Dead Island
Dead Island has finally arrived after years of waiting. The game was announced in 06 and remained pretty quiet for the most part, but gained the attention of gamers again with its impressive trailers. Dead Island is an open world cooperative game centered around four survivors and the island of Banoi. The game goes for a different tropical paradise setting instead of the regular played out metropolitan locales, and aims for engaging first person melee combat. What separates Dead Island from being a Left 4 Dead or Dead Rising wanna be? Was it worth the wait? Read on to find out zombie slayers!
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
Introduction
The first Witcher released in 2007 captured the attention of many RPG players with it’s maturity and new approach to the genre. The Witcher 2 aims to top the first and has pushed both the graphics and gameplay. Aiming even more so for the mature audience The Witcher 2 pulls no punches, it has vulgarity, violence, explicit love scenes, and an incredibly dark atmosphere. So what does The Witcher 2 really offer? Read on to find out!
The Plot
You are Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher obsessed with The Wild Hunt and one of King Foltest’s main men. A moment between you and your “companion” Triss Merigold is interrupted when one of Foltest’s troops rushes into your tent to tell you that you’re needed. The game opens up with a castle siege in which Geralt participates despite seeing the battle as ignorant and selfish. Once the castle has fallen, Foltest reunites with his “bastard” children, but is briefly after assassinated. Geralt tries to pursue the culprit but fails due to the assassin’s wild antics. Foltest’s troops run into the room that the two entered together and find Geralt standing there with the dead king, Geralt is accused of the murder and is thrown into the dungeons. With aid, Geralt escapes and intends to clear his name.
The Gameplay
This game is possibly the hardest game I’ve had to master, jumping into this game’s tutorial on medium will probably result in your death countless times. The gameplay’s learning curve is steep, don’t go in with the hack n’ slash mindset the real trick is making good use of the “signs”, The Witcher’s magic. Using your powers in combination with your melee attacks is key, spells like Quen will allow you to take a FEW hits without taking damage, and believe me you’ll use it seeing as how you can die quick if you don’t watch it. Rolling away from and blocking hits is just as important, hit and run tactics are vital as the game throws enemies at you that are powerhouses and must be dealt with using strategy. Almost every encounter can be fatal, but each victory is rewarding. Geralt has a a long sword meant for fighting humans, and a silver sword meant for the monsters. Switching up swords will be necessary if want to have the edge in a fight.
Leveling up and getting better gear will make this game much easier as well, depending on your style of play you can level Geralt the way that best fits it. As you progress Geralt becomes more capable, like for example if you have trouble in melee combat you can level Swordsmanship and allow Geralt to hit multiple enemies and be able to take and dish damage out. Gear can be acquired through various means, questing, searching corpses, merchants, and exploring. You’ll want to take your time with this as you want Geralt to build up as much as possible, there’s fights you can get into where you can be heavily outnumbered and you’ll find yourself reloading your saved game because you weren’t prepared and keep dying! As for questing there’s plenty of side quests you can do involving all sorts of shady individuals, and an expansive main quest that gets even deeper as it continues.
The Witcher 2 does have the “moral” choice system. It is more complex thought wise than what can be found in games like Mass Effect, where those choices are black and white, these are gray. You’ll choose sides and that will effect the story board, relations with characters, and outcome of the game BIG time so choose wisely. There is also a crafting system allowing the player to create armor, weapons or potions using certain items, metals, or fabrics. Finding the required items to craft gear is a good investment as it is usually better than what you can loot. If you just want to buy some of the crafting items but don’t have the Oren (gold) it’s usually pretty easy to come by playing the mini-games and side questing. The mini-games include arm wrestling, fight (I shouldn’t be talking about this) clubs, and so on. The games help change the pacing but usually will only be played for the money rather than enjoyment.
The Atmosphere
The Witcher 2′s art style is a combination of Gothic, Slavic, and Romanian themes. The game looks amazing and is one of the best I’ve ever seen, in particular because of the lighting. The characters’ design and personality are unique and have depth, each plays their role and have some meaning. The explicit content gives it a sense of realism/familiarity and keeps the Witcher 2 from being too fantastical, keeping you grounded in the setting it’s going for. It’s original and rich, it is guaranteed to be refreshing as the humanity vs evil horde/orcs theme has been played out too many times.
