’s more intense than the single player by taking down a real player to see who dominates the skies. So basically the other half of the fun lies in the multiplayer.

                                                                Just like MW, you can also try this plane and do your thing
Audio:

In terms of voice acting, it’s pretty stiff which sometimes feel like the character’s movement didn’t blend well to the voice acting. I also found out that the sound quality wasn’t that epic enough for my 5.1 surround sound headset which I found that the music was louder than rest so I had to adjust the volumes. But on the brighter side, its well done in terms of explosions, weapons and epic OST which has a mixed of Rock Metal & Orchestra feel to it; plus a one of their track called “Rush” gave me Goosebumps whenever I hear the guitar solo.

                                               I just love Russian fighter jets over the rest of the planes.
Overall:

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is actually a good game but not as great as Ace Combat 5 for me. The gameplay, graphics, OST are there but the storyline fell short and wasn’t as epic as I experienced in AC5s' “The Journey home” song which the game also represents “world peace” from two giant fictional country fighting earch other that almost made a world war. But none the less, this game is a welcomed from its genre; Project ACES still is untouchable and cannot be compared when it comes to making a good arcade jet fighting simulator game. So if you ask me again what’s my favorite fighting simulation game? I’d still say NAMCOs’ Ace Combat series and this will be one of them but the best of them. This will be welcomed for young aces with the help of putting a modern feel to it; and for the fan of the genre, go get it, it's worth the wait and you can't find anything better than Ace Combat.

Score 8


Pro(s)

Intense new Dog fight system

Awesome Multiplayer

Breath taking OST

Using other air craft

Faster phased air combat in the series



Con(s)

You can forget about the storyline

A few missions doesn’t feel right

Pointless off battle interactions at times

Pointless QTEs

Monday, October 24, 2011

Review: RAGE

                                                        So a big rock hit Earth

Developer(s)                 id Software

Publisher(s)                 Bethesda Softworks

Platform(s)                   PC, PS3 & Xbox 360

Release date                October 2011

Genre(s)                       First Person Shooter, Action, Adventure

Mode(s)                        Single Player, Multiplayer

Rating(s)                      ESRB: M, PEGI 18

                                                        Running flow of blood, Graphically impressive.  

Why all those hate on the game!?

Due to unforeseen events at work, I’ve been busy for the past several weeks so I had to push it back. This is my fourth week but things got subsided now so here we go!

Enough from my sorry a$$ excuse, I’m here to give my thoughts on this game and for those who’s on the fence (especially for PC gamers) on whether to get this game or wait for the update/price tag to drop, here’s for you.

                                                          Believable Facial expression + Nice Voice acting = win.

Presentation:
  
It’s basically flat & straightforward that has predictable plot but interestingly enough to keep you occupied. It’s about a group of selected humans casting themselves to be sealed in a chamber called “The Ark” in order to survive from an asteroid attack on earth which will pretty much destroy humanity and any life on the planet. You are one of the selected ones and augmented a special technology in order to survive the aftermath and restore civilization once again. After more than a hundred years, you’ve woken up in the Ark only to find that people around you in the Ark are dead. As you open the door for the first time, it felt like opening the vault back in Fallout 3 for some reason. The Environment has so much detail on the wasteland, from towns to NPC personalities. Generally it’s a world worth exploring.

Knowing id software, they make great qualities of FPS games in terms of gameplay way back when I first played Wolfenstein 3D on DOS & it was the first game I played and finished in the genre. So a bit of the developers’ history there has assured me that RAGE will be huge and in fact it did big.

                                                   Don't miss her, she will give you the best supporting weapon in the game


Graphics:

This is a touchy subject, there’s always bugs creeping up on PC games at launch it wasn’t as bad as Dead Island’s though. Setting those glitches aside, the details of the atmosphere is impressive, each towns and cities has their own feel to it, and facial details of NPCs are spot on believable and didn’t felt like obvious puppets. However the bad side (soon to be patched) was the frame rate & textures. To set an example, I noticed that whenever I turn around fast I noticed that it takes milliseconds to recalibrate a blurred section in order for it to be visible. Also to add that there were very limited options on setting your display in the game. It may disappoint for those who wish to put the graphics to its optimal use but none the less, the game is still playable and no game breaking there for me.

                                                               A good looking Bike

Gameplay:

One thing that I don’t doubt about id is their gameplay. Knowing that they’ve been so long in the industry and yet they still wows their audiences with epic experiences including with each weapons. That also includes this game, gun battles still driving me crazy in a good way (which reminds me with my run on DOOM 3), AI enemy movements are almost unpredictable specially for the agile ones which I personally call Crazy Monkeys, I’m used to those who stick their heads out and be easy targets but the enemies in this game are pretty hard hitters to the point that they don’t want their heads to be blown off by your awesome weapons. Luckily, there are other supporting weapons to assist you which one of them is the Wingstick, a three edged boomerang that can wipe an enemy in one hit (mainly the enemy’s head) and that helps a lot whenever I have a hard time killing annoying Crazy Monkeys. Aside from FPS, it also has a driving gameplay; I was surprised on how fluid & responsive it was in terms of controls. The world is full of racing tracks so each town has events on race battles in order for you to earn extra cash.

                                                    So this is how my player looks like with the Crimson Armor 

Audio:

As far as how the voice acting goes, it didn’t come any shorter than awesome. And I thought Dead Island was good but I guess I was wrong. At some point of the game, there are areas where I was impressed to see & hear dead bodies with flowing blood and flies all over, it helped to give me that creepy feeling.

                                           I went like "Good Lord that's a huge Boss!" 

Overall:

RAGE is a game to be loved from what it is, personally I don’t prioritize the graphics as long as its playable and fun, just like BRINK, this game is also a breath of fresh air for me away from military based FPS games like Call Of Duty & Battle Field. Aside from the huge Single Player game, the multiplayer is there to add some extra flavor to the game isn’t broken & fun to play with friends. This game is for those who love the genre (FPS) as single player focused and not for those who expect it to have some heavy RPG elements. As long as it’s playable, its fine but for those who love to max out its graphical capability, you might get disappointed but on a brighter side, they will patch it soon (PC version). For a price tag, it's questionable for its graphical side but overall it's worth the price.

Score             8.5


Pro(s)
Huge
Graphically impressed
Awesome voice acting
Cool weapons
id’s AI enemies never gets old
Fun multiplayer

Con(s)
Missions felt repetitive
Loots are sometimes limited
Graphical & texture issues

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Late for RAGE

Hey guys Mookie here, sorry for those who’s been waiting for my game review on RAGE, I’ve been so busy at work for the last three weeks and will (and hopefully the last) have another one more busy week to go.




But just to give a quick comment on the game, it’s worth the bucks…



However, I will still review it with more details for those who are still on the fence or in doubt wether to buy it or not.



Thank you for your patience and game on!