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. 

Looks Like I Am Getting An Xbox 360

It was 2005, and I stayed up late to hear the announcement of the Xbox 360 on Spike TV, after that I was certain I would be an early adopter of Microsoft's new console.

A few months later the Playstation 3 was announced at E3 and the infamous Killzone 2 tech demo was shown, I had a feeling it would be a difficult choice between the 360 and the PS3. During the first year following the launch of the Xbox 360, there were several hardware failures, mainly the feared Red Ring of Death (RROD). The whole RROD situation, made the choice between consoles significantly easier. Seeing several of my friends Xbox's suffer from the RROD, I did not want to be in the same boat. So I decided to wait overnight, a cold and raining night in November of 2006, the PS3's launch day.

Now, several years later, it seems all of the kinks in the Xbox 360's have been ironed out, not to mention the fact that I am a huge Halo fanboy, it seems like I might be an Xbox owner after all. I know, I'm going to be a little late to the party but on the bright side I will have all those Xbox 360 exclusives to catch up on. I think, I will enjoy the fact that I won't have to go to my friends houses to play Halo anymore.

Hey Sqaure Enix, Get your Head Out Of The Sand!

Over the past few years I have grown to dislike a the game developer know as Square Enix. I have a feeling that I'm not the only one who feels this way.

As some of you know, I have posted about my frustration with this developer, mainly that their games have become rather undesirable to put it politely. My reason for getting vexed is the fact that Square Enix has been apparently hinting at the production of Final Fantasy XIII-3.

I played FF XIII  and I just couldn't get through it, to linear for an RPG and the lack of an interesting plot put me off. The I began hearing poor reviews of FF XIII-2, which leads me to believe that the developers really don't care about what the gamers want. It seems like all the games that people want (ie. FF Versus XIII, Kingdom Hearts 3 and A FF VII remake) are all disregarded just to produce sequels to a rather uninteresting game.

I understand that the developers have the right to produce what ever game they like, but when it comes down to it, they are a business and a business most definitely cannot survive if their products are consistently sub-par.

Angry What?

Believe it or not, I have yet to play Angry Birds. I have an itouch and an iphone but for some reason I still haven't played this game that is loved by so many.

As I have stated before in a previous post I do have a beef with games on mobile phones, mainly iphone app. But from what I have seen Angry Birds seems mildly entertaining, as there is some type of progression through the game. Although the progression in the game is as simplistic as an increase in difficulty level it's still something. I think my problem is that I am so used to playing long and complex games that require a significant amount of attention, that simple games bore me rather quickly.

So based on the fact that I haven't dabbled in Angry Birds yet, I have a feeling that I won't be getting around to anytime soon. But who knows, with the lackluster announcement of Final Fantasy 13-3, I might be bored enough to start slinging around some poultry.

Black Ops 2, Well That's Different...

I know, I know I always criticize games in the Call of Duty franchise due to the lack of creativity, but I will give it to the developers this time around. Black Ops 2 seems like it is finally start to break away from the trend of "copy and pasted"FPS'.

I like the idea that this new COD will be set in the near future. This means the developers can add their own creative touch to the weapons, vehicles and accessories. I don't know if it is just me but when ever I played a COD game my loadouts were pretty much the same as most of the games were generally set in the same era.

As usual, like everyone else I will have to wait and see how this next installment in the COD franchise will ultimately turn out, but I will still remain optimistic.

Halo 4 Hype Train Is Now Leaving The Station!

I'll be honest, I always have been and will be a Halo fan, ever since Halo: Combat Evolved was first released over a decade ago, the series of games have been some of my favorite shooters. Now with E3 approaching, I am getting pretty excited to see how 343 Industries is going to finally unveil Halo 4. At first I was kind of skeptical about another sequel in the Halo franchise, especially since Bungie is no longer the developer. As goes on and the news accumulates I am beginning to have faith in 343 Industries. Me being a Halo nerd, hearing how this new Halo trilogy (Halo 4-6) will be tied in with the books made me feel all warm n' fuzzy inside. It seems like 343 is going to make sure that we will learn more about the Halo universe, as a fan I can never get enough of the Halo lore. One thing that I really like is it seems like the flood will not be in this game, by the time Halo 3 rolled around it was expected that the flood would make an appearance. Fortunately, this time around a new enemy will be confronted. So far there have been some details of the game that have been revealed like certain weapons and minor aspects of the multiplayer and campaign. For many I think the "hype train" has left the station, once E3 rolls around its full steam ahead!

I'm addicted to Battlefield 3

Based on the amount of time that I have poured into the game, I think it's safe to say I'm addicted to Battlefield 3 (BF3).

I may not be the best player but that's not stopping me, slowly but surely I'm honing my skills and K/D ratio isn't so abysmal anymore. I really enjoy the ability to use vehicles online, I find it awesome that I can hop into a chopper with a buddy and just go on strafing runs and then parachute in when things get a little to crazy. The progression through the classes is great, it honestly keeps me playing; I always want to get to the next level.

