Blogs

2018 Game of the Year Awards — Console Awards — Mobile

Posted by binarymessiah on 12/21/2018
Posted in: 2018, Blogs. Leave a comment

Mobile games were stronger than ever this year, and thankfully paid games are slowly making a comeback. There were quite a few heavy hitters this year, and for once, it was actually a tough choice picking the top mobile games this year.

Pocket City

Pocket City is not only the only good city building game ever made for mobile, but it’s a premium game so there are no microtransactions holding the game back. It’s got a great UI, deep gameplay, and any city builder fan must play this as it runs well on any mobile device

Runner-Ups

Motorsport Manager Mobile 3

 

 

 

 

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Donut County

 

 

 

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GrimValor

 

 

 

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Shadowgun Legends

 

 

 

Far Cry Games Ranked Worst to Best

Posted by binarymessiah on 11/17/2018
Posted in: Blogs, Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Ranked Worst to Best, Sony Consoles, Wii, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox360. Leave a comment

256px-Far_Cry_Vengeance_-_Box_Front9. Far Cry: Vengeance – 2006

Vengeance was a weird experiment for the series and was exclusive to the Wii. The game engine was downgraded and crammed into a weak console and just didn’t work. The controls were awful, and the game just felt like a PS2 game, to be honest. It was ugly, clunky, glitchy, and was just not fun to play. I can only recommend this game for people only curious and want to have something to laugh at.

220px-Far_Cry_2_cover_art8. Far Cry 2 – 2008

Far Cry 2 had some big shoes to fill, especially after 4 years since the first game was released. What we got was a generic game filled with not much to do and a boring world to play in. The shooting was good and there were some fun moments, but overall the game was so boring to me and didn’t quite change enough to make this game feel like an amazing sequel.

Best Version: PC

download7. Far Cry – 2004

The first game isn’t the best in the series, but it was mainly remembered as a technical marvel back in 2004 and crippled PCs like no other game before it. The insane draw distances, textures, and lighting effects were stunning for its time and the massive multiplayer maps were revolutionary. The game wasn’t remembered for its story or characters and was also bashed for its terrible stealth gameplay, but this is a fun game to go back to.

Best Version: PC

download (1)6. Far Cry: Instincts – 2005

Instincts was the first console outing for the series and it was well praised as both a technical achievement and well-rounded stealth gameplay and intuitive controls. Originally released for the Xbox and later upgrade to the Xbox 360, Instincts is just a solid game all around. While it still didn’t tread the story and characters path like later games did, the core gameplay is solid and is still one of the best shooters on Xbox.

Best Version: Xbox 360

220px-Far_Cry_4_box_art5. Far Cry 4 – 2014

Far Cry 4 was too little too late for the series and tried to be too much like Far Cry 3. The game looked fantastic on its updated engine for next-generation consoles, but it was mostly boring and had awful characters. The “Ubisofty” gameplay was ever prevalent here and held the game back with formulaic item hunting and boring fetch quests. Honestly, this game is probably my least favorite in the whole series and is incredibly forgettable.

Best Version: PC

220px-Far_Cry_Primal_cover_art4. Far Cry: Primal – 2016

Primal actually tried the change the entire game for the first time by going back to prehistoric times. It seems drastic and over exaggerated, but it helped the series break free of the typical formulaic “Ubisofty” gameplay and tone down the bullet heavy gameplay with spears and ancient weapons of the past. It is incredibly fun and different from the other games despite still not treading too much new territory.

Best Version: PC

220px-Far_Cry_3_PAL_box_art3. Far Cry 3 – 2012

This is by far the best game in terms of story and characters. The main villain is memorable and vicious and the overall premise of the game just keeps you hooked. This was the first time Ubisoft changed up their game engine and started using next-generation effects and expanded the gameplay to what we see in Far Cry today. It was a well-rounded game with good stealth implementation and tons of action and things to do.

Best Version: PC

B1IxW7FOSeS._SY445_2. Far Cry 5 – 2018

Far Cry 5 is the culmination of the entire franchise and perfects it and pushes it towards a new medium and that’s an FPSRPG. The missions are more organic and pop up as you explore rather than a map marker hunter type of experience. The story and characters are further advanced and this is the most story rich game since Far Cry 3. The game looks beautiful, plays well, and has so much to do and is just a great shooter.

