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Geekscape Games Reviews: ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’

by MoreLikeAndyNovember 8, 2013

With Infinity Ward back in the driver seat for this year’s Call of Duty title, hopes are high that innovation and changes were abound for the better with Call of Duty: Ghosts. After Treyarch’s success with Black Ops 2, with its branching story path, new gameplay mechanic and complete overhaul of how we play multiplayer in this series, Infinity Ward decides to ignore those refreshing changes does an overhaul of their own. These changes, however, might be too drastic for most.

What we expect from an Infinity Ward single-player campaign is a lot of explosions, grandeur set pieces with extravagant action that keeps the dopamine drip going all the way to the end. Call of Duty: Ghosts tries to step out of this expected role but falls back on some of these traits from the past.

The story starts off strong with how fast things escalate from a campfire story about super soldiers called ‘Ghosts’ spun by a father with his two sons listening intently, to all hell breaking loose within the first ten minutes. A weaponized satellite has been hijacked by The Federation and its payload of destructive missiles are released upon North America before soldiers can destroy the satellite in space. The story jumps to ten years later, when you see the two sons acclimated to the soldier life, protecting the wall surrounding what is left of North America from The Federation. The further you get into the story, the more things become less clear as to what, or why things are happening, making it hard to care about the characters involved.

Not enough was done to build an environment past the family hook to really make the story stand out. Everything felt slower with progression in each chapter of the campaign in Call of Duty: Ghosts. The core feeling of a Call of Duty title was here, though being so acclimated to the non-stop action in previous titles was a big change for me. You’re supposed to be these mythical Ghost soldiers that put fear into all that oppose you. Instead, the firefights that break out at every encounter have that distinct action from the Modern Warfare and Black Ops series. If I am to be this feared entity, stalking the shadows and defeating all in my wake, why doesn’t the gameplay match this?

Another thing that was off in the campaign of Call of Duty: Ghosts was Riley, the faithful dog to the two brothers. All the marketing done to get people hyped up to have a dog companion was for naught. After a brief stint having Riley by your side as well as playing as him, Riley is nowhere at your side until near the end of the story. So much for man’s best friend. With how enjoyable it was to be in the paws of Riley, running down enemy soldiers as they scream for their lives, it would have been nice to see more of this throughout the campaign.

Having played both the Xbox 360 and PC version, I can say that whatever system you decide to play Call of Duty Ghosts on, you’ll be happy with how great the game looks. Although you can see the game engine showing its age, it has at least aged well. I don’t think Infinity Ward or Treyarch can squeeze any more from this engine, so I hope in the future a new engine is utilized. Of course on PC you will see sharper images, better shadows and lighting, as well as more particle effects than the current-gen consoles.

Sadly, what you will also get on PC is a buggy experience. Cutscene audio dropping in and out, screen tearing with vsync on or off and frame rate drops are some of the issues that plague me as I played in single-player and multiplayer. Although there is a list of things found by the community that will fix these issues, some are reporting that they’re still having trouble with Call of Duty: Ghosts. Since Infinity Ward is usually quick with the patches, we can only hope that a fix is released quickly.

Multiplayer has some drastic changes that seem to go backwards from the direction Call of Duty was headed. Gone are COD TV, CODcasting, theater mode, party games mode and league play. That is a lot of features stripped out for Call of Duty: Ghosts. Also missing are Hardpoint and HQ modes in the public playlists. League play is replaced with Clan vs Clan mode in which you can create or join a clan and take them to battle against others to climb the leaderboards. Whereas league play let individuals play in a more competitive environment with certain rulesets, Clan vs Clan is team only. I loved jumping into league play to see just how good I was against other competitive players. With that now gone from Ghosts, I am not sure how to recreate that sense of accomplishment when getting to the top of your division.

The Pick 10 create-a-class system that let players create their class however they wanted within a ten point limit was really satisfying in Black Ops 2. In Call of Duty: Ghosts, that system is used with perks only. Everything is unlocked by using Squad points, which are earned by leveling up as well as completing objectives like ‘run five miles with the marathon perk’ equipped. Having all the weapons and equipment unlocked are ready to go as long as you have enough squad points to purchase them makes getting your favorite loadouts easier and earlier. It’s odd for Infinity Ward to not included perks into this, though. You can spend squad points on every perk but you also have to meet the level requirement to equip them. Just seems like an odd thing to gate behind level progression.

The rotation of maps in Call of Duty: Ghosts seem larger than any other Call of Duty game to date. Most of the time, I would run aimlessly around the maps looking for someone to shoot. At times, it took a good two minutes before I would see an opposing player. I can see this being ok with higher team sizes but 6 vs 6 is too small of a player count to make for enjoyable play at times. Spawn points are also a pain with recently killed players spawning right behind you and gunning you down in the back almost every time. One could easily exploit this to their advantage and camp in one spot as the same people run right into your gunfire.

If you would rather play against bots, Squads mode is for you. I can’t see too many people taking advantage of this mode since you have to spend points that could be used for weapon loadouts to unlock new squad members. Each squad member levels up individually, yet the squad points are universal so a lot of valuable points will be used if you want level up a whole squad and equip them. Others will play against your squad when you’re away, but I can’t see the point in any of this. Besides leveling up your squad when you’re not playing, this seems like a wasted opportunity that hopefully can become something more in future Call of Duty games.

Extinction is Infinity Ward’s answer to Treyarch’s zombies mode but never really feels different enough to be fun enough to play more than once. Replacing zombies with aliens feels just out of place enough that I wonder why even have this at all. Both Treyarch and Infinity Ward could break these modes off into a separate, downloadable game and it would be much better off.

Call of Duty: Ghosts feels like a franchise trying to reboot but by stripping away everything that over the years made Call of Duty better might be too drastic of a move for most. Taking away the things people love about the franchise instead of innovating on them is a bold and risky move. Although the core of what Call of Duty remains intact and fun can still be had, the expectations for the future are going to be extremely high. Let’s hope the pressure is not too much for them.

Score: 3/5

DICE+ is Almost Ready To Roll With The Punches

by MoreLikeAndyOctober 24, 2013

Board games are again making strides to become a great way to gather around your friends and family to enjoy quality time with our imaginations. Getting away from the latest new hit TV drama or movies and spending time around the table does not illicit a painful groan from people like it once did. There are some that are still reluctant to exercise their imagination since easier visual stimulation is simply mere inches away in the form of smartphones and tablets. Game Technologies S.A. takes one of these “distractions” and merges it with their latest product, DICE+.

DICE+ is a bluetooth-enabled die that looks like a blank square with some heft to it. Once you turn the die on and the LED lights spring forth exposing the numbers on each of its six sides, you come to realize that this is something special. Syncing the DICE+ up to my Android tablet was easy as setting anything else. Once you download the central hub software simply called Board Games!, you can manage all of the current games out for DICE+ and multitudes of stats on the device itself. Want to know how many times DICE+ was rolled? How about total time played or how many points scored throughout all the games? Using the color of the LED’s can also indicate when you should charge the die, and using the app can give you an exact percentage if you’re more into concrete numbers. There’s even an achievement system for those still into those dopamine drips equivalent to a pat on the back. With all this technology in such a small package, is DICE+ ready to shine? Not yet.

The games that are currently out for DICE+ are great for demoing the die. Backgammon, Chuchumba, Rainbow Jack, and This Way Up are good for a quick session to put DICE+ through its paces. Only Rumble Stumble had lasting appeal after the initial playthrough. Finger Twister is a great way to describe Rumble Stumble. The color and the number after you roll the die determines how many fingers you place on the correct colored tiles. Holding the position until the other player is done with their turn before moving your fingers off the tablet is the challenge depending on how you went about putting your fingers on the tablet. Plenty of times in the beginning I made the mistake of reaching for the die since it rolled off the table near me to hand to the person I was playing with. I tend to be a little forceful when rolling the die.

