Kingdom Hearts 3, Finally!

I know, I know, I always stress the fact that Square Enix does not deliver what the fans want but for once I'm glad to be proven wrong. Many years after I first played Kingdom Hearts 2 a teaser trailer or the third installment in this great franchise was released at the Sony conference at E3 2013. To be honest I never thought that KH3 would see the light of day. There are only so may crappy JRPGs that I can take and I'm glad that Square Enix can finally redeem itself be by making a decent game. I believe that KH3 will help make Square Enix the studio it once was. I have a feeling that there is going to be a bit more waiting but the short teaser with the pretty graphics as well as the fact that this games is currently in development has made it hard to get rid of the stupid grin on my face.

Let's See If I Rage Quit

Just out curiosity, I want to see how far I can get into Halo 4's campaign on Legendary with the Mythic skull on without rage quitting. I'm not the greatest FPS player but I think I just might be able to get to the end of the game. Wish me luck, this is going to be one long and arduous task.

Updated Final Fantasy 7?

There has a rumor flying around lately that an updated version of Final Fantasy 7 (FFVII) will be released on the PS3 in Europe. When I mean updated, I mean of a tweaked iteration of the beloved RPG. It is claimed that this version of the game will allow players to compare their party's stats with their friends over PSN. Another tweak to the game is that you are given the ability to temporarily max out your party's abilities whenever you get stuck. I don't know if it's just me but I think this "new" version of FFVII is pretty lame. The fact that you can cheat your way out of a tough battle, there isn't gratification. Call me old school but it feels rewarding to finally beat a boss after grinding and leveling up your characters to the best of your ability. Essentially this rumored FFVII pretty much has a built in "Game Shark" (haven't seen those things since the 90's). Rumors aside Square Enix claims that this game is not in development and their new Final Fantasy games take priority over a re-release of FFVII. I have a feeling we will never see a remake of FFVII but if and when it is released, I want a fully updated game with pretty 21st century graphics.

Halo: Forward Unto Dawn Review

Now that all 5 episodes of the long awaited web series have aired I think it is safe to say that I genuinely enjoyed it. Us Halo fans have been hoping for years to see a live action Halo film but that never happened and I have a feeling it probably never will see the light of day. For now I guess we will have to settle with the Live action web series. I will try to keep the spoilers to a minimum so those of you who haven't seen seen the series yet can thoroughly enjoy it. Basically The series starts off approximately 25 years before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved and is showing us the lives of students at the Corbulo Academy of Military Science. The protagonist Thomas Lasky, a young cadet, an underachiever with huge shoes to fill is put to the test as the school comes under attack from Covenant forces. Lasky and fellow students must fight for their survival against this new enemy. With the help of a young John 117 (Master Chief), they will attempt to get through this ordeal alive. As always, I was skeptical about how this 5 part series would turn out. After the introductions of the characters in the first episode the plot moved along quite smoothly. I must say that I was blown away by the production quality of the series, it was a lot better than most of the crappy sci-fi shows on TV these days. Overall the plot was good and the action and special effects were awesome, so it's safe to say that Forward Unto Dawn was a pretty well put together web series. I just hope that this series will make movie studios feel more inclined to create a full length Halo film, only time will tell I guess.

Something I Forgot About 007 Golden Eye

If you happened to grow up in the 90's you have most likely picked up an Nintendo 64 (N64) controller and popped in 007 Golden Eye and had an epic 4 player split screen battle. I may be biased but I feel like it's a classic. Golden Eye was one of favourite shooters, up there with Counter-Strike and Halo: Combat Evolved. One thing I never really paid attention to was the fact that Golden Eye was a game base on a movie, none other than 007 Golden Eye. Normally, games based on films tend to be absolutely horrible but Golden seemed to break the trend. This makes me wish games based on movies these days would use Golden Eye on N64 as an example and actually live up to their potential.

Old Xbox 360 Controllers = Killjoy

So the last time I was attempting to inch my way through Halo 4's campaign on Legendary (is it just me or does Halo 4 have one of the most difficult Legendary Campaigns?), in the middle of an intense firefight with some Promethean Knights; my controllers batteries die. I kept forgetting that I would have to change out the AA's batteries at some point simply because I have never had to do that with a controller. Just another minor annoyance and another reason why I opted for a PS3 back in 2006. But after searching my house from top to bottom, I found some AA batteries with enough juice to continue my futile efforts in Halo 4. Maybe I should ask Santa Claus for some AA's, I have a feeling I'm going to need more fairly soon.

