Review: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

            The latest entry in the popular Mission Impossible franchise has recently arrived in theatres.  Now I’ll admit that the reason I rushed out and saw the film on opening night was to see the opening for The Dark Knight Rises.  The more important topic however, is whether or not the film is worth seeing based on its own merits alone.

           

Ghost Protocol continues the story of secret agent Ethan Hunt, who is played by Tom Cruise.  Ethan works for a spy agency employed by the United States government called the IMF (Impossible Mission Force).  When we first meet Ethan in this film he is being held in a Russian prison for murder.  A pair of IMF agents consisting of Jane Carter (played by Paula Patton) and Benji Dunn (played by Simon Pegg), bust Ethan out of his prison in order to gain his help in tracking down an assassin who killed one of their team members.  While infiltrating The Kremlin, which is the Russian equivalent of the White House, in order to gather information on the assassin, the guards are alerted by another party of Ethan’s team.  When Ethan and the others are escaping The Kremlin it blows up and he and his new team are framed for it.  Because of this incident the IMF is forced to disband and Ethan and his team, with the help of William Brant (Jeremy Renner), who gets lumped in to the mission due to a case of wrong place wrong time, must find out who is really responsible for blowing up The Kremlin without any help from the agency and stop Russia from going to war with the United States.

            While it is an action movie, it makes sure to take time out to slow things down work out a solid story and get the viewer to become interested in the characters.  A lot of action movies like to just throw one mindless fight after another at the viewer in an attempt to get keep them entertained but they do this at the expense of any connection to the story or characters.  Like a good film it builds up to action scenes using a combination of humours and dramatic ones.  Benji handles most of the comic relief in the film thanks to the fact that he is new to being a field agent and so is slightly careless at times.  Jane handles the emotional side of things since she is still struggling with the loss of her partner and is trying to get revenge for his death.  The best scenes in the movie however, aren’t these; the best scenes are the ones that feature the film’s incredible stunts.  The scene where Ethan must climb up part of the enormous Burj Dubai and then get back down might be the most impressive stunt I’ve seen all year.  Stunts like that coupled with the great action scenes involving car chases, fist fights and shoot outs makes it as exhilarating as any mindless action flick.

          The performances for all the central characters are done well enough.  Tom Cruise obviously gives the best performance and makes Ethan a strong, smart and engaging character.  I have to say that it is really impressive that even though he is almost 50 years old you never doubt that his character can handle whatever situation is thrown at him.  Paula Patton gives a good performance and creates a strong female character that is useful for more than just eye candy.  Simon Pegg does a fine job as a supporting character and is quite charming in his role as the anxious newbie.  Jeremy Renner, while a supporting character, did a great job and was the most memorable out of everyone with the exception of Cruise. 

            Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is a fun ride with a good cast and strong set of characters.  The stunts are terrific and the action is intense.  If you’re looking for a great movie to go see with some family and friends to kick off the New Year this is worth checking out, even without The Dark Knight Rises opening attached.

              Score: 3/5

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Weekly Wrap Up: Dec. 26

DMC Trailers

            I’ll be the first to admit that I was pissed when I found out that Devil May Cry was being rebooted.  Not just for the reason that most fans tend to bring up, which is the fact that Dante’s appearance has been changed quite a bit (although it does bother me), no I was pissed because I’m still trying to figure out what happened after Dante drove into Hell at the end of Devil May Cry 2.  Despite the fact that I would rather have Devil May Cry 5, DMC is looking really good.  The game takes place in a city called Limbo; Devil May Cry fans won’t be familiar with it since this game is set in a separate universe from the rest.  Limbo looks amazing the lighting and colourful visuals throughout bring a lot of life to the city.  There are also parts where the city will reshape itself around Dante which can lead to new routes but also block existing ones.  The trailers also show off the use of a chain to bring enemies closer, which is a welcome addition sense it allows for easier combos by bringing all the enemies up close instead of running after them.  I may not have initially been excited for DMC but after seeing more of the game it will definitely be one of the action games I keep an eye on next year.  You can watch two gameplay trailers below.

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/719317/dmc-devil-may-cry-footage-features-a-giant-broken-chain/

http://www.gamespot.com/dmc/videos/dmc-gameplay-trailer-6347302

Fenix Rising

            Epic has announced their third paid DLC release for Gears of War 3, which will be released on January 17^th.  It is called “Fenix Rising” and is another multiplayer map pack.  They have released a free map pack already but like I said you will have to pay for this one.  The add-on will cost 800MSP and includes 5 new maps for use in Verses, Beast and Horde modes, 4 new character skins and the addition of Re-Up.  Re-Up allows players who have reached level 100 to start back at 1 and unlock new weapon skins, so basically Prestige mode from Call of Duty.  While I enjoy Gears of War’s multiplayer a lot I’m not a big fan of map packs and I’m in no need of adding new ranks to the game.  On that note I would like to know why they don’t allow players to reach level 200, but instead make them reach level 100 a second time, I’m I the only one who finds that strange?

SSX delayed

            SSX was planned to be released on February 14 but now fans will have to wait until February 28!  I always used to find it unnecessary when a studio delayed a game by a week or two for “polish” but now after so many recent games coming out with bugs and parts missing so that they can either be fixed after the fact through updates or released later as DLC, I’m glad to see a company wait to iron out some last minute kinks.  I’ve never played an SSX game before but the new one looks like a lot of fun.

Prequels coming to theatres soon?

