Allynn G.
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Game Review: WWE 12
Sup guys? Here is my review of THQ’s latest entry into every wrestling fan’s favorite wrestling game. Enjoy!
Short Story:
It’s basically your typical fighting game. Only the battles are wrestling matches and you get to play as either your favorite WWE Superstar or Diva, or create your own superstar and take on the WWE Universe!!
The score:
WWE 12 was pretty fun. It’s always fun to take control of your favorite Superstar/Diva and throw down in fistacuffs against your least favorite Superstar/Diva. WWE 12 gets the score of a 4 out of 5.
Body of Review:
Good Things:
Here’s where WWE 12 really excelled, the customizable aspects. The THQ WWE games have always been great at letting the player create their own superstar, arena, PPV, move set, entrance, team and logos; but this year they have now given you the ability not only create your own entrance video for your superstar, but also your own storyline as well. Granted the options of templates for the create a storyline and video aren’t that great, it’s still pretty cool none the less at the amount of customizing you can do in it. The create a superstar system was greatly detailed this year as it is every year. If you really wanna take the time to go into great detail with your superstar you can get them to look almost identical to yourself.
Along with the in depth creation modes, WWE 12 features a lot of game modes as well. Of course you’ve got your standard exhibition mode, which features different match types like your regular one on one match, tag matches, triple threat, fatal four way, hell in a cell, cage, ladder, table, TLC(which stands for tables, ladders, and chairs), royal rumble, and the elimination chamber match. And each match can have customizable rules and regulations to make it your own.
Along with the exhibition mode there’s the new WWE Universe mode. Now for anyone who’s played the previous WWE titles will know this as the WWE 24/7 mode. Basically you can either play as a current superstar/diva or enter your own created superstar/diva, choose a brand, and use them to rise to the top at win participate in the main event at Wrestlemania for the WWE Championship.
A new game mode included in WWE 12 is the Road to Wrestlemania mode. This is the story mode portion of the game. The Road to Wrestlemania consists of three different story lines that all mesh together. These story lines are Villain(where you play as the Celtic Warrior Sheamus), Outsider(where you play as The Game Triple H), and then Hero(where you play as the rookie Jacob Cass, who is brought to life by you the player by creating the look of the character or they will use your current create a superstar but I’ll get into that later). Each story line is pretty cool, and flows together well. I do have a couple of complaints about it, but I’ll get into that in a little bit.
What’s really cool about the game would be the amount of unlockable superstars there are. Just some of the superstars and legends that you can unlock in the game are: Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, Hawk and Animal, Arn Anderson, and Vader just to name a few. This is a very impressive line up to go along with the current roster of superstars that includes, Randy Orton, Triple H, and the Undertaker. And at the end of January a DLC pack will we released that will include legends such as The Macho Man Randy Savage and the Hardcore Legend Mick Foley. I’m am certainly going to be getting that because I loved Mick Foley back in the day.
Bad Things:
Ok, here’s what I didn’t like about the game. The Road to Wrestlemania mode became extremely repetative. Yes, I know, it’s a wrestling game and what you do in a wrestling game is play in wrestling matches. But it was either you had a match in the ring that you have to win, or you took on 3 opponents at the same time in the back stage area. It just got old.
Another problem with Road to Wrestlemania is if you have a created superstar before you start the Hero story line, they will use your created star as Jacob Cass. And you can’t change it back to your character after the story line is over. You will have to start all over again and create a new character, which was very annoying.
Other than that, WWE 12 is a fun game to play. There’s nothing like a wrestling game to settle scores between your friends and WWE 12 is a good way to settle some differences. So good job THQ for keeping up the tradition of making great wrestling games!!
That does it guys! We are at a dry spell right now for new game releases so next month I will be reviewing Red Dead Redemption’s Undead Nightmare! Stay tuned!!
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition Review
Here it is guys, my review of the remake of a classic, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition. Let’s get started shall we?
