Knights Contract

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 02/07/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Namco Bandai Games

Developer: Game Republic

Release Date: 2/22/2011


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This is one of those reviews where there are more bad things than good things to say about a game, so I will start with the good. The story is interesting with you playing as both Gretchen (a witch) and Heinrich (an executioner) are stuck together under the worst circumstances. Heinrich executed Gretchen and several other witches for allegedly spreading the plague, even though they didn’t. An evil man named Faust wants the Anima Del Monde for himself to become immortal. Gretchen curses Heinrich as he cuts her head off, saying that he will be immortal. After suffering for a hundred years, Gretchen needs to stop Faust, and the witch’s hellbent on destroying humanity as payback. She seals Heinrich in a knight’s contract that he cannot leave her side or they both die, thus one of the game mechanics.

That’s about where it stops being good. Well, using Gretchen’s witch powers during combat is fun, but everything else is a total mess. To start with the combat, let’s talk about this pile of a mess. You can use Heinrich to do basic light and heavy attacks while holding down RT, and the face buttons let you control Gretchen’s powers. This is simple enough, except in execution, it fails. Heinrich never seems powerful because it takes dozens of hits just to kill one enemy, so you constantly resort to only using Gretchen. Animations are stiff and sluggish, so you can’t break them to attack a different enemy. When you fall, each character bounces a bit before slowly getting up, and in the meantime, you’re getting killed. Sure, Heinrich can’t die because he’s immortal, but you have to constantly babysit Gretchen because she is your health bar. You can carry her to heal, but she also can’t keep up with you, so you carry her almost 80% of the time. You can use a special power that will wipe the screen of enemies (and thus the nudity part on the back of the box) or make Heinrich super powerful. The worst part about combat is when Heinrich actually gets stunned and you have to tap A about 50 times before he gets up, and in the meantime, Gretchen is getting killed. Unless you can hit the A button like you are convulsing in morbid pain, you will throw the controller every ten minutes. Did I forget to mention the poorly designed quick-time events that give you a fraction of a second to react?

Heinrich has no aerial attacks, so you have to rely on the only two air attacks from Gretchen, but her powers have cool-down periods based on what level you’re using. Boss fights are interesting because they vary, but the mechanics are just absurd, with some knocking you outside invisible barriers or not leaving any window to attack after being stunned. They feel clunky and unpolished, but the terrible camera doesn’t help; it gets lost in corridors and has a mind of its own. If you think combat is difficult, wait until you hear about how bad navigating the terribly designed levels is.

The levels are bland, boring, and hard to navigate because there are no hints on where to go, the map is useless, and you wind up running around in circles trying to figure out where to go. Load times between each level don’t help, and they are pretty long. There are even loads sometimes when coming out of the pause menu, and that is just not acceptable in this day and age. The overall mechanics just feel dated and like something that you played in the early 2000s. The graphics are terrible and horrifically outdated, and the voice acting is cheesy and spotty at best. So the only thing going for it is the story and using Gretchen’s awesome powers.

With unfair mechanics aside, the overall experience is only for people who like a serious challenge or are just that desperate for an action adventure. There are a ton of things out there that are better, so you won’t be missing much if you skip out here. It’s sad that a game with such potential was poorly designed, and with an open ending, I’m scared to find out that we will get another plate of crap. I sure as hell won’t eat it, but will you?

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Fable: The Balverine Order

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 02/07/2012
Posted in: Book Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Ace Books

Author: Peter David

Release Date: 10/5/2010

Pages: 406

MSRP: $9.99 (Paperback, Digital)

Recommended Audience: Young Adult

Peter David does a great job reinterpreting the Fable storyline and lore in a more realistic manner in this book. The book is set long after Heroes, and everything you see in Fables is long forgotten and considered a myth. This makes the book more realistic and allows a lot more freedom than a hero being born, like in the games. You follow James and Thomas, who are close childhood friends, as they try to find the balverine that killed Thomas’s brother when he was a kid. It haunts his dreams, and he must find it and also prove to himself that heroes, balverines, and all sorts of other mythical creatures do exist.

