What Infinity takes from Zero is just about everything but the engaging plotline, and it replaces that with scorechasing and big numbers. I like big numbers.

The removal of the story element was confusing to me until I jumped into the gameplay of Infinity itself and realised that I was playing a game that could stand up on just its gameplay and artstyle. The entirety of Infinity is pure mechanics and that works for it in surprising ways.

Whilst there might not be a driving story behind it, if you’re a fan of Strike Suit Zero then you’ll be able to jump into this game straight away, and if you’re just testing the waters of space combat then there’s a short but helpful tutorial.

It’s all about the combos you can rack up and the points you can score. Infinity doesn’t guide you through a story, it instead pits you against waves of enemies that get progressively harder. The challenge is to see how long you can last and how high a score you can set, which gives it a very heavy arcade feel.

As you play more of Infinity and rack up higher scores, you’ll unlock more perks for your ship as well as more ships for you to attempt each run in. Each ship has a flux meter that charges as you blow stuff up, and at the tap of a button you can switch modes into a highly-destructive mech which drains your flux meter whilst it’s active.

When you change out into mech mode it can be a real game changer as you get temporary access to powerful weapons and fast dodging manoeuvrability. Deploying your mech mode and making use of your flux meter appropriately will often be what saves you from being destroyed by the oncoming hoards of enemies.

The biggest difference in gameplay between this and Strike Suit Zero is the reinforcements that you can buy with credits. These autonomous AI are normally flying around, but as you complete waves you can earn credits that can then be spent on more proliferant and more powerful reinforcements to help back you up and keep you alive for as long as possible, all the while they’ll be scoring points for you.

You can also spend your credits on upgrading the AI pilots, though it isn’t specified exactly what upgrading them will do. Whether it’s additional health and shields for their spacecraft, or just improved AI for better dodging and return fire, it definitely seems that they have increased longevity but whether that changes their overall effectiveness remains to be seen.

I tried playing Infinity with a joystick, a 360 gamepad and my keyboard and mouse, and the controls occasionally left something to be desired. Whilst they’re not complicated controls, they do require a certain level of finesse that might be difficult for people who are new to the genre. The gamepad was definitely the easiest to use, but it was a lot more immersive and fun whilst I was using the joystick.

The flight controls can be a little bit jerky at times, but the rest of the time they’re perfect. Once you’re used to how turning works on the 3D plane, you can really get into the game. There is still a problem however in the initial period for people who aren’t used to this sort of gameplay, especially as Infinity throws you straight into the thick of things after a short tutorial. If you don’t learn fast, then you’ll get left behind.

It might have only come out yesterday, but I’ve been thoroughly engrossed in playing it and trying to set a high score that none of my friends will be able to beat, which has proven to be quite the difficult task. Though whilst I’m constantly scorechasing, it’s hard to set myself against a target as there are only leaderboards for me to try and beat, when I’m just trying to beat my friends.

A quick bit of searching gets around this, but I can’t help but feel that they could have made it a bit easier for groups of friends to set up personal leaderboards and such. Once you’re in-game, it’s easy to forget about scores other than your own.

At its heart, Infinity is just Strike Suit Zero-lite. If you want a new space-combat game, then I can whole-heartedly recommend that you pick up Infinity or Zero. If you played Zero and are chomping at the bit for more, then definitely buy Infinity because it is essentially more of that. It retails at $6.99/£4.99 so it’s not exactly a huge investment for people who are just looking for something new and interesting to play.

My final score for Infinity is an 8.5/10. Whilst it’s a gorgeous title with some great music, there’s an entry barrier for new users that is hard to get around sometimes, and the tutorial could do with being a bit more in-depth to help compensate for that. Also, whilst I don’t think that a game like this should be easy, it does seem to be a little bit -too- difficult in places. This game would have benefitted greatly from a smoother difficulty curve.

Why an 8.5, though? Lets’ look at the board.

Gameplay: 7/10
Whilst the gameplay is solid for a space combat game, it seems that you’re not given enough time to acclimatise yourself to exactly how Infinity plays or the enemies that it’s going to throw at you.

The actual dogfighting is completely excellent, with the AI written so that you don’t chase each other in circles endlessly, but unless you’re accustomed to exactly how the ships move then you’ll frequently find yourself flying at nothing whilst the quick, agile enemy craft just zip about doing their own thing.

Graphics: 10/10
Drop dead gorgeous doesn’t even begin to do justice for the amazing visuals that Born Ready Games have put together for this game. No matter what ship you’re flying or where you’re playing, you’ll always be amazed by the stunning backdrops and detailed craft fly around.

Sound: 10/10
As with the graphics, the sound for Strike Suit Infinity is also absolutely amazing. Paul Ruskay OST for the game is jaw dropping, especially when you hear the main theme featuring the incredibly talented Kokia.

There’s a serious fusion of futuristic Western style techno with the elegant Eastern tones from Kokia which makes for an amazing blend of style culminating in some incredible tracks.

Presentation: 8/10
The way everything is put together is excellent, but a few of the menus can be difficult to navigate when using a gamepad or joystick.

Value: 9/10
At just £4.99/$6.99, it’s not expensive at all. For those of you who want more Strike Suit or just a brilliant take on the old space combat genre, you’re getting a great deal. The scorechasing element means that you’ve got hundreds of potential hours in gameplay.

Verdict: 8.5/10
It’s not a perfect game, but what is? Strike Suit Infinity is nigh-on perfect in the sound and visual department, but it’s let down a little bit by the slightly difficult controls and occasional problems with menu navigation.

Ultimately the only thing it’s lacking is a small story element to give you a reason to be doing any of the scorechasing.

I feel that they missed out on an opportunity to use Infinity with Strike Suit Zero, by integrating it as another part to the original game. It might sound strange, but imagine if hitting certain goals in Infinity would unlock new ships or weapons on Zero and vice-versa?

The post Review: Strike Suit Infinity appeared first on SegmentNext.

It was after Deep Silver expressly announced Riptide as a separate disk based release that the players finally let go their perception of Dead Island Riptide as an expansion and took it as a sequel to the original Dead Island.

It turns out that the players’ initial impressions for the title were right all along.

While the game advances previous game’s narrative, Dead Island Riptide comes off more like an expansion to the original title than a full-fledged sequel.

The story of Riptide takes place right after the end of Dead Island with the five survivors of the last game, en route to freedom after escaping the fictional island of Banoi via helicopter. After an attempt at refueling on an aircraft carrier goes wrong, the survivors find themselves back on an island infested with the undead.

Stranded on this new island are the returning protagonists; Logan Carter, Purna, Sam B and Xian Mei as well as a new face in shape of a military vet; John Morgan.

While the game does a sufficient job of summarizing the events of the previous game via a recap at the very beginning, the inclusion of new character is a commendable addition as he provides are fresh perspective to the narrative that is beneficial for anyone who had skipped the original Dead Island and has jumped into Riptide without much context.

However, those who are not in the loop about the lore of Dead Island would not feel overwhelmed while playing Riptide as its story, much like its predecessor, is clearly an afterthought.

Though Riptide does a slightly better job of keeping focus on the main storyline, its execution is no better than what players encountered in Dead Island. The series continues its trend of narrative exposition through campy dialogues and reliance on stereotypes to create diversity.

Things follow a similar trend in the gamplay front as well.

Aside from a few scant changes, the developer; Techland has essentially given us the same game, now wrapped in a cover of a monsoon hit island of Palanoi.

Riptide still features the same action RPG, survival horror gameplay that was featured in the previous Dead Island. As before, the gameplay is a mix of systems found in Elder Scrolls and Borderlands games. Though the execution is not nearly as polished as that offered by the games that inspires the series’ game style.

As was the case in the previous game, the gamplay is firmly focused on a perpetual cycling through scavenging, killing and upgrading; rinse and repeat. Even where the game seems to offer a reprieve from the repetition, the side missions like companion and fetch quests also eventually boil down the same grind.

Riptide does offer a variety of zombie types to change up the gamplay routine, these include the series staple; Walkers, Thugs, Infected as well as Floaters, Grenadiers and Wrestlers which are new to the monsoon hit setting of the sequel.

However, even with the variety of enemies found in the game, the method of executing them remains more or less the same. Players will spend majority of the game finding, repairing and using hand held weapons to dispose oncoming zombies in melee combat.

As with the first game, the first person melee combat is literally a hit and a miss. While disposing zombies and hacking off their limbs with blades, clubs and shovels can prove very satisfying, the lack of depth estimation that comes with the first person view makes it difficult to access the reach of different weapons and leads missing the target in crucial situations.

On the RPG side, the game features a competent skill leveling system that is broken down into Fury, Combat and Survival skill trees. Riptide also offers a wide variety of weapons and items to scavenge and scour the entire island of Palanoi that can be also upgraded for cash and the players can increase their skill for each type of weapon depending on their frequency of use.