Short Story:
To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the release of the original XBox and Halo: Combat Evolved, 343 Industries(who now have full rights to the Halo franchise) has made an HD remake of the classic launch title that captivated gamers everywhere. You play as the Master Chief. The last known surviving member of the UNSC’s genetically enhanced super soldier program, SPARTAN. Master Chief is awaken from a cryogenic sleep in order to prevent the Covenant, an army compiled of multiple alien races who believe that they are on a mission from their God to eradicate any race that opposes their beliefs(and unfortunately, the human race is next on their list), from taking an AI named Cortana. Cortana has all of the intel that the UNSC possesses, including the location of Earth. Chief and Cortana land on a strange ring shaped planet that the Covenant call Halo. Now Chief and Cortana must explore this new planet, uncover the secrets of Halo, and save the human race. All in a day’s work for a SPARTAN if you ask me.
The Score:
If I would’ve written a review for this game 10 years ago, I would’ve given that same score. 5 out of 5.
Body of Review:
There’s no denying it. The first Halo was definitely a game changer. It was one of the first FPS’s to really use the melee as an instant kill, and made, for the first time, vehicles fun to drive in an FPS. The controls were great and, the story was one of the best around at the time. And thankfully, 343 made it even better.
As far as the overall look of the game, 343 just gave it a facelift. There are a couple of characters that look a little different(in the first level, there are crew members on the ship that are bald when they had hair in the original game), but that’s it. I think the best way to describe the look of the game would be to say that it looks like how you remember the original Halo looking. You know, 10 years ago when you first played Halo, you were left in awe at the graphics, but when you go back and play it now compared to say Halo: Reach, you were left wondering how the first Halo made you wanna cream jeans(that’s right, I said it!!). But now that same feeling comes back as explore Halo once more.
As far as game play goes, 343 did the coolest thing possible and basically copy and pasted the game engine code that Bungie wrote for the original game. THANK YOU 343!! So the game feels exactly the same as it did 10 years ago.
Now, 343 DID do something really cool. They made it possible during game play to revert back to the original Halo graphics. So any time during game play, you can press the back button on the 360 controller and the game will go back to the original graphics with absolutely no load time and you can go back to the HD graphics with just another press of the back button. That way you can really see the difference in the look that 343 did. And it’s amazing.
Now, for the first time ever, you can play online four player co-op in the Halo campaign. Remember, the first Halo was made before XBox Live came around, so the only way you could play Halo multiplayer with your friends was by way of local games or getting a group of friends together for a huge LAN party. Now, you can play either four player campaign or you can go into the Halo Reach multiplayer universe through the Anniversary disc and play Reach multiplayer on classic maps from Halo 1 and 2 remade in HD!! These maps include: Battle Cayon, Breakneck, High Noon, Penance, Ridgeline, Solitary, and Instillation 04(which is the Firefight map in the Halo Anniversary map pack). And the best thing about these map remakes, all of the weapons and items are still in the sames play were in 10 years ago. The locations might be slightly different, but they are still in the same areas of the maps that you remember. So great job to the guys at Certain Affinity(who made the multiplayer maps for Halo: Reach and Halo Anniversary).
Another new addition to the game that was made was that 343 included skulls and terminals in the campaign. Each level has at least one skull and a terminal for the player to find. As you know, skulls can be turned on during the campaign to make the game more challenging for the player. For example: there is a skull that causes Grunts to throw twice as many grenades as they usually do(which for those who don’t play Halo, is a lot without the skull turned on). There’s one that only alows you to regain health when you kill an enemy with a melee attack.
Now terminals were first introduced in Halo 3. They were located throughout the campaign and when activated they just had a bunch of written text. The terminals in Anniversary are much cooler. When you activate a terminal it goes to a cutscene that is kind of a motion comic. It kind of gives a primer for The Forerunner Trilogy, which will start with the release of Halo 4 next year.
