Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel

Let me begin this review with a warning that I am biased as I have loved the Army of Two franchise since I first played the first game when my brother brought it home. Therefor I may seem to love this game a little too much so be warned.

We start with the bad as usual and that is a few things missing that I enjoyed from the previous games, these were but not limited to, human shields, the original aggro system and of course playing as Salem and Rios themselves. However the game quickly makes up for those small inconveniences. The good begins with weapons and operative customization which allows you not only to choose your mask but make your own (in the game and not on the stupid glitchy website) and choose the clothes your operative is wearing. Of course it keeps the feature that endeared me to Army of Two and that is thorough  weapon customization. One thing I am a sucker for is guns and customization, put them together and well I'm hooked. Army of Two being one of the few things EA has done right also helps. The story is decent although overall predictable and is long enough to keep me entertained for a few days which is a rarity in modern games especially shooters. Gameplay is still as good as the last two although as I said the original aggro system is missing and it makes it harder to outmaneuver your enemies in this one. Graphics are good although they could have done better on Salem and Rios as Rios had this IMMENSE underbite and just looked NOTHING like the previous games at all. And of Course he sounded really off as well but I can overlook that. In the end I'm giving it a

8/10

Risen

Here's the next one.



Risen was one of those games I played when they first came out then just forgot about it till much later. Recently however I got it for Christmas and just a month or so ago beat it. I'll start with the bad first which undoubtedly starts with combat. Now I have seen clunky fighting systems in my day and Risen is on that list, melee is somewhat painful to endure when fighting a humanoid enemy as they will constantly pull bullshit moves as your own mouse often does not receive input often leading to death when you were actually blocking. Other than Combat we have faces.. People in Risen look kind of ugly, and by kind of I mean the PC even breaks the main character being attractive trend games have. Now I have nothing against that but when your own character becomes an eyesore it becomes a problem. That's it for the bad now onto the good, first we have the island itself which is not as big as say The Elder Scrolls games or even GTA but every corner of the island is very detailed. Small things not relevant to anything but simply making the island a   living breathing place can often be found. The game lore is not too deep but just enough to weave you a captivating story about destruction and salvation. Graphics are pretty good (most of them as I said it was really a miss for NPCs and the PC) and the gameplay brought something most games now a days often forego for mindless adrenaline rushes and that is puzzle solving, sometimes just minor pauses in delving through a dungeon sometimes complex and mind boggling runarounds. Overall the story is satisfying and unique in it's way. The end boss fight was a little bit of a pain in the ass as a boss should be but mostly for annoying little things that the game itself suffered from (as I said the mouse controls often messed me up). But it was entertaining and I didn't beat it in a single day most games I come across now a days so I give it a

6/10

Alpha Protocol

As promised here is one of the reviews I had written in my down time


I first played Alpha Protocol the day it came out as I was a longtime fan of Obsidian (Most of Interplay's employees before Interplay went kaput) I found it a little confusing at times but the ending blew my mind, never before had my choices had SUCH an impact on the ending, I mean some of the smaller stuff I did back in Saudi Arabia (first set of missions) were distorting the end to fit the story I had played through. In one word, Awesome. While at times it pulled some punches and forced you into some classic but none the less hard choices, (without any spoilers the museum in Rome is what I am referring to). While the player character's goal remains the same the often and deep plot twists create some unique and dire obstacles that often force the player to think on their feet. Same can be said of the dialogue system it supports, like the dialogue pie wheel from the Mass Effect games and Dragon Age 2 it has a pie wheel dialogue choice system however unlike such the conversation doesn't simply pause to allow you to weigh each choice (and often keep the conversation going in absolute silence forever as the people talking just stare intensely at each other until the idiot (me) makes up my stinking mind) often forcing your mind to move quickly, NPCs often are rather deep and developed on a level some RPGs miss by a long shot and they reactions to your characters attitude and choices can be bad or good depending on their personality and the situation you are in. While the graphics aren't the best and grandest I have ever seen they are beautiful for the day they were made (perhaps still not the greatest back then as Crysis took the cake for a long time). Gameplay is stealthy which well was rare for an RPG as the closest thing we usually had was the weird hide in shadows from Baldur's Gate, the stealth belt from KotoR and of course The Elder Scrolls games laughable unrealistic stealth, all of which made us feel less like a ninja and more like an idiot. Of course the stealth mechanics are not on the same level of say Splinter Cell or other such games (we must remember it is and RPG) but it delivers a more satisfying sneaky feeling than aforementioned games did. Personally I would give it a 7/10 if not for the terrible lack of attention the PC version got which made the hacking computers mini game nigh impossible therefore she only gets a

