Dead or Alive 5

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 11/08/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Tecmo Koei

Developer: Team Ninja

Release Date: 9/25/2012


Available On

Dead or Alive is one of the longest-running fighting games, dating back to the PS1 era. It is also one of the fighting games that probably adds the least amount of features or changes through each sequel. DoA 5 doesn’t really add much, so fans of DoA 4 will be a little disappointed here. The fighting system is nearly unchanged, and all you will notice from the beginning is a new story and a graphical upgrade. The game looks pretty good, and there’s a long 65-mission story, but is it worth the $60 purchase if you are just happy with DoA Dimensions or DoA 4?

The only new additions to the fighting system are the Cliffhangers and the Critical System. Both are underwhelming and just add to the already complicated fight system. However, it is more enjoyable to button mash than other fight games that rely on things like jump canceling, jump this, cancel that, etc. DoA is based around a triangle fight system that is based on holds and counter-attacks. This means you have to be quick and read your opponent’s moves; most fighting games aren’t like that. This is also a problem because predicting moves is very hard in this game, and having counters and holds for high, low, and mid strikes is just ridiculous and creates a very high learning curve that will turn most new players away.

The critical system allows you to do extra damage when the word pops up on the screen; when it turns red, you can do even more damage, but the timing for this is a serious pain. You spend more time trying to read and predict all this stuff than just button mashing, which is a lot more fun. Some fighting games are more fun when learning the moves and the fighting system (Mortal Kombat, Marvel vs. Capcom), but Dead or Alive isn’t. You have to focus less on the fight and more on the animations and things that pop up on the screen. I spent hours trying to learn all this, but in the end, I just resorted back to button mashing, which I felt more confident in.

Cliffhangers are cinematic events in which you power blow (a super-powerful charged attack) into a certain danger zone and a quick-time event comes up. This was fun, but it is hard to figure out the special Danger Zone in most stages and leads right back to that issue where you are distracted from the actual fight. DoA 5 just adds too many distractions, but for people who don’t mind (probably hardcore fans), then you may like these new ideas. Despite all of this, the fighting system is very fun and fluid and is all martial arts, with no fancy fireballs or magic attacks.

The story mode is back and is pretty well developed, but it is confusing for newcomers. You had to have played past story modes because they pick up after each other. Kasumi is just trying to stop Alpha 152 again, and the Mugen Tenshin clan (Ayane, Ryu Hayabusa, and Hayate) are after her. In the meantime, Zack is trying to recruit people for Dead or Alive 5, and most people will find the story mostly uninteresting. It is better than most fighting game stories, though. The graphics look great and pretty much push the consoles to their limits. There is a new dirt and sweat feature added to characters, but you can only guess why. Dead or Alive is 70% female fighters with large breasts that jiggle with every move in very little clothing. This isn’t a bad thing because most of the characters are well known and very well developed, with unique personalities. One of the features in every Dead or Alive release, for me, are the new costumes I can unlock in the game because they are so well done and make the women look even more beautiful.

The story mode also has bonus missions, but after halfway through, they start becoming impossibly difficult. Dead or Alive isn’t really a combo type of game, but pulling off 7 and 10-hit combos can be a serious chore. Online modes are fun as always, but most players will get discouraged by the good long-time fighters. This just proves that you must master the triangle system because once you get locked into a combo, you’re stuck. Health bars deplete quickly in this game, so fights can last only a minute or two.

Overall, DoA 5 doesn’t bring much to the table to call this a true sequel—graphical upgrades, a new story, and just a couple of new additions to the fighting system—but they hamper it down. There are also no new characters, just a few cameos from Virtua Fighter. Plus, the stages are actually pretty boring. Construction site, a street, and a Japanese house. Yawn. DoA 5 is solid and fun, but wait for a price drop.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 11/03/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, Nintendo, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Steam Deck Unsupported, Steam Deck Verification, Wii, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Infinity Ward

Release Date: 11/8/2011


Available On

Modern Warfare gets the bad rep of being the game that sheep flock to. “Only morons play it,” some people say. “The only people online are 12-year-olds.” The problem is that those are true, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a fun game. Sure, the game became too mainstream for everyone, and their mom has played it, but that doesn’t make it a bad game or series. What makes the game tiring is that nothing really changes. Modern Warfare 3 feels like Modern Warfare 2.5. Not much has changed from the second game other than the campaign and a visual upgrade. There are even recycled maps from the second game!

