Alien vs Predator (2011) Review

Platform: PC
Genre: FPS

Before I start talking about the game I would like to make a point. Sadly some new games have to live up to some expectations. And based on those they fail. I think that the AvP is one of those. Because a lot of us loved the old ones, we all thought it will be the same only with updated graphics and so on. The game is somewhat different (in a few ways) and that may have triggered it's ... let's call it ... downfall.

I was surprised to see it's marks, and even more surprised that i liked it after i finished it.

So, as you may have expected, the game offers you three campaigns: marine, alien and predator. I will talk about them one at a time. The stories are connected in a interesting way, and you will know/understand it all only at the end. One example: At the beginning of the marine campaign you see a human-ship blown appart by a predator vessel for apparently no reason. Well, theyr motives will become clear after you play the alien campaign.

So.....

Marine:
The somewhat scarier campaign. You get to use weapons, but you only three slots. The game offers 5 weapons to put an end to the xenofobes and hunters. The pistol with unlimited ammo, assault rifle, shotgun, flamethrower, a sniper-rifle and a smartgun which can auto-lock enemies and it will occupy 2 weapon slots. The sniper and the smartgun have detecting properties. The story is interesting and due to good animation and facial-expression kinda touchy at the end. In this one you will rely a lot on your flashlight, but fortunetly it never depletes itself. Your health is represented by 3 bars. If one bar isn't depleted it will regenerate itself, like in Far Cry 2.

Alien:
The stealthy approach to the game. Unlike the older games, you start as a grown-up alien. Maybe some fanboys won't like this, but, as said ... I considered a whole new game not thinking one second about what was before. You can use your claws or tail, go through vents, see through the dark, grab enemies for a instant finish (after hitting them a bit). These finishes are really cool and bloody. Delicious. You can replenish your life by eating fallen enemies faces. Cool ! The only problem is that the campaign feels kinda short. Also you can walk on any surface and chasing your tail is really cool (and kinda weird that I spent some time doing so). Plus you can lure humans away by hissing at them.

Predator:
Prolly the most interesting one (story-wise). Predators can use their canon or claws. At least at the beginning. Till the end you will get the spear, proximity mines and a throwing disk. The health system resembles the human's. Also you can jump higher or further than the two other races. Also the shoulder-cannon has a auto-lock system which can really come in handy sometimes. The most usefull things however are the camouflage and the visions. You get two different visions. One is the heatvision (usefull for detecting humans) and another one for detecting aliens. You can cloak yourself, but you will be detected by aliens and by some humans (which have detecting-weapons) and if you enter the water it will go away. Also you can give orders to humans to get them in a position where you can kill them easier. Found a locked door that can only be opened with a retinal scan ? Mo problem, the predator can rip a officer's head off and use it to get where he needs.

Each campaign has it's collectibles and if you get them all in a level you will be rewarded. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise but ... truth be told, I couldn't be bothered.

The sound is great, it may ... atually I bet it will spook you at least once :P and the graphics are great. It also uses DirectX 11, but that wasn't the case for me. I just have to say that I really liked the way the aliens move ...
The stories really blend together, and the human-nature .... well let's put it in simple terms.
ALIEN KILL PREDATOR AND HUMAN.
PREDATOR KILL ALIEN AND HUMAN.
HUMAN KILL ALIEN AND PREDATOR ... AND HUMAN.

My only complaint would be ... that the game is way too short. I understand that many of the maps appear in every campaign ... but it could have been a little longer.

the bad: Too short, fanboys
the good: graphics, the way the story is presented

Gran Turismo Review

Platform: PSP
Genre: Simulator

"I did it for the cars. Canary yellow, Marlboro red, begging to be plucked."
[Memphis Raines "Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)"]

If you read the quote (hard to miss it) and you know the Gran Turismo series, I think you look a bit puzzled. You'll see why I chose it.

To be honest this is the third time I play Gran Turismo. First time I played it on a PS way too long ago to remember anything, then on the PS2 at Baku's place. But now I have the PSP version all to myself.
Sometimes it is best to describe a game by giving a step-by-step information of everything you did in it. Don't worry, I'll restrain it.

So, after a rather nice intro movie, I got to the game menu ... where the only career-ish thing I saw were the driving challenges. Not in the mood for them I went to a single race where I could only choose a Vw Golf 3. My cash balance was 0, and i had 3 shops from where to buy cars. Also in the menu there's a counter that keeps track of your virtual time spent in the game (1 race=1 day). So I started to look how to get money... Of course I could do races for them but I thought there had to be a career mode somewhere so I started to do all the challenges. These vary from taking a corner, to setting really good times, overtaking and so on. Each one of them rewards you with cash depending on your time. If you get off the track or hit a opponent (in the overtaking one) you fail.