Solid design saves DICE+ from people like me that are a little overzealous with die when rolling like you’re playing craps. After many of hours of shaking, rattling and rolling, DICE+ still looked brand new. This eases the first impression most will have when they find out that to charge the die, you have to slide back one of the tiles to expose a micro-USB port. Game Technologies has said that careful consideration in the balance of the die so no one side was favored more was taken which, if you take their word at face value, is a relief. Games that rely on rolling a die is not the only thing DICE+ can be utilized for. The built-in accelerometer essentially turns DICE+ into a bluetooth-enabled controller. Developers wanting to add a little something more to traditional style board games or totally go in a different direction and make a motion-controlled game, like Wings on Fire, can do so.

The software is what holds DICE+ back from being something everyone that loves board games should pick up right away for $40. There are plenty of developers besides Game Technologies S.A. that have signed up for making games, but who knows how soon these titles will show up. Until more software is available that goes beyond feeling like a tech demo, DICE+ remains tumbling without a surface to rest upon.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 game to Launch in Early 2014

by MoreLikeAndyOctober 14, 2013

During a panel this past weekend at NYCC 2013, Marvel announced The Amazing Spider-Man 2 video game will be released early 2014, presumably alongside the movie with the same name.

Thankfully, the game will not follow the events in the movie, which we all know is one of the reasons movie tie-in games fail to be fun. No specifics are known as to how the story will pan out differently from the movie, which we will see The Amazing Spider-Man 2 start right where the first film left off having Peter Parker try to balance being a super hero and having a healthy relationship with Gwen Stacy.

What we do know, however, is that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 game will have what looks like a moral system called, “Hero or Menace”. Depending on what you decide to be will determine what helpful unlocks you’ll receive or what consequences your actions unfold.

Since we here at Geekscape liked The Amazing Spider-Man game as you can read right here in our review, we are swinging into this announcement of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with high hopes of this being just as good, if not better.

Source [Polygon]

Assemble for the Lego Marvel Super Heroes PC Demo

by MoreLikeAndyOctober 14, 2013

Over the weekend of NYCC 2013, Marvel announced that the playable demo for Lego Marvel Super Heroes will be available later this week for Xbox 360 and PS3. If you’re impatient, like I am, you can head on over to the official homepage at Lego to download a PC trial version right now!

In the demo, you can expect to see heroes such as The Hulk and Iron Man take it to the villains Sandman and Abomination. Demos are suppose to give you a good idea if you’ll end up liking the game enough to purchase when it releases. When Lego Marvel Super Heroes launches on October 22, 2013 for every current-gen system with the PS4 and Xbox One version following in November, you won’t need a demo to tell you that this will be a game you’ll want to play.

Source [Eurogamer]

Geekscape Games Reviews: ‘Killzone: Mercenary’

by MoreLikeAndySeptember 4, 2013

Where there is war, there are emotionless individuals behind the scenes working for both sides. To these individuals, it doesn’t matter who wins in the end, as long as the checks keep clearing. In Killzone: Mercenary, you are one of these profiteers.

Arran Danner is your name, and doing some dirty work for some cold hard Vektans (the currency in the Killzone universe) is the game. The main campaign of Killzone: Mercenary takes Arran through many of the events of the Killzone trilogy. Even if you can’t remember anything from the previous titles, the story is pretty easy to follow since there is not much there to begin with. Trying to make Arran have doubts about what he’s doing is tough when the character never talks. Being a first-person-shooter also means you’ll never see his face, so any emotional tug on the heartstrings the developers want to happen fall flat.

Missions in Killzone: Mercenary are separated into nine areas that all seem fairly short. Completing the campaign in around five hours was disappointing for me, but only because I really wanted to keep playing. There are incentives to go back and replay missions by selecting contracts to complete. Three different contracts for each mission has set goals for you to accomplish. Covert contracts usually have you trying to make it through the mission without getting spotted or racking up a certain amount of stealth kills. Demolition contracts are all about seeing just how much explosions you can cause to the enemies or the environment. Precision contracts are for the speed run folks. Besides doing certain tasks like rescuing hostages, you have to make it to the end of the mission in a set time limit. I wish that the PS Vita had video out for the flood of speed runs for precision contracts we would have on YouTube.

Making an FPS on a handheld device is a task that seems near impossible for any developer to try and create. Guerrilla Cambridge seems to have outdone themselves with just how well Killzone: Mercenary controls as well as how it looks. If you would have told me this was a PS3 game being played on the PS Vita through remote play, I would be inclined to believe you. Killzone: Mercenary is one of the most gorgeous looking games I have seen on a PS Vita, ever. Since it’s using a version of the Killzone 3 engine, it shouldn’t be a surprise that everything from the shadows, the lighting and little details throughout the game are nothing short of stunning.

Despite the awkwardness of playing an FPS on a handheld, Killzone: Mercenary very much feels like a console title. The smaller screen does limit the field of view, thus cutting reaction time down, but I was still able to aim and shoot without any trouble. Running did pose a little problem since there is no clicking of the analog sticks in on the the PS Vita. Having the run ability tied to a button or the rear touch screen was odd at first, though with a little time it became easier to adjust.

I was delighted to find that the touch controls were very unobtrusive and used in a minimalistic fashion in Killzone: Mercenary. Hacking terminals and doors required a matching game on your forearm-mounted computer by tapping the correct symbols on the lock. Having 3 seconds left after going through three levels of hacking on a terminal before an alarm sounds was more fun than I thought it could be. Planting and arming bombs was also a simplistic affair. Following the arrow prompts on-screen, two quick rotations is all you need , but just make sure you’re far enough away before detonating (I learned the hard way just how big the blast radius is).

If you want to earn more Vektan as well as experience (since they are one in the same), you might want to sneak your way around. It felt odd trying to play stealthily when FPS’s are known for their run-and-gun approach. To help in sneaking around, there are weapons, armor and VAN-Guards to supplement you. My main loadout for most of the campaign was a silenced sub-machine gun, a dart gun that incapacitated an enemy long enough to get a silent melee kill, and armor that silenced my movements. Switching between different loadouts is easily done by using boxes marked on the mini-map by the arms dealer, Blackjack. So if stealth isn’t your thing, Killzone: Mercenary gives you the option to tackle the missions with whatever play style you are comfortable with.

VAN-Guards are equivalent to score streak rewards in Black Ops II. An even mix of defensive and offensive VAN-Guards gives you enough choices to pick what is best for you, from a flying drone that shoots down precision orbital strikes to a personal energy shield, there is no shortage of tactics that you can deploy. I ended up going with the stealth VAN-Guard since taking out the guards one by one until the place was cleared ended up being very challenging. I felt rewarded not only in bonus Vektans but in satisfaction of my skill.

Combat was joyous, until you figure out that when the enemies are on alert and hunting you down, hiding in a corner breaks the game. The A.I. will toss an endless supply of grenades to flush you out if there are openings for the deadly explosives to enter. It’s a good thing that there are conveniently placed sealed rooms with just a door to funnel the enemies through. Once the arena was cleared of enemies, you could just waltz your way to the next checkpoint.

Once you’re finished with the single player campaign, carry over anything you have unlocked or purchased to the multiplayer arena of Killzone: Mercenary. Free-for-all, team deathmatch and team objective-based Warzone may seem like a pittance of modes until you remember that these modes are just about what every FPS has these days. As much fun as I had running around and collecting Valor cards that other players drop when killed, I had even more fun using the Mantys Engine to fly around a use its spiked pincher to wreck havoc. At first thought VAN-Guards might seem to be very unbalanced, but when you are down in last place and get that 5-kill streak going and finish in the top 3, you’ll be very thankful to have them. Spawning in the claustrophobic maps is troublesome since you will mostly end up very close to the person who just killed you. It keeps the game moving and gives everyone a fighting chance though I can see some hating to die consistently to bad spawns.

