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Life is Strange 2

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/31/2019
Posted in: Editor's Choice, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Xbox One. Leave a comment

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: Dontnod Entertainment

Release Date: 09/26/2018

Rating: Mature

MSRP: $39.99

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 Life is Strange is one of my favorite games of all time. Dontnod are masterminds at storytelling and character development. They can somehow create a world that you can either relate and get sucked into or both, and yet add an element of fantasy in there. Life is Strange’s title is fitting for these games as you play as characters living and ordinary life and then all of a sudden one of those strange twists of fate change their entire lives.

Life is Strange 2 cranks this to the max with a story that had me hooked until the very end and is on par with the first game. You play as Sean and Daniel Diaz who get ripped from their home in Seattle, Washington and must escape the US and find their way to the Mexico border. I do have to warn that there will be some spoilers in here as I couldn’t properly review the game without talking about certain points in the story as this is the main part of the entire game.

What I love so much about this game is how average it starts out. Just a little boy and a teenager trying to live their regular lives with their father when suddenly life turns for the worst. This telekinetic power that Daniel discovers comes out when he gets into a fight with the next-door neighbor and when Sean intervenes it all turns for the worse. A cop dies, their father dies, and Sean panics and runs. Now pause right there. Most people would just hide or wait through the trail and tribulations of being proven innocent. That’s part of what makes this series so great is the opposite of what should happen happens and turns it into a strange twist of your own beliefs and choices and what the characters are doing.

As the Diaz brothers set off down towards Mt. Rainier in the first episode they encounter a kidnapper and cope with Daniel’s powers, but this is where you will start getting into a gameplay loop if you can call it that. You get plopped into a large starting area that allows you to look around at a bunch of objects and listen to Sean’s inner dialogue comment on it all to learn more about what’s around you and some times discover hidden objects. You can also push on to the main objectives and during these long cut scenes you will get dialog options that don’t seem to mean much at first, but the entire game is a balancing act of influencing your younger brother on how he ends up. Is he destructive and careless, is he too careful and caring, does he hate Sean or love him in the end? A lot of options slightly sway this and then there are larger game changers that allow two options and each one will sway the story in another direction.

Some of these options consequences are usually seen right away and some are seen in the next episode. Once you get through a tense scene that makes you choose something big it settles back down to more minor plot development and this is where the game falters some. For example, episodes 2 and three 3 are very slow and feature too much slice of life stuff such as the brothers living in a homeless camp in the redwood forest in California, and living with their grandparents and doing daily life stuff. You do day to day stuff like chores and talk to everyone, but the integration of these brand new people feel like a slog as you must endure tons of dialog to get to know them, and in the end, it doesn’t really matter as they are unique to this episode. Episode 4 is much shorter and features all of the above but in shorter integrals and I felt was the best-paced episode. Episode 5 feels like a lot of filler in the beginning and takes to long to get to the end as the only “action” is maybe the last 30 minutes when the brothers are finally at the border.

Despite these complaints about pacing and story, it’s still fantastic and memorable. There are a few minor gameplay elements tossed in like quick-time events and aiming to throw a knife or something, but there is very little gameplay. The majority consists of Sean walking around looking at stuff. I honestly could see this as just a mini-series TV show rather than a game. Many times I set the controller down and only picked it up for dozens of minutes at a time to pick a dialog option. I personally love deep stories in games, but I don’t want to sacrifice gameplay. There are literally zero other elements besides walking around, examining, and dialog choices.

With all that said, the story is just amazing and very emotional. I related a lot of the first game as I personally grew up in a small town, but I also relate to this game as I live in the Seattle area have also lived in California a good part of my life. I grew up in small towns and had crazy events that change my life growing up in the blink of an eye. While I wasn’t a fugitive running from the law there is always a strange thing that happens in our lives that changes it forever and can happen so fast we never saw it coming and that’s what makes Life is Strange 2 so incredibly rich and realistic. The events are happening right now and could really happen in real life, but there’s that element of fantasy that makes it a great game rather than a life simulator.

I also have to comment on the visuals, the switch to Unreal Engine 4 makes the game look much better, but far from not looking dated. There are muddy textures, some wonky animations, and low poly models. This is just something most adventure games suffer from. The voice acting is pretty good though, while not amazing, it does the job to deliver emotion and you really feel it. Overall, Life is Strange 2 is for the story lovers out there and less the gamers.