After doing most of them I raised a small fortune so I went back to the shops. But they changed, now there were new ones. The game offers different shops each 2 or 3 days. So you should check them often and plan your races so you can raise the money to buy ... whatever you wanna buy.
After the challenges are completed you can only attend single (and multiplayer ofc) races. After choosing the type of the race (drift, time trial, single race) comes the track and the car.

Why would you do these like a maniac ?
Because the game offers 850 vehicles from all over the world. From Mini to Ferrari, from tuner to muscle, from minivan to SUV or pick-up, and a whole lot of concept cars. If you are a car enthusiast it will be like Christmas just with the variety of stock classic cars, or those that made a difference sometime. Besides these, there are the rally versions of some, everyone who didn't live in cave his whole life will recognize (audi quattro, toyota celica ... and the list goes on), and some highly-tuned cars by pros like RUF. You can also quick-tune up to 25 of your cars selected as favorite. Every car in the game has a detailed description plus a full history with the ups and downs of the model (I found some really interesting things there).

At the beggining of the game every track is set at D rank, but winning races will increase it all the way to A then S. With each rank you will earn more money. Also the amount of cash you get is determined by the number of the laps ... so it's no wonder I did a 99 lap (maximum amount) oval track for a few times.

The game looks awesome for a PSP one. Nothing can compare the feeling you get while driving around the Nurburgring in a Ferrari Enzo, or struggle to keep a Dodge Charger 440 R/T in a straight line on dirt while blocking you opponent's view with gravel and dust. You can even set a cockpit camera ... but it's not rally detailed, only a black frame to imitate the shape of the car.
The sound is great also ... besides the noise of the engines, the tracks (if one of them doesn't enter a infinite loop) are catchy and pleasing to the ear. I also heard a pretty interesting remix of The Omen from Prodigy.

One thing I really HAVE to mention is that the silly-floppy air-brake from the Bugatti Veyron really works... it actually raises up when you brake (not seen by me in any game till now).
Well my point is ... if you really like cars ... if you get excited just by the thought of a Lamborghini Countach or you imagine yourself cruising in a Shelby GT350R ... buy it ... play it... treasure it ...

p.s. every car you buy will be already purchased in the up-coming Gran Turismo 5 on the PS3.

the bad: Repeated music, no career
the good: OMG 850 cars !!!, long life, fun

i do not own the screenshots. all rights go to theyr respective owners.

Torchlight Review

Platform: PC

Genre: hack&slash


From time to time ... a leprechaun appears, grabs your hand and takes you to the end of the 16-bit rainbow to award you with his big pot of golden LEGO blocks. And then while you think of the layout of a lego castle ... while you reach for the pieces ... he starts dancing and then he bumfucks you ... with a spoon.


Torchlight is the game version of that leprechaun ... only it has ... a big, wooden spoon covered in splinters. At first glance it looks like a Blizzard fanboy took Diablo and Warcraft III ... and blended them into the perfect game (for him). The story goes, that in the quiet mining town of Torchlight, ... aaaaaa ... well ... you go in a mine and start killing monsters. I know I'll get a lot of boooooos ... but come on, it's a hack&slash ... whatever the story ... the goal is the same, kill like there's no tommorow... for loot and money. Now, seriously how many of you knew the exact story of Diablo 1 after the first runthrough ? (i mean the details... names like Azmodan and Belial ringing any bells ?).
Back to Torchlight ...


"In the fantasy world that serves as the setting of Torchlight, Ember is a mysterious ore which has the power to imbue people and items with magical power.(...) Torchlight is built above a rich vein of Ember, (...). Ember has a corrupting influence which led to the fall of past civilizations and endangers those who use it in the present." (Taken from Wikipedia... )


Good, now we know the story ... and I know why I constantly had to get various types of Ember for some dude. The game mainly consists of 3 quest repeated till the end ... sorry 4 quests. One is the main quest ... where you only have to go deeper into the dungeon, then there is one to get ember, one to kill a boss (different type of ember and different boss each time) and there is one guy in town that will send you in random 2-level dungeons from time to time.


Also at traders you can buy maps (each has a level requirement) and they will also take you through random dungeons when activated.