Riptide also allows the players to import their character from the first Dead Island, a la Mass Effect series, and start off with the characters’ skills and Xp at the level where they left them off the previous game.

Traveling via vehicles is also a fairly similar experience to the prior Dead Island. Every vehicle operates the came on land and can be used to simultaneously allow faster mode of travel as well as a way to mow down groups of zombies without taking hit on health and stamina.

However, one change that creeps onto Dead Island Riptide is the inclusion of boats as a method of transport. Used to navigate across the flooded lands of the monsoon hit island, boats can be used similarly to land based vehicles on the large bodies of water occupying the island of Palanoi.

While operating the boat is no different than operating other vehicles in the game, one added issue that arrives due to their addition is when player happens to die while traveling on the boat. When such an instance happens, the location of the boat remains the same, while the player is respawned somewhere on land. This creates a situation where the player has to trudge through the slowing water to get to the boat which can result in getting mauled by surrounding zombies en route.

One change that positively impacts the gameplay relates to how enemies scale in difficult according to the level of the player. This means that while play co-op, low ranking players will find the zombies similar to their level while high ranking players will find the same zombies as leveled up according to their level, while occupying the same area.

This makes the game fun for all players while playing the co-op feature of the game, as each player can enjoy playing with teammates while facing a challenge that is neither too easy nor too over their head.

Techland has also made slight changes to the map system, which now indicates whether the objective is higher or lower than the player by adding small, upward or downward facing, arrows. While a small change, this greatly improves the navigating prowess of the map as it is better able to express the vertical aspect of the terrain during exploration activities.

On the presentation front Dead Island Riptide offers the identical level sameness in relation to the original Dead Island, as is the case with its gameplay.

Though the surroundings have been changed from a tourist resort to a lived-in, monsoon hit Island, the graphical prowess of the game is the same as that of its 1.5 year old predecessor.

Riptide is rife with technical issues like constant texture pop-ins, frame-rate dips, hit detection issues and persistent screen tearing as well as low level of detail in the environment when viewed up close, which comes up often seeing as this is a first person game.

Compounding this lack of detail in environments is the lack of good particle effects, which considering the focus of the new game is water, seems like a very poor choice.

Furthermore the addition of change in weather of the island actually hinders the immersiveness as the change comes in very abruptly as a once sunny environment can turn into torrential rain in a blink of an eye,  creating a change in environment that comes off as jerky and unnatural.

Game’s NPCs also share the similar uncanny and jittery quality as was the case in its prequel, and each character displays the same blank stare and bad lip syncing animation during conversations.

Though the game features competent sound effects in relation to weapons and zombie cries, it also features the same lack of polish in its sound design as is evident in its graphics.

While the choice of campy dialogue and stereotypical accents might be a conscious design choice, the occasional disappearance of sound effects however, is a definite issue of quality control.

It seems that Techland has not lifted a finger to correct some of the presentation issues that plagued the original Dead Island game and has perhaps consciously chosen not to address these concerns so as to deliver a quick sequel.

With a 12-15 hour long story mode, with option of going through several side missions and replaying the game in 2 to 4 player co-op,  offers a lot of gamplay value, however the factor that determines this value is whether the player enjoys what the game has to offer.

If good story, polished presentation and precise controls are your thing then Riptide is definitely not the game for you, however if you are one of the many that enjoyed the first game and/or enjoy the prospect of open world survival exploration while constantly beating on hoards of zombies with melee weapons, then  will provide hours upon hours of gameplay fun for you.

Gameplay: 8
While the melee combat is imprecise, the staple open-world action RPG gameplay that Dead Island offers is still here. The game mechanic of scavenging for money and items, as well as a fairly deep skill leveling system make Riptide’s gameplay its strongest suit.

Graphics: 6
Bland and lacking detail, the open world environments of Riptide are marred by weak graphical showing, especially during interaction with water, the element specifically given prominence in this sequel.

Sound: 6.5
As is the case with graphics, the sound design is nothing noteworthy to begin with, but occasional voice skipping further diminishes its value. Though the competent sound effects accompanying weapon use and attacking zombies makes the game’s sound quality a notch above its graphics.

Presentation: 6
Rife with Bugs and glitches that affect the spectrum of gameplay and presentation, the occurrence of technical issues is enough to cause major annoyance but not enough to make the game unplayable.

Value: 8
Along with its lengthy campaign, Riptide presents the players with myriad of weapons and items to collect and upgrade and the 2-4 player co-op feature adds a new life to the game, making it more fun and longer replayability.

Verdict: 7
To put it simply, Dead Island Riptide is more of the same. So if the first Dead Island was to your liking then Riptide will be a fun ride for you, however if the original game was not your cup of tea then this sequel offers nothing that could change your mind.

The post Dead Island Riptide Review appeared first on SegmentNext.

Brought to us from the creators of Mortal Kombat; Injustice: Gods Among Us has been touted as the DC fighting game that the world has been waiting for all these years. Foreseen as a game where the developers Nether Realm Studios have learned from the mistakes of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe and utilized their experience on 2011’s fantastic reboot of Mortal Kombat.

Has Nether Realm Studios been able to wash away the sins of its past attempt and brought the DC fighting brand to the lofty standards of Mortal Kombat?

The answer to that question is a resounding; YES.

Injustice: Gods Among Us is a worthy edition to the fighting game genre, which features rich content that satiates the needs of multiplayer and the singleplayer all while staying respectful of its source material; the DC universe.

The game features an original narrative that is set in an alternate universe where a tragedy prompts Superman and his Justice League colleagues to take over the world as an autocratic, peace keeping regime. The story features Batman and his insurgency’s efforts to overthrow the authoritarian rule of the Metahuman ‘heroes’.

Far from being a mere lip service to its source material, the story pays tribute to the ever expansive lore of the DC comics and the stories that have enthralled its fans for decades. Littered with easter eggs and call backs to DC events like Death in the Family, Kingdom Come, Sinestro Corps War and Death of Superman the story campaign is a total joy ride for any longtime fan of DC comics.

The DC lore reference reach fever pitch in another single player mode called S.T.A.R. Labs which features hundreds of different scenarios that pay homage its DC roots. Moreover the effects of the story and DC-verse resonate through other modes of the game as well, may that be options in arcade mode to the places, characters and objects in the stage backgrounds.

These details are the true testament to the fact that the developers themselves have a deep reverence, understanding and connection with the source material.

So much so that the game developers have teamed up with comic book creators at DC to feature a 13 part comic book series that acts as a prelude to the game’s narrative and chronicles the aforementioned tragedy and its aftermath.

When compared to the stories present in comics, movies and even other genres of games like RPGs and action adventures, the game’s narrative certainly lacks depth. The tale also features main plot points that have tread more than once in past comic and animated stories. However, the game’s narrative offers an unparalleled depth when compared to the alternatives present in the fighting game genre and is an effort that, at least, stands toe to toe with Nether Realm’s previous outing in 2011’s Mortal Kombat.

When it comes to the actual gameplay, the game follows the same blue print of the recent Mortal Kombat, however it does come with its own set of significant changes that stand to separate the brand as not just Mortal Komat with DC characters, but as its own beast.

Right off the bat, the game is less violent than MK games and is bound by its Teen/16 rating. So anyone expecting x-rays of cracking bones and body ripping Fatalities may be left a bit disappointed. However that is the part and parcel of working on a DC license and the studio does substitute the gore with hard hitting, over-the-top action.

On the other hand, the fighting mechanics are rooted in the system fleshed out by Mortal Kombat reboot. Injustice features the same; fast paced, rush-down gameplay contrary to the deliberate pace found in Street Fighter 4.

The fighting mechanic is more combo-heavy and juggles are a more prevalent feature of gameplay, though not to an extreme level. When compared with Capcom games, the combo-focus lies somewhere in between Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Street Fighter 4. Though those familiar with Mortal Kombat’s game style would feel right at home with Injustice.

Where Injustice deviates from the tradition of Mortal Kombat gameplay is in the myriad of deliberate changes it makes to improve gameplay in some cases and freshen it up in others.

First change that sticks out is the different control scheme.

Instead of buttons focused on punches and kicks, controls in Injustice are akin to button layout featured in games like BlazBlue; based on light, medium and heavy attacks as well as a power attack which is contextual to the character selected.

Bringing change to the control setup is the absence of Mortal Kombat staple; the block button, which is replaced by the Street Fighter standard of push back block system. Not only does this change help to distance this new Injustice franchise from Mortal Kombat series but it also helps to balance the all-out rush down nature of game with a more deliberate blocking technique.

While the button press supers and multi-tiered super meter return, the execution of EX moves is different in Injustice than what has been previously featured in modern fighting games. Though EX moves still burn one digit of super meter, they are not activated at the start of the move but after the normal move has hit the opponent. This new mechanic brings a less risky strategy to utilizing EX moves in heat of the battle.

One major change in Gods Among Us from the 2D fighting game staple is the addition of interactive environments. The stages in Injustice play a major role in the whole gameplay experience and should be considered as important as characters themselves.