During their journey, they end up finding a dog like in the game, but in a more realistic and natural fashion. There are a lot of good fight scenes, and the book has excellent characters that you really get attached to. There are awesome plot twists that just slap you in the face because you would never expect them, even if you guessed forever. David does a great job hiding these twists in a way that doesn’t make the book predictable. Through the adventure, they travel various types of land and endure the weather, and Peter even managed to stick quests in the book like in the game, with both good and bad outcomes.

This all comes so naturally that it doesn’t feel forced. Even people who don’t even know what Fable is can pick up the book and enjoy it. My one complaint is that there aren’t any enemies in the book except the Balverines that are in Fable. Sure, they are mentioned, but the boys never come across anything familiar from the game. Hardcore fans may shun this, but I didn’t really mind since it took everything else from the game and smartly incorporated it into this original adventure.

If you want a really good video game-based novel, this is one of the newer ones that I recommend. Fable fans will appreciate the Hero magic spells, weapons, and smart references to leveling up without being cheesy and out of context. I wish more authors would take video game licenses and do more with them like Peter did here. A nice bonus is that every new book includes a DLC for Fable III. Hardcore fans may want a more traditional adventure, but even old grandpa can pick up this book and enjoy it without ever playing Fable, and that’s a hard thing to do.

Painkiller: Overdose – 5 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 02/06/2012
Posted in: PC Reviews, Steam Deck Unsupported, Steam Deck Verification. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: DreamCatcher Interactive

Developer: Mindware Studios

Release Date: 10/26/2007


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In defense of the game’s formula, you really have to be an FPS nut or a fan of classic games like Doom and Quake to appreciate what’s going on here. There are no cinematic events, no quick-time events, or helicopter rides. This is just pure shooting, with enemies doing nothing but coming after you. If you played the last game and its expansion and got tired of it, you probably want to come back again because of the interesting and completely original levels and enemies. That’s probably the only saving grace for Overdose, but it does have some niceties.

First off, the story is semi-interesting, with you playing as a half-demon or half-angel who gets thrown into a prison in Hell for thousands of years by Samuel and Cerberus. You ascend through Hell, up to the middle plane, and then up into heaven. The levels are just awesome and so original, like Dead Marsh, which is inspired by H.P. Lovecraft with Cthulhu-type enemies. Riot is a level with creepy-looking police, hoodlums, and sexy nurses. Farmland has creepy, reanimated butchered animals, and the list goes on, but the gory, mature nature of Painkiller stays. I liked this game over the last few years because of these awesome new levels and enemies that are drastically different from before and never feel repetitive.

The weapons are all new, including an Evil Eye, which is a severed demon head that shoots a laser eye. You get a cannonball launcher with a machine gun attached, a crossbow, a radiation launcher, and just a bunch of cool weapons that make the game feel completely new. Of course, you get to collect coins in the game and use them on tarot cards that act as perks, which you will really need if you aren’t playing on Daydream difficulty.

The main problem with Overdose is that it’s ten times harder than the last game. You will die hundreds of times throughout the game, and I couldn’t beat it on anything higher than Daydream because it’s just too damn hard. My only other comment is that the character you play chimes in every so often with funny comments and will react to the level you are in when you enter it. Despite all this, the game is just running around and shooting; that is the end of the story. It can get boring really quick, and only hardcore FPS fans should stray into the Painkiller realm because it’s damn hard. Unfortunately, online play is pretty much dead now, but we do get updated visuals, and it looks good even for its age. Stay away if you don’t like tough shooters; come back if you love Painkiller.

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Gears of War – 5 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 02/05/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PC Reviews, Retro Consoles, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios

Developer: Epic Games

Release Date: 11/7/2007


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I still remember Gears of War when I got my Xbox 360 on Christmas 2006. It changed the way I thought about games forever, which is why it is the only game I ever gave a 10. The game was perfect at the time, and I couldn’t really find anything wrong with it. I also remember the game being almost a complete failure early in development and seeing glimpses of shoddy gameplay footage on TV during E3 2004. The classic hit comes to PC with some enhancements that are great for newcomers and enough for fans to come back for another run (or three).