Well, that’s it. 343 Industries did a great job reintroducing the game that millions fell in love and became obsessed with 10 years ago to a younger audience. And it makes me even more excited for Halo 4 next year!!
Well, that does it for me. Stay tuned next month as I start off 2012 with a review for WWE 12. Laterz!!
Game Review: Batman: Arkham City
What’s up guys? Finally, here is the review of Batman: Arkham City. I apologize for the review being so late, the past month and a half have been kinda nuts, but here it is!! There is a small spoiler of the campaign in there so be warned.
Short Story:
Six months have passed since the events of Arkham Asylum and things seem to have gotten worse. Since then, Quincy Sharp, the warden of Arkham has now become the mayor of Gotham City and converted the slums of Gotham into a maximum security prison city where the criminals rule the roost so to speak. The city is under the watchful eye of TYGER, a police force chosen to make sure no criminals get out or cause any huge damage, and this task force is under the command of Professor Hugo Strange. Bruce Wayne finds himself trapped inside of Arkham City after being taken captive by TYGER guards and being brought to Strange…who knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Now, Batman must survive a night in Arkham City, which will not be an easy task seeing as he will be taking on the likes of Two-Face, The Peguin, and once again The Joker, who seems to the dying from his Titan overdose from Arkham Island*MILD SPOILER*(and who has played the ultimate prank on Batman by infecting him with his own poison blood, now Batman is racing against the clock to find a cure).
Score:
Arkham City went above and beyond my expectations. I intentionally avoided reading anything about the storyline before the game came out because I really wanted to be surprised as the game went on. And I was completely blown away. The story was amazing and had one of the best endings I’ve ever seen in a video game. And the gameplay was very well done, it’s even more fluid than Arkham Asylum. Throw in the ability to play as the very attractive Cat Woman in the campaign and being able to play as a new and improved Robin and also Night Wing in the challenge mode and Rocksteady has given you as close to a perfect game as it possibly can. Batman: Arkham City is getting my very first score of 5 out of 5.
Body of Review:
Good Things:
There were so many good things about Arkham Asylum. The story in itself is absolutely amazing. The scene when The Joker poisoned Batman in order to find a cure for the Titan overdose completely blew my mind. That whole plot line was incredible and was written in true Joker fashion. Only the Joker will intentionally infect his arch nemesis because he knows that Batman would find a cure to save them both then to let the Joker die from it. Awesome. Just awesome. There were a lot of twists in this game. From the Joker poisoning you to the return of Ras al Ghul, Arkham City really had a lot to offer to the story, and that’s not mentioning the side missions.
There were a number of side missions in the game, and each one introduced even more villains that Batman encounters than what we thought leading up to the games release. For example, there are a number of murders coming up around the city and each victim seems to have been killed by a sniper. All evidence points towards the deadly marksmen Dead Shot. Some missions will lead you to Black Mask, some take you into a small fight with Bane, and you have a brief run in with The Mad Hatter. So the number of main villains is quite large and impressive.
Speaking of additional characters, it was an absolute blast getting to play as Catwoman. She’s as dangerous as she is beautiful and as quick and agile as the animal she derives her name from. Her missions were very fun to do. We originally find Catwoman as Batman. She is being held captive by Two-Face and is about to be judged and executed by the former Gotham DA, but is rescued by Batman. Catwoman’s story goes like this: Catwoman’s loot has been stolen by Two-Face and his men, and now she is Hell bent on getting her stuff back by any means necessary. She beats up Poison Ivy and gets her to help her get into Two-Face’s vault which has her things. When Catwoman gets her loot back she intends on leaving Arkham City and going on with her life. Catwoman’s story and Batman’s story eventually intertwine again. At the end of Catwoman’s story she(kinda) has a choice. She can either walk out the doors of Arkham City with her loot and enjoy her life in Gotham, or she can stay in Arkham City and rescue the recently captured Batman. The game does give you the choice of doing either, but if you choose not to save Batman, an alternate credits sequence will roll, but it will rewind and you will have to choose to save Batman to finish the overall campaign. Still, very cool though.
