Crysis 2 Trailer

So everybody who is the least bit interested in gaming and FPS have probably already seen the trailer. What do you guys think of it? If you haven’t seen it yet here it is

I’ve gotta say it looks good I haven’t seen any gameplay of it yet though but I’m sure it will look good, the graphics for the first one were amazing and I have always wanted to play it but I only have a lame ass laptop that would never ever have the specs to run it so I’m really looking forward to playing this on my PS3, many people are saying that it will be the revolutionary title when it comes to graphics and I’ve gotta say that will probably be right so Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2 could lose it’s title of best graphic design. We will just have to wait and see I guess. 🙂

Just found this on Youtube showing you about the dynamics and such in the game with the CryENGINE 3 and if it looks anything like this then I will be a very happy person 😀 I just hope they have a decent storyline and gameplay because even if it looks good it has to play good as well. Anyway enjoy!

White Knight Chronicles and FFXIII

March has been a maniac month for me gaming wise, White Knight Chronicles and of course the behemoth that is Final Fantasy XIII (maybe it’s not to everyone’s liking though). Yes both are JRPG’s and have some similarities but they are two entirely different games.

First off White Knight Chronicles (WKC) :-

Developed by a Japanese studio called Level-5 (whose previous games include the likes of the Dark Cloud titles that were on the PS2) follows in the footsteps of a young kid called Leonard and him transforming into a White Knight. As soon as you start your new game you can create your own customizable character who you can then take online and do quests with (I will cover that later on.)

But overall  the story for WKC is lacking and it just seems really samey, see the Princess, fight boss, Big boss man gets away with the Princess and rinse and repeat. And it isn’t the longest game in history and when you complete it you have a sense of “Was that it?” But a sequel is in the works and obviously it will carry on the story but they could have added some extra spice into this one. And the fights aren’t really difficult and if you are struggling against a certain foe all you have to do is transform into the white knight and you’re laughing, seriously the last boss took me like 5 minutes to kill, not very good is it. The story is an alright one I guess but you kinda know who is the “good guy” and “bad guy”  straight from the go!

Where WKC really makes it’s money is online the character who you create can go online and quest with other people around the PS3 world, it is a really great idea and the quests you do are determined by how high your Guild Rank is. The more quests you do the higher it becomes (obviously!) And another outstanding feature is the Georama which is where you can create your own little village of sorts (I think it was first introduced in Dark Cloud and they have just re-invented it for WKC.) You interact with people from the gaming world of WKC to join you in your quaint little village and they can all do kinda jobs like miners, fighters, mages, cooks, lumberjacks and the kinda of people you get to join your village reflects what items you can sell to other PS3 users who can come and visit your Georama.  A great idea and the quests you can do with 3 other people on the PSN friends you know or just random people you come across in the Georama world, also items you get can be carried over to the single player and vice versa.

So overall I would give it a 7.5 out of 10 if it wasn’t for the multiplayer aspect it would be a heck of a lot lower :). Oh and I gotta say that the graphics are pretty good though but that alone doesn’t make a game good!

Next up the monter behemoth that is Final Fantasy XIII :-

Now when it was released back in Japan in December it sold over a million copies in the first day and I think it has sold over 1.6 millions copies up until the end of 2009. Not bad since many people say that it isn’t a “proper” Final Fantasy game. Pfft! What do they know. It has sold over 1 million copies in America and became the fastest UK selling title in 2010 (granted it’s only 3 months into the year but still a great achievement.) And Square Enix have stated that it is has become the fastest selling game in the franchise’s history again not a bad feat. The reviews were good in Japan but around the world they were somewhat lackluster some scorin it 74 out of 100, but I guess each to their own.

My review of the game is that I love it, yes sooo many people say that it is way too linear and it opens up after 20 or so hours, well, maybe that is the case but you know what I don’t care what they all say I think it is fucking brilliant. The graphics are the best I have ever seen in a game along with Uncharted 2 and possibly GOW3 (I haven’t played it!) yes ok maybe the voice acting is a little slack but it makes up with it with the passion of the storyline and the way you feel for some of the characters and what they are going through. Now yes when I first got into the game I got very, very confused with the L’Cie, Fal’Cie and Cie’th so many words sounds the same but eventually I got around it.