Killzone: Mercenary has beautiful art direction, near perfect controls, plenty of choices in the single player campaign with an engaging, fun-filled multiplayer. With a more fulfilling story and smarter A.I., Guerrilla Cambridge would have solved the perplexing puzzle that so many others are striving to figure out; FPS games on the PS Vita.

Killzone: Mercenary is certainly worth picking up (come on, what else are Vita owners playing these days?), and scores a cool 4/5.

http://youtu.be/mlyRAKPEZqM

Geekscape Games Reviews: ‘Saints Row IV’

by MoreLikeAndyAugust 14, 2013

Saints Row: The Third proved that when the core essence of a game is built upon having fun doing some pretty goofy things, people will love it. When Deep Silver took over Volition when THQ went bankrupt, everyone worried that the Saints Row franchise would never be the same. Saints Row IV will silence those doubts with nothing more than a smile.

Saints Row IV has a story premise that can be considered a throwaway when you first see it. War Vet running for and eventually winning the role of President of the United States only to deal with an alien invasion. Trapped inside a simulated world on the alien mothership, you and the rest of The Saints must fight their way from the inside to save the world. What Volition does within this premise is nothing short of awe-inspiring goodness. There are so many little things scattered throughout that keep the momentum going. It’s hard to talk about anything without spoiling everything but one thing’s for sure, there are a lot references and call backs. If you didn’t play Saints Row: The Third, most of the call backs to previous story elements will be easily overlooked.

The sheer amount of references are astounding. From Harry Potter to Metal Gear, it’s like there is a holy grail of references that was lost to the ages that Deep Silver Volition finally uncovered. The biggest surprise is made for the fans of a cult classic movie in the late 80’s. I had to pause the game from my sheer excitement after the reveal late in the campaign. It made me wish I still had a pair of Ray-Bans.

Saints Row IV has also mashed up bits and pieces from other franchises in its gameplay mechanics. Using the core of Saints Row: The Third, adding abilities such as super speed, super jump, air dashing, gliding and even a dive move that when executed from a certain height, the impact will cause a nuclear explosion. How can you not use that all the time, every time?

When it’s time to stand your ground and fight, you’ll have a set of other powers to utilize. At first, it seems like just four different powers at your disposal. Once you level up more, you’ll see these powers expand into a multitude of uses. Freeze Blast now adds fire and mind control augmentations. Telekinesis with lightning or life steal is now possible. Ground Stomp aliens to shrink them down to nothing? Got that too. For the guns blazing fans, Buff is there to augment your bullets with fire, lightning and frost.

I found myself using Freeze Blast the most. The rhythm of freezing a group of enemies, switching to a rocket launcher and watching them explode in an icy death was too effective not to use all the time. Using special weapons such as the dubstep gun were fun to use a couple of times but never felt effective enough to get the job done. Most of the weapons will feel weak in the beginning so you’re going to spend some time earning enough cache to purchase upgrades at the Friendly Fire before you feel like your weapons are worthy enough for a Saint to hold.

Saints Row IV included my weakness for collecting glowing objects. With Crackdown being influential to adding these luminescent collectibles, I couldn’t help but move towards their direction whenever a glimpse of one was in sight. The more of these you nab, the more upgrades you can unlock for your powers. Fully upgraded jump, run speed, air dash and glide make exploring simulated Steelport a joyous venture.

All this leads into how pointless vehicles may seem. Even with the ease of adding vehicles to your virtual garage and simply placing a phone call to instantly retrieve said vehicles can’t compare to zipping around town on your feet. Who wants to be tied down to a slow ass tank when you are the tank?

Probably the most loveable thing about Saints Row IV for me is the audio. Whether it’s the stellar voice acting or the bevy of musical choices with the in-game radio, you’re auditory senses will revel in glee. Every line spoken in the game may not be a winner. That is easily overshadowed by the delivery of all the lines by every voice actor. Nolan North as a voice option for character creation just screams, “PICK ME! PICK ME!” I was hoping for a little more Nolan North making self references. At least he sounds like he is having fun with the lines, like everyone else seemed to be.

The music choices this time around on the radio stations are an eclectic mix of new and old, timeless classics. I found myself drawn to two stations for my radio needs; Mad Decent and Mix 107.7. Mad Decent has features a strange mix of artists I’d never heard of but also, Riff Raff. Having him as the DJ is pretty brilliant. Not as witty as previous DJs in Saints Row: The Third, but the ridiculousness of his persona is engaging in a way it shouldn’t be. Mix 107.7 is all the great songs the past that make you go, “I remember that song!” as you start to sing along with the track immediately after.

Biggest addition to the music in the game is that you can take it with you wherever you are, regardless if you are in a vehicle or not. This new addition brings so much value when doing anything in Saints Row IV. Moments such as blowing up a city block with “B.O.B.” by Outkast as your theme makes causing mayhem that much more fun in Steelport.

Volition continues the incredible usage of licensed music at key moments in their games with Saints Row IV. From Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” playing in the first ten minutes of the game to the end credits, you’ll be remissed if you don’t give the dev team that worked on the placement of these songs big praise. Even when they go back to the well from previous ideas in Saints Row: The Third, it still works to put a smile on my face.

Smiles across the board is what you’ll get when playing Saints Row IV. With the exception of a bland boss fight near the end of the game and some repetitiveness in the side quests, I couldn’t stop smiling. I imagine the team at Deep Silver Volition will be smiling as well knowing that their main goal was achieved; an insane amount of fun.

Score: 5/5

Geekscape Games Previews ‘Saints Row IV’: A Recipe For Fun

by MoreLikeAndyJuly 16, 2013

Recipe for the most fun you’ll ever have this year:

1 cup of the 1992 movie, Stay Tuned
1/2 cup Crackdown
A dash of Saints Row: The Third
Add a pinch of Keith David, Benjamin King (Only use the muthafuckin’ kind, the other brand has less flava), and Nolan North.
Mix well in a blender with ice.

Finished product should be the best funtini you’ve ever tasted in your life.

Let’s break down this one of a kind recipe, shall we?

1 cup of the movie, Stay Tuned

Many of you are too young to have seen this fine motion picture starring John Ritter. The synopsis of Stay Tuned: a husband and wife get sucked into TV land and try to survive all the 100+ channels of programming in order to escape. Saints Row IV approaches this theme with the way it seamlessly cuts from each scenario. From playing a super soldier that saves the world while Aerosmith’s “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” plays, to fulfilling your Presidential role of abolishing cancer and bringing the fist of justice to the low road of filibusters. When Saints Row IV switches from Leave it to Beaver land to the virtual reality trap the alien race Zin and its leader Zinyak has the Saints in, that’s when the fun factor really picks up.

1/2 cup of Crackdown

Crackdown is one of my favorite titles for the Xbox 360. Realtime Worlds really crafted the perfect playground of superhuman-like abilities in an open environment. Jumping 30 feet in the air, running faster than any car, and throwing any car that tried to be faster than you gave me the first taste of what true freedom in having fun was like.

Saints Row IV provides nostalgia for those feelings by letting you play like kid in a candy factory with absolutely no rules. Collecting bits of data to upgrade powers such as super jump, super speed, gliding makes me wonder if Crackdown was part of the design document for Saints Row IV. Beating the Wardens, the super soldiers Zinyak has placed in the virtual reality you are trapped in, grants you special abilities to augment the already exuberant fun factor with the other powers. Freezing the aliens which in turn lets me do double damage for a brief period of time is a great way to deal with a groups of enemies. The one things I would want to make things a little more sweeter is being able to shoot while jumping. In Crackdown, raining hell down unsuspecting fools with rockets while free falling never, ever gets old.