Not only does each stage react to every punch, and kick dealt but characters can also interact with environments and the objects that populate them to bring additional pain to their opponents. Most stages also offer a stage interaction in the corner which helps to counter the frustrating corner-traps that plague most of the competitive Mortal Kombat gameplay sessions.

What’s more, every stage offers different objects at different places in the stage, so a strategy in one stage can differ from one in another. Moreover, these interactions can also differ according to whether the character is a power type person or a gadget-character. These contextual trimmings add a whole new layer to the gameplay experience and further the depth offered in the fighting game strategies present in the game.

Another significant change to the gameplay is in how Injustice deals with the concept of different rounds in a match. Instead of the best of 3 round system that is prevalent in current crop of fighting games, Injustice brings back the health bar system of games like Killer Instinct and Vampire Savior.

The system basically eschews the traditional round-based system where players have to win two rounds and replaces it with two health bars for each character. When a character depletes his or her opponent’s first life bar, the fight stops and resumes like a round, however the winning character keeps his current amount of health and the life bars are not reset. The character who is able to deplete both of his/her opponent’s health bars first, wins.

This health depletion dynamic brings forth the Injustice’s version of combo breakers, called “Clashes”. When the players’ characters have had one of their vitality bar depleted, they can counter their opponent’s combo by initiating Clash sequence where the players can wager different digits of their super meter against their opponents’.

If the attacker wins the wager, the opponent is dealt with higher damage and if defender comes out on top, a percentage of character’s health is replenished. The amount of reward is determined by the difference between the amounts of meter waged.

Injustice: Gods Among Us also offers new features that are helpful to causal players in learning the game and beneficial to experts in technical gameplay in professional multiplayer fights.

Some of these changes are mere additions to the user interface that make a load of difference. Things like a tutorial that familiarizes new players to terms like ‘wake-ups’, ‘reversals’ and ‘tech rolls’, a summary of special move list that is displayed at the start of pause menu (before going into the complete move list) and tagging up to six moves or combos so that their execution appears below health bar during fight, is a boon to casual players in the learning the game.

Other changes offer unprecedented ease in learning and controlling the game, the likes of which has never been seen in prior fighting games. Changes like the display in move list menu that shows move data; the type and damage of move, and frame data; the start-up and recovery timing of each move depending on whether it is hit or blocked, as well as the ability to switch to “alternative controls” so that move executions can be switched from Mortal Kombat style to Street Fighter style.

There are also features that hugely facilitate the competitive multiplayer pro-circuit that exists in the fighting game community. Every character and stage is unlocked from the beginning. Players can hide their player select cursor to eliminate counter picking; they can also change their controller schemes on character select screen.

Since each stage offers different opportunities, they may favor one style of character or gameplay style and not the other, so the ability for both players to influence which stage will be played is also a very welcome addition. What’s more, players can also disable stage transitions and interactions.

These changes help deal with problems like balance issues and time lags that can hinder the tournament operations and set ups in professional gameplay.

Most fighting games are only focused on multiplayer and totally ignore the single player aspect of the game. So it would be fair to assume that Injustice also follows the trend. However, if you are worried that Nether Realm spent all their efforts on the multiplayer component of the game, you can put your fears to rest.

Like was the case in 2011’s Mortal Kombat, Nether Realm offers a robust Singleplayer component in Injustice: Gods Among Us. The game offers five different modes of play in its singleplayer section. These include Play Story, Battles, S.T.A.R. Labs, Single Fight and Training.

While Single Fight offers is basically a quick battle mode and Training is practice mode and tutorial put together, the other three modes offer complete overhaul of the fighting game staples.

Play Story mode is reminiscent of Mortal Kombat’s story mode, which allows the players to delve into the games story with cinematic narrative providing context to each fight and its impact. Some fights are also preceded by occasional Quick Time Event mini games that can help break monotony of continuously going through fights one after another.

Battles mode is Injustice’s version of Arcade mode, however unlike the barebones; ‘fighting through the ladder of opponents’ formula featured in all games of this genre, Injustice offers 20 different variations on the classic formula.

S.T.A.R. Labs mode is another singleplayer experience, however this one features 240 different missions for the player to complete. Divided across the 24 characters, players are treated to various forms of mini-games as well as fights with contextual obstacles and objectives. Each character features a cursory story that connects his/her 10 missions.

As for the online multiplayer, Injustice: Gods Among Us offers the usual modes that are staple of the contemporary fighting games. These include Ranked battle, player battle, private match as well as King Of The Hill mode, which allows 2 players to fight while other 4 spectate the match, and the loser of the fight goes to the back of the line of players in waiting for next battle. The return of this feature from Mortal Kombat’s online mode is a welcome one as it replicates the feel of playing these games in the arcades.

The only mode missing is the 2 vs 2 tag mode present in Mortal Kombat, but looking at the amount of content Injustice currently offers, this is certainly a minor gripe.

On the presentation front, Injustice starts up with a menu that, at first glance, seems generic and bland however as you continue using it, it turns out to be elegant and non-intrusive system that focuses on function rather than flash.

Within gameplay itself, Injustice utilizes new “Inverse Kinematics” system to handle body types of various proportions, leading petite characters like Catwoman and Raven to differ greatly from the behemoths like Bane and Doomsday.

The game also utilizes multi-threaded rendering engine which allows the game to display approximately three times the amount of objects on screen at a single time than Mortal Kombat. This shows in the environments, which are filled with countless easter eggs and are home to several objects, characters, buildings and vehicles which also react to the fights, as the background crumbles and reacts to each and every blow dealt in the actual battle happening in the foreground.

While the highly detailed environments are certainly an impressive accomplishment, the character models are also quite detailed and, like Mortal Kombat, they feature dynamic battle damage however when compared to the stages, they seem somewhat less impressive.

The visual presentation also stumbles a bit in couple of instances like; similar color schemes of player 1 and player 2 characters which makes fighting mirror matches needlessly confusing. Lack of polish; like Doomsday appearing in Fortress of Solitude, even when he is being played with in the foreground, as well as effects flaws like occasional clipping and unimpressive detail in certain elements; like the bats in Batman’s entrance.

However, just like Mortal Kombat, Injustice: Gods Among Us runs on a modified Unreal Engine 3 and some of the engine’s limitations rear its ugly head. The overall presentation is held back and does not contain the graphical oomph enough to wow the eyes.

Injustice: Gods Among Us faces a similar dilemma in the audio department. While every voice actor/actress does a great performance in the story mode, and no voice seems out of place representing a cast of beloved characters; and each grunt, cry, and laugh is as crisp and clear as the punches, gunfire, explosions and clings and clangs of swords; the background music is more of an ambient nature rather than something rousing or catchy.

Injustice’s sound design is definitely competent; however there is nothing extraordinary about it.

Whereas the game certainly does not lack in the amount reasons it gives the players to return into its fray, in addition to the aforementioned slew of singleplayer modes, the game has an experience gathering leveling system through which the players can unlock new options in Battles mode, new character costumes and soundtracks.

Moreover, Nether Realm Studio also plans to release DLC characters, costumes and missions for the game which would offer additional content for players to sink their teeth into. However, as with any multiplayer game, its true longevity rests upon its ability to grab its players for the long haul and the competitive multiplayer environment it cultivates.

After all is said and done, Injustice: Gods Among Us has turned out to be a very competent contender in the fighting game genre. Whether it strikes your fancy; is more dependent on how much you like the genre rather than your fondness for the DC brand.

Gameplay: 9
Fast paced and combo heavy, Injustice takes the Mortal Kombat formula and changes it for the better. Stage interactions and multi stage transitions are novel additions which can be turned off if they don’t strike the player’s fancy. The game offers robust set of gameplay options whether one is interested in singleplayer or multiplayer component.

Graphics: 8
Dynamic lighting and destructive stages are visually pleasing. The amount of detail presented in the background is impressive and the various objects and character models are suitably detailed. Lack of polish in certain areas and some occasional visual glitches mar an otherwise admirable performance.

Sound: 8
The voice cast does an admirable job portraying the various Super heroes and villains. Sound effects of various powers, weapons, vehicles and explosive environments are also very crisp and loud. The music, while good, lacks the memorable quality found it fighters like Street Fighter franchise and King of Fighters.

Presentation: 8
While the story is nothing revolutionary, the amount of effort put into the narrative is certainly novel for a game in the ‘fighting game’ genre. The seamless transition between cutscenes to fighting in Story mode really adds to the overall experience.

On the other hand the game also offers several innovations in the use and customization of user interface which really help with the learning and competitive multiplayer aspect of the game.

Value: 9
Offering much more gameplay variety than its contemporaries; Injustice’s Story mode, 240 S.T.A.R. Labs missions, 20 Arcade mode variations and solid multiplayer options make it a game well worth its price. The only thing that can reduce its value is if some mechanic turns out to be broken and characters turn out to be unbalanced in the competitive play.

