M.A.G early look:
M.A.G or Massive Action Game, is a first person shooter (FPS) that promises a massive war experience with 3 factions battling it out on 64 to an amazing 256 player maps.
The biggest concern of the game is the lag and can they pull off a seamless title with that many people at once…the simple answer is yes, yes they can and yes they did.
Now for the long answer the game is INTENSE the war going on all around you makes you feel like you are in a massive battle that can go any direction at anytime. The leader system plays well and often brings a strong feeling of being a detrimental role in a unit of people counting on you to do your job for the overall success of the battle. From the time I entered my last battle until the end I was completely engaged. I found myself standing in the middle of a massive battle field looking at all the elements of the war going on around me. I shortly after took a bullet to the forehead from a sniper who was a good half mile away from me…oops.
All that its going on around makes you focus hard to not get distracted and get yourself killed.
The thing that impressed me a lot was the talent tree type of system they are using in the game that allows you to fully customize your char in unique ways to fit your play style. You gain experience based on what you do in the battle field and level up. Every level you get a point to put into customizing your char.
Now in the beta there are a few problems that I’m sure they will be fixing before launch in Jan 2010. The clan system and friend system is a little broken at the moment and there is a small random chance entire units will freeze. But these are problems they HAVE to fix and they will.
I was a fan of Zipper Interactive sense the first Socom title for the playstation. I stayed a fan through socom 1, 2 and 3. It was very obvious that Zipper did not make socom: confrontation for the PS3. I have come to expect a level of perfection from Zipper when they make their war games. I’m seeing them go above and beyond in MAG and I can’t wait for its launch in January.
This game will very easily de throne Modern warfare 2 for online FPS. That is without a doubt.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Over View:
Probably the most hyped game of the year by far. Is it worth all the hype?
Pros:
The one player story campaign starts out very strong with intense action and amazing visuals. The game takes you through all types of scenarios that vary from large combat situations down to escaping down mountains in Russia on a jet ski with air strikes erupting all around you. The game keeps you engaged from the get go and does not let you go.
Now let’s get real: it’s all about the multi player with call of duty games. Modern Warfare 2 feels a lot like its original title in many ways. Much the same game modes. Same load out options, however, about twice the amount of weapons are available after you unlock them of course. The levels are small enough to knock out snipping as a priority and allow all walks of war to be competitive. The graphics and visual elements are solid. Debris flying everywhere in a market place as a fire fight erupts is pretty intense. Bullet holes stay in the walls and things that can be destroyed stay destroyed.
The biggest changes to the multi player is the vast amount of kill streak bonuses you now have the option to use and after a certain level you can pick which three kill streak bonuses you want to use. Also they added a type of award system that you get after each game. All in all it has a much more solid feel and replay value to the multi player.
Cons:
The single player can be a little too harsh even for the most solid players. There could have been a little less in my opinion. I understand why they added these story elements but I think they could have toned them down a little. When you see the brutality warning when you first start the single player…take it into consideration. This game is definitely not for ANYONE under the age of 18.
The multiplayer again is more of the same with more added for color. Much of it means nothing and is no more than show off or E peen material. The mics sound terrible in the PS3 version and the open mic system can be very annoying at times. The multi player clan system and friend system is lacking at best and could use a lot more in depth material on that part of the game.
All in all I don’t have too much to complain about this title. In my honest opinion they pulled it off and it lives up to the hype 100%. One of the top titles of the year for sure.
Score:
9.25 out of 10
Over View:
Probably the most hyped game of the year by far. Is it worth all the hype?
Pros:
The one player story campaign starts out very strong with intense action and amazing visuals. The game takes you through all types of scenarios that vary from large combat situations down to escaping down mountains in Russia on a jet ski with air strikes erupting all around you. The game keeps you engaged from the get go and does not let you go.
Now let’s get real: it’s all about the multi player with call of duty games. Modern Warfare 2 feels a lot like its original title in many ways. Much the same game modes. Same load out options, however, about twice the amount of weapons are available after you unlock them of course. The levels are small enough to knock out snipping as a priority and allow all walks of war to be competitive. The graphics and visual elements are solid. Debris flying everywhere in a market place as a fire fight erupts is pretty intense. Bullet holes stay in the walls and things that can be destroyed stay destroyed.
