Videogame Reviews

Guess I'll take a crack at doing one.

Game: Forza Motorsport 4

Console: Xbox 360
Developer: Turn 10 Studios
Year Released: October 11, 2011
Genre: Racing

Gameplay: Pretty simple, you drive, break, turn. Not much else to it obviously. There are 5 basic difficulties in terms of car control, ranging from Easy to Expert, and the harder difficulties make the racing more like a simulation of real life. Right now, I'm using Advanced, which is the 2nd hardest difficulty, where traction control and stability control are off (aka makes you more in control of the steering), manual transmission, and a couple of other things. According to the game, Expert is as close as you can get to actually driving, and I believe it. You have to change gears using the clutch, there's no ABS, traction control, or suggested lines through corners for braking. It's the kind of game where you could pick it up and play right off the bat on easy, but mastering the higher difficulties will take time. It's a great deal of fun to play this game though.

Graphics & Audio: I have not seen a better looking game on the 360, and I'd find it hard to place any console game above this game's graphics. They really are that good. The sunlight shining off the roads and water looks brilliant, and the cars themselves are unbelievably gorgeous. My explanation can't do these graphics justice, seriously, if you have the chance, try to check out this game on an HDTV just to see the graphics.

As for the audio, it too is pretty brilliant. The cars themselves sound awesome, and I usually turn my TV up extra loud just to hear the roar of the cars. There's no soundtrack, however, but during races, there is background music, none of which is very good. Just turn the in-game music down a little bit and crank up the SFX and it's perfect.

Story: Not really much of one, you begin racing in lower circuits and work your way up, with the ability to unlock and purchase new cars and upgrades for the cars.

Pros: Before the summer really, I was never really a huge fan of racing in general, much less racing games. However, even if I was, I sincerely doubt that there is a racing simulator better than this. It's just a brilliant, brilliant game. The gameplay is terrific fun, the audio in regards to the cars and the races themselves is mindblowing, and I have to repeat, I don't think I've ever seen graphics this good on any console game, ever. There's a huge number of tracks to race on (including the Top Gear test track which I am particularly happy about), coupled with an enormous amount of cars, means that this game's replay value is extremely high. I can definitely see myself playing this game years from now.

Cons: Not many, honestly. For those of you that care about achievements, this achievement list is pretty brutal. A good deal of them come by playing career and just through natural progression, but it will take a long time for anyone to rack up 1000 GP from this. Also, like I mentioned before, the in-game music during races is pretty bad. Plus, if you're not into racing whatsoever, I guess you probably won't enjoy it.

Brief Summary (1-2 Sentences): This is the absolute best racing game you can get today. The graphics are the best I have ever seen for any console game, and for the first time in a long time, I can safely say that this is a game well worth $60. If you have ever played a racing game or care even the slightest bit about racing or cars in general, do yourself a favor, and go buy this right now. 9.5/10

Dang, the archive in the first post is getting pretty big. Keep it up, fellas! /sheamus

Seriously, we have a pretty good thing going here. Lots of interesting opinions. I want to write a review of Dark Souls, but I'm not sure whether to wait until my buddy and I finish it, or just to write a "we're in the middle of this game still because it's so god damn hard that we decided to stop here and write a review now" review.

All the reviews are listed in the archive, a big THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed so far and a PLEASE, DO to anyone considering making a contribution. Namaste.

I sincerely doubt anyone will actually care, but I just wanted to write a bad review, the first bad review for WC if I'm correct.

Game: Dragonball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi

Console: PS360
Developer: Namco Bandai
Year Released: 2011
Genre: Fighting

Gameplay: As with any Dragonball Z game, you'd expect fighting to be the most important aspect of the entire game. Well, you'd be wrong with Ultimate Tenkaichi. The largest aspect in UT is Quick Time Events. There's a little actual fighting (up close, known as Melee Range, and from far away with energy blasts, known as Blast Range) sprinkled about, but even then, after you press the attack button just a few times, the Quick Time Events begin. The QTEs in combat require you press either the Square or Triangle button (I'm writing this based on the PS3 version, substitute the Xbox buttons in if needed). If you press the same button as your opponent, he wins and is spared a **** load of health. If you press a different button, you get to unleash hell on your opponent. A DBZ videogame requirement is Super attacks, such as the Kamehameha. However, unlike the other games, you don't charge up for your attacks. This ability is earned by beating the **** out of your opponent through Quick Time Events.

