Fallout: New Vegas Review

Quick Info:

Overall Rating: 9

ESRB: M for Mature

Genre: RPG, First Person Shooter

DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue Review

Quick Info:

Overall Rating: 8.5

ESRB: T for Teen

Genre: RPG, action/adventure

Sports Champions Review

Quick Info

Overall Rating: 8.5

ESRB: T for Teen

Genre: Sports (multiple sports)



Deathspank Review

Quick Info
Overall Rating: 8.5

ESRB: Rated T for Teen

Genre: RPG, Action/Adventure

A tale of a hero, his adventures, and wise cows.

Deathspank. The only hero I know in which I can't describe in one word. He is adventurous, strong, a hero to all, and wears a purple thong. When Deathspank popped up on the Playstation Store, I was a bit skeptical. Especially when I found out that the game was supposed to be 'humorous', because that usually turns me off. However, I played the limited demo for Deathspank and was impressed. Soon en
 ough I was going through the Playstation Store to purchase the full game. Deathspank is one funny RPG that will keep you playing for hours.

The Artifact
     The plot of Deathspank involves an artifact known as, The Artifact. It has unknown powers, and is hidden in an unknown location. Through the entire game,
 you are trying to get your hands on The Artifact. In the first 1-2 hours of play you will retrieve the artifact, but soon have it snatched from some Orque bullies. This le
 ads to the rest of the game which you will have to rescue

Review: Red Dead Redemption

Personal Rating: 9.5/10

Price: Released as $60 USD. May change over time

ESRB: Rated M for Mature (Blood, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, and Use of Drugs).

Genre: Third person action/shooter

Availability: Xbox360 and PS3

 
I have been waiting for a good western game for quite some time.  This is it.
 
I played Red Dead Revolver, and loved it, so when this game was announced I was really happy.  There have been major changes since the first game, and they are positive.
 
First of all, you do not need to play the first game to know anything about the second.  It's a new character (although they look similar).  His name is John Marston and he is a former outlaw looking to make his life better.  He was shot and left to die by his gang, and that's when he leaves.  Through the whole game you help the law (and many others) to get clues on where Williamson, Escuella, and Dutch (all former gang members) are at to put them away.  For the sake of not spoiling anything, I will not be telling you what happens in each search of those characters.
 
The game starts and you are going to talk to Bill Williamson.  You try to talk to him to stop running from the law, he gets upset, and you get shot.  A nice lady, Bonnie MacFarlane finds you,  and fixes you up.  The starting missions are at here ranch herding, and doing other typical rancher activities.  This gives you a feel for the game and really sets up the story.

Let's move on past the story and on to, what I think is, the more exciting features.
I will start with first-player.  Hunting, robbing, riding, skinning, and gambling.  That list is about 1/10 of what you can do for fun in the game.  The hunting system was pulled off.  You can kill anything that breathes, and then skin it later for profit.  Riding is referring to riding on your horse through the plains.  It is really fun to explore every area.  Gambling is referring to poker, liars dice, and blackjack.  There are plenty of games you can play for money.

There are also 'Random Events'.  These events come up...well...randomly.  If you are not in a mission, but are riding through a area, people will ask you for help because of stolen horses, thieves, challenges, and all sorts of fun things.  This effects your fame and honor (see next paragraph for the fame and honor information).  You get small amounts of money, but honestly, it's for the fame and honor.

Honor/Fame system:  Really cool to be honest.  I will start with the fame system.  As you do missions and random events your fame will go up (it can not go down).  This will make you more recognizable and people will ask you for help more often.  The honor system starts in the middle and go up or down.  It is kind of like karma.  You do good, it goes up, you do bad, it goes down.  This is your choice throughout the game.  The combination of fame and honor can make you less watched by the law, and give you discounts in stores.

There is too much to say for the single player portion.  Several unlockables are available that would take too much time to go through.  I will wrap this section up by saying that there are plenty of weapons, missions (57), people to meet, and locations to keep you occupied.