Verdict: 8.5
Injustice: Gods Among Us is a solid fighting game that is set in DC universe. A fighting game through and through, the game is not something every DC comic fan would enjoy. However it is definitely worthy of a playthrough for fans of the fighting game genre and a Must Buy for any DC fan who likes playing fighting games.

The post Injustice: Gods Among Us Review appeared first on SegmentNext.

There’s nothing quite like the first time you see the city in the sky. A utopia, some might call it. Others might venture to say that its a Garden of Eve.

I believe it to be best described as “Heaven.” One thing is for sure, it is a beautiful sight – a sight that I found myself pausing at many a moment in the game, to simply observe – to soak in. This vision of  majestic wonder would only serve as a stark contrast to later events that would unfold, resulting in a truly magnificent work of art  – art that you would be a part of.

I think that’s the true notion of this game. It is a new form of art, where the audience, the viewer, takes part in the process. Unlike movies, paintings, books and music, we’re no longer simply observing art, we’re interacting with it. Even though video games are in their infancy, as an art, I feel like games like this, are taking major leaps and serve as mere glimpses into the future of this wonderful art form.

Elizabeth in general brings a whole ‘nother level of realism to video game AI. After playing this game, it’s going to be very hard to go back to other games that feature prominent AI companions, that don’t share the same level of sophistication as Elizabeth.

I believe that, in the future, perhaps even in this upcoming generation, that AI like that will be much more abundant, once technology gets to a point where it can handle such performance heavy features en mass.

I also loved the movie-esque partnership that she had with the main character, Booker. By the concept itself, having here run around the battlefield scrounging around for ammo and salt sounds relatively mediocre. However, once you experience what it’s like to be in a fierce firefight, where you’re about to die, and you hear Elizabeth shout at you, while the camera pans around to find her throwing a vase of health at you, which immediately gets you back in the fight, as you pop the lid and chug the red, delicious health restoring liquid.

Speaking of action sequences, BioShock: Infinite is one of the few games, where I actively anticipate fighting the stronger and more unique enemy types. My favorite moment in that game, was the first time I fought a Firemen, who looks strangely similar to a Space Marine from Warhammer 40k. Well, a Steampunk Space Marine, anyways.

In his zealotry, he shouted and screamed “BATHE IN FLAME!” at me, while throwing firey, molten grenades in my general direction. After I dispatched him, after a long and arduous battle (which involved me running around like a chicken with its head cut off) he let loose one last fervorous howl, “THE FIRE CLEANSES!” and ran straight for me, while he exploded in a shower of fire and metal.

Bad ass.

Of course, for the rest of the game, I longed to engage in more fights such as that. Unfortunately, they were few and far between. Perhaps this was done intentionally, to increase the anticipation and decrease the over saturation of exposure to such fun fights.

Luckily, though, they did seem to alternate between all the “heavy hitters,” whom were all equally fun to fight. While I might have longed to hear “BURN IN THE NAME OF OUR PROPHET!” I was never disappointed to hear Steve Blum’s Iron Patriot announce, in a mechanical voice, “God judges, I act.”

While enjoyable enemy types are a large part of what makes the gameplay so much fun, the solid shooting mechanics are equally responsible. The combination of skyhook, fun weapons, and Vigors, makes for a combat experience unlike any other. Being able to hop on and off of the sky railing system at any time, while traveling at obscene speeds during intense firefights where you’re throwing “magic” and spraying bullets (or explosives) left and right, is so intense.

Because of the RPG elements in the game, it’s impossible to have everything, and play with every upgrade in one playthrough. As a result, you can drastically alter the way you play the game, every time you start a new game. This encourages multiple playthroughs, which is something you’re going to want to do, anyways, as the story is substantially more rewarding upon each and every completion.

While the story is my favorite aspect of BioShock: Infinite, it is also the only place of contention for the game. The voice acting, writing and dialogue are all penned to perfection. You’re going to love it no matter what. However, at its core, BioShock: Infinite is a game about quantum mechanics and parallel universes. If that’s a story element you simply can’t enjoy, no matter how well done, then you’re not going to enjoy the game, as it is heavily story driven.

To the games’ credit, though, the material is presented in a relatively easy to understand manner, and you don’t need a healthy understanding of quantum mechanics, in order to enjoy the story.

There is also a large element of racial, religious and capitalism commentary going on throughout the story. Now, as far as I can tell, they’re not there for the sake of pushing an agenda or portraying anything a good, or bad light. Rather, these elements are here because of the characters that reside in the setting. They needed these extreme elements, to push them to do great and terrible things.

Having said that, if you’re easily offended, or can’t handle having your beliefs shown in any negative light, then you might want to skip this game. Though, if that is the case, then you might want to think long and hard as to why that is.

Sticking true to concept of being such an artistic game, BioShock: Infinite has an immaculate art design. At every stage of the game, the setting is absolutely vibrant and wonderful to look at. Even the characters pop and stand out, yet remain completely consistent and believable in the environment in which they reside.

The art design also allows the game to look incredibly gorgeous, without being super taxing, allowing the game to stick with a crisp, clean frames per second that doesn’t ever buckle, even in the face of the roller coaster ride that is the combat.

BioShock: Infinite is a vision of what the future holds for this art form. It’s a legendary game that can’t truly be properly reviewed at this time. At its core, BioShock: Infinite is a game designed to make you think and ask questions. Indeed, it’s a social game, that has no multiplayer.

Instead, you’ll spend hours discussing the storyline with friends, which will inevitably lead you asking a myriad of sociological, cultural, theological and philosophical questions. Which is exactly what a good piece of art should do.

Gameplay: 9.5
While the actual combat and game mechanics were solid, I felt as if ‘Hard’ mode didn’t really increase the difficulty, it just slowed the pace of the game down to an irritating level.

Graphics: 10
A stunning work of art that shows you don’t need cinematic cut scenes to look beautiful and show emotional detail.

Sound: 9
Between the incredibly talented and powerful voice acting, the grinding of gears from Steampunk rocket launchers, and the historically accurate music, BioShock: Infinite sounds great. The only problem is, I’m not really a fan of the music of that era.

Presentation: 10
Ken Levine has hinted that he has spent 5 years working on this game and every second shows. Elizabeth’s AI is the very model of painstakingly polished to perfection, while the story is an emotional powerhouse that shows the merits of obsessively rewriting a script until its spotless.

Value: 8.5
The game is incredible, while boasting the capabilities and the motivation, for multiple playthroughs. Unfortunately, there is only so many times you can play a 10 hour story driven game. Though, if you count the sheer amount of time you’ll spend thinking about plot and discussing it with friends, it should provide a substantial amount of entertainment. It’s just, that’s a lot of “ifs”.

Verdict: 9
BioShock: Infinite is a priceless experience that offers a rare glimpse into the future, showcasing what this art form has the capacity for.

The post BioShock: Infinite Review – An Emotionally Engaging Story appeared first on SegmentNext.

At a time when offline multiplayer was in its decline, competitive online multiplayer was on the rise and co-op games were nowhere to be seen, Army of TWO came in the year 2008 to satiate the feeling of cooperatively finishing a game together and captivated a new generation of gamers to the joys of cooperative play.

What made the series special was that this was a time before Borderlands, Left 4 Dead, Little Big Planet, Resident Evil 5, Portal 2 and the LEGO series. Apart from Kane & Lynch there was not much that was providing a gameplay experience focused on cooperative play. While Kane & Lynch series was lukewarm at its best and died off with its second iteration Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, Army of TWO series has had moderate success and has lived on to present its third iteration; The Devil’s Cartel.

Army of TWO: The Devil’s Cartel is the latest edition in EA’s Army of TWO franchise. Unlike the previous games in the series, this one is not just developed by EA Montreal but also by Visceral Games, the developer behind the hit franchise; Dead Space.

So has Visceral Games been able propel the Army of TWO to the same heights as Dead Space? Does Devil’s Cartel match the same level of presentation and gameplay polish that was afforded by their recently released Dead Space 3?

Sadly, the answer to both of those questions is an emphatic; No.

However, a simple no would be tantamount to compare apples with oranges. While both franchises are action-based games, Dead Space’s emphasis is on delivering a horror experience whereas Army of TWO is focused on providing players with balls to the walls, action-packed co-op shooter. Therefore, it is important to judge the game on its own terms and take a look at how it performs.

Army of TWO: The Devil’s Cartel features the same bullet filled straight action romp that has been the series staple. This time, in place of Middle East, Korea or China, the game lets the players loose in the locales of Mexico. However, instead of series regular; Rios and Salem, Devil’s Cartel gives the player control of two new Trans World Operations (TWO) operatives; Alpha and Bravo.

One might ask the reason why developers would discard the characters, which fans of the series have made a connection to in the past games, in favour of anonymous grunts with clichéd codenames based on phonetic alphabets. While the change in characters is justified by the story elements presented in the game, however the generic names of the protagonists allude to the generic nature of the narrative.