Best Version: PC

220px-FC3_Blood_Dragon_Cover1. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon – 2013

Blood Dragon is an interesting game as it was a side project and was made on a low budget. Using actors from the 80’s to voice the characters and having an 80’s action movie vibe the animations to the guns themselves just ooze personality, and I honestly wish we’d get a sequel. I never had so much fun in the series as I did with Blood Dragon and it shows that drastic experimentation can work in the series and in games in general. This remains most fans favorite in the series.

Best Version: PC

Medal of Honor Games Ranked Worst to Best

Posted by binarymessiah on 11/17/2018
Posted in: Blogs, GameBoy Advance, Gamecube, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation (PS1), PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Sony Consoles, Wii, Xbox, Xbox360. Leave a comment

220px-Medal_of_Honor_2010_Box_art13. Medal of Honor – 2010

Reboots are usually good for a game franchise as it allows new ideas and advances the series to new heights, but sometimes it’s not successful. Medal of Honor was a hyped up generic military shooter where you play as Tier 1 specialists in the Afghani war, and it was a bug-ridden mess. The game was also ugly, stale, and just felt like a total Call of Duty rip-off. This was easily the worst game in the entire series.

Best Version: PC

MOHRSbox12. Medal of Honor: Rising Sun – 2003

Rising Sun was riding on the success of Frontline and it’s new found glory with console gamers, but what we got was an ugly rushed mess of a game. Rising Sun tried to show us the frontline in Japan, but what we had was just some dated gameplay and some of the worst level design the series has ever seen. I don’t know what happened within a year, but the development rush is obvious here.

Best Version: Xbox

MV5BYjM3OTNkMzItMzRmMS00N2Y5LTk4MzUtYTU4OWUzYzlmNDJmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzg5OTk2OA@@._V1_11. Medal of Honor: Airborne – 2007

The first game in the series to try and reboot it with little success. Using next-generation hardware, the game looked impressive but used a weird multiplayer map style layout and open-ended objectives that just led to the generic level design and frustrating gameplay. The guns were highly inaccurate, and it was ridiculously difficult and plain boring. It’s clear that this series just can’t hit the reboot stride correctly.

Best Version: PC

220px-Warfighter10. Medal of Honor: Warfighter – 2012

Warfighter was a slightly more successful game with the new modern warfare formula with a much more entertaining campaign and better visuals, but overall it still felt generic and pointless in a bloated military shooter scene.

 

Best Version: PC

Medal_of_Honor_Vanguard9. Medal of Honor: Vanguard – 2007

Vanguard is a much-forgotten game in the series as by the time this came around Modern Warfare was already out and the next-generation of consoles was in full swing and no one cared. Using an old engine and gameplay, Vanguard was the last in the series to use the typical Medal of Honor WWII formula. The game wasn’t awful just super generic, boring, and just standard affair that we have seen before.

Best Version: Wii

220px-MOHFbox8. Medal of Honor: Frontline – 2002

Frontline was the first game in the series on consoles, and this game is one I have fond memories of. I remember the opening scene just blew my mind and was incredibly cinematic for the time. Sadly, there was no multiplayer, but at the time I didn’t care. It still wasn’t the best game in the series, and it was clear the less powerful consoles held the series back some, but it was a good start.

Best Version: Xbox

Medalofhonorsheroes7. Medal of Honor: Heroes – 2006

A strange game stuck in a weird time. The next-generation consoles were already here and Heroes stuck to a gameplay style designed for handhelds and the Wii. It was a decent game and felt good on each console it was on, but this was a generic as WWII shooters come. Even the production values were lacking on a dated engine and gameplay.

Best Version: Wii

220px-Medal_of_Honor_-_European_Assault_Coverart6. Medal of Honor: European Assault – 2005

European Assault was not so much overlooked but overstepped. Everyone was starting to wane with the WWII shooters and European Assault was a mildly generic form of the genre that played well but didn’t add anything terribly new to wow anyone.

 

Best Version: Xbox

220px-MoHH2BoxArt5. Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 – 2007

Heroes 2 was a rushed sequel, but somehow improved upon the first game and continued to use the dated engine and gameplay style of its predecessor. This and Vanguard were the last of its kind and were washed away with the new generation of consoles and graphics that just made everyone forget about these games.