The biggest changes to the multi player is the vast amount of kill streak bonuses you now have the option to use and after a certain level you can pick which three kill streak bonuses you want to use. Also they added a type of award system that you get after each game. All in all it has a much more solid feel and replay value to the multi player.
Cons:
The single player can be a little too harsh even for the most solid players. There could have been a little less in my opinion. I understand why they added these story elements but I think they could have toned them down a little. When you see the brutality warning when you first start the single player…take it into consideration. This game is definitely not for ANYONE under the age of 18.
The multiplayer again is more of the same with more added for color. Much of it means nothing and is no more than show off or E peen material. The mics sound terrible in the PS3 version and the open mic system can be very annoying at times. The multi player clan system and friend system is lacking at best and could use a lot more in depth material on that part of the game.
All in all I don’t have too much to complain about this title. In my honest opinion they pulled it off and it lives up to the hype 100%. One of the top titles of the year for sure.
Score:
9.25 out of 10
Dragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age: Origins
Overview:
A RPG following under the same play style as bolders gate and neverwinter nights. Both very solid games with a solid RPG element. Dragon Age takes those elements and exspands them while bringing nice visuals to the table.
Pros:
The visuals are stellar very little frame rate drop or shading issues which is common, especially on the ps3. The biggest drive is the story depth. The ability to change the outcome of any situation for the most part by how you respond to the NPC (non playable characters).
The game brings some nice visuals in the bigger moments. There is a large battle going on near the beginning of the game and you have to cross a bridge high above the battle. Just stopping and looking down over the bridge with hundreds of people / creatures locked in conflict while ballista flies twards the bridge is an impressive display.
The voice acting is very solid, with a well written script that will keep you engaged in the story.
Cons:
The battle system is my biggest gripe with this game. The way it’s presented in live action with 4 chars and poor AI makes for an aggravating experience at first and for a while. If a char gets knocked out in battle the come back up after the battle with negative status effects that can only be cured by high level spells or a type of first aid kit that is hard to come by and expensive to buy. You will find your chars falling in battle often enough in the beginning of the game and for a while in.
The game is far too long (90+ hrs). So only play this game if you plan on investing A LOT of time into it. The character creation is nice but limited on the Xbox 360 and playstation 3 versions.
The battle system and micro management of ALL the members of your party gets old rather fast and cumbersome.
All the above made for an aggravating play experience for me.
Score:
6.75 out of 10
If you get this game for the rpg experience I would recommend the pc version.
Overview:
A RPG following under the same play style as bolders gate and neverwinter nights. Both very solid games with a solid RPG element. Dragon Age takes those elements and exspands them while bringing nice visuals to the table.
Pros:
The visuals are stellar very little frame rate drop or shading issues which is common, especially on the ps3. The biggest drive is the story depth. The ability to change the outcome of any situation for the most part by how you respond to the NPC (non playable characters).
The game brings some nice visuals in the bigger moments. There is a large battle going on near the beginning of the game and you have to cross a bridge high above the battle. Just stopping and looking down over the bridge with hundreds of people / creatures locked in conflict while ballista flies twards the bridge is an impressive display.
The voice acting is very solid, with a well written script that will keep you engaged in the story.
Cons:
The battle system is my biggest gripe with this game. The way it’s presented in live action with 4 chars and poor AI makes for an aggravating experience at first and for a while. If a char gets knocked out in battle the come back up after the battle with negative status effects that can only be cured by high level spells or a type of first aid kit that is hard to come by and expensive to buy. You will find your chars falling in battle often enough in the beginning of the game and for a while in.
The game is far too long (90+ hrs). So only play this game if you plan on investing A LOT of time into it. The character creation is nice but limited on the Xbox 360 and playstation 3 versions.
The battle system and micro management of ALL the members of your party gets old rather fast and cumbersome.
All the above made for an aggravating play experience for me.
Score:
6.75 out of 10
If you get this game for the rpg experience I would recommend the pc version.