A dash of Saints Row: The Third

When Volition decided to stop being serious with the Saints Row franchise and just said, “Fuck it. Let’s see how much dumb shit we can get away with.”, what the world was blessed with was Saints Row: The Third. The humor that was put into Saints Row: The Third was in short, brilliant. If you weren’t laughing, smiling or down right having the best time in an 3rd-person open world game, you had no soul. From the auto-tuned pimp, Zimos, the homage to cheesy action flicks, great voice work and dialogue, perfect use of licensed songs in key moments, Saints Row: The Third was like the perfect storm for fun. You can’t tell me Sublime’s “What I Got” scene wasn’t an amazing moment when you first saw it.

Saints Row IV brings all those things that made Saints Row: The Third great, along for the ride. From what I’ve played of the preview build, Volition knew the exact vibe to carry over into Saints Row IV without going too far into making a parody of itself. If you’re worrying about how Saints Row IV was built around what was suppose to be a standalone expansion for Saints Row:The Third when THQ owned the IP, rest assured that enough care went into changing Enter the Dominatrix that the full game flavor is fresh.

Add a pinch of Keith David, Benjamin King and Nolan North

Nothing pleases the earhole pallets quite like Keith David’s voice. Have a listen for yourself:

Having Keith David play himself as the the Vice President of the United States was a genius move on Volition’s part. Something about that commanding voice of his that could get me to do anything, I mean ANYTHING. Benjamin “Muthafuckin” King. Since Terry Crews is taking over for the late Michael Clark Duncan, I see more outlandish dialogue being said. If Volition was smart, they would throw an Old Spice reference in there for us all.

Now we come to what took up the majority of my time in the preview build of Saints Row IV, Nolan North. Whoever made the call to insert Nolan North as a voice option in the character creation menus, I want to say “I love you”. I must have cycled through all the taunts and compliments that you can pick for your created character five times. There is a specific part in the preview that Kenzi asks you to “just be yourself”. Of course the correct response would be, “you mean Nolan North?” I think I snorted from the laughter from that one line. It shouldn’t have been that funny, but I was riding the high from the start of Saints Row IV and it felt it was never going to stop.

I know that in the future, people will find ways to make this recipe even better than the original. Until that far flung future happens, I suggest you get a taste of Saints Row IV when it releases on August 20 later this year.

Geekscape Games Reviews: ‘Dark’

by MoreLikeAndyJuly 9, 2013

Waking up with no memory sucks. Waking up with enormous migraine pains between your temples is just icing on the crap-stained cake. I’m not sure finding out that all of this is brought on because you’re a Vampire makes this any better or worse. I guess it all depends on whether or not you’re a sparkly douche… or the real kind.

In Dark, you are thankfully more on the non-bedazzled evolutional tree in vampire lore. Dark‘s plot feels like it was put together in a rush, like the writer was pressed for time and took some shortcuts in the story creation. The game follows Eric Bane, a newly turned vampire suffering from amnesia. He learns that his transformation into a creature of the night will only be complete if he drinks the blood of his sire. Becoming a mutated, mindless ghoul awaits Eric if he doesn’t. The speed at which this info is conveyed is so fast that no time at all is given for not only Eric, but the player as well to process said info. What makes things even more strange is just how well Eric takes the news of being a vampire from Rose, the owner of the club Sanctuary. After a few questions about vampires and Sanctuary, Eric is more than happy to go kill whoever Rose points him to without the slightest hesitation. I know I would have a lot more questions before even leaving Rose’s office.

Dark is billed as being a stealth-action game, where the action part is hitting the restart level option multiple times per area. Other than that, there is essentially no action in Dark which gives it more of a stealth-puzzle vibe than stealth-action. There is no melee to speak of besides the one-hit close up kills you can do. As you earn experience from completing goals and kills, the skill tree opens up more active abilities that use Blood points (should have went with pints). I found only one active ability worth maxing out in the beginning, Obscure. Obscure partially turns Eric into a shadow, making it harder for enemies to see him. Combine this with the passive teleport ability, Shadow Leap, and you were pretty much a ghost. Since I maxed all but two abilities in the skill tree, there is no consequence to picking the previously mentioned powers to max first.

Level design did provide some hindrance to the powers for the creature of the night. Large, open areas with inherently funneling pathways riddled with what seems a never-ending supply of enemies ends up making all of my powers useless. It becomes a game of brute force to get past the multiple sections in each chapter. After multiple quick saves and quick loads, I finally gave up on trying to play Dark the way I expected the developers have me play it, and started looking for ways to break it instead.

The best example is in the chapter two boss fight with Vlad the Impaler. It’s a enormous level with very claustrophobic paths everywhere. By accident, I found out that the shrubbery was essentially bulletproof. I cleared out the entire army by alerting them, leading them to a section of bushes, then popping out to kill them one by one until the bodies covered every inch of the small area I was controlling. It’s pretty telling when finding ways to break a game is actually more fun than simply playing it.

My experience with the music in Dark can be summed up with this lovely image right here:

June, the DJ vampire, is lying her ass off. The song that was playing at the start of Dark when Eric enters the club is the same damn song I here every time I come back successful from a mission. I think June needs to lay off the drugs and glowing body paint and dig into the crates for more tunes to “mix.”

Speaking of body paint, the cel-shaded art stood out with the neon colors Dark uses. The purple was a little eye straining in Sanctuary. Gladly, that purple didn’t dominate outside the club into the rest of the chapters. The color scheme seemed to be toned down in terms of brightness which made the neon colors less harsh to the eyes, thus making the details of the environment more noticeable.

No amount of colors could hide the poor animations, though. When feeding on enemies to fill your active power bars back up, the animations made look unfinished and rushed. It looked more like nibbling on air than it did sinking fangs into the human juice box. Animations for enemies also felt like the animators didn’t have time to polish them. Enemies would pivot on an axis like they were on a pedestal. It felt like the enemies were imitating the tank controls of earlier Resident Evil games.

Even the voice work gives off that unfinished feeling. The jarring cuts from when one line ends and another begins hurts to sit through. The back and forth table tennis match of cuts totaled in just one scene has to be some sort of Guinness World Record. With all the inner monologuing Eric Bane does, it’s a shame that those jarring cuts are in his head too. “A throbbing in my head pounded on my temples” indeed Mr. Bane.

Dark seems like it was made in the dark. The unpolished, rushed feel of the completed project left me pivoting my body on an axis of disappointment as Dark sucked the life out of me ever having fun playing a vampire. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines this is not. Dark scores a shadowy 2/5.

PSN Scheduled Maintenance For This Tuesday

by MoreLikeAndyJune 24, 2013

Over at the official PlayStation Blog, Community Manager Paul Sullivan states that PSN will undergo maintenance this Tuesday, June 25th.

From 9:30AM PT (10:30AM MT / 11:30AM CT / 12:30 PM ET) until 4:00PM PT (5:00PM MT / 6:00PM CT / 7:00PM ET), PSN will be inaccessible. Good news is if you sign into PSN from now until before the maintenance starts, you’ll still be able to access online gaming as well as apps like Netflix.

It’s not explained in the blog post if you have to remain signed in to PSN in order to access online play and apps so to be on the safe side, I would suggest signing in a little before start time and stay signed in if you want to do anything during the maintenance period.

Since the PS3 4.45 firmware fiasco last week, this could also be Sony prepping for the fix being released on June 27th.