As its name suggests; the story of Devil’s Cartel revolves around facing the wrath of a particular Mexican drug cartel after a rescue and escort mission goes wrong.

Army of TWO: The Devil’s Cartel’s storyline is a one-note affair and features a twist that can be seen coming from a mile away. The plot of the game is what one would expect from a B-grade action movie and is basically a thinly veiled excuse for visiting different locales and taking part in various action sequences.

This should not come as a surprise to the fans of the series as the Army of TWO franchise is known for its fair share of shallow storylines. This trend seems to continue in Devil’s Cartel, complete with machismo dialogues and actions as well as heavy, almost offensive, racial profiling in villains the players mow down.

As mentioned, the strength of Army of TWO series has never been its narrative; the franchise has relied on solid gameplay to make its name and Devil’s Cartel’s case is no different.

Army of TWO: The Devil’s Cartel features the same robust gameplay mechanics that the fans of the franchise have come to expect. The game delivers solid cover based shooter gameplay and a co-op system that facilitates and necessitates players to coordinate and assists one another.

The game requires cooperative play style to survive the waves of enemies that it unleashes in the space of its campaign. These foes range from Kamikaze runners that rush at the player, other enemies that seek and utilize covers and the bullet sponge brutes that are hard to kill and dish out massive damage.

In order to survive the enemy onslaught, the players have to utilize, the series staple, Aggro meter. This time, however, the Aggro meter is not visible, which makes the players focus on the action at hand for visual cues rather than getting distracted by the meter itself.

In order to survive the enemy onslaught, the players have to utilize, the series staple, Aggro meter. This time, however, the Aggro meter is not visible, which makes the players focus on the action at hand for visual cues rather than getting distracted by the meter itself.

In addition to change in the Aggro mechanic, Devil’s Cartel also introduces Overkill system; which allows players to fill up the ‘over kill meter’ by shooting targets and then unleash ungodly power with a push of a button when the meter is full. The Overkill state is basically a god mode where the players become more powerful, more agile and invincible until the meter discharges.

While the Overkill meter is useful during tight spots, however, I find that it takes away from the tactical side of cooperative shooting mechanic that the core of any Army of TWO game. Instead of getting through a tough spot with use of clever gunplay and cooperative tactics, Overkill can become a crutch to clear the levels’ guns blazing.

Still, the use of Overkill system can benefit players that are new to the system and can lead to more players enjoying the game. Moreover, the Overkill mechanic is left completely up to the players and thus is completely optional for use. Thus if the players want to ignore the system, there is nothing stopping them from utilizing classic Aggro based techniques to conquer enemies instead of walking through the opposition guns blazing

Even with solid mechanics and new gameplay additions, Army of TWO: The Devil’s Cartel can become pretty mundane, and that issue can be squarely attributed to its wonky pacing in the campaign.

After the first mission is complete, the game throws the players into a relentless cycle of cover based shooting where one enters a new environment, takes cover, eliminates waves of enemies, moves to the next locale; rinse and repeat. This process goes on for first half of the game.

It is only when the player reaches the second half of Devil’s Cartel when the game starts mixing things up. Elements like Crypt sequence, Car chase, Sniper Battle and Chopper assault help break up the monotony and change things up for the better. Devil’s Cartel could have benefited a lot if the set pieces and change of pace elements had been sprinkled throughout the campaign instead of making the game bottom heavy.

Other gripes that affect the gameplay experience include annoying temporary invisible walls used to load levels, abrupt chapter ends, camera issues during action in cramped spaces and the vague nature of the waypoint system sometimes leads to confusion regarding locating the next objective, especially in open and branching areas. Absence of buddy celebrations/ taunts is also sorely felt.

However all of these complaints seem negligible in the face of the strength of its cooperative gameplay experience that Army of TWO: The Devil’s Cartel has to offer.

Like the previous iterations in the franchise, Devil’s Cartel allows players to experience its campaign in three different ways. Players can chose to play with a buddy in offline split screen mode, they can play with anyone across the globe through online play and go through the story solo while partnering up with A.I.

While each mode has its own sets of upside and drawbacks, whether one plays it Solo, Offline or Online, Devil’s Cartel offers a solid play experience which does not compromise on playability, no matter which mode is chosen.

The post Army of TWO: The Devil’s Cartel Review appeared first on SegmentNext.

Lunch time at school was spent talking about strategies and robustly boasting about close games and well earned wins. Entire weekends were spent observing friends as they got crushed on the ladder, while I tried to be the backseat player. I played StarCraft so much, that when I closed my eyes, all I saw were Dragoons laying waste to the enemies of Aiur.

So when the, “Hell, it’s about time.” teaser trailer came out at Blizzcon, you can imagine how excited I was for the long-awaited sequel. When it finally came out, however, it did not live up to my exceedingly high expectations.

Featuring a storyline that didn’t quite measure up to the original’s, and gameplay that felt too old in a post Warcraft 3, Dawn of War 2 era. Perhaps I was too blinded by my own hype to see the game for what it truly was, but it left me feeling disappointed. Now, with my expectations tempered to be more attuned to reality, I find myself playing Heart of the Swarm, feeling as if this was the game that I always wanted it to be – the true successor of the StarCraft that I had grown to love.

Heart of the Swarm picks up where Wings of Liberty’s underwhelming story line and slow gameplay left off, and in true expansion pack form, delivers a much more enhanced experience. Everything is better in Heart of the Swarm. Everything.

From a gameplay standpoint, Heart of the Swarm is my favorite RTS campaign to date. It feels more like a series of custom game maps from the Battle.net Arcade, than an actual campaign for your standard RTS and I love it for that. There missions are so memorable, so unique, that they truly break the mold of what we’ve come to expect out of an RTS.

I loved how the theme of the Zerg and their evolving, assimilating nature was present throughout every element of the campaign, from the story, to the missions, to the customization of the army itself. Upgrades were drastically improved upon in Heart of the Swarm. Between each mission they could be interchanged, resulting in an atmosphere that truly felt as if it belonged to the Zerg –constantly changing to meet a threat.

Often times an upgrade would prove to be very useful for one mission, but less than optimal for another. Being able to plan ahead based on the mission briefing, to specialize your army for the upcoming challenges, always felt Zerg-like. It was also fun to swap around Kerrigan’s abilities, in order to enjoy playing with them all.

The story is no exception to the immaculate quality of the campaign, either. In fact, it’s so good that it has allowed me to forgive and accept Wings of Liberty for what it was – a stepping stone for the events that transpire in Heart of the Swarm. I don’t wish to spoil anything, but finally getting a conclusion to characters and story elements that I grew up with, was truly bittersweet.

Having the original cast remain (remember when that almost wasn’t the case for StarCraft 2?) had a large influence on my emotional reaction, and their talent is beyond question. James Harper’s performance as Arcturus Mengsk is especially noteworthy, as he turns a despicable villain, into a legendary one. Though, to be fair, Robert Clotworthy as Jim Raynor delivers what is easily the best line in the entire series [I'm tearing up just thinking about it].

For me, the campaign and the story were the highlights of Heart of the Swarm, but the multiplayer ended up far exceeding what I ever thought StarCraft 2 could be. Everything about Heart of the Swarm seems to be about streamlining the experience and speeding it up.

It seems as if every change they make, Blizzard is telling the players that they want you to spend less time macroing, and more time microing that Oracle, Medivac drop, or those Mutalisks. With the inclusion of UI updates that allow you to instantly glance to see if your resources are fully saturated or not, you can now spend less time manually counting, and more time baiting a bunch of Banelings chasing your Marines and Marauders into a reserve of Widow Mines.

For better or worse, I would say that this expansion is more or less targeted at pro play. Games are getting faster and much more intense, far sooner than they were in previous tournaments. The metagame has been shaken to the core, and the result is that the pro scene is so much more enjoyable to watch. The problem, of course, is that these new units and strategies aren’t nearly as fun to play against, as they are to watch.

The average player will (most likely) find the Widow Mine, Swarm Host, and Oracle frustratingly difficult to deal with, but watching pro players deal with, or get destroyed by them is incredibly entertaining.

Blizzard has admitted to the fact that they don’t think Heart of the Swarm is completely balanced, and that they’re looking at specific units and strategies very carefully. For now, it is impossible to speculate about where the balance and metagame might go from here.

I will, however, say that Blizzard is certainly on the right path. They clearly know where they want the game to go and every single change they’ve made will force players to go into that direction. While it will never be like Dawn of War 2, where you could decide the fate of the game in the first minute, Heart of the Swarm provides, in true Blizzard fashion, a perfectly polished old-school Real Time Strategy game.

Indeed, this is truly the StarCaft we’ve grown to know and love from days long past. Only, it’s been.. modernized. It’s prettier, complete with physics (Marines go flying like bowling pins when killed by Siege Tanks) and has a new progression system, to keep it as addicting as those Call of Duty and RPG games. Fear not, though – its purely cosmetic.