The campaign is a disappointment because it just doesn’t feel as awesome as the past two games. It feels like a gallery shooter more than ever and has very little challenge. The epic set pieces aren’t as grand as previous games and have great potential at first, but no climax ever happens. Levels are really short without the varied gameplay clips that are thrown in. The story is confusing if you haven’t followed the games until now, but you aren’t missing much. The story between Captain Price and Soap MacTavish is interesting, but it just falls flat in the end. The campaign is entertaining at best and a lot of fun, but it isn’t solid like the past two games. What you are mainly here for is multiplayer, because that will keep you coming back for more.

The layout is like all previous Modern Warfare games without much change. You can customize your loadout, callsign, emblem, and unlock new items by ranking up. The only new additions really are how you score. Things like rescuing people and a few other things. To be honest, the controls and feel of the entire game haven’t really changed much. There are a few tweaks here and there, but it doesn’t feel like an actual sequel. The weapons are a little different, but everything is just the same when it comes to how you unlock them. There are a few different killstreak rewards, like the IMS and a few others, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? There are a few different perks, and that is really it. The maps aren’t designed as well as in the past two games and aren’t as memorable. There are a couple of maps in here from MW2, like the Airport map, which is a classic, but the others have to just grow on you. There are a lot more modes in this one, but I was missing the modes from Black Ops, which I felt should have been included. One in the Chamber was a favorite of mine, but the whole money system from Black Ops is also missing. I would rather buy upgrades than wait to unlock them, but what can you do?

The graphics received a huge upgrade and look decent on the PC, but look pretty bad on the consoles. There’s a slight texture upgrade, some SSAO effects, and anti-aliasing, but they are all very minor. You don’t need a powerful rig to run this game maxed out. There are a few cool scenes in the campaign, but overall, this doesn’t feel like a true sequel but more of an expansion. Multiplayer is super fun, and most players will pour dozens of hours into the addictiveness of it. There are a few complaints about the multiplayer, such as when you start. You are fighting people who are level 80 prestige and have all the best stuff, so don’t get discouraged. Quick scoping is a thing people complain about where you can look down your scope almost instantly, which is considered cheating by some. They fixed this by making it a perk, but if you play Battlefield 3, you will notice the difference.

Modern Warfare 3 has a lackluster single-player campaign, and not much has changed in multiplayer. The new maps are fun but not as memorable as past games. There are a few tweaks here and there, but no major changes you should expect. For the low price these days, it is well worth it, but just don’t buy it expecting a cinematic campaign and tons of multiplayer changes like you saw from Modern Warfare 1 to 2. I also have to say that there are a surprisingly large number of cheaters and hackers due to the lack of dedicated servers, but this only seems to happen at night. Still worth a purchase.

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Keyboard & Mouse

Mark of the Ninja

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 11/02/2012
Posted in: Linux, Mac, Microsoft, PC Reviews, Retro Consoles, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios

Developer: Klei Entertainment

Release Date: 10/16/2012

Available On

Klei Entertainment has had a pretty bad reputation with the not-so-great Shank series. It is a huge surprise that Mark of the Ninja turned out so well; in fact, it is probably one of the best indie games to come out this year. Mark of the Ninja succeeds in making you feel like a true ninja with great stealth mechanics, puzzles, and skill moves. However, Klei still needs to hire a new story writer because it isn’t very interesting. You are a ninja who is going after someone, and you have tattoos that give you powers, and that’s pretty much it. You should play this for the action because that’s all you will care about anyway.

