Brotherhood is one of those sequels that was thought to be just a cash cow tie-in for II, and everyone forgets about it. In fact, it was supposed to be a multiplayer-only add-on, but a few months before release, we realized it had a huge single-player experience that was bigger and better than II. This is what sequels should be like, especially if they borrow everything from their predecessors. Brotherhood isn’t a true Assassin’s Creed sequel like II was to the first one, but a new chapter in the amazing universe of 1500s Renaissance Italy. This time the game is set in Roma (Rome), and it’s huge, and there’s a lot more to this game than one skeptical fan might suspect.
The story is just as engaging, if not more complex, than II. Ezio is now older and the leader of the assassins, and he must stop the Borgia reign in Roma (since he failed to kill Rodrigo Borgia in the second game), but Rodrigo himself is only seen twice in the game and briefly. It’s all his minions and the fight against Cesare that are the main focus here. The game still has a deep political plot that ties in with real-life situations and people at the time.
Along with that, you can also play as Desmond Miles outside the Animus, and he has a bigger gameplay part with a whole section dedicated to restoring power to today’s Auditore Villa for the team’s new hideout to find the Apple of Eden and stop Abstergo and the Templars. While you only see these guys at the beginning and end of the game, you get another cliffhanger ending that will lead to the third game, as well as a great conclusion to Ezio’s story.
The game plays exactly like II, with no changes to gameplay except for some added stuff like a new crossbow, which is a godsend for killing stealthily from far away. It’s great to do a mission and wipe guys out with a crossbow and not get detected by those hard-to-reach guys. There aren’t any newly added weapons besides that, but combat is enhanced slightly, so it’s not such a counterfest. You can kick enemies, combo Arkham Asylum style, and even do some nice executions with the pistol. This is a nice change to combat and makes it a little more fun. You can also call in assassin recruits to help you, and this is extremely helpful, but more on that later.
Despite the main chapters, there are more side missions than you can shake a stick at. The side missions will take a good 20+ hours to complete and are tons of fun. You have the Borgia towers that have to be burned. These have to be burned down to buy closed-down stores and restore areas and landmarks. You have to enter a restricted area, kill the Borgia captain, then climb the tower and burn it down. There are quite a few, so these will keep you busy, and finding and killing each captain is different and challenging. On top of this, you can buy stables, blacksmiths, doctors, art stores, tailors, faction buildings, banks, and landmarks to restore Roma 100%. You will increase the city’s income, which will be deposited in a bank every 20 real-world minutes.
There are other side missions for each faction (thieves, courtesans, and mercenaries), as well as assassination contracts, Christina missions, finding more The Truth files (10 this time), and now Lair of Romulus missions, which have six in all and are much like Templar Lairs. After you find all six keys, you can unlock the Romulus armor, which is like Altair’s armor in the last game. You can also go to pigeon coops and play a mini-RPG that lets you send your assassin recruits out on missions based on their experience. Missions are based on difficulty, and you will see a percentage bar on how successful they will be. Send more than one to fill it higher, but if they come back, you can upgrade their armor or weapons, and when they reach level 10, you can make them full assassins. These are also helpful during missions since you can call up to three, or call them all for an arrow storm, and kill all enemies on-screen. It’s great to call an assassin on someone you can’t reach and then go in further without getting detected.
On top of all this, these missions can only be synched 100% if you complete the challenge, such as using your hidden blade and completing it in this amount of time. Don’t kill this person; only kill this person. It adds a surprisingly huge amount of depth to the game and makes playing missions (both side and main) more interesting and challenging.
Now the multiplayer is a really fun and surprising addition to the series. There is only one mode, and it’s all about a free-for-all cat and mouse hunt. You are given a target (another player out of 7), and you must use your abilities and skills to kill them while you may also be pursued. So you have to find your target and keep from getting killed yourself. The game has a Call of Duty-style perk and ability system that lets you customize load-outs as well. The game is very addictive and keeps you on your toes. You must blend and try to just act natural since NPCs also have the same looks as other players. There are many characters to play as, and each has its own unique abilities. The multiplayer will keep you hooked and make you come back to the game long after the single-player is exhausted.