Inside the Story Mode and the later to be explained Hero Mode are Giant Boss Fights. Put simply, they'll shoot at you with powerful energy blasts, hit the ground and get their fists stuck, and you then beat up their fists until a Quick Time Event occurs. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Of course, there's the basic mechanics in fighting games such as block and um.....yeah that's about it. A feature new to any DBZ game is the ability to create your own character. However, as expected, there are limitations that will be explained later.

Graphics & Audio: By far the greatest thing in this game is the presentation. The game itself looks incredible. All characters actually have different facial expressions (pain, anger, shock, etc.) and are outlined, giving the game that cartoon feel one should expect. Super attacks leave devastation never seen in DBZ video games. The Quick Time Events look badass. Sprinkled through the story mode are several reanimated cutscenes from the TV series, showing some of the most memorable events such as Goku turning into a Super Saiyan for the first time.

The audio shouldn't deserve it's own paragraph because the music is boring and generic, but there's one issue that must be brought up. Of course, the game features a majority of the voice actors featured in the actual series (that series being Dragonball Z Kai, but still). However, during cutscenes in the story mode, certain characters voices will constantly flip-flop between their original voice actors and their new Kai voice actors.

Story: The story mode of course follows the Dragonball Z story, which won't be summarized for time constraints outside of fight Vegeta, fight Frieza, fight Cell, and fight Buu. What hasn't been seen before is the new Hero Mode, where you make your own characters and take them through an original story. The story sees someone having wreaked havoc on the Dragonball Z world, apparently killing all of our heroes except for Piccolo. It is portrayed as an alternate reality universe, but it still makes no sense.

After you get about halfway through the story, you'll eventually meet Piccolo. And you'll fight him. Eventually you'll turn into a Super Saiyan. And you'll unlock that ability later on in Battle mode and the World Tournament mode, which are all self-explanatory. After collecting some more Dragonballs, the culprit of the destruction will be revealed to be Omega Shenron.

Pros:
The presentation - The game looks awesome. See the reasons listed above.

The Nimbus Cloud - In Hero Mode, you can ride on a cloud used in the series. Yeah. One of two positives is that.

Cons:
Gameplay - It's just awful. A fighting game should never revolve around chance. The automatic hitting or shooting after pressing a button three times is awful and leaves you wide open to get demolished, especially in the Boss Fights.

Quick Time Events - In addition to the chance thing, during Boss Fights, there are several instances where you'll have to time a button press perfectly. By this I mean pressing the button when a little dot gets perfectly inside a little circle. You can't be off. At all. Adding major frustration to this is the unbelievable amount of lag, which requires you to press that button to get that little dot in that little circle about a full second before it's actually there.

The Boss Fights themselves - They're long, boring, repetitive, and unnecessarily difficult.

Hero Mode - A daring concept, but it falls flat. The story makes no sense (at least not to DBZ fans). Your character starts the story maybe 1/5 as strong as characters already in the game. It tries to even it out a little bit by making your enemies just above your level, but later on is where it gets ridiculous. If you lose one Quick Time Event, you'll be out more than half of your health. At this point, the enemy will be able to perform a super attack, which are now impossible to dodge outside of again, Quick Time Events. If they land the attack, you're done.

Characters - In 2007, Budokai Tenkaichi 3 was released for Wii and PS2. If I had any working PS2 controllers, I'd still be playing it. It featured 161 characters total, nearly every main villain (and even sidekicks) from all 13 DBZ movies, and several characters from the GT series. Ultimate Tenkaichi features 41 total. There's the standard characters you'd expect, 3 characters from the 13 DBZ movies, and 2 characters from the GT series. You can see where I'm going.