Now for the online play.
I was slightly disappointed.  This is the only reason the game didn't score a 10.
It is basically half free-roam and half games (free for all, forms of death match, etc).  The free-roam is kind of the main chat room, but there is plenty to do.  You can shoot up towns, hunt, or take out gangs in their hideouts.  If you get bored then you can start playing in a game mode like free for all.  It's fun after you beat the campaign.  The reason I was disappointed was the lack of co-op activities.  I wanted to see some sort of mission system, but there was none.  They have announced a co-op pack DLC so I will review that when it comes out as well.

Overall: Great game, I personally recommend it.  It is NOT GTA in the West as some people claim.  There are plenty of features that are different to make it a new game.

Thanks for reading another review,
Frank

Review: Fat Princess

Personal Rating: 8/10
Price: $14.99 USD
ESRB: T for Teen
Genre: Action
Availability: Downloadable from the PlayStation store

Fat Princess. This small game packs large surprises. A couple months ago I played the demo for Fat Princess and I was pretty impressed, but was impressed enough. I Miss-understood the demo completely leading me to think a couple features were missing or not placed in the game well enough. For the sake of your understanding I will not tell you the flaws I thought the game contained. Anyways, after realizing that you get a few different game modes, maps, customization, and online play; I knew my $15 would be worth it.

First Impressions/Story Mode: I downloaded the game and started playing right away. Like I usually do I skipped over online play to play the story; most people go straight to the online gameplay. I was surprised the game actually had a storyline. The story mode is called, "Legend of the Fat Princess". There is a narrator that reads chapters of a story to you before every fight, and you are playing/fighting out what the chapters describe.

Gameplay/More Story Mode: I came to realize only one thing changes during you r trek through the story, and that is the mode changes. There are classic modes like Team Deathmatch in which you must kill the enemies soldiers 250 times. There are other modes like Rescue the Princess that is similar to capture the flag, except the princesses are the flags and you can make them fatter and heavier to carry by feeding them cake. These modes are also featured in online "Play with others" mode. Next to the variety of modes and levels which have obstacles as well, there are several unique classes. Most of the classes remind of ones in RPG games. The classes are: Mage, Priest, Warrior, Worker, and Ranger. Each has a different fighting style and secondary attack style as well. Mage starts out with a ranged fire attack and when upgraded gets an ice attack. The Priest starts out with ranged healing magic and when upgraded gets health sucking dark magic. The Warrior starts out with a sword and shield and when upgraded gets a spear with a sprint attack. The Worker starts out with an axe which can be used to cut trees and get resources for these very upgrades, and he is upgraded to throwing bombs. Last but not least the ranger, he starts with a bow and arrow and when upgraded he gets a rifle. The story mode is challenging and I had a lot of fun going through it.

Other Modes: There are two other modes. There is "Mess About" and online modes. Mess about is basically offline gameplay for practicing. Online is very similar to story mode gameplay just without the narrator telling the story in between. I recently purchased this game and I must say I am sad to realize not too many play this game online anymore.

This video can give you a look at the story, and menus along with some of the creators giving you information. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhHnc5gNs9A

Trophies: I was a little disappointed with the trophies, and if you are a trophy whore then you will be disappointed as well. There are only 21 trophies, but that's not complainable because almost all PlayStation Store games have a small amount of trophies. But some are pretty hard to get and they are all bronze, and that is my complaint. For example when you are spawned you are a Villager until you pick up a hat for a class, and a villager has 2 hearts which is very small health bar, compared to classes that have 4-5. Anyways, there is a trophy, "Slap 20 objects out of enemy’s hands in online games" and it is quite hard to do without dieing.

I really enjoy this game, and it was worth the small amount of money compared to a $60 game. If the price ever drops then it's a must buy.

Infamous Review

 Quick Info:

Overall Rating: 9.5

ESRB: T for Teen

Genre: Action, open world

  

Ride The Lightning...

While delivering a secret package, Cole McGrath gets an order to open it. As he does the device known as the Ray Sphere activates and wipes out Empire City. Followed by a plague, this triggers the government to quarantine the city so no one gets in, but worse, no one gets out. You are probably confused, but so was Cole. No one really knows what's going on, but something is happening and city needs to learn to cope with the situation. Along the way Cole is introduced with a power. The power to control lightning and electricity. This power will help Cole find the answers he seeks along with trying to save Empire City.

