Little Big Planet:: A world of fun

Little Big Planet is the most refreshing game I have played all year long. It is simply a flawless master piece that will hopefully help rejuvenate the side scrolling puzzle genre. LBP is pure imagination where possibilities are endless. LBP consist of two main modes the story mode and the custom map mode. Story mode takes you around the glob in a theme adventure where you must save Little Big Planet form the evil collector. Each level consist of a series of puzzles that you must solve. The game mechanics are simply jumping, running and grabbing the many object in the world. I personally have not seen a game with such deep game play based such simple controls since the classic SNES Mario Bros. LBP created a core game play of simplicity and then added depth through excellent level design. Ever level is theme appropriately with your world location and the levels get progressively harder as you play the game. The puzzles are exciting and you feel a bit of relief when you successfully avoid falling into that pit of alligators.

As you progress through the game you unlock new clothes and stickers for your characters. The clothes are an awesome way of decorating your character appearance to yours heart desire. Stickers serve a dual purpose one being decorating your character and the world the second being placing trigger stickers in the correct location to unlock secrete paths in the level. You can also control your character emotions and poses for the pure entertainment factor or to use the camera function.

LBP also has a very in depth level creator that lets you create or recreate a wide variety of platformer and other genre of levels. The engine requires hard work and time but you can truly create some awesome things. The level creator also adds a lot of depth for some of the more hard core gamer types. LBP is one of those games where you really need to play the game in order to truly appreciate it. So instead of me going on all day why I think LBP is awesome go out and pick up LBP so you can see for yourself.

Tears for a once Great Hog

Sonic Unleashed breaks all the rules of good game design. The training missions are not only forced on you but they are bookend with horrible loading time. I don't need a whole mission to teach me how to jump. Every time I actually tried to play the game the game would freeze sonic and give me pointless tips or dialog that is unbearable to handle. It took literally 30 minutes to get through all the crap and to be able to play the first real level. By that time I was already done with the game and all hope is lost. Though the normally sonic missions had some hope of fun game play the WARE-HOG version of sonic game play just feels unnatural and annoying. I am a sonic fan and was actually looking towards this game, hence the Sonic Unleashed poster on the wall behind my desk at work. The only thing this game has got going for it is the graphics look very nice for a Wii game.

Left 4 Dead: Keeping me alive

When I first heard that a zombie mod for the half life game was under development my reaction was indifferent. I am not that much of a FPS player and Zombies are not really my thing. with that said Left 4 Dead is one of my favorite game of the year. So why does a person like myself spend $50 on zombie shooter game, the answer is L4D mixes awesome multiplayer team based game play with an addicting game design. L4D is all about the social aspect of playing the game with your friends and working as a team. Unlike most multiplayer games L4D has to be played as a team and work together. If you go run off by yourself in the game your are going to get killed. Only as a team you can complete the campaign missions and L4D wide range of difficulty levels make it interesting for a wide range of skill. L4D uses an AI director to decide the amount, type and location of enemies you will fight every time you play the game. This allows L4D to be refreshing and different each time you play. By not knowing when you will be attacked the gamer feels a rush every time they play.

L4D zombies or to be proper the "infected" also have some interesting traits which is refreshing to the genre. Normal zombie will some time rush at you making the game more excited and many events will trigger large groups of zombie all charging you while you empty as many rounds of ammo as you can while finding cover. Also the four type of special zombies will mix it up by trying to incapacitate one of your team members. Personally one of my favorite parts of the game is the music and sounds effects that changes based on the danger your in.

L4D game play follows the mechanics of keeping it easy to learn but hard to master. The one minute intro video explains all you need to know about that game and the player is not over loaded with complicated weapons. Anyone who has played an FPS game can easily pick up L4D as if it was second nature. L4D expert mode is however a different situation you need to truly be an expert in team work and strategy to pass this difficulty.

L4D online play also adds a Vs. mode which lets you play as an Infected. Playing as infected does require patients but it is still easy to learn and it is very fun to be the hunter and not the hunted for a change. L4D one draw back is the price as $50 is a lot for a mod game. L4D is a game that you truly need online friends to enjoy as playing with AI players is not nearly as fun or intense. I would highly recommend this game as it is one you can play over and over again.

Mortal Kombat Vs. DC A fight to the finish

So I am not the fighting game type at all but when I saw the combination of MK vs DC I thought why not give it a try. MK vs DC does exactly what is expected of it make a traditional fighting game with two highly franchises fighting it out. There is nothing special about MK vs. DC, there is no new game play design or incredible environments. The characters and level look good but the graphics are just par for the next gen consoles. MK vs DC is simply a game that follows a know success path and plays it safe. If your into fighting game you probably will enjoy this game otherwise don't bother picking it up.