            This week saw the unveiling of the first trailers for two of next year’s biggest films: The Hobbit & Prometheus.  The Hobbit has been a long time coming for any fans of the Lord of the Rings series, and now they finally have a trailer so they can see how their beloved tale has been adapted.  I thought the trailer was great and I’m looking forward to seeing more before the film is released.  The question in this sub-heading is because as far as I know Prometheus has yet to be confirmed as a prequel to Aliens and so it could be an unrelated film.  I liked the trailer but I have to say that the title forming in the middle of the screen the whole time was really distracting, so I had to watch it more than once to see what was going on.

The Hobbit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=JTSoD4BBCJc

Prometheus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sftuxbvGwiU

 Marvel Heroes

            I remember back when the Xbox 360 was coming out I bought this magazine that was devoted to all the games that were planned for system over the next few years.  One of them that I was extremely excited about was a Marvel MMO.  I hadn’t heard much of it sense but apparently it was supposed to be designed by Cryptic Studios (City of Heroes/Villains) but it was cancelled.  Now it is back under the new name of Marvel Heroes and will now be developed by Gazillion Entertainment (Marvel Super Hero Squad Online).  The change in developer has caused me to lose a lot of faith in this game and if it hopes to stand any sort of chance it will have to be free-to-play form the start in order to get people into the game.  Otherwise I don’t see it standing a chance against DC Universe Online, which went free-to-play last month.  Also I would like to point out that the game appears to be a PC exclusive now.  

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HD Remakes

There has been a sudden revitalization of a lot of series taking place in the game industry the past few years.  For the most part it is great to see long desired sequels like Diablo 3 finally coming to fruition but along with the idea to follow up on games that fans love is the idea to cash in on the exact same thing once again by slapping HD on the end of the title.  These are called “HD remakes”.

Basically what an HD remake usually entails is upping the resolution and tweaking the graphics so the character models are smoother and the levels have more detail.  They can be a good step-up from the original versions but for many of them they do look fairly similar.  None of them look like they were made for this generation of consoles (excluding the Wii of course).  Developers also increase the frame-rate in some cases so that the game runs better.  At first these were being used as a way to increase awareness for an upcoming release.  For instance when God of War 3 was coming out Sony released an HD collection that featured the first two God of War games in HD for $40 to get new people into the series and maybe get some fans to repurchase the games.  This is no longer the case, now many companies just see it as an easy opportunity to make some money.  One of my problems with this is that it takes time to convert the games into HD but they don’t need to.  The games from last generation are still playable.  They don’t look good by today’s standard, but they aren’t hard to look at and understand either.  When I look at something from the PS1 or N64 there are objects that are hard to make out and people look weird but that isn’t really an issue with something like God of War 1.  Plus it isn’t a total remake so what’s the point in repurchasing?

This leads to another issue.  If the graphical upgrades aren’t needed then why do we have to pay so much for these games and make such a big deal about them when we could just purchase the games on PSN or Xbox Live for less.  Both Xbox Live and the PSN have older games for purchase, so why release certain ones in stores and others online.  In fact Sony spends so much time talking about HD remakes I didn’t know that you could buy PS2 games on PSN until this week when I searched around on Google.  They should just put the majority of their respective libraries (not all because some companies have closed and can’t put them up and some might not want to) online for $15 (like an arcade game) and give package deals for $30, which shaves 25% off the price tag right there.  It also allows people to get specific games in a series they might have missed instead of forcing them to buy the whole series.  Not to mention that it would give gamers the chance to pick up games they missed for a fairly good price when you consider that the games won’t be damaged and they won’t have to rely on some guy online to send them the right thing.  There are so many great games that go overlooked and if Sony and Microsoft did this and spent time advertising it, maybe some of those games could finally get the recognition they deserve.  So while I appreciate the fact that HD remakes are keeping certain games alive, instead of allowing everyone to just move on and forget about them, it shouldn’t be limited to just the big games from successful companies that don’t need the extra cash.  Another bonus is that it won’t be putting new games in direct competition on shelves with classics.  The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection was billed as one of Sony’s biggest games this fall which isn’t fair for new games coming out for that console, because their developers have put way more time and money into new products to have the sales taken away by re-releases of classics.

  We used to get remakes of classic games ported over to the handhelds so that we would have something good to play on them like all of the Final Fantasy ports.  Now we port PS2 games to the PS3.  The PS3 has quality games and the teams should focus on them instead of going for the easy money with these HD remakes.  Plus for the record the 60GB PS3 that came out at launch can play every PS2 game and as I wrote above you don’t need them to be in HD to thoroughly enjoy them.  The 80GB model which I have (this too is a launch model) can play most PS2 games like God of War and FFX (both of which have been decided to be put in HD).  The reason the new models can’t is because Sony wanted you to focus on the PS3 games, so they striped a feature out and are trying to get you to buy it back one game at a time, which to be honest is BS.  If you are going to remake a game that has a large fan base and try to get people to buy it again, at least do it justice and give them a real reason for picking it back up. Look at 343 industries and the Halo: CE Anniversary game.  They didn’t redesign the game (which they probably should have since I prefer Halo 2, but then it would have been full priced), but they gave it a new graphical coat so that it looks like it belongs on the 360 (mind you an early 360 game, but a 360 game none the less) and let you flip back and forth between the new and original look on the fly.  It also comes with bonus maps based on classic Halo 1&2 maps to be included in Reach so you get more than just the game.  If Sony wants to cash in on its classic franchises just remake FFVII from the ground up to look like FFXIII.  One of my other problems with HD remakes is that it takes up time that the developers should be using to improve the next game they are releasing or to come up with something new.  The Ico & Shadow collection was an entire year of work for a portion of a small company that should have been spent working on The Last Guardian which hasn’t really been seen at all since they announced their HD remake.