So till now we have a standard hack&slash, with a xp bar, inventory, lots of monsters to kill, random dungeons, items varying from plain to rare, unique, epic or set. Where's the bad part then ?


But before I go there...
At the beginning of the game you get to choose from 3 classes (they are 3 standard classes like in any RPG but they wanted to give them a more personal touch and name them differently).
Well there is the Destroyer (Warrior for dummies, my roommate named him "Terminator"), the Alchemist (Spellcaster) and the Vanquisher (Archer). Also you get to pick from the two pets available: a dog (normal people would call that a wolf) and something they call a cat (and If I'll ever see a cat like that ... well... slowly I would turn around and then run like there's no tomorrow to the nearest anti-atomic shelter and lock myself in). Anyway ... they won't bite your butt off ... so everything is ok. They have a health and mana bar of their own, they level up ... and if you're one of those people who likes to dress up their pets ... well ... bad luck ... you can only equip them with a necklace and 2 rings. Also they can learn 2 spells which they will use until exhaustion (or untill their mana reaches 0 :P). But the most convenient part about the pets is that they have an inventory, same size as yours, and you can send them to town (while crawling through the dungeon) to sell everything. Oh, and they don't die. If they possessed the ability to buy identify scrolls it would've been a bless ... but they don't.

Every character has 3 skill trees, but you don't have to go on one specific tree to get to it's bottom, skills being unlocked as the player level's up. Also, they introduced a fame bar which gets filled as you kill champions and turn in quests. With every fame level up, you get one extra skill point.

The graphics are cartoony, actually very close to Warcraft III. If you played it or if you're playing DotA ... you'll feel right at home (and no, I never touched DotA ... my only connection to that game/mod ... is the song DotA from Basshunter). The whole idea ... of entering through the town ... going deeper and deeper ... mines ... then temple, then lava ... and so on...reminded me so much of Diablo that I could even hear the creepy tune from Tristram. Then my roommate's phone rang, had to turn off the speakers for a sec ... and I realized ... I wasn't schizophrenic ... it was the actual soundtrack of the game ...
When I turned them back on I listened very carefully ... it really sounded like Tristram ... but they changed it a bit ... maybe they didn't want a law-suit. Curious by nature, I google'd the name of the composer ... result: "Diablo composer and sound designer Matt Uelmen also joined the team, creating original music and sound for the game." (thank you wikipedia...again)
Apparently most of the people behind the game ... are ex-Blizzard-employees-who-worked-on-Diablo.

What I didn't like about this was its difficulty... played on normal... almost every monster is a one-hit-kill. The only one that felt a bit harder was the last boss. Also, the loading times are a bit big, every time I had to go deeper into the dungeon or open the portal to town ... or sometimes enter the game ... I was like "do I really have to ?". The biggest problem I encountered is that when I went to kill the last boss ... he was 12 levels lower than me. I guess they forgot to put some enemy power scaling somewhere. What, am I the only total retard who did all the extra-maps from vendors? Also the quest rewards (for me at least) were totally useless, and from some point on ... I didn't change any item at all (too many things to care about + I was Rambo) only if it had higher armor (sounds noob-ish ... but why bother ? I was Rambo anyway).
I know it's a mindless hack&slash but why did they have to make it for cave dwellers possessing the IQ of a rock ?

I have yet to try any skills, except the first one you gain as a warr... sorry Destroyer. All my points went into passives ... and judging by its difficulty ... I had a lot of points invested to make my wolf/dog/whatever (I called him Maidanezu... stray-dog in english) go faster to town and back.

You have to watch out for the ending ... if you skip the dialogs, you might just pass it big time ... and you will wake up wondering, after 2 months of playing, when you ding 176 how much more will it take. I hope it isn't a spoiler but the end of the game is at floor 35.
After that you get into town, and a new dungeon is opened with 2 more quest-givers... Apparently that one goes forever ...

Also, it has no multiplayer... which is a considerable downer for the game. I imagined myself playing along 3 or 4 other players gang-banging every monster ... but ...no.

Anyway... although there are a few (in my opinion) major flaws... it's fun and it will consume 2!?!?!?! WHY ONLY 2~??~ days of your life.

I almost forgot (actually I did, but I edited the post :P). There is this weird old man voice that likes to underline your every action "you're pet has departed for town" ... and so on ... but he has such a sweet old voice ... every time I heard him I could see Father Tucker smiling. If you don't know who him be ... google it !

The bad: too easy, too short, no multiplayer
The good: gives you a welcomed Diablo feeling

p.s. I didn't find a cover picture of the game ... so I came up with something just to keep all the reviews following a template...

