Brink (not reviewed)

Brink came at a somewhat surprise to me. I had a gut feeling that this Bethesda release was going to disappoint on some level, though I never expected it to disappoint me on every level. Poor textures, meager animations and a queasy art style overall did not help the first impressions out, but the further I delved into Brink, the closer I can to the brink of raging out. Not only was the online broken at the time (I hear it’s been long stabilized, only no one ever plays it online now) but the mechanics as a whole were completely broken. Enemies took too many shots to fell, yet too few would do the player in. Weapon selections that underwhelmed. Just an overall sense of uselessness from the AI. Not one thing worked out for Brink, and it was a crying shame, since it had such an immense potential that it ultimately failed to ever realize.

Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale (Rating: 3.5)

The action-RPG genre is a particular weakness for me. I can easily find myself engrossed in even the most mundane of experiences for quite a bit of time (Sacred 2) or fascinated for months on end with what I feel are the most pinnacle of console action-RPG’s (Champions of Norrath.) But Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale? There’s almost no helping this one out. Stale and dated visuals, lack of enemy variety and crippling bugs all but put an arrow into the knee (first and last time I’ll ever use that stupid joke) of what could have possibly been the action-RPG to play in this generation of gaming. This was a planned trilogy of releases as well, in which the level cap raises ten per release, but with how abysmal this initial release was, I’m hoping a cut and paste approach isn’t used to release each new installment from here on out.

Mindjack (Rating: 3.0)

What depressed me the most about Mindjack was the legitimate fact that there was a wealth of untapped potential deeply rooted into the poorly structured game. The intriguing aspect of jumping from mind to mind seemed like a strong gimmick to launch a new IP off of. Sadly though, my whole time playing Mindjack made me wish I could jump into another characters mind, just to spare myself from anymore torture. A PlayStation 2 game on an Xbox 360 disc, Mindjack was a step backwards with every facet. How ironic that the single worst game I’ve played all year was one of the first new releases of 2011. I’m just happy that the whole year had stellar releases after Mindjack, to help wear away the pain that it gave me.

With the release of Battlefield 3 already upon us and having time to settle, I am not filled with feelings of excitement, nor hatred. I cant really identify with any kind of feeling in particular aside from exasperation. Not at the fact that I’ve gotten military shooter this year as a part of this 2011 FPS gauntlet we’ve been running but at the fact that man, does it look a lot like Call of Duty campaign wise.

I’m not the only one who thinks so.

In fact, it’s such a strange shift in focus for a game that has stuck to its guns as long as Battlefield, the reactions are almost unanimous: in stark contrast to the multiplayer portion, it doesn’t feel or play anything like a Battlefield game.

Eurogamer reports that “EA has constructed a package that echoes its rival in so many ways it’s downright eerie.”

IGN describes the gulf in quality between the single and multiplayer modes as the game suffering an “identity crisis”

Destructoid says “If you’re a fan of single-player games, there’s nothing for you here.”

I hope it’s starting to sink in. The race for every military shooter to capture that Call of Duty “magic” is a fruitless one that continues to ensure that all our military FPS stories will have the same interchangeable, hollow campaigns lacking in substance.

Call of Duty hasn’t been an action packed history lesson for years, but they wisely ditched the format when WW2 was thoroughly mined. Changing the scope of the series from that to one more loosely based in our current events was a wise move on a creative and gameplay front, and gave them legs for something new. That something new worked in the original Modern Warfare But their success has literally become a blueprint for the modern FPS. If they are the trailblazers, people will start following their cues for a taste of their success, and oh are they.

(If you can’t tell which game this is at first glance, something’s wrong)

Wait for NPC B to kick in door A, terrorists pop up like cardboard cutouts, shoot, repeat until set-piece activates. While I appreciate EA going for Infinity Ward’s throat, they may have gone about it the wrong way by following what has become the lowest common denominator blueprint of FPS design. Since Modern Warfare 2, short, linear military rollercoaster rides with a heavy focus on multiplayer has been the consensus. The difference however between every other game adopting these bullet points and Call of Duty embracing them, is the fact that their multiplayer is so popular and nuanced that they can AFFORD to let the campaign deteriorate into this.

EVERYONE ELSE DOES NOT HAVE THAT CUSHION. While I don’t mind CoD jumping a multiplayer shark, everyone is attempting similar leaps now, and unsuccessfully at that. This means we have a bevy of failed attempts at this same slanted, rigid campaign/multiplayer focus instead of memorable, lasting experiences from franchises old and new. It means new creative ideas are being ditched, or compromised, or outright rejected for what works, like their method. It means a loss of identity. It means becoming a statistic.

It also means being forgotten while the major players who did get it right burn the genre to shreds by trying to reproduce their apex until they no longer can. The ones getting it wrong drive the nails further into the coffin.

I suppose the point I’m trying to make is, I’d rather watch Call of Duty topple under its own weight, with it’s own flaws, without dragging an entire genre down with it.

There’s still an opportunity to craft a story in a military shooter that can resonate viscerally because unlike shooting candy colored aliens, the threat of what’s presented here is more personally identifiable, if not always completely plausible. There’s a chance to create an exciting, tactical gauntlet that can test more than a player’s ability to aim down the sights. Elements like visuals, score, and an intensity of events that simply can’t be matched anywhere but in first-person because without an avatar to view constantly, immersion increases exponentially. Imagine all of this paced with intent, having a clear start and finish. Having the ability to stir and evoke emotions in players, and knowing they have been challenged by development team clever enough to do so is a power they are forgetting they have. Regardless of the success of their individual approaches, at least that’s exactly what they are, individual, and not yet another attempt to recreate another badass soldiering montage.

More Saving Private Ryan, less Pearl Harbor, moving forward please.

I’m speaking not just to DICE, but the rest of the developers on that one. If CoD has given up on campaign, that’s the competition’s space to make it better, and innovate. Not follow them mercilessly into the increasingly bleak and derivative popcorn hot-dog-on-a-string campaigns awash in brown hues, foreign countries and explosions. The time for distinction is now, while Battlefield 3 paints a by-the-numbers approach to this as a noticeable problem. I understand the nature of business first, but this is how you beat the competition.

Otherwise, soon you all won’t have a genre to compete in.

For the rest of the ride players of old lore and new are treated to a pretty much flawless 1:1 replication of the Halo: CE experience along with online 2 -player co-op ability, for the first time not having to share a screen without system link as most did. Everything from the scale of the levels to every line of original dialogue has returned in not only cutscenes but also within the AI UNSC soldiers all the way to the ever loved and famed “WART WART WART” barkings of the Covenant Elite. The grunts of course as fun as always to hunt down while listening to their cowardice and sometimes useless threats. If you could play the original side by side to this remake, you’d find all events and sequences no less than a second apart as you remembered it , making Anniversary a promise loyally kept.