            So while I appreciate the idea that we aren’t just moving from one thing to the next, but taking time to look back at some of the great games that brought us to where we are, I think it would be better to just make the majority of the Xbox and PS2 libraries available through Xbox Live and PSN and look back at everything, not just a choose few.  Then they can put the advertising into the service instead of each specific remake.  This would allow people to find and play whatever they want quickly and easily, adding another incentive for those who don’t yet have the consoles by offering two libraries of games instead of one. It also allows new games that smaller companies are making to do better by not competing with established blockbusters in stores. Plus the big companies can focus on making new games that we are all waiting for.  All of that and the fact that the tweaks aren’t necessary is why I have a problem with the HD remakes trend that everyone wants to cash in on. 

For all the latest updates on the blog be sure to follow me on Twitter @Aeonofdoom360  and be sure to let me know what you think in the comments section below, no sign up or registration needed.

Also I originally posted this review on an awesome site that I started writing for called Geekmandem, so to see cool gaming articles from other writers check out their site. 

Weekly Wrap Up: Dec. 20

Kid Icarus: Uprising release date

            One of the first 3DS games to be announced is late to the party but will be here soon.  On March 23 the game will hit store shelves and attempt to help Mario and Zelda keep the 3DS alive.  The game is looking pretty good so far and hopefully it can bring something fresh to the table for Nintendo.  I’m interested in seeing more of the multiplayer and knowing whether or not that will be popular with fans since it seems to play like an action game.

GI Joe: Retaliation trailer

            The first trailer for the new GI Joe movie is out and it looks pretty badass.  Pretty much the entire cast from the first movie is out and the film will now star Dwayne Johnson, who I think is a great action star and who should be able to breathe some life back into this series.  The action will focus more on soldiers with guns as opposed to mini mech suits and Cobra finally has his helmet!  Plus there is an awesome looking ninja battle and Bruce Willis in the same movie, so what more could you want?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSX2oxLdcWA

Alan Wake in Night Springs

            More information about the new Alan Wake game has surfaced.  The game will not be tied to the main storyline of the first one.  It puts Alan inside an episode of Night Springs (a Twilight Zone esque TV show inside the game) that he wrote before the events of the first game.  Alan Wake must try to stop a serial killer named Mr. Scratch who is made out of the same darkness that you fight in the first game and who resembles Alan.  This stand alone game will also feature their take on Horde mode called “Fight till Dawn” in which you must do just that in order to win.

I Am Alive survival trailer

            Another big budget downloadable game on its way has a new trailer focused on how to survive in the game’s devastated city.  You will be unable to stay on the ground for long periods due to all of the dust and so you must either find a gas mask or routinely climb up onto rooftops for fresh air.  The game will also have items lying around that can be given to other people in the city to complete side quests or just to be nice.  It is looking quite interesting so far, but I still want to know what the core story will revolve around, beside survival and adapting, and how you will ultimately win the game.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/16/i-am-alive-trailer-is-worried-about-your-survival/

Monster Mash

            Final Fantasy XIII-2 has a new feature in which you can unlock enemies for use during combat.  The system is rather deep and allows monsters to level up using the Crystarium system like the rest of the characters as well as activating special moves that require precise button presses and the ability to learn new attacks from other monsters collected.  It seems like an interesting addition to the combat that will allow for different pacing and more experimentation in battles.  I’m curious as to the level of difficulty in capturing these enemies and summoning them.  I almost never used summoning in FFXIII because of how long it took to fill the meter, so hopefully these will be a lot easier to use.

New modes for Call of Duty

            In the next few weeks Infinity Ward is set to take a page out of Bungie’s playbook and add gamemodes that were created by fans to playlist so that everyone can experience them.  There isn’t an exact date yet or number of gametypes but for those of you looking to drop even more time in this game any amount of new ways to play for free must be music to your ears.

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Review: Alan Wake

After the recent unveiling of the name and trailer for the next Alan Wake game, titled Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, I decided that now was a pretty good time to post a review about the first game.

            Alan Wake was originally announced at E3 back in 2005.  Back then it was supposed to have an open world for players to explore, however Remedy eventually decided that in order to maintain the story and pacing of the game they had to shrink it down and eliminate the open world element.  That being said the environments in Alan Wake are still fairly large, giving you lots of room to explore as well as great views of the rest of the very detailed world that Remedy designed.

            Alan Wake’s combat system works well and consists of two parts.  The first part is penetrating the darkness that surrounds all of your enemies and the second is destroying them.  In order to rid your enemies of their dark barrier you need light which you get from your flashlight and later on flares.  Once their barrier is gone in order to kill them you need to shoot them with one of your guns which will either be a revolver, shotgun or rifle.  There are multiple enemy types helping to change it up and keep combat fast and intense.  The battles that are the most fun are the ones when you’re totally surrounded and have to franticly switch between weakening some enemies’ barriers and blowing others away.  It gets pretty intense since you will have to constantly dodge and shine light on different opponents to keep away from them yet focus your light and weapons on specific enemies so you can actually finish them off.

            The game’s greatest asset however is the creepy and intense atmosphere that starts the very first time you battle with someone who is possessed by the darkness and stays strong all the way till the end.  I found myself constantly looking around in the trees wondering if I just saw something move in the corner of the screen of if it was just a shadow.  Now just so you know I don’t play many survival horror games, but of the ones I have played this is the one that kept me on the edge of my seat the most.  This brings me to something that I feel needs to be said, you should definitely play this game at night trust me it’s a lot more fun.  Closer to the end enemies and battles can get less scary because you do get better weapons but for me it stayed intense because I was afraid to waste them in case something big came along.