I’ll review this all over again for people who are unfamiliar (PC-only gamers). You play as Marcus Fenix in Delta Squad, who are sent on a mission to deliver a light mass bomb deep under the planet Sera to destroy the Locust horde that is trying to kill all of humanity. This sounds like a typical sci-fi B grade, but this is one of my favorite gaming stories of all time because of the characters, sheer terror, and hopelessness humans go through to rid of this vicious species. Gears of War may seem like a manly shooter on the outside, but inside there is a deep and complex story (just pick up the four books and you will truly see) that tests and trains every human to fight for survival.

Despite the excellent story and memorable characters, there is a great underlying gameplay system here. Slamming against cover, shooting awesome weapons, and killing interesting enemies that were never seen before is quite awesome. Locusts aren’t just bugs or aliens; they feel like entities that you should run away from and have nightmares about. It takes half a clip to take these guys down, and they shoot back with good AI (excellent at the time, good for today’s standards). During that time, the AI was unrivaled because the locust would flank you and act smart instead of just standing there and getting a shot at you.

The weapons are memorable, such as the infamous Lancer with the chainsaw bayonet. Slicing through an enemy and watching blood splatter on the screen is just awesome and never gets old (even if you play the last two Gears). The Longshot is a powerful bolt-action sniper rifle; the Hammerburst is the Locust assault rifle; the Boomshot, Snub pistol, Boltok revolver, and Gnasher shotgun are some of the greatest weapons ever made, and they are infamous for a reason. The enemies vary greatly, and some can’t even be taken down with guns. The Hammer of Dawn is used to take down the Berserkers who run at you and must be dodged during three different scenes in the game. The Corpsers are huge spider-like enemies that can only be taken down in the same manner and jam communications. The list goes on, but each enemy has to be taken on in completely different ways, and most shooters can’t do that.

The campaign is well-paced with lots of different scenarios, such as avoiding the deadly Kryll at night while shooting tanks to stay in the light. There are turret sections, but sadly, there are no helicopter sections, which this game is dying for. There are epic boss fights, but overall the campaign is perfectly paced, with varied environments from outdoors to indoors. All of this combined equals one sweet package that 90% of shooters can’t accomplish in one game.

The multiplayer is fun if this is your thing. Gears of War multiplayer is a lot different from most because it’s tactical and close-quarters. 6-on-6 is tough, and you will die quickly against vets because the game requires a lot of rolling, dodging, and quick trigger fingers, but the modes are fun, like Execution and Wingman. Sadly, not many people play Gears 1 online anymore, so you will rarely find people playing. There is even a co-op mode for the campaign, which is a blast, but good luck getting anyone to play online.

For the PC, we get updated visuals with DirectX 10 lighting, some higher-resolution textures, and, the best part, five all-new chapters that were cut from the Xbox 360 version. If you did play that version, remember after leaving the Fenix mansion, a Brumak comes after you, and you jump into an APC and escape? Stuff happened after that and between arriving at the train station. Delta Squad gets stuck at a lifted bridge and needs to find a way to power it so they can head to the train platform. This is also where you take on that Brumak that followed you and is probably the best 5 chapters in the whole game. I’m sad Xbox 360 owners had to miss out on this epic piece of Gears, but PC gamers will be pleased. There are also three additional COG tags, so watch out if you want those achievements!

Gears of War is worth a re-purchase for veterans or newcomers because this is a piece of video game history that can’t be missed by any shooter fan. Why do I not give this a 10 then? The game has shown its age with its dated graphics. Sure, they still look great, but the lower resolution textures, weaker lighting effects, and slightly sloppy animations show compared to the new Gears games. Most people will overlook this, but the game also does feel repetitive after a while, no matter how you slice it. You’re just running around shooting grubs, right? I feel it needed some more vehicle sections, and well, it was all fixed in Gears 2 and 3, but that’s beside the point.