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Review

Platform: PC

Genre: Basicly Action/adventure, but I think it's something totally new and revolutionary: WS (walking-simulator)

While installing the game I was asking myself: "Do I really wanna do this ?". I played all Harry Potter games (except for the Quidditch world-thingy) and finished all of them till Order of the Phoenix. The first 3 were childish but pretty fun and time consuming, the 4th ... eh

eh... and the 5th introduced the move-your-mouse-this-way-to-do-this-spell (something like in Arx Fatalis) which, for me at least, didn't work so well... so I watched it fly from my balcony (now, that was magic). After 30 minutes of gameplay, the mouse-drawing-spell-thingy was in this one too, but it worked better, it didn't mix up the spells. While playing, I actually said to myself "Hey it might be pretty good, of course now I'm just following stupid Ron everywhere, but this is just the tutorial or something." .... well..... WRONG !!!!!

The whole game you walk around Hogwarts, collecting (if you wish) stupid shit just for the fun of it... oh and you get some upgrades from time to time, but

nothing too spectacular. Your HUD is empty, no life, no spell (cause you have a different mouse scheme for each one), in fact, why need one, when all you do is walk...and walk... and collect Hogwarts crests . There are 125 big ones which you just run over, or jump on some carpets, or throw stuff at them (if they're nailed to a wall), and 25 which you get from collecting miniature crests. The little ones you can't see but you release from certain object which have a "aura" around them. Of course, they have a bad habit of pouring out and going through anything, so you will lose some of them.

If you do something right with the aura (I finished the game and still didn't get what), even more crst than usual will come out

The graphics are ok, I couldn't find my 1680x1050 resolution, so I had a nice black line, but no problem. If you like gothic architecture, then you will love walking around Hogwarts. One problem though, from the middle of the game on, Dumbledore and Slugthorne have lost their will to move their lips when talking. Oh, I get it.... it's magic ! And sometimes the voice-acting is bellow average. I don't know who recorded the voices, I didn't have the nerves to read the credits.

I haven't seen the movie, but in the game a lot of details are skiped... or the producers of the game think that everybody read the books. All the out-of-Hogwarts, Riddle's memories and other major/important events are presented in the form of cutscenes. It would've have been nice a little bit of interaction. Like for instance, when Harry and Dumbledore go for the Horcrux in the cave (this is actually the only one where you interact a bit), until you go out it 's only a boooring cutscene, that in the book may awake inside you a bit of pity for Dumbledore, but here you only get to hate him and want to kick his face. At the end of the cutscene you get to kill the undead (I know they had a name, but I forgot it, and it's not mentioned in the game) that come from the water.... This reminded me of space invaders. Good game that was. You move Harry left and right and shoot. WOOOOW. Also very touchy scene from the book, Dumbledore's funeral where everyone is gathered watching Hagrid put the body on the white tomb and Fawkes sings one last song.... they just decided to put credits instead. It just shows Fawkes fly over Hogwarts and a white light (which you can see if you stare at the monitor). Also the game is clearly made for a younger audience, because at the scene where Harry casts sectumsempra on Draco Malfoy and blood should start pouring from every one and each of his holes it just shows Harry cast the spell and then... Snape comes in... dialog... loading.

Besides the walking, there are 3 mini-games, actually 3 "clubs". The potions club, the duelling club (divided in 4 minor ... clubs, one for each house) and the Quidditch matches. At the potions club you have to follow a list of instructions (turn X until it gets yellow, put in 5 whatever, mix it and so on.... of course, you use your mouse to make the exact moves.... annoying), at Quidditch the only thing you have to do is to control your character with your mouse to get inside some stars (no acceleration or brake or whatever). The interesting one, and the thing that kept me playing are the duels. You get to fight 4 opponents from each house. You can use stupify (basic attack, which can be charged up) by left-clicking, protego (blocking) by right-clicking, Expelliarmus (stun) by moving your mouse counter-clockwise, petrificus totalus (freeze enemy) by moving your mouse verticaly and levicorpus (turn enemy upside-down and stun) by moving mouse horizontaly. (note: i might have mixed up the moves for the last, didn't use them as much). The duels are pretty fun, you can combine them so you don't get hit at all, but the opponents are Retards so ... don't bother.... just expelliarmus, and while he's down you go beside him and stupify the shit out of him.

So.... ..... well.... no.