            Alan Wake isn’t without its flaws though.  The games facial models aren’t very good, I mean when you’re playing they’re fine (because they aren’t moving) but in the cutscenes when the characters are talking they just look weird; something about the animation just doesn’t seem right.  This is very strange since everything else in the game was rendered beautifully.  While this is distracting it isn’t anywhere near as bad as the collectibles.  There are four main things that you will be looking for while playing the game which is way too many.  Now I don’t dislike collectibles per say, they are fine in games like Gears of War (Cog Tags) and Halo (Skulls) but four different types is just too many.  The first of these items are the missing pages to Alan’s manuscript which is a part of the story and is just fine, cool even, if you choose to read them.  Then there are the TVs which show cool Twilight Zone inspired shorts.  Next comes the radios which are ok but they do more to distract the player then immerse them even though they discuss stuff happening in the town sometimes.  Lastly are the thermoses which are scattered around for no reason and just totally break immersion and ruin the great tension that the game creates.  I’ll be on my way to try and help someone, or I’ll be running for my life and then go totally out of my way down the wrong path just to look for a useless thermos.

However the collectibles actually aren’t my biggest problem with the game, no my biggest problem with the game is how it ends.  You see I like Alan Wake’s story a lot of it was cool, creepy, thought provoking and well written, just like I wanted it to be.  However at the end it just goes crazy and ruins everything it worked so hard to achieve.  Alan Wake’s ending is one of those where you get to interpret what it meant sort of things which I’m not a fan of, I prefer a definitive ending.  I mean usually in this position I just form my opinion and that’s it, but Alan Wake doesn’t let me do that.  Rather than having two possible endings and letting me pick, it has like eight endings and no this isn’t one of those your choices affect the ending games, they all happen no matter what you do.  Plus the ending cut scenes have parts of them that contradict every single possible ending.  After I finished the game I played the last level again the next day because I thought I missed something and that after sleeping I could figure it out.  It turns out I missed the last line, which adds another possible ending that has its own reasons not to exist and helps screw the others up even more!

All and all Alan Wake is a good game that is rather well put together.  It is fun, creepy and intense, just like a good survival thriller should be.  However it gets in its own way with too many distractions and is pretty short (around eight hours), not to mention an ending that will leave you scratching your head for days.  If you’re a fan of survival horror games I highly recommend you pick this one up. 

Score: 3/5

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Weekly Wrap Up: Dec. 12

Spike’s Video Game Awards

            I’m not a fan of Spike TV and I don’t put much credence in their opinion of video games.  I’m not going to talk about how disappointing the show was or how I feel about their award winners.  I’m writing about the trailers that game companies, for some reason, saved for this show.  Seriously I have no idea why since Spike isn’t a place for gamers and some of trailers were only on their website.  So here are the games that were announced or got new trailers this weekend.

Hitman: Absolution

            I’ve played Hitman before but never got into it.  Hopefully that will change this time since the trailer seems to imply that the game is faster pace and more action oriented.  I might be able to finally get into the series if it takes the same sort of turn that Splinter Cell did.  I know that some fans of the serious may say that changing it like that would be horrible, but it would just be my preference.  Plus there hasn’t been any gameplay shown yet so if you want it to stay the same you might be in luck.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD

            Tony Hawk is going back to its roots with a new game that uses the controller instead of that stupid board they put out last time.  The title may lead you to believe that this is yet another HD remake but it is actually a legitimate remake that will take the best levels from the first two games, expand on them, add new characters and use a totally totally new graphics engine to bring the game into this generation.  All of this will be included for just $15 on XBLA & PSN this summer.   

The Last of Us

            The Last of Us has been teasing us with small videos and pictures for the past week.  Now there is a real trailer for the game that shows off the two main characters; a father and daughter named Joel and Ellie.  The game is being developed by Naughty Dog and places these characters in a constant fight for survival amongst a world overridden by people infected with a plant virus.  I hope that Naughty Dog can manage to bring deep storytelling and characters into a zombie like (they are infected not undead (yes I’m one of those guys who differentiates)) apocalypse.

 

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

            The latest game in the Tekken series goes back to the popular tag team action and will be arriving on consoles Holiday 2012.  The arcade version is all ready out in Japan and it leads me to believe that the Tekken X Street Fighter game won’t be until 2013.  Tekken will also be releasing a game for the Wii U next year and another for the 3DS.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengence

            Metal Gear Solid: Rising has been changed, quite a bit.  First off there is the obvious name change, which now includes “Revengence” which combines revenge and vengeance to let you know that the game will be badass.  Apparently they dropped the “Solid” part of the name to separate it from the rest of the series.  Not because it isn’t part of the story, but because the game is no longer stealth related and they don’t want people expecting something like the previous Metal Gears when they pick it up.  The game now takes place after MGS4 instead of between 2&4 like originally planned.  Lastly the game will no longer be developed by Kojima Productions; instead they will produce it while PlatinumGames develops it.  The game looks incredible; the action is fast, furious, devastating and incredibly over the top.

Command and Conquer Generals 2

            The newest game from Bioware will be an RTS following up the Generals branch of EA’s long running series.  It will be interesting to see how Bioware, a company beloved for their deeply story driven RPGs like Mass Effect & Dragon Age, will handle an RTS where you don’t get one on one interaction with your allies.

Mass Effect 3

            This is without a doubt one of my most anticipated games of next year and a gameplay trailer shows a lot to be excited about.  The combat seems to be faster and more fluid than before, they’ve even added a roll button like in Gears of War.  The trailer shows a battle between Shepard and a Reaper that gets interrupted by a ginormous worm. It was pretty intense but seriously no worm should compete with Reapers, since they always manage to wipe out all life without much effort.  My favourite part was in the beginning when you see Wrex on your squad.  I’m so glad I get him back; he is my favourite character in the series.

