Battlefield Hardline Review - Worth a Buy?

Is Hardline The Best Battlefield in Years? - The Lobby (GameSport)

Review: Battlefield 3

Developer(s)                 EA Digital Illusions CE

Publisher(s)                 EA & SEGA (Japan)

Platform(s)                   PC, PS3, XBOX 360 & iOS

Release date                 October 2011

Genre(s)                       First-person Shooter

Mode(s)                        Single Player & Multiplayer

Rating(s)                      ESRB: M, PEGI: 16

                                                                                  So this is the battlelog

When I played Bad Company 2 on multiplayer I was stoked to see how different and fun it was compared to my COD gaming experiences. It was all about teamwork, huge maps, vehicles & blowing up buildings. I was also having fun being the medic by reviving teammates to fight forward. After sometime EA announced BF3 and made so many promises to the fan and beyond. However, did they kept their promises intact or not here’s my say in this review.

Presentation:

After EA left from Steams’ service they have formed a similar program called Origin where it gathers mostly EA games at the moment. As soon as you click on the game it will divert you to open an internet browser in order to open the games’ menu called “Battlelog”. It was something new but a lot of people I know disapproved the system & that includes me. It was more of a senseless hassle since the Alpha trial. Loading takes so long and sometimes a multiplayer won’t even start no matter how much I tried to connect. It is actually broken. The interface is truly ambitious however identifying so many unpleasant encounters before starting a game isn’t a nice presentation. On the Campaign mode, my first impression was it felt like that game called Heavy Rain which has so many quick time events (QTE) whereas you need to press certain buttons to react. I never expected to describe the dullness I had, restrictive to the point that you can’t move ahead of the NPC to go to the next step and also the game prevents you for being creative on how you approach your targets which led me to encounter a few game breaking bug such as where I can’t advance because there’s an invisible wall on the door. I did not expect a game breaking bug from a game that comes from one of the top gaming companies in the world. However, despite of all of my frustrations on the game, I had a blast playing on multiplayer as soon I got in the game.

Graphics:

It’s one of the best looking out there. The frostbite engine did so well that I can see objects from afar and knowing me that I don’t do sniping that much since HALO REACH but this really encouraged me to do so which is great. Some little touches like the bullet holes on the wall after shooting a couple of bullets on the wall including bloodstains after popping fleshes against the wall. Lighting & water effects are amazing smokes and dusts are believable & physics engine is excellent. So props to that.

Gameplay:

It felt much like its predecessor but with bigger maps, planes & bigger player capacity on multiplayer. One of the new controls is that you can now prone, this is best way to prevent enemy detections especially from snipers; also you can jump though obstacles without worrying to move around it. The single player mode is basically crappy just like how I describe it. However, the multiplayer is where it shines best. There are four classes and they are the Assault, Support, Engineer & Sniper. Squad based at its best and now the assault class has supported healing tools. The one who’s now carrying ammos is the Support and the sniper & engineers are pretty much the same. With huge maps, variety of vehicles there’s so much possibilities that can happen and knowing that I personally prefer team/squad based where I can enjoy the game with other people and make friends.

Audio:

I personally liked the OST of this one compared to MW3s, gunfire from a distance also gave me the feel that I’m somehow in a battlefield just don’t mind the voice acting, they sound pretty much stiff.

Overall:

This used to be one of my most anticipated games of this year. I had high hopes for it to the point that it can par up the hype against MW3. But in the end I felt that it was rushed but none the less, despite its uninteresting and boring single player, buggy game and frustrating Battlelog interface, the multiplayer makes it up fairly well. This game is for the fans of the franchise, for the ones who like to play with other people as a team and make friends; a game for pilots, troopers and drivers all in a huge battlefield. But if you prefer to be a lone soldier or expecting an epic Single player experience, I don’t think the game can promise you much. I personally think that it’s not a good pre-ordered game but you can wait for a couple of months for a price drop then I can say it’s a good buy.