Batman: The Telltale Series

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/04/2019
Posted in: Android, iOS, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Mobile Reviews, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Switch, Uncategorized, Xbox One. Leave a comment

imagePublisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment8

Developer: Telltale Games

Release Date: 08/02/2016

Rating: Mature

MSRP: $29.99

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Batman has seen a great run over the last decade or so with Christopher Nolan’s film trilogy, the Arkham game trilogy, and now a story-driven adventure game. Batman tells a story I have personally never heard with the game digging into Bruce Wayne’s darker past and finally revealing the truth about his parents and discovering their past. The game isn’t’ afraid to kill off characters and actually become quite violent, and I was hooked every last minute, but it’s not the story or characters that have issues, but Telltale’s tired way of telling these stories.

I’ll have to give them credit, they cleaned up the graphics engine a bit and the button prompts and commands look sleeker, especially during action sequences, but the game is still an interactive movie, probably more so than any other Telltale adventure game. Rarely do you get to actually control Batman or Bruce and only during investigative scenes to link clues together. This is one gameplay element that’s used multiple times and I like it, but it’s not really a puzzle either. You walk around examining clues and can link two of them together to figure out what happened at a crime scene. It’s easy and obvious which clues go together, so some better puzzle solving would have been nice.

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The second gameplay segment is dialog choices and most are timed just like previous Telltale games, but I feel the smaller dialog choices have less of an impact. The game will tell you when someone will notice or remember what you said, but unlike The Walking Dead, I don’t know when that comes into play. The Walking Dead is done so well I can recall what I said in a previous decision that made that character act the way they do, now either the writing is so good it’s that seamless or it was an afterthought. I want to know when my choices change things, even the little ones. There are times when you have to make two large choices that obviously will affect the story, but these are immediate changes that you see in front of you.

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The third gameplay segment is quick-time events, but they’re sleek and feel part of the action. Of course, these are incredibly easy and I never once messed up as the game gives you plenty of time to hit the button prompts to see the well-choreographed fight scenes play out that are actually quite cool. Outside of those three gameplay segments, there’s no other gameplay present. Puzzles are seriously lacking as they gave the Arkham games some brainpower behind all that fighting and I feel the game could have been better enjoyed more as a game with these put in.

Thankfully, you’ll just mow through the 5 episodes that take less than an hour each to complete because the story is so good. Seeing the origins of Harvey Dent become Two-Face, The Joker, Catwoman, Gordan, and seeing Bruce face his own dark past is just cool especially for a Batman fan such as myself. It tells a story that no other medium has told and that’s what got me hooked. I don’t want another origin story as to how Bruce became Batman, I don’t want to see him fight more villains and fight his inner demons. The dredging up the past and seeing Bruce and Batman actually fail and become nothing is fantastic and makes Batman seem vulnerable and adds depth to the story arc.

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Overall, Batman: The Telltale Series is a must-play for any Batman fan. I don’t think non Batman fans will care for this game, especially when knowing more about the lore and arc of the series makes the game that much more interesting.  The visuals are decent, but I’m tired of seeing Telltales comic looking graphics and they are dated and full of bugs and problems still. I ran into graphical glitches, crashes, and at one point my Xbox shut down mid-game for no reason. The voice acting is top-notch and the overall production values are good, but I’m tired of Telltale’s way of telling stories in the same manner for every game. Smaller dialog options are lost in the seamless transition between scenes and only the larger choices stand out which is a shame. Towards the end of the game, I stopped caring about which choices I made outside of the large ones because I wasn’t seeing any differences. Even at the last dialog scene with Alfred in episode 5, the game said “Alfred will remember that” but why? It’s the last scene with him and it won’t make a difference if he remembers it or not. With that said, this is a great story and not much else.

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Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 07/02/2019
Posted in: Mac, Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Xbox One. Leave a comment

P201609081840431271Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: Nixxes Software/Eidos Montreal

Release Date: 08/23/2016

Rating: Mature

MSRP: $59.99

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Deus Ex is an old well-loved franchise and the reboot with Human Revolution was well received despite its many flaws. Mankind Divided is a direct sequel taking place right after the terrorist bombing from the end of the last game, and Adam Jensen is at it again trying to solve murder mysteries, stop more terrorists, and put an end to the hatred against augmented humans. Dealing with racism, discrimination, classism, and many other dystopian issues, Mankind Divided delivers an atmospheric world to explore with great characters.