Subscription Fees Grind My Gears

I know the Playstation Network (PSN) is not perfect and has its faults but hell, it's free. I think having a PS3 for 6 years before getting an Xbox 360 has made it a little difficult to wrap my head around the concept of paying to play online. When I picked up Halo 4 it came with a 14 day Xbox Live (XBL) trial, I guess I can say it was fun while it lasted. Now I must end my procrastination and purchase an XLB subscription. Sure you may say it's only $60, from a monetary stand point it is really much. It's just a little annoying that I have to pay for XBL, when PSN a service that is fundamentally the same is free of charge. Well That was my little rant for the day. I guess I will just have to bite the bullet and get an XBL subscription; there is only so long that I can without playing Halo 4 online.

Halo 4 Review

Like I probably mentioned in earlier posts I couldn't resist, I went and bought an Xbox 360 and then I picked up Halo 4 on launch day; I felt like a kid on Christmas. Since the Halo 4 teaser trailer was shown at E3 I was excited and the hype train went full steam ahead when the live action series Forward Unto Dawn began. We haven't seen Master Chief in action since 2007, it has been a long wait. I know I have had a little blogging hiatus, but during that time I was able to play through Halo 4. I had faith in 343 Industries, I had a feeling that this Halo wouldn't be a carbon copy of it's predecessors. Thankfully my assumptions were correct. From start to finish Halo 4 had fresh new environments and a variety of new enemies and weapons. There even "quick-time" action sequences but I felt like those felt a little clunky. Aside from that the gameplay experience was great. The mechanics felt pretty much the same as Halo Reach except that sprinting is now a permanent ability; which makes sense, Spartans are supposed to swift and strong super solders. I liked how the armor lock ability was replaced with a hard light shield, this ability is on a timer and you can walk around while the shield is up. This change really help to balance out the online play since armor lock felt a little over powered. I don't know if I am getting a little rusty but the difficulty level in Halo 4 fells pretty high, taking down Promethian Knights on Legendary is no easy task. They make taking on Elites feel like a walk in the park. In terms of the weapons arsenal I was satisfied. I was so happy to use the Battle Rifle and DMR again. All the old weapons got new audio-visual make-over which was a nice tweak. I must say I thought the Promethian weapons were awesome; watching your weapon assemble itself when you pick it up for the first time was pretty cool. If I had to choose a favourite new weapon it would have to be the scatter shot. It shoots fasts and the fact the the rounds can ricochet off walls makes things more interesting, especially online. Did I mention how pretty the game is? Hands down it's the best looking and sounding game in the Halo franchise. The vehicles, weapons and Master Chief himself all got an update, the lighting effects and the textures also looked really nice. I believe Halo 4 is the game in the franchise to use CGI cut scenes in the game itself, I honestly didn't mind. The cut scenes were photo realistic at times, for a few seconds I though the prologue of Halo 4 was live-action. After I finished the campaign, I dabbled in the online component. Some of the game types are pretty familiar and the maps vary greatly but there are few maps that stand out as instant classics. I really like Regicide, where a player is marked as the King and the marked on the map. With instant respawns, the King has to always be on their toes in this fast paced game mode. I haven't tried Forges yet as my archetectual creativity isn't the greatest.T rust me, I had a tough time creating levels in Little Big Planet, so I know that making maps is not my forte. Spartan Ops is an entertaining episodic addition. The missions are brief but still fun and it's nice that there is episode of Halo Infinity every week to carry on the plot 6 months after the event in Halo 4. I left my overview of the story for last, me being such a big fan of the Halo universe was a huge factor in why I bought an Xbox 360 in the first place. I really wanted to know what was in store for the Master Chief and Cortana and I wanted learn more about the Forerunners. As I expected, 343 delivered in the story department as well. I think was over an hour of cut scenes in the game and they helped explain the relationship between the Humans, The Forerunners and the Flood. It was interesting to see an actual antagonist in the game, it changed up the way the story moved along. During these cut scenes the relationship between Cortana and the Chief developed greatly, their relationship was a huge part of the plot. In previous games it seemed like Cortana was always protecting the Chief but in Halo 4 it seemed like the John 117 was trying to save Cortana. These two characters had an interesting dynamic and during the game you could see that the Master Chief was more comfortable with Cortana than with other Humans. I felt like Halo 4 had a more in depth and emotional plot than previous games and I thought the story was great, especially with the completely new (and quite epic) soundtrack that set the tone, every came together very well. Overall, I have to say Halo 4 is my favourite game in the franchise, it took all the great elements of previous games and built on them. I look forward to more of the Halo Infinity episodes and I am curious to see how the next game in this new trilogy will turn out.