With tons of new content, great new characters and a story, and an awesome multiplayer suite, Brotherhood is an example of what sequels should be like. I highly recommend this to fans of the last game and anyone who loves the variety in their games.
Collector’s Edition: For an extra $40, you get a Jack-in-the-Box with either the Plague Doctor or Harlequin (depending on what store you get it from), as well as a bonus DVD, extra maps (one exclusive to the PS3), a playable multiplayer character, an art book, and the soundtrack. This is a huge value for $40 and is a must-have for fans. The Jack-in-the-Box is made a tad cheaply with weak springs, and getting the things to close is annoying, but the figure itself is high quality.
Ever since the first God of War, the action/adventure genre has been all about cinematic set pieces, pounding soundtracks, and adrenaline-inducing combat, and Uncharted 2 pulls out all the stops. You play Nathan Drake once again, and this time you are trying to find the Cintamani Stone that Marco Polo died trying to find. Along the way, you meet old friends and make new enemies, but the story is as human and satisfying as ever, with amazing, snappy, and witty dialog and voice acting.
The best part about Uncharted 2 is the cinematic set pieces. These complete 1-up the original game when it comes to this. The game starts out with Drake hanging from a train, but to add extra tension, the train is slowly falling apart as you climb it. This method of getting your blood flowing is done throughout the game and really helps add to the excitement. The game is made like a Hollywood blockbuster movie, with tons of explosions and guns galore.
The gunplay is also a step up from the last game, along with a more balanced and better-scaled difficulty. Before, the game was a pain from the start, but now the game slowly gets harder. With a ton of weapons at your disposal and with each one packing a good punch, mowing down baddies has never been so fun. Along with the gun, play is on rail shooting sections that are pulse-increasing mayhem and a ton of fun, but Uncharted isn’t just about the action.
The adventure part is well implemented and just as exciting thanks to the clever level design and the puzzles are a little easier to figure out this time around. You really feel like you can do the impossible thanks to the game making you feel like a tiny person in a small world scaling mountains and giant temples, and this is also in part due to the camera angles. Naughty Dog learned what worked in the first game and built tenfold on top of it, and it does show really well.
While the controls and animations feel smoother, the game still has its issues. Despite the difficulty being scaled better, the game gets overly difficult and unbalanced towards the end of the game. The engine just isn’t built for a ton of super-tough enemies at once. Dying over and over again just isn’t fun, and this really detracts from the excitement of the story. There are some minor control issues that carry over, such as Nate moving to cover when you direct him the wrong way if the camera is turned just the right way. He’ll get stuck on small ledges, and this could lead to frustrating, cheap deaths, but other than that, the game is fine. The game seems to balance gunplay and adventuring a little better now as well, which makes the pacing spot on.
You can still collect treasures and unlock new bonuses, and the multiplayer is pretty fun, but it’s no Modern Warfare in terms of depth and strategy. If you love cinematics and stories at their finest, picking up Uncharted 2, with its beautiful visuals, will keep you pleased.
Well, here it is. After waiting 3 years, we finally get the ending to one of the best video game series ever created. The biggest question that people have is whether the game is enough to stand on its own out of the other next-generation games. The answer is yes, so let’s get down to it.
The game’s story picks up right after God of War II, with Kratos riding on the back of Gaia and climbing Mount Olympus. The game starts out on the back of Gaia, with Kratos fighting hordes of monsters (and learning the controls). The game starts out more epic than ever with an epic boss fight with Poseidon. Giant water serpents come up and try to kill Gaia, so not only do you have to kill Poseidon, but you have to protect Gaia as well. The boss fights are bigger and more epic than ever with Titans that are miles high (fighting Cronos is the most epic of all), and you really feel like you’re taking these beasts down with satisfying results.
I have to first talk about how the game looks. Yes, God of War III is probably the best-looking game made to date, and it really shows in every aspect. The sweeping camera angles, the high-resolution textures, and the models. The gorgeous lighting effects and everything just feel updated and like it should on the PS3. You can see the pores and details in every character, the animation is more fluid, and the combat even feels better and more fluid, especially if you just played the God of War Collection. I can’t really describe just how beautiful this game is. You can see and feel the passion and detail every artist put into the game, from the creatures, levels, and even small things like blood, scrapes, and nicks on metal—just everything.