The Verdict
I absolutely loved The Witcher 2, it’s settings, gameplay and story were incredibly captivating for me. This is one game I would recommend without hesitation, it’s challenging and probably not meant for everyone but the people who dig this type of game should not be let down. Aside from sometimes hiccups in combat and not being able to start the game over again after you’ve finished it, I have no complaints, and I fully believe The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings reaches it’s goal and sets out what it wants to do almost perfectly. There’s plenty of replay value here, the game RULES.
Note: Be sure to save often!
Dragon Age 2
Introduction
Bioware’s Dragon Age: Origins was released in 09 and was said to be the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate. Origins gained the respect of many RPG fans due to it’s dark sided and mature nature. Dragon Age 2 has finally arrived with many new tricks up it’s sleeve. Does it hold up to the hype? Or is it a letdown? Read on!
You are Hawke, a Fereldan who is fleeing with his Family from a Dark Spawn invasion during the events of the first game. The story is told through a Dwarf named Varric who is being questioned by an unknown party. Spanning over the course of decade, Hawke’s rise to the Champion of Kirkwall is brutal, surprising and harsh.
The Gameplay
Dragon Age 2′s gameplay has been retooled somewhat. You now have the ability to manually attack enemies, and I don’t mean by using talents, you can now actually be the one who swings your weapon. This gives you the feeling of having more control, it doesn’t feel tacked on and is implemented nicely into the game’s combat. Don’t worry the game is nowhere near being a hack n slash. For some SUPER strategic players this could be distracting, but most should find it fair.
You may be one of three classes. The Warrior may use two handed weapons or a sword and shield to tank through enemies. A Mage can attack from a distance using their staff and wide array of magic. Or finally the Rogue, who can quickly attack using daggers or fight at a distance using a bow and arrow. The ability to choose other races is gone, as this game’s story is more focused on the actual tale of a hero. The work you put into Dragon Age: Origins hasn’t gone to waste though, your choices in the first game may be imported to the second and may change the lore of the world.
Now to get into the meat of the game. Dragon Age 2 takes you to the city of Kirkwall where you’ll find all sorts of shady characters. Throughout the game you’ll find party members, they actually have depth and staying friendly with some can be hard if you’re a real moralist. Quests can be found all over in Kirkwall or from members in your group. The game keeps you engaged, there’s usually always a place to go, a person to talk to, a group of baddies to fight, and a new threat on the rise.
Most of the game’s quests and main story do indeed take place in the city, there are plenty of moments however when you most go out of Kirkwall to surrounding areas in order to deal with certain issues. The game’s enemies are varied. In the first game the Darkspawn were the main foe, they’re still hanging around in this one but hardly. Now you’ll fight thugs, demons, even bigger demons, mages, corrupt templars, things from all over the spectrum which helps keep the surprise element there and makes you think of new strategies to fight these new baddies. The game has also gotten a bit more “violent”, allowing you to slice through a group of enemies turning them into puddles of gore.
Talking with and getting to know your companions more is important. The dialogue is interesting and gives the characters background, becoming friends or rivals with party members grants them bonus passive abilities. It may also effect the story in unforeseen ways. Leveling up the characters is strategic within itself, knowing what they’re best in and what attributes to boost up are key to winning tough battles. You may switch the weapons and items that your allies carry, but you cannot change their armor like in the first. Instead you will find items throughout the game that will automatically upgrade your party member’s armor. You can even craft certain items if you have the materials, which may be used to enchant your weapons giving them upgrades like fire or ice damage.
The game has certainly become more cinematic as well. Dragon Age 2 can get a fair amount of AI on-screen fighting while keeping a stable framerate, helping those epic moments feel epic. Key events that happen in the game can be approached differently and have alternate outcomes. Some can only be reached if you’re good enough, really. When you feel like you’re going to encounter a boss fight be prepared the battles can be long, endurance is what can pull you through and when you achieve victory you feel rewarded.