Assassins Creed 3 Demo (First Imprssions)

I know, this is a little late but I feel this is still a relevant topic. Back in August at FanExpo 2012 in Toronto, I also got the opportunity to play the demo for Assassins Creed 3 (AC3). Keep in mind this demo was fairly short, but I guess that goes without saying. First off my only grippe was the fact that there was no real opportunity to experiment with the weapons and battle system. Aside from that, the demo still managed to be entertaining. I believe the main purpose of the mission/demo that I played was to display the scale of AC3. During the mission I the captain of a naval ship and the main objective was to sink a couple enemy warships with your arsenal of cannons. Pretty straight forward, but there was some technique involved. The most effective method of sinking an enemy ship was to be right beside them and and attempt to hit them with all of your side cannons. But this method was difficult to achieve since my ship and an enemy's ship are both sailing around at varying speeds. So I found it a little tough to sink the enemy initially. There were smaller side cannons and a single front mounted cannon but I found them to be of little use. After I sank the first ship, I felt more comfortable with the steering mechanics and the mission became pretty fun. Did, I mention that this game looks really great? The wind, water and weather effects were great and made the naval battle experience more gritty and realistic. When my ship got hit (quite often I might add), the first that started and pieces of wood that were throw about really gave me an incentive to sink the enemy warships. Soon after the first ship went down, I proceeded to sink the second ship and the objective changed. Unfortunately I missed what the new objective was and I ended up sailing around aimlessly for a couple minutes before I called it quits. Yeah, it was my fault that I didn't have the entire demo experience but I was able to play the bulk of it. As far as my expectation for the full game goes, I don't know what the hand to hand combat will be like but I can tell you that you can expect massive and detailed levels that surely will be easy on the eyes.

Playstation Allstars: Battle Royal VS Super Smash Bros. (First Impression)

About a month ago I continued my annual ritual of attending FanExpo in Toronto. It is a convention that has everything from Trekky celebrity appearances to the latest playable video games. I was most excited about the later and no I did not even entertain the idea of doing any cosplay if you were wondering.One of the playable games was Playstation Allstars: Battle Royal (PA), as usual I was a little skeptical about this game when it was first announced. I thought it would be a Super Smash Bros. (SSB) knock off that would fail miserably. To my surprise I was very wrong and after a short time playing PA I realized I actually enjoyed it more than SSB. I ended up playing one "free for all" game of PA with one of my friends and two other people and I must say it was a hell of a lot of fun. I decided not to go for everyone's favorite brawler, the one and only Kratos from the God of War series. Instead, I chose Sweet Tooth from Twisted Metal. I'm not particularly good at fighting games but I held my own in the beginning, using Sweet Tooth's shotgun to knock back my opponents effectively. Then I eventually got a power up where I became a giant robot and attempted ( and fail) to finish off the other players. The my friend who was using Heihachi from Tekken strung together a nice combo move and proceeded to take out me and the other two players. It was loads of fun even though I got my ass kicked pretty badly in the end, but hey it happens to the best of us. After my brief time with Playstation Allstars I noticed that my favorite aspect of the game was not the fact that I could use my favorite Playstation characters but the fact that the players had a health bar. Once it was depleted, that's it you lose a life. Unlike the system in Super Smash Bros. that uses damage percentages that can exceed 100%, which I was never very fond of. So I hope this helps out you gamers out there who was on the fence about this game. Who knows, you may like it even more than I did.

If Only I Could Get Out Of Bronze League

It seems like I have been pretty busy during these last few months and I have completely neglected my Starcraft 2 (SC2) account. I do play on and off every so often but the lack of consistent play made me pretty rusty. I used to be half decent at SC2, there was a time that I would win in most of my matches. Yeah, I know, I know; for the most part I would be pitted against players in bronze, silver and gold league but I was gradually improving my skills. Now that I rarely play, matches where I win are few and far between and I feel like I will be stuck in bronze league for eternity. It is pretty discouraging to know that I will not win nearly as matches in bronze league anymore but if I want to escape this cannon rushing, six-pooling, proxy barracks filled league I have to step up my game.