   

The Amazing Spider-Man

            The latest Spider-Man game is licensed after the movie but the trailer was focused on a different storyline, one that involved Oscorp and a lot of robots.  The big robot Spider-Man fights looked like a Reaper which is pretty strange.  While fighting Reapers as Spider-Man sounds like fun I really don’t think a game licensed off of a movie should try and draw comparisons to Mass Effect even if it is from the guys who made Shattered Dimensions.

Alan Wake: American Nightmare

            Alan Wake was a fun game with a very messed up ending.  Now there will be a downloadable follow up to the game, not DLC for the first but a new game, which will hopefully explain some things about what happened.  However the game could end up just being its own separate story and save the answers for Alan Wake 2.  I guess I’ll have to wait and see more to find out.

           

Fortnite

            Epic games the guys behind the Unreal and Gears of War series unveiled their newest property at the VGAs.  The game is cartoony in art style and features kids who build forts to protect them from the monsters that show up at night.  It made me think of Minecraft, which is not what I expect to be thinking of while looking at a game from Epic.  It hasn’t been stated yet but I’m kind of thinking it will be an XBLA game since I don’t see how they will make a tower defence game as deep as Gears.    

Diablo 3

            The opening cinematic for Diablo 3 was shown off at the VGAs and it looks pretty awesome.  I can’t wait for this game; it has been so long since I had a PC exclusive that I was dying to play.  First Skyrim and soon Diablo, man my looting isn’t going to stop anytime soon.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

            High Moon Studios did a great job on their first Transformers game and after playing it I was willing to try the follow up.  After reading about it in Game Informer I got super excited, it really made it seem like the studio wasn’t going to hold anything back for the climatic end of Cybertron.  Now the trailer, which is similar to the one for War for Cybertron, is out and is much darker and way cooler.  As a Transformers fan I can’t wait for this game and I will totally play it ‘Till all are one.  

Bioshock Infinite trailer

            The final game shown off at the VGAs is one of the biggest games of next year.  The trailer was flipping through a lot of different scenes so I didn’t like it as much as the E3 demo that Game Trailers showed off, but it still looks pretty cool.  All the trailers can be checked out here.

http://www.spike.com/events/video-game-awards-2011/world-premiere-trailers/9bqhmn

Miyamoto changing jobs

            In news unrelated to the VGAs an interview on Wired had Miyamoto (the guy who made Mario, Zelda and just about every other iconic Nintendo character) saying that he was retiring from his current position at Nintendo in order to focus on smaller titles.  This lead to a drop in Nintendo’s stocks, which prompted the Nintendo to respond by basically saying that Miyamoto isn’t going anywhere.  I find it weird how Nintendo seems to be saying no to someone’s request to change position.  The way I interpreted the situation was that Miyamoto had no intention of leaving Nintendo, just leaving Mario and Zelda to younger developers who haven’t been doing those games for over 25 years.  He would then make small games that would test new ideas and might one day become iconic Nintendo franchises, which Nintendo should be extremely excited about.  However Nintendo feels Miyamoto has to be the face of the company so even if his job changes his title can’t because they can’t afford to lose any more confidence in consumers and share holders after the decline in Wii sales, the poor launch of the 3DS and the underwhelming reception received by the Wii U.

Serious Sam 3 Immortal Scorpion

            Serious Sam 3, a game that I hadn’t been paying much attention to, just caught my eye.  They have included a super fast immortal scorpion that will never stop attacking any player who pirates the game.  This is so much better than stripping content to be used as DLC and having people use online passes.  Watch and enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e91q5BtlxK0

Xbox 360 Update

            The Xbox 360 got a major update and after seeing it for myself and checking out some of the features I have to say, I like it.  The interface is a lot simpler; everything is in one line with the different subjects boxed in as opposed to multiple rows with a bunch of panels for different content.  The TV component was one that I thought was going to be pretty slim in Canada but it actually has a lot of cool shows and not just the past few episodes; you can buy entire past seasons over Xbox Live.  Unfortunately I feel the TV shows are too expensive: $2.75 an episode.  You can save money by purchasing the whole season but it has standardized rates, which means if the season is old it costs just as much as a new season and so does each episode.  If they lowered the price to $1 an episode I would probably watch some because my PVR screws up sometimes (first world problems) and I would want to find the episode quickly and easily and then watch it on my TV.  I suppose since it is buying the episode it would have to cost more but $2 for purchase $1 for one time viewing seems fair to me.  Anyway that being said if you do want TV or movies the new Bing feature allows you to quickly type in a search word (or say it using Kinect, which I don’t have) and it will bring up everything tied to that word.  This also works for games that you might want to buy or try a demo for.  Another addition is roaming profiles and cloud saves which allows you to quickly and easily transport your profile back and forth from a friend’s house (you don’t have to keep typing in the password) and lets you put the save files you want to use while there in the cloud and continue your game at their place without the use of a flashdrive.  The cloud data gives you 500MB of storage so you won’t be able to put all your games or any expansion packs up there to play with your friend but it is still cool and a feature that I will end up using.  My favourite addition is the Beacons and Activity section.  The Activity part keeps track of the most popular games your friends are playing.  It tells you how many have it as one of their last games played, who was on it and when they were last on.  All so that you can see what game might be easier to set up with friends.  Also if everyone is on one game you might buy it so that you can play alongside all of your friends instead of buying the game that nobody has.  The Beacons are the games that you decide that you want to play with friends.  So if someone clicks on you they can see that you want to play Gears 3 with someone and they might invite you to a game.  It also lets you know whenever someone on your friends list goes on a game you want to play.  These are great additions that I hope I will be able to use to set up more games with my friends since we are always on different things.  All and all the new dashboard is great and if you have Kinect it is even more tailored towards you so this is great news for everyone on Xbox.