The game uses light and dark very well. The game is in 2D, so everything around you is dark. You have to avoid enemies by climbing up walls and ceilings, hiding in ducts, and even in objects. The game has a great kill mechanic where you press the kill button, but time slows so you can press a combo of a direction and the kill button that pops up on the screen. This feels very satisfying and should be incorporated into more games like this. You have some weapons in your arsenal, such as darts, that can be used to distract guards by taking out lights, luring them into traps, and many other things. You get smoke bombs, mines, and even the ability to see everything around you and teleport. That is what a ninja is really like, and I haven’t played a game yet that makes me feel like one (sorry, Ninja Gaiden).

The controls are silky smooth, if a little sticky when clinging to walls and objects. As you progress, you can level up by completing optional objectives and finding hidden scrolls throughout the levels. You can acquire new moves like killing from above, snagging enemies while hiding, etc. You can even unlock more ninja weapons and gadgets for your arsenal. The whole system works really well, and the gameplay is just so addictive. There are multiple ways to approach objectives, but you can never fight head-on. That is what I like about this game. If you are caught, you need to flee and hide until the enemies settle back down. Just a couple of shots will kill you. Thankfully, checkpoints are very fair, unlike the Shank games, and don’t set you back too far.

Puzzles are pretty fun in this game because they require reflexes more than anything. Hitting tripwires may send arrows flying at you, but there’s a crank that pulls a box up along a wall to block them. Cranking it up as you climb the wall is the way to go, but some get really tricky but are fun to solve. This game is just pure fun, and I felt like a ninja the whole way through. No guns, no super-fast martial arts, just stealth, sneaking, and being a part of the shadows.

The graphics are beautiful and are actually part of the gameplay. Everything seems dark and shadowed, but when things are in the light, they are fully revealed. The only thing visible to you in the shadows are your glowing red tattoos, which are really neat. My only complaints are the story and the fact that there really isn’t enough variety in enemies. I wanted to see more, and the overall game just gets repetitive towards the end, but if the story were better, you wouldn’t feel that way.

With great ninja gameplay, smooth controls, fun stealth mechanics, and interesting puzzles, Mark of the Ninja proves to be one of the best indie/arcade games this year. For the low price, you have nothing to lose except a few hours of having a lot of fun.

Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

Silent Hill: Book of Memories

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 11/01/2012
Posted in: PlayStation Vita, Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Konami

Developer: WayForward

Release Date: 10/16/2012


Available Exclusively On

  • psvita

Silent Hill has had a rough patch, and I thought Book of Memories would change this. The game seems really great at first, and I like the idea of the series branching off for the first time into a different genre. The dungeon crawling path works well for the series, but it is poorly executed here. The first few levels are fun, but later on, they repeat the same way over and over again. The game doesn’t feel much like Silent Hill at all except visually, and I promise you there isn’t a single scare in the whole game.

The story is paper-thin, in which a man or woman (you get to create a character with a very weak customizer) gets a strange book for their birthday from the mailman seen in the last terrible game, Downpour. It is full of memories, and you decide to go inside and change them. That is pretty much it. The story is barely delivered through notes and scattered audio clips. Silent Hill is known for good stories that are at least confusing but not boring. This one is boring and uninteresting.

The game has a top-down perspective, and you run around levels, opening rooms and completing challenges to find puzzle pieces. Silent Hill is known for puzzles, but these are pretty lame (more on that later). You are safe in the hallways, and each room is random. That is probably the most fun part of this game. What’s in the next room? Some need keys to open, which are found on red-highlighted objects. When your flashlight is on, these objects you can search through are highlighted, and they contain things like ammo, medkits, weapons, keys, and repair tools.

The whole point of the game is to run around, smacking down everything in sight, but this is where the game mainly fails. The weapons are nods to pretty much everything seen in a past game, like the steel pipe, wood plank, fire axe, revolver, sledgehammer, and a few original weapons. The issue here is that they can break very quickly. This made the game extremely tough because enemies are really hard to take down. Even after leveling myself up a lot, I never did much damage. Using repair tools can come in handy, but they are hard to find, and you can’t hold many of them. You can upgrade your backpack more, but this requires a lot of memory residue, which is also hard to come by. Saving up this currency is even tougher because you will be spending it on medical kits and repair tools 90% of the time. See what I mean? This is all a vicious cycle that never ends.