Combat is what has the biggest upgrades. No longer are you confined to having all your magic items come from your magic meter. There are a ton more weapons (four in total) to get, and each weapon has its own magic attack instead of being collected separately. The Blades of Exile (yes, the name has changed again) have the Spartan Army attack; the Nemean Cestus have a pounding attack; Hades Hooks that let you summon different creatures; and a whip-type weapon that sends electric shocks. All the weapons are similar to the Blades of Exile, and the Blade of Olympus is now used during Rage of Sparta mode (yes, it’s changed and everything turns black). There is now an item meter that is used for your bow, Helios head, and Hermes shoes. All these items sound crazy, but let me explain.
The bow lets you set certain things on fire and is mainly used during the beginning of the game, but not so much later on. The Helios head is used to reveal secrets and blind enemies, and the Hermes shoes are used during wall running sections. The grappling hook still exists, but all of these changes let you use all your items and weapons all the time and don’t rely so much on just magic. Some other changes to combat were made, so everything feels more fluid and you never have to stop fighting no matter where you are. You can evade in the air; there is now a grapple attack that pulls you towards your enemy in the air or on the ground. The combat system is just super fun to use now, and all the additions perfect the combat system and make a fitting end to the trilogy.
The QTEs are still intact, but with a bit of a change. They appear on the edge of the screen according to the controller layout, so you can now watch what’s going on. Using your peripheral vision to see these really helps keep you drawn in, so you don’t have to concentrate so much on the buttons. It is a little confusing at first, but after a while, you will get used to it. The QTEs are also better placed, especially during boss fights. You really feel like you’re making the big kill this time around with a new camera angle that lets you see in a POV of the enemy you pummeling or in Kratos’ view. This adds to the cinematic excitement and brutality of that game.
Another thing I need to talk about is just how much more brutal and explicit the game is. The gore is more detailed, with guts hanging out, cuts being visible where you slashed an enemy, skin stretching when heads are pulled, tendons popping, veins breaking, etc. All this is visible thanks to the power of the PS3, and it really makes you wince in sympathy. The game even has a more explicit sex minigame that is about halfway through with Aphrodite. Instead of just panning over to a table with a vase, you see two topless women talking about what Kratos is doing to Aphrodite, and it is both hot to watch and funny.
The puzzles in the game are what you would expect from a God of War game: clever, fun, and unique. Just like all God of War games, some puzzles are an entire level with little puzzles within that, and Daedalus’s labyrinth is one example. They aren’t as confusing as the last two games and are easier to figure out, but they are just as clever, and some puzzles are now part of the environment, so timing and speed are of the essence.
While there are a lot of game changes, like the combat, additional weapons, and even Icarus’ Ascension (which is a flying section where you dodge falling debris), the game stays true to the series. Everything is just bigger, badder, and meaner, but it does have a few slight flaws. The ending story is cut a bit short, there aren’t enough epic boss fights, and the difficulty is highly unbalanced. These are really all I could find, but they aren’t necessarily flaws. If the game were a bit longer and those three issues didn’t exist, it would get a 10. The game is perfect except for that little tic-tac-sized piece that you feel is missing and can never pin. The game has high replay value to unlock trophies, challenges, and costumes, and there are a ton of making-of videos for die-hard fans to watch.
I just can’t describe the improvements in this game unless you play it yourself. It is probably the best PS3 game out there so far, and it is so enjoyable and chock full of excellence that it’s almost too much to contain. The amazing scale, beauty, and vast improvements make the game worth a purchase tenfold. I just wish this weren’t the end of Kratos’ adventures, or is it?
ULTIMATE EDITION: If you pre-ordered a copy or can still find one floating around and want to shell out an extra $40, you can get the Ultimate Edition. It includes a very detailed Pandora’s Box, a code to get the God of War Trilogy OST, the Blood and Metal soundtrack, an hour-long making-of video, and a full-color art book. The package is a bit disappointing since the box is made of hard plastic and not die-cast metal. The soundtracks were a pain to get during launch day since the site was bogged down and wouldn’t load half the time. The Blood & Metal OST is pretty disappointing since it’s nothing special. It has a couple of big names like Trivium and Killswitch Engage, but only three of the songs on the album were any good. I also wish the soundtracks came in physical CD format, but digital is fine. The making of the video is filmed like a History Channel documentary and can be a snooze fest for hardcore fans who already know all about the game. The Trilogy OST is fantastic and is probably the best part of the whole package, along with the detailed art book. Is it worth $40? Sure, if you’re a hardcore fan; otherwise, pass.