The coolest feature in Anniversary is the ability to switch back and forth between classic and modern style graphics all in real time (NOTE: Make sure you do this behind cover or during breaks in the action as this does not pause the game.) It’s almost hard to fight when your able to, at any given moment, virtually fast-forward and rewind 10 years of technology at the press of a button and it’s amazing how the scale and ratio of the world doesn’t change. Caution however is stressed using this feature as classic view of levels do NOT display the hidden content and cookies in the game, these can only be seen in modern style view. For example my co-op partner and I walked down the same hallway on the stage Halo and while I played in modern view I accessed a hidden terminal which unlocked short 2 min video on the history of the Forerunners, while on his screen in classic view I was simply staring into a corner pretty much talking to myself.

New skulls have been introduced to make runs more fun and other more difficult. There are ranging options now from Bandana which allows infinite ammo as a nod to Rambo, to Recession in which each shot removes spend double the ammo from your clip as a nod to our horrible economy *chuckles*. Terminals are well hidden and reward those skillful to find them a further insight on the background of Halo in greater detail than most collectables in previous installments and even the novels which contain the full story of Halo, no doubt these hidden videos will have some place in the arrival of Halo 4. It’s tough to go into further detail without dropping some sort of spoilers, it’s encouraged to track these terminals down.

There are a few points that could have been touched up on, such as Heroic and Legendary difficulties, while challenging, don’t feel like it holds the exact same weight as the original did. Not all multiplayer maps made the as well, it would have been nice to see the confusing maze halls of Chiron TL-34 make it’s return or the overlooked favorite Rat’s Nest and a short list of others like Wizard, Longest, Boarding Action and Damnation. Although not ALL the maps make the cut in Anniversary there is the nice surprise of Timberland, a woodland themed map that was exclusive only to PC gamers.

As far as remakes go, Anniversary pulls it off with very few hitches. Campaign was obviously the heaviest focus on the 1:1 experience and it’s done wonderfully. The multiplayer while missing more gems than expected, does great in the handful of maps that they did bother to recreate. Newcomers are actually in for a bigger and more enjoyable treat than those who took part during the CE debut. Best part? This retails for only $39.99. Great deal for the price of admission.

Visuals: 9 Half the fun to be had is toggling between past and present visuals, this fun can be had in both single player as well and multiplayer components.

Audio: 8 Marty O’ Donnel’s tracks are revised and brought back to life in great help of nostalgia here. The songs are 10 years aged, but it’s doesn’t take away from it’s impact. You can also toggle audio for classic and modern experience as well so your not stuck with something you don’t like.

Controls: 8 New and old Halo button configs are present here. So even the new school Bumper Jumper lovers can still enjoy the classic experience without having to downgrade their layouts.

Replay: 7 Terminals and skulls prove a good challenge to hunt down. But let’s be honest, we have multiplayer for that. It’s what made Halo such a hit to begin with. However the variable here lies with if you already own Halo: Reach or not. Since they both share the same multiplayer components, if you don’t own Reach your experiences are limited to handle of the same maps over and over as to where the original held 13.

343i hit the mark pretty well here. Considering the boundaries of staying true to the original while making it interesting enough to merit a revisit, Anniversary holds the best possible turnout to celebrate 10 years of Xbox and of course the Chief.

Rating: 8.0

MW3′s campaign is truly the spotlight this go around. Taking full use of the aging but still full of life engine, your taken into the driver seat right where Warfare 2 left off. At times the plot may be a bit difficult to follow due to the many time skips, perspective changes and presentation but we all know the real appeal here is the action, which in this case is far from disappointing. Each campaign scenario is far different from the last, keeping the player far from any sense of “Oh man, this again?” and more concerned with “I wonder what’s going to happen next?”. Aside from each missions differences, the action and pacing between cinematic are in perfect balance the entire ride through to the credits.

The team has done a great job of seamlessly flowing between the players full control one moment and into a QuickTime event in the next, along with energy rush action sequences all the while still leaving you in enough control to remained immersed in the combat. Most times where you expect the cinematic to fully take over, giving you time to collect yourself. are replaced in favor of the playing having to assist in a high speed chase, stealth kill assists or simply radio in air support and provide the necessary coordinates to strike.

Veterans of the COD series may want to take into account that as great as each of these missions are, they can at times be easily run through and shortly lived on the standard difficulty. Each mission stretches to about a 10-15 skirmish but can be extended by changing the difficulty settings which effectively do make firefights longer, more intense and adds a significant amount of enemies to deal with depending on Hardened and Veteran settings. Make sure to adjust the difficulty to one of these settings if you don’t want this ride ending well under 10 hours of gameplay and looking to enjoy it for as long as possible.

Replayability has a decent amount of focus in MW3, there are some collectables to be had but nothing game changing or experience alterting. The focus on action is so high it’s almost impossible to collect even half of the collectables, in form of enemy intel scattered, throughout the levels and those looking to add to their gamerscore are in for a lot of revisiting if they wish to obtain them all. Hence all the chaos, the placement of the intel are pretty well hidden into the environment among destructible areas and varies forms of battle scarred terrains, so there is a good challenge provided for the hunters as well. Spec ops has returned to pick up the slack for players who are looking for a more hands-on extended gameplay. This mode is challenging and fun, as you can have another player join you locally or online co-op to engage in the various missions with specific requirements of passing each one. Rewards toward your campaign experience are an added incentive if your able to complete these missions with outstanding ratings outside of the usual requirements. This is usually judged in collaboration of the missions completion, finishing time, amount of kills and effectiveness. Some missions also provide pretty cool alternate perspectives on events that occurred during the campaign operations, so you may get to play the “bad guy” in these missions.

The multiplayer component has stuck to it’s tried and true elements and honestly there isn’t much NEW features to speak of here. There are some minor adjustments such as a slight tweak in faster gameplay, killstreaks provided for not only assault but also support roles as well and there are 12 new maps out the box that are actually all pretty well designed and balanced, some locales you will find familiar from sections of the campaign. Like the single player, you’ll notice a decent polish on the visuals creating a pleasing atmosphere containing the battles but compared to other games out this year such as Battlefield, it’s age is really starting to show. Fans of the series will get a lot of the the same with little surprises but it still holds the same charge as a fun and addictive experience. Tons of collectables to deck out your player card and a higher level cap of 80, the highest yet in the series, to keep the interest running a bit longer for those looking to utilize the Prestige functions. Leveling has become very slightly more easier this time around as well to help balance out and avoid the feeling that your not being compensated for your time and performance.

Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3 isn’t as big of a new installment as we had hoped, but it is far from being a let down. There are just enough new elements to allow the gamer to appreciate the variously scattered breathes of fresh air that would merit this a sequel and please long term fans. However, it’s not going to be enough to covert anyone who isn’t already a fan of the tried and true formula. This solid outing is very much solid in every sense but has plenty of room to expand and merit the title of being a real blockbuster hit as MW2 was during it’s release.

Gameplay: 8 It’s Call of Duty with enough add ons to keep you busy. Solid multiplayer for long term fans.

Sound: 7 A lot of the sounds seem recycled from previous installments.

Visuals: 8 Polished, nothing too great or pushing either platforms nearly to it’s potential usage.

Controls: 9 The great stick/button layout many other FPS’s try to imitate to this day, feels most natural here at home where it belongs.

Rating: 8

RAGE (Review)
For: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Publisher: Nintendo
Price: $59.99 console, $49.99 PC
Release: 10/4/2011 (North America)

Later, you also gain the ability to engineer weapons, ammo, and items, and it’s then that the game’s RPG-style looting system makes perfect sense. Dead bandits and soldiers yield small amounts of cash and ammo, and the environment is host to a wealth of items that can be repurposed into other forms that aid to your survival. This proves to be an invaluable tool to your survival, as well as driving home the point that supplies and resources are limited and valuable in this future. The best thing about this system is the fact that it takes little time from the core game or forces players to memorize formulas. Each item needed for engineering is clearly laid out, and even tells you how many of an item you’ll be able to produce, a nice touch by the developer.

It all feels great as well, because RAGE’s control is so spot on it demands special mention. Hands down, Rage ‘s control is so finely tuned you’ll forget you’re holding a gamepad at times. That, combined with the unwavering frame rate gives the game a fluidity and precision that most console shooters outside of CoD or Gears ever see. The weapons also all have a great feel, but If there’s any weak link in this otherwise perfect formula, it’s the melee combat. There’s a standout intangibility to it that just feels off, as foes react to bullets realistically, clutching limbs and stumbling under fire, but every gun butt, every punch in close quarters doesn’t have the same dramatic effect. Enemies however, have no problem knocking you around like a pinball with their strikes. More often than not, you’ll want to take enemies out quickly to avoid the awkward slap boxing match that will ensue if they get too close.

..and its now that I realize I’ve spent so much time describing RAGE’s gameplay that I haven’t touched upon the graphics yet.

It can be visually inconsistent at times, even with this great direction. At times, the game is the sharpest, most wonderful visual delight, other times, unsightly pop-in and the persistent blurry textures threaten to pull you out of what iD has achieved. The game is a technical marvel, to be sure, but seeing the shortcuts made at times to achieve that perfect 60fps can be unsettling. While there are an impressive range of effects coming together at this perfect frame rate, they vary in quality compared to other shooters. Some effects like the water are especially convincing, but others like the lighting, physics, explosions aren’t as complex as other shooters this gen. The world offers little in the way of interactivity as well, and even though there are a fair share of worthwhile distractions in each area, the world itself is essentially untouchable. This inability to make one’s own fun through sheer BSing with the mechanics in your spare time is a slight letdown. In the end, Its all for a good cause, because despite this, in a CoD kind of way, what the game does do right is look just right enough at such a high level that you can sense exactly what iD was going for, and it never falters, even under extreme stress. The loss of more complex particle effects or physics falls by the wayside when everything here comes together without a hitch, as opposed to more advanced shooters bearing inconsistent frame rates.

Score: 8.0

Cross-Platform Differences

Much has been made of RAGE’s 22.1 gb install on 360, and if you have the space, undoubtedly, it’s the way you want to go. Load times are drastically improved, textures are cleaner, load faster with little pop-in, and the game has a much more pleasant sheen to it overall. Without it, the game is still a sight for sore eyes, but it also has the opposite of each point I just mentioned. The PlayStation 3 version visually looks somewhere between those extremes with a mandatory 8 gig install, and has lots of sharp high res textures strewn about, undoubtedly because of the extra storage space. A slightly more blurry look due to the engine (it drops resolution to keep the frame rate solid, more often on the PS3) combined with the blu-ray drive’s slower read speed can lead to some noticeable visual glitches. These are more nitpicking gripes than anything else however, and will only be noticeable to those looking for the difference. The cross platform work here, and getting both consoles to run with near complete parity can’t be ignored. Of course the PC version outclasses both, but doesn’t have the graphical tweaks you’d expect, which may be a disappointment for high fidelity nuts.

(Teams consist of 12 players and are broken into three 4 man squads. Alpha, Bravo & Charlie.)

The word Beta is to be kept heavily in mind as this download is riddled with bugs. The most occurring will have you frequently resetting back to your dashboard as you try to enter and leave games. Joining games becomes more of a leap of faith rather than a matchmaking system, you will either join a successful running match or find yourself in the matrix as your character will lag and skip back in time every 5 yards you attempt to advance. These matches are completely unplayable so do not attempt to wait it out. Other broken matches will have you stuck in the loading screen as you listen to explosions in the background, again hit the dashboard. Lastly if you haven’t thrown your controller or deleted the game by now you may find a working match but look out for invisible quicksand that will suck you under the map in which you must mash the jump button while sprinting to get out. Oh and if your with a party, good luck ending up in the same squad or even the same team when you load into the match.

All these bugs aside, when you get a legit game going Battlefield 3 does show great potential. The attention to detail given in the sound alone quickly puts you in the senses of war as you hear chaotic sit reps being screamed from across map, explosions rock the air and bullets flying around you all at different speeds and angles which all sound unique. The visuals are true to Battlefield fashion giving you an extremely detailed urban sandbox of a modern day war that now stands out far above the Bad Company deserts and jungles environments of constant trees or sand.

Controls aren’t really much to speak of, it still follows the the path most shooters follow after COD set the trend. You already know what to expect each button to do since COD set the trend of 90% of FPS thumb stick and button layouts. Aim down your sights and shoot with your triggers while the shoulder buttons control your grenade and melee functions. However what is notable here is the feel of your actions. Actions such as sprinting really feels as if your body is in motion with the map as you can vault over object, feel the character kneel and even run and jump into a prone stance then continue to crawl. Even the kickback of the guns all have a unique feel as if your trying to fight the punch of recoil.
                                             

The map is cut into 3 unique  sections, the first being an outdoor park with plenty of bushes for infantry cover, a far side pond for quick flanks and slightly elevated hills along outer rim trees for snipers.  The field is wide and open, well accommodating 24 players without any issues of abusive spawn traps or map control balance issues. The long distance nature of this area heavily suggests sniping and proves rather difficult to spot an enemy and nearly impossible to one who is laying prone on the ground. Communication here is key as a good balance of counter-sniping and objective focused players will be the difference between moving on to the next area, the subway, or being shut out.
                                                      

The subway is easily my favorite, along with most players, section of the map. The dark tunnels and small yet long hallways best suit close quarters load outs with minimal sniper set ups at the entrance for a clear entry. Once your in you will be treated to train tracks with graffiti tagged walls occupied by derailed train cars which you can enter and exit to access the side platforms and stay covered. Along  there you find small side tunnels and walkways keeping you less visible on your way to the objectives. Escalators provide cool breach and clear moments to any team willing to coordinate attacks on the upper levels together and stress map control, these are the areas you want to hold on to mostly.