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Holiday Gift Guide: New Video Games

            This is the final Holiday Gift Guide and it is devoted to this year’s video games that I believe are worth getting for your friends and family members who love gaming.  I know that a lot of the year’s biggest games aren’t on this list but honestly I just haven’t played them all so these are the 10 that I feel most comfortable recommending.  Any links inside the recommendation of the game are to the older games article which features other games in the series that should be considered first.  Any in the title of the game are to its review.  I hope you enjoy the list and that it helps you with your holiday purchases.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Nintendo Wii $49.99, Collector’s Edition $69.99

            I figure I’ll start this list off with what everybody definitely needs; a way to justify buying the Wii.  Hey I know mine isn’t plugged in right now either but I intend to dust it off and try the latest in Nintendo’s classic franchise once I get through all the other games occupying my current time.  This time around Nintendo is actually using motion control as the center for the game design as opposed to just slapping it on because they hand to like in Super Mario Galaxy.  It requires the Wii Motion Plus so if you don’t have it you can purchase the collector’s edition that comes with a Wiimote that already has that functionality built-in.  The game is supposed to be really slow in the beginning but apparently more than makes up for it later on, because of this I wouldn’t recommend introducing people to Zelda with this title but it is a safe bet for any long time fans that haven’t picked it up yet.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Xbox 360 $39.99

            For those looking to relive a very different, but still very much iconic, gaming franchise the re-mastered version of Halo: CE is a terrific nostalgia filled journey back to a game that influenced many gamers and the industry as a whole when it came out ten years ago.  The game is still great even by today’s standards and a must have for any Halo fans out there.  It also comes with new multiplayer maps for Halo: Reach that have been based on some of Halo 1 & 2’s best maps.  If you have any gamers on your list that enjoy FPSs and are at least in their teens this is something they should try especially if they have never experienced a Halo game before.  While many older gamers may already own the original and not rush out to buy this version it will still make a great addition to their collection.  Plus the discounted price makes it a more affordable gift idea.

Rage Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC $59.99

            If they already know and love Halo and you want to get them a different type of FPS this is a solid choice.  Rage is a visually stunning game and a lot of fun.  It is set in a post-apocalyptic world and features fast paced gun battles and races.  The game is long for an FPS but the multiplayer is strictly racing, no standard deathmatch to found here.  So if you have someone who enjoys a good FPS but isn’t big on online gaming, this might be the game to get them.  Also it is a very violent game so make sure they are at least close to the appropriate age of 17.

   

Dues Ex: Human Revolution Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC $49.99

            For those who like to be a little more methodical and patient as opposed to just running in and shooting things, Deus Ex is a great alternative.  It is a stealth game although you can perform some pretty cool attacks and may end up in a fair amount of gun battles.  I say “may” because it depends on whether or not the player is any good at sneaking around.  I’m not a stealth guy so I got into a lot of gun battles which makes the game really hard.  You have to try and remain hidden if you are going to get anywhere in the game, which I’m sure will present a fun change for many.  The story centers on human augmentation and the morality around it, so the choices in the game don’t have specific light and dark points associated with them.  Due to this it is meant for more mature players, not really something most teens or children would either understand or want to deal with.     

L.A. Noire Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 $39.99, PC (comes with bonus content) $49.99

            Another game that has a slower pace and different feel to it is L.A. Noire.  The game puts you in the shoes of a LAPD detective in the 1940s.  It is like stepping into a detective novel or crime drama and solving the cases yourself, which I greatly enjoyed.  It is a very unique experience so if you know someone who likes to try different types of games or has just played so many that he might need something to freshen things up this would make a great gift.  The best type of person to get this for however is anyone who loves detective stories or watches a lot of crime dramas because like I said; it does give you the feeling of stepping into those shoes.  This should be bought strictly for adults because of its mature themes like murder, abuse, drugs and sex.  There are also a number of cases where you must examine corpses of women who are naked and severely beaten.  It’s still a great game though so you might want to consider it for the grownups on your list.

Gears of War 3 Xbox 360 $59.99

            The final chapter in one of the biggest trilogies of this console generation comes to an end in this value packed game.  There is the single player story mode, 4-player co-op, online versus modes, Horde mode and Beast mode.  The game will keep any gamer busy for a while and if they have any friends who already have the game or are intending to get it the experience will be that much better.  If they haven’t played a Gears game before they should start with the earlier ones (see the Triple Pack) but if they have the previous games than they need to see how it all comes to an end.  The game is very dark and very dark so make sure this is for those at least in their late teens.

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC $59.99

            Another storyline from another popular series comes to an end this year in AC: Revelations.  The stories of both Ezio and Altair will come to an end hopefully setting up Assassin’s Creed 3 (but hopefully not next year).  Assassin’s Creed is one of the best Action Adventure series out there and the latest game is sure to be high on any fans list.  The game has a lot of violence and some sexual themes so it is best if whomever you give this too is at least in their late teens.  The game is the fourth in the series though, so if the person you are buying this for hasn’t played the other games you should look into the previous games.