E3 2013: No More Waiting For Your Turn In Final Fantasy XV

by MoreLikeAndyJune 12, 2013

For those of you waiting for Final Fantasy Versus XIII, I have some bad news. That game is no longer coming out…with that title. Square Enix on stage at the Sony conference on Tuesday let it drop at the end of a new trailer for Final Fantasy Versus XIII that it will now be known as Final Fantasy XV. I think we can all agree that the number 13 is a bit overused in the Final Fantasy universe as is. I am happy for Square Enix to move on to bigger and higher numbers when it comes to their naming schemes.

Watching the gameplay trailer just released, I can’t help but compare the combat to Devil May Cry. The speed of the movement as well as the fluid attack combos that seemed to be happening on screen were quite a shock. To have a Final Fantasy game with out Active Time Battle or turn-based combat is a big change for anyone familiar with the series. I am a little giddy for this new direction taken in Final Fantasy XV and hope it doesn’t sit in development much longer.

E3 2013: Rayman Legends Gameplay Trailer

by MoreLikeAndyJune 12, 2013

The only thing watching this gameplay trailer released by Ubisoft for Rayman Legends accomplishes is making me cry. I hate that Rayman Legends got pushed back. I SHOULD ALREADY BE PLAYING THIS!! I don’t know if I can keep from going insane waiting for September 3, 2013 for the release.

Six Things You Need To Know Before Playing ‘Marvel Heroes’

by MoreLikeAndyJune 11, 2013

I’ve been playing Marvel Heroes since release, and I’m having an absolute blast so far. Action RPG, loot, and the Marvel universe pulled me in from the very start (and don’t forget about that awesome opening cinematic). After a little more than a week spent running around doing what heroes do, I decided to put together a quick list of things you might want to know before putting on those tights. Here are six things (in no particular order) that I think everyone should know before playing Marvel Heroes.

1. Your Starting 5

Since Gazillion Entertainment designed Marvel Heroes to be a free-to-play game, the choice of heroes is limited if you decide not to spend any money. Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Storm, The Thing, and Daredevil round out your starting five characters. Each hero fits into a certain class, for example, The Thing’s description ends up putting Ben Grimm into the ‘tank’ class. Soaking up damage, while at the same time dishing it out ends up being a no-brainer for The Thing. The easiest way I can help you decide which character to pick from the free five is like this: do you like ranged attacks, or being up close and personal? Once you figure that out, your choice should be made a little easier for you.

2. No ‘Try Before You Buy’

If you end up wanting to play as your favorite Marvel hero from the beginning, thus parting with up to $20 to do so, be warned. There is currently no way to play around with the characters that unlock with money to see if their play style is something you want to march through the full game with. Your best bet is to look up videos of the character you want to purchase to see if your favorite hero plays like anything you would enjoy using. Hopefully this changes sooner rather than later, as to me, it seems like a huge oversight.

3. Plain Jane

Part of the fun with games that have a loot system is having said loot change your character’s appearance. None of that will be found in Marvel Heroes. The case could be made that since Marvel Heroes is a free-to-play game, it’s only natural that the only way to change your appearance will be in the form of purchasing costumes with real money. This doesn’t make it any easier to swallow, especially since the costumes end up being insanely high priced for some of the more popular heroes (I’m looking at you, Iron Man).

4. Drop It Like It’s Hot

If you truly want to pay absolutely nothing for Marvel Heroes, but still want to get access to the paid content, you still have an option: grind. Although I don’t have all the info in front of me as of writing this, most of the characters and costumes in the store will drop randomly during one of your play sessions in Marvel Heroes. The percentage rate of how often this happens is still up in the air. As soon as you finish the prologue mission, you are given a random drop of one of the four other starting characters that you didn’t pick. In the many hours I have put into Marvel Heroes so far, I’ve yet to see any paid content drop since. Hopefully soon we’ll have more info from Gazillion Entertainment to clear up some very important questions in this matter.

5. Sharing Is Caring

Inventory and your storage bank in Marvel Heroes is shared for every character. This is probably the one thing you should spend money on if you love hoarding all the loot. You can hit the limit in your storage bank (48 items) pretty fast if you’re not too careful. The proposition, however, of parting with 550G ($5.50) for each extra page (up to 3 max) is a little more than most will be comfortable with.

6. What’s Mine, Is Mine

Switching between characters you’ve unlocked is pretty seamless in Marvel Heroes. Being able to instantly switch to someone like Daredevil when I get tired of shooting arrows with Hawkeye gives players variety when it suits them. Experience doesn’t carry over from character to character, so if you have a level 20 hero, switching to a level 1 hero you just unlocked late in the game will get you killed fast. You do have the ability to head back to previous areas and grind for experience on mobs, which you’re likely to need to do often. It’s probably wise to start your first play through of Marvel Heroes with one character, then replay chapters with the additional characters you either purchased or got from a drop.

Marvel Heroes is a lot of fun, and hopefully these tips prevent any disappointing surprises from taking away from your game experience. If you’re already playing the game, make sure to let us know what you think!

Watch This ‘Wild Hunt’ In The Debut Gameplay Trailer For The Witcher 3

by MoreLikeAndyJune 10, 2013

During the Microsoft E3 conference earlier today, CD Projekt RED came on stage to show everyone the first gameplay footage from their latest projekt, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. As much as I enjoyed what was shown, it reminds me that I need to finally play the series. Having my friends constantly remind me that I am missing out on a great RPG is wearing me down. Looks like I need to set aside 100+ hours of my life to dedicate to The Witcher series. Good thing I have until 2014 to play both games before The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt releases.

If you want more insight as to how the development process is for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we have you covered. Here’s a look at ‘The Beginning’

E3 2013 ‘EA Press Conference’ Live Stream / Blog

by MoreLikeAndyJune 10, 2013

EA has already shown their hand with some of their continued support of supplying the yearly updates to sports games at the Microsoft Xbox One Reveal event a couple of weeks back. Watch EA’s press conference below, and follow me as I live blog the rest of what’s in store from EA for the next-gen of console gaming

Watch Dogs ‘Exposed’ Trailer Officially Released A Day After Leaking

by MoreLikeAndyJune 10, 2013

With so much to look after before a big show such as E3, things are bound to leak out. On Sunday, June 9th, Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs CGI Trailer was leaked onto Youtube. Since the cat’s out of the bag, PR for Ubisoft decided to release the official trailer today since there is no reason not to. The CG is impressive but I want to see more gameplay before getting fully on the hype train for Watch Dogs.

Lightning Returns: FF XIII Gameplay Demo Released Ahead Of E3 2013 Conference

by MoreLikeAndyJune 10, 2013

It really does feel like the time put aside to show all of these trailers during E3 2013 has been cut a little. That’s why we’re getting them released right before the show starts. Just hours before we dive into the madness of E3 2013, Square Enix releases yet another trailer for their upcoming game, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. This time, we get actual gameplay footage.

The thing that I loved the most about Final Fantasy XIII was the group combat and the Paradigm system. It made combat more tactical instead of mashing one attack over and over. From the looks of this short gameplay trailer, Lightning Returns seems to be a solo affair. I hope we hear more about the combat during Square Enix’s time on stage today at E3 2013.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII releases on February 11, 2014 for PS3, Xbox 360

A Flood Of New E3 2013 Trailers Released Today

by MoreLikeAndyJune 7, 2013

Seems like publishers can’t wait until E3 to show us all the wonderful trailers we will see on stage during the press conferences. A deluge of trailers were released today by multiple publishers in hopes to get everyone hype for what’s to come in the next three days. Hopefully we don’t have to see these trailers at the conference and instead, we get something a little different shown. Otherwise, it would seem to be a waste of time that could have gone to showing more of the game.