The last section is outdoors once again pitting both teams deeper into the city.  Tall destructible buildings surround you with a small bus terminal in the middle of the ground level. I find most matches in this area end quickly, it’s very difficult to defend on the ground with snipers picking off your team with extremely high and hard to see vantage points. Once you’ve lost control of these buildings it will soon be game over. Luckily the beta will pretty much loop the entire match over with the same players just switching roles so there never really is any good reason to ever go back to the main menu and search for another game. If your constantly getting steamrolled though you may want to try your luck elsewhere.

Battlefield 3 is shaping up to be a pretty damn solid game I must say. It’s just really hard to notice or even convince another of this until your lucky enough to get a bug free match. The chances of that are so few and far in-between I’ve saved you the pain and trouble. Download if you truly have nothing else to do. Other than that just wait until the end of October in which I doubt any of these problems will surface in the final build and the FPS genre will be in for a real treat this fall. I’ll drop back in with my impressions on the final build and go over whats new & old news!

I’ve spent a good chunk of time with DICE and EA’s Battlefield 3 open beta release on the Xbox 360. I have had previous experiences with both open and closed beta tryouts, as well as user stability testing for a recently released title, so I understand that these betas and early tryouts are not a complete reflection of what’s to come. The thing is, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep that in mind with every game I play in this beta.

One map and one mode comes available for those who wish to download the beta (the map being a rather large, segmented one called Metro, and Rush being the sole game mode available.) For those unfamiliar, Rush is a team based mode in which the objection for the attackers is to destroy two established target locations, while the defenders keep them at bay. If the attackers succeed, the map opens up more to reveal another set of objectives, rinse and repeat. The map its self is a complimentary way of showing off both the Rush mechanics, as well as how vast these maps can be. The first fourth starts above ground, while the next half escapes into a decimated train station, and then concludes above ground. With the size and scope of the map comes ample opportunity to find certain choke points in which a defender can lockdown and prevent the attackers from advancing. there’s a somewhat striking balance between close, medium and far combat, with each succeeding area that opens up, providing even more for each battle type.

Lets get what works out of the way – first and foremost is the audio. There hasn’t been a console multiplayer FPS with such clear and distinct sound effects before BF3. Each weapon has it’s own pop, each footstep from a nearby player can be heard, every roaring explosion has a clarity to it that’s rarely experienced in any game from any genre. While some competitive multiplayer titles have tried to focus on sound as the x-factor, BF3 completely dominates in this, and can aid in a players successes or demise more than any game in the genre before it.

The general button layout and controls are also top notch. While Call of Duty veterans may scoff at the fact that RB is utilized for the unsheathing of a knife, it quickly becomes second nature, though there will be some rare fumbling about with the wrong button, out of habit. Aiming holds no hassles, and utility items are easily accessible via the d-pad. The further one progresses their character online, the higher the level they obtain, which helps unlock more weapons and other add on items, such as a flashlight (which is both cheap, yet detrimental), scopes and grips. There’s a great sense of customization available, and the thrill of reaching a new level or performing X amount of Y kills to unlock Z, remains throughout.

Note: The graphics are no where near this caliber of quality, not even on my brief run on the PC.

Sadly though, nearly everything else experiences some sort of issue, whether they are cosmetic, or unnecessary blemishes that shouldn’t have made it through alpha. As shocking as it may seem, BF3 is visually underwhelming. There’s a lot going on at once, which would be understandable to bump down the visual quality on an underpowered console (in comparison to a gaming rig) but there’s just this overwhelming sense of “blah” when it comes to looking at the action. Trees swaying is a commendable addition, but player models are downright putrid, especially on death animations, with the world around you just barely above average in quality. Sure, it’s entertaining to see a tree fall to a rocket launcher and a balcony crumble when the same rocket hits it, but the luster quickly wears off.

Hit detection seems to be lacking as well, despite the lag free gameplay that goes on. How I can point blank shoot an enemy on the crotch with a shotgun and do zero damage, yet I can be well over twenty yards away and headshot someone with full health with the same shotgun and take them out (while aiming at their crotch), escapes me. The same goes for other instances and weaponry. I’ve short burst fired near point blank at an advancing player and they died a second later, yet sometimes I can unload a dozen shots point blank into someone, get hit by their shotgun point blank, die, and see that they lost zero health. Again, these are all lag free games, and the general BF3 game is almost immaculate for me in a connection sense. Then there’s a balance issue with the rocket launcher from the engineer. Five rockets is three too many. Not to mention that unlike most other games within a similar vein (Call of Duty for instance) there’s no random deviance to each shot, meaning if you fire at a target from a distance, you will just about always hit that target. Against an inept sniper without a rock solid wall in front of them, the rocket will actually get an unregistered headshot from a distance. But then sometimes a point blank chest shot doesn’t take down an enemy (took someone to 14% on a point blank shot….really?)

Finally, there are the bugs, as well as the shoddy overall way the game works. As mentioned, damage inconsistencies run rampant, which can be infuriating at times. But these bugs….there’s no excuse for them to be this close to release, in the manner of which they are portrayed. While it’s been recently patched (so they say) going prone in certain areas can press the player under the geometry. That’s not all — while under the world, the player can still aim at and shoot enemies through the floor and kill them, with absolutely no repercussions. With a sniper rifle, I was able to peg off a half dozen players in no time. This was supposedly patched, which has eliminated these instances by about 75%, but it’s still there. A teammate had placed a mobile beacon down near a rocky area, and my squadmates and I were able to spawn under that rocky area, stand up under them and freely blow away anyone that came within 30 yards of us. The only downside was having to suicide in order for us to escape the under the world state we were in.

Despite all of the things going against it, the beta has been enjoyable, game breaker bugs notwithstanding.