There are RPG elements that allow you to equip relics that increase stats. Leveling up takes forever and doesn’t seem to do any good. The combat itself is boring and stiff. You just mash an attack button until everything dies. The lock-on button is handy for ranged weapons, but blocking didn’t really do much good for me. I felt the combat system should be more refined and intuitive for a dungeon crawler. Maybe add some spell casting? I can’t tell you how tired I was of the game by Zone 11. I just called it quits. One redeeming quality of the combat is the fun boss fights every three zones. You have to use strategy and discover their weaknesses, but why can’t regular enemies be like this? Most enemies are from previous games, and very few are new. I just felt the developers didn’t know what direction to go in—Silent Hill survival horror or dungeon crawler?

It really shows in all the flaws in the game. The puzzles are the same three that repeat over and over. Event rooms are confusing, with zero clues on what to do. Even the karma bar seems useless because picking up enemies’ blood (depending on whether it is light, blood, or steel) will move your karma bar around. It seems pretty pointless, actually. The only way to really enjoy this game is to co-op with up to four players, because the game is really hard. Not to mention the fact that if you die before saving a spot in each level, you have to do it all over again, which is not fun.

Book of Memories has some nice graphics for the Vita; nothing special though. There are no scares to be had, and the same track loops over and over again. The story is uninteresting, the character creator is weak, the combat difficulty is all over the place, the combat system is boring and stiff, and many other elements wrapped in the game just feel wrong and half-baked. I love the idea of a dungeon crawler in this series, but please pick one side or the other. Also, make it scary next time.

Serious Sam 3: BFE

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/29/2012
Posted in: Linux, Mac, Microsoft, Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Retro Consoles, Sony, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Playable, Steam Deck Verification, Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Developer: Croteam

Release Date: 11/22/2011


Available On

Serious Sam is one of the original old-school shooters where you just shot everything on sight. Forget about the story, gameplay, cinematic events, or anything else. Serious Sam is one of the less popular FPS series that is shadowed by Doom, Quake, and Duke Nukem. BFE doesn’t really do anything new or add anything new except a spiffy new engine, which is seriously wasted. The game is repetitive, lacks any awesome guns (except a couple), and has the same handful of enemies thousands of times over. BFE is mainly for newcomers because only the super-hardcore fans will truly enjoy this (if that).

The story is paper-thin, with Sam trying to stop an alien invasion. That’s it. This is the prequel to First Encounter, but who really cares? The game tries to be a bit different by starting off slow with a sledgehammer and introducing awesome melee attacks to show off the new engine. You acquire a pistol, then a shotgun, and then more guns as the game goes on. There are dozens of secret areas everywhere (I couldn’t find a single one for some reason). You shoot thousands of enemies throughout the game, but in extremely difficult waves that can be in the hundreds.

I honestly felt that my arsenal was underwhelmed by the vast amounts of enemies the game throws at you. The most effective weapons were the cannon, C4, and Devastator, but the ammo for those is pretty rare (except C4). All the rest were pretty useless except the minigun, which was good at reducing crowds in a wide area but ate up ammo quick. I can’t tell you how boring the game got by the end, and it will really test your endurance. I played on the easy setting and still got my ass kicked sometimes. For the hell of it, I tried it on the hardest difficulty, and it was impossible. I couldn’t get past the third level; it was that hard. By the last level, you are thrown probably a few thousand enemies with wave after wave that takes you about 45 minutes to chew through. The waves get so big that I backpedaled half the level to get some breathing room in some areas.

When it comes to looks, BFE is impressive for a DirectX 9 game. This is the most customizable PC game ever made when it comes to graphics options. There are options here I have never even heard of! There are about 45 options, but when you max the game out, it looks amazing, but it is sadly wasted on a bland and boring art style. Everything is brown and dead, with nothing interesting to look at. Halfway through the game, I couldn’t take it anymore but finished it anyway. I do have to say that I am disappointed that Sam’s macho quips aren’t as funny this time around as in previous games. They just seem stale and are pretty mellow. Oh well.