Best Version: Wii

download4. Medal of Honor – 1999

The original isn’t always the best, but it was really impressive on the PS1 back in the day and helped pave the way for modern FPS games to this day. It was a little clunky and basic, but did its job well and is still fun to play to this day.

 

220px-Medal_of_Honor_-_Underground_Coverart3. Medal of Honor: Underground – 2000

A much-improved game over the first one, but was released right when the next-generation of consoles was out and was kind of overlooked by the PS2, Dreamcast, and GameCube. It looked amazing on the PS1 and added a totally new campaign, but everyone was mostly over this generation of consoles by now.

Best Version: PS1

Medal_of_Honor_-_Allied_Assault_Coverart2. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault – 2002

The game that made Medal of Honor was it was and released just before its console debut. It looked fantastic on the PC and was followed by two expansion packs. AA remains many players favorite game in the series for its PC specific greatness such as solid controls, visuals, and scope.

 

PacificAssaultBox1. Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault – 2004

My personal favorite game in the series due to the sheer cinematic quality and visual flair of the game. It was the last PC exclusive game in the series but felt and played amazingly well with a fantastic campaign and fun multiplayer. Medal of Honor, sadly, reached its peak early on, but it did it well and with a bang.

 

OnePlus 6T

Posted by binarymessiah on 11/03/2018
Posted in: Android, Blogs, Hardware, Mobile Reviews. Leave a comment

OnePlus-6T-ConceptManufacturer: OnePlus9.5

Release Date: 11/01/2018

MSRP: $529.99 (6GB RAM, 64GB Storage), $579.99 (8GB RAM, 128GB Storage), $629.99 (8GB RAM, 256GB Storage)

Colors: Mirror Black, Silk White, Midnight Black

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Coming from being a dedicated fan of one manufacturer and switching to a new one can be jarring, but sometimes it can bring in a breath of fresh air. Recently I looked at my Note8 thinking about the Note 9 and realized how little of a difference there is between the two, and about $400. Samsung’s phones have gotten more expensive over the years and have become so pricey that I now have to start putting down payments on my upgrades which I never did before. Then after I decide to wait it out for a while along comes OnePlus. I’ve heard of them before, and most of us have, but they were a flash in the pan that didn’t last very long.

Here we are at the end of 2018 and OnePlus comes out swinging with features that both Samsung and Apple have not done yet or haven’t done right, and that’s what gets you sales. The biggest attraction by far is the on-screen fingerprint sensor and the best screen notch to date, and not to mention it’s 1/3 the price of other phones. The same hardware packed into the Note 9 with a fraction of the price? Yes, please!

OnePlus-6T-head-on

Looks Matter

The 6T is a very sexy device and probably one of the nicest I have ever seen. The extreme bezeless display is just amazing to look at and has a look even Samsung can’t get right with their Edge displays. We finally have a phone with about 95% screen and that’s a big deal. Gone are the days of physical buttons and large bezels for cameras and sensors. OnePlus managed to pack ambient light, camera, notification LEDs, and everything else into a tiny spot on the front of the phone that is just about the same width as the notification bar. It’s really a sight to behold and looks so damn good with the AMOLED display. OnePlus did not cut any corners here and this is clearly a luxury phone that tops some of the big dogs already.

OnePlus-6T-Review-In-display-fingerprint-scanner-1

The entire phone is also made of glass so it feels high-end and features a volume rocker, power button, and a volume slider that allows you to physically silence or set your phone on vibrate, and I can’t say how nice this feature is enough. I got so tired of taking my phone out to silence it and this feels like a great addition. The phone has a USB-C connection and a vertical rear camera and flash. It looks sleek, minimal, and attractive at every corner, and it’s still slim with a large 3,700 mAh battery.

Underneath It All

If you go inside the hardware we have heavy-duty state of the art hardware that makes this a high-end phone. For starters, the Snapdragon 845 is present with the Adreno 630 GPU for insanely smooth high-end gaming, and thanks to OnePlus’s OxygenOS the Android experience is buttery smooth and games never see any slowdown or suffer from poor OS optimization which is something that Samsung and a lot of other manufacturers suffer from at least in a small amount. The $580 model also comes with 8GB of RAM which makes switching apps and loading them lightning fast and they instantly load. This is also in part with being the first Android phone to launch with Android Pie 9.0 which has insane optimizations and feels on par with Apple’s iOS which is well known for being fine-tuned to their hardware.