The Atmosphere
Dragon Age 2′s scenery, art style, characters and story truly shine in this game. The scenery and art style are fresh, giving the game a unique look. The characters are some of the most well thought out I’ve seen in a while, each have their own personality, history, and have something to contribute to the overall scheme of things. The Story is……. AWESOME. The choices made and people you associate with all matter, the game will throw curve balls at you and how you adapt to the situations will effect the outcome. You feel like Hawke really does rise up in the world.
The Verdict
Dragon Age 2 is, to me of course, an almost perfect role playing adventure. When you triumph over baddies you feel like a badass, especially when you’ve used one of my favorite strategies “hit and run.” Really though even if you’re not into more story driven RPGs like this, give this one a chance. It took me 31 hours to complete this game, and I didn’t do everything that I could. The people saying it’s too short should stop skipping dialogue or just stop tanking through the main quests. There’s been complaints about the graphics but I’ll tell you they’re fine, I think it’s more of the new art style that people aren’t liking.
CHECK IT OUT! The game is addicting, I beat it and wanted more. The story is compelling and the combat is fun. I really could not recommend this game to you anymore.
The Experience
Homefront takes from both Battlefield and Call of Duty to craft on experience of it’s own. The game takes the perk system straight from Call of Duty and instead of Killstreaks there are Battle Points. These points are earned from getting kills, capturing objectives, scouting out enemies in a drone, and assisting teammates. Once you’ve accumulated enough points you may purchase vehicles and equipment of your liking. The catch is you may only get vehicles when you are spawning, but equipment like the RPG and or Flak Jacket may be purchased ingame to quickly counter threats.
You can customize a weapon of your choosing, though there’s not much of a variety. Things like grenade and shotgun attachments, camos, scopes, clan tags, can all give your gun a personal touch. The combat is fun, the servers (Oh believe me we’ll get into the servers later) can manage to get 32 players in a game and run fairly well. Having a high body count is fun regardless if the game doesn’t have destructible environments like Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Though the lack of a squad system and squad spawn option is almost unacceptable as you’re battling 16 other players for bases on the map in a team based game. Spawning away from the action and letting the other team get the lead is a buzz kill, and it makes things feel one sided. BELIEVE ME dying, spawning, and running all the way back to die again is lame. It makes you question why you can even join a game with friends…..
The game unfortunately doesn’t have that many maps, nor are they really interesting. Seeing restaurants like Hooters and White Castle are cool for authenticity reasons but it doesn’t change the game and that’s something you’ll overlook eventually. Homefront has great ideas, but they could have been executed better, by no means are they bad though. You’ll level up and unlock more perks, guns, and equipment, Call of Duty’s system is essentially the same. It has the basic game modes, Ground Control is where players capture points, Team Deathmatch is just that, and so on. Finally the character models seem a bit off, they’re camos are really bright and are too noticeable. Seeing Marines in bright green and KPA in red and white run through suburb areas takes immersion away. Finally the game’s main problem is a technical one. Sometimes the servers act up and it’s hard to impossible to find a game. It’s guaranteed to anger as you payed to play a game online, but only when it wants to work…..
The Verdict
The game has it’s problems but it’s fun, it just doesn’t do anything new. It has solid gameplay and a good competitive experience. The art style is cool however weak textures bring it down on console. If you like the idea of Call of Duty mixed with Battlefield check the game out. Though it’s problems make it hard to recommend.
For more on Homefront’s single player go here to see Kevin Clark’s review. http://everydaygamers.com/2011/03/28/homefront-single-player/
I believe his review is spot on and it shares my thoughts, I highly recommend you read it before making your final decision on whether or not to check the game out..
Dead Space 2
Dead Space 2 has finally arrived. The first entry caused plenty of scares and tension. Taking influence from things like Alien, Event Horizon, and so on, Dead Space tackled the Sci-Fi Horror genre and came out with a intriguing universe of it’s own. Does Dead Space 2 manage to keep the thrills? Did it lose it’s horror appeal and follow in the footsteps of the Resident Evil series? Read on to find out!
