Goddamn it Capcom, this could of been such an awesome game, but you had to go and put in all these QTE events, dumb Gears of War combat style, boring vehicle combat, and making Resident Evil more and more into an action adventure. Its such a shame, the good parts of the game are so great that to let the bad part drag down the whole thing can make a sad panda even sadder.

I would of been satisfied if the whole game was like chapter 1 and 2 of Leon’s campaign. The mood and atmosphere was perfect, an infected small town, with an underground secret lab, mask has a catacomb to a church. That sounded familiar, ahhhh… nostalgia. Anyway, its not that the other chapter were bad, they just felt too fast, that you barely have time to absorb anything before the next huge explosion or event happens. There’s just nothing special about these chapters that makes it feel Resident Evilish, the enemies don’t feel threatening, the environment aren’t very scary, they just looked and felt like any other action game.

I do give Capcom some credit for introducing newer characters that are actually very likable. The three new characters, plus a much older and fuller Sherry are fun to play and bring more story-lines for future RE games. The A.I. is pretty handy at times, they attack the right target and can also do special moves when the times call for it. Each chapter and character story-line does take advantage of the partner system effectively.

The combat is the same old system you remember from RE4 and 5. For whatever reason you still can’t run and shoot at the same time, even though they added recoil to all weapons. Ammo is sparse throughout the level, but not so that you are forced to run through all the enemies. You do get into a lot of fire-fights with weapon wielding enemies, which I for one am not a fan of, like I said, if the whole game was lie chapter 1 and 2 of Leon’s campaign, they game would of been a lot better.

Now lets talk of the QTE, I hope Capcom really think about why they decided this game needed so many QTE moments. It makes these moments feel disconnected from the rest of the game. Where other parts of the game makes you feel you are actually doing something, the QTE parts makes you feel like your doing all these events with trial and error and no skill involved. Other questionable gameplay mechanics are the vehicle chases, did they actually play test these parts? You would think these would be the most action packed, but with a lacked of enemies, all you are doing is holding down the forward and acceleration button while you chasing the target with QTE thrown in to make it even more frustrating.

I still would recommend anyone to get this game, if just for more stories involving the RE cast. It still has great boss fights and an fun story line. I hope in future installments Capcom realize that not everything has to be so action packed to make a great game, some of the best parts of they game were the more moody, sneaky, and darker parts that were in the first few chapters of the game.

What a buggy mess. Game crashes after an hour, unresponsive controls. Just plain needs a whole lot more work, especially charging $35 dollars for it. Good voice acting during cut scene, can’t say the same for the in-game though, sounds like an auto-messaging call center.

Hey I would say more about this game, if it actually let me play for more than an hour before crashing. Avoid Avoid Avoid!!!

I hope this is where Japanese Role Playing games are finally headed towards. No more random battles, no more childish dialogues, no more linear progression, and no more prefabricated characters that all look the same, with hairstyles and clothing that makes you wonder which gender they belong with. Let me decide on how my character will look, let me select which quest i want to do, and how i want to progress through the game. Have the game world be open and dynamic, populated with hidden areas that I can discover myself, difficult bosses that will either test my abilities or make me think twice about confronting.

Finally it seems that Japanese developers have embrace what western developers have been doing for decades now. Dragon’s Dogma takes a little bit from other open world RPGs, and adds a heavy dose of getting your ass kicked over and over again. Don’t be detoured, yes, the first 8 hours of the game will make you pull hair out, and maybe even a sore throat, but after you master the fluid combat system and open nature of gameplay, you will be kicking ass and moving along in steady progression through the story.

The story of Dragon’s Dogma is told through cut-scenes and in-game dialogue, your ultimate goal if you haven’t figure out by reading the title and looking at the box-art, is to kill a red dragon. That is where your main character comes in, once you have customized your character looks, your new pal will have his heart torn out by the dragon. Fear not! He is the Arisen, the one chosen to kill the evil dragon and hundreds of evil minions along the way, including: Goblins, Harpies, Skeletons, Necromancers, Zombies! (wouldn’t be a Capcom game without zombies), has will has tons of mythical beasts from every other fantasy game/novel ever created.

You can choose from three base class to advance your character: Fighter, Mage, or Ranger, once you have reach a certain point in the game, more options are available, such as a more powerful Warrior, or a hybrid like a Mystic-Knight that employs magic with regular hack and slash attacks.

Combat with normal enemies are pretty straight forward, just slash at them till their dead, or blast them with elemental magic from behind. The fun of doing that over and over gain would make this a pretty repetitive game, so to break up the monotonous combat, there are enemies and bosses that are twice your size, and require you to hit them with a specific spell or area of their body. For example, a troll whose only weak spot is its head, but you ask, how do i get to a trolls head if its twice as tall as me? Will, you climb, yes, this game allows you to climb an enemy and attack it on any part of its body that you can’t reach, invest in some stamina potions, and you can pretty much stay on an enemy till it starts crumbling on to the ground. You are not expected to fight all this by yourself, you will have help from your allies who are called Pawns.