Since this recent patching, other anomalies have appeared, which are mostly visual disturbances. Bullet trains began to leave what looked like light streaks behind. These streaks were reminiscent of public school florescent lights, strewn across the air. They can be quite distracting, though they happen infrequently. Player animations have taken a nosedive as well, where it’s not uncommon to see a player float by with their arms and legs stretched out above their heads an below them respectively. When playing in the subway station portion, if I spawn on a squadmate, there’s a 50/50 chance in which the color will not appear. Everything will look like it’s set to night vision view, but in a dark blue, with less lighting highlights. Occasionally when the player dies, instead of the killcam fixed tight on the adversary that too you down, a plain looking background with what looks like a giant folder and a large black circle appears. It seems like more and more bugs and oddities are discovered every hour, stuff that really shouldn’t be this prevalent this late in the development cycle. Before I finished up this article to post, my stats completely reset. All my k/d, weapons and items earned and so forth, all set back to stock. I can’t explain why this happened, especially since there are a good number of players who are still lvl 20+ and such.

The unusual thing about this all though….I’m still having a ball with this beta. The overall gameplay is still solid, issues notwithstanding. There’s legitimate potential for the full multiplayer based game, and if there’s proper stability and smooth gameplay throughout, Battlefield 3 can definitely be the one multiplayer FPS that gamers should flock towards. We can only hope for the best, as Battlefield 3 is rapidly approaching is October 25th release date. Again, the gameplay its self is still engaging and still a blast, but the sloppiness that can be fixed, really did take its toll on this beta phase. We’ll see how well DICE and EA get their final product in just a few weeks.

"A Leader Within This Decade."

Lets get one formality out and away with – although I have played both Deus Ex and Deus Ex: Invisible War, I never did get a chance to complete either, for one reason or another. Not that there was anything wrong with them – I just have a queue of titles that never ceases, so a few games get lost in the shuffle every so often. With some kind of previous history with the franchise, I retained a semblance of familiarity with the gameplay as a whole. So coming into Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I have a bit of a peppered knowledge of the franchise and its inner workings.

With that said, Deus Ex: Human Revolution (DXHR) still came off as something totally unexpected, for almost all the right reasons.

Throughout the entire campaign, players will be in control of Adam Jensen, the lead for DXHR. This former SWAT team member wasn’t always held together with prosthetics and augmentations, as he was involved in what was dubbed as an “accident” that took the lives of dozens of scientists, including a woman named Megan, whom he was quite close to once. Jensen was left for dead, but brought back and stabilized with augmentations that are not all activated early on. The journey in which Adam Jensen departs on will more than keep players guessing throughout, with a curve-ball thrown every so often to spice things up. In some ways, DXHR fits the bill with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed in terms of a video game that would make a stellar movie adaptation, in the right hands.

Approaching DXHR with a review in mind was a bit of a challenge. There have been a small handful of instances in which I’ve just about damned some aspects of its gameplay, but eventually turned around (both in a state of mind, and literally in game) and realized these issues were all self perpetrated. While I might have combed through each area to get a better understanding of my surroundings, I didn’t pull out the fine tooth comb the first few times, and when I did, I started to see just how well put together this machine really was. Those first couple of hours in were not so kind, but witnessing everything gel together and understanding the finer points of the gameplay, really shined a vastly brighter light upon the entire package.

One of the major complaints I had early on was the difficulty. Players will find out right off the bat that if a medium or higher difficulty setting is selected, a run and gun approach will quickly send you to a load last checkpoint screen (which is an issue in of its self, and will be elaborated on a little later.) Stealth becomes the major asset here, as getting around certain areas would best be accomplished within the shadows, although as you progress, upgraded ballistic weaponry and proper intuition will help break up the ”hidden in the shadows” mentality quite a bit. So while there will always be an emphasis on stealth throughout, once the nuances are all understood, and a few weapon/augmentation upgrades are gained, things don’t feel as overbearing as they started out. Just don’t immediately dismiss DXHR due to reasons of dying. A lot.

Stealth in its self is actually pulled off with a commendable success, having players rely on staying out of the line of sight of the enemies around you, as well as trying not to make any unusual noises that could be interpreted as suspicious. Best way to describe the inner workings of the stealth within DXHR is a mix between Metal Gear Solid and Winback – there’s the cover mechanics that let you creep along obstructions, as well as popping out during gunplay (Winback), and the reliance of silence and sticking to the unseen shadows (Metal Gear Solid.) It all meshes together in ways I’ve never experienced in a game before DXHR.

The AI competence is rather astute as well. While sneaking around, players will usually wait for an enemy to turn their back and walk away from them, so they can use that opening to advance. There are occasions where an adversary will quickly spin around and walk backwards, taking a look at their rear for a moment, before turning back around and continuing their march. While everyone has their strict path to march and no deviance from that route they were programmed with, it adds that extra layer of uncertainty and trepidation to infiltration or evasion. To further elaborate the AI’s potency, while crouching behind cover in a room adjacent to a patrolling guard, I had lifted up a cardboard box to place beside me and away from a grate I wished to enter. I unknowingly did this within the guards line of sight, setting the status to Alarmed, and compelling the guard to walk over, open the door into the room and investigate the unusual phenomenon. It’s the little things like this that adds an amount of depth to the stealth gameplay that other titles might not have even contemplated.

On top of that, there are plenty of areas in which multiple soldiers will march about with a slightly mistimed pattern or length of coverage, meaning while you might be able to get the peg on an incoming soldier for a CQC takedown, another soldier at a medium distance away might have had less of a path to travel and begin to double back sooner than anticipated, opening them up to potentially spotting your takedown. Once spotted, the AI begins a rather aggressive campaign of search and destroy, which does last much longer than other games with the same stealth build, and literally feels terrifying that a ton of enemies are scanning the area for you. While there are games that rely on stealth and being hunted down if spotted, DXHR actually feels like there’s quite a bit of intelligence behind this, and not just a five second search and then the enemies go back to their posts as if nothing happened (hi, MGS!)

If (mostly likely “when”) the player is spotted and sets off the enemy status to “Alerted”, that’s when things becoming rather interesting. Depending on where the players is and how many soldiers are in the same area, things will either be a piece of cake, or an exercise of patience. Taking cover is vital to staying alive during firefights, obviously to avoid taking damage. The thing is, while playing DXHR on the medium setting, I was still easily gunned down left and right, with a health regeneration that meager at best. It felt nearly overbearing early on, as anything I did to try and combat gunfire flying towards me, met with my death after a couple of shots, regardless of any augmentations I performed (more on that in a minute.) But I began realizing how reliance on stealth played a major factor, how to use environmental objects to my advantage during a fight and how to advance from cover to cover in a more meaningful manner. I started to see that not only could I avoid most firefights if need be, but with such a strong reliance on stealth and how the AI seems to be able to locate you on obvious mistakes as opposed to poor programming, but how well placed shots can kill standard infantry enemies, as well as myself. Health will regenerate slowly and yes, the player can temporarily boost their health to a degree, but all non boss characters or mechs weren’t built to soak up bullets, so there’s definitely a degree of intelligence in how to play through each area, sneaking by or spotted by all. Headshot a soldier in a close proximity with a silenced handgun and risk a nearby comrade being alerted to the guards fall and possibly having reinforcements file through, or sneak by and CQC only when needed and when it’s absolutely certain that backup isn’t close behind?