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Gone are the days of 32 and 64GB of storage so we get 128GB and 256GB options on the 6T which is more than enough, and the exclusion of an SD card slot is a little disappointing, but OxygenOS has the option of using OTG (On-The-Go) storage built into the OS so your USB-C flash drives will come in handy there. The phone also has no headphone jack, but at this point, most phones are leaning that way and it does save space inside the phone. This isn’t a deal breaker for me at all as I don’t use headphones with my phone hardly ever. I do have to mention that this phone does not have wireless charging which was a bummer and probably the biggest disappointment with this phone, but it makes up for it with the fastest charge time I have ever seen. In my first test, my phone was at 30% and charged to 90% in just 30 minutes. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, so a full charge would be about an hour or less which is insane. Even on my Note8 a full charge from 0-100 was almost 2 hours on fast-charge and it was a smaller battery. With that said, you have to use OnePlus’s proprietary charger cables and plugs.

The phone features a 16MP+20MP rear camera dual-lens camera and a 16MP front facing camera which is kind of unheard of. It can actually shoot 4K at 60FPS which the Note 9 can do but only for 5 minutes. The photos are incredibly sharp and vibrant and I am not disappointed at all with this setup. Camera enthusiasts won’t be disappointed.

A Smooth Ride

There are quite a few options in OxygenOS that just kept impressing me and this is clearly the most innovative and optimized Android OS variant I have ever used. I actually didn’t need my third party home launchers for once which was nice. There are plenty of options to change themes, accent colors, icon packs, and the Shelf is a great alternative to Samsung’s Edge Bar as you can swipe left and have a whole area full of neatly organized widgets that allow you to add weather, app shortcuts, contacts, and various other things. I use it a lot and it’s much easier than searching for apps in the drawer.

oneplus-6t-3435

OnePlus’s Game Mode works well and while not quite as robust as Samsung’s it feels more optimized and has some options Samsung doesn’t like various ways notifications display and what part of the hardware you actually want to be optimized rather than a universal setting. It has more options rather than features which is fine by me. OnePlus also added a night mode and reading mode which will make apps appear in black and white and change the darkness based on the ambient light.

OnePlus is also the next phone to use something similar to Samsung’s Always On Display as the 6T has a gorgeous AMOLED screen. However, it utilizes this feature better as the actual notifications will now pop up with text while the phone is off rather than just an icon which is really awesome. The Ambient Display is also not always on to conserve battery life but allows you to tap the screen to show it or when you pick up your phone. These are quality of life features that other manufacturers aren’t thinking of.

There are some nice gesture features such as drawing letters on the screen while it’s off to launch apps, and the navigation bar is fully customizable. You can hide it, and even use gestures to navigate the phone which I am currently using and it’s incredible. Swipe up on the bottom left corner for back, bottom right for forward, and up the center for recent apps. It works so well and I haven’t run into any issues with it.

https___blueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com_uploads_card_image_872678_fb07e7b4-1dd1-409d-b72b-021b66cfd698

Overall, the OnePlus 6T is the phone we’ve needed in 2018 when the big guys aren’t innovating anymore. Each year phones are less and less dissimilar and the prices are skyrocketing. OnePlus brings us premium luxury features at a budget price, and it knocks every single feature out of the park that it does have. Sure, it’s missing a 3.5mm headphone jack, wireless charging, and a higher resolution screen, but in the end, it doesn’t matter as it does everything else the others are doing better and bringing new things to the table. In-screen fingerprint scanning, ultra-fast charging, a nearly invisible notch, and a gorgeous camera as nothing to scoff at.

o6t

Call of Duty Games Ranked Worst to Best

Posted by binarymessiah on 11/02/2018
Posted in: Blogs, DS, Gamecube, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PSP, Sony Consoles, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox360. Leave a comment

220px-Black_Ops_318. Call of Duty: Black Ops III – 2015

At this point in time Call of Duty had already gone way off the deep end and the futuristic warfare and yearly releases were becoming a joke. Black Ops III has the absolute worst campaign in the entire series and the multiplayer is a joke. While zombies are quite enjoyable, it’s not enough to justify a purchase. The AI is insanely stupid, there’s zero challenge, and the environments, story, characters, and weapons are all generic, boring, and poorly designed. The cinematic moments are gone, the maps are stupidly generic, and it feels so bloated and on life support.