Thief

At first glance, this could be perceived as a promo for next season of the CW’s Arrow. Stealth games are a hit or miss with me. The ones that can mix great combat with stealth mechanics that don’t punish the player for being detected with insta-fail are few and far between. I really hope this next installment in the Thief series is one of those games.

Deus Ex: The Fall

I am one of the voices out in the world that dislike touch controls when it comes to tablet and mobile games. The lack of fidelity you get with these types of controls hampers the experience of said game. Deus Ex: The Fall looks great for a mobile game and a lot of detail to the story should be there since Deus Ex: The Fall is taking place right after the novel, Deus Ex: The Icarus Effect. I would like to see this on handheld devices such as the Nintendo 3DS or PS Vita.

Daylight

I play very few horror games. Not because I think they’re terrible, it’s more for the reason that I am a big baby and would have nightmares on an extreme level. Zombie Studios’ Daylight looks like something I would love to try but I would need someone in the room with me, with all the lights on. Possibly drunk as well.

LocoCycle

I love Twisted Pixel’s humor that is in every game they develop. LocoCycle doesn’t seem to stray from that path. Something about this trailer has me thinking this is going to be one of those launch games that is made for the Kinect. It just has that vibe during the in-game footage in the trailer.

Dark

Stealth-action RPG game where you play as a vampire? I’m in! Love the cell-shaded art and the music for the trailer fits rather well. I can’t wait to hear more about this title from Kalypso.

With all these trailers plus the ones from yesterday, how much do they have left to show us?

Indie Games Store Now Open On Amazon

by MoreLikeAndyJune 6, 2013

The Amazon Indie Games Store helps independent game developers reach more customers, and helps customers learn about more creative games and the people and processes behind building those games.

It’s not like you couldn’t get these games on Amazon before. It’s just now they will be more prominently shown off to get more people aware of some great indie games out there. The most amazing part to this news is how the bundles are 100% pure profit for the developers that have their games in these bundles. I hope this is something that will continue each time the bundles section is updated.

Lightning Returns in This E3 2013 Trailer

by MoreLikeAndyJune 6, 2013

Seems today is the day to release all the trailers we will see during E3 2013. Maybe this will make room for more gameplay footage on stage. Square Enix released their trailer for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13. The cutscenes are always a joy to watch, even when I don’t know what the hell is going on story-wise.

Some of the in-game footage looks a little rough but you can’t fault that due to the compressed video footage in the trailer. With Square Enix stretching Final Fantasy 13 so far, I hope that this is the last time we see Lightning strike so we can move on to new adventures.

E3 2013 Trailer For Saints Row 4 Released

by MoreLikeAndyJune 6, 2013

Deep Silver has kindly released their trailer for Saints Row 4 that will be on loop at E3 2013. You can set it on loop too. It’ll make you feel like you were there, minus the booth babes, loud music, crappy food and being late to all of your appointments.

Oh man the drama! Honestly, Saints Row 4 is looking more and more like it will be just as good if not better than Saints Row 3. THEY HAVE KEITH DAVID FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!

New Novel By Co-Creator Of Dishonored, Deus Ex, Free For A Limited Time.

by MoreLikeAndyMay 29, 2013

We could all try to read a little more in our lives. Though not sure that too much TV rots the brain, it’s nice to sit in a comfy chair to escape into our oft forgotten imaginations that books tend to nourish. Well, I have a deal for you that will not only get you to go back to those imaginations, it’s also free.

Starting today and continuing until tomorrow, Harvey Smith‘s new novel, Big Jack is Dead, will be free on the Amazon Kindle store for two days only starting today, May 29th. Mr. Smith is known recently for co-creating Dishonored as well as past endeavors like Lead Designer of Deus Ex and Creative Director of the sequel, Invisible War. Describing Big Jack is Dead as a “semi-autobiographical, Southern Gothic novel that depicts inherited behaviors we cannot escape” definitely has my interests peaked already. Being free, it can’t hurt to give in to curiosity and read Big Jack is Dead either.

If you need a little more than just my stupid words to get you intrigued, here is an excerpt from the book:

Excerpt from Big Jack is Dead

I flew to Houston first class. Why not? Your dad only kills himself once. The seat next to me was empty, which was great since I didn’t feel like talking to anyone. So what brings you to Texas?

Slumping back in the seat, I turned my head and pressed my cheek against the cool leather. The plane wobbled and dipped, rattling a tray nearby. Two men across the aisle stopped talking briefly and the seat belt reminder chimed and lit up. We jerked around then hit smooth air, leveling out. An airline attendant passed, offering blankets. I closed my eyes to erase the people around me, cupping a glass of ice in my left hand. The whiskey was gone, but the smell was still strong and the ice cubes still carried the flavor. I struggled to unwind even as the warmth of the drink spread through me.

It would be impossible to relax around my family. They would come up with stunts I couldn’t predict, guided by unknowable winds that resulted in improbable acts.

Super Splatters Finally Gets a Release Date, Coming Late June to Steam.

by MoreLikeAndyMay 23, 2013

After what seemed forever, SpikySnail is now in the final push to releasing an updated version of their 2012 XBLA release, The Splatters. I had great things to say about The Splatters in my review so with some new tweaks, more modes to play and new insane levels to conquer, it’s only right that it’s called Super Splatters. Even better is that Super Splatters will work on PC, Mac and Linux so no excuses of not playing this game.

If you want to help out this very small team and play a really great physics-based puzzle game, you can pre-order Super Splatters over at superspaltters.com with 30% off until release. Steam codes will be given to those who pre-order or if you want, wait until Super Splatters shows up on Steam and pre-order it there.

Saints Row 4 Dresses Up For Box Art, Flys High in an ‘Airplane’

by MoreLikeAndyMay 23, 2013

When you are the President of the United States, you have to look dapper. With the first image of the box art for Saints Row 4 released today, Deep Silver seems to understand this.

Hopefully with all the things going on in the reflection of those sweet aviator glasses, the suit won’t get ruined.

Deep Silver also announced they will be releasing small clips of gameplay calling the series “Hail to the Chief”. It wouldn’t be a Saints Row game without some over the top shenanigans so with each video in this series, we will get a little taste of these very shenanigans. With the first video in the series, “Airplane”, we’re shown one of the powers you’ll receive in the game, Telekinesis.

Saints Row 4 releases August 20 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Is Xbox One The Future We Want? One Geek Is Worried!

by MoreLikeAndyMay 22, 2013

With Microsoft finally unveiling the Xbox One, we now know where they see the future of gaming headed. It just might not be the future we want.

Heavy focus on the Xbox One being “The One” device you need for all your entertainment needs just sits wrong with me. With all the devices most already own-whether it be a smart phone, PC, laptop or tablet- we already have a great setup for consuming entertainment. Having a immobile device that does everything is not how the busy citizen consumes information these days. For example, when I sit down and watch TV, I always have my smart phone next to me. I check Twitter, Facebook, and news feeds while watching a show or movie. I don’t need my gaming console to do that. I want my gaming console to do what throughout history it was made to do first and foremost, to play games. Everything else should come a distant second.

Speaking of playing games, Microsoft seems to be playing games with our emotions when it comes to used games and always online in regard to the Xbox One. So much back and forth from certain people within the Microsoft camp that just made everyone even more confused. What seems to be known is that games will be tied to your profile and that as long as you’re logged in to that profile, regardless if it’s your Xbox One or a friends, you can play said games. Still no straight answer on fees being involved to install on a 2nd Xbox One or if you simply have to deauthorize the game before selling it. The always online question seems a little more clear. It seems every 24 hours, the Xbox One needs to ping the servers to make sure you in fact own the game you are playing, otherwise it will not work until you do. A minor annoyance to say the least.