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Razer Mamba 2012

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 02/04/2012
Posted in: Hardware, PC Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Manufacturer: Razer

Release Date: 6/9/2011

Colors: Black

MSRP: $129.99

I loved my Razer Naga MMO mouse, and it has lasted almost two years without a hitch. I also love my Cyborg R.A.T. 9 mouse, but I am getting bored with it and want to move on. The Razer Mamba is the other high-performance, high-tech gaming mouse out there. Bottom line: This is the best money you can buy. While being cheaper than the R.A.T. 9 by $20, it does more hardware-wise but less software-wise in a way. I don’t want to turn this into a Razer Mamba vs. Cyborg R.A.T. 9 review, but I can’t help but compare two of the best gaming mice out right now.

The first thing you will notice is the epic box the mouse comes in. It’s on a stand like a holy relic, and inside are drawers with your cord, charger base, manuals, battery, and cover. It’s a slick-looking box and is just asking you to buy it, and hey! You get a free sticker. When you plug it in, you need to download the firmware updater and software, which is easy. Once your firmware is updated on both the base and the mouse, you can check out the beefy software. But first, let’s see what this mouse does hardware-wise.

The mouse has the usual Razer ergonomics that you’re used to with the Naga or the DeathAdder, but it feels concave just right on the thumb side. There are two big buttons just above your thumb for easy access, as well as two others near your left-click button. Below that, you have a battery indicator as well as a sensitivity indicator (they are the same), which wireless mice do not have. Underneath, there is a lot going on with a battery, wireless switch, connectivity button, and USB release button. Thankfully, none of this interferes with the smooth glide of the mouse.

This mouse has a 4G dual sensor that detects the type of surface you are on and can adjust on the fly. It also has lift detection for gamers that use low DPI and like to lift their mouse constantly (which is annoying to watch, by the way). You will also notice the wheel lights up, which is nice, but sadly, the Razer logo does not light up. What makes up for it is the awesome charging base that does light up, and this mouse uses a full-color spectrum that you can rotate or just use one color. In the dark, the base looks amazing and has a nice ambient effect.

My favorite feature of the mouse is that it can go from wired to wireless by just unplugging the cable from the dock to the front of the mouse. The 6′ braided cable is sturdy and gives you great length, but you can also charge while in wired mode. There isn’t an easily swappable battery, so once it dies in wireless, you have to stop and plug it in, which I find pretty annoying, but you get used to it. The battery lasts 16 hours when all the performance features are off, like the mouse light, polling, and the calibration sensor. With everything on, you get about 7-9 hours, which isn’t too bad.

The software is a great suite that allows you to use macros, profiles, adjust performance, and fine-tune your mouse. This mouse has a whopping 6400 DPI, which is ultra-sensitive, but you can change this on the fly in several ways. Press a button and use the mouse wheel to adjust, or use buttons for preset DPI. Acceleration and a 1000 Mhz polling rate give you ultimate silky smooth precision for both low DPI gamers and high DPI gamers.

Overall, the mouse performs like silk, and I played a shooter with ease and was a lot better using this mouse. I do have a few complaints about not being able to use Windows functions like volume control and media playback via macros. The software is slow and unresponsive in wireless mode and will sometimes freeze and crash. This can probably be fixed with a patch, but it shouldn’t happen at all. I couldn’t even get On-the-Fly Sensitivity to work in wireless mode. Like I stated earlier, the battery life is low unless you turn most features off and only have one battery. The charging base is huge and not very portable, so if you need something on the go, you will probably choose wired. Other than that, this is an excellent mouse, and gamers, as well as Razer fans, should own it.

Section 8: Prejudice

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 02/03/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: TimeGate Studios

Developer: TimeGate Studios

Release Date: 5/4/2011


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The first game was an online-only shooter that barely passed as mediocre and was quickly lost and forgotten. Prejudice is almost the same game, but with a new campaign and some new additions. Fans of the first game should pick this up right away, but don’t expect to play online (more on that later). The story is dull and typical, with uninteresting characters. Something about a man-made race of humans that are the perfect soldiers’ rebel and try to kill us all, and you are tasked with killing their leader. The point of the campaign is just to get you warmed up to multiplayer with vehicles, weapons, and load-outs.