Multiplayer is where BFE shines, but no one is playing online. During my entire week of playing the campaign, I logged in at different times of the day and night and maybe got 1 or 2 people playing if I was lucky. The server list is almost always empty, which is sad. This is a game that you will have to get buddies to go LAN on. When I did get a tiny game going, it was addictive and felt very old-school with fast movement, lots of jumping, and twitch reaction shooting. There are some neat modes, but I never got to play most of them because this game is nearly abandoned despite Croteam releasing a patch about 2 weeks ago.

I can only recommend this to hardcore FPS fans and hardcore fans of past Sam games. The campaign is nothing special and gets incredibly boring and monotonous halfway through, not to mention freaking tough as nails. The weapon arsenal is disappointing, and there are only a handful of different enemies. There isn’t enough new here to make it a true sequel, but the game looks damn good. For the low price, it is worth a fun play-through, but don’t expect tons of people to be playing online.

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Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/16/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Steam Deck Playable, Steam Deck Verification, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: EA

Developer: Big Huge Games

Release Date: 2/7/2012


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When big new action RPGs come out, I am very wary because it is very difficult to create a convincing, believable world without forcing it onto the player. Amalur fails in this sense and feels extremely forced and weak in almost every way. The game is just too big for its britches, and it tries to do too much. There is too much game here that feels empty and boring, and the game seriously lacks polish everywhere you look.

Let’s start with the story. The story, lore, environment, characters—all of it just feels forced and not memorable at all. Almost every aspect of the story is just boring, and I could not care for anything even if I tried. There are too many unpronounceable names, and just too much is thrown at you early on. Games like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Fable, and other action RPGs dole it out slowly, but they also have names and lore that are just memorable. It just doesn’t click here, and you will notice this about 3–4 hours into the game. I looked all over the place, desperately trying to find that one quest or character that would make everything click, but I just couldn’t. The story has something to do with Fey and war, and yeah, I lost track early on because there is just too much distraction here.

It doesn’t help that the game is so hard to navigate. There is a fast travel system via the map, but the world is just way too big and empty. There are no memorable landmarks, and every place just starts looking the same after a while. The game forces level grinding on you, so you are locked out of areas due to enemies killing you in one hit until you level up more. Leveling up takes so long in this game and forces you to do these side quests too, ultimately making you want to quit playing. The menus are clunky and confusing, and I still couldn’t really figure out the crafting systems even 10 hours into the game. There is just so much in this game that needs polish, but the game just needs to be seriously downsized.

There are way too many pointless and boring side quests. I could count 30+ side quests in my journal at one time that spread across the entire map. You feel completely lost and have no idea where to start. It also doesn’t help that the game is just way too long. That is fine in a game where you love the lore and characters, but here you just want it to end. Too many characters are introduced too fast; they have boring personalities, and they all just look and sound the same after a while. I swear I was introduced to 50+ characters by the 15-hour mark, and I felt my brain swim in the confusion. I got tossed so many names of races, characters, magical relics, landmarks, towns, buildings, weapons, and other things that my brain just imploded after a while.

The combat is at least decent because it relies on skill, but the level grinding makes the game really hard. You can use a secondary weapon and a primary weapon, but leveling up your character is also confusing when you start. The tree skill is odd and lets you upgrade skills outside your class, which I found pointless. If I’m a mage, why would I want to increase my heavy armor and two-handed weapon skills? When the levels don’t come very often, you can’t afford to deviate like that, so you just stick to your class skills. The controls are pretty good for combat with parries, counterattacks, dodges, blocks, and magic skills. The animations are fluid, and when I was in combat, that was the only time I forgot about this huge, confusing open world.