Score             8

Pro(s)

Cooperative multiplayer experience

Massive maps

Graphically amazing

Con(s)

Battlelog is a joke

Glitchy Single player mode

Frustrating single player experience

Take so long to load any game modes

Plenty of bugs it felt like a rushed product

Battlefield 3 - Alpha Trail Preview

Last week I got an invitation from EA to try the Alpha Trail version of BF3’s multiplayer map & I took privilege to give it a try and see. I had only a few minutes to spare on the game but I ended up playing it for a couple of hours. It’s that good but since that this is an early version of the game, I encountered some points to name a few in details:

• By starting the game, it asked me to update my NVIDIA GeForce GT 240. Though I ignored the notification and still ran the game. 
• It only has one screen resolution as “windowed” but none the less major improvements of the graphical details are much appreciated and see things better for the eyes. 
• The classes are now segregated into four. The Assault is back but instead of carrying additional ammo, it carries a defibrillator to revive fallen allies. Secondly, the support has the ammo and uses light machine guns. The third class is the recon which is also back on duty and with the help of graphical improvements, sniping will be a lovable class for open field map area to add that it has the ability to call in artillery strikes. And finally we have the engineer. Lets face it, Battlefield won’t be complete without vehicles and a class to maintain them in battle.

The experience:

Just like the Rush mode in BC2, you start at what it seems to be a park in a city or in a subway station. Two maps has different approach in the game from fighting in an open area which are likely to be in favored for snipers or in an underground subway station which will be favorable mostly on Assault units.

The controls were top notch and to add the new things I discovered as follows:

• You can run over small obstacles and see how you maneuver them over like a “Mirror’s Edge” game. 
• In addition to duck from the previous game, you can now crawl down for better stealth approach and to avoid sniper detection.  
• A successful stab in the back will execute a deathblow however, 
• The control keys were a little hard for me to command (the duck and crawl keys were too close from each other for me) so I hope that they will allow us to customize them by the time it hits the shelf.

Combat system is pretty solid, it delivers the feel from BC2 but a lot better with improved controls and the new graphics Engine. As a personal tip, the game will be best played on a higher resolution screen weather its HDTV or HD monitor (I’m using HPs 21” HD Monitor) and a considerable stronger CPU (My current specs are Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, Intel Core 2 Quad 2.5 GHz, 4 gig of RAM, NVDA GeForce GT 240 of 1 gig graphics memory and a 1 TB hard drive).

So is it an MW3 killer?

Possible, but by playing both previous games it’s actually goes down to whatever the consumer feels like playing; they are two FPS game but has a different style of gameplay. COD is known to their fast phased interface while BF talks about semi realistic and team based approach.

Conclusion:

Currently, the alpha trial version is about showing us the idea of its online multiplayer, and I’m happy to report that I had fun and will play more of it.

Review: Dragon Age 2

Developer(s) BioWare

Publisher(s)   Electronic Arts (EA)

Platform         Xbox 360, PC, PS3

Release date March 2011

Genre(s)         Role Playing

Mode(s)         Single-player

Rating(s) PEGI 18
                      ESRB M

Like I said, I’m going to make a review of this game. It took me this long because I have to make sure weather to rate it high or low based on my discoveries. So I have to finish the game before I make my final say.

To start off, the story talks about the Champion of Kirkwall who’s Last named “Hawke” narrated by one of his allies a Dwarf named “Varric” while he's interrogated by a Chantry Seeker named “Cassandra”. Your job is to shape the champion’s journey as Varric tell the story. So you’re playing the character’s past to figure out the interrogation in the first place, although it’s not bad.

So what’s the “bad” thing about this game? Actually, there are so many things I wanted to get off my chest before I praise this game. When I hear about DA, the first thing went in my mind is killing more Darkspawns and Dragons, talk about the Grey Wardens and many places to explore (and that includes other villages and cities...etc). Unfortunately, there were a fewer Darkspawns and Dragons to kill, Grey Wardens were sighted to a very minimum encounters and the worst part is, limited explorations (not to mention a fairly but linear storyline).

How it came to this? I don’t know how Bioware developed the game but it failed to give me that “epic” feel compared to Dragon Age: Origins did when it comes to impact of storytelling & that left me disappointed.

Fewer Darkspawn and Dragons to kill because at most of the time you’re preoccupied on killing other races and groups as based on the story. As I mentioned of Gray Wardens, it’s actually a spoiler so I’ll have to leave it there. But one of the most hurtful things for me was the places to explore. It’s only Kirkwall and a few outskirts from the city and that’s all, dungeon designs were surprisingly repetitive/recycled and similar to the point that suddenly made me frown whenever I see a path on the mini map and can’t access it or a similar map of a different quest & dungeon. I mean the designs were cheap and I can’t believe it came from a well respected RPG game developing company. And that made triggered to criticize this much.