In Dead Space 2 you step back into the shoes of Isaac Clarke who’s been MIA for a few years. After being awaken from a coma-like state, Isaac (you) is thrown right into the fire. The Sprawl which is a city/space station above Saturn, has been hit by the Necromorph outbreak. It’s up to you to found out what’s happening and to make it out alive. But true to form in Dead Space 2, not everything is what it seems.
Isaac is back and is more capable. There’s a bigger arsenal of weapons this time around, but how you use them and upgrade them is what’s going to matter. The game brings back the power node upgrade system, which allows you to up the damage, reload, and ammo capacity on your favorite weapons. The rigs can also be upgraded allowing you to take more damage and dish it back. The power nodes can also be used to open up certain locked doors which contain goodies like ammo and med packs that you may need if you’re in a tight situation. The nodes can be purchased at stores and can be found throughout the game.
The Necromorphs have new tricks up their sleeves also. The new children Necromorphs (The Pack) rely on numbers and try to overwhelm you, others stay at a distance where they can use vomit to slow you down or hit you with projectiles, where others ACTUALLY try to stay out of sight and wait to attack you when you’re not suspecting it. Death sequences are as gruesome as ever and are enjoyable to watch. The Necromorphs are menacing and have been taken to the next level. It’s cool to have an enemy in a game where they really feel like a threat and will literally rip you to shreds!
The game does have some puzzles here and there, but they’re not heavily thrown in. Most require you to hack terminals where all you do is rotate the left stick around to get the terminal to light up blue, hit the action button to get it to “click”, you then repeat that two more times. Others require you to move and replace objects using telekinesis, some even require you to use stasis that way you can get by doors and so on. You’ll encounter a good bit of the puzzles in the retooled zero gravity mode where you can now move freely unlike the first game.
Little quick time events are still around where you may have to repeatedly tap the action button, but this is one game where the speed that you tap the button at DOES matter. The game has added little sequences where Isaac is experiencing dementia making for a few shockers here and there.
Dead Space 2 has now added multiplayer, but how does it hold up? Think Left 4 Dead only without the horde. It’s four versus four, Necromorph players against Human players. There’s four Necromorph classes, each with their own traits. The Pack, the child Necromorph moves fast and is good for causing distractions, The Lurker can climb walls and get to good vantage points where it can shoot projectiles at enemies, The Puker can beat on enemies and use vomit to slow them down, and finally The Spitter can shoot powerful projectiles, he just can’t climb walls. The Human players can choose their suits and load outs before the game and go in with what they have. The Human players must travel throughout each map completing objectives which all consist of carrying an object from point A to B or holding a spot down as a player hacks a terminal by holding in the action button.
Unfortunately the multiplayer feels weak. Everyone spawns too fast, which means sometimes it’s hard for the human players to get out of their own spawn, this issue doesn’t happen with Necromorphs seeing as how they can choose what vents to spawn from. It feels like more of a team deathmatch instead of a “co-op” experience. Objectives that require you to carry things as a Human player are a pain as you’re slowed down greatly, and when you’re fighting enemies that take eight seconds to respawn tops, to complete an objective in a four minute time span, you have something that’s NOT fun! Then when you’re fighting the Humans as Necromorphs, the guys who just role with the pulse rifle’s grenade ability and stasis are going to ruin what little fun you’re having fast. Overall it feels unbalanced, VERY one sided at times, and leaves you wishing that the devs just would have done more with it.
The atmosphere is where Dead Space 2 really shines, it’s story, characters, and environment are all top notch. It all creates a sense of being alone and vulnerable, which is exactly what you want in a game like this. It retained it’s horror element and did not play into the action side much. It looks and plays great, and has a unique artistic direction. Dead Space 2 is definitely a breed of it’s own and is a rewarding experience.
Long story short I loved Dead Space 2. It’s campaign rocks and has a few treats for people who played the first one. I highly recommend the game, but unfortunately I also recommend that you overlook the online and just break into the single player. I like to judge my games as full packages so what I would have given five stars is now four. Don’t let my criticism of the online hold you back from playing this game though, hey you might like it, but definitely play Dead Space 2′s campaign. Be sure not to miss out!