Brief Summary (1-2 Sentences)
I grew up on Dragonball Z and Dragonball Z games. Taking a look at this game, it could be considered a game strictly for hardcore fans, yet I wouldn't recommend it to even the most hardcore fans.

Game:NBA 2k12

Console: 360/PS3/PC
Developer: 2k
Year Released: 2011
Genre:Sports

Gameplay: Gameplay remains a stellar point in 2k games. While it does take some getting used to the animations feel less inhibitive this year, and the post game has improved drastically. They also added escape shots, and emphasized the shimmy and stop pop that Olajuwon and Jordan made popular. Either way, it's an improvement over 11, and remains the class of sports games

Graphics & Audio: Graphics are amazing, and almost otherworldly at times. The cut sequences are amazing, and video packages may get stale after playing 40 or so games, have enough variety that you don't much notice. Audio I'll put towards the commentary and soundtrack. The commentary in this game is the envy of the sports gaming world. Dynamic, event-specific commentary is provided by Kevin Harlan, Clark Kellogg and Steve Kerr, it feels like a real back and forth, and there will be interruptions and backtracking. If you play too many games in a row, there are the usual recycled lines, but they are few and far enough in between that it's bearable. Not a lot of dead space during games. The soundtrack is decent. It's not a shining one like last years, or 2k10, but it's not terrible either.


Story: make your own, but My Player is fantastic in giving you things to imagine, with multiple magazine covers, billboards, all-star votes, popularity tracking, etc.

Pros:An overall fantastic game and has proven once again to be the epitome of sports game design.

Cons: A few hiccups here and there. In Association modes teams will still make puzzling trades(they do in real life too though I suppose) Teammates can still be frustrating, and in general driving the lane is a chore and a half. But it doesn't ruin the game.

Summary: Only the second game in my history of reviewing games that will get a 10/10. While there is room for improvement, All of the modes offered are deep and engaging, and it has an interactive tutorial for newbs. It's both beginner and pro friendly.

Game: Batman: Arkham City

Console: PS360
Developer: Rocksteady Studios
Year Released: 2011
Genre: Action/adventure

Gameplay: Gameplay in Arkham City remains largely the same as in Arkham Asylum. You will be required to traverse Arkham City (which is much, much larger than Arkham Island from the previous game) to get to where you have to go. However, doing so will require a large amount of stealth, as the city is crawling with criminals just dying to get their hands on Batman. Going by rooftop also isn't necessarily safe, as you will find later on that gunmen will be taking posts, and eventually so will pesky snipers. If you wanna fight, you can also choose to take these foes head on. If you find yourself in a losing situation, you can throw a smoke bomb and make a getaway.

A good portion of the game is spent in a near predator mode, which requires you to pick off enemies one by one without being detected by the other inmates. Other times, you'll find yourself surrounded with only one solution: kick ass. The Freeflow system has been improved since Arkham Asylum, allowing you to fight multiple enemies at once. Among the changes include simultaneous counters, throwing back objects thrown at you, a new combo required to defeat inmates carrying a riot shield, and my personal favorite, the beatdown. By stunning your enemy, you can then punch and punch and punch and punch until finally laying them out with one last final blow, for a good 20X combo. This is required to defeat enemies wearing body armor, but can also be used against anybody else.

Another new feature is the ability to play as Catwoman in her own intertwining story involving Two-Face and Poison Ivy. Catwoman plays much the same as Batman, but instead uses her whip as a primary object. Catwoman's combat is more acrobatics oriented, but she maintains the same basic functions. When in Predator challenges, she can pounce up to the ceiling and take a different approach to taking out her enemies, and can also run right up from behind her enemies and be undetected.

Once you've completed the main story, you'll have plenty to keep you busy. In addition to the side stories, the Riddler Challenges also return, this time at a whopping 400 riddles to solve. Riddler trophies are much harder to collect this time around, due to traps, time limits, and such set by the Riddler, who physically appears this time in his own story.