Now a Pawn, along with being a valuable ally and asset, it is also a way to share your game with others. Each player creates their main Pawn between the same class options available to your main character. This Pawn stays with you through out the game, it can be customized, adorned with new gear, and each time a quest or event is completed, the pawn learns and will remember the objective done and enemies fought. This Pawn is then added to the Pawn Community where all players connected to the network can access. Each player is allowed two additional Pawns along with their main Pawn, and since each Pawn has a different experience with in the game, their combat and experience differ. So if you haven’t done a quest yet, but the Pawn you added has, it will lead you to the quest destination and have better knowledge of the enemies and quest objectives.

Your main Pawn has the ability to level along with you, however, the Pawns you hire do not, so you are forced to search for newer Pawns as you progress, making each one a newer experience with their different powers and demeanor that their creators have chosen for them. To further create a sense of interaction among players, once you dismiss a hired Pawn, you can give the Pawn a gift to return to the original creator. Once i received a full set of clothing upgrades for my Pawn. You can give remarks to the Pawns appearance, battle capabilities and helpfulness, so if you think a Pawn is ugly, go ahead and tell the creator and maybe he will feel guilty enough to change its appearance.

The world of Dragon’s Dogma is enormous, days into the game and you may find yourself only having explore 1/4th of the map. There are hidden caves and quests throughout the game world. The story progress if you want it to, or you can just run and around and explore till every part of the map is uncovered. It does required you to take a commitment and toughen up a little through the first few hours of the game, where dying over and over again can make you feel frustrated and quit. However, after you smash your way through, you will find a game that you will have endless hours of fun.

This game is awesome!

• Voice acting - awesome
• Shoot outs - awesome
• Explosions  - MAX awesome
• Story – awesome
• No storyboard cut scenes – not that awesome, but i can live with it
• James McCaffrey – Why are you so awesome?

There is a lot of good things about this game, the graphics are crazy good, great textures and the level designs are the first things you will notice. The music and sound affects creates an atmosphere of suspense with every step you take. Playing as a single sniper when facing off with five to eight enemies at a time makes the since of achievement after each battle that more satisfying. The physics when shooting your rifle takes in to account wind direction, distance to target, and trajectory of your bullet. The joy of hitting a target with just the scope is a feeling you will never get tire of.

With all the immersive elements this game present, you would of think they get the clipping better, invisible walls are everywhere in this game, especially when going around corner, or when crawling on the ground. It makes trying to sneak closer to a target really hard. Also, enough with random spawns, when you go over the whole battlefield with your scope to make sure the area is clear, but then move a few feet closer to your destination, and four random enemies start to shoot at you, that would piss any gamer off.

The A.I. is really good, it reacts realistically to fallen comrades, shadows, and sounds. You will have to figure out ways to either bypass them or time your shots with the environment, such has a loud explosion. Once the A.I. know where you are, they will advance towards your position with covering fire and hiding behind objects. Which brings me to one thing I wish they included, being able to shoot through solid objects, like cars. You would think, if you can shoot through solid bones and guns, you could shoot through a car door.

The main feature of this game is obviously the slow-mo bullet time that shows every detail of your bullet trajectory, as it travels though the air, annihilating the eye, skull, or bones as it makes contact. Shredding though internal intestines, sometime exiting and continuing to a second target, those are the things you will never get tire of. Yes, its gruesome, but hey, that is why you’re playing this game isn’t it.

A few notes:

- I feel really dumb raising my arm sky high to do a Skyward Strike
- Boss fights are really fun
- Flying around and the different islands reminds me of Skies of Arcadia
- I still prefer Twilight Princess graphics and art direction
- Dungeons are fun, but trying to get into them are tedious
- I’m still not going to get off my chair, nor do I want to when playing a video game
- Enemy A.I is really good
- Controls are hit and miss, sometimes it works out great…
- …And other times it feels unresponsive. Side attack dammit!!!

Progress has been slow but after a month (mostly weekend gaming) of slow trial and horrible, demoralizing errors. I am 60% of the way done? I think, this game is so massive. Current stats and boss downs:

Dark Souls maybe taking a back seat to Skyrim, not to mention Skyward Sword, Assassin’s Creed Revelations ,and finally my PC version of Batman Arkham City is finally being released. Busy month people and a wallet killer, but so so worth it.

Also, I finished Uncharted 3 last Friday, only took 10 hours, fun game play though, same great storyline. Aiming was a bitch, I hate aiming with the controller.