RDR: Undead Nightmare
Rockstar’s megahit title has reached gamers from all over the spectrum. Red Dead Redemption has solid gameplay, a great narrative, an amazing atmosphere, and a very addictive multiplayer to boot. Red Dead has set out to make it’s mark on the now popular zombie trend. Does Red Dead have all of the right stuff to make a good zombie themed expansion, or does it take away from the overall experience?
In Undead Nightmare players step back into the boots of John Marston. Undead Nightmare takes place right around when John is reunited with his family, however he’s quickly thrown back into the fire. When misfortune falls upon John’s wife and son, it sets him on another journey in search of a way to help them. John runs into old and new characters ensuring quite a few shockers here and there. There is also a decent amount of laughs to be had as well, but how does the gameplay hold up?
The Gamplay
To start, Undead Nightmare has added a few goodies for the player to use. The new toys are holy water, a blunderbuss, phosphorus rounds, a torch, and undead bait. Holy water sets zombies ablaze and casts down strikes of lightning to finish them off. The blunderbuss has the ability to take out multiple zombies at once, careful though as it takes a while to load up another shot. Phosphorus rounds allow you to set zombies on fire by simply shooting them, helpful in tight situations. The torch allows you to beat and burn zombies, not very effective when facing numerous enemies. Finally undead bait can be thrown to get zombies off of your back, when combined with dynamite (think pipe bomb from Left 4 Dead) it will not only draw them to the area you threw the bait to, but it will make a nice boom. Throughout single player you will stumble upon towns that are under siege from the zombie horde. The towns have tiers or waves, when you kill zombies a bar moves up and once it hits the maximum limit, it will fill up a circle, that circle represents the tier and or wave. Some cities will have four or more circles that need to be filled, you can not only kill zombies to fill up the circles but you can also give survivors in the towns your ammo to instantly gain a circle. Once the undead are cleared out the town is considered safe, you may now sleep there and not be in fear of zombies attacking you. Know however that the town may be attacked again and that you will have to go and reclaim it. Ammo in Undead Nightmare is scarce, you’re going to have to loot corpses, open chests, and clean out graveyards in order to get well armed. Eventually you’ll be able to loot corpses for their limbs, eyes, bones and so on in order to make ammo for your blunderbuss. This can sometimes make you hesitate when deciding to give survivors ammo. The expansion has also added new mounts such as the four horses of the apocalypse, a unicorn, and a zombie horse if your NORMAL mount dies. Each mount as their own perks, War can set zombies on fire, Death will make their heads explode, Famine never runs out of energy, and Pestilence is near impossible to kill.
Multiplayer
The multiplayer mode Undead Overrun has been introduced, where four players team up to fight off hordes of undead for as long as they can. When each round starts a coffin will spawn somewhere on the map, if players reach it and open it they will be supplied with ammo and the timer will go up. The timer is not a game timer technically, it shows how much time you have before it goes into sudden death mode. Typically if a player goes down he can be revived, as the sudden death mode obviously suggests the player will die instantly if damaged too much. Sudden death mode also means there will be no more waves, you will constantly be attacked by zombies until you have no ammo left spelling out almost certain death for you. Undead Overrun is addictive, and it is always interesting to see what wave players will reach before meeting their doom. Finally the undead themselves are pretty impressive. They do not feel cheaply implemented and they will give you a beating. Undead Nightmare takes a few tips from the Left 4 Dead games as a charger, spitter, and hunter type infected will be out to get you as well. Having the undead surround you is intense, and they show no mercy. But the undead aren’t the only things roaming around, keep an eye out for zombie animals, a Sasquatch, and even a Chupacabra!
The Verdict
Undead Nightmare adds a lot of great content and for ten dollars you can’t go wrong. I highly recommend this expansion for those zombie lovers. The story, settings, everything really makes Undead Nightmare stand up on it’s own two legs. Be sure to check this one out, more Red Dead is never a bad thing.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Castlevania is a long running franchise that contains many of horror’s iconic monsters. Vampires, werewolves, mummies, and many others can be found in numerous Castlevania titles. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow breaks away from it’s traditional 2D action-platformer roots and sets out to reboot the well known series. The series now tackles the action-adventure style seen in titles such as God of War and Dante’s Inferno. The question now is, what makes it stand out from the other titles in the genre? Lets keep our holy water and crucifixes handy.