Throughout DXHR players will be able to gain XP, and with each “level” gained, a Praxis point is awarded to spend on enhancing the many augmentations within Jensen. There are a myriad of ways the player can help upgrade Jensen for the better. The option of enhancing his proficiency with hacking on multiple levels can ease the burden, or quicken the pack of each hacking attempt, or even bestow the ability to hack a higher security level terminal. Want to be 100% sure that Jensen’s movements will never be heard? Apply your Praxis points towards movement feats, which will ultimately silence your every move, whether it’s running or jumping (once the ability is toggled on.) From adding a bit of damage resistance, to negating fall damage completely, to even gaining the ability to see enemies through walls, there are more than enough ways to pimp out Jensen in his quest to find the answers that so many seem to be hiding from him, as well as the rest of the world.

Speaking of the world, DXHR‘s world really is a mixed bag of pleasantry and laziness. The game world its self has a variety and attention to detail that’s hard not to stand up and applaud. Boxes of cereal, piles of garbage, restrooms and every other pieces add up, and helps to shine a distinctive look between each area. On the other hand, there are issues with color variety. Too many outdoor areas have an yellowish-orange tint to them, muting the look of the world around it. It does help make some of the areas look adequately depressing to match the mood and conditions, but it seems just a bit overdone. Many indoor areas are free of this annoyance, though again, it’s not a visual marvel of any sort. More or less, it feels as if DXHR was visually built for a steady performance throughout, as there’s little to no sign of frame rate drops or any kind of slowdown. Character models have a similar balance issue as well. Main characters, or at least those with a legitimate dialog exchange with Jensen, look proper, with no mind blowing qualities that gamers have seen this generation from titles such as Final Fantasy XIII, Uncharted 2 and Gears of War. They fit the world around them as not detailed to the nth degree, but hold their own distinct pieces of distinction that helps flesh them out properly. Any NPC’s of non or minimal importance though, look as if they were ripped from a PlayStation 2 game. It’s definitely a mixed bag (this is the Xbox 360 version I’m reviewing via VGA cables) but with the consistency of the animation (with some repetition when it comes to conversations) and the fact that Eidos Montreal did nail down a feeling of a futuristic, gritty world for the most part, DXHR certainly does work on most levels as a whole, just not in an individual basis.

Even with the negatives to the game world, it’s still quite fascinating to wander around each section you’re currently at, and just go exploring. It’s not a huge chunk of land that one would find in games such as Fallout 3, but there’s enough meat on the bones to keep a player fed for a while. It’s mostly linear in terms of needing to go from point A to point B, however the approach can be totally different, depending on if certain augments were purchased (jump higher to bypass fences, augment Jensen’s strength to push heavier objects into place to access shortcut grates, etc.) Within each of these areas will be a side quest NPC or two that will deviate you from the main game. There’s enough variety within these side missions to try and comb through each area and see if there are more than the one or two per sector/area. From investigating a possible cover up on a death, to finding someone’s acquaintance that has gone missing, there’s variety with each of these missions, as well as your approach to each of them. Not a sandbox environment, yet not completely restricted in how to go about each activity. Just be sure to complete each side mission before taking off to the next location that the main storyline will lead you, as there’s no way to come back and tie up loose ends.

Audio wise, there’s only a small bit of inconsistency, although it does prove a bit problematic here and there. Most of the audio package is actually quite spectacular. The music is moody, which helps immerse players in each situation that arises. There are instances when the audio tracks begin to sound like something from Mass Effect, which fits the mood to a near perfection. It’s probably up there with Homefront as the most powerful compositions this year. The voice acting, while nothing Hollywood caliber, is no slouch either. A few of the NPC’s sound slightly phoned in, but nevertheless they helped keep me interested and invested in everything that unfolded.

Adam Jensen is where my only concern comes from. He suffers from a slight case of what I would like to affectionately refer to as “Samus Syndrome.” Anyone who has played Metroid: Other M will immediately recall the monotone, near lifeless delivery of Samus’ voice acting. Adam Jensen suffers from a similar affliction, where he’ll perform his lines, yet the voice acting seems almost uninterested in trying to engage the player with emotion. Jensen isn’t even a poorly written character either – I’ve become more and more intrigued with him and the world around him with every mission and side mission I encountered and completed. He’s not written to be someone that doesn’t give a crap either, nor are his lines of dialog, so I’m not sure why the delivery is so unimpressive. There are rare occasions where a sense of energy and passion is put into some of the more emotionally charged moments, but at no point does Jensen completely fit the vocal build. The sound of Adam Jensen’s voice does fit perfectly mind you, its just the performance is lackluster, which can rarely affect the attachment gained from watching his struggles and triumphs unfold.

Load times will become the unavoidable headache from beginning to end. If uninstalled, loading times can reach 30 seconds, with a HDD install only cutting it down by 1/3 or so. Of course the early portions of DXHR is where everyone will be learning the ins and outs of controls, augmentations and how not to approach a hostile situation (the controls by the way, for the most part, are precise and fully functional, with barely any snags to be had) so there will be periods of possible repeated death that occur. Having to constantly reload the same area multiple times in a short period of time, really breaks up the immersion and builds more frustration than anything. It’s not necessarily the dying that’s a problem, as there are multiple methods of getting through each situation (long way stealth, long way gun battle, shortcut stealth, shortcut gun battle, etc.) and being open minded to your surroundings can and will quell the number of deaths down some. It’s the sitting and waiting after each subsequent death that’s more maddening. Luckily the load times between areas doesn’t occur very frequently, as each area Jensen explores is large enough to not warrant continuous load screen and such.

