Sunday, March 24, 2013

Robot No. 5 (iOS)


You're this little robot hopping around on crates that you have to rearrange, with the robot, to get higher up and to an exit, there are levels, a little diary (which creates a little "story") - it's got a quirky style, but it was slow and the controls weren't great, a lot of times I had the puzzles figured out but the tapping and rearranging took so long with the robot that it felt tedious and time consuming. I think it would be a good fit for the WiiU though - unfortunately, not on my iPhone - deleted.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Orc Vengence (iOS)

This game baffles me. A hack-and-slash Diablo-clone on the iphone?! Yes. And it looks and plays pretty we'll, the graphics are great, lighting and mood especially. The only time you notice that it's a mobile game and there are limitations is when you get to the "end" of a level. You enter an area, fight some baddies with taps and swipes and then you exit the level, have a chance to visit a shop - buy new equipment, upgrade skills, then enter new level. The skills you get can be assigned to your gestures, which you have to purchase to unlock - zig-zag, double-tap, swipe, circle.... and it works really we'll. The reason that this game still confuses me is that it seems the perfect game for an IAP for more gold, health or mana and I couldn't find a way to buy it....finally I did - and because of the IAP and because if I am going to play a H&S game then its going to be Torchlight II.....I deleted this. Though I would recommend it to friends.

Here's some more screenshots of Orc Vengence to see the pretty graphics.





About Love, Hate & the Other Ones (iOS)

The title was intriguing - the game was not. It's just too simple, which wouldn't be that bad if there was a good enough story holding it all together. The angry black blob (hate) sends out little lightning bolts to push the neutral blobs away, while the black blob with a flower on it's head (love) attracts the neutral blobs. You use that mechanic to rearrange the neural blobs to allow Love and Hate to reach the exit (in the form of a red button for no reason....). To make matters worse it's got that generic list of levels to choose from that I loathe. Deleted.

Crysis 3 (360)

 I played the demo for Crysis 3. I loved Crysis 2: Perfect blend of Halo & COD, but Crysis 2 never managed to accumulate the player-based that is needed for a competitive multiplayer-FPS. I bought both DLCs for Crysis 2 and couldn't find anyone to play with. Crysis 3 looks everybit as good as Crysis 2 - obviously - doesnt seem to have made any big improvements - but it's smooth controls and good customozation make it a good choice. I'll be staying away however, simply because I think I won't have anyone to play with in 6 months. -I'll rent it for the campaign I think.


Thursday, March 21, 2013

Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 2

For one of the more epic games that most of us will have played. If you are reading this, you will most likely have played (or at least heard of) Modern Warfare 2 (MW2), but if not don't worry. I'll explain enough for you to understand. I am aware there are other reviews of other FPS games and although fair keep in mind, games such as Battle Field 3 (BF3) are made for both a different clientel and game time i.e. BF3 is made to be a very realistic representation of war (as far as gaming goes) and one gaming session should be easily over an hour to "get in the grove", whereas games such as MW2 and most Halo games can be played for less than an hour, in an arcade like style, and still be entertaining. And just to clarify Modern Warefare 3 will be discussed at a later date, although I have played it already, and for longer than 20 minutes.

I will proudly, and without regret state that I have played Modern Warfare 2 far longer than many games I have before it. I don't like it either, but for now I am going to call Modern Warfare 2 MW2... it is just far easier to write. I started playing MW2 when I was at a friends place and the game had just been released, I was not impressed by anything. We only had a chance though to play split-screen and the "spec-ops" in the game, where you are sent on special missions with specific campaign like goals, however without a storyline. I soon however changed my mind from this condemning opinion. As my friend was not able to play the online section of the game, he quickly lent us the game.

Although the campaign is traditionally short for a first person shooter (FPS) it is still disapointing. The action may be fun, but it has next to no replay value. The grafics, in my opinion of little importance to the quality of the game, more of an indication of how expensive a game was to produce, are little improved from the previous game in the Call of Duty series: World at War. Although this was not a horrible thing, it did not do anything for the game either.

Luckily I was not disapointed by the online multiplayer. In fact, quite the opposite. I enjoyed the online multiplayer to such a degree that I would not put it past myself to say that at the time it may have been the best online FPS on the market (although I enjoyed Halo Reach to a similar degree and Gears of War in a different manor). I strongly believe that the gameplay is what makes games what they are, shown by the evergrowing minecraft universe and other such games. This was also the case for MW2, the gameplay is of such high quality that even today I play it from time to time. Although the weapons are unbalanced like in most FPS, this was the first game in which one could make ones own classes in an arcade style, fast paced game. The classes are a great way to keep the game alive longer as the major developers have now fully understood.

To keep the game alive, there are other aspects which infinity ward has used to make MW2 one of the most long lasting game that exists. This includes the leveling up system they used, to increase longevity, known as the presige mode, where one can willingly give up the unlocks that one has to gain in fame. Essentially bragging rights amongst your friends. This means that eventhough you aren't playing against them, you sure are competing with them "off the battleground" everytime you play.

In the gaming world, MW2 acts as a great bridge between full arcade games such as Halo Reach (full of colour and fantasy worlds) and the more realistic FPS such as what the Battle Field series is aiming at achieving (realistic weaponry, worlds and physics in the game). What makes MW2 so fun in a short period (ignoring the pride gained by prestigeing amongst your friends) is the ability to climb, which is not an option in the Halo series.

MW2 is a great game that has given me entertainment beyond belief for far more than 20 minutes. That is what makes it such a great game, although it will be outdone eventually, I do not believe that its playability of the game has been outdone yet. If I were to give the game a rating, I would say that it gets a rating of 6/10 overall, but this is mostly due to the lacking campaign capabilities, the online part of the game would have gotten a 8/10 in my mind.

If you do not agree let me know what you think, and we can talk about one of the monsterous games.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Napoleon Total War

Napoleon Total War is another installment of the Total War series. set in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. Having played Rome Total War i can compare the two directly.
The managing of the Cities has become easier but the battles, I don't think I have won a single one. They have become much more strategic with the use of buildings that your troops can enter and the use of different ammo types for the Cannons (artillery). Also the weather of course strongly effects the fire rate of your troops (ie. heavy rain makes it harder to fire) The Naval battles are insanely complicated, unforgiving and detailed.
The map itself has changed little from Rome Total War except that; there are more cities in the area, less of Africa but more of Scandinavia.
The multiplayer aspect has been revamped with the ability to not only play single battles but the campaign with other people, i have not yet attempted this but it is definitely something I look forward to.
All in all, the game has fixed many of Rome's weaknesses and faults making for sound managing of cities, fleets and Armies.

Lord of the Rings Online

Lord of the Rings Online ties in the fun of a hack'n'slash game like Diablo II or Torchlight II and enters it into the Massively Multiplayer Realm.
The character creation of this game is limited and therefore does not play as much as a role as in other games, ie. Skyrim or DC Universe. Once your character has been created you play through your character's Introduction, differing depending on your Character's race; Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling. These generally take half an hour. The game, as with all role-playing games, takes a while for the game to really get going. The game gives you a nice mix of errands to run and enemies to slay, so that you are not just running from person A to person B delivering notes as it is so often with RPGs.
The game being Free-to-Play has the option to simply buy equipment with real money. However, this is by no means a necessity for game play.
As the game is an MMORPG it is a more fulfilling experience when played with a friend.
Overall, the game is fun and definitely worth a test play.