And even though it is a bit linear you know running then fighting and so on, for some reason I don’t mind it, and something else about this FF is that I have found it much more difficult than previous one’s, the amount of times I have died takes the piss, but I still love the game and wanna get further in it.  I must have died like 10 times defeating this one boss but it is only about tactics and what Paradigms you use and with what person. Because if you are too slow in killing some enemies you don’t get a good star ranking but then sometimes if you go all out attack on some monsters and not heal then you get whopped and die so you have to get a balance between the two and keep switching out.

One bad thing I don’t like about the game is the weapons and accessories and the amount of gil you don’t get. The weapons I always like in FFIX because they have different ones and the further you get in the game then the better then weapons just like any other FF game and pretty much any other RPG’s for that matter but FFXIII is kinda stupid (or maybe it’s just not me getting it right) but why the hell would I want a weapon that stops the enemy staggering, when you can do more damage when it is staggered. And the idea of upgrading your weapons is a good idea but not when it takes ages to do it and you clearly don’t have enough gil to do it maybe it is more for when you are nearing the end of the game and bout to defeat Eden idk but I like the old ways =D

But apart from that minor hiccup the game is fantastic and the Eidiolons or G.F.’s as I will always call them are a welcome addition to the game and if though they aren’t that good as they were in previous installments they help nonetheless. So overall I would give it a 9 out of 10 it would be higher but the weapons idea just gets on my nerves idk why it just does. And if you are yet to have a look at FFXIII I suggest you do so NOW!!

Thanks for reading this long-winded post and comments below if you wish.

Heavy Rain Making A Splash

Heavy Rain is different from your everyday run of the mill kinda game, the follow up to Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy) from the Quantic Dreams team follows 4 different characters somehow connected through these killings done by someone named ‘The Origami Killer.’ Many people say it set like a movie and not really a game because of certain aspects of it but I say ‘I don’t care’ I have been looking forward to this game since the old trailer, I think it was called the ‘casting’ demo and featured an unnamed woman, who if I’m not mistaken is actually in the full game as a woman who lost her son to the Origami killer, she also appears in the demo that was released on the 11th February. But I digress.

The game is released this week around the world the US and most of the EU already have it, and hopefully as I’m writing this my copy will be on it’s way. I ordered mine if anyone is interested from HMV for £39.99 it is the special edition and exclusive to HMV here in the UK. I played the demo a bit earlier than people who got it from the PSN store because I took part in the 4 day challenge (which I still haven’t finished yet :)) and I have to say it was everything I was expecting yes ok the controls are a bit fiddly but I’m sure like everyone else I will get use to them and the graphics are some of the best I have seen apart from Uncharted 2 which might never get beaten until Uncharted 3 :D.

The game follows 4 characters:-

Madison Paige– A reporter/photographer who has bad insomnia and nightmares and checks in to different motels to see if she can relax. We don’t really know what her connection to the Origami Killer is at the moment.

Ethan Mars– Seemingly the main character of  ‘Heavy Rain.’ Ethan was once a happily married family man with two children and had a job in architecture but it all went wrong one day when one of his children Jake got hit by a car and has been in a coma ever since. Two years later he has lost everything he once held so dear. And Shaun is other son is kidnapped by the Origami Killer and just what will Ethan do to save his son? What will he do for love?

Norman Jayden– Jayden is an FBI agent who is sent to help with the Origami Killings, he is also uses a new and experimental device called Added Reality Interface (ARI) which lets him see what others around him might be able to see. I’m not too sure about this but I think he also is a drug user because of the scene in the junkyard which he was battling his ‘cold turkey’ and also in the demo you see his hand shaking and jerking possibly because he hasn’t had his ‘fix.’

Scott Shelby– He is an Private Investigator that was a cop after 20 years with the police force. Shelby has been hired by the families of previous victims of the Origami Killer to look into the case and see if he can come up with anything that the police might have missed.

One thing that really stands out to me about Heavy Rain is the multiple paths you can take in the game as people who have seen the ‘shop’ scene with Scott Shelby will be aware of.

This is just 1 of like 5 different outcomes you can take and it is like this in nearly every part of the game, and if one of the 4 main characters die it isn’t game over you just carry on with the others you have and the many, many different paths you can take make me when I complete the game to go through it again a totally different way as I’m sure I won’t be the only one.

This might not be everyone’s kinda game but I am really looking forward to it. And it is different to the games that we usually see making up the top ten sales of the week predominantly FPS and RPG’s, not saying there is anything wrong with those games but it all looks the same, you can’t tell the differences between Call of Duty and Bioshock apart from the obvious differences but they all play the same way run, shoot, kill and repeat. So Heavy Rain is a welcoming title to me and I can’t wait to play it and see the response of my fellow gamers out there.