What happens when you put two of the best action-adventure games created on one disc? Ultimate satisfaction. Both God of Wars have been updated in widescreen format with slightly polished visuals for HD display and running at a lightning-fast 60 FPS. If you bought the game new, you will have received a code to download the God of War III demo, but as of now, this code is useless since the demo is now on PSN and the game is due out in just over a week. Other than that, nothing else has changed for the PS3 except trophies, which were the main drive for me to purchase these games all over again. So here is a separate review for each game.
God of War
Being released in 2004, it does feel a bit old. There are more flaws in this game than in the first, but let’s start with the good things. Apart from revolutionizing games and the action-adventure genre single-handedly, the game is amazing and epic. The game is full of huge towering bosses, waves, and waves of enemies, a deep, dark story full of Greek mythology, a fluid, almost perfect combat system, and boobs. Yes, that’s right, boobs. At the time of release, I had never seen a game with so much nudity before, but it shouldn’t really shock gamers as much these days. The game also has some very intricate puzzles that end up being whole levels that you have to solve, such as Pandora’s Temple. The combat system is pretty fast and fluid on its own.
With Kratos whipping his Blades of Chaos around, you feel like you have complete control over him. Another combat element that revolutionized games was quick-time events. After weakening an enemy enough, you press the corresponding button (usually a circle) over them, and a series of buttons flash on-screen. If you don’t press it on time, the enemy knocks you down, and you have to start over. Of course, you can just kill them normally if this gets dull for you. The best QTEs, however, are during boss fights. It just feels awesome to plow a mast through a 200-foot-tall Hydra. Now you do need to realize that there is magic here as well. You get four different powers throughout the game, such as Medusa’s Gaze (freeze enemies), Poseidon’s Rage (shock), and Hade’s Army (souls that continuously attack enemies). These, plus your weapons, can be upgraded by collecting red experience orbs. As you upgrade all your items, you get new moves and increased power. If you’re asking about your health and magic, you can collect Phoenix feathers and Gorgon eyes for magic and health, respectively. These are all found in hidden chests throughout the game, so keep an eye out.
The camera is fixed, so it frees up the right analog stick for dodging moves. The camera does a perfect job of following the action without any problems. Sometimes you can scale up walls and even fight there or on ropes. Combat is pretty much anywhere Kratos goes, and this keeps things mixed up. The level’s traps and puzzles are very well designed and require you to really think or be on your toes.
The story is very deep and memorable. We see Kratos as a fallen Spartan leader who gives his life to Ares if he slays the barbarian leader who is about to behead him. Ares makes Kratos his servant for eternity, but Kratos becomes a raging killer who kills the wrong people. He becomes set on a path to free the nightmares from his mind and kill Ares in the process.
If I were to nitpick about what’s bad about the game, it’s that the game looks kind of dated from today. The textures are a bit low-res and blurry, and there are some collision detection problems when jumping around. The game is also extremely difficult to play, even in the normal setting, so God Mode becomes virtually impossible. The game has a decent length of about 8–10 hours, but other than that, the game is great for the first outing. If you finish up the game, you get to unlock hidden costumes, Challenge of the Gods, and some other hidden treasures.
God of War II
If you think the first game was epic, wait until now. With visuals that surpass the first game twofold and even more huge epic bosses, God of War II became the best game to ever grace the PS2. The story follows just after the events of God of War. Kratos is still sent on a warpath to avenge his nightmares and kill Zeus for killing and betraying him. He must find the Sisters of Fate, turn back time to the moment Zeus betrayed him, and kill him.