The gameplay elements from Human Revolution carry over and feel more polished and nuanced, but this game has its own set of issues. Starting with exploration, Mankind Divided has small areas in Prague you can explore and complete side missions and sadly that’s all. You can’t talk to 90% of the characters, and there are only a dozen side missions in the whole game. Prague just feels very cramped and small in scope and the Deus Ex franchise has enough lore and interesting things going on that it could be an open world game. Despite the areas being full of NPCs, open buildings, police walking about, etc., it just feels so empty and lonely. The amount of interaction is so little and there’s no real point exploring anything expect to hack computers to read emails and find ebooks, but even these don’t really give a lot of insight to the surrounding world.

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Once you get into a mission the combat is actually rather versatile. You can go completely stealth using silenced weapons and takedowns, or augment yourself for combat with powerful melee moves, more health, shields, and more. I went the hacker/stealth route upgrading all my hacking augs and bio cell meter for stealth shields and extra takedowns. Every area has multiple routes to get to the goal by either shooting through all the enemies, hacking your way around turrets, cameras, and security, or just taking everyone down one by one and sneaking through vents. It’s rather satisfying to find your own path and I rarely had issues in which I didn’t know how to get to a particular area. The shooting is rather satisfying as well, but sadly the game is designed to use very little of it. I never used anything outside of my silenced pistol despite holding on to 4 different weapons through the entire game. You can pick up grenades, software to help hacking, and various healing items, but I never really needed most of it.

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Outside of shooting, cover mechanics, and various combat abilities, there’s nothing else to the game. The story and characters are interesting enough to keep you going, but it’s mostly forgettable. The overall terrorist plotline is done to death in other games, and I’d rather know more about the surrounding world and how the people live day to day in this dystopian police-state world. That interested me more than anything Adam and his cohorts were working on. I honestly enjoyed the side missions more than the main storyline which is odd for a video game in general. There are some persuasion dialog mini-games where you must sway a character in your favor, but it’s easy and the outcomes don’t really affect the overall story.

Thankfully, Mankind Divided is for both action fans and stealth fans despite the game being built for stealth gameplay. There are no bosses this time around and the game has a lot of technical issues. At launch, the game was nearly unplayable for most people, and now after many patches, the engine is incredibly unoptimized with even two video card generations later, the engine struggles to stay at 60FPS with load times for menus even! MSAA is nearly impossible to enable with frames dipping into single digits, there’s a lot of chugging when turning the camera as well. On anything but the latest GPUs you’re not going to enjoy this game at all and it will murder your system. The game looks really good though with good lighting, high-res textures, and great character models.

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Overall, Mankind Divided expands on its predecessor, but not on the overall series. More interactive areas would have been great, bigger areas to explore and more side missions, and even more insight to the day to day lives of the citizens in Prague. With a terribly optimized engine, and the fun factor of combat and stealth varying from satisfying to incredibly frustrating within minutes of each other, Deus Ex just needs a reboot before coming back. The story is enough to keep you moving along, but it’s nothing memorable.

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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.

 

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

 

Mortal Kombat Games Ranked Worst to Best

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/22/2018
Posted in: Blogs, Dreamcast, DS, GameBoy Advance, Gamecube, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation (PS1), PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PSP, Ranked Worst to Best, Retro Consoles, Sega CD, Sega Genesis, Sony Consoles, Vita, Wii, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox360. Leave a comment

My favorite video game of all time is Mortal Kombat. Something about the characters, violence, lore, and overall atmosphere that the game brings is just so satisfying to me. It was also the first video I ever played at 2 years old which was the original game on Sega Genesis back in 1993. From Fatalities to special moves, stages, and rocking industrial techno music, Mortal Kombat is one of the best, and longest running, video game franchises of all time. That’s not to say the game went through some ups and downs. I have listed every main Mortal Kombat game from worst to best. I didn’t include various ports as they varied by quality, and discluded any handheld version as they were just dumbed down ports of larger games. I will also list the most superior port or version of that game as every port varied wildly due to various hardware limitations.

220px-Mortal_Kombat_Special_Forces16. Mortal Kombat: Special Forces – 2000

Is this really a surprise? Only beating out Mythologies by a fraction, Special Forces was a 3D action game disaster created by co-creator John Tobias and putting a damper in any future Mortal Kombat spin-offs. The game was near unplayable with awful graphics, terrible controls, a lame story, and nothing to really do with Mortal Kombat itself. It’s worth a play just to see how far down Mortal Kombat got, but this is by far its lowest point, but not lowest timeframe.