Batman: Arkham City Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC $59.99

            Another great Action Adventure game came out this year to follow up what most consider to be the best superhero game ever made; Batman: Arkham Asylum.  The game takes everything amazing about the first game and expands upon it.  The game is great for any Batman fans and in fact, if you aren’t a fan of Batman (shame on you) you can still enjoy this game a great because of how refined all the mechanics are.  The game is challenging and throws a lot at the player in the beginning so it is best to start with the original and then get this one.  Also this isn’t a kid’s game, whoever this is for should be at least a teenager or pretty close to it because Gotham is a dark place and this game really captures that.

Bulletstorm Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC $29.99

            Another shooter that makes a great gift comes at the lowest price tag on the list so far.  This is a ridiculous, over the top, adrenaline rush were you run in and blow up everyone in sight in as creative and devastating a manor as you can.  The game doesn’t have support co-op in campaign or have a versus mode, but it does offer time trials and a Horde like co-operative mode.  The game isn’t very long but is a nice change of pace from most shooters.  The game is also very violent and vulgar so respect the M rating and make sure that they are comfortable with blood, guts and a whole lot of cursing.     

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC $59.99

            This game is without a doubt one of the largest gaming experiences ever released.  This means that you should buy this game for anyone who you really need a break from for a little while, because this game will take up all of their free time.  The game is amazing and allows you to play pretty much however you want.  That being said it has a lot of stuff in it and that will be overwhelming for players who aren’t used to big RPGs with dozens of hours of content.  It isn’t overly graphic but has some serious content involved some make sure that any recipients are at least in their teens.  For anyone who enjoyed previous Bethesda games like Oblivion or Fallout 3, this is a must.

Bonus:

 DC Universe Online PlayStation 3, PC FREE

            This is a game that I was really looking forward to and one that I didn’t get around to playing yet.  That being said, now that the game is free-to-play all you and your friends need to do is simply download it on your computer or on your PlayStation and play together.  Don’t be trick by the copies on store shelves, they just need to clear inventory, the game is completely free; unless of course you choose to pay for extra features.  So it is a bonus because you can’t hand someone a free download, or send them a text with the URL to DCUO’s site and call that their present.  You can however, give them this delightful bit of news as a bonus gift and it is something that you can easily treat yourself to, even after spending all your money on gifts for others.  The site is linked below so go there to download it on your PC or to find out how to download it from PSN.

http://www.dcuniverseonline.com/

For all the latest updates on the blog be sure to follow me on Twitter @Aeonofdoom360  and be sure to let me know what you think in the comments section below, no sign up or registration needed. 

Weekly Wrap Up

Yakuza Dead Souls trailer

            For anyone unfamiliar with the Yakuza series it is a fairly serious crime brawler.  The latest instalment in the series places you in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.  It seems incredibly weird to make a full fledged addition to a game that totally screws with the universe.  I understand branching off with a silly expansion pack, but for the main story?  I mean how would you even continue the series after that?  I never played this series before and quite frankly trying to rip off Dead Rising doesn’t make me want to rush out and try it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJFE-k4JgvM  

Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition Version 2012

            Because the title wasn’t long enough already Capcom has decided to increase it in what I can only believe is an attempt to make the game impossible to tweet without using an acronym.  The update is free and will slightly change each character on the roster so they can perform certain combos that wouldn’t work before.  It seems cool but the trailer is just showing what can be done that didn’t work before so unless you are a big fan it isn’t that interesting.  I’m curious to see if changing everyone’s combo ability upsets any hardcore players who had specific strategies for dealing with each character that may have to be reworked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGHsGQGqpPw

BloodForge

            This is a new XBLA game slated for next year.  It has a gorgeous (and bloody) art style that looks like a cell shaded game covered in very dark water colours.  It appears to be like a mini God of War since it is the story of a man whose family is killed be the Gods and so he proceeds to kill everything in an attempt to get revenge.  I do however hope that they try to tell a deeper story than God of War instead of just a bloodbath.  The site is linked below, check it out and watch the full trailer after reading this article.

http://bloodforgethegame.com/# 

The Last of Us

            This is a new exclusive game for PS3.  The game’s trailer seems to be exciting a lot of fans but it just looks like a poor man’s contagion from what I’ve seen.  It doesn’t show any gameplay or cutscenes so I’m not excited, but hey it is a new game which is always cool.  It also seems to tackle some meaningful and emotional content, which is rarely a bad thing.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1213907p1.html  

The Old Republic Beta

            Star Wars: The Old Republic had a beta that ended last weekend.  I think the game looks great but I didn’t play the beta so I can’t comment on it.  I have heard some friends talk about it and apparently it comes closer to competing with WOW than most MMOs and the fact that it’s Star Wars is an added bonus.  So congrats to anyone who played the beta and be sure to let me know what you thought of it in the comments section below.

Holiday Gift Guides

            I’ve been doing guide to some TV box sets, movies and games that I think would make great gifts for the holidays.  There is one more for some of this year’s best games that I will post this week, in the meantime you can check the rest below.  Also I might make a separate page that links them if anyone wants it, so let me know either below or on Twitter.

TV Shows, New Movies, Older Movies, Older Games

For all the latest updates on the blog be sure to follow me on Twitter @Aeonofdoom360  and be sure to let me know what you think in the comments section below, no sign up or registration needed.  

Holiday Gift Guide: Older Video Games

            Sorry I totally forgot to put an intro!  Basically this is a list of 10 games from the past few years that I think would make great gifts this Holiday season.  These are not my ten favorite games of this generation despite the fact that I do go back to 2006.  Some of these games are the best of last year, some the year before that and others are on the list because they get players ready for the follow ups that are either out now or on there way next year.