Some hiccups I found like when setting a member’s tactics to self healing when health bar is at certain percentage, the character will not heal and I went like “wth!? So the tactics were useless then?” Other tactical commands will not activate right away like you want it to so I don’t know if that’s a bug or a direct mistake; And that left to force me on keeping an eye on my teammates while I fight my way through the crowd. Nail biting decisions were also trimmed down to a few and that made me lose the feel of my character as “The Champion” for just a bit.

A sad note also includes that I can only customize the Champion’s armor and the rest will only look the same which I wish that they never should have taken off that feature.

I also found that the game was rushed and unpolished with glitches, insanely weird AIs, cheap dungeon designs, linear storyline and a limited world to explore but enough of the ranting and time to remark the good things about Dragon Age 2.

First thing I noticed was a graphical improvements, cut censes are delivered swell and it’s much crispier and well detailed (not to mention Isabella’s hot tan cleavage and female Hawke’s default and hot face). Combat details are mind blowing in terms of visual effects and executions and the landscapes has more details but just don’t mind the frame rate issues though (but I personally don’t care much in graphics). It is safe to say that on a graphical perspective, DA 2 surpasses the previous franchise.

                                                   She's a hot and cute for a female hero.

Gameplay has wowed me with speedy battle executions, it also did not remove the use of pausing to strategize your combat though so kudos to that. While most quests were pointless (like earning enough money to go to The Deep Roads just to name a few…) and a few hard decision making quests, some were engaging including the “Companion” quests which help you develop your relationship with your team members which leads to a possible romance.

                                          Yes, more blood.

Sounds and music blended very well to the game including sound positioning when using at least 5.1 surround sound. Even though I personally prefer DA:O with so many colorful voice actors and different personalities, I could say that DA2 also has a few charming characters in the game with their voice acting skills; it’s good though but not as epic as the first one. The protagonist is no longer mute unlike DA:O which I found so appealing and the conversational choices also taken from Mass Effect which gives that epic feeling when executing conversations.

Another cool returning element that featured DA is listening two companions interact while you walk which are mostly hilarious and my personal Favorites are the handsome Dwarf Varric and the naughty Isabella as she interacts with other teammates with naughty remarks and replies.

My final notes to Dragon Age 2 is that the first one is better although that dose not mean that DA2 is a total disaster, it has improvements but they also trimmed down some key elements like depth in world explorations, armor customizations, game duration, linear storyline and also plenty of bugs.

The Champion has made a serious impact on the world of DA, after I saw the ending, I just said to myself that the world will give so many possibilities of the outcome.

I may hope that their upcoming DLCs will turn things around but I have to excuse Bioware and EA that I was disappointed of the downsides and I hope that they’ve learned their lessons. An RPG game should not be rushed as it is a long process of preparation; I also hope that Mass Effect 3 will not disappoint the many who believe in them.

For DA fans, they should check this out (familiar faces that you will encounter so you’re in for a treat) and for the new comers, if you don’t get the story go get DAO before getting this one but for sure that you will have fun with the battle systems of this game.



Presentation:
Overall, it looks better than the previous title, just count out the complexity of the world.

Graphics:
Overall, its no doubt that it looks better than the previous one.

Gameplay:
Aside from minor hiccups, the gameplay improved nicely.

Audio:
Musical score, sound effects and vice acting is at its best.

Overall:
Aside from its imperfections, DA 2 is a good RPG game to have and replayability is possible if you want to try different classes, sex and romances for that matter.

Score 8.0/10

Pro(s)
Fast phased, challenging and blood battle system
Graphically detailed compare to the previous title
Mass Effect style of conversational system
Lively and lovable protagonist due to it finally has a voice to reply


Con(s)
Linear plot
Repetitive dungeon designs
Small and limited world to explore
Mostly buggy in battle system
The “Epic” feel dose not compare to the previous one


~Mookie-Mookie~

Review: Mirror’s Edge

Developer(s) EA Digital Illusions CE

Publisher(s) Electronic Arts

Engine Unreal Engine 3

Platform Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (reviewing on Xbox 360)

Release date PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
November 2008

Genre(s) First Person, Action-adventure

Mode(s) Single-player

Rating(s)

