The absolute worst aspect of playing the Mass Effect 3 demo is knowing that at some point it’s going to end. This fact becomes a looming burden over the shoulder, only recognizable by those who are by some chance capable of pulling yourself out of the quickly engaging story and action as the Reapers make devastating first contact. Don’t worry, this review contains no spoilers but upon playing the demo for yourself, you will understand how hard that is.

Although a demo, faithful Mass Effect series fans won’t be alienated from their decisions made from the previous games. At the start of the demo, players are asked a series of questions based on focal points through the series and will reflect on player interaction during cinematics. (It is for this reason that the experience reflected in the review may vary from yours depending on the extent of effect these decisions have on what events occur during gameplay) Another interesting addition is the option to select exactly how the game can be played between 3 different options that while change the game to focus heavily on action, traditional RPG or solely story. What follows next is what feels to be an instant immersion into the Mass Effect universe that we’ve all come to know and love along with an astounding graphical overhaul, complimented by a tense action atmosphere on a scale never before seen. Apocalyptic disaster fills the landscapes and backdrops on a new scale, displaying the biggest amount  of overall action as humanity’s imminent battle for survival against the Reapers begins to unfold.

Players must battle alongside Councilor Anderson against a small horde of fleeing Husks and combative Reaper infantry. At one point the demo has the player perform a new heavy biotic punch, executed by holding down the melee button, in order to break through battle damaged terrain for escape. A number of other additions are exhibited during this escape including the ability to perform leaps over large gaps by pressing and holding the sprint button and climbing ladders. These small but welcomed additions allow players further interaction with the world outside of simply picking up highlighted items, activating panels and opening doors. Shepards movement feels to be a lot more fluid and the transition of the camera during turns, both walking and sprinting, comes off as a lot less stiffer than before. Performing rolls and taking cover has never felt more natural, there is even a new ability to lunge over or around small objects while sprinting to evade danger or simply cover distance faster without interruption.

The single player campaign is broken into two segments, the second following a mission in which Shepard must assist Wrex in retrieving a captured female Krogan, alongside Dr.Mortin. This area is more combat driven and players must eliminate all opposing forces in the facility before she is released.  Here players can become more familiar with the improvements made on controls, experience the intellect of the A.I. and be challenged by a large Synthetic known as Atlas. Combat is as fun as always, maybe even more so due to the attention to lively detail supplied in every backdrop of roam-able areas.

Multiplayer

I was terrified when the announcement was first made that there would be a multiplayer component to Mass Effect 3. So many things could go wrong in terms of the development team splitting their focus from what is to be their most epic release yet. If this demo has done nothing else, it surely has put my heart at ease. The demo allows player to create and customize their own characters from a limited number of available species, classes and sexes broken down into 3 males and 3 females (more are can be unlocked via play through). Colors, weapons, powers and equipment all are customizable and some areas can be leveled up or improved with enhancements. Unlockable items are available through any 3 of the packs via an in game store which allows you to purchase bundled items that are randomized and contents vary depending on which pack you buy. These packs allow you to unlock items, weapons, attachments and even characters with either a chance or promise at an “uncommon” or rare unlock.

You can create or join lobbies that consist of 4 players in a co-operative stand off against various Cerberus militia than span up to 10 waves, each more challenging than the next. Objective based waves occur during intervals in which players must complete various time sensitive missions including assassin hunts, terminal hacks and intel gathering. Failure to complete these objectives will terminate the entire mission and will result in game over.

• Adept (Human Male)
•  Soldier (Human Male)
•  Engineer (Human Male)
•  Sentinel (Human Female)
•  Infiltrator (Human Female)
•  Vanguard (Human Female)

Two maps are playable, Firebase Ghost and Firebase White, which are medium sized maps with ground cover based vantage points and scattered munitions. Both take minimal time getting used to but all difficulties are very trying until you level up significantly. It is recommended that novice players start off from the Bronze difficulty and work their way up. With a good team and set strategy the multiplayer becomes extremely fun and rewards handsomely for successful missions and doing so in a speedy time frame. Completion of wave 10 requires players to hold at at an extraction point until pick up arrives during a final rush from Cerberus.

The A.I. does not slouch and neither should your teamwork if you want to succeed. Players can revive downed teammates before they bleed out or are executed by the enemy, similar to Gears Of War. All the elements of strategy, fun and challenge are all present, making this multiplayer component an overall success for Mass Effect fans new or original.

Torn asunder, the delicate balance of power between the kingdom of Ehb’s powerful factions has fallen apart. As one of the few remaining members of the disgraced protectors of the land, the 10th Legion, it is up to you to rebuild the once great Legion and stop Ehb from falling into darkness. Joined by a group of unique companions, you will travel through the striking land of Ehb defeating all manner of villains and beasts through a combination of heroic abilities, screen shaking magic and pure cunning.

