These Uncharted 3 videos will wet your pants

Oh so wet.....

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A collection of what's hot in 2011

2010 is almost done and it hasn't been a great year for gamers but there seems to be light in 2011. Here are the trailers for already confirmed games coming out in 2011. Be warned, you might need a change of pants!

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Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty - Campaign Mode

I do not have a deep passion for Real Time Strategy games. I hate waiting for resources to mine themselves and I loathe waiting for building to come up, but it all changes when I tried, and subsequently fell in love with Starcraft 2, the campaign at least.

Every gamers should need no introduction to the long anticipated sequel of the Korean-loved Starcraft, which came out 12 years ago. This review will be solely on the campaign mode for I have yet to find people to lose to online. Doubters who have initially played the game and complained that not much has changed in Starcraft 2 which took 12 years to perfect except for the upgraded graphic and a few mechanic tweaks. For a casual gamers who just wants to play a good game, the campaign mode of Starcraft 2 is the perfect hobby you can pick up for around 20 hours, and more.

Liked

The lack of wait time - Starcraft 2 campaign often puts you in the thick of the action with important buildings and units already up and working. Unlike other RTS games, action is fast from the start and there is rarely time for you to rest and wait for your workers to pile up enough resources and slowly build up from scratch. With the long wait for resources and building buildings somewhat gone, I rarely have time to make coffee between buildings now.

The varied mission - The 20 over missions found in the campaign are varied. Each mission usually sent you to different place to do different thing to keep the game fresh. You hardly have to do the same ol thing like mine, wait, build, wait, train, wait, rush, die, train and wait again. The missions are rarely bored and most of the time fun and exciting.

The aptly timed introduction of units - Each mission will give you a new units to play around with and each unit introduced has its own specialty and uses. It keeps the momentum of the game at a good pace and a breath of fresh air each mission. It also will have you thinking just one mission so I can try out that unit. By the time you stop thinking that, you will have to go to work and sleep. 

The RPG element - You will earn credits and technology points for each mission. The credits will be used to  upgrade your units on various elements which includes attack style, defense points etc. The tech points, on the other hand, may allow you to build special units or buildings. Every upgrade is interesting and really adds the usefulness of each units. You will not have enough points for every units but you will definitely have enough for your favourite units. This upgrading thingy will also keep you up because you will want to try your unit out after upgrading and promise to play just one more mission. It does not work that way.

The Last Mission - I liked the finale and how it is planned out. I lost the first time. People have been laughing at me for that but the last mission is thick in action and require your outmost concentration, attention and wit and when you did win, its a great satisfaction, much better than................

The Action - The upgraded graphic really gives more sensation during the warring moment of the game. Each encounters with the enemies units is thick, exciting and powerful. For instance, the Battlecruiser's laser beam in Starcraft seems weak and lazy sounding but seems way more powerful in Starcraft 2. A battlecruisers' war in Starcraft 2 would wreck havoc across the screen unlike children playing laser pointers in Starcraft Uno. The action scenes in Starcraft 2 will lures action lovers.

Hated

The Ending - A lot of people liked the ending and really made them anticipate the planned expansion, The Heart of The Swarm but I find the ending lacklustre with too short a cutscene. It's a straight forward storyline with an DUH twist. I find it anti-climax to fight so long and defended through thick and thin against the Zerg to be treated to less than 10 minutes of awesome cutscenes. It's like eating a hot ice-cream after a great satisfying steak but its still a good fight.

It could have been longer - I loved the campaign and I wish it can be just a bit longer but I guess the novelty of new units and varied missions would have wore off by then.

There is still a tiny wait for minerals collection - Sometimes, I did wait, for a while but the waiting became considerably less when I upgraded my command center to produce 2 SCVs at once. After that, I just piled up the SCVs and the waiting never happened again. It's not so much of an issue but just to clear up that there is a bit of waiting found in Starcraft 2 if that ever is a problem to you.

The thought of not playing Terran in the expansion - I used to like Terran but they suck. Starcraft 2 made me love Terran, especially after the almighty upgrades and would not want to switch at all. Therefore, the thought of solely playing Zerg in the next expansion had made me scared, terrified. Please, let me shoot Zerg with marines and marauders in the coming campaign.

The Bottom Line

Starcraft 2 is a great game that everyone who claims to like gaming should play. The action is thick, the storyline is well told, though a bit linear with a short, unsatisfying ending, and the last mission is spot on. Each and every mission feels fresh and I have rarely felt bored during my 20 over hours of gameplay. The Bottom Line is chances are, you will like the campaign mode of Starcraft 2

People who should play the campaign mode 

- Those who love RTS, RPG and even actions games.