ESRB: T
OFLC: M
PEGI: 16+
USK 16

Here’s a game that I never heard of from most of my friends. The funny thing here is whenever I listen 2 or 3 of its OST I started to say “I miss Faith”. There’s something special about this game that never fails to remind me. Maybe after I review this you guys will get what I’m trying to say. I’ll sum them all up at my conclusion so here we go:

Presentation:
The environments are full in rich colors that gave the city a relaxing feeling to it. Not to mention the music wasn’t too lousy or too boring but just at the right tempo to any given situations and segments. Although I don’t get much of the transition between in game mode and cut scenes which were 2-D, a lot of people complained on that category but I don’t have the definitive reason to complain about. In the end, it delivered a new fresh air and a different good feeling on the other side.
Score: 8.5/10

Graphics:
It wasn’t a top of the line graphics but has so many rich colors of the character’s surroundings. Those colorful obstacles really help to identify your tracks on what to do and where to go.
Score: 8/10

Gameplay:
Generally its an FPS, but for me it’s an FPS minus. Like any typical FPS, this one has its conditions. You play as a Runner and mostly you run and the game is design not to use guns too much. Well if you’d like to shoot minions its your choice but the downside is that it will only slow your phase down. Taking down enemies by disarming and hitting them is a go. You basically run (duh), jump from one buildings and obstacles to another but much faster than Lara Croft’s Tomb Raider. In addition, it’s a trail and error game, whenever you fail from your attempts you will restart to the last checkpoint and make it right. For those who has trouble playing FPS should better not play this one because you’ll definitely get motion sickness. Time trials are addicting just to beat your own or other online peoples'best time. They could have done more like multiplayer mode like passing documents to another friend or racing against each other to the finish line. But hopefully will open some possibilities in the future.
Score: 9/10

Audio:
Yeah the music as I said before is precise. The sound effects were not bad even though the gunfire sounded like a 32-bit game and the voice acting was okay but not as engaging.
Score: 7.0/10

Overall:
“A breath of fresh air, free your mind and fly as you run freely by living in the edge” haha I feel so light whenever I play this game and its where I got my motto “Edge of Faith, with love and respect”. No matter how long it has been for me with this game. It doesn’t fail to make me miss it from time to time. Many praised this game and I am one of them, I just hope that when the sequel comes down, online multiplayer will go extra mile if they include it.
Score 8/10

Pro(s)
A different feeling.
Original gameplay.
Calm environments at most.
Addicting time trial modes.

Con(s)
Trial and error.
Sometimes you get stuck on a puzzling place for a bit long.
No multiplayer features.

Happy Gaming!

~Mookie-Mookie~

Review: Dead Space

Developer(s) ‎ EA Redwood Shores

Publisher(s) ‎ Electronic Arts
‎ ‎
Engine ‎ Godfather game engine

Platform ‎ Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (reviewing on Xbox 360)‎

Release date ‎ October 2008‎
‎ ‎
Genre(s) ‎ Survival Horror, Third Person Shooting (TPS)‎

Mode(s) ‎ Single-player ‎

Rating(s) ‎ BBFC: 18‎
ESRB: M
OFLC: MA15+‎
PEGI: 18+‎
USK 18‎
‎ ‎
Wow! A brand new year and a brand new decade to start. I have been away from ‎my blog for a little too long. Luckily, I took my time heading back to my old ‎purchased games from last year (not to mention I haven’t finished them most so I ‎had to head back). But even at the final day of 2009 (after watching Dead Space: ‎Downfall) I went out and bought me two old games Dead Space and Gears of ‎War. I know it’s a little late but I had to buy them both for a good price and all ‎thanks to Mr. Habib at Eagle Software in Shola Mall. “So in 2010 I am officially ‎open to horror games and movies”‎

Survival horror game isn’t new for us. Two well known titles were Resident Evil ‎and Silent Hill and both franchise made a name and kept their diehard fans ‎happy and satisfied (well at least most of them if not). Moreover, up until now ‎both franchises are still making new titles. In 2008, a new title was release from ‎an unexpected company and that was EA (Electronic Arts). As far as I noticed ‎from that year, EA released two interesting titles that I have never seen before ‎from them (the other one was Mirror’s Edge but that’s a different story). ‎

But since this is another review article, I mind as well talk about it so here we ‎go…‎