Bought Stronghold 3, feels like Stronghold 2, but they updated the graphics, added some neat stuff like weather, and when you kill a enemy as their trying to climb a hill, they row back down the hill.

When a game advertises itself as difficult and unforgiven, you don’t give it too much thought about it these days. Games today are not difficult, they don’t challenge you, they don’t make you cry like a little bitch after you die from an encounter you successfully done twenty times before. Will you better, because this game does, and it does it in the most excruciating and addictive way possible. Is like you know you shouldn’t be spending five hours in an area trying to kill one boss, or get through one obstacle, but you do it anyway. This is like drug addiction, but much worse, at least with drugs, the highs aren’t separated by 20 straight lows as your trying to figure out what the hell went wrong, and how to do it strategically right next time. (note: dont do drugs kids, it is bad for you).

The story is about…. Okay, so I haven’t exactly gotten very far along in the story  yet, like I said, hours and hours of failing, has convince me that I will be spending hours and hours more trying to completed this game. What I got so far is your an undead, not an zombie, an undead. Zombies are just mindless shells, going around trying to eat anything they can. Undead, are normal dead people who can still talk and function, but are just dead-ish. Your trying to reclaim your soul and humanity in this unforgiving land. Now in order to do this, you kill other undead, dragons, and yes, zombies, to claim their souls, and level yourself up. Believe me, you will be killing plenty, grinding out souls and leveling up is a major part of this game. Hours and days will be consumed, just to reach the next level, and increase your stats by a smidge.

The environment is open ended, you can travel from top to bottom, from the highest peaks of an castle, to the lowest reaches of a catacomb. As long as your strong enough level wise to kill the enemies that pop-up. If you can not, it suggests that you need to go back and level up some more. Which brings me to how lost and confuse you will be getting, trying to figure out where your suppose to go. The only way to actually know is…, will you wont know, if you can kill the enemies easily, then your going the right way. Making the game so open-ended, with no direction does two things. One, it makes the world feel huge, I swear with all the hours I played so far, it does not even feel like I scratch the surface. Two, you wont know your screwed till your screwed. You will be constantly asking yourself, can I defeat this guy or get through this area, should I go back and save. Its a trial and error game play mechanic, either you will love or hate.

Game play is basically a third-person combat mechanic, you can choose from an array of weapons and items. Your character can use a shield on one hand and a sword on the other, or go two-handed combat. You can even dual-wield weapons. Bonfires can be found throughout the game, they can be used to heal, level-up, and a whole bunch of other things. Bonfire also will reset all minor enemies once you use one, that way you can farm more souls to level up. You will also find merchants and blacksmiths, to buy items and upgrade your armor and weapons. There is also an online element to this game, I have not try it out yet, but it seems like you can get people to team up with you to progress further in the game.

You will be fighting at most 4 enemies at a time, which is a good thing. Enemies in this game, including the regular one, are not push overs. The A.I. will male you weep if you are not careful. Enemies can counter and block your attacks, and the game likes to combine close combat mobs with range mobs. If your enemy as a shield, be ready for a long battle. The bosses in this game are brutal. Everyone of them seems like their 3 times your size, and can most likely destroy you in 3 – 4 hits. Like I said trial and error, you wont defeat any new bosses on your first try. It all comes down to learning their attack, and developing your own tactics to counter it.

Controls are a bit mixed, moving your character is pretty straight forward and easy to do. The fighting though can be a pain in the butt, the first action you take is almost instantaneous, however, there is a delay on any additional actions you take. So you do have to be careful at which buttons you hit, or it will ruin your entire tactic. The camera and lock-on system can and will kill you sometimes, especially when you on a narrow ledge, and the camera decides to spasm out as your trying to back up, and lock-on to an enemy simultaneously.

Dark Souls is not for anyone, I don’t even know if I can finish this game. there is something to be said for making a games this difficult in a generation where games are created with very little challenge to them. It will turn a bunch of people off for its non-linear story progression, and difficult boss encounters. If you like a real long and challenging game, where you have to develop tactics and think about everything you do, then Dark souls is a game for you.

RAGE VIDEO GAME

I did not think a FPS with RPG/GTA style quests and story could work, I am glad I was wrong. The story is pretty standard, but the characters you interact with, and the world that they inhabit are unique. Yes, it does take several elements from other FPS and RPG, like the crazy character design from BioShock, to the apocalyptic world of Fallout. Its all over the place but very well together, so the best of all these games are represented in one package.