- Those who likes space fantasy stories

- Those who likes ordering tough looking, gun wielding people around

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Gamin'shopping: September Issue

It's been a while since I went game shopping. My buying option has also significantly dropped because of this

The rings that geeks hate.

I popped into the shop today not being able to see anything interesting but days ahead seems to be quite exciting. A quick search on the Google filled up my quota for September and October (and consequently sent me to a month of diet).

Click here to see the game of September, due out end of September and here for the October's. With good internet connection and a red-ringed 360, these are definitely the games to buy. Now, I just have to grind with older games till then.

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Dragon Age II Announced

It was recently officially announced that the sequel to one of last year's best game, Dragon Age is coming. And boy, it's coming pretty soon. March 2011 soon.

Now from what I've gathered from various gaming sites, the game will have you playing as a human character named Hawke. Of course, being a Bioware game, I have no doubt that you will be able to fully customize you character's look or even gender, but part of what made me play Dragon Age: Origins numerous times was to play it as a different race if only to see how the different NPC in the game will react to your ancestral lineage. Still, Bioware managed to make an excellent game in Mass Effect 2 despite the changes they made to the series, so I'll save my worries and reserve judgement till I actually play the game myself.

There are more details on the game's official site, or if you're just lazy to click, I've posted them here for your reading pleasure:

Experience the epic sequel to the 2009 Game of the Year from the critically acclaimed makers of Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2. You are one of the few who escaped the destruction of your home. Now, forced to fight for survival in an ever-changing world, you must gather the deadliest of allies, amass fame and fortune, and seal your place in history. This is the story of how the world changed forever. The legend of your Rise to Power begins now.

Key Features:

• Embark upon an all-new adventure that takes place across an entire decade and shapes itself around every decision you make.
• Determine your rise to power from a destitute refugee to the revered champion of the land.
• Think like a general and fight like a Spartan with dynamic new combat mechanics that put you right in the heart of battle whether you are a mage, rogue, or warrior.
• Go deeper into the world of Dragon Age with an entirely new cinematic experience that grabs hold of you from the beginning and never lets go.
• Discover a whole realm rendered in stunning detail with updated graphics and a new visual style.

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What to Watch - July Edition

July may just be another month where we live, but it's right in the mid of summer over in the States. So what does this have to do with video games? Why, it's the Summer of Arcade season of course - Microsoft's push for some of the best download only games that has been a thing since the last couple of years. In 2008, there was Geometry Wars 2 and Braid, last year was the superb Shadow Complex and 'Splosion Man, so let's check out what this year has to offer.

Puzzle Quest 2

I'll put this out first since it's not technically a Summer of Arcade release. It has been released in the US last week, but people in countries like me will unfortunately have to wait a little longer than usual. While I initially thought that the formula in Puzzle Quest wouldn't work a second time, the developers has made some incremental changes for Puzzle Quest 2 that makes it seem different enough and that is enough to get me all excited about this game once more.

Puzzle Quest like never before

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair

A new 2D Castlevania is enough reason to celebrate, so a 2D Castlevania in HD is easily worth throwing a party over. Also in the game is a 6 player online mode which I'm curious how it'll work. Fortunately, I won't have to wait long to find out.

All this space is HD

Limbo

Though at the front it looks to be a plain 'ol side scroller in the veins of Mario, the visual style and premise of the game makes it far more interesting than it would've been had it not made this way. This game has got to be the most aesthetically interesting game I've seen in a while, but it's hard to see why in just a screenshot. So here's a video of the game in motion.

DeathSpank

Honestly, how can a game named DeathSpank not be good. But if that's not enough, DeathSpank is a dungeon crawler RPG likened to Torchlight, but funny. As this is a brainchild of famed Monkey Island co-creator Ron Gilbert, it's hard to argue on the funny part.

Spank your enemies dead!

Monday Night Combat

This is a class-based third-person shooter that seems to me like a cross between Unreal and Team Fortress. It's the game that I'm the least interested out of the bunch I listed, but only because of it's online-only nature. If competitive multiplayer is your thing though, you should probably keep an eye on Monday Night Combat.

Combat!

[edit] Correction. Monday Night Combat does have offline play via split-screen. We apologize for the mistake.