Final Fanstasy Versus XIII Axed

Sadly there is talk that Final Fantasy Versus XIII (FFV13) has been axed. It's things like this that make me dislike Square Enix.

I always had a feeling that FFV13 was a pipe dream, but having that little bit of hope extinguished is a little bit of a killjoy. I have a feeling that Square Enix's business model is to ignore what their fan base wants. I know they want to create games that they enjoy but if the masses reject them, what is the point.

Although this game may face the chopping block, there is still hope of a decent Final Fantasy on the horizon. There was news that Final Fantasy XV will have an open world. This is promising, because the linearity of the games in FF 13 games detracted from the RPG experience. For now we will all have to wait how FF 15 turns out, hopefully it doesn't face the same fate as FFV13.

Why iPads Suck

I recently explained why iPad games themselves are rather, how can I put this, terrible. But I honestly think the iPad itself sucks.

From a hardware stand point the iPad is an overpriced toy that under-performs. I mean seriously the maximum storage capacity is 64 gigs and there aren't any flash card slots. The rear facing camera is only 5 megapixels, seriously Apple it's 2012. The latest iteration of the iPad now has a front facing camera for face time, I expected this to be part of the first generation iPad. All these shortfalls and the iPad is one of the most expensive tablets on the market.

To be honest I dislike tablets in general, I find them rather useless. In this day and age almost everyone has a computer or smart phone. So I don't see much point to having a tablet, it's like an underpowered computer or a giant smart phone. Besides I'm pretty sure most people who bought the iPad, have and iPod, iPhone,and a Macbook. My point is If I am going to drop almost a grand on a piece of hardware I expect it to have half decent specifications, something more than just an apple on the back. In my eyes the iPad is just an "iPod Macro", I know it doesn't sound as pretty as "iPad" but it is what it is.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Is Now In HD!

Today I came across some rather delightful information, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (THPS) is being re-released in HD on the Playstation Network and Xbox Live! Shortly after hearing this news from a fellow gamer, I began remembering all those good times I used to have playing this game with my friends after school. The original THPS was awesome and made feel like skateboarding was cool. I even went as far as trying to learn how to skateboard (and I failed miserably). I am glad to hear that my favourite game mode called "Graffiti" is going to be included. Graffiti was extremely entertaining since every object/structure you did a trick on became a part of your territory and when the time ran out, the person with the largest territory would win. It would get pretty competitive once the clock starts winding down and you are racing to complete your last few tricks. A modern twist on the game will be online capabilities so you can play with your friends over PSN or XBL, so huddling up in front of a small sub-didvided screen will no longer be necessary. I must say if I do end up getting this game, it will be very nostalgic. I will probably feel like a kid again, I just hope they kept that kick-ass original soundtrack.

Why Do iPad Games Suck

I have a good feeling that many of you have probably realized that I am not very fond of iPhone games. To put it simply, they bore me relatively quickly. I didn't think handheld games could less enjoyable, until I noticed games on iPads.

Yes the large tablet, a device that has little use; I never thought it would be used as a gaming platform. I will get into why the iPad itself sucks in a later article, I want to focus on why the games are rather lacking. Aside from the fact that they have similar gameplay mechanics and their fun factor are about the same as their iPhone counterparts, the main reason why the iPad games suck is due to the fact that the hardware is so large. I know, I Know the iPad isn't particularly weighty but the sheer size of the thing can make it a little awkward to play games. The fact that the iPad is so large would deter me from hauling it around for gaming purposes. So gaming on an iPad would be limited to the confines of my home and that begs the question would I rather play games on a iPad or make use of my larger library of titles on my PS3, Xbox 360 (I finally decided to get one) and my computer. As you can see, I can't really find a suitable instance to pick up and play an iPad game, which justifies my argument, these game do suck indeed!