The combat system is slightly upgraded but pretty much the same. It feels a bit more fluid, and we even get some more moves. The controls are a bit more refined, and we get new powers. We get some new secondary weapons, such as a hammer and staff, that can be upgraded. The puzzles aren’t as hard as in the first game, but there are a lot more of them this time around. The game also seems to be a bit harder, with even tougher enemies. We get a new grapple hook for swinging around, so this adds a lot to the gameplay. The game also feels more fluid and has a lot more epic moments than the first game, but most of these come towards the end of the game.
While God of War II is pretty much like the first, all the new content makes it an epic and thrilling sequel. The only issues with the game are that it looks a bit dated, and the game can be very tough at times as well. The game is about the same length as the first, but the game obviously feels and plays five times better than the first game. There are plenty of extras, as well as a full-length version of the section on the disc for God of War II.
So if you think all this sounds good, you can now pick up the game brand new for $30. $15 apiece for two of the best games ever made is a great bargain to me. With a separate set of trophies for each game, HD resolution, and faster FPS, this is a huge package that is exploding with awesomeness. God of War Collection is probably one of the best deals to grace consoles since The Orange Box, so don’t hesitate; every PS3 owner has to have this collection or you aren’t a true gamer.
One idea that has not really been explored in video games is fairies, and why this is beyond me. When I saw Folklore debut at E3 ’05, I was stunned by the beautiful visuals and the charming idea of capturing fairies’ “ID” and using them to attack. After the game’s release, two years later, it received lukewarm reviews, with most people complaining of the difficulty and repetition, and I have to agree.
Gameplay-wise Folklore takes a step in the right direction but then trips with flawed execution. You can capture dozens of fairies and store them for later use. Each realm has different types of fairies, and they are used not only to fight certain enemies but bosses as well. Some fairies are weak against some and immune to others. You can assign fairies to each face button and execute them as attacks. This is a step in the right direction, but the trip-up is due to flawed mechanics. Every time you attack a fairy, the character stops, and then the animation is played out. This can be very frustrating when fighting fast-moving fairies or bosses. Another flawed element is that you don’t know what fairy is good to each other because there is no data letting you know. You have fairies classified under elements, but you don’t know which can fight which unless you equip and unequip each fairy, and this is daunting.
If that sounds bad enough, navigating through the levels is extremely hard, despite the extreme linearity of the game. Most levels are like mazes that give you no direction on which to go, and re-spawning enemies every time you reenter an area is a disaster. Really? Re-spawning enemies? C’mon. You have to fight each area to acquire the IDs to break certain gems or fight bosses. After you have visited an area once, you can just run by them all. Another thing that I hate is that there is no way to use items. You can collect karma items, but I have no idea what they are used for. Health can only be generated by saving spots or when enemies drop them, and this is rare. If you die, you have to start all over again from the last save point.
The other useless and annoying element of the game is the MP bar. It regenerates, but there are no special magic attacks, so using only attacks that drain a bar is absurd. After a few hits, you have to wait for it to regenerate, and this can be very annoying when fighting enemies that have timed downtimes.
If you want to talk about something that really annoys me, There are 8 chapters in the game, and each character has 6, but when you get to chapter 7, you have to play 1-6 with the other character. Playing through an already frustrating game twice to see the ending? It’s almost not worth it. The game does have a great mystery murder-type story that will keep you guessing all the way through, but there are even problems with that. There are lots of text readings and hardly any cut scenes. The scenes are pre-rendered CGI, which is what next-generation technology is supposed to illuminate. You also get weird comic-style panels that you can fast forward and then RPG-type avatar conversation screens.
There are positive notes that make the game worth at least renting, and the biggest one is the great use of the Sixaxis motion sensing. This is probably the most use I’ve seen from any PS3 game so far. When you defeat folklore, you will see a red soul come out of it, and that is the sign to hit R1 and pull the controller up. Some bigger folklore and bosses have you whacking the soul side to side, pulling up at timed moments, and shaking the controller vigorously.
The game’s best feat is probably its looks, with gorgeous landscapes and beautifully designed folklore, but that’s really not enough to keep you playing. Once you get to chapter 7 and realize you have to go through the game again with the other character, it makes you decide whether to tread on or give up. If the game wasn’t so frustrating with all of its weird, quirky gameplay elements, it would be an amazing adventure.