The shooting is good and solid and feels like a bit of Halo and Mass Effect thrown in. The sci-fi vibe with energy-type weapons sure feels like Halo, while the load-outs with various ammo types feel like Mass Effect. You get seven different types of weapons, ranging from shotguns to rocket launchers, but the ammo types vary from different armor and shield damage to structure and vehicle damage, and some ammo types even damage over time. You really need to pick the right weapons for the enemies you’re killing, so there is some strategy involved. Every so often, you get a freebie lock-on that I find pretty useless but that is useful in multiplayer.

The whole game is based more on shield damage than armor damage, so choosing the right weapons is important. You can use jetpacks, which make the game more interesting and add aerial combat. This prevents people from hiding behind something and staying there. You can go in for close knife kills known as fatalities (nice try, guys), but no matter what the game has, it feels “been there, done that” throughout. The vehicles and mechs are a nice addition, but they don’t pack the punch you expect and are cumbersome to control, especially tanks.

With all that said, you get mediocre graphics using Unreal Engine 3 and an online mode that is completely dead. Not a single person is playing this, so you have to result in LAN. It’s a pity that this game died so quickly and has been out for less than a year, but there are just bigger and better shooters out there, so you should only pick this up if you are craving a shooter and have nothing to play. What is here is a decent shooter with interesting weapons, jetpacks, and a nice sci-fi vibe. Nothing more, nothing less.

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Sonic Generations

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 02/02/2012
Posted in: 3DS, Microsoft, Nintendo, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Sega

Release Date: 11/3/2011


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Sonic has seen so many rough years since its 3D outing in Sonic Adventure for Dreamcast. It has never had the same sense of smooth speed in 3D, and it seemed for years that Sonic Team and Sega just couldn’t get it. There were a few lights in the dark with some good GBA games, Sonic and the Secret Rings for Wii, as well as the last Sonic Colors being pretty decent, but all the rest were total crap. Sonic finally makes a 2D return with the ability to play as both the original and the new Sonic, but this also means each level has two different ways to play. The story is pretty thin, with a Time Eater and Doctor Eggman screwing time up and wiping the color away from the land. It isn’t much and can be easily ignored, as can the most awful voice acting.

Playing as the original Sonic brings back great memories when you step into Green Hill Zone and start flying around the level in 2D (with 3D graphics) like the grand days of old. The graphics are amazing, with great lighting, high-resolution textures, and great-looking models. This is the best-looking Sonic game to date, and Sega finally got the game up to speed with today’s graphics. Previous Sonic games had hideous visuals and tons of glitches, but you won’t find that here. You die and collect rings to stay alive, but you can use cards that give you both offensive and passive powers that help you along the way.

Playing as the new Sonic puts the camera back behind Sonic with the homing attack, but calm down! The game actually works now and flows great with some awesome cinematic moments, and the speed stays fast. You can use a boost that fills by collecting rings, and the homing attack can actually make you get through levels faster as well as fly through rings, but I found doing the flips in the air pretty useless. Overall, playing at each Sonic gives you a rewarding experience with memorable levels. Only two are from classic Sonics, and the rest range from terrible ones from Sonic Adventure, Shadow the Hedgehog, and even the failed Sonic the Hedgehog reboot from 2006. The levels are recreated in a fun way and are tons of fun to play.

There are a couple of boss fights, and I’m disappointed with how easy they are. There are three with Metal Sonic, Shadow, and Silver to get Chaos Emeralds, and three with Eggman. You have to find keys to unlock the boss stages and then move on to the next levels. In between, you can do side missions that range from a multitude of different goals to different ways to play. Each can be played as either Sonic, and they are a blast. However, the last two levels are poorly designed and just feel slow and difficult. Puzzle-solving? That shouldn’t be in a Sonic game. The last two levels will take you about ten minutes to complete, and that is way too long for a Sonic level. If you can ignore these last two, the rest is a blast. Repetition does set in from doing so many side missions because they start to feel the same after a while. Only hardcore fans will stick around and collect all the stars and get S ratings in each mission.