6/10

Problems

Well it's been quite awhile since my last post due to a family crisis of my dad dying this month and all but 2 of my 12 (eesh I know) siblings coming down for the funeral. So far my life has been off the rails and I am still waiting for the wheels to connect to the tracks again so I can get back to normal, well about as normal as MY life can get. I have plinked and plonked at a few games (Army of Two the Devils Cartel, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Dawn of War II, Call of Duty Black Ops 2, Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires and a quick playthrough of Far Cry 3) plus just some leisurely time of relaxation of returning to Skyrim and Fallout New Vegas. Currently I am playing through Oblivion (The only Elder Scrolls game I have not beaten all the way through) and I plan on finally getting through Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. I've also given up on Mass Effect, possibly forever. I don't know just EA has really destroyed Bioware for me. I beat LotR Battle for Middle Earth 2 as I was very young last time I played it and forgot it existed as well as Command and Conquer 3 (and just decided 4 was not worth my time within the first 10 minutes of playing a skirmish, it just sucked that much but I stopped expecting quality from EA a looooong time ago). I have a few reviews written (over the course of the past month pretty much one paragraph at a time) but not uploaded I will upload one a day starting tomorrow until I am out of them but by then I should have finished the games listed above so I may be able to get back to writing one atleast a week if not a day or every other day.

A quickie

As my Birthday rapidly approaches a single question lingers on my mind,: What to get?

Now unlike many other people I always pick out all my gifts, why? Because I am not a fan of surprises nor do I like getting clothes instead of something awesome. This year however only one game is the to get or not to get and that is, wait for it..... Aliens: Colonial Marines, That's right. I have been waiting for this every since I first saw a small teaser add waaaayy back in like 2007 before it was scrapped then rebooted then scrapped and now finally rebooted by gearbox (I LOVE YOU GEARBOX I WOULD HAVE YOUR BABIES IF THAT WAS HUMANELY POSSIBLE) anyways, the question becomes... is it re playable or something I should just rent of Gamefly every now and then. Another question is PC or Xbox 360? So many decisions, the pros and cons of each add up


Xbox 360 Pros:
No worry about graphics as it is a console.
No hassle about it taking up an assload of memory on my hard drive.
Maybe splitscreen co-op.
Xbox 360 Cons:
No free online multiplayer.
No Steam :(.



PC Pros:
STEAM :D.
Free online multiplayer.
Much better graphics (if my pc can handle them which is my main worry)

PC Cons:
No splitcreen co-op :(.
It taking up alot of memory on my poor little overworked hard drive.
Worry about graphics.


Other than this it looks as if I am 8/10 most likely going to get it, the only question is, is for what system?

M.I.A.

Been a long month, truthfully I don't know why but I hit a very very large pit of depression and laziness x_x probably because I am really missing someone alot. Not much to write down just my usual retreat to familiar games like Fallout and Baldur's Gate. Alien Colonial Marines comes out 2 days after my b-day so I am pretty stoked for that, as well as dragonborn FINALLY coming out for the pc (fuck you bethesda seriously). Anyways I need some decent food then it is finally my bed time.

UGH

well everything has been so busy I haven't had time to write anything down, lately I have been playing Star Wars the Old Republic in my free time. not much to say.... sorry guys