Graphics & Audio: Arkham City is beautifully disgusting. It's nearly impossible to be unimpressed at just how amazing the city looks. Every area is entirely different from the next, ranging from a standard city Industrial section, to Joker's Funland. The characters themselves look almost human. I'm not sure if I missed it in Arkham Asylum, but here, there's a level of detail that brings out every feature on everything, whether it's person, building, or just a street.

Story: Following the events of Arkham Asylum, Gotham City is left without a suitable prison facility. Quincy Sharp is now mayor of Gotham, taking credit for Batman's success, and setting off a portion of Gotham to hold anyone with the slightest trace of a criminal record, and it is placed in the care of Hugo Strange. If you speak out against him, you're going to Arkham City. Bruce Wayne holds a press conference to announce his opposition to the controversial move. He's arrested.

When inside Arkham City, you'll find yourself being attacked by the Penguin's thugs. After taking them down, you receive your Batsuit and weapons from Alfred via airdrop, where you begin your journey to find out what's going on. With Wayne in custody, Strange prepares for the commencement of the secret Protocol 10. Believing that Joker may know the truth behind Protocol 10, Batman tracks him down. He learns something else, instead. Joker is dying, due to the Titan solution used back at Arkham Asylum slowly eating away at him. Though Batman originally took the cure for Titan, he soon finds himself in the same situation after Joker has some of his blood put into Batman.

And this is just the start.

Pros:
The story - It may seem jumbled and cluttered, but everything manages to flow together. You find yourself on a wild goose chase for a cure which sends you all across Arkham City countless times. Every character you meet has a reason for doing what they're doing.

The characters - While Arkham Asylum was great, their weren't a whole lot of people involved aside from Joker, Bane, etc. In Arkham City, you find yourself facing Joker, Mr. Freeze, the Penguin, Two-Face, Ra's and Talia al Ghul, Clayface, and even Robin makes an appearance. And all of that's just the main story. You'll encounter several other villains in the side missions.

Pretty much everything else - I'd be here too long if I tried to list all that was positive about this game. There's countless things to keep you busy once you completed the story, among them being challenges and Riddler trophies for both Batman and Catwoman and now introducing the New Game Plus mode, which allows you to play through once again while maintaining all your upgrades, trophies, etc. while also presenting a harder game.

While not a specific point, I hardly knew anything about the comics, yet I was still fascinated by the story. Fans of the comics and general game fans alike can enjoy the story. The most you need to know is some of the villains, but they do a great job of introducing them to those who are unfamiliar too.

Cons:
I truly don't know - I'm sure there's something negative about this game, but anything I did find does absolutely nothing to bring down the entire experience. I heard some of the A.R. training simulations are very hard, but I personally haven't tried.

Brief Summary (1-2 Sentences):
Arkham Asylum set a very high standard for a sequel. Arkham City shatters that standard and really can be called one of the best games ever.

Game: Elder Scroll V Skyim
Console: All
Developer: Bethesda
Year Released: 2011
Genre: RPG

Only around 26 hours of gameplay

Gameplay: Overall the gameplay is so much better that in other Elider Scrolls game. The leveling up system has been simplified a bit, but it's actually very fitting for the game, and if you are a casual gamer it really lets you dive into the game earlier. For people that play RPG's all the time it may not be as satisfying, but there is so much to do with the leveling up system that I think you will still like. The overall combat system to me is much easier to use. I know in Oblivion I kind really frustrated a lot, because it just seemed almost impossible to do certain things. This game just makes it a lot easier, and easier to understand. There is more focus on left hand and right hand combat, for example right now I have spells in one hand and my weapon in the other. The opening spells you get help out with the overall gameplay as the Flame spell you just hold down the button and a stream of flame comes out that helps with weakening or destroying the enemies. There is also shouts which work very well.