As you spend resources, or destroy things that cost your opponent resources, you get experience towards your level with the faction that you were playing as. If you thought it was fun to massacre Marines with Colossi, then you’re in for a treat when you see +50, +50, +50, +50, float across the screen, over the burning bodies of Marines sliced in half by Thermal Lances. Your rewards, as you level up, will include new skins for units, buildings, decals and profile pictures.

Do you want your profile to be a picture of a High Templar? Get to level seventeen as Protoss. Want your Marines to look like the Mercenary Marines from the Wings of Liberty campaign? Get to level thirty as Terran.

Following the trend of an E-Sports expansion, Heart of the Swarm brings in some crazy new features that are incredibly useful. Previously, when a player crashed or disconnected in the midst of a tournament match, the players would have had to immediately go into a rematch. No longer is that the case, with the new feature that allows both players to resume their last match from the exact point in which it was lost.

In the latest MLG tournament, this feature was used several times, and already I can’t believe we’ve spent this much time watching Brood War and Wings of Liberty E-Sports matches without this feature.

Another incredibly cool feature is the ability to watch replays that you’ve played, or other people have played, and at any point in the match, be able to jump in and play. This new tool is a paragon shift for gaming, and allows you to now experiment with specific builds, on demand.

Want to know how to defeat a specific timing attack? Load up a replay where you got stomped by one, and keep trying different builds until you can hold off the attack. Want to master your micro with a specific build? Load up a pro match, and replay from when the units started rolling out, and see how far you can get.

Between the new training modes, which gives step by step build orders for you to use, and the incredibly customizable AI that you can tell how to play; StarCraft has never been easier to get into. The game can be intimidating, but if you stick to the training mode until the build order becomes second nature, you can either head off to play against harder AIs and specific strategies, or make your way into the ranked or unranked matchmaking.

StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm is easily the most polished game I have ever played. This is instantly recognizable the moment you start up the game and get into the main Menu, or when the UI locks into position at the start of the game. Units and buildings are meticulously crafted and are a joy to command.

The story is emotionally impactful to those of us who have stuck with StarCraft from the beginning, sporting some of the best dramatic voice acting in the business. Everything in this game has been labored onto until perfected. While Heart of the Swarm doesn’t try to aspire to evolve the genre, it has, without a doubt, mastered the art of the 90′s RTS. If that’s your cup of tea, or you were simply disappointed by Wings of Liberty, it’s time to come back home.

Heart of the Swarm is waiting for you.

Gameplay: 9
The new units are incredibly fun to play with, but can be a bit frustrating to play against, especially for people in the lower brackets. They do, however, make the E-Sports scene that much more enjoyable to watch.

Graphics: 10
With the addition of physics, StarCraft 2 went from beautiful models that traversed terrain with elegance, into beautiful models that now also die with… elegance?

Sound: 9.5
While I never got tired of hearing “My life for Aiur!” some of the Menu UI sounds became a bit annoying. Also, the Zerg and Protoss music never really compared to the high bar the Terran music set. Having said that, the voice acting and sound effects for the actual game, were all top notch.

Presentation: 10
Heart of the Swarm is about as polished as you can get. Everything oozed quality, especially the story line and campaign. Truly a huge step up from Wings of Liberty.

Value: 10
Priced as an expansion, and giving an experience that truly improves and expands upon everything Wings of Liberty did, Heart of the Swarm is worth every penny.

Verdict: 9.5
This game is so good, that it helps restore not only my faith in StarCraft, but in Blizzard.

The post StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm Review appeared first on SegmentNext.

Unfortunately, the game got canceled by Kojima, because he and his team couldn’t find a way to base an entire game on the free slicing mechanic. It was only late 2011 when the game got picked back up for development, when Kojima passed the title off to Platinum Games.

Considering its estranged history, it’s amazing that the game turned out so well. Generally, when a game has this long and complicated of a history, it’s usually a mired mess that would have been better off canceled. Luckily, for us, that is not the case for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Though, it does explain a few things about the game.

The most notable of which, length. Running at around four to five hours, the game is sitting on the shorter side of what we’ve come to expect from similar forms of entertainment. It can run a bit longer provided you sit through all the codec conversations; something I’d recommend against given how boring the codec characters are.

What the game lacks in length, it more than makes up for with a crazy-whirlwind of a story line, the likes of which only Hideo Kojima could have conjured. Dark, bold, and willing to go places that most others wouldn’t dare to. The story was always at its best in these moments, but never seemed to really commit to them.

There was always an odd attempt at humor or humanity in a world where such themes felt alien. While it wasn’t the greatest thing ever written, the story was entertaining and interesting, all the way through. I mean, any story that involves Sam, a Spanish cyborg Samurai with a high-frequency katana sheathed in a rocket-propelled scabbard, is at the very least, a spectacle to behold.

Another thing I liked about the story was how as it progressed, the events that occurred took a noticeable emotional toll on Raiden. I really appreciated how Quinton Flynn, the voice actor of Raiden, started to subtly change his voice and performance until they exploded during the crescendo.

Metal Gear Rising gets a lot right with its gameplay design, but unfortunately fumbles with the execution. Raiden is indeed a cyborg ninja wielding a weapon that rivals a Lightsaber in power and functionality.

When activating ninja run, you’ll automatically deflect bullets, navigate the terrain, and even jump from missile to missile on your way to cutting a helicopter in half. While all of this looks awesome, it doesn’t feel awesome to play, because it’s all being done for you. You’re not executing precise commands with strict timing, you’re holding a button and watching Raiden do the work for you.

Ironically the game’s free slicing mechanics have the same problems, but in reverse. Even though you’re free to cut wherever and whenever you like, the game simply doesn’t really allow you to do that; or perhaps more accurately, it doesn’t allow you to feel awesome while doing it.

Going crazy and ferociously chopping away at every inch of a giant robot killing machine is going to be your first instinct, given the lightning fast pace of the game. Unfortunately, this will frequently result in the destruction of said robot’s power supply. A power supply which you will need to fuel your energy bar, allowing more free-form-fileting, and which restores your health bar, allowing you to, well, you know – not die.

This would be a fine mechanic, if it wasn’t for the criminally small hitbox that you have to precisely hit, swinging from a specific direction. Failure to do so in your first few swings (sometimes not even that, depending on where you slice) could very easily result in destroying the power supply.

The level of accuracy required to consistently pull this maneuver off, is only attainable by those who have the disciplined mind of a Zen Master, which seemed at odds with how fast the game played outside of free slicing mode.

This was most prevalent to me whenever I was at low health, my heart beating at full force, my fingers managing to perfectly chain a combo attack breaking the target’s armor off, effectively leaving them vulnerable to free slice mode; only to repeatedly miss the hitbox for the power supply by a couple of millimeters with every slash, because I carried that frantic energy level over to the free slice mode.

Outside of free slice mode, I felt as if the combat was, for the most part, really well done. Whenever something was going to attack you, there would be a red flash from their optics, which would allow you to either dodge the attack, or prep your parry. As a counter attack fiend, I totally loved this because parrying usually opened the target up to being cut in half by free slice mode, which always looked cool.

Sometimes, because of the pacing of the combat, I noticed that the camera couldn’t always keep up with where the action was at. Even when I would try to compensate by manually controlling the camera I would often find myself unable to view where attacks where coming from, making it hard to know how to respond. Furthermore, because the game was so fast, it was relatively easy to obtain really cool looking, super high combo chains.

My only complaint about that, though, was that these combo chains had to be bought, and ended up being completely useless in just about every Boss fight. The problem being that, that was money I hadn’t been spending on boosting my health bar up, which I hadn’t needed to do for the other parts of the game, considering that every enemy I fought was basically a walking health potion that I simply had to cut open.

During boss fights there was rarely a way to restore health, and when a Boss fight consisted of multiple stages, every mistake I made was sorely felt; mistakes made because I tried to pull off a long combo chain, only to get stuck in a long animation where I couldn’t dodge or parry a boss attack.

Performance wise, the game ran well considering how chaotic it is, but I suspect that it had to take some hard texture hits in order to pull this off. While Raiden and his enemies always looked great, the world around him usually suffered graphically, which created an odd contrast.

The world that the characters inhabit is just as important as the characters that inhabit it, creating such a graphical disparity between the two can certainly be disconcerting. Though, to be fair, during the combat you’ll be more than distracted by Raiden’s super fast, super fluid attacks.

The controls for Metal Gear Rising is one of its strong suits. Free slicing simply feels great and is super responsive, once you get the hang of it. The way the controls are set up, makes it incredibly easy to combo attacks.

Unfortunately, this has one minor set back, and that’s that there is no dedicated parry button, and the input for parrying doesn’t seem to mesh with certain combos. As a result, one might find themselves trying to parry, and instead locking into an animation for another move, entirely. Which is pretty much the moment you least wish to be stuck in place, completely defenseless.