Getting to play as Robin is actually pretty damn cool. They have made him dark and gritty and not so campy and lame than the Robin we all know. So don’t expect any “Holy whatever Batman!” lines while he beats the ever living shit out of thugs in the challenge maps. This particular Robin is one of Tim Drake and not the original Robin, Dick Grayson. But the original Robin has not been left out of Arkham City. Dick Grayson will make an appearance as Night Wing as DLC which I believe should be available now. While Robin makes a couple of appearances in the main story, he and Night Wing are only playable in the challenge mode(which kinda sucks).
Like I said earlier, the gameplay in Arkham City is even more fluid and free flowing than is was in Arkham Asylum, which I didn’t think was possible. What I found very cool and fun is that Batman now uses the environment to take down his foes. When he counters an attack near a wall or rail, he will use said wall or rail to take down his enemy, he usually bashes their head into it, which is always fun to do. Another this that is very cool this time around is that you can now counter multiple enemies at once, which makes to some really stylized combo moves executed by the character.
The boss fights too were quite fun this time around. In particular, the fight against Mr. Freeze. This fight was both fun and difficult because unlike other enemies of Batman, Freeze catches on to Batman’s tricks and disables the means to do damage to him after Batman hurts him. So there isn’t a set pattern to defeating Freeze like there is with the other bosses, so that was very fun.
Batman also has some new gadgets to play with in this game. The one you use the most would be a gun that shoots out bursts of electricity. There are a number of doors around Arkham City that need electrical currents to open them, and that’s where this particular gadget comes into play. It can also be used to temporarily disable enemies. Some other new gadgets include: a sonic baterang(which will distract nearby enemies), and an ice blast grenade(which can be used to close up steam pipes and can be used to make a platform when thrown into water). Some of Batman’s existing gadgets return and can be given upgrades by completing tutorials throughout Arkham City. And the cryptograghic encrypter has gotten a major over hall and is now used as a radio frequency detector and has made hacking into devices a lot more fun.
Bad Things:
If there is one complaint about Arkham City, it’s that you can’t play as Robin and Night Wing in Arkham City. I’m hoping that Rocksteady will release some story DLC that will feature either Robin or Night Wing, or both perhaps? Maybe? Please?
Conclusion:
You can’t really ask for a better game than Arkham City. It had a great story, wonderful gameplay, and some great voice acting featuring the talents once again of Kevin Conroy as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Mark Hamill as the Joker, and Stana Katic as Talia al Ghul(for those who do not know, Stana Katic is currently a star on ABC’s Castle, co-starring the always awesome Nathan Fillion). Expect to see this game to be highly considered for game of the year. It certainly has my vote.
All right guys. That does it for me for now. Next month I will be reviewing Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition. Stay tuned guys.
Laterz!!
Quick Memo.
Hey guys,
Just wanted to let ya’ll know that my game review for the month of November will be a little late. As you may know, Batman: Arkham City just came out on October 18th. I recently picked up a copy of it and am making my way through the story mode. To say the least, the game is amazing so far and so I will be reviewing Arkham City for the month of November, but I need a little more time to complete the story to give it an accurate review. Sorry I don’t have the time to just have a marathon gaming session, I have a day job.
Anyway, just wanted to let y’all know.
Laterz!!
Game Review: Batman Arkham Asylum
What’s up guys? It is a start to a new month and you all know what that means? Right? Really? No? Ok, well I’ll tell what that means. It’s game review time!!!!! Woohoo!!
Anyway, it is the month of October and one of this months big game releases is Batman Arkham City. And in celebration of said game release, this months game review will be for Arkham City’s predecessor, Batman Arkham Asylum. Ready? Alright! Here we go!!