Sonic Generations does a good job of redeeming the failed series and pulling it out of the sewer. Fans of the old can return with a smile, and fans who have stuck with the series will finally get a game that isn’t a piece of crap. With an online mode, tons of extra activities, and amazing graphics, we can finally say Sonic is back!

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BlackSite: Area 51 – 5 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/31/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Midway Studios

Developer: Midway Studios-Austin

Release Date: 11/12/2007


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I played this about 3 years ago, and even then, it wasn’t all impressive. This game has nothing to do with the underappreciated Area 51 that came out years ago, despite being made by the same studio. In fact, the game has nothing to really do with Area 51 at all except you fight through Rachel, NV, and there are aliens. The game is a day’s worth of mediocre entertainment at best. The story is paper-thin, with something about a government experiment where they are trying to create the perfect soldier using prisoners and homeless people. The experiment breaks out, and you are fighting off a weird paramilitary plus Xeno aliens. The characters aren’t interesting, and this is by far just a B-grade experience.

The worst part about the game is the lack of content. Only a few weapons (like less than six) and a handful of enemy types make for a typical shooter experience. There are a couple of large boss fights that were epic at the time, but now they feel too scripted and stale. The graphics are pretty bad since this uses Unreal Engine 3 from years ago, so there are badly scripted explosions, crappy AI, and a useless squad command and moral system. You can send your two buddies somewhere, but it makes no difference because they won’t shoot anything most of the time. If you get shot a lot, your morale will go down, but I actually didn’t notice this doing anything because the AI is so dumb anyway. There are a few vehicle sequences (which stink), and all the weapons feel the same except a couple of alien weapons.

The multiplayer is nonexistent because the servers have been long gone, but you can grab the game for less than $1 on Amazon. The game lacks the greatness of its predecessor, with a lack of interesting stories, characters, and scripted cinematic events. You can go around collecting dossiers, but other than that, this is bare-bones at best. The game had a lot of potential but was executed poorly with lazy design and shortcuts. Why should you bother playing it? Mainly for fans of the first game or who just want an FPS fix for a few hours.

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Saint’s Row: The Third

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/30/2012
Posted in: Microsoft, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony, Steam Deck Playable, Steam Deck Verification, Switch, Xbox 360. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: THQ

Developer: Volition

Release Date: 11/15/2011


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A game claiming it’s one of the craziest around is something that would be hard to live up to. Thankfully, Saint’s Row: The Third does, and man, is it crazy. Parachuting out of planes and shooting tanks while falling out of the sky, a God of War-style boss fights in virtual reality, beating people up with giant purple dildos. Yeah, I’d say that’s crazy, but The Third offers even more!

The story is really great, with awesome characters and witty dialog. Johnny Gat dies in the beginning mission (that’s no spoiler), but returning characters like Pierce and Shaundi return, and the new characters are just as great, such as the bit brute Oleg and the nerd Kenzie. This time around, you are famous, and the Saints own the city, but they lose it because three new gangs move into town: The Morningstar, Deckers, and Luchadores. A paramilitary group called STAG has also moved in with heavily armored guys, tanks, and VTOLs (jets) that, yes, you can fly and keep in your garage.

A lot of the story missions are interesting and completely varied to help deliver this interesting and entertaining story. From going inside a supercomputer and fighting as a walking toilet, blow-up doll, or fighting in a Luchadore match, to shooting cars with a rocket launcher from a helicopter, to just running around and killing everything, everything is a huge blast, and each mission is different. Of course, there are side missions such as Trailblazing, where you drive around in a fireproof suit on an ATV and run into people and cars to blow them up to earn seconds on a clock as you blow through a checkpoint race. There are other side missions that let you pimp your girls around: Insurance Fraud lets you get hit by cars to earn money; Mayhem lets you use pre-determined weapons to cause as much destruction as possible; and a lot more. My favorite is the Genki matches, which are like a gladiator-type game show. There is no shortage of things to do in The Third, with collectibles to be found, assassination missions, car theft missions, and tons of challenges.