Last of Us, Talk About Potential

It seems like Naughty Dog never ceases to amaze me this gaming generation. The Uncharted series had some of the best games that I have ever played. So I don't have any doubts about Last of Us being another hit. As more game play footage has been rolling in since E3 I can see that this game has a lot more to offer than shiny graphics. Just like in the Uncharted games the voice acting is superb and it seems pretty believable. The dialogue between characters is pretty entertaining, like watching a film with a great script. Although this game is visually similar to Uncharted due to art direction, the tone of the game is completely unique. This game seems very tense, exactly how surviving in a post-apocalyptic world should be. At this point I am confident the Last of Us will be the beginning of a great new franchise. It may be a little too early to tell but I have a gut feeling that this game has the potential to be even better than the best games in the Uncharted series.

Ok I'm Guilty, I Have A Buster Sword

Back in the summer of 2010 I went to a gaming/anime/comic book/Sci-Fi  expo in Toronto, it happens annually and is called FanExpo. That day was pretty amusing to say the least, besides seeing a playable version of Halo Reach before it was released, I decided to acquire a Buster sword.

Yeah, that's me, and that fairly large thing is my Buster sword, it looks fairly similar to the original sword that Cloud used in Final Fantasy 7. I guess you can tell that I am a pretty big fan of that game. This sword is meant to be put on display as it has no practical use. I mean the sword is nearly 5 feet long and close to 15 pounds, all the weight is in the blade so one must be careful if they decide be swinging this around when they are doing cosplay. The best part about owning one of these is the look on my friends faces when they first see it, and realize how difficult it is to balance it, it's priceless.

To be honest the day that I bought this sword my intention was to find a Keyblade from Kingdom hearts that I saw at FanExpo the year before. I guess this Buster sword was an impulse buy, but surprisingly I can say that I have absolutely no buyers regret.

Controllers, Do They Really Make A Difference?

I have owned a Playstation, Playstation 2 and Playstation 3 and one factor that led me to buy these consoles was the controller. I honestly believe that a controller can make or break a console.

I remember back in the 90's using the Nintendo 64 controller for the first time, it was awkward to say the least. To this day I can't use that piece of junk effectively. Don't get me started on the horrendous GameCube controller.  I never thought Nintendo would be capable of producing a more terrible controller than the N64's, well they proved me wrong. The GameCube controller had buttons of different sizes and an asymmetrical layout which would confuse the hell out of me. I for one don't enjoy repeatedly hitting the wrong buttons due to a poor design. It was as if a toddler came up with the design for that controller. As you can tell, I never played N64 or GameCube very often.

Aside from those two pieces of molded plastic, I don't have that much of a beef with any other controllers that Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony have released in the past two decades. I know what it is, I prefer symmetrical button layouts on controllers, it just feels more natural. I'm curious to see if the next generation of controllers will be the same for Microsoft and Sony, it would be amusing to see a PS4 with that E3  2005 "Batarang" controller.

I Can't Wait For Forward Unto Dawn

Yeah, Yeah, I know I'm a giant Halo Fanboy, I have played all of the games (except Halo Wars) and beat them on legendary multiple times. I find that the Halo novels are pretty awesome and the Halo lore is pretty cool. So a live action series about about character origins in the Halo universe has me pretty excited.

Forward Unto Dawn is the name of the series, which will air on Youtube in the fall. There will be 5, 15 minute episodes that will air just before the launch of Halo 4. I recently watched a behind the scenes segment  of the Halo series and it seems like the production quality is top notch. I always thought the live action trailers and ads (namely the Halo ODST ad) were awesome and got me on the hype train since I'm love playing the Halo campaigns and experiencing the progression of the story.

Hopefully, the acting, scripts and special effects come together to make this series great. If this short series ends up exceeding expectations, who know maybe a Halo movie may not be that far off.

I May Be New School But I Still Like Old School

I know it may seem odd since this blog is called The New School Gamer but I still enjoy playing games that most people refer to as "dated". Pretty graphics, complex physics engines and online battle grounds generally make me happy but they don't provide the nostalgia of older games.

I grew up in the era where Super Nintendo, Playstation and Sega Genesis were at the top of the gaming industry. I remember playing Sonic the Hedgehog, Crash Bandicoot and Super Mario Bros., those were the good ol' days. When I was a kid going head to head with a friend in an arcade would have been the highlight of my day, no matter how terrible I was.

I guess a little nostalgia is always good, I can see why I decided to download Final Fantasy 7 and Crash Bandicoot Warped from the Playstation network. They bring back a lot of memories of simpler times and  they make me realize that everyone gets older, even me.