220px-Mortal_Kombat_Mythologies15. Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero – 1997

Not much better than Special Forces, but at least the game was somewhat playable and felt more like Mortal Kombat. a 2D side-scrolling platformer, you play as Sub-Zero and run into awful live action cut-scenes (the N64 version was spared of those) terrible controls, and boring gameplay. This game is probably not even worth touching unless you’re just curious.

Best Version: PlayStation

220px-Mortal_Kombat_Gold14. Mortal Kombat Gold – 1999

A direct port of MK4 and Dreamcast exclusive, Gold was too little too late with Soul Calibur and various other fighters pushing the genre into the next-generation. It was clunky, tiring, old, and just didn’t feel right on the system this late in the game. It’s very playable, and MK4 fans will enjoy newcomers like Cyrax and Mileena, but it’s probably the worst game in the main fighting series.

!!e!U-T!EGM_$(KGrHqF,!lEEz+2,LZ6IBNP38FkCV!___113. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon – 2006

While being the next-generation MK Trilogy of sorts, Armageddon was a lazy cop-out for keeping the series at its yearly releases and was the end of this generation of 3D MK games. It featured every single MK character ever made up to Deception and shoved them all in the two-style martial arts that this trilogy of MK titles gave us. By this point, MK was really going downhill and fatigue was setting in with a bloated disc full of weird mini-games and cheap generic Kreate-A-Fatality that was more complicated and irritating than ever. Press certain button combos to create the same gory move for every character and just string them together as quick as you can, yeah what a waste. A few years of development and this could have been a game to remember. The Kreate-A-Fighter mode was the only new and original part. Mortal Kombat Kart racing was awful with shallow race tracks and no thought put into it, the Konquest mode was much better than Deception’s but was still a weird thing to even exist. Overall, it’s very playable and fun, but it’s just the most generic MK game ever made.

Best Version: Xbox

26312. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance – 2002

Deadly Alliance shot the series into the next-generation with brand new fighters and an all-new realistic martial arts approach to the game. With a story mode that’s really just a giant training mode, a fun Krypt area to unlock extras, and two awesome Fatalities per character, it only beats out Armageddon due to the originality within the game. The new characters are great and mostly untouched throughout the later games, however, the graphics were dated and everyone looked like plastic dolls with blood that looks like Jell-O. It was still gory and fun, but far from the greatness, the 2D games offered.

Best Version: Xbox

270240b11. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe – 2008

This threw fans for a loop as MK mashed with DC to create a weird and forced fighting game no one asked for. The biggest hit was the Teen rating with DC character performing “Heroic Brutalities” as they never kill and the MK character performing the most basic “Fatalities” that felt more like Wile E. Coyote ACME stunts. The fighting core was a slight departure from the previous games with a 2D plane and seemed pretty solid, but there was something off about the whole game. It’s decent, and quite playable, but very forgettable.

Best Version: PlayStation 3

mksmshot10. Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks – 2005

Shaolin Monks would be the last MK spin-off and actually did it right. Created by another development team, Monks lets you play as Liu-Kang and Kung-Lao with an over-the-top 3D brawler that is set in the MKII storyline. Using assets from that game such as stages and characters and even lore, the game recreated the MK experience with a fantastic fighting system that was fluid and even more fun with a second player. There were many secrets and the game is highly replayable. The only issue was the game was only 4 hours long, had awful voice acting and a stupid story. Other than that, this is a must play for MK fans.

Best Version: Xbox

download (2)9. Mortal Kombat 4 – 1997

This was the biggest turning point for the entire series. The game went forward into 3D forever and the result was some weird clunky stuff, but it was fast-paced and violent and somehow just worked. Not many games did 3D fighting very well at the time and the great roster and some of the best Fatalities in the series make for an awesome fighting game. Use of weapons was introduced for the first time as well.

Best Version: PlayStation

!!e!VD1QEGM_$(KGrHqN,!jME0DorDv!jBNP4B0oWZ!___18. Mortal Kombat 3 – 1995

MK3 had a lot riding on it at this point in time as it had big shoes to fill after MKII. The game was darker, more realistic, and added some mechanics such as running, Brutalities, and a secret code menu. MK3 also had some of the most memorable characters the series will see such as Sheeva, Kabal, and Smoke. The problem was the combos were so difficult to pull off a lot of people were turned off that the game relied on this system, and not to mention the cheap ass AI.