The Plot
You play as Gabriel Belmont, a knight who belongs to a brotherhood sworn to defend the living against otherworldly forces. Gabriel is a man on a mission, if you’ve seen the movie Commando you know guys like that are not to be messed with. Well someone has hit Gabriel’s rage button and now a whole lot of baddies are going to realize something even worse is coming for them. Gabriel’s love, a woman named Maria has been murdered, angered and saddened Gabriel sets out to find the God Mask. The mask is said to hold limitless power and is even said to be able to bring the dead back to life, giving Gabriel hopes of bringing Maria back to life. Gabriel will encounter many trials and characters on his journey, as twists and turns in the story make you question the character you’re playing as.
The Gameplay
Lords of Shadow has taken the action-adventure approach, Gabriel can dish out a variety of combos with his whip called the “Vampire Killer.” Combos can be purchased and upgraded with points that you earn by killing baddies, this is cool because not only does it add depth but it adds a somewhat strategic element when fighting tough foes, I’ll explain further into the review. The game’s enemies are VERY diverse, you fight everything from werewolves, to zombies, to vampires, to skeletons, and all of them have their own quirks that make them different. Instead of having a rage meter (AKA a whoop ass meter as I like to call it) he has two separate bars of light and shadow magic, with a focus bar thrown into the mix. Each meter does something different when triggered.
The light meter allows Gabriel to heal by beating his foes to death, while the shadow meter allows him to deal out more damage. The meters cannot be simultaneously active and must be refilled by getting magic energy. Magic energy can be gained by defeating enemies or filling up your focus bar, this requires getting numerous hits on enemies without being hit yourself, which then makes your opponents spew out magic energy whenever you land a hit on them. If you’re hit your focus bar will be depleted and you’ll have to make it go up again. Each bar must be filled up separately, you hold in the left stick to absorb magic energy into your light bar, and the right stick for your shadow bar, energy and health pools can be found on every chapter so combat is not the only way to go.
Some combos are only available while in light or shadow mode, and certain weapons such as the dagger and holy water are more effective in those forms. So remember that tactical element I was telling about, it’s there believe me. When you’re getting butchered by a boss you’re going to try and get on your game by getting that focus bar up and absorbing magic energy in order to either heal, or deal more damage to them. You’re probably going to use combos like the chainsaw to land more hits on enemies in order for them to give out as much magic energy as possible before being hit. The game also has a block, dodge, and counter system.
Some attacks from enemies can be blocked while others can break through your defense, this will require you to dodge out of the way quickly. Countering is simple as you only press the block button as soon as an enemy strikes, allowing you to attack them while they’re stunned. The game does retain it’s platforming element. Gabriel can climb walls, use his Vampire Killer to swing from one location to the next, or he can use it as a lever to turn switches and can even bring down statues with it. All of this makes your character feel capable, so when you overcome a boss or a tough spot using all of the skills available to you it does give a sense of satisfaction.
Finally Lords of Shadow has puzzles, these differ greatly and make you think. Some puzzles require you to move at a certain pace, move objects into the right position, match up patterns, and more. You folks who love challenging puzzles welcome to Lords of Shadow, those who don’t, know that most of them CAN be skipped, you will however lose the experience points you would have been given had you completed the puzzle. The puzzles can be fun and are a good change of pace. The game has a lot of elements that keep it fresh, from combat, to traversing levels, to making you use your noodle, it definitely stands out from being just an average beat em’ up.
The Atmosphere
The game’s atmosphere is dark and varied. Lords of Shadow keeps that great dark fantasy feel, it’s art style, epic soundtrack and scale make this game stand out BIG time. The story is LONG and makes you feel like a champ at the end of your journey. Visually Lords of Shadow is very good, no part of the game feels like the devs cut corners, everything looks top notch. It captures what it set out to do in flying colors and immerses you.