If you hated using the Kinect before, be prepared to hate it even more now. Every Xbox One will come bundled with the new Kinect, which is required to be connected at all times for the system to even function. I prefer not to have a camera and mic listening for my every command when I am not using the system it’s attached to. I wonder if there’s a soundproof box I can store the Kinect in while still having it plugged into the Xbox One?

With the first outings by Sony and Microsoft out of the way, we know that Sony went out of its way to show us that it wants to make games easier for developers to make for the PS4 so that people can do what a console is made for in the first place, to play games. Innovation can come from anywhere or anyone. Sony making that easier means that the gaming experience could be phenomenal on the PS4. Microsoft on the other hand? How about you just take a look at this video and you’ll get an idea of what they want you to experience.

When E3 2013 arrives on June 10th, will opinions change on the Xbox One and PS4, or is there no change in the minds of the masses?

Everybody’s Gaming For The Weekend Of September 7th, 2012!

by MoreLikeAndySeptember 7, 2012

A couple of weeks away from the onslaught of the Fall gaming season and I have to say that there was never that much downtime for game releases this summer. Marketing may have some of you fooled when it comes to that, but I’d like to think my weekend gaming feature points to otherwise.

Mark of the Ninja – XBLA

Klei Entertainment’s art style with it’s previous titles, Shank and Shank 2, lends itself well to the world of the invisible assassins. Mark of the Ninja‘s stealth system is interesting in that the game makes you feel like the most powerful predator man has ever seen, as long as you stay to the shadows. Once you are spotted, you are brought back down from your pedestal of absolute power and must use all of your abilities, from grappling hooks to smoke bombs, in order to escape.

The button prompt mini-game you have to endure when going in for the kill keeps the button mashers at bay. You can still get the kill, just be prepared to have the victim scream loud enough for someone nearby to hear. As you can tell, sound is also an issue you have to worry about, but you can use it to your advantage to distract guards to get around them. Good option for the pacifist ninja’s out there.

Some will call this an action platformer with stealth. I see Mark of the Ninja as a platform puzzler. With so many choices and tools at your disposal, there are a multitude of ways through the levels. Smoke bombs to obscure laser traps and enemies’ vision, flesh-eating beetles that leave no traces behind and a cardboard box to use as a portable hiding spot. Wonder where the ninjas learned that trick?

Klei Entertainment really did an amazing job with Mark of the Ninja and everyone should play it, then play it again in New Game + mode.

Zen Pinball 2 – PS3, PS Vita

I am loving the cross-buy stuff on the PS3 lately. The latest being one of my favorite development studios for that Zen Studios always puts out a quality pinball game. With Zen Pinball 2, it’s no surprise that the game is great. For the PS3 owners of Zen Pinball and Marvel Pinball, importing those tables are a simple download away before they appear on the easy to use menu on the PS Vita. Zen Pinball 2 is free, but there are no included tables with the game so really it’s not free in the traditional sense. The tables are set a decent price with a demo for each table so you can see if your money will be spent well.

I haven’t tried the PS3 version since playing Zen Pinball 2 on the PS Vita looks so damn gorgeous. Popcap decided to help with the celebrations over at Zen Studios and release a Plants vs. Zombies table. The table seems simple enough but there are enough little mini-games to keep you plenty busy getting the high score. I think on my first play through on the Plants vs. Zombies table, I played for a good 30 minutes. It seems like that table never stops! Only until I have to charge the PS Vita, do I put Zen Pinball 2 down.

Everybody’s Gaming For The Weekend Of August 31st, 2012!

by MoreLikeAndyAugust 31, 2012

For the lucky ones out there, enjoy your time at PAX Prime 2012 in Seattle this weekend. For the not-so lucky, here are some things to maybe occupy your time in-between all the announcements this weekend.

PS2/PS3 Collections – PS3, PSN

Holy collection overload Sony! With four game collections released this week, you should have no trouble with choices on these alone:

God of War Saga ($39.99)

God of War, remastered in HD

God of War II, remastered in HD

God of War III

God of War: Origins Collection (which includes God of War: Chains of Olympus and God of War: Ghost of Sparta)

Full PlayStation Network Trophy Support

Exclusive Bonus Content

Voucher For 1 Trial Month of PlayStation Plus

inFAMOUS Collection ($39.99)

inFAMOUS

inFAMOUS 2

inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood

Extra missions

Additional character costumes, power ups and weapon styles

Ratchet & Clank Collection ($29.99)

Remastered versions of classic Ratchet & Clank games from PS2 in 1080p with 3D support (in 720p)

Ratchet & Clank

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Online Multiplayer Support for Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Full PlayStation Network Trophy Support

FREE 10th Anniversary Ratchet & Clank Avatar

EARLY ACCESS to the Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time Demo

We also get a collection of thatgamecompany’s trio of titles previously available as downloads only. With the Journey collectors edition, we get Flow, Flower and Journey as well as some decent extras bundled in:

Thirty-minute behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Journey

Creator Commentary playthroughs of all three games

Three exclusive mini-games from thatgamecompany

Concept art and screenshot galleries for all three games

Original soundtracks for all three games

PS3 dynamic themes and wallpapers

PSN avatars including eight exclusive new Journey avatars never released before

Official game trailers and developer diary videos

Reversible cover art

The Walking Dead Episode 3: Long Road Ahead – PC, PSN, XBLA

Telltale Games decided to spring this one on us at the last second with the announcement on Monday. Not to say that I am mad about that, it’s just unexpected to not announce the release date two or more weeks in advance. I’m sure Long Road Ahead will continue the intense pace and more gut-wrenching story moments like episode 2 brought us. After all the stats Telltale Games has shown about the choices people made in previous episodes, I am curious if people will start to change the way they play in order to screw with those stats or continue to play honestly.

Geekscape Games Reviews ‘Rock Band Blitz’

by MoreLikeAndyAugust 27, 2012

After amassing a pile of plastic toys, I threw in the towel for music games after Rock Band 2. Much in the way that the Call of Duty series has felt stagnant, the Rock Band franchise needed to inject something fresh, innovative even. Well, what Harmonix delivers in Rock Band Blitz is a little of both.

Right from the start, it seems like Harmonix went back to their roots of music genre games with the stylistic similarities to their previous games Frequency and Amplitude, more so on the later. I found myself uncomfortable with the controls at first, using the default setup of triggers/bumpers moving you from track to track with the analog sticks or d-pad/face buttons to hit left or right notes. The options to change the controls saved me by letting me choose a more comfortable button layout. Using the triggers to hit the notes and the analog sticks to move between tracks. The control style is labeled ‘Freakish’, but I find it to be quite normal despite what Harmonix thinks.

After playing all 25 included songs, something still felt off. No matter how hard I tried, it never seemed like I was getting the score I should have got, even with power-ups active for that song. It wasn’t until I picked the pinball power-up that I realized that I was doing this all wrong. The OCD in me wanted to hit all the notes on all the tracks. When I tried focusing on the pinball power-up when activated, I managed to keep the pinball in play for at least 10-15 seconds every time I came across the power-up in the song. My score soared above my greatest expectations.

So, in order to get the best score you have to actively think what power-ups to combine and use on each and every song. That is a lot of strategizing and research to do! Once I got over the fact that it’s all about the power-ups, I started to have a little more fun. It doesn’t hurt to have a ton of songs bought or imported from previous Rock Band games, except Rock Band 3, to hoard a lot of coins as well as to experiment to the best combos. I have yet to find the perfect companion to my wonderful pinball power-up but with a little more time, or someone finding out before me, I will find some friends that will play well with my lovely pinball.