Tales Of Monkey Island…..Again.

After my first blog about TOMI about 2 months ago before the first chapter was released I said summat like “I was really looking forward to it and I’m sure it would be great.”

Well you know what……… I was right ! It is awesome and Telltale have done a great job of resurrecting the Monkey Island franchise and I know it is only 2 chapters in but they have both been good, I think The Siege Of Spinner Cay was better purely because it was much funnier, the part where you have to help LeChuck

“Use……Breath Mints………..With………..LeChuck”

“Use……Claw Thingy……….With……….LeChuck”

And of course who can forget the “Nice Cans” when panning from tin cans to the picture of the Voodoo Lady, childish and immature but funny as hell 😀

So all in all the series has been a huge success and tomorrow the 3rd chapter “The Lair Of The Leviathan” is released and we get to know a little bit more of the story that has got all gripped, what is La Esponja Grande (well we know it is a giant seasponge but is it really what we think it is ?) Will Guybrush and Morgan LeFlay get closer together and will Winslow still say “Please point at the map, Sir !”

And of course we get to see one of the favorite character of the Monkey Island saga…… MURRAY, The talking skull. 🙂

So please if you are a massive fan of the MI series and you haven’t checked out Tales then do so because you won’t be disappointed, I promise you.

Where the hell is my Batman AA ?

As everyone who looks at m blog, you should know that I am looking forward to Batman: Arkham Asylum, I pre-ordered it from Play.com like I do for most of my games I did for Red Faction Guerilla, Killzone 2, Little Big Planet, InFamous and many more and I have never had any problems with them games and sometimes even got them a day or two earlier but it seems like I’m not going to enjoy Batman until Monday even though I order bout a 3 weeks ago, because they haven’t bloody dispatched it yet and it normally takes about 3-5 days to be delivered so I’m a bit pissed now so while everyone else will be enjoy playing  it I will be sat twiddling my thumbs and I’ve just seen the advert as well and that has just rubbed salt into the wound, but I’m hoping and praying that it is all a big misunderstanding and it will be here on Friday morning, I seriously doubt it though.

Fallout 3 DLC coming in September now. (Disappointing.)

So has you have probably already heard, the Downloadable content for Fallout 3 on the Playstation 3 won’t be coming untill September and probably late September at that.

Why Bethesda couldn’t just tell months ago is beyond me, yes i know there was problems with the xbox and P.C versions but i thought they would have ironed out those bugs by now since they were probably thinking about release the DLC on the PS3. So really they should have had a group of devs looking over every problem. But NO! they just say to the general public that it will be released late June (no specific date though.) So I for one was looking on the PSN every Thursday hoping and praying that ‘Operation Anchorage’ would be released (since that was going to be the first one released like on the xbox and P.C.) But NO! again for the next couple of weeks, until we get a statement from Bethesda that says something like they have issues with the software so it won’t be released until September, September why does it take you 2 more months to produce something that should have already been produced.

Don’t get me wrong because at the moment it seems like I am ranting on at them (well I am in a way, a BIG way!) but I like many others have watched by as the xbox and P.C owners got their DLC and I am jealous of them because I wanted to enjoy it at the same time. Since it came out last October the others have got 4 DLC to date (and an editor for the P.C) and the PS3 owners have got nowt.

Again Sony customers get the ‘middle finger’, as per usual.  But at least because of all the waiting PS3 owners will get ‘Broken Steel’ first which raises the level cap to 30 and I think that is the one most people are waiting for and looking forward to, I’m sure it was the same for the xbox and P.C owners of the game. And then every 4-6 weeks we will get ‘Operation Anchorage’ and ‘The Pitt’ and I am really looking forward to ‘Point Lookout’ and ‘Mothership Zeta’ as well but not to sure when they will be coming out, hopefully it is in the same time-frame as the others.

But because of the putting back of the DLC what does that mean for the Game Of  The Year (GOTY) Edition ? Does it mean that it will be put back also to maybe Christmas time or possibly next year? Because I can’t see Bethesda releasing a GOTY edition if all the DLC isn’t out. Or maybe they release a GOTY edition for the xbox and P.C version but not PS3 but that not fair is it, but then again Bethesda have left the PS3 fans out in the dark for a long time, so it won’t be anything different to what we already expect.

(And end rant.) And thank you for reading.