When you think of racing games, most older gamers will think of Gran Turismo: graphics that push the current generation to its limit, ultra-realistic physics, and cars that drive like their real-life counterparts to a T. Just when we thought racing couldn’t get any better than Gran Turismo 4 for the PS2 back in 2005, Gran Turismo 5 rolls along on the PS3.
As the title suggests, this is just a preview, or an over-glorified demo, of the full game coming out this year. While the game was released almost 2 years ago, it still looks amazing today, and the realism is so close to real life you can taste it. Everything you know about Gran Turismo has had a facelift, and this includes the menu. Instead of all those icons on a map, you are treated to your car being displayed in different countries in the background, along with an event calendar and some new icons. The first thing you will notice is the fully-fledged online play with up to 12 players. The second is the GT TV, which lets you purchase episodes of car shows for die-hard car fanatics (I completely skipped this), but it’s there. You have your regular events and single races instead of the standard simulation and arcade modes. You can go to the dealerships, pick up your cars, and jump into the events.
Some problems do pop up right from the start when buying a car since there are frequent loading screens between screens and the car information isn’t displayed right. It scrolls across the bottom, and you can only view the car if you click on it and have it load. There is no full-detail spec sheet, mainly due to the fact that you can’t upgrade your cars. Yeah, guys, sorry. In the “demo” version of Gran Turismo 5, you just buy your cars and race as is. I have no idea if Polyphony is completely stripping away this idea since it is also missing in the PSP Gran Turismo as well.
Once you buy your car (there are about 80 or so cars if you get the free Spec III update), you can go into your garage and sell cars from here as well as view them. Gone is the whole car wash thing, for now, but some sort of virtual tour of the car would have been nice, as would being able to use all the items in the car (cmon, you want ultra-realism, right?). Once you get into the event menu, you can see the requirements for entering, and these are limited to certain types of cars. Once you start racing, you should get third or better to earn credits to buy more cars, rinse, and ad infinitum. While this sounds dull, each car handles it surprisingly differently, and the AI is a really nice challenge. However, the usual time limits are set way too tight and are almost impossible to beat even when driving with the guideline and not crashing.
When you actually start driving, you’ll notice just how tight the controls are. You really like turning a wheel thanks to the great analog stick of the DualShock 3 and the great vibration feature. Every car also sounds the same, and the amazing in-dash cockpit view (for the first time in Gran Turismo) is beautiful, but I just wish you could turn the driver’s head around. There aren’t too many tracks to drive on, but there are a lot of familiar ones all the way back to the first game 12 years ago.
If you want to talk about aesthetics, the game looks stunningly real. You can’t really tell the car apart from something in real life, and the tracks all look amazing, but I know I can look better, and I hope the graphics engine I boosted a little for the final release.
While there are many flaws and things missing, such as the driving tests and upgrades, there are a lot of things not improved, like the super strict time limits, plus sometimes the game is just too real to be fun. Other than that, for about $25, you can really have a good racer that will last you a while, or if you are a die-hard Gran Turismo fan, this will tide you over until the final release.
Metal Gear Solid is one of the most memorable game series ever created, and MGS4 is a great topping on the cake. Not only does MGS4 offer an incredibly riveting story, but also some great multiplayer as well as hidden stuff for long-time MGS fans irking all the way back to the original game.
Starting out with MGS4 is kind of daunting due to the deep storyline that is hard to follow unless you have played the other three games, but you can manage if you are smart enough and stick with the story. The only problem I had with the story was the drawn-out cut scenes that can last over 30 minutes, thanks to Hideo Kojima’s love for cinematic storytelling. Most of the length comes at the end of every chapter, the mission briefing, and then the beginning of the next chapter. Each chapter took over 30 minutes to start, and sometimes the dialog can drag on and become sleep-inducing.
Metal Gear has always been known for its stealth gameplay, and MGS4 is the first Metal Gear game to give you complete control of the camera and even implement a first-person mode. The greatest improvement (for me) was the fact that sneaking through compounds, camps, and warfront lines didn’t feel like a puzzle anymore but like a stealth game. The amount of stuff in your HUD may be overwhelming at first, but you will adjust. You have a health meter, a psyche meter (that I never found any reason to keep track of), an item and weapon menu, a camouflage gauge, and a radar screen. You can also buy weapons and ammo from Drebin’s Shop using Drebin points that are accumulated by picking up weapons on the battlefield. You can also customize weapons now with silencers, grenade launchers, shotguns, flashlights, and more. There are dozens of weapons to buy, and each comes in handy for certain situations.