The Verdict
I love dark fantasy, I love action-adventure when done right, and I LOVE lengthy games. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a treat for those who want something epic and challenging, for those of you who beat this on the highest difficulty I salute you. My only gripe with the game is that sometimes the camera gets a little wild, causing you to sometimes plunge to your death, or setting up for something really dumb to happen. Those problems can be overlooked, and do not hinder the overall experience. I highly recommend this title, and cannot wait to see what the future holds for this series.
Dead Rising 2
Mmmm, Zombies. Zombies are growing ever more popular in gaming, they’re found lurking in the hit title Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, and in the upcoming Red Dead Redemption DLC, “Undead Nightmare.” Dead Rising 2 has finally arrived, it now has co-op and online multiplayer, but does it live up to it’s expectations? Lets get this zombie genocide rolling!
The Story So far…
The Zombie outbreak has spread nationwide, and what’s left of society is still trying to cling to what was. You play as Chuck Greene, who the game quickly establishes that he is indeed, a badass. The game starts with Chuck competing on the game show “Terror Is Reality”, otherwise known as TIR, where he must compete against other contestants in a twisted challenge known as “Slicecycles.” After the show is over, Chuck begins to make his way back to his daughter, when suddenly all hell breaks loose. The game really kicks off here, you go to rescue your daughter after slaughtering groups of Zombies with a fire axe, or whatever else you find at your disposal.
Once you’ve reached your daughter, you must then CARRY her and Sparta Kick your way to a bunker/safe house. There you’ll find other characters and learn that (if you haven’t played Case 0) Chuck’s daughter has been bitten and must be treated with a medicine known as Zombrex, it treats but does NOT cure the infection. His daughter needs a dose each day between 7 and 8 A.M., which makes Chuck brave going outside with the undead in search of Zombrex for his daughter.
The Gameplay
Dead Rising 2 has more than a “few” tricks up it’s sleeve. You can now make your own weapons from a huge variety of combinations, a personal favorite of mine is the Parablower, where you combine a leaf blower and a parasol. Combining weapons is not only fun, but beneficial as it will give you bonus PP (power points don’t be weird) which will result in you leveling up. With each level Chuck gains, he learns skills such as drop kicking, stomping, rolling and so on. Chuck also gets combo cards which reveal combinations of weapons to the player, which can be acquired by killing Psychos or leveling up.
The timer also returns, but trust me you guys who didn’t like it in the first game, it’s really not an issue here. The game is lengthy and you do NOT have to follow the case timers, if you want to just run around and kill zombies no problem it can be done here. There’s now stores that Chuck can buy items from, the stores are owned by Looters, an enemy you can encounter by going into random markets and so on doing what their name suggests. But twenty grand for an assault rifle and they’ll be your friend! The game does a good job of having A LOT of ways to dispose of your enemies, this keeps it fresh, though you’ll get a little repetition here and there.
Those of you who had trouble rescuing survivors in the first game should be happy this time around. The survivors this time around aren’t as silly, meaning they follow you well and can actually defend themselves with items you give them. Some of the survivors are wimpy and won’t take a weapon, those are the ones I usually leave behind to die, but rest assured they’ll follow you and they won’t get hung up NEARLY as easily on zombies as they did in the first game. If they get hurt, you can give them food so that they may heal. A lot of things have improved this aspect of the game.
The Psychos are brutal, they can take damage and dish it back forcing you to play it smart, this usually involves you running like a dumb teen from a slasher flick. You fight anything ranging from, tigers, to chefs, to sadists with chainsaws, and it keeps you on edge!!!!!! What’s cool with this game is that it does manage to have a stable frame rate with all of the madness going on, it will hiccup sometimes but for the majority of the time you play it will be rock solid. All of this is more enjoyable, with a friend of course.