The story does matter, but heck most of the time you will do everything before you even do the story. For example doing Companion Quests which gives you the ability to turn into a Werewolf, the Mage college quests, and etc, etc. The side quests take time though, actually every quests takes a good amount of time. You never feel cheated with a quest, and nothing is go in and go out within five minutes, quests usually take around 30 minutes to an hour, and you never feel cheated, because each quest ends with something that you feel is worth it. The only thing about the quests is the traveling to destinations. Although you can get a horse, sometimes the map is not clear on where to go, because clouds are usually covering Skyrim. That has been my biggest frustration, you can travel for a good 30 minutes between quests just trying to find the place. Once you find it though you can fast travel, and once you find a lot of the locations this doesn't become so bad, but at the beginning you can get frustrated, especially with all the mountains that you can't cross.

Facing dragons is awesome too. I have faced two, and dying is just as much fun as killing one. There are some animations where it just eats you, and there is a cool animation when you kill one how you just get in top of one, and just slash it. Also there are enemies you know just to stay away from like Giants, and some of the animations of when they are destroying people are awesome, don't get caught up in the greatness though, because you may get blindsided by another giant. There is so much to see in this game, even if you play for a hundred hours you may not see everything, although I have only been playing for 26 hours, I still haven't even done 90 percent of the game. This game is a commitment, but one that you will enjoy.

Graphics & Audio: The graphics are a huge upgrade since Oblivion, it's one of the prettiest games I have ever seen. The character models are very cool, I like that when you talk to these guys now a closeup of their face doesn't happen. That really annoyed me in Oblivion. The character models looks so much better, and not so fake. When you see a dragon you are agasp by the greatness of the beast, when you are walking around from town to town the world just looks awespiring, and when you see a Giant you are scared, because you think it's going to hammer you to death. This is a living and breathing world, and you feel like you are growing with it. The animals looks real, and there are a plethora of them hopping and running around, you may actually feel bad when you kill a deer or a bunny, because it looks so real. If you are a graphic whore, this game is for you, there is not much where you will go that looks like crap. This game is a walking moving world, and it's just awesome.

The audio is good, but nothing that really sticks out. The soundtrack is cool when you are in battles, and it makes it feel really epic. The voice acting is good, but when you are walking around the world going from place to place, there is really nothing to brag about. You hear the sounds of the lakes and rivers, the rain coming down, animals calling out, etc, I think they could have done more with the audio, but then when you hear a dragon yelling at you, you jump out of your seat. There have been a couple of places where everything is quiet, and then BOOM something happens that just knocks the breath out of you, and you are like holy cow!!!! The audio maybe the weakest part of the game, but it's still pretty damn awesome.


Story: Ah I really couldn't tell you very much, because I started the main quest, and then started doing all the side quests, which is really what a lot of people will do, but you are a Dragon Born at the beginning of the game you help some guys defeat a Dragon, and they realize you are a dragon born, from there I started doing the Companion Quests and now the Mage quests. There are three acts, and I would say probably about 50 hours of gameplay just in the main story and another 100 in the side quests.

Pros: Just everything is really awesome, and this is a huge upgrade over Oblivion. The simplified system is great for beginners, but I don't think the RPG enthusiasts will be disappointed. You can really shape your character anyway you want, and there are no pre-determined classes like Assassin, Warrior, etc, you can customize your skills towards those classes though as of right now I am making a Swordsspell. You can increase as many attributes as you want, but really you want to concentrate on the class you are trying to become, for example I am working on destruction magic and one handed skill, and light armor. You can still use all the other skills, but not to great adeptness. Plus the lock pick system goes back to the old Fallout series.

The graphics are top notch, the quests are top notch, and you really feeling like you accomplish something when you complete a quest. You can basically do anything you want, and if you want to go and kill everyone you are more than welcome to try. I am sure someone out there is trying to kill everyone in the world so you're the only person in the world.

Cons: The sound isn't the greatest, it does lag at times, there are glitches that I really haven't come across. The big negative, especially at the beginning of the game is traveling to different quests. You are not going from town to town completing quests you are going across the Skyrim realm to complete quests. Once you discover locations this is not as bad, but at the beginning when you are in one city, and the place of your next quest is across the world, and plus the map is a living map, so if there are clouds over your map you can not see a direct path to your destination.