Best Version: PC

220px-Call_of_Duty_Modern_Warfare_3_box_art17. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – 2011

The last entry in the Modern Warfare timeline was a huge disappointment. The campaign was a boring generic slog, the multiplayer had lame maps, and it didn’t distance itself enough from the last two games. It was the same weapons, the same type of maps, menus, and multiplayer setup. There just wasn’t enough here to make the series stand-out anymore and this marked the beginning of a steep decline for the series. While it’s playable, it’s not fun or memorable at all.

Best Version: PC

220px-Call_of_Duty_Roads_to_Victory16. Call of Duty: Roads to Victory – 2007

While enjoyable for sure, the game is very rough around the edges and was released during the end of the tiring World War II craze that ran for over 10 years. Everyone was tired of it, Modern Warfare was about to come out, and the PSP wasn’t a great system for shooting games. It was a very generic and forgettable Call of Duty experience and wasted the portable opportunity. At least it had some fun online multiplayer but was short lived.

220px-Call_of_Duty_Black_Ops_II_box_artwork15. Call of Duty: Black Ops II – 2012

Black Ops II dropped the ball for this new timeline. The first game was amazing with great cinematic moments, fun multiplayer maps, and a whole new Vietnam War feeling to it, but Black Ops II tried to shoehorn a silly story into generic gameplay and some very boring multiplayer maps. It was a huge disappointing mess and marked the end of this timeline. It’s playable, but there’s no redeeming value to this game that makes it stand out.

Best Version: Wii U

220px-Codfhbox14. Call of Duty: Finest Hour – 2004

The very first console Call of Duty game. I remember getting this for Christmas in 2004 and was so incredibly excited. Console gamers could finally play Call of Duty, however, Finest Hour was far from the series finest moment. There were huge technical problems, the game felt like a step back for the series, and the campaign was generic and forgettable. It at least had some fun online multiplayer, but it was a good effort.

Best Version: Xbox

Call_of_Duty_3_Game_Cover13. Call of Duty 3 – 2006

A surprising console-only release, Call of Duty 3 was the third game in the original timeline and was better than most people expected. While it didn’t look that great it played fairly well, felt like classic Call of Duty, and was fast paced and fun. It was very forgettable, however, and was at the tail end of the WWII craze that everyone wanted to die. There was something strange about this game as it felt dated, yet somehow still cinematic and fun, and had decent multiplayer as well.

Best Version: Xbox 360

220px-Cod2bre12. Call of Duty 2: Big Red One – 2005

Riding on the financial success of Finest Hour, Big Red One turned out to be a much better game, yet didn’t get as much attention. It had a cinematic and well thought out campaign and was much more enjoyable this time around.

Best Version: Xbox

220px-Call_of_duty_ghosts_box_art11. Call of Duty: Ghosts – 2013

Ghosts was a more boots on ground return to the series and felt a little closer to the original Modern Warfare series, but was too little too late. The additions of canine partners and some great cinematic moments just weren’t enough, including the first game in the next-generation cycle of consoles. The multiplayer was decent, but it felt like it was stuck in limbo and trying to be two different games at once.

Best Version: PC

220px-Advanced_Warfare10. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – 2014

Advanced Warfare tried pushing big name actors to sell copies, and Advanced Warfare had some awesome cinematic moments, but the story and characters were garbage, and the multiplayer was extremely unbalanced due to the jetpacks and weird futuristic gameplay. It looked really good, as it used a brand new engine for the series, but it was just too weird and too much of a departure from what fans loved.

Best Version: PC

220px-Call_of_Duty_-_Infinite_Warfare_(promo_image)9. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare – 2016

Infinite Warfare has received more flack than any other game in the series, but it’s not the worst. For a series receiving so much resistance and backlash, it did some different stuff in the campaign that was quite interesting. Some of the characters were actually quite interesting and I cared about them a little which was odd for the series. The multiplayer was a generic feeling, as usual, but the campaign was a nice change of pace and the experimentation was a breath of fresh air for the series.