Borderlands
Borderlands
Borderlands by gearbox is a well thought out game with the attempt to combine RPG (role playing game) elements with FPS (first person shooter) elements. It actually pulls it off and pulls it off well. The story is about a Vault that promises vast riches and power that only opens up every 200 years on this wasteland of a planet whose inhabitants have gone a little nuts, to say the least. You are an outsider (1 out of 4 different “classes”) who’s sent to find this vault now that it’s about time for it to open again. You are guided throughout the game by a strange girl who appears every now and then through a satellite feed. There are several thousand different weapons in the game that drop very much like any RPG out there…off of dead enemies and chests. The weapons, armor and grenade mods are of different quality symbolized by the color of the name (white, blue, purple and orange being the rarest). Any veteran of mmorpgs will recognize the loot system.
Pros:
Sold graphics that is a mixture of comic book art with cell shaded graphics. Thus, giving the look of playing in a well animated comic book. The visuals are very nice and give the feel of being on a wasteland of a planet. The RPG element is well imbedded into the game with the loot, character customization (standard skill trees) and quest system play style. The first person element of the game is very smooth and easy to use. The game plays very well as a whole with the constant drive to find that ever elusive purple or if your very lucky orange quality weapon.
The game has a very high replay value with the level system and other classes to play each with their own unique play style and “special ability”. The online is nothing more than a 2-4 person co-op of the one player game and it actually does this very well. Even the split screen modes plays out smooth.
There is dueling and an arena for a little pvp action that is a lot of fun as well. As long as your not trying to acctualy beat someone 5 or more levels higher then you.
Cons:
The story is full of holes that kind of leave you asking “huh?” by the end of the game. The ending is not what you would be hoping for with all the effort you put into the game. However, it does leave the game open for DLC (downloadable content) and a possible borderlands 2. Its very easy to bypass a lot of the story by skipping the quest text and can easily be done by mistake (yes, I know there is a quest log to go back in and look, but lets be real how many of us are going to do that when we have so many skags to blast apart?).
Score:
9 out of 10
A very addicting game that is well worth getting.
Borderlands by gearbox is a well thought out game with the attempt to combine RPG (role playing game) elements with FPS (first person shooter) elements. It actually pulls it off and pulls it off well. The story is about a Vault that promises vast riches and power that only opens up every 200 years on this wasteland of a planet whose inhabitants have gone a little nuts, to say the least. You are an outsider (1 out of 4 different “classes”) who’s sent to find this vault now that it’s about time for it to open again. You are guided throughout the game by a strange girl who appears every now and then through a satellite feed. There are several thousand different weapons in the game that drop very much like any RPG out there…off of dead enemies and chests. The weapons, armor and grenade mods are of different quality symbolized by the color of the name (white, blue, purple and orange being the rarest). Any veteran of mmorpgs will recognize the loot system.
Pros:
Sold graphics that is a mixture of comic book art with cell shaded graphics. Thus, giving the look of playing in a well animated comic book. The visuals are very nice and give the feel of being on a wasteland of a planet. The RPG element is well imbedded into the game with the loot, character customization (standard skill trees) and quest system play style. The first person element of the game is very smooth and easy to use. The game plays very well as a whole with the constant drive to find that ever elusive purple or if your very lucky orange quality weapon.
The game has a very high replay value with the level system and other classes to play each with their own unique play style and “special ability”. The online is nothing more than a 2-4 person co-op of the one player game and it actually does this very well. Even the split screen modes plays out smooth.
There is dueling and an arena for a little pvp action that is a lot of fun as well. As long as your not trying to acctualy beat someone 5 or more levels higher then you.
Cons:
The story is full of holes that kind of leave you asking “huh?” by the end of the game. The ending is not what you would be hoping for with all the effort you put into the game. However, it does leave the game open for DLC (downloadable content) and a possible borderlands 2. Its very easy to bypass a lot of the story by skipping the quest text and can easily be done by mistake (yes, I know there is a quest log to go back in and look, but lets be real how many of us are going to do that when we have so many skags to blast apart?).
Score:
9 out of 10
A very addicting game that is well worth getting.