A Leap of Faith Pays Off With Mirror's Edge

In a time when so many games play it "safe" with cookie cutter game designs and lack a unique flare, Mirror's Edge proves that being innovative is what gaming is all about. Mirror's Edge literally takes you above a city of structure, compliance and safety to a world of freedom and human spirit. In Mirror's Edge you play as a runner named Faith who has a mysterious past that is intermixed with the corruption of the city. Runners must jump from sky scrapper to sky scrapper, climb fences, walls and poles to transfer information unmonitored by the government. Normally the police ignore Runners but as the story unfolds you will encounter more and more resistance from the local law enforcement. You do have the abilities to disarm your opponent but in most cases it is better to run away from them then actually try to pick a fight.
Mirror's Edge unique 1st person view really absorbs you in the game as you run across the urban jungle. As the player you feel like it is you yourself running across these building, dodging bullets and performing crazy acrobatics. When you die by falling off a building you see what a first person view of falling off a building would look like. In Mirror's Edge you are not playing as a hero you are the hero and you get to see all the action from their eyes. Mirror's Edge level design is very strong mixing both elements of puzzle solving and platforming. Also Mirror's Edge has provide a excellent system of adding a red paint color to your next goal. This system not only blends well in to the entire color scheme of the game but it also keep the fast pace of the game moving and not leaving players completely lost.
Mirror's Edge story does falls short to the rest of the game. Mirror's Edge unique game play and game design is completely geared to you feeling a strong connection to the main character Faith. The story however is fairly predictable and it is hard to find a true connection to the characters struggles. Mirror's Edge also does lack a real multiplayer mode which could of added great depth to the game and endless possibilities. Mirror's Edge is a great game that I would recommend to any true gamer out there and will hopefully be only the first in a series of games that will continue to explore this unqiue perspective of games.

Shake It Up with the Wii (WARIO LAND: Shake It! review)

Oh no and evil viking like pirate has captured a princess quick someone call Mario.......what Mario is on vacation......well lets get Wario then. Wario Land: Shake It! is one of the first Wii games that actually uses the Wii remote as designed. Wario Land uses the Wii remote horizontal set up with the 1, 2 buttons acting as your old school NES A and B. The controls are simple use and uses the Wii motions sensor very well except a few places aka Wario's throwing ability. Wario Land does a great job modernizing the classic side scroller with 20 pretty unique levels and 5 Boss battles. However for a 50 dollar Wii game Wario Land is a very short game that has very little replay value. Figure only about 5 to 6 hours of gameplay if you dont stop to unlock all the treasures and only an additional 2 hours if you want to unlock everything. Also Wario Land Shake It! theme for having to shake enemies and money bags for coins is just more tideus then fun. Why again to I have to paralize an enemy then shake him just to get life from him. Wario Land! Shake is a decent rent but a poor buy, however I do hope Nintendo will continue down this route of the modernized side scroller as there is great potential.

DE_BLOB lacks structure

De Blob is all about bringing color back to the world and stopping the evil Ink cooperation. De Blob is a game for the whole family which personally get points in my book however De Blob takes casual gaming to the fullest. You basically use one button to lock on the enemy flick the Wii remote to jump and attack enemies and the joy stick to move. There are no combo attacks or boss battles which leads to the game feeling horrible dull. De Blob should of followed such platformers as Mario 64 and Ratchet and Clank to provide a more fulling experience for the player. De Blob does have an amusning story line with a very well themed color and sounds platte. De Blob also does a great job of giving the player small missions to help them reach the bigger goal of completing the level. In short De Blob game is so simple that I perdict even most elementry kids will be bored with it.

007 Quantum of Solace not so Solid.

So I rented Quantum of Solace simply because i read a few reviews saying it was the best bond game sense Golden Eye. Well reading is apparently for loser as Quantum of Solace was played for about 20 mins before me and my friend decided we should stop wasting are life. Let me summarize my review in one sentence, Quantum of Solace has out of date graphics, clunky controls and no local multiplayer which together equals epic FAIL. I would write more but this game does not even deserve that.

STAR WARS FORCE UNLEASHED (review)

Is the force strong with this one. In Star Wars Force Unleashed you play as Darth Vader's secret apprentice in a time when the Empire has replaced the Old republic and it is good to be a baddy. Force Unleashed is not about pretty light saber battles or smart tactics it is simply about using your overly powered force powers (steroids *cough cough*) to cause as much destruction as possible.

In Force Unleash you travel to many new and classic Star War Planets where you get a front row seat to the expansion of the Empire and Birth of the rebellion. Honestly I was more excited to just finish the level to get the next puzzle piece of the story line then anything else. The in between mobs of grunt characters I created a boring repetitive task that made me wish I had the game on easy so my force power would be that much more awesome.

Where Force Unleash really fail was the poorly structure enemy AI. Enemies of higher difficulty did not get smarter but just had more HP. My thought processes is this I am a super powerful with the force with I can rip Tie Fighters out of the Sky I don't see why I can't kill Storm troopers with a single attack.

At the end of every level you have a light saber duel with a rival Jedi which in short lets you kick some serious butt with a combo of block then using force lighting then block again. The boss AI is way better then the normal grunt AI yet still nothing special. Like the rest of the game play boss battle are okay but nothing special.

So apparently who ever did QA for this game needs to go back to the Jedi Academy. Without even trying I easily found about 15 or so bugs in the game consisting of everything from getting stuck in walls, walking on air and even fighting a Rag Doll Sith. In short when I have to force fully (lol I like puns) kill myself to continue playing the game someone has at Lucas Arts has failed.

All in all Force Unleshed does have an excellent story that fits nicely in the Star Wars time line and the enviroments are amazing making this game not great but enjoyable.

Gamer Face Report 1

Here is the first Gamer Face Report. This is still a work in progress so please let me know what you think. Enjoy the video :)