That is probably the only strong point in Amalur besides the pretty art style. However, the game is technically underwhelming and looks like it was made in 2006 or 2007. At the end of a session, you will sit back and not remember a single thing about the game’s story or characters, and you will be overwhelmed by the amount of pointless and seemingly endless side quests that give a very little reward. Hell, even the looting system is odd, with magic rune dispelling on chests and lock picking as well as picking wild plants. Sound familiar? Well, it would, with one of the head guys having worked on Oblivion. All the mechanics around everything in this game are just so unpolished, and they feel wrong.

After about 10 or so hours, you will probably quit the game and not find any reason to go back. With boring, pointless side quests of hunting animals, finding stupid items, and running aimlessly around this huge, huge open world, you will call it quits. I had this game sitting on my computer for 10 months, and I got in just under 20 hours and couldn’t find any incentive to go back. Even when I had no new games to play, I couldn’t even load the game up. I thought about the level grinding and dozens of pointless side quests, and I couldn’t remember a single thing about the story or a single character’s name. The only redeeming thing about Amalur is the art style and combat. If you can stomach all this, then go ahead, but most players will get bored quickly.

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Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

Dishonored

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/16/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Retro Consoles, Sony, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Xbox 360, Xbox One. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Developer: Arkane Studios

Release Date: 10/9/2012


Available On

The stealth action genre has been in a real slump lately since the last Splinter Cell, and everyone is waiting on Thief 4 and Hitman: Absolution. Dishonored displays a wonderful story, a convincing world, and excellent level design, but the most important thing is the superb stealth mechanics this game gives us. You play Corvo, who is a protector of the royal empress. There is an assassination plot, and of course, you are framed. You join an underground loyalist group to bring the empress’s daughter back to power. In the meantime, you are assassinating higher-ups so Havelock can gain power and restore order, but there is a huge plot twist halfway through that will throw you for a loop. These kinds of twists are what I miss in games, and Dishonored not only does this but also incorporates random ideas that just make sense. There’s a rat plague that everyone is being locked down from; these rats can actually attack you. Whale oil is used to power machines, sorcery gets involved, and guns. Man, this game is just so freaking entertaining. It was well worth the $60 purchase.

Let’s talk about this (what I consider) revolutionary stealth system. The game does something that I have been waiting for since I first played Metal Gear Solid. Arkane Studios worked around the infamous movement issue that all stealth games suffer from. Let me indulge you here. When you learn an enemy pattern and sneak up behind them, they usually turn around and you are spotted. Dishonored not only allows quick saves, but you can use your magic skills to counter-attack the stealth genre quirks that frustrate so many fans. I used my ability to see through walls, leaning, and blinking so much that it just made the game not easier but smoother and more intuitive, and I felt completely in control. That is the beauty of Dishonored. Want to go up on that rock that most games have invisible barriers on? Want to use that rock to go up and over the spiked fence that most games wouldn’t let you do? How about going into that vent using those pipes and that awning? Go ahead. Dishonored lets you by using Blink (teleporting a certain distance) and being able to see through walls made me feel like I was the predator and completely in control.

You are probably thinking of teleporting, and seeing through walls is cheating, right? Not at all. The way the level design is done (which is genius, by the way) allows you to take advantage of these naturally laid-out areas. There are so many ways to approach an objective. You can go completely non-lethal with sleep darts and choking enemies unconscious. You can carry their bodies and still use your crossbow as well as their powers, which in most stealth games makes you completely vulnerable when moving bodies. Or you can use your sword and pistol and just fight your way through, which isn’t as rewarding. Along the way, you can pick up runes to upgrade abilities and bone charms, which are perks. You are also a thief, so you need to steal items and money to afford these upgrades, or you will have a very hard time.

This is how the natural feeling of the world comes in. While you’re advancing toward your target, you can steal things for money, eat food for health, and find mana potions for magic. You can even deviate sometimes for a few side quests, which can be really fun. Unlike most stealth games, I never felt lost or frustrated because you always see your objective marker, so the game doesn’t even need a map. That is purely genius-level design.