Red Faction Guerrilla review
Red Faction Guerrilla
Overview:
Ok first off I was a huge fan of the original red faction for the ps2 that came out several years ago. The idea of destroying your environment was a huge plus. I cant count how many hours my brother and me (mike) played red faction every wed night, by the time we got done with a multiplayer game the map was no longer recognizable. However, it had its limits…not everything was fully destructible.
Red Faction Guerilla fixed that. EVERYTHING (except rocks and such) is fully destructible. If you don’t like the looks of that building…tear it down. If a convoy is coming under a bridge…be creative and set charges on the bridges main supports and wait for the convoy to pass under it, then let the carnage and girlish like giggling ensue. This time the world is free roaming allowing you to run freely and choose which missions you want to do in the order you want to do them in. The missions are various different types, from creatively destroying of certain targets with limited resources to rescuing hostages from the evil red faction. All in all a pretty solid one player title.
Story mode (1 player)
The story mode follows an interesting plot of a military faction known as the red faction basically doing very bad things in bad ways. Thus, an uprising from the planets workers (aka miners, demolitions experts and so on). The whole point of the game is to drive the red faction off the red planet. The story is pretty solid and easy to follow, but yet simplistic. The voice acting is subpar with not bad plot writing. The real drive to the game is the DESTRUCTION!!! Yes, the make me giggle like a child as I blow up two silos in such a way that the collapse onto a big building killing everything inside in one stroke type of giggling. The type of destruction that appeases the manly need to destroy. Other than that there isn’t much else to the game.
Online:
The online offers a few cool modes but all in all the main menu is hard to navigate and understand, the ranking is not very recognizable and obscure. The maps are short and is hard to tell one from the next in general look and feel. This is not a title to buy for the online.
Extra:
There is however a mode in the game that almost makes this game worth buying all on its own if you play with friends in person ( a concept that is hard to grasp now a days). Yes people in the same room can pass a controller around and see who can do the most destruction within the modes various game types and weapons. A good way to kill a couple of hours of enjoyment with friends.
Score:
7.5 out of 10
A sold game with little to no replay value and an online mode not worth playing.
...Joe wilson...
Overview:
Ok first off I was a huge fan of the original red faction for the ps2 that came out several years ago. The idea of destroying your environment was a huge plus. I cant count how many hours my brother and me (mike) played red faction every wed night, by the time we got done with a multiplayer game the map was no longer recognizable. However, it had its limits…not everything was fully destructible.
Red Faction Guerilla fixed that. EVERYTHING (except rocks and such) is fully destructible. If you don’t like the looks of that building…tear it down. If a convoy is coming under a bridge…be creative and set charges on the bridges main supports and wait for the convoy to pass under it, then let the carnage and girlish like giggling ensue. This time the world is free roaming allowing you to run freely and choose which missions you want to do in the order you want to do them in. The missions are various different types, from creatively destroying of certain targets with limited resources to rescuing hostages from the evil red faction. All in all a pretty solid one player title.
Story mode (1 player)
The story mode follows an interesting plot of a military faction known as the red faction basically doing very bad things in bad ways. Thus, an uprising from the planets workers (aka miners, demolitions experts and so on). The whole point of the game is to drive the red faction off the red planet. The story is pretty solid and easy to follow, but yet simplistic. The voice acting is subpar with not bad plot writing. The real drive to the game is the DESTRUCTION!!! Yes, the make me giggle like a child as I blow up two silos in such a way that the collapse onto a big building killing everything inside in one stroke type of giggling. The type of destruction that appeases the manly need to destroy. Other than that there isn’t much else to the game.
Online:
The online offers a few cool modes but all in all the main menu is hard to navigate and understand, the ranking is not very recognizable and obscure. The maps are short and is hard to tell one from the next in general look and feel. This is not a title to buy for the online.
Extra:
There is however a mode in the game that almost makes this game worth buying all on its own if you play with friends in person ( a concept that is hard to grasp now a days). Yes people in the same room can pass a controller around and see who can do the most destruction within the modes various game types and weapons. A good way to kill a couple of hours of enjoyment with friends.
Score:
7.5 out of 10
A sold game with little to no replay value and an online mode not worth playing.
...Joe wilson...
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