Best Version: PC

220px-Codbox8. Call of Duty – 2003

I never got a chance to play this until much later after release, but in 2003 this game was a graphical powerhouse, extremely cinematic, and set the standard for historic shooters. The campaign felt realistic, varied, and had some memorable moments. It was later released on consoles but remained exclusive to PC for nearly a decade. It gave PC gamers a proud reason to be so as this game would have crippled consoles back in the day.

Best Version: Xbox 360

Call_of_Duty_2_Box7. Call of Duty 2 – 2005

Being a port for Xbox 360 from a 2-year-old game was risky, but this game helped sell Xbox 360s and looked fantastic on the system. On PC, as it was exclusive for, was a great sequel to an already great game. It pushed hardware to its limits, had some fun exciting cinematic moments, and decent multiplayer. It took everything everyone liked from the first game and expanded upon it, but it was a little more forgettable this time around.

Best Version: Xbox 360

220px-Coduobox26. Call of Duty: United Offensive – 2004

United Offensive is one of the best games in the original WWII storyline as it was intense, extremely cinematic, and felt varied and kept you on your seat. I played the campaign straight through and I usually don’t do that in this franchise. The game had an incredibly cinematic and tense campaign, probably one of the best in the entire series, and was highly overlooked. Everyone was gearing up for CoD 2 and United Offensive was sort of mulled over, sadly it was never ported to consoles.

Call_of_Duty_World_at_War_cover5. Call of Duty: World at War – 2008

World at War was a call to long-time fans and something to really look forward to. They made a huge risk by bringing you back to WWII, in the Japanese theater, and somehow creating one of the best games in the entire series. It was really looked over and a lot of fans never played this because of the WWII roots, but the campaign is spectacular and had some awesome moments as well as weapons and beautiful locales.

Best Version: PC

220px-CoD_Black_Ops_cover4. Call of Duty: Black Ops – 2010

Black Ops was the one and only good game in that timeline. The campaign was exciting, cinematic, had a crazy story and characters, and the multiplayer had some fantastic maps and great new era weapons. The brand new Zombies mode pretty much kickstarted a whole new series in the timeline and became the most popular multiplayer mode in the entire series. It’s seriously the last amazing game in the series and playing this reminds us why.

Best Version: Xbox 360

220px-Call_of_Duty_WWII_Cover_Art3. Call of Duty: WWII – 2017

Another great risk, and desperate attempt to get people back into the series, the game followed Battlefield’s step and went back to their roots. WWII was a fantastic attempt at everything from a beautiful new next-generation engine, cinematic gameplay, and interesting characters. While the campaign lost steam partway through, it’s more enjoyable than most of the game in the series and reminds us what Activision can do when they are actually inspired and put some thought and love into a game.

Best Version: PC

220px-Call_of_Duty_4_Modern_Warfare2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – 2007

The game that really started it all. It revolutionized first-person shooters on consoles as well as multiplayer that almost every military shooter has copied since. The careful detail to level design, cinematic moments, characters, and pacing was something Infinity Ward were masters at. The multiplayer is also something everyone has copied for the last 10 years and it’s clear why. The maps are perfectly designed, memorable, and a blast to play.

Best Version: PC

220px-Modern_Warfare_2_cover1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – 2009

Why is this the best in the series? It took everything that made CoD4 amazing and stacked on top of that, plus the series hasn’t done something like that since. It’s sad to see a series lose steam to fast, but MW2 took risks and controversy proudly and even made some of the best multiplayer maps ever created in a game. It was perfect with well-balanced weapons, a fun and fast-paced campaign, and a multiplayer mode that hasn’t been as good since.

Best Version: Xbox 360

 

Silent Hill Games Ranked Worst to Best

Posted by binarymessiah on 10/27/2018
Posted in: Blogs, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation (PS1), PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Ranked Worst to Best, Sony Consoles, Wii, Xbox, Xbox360. Leave a comment

Silent Hill is one of the scariest video franchises of all time. It’s also one of the most developmentally challenged as the series has fun into numerous struggles, cancellations, and hard development cycles. From the very first game, the series set the groundwork for survival horror games and scare factor ever since. This is the best Silent Hill games ranked worst to best and the best versions when appropriate.

270812b9. Silent Hill: Downpour – 2012

Downpour is by far the absolute worst game in the franchise, as it’s just abysmal and unplayable. The game is ugly as sin for starters, has awful controls, and tries to introduce a large open world design with awfully frustrating puzzles to unlock fast travel spots, more enemies than you have health, or weapons for, and the level design is so bad and frustrating, not to mention the boring story and terrible characters. This game just should not have existed period.