DUNGEON SIEGE 3 seamlessly blends intuitive action gameplay, a robust RPG system featuring a large selection of abilities, an extensive multiplayer component and the depth of story Square Enix and Obsidian Entertainment are known for creating.

Features

• For the first time, play DUNGEON SIEGE on high-def consoles.
• Players will be able to adventure by themselves or with friends in co-op multiplayer.
• Uncover a deep story that only Square Enix and Obsidian Entertainment can deliver.
• Pick from unique and highly customizable character classes with a wide range of abilities to choose from.
• Recruit companions with unique personalities, abilities and views on the world around them.
• Players will have weighty decisions to make that will impact their alliances, enemies and the culmination of the story.

Take note ladies and gents Fedor Emelianenko is known as the GREATEST Heavyweight fighter to walk the face of the earth & the greatest fighter in MMA history. (he’s also my hero ^_^ )

So far confirmed on this fight roster we have Renato Babalu Sobral and Gerard Mousasi.

The game is scheduled for release sometime next year

There’s a certain learning curve to the game, mostly involving how to properly use your bionic arm to traverse and go on the offensive. Even after ample practice, you’ll find yourself some how missing a grab and falling to your death. Maybe you’ll even over swing by accident and land in a radiation area, unable to escape fast enough. You could even fall into water and be unable to thrust your arm up to pull yoursel fout and drown. I kid you not, I drowned in what seemed like a pothole filled with water. Seems like level design is a major fault, especially with out of bounds becoming an instant death trap of radiation if you over swing. This is one of the only times I’d advocate obvious invisible zone walls.

You never seem to be able to take enough hits, causing frequent enough deaths from bullets or rockets. Generic foot soldier enemies hold almost no variety at all. In fact, you’ll see more floating mines that shoot electric blasts at you (yes, it gets more absurd) than you’ll see foot soldiers in most areas. Robot enemies are annoying and again, not very varied as well. The graphics, while they look pretty good in some spots, feel a bit lifeless. There’s color in the explosive torn city, but it still feels like there could have been more implimented to the look. To be fair, once you get to the park, even though it’s trees and bushes, the lighting and atmosphere seem to bring more life into the game.

Until you fall into the god forsaken river and drown.

This looks quite spectacular, but looks can be deceiving. Another example of this statement - my ex girlfriend.

It does have its moments though. Swinging around, once you get the hang of it, the proper momentum and enough places to brnch off to, is quite a bit of fun. It feels like a Spider Man game, although the fluidity isn’t as aboundant.The music is actually quite good as well, with some blood pumping bits that seem to come up out of no where, and seem to disappear once you walk past that small area it was playing in. In each stage, you have quite a bit of areas to chart out for collectables and weapons that are shot down for you. Heaving cars, and even enemies into each other, is a lot of fun, and in general, the arm combat is something worthwhile. It’s a shame there’s not enough variety of enemies to unleash your fury apon. While there is a certain degree of weapon variety, ultimately, the game is build to get you an arm up on the enemies.

Even if combat can be fun, boss fights are interesting and pulse pounding, traversing through each stage can be a blast and the music is pretty solid, there’s way too many issues with Bionic Commando that tie its arm behind its back. Especially after that god awful ending, you might ask yourself  “was it even worth the hassle?” I’m asking myself that now, and I really have to say “no”. Best bet is a rental, even though you’ll be using both your real arms to throw your controller against the wall from all the cheap as hell deaths.

Striking

The striking is OKAY nothing fantastic or amazing… Superman punches , Weaving Punches , High kicks spinning back fists. It’s there… But in real life when both fighters are measured properly there should be NO WAY an individual should get knocked out by a long ranged jab. another thing i would like to add is the fact that EVERY MMA FIGHTER IN THE INDUSTRY DOES NOT GET KNOCKED OUT BY A BLUNT F*$&ING JAB WHICH LOOKS LIKE HORSE S*$T  The striking game in my opinion gets a 2 out of 10 THQ messed up BIG TIME with the striking..

grappling

The grappling is honestly one of the most innovative add ons and they ACTUALLY TOOK TIME TO APPRECIATE THE GROUND GAME!!! Speaking as a student who takes up Brazilian Ju-jitsu , Judo , and greco roman wrestling its all there… My only dislike is the fact that there’s a lack of game such as back control and side control because there are a HUGE number of submissions that can be performed from Full guard , side control , full mount….What sucks even more is the fact that you cant counter while your KO/Stunned…a real Grappler would be able to recover and sweep the person delivering rabid punches. I’m giving the grappling a 6 because it can be improved GREATLY.