Saint’s Row doesn’t stop there, with a ton of cars to drive as well as a bunch of customization options for building your character, upgrading and decking out cars, and even a crap ton of upgrades for you and your guns. You can use your phone to call in homies to help you fight, deliver vehicles, and even customize how your gang looks and taunts. You can run around and buy property to increase your respect rating and how much control you have over that territory.

But what about the world you play in, you say? It looks amazing with DirectX 11 features exclusive to PC, which makes the game look ten times better than that of the consoles, and the world is huge and bursting at the seams with life. The game never looks boring, feels boring, or sounds boring, with great radio stations with funny commercials and even one radio station dedicated to Adult Swim. I just can’t describe how crazy this game is because you have to play it to experience it. The controls are silky smooth, with great car control and even aircraft control. Is there anything wrong with the game? Yeah, there are some irritating issues like ragdoll physics when you get blown up, there are way too many enemies to kill, and the side missions are extremely difficult, but these things can be easily overlooked. If you love open-world games, I would say Saint’s Row: The Third is the best out there, and there really isn’t anything quite like it.

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Resistance 3

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/30/2012
Posted in: PlayStation 3, Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: SCEA

Developer: Insomniac Games

Release Date: 9/6/2011


Available Exclusively On

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I still remember when Resistance: Fall of Man (known as I-8 back then) was shown at E3 2005 and was amazed at how good it looked. When I picked it up about 4 years later, it looked like crap, was ridiculously hard, and had ho-hum multiplayer. I never finished it and skipped the second game. The third game has a new protagonist, Joe Capelli, and has a more organic fluid campaign reminiscent of Half-Life 2 than Resistance. You go from the east coast to New York to destroy the tower that the Chimera have built to freeze the Earth over. This is the last shot to save humanity, but in the meantime, you get to meet some new and old (Chimera) faces.

The game is still too familiar to me and will be for Resistance vets. No matter how many times you re-create Chimera they are still the same and it’s pretty old by now. The same tactics work, most of the same guns are still here (Bullseye, Rossmore Shotgun, Auger, Deadeye, etc.) plus a few new ones. The Cryo gun is fun, but most of the weapons are the same, and the same problems are still present in the game. There isn’t enough ammo that you can hold for each gun so you have to constantly swap weapons even if the situation doesn’t call for it. There is no regenerating shield (there’s a reason why Bungie invented it for Halo), and health packs are scarce even on normal difficulty. The game is extremely tough because it feels built for co-op because dozens of Chimera will come after you and you will die with just a few hits. This means taking 20 steps forward only to find a horde and get pushed back 50 steps. Thankfully, you can level up your weapons just by using them, and useful things happen, like your shotgun spits out incendiary shells, your Deadeye will highlight heads, and your revolver will cause more damage.

Despite the ridiculously difficult campaign, there are some great cinematic moments, but they are far and few between. The first third of the game is nicely paced, with varied environments ranging from a forest to a train ride to the snowy streets of New York, but after you get near the tower, it’s the same Chimera bases and architecture that we’ve seen three times already (if you count the PSP’s Resistance: Retribution, which was equally as difficult). The game gets even more difficult, and the story becomes less interesting. The characters are pretty shallow, and there’s not too much delivery in the story despite a few odd twists, plus a disappointing ending that makes you feel like the developers gave you the middle finger for sticking with the series for 6 years.

There’s multiplayer here if you really need to keep playing, but one playthrough was enough for me. Resistance 3 has some amazing visuals, despite some ugly textures here and there, and will satisfy fans with a difficult and challenging campaign. FPS players used to Call of Duty and Halo will probably hate this game (and the series), so only hardcore FPS fans should take the path of Resistance.