At the end of the day, this is all there is to the game, but the story missions are varied enough that you will never feel bored, which I feel is one of the weaker points of the game. Sure, you can say the game is repetitive because you run across the same enemies over and over, the occasional plague victim, and a group of rats or spitting plants. The plague victims and rats that appear reflect on how you play. Kill people all the time, and you make the game harder on yourself. At the end of each level, you will see a score sheet that tells you if you were spotted and how chaotic you were. The game is so much fun and immerses you like no other recent stealth game can.

On top of all this, the art style is phenomenal and beautiful, but it is the attention to detail that draws you in. This steampunk art style looks fantastic, and even the voice acting is top-notch and well delivered. My only complaint here is that the graphics, technically, are a little dated. The game was designed for consoles, so Unreal Engine 3 is naturally used. The PC version looks a tad better with some better lighting effects, better FOV, and anti-aliasing, but in the end, I would have liked to see some DirectX 11 effects here because this game would look amazing with it.

In the end, Dishonored is something fresh, new, and exciting that fans of the genre have been waiting for. The storytelling is similar to Half-Life, with exciting stealth and thievery that reminded me of the Thief series. Dishonored is definitely game-of the year material and is something that will keep you busy for a weekend or two. I just wish the game was longer and had a little more mission diversity, but other than that, there’s not much else to complain about.

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Keyboard & Mouse

Switchblade Goddess

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/12/2012
Posted in: Book Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Del Rey

Author: Lucy A. Snyder

Release Date: 12/27/2011

MSRP: $7.99 (Paperback, Digital)

Pages: 338

Recommended Audience: Adult

The final chapter in the Jessie Shimmer Spellbent series is here, and this is probably the most fun of the three. The first one was down-to-earth and serious; the second was just plain weird; and this one is extremely dark and even more graphic than the last two books. Jessie, Cooper, Pal, Warlock, and Randal are in Cuchillo, Texas still trying to fight off the evil Japanese goddess Miko from consuming every soul in town. The Regus is after Jessie for crimes she didn’t commit, and she so desperately wants to just live with Cooper and Pal and finally meet her father.

The book is full of suspense and action, with Miko trying to trap Jessie into letting her take her soul. Jessie has a lot of battles with her in her element, and we finally get some backstory as to why Miko is the evil witch that she is. She tortures Jessie, makes her do more things she doesn’t want to, and never gives up. We meet a few new friendly faces, and the story finally has a happy ending—to an extent. There’s an opening at the end for another series, but this one is finally closed off and sealed, and Miko is no more. I actually found the final battle between Miko and Jessie pretty disappointing. When you read this book, you will see how weak that battle is. It just feels slightly rushed.

Secondly, I still can’t stand Lucy throwing random branding in here. It really just throws the whole fantasy thing off. I understand this is based on current times, but don’t throw random brand names. It’s jolting, and it just makes you roll your eyes. My other complaints about the series seem washed away in this book. She seems to have found a happy medium; the pacing is great, and the characters are now fully developed. The book still has a lot of gore and sex, but it is darker this time around. There’s not much happy sex or loving here; it comes in the form of torture.

Switchblade Goddess is the culmination of magic in modern times. Lucy can really connect to younger readers this way, and it fits with the story. The Spellbent trilogy may not be memorable years from now, but it is very entertaining and something you will talk about with friends for quite a while. I can’t wait to see Jessie and her friends in a story.

The Walking Dead: Episode 4 – Around Every Corner

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/12/2012
Posted in: Android, iOS, Mac, Microsoft, Microsoft Consoles, Mobile Reviews, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Retro Consoles, Sony, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Telltale Games

Developer: Telltale Games

Release Date: 10/10/2012


Available On

Now that we are almost done with this series, I am sad that the next one will be it. Episode 4 sees the gang trying to get on a boat and out of Savannah, Georgia, but things don’t go as planned. There are a bunch of new characters this time around, but most are hard to care for because they make brief appearances. By this point, most or a little of your gang will be with you, but this episode is mainly lacking the suspenseful choices like in the last one. We get bigger areas to explore, a little more action, and finally, a ton of zombies.