Create a character

This probably gave the game the MOST life EVER. This alone deserves a 8 because the names and tattoo’s suck because one should be able to control the height and width of the tattoo they want.

Online play

This part pisses me off to all hell and im talking AVGN status. AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO ALL XBOX LIVE PLAYERS MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD CONNECTION WHILE PLAYING OR ELSE YOU WILL GET DICKED SIDEWAYS!!! After playing about 10 matches I lost half of them due to HORRIBLE connections…. Since when does stuttering while throwing a punch and then magically getting knocked out by a whiffed high kick make logical sense? This is worse then an R.L.Stine book this part gets a .5 out of 10

The main reason why i picked up the game to begin with was to knock out Brock Lesnar with Brendon Vera honestly and of course to play as Shane Carwin (DLC by fall) and of course the two extra fighters (Efrain Escuadero and Ryan Bader).

Unless your a UFC fanatic and you actually like some of the fighters…I’d recommend it…But this game definitely needs some fucking work..

The next major UFC event is this coming Saturday May 23rd Ill be sure to have SF4 , UFC 09 , Rock band and more for free play and of course the main event for this Saturday is Lyoto Machida VS the current Light heavyweight champ Rashad Evans!!

Though the thought had to cross the minds of many gamers which system to purchase the games for the Xbox360 or the PS3. Each system has its own unique benefits for each particular genre.

Some people may have chose to purchase Street fighter 4 for the PS3 because the controller is better suited for the execution of the moves. While others may have chose to purchase Resident Evil 5 for the Xbox360 for the same reason, the controller is better suited for a shooter game.

While these reasons are very clean cut and seemly simple sometimes the lines can get blurry. Not everyone has both systems and have the luxury to chose. What if some friends only have the Xbox360 or the PS3 but both equally want to play with you? What will you do? Will you shell out a whooping $120 dollars to play with them all?

This is when I began to think why doesn’t Sony and Microsoft make one system? It would seem that no one could lose. Right now in the present economy even though game sales are still soaring there are still losers and there are bound to be more.

Why should gamers have to shell out $120 to play with all of their friends? Why waste many company employee hours and funds creating 2 versions of a game when one will sell mediocre because of the other? Why not use all those resources banging out one version of an awesome game to be sold to the masses.

I think the battle of the Systems war was fun while it lasted but truly it’s time to combine efforts Microsoft, Sony you both do some things better than the other and could benefit from merging into one.

As the world of exclusive titles become extinct it seems to be no point in having two very similar systems within a suffering economy. Lets branch out to the future Sony, Microsoft let make the new next gen system ONE.

What do you think about this idea? Let me know I would love to hear your feedback!

No freezing on ANYTHING mind you ladies and gents the previous one froze but once in a blue when i bought it fresh out the box…im playing CoD WoW and 4 (4 is WAYY better) and there’s no LOUD VRRRRR sound while playing so i think i got a better 360 then that of what i owned before..

Now the reason why im in a great mood is because 1. I didnt have to pay the 65$ for the 2 year warranty because its been less then 2 months and the woman helping me was really cool and was like “Yea no problem Ill just throw the warranty onto your new 360 since its been less then 3 months…have it been 3 months then you’d have to pay for a new warranty.. So i ended up having some cash to spend…I ended up using that money to pay off my resident evil 5…so im completely psyched about this coming thursday (midnight thx)

When i owned the halo edition 360 I had it for about a year and a half with no problems whatsoever. This past October (correct me if Im wrong) upon the release for left 4 dead is when it caught the E74 error which i believe is when 1 red light appears and you cant play for jack sh**.

Another error (With the 360 which was replaced with the halo one) that occurred was when i was trying to remove the hard drive and the male piece which goes into the system was broken.

The error I am getting now is the 2 red lights (which means that there’s a problem with an external source such as a hard drive. Not only that, i had received some issues that my 360 was gonna die soon because some of the new titles that I purchased such as NFS undercover , Shellshock 2 , Eat Lead , Call of duty 4 and Street fighter 4 have been freezing on me in between stages and matches.

With that This is going to be the 2nd time. It’s understandable that most player’s would send it back to Microsoft but unfortunately I’m spoiled and i have an ass load of games to play and lots of players to beat on Xbox live.

Microsoft is messing up big time. I know for a fact that people have encountered issues like this as well but this is out of line. When will Microsoft learn to fix em and learn from their first mistakes is a tougher journey then that of playing Milons secret castle for NES.

~BeAsT~