Best Version: PlayStation 3

220px-SH_Book_of_Memories8. Silent Hill: Book of Memories – 2012

At least playable, Book of Memories was a Vita exclusive that threw the series into a Diablo-like clone and did it poorly. Boring combat, uninteresting story elements, no characters, and shallow game design. The game wasn’t scary, wasn’t interesting, and the entire game felt like the first level. I can only imagine curious fans trying this out.

220px-Silent20027. Silent Hill 4: The Room – 2004

The worst game in the main series by far, The Room took out all the elements that made the series memorable. Sure, the controls were still frustrating, the combat was wonky, but the scare factor, insane monsters, and memorable environments are absent. It feels like a generic experience and wasn’t scary or tense at all. It also had confusing level design and awful puzzles.

Best Version: Xbox

!!eBgcH!EWM_$(KGrHqV,!hME0fcp2rRcBNQujVvkmQ___16. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories – 2009

An interesting reinterpretation of the first game, Shattered Memories was a spin-off that was actually quite interesting albeit easy. Using your cell-phone camera as part of the gameplay, and running away from things, it was a cinematic experience, but still not very scary. It was a weird departure for sure, but an interesting project that any Silent Hill fan should try out.

Best Version: Wii

220px-Silent_Hill_Homecoming5. Silent Hill: Homecoming – 2008

While not most fan’s favorite game, I quite enjoyed it as it improved on a lot of elements that plagued the series. It had better combat, scary moments, and an interesting world to explore, it was a little more action-oriented, but it felt good to play and wasn’t as bad as most people say. It’s very entertaining and worth multiple playthroughs. It took the best of all the elements and tried to make them into a good experience.

Best Version: PlayStation 3

220px-Silent_Hill_24. Silent Hill 2 – 2001

This game was a massive hit as it pushed the PS2 to its limits and was one of the most highly anticipated games of that generation. It was scarier, bigger, and had more complex puzzles than ever before and had interesting characters. There are many memorable moments in this game it has a lot of replay value. It didn’t improve on controls or combat much, but it made a decent effort. One of the scariest games I have ever played for sure.

Best Version: Xbox

511o6avlQ7L.AC_SX215_3. Silent Hill: Origins – 2007

Origins didn’t get as much attention as it should have, as it was the last game in the main series that was good. It was a PSP exclusive, at first, and looked fantastic and was extremely scary. It’s actually the scariest game in the series next to Silent Hill 3. It featured horrifically claustrophobic environments, insanely grotesque monsters, and improved combat and controls. It’s one of the most underrated game in the series and it’s a shame.

Best Version: PSP

220px-Silent_Hill_video_game_cover2. Silent Hill – 1999

The original has been difficult to top as it revolutionized the survival horror genre and pushed the PS1, controversy, and parents to their limits. The dark ominous fog, silent ambiance, and nasty monsters are just something you have to experience. The controls and combat aren’t great, but to experience this masterpiece is something that helped establish the PS1 as a great as a console as it is.

download1. Silent Hill 3 – 2003

Not only is this a fantastic looking game, but it’s the scariest game in the series and has a great story and characters. It haunting, and hard to finish, and sadly the only game I couldn’t get through growing up. It starts off intensely frightening and never loosens its grip on your soul. Silent Hill 3 is very memorable and will leave a mark on you for sure and scar you for some of the most horrific scenes in video game history.

Best Version: PS2

 

Halo Games Ranked Worst to Best

Posted by binarymessiah on 10/25/2018
Posted in: Blogs, Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, Ranked Worst to Best, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox360. Leave a comment

Halo is one of the most well-known franchises of all time, even to non-gamers. It was a revolutionary entry in the FPS genre and single-handedly kept the Xbox afloat, and even still does to this day. The game is more than just shooting aliens with cool weapons, but the entire world of Halo has deep rich lore that reaches far out into the universe with many characters and timelines. Comics, novels, short films, fan-fiction, the list goes on as to how far Halo’s story and universe has spread. I myself have read the comic series and would love to read the books one days, but what started it all was the games. Here is every Halo game ranked worst to best.