Mass Effect Xbox 360, PC $19.99, Mass Effect 2 Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 (includes 3 DLC packs), PC $19.99

            This epic sci-fi series is a mix between an RPG and a 3^rd person shooter.  It has an incredible story filled with amazing characters and worlds.  The series will be coming to an end in March so this holiday would be a great time to get caught up and prepare for what is sure to be one the best games of 2012.  Now I haven’t reviewed a whole lot of things on this site yet but at the moment Mass Effect 2 is the only one that has scored a 5/5.  If you are looking for some gifts these are very hard to beat, especially now that their prices have dropped so much.  The game involves complex moral choices and does have some sexual scenes so keep in mind that it isn’t for kids.

Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 $19.99 PC $29.99

            Now this game has gotten some mixed opinions since its release back in 2009; some think it is a solid follow up to the amazing RE4 and others think that the controls are dated and that it can’t compete with modern 3^rd person shooters.  Resident Evil 4 was one of my all time favourites when it came out and I believe that RE5 is even better.  Now it isn’t as scary as its predecessor but it is more fun.  The game done away with annoying escort missions, instead you get a useful AI partner or you can have a friend jump in and help you out either locally or through online.  If you know anyone who would enjoy a slower moving, shooter where every shot counts you should get them this game.  It is very graphic so try to stay around the M rating on this one.

Metal Gear Solid 4 PlayStation 3 $19.99

I never really played this series prior to this one and I never cared for stealth games either, and yet I absolutely loved MGS4.  Now mind you my best friend adores this series so before playing it I had a lot of back-story explained, because without knowledge of the series players are likely to be left in the dark for most of it.  They could just chalk the story up to some crazy Japanese video game stuff and accept whatever happens, but I don’t know how likely that would be.  So if you know anyone with a PS3 who has played any of the previous Metal Gear Solid games and have yet to purchase this one you should pick it up for them this holiday season.

Halo: Reach Xbox 360 $29.99

            Now here is a franchise that I have always adored and while in my opinion Halo: Reach isn’t the best in the series, it is still a phenomenal game.  Reach tells the story of what happened before the main trilogy and while it doesn’t have the memorable characters from the rest of the series it does a good job of introducing you to a new cast of heroes.  With a solid single player, a customizable Firefight mode (where you battle wave after wave of enemies), a level creator, the ability to save gameplay films and an amazing online multiplayer experience, Reach is not to be missed by anyone with an Xbox 360.  Unless they are kids because there is a lot of violence and kids really shouldn’t be online unless they want to be berated with insults.

Batman: Arkham Asylum Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 $19.99, PC (bonus challenge maps) $29.99

            For anyone who has ever bought a superhero game and felt ripped off because they felt the developers just slapping together a game with an iconic character in order to turn a quick buck, this shall bring great joy.  This isn’t just some game that happens to have a known superhero in it this is a game where you truly feel like the developers love the licence and like you are Batman.  Despite the fact that it has the voices from the animated series it isn’t meant for little kids, it is a mature and challenging Batman game (and not because of crappie controls like some Batman games) and is great for older kids and adults alike.

Gears of War: Triple Pack Xbox 360 $29.99

            The Gears Triple Pack is a bit misleading because there are only two games.  It comes with Gears 1&2 as well as the All Fronts Collection (an additional chapter and 4 map packs) for Gears 2.  So for those that have yet to try out the Gears series this package is a great gift that will prepare them for Gears 3 which came out this September.  The games are the best 3^rd person shooters around with terrific single player, cooperative and competitive experiences.  It is also one of the goriest games around (your primary gun has a chainsaw attached to it) so make sure to by this for the adults on your list.  

Assassin’s Creed 1&2 Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC $19.99, Brotherhood Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC $39.99

            Now for many the first Assassin’s Creed isn’t a must play but for me it is.  I loved the first one and I think it does a much better job of bringing you into the story than AC2 or Brotherhood, so if you are thinking o getting someone into this series start them there.  All three of these games are great so if they already have one of two of them you can fill in the gaps for them by getting them the one they are missing.  Also it will get them caught up for the newest in the series, Revelations, which came out in November.  The games not only have a lot of violence but some sexual content as well so mind the M rating.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC $19.99

            Oblivion is the oldest game on this list but it is still an enjoyable experience.  The real reason to get this game for someone is so they can make up their mind on Skyrim.  If they end up liking Oblivion you can definitely recommend Skyrim to them or maybe get it for them next year once its price has dropped.  If they don’t like Oblivion at all then you just saved them $60 that can be spent on another of the year’s biggest games.  This game isn’t that bad for younger teens when judging content wise but it might be a little overwhelming with all of its features unless they are experienced players who enjoy RPGs.

Transformers: War for Cybertron Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC $29.99

            This game is great for any fans of the Transformers series, especially the older ones who remember the original cartoon.  The game is a lot of fun and seeks to please its grown up fans by offering a darker experience than one might expect from this series.  Even though its main target is the older fans any pre-teens or teenagers who enjoy the current Transformers should also be able to find some stuff to like in it. 

Heavy Rain: Director’s Cut PlayStation 3 $29.99

            For those looking for a unique experience Heavy Rain is like no other game out there.  Its gameplay is comprised almost solely of quick-time events and yet it engages and challenges the player in a very rewarding way.  It features a great string of decisions where everything you do has consequences and eliminates gameovers by simply killing off your character from the story.  Whoever you buy this for should be informed of that because it makes everything a lot more intense when you know that your character is on the line and that you won’t get a second chance.  The game has a very adult story line and some nudity so this should be reserved for the mature adults in your list who can appreciate a game like this.

For all the latest updates on the blog be sure to follow me on Twitter @Aeonofdoom360  and be sure to let me know what you think in the comments section below, no sign up or registration needed.