Using your camouflage is one of my favorite elements because whenever you lie still, your suit copies the texture on the ground and lets you blend in better. Throughout the game, you will acquire more types of camouflage, but the suit is great. You can even change the color of your vest and face. Another element that I love is the change of pace in the game. No longer have you been confined to stealth-only elements since there will be full-out firefights through some levels, vehicle sections, and even a section where you use a mech. That doesn’t sound like metal gear to you? Welcome to the evolution.
The game just feels fluid, smooth, transitions well, and has a perfect playtime of about 15-20 hours. You can also partly interact with the cinematic by zooming in and, at key points, pressing L1 for a first-person view and pressing X for flashbacks of previous games. I do have to say my biggest disappointment was the boss fights, since they aren’t as original as in previous games. Most just have you shooting enemies to death and using a key element to figure out how to actually kill them.
There are a multitude of CQC moves for you to use against enemies or just a good silenced shot to the headworks too. Hiding bodies isn’t such a big deal anymore since you are in a war, and crawling through dead bodies will be like tomorrow’s chores after a while. Using camouflage to blend is probably the key element to sneaking in this game since using shadows and lying are still key.
When it comes to multiplayer, you are in for a treat because Metal Gear Online is a fully integrated online system that is separate from the game. You have several different game types (all the ones you can expect), all while using Drebin points to use guns during matches and using your experience points to level up and buy stuff for your character through the Konami website. There are several expansions available, but Metal Gear just never felt like an online thing for me. It is fun, but trying to find a room with 16 people is kind of rare, especially at lower levels. The online element of Metal Gear is strangely deep for a game that doesn’t get much online traffic since Metal Gear feels strictly like a single-player-only experience, but it’s there for people who want it.
If Metal Gear turned you off before, you should give it another shot because it truly mixes stealth and action beautifully, and even someone who doesn’t care too much for Metal Gear (like me) can love this game. The game looks amazing, and all the characters look life-like and are rendered beautifully. The voice acting is top-notch, and nothing can type out the fight scenes. Patience is a virtue in this game, but you get a great feeling of satisfaction after sneaking through a whole enemy camp unseen. It is easier than previous games, but it still offers a challenge.
If you love the Metal Gear saga, then you should have this already, but even people who have never played a Metal Gear game get engrossed in this wonderfully crafted and touching story while being sucked into the single-player experience.
Killzone 2 is such irony because everyone bashed the first game back in 2004, claiming it was a failed “Halo Killer” and trying to be Sony’s proprietary FPS since Microsoft had Halo and Nintendo had Metroid Prime. Now that 5 years have rolled around, Killzone 2 is considered one of the best FPS games ever made, is winning multiple games of the year awards as we speak, was made the best-looking game of all time (during its release), and looked 100 times better than Halo 3. Not only that, but back in 2005, everyone criticized the game for being pre-rendered because no one thought this kind of stuff could be done on a game console. Even in terms of multiplayer, Killzone 2 really impresses with a strong ranking system, squads, voice chat, clans, and the works.
The weakest part of Killzone 2 may be its story and characters. Instead of playing as Templar like in the first game, you play as Sev and fight alongside a squad of three: Garza, Natko, and Rico (the only ones from the original game). The war against the Helghast isn’t over, so the only option is to storm the Visari Palace and take Visari down once and for all while fighting against a cruel general hell bent on getting the ISA’s nuke codes.
Not only is the game lacking a solid story and characters, it is also very short. You can beat the game in about 6–8 hours, depending on your playstyle, so it will leave you wanting way more. One thing that impressed me a lot was the clever level design. The levels make you really think about your strategy on how to attack enemies, and this includes the weapons as well. Each one is unique and can only be used in certain situations, and there is a smorgasbord of them to boot. You have flamethrowers, rocket launchers, shotguns, and other sorts. Each weapon feels powerful and packs a good punch, especially when your shotgun takes off ahead at point-blank. You can mount turrets and even drive vehicles at a couple of points. Now, when it comes to Sixaxis Control, the game uses it very poorly in only three ways. You can turn valves, set charges, and move the loading screen hologram around. It was not very exciting, and I was expecting some pretty good use out of it with an epic game like Killzone 2.