The real downer that lingers after completing DXHR is the final boss and the immediate results. As spoiler free as one can be without giving a play-by-play on how it’s achieved, I’ll just say the following –  if Jensen has his hacking ability to level five, with a very small handful of Nuke ‘Em and Stop! worms, victory can be accomplished with what seems like zero effort. If crafty enough, not one thing will hit Jensen during this battle, as it will quickly turn into a waiting game. The first couple of major boss battles will be infuriating to those that don’t take the time (when there’s any available) to dissect their surroundings and use it to their advantage, but the last couple are rather easy, with patience, especially the final boss. Afterwards, depending on whether certain tasks just before the final battle were taken care of, the endings presented will be thought provoking, which is a definite plus. Whichever route the player chooses the end the game on, Jensen eloquently elaborates on why that route was chosen, and one could make an argument as to how strongly they side with his decisions, or whether or not they viewed it as completely wrong. They are endings with an intellectual spin to them, and it’s hard not to sit and analyze what just transpired. The problem is that they’re all short and somewhat remind me of the meager endings Fallout 3 presented players, though not to such a severe degree. The journey to those closing moments was well worth the time and effort put into reaching, so it’s not too severe of a blow. Do let the credits roll in their entirety though….trust me.

I know it seems like I’ve complained more than complimented, but I need to reassure everyone that there’s more to enjoy with DXHR than there is to be upset over, especially since one of the biggest sticking points (difficulty) will even out properly with eventual understanding of mechanics, augments, weapon upgrades, etc. The first hours will be a little bit of an exercise of patience, thanks to the number of times death may come, and along with it, the abhorrent load times that will never cease. But going further and further in, there’s a noticeable boost in the quality of story, character interaction, means of approaching each situation, and everything in-between. The best way I could sum up the experiences and approaches of DXHR’s gameplay is a “restricted complete freedom.” There’s no massive sandbox with dozens of activities to partake in, yet the world around Jensen has quite a bit of mass to it. There aren’t a whole lot of side missions, yet there are countless ways each of them, as well as the storyline missions, can be approached. It’s a fine balance that can only be understood and appreciated after a few hours of hands on time.

Augmenting Jensen’s powers further and further with every Praxis pack or Praxis point received will also open up new possibilities, including punching over certain context sensitive walls to either gain entry to a hidden room with beneficial items to be claimed, or to get the drop on an enemy behind the wall and progress through an area in a quicker manner. Upgrades to Jensen’s weaponry will either heighten the damage output, shorten the reload times, or even give the ballistic portions a tracer ability. Even with some color palette issues, each new area found can be easily distinguished from the last. On top of that, the little details that most would ignore, such as misspelled words in an email read off a hacked computer, and random conversations Jensen will overhear between two parties. Conversations about not being able to pay the rent and how no one has a job yet, to fixing an air conditioner, adds character to the game world and helps to infuse a feeling that the player is traversing through a living, breathing world outside the one they’re playing this game in.

The further one gets into Deux Ex: Human Revolution, the more one will witness the gameplay evolution unveil. It blends together a somewhat refined stealth and cover mechanics seen in Metal Gear Solid and Winback, with a core gameplay with a plethora of ways to approach each situation, and a story that becomes increasingly more fascinating and gripping as time progresses. The visuals might have inconsistencies, Adam Jensen might not have a consistent voice acting quality, the load times can break up the immersion ere and there, and the early part of the game might be skewed too high in difficulty, but after the player becomes accustomed to every facet of controls, stealth, augmentation and such, Deus Ex: Human Revolution begins to show its true colors through its 25+ hours of gameplay. If you’re the type of player that likes to shoot first and ask questions later, this will more than likely not be your cup of tea. If you enjoy patience, exploration, a story with making a film about, and multiple ways of approaching each roadblock ahead of you, this will be a cup of tea worth sipping. With standout titles such as Marvel vs Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat, Homefront and Portal 2 filling out the first half of 2011, Deus Ex: Human Revolution trumps them all and stands out as the best game released in 2011 thus far, and one of the must plays of this current decade.

Rating: 9.0

One of the little pieces of detail sprinkled throughout the game that players might not even realize the first time through.

What is it that makes Call of Duty such a winning formula? If we dissect the game down to the most basic levels of desire in the human psyche, we see that it’s simply “constant reward.” We like being told that we are doing well, that we are progressing. It’s no different than the hundreds of Facebook games out there. First person shooters that came before it, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, Socom these are games that rewarded skill. If you died, you were out for the round. It made the player more careful and less likely to make foolish mistakes. Overall it instated teamwork to accomplish victory. There was no constant point score or ranking up. Victory was victory and defeat was defeat. A bit harsh maybe, but there was a certain unmatched fidelity to the adrenaline that it produced. Respawning instantly turns the event into little more than a run n gun marathon. Unfortunately, the casual player base is growing by the day and it is because of this game design that they are drawn in. The hardcore player base has little else where to turn. Everywhere you look a new Modern Warfare clone has popped up. Even the might Halo franchise essentially aped the design in the form of “Reach”. Personally, I have reason to believe that this momentum will not hold forever. Eventually, people will tire of this formula of easy reward.

That is not to say that fresh ideas no longer exist in the game industry. Gems such as Murumasa, No More Heroes, Madworld (lots of Wii on that list…) showcase entirely unique design and visual style. Those are the games that we need to support. Clover Studios, responsible for Viewtiful Joe, Okami, and Godhand went out of business due to lack of support for titles, and rampant piracy. Platinum Games, responsible for Bayonetta, Madworld ,Vanquish and the upcoming Anarch Reigns is essentially the rebirth of Clover. Support them and there still might be hope for the true individual beauty that is the gaming industry. XBLA and indie games also are test beds for brilliant but offbeat ideas that haven’t “earned” full retail release. Just look at the breakthrough success of Minecraft which is still in beta.

Sound off if you too, want the originality of the industry to return!

Bulletstorm takes place in the 26th century, where the Confederation of Planets are protected by a secret black-ops army called Dead Echo. The story follows space pirate Grayson Hunt, voiced by Steve Blum(Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Big O) , and his cyborg partner Ishi Sato, whose squad went AWOL after discovering that they were tricked into killing innocent civilians, instead of the ruthless drug dealers and mass murderers that their commanding officer General Sarrano told them they were killing.

Ten years later, after a spontaneous and liquor-induced attempt to take revenge on the General and his forces, Hunt’s and Sato’s ship crash-landed on the planet Stygia, a former resort planet now overrun with meat-eating plants, feral mutant tribes, criminals, and Godzilla-sized monsters. After waking up, Hunt is told by the ship’s doctor that Sato is gravely injured, and he requires an energy cell to power the surgery equipment needed to save him. Hunt goes off to retrieve an energy cell from a fallen escape pod, and makes it back to the ship to deliver to the doctor. The doctor successfully merges Sato’sbrain with the ship’s AI in order to preserve his life. However, at the end of the procedure, bandits break into the ship through the air vents and kill the doctor. Hunt, who is dazed, takes a gun lying near him and shoots an explosive barrel, killing the bandits in the room and knocking himself and Sato unconscious. When he wakes up, he sees Sato lying against a rock, and the two decide to work together to survive, despite Sato’s anger at Hunt for endangering and killing most of the crew as a result of his liquor-induced thirst for revenge.