You must of seen the videos on YouTube, or all those game sites. Big asteroid hits Earth, a few lucky souls are picked to be put under stasis so human-kind lives on. You wake up in a world full of mutants, psychos, and people dress like its 1875. Technology has in some ways advanced, but the designs look rustic, and take a page from old western to 70′s punk. You wonder from town to town looking for work, either from strangers or bulletin boards. The main story is driven like most RPG, you complete one quest, and the quest giver sent you off to another area to get more quests. Eventually everything leads to climatic end as in most FPS, but being a hybrid, you can finish side quest, and mini-games are strung throughout the world, making the lasting factor even better, and making people looking forward to DLC add-ons.

The world is open ended, you can wonder around freely, killing marauders or bandits to earn credit to upgrade your death-mobile or weapons. The environment ranges from old style rugged western towns, made from debris of what was left from the former world. The earth that you left behind can be seen everywhere, from the destroyed highway system and ruin high-tech cities. Let just say the environment is going to make you take a few seconds to admire before you go back to killing. There is a lot of back tracking though, many quests takes place in the same location, and invisible walls block your path, making the level design very one directional.

Quests usually involves find item, or destroy item. The game does throw a few different twists and turns, but for a FPS, the gameplay will mostly hinges on killing as many enemies you can, the A.I. likes to throw 5-6 enemies at you at a time. Enemies range from lightly armor marauders and bandits, to heavy armor army like personals. Mutants do not have weapons, but are fast and come in larger packs. I like these quests a lot more, The A.I. doesn’t just sit back, but comes straight at you, a bit of Left 4 Dead feel when you on one of these quests.

Character animation gets a big thumb up, every time a character move or talk was pretty mind-blowing. Though NPC in towns are pretty scarce, you will get familiar with them after a few quests. Enemies react to your shots with amazing life-like animation, if you shoot them either to the left or right, they stagger towards the direction of the womb. A hand shot makes them drop their weapons, and a leg or food shot throws them to the floor in pain. While the enemy A.I. does do things like duck and retreat like any good A.I. should, I found sometimes, they will just be standing their waiting for you to take the first shot before realizing you were there, even if their in the same room has their buddies who were getting destroyed. The A.I. is not prefect and does take some of the realism during gun fights away, it doesn’t hinder the action that much.

Weapon ranges from your typical FPS: handguns, shotguns, and rifles. Throw in a few weapons like sentries and crossbow, and your basic arsenals are present for you to go to town with. Customizable ammo types for each gun, different ammo does more damage to different enemies. Your death-mobile can be customized with armor and shields, you can add rail guns, rocket launchers, or mines to make you car into a tank, okay, maybe not a tank, but close enough to one. Your vehicle comes with different preset pain jobs, no customizable looks as of yet, which is a shame, but if you have the PC version, someone will probably come up with a mod for it.

With all the things you can customize, it is too bad you can customize your own personnel armor. You can grab power-ups to increase armor rating and maximum health, but really no abilities to make your armor look cooler. Your somewhat just stuck with a preset look, now you might be asking yourself, why on earth would that matter in a FPS, will it does, that is why! In all seriousness I wish I could of added more clothing to what I had on throughout the game, I demand a cowboy hat with a long coat skin.

Rage is an adventure/action game, first person shooter, and a role playing game all wrap up into a pretty package, minor grievances aside, this game is made for people who want Fallout style levels and environment, with elements gear toward more action. With so many different elements combined, you should be able to find one that you like.

Men, do not cheat on your girl. If you do, your an asshole, and if Atlus had it its way, all cheating men would be turned into sheep and made to solve climbing puzzles every time they fall asleep. That is the plot and gameplay for Catherine, a fun but ridiculously frustrating game. Vincent is the poor main character who is stuck between two girls, a long time girlfriend name Katherine, and a new hot new flame name Catherine.

Vincent trying to juggle between both women, while stuck in a nightly nightmare, where he is forced to climb to the top before the stage falls around him, killing him in the process.. In between stages, Vincent spends time between the real world, and staging areas for other cheating sheep stuck in the same horror. He makes choices on question that eventually affects the outcome and ending of the game. The online feature is basically a morality poll on if your someone who is ready for marriage or just looking for a good time, the results are shown as a pie chart.

The puzzle stages are tricky and very hard even on normal, first you’re fighting the time limit, and then you have gimmicks on every stage, such as blocks you can not move, to blocks that make you slide around uncontrollably. The boss stages are unbelievably  frustrating, not only do boss stages move faster, the bosses themselves have special attacks that make the climbing and solving puzzle almost impossible. It feels most of time you’re not solving the puzzle, rather with a combination of luck and memorization, because you are going to redo these stages over and over again.

I suggests you rent this game first before you buy, if you’re still playing after the 2nd stage, then your one of those who love punishment, and make no mistake this game will punish you, but hey at least you have some nice anime cuteness and animations.