If you have an HDTV, the game will blow your mind visually and audibly thanks to its impressive next-gen showcase. The graphics are amazing, with super-high-res textures that have never been seen before. This stuff looks like pre-rendered next-gen graphics, but in real-time. While the game doesn’t have much color, that is okay because there is a distinct art style. There is a lot of ambiance on top of all this that makes you feel like you are on a war-torn planet fighting for your race.
If there is one thing I absolutely love about this game, it is the Helghast design. They are such cool characters with creepy, glowing red eyes, raspy voices that are only heard through gas masks, and strange British accents. The gritty art style is great and really fits this type of game, despite everyone complaining about next-gen games not having enough color.
The multiplayer is the meat of the game, with up to 32 players on each map, and everything gets really insane really fast. It takes a while to get the hang of how everything is done and the fast pace. When I first went online, I died about 100 times before I even made my first kill, and no, I don’t suck. After you get the hang of everything, it becomes super addictive and fun. There are plenty of modes, from team deathmatch to search and destroy to even a king of the hill type game. For people who just got a PS3 for Christmas, Killzone 2 is something to really show off to your friends, and with great multiplayer, you can expect lots of hours playing this great next-gen gem.
The action/adventure genre seems to be the only genre right now trying to push games forward in terms of gameplay, graphics, and story. Uncharted is one of these, and while it is two years old now and was developed way before the PS3 was announced, it was ahead of its time and still is. On the surface, Uncharted may look like a male version of Tomb Raider, but you are completely wrong. Not only are the visuals some of the best in the industry, but the voice acting and characters are what’s so believable. The people in Uncharted are everyday people who are trying to do heroic deeds and, in turn, show their imperfections, which makes the game much more believable. Searching around for El Dorado and Sir Francis Drake’s footsteps has never been so fun.
There are two main elements to Uncharted: shooting and platforming. There isn’t much in the way of puzzle-solving (the ones that are there are too easy). The shooting mechanics are great since they give you a great sense of desperation thanks to the wonderful animation of Nathan Drake and the way he interacts with the environment. You can see him breathing heavily in panic, ducking with different animations while running, and actually vocally expressing how he is feeling. Third-person shooter mechanics do not need explaining, but you do get a good variety of weapons that you are allowed to carry, including one pistol and one heavy weapon. Grenades can be thrown by changing the arc of the throw with SixAxis, but as far as this is concerned, SixAxis is used very lightly and not very often. The only flaw in the shooting is the number of enemies you are given, which can be way too many in certain situations, so the difficulty is unbalanced.
In terms of platforming, this is the best part of the game. Jumping around is pretty easy, but you can pretty much jump on anything you want, and part of Nathan’s imperfections show in this since he’ll slip off edges or just barely make jumps. Swinging on vines and walking through a U-boat submarine could never have felt better. A lot of the gameplay is broken up nicely with vehicle sections. These include a jeep and a jet ski from which you are shooting. The Jeep sections are heart-pounding, and the beautiful jungle scenery flying by adds to the cinematic experience. When you aren’t monkeying around, you can look for up to 60 relics to unlock trophies.
One thing that I can’t express enough is how beautiful the game is. With such high-resolution graphics, beautiful HDR lighting, highly detailed textures, and realistic water, Naughty Dog really created their second-best franchise with this masterpiece. There isn’t much to complain about in Uncharted, except maybe its length. With 22 chapters, the game can be beaten in 8–10 hours, depending on your playstyle. The replay value is good since you will want to go back and collect more relics to unlock trophies.
If I had to really nitpick the game, all I can say is that I wish there would have been more SixAxis integration, a more balanced difficulty, more challenging puzzles, and the game could have been a good 5 hours long, but other than this, it is pretty much flawless. If you are getting a PS3 this holiday, start with Uncharted because it will make you love your PS3 that much more.
thebinarymessiah.com 
Yeah, it's pretty damn awful. Notoriously one of the worst games on the PSP. A 4 was actually being generous.…