I can't believe I'm saying this but I think I like BF3 more than COD4. Although I did spend almost a lifetime playing COD4, I have a good feeling I will be spending countless hours playing BF3. The online component is so good that I haven't even felt the need to delve into the single player campaign. Me being me, I have always played the single player component of every game I have owned. I guess there is a first for everything,I think it just goes to show how exceptional the online experience of BF3 is.

Maybe when I get a little tired of the standard maps I shall purchase the Back to Karkand map pack. It looks pretty damn good, maybe when I'm done this semester; I still want to be a little bit productive.

PS Vita...Dead On Arrival

Sometimes I don't know why Sony tries so hard, they should cut their loses and give up. They will never have a solid footing in the handheld market.

I know Sony has a vision of dominating the gaming market but handhelds just aren't their thing. When the PSP was first released all those years ago it seemed like a great idea on paper, but lack of developer support made sure that it would never be able to steal some market share away from the Nintendo DS. Don't get me started on the PSP GO, that didn't make much sense at all. They should have just held off until the PS Vita and that was made clear with the lackluster sales of the GO.

Now with the Vita launching in North America this month there is more competition than ever. Almost everyone and their grandmother has a DS these days; to the average consumer Nintendo is synonymous with handheld gaming. To make things worse for Sony, Apple is the new big boy on the block and anything with the prefix "i" sells like hotcakes. There are so many apps for ipods and iphones that you could really spend a life time gaming on those devices.

The main reason why the Vita will fail is simply due to price, the price of games and memory. Why buy a $40 game when you can buy a $5 app on your itouch? The majority of people would say the $5 app is the obvious choice. Unless the Vita has one hell of a launch line up, there will be little incentive to purchase the hardware. My main beef with Sony is the ridiculous price they are charging for memory sticks to store games and all other media on the Vita. The Vita relies entirely on memory sticks for storage and Sony's proprietary storage medium costs a multiple of any other memory stick. It's sad that they are going to nickle and dime consumers with their memory sticks.

Aside from the fact that Sony has failed to release a viable handheld platform twice, the cost of memory storage will deter most consumers. It puzzles me that such a large company like Sony doesn't have enough sense to call it a day and focus solely on their PS3 and "PS4"; but I feel a sense of futility trying to understand such things .

Resistance 3, Why Did You Have To End That Way?

Before you start reading there will be SPOILERS!

I have been a fan of the Resistance series since it came out in 2006, I guess I had to like the first game as an early adopter of the PS3 since there really wasn't much else to play at the time. 5 years and 2 installments later, Resistance 3 came out in the summer of 2011. I'm not going to lie I was pretty excited to see if this game would tie up all the loose ends and leave me with a feeling of satisfaction.

Unfortunately, I wasn't as pleased as I had hoped. The previous 2 game were essentially building up to the 3rd game, I was hoping that all the mysteries about the Chimera would be revealed. But that never happened, the end of the 3rd game was abrupt, like the developers needed to hurry up and finish the game. Although Resistance 3 had a more character driven plot, with more meaningful dialogue and great set pieces; nothing was explained. What killed off the Chimera in the past? What were the pure Chimera up to this whole time? Massive loop holes left at the end of the game irked me.

The thing I hated the most was how in the credits you hear people on radios reporting that they are winning small battles against the Chimera. But there was no real indication that the war was over, there should at least been some kind of cut scene to elaborate on the fact that the Chimera are losing. What makes it worse is that apparently, the developer Insomniac games is not making another resistance game, so the half asses ending in Resistance 3 is the best effort at tying everything together?

I'm not going to lie the single player component of Resistance 3 was entertaining but the way it ended just left a sour taste in my mouth, one that is very difficult to get rid of.

Uncharted 3, You Are Awesome

The Uncharted series never ceases to amaze me, I thought it would be impossible for Naughty Dog to create a game better than the first Uncharted game. Well I was clearly wrong.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been able to spend some more quality time with my PS3, well I guess it has been more like binge gaming. Anyway I have just finished playing the story mode of Uncharted 3 and I strongly believe it was one of the best games I have played in a long while.

There were several aspects of this game that made it great. We all know that there is nothing wrong with a little eye candy and Uncharted 3 has some of the best visuals I have ever seen, notably the lighting in the game is superb. The game play mechanics have being refined and this made the hand to hand combat system in the game work much more smoothly. I never really liked getting into a fist fight in the previous Uncharted games it felt kind of clunky, but in the third installment it is pretty damn fun to get into a brawl.

The developer Naughty Dog really knows how to create an intriguing and enjoyable story and the plot in this game has you on the edge of your seat. The plot wasn't predictable (like the later parts of Uncharted 2), in fact a was pretty surprised at some points and the story had very good pacing. One of my favourite things about Uncharted 3 was the script and the voice acting, it make the story seem believable and the characters seemed natural.

I haven't had a chance to play the multiplayer component of this game (due to Battlefield 3 soaking up all of my time) but based on the single player of Uncharted 3 I can say that this game is the best in the series so far, as it has improved on some of the faults in the previous games while maintaining its unique gaming experience that I long for.