Lock-down

So, you probably get the picture that Cole is a courier of Empire City and opens a package that happens to explode and wipe out most of the city leaving few to survive. But how does Cole McGrath get these amazing powers? The Ray Sphere. Even though Cole doesn't know exactly what it does, the Ray Sphere affects Cole in a way that makes him biologically able to control lightning. The powers don't really get to flourish as the City is quarantined and put into a state of lock-down. In the first few minutes you will experience Cole gaining this ability. You will also meet your best friend Zeke. Zeke is a funny character that tags along with Cole sometimes and always wants to help out. Finally, without spoiling too much, you will notice that people in the city don't take a very strong liking to you because you were closest to the blast and survived it. Overall, the beginning of the game is done well, and the beginning really sets you up for the insane future of the game. It's compelling.

Empire City

Infamous is a open world game. The open world spans across three districts of Empire City: Neon, Warren, and Historical Districts. As you progress through the game, you will find yourself getting to each island multiple times. While in Empire City there is not much to do other than missions. You can do main missions, missions to change your karma (see next), or help some of the locals. Other than that you can kill the various gangs, destroy things like cars, and you can drain energy from various sources like lamps or generators. The city has some things to do, but it can get pretty boring. There are plenty of open world games that have much more exciting settings.

Karma

The karma system in the game is what makes the super-hero part most exciting. Certain missions will give you the choice to be good or evil, and I have had a lot of fun choosing which to be. You can do good things like putting yourself at risk to help others. Or you can leave citizens to rot while you do your mission while putting others at risk. Making these decisions don't only affect how people view you, but it affects your powers and appearance as well. If you are extremely good in the game you will be Hero status. People will like you. Along with the Hero, status you get a bright aura around you along with blue lightning. However, if you want to be evil, you can turn Infamous. This will result in the city hating you. Your powers will be red and your clothes go black and grey. You can make karma decisions through the entire game. The choice is yours.

Infamous Cole playing with lightning

Drunk on power(s)

Whether you decide to be good or evil, there are still tons of powers to choose from. XP in the game will allow you purchase powers and eventually upgrade them. XP can be earned from anything. You can get XP from healing or killing strangers. However, your main income of XP will be from missions. Certain powers are only available to one karma status.

Playing as Cole
The gameplay in the game is well done. There isn't anything I would really change about the controller or the way the game is played. There are tons of powers to choose from by the end of the game, but the PS3 controller still makes sure that every single one has a button or combination that is still comfortable. Running around in Empire City is also a relief from time to time. It doesn't take ages to get somewhere, but there is no fast traveling. You can either walk, jump from building to building, or ride the train tracks with an ability that you can unlock. Cole's life has no meter, and can be recovered over time. The game Infamous uses the basic system of dieing once the screen gets all blurry, but your health recovers after running from combat. Cole is a fun character to manipulate, and he is even more fun to watch when making a karma decisions.

Comic cut-scenes
Infamous is pretty straight forward when it comes to graphics. however, the cut-scenes of the game are different. They are in a motion comic art form that appears to be drawn. Cut-scenes let you dive into Cole's mind as the narrative is done by Cole. They were fun to watch, and they never got old.

The Wrap
Infamous is a fun game. Although there is not much to do in the city Cole lives in, there is still a decent amount of play. The game is not a role-playing game, but it does offer a balanced XP system along with a karma system. Throughout the game you can expect some serious twists that only makes the game more enticing. It's fun to manipulate Cole to make good or evil choices to make an ever-lasting changes in the gameplay. Infamous is one of the best games of 2009 if not the best. It's an amazing game with amazing ideas that pull together to make a great gaming experience.

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Infamous Ratings

Plot	10	The game has a in depth story that will keep you playing until the end to find the same answers that Cole seeks
Gameplay	8.5	Not much to do, but the rest of the game is compelling.
Graphics	9	Standard graphics. The comic art cut-scenes were quite enjoyable.
Controls	9.5	The layout didn’t have much frustration, but it took some getting used to. Every power has a button or combination.
Replay Value	9	The game has replay value. The fact that there is two paths to take might make you want to play through the game more than once, and a second journey is just as fun.