Brief Summary: 26 hours in, and just an excellent excellent game. I can see myself finishing this game, and I have ADD with games, just so much to do, and it's made for casual gamers as well as expert RPG gamers. This game is the NBA 2K12, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, and Halo of RPG games, if you are an RPG gamer this is the game for you, and it could finally dethrone FInal Fantasy VII as the RPG game to have!

9/10

If you want more info on this game, check out the thread in the forums you can find out everything you need to know there!

Game: Halo 4

Console: Xbox 360
Developer: 343 Studios
Year Released: 2012
Genre: FPS

Gameplay: Halo 4 feels just enough like a Halo game to not incite a riot. At the same time, however, there are subtle differences that make me question whether I'm playing a Halo game or whether I've bled into Battlefield or Call of Duty territory. Immediately upon starting the game I noticed that the aiming and player movement speeds were altered. Everything is quicker and after ten years of Halo fragging, the difference was enough to make the game feel foreign for me in the beginning. It was also more difficult to lock in on enemies when scoping with weapons, although this is something that steadily improves with obvious adjustments. Campaign hi jinx are fairly standard for the Chief. Mission structure focused heavily on action in lieu of a more balanced approach that Bungie employed. On the multiplayer side of things, I can't help but the shake the feeling that this was influenced too much by the Call of Duty crowd. The addition of the Mantis, which is Halo's take on the Lost Planet Vital Suit, adds new flair to the mutliplayer but also detracts from the experience. It just doesn't feel like Halo. Vehicles were always a part of Halo but, to me, always seemed to be more supplemental to the weapons, grenade, and melee combat. In Halo 4, if you're not in a vehicle prepare to be bombarded on all sides. Shoddy spawning, the worst out of any Halo game I can remember, always seems to plant me in front of a hostile vehicle bearing down right on my spawn point. It's amazingly frustrating how much this feels like Call of Duty to me. This isn't just some empty label I'm throwing at the game either. The "Halo Pace" no longer exists. The game also provides the ability to customize several loadouts with various armor abilities and Halo's version of perks.

Graphics & Audio: Graphically this game is far superior to any Halo game released and is near the top of any game this generation. Once I started up the campaign I was in awe of the draw distance and overall polish everything had. Master Chief has never looked better and the environments are superbly done. The score didn't feel as strong as in the past but it certainly wasn't lackluster. It did what it needed to do but I didn't find myself as in-tune with the music as in years past.

Story: The weakest part of the game was the story. The game begins with Master Chief awakening after hurtling through space for four years. Cortana informs you that she's beginning to deteriorate, adding that she's apparently outlived what an AI is supposed attain in age. Where this falls flat from the very beginning is: I don't remember this ever being broached in past games. Perhaps I've forgotten as it's been quite a journey over the past ten years. But for this to randomly pop up just felt empty. After slumbering in space for years, Chief lands and makes contact with ancient Forerunner enemies called Prometheans. The journey to save Cortana is the main plot thread and the action sequences are fun, but just don't seem to facilitate anything to drive the story home. The ending, both in terms of story and gameplay, fell crazily flat and is among the most disappointing endings to a game I've experienced. Totaling just under five hours, Halo 4 is shockingly short and left so much to be desired. I understand that this is 343's way of getting their feet wet, but I was astronomically underwhelmed by their rookie outing.

Pros: Amazing visuals, voice acting is superb as expected from Halo, action packed campaign delivers plenty of thrilling moments, Spartan Ops provides a unique and fun addition that provides an entertaining change of pace.

Cons: Story lacks anything of substance and left much to be desired with a disappointing cliffhanger ending, multiplayer feels like a combination of Call of Duty and Battlefield and less like Halo, multiplayer maps are among the worst in Halo's historic past.

Brief Summary: Halo 4 felt less like the next iteration in the Halo series and more like Call of Duty painted with flashy Master Chief colors. While not terrible and probably worth a playthrough for most, as a Halo veteran from the beginning I feel a sense of dismay every time I boot up a multiplayer match.