Oh I forgot. There are two scenes when you play as a drugged (actually someone who took a potion) character. First you play as Ronald Weasley who drank a love potion without knowing. Everythimg is pink, hearts fly everywhere, the mini-crests are shaped as hearts and... it's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Second you "play" as Harry after taking the Felix Felicius potion, which makes him lucky. Harry moves on his own, you see from a first-person perspective, you can't do anything only get mini-crests out (and they always come in large numbers). Of course that scene is wrong too... it's just too... happy. There is a golden aura around the screen, some jazz music in the background and a running Harry.

the bad: potion-making, voice-acting, too much walking, Should be called Harry Potter ZERO (no sugar, no action)

the good: Visualy nice, perfect for children

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood Review

Platform: PC

Genre:FPS

I'm a single child, I have no brothers or sisters, so I have never felt that brotherly jump-on-the-grenade-for-your-kin love. After some movies, books, games, I acknowledge that it is something really deep and only something really bad could break this bond....like a woman.

A while ago Call of Juarez appeared, and it got a lot of good reviews (my own will come soon), so I tried it. After some swearing (at the stealth missions) I flushed it out from my HDD. Now when Bound in Blood was announced I tried it again so I could follow the story. After I finished it I found out that Bound in Blood was gonna be a prequel... well whoopeee.

The game is centered around the McCall brothers: Ray (the Pastor

from Call of Juarez), Thomas (Billies father) and William. After deserting from the army to save their home and family Ray and Thomas become outlaws and are living on the edge, always running and shooting. They also take their little brother William with them, who is a priest and tries to guide them on the right path but that sorta seems to be in vain. The characters are very well defined, you will just love them. Through most the game, aside from a couple of chapters, you can choose to play as Ray or Thomas. Ray cannot jump higher, can carry a gatling gun, and is good with dual-wielding pistols while Thomas is the agile type, he can climb, use his lasso to get to high places and is a excellent sharpshooter. I used Thomas the whole game.

The story is well written, you interact with all of the characters from Call of Juarez and see how they got where they got. Even old Calm Water has something big to say in Bound in Blood although his name now is Running River (you will see why) and you will find out (if you haven't played Call of Juarez) why the sudden change in Ray's temper. From the killing-machine to the peaceful Priest.

The graphics are .... well I drooled all over my keyboard. They are great, it really resembles the (few) western movies I've seen.

You get to visit a Ghost town, kill some indians in the forest, shoot from a moving wagon.

The sound is also good, I liked the voice-acting a lot, but I encountered a problem. If the person talking was behind me, i couldn't hear anything he said until I was facing him. Must be my computer, but i didn't have this problem in any game... so it must be from the game. Maybe I'll try it again when I put my 5.1 system back.

The HUD is very simple, well...actually it's empty. No health bar, the health regenerates (pretty fast) when you stay behind cover a bit (call of duty style), the only thing that appears is a meter .. concentration-meter... when it's full you can enter concentration-mode ... and well that's a different story. If you play as Thomas when you enter the concentration, the time slows down for a bit, and you can one-shot-kill every enemy that was is sight when activated.Tthe target will

automatically be put on a enemy and you just have to draw your mouse back and click. For Ray, the time slows down as well, but you have to move your mouse over the enemies, and mini-targets will appear on them... when the concentration-mode is over, he will automaticly shoot those targets this consumes no ammo....and you can enter the concentration with one bullet, put as many targets you can, and he will shoot them all. Also, another thing that was put in this game was the auto-aim... since i have a mouse, and not a X360 or PS3 controller in my hands I think it kinda ruins the game a bit. But, it did come in handy sometimes. Also the game offers a cover-system, a pretty god one actually. You don't get into cover every time you approach something bellow your belt (mass effect, gears of war), but every time you stand next to something the character moves his gun/guns/rifle, around the thingy you are facing so it can shoot. It took me a while but I shot someone from underneath Ray's arm.

Saving the best for last. The duels. Instead of Boss-fights, at the end of some chapters you get to duel with a character. This consists of you (camera centered on your hip) and the other one facing each-other. You can move left or right so you will always face him (he moves too), and when the bell rings (which is kinda weird when you duel is in a collapsing Aztec ruin.... WHAT BELL ?) you draw and shoot. That feels great, there is almost no sound, everything except your opponent is blurred, and you draw your hand closer and closer to the gun... and then the bell rings...and BAM! Really nice.

One major problem would be that it is too short. I finished it in less then 5 hours on normal difficulty.....

the bad: auto-aim, too short, sound problems, no health

the good: graphics, atmosphere, voice-acting