The Online
When playing co-op nothing changes but the amount of fun you have. You and a friend may slaughter thousands of undead, do the story, try to save as many people as you can, WHATEVER it is you can do alone. The only quirks that I dislike are that you can only leave the area when you and your co-op partner are close enough together, and that usually when someone saves their game the client player gets disconnected. Now what the client player means is that you’re the guest, you’re the one who joined the other person’s game, you can get money and PP, but their game will NOT effect your game’s story progression UNLESS you beat the game with that other player. Aside from those two things you should have a blast!
Now aside from co-op the Terror Is Reality game show is the theme for the 4 player competitive mode. Think American Gladiator or The Running Man with zombies thrown in. The four players compete against one another through various challenges like Ramsterball or Mastershafter, and ultimately Slicecycles to get the highest score in order to win and get the prize money. The money you win online (you don’t have to win the match in order to get some money) can be transferred over to your single player save, giving you an incentive to play the online as it’s easy to earn.
The Verdict
Dead Rising 2 is an awesome game, especially for you guys who love the old school Dead films or the cult classic The Crazies, it’s almost as if those have been combined. Dead Rising plays great, looks fine, and has plenty of content to keep you going. I can’t recommend it enough, horror and action fans are in for a treat. Be sure to check this title out when you can.
Singularity
Singularity tackles the story arc of what if this nation had this tech at this point in time, and how would that change today’s history? There’s nothing new there as this plot can be seen in the movie Hellboy, the game Wolfenstein, and so on. So what does Singularity do that separates it from the other first person shooters out there? Singularity has a unique atmosphere and an unexpected series of events that really make the game stand out. Let’s kick it off.
Through the first half of the game I was absolutely bored, it felt like a long tutorial and I hadn’t seen anything mind blowing yet. The gameplay is basically like Call Of Duty’s, left trigger aims, right trigger shoots, A jumps, X reloads, left stick sprints. The power trip begins once get the TMD (Time Manipulation Device) which allows you to travel through time rifts, grab/levitate objects which can help you solve a puzzle and progress through the level, age and restore objects, age or mutate enemies, with it’s
deadlock ability you can slow down time, and with it’s impulse attack you can blow enemies away and watch as their limbs fly off in all directions. It gives the game a fresh feel and keeps things interesting. Your TMD and weapons can also be upgraded allowing you to flat out DESTROY your enemies.
E99 tech and weapon tech can be found throughout the game’s single player. With E99 tech the player can upgrade their character and TMD. With weapon tech you can upgrade your favorite weapons, the only disappointing factor is the upgrades do not show on your gun. It’s good that the game allows you to do this however because it helps you play the way you want to. But NOTHING is better than completely eradicating your enemies with the impulse ability, at least not to me.
The Multiplayer
The game has two multiplayer modes Extermination and Creatures vs Soldiers. Each team has 4 classes with different skills.
Soldiers
- Blitzer- A well balanced class that has the ability to teleport.
- Bruiser- A class that will do well in close quarter encounters due to the impulse ability.
- Lurker- Lurker’s have the ability to put up a shield and cloak.
- Healer- Healers heal…….
Creatures
- Zek- The most balanced creature, it can cloak, throw explosive barrels at enemies, and hold its own in a fight.
- Phase Ticker- Phase Tickers can climb on ceilings and take over soldier players.
- Revert- Reverts can heal other players and use a ranged vomit attack.
- Radion- Massive creatures that are focused on fighting from a distance and are the hardest to take down, good for backing teammates.
The Soldier players get a weapon and perk slot, while the Creature players get two perk slots due to them not being able to use weapons. The Creature players see in third person while the Soldiers see in first. Extermination is an objective based mode where the Soldiers players must restore beacons and defend them for a short amount of time before moving onto the next one while the creature players try to hold them back until the timer runs down. The timer is reset when a beacon is restored. Creatures vs Soldiers is just that, the players battle it out in a team deathmatch mode using their abilities to get ahead.
The Verdict
Overall Singularity is a good game with a cool atmosphere and surprising twists that keep it fresh but it unfortunately it has A LOT more to be desired. If you need an FPS fix check this game out. My only beef with the game is that the Russians sound very stereotypical, where did the “Russians sound like vampires when they speak in English.” trend start?! Check it out, it’s a fun action shooter with well thought out puzzles for you to solve.