Best Version: PlayStation

download (3)7. Mortal Kombat – 1992

The original is far down the list due to the fact that so many games in the series improved upon it, but it’s higher than others due to the originality and the fact that it has a one of a kind atmosphere that no other game in the series nailed. The original roster and Test-Your-Mights combined with the Fatalities and simple moves make this one of the best video games ever created. There’s quite a story behind this game and the fact the ESRB was created because this game says a lot. It’s a very simple and basic game, but it holds a huge piece of gaming history.

Best Version: Sega CD

51NwTi0onnL6. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 – 1995

An upgrade version of MK3, UMK3 is widely considered the best 2D MK game ever made as it perfected what they were trying to do with MK3. Adding new characters such as Rain, Noob Saibot, and Khameleon, and adding an Aggressor meter as well as making combos much easier, UMK3 was fast, looked good, and was dark with everything the series had to offer up until then.

Best Version: Nintendo DS

71772-mortal-kombat-ii-sega-saturn-front-cover5. Mortal Kombat II – 1993

Most people will say MKII is the best game in the series due to the perfect balance and style between MK1 and MK3. It was a little darker, more sinister, and had an imaginative roster of new characters such as Baraka, Kitana, Mileena, and Jax. The stages were amazing and the introduction of Babalities and Friendships helped set the tone for the series from here on out. The controls were tight and the game looked amazing.

Best Version: Sega Saturn

download (4)4. Mortal Kombat Trilogy – 1996

MKT was a best-of compilation of the series up until that point. Taking every single character, stage, and mixing several -Alities together, the game was a massive success and was a blast to play. You could also play as the bosses which were completely unheard of back in the day and it was so much fun. Trilogy remains one of my favorite MK games of all time and I spent hundreds of hours perfecting this game.

Best Version: PlayStation

5139Q1W9DSL._AC_SX430_3. Mortal Kombat: Deception – 2004

Deception was the best 3D game up until this point and had a lot to offer. It improved immensely on Deadly Alliance’s realistic martial arts and added new game modes and some amazing characters and stages. The game was just dark, gritty, and hit that perfect style that people loved. While the three martial-arts style was a bit clunky and memorizing long combos was silly, most people forgave it for the amount of content available. Chess Kombat is still one of my favorite MK game modes of all time. Play chess like normal and then duke it out to take over the square. Puzzle Kombat took the Street Fighter version and added Chibi MK characters duking it out on screen. However, Konquest mode was a nasty ugly chore to unlock stuff in the Krypt. It was also the first online fighting game ever made and was buttery smooth across the board with a lobby room, ranking system, and various other features. I played this game for so many hours I lost count. The Fatalities were amazing and the new Hara Kiris which were “reverse Fatalities” blew my mind away. It was as competitive as it got and holds a special place for me as it was the first game I had ever pre-ordered as well.

Best Version: Xbox

271085b2. Mortal Kombat – 2011

With DC Universe disappointing fans so much we had all lost hope. Thankfully many consider this version to be the best 3D MK game to date and rightfully so. It builds off of MKII’s balancing and uses most character up through MK3 so it keeps it old school. The X-Ray moves shook the industry and added a whole new meaning to gore and violence to video games. The new Challenge Tower was a blast and it featured the best story mode in any fighting game to date with halfway decent voice acting for once. Sadly, the game was quickly abandoned and only featured 4 DLC characters before being cut loose.

Best Version: PlayStation 3

mortal-kombat-x-pc-155131.Mortal Kombat X – 2015

MKX not only pushes the entire series in a new direction but shows fighting games a whole new level of production values and content. Taking the best from MK 2011 and the 2D games, MKX feels heavier, chunkier, and more violence than ever and that’s a good thing. Using the Unreal Engine 4 and creating some of the sickest Fatalities to date, MKX also introduces some great new characters for the first time since Deception. The stages are awesome, the DLC characters rock, and the story mode is actually quite amazing and pushes the last game in the back corner. The new Krypt mode is more interactive and can almost be a game all on its own, and the new online towers make the game feel like it’s 1992 all over again.

Best Version: PC