Score Wars is a way to challenge your friends and strangers to a certain song to get bonus blitz points and coins. Only having Facebook linked to the Rock Band Blitz gives you the option to pick just what song you want to challenge people with. Not giving the freedom to do this in-game is a missed opportunity for many to troll people with the horrible songs that you actually paid for, though Harmonix would get that last laugh since you actually bought that horrendous song. We all have one in our Rock Band collection, mine is that Miranda Cosgrove song. Hey! It was free, all right?

Rock Band Blitz has enough here to make me have faith in the franchise again. Finding a way to get me to play all the old songs I have in my library as well as buy new ones all without using those evil plastic space-sucking instruments is an accomplishment in itself. To actually have fun playing a Rock Band game again, that is simply wonderful.

Everybody’s Gaming For The Weekend Of August 24th, 2012!

by MoreLikeAndyAugust 24, 2012

It feels like we have had a lot of dips in the gaming lull season. Usually, it’s a straight month of no releases before we get hit with the onslaught of games at the end of the year. Although this is one of the lull weeks, I am sure a couple of you out there missed some of the suggestions I have for this weekend.

Symphony – PC

A simple top-down shooter that uses your music collection for how the enemies are generated and act. I love the premise of Symphony in that an evil entity, which freaked me out the first time I saw those white eyes on a red background, is trying to come into our world by absorbing and corrupting our music. Every song in your music collection is a stage as well as an item you can unlock and use once you cleanse the song. It seems like the items repeat themselves a little but it helps in that you can add/change four weapons on your ship. Spreadshot is the best all-around for how much ground it covers and the sub-woofer is great to use with songs that have a lot of bass in them. It becomes a pain to remember what songs you’ve already played through if you have a huge collection since you have to go back to that specific song to upgrade the item that was unlocked from it. Symphony is great for music lovers that want more of an interactive experience when blasting their favorite tunes.

Unmechanical – PC

Cute little puzzle adventure game that has you in control of robotic contraption with a propeller on its head to help it stay afloat. Unmechanical ends up being shorter than I wished it was, but the puzzles are engaging and the art style is charming and really damn good looking. This is the sort of game my puzzle-loving heart wants to see more of.

Dust 514 Beta – PS3

I haven’t kept up on Dust 514 as much as I probably should. All I really know is that there is cross-play between Eve Online and Dust 514. I guess I need to read up on this a lot more, huh? Anyway, Playstation Plus members get access to the closed beta of this free-to-play multiplayer FPS game until September 4th. Be prepared to wade through A LOT of downloads though. It might be a good idea to go make some coffee and a bagel while you sit and stare at all the progression meters. I had some issues with staying connected to the servers but managed to get some playtime in and I like what see so far. If you’re not a Playstation Plus member, you will have to wait your turn for Dust 514 to have an open beta period.

Geekscape Games Reviews ‘Transformers: Fall Of Cybertron’

by MoreLikeAndyAugust 24, 2012

We all know how it ends, how the Autobots and Decepticons came to our planet. Differences in the origin stories between the plethora of media still never really showed what actually happened, in detail, in the final hours of Cybertron. With a great job on War for Cybertron and an unfortunate trip into movie tie-in land with Dark of the Moon, High Moon Studios is back to show us all just how the Fall of Cybertron went down.

Clearly, some of the ideas from the movie tie-in game, Dark of the Moon, rubbed off in the early talks of the development process of Fall of Cybertron. Very cinematic opening to the game that doubles as a tutorial level is a great way to set the tone of things to come as well as getting gamers acclimated with the general controls. Though if you played War for Cybertron, you will instantly feel at home with the controls since they’re mostly the same.

As soon as the tutorial level ends, we are whisked away to 6 days prior to the events that just occurred. Instantly you can tell that the level designs are more open and spacious. The claustrophobic feeling of War for Cybertron is gone and replacing that feeling is now a feeling of size. Seeing the action going on in the horizon as you make your way through the battle field is great to look at. Very little pop-in textures that are known to happen using the Unreal engine when installed but it consistently happens when running off the game disc. Having a more diverse use of colors in the environment as well as on the Transformers themselves makes everything feel more alive than they was in War for Cybertron

Speaking of alive, the Transformers seem to have more humanity in their character traits. Throughout the whole game, I never felt like I was controlling mindless automatons. Instead, I was leading brave soldiers into a battle for their survival against a mad man hell bent on destroying everything and everyone in his path. It’s too bad that most of the voices are done by Nolan North, Steve Blum and Troy Baker. It felt like a contest of who could have his voice used the most in each character throughout the game. It really started to grate on my nerves near the end.

High Moon Studios decided give gamers a wider selection of Autobots and Decepticons to use in the campaign. Co-op had to be removed in order to pull this off, but most of us won’t miss it in the slightest since there are plenty of other ways to get in on some metal on metal action with the multiplayer and wave-based survival modes. The unique levels that catered to each Transformers’ special ability was a nice way to make each character have enough difference that things didn’t become too repetitive. Optimus Prime controlling Metroplex saddened me in a big way though. I wanted more control over the city-sized machine instead of painting the target with Optimus Prime and having Metroplex automatically do his A.I. scripted business. What could have been a better idea would be having Optimus riding on the shoulder of Metroplex controlling his every move. Controlling such a massive metal beast should be more of a jaw-dropping experience, not a special ability.

Cliffjumper’s stealth missions were a big surprise to me in how much fun I had since I am not a fan of how most games implement stealth. Simple in design, I couldn’t help but shout with glee when stomping the hell out of those Decepticon foot soldiers coming out of stealth. For all the hype that was built up around it, playing the Grimlock level was frustrating. From the slow movement to the attack moves feeling cumbersome and missing the mark a lot, I couldn’t wait for me to be done controlling him. At least High Moon Studios got it right with Bruticus, the final form when all five Combaticons merge together. I felt like such a menace to the Autobots. Using my helicopter blades as a shield then slamming my fist down to send a shockwave that destroyed everything within a radius of the blast was a great feeling. That’s the way I wanted Grimlock to play instead of being regulated to using a sword and shield like some poor man’s hack ‘n’ slash game.

It felt like the best parts of Fall of Cybertron were too short and the most frustrating parts were too long. I understand playing as Cliffjumper that he is fragile and is made to move consistently but Megatron is the leader of the Decepticons, although Starscream does take that role temporarily. He should be almost unstoppable yet there is a section of the game that makes you feel powerless with Megatron. That should never, ever happen when playing someone as powerful as Megatron. When I have to restart more than three times in that section of doom, it made Megatron fell more like a Megachump.

The climatic finish to the campaign was well paced and executed. Switching back and forth quickly during the final battle aboard the ‘Ark’ made me feel like this was a life or death battle. Throwing the Autobot/Decepticon symbol on the corner of the screen every time you switched sides was a nostalgic touch to those of us who watch the original cartoon. The choice you have to make in the final scene seems wasted since the outcome is the same. It would have been better to continue the swapping of sides instead of forcing players to make a choice that doesn’t mean much.

Once you devour the six hour campaign, you can look towards multiplayer and the wave-based survival mode, Escalation, to continue the robo wars. The biggest thing that has been added is customization of your own Transformer. Of course, you have to use set parts but at least it feels like when I make my Transformer, it stands out enough to make me feel proud of my new metallic friend.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is a great tale of what actually happened in the final days of Cybertron. Saddled with some poor frame rates during the heavy action scenes, pacing issues with some of the levels, and some audio sync issues with the PS3 version of the game, High Moon Studios managed to still engage me enough to enjoy my time with Fall of Cybertron. Let’s hope that we see a lot more in the following Transformer games that don’t just tweak the formula, they reinvent it.

Watch The ‘Fall Of Cybertron’ While Peter Cullen Narrates

by MoreLikeAndyAugust 21, 2012

Welp. This is it. The end of Cybertron as we know it. At least we get a proper send-off from Peter Cullen in this launch trailer for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is out now for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.