When it comes down to it, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is the epitome of an ‘Okay’ game. There’s nothing seriously wrong with it, nor is there anything particularly spectacular about it. If you get it, it’s unlikely that you’ll regret it, but it’s not a game you’ll be playing for very long.

You’ll easily get through the main campaign, and might play around in the VR missions for a bit longer. I’d probably pick the game up once it goes on sale and the Jetstream Sam DLC comes out, so that you can use the money you saved, to play as the coolest character in the entire game.

Gameplay: 7
The free slicing mode creates a stark contrast between the rest of the gameplay, and as a result can often be more frustrating to use, than fun.

Graphics: 7
The game looks okay, but when you compare it to others in the genre, you’ll notice that it’s lacking.

Sound: 7
The voice acting ranged anywhere from unbearable, to notable. The music and sound effects, however, were generic and not very noticeable.

Presentation: 7
I found the social commentary and deeper questions about war and what makes us human to be interesting, but it’s hard to get attached to the humanity of characters when they’re nothing but robots and cyborgs.

Value: 5
There isn’t a lot of game here, and nearly no reason to go back.

Verdict: 7
Indeed, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is truly the epitome of an ‘Okay’ game. There’s nothing going against it to detract from the experience, but nor is there really anything going for it, either.

The post Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Review appeared first on SegmentNext.

If you are afraid that the latter might turn out to be true; you can lay your fears to rest. God of War: Ascension brings back the staples of the franchise in full force and in doing so, adds a bit its unique personality into the mix.

Though the game returns to the series’ tradition of Greek Tragedy setting, it does so with a narrative that is much less epic in scale and much more personal in scope.

The story of God of War: Ascension acts as a prequel to the prior God of War games and follows Kratos 6 months after his family was slayed and he forsook Ares. Having broken a blood oath with a god, he is being pursued by the Furies, to answer for his transgression. Instead of focusing favors and revenge, the tale focuses on Kratos’ quest to find the truth and stay one step ahead of his pursuers.

The difference even comes across in how the narrative is presented to the player. While the previous games threw players right into the mix of epic battles with Hydra, Colossus of Rhodes and god of the seas; Poseidon, God of War: Ascension starts off with Kratos bound and chained.

This change is not only present in the start but follows across the length of the game in how the game presents its tale. Whereas the first God of War was entirely a flashback, and the other games followed Kratos in the present, God of War: Ascension takes a non-linear approach to storytelling where players are taken from present to past and back and forth, to find how Kratos got to where he is and what he does next.

The novel approach in the tale’s execution, however, does not make up for the importance of the content of this narrative. While the portable sequels of the past have provided a glimpse into Kratos’ past, the core trilogy followed a story of tragedy, betrayal and vengeance that culminated in its third installment and finished most of the major plot threads. Seeing as the main story has concluded, does the prequel tell a tale of such import that warrants development of next iteration on the console?

Although the story of Ascension does a commendable job of showing the state of mind Kratos was in prior to events of Chains of Olympus and the first game, I feel, that it does not offer much that is of great and lasting consequence to the main God of War saga. In my opinion, if the events of God of War: Ascension were to be removed, the events of the past and the events of God of War Trilogy still align without need for any further exposition.

While the narrative has always played a role in the God of War franchise, what has always superseded it in each game is the gameplay. In this respect, God of War: Ascension is no different from its predecessors.

The first God of War introduced players to engaging hack and slash gameplay with amazing visuals, orchestral sound, epic boss battles and polished presentation. God of War II offered everything the first one did; only bigger and better. God of War III brought the epic scale of the graphics, sounds and boss fights of the franchise to an unparalleled next-gen level. What significantly new experience does this next iteration in GOW franchise has to offer in its single player campaign?

If you were looking for an overhaul of the game’s system or a ground-breaking addition to the God of War gameplay, I am afraid you might be left a tad bit disappointed. SCE Santa Monica Studio takes the ‘don’t fix if it isn’t broken’ approach with God of War: Ascension.

Just like God of War III, Ascension features gory and over the top, hack and slash action as its primary concern. As ever, the relentless action takes places across various levels with, meticulously created, gorgeous landscapes, broken up by occasional platforming and puzzles, and routinely book-ended with epic boss battles that feature changing environments and a healthy dose of Quick Time Events.

Kratos still wields the Blades of Chaos, and players are able to return to form with a control scheme similar to the previous games. Relying on quick attacks, heavy attacks, dodge, block, jump and grab to tackle every obstacle and enemy the game can throw, players also use R2 for magic attacks, L3&R3 for attacks utilizing the returning rage meter and R1 as context-sensitive button.

Though fear not, while the gameplay tends to follow the lead of its precursors, it still has elements that are unique to it.

While the action is fluid and polished as ever, the gameplay in God of War: Ascension has been tinkered just a little to streamline the gameplay. These changes include little changes like additions of intuitively controlled minigames replacing few Quick Time Event finishes, that effect minutes of game experience and a large one that affects the gameplay of the entire game.

That large change comes in the shape of primary weapon mechanic. No longer does Kratos have to shuffle with different weapons with different play styles. Since most players tended to gravitate towards the Blades of Chaos, the developers of God of War: Ascension, have decided to focus exclusively on them for the entire game. Instead of changing between blades, gauntlets, claws and whips, players get to switch between different powers that affect the abilities of the Blades of Chaos.

Ascension also offers secondary weapons like swords, clubs, shields and spears spread across the level and often dropped by specific enemies. Players can use them with the circle button, in a manner akin to how sub-weapons are used in Castlevania series.

However, despite these few changes, the developers have stuck to everything staple to God of War. While that may be a blessing in most cases, there were a few instances where the game could have done without the God of War III gameplay. The chief amongst these issues in God of War: Ascension is the return of clunky platforming from the past games.

While the development team of God of War III was hard at work working with a new engine and focused towards increasing the scope and scale of the franchise, the developers of God of War: Ascension had no such excuses. If the concessions to improvements were made due to shift in resources to the development of the multiplayer element, then this example would validate the apprehension of gamers when it comes to addition of multiplayer to a singleplayer focused franchise. The game could have benefited greatly from an updated platforming and to improve upon the system that, in its current state, is a cause of inadvertent deaths on more than one occasion.

Speaking of deaths, the difficulty of God of War: Ascension adheres closely to the God of War games of the past. Puzzles can take a few minutes to decipher but are never frustratingly mystifying. The action is hectic but fair and the difficulty only ramps up when different enemies decide to gang up of Kratos in a narrow space.

There is a particular level, quite late in the game, where the difficulty ramps up to an unprecedented degree and while I was lucky enough to survive, on the 1st try, with the skin of my teeth, some players might succumb to death repeatedly and find it very frustrating. However, players need not to worry. This kind of situation is not reoccurring, and neither is it so difficult that it becomes cheap. With clever use of dodges, magic and combos anyone can get through that pickle.

This adherence to the standards of God of War III continues into the presentation aspect of Ascension. However, in this case, it is not something to complain about. Though it does not top the graphical standards of its predecessor, it does seem to match it blow for blow. Seen as God of War III is still a graphical marvel; one can hardly fault the developers for that.

God of War: Ascension pulls no punches to wow the player by its graphical prowess. The backgrounds are vast in scope and rich with detail. The environments are rich with color and filled with particle effects of dust and smoke, or lighting effects of burning torches and reflective floors. The levels are filled with gangs of monsters and some of the levels even move around during the actual gameplay.

Ascension also offers the players with its assortment of enemies. While the scale of the threats is decidedly small, there are several new and innovative creatures that the player can battle and a plethora of huge, screen covering bosses.

Though it is during these skirmishes with giant enemies and moving platforms that the game decides to celebrate the vastness of it graphical achievement and pans out the camera to display the spectacle. This overindulgence in attention to the background often takes the focus away from the action at hand and makes it very difficult to judge the movements and actions of Kratos and his enemies. Though this situation is not a mainstay of the whole game, but it reoccurs enough times to signal the fact that it was there by design. If that is so, then that is a very poor design choice.

The aforementioned visual spectacle of God of War: Ascension is accompanied by an equally rousing soundtrack. Whereas puzzles and platforming are accompanied by quite, soft music, thundering tunes take over the senses when a battle gets underway. The voice actors do a commendable job with the dialogue and each threat, scream, roar and grunt is crisp. Overall, the sound in Ascension is no better or worse from what was offered to the players in God of War III.

The game took me a little under 10 hours to complete. Those are 10 hours spent on the normal difficulty, trying to get from A to Z with as many red orbs and upgrades as possible. There are still items to find and two harder difficulties to experience. Moreover, the multiplayer section of the game promises to offer countless additional hours of gameplay. Whether that promise is kept, depends on the performance of the actual component itself.

It is this multiplayer segment of God of War: Ascension that is the key element where the game branches out from the, all too familiar God of War formula, and manages to differentiate itself from the prior games in the franchise.