Short Story:
Batman has finally captured the Joker has taken him to Arkham Asylum, with the Joker going quietly and going down without a fight. To say the least, Batman is suspicious. He finds that his suspicions were correct because as the Joker is being prepped for incarceration, he escapes into the Asylum and completely takes it over causing all kinds of Hell. Now, Batman must venture into the asylum facing some of his most dangerous enemies, including Bane, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, and of course The Joker, and bring justice back to Arkham Asylum.
Score:
To say that Batman Arkham Asylum was a great game would be an understatement. Finally, a game developer did something right with the Batman game franchise and made a game with an incredibly in depth story and fluid game and combat engine. Throw in the awesome voice talents of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprising their respective roles of Batman and the Joker and you’ve got yourself a damn near perfect game. Batman Arkham Asylum gets the score of a 4.9 out of 5.
Body of Review:
Gameplay:
Arkham Asylum plays like a dream. By using the Unreal Game Engine, Rocksteady Games, who developed the game, has made one of the most fluid combat engine I’ve ever seen in an action adventure game. The way that Batman’s combos and counters flow together is a dream come true. If there is one thing I’ve never liked about past Batman video game titles(besides Batman Forever for the Super NES) it has to be the game engines in those games. So great job Rocksteady.
Story:
Arkham Asylum had one of the best stories I had ever played through in a game. Being able to find collectables in the game that give the back story on the island and pretty much every villain in the Batman universe. Along with that, the overall story is incredible. As you make your way through the asylum, you learn more about the inner workings of Arkham, and, thanks to Scarecrow, you see how tormented Bruce Wayne is about his parents’ murder. You throw in the Joker’s plot to take over Arkham Island and you’ve got yourself a great story.
Bad Things:
Although I’ve been speaking highly of this game thus far, there were a couple of things about it I wasn’t fond of. Primarily, the boss fight against Killer Croc. In every other boss fight in Arkham Asylum, you actually fight the villain. With Killer Croc, you roam around the sewers looking for spores to help prevent what Poison Ivy had done. Now, if you move to fast on the wooden crates floating in the water, Killer Croc will jump up a little ways behind you or on the side of you and begin to charge you. All you have to do to prevent Croc from pulling you under is to just hit him with a Baterang and he goes back under water. Then after you’ve collected enough spores, you have to avoid Croc one more time at the entrance to the sewers by exploding a floor just as he runs over it causing him to fall down a deep cavern. Very exciting. Not.
Anyway, the other thing that bothered me was with the fighting system every now and then. I know I said that the game engine is incredible in this game, and it is. With that said, when you are taking on a large group of enemies at one time, it can be difficult to keep you combo going. Every now and then, Batman will just attack to nothing when you want him to jump from one enemy to another. But other than that, I really have no other complaints.
Conclusion:
All in all, Arkham Asylum was an absolute delight to play. I really can’t wait for Arkham City to come out a little later this month. It’s looking incredible and the added bonus of being able to play as Catwoman in the campaign and also being able to play as both Robin and now recently announced Nightwing in the challenges section of on the game, it’s shaping up to be a great game. I personally can’t wait.
Well, till next time, Happy Gaming everyone!!
Game Review: L. A. Noire
Well guys, the time has come. It’s time for my very first game review on the OMBG site. I know I originally said that I would post reviews at the end of the month, but I lost track of time. : / Sorry. So lets just have me post a review on the start of each month! Sound better? Cool! Well, lets get going!
Short Summary:
L.A. Noire is Rockstar’s latest release and takes place in 1947 Los Angeles. You play as Cole Phelps, a WWII veteran who returns home to his wife and family and becomes a police officer in the LAPD. Throughout the story, you work your way through the ranks from a street cop to a detective in the LAPD’s Vice desk by gathering evidence, interviewing suspects, and making arrests.