The series has been lacking any zombies lately and has just dealt with internal turmoil, but Episode 4 skirts this and brings the gang back to realizing that the zombies are the real threat here. There’s a strange calm before the storm within the group; the conversations are tense and borderline everyone going postal on each other. I found that there was a lack of gameplay here and that it focused more on delivering a story, but that is ok in this series. There is more action with some zombie shooting, action-oriented puzzles, and larger areas to explore. I sat through the whole episode in one go because it was so intense and entertaining. You always want to know what is going to happen next.

The new characters are hard to really like except Molly because of her shady personality. The new guys are brief and seem pretty generic. I really don’t care for Christa or Omid, who we met at the end of the last episode. Christa is selfish, and Omid is boring and just seems useless. What grows even more are the characters you have right now from the original group. Clementine and Lee’s relationship really blossoms here, and their trust will be tested.

This episode is just a mishmash of everything from the past ones: lots of zombies, action, large areas, new characters, and tense conversations, but nothing very serious. What has stayed the same throughout is the constant, intense atmosphere that makes you stay in the game, and you never want to quit until it’s over. This is my favorite adventure series of all time. The game puts you in control just enough to make you feel like you made all the important choices. The game has been built up to the climax, and the cliffhanger ending here is so abrupt and so sudden that you just hang your end, knowing you have to wait another month or two for the last episode. This is just like a good TV series, but better.

Reviewed On

Keyboard & Mouse

Gravity Rush

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/11/2012
Posted in: PlayStation Vita, Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: SCEA

Developer: SCEI

Release Date: 6/12/2012


Available Exclusively On

Gravity Rush was one of the most exciting games I saw for the Vita’s launch lineup. It never made the launch but was delayed by a few months, and now I am very disappointed in the game. When you play the game, it feels very magical at first. Flying through the air, beautifully rendered graphics with a great art style, an interesting story, and well-made comic-style cut scenes, but once you play more, all this wears off and you just want to hurl your Vita at a wall.

That’s not to say the game isn’t worth playing, but this isn’t worth a purchase at $40 either. There are two major elements to the game, and each of them is frustrating and has serious flaws. Throughout the whole game, you get around by flying through the air. You press R to float, then aim where you want and press it again to head in that direction. It seems simple enough, right? Well, your gravity gauge will drive you nuts with it always running low. You have to land to let it refill (which is pretty quick), but the controls just take a turn for the worse during combat.

You fight Nevi, who are some sort of evil source of power. They are black blobs that have a red orb that you must destroy to kill them. You can fight on the ground with just one kick move (boring) or use your gravity kick, which I stuck to through the whole game. Fighting on the ground is slow and just isn’t any fun. Even with the gravity kick, there are issues because there is no lock-on button. This game desperately needs it. There’s a soft lock when you gravity kick, but if the Nevi moves away from you, just keep going forever until you stop. On top of that, the camera is nauseating because if Kat is upside down, so will the camera; if she is sideways, the camera follows. The whole time, the camera is flipping around in all different ways, and you lose track of your targets. There are some power attacks you can use, and they are very handy during boss fights, but the Nevi are just boring enemies to fight. I felt the camera and controls were my enemies in this game.

You can upgrade everything with gems you find floating everywhere. You can also play challenge missions, which are marred by the camera and controls. They were extremely difficult, and if I’m tired of the combat I have to do in the story, why would I want to do extra? At least the story has mission variety, like being able to use a stasis field and fly people or objects around; don’t even bother using this during combat because you will just frustrate yourself more. After you finish the 21-mission story, there’s nothing to really do except the challenge missions, but I was tired of this game before it was halfway over. There aren’t even any voiceovers (kind of), which was a disappointment.

The game looks great, with some great lighting effects and surprisingly good-looking textures and character models. I have no complaints there. I just wish there was more to do in this great, big world. If it weren’t for the awkward controls, vomit-inducing camera, and more content, this game would be a bit better. This game is a good weekend rental, but nothing really more.