220px-Hw2_coverart9. Halo Wars 2 – 2016

Sadly, Halo Wars 2 couldn’t expand upon the great idea of a real-time strategy game in the Halo universe. The original was already fairly mediocre and was left in the dust by bigger PC heavyweights at the time, and Halo Wars 2 just delivered a buggy boring experience that is hard to care about. The balancing is off, the story is lame, and the characters just really don’t matter here. It’s still the very basics of RTS at its core and doesn’t expand beyond that.

220px-Halo_wars8. Halo Wars – 2009

While slightly better than its sequel, Halo Wars was decent fun when it was released but didn’t reach the popularity the other games did. It was very basic, formulaic, and didn’t expand upon the Halo universe in any significant way. Even the Definitive Edition couldn’t really save the game. It’s fun and a good game for RTS newcomers, but veterans will scoff at its infant like gameplay and tactical gameplay.

81kBcvv9h5L._SY679_7. Halo 3: ODST – 2009

My least favorite game in the shooter series. It’s boring, uninteresting, and was offering nothing new to the series at this point except a boring large open area that acted as a hub. It felt devoid of life and was so dark and plain. It honestly took me several tries to actually want to finish this game, and thankfully it’s very short.

image6. Halo 5: Guardians – 2015

With 5 Halo games, you’d expect that at this point the formula would be down pat and we’d get an epic memorable experience and fantastic visuals, sadly we didn’t get any of that. Halo 5 is a generic, boring, and unbalanced slog of a game that has dated visuals and unsatisfying multiplayer. It’s enjoyable for one playthrough, but even then you will be thinking about older Halo games while you play this. The environments all blur together with generic sterile steel walkways, garages, and boring lifeless environments. Not to mention the same damn enemies we have been fighting for a decade.

220px-Halo_4_box_artwork5. Halo 4 – 2012

Halo 4 was entertaining, but it changed so much from the original trilogy that it made a lot of fans mad. The memorable environments, cut-scenes, and interesting characters are pretty much absent, and the game looked dated as it was one of the last Xbox 360 exclusives released. It would have been better to hold onto it and release for a launch title for Xbox One and improve upon it. The multiplayer was good (as it is with every Halo game) but the campaign just felt so generic. I honestly can’t remember the game at all and can’t recall a single moment, it’s completely blank in my head. That’s definitely not a good thing.

220px-Halo_-_Combat_Evolved_(XBox_version_-_box_art)4. Halo: Combat Evolved – 2001

The first game isn’t at the top as it’s not the best. It lacked online multiplayer and felt simplistic compared to later games. It had some memorable moments, and of course, introduced some of the most recognizable characters and enemies in gaming history, and helped establish the Xbox as a solid gaming console. The game had revolutionary multiplayer and put a stamp on console FPS gameplay that was made fun of for years by PC gamers. Halo is a fun, yet dated, game and should be played by anyone who missed out on it.

220px-Halo-_Reach_box_art3. Halo: Reach – 2010

Reach was an exciting time for Halo as it was a spin-off, but better than ODST. Everyone was excited for Halo 4, but it was far in the horizon. We got to play as a new team, and it had an interesting dialog, and fun new gameplay elements and great pacing. This game also has some of the most popular multiplayer modes and maps to date. It was a massive hit when it was released and for good reason. It wasn’t a reboot, but enough of a twist to make the series lemony fresh again.

220px-Halo2-cover2. Halo 2 – 2004

This is probably the most popular game in the entire series as it was the first online Halo game. It took the industry by storm and was one of the largest entertainment launches in history. I remember seeing on the news, hearing about it, and every nook and cranny of the internet was buzzing with videos and articles about the game. People were paid to train others on how to play Halo, real-money tournaments formed, and the campaign is one of the best in gaming history. It’s a phenomenal game, and sadly the game hasn’t been topped.

220px-Halo_3_final_boxshot1. Halo 3 – 2007

Most people would pick Halo 2 as the top of the series, but Halo 3 is the most refined, balanced, and memorable game to me. It looks amazing on its Xbox 360 debut and was a larger launch than Halo 2. It featured some game-changing multiplayer modes, weapons, and had an amazing campaign that I personally enjoyed more than Halo 2. The story was interesting, Cortana and Master Chief’s characters were evolved and constantly moving forward, and it was just a fantastic shooter. Halo has yet to reach this point of greatness since, but Halo 3 has large shoes that need to be filled.