Score:
L. A. Noire was an amazingly fun game to play. With a compelling story and a revolutionary new 3D character model creation, it’s certainly one of my picks for game of the year. With that said, L.A. Noire receives the score of a 4.5 out of 5.
Body of Review:
Game Play:
L. A. Noire pretty much plays like any other Rockstar game. So basically, if you are familiar with the game engine of Red Dead Redemption or GTA 4, you’ll catch on to L. A. Noire pretty fast.
Look of the Game:
The game featured state of the art motion capturing cameras that filmed the voice actors faces while they did their lines to capture the actor’s facial expressions. So for the first time that I’ve ever seen in a game, the character models in the game are actually based off of the actors who play them. This is easily the coolest thing in a video game that I have ever seen. Like I said earlier, your character is a police detective and the main objective is to interrogate suspects in order to arrest the culprit. In order to do so, you have to be able to tell if a suspect is lying or telling the truth. This is where the 3D motion capture comes into play. With this new technique, you can see facial expressions, shifty eyes, and uncertain looks on the suspects faces. All of which can be used to determine if the person being questioned is telling the truth or not. To be completely honest, it can be a little creepy because it’s so lifelike.
But perhaps L. A. Noire’s biggest star is the city of Los Angeles itself. It’s almost like Rockstar went back in time to 1947 L.A. and copied every part of the city and put it in the game. The landscape is awesome to say the least. One part of the story requires you to go around to famous landmarks in the city and each one is found exactly where they actually exist in real life. Rockstar really went out of their way to ensure the players were actually in Los Angeles.
Overall Game and Story:
The overall story of the game was really good. You start out as a street cop working traffic and eventually work your way up in the ranks by solving crimes until you get to the homicide desk. Then you solve murders until you get promoted to the Vice desk, which deals primarily with narcotics. Then at the end of the second act Cole Phelps goes through a character downfall in which you get demoted to the arson desk where you spend act three trying to redeem yourself as a police detective and a person. All the while you see flashbacks from when you were in WWII and find out what happened to Cole Phelps in the war and how he becomes a decorated war hero.
The game was very fun to play, especially the parts where you are looking through crime scenes gathering evidence, examining murder victim’s bodies and interrogating suspects. The amount of detail the bodies had when gathering evidence was pretty cool if you ask me.
Each desk you get assigned to will give you a different partner. Which comes in pretty handy when you need to go somewhere in the city. Unlike GTA or Red Dead, LA Noire won’t allow you to set a way point to your destination, and the city streets of LA can be pretty confusing. Luckily, your partner always know which way to got. You can either drive the car yourself and ask your partner for directions or you can just hold down the Y button, which is used to get in and out of cars, and your partner will drive to the destination. If there is some dialogue that needs to be said during the ride, it will be said and then you will skip to your destination. I really liked this option because I’m a horrible driver in both real life and in video games. The only time you can have your partner drive is when you are in a high speed car chase though.
Something that was really different about this game compared to other Rockstar games is that it’s not as open as Red Dead or GTA. It’s a very linear game. A mission, or case in the matter of LA Noire, goes like this: get your orders from your CO, go to a crime scene, gather evidence, determine person(s) of interest, interrogate said person(s) of interest, and finally make an arrest based on the evidence you’ve gathered. That’s pretty much it. You can choose to solve a street crime during the main case if you want to, but if you don’t, it won’t change anything about the outcome of the game. Another thing is that you can’t harm civilians. You are a good guy the entire game. You can’t even hit pedestrians with your car, they will just run or dive out of the way. That actually kinda bums me out, because I thought that was one of the better parts of Red Dead and GTA. But what can you do?
Conclusion:
All in all, LA Noire was an amazing game. The new motion capture technique along with the story that was told was wonderful. I would not be surprised at all it LA Noire ends up being named game of the year by one the video game outlets.
Well that’s it for my first game review. If you have suggestions for my next review, please let me know. If not, I’ll let ya’ll know what next months game will be. Thanks guys!!