Even knowing this I had no idea what awaited me when I booted up this game.  It’s an Epic game, it came witha Gears of War 3 beta (which I played at PAX East 2011, I enjoyed it) which reminded me of the time when Crackdown came out and people only got it for the Halo beta. I was hoping that this was not going to be one of those times where we paid full price for a beta witha video game packaged in with it. With it being an Epic game (no pun intended) I was hoping that I could curse CliffyB but Cliff had absolutely nothing to do with this game. It was handled by People Can Fly (first game they released was Painkiller on the PC) so I did not know what to expect.

I’ll  first start off with the games graphics. There are some parts of this game that look pretty good and highly detailed. In the earlier acts where you are outside on the planet Stygia, some of landscapes look breathtaking. The scale of models in the game in relation to their environment look on point  from the spaceships to giant monsters destroying the city everything feels like it was well planned. The water effects in this game are probably like some of the best I’ve seen which is not saying much (Alone in the Dark had great fire effects.) Some of the graphical effects did look impressive. One that springs to mind is using the charged shot on the machine gun. It melts the flesh and turns the poor soul that gets hit with it into a pile of ashes. Another animation that was cool to look at was getting hit by the drill shot. On the flip side of the coin there are something there are some things  that did not look great.  There are parts of the game that look very generic. Similar to the Borderlands desert but with less stuff going on. Textures do look very bland in some areas and there are some areas that have a lot of one color. The rag doll (physics) is entertaining, the enemy animations kind of get stale after around chapter 3.

Some of the character models looked extremely off at some points. Sato for instance looked horrible in game after the robot transformation (Spoiler?) The textures looked off especially around his neck. While other characters like Trishka looked consistently good through out the game. Grayson, the main character, always looked a bit off in his face in cut scenes, maybe this was intentional. Also as a Epic game this looked a lot like a Gears wannabe. The character design was felt completely uninspired, Grayson looks like a cross between Marcus and Dom, while Sato looked just like Lieutenant Kim and General Serrano looks just like General  Hoffman.  You can spot other Gears characters look-a-likes like Dizzy if you have a keen eye.

This games dialogue raises an interesting question: “How do you kill a dick?” I went straight to Google and the first result was “Kill all the lawyers.” The only real issues with the game I had in terms of dialogue is that it got too campy and all the attempts at raunchy humor got old fast. Maybe I am getting too old to laugh at a dick joke, but the non-dick related dialogue between characters was very stale and bland. The characters weren’t that deep in terms of development but this is an FPS so there really isn’t too much room for character growth. To be honest, I’ve never heard the word dick so much in my life  and for me it was a little bit weird to hear Steve Bloom say it, because I remember him from his other roles (Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo) so I found myself waiting for him to ask for Jet and Faye at some points in the game. The games soundtrack was pretty decent, it   included Disco Inferno by The Tramps. The sound effects seemed pretty stock to me as nothing really stood out, which isn’t bad thing but I cannot remember a specific sound effect this game had that would be something iconic aside from the high volume of ‘dick’-bombardment.

For all my gripes about the presentation the core gameplay is solid. It plays like most standard FPS games with a few wrinkles thrown in. It has fairly solid and responsive controls nothing seems out of place. The wrinkles are you get points for stringing together moves during kills which then allows you to unlock more weapons and power ups to all more elaborate combos. The game feels a bit like Mirrors Edge with the amount of freedom you have to approach each encounter with groups of enemies. You have a few mobility options with a slide and a sprint.  Your melee options are limited to a Sparta-like kick but you also get the leash which is crucial in combo building and puzzle solving.  You may string together moves and shots from different guns to get the max points. For instance my favorite combo involved the slide to get the target airborne then I used the leash to pull the target close then  follow it with a kick off of a cliff  finished with a single shot to the head from the pistol. As I mentioned earlier there are multiple ways to approach the same room so the possibilities are seemingly endless. However you are not forced to do any of this and you can play a traditional FPS way with just using head shots and picking up ammo from fallen baddies (I did this at a few times in the game.) An issue that I’ve noticed was taking was with taking cover, unless I totally missed something in the tutorial there was no way to take decent cover as your AI partners did. They took the Gears of War style cover while you were left to just either crouch behind something or slide so bullets did not hit you until your health came back. I found that extremely odd . When you died it was more of a trial and error to find the right solution for that situation. I’ve also encountered some bugs with continuing after death after certain checkpoints. Multiplayer was fun for a bit. You teamed up with people to beat scores or compete in a horde mode. The only issue I had with the multiplayer was the lack of maps.

In a nutshell this game isn’t for everyone. I feel that this game is more geared towards people who enjoy scoring hunting and open ended gameplay. I personally found it to be a bit lacking after you get past the novelty of the scoring system. I did combos the first few parts of the game because I was told that was the only way to resupply but then I just started playing efficiently and had no real problem (beat the game on hard) getting ammo or having ammo to use. I think the single  player campaign went on for an act too long considering the length of the chapters.  While this isn’t a terrible game, it’s just not a great game. It is packaged with the Gears 3 beta so if you paid $59.99 for the beta then you got a decent game with it that has more replay than Crackdown so you did win out.

I give it a 7.5 and here’s the break down why:

Graphics (6.0): Some parts looked amazing, other not so much game the was too inconsistent for my tastes. Character design wasn’t inspired and the models had issues. I feel that they could have created better characters for this game instead of making everyone look like the could be COGs. The facial expressions were well animated in game for some. The gun effects were cool and some of the weapon and environmental stuff was pretty top notch. The scale sizes were dead on which was impressive.

Sound (7.0): Burn baby burn, Disco Inferno! I will not lie, I did find the need to get funky during that segment of the game. The gun fire, explosions and yes the constant dick jokes were all clear. You can make out everything and with surround sound it was very accurate finding where things were located. The voice acting was on point even though the material at times was not.

Control (9.0): Game has some pretty tight controls. I can’t find too many issues I had executing moves or lining up shots.  There’s options to turn on and off aim assists. I can only say you have to be cautious in using the leash and holding the button because you may use a stock attack rather than the regular leash and using your charge shots, you have to remember to turn them off if you didn’t fire them.  The non existent cover system even though your friends and enemies make use of it.

Gameplay (8.0): With the  multiplayer lacking a bit. The offline experience feels a bit more robust. The replay value is there if you are into having the highest score. The campaign isn’t too difficult. The story is pretty cheesy and predictable but I don’t think this game was striving to have the next great fps story. It doesn’t take itself to seriously (at least I hope not). It can get a bit dull at times if you are not looking for the max combo on everything.