Presentation:‎
Before the release, EA launched Comics and a site specialized for the game. A ‎very intriguing and moving presentation that left me puzzled with “oh s@#t!” or ‎‎“WTH is going on?” moments. When I finally got a hold of the game, I had to say ‎that it wasn’t bad but could have been better (harsh am I not?). Surely, I salute ‎the sounds and surprising attacks of the uglies but the run-in-the-mill plot and ‎missions deprived the thrill a bit and left me bored by doing almost the same old ‎tasks over and over. Environment was very well crafted and original for a ‎repulsive horror-in-space piece. ‎
Score:‎ ‎ ‎ ‎8/10‎

Graphics:‎
Before the release, EA launched Comics and a site specialized for the game. A ‎very intriguing and moving presentation that left me puzzled with “oh s@#t!” or ‎‎“WTH is going on?” moments. ‎
Score:‎ ‎ ‎ ‎9/10‎

Gameplay:‎
New things caught my attention like activating the menus, I’m used to take my ‎time browsing the menus. For me it’s the same as pausing the game. But DS ‎develop something which is browsing them without pausing. Pretty neat and ‎challenging at the same time, so whenever I brows I have to make sure to do it in ‎a safe place or fast (like healing). In weapons, there are no best weapons in the ‎game. Each of them is useful in certain situations, so it matters depending on ‎how you use and upgrade them. Not much puzzles to solve though but the zero ‎gravity gameply was fun leap from one place to the other and also short space ‎battles…you can’t seem to hear them scram in space (I guess they borrowed the ‎theory of the saying “in space, no one can hear you scream”). Controls were ‎responsive (compared from another TPS I tried “Ghost Recon: Advance ‎Warefare 2 which was horrible). The theme isn’t new but the concept was a little ‎different yet stirs a different direction. ‎
Score:‎ ‎9/10‎

Characters:‎
Well, they’re limited and easy get acquainted though well phased voice acting is ‎well delivered.‎
Score:‎ ‎9/10‎

Overall:‎
This is something new to me. Gameplay hour was worth its price. Just like RE ‎and Silent Hill franchise, I would like to have a new franchise like Dead Space to ‎include on the list. ‎
Score ‎ ‎9/10‎

Pro(s)‎
Character and the environments is well delivered.‎
Sounds really made a great horror feeling.‎
Weapons and its features are interesting (I wonder if they cane make a ‎multiplayer battle using these weapons in the future…cool!!).‎
Zero-G is fun.‎

Con(s)‎
Missions tend to get a little repetitive in an odd way.‎
Not as innovative in plot-making and storytelling as I hoped for. ‎
Predictable plot. ‎

Good Hunting Guys!

~Mookie-Mookie

Game Review: Brutal Legend

Game Review: Brutal Legend
Contributed & reviewed by Jerico Mariano
Sunday, November 08, 2009
10:37 PM

Release Date: October 13, 2009
Platforms: Sony PS3, Microsoft XBOX 360
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Double Fine
Genres: Action
ESRB: M


Overview


Alright it's show time folks! (voice of Jack Black) I finally got a chance to briefly grind the metal on Tim Schafer's Brutal Legend. An action/adventure game that follows the story of Eddie Riggs-who started out as a roadie for a 'heavy' metal band and fears that heavy metal is dying, not until he finds himself transported to an alternative world where heavy metal suffers under the rule of the evil Lord Doviculus.


Presentation


Yes it is AWESOME! A tribute package to all things that are metal. Jack Black's voice acting was really fun-bloody-tastic! The concept, music , art, and character animation simply adds up to the awesomeness of the voice acting. The heavy metal theme was carried on throughout and was given a cartoony effect which gives you an idea on how complexity meet simplicity.

Gameplay


In terms of gameplay, Brutal Legend is somehow hard to define, since it’s a mix of several different styles, from real time strategy, beat 'em up, shooting, to vehicular combat. It may give you an impression that the game can be pretty daunting but as you go along, you'll know that the match-up of styles pretty add up well. Though its great to have different styles here and there, the game would have been better if the game could have a more variety on the site quests or at least make the main character jump. I kindda' feels odd when your at a beat 'em up mode and the dude can't jump. Some quests can be a little bit of learning curve, since some of them don't really guide you or even give you hint on how to accomplish your objective. You learn from it the traditional way… BY DYING!
On that note, the flaws are actually minor to the overall game experience. With creative concepts, awesome music scoring, writing, gameplay styles all mashed upped to something more than what I've expected… A DIFFERENT WAY TO SPELL FUN!


Link:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=184285797216