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Microsoft to initiate Project Kinetic

On one hand, Microsoft have a pretty awesome idea bringing gamers into a world of free movement. On the other hand, they screwed it up by naming it Kinect!! What is wrong with Project Natal? It's probably a bit of exaggeration on my part but why the change when Natal sounds cool and exotic?

 Let's name is something like that, but not that.

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The Mortal Kombat reboot story

There's a little Mortal Kombat craze being started up recently with the emergence of a totally unanticipated tease trailer spawning up on Youtube under the account MortalKombatRebirth. The news was picked up by Kotaku, which at that time, has no clue about what the video represented. Is it a game trailer, a movie reboot trailer or a fan-made trailer? All the helis, Kungfu and head-chewing seemed all too much for a fan-made movie but we did have some good stuff back in Metal Gear Philanthropy  Anyway, here is this overly long teaser (which make you think if this is really a teaser?). It is definitely worth a look but it still bears the questions "What the hell is this for?"

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Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening

I've recently finished the expansion pack to the game which I think has got to be the game that I've played for the longest time ever. So you know, I really love me some Dragon Age. Awakening picks up right after the events of Origins, but takes place on different part of Ferelden. So, you'll be exploring a completely new map.

You can import your character from the first game or create a new warden which immediately starts at level 18. Interestingly, should you start a new character, you will be a Warden from the neighbouring country of Orlais and the locals will be a little skeptical towards you, whereas your imported character will be lauded as the Hero of Ferelden.

There be DRAGONS in this game!

Among the new additions in the expansion are an expanded set of talents for each class, a higher tier of equipments (now goes up to level 9), rune crafting, armour enchantment, and you will now have the option to re-spec your character at any time. You'll also spend the time in Amaranthine with an all new cast of companions, and 1 old one. From a gameplay perspective, the additions are standard expansion stuff. It makes the best of what already works and give a little more.

Over the last 100 hours or so, I've come to really love the gameplay, but the reason why I really love the game itself was my emotional attachment to the characters and the immersive world of Ferelden. This is where Awakening falls flat. Your new companions aren't as well defined as your old ones and nowhere near as interesting. You can't even initiate a conversation with them when the game doesn't want you to.

The story also lacks the somewhat epic feel that the original had. The choices you'll be making in Awakening feel weak compared to those in Origins. It's also a disappointment that they tie the story so little with your previous quest and worse still, the game retcons some crucial choices you made in Origins. For a game which emphasizes story as its own gameplay, its almost unforgivable.

And talking Darkspawns!

Most disappointing though is that all the new add-ons are only available in the Awakening game, which is actually a completely separate game (when you choose new game you'll have the options of Origins or Awakening). So you won't have those new skill sets if you were to start a new game of Origins. It's a real bummer since at most, Awakenings is only 20% the length of Origins. Also, it costs a good RM140, a mere RM20 cheaper than the much longer Origins.

Awakening did gave me a good time playing, but it's does little to add to the experience of Origins, which I still think is a better game. Unless you're really dying for new contents for Dragon Age, you can sit this one out till it's cheaper, or maybe just wait for a full-fledged sequel completely.

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God of War III Review

God of War III is a game that succeeds largely thanks to it's gorgeous visuals and the sense of scale in some of the action set pieces presented in the game. This is easily the best looking console game out there. On top of that, the game also runs at an uncompromising 60fps pretty much throughout the game. In this regard, it is truly an excellent showpiece of what the PS3 is capable of.

However, beyond the technical achievements of the game, God of War III plays no differently that the last 2 games. The combat is still as button mashy and lacks the kind of depth found in recent games like Bayonetta. The other gameplay component which is the traversal, also feels like it was ripped from its 2007 predecessor and reskinned with a new coat of paint.

It is also a shame that they felt the need to stick to the traditional locked camera angle perspectives. While this perspective arguably makes the game more cinematic, it gets in the way more often than not. I find myself dying more of falling into ledges because the camera angle makes it hard for me to measure my jumps.

Kratos, please don't be angry at me

For what it is though, it's still an enjoyable character action game. However, the mechanics of the games has surely aged. Even with a new coat of paint, no matter how good, can only take a game so far. God of War III is by no mean a bad game, but it could have been a whole lot better if the developers did not stick its age long formula by the bullet points. I can't help but to feel a little underwhelmed with Kratos' final adventure.

If you liked the rest of the series though, you'll almost certainly like this one as well. Just don't go expecting anything more from the game other than the amped up visual fidelity, which for some people is perfectly fine.

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