The multiplayer section offers the staples of what players expect from modern online multiplayer and puts the God of War spin on them. The game offers support for up to 8 players in its variations on the classic Deathmatch dubbed “Match of Champions”, Domination mode called “Team Favour of the gods” and Capture the Flag, and up to 2 players for “Trial of the gods”; Ascension’s Horde mode.

The players are provided with standard classes to choose from; Warrior, Mage, Assassin and Support denoting the “Allegiance” to gods; Ares, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon.

The game also offers online multiplayer staple of a leveling system where the players can further customize their characters with Relics, which are this game’s perks, as well as weapons and armors which are unlocked by leveling up and completing challenges that are dubbed “Labours”

Players are then thrust into one of the several, multilayered maps that are littered with items, chests, context sensitive objects and traps. Each level is vast in scale and offers the similar quality of audio and visual spectacular that the players get used to in the single player campaign. Not only are these maps gorgeous to look at and highly detailed, they are also home to set pieces that make a return from the singleplayer to the multiplayer portion of the game.

At first glance, all this seems quite overwhelming and very chaotic. However the game developers have made a wise decision by providing simple yet effective color-coded cues to help the player stay focused amidst all the chaos.

The post God of War: Ascension Review appeared first on SegmentNext.

By all accounts, Hitman: Absolution should have been a great game. When I first started up the Sniper Challenge mode, which was a precursor to the game’s actual release, I instantly fell in love. The crisp, well crafted graphics had an attention to detail that was hard not to adore. After unloading a full clip of my high-powered silenced sniper rifle, Agent 47 discarded the empty magazine with wild abandon, while smoothly going through the all-too-familiar motions of reloading.

At that point in time, I thought to myself, “If this is any indicator of what the actual game will be like, then this game will be amazing.”

It wasn’t.

The moment you hit the menu screen, you get hit by this amazing dialogue that is performed with the dramatic flair of an art-house film. Again, I found myself thinking, “If this is any indicator of what’s in store for me, then this game will be amazing.”

It wasn’t.

Continuing this trend of immense promise, the first mission of Hitman: Absolution has you learning the basics of what it means to be a super silent, man murdering machine. The main message throughout the entirety of this ‘tutorial’ of sorts, was that there are a lot of options when it comes to ‘assassinating targets, and fulfilling contracts.

If you felt so inclined, you could sneak past everyone through a variety of distractions and disguises. Alternatively, if you had a deep, brooding desire to strangle every neck, you came across with piano wire, then all the more power to you!

The problem is that the first mission is a complete and total lie. The very next mission you get your first encounter with the one thing that ruins the entire game; the dreaded scoring system.

There’s a very, very good reason that games like Call of Duty are so popular; they thrive on making the player feel rewarded for playing the game. When you constantly see big bold pluses to your numerical score, you feel great. Conversely, when all you see is negative numbers, for trying to play a game that you want to play it, you feel like you’ve just been slapped on the wrist.

In Hitman: Absolution, whenever you try to play the game in a manner other than how it wants you to play it; you’ll get fined points. After the first mission, it was my intent to play through the game by silently dispatching guards with my silenced silver ballers, without ever being detected. Even though I could successfully manage doing this, by carefully hiding bodies and changing disguises, I quickly noticed that I constantly finished every mission with a negative score. Being told I was #41,035 in America, despite successfully playing the game the way I wanted to play it, felt terrible.

Eventually, I tried to conform to the game’s desires, and started to play the game non-lethally. Very quickly I found that there is a distinct lack of specific disguises that are required for getting to certain areas just lying around (despite me searching quite extensively). In this desperate attempt to conform, I turned to non-lethally incapacitating people for their disguises, only to find out that, up; you guessed it, minus points.

The absolute worst moment of this was after I had spent several hours trying to perfectly sneak past guard, after guard, after guard, only to find this huge weapon cache Out of some sick sense of humor, or a lack of understanding of its own mechanics, the game literally took the time to showcase just how wonderful their selection of weaponry was. Out of some sick sense of humor, or a lack of understanding of its own mechanics, the game literally took the time to showcase just how wonderful their selection of weaponry was.

In that moment, I took the time to calculate all the negative points I would incur, had I actually indulged in my desire to play with such a wonderful assortment of weapons.

What happened next, I’ll leave up to your imagination.

It’s such a shame that this one, fatal flaw in design ruined the entire experience for me. Even though I still took great enjoyment in the brilliant performances, especially by Keith Carradine, the perpetual bad taste in my mouth, left by the scoring system, never left; dampening the experience entirely.

No amount of glossy menus, delightfully cheesy characters, and dark humor could abate the constant disappointment and frustration brought about by being penalized for doing something that I was told; by the game, I could do.

If what you want out of a stealth game is to spend 30 hours throwing bottles near AI, then Hitman: Absolution is the most polished bottle throwing simulator known to man; complete with a great cast of well delivered lines. I just wish it could have been more.

Gameplay: 5
If you can tolerate the onslaught of psychological turmoil brought upon you by the scoring system, or are a bottle throwing simulator fanatic, then there’s probably a really good game here.

Probably.

Graphics: 9
Never have bald heads been so polished.

Sound: 9
Music that would give Hans Zimmer a run for his money, brilliant voice acting and realistic sounds make this game incredibly atmospheric.

Presentation: 7
Despite great dialogue, the actual story is beyond obvious and relatively unimpressive. The macabre humor and glossy UI does do a lot for the game.

Value: 6
I got 30 frustrating hours out of it. If you’re particularly masochistic, you could possibly get more time out of it, trying to get perfect scores and achievements.

Verdict: 6
I seriously can’t see myself recommending this game to anyone. If you’re aching for a stealth game, go get Mark of the Ninja, which actually adequately rewards you for playing the game the way you want to.

The post Hitman: Absolution Review – Polished Graphics and Frustrating Gameplay appeared first on SegmentNext.

Headshot! Double Kill! Headshot! Last Shot! Triple Kill! Rank 25! Unlocked: Vektor! AK-47 Level 10! Unlocked: Marskman Scope! An endless tide of accomplishments pop up all across my screen, in big, bold, bright letters.

This game throws awards at you, as if you were Daniel Day-Lewis at the Oscars. It makes a genuine effort to shower you with praise, points and a perpetual stream of unlocks. And you deserve it, too! You’re a bad ass – or, well, at least I am. So bring on the rewards.

And the game does just that. You’re constantly unlocking new toys; between your character leveling up, your guns leveling up, and the decoder mechanics, you’ve always got a reason to keep on playing. The real genius behind the nonstop bombardment of rewards, is the fact that it continues to give you goodies, even when you’re not playing.

Logging off for the night? Start up your decoder(s), so that they randomly generate items for you, over the next few hours. That way, you can go to sleep dreaming of all the fun things you might be getting, once you wake up.

Perhaps you need to head off to school/work, in which case, set up a multi-hour long decoding session. To pass the time usually filled with monotonous labor, you can instead distract yourself with the decoding bar, which will eventually start giving you hints as to what you’ll be getting.

But before long, though, you’ll run out of things to decode. In which case, you’ll have to go back to playing the game, in order to procure some more decodable items. And this is the genius, that is Far Cry 3. The game is just as addictive when you’re not playing it, as it is when you are playing it.

Even the single player has these addictive tendencies to it. While not as obvious and manipulative as the multiplayer components, you can easily find yourself lost on the island for hours. Between a colorful cast of eccentric quest givers, and an endless list of endeavors to undertake, it’s hard to stop playing this game. One moment you’re doing errands for a possibly gay, almost-certainly-sadomasochistic Australian hitman, the next you’re off huntin’ gators and pickin’ flowers; only to find that it’s 4 in the morning, and you can’t quite tell where the past 6 hours have gone.

It is my belief that the animations, which are as satisfying as they are horrifying, play a large part in making this game so engaging. Everything from snapping bones back into place, to hacking flowers with a machete, is a sensual paradise. The sounds, swift movements, and gorgeous graphics all  intertwine to make a real, living, breathing world; almost to the point where it’s hauntingly so.

Nothing illustrated this more than when I was being chased by a pack of wild dingoes, each one growling at me with a courage and constitution that few could call their own. Yet it was all shattered in a split second, when I landed a round from an assault rifle, right through the alpha dog’s head.

What was once the bearing of ferocious fangs, swiftly turned into an expression of bewilderment and fear, followed by the sound of whimpering moans and the pitter patter of paws, as the dingoes dispersed into the distance. I will, literally, never forget that moment, and I think, perhaps, games are becoming all too realistic.

When we have to consider the emotional ramifications of shooting things in a video game, we’ve gone too far. While indeed, the overall theme of the game is just that, it’s far too dangerous to have the player be so intimately connected with that emotional experience.

I mean, where does this end? Ten, twenty years down the road, will we have players coming away from games with post-traumatic stress? It’s clear that the formula for an emotionally engaging, completely immersive game is here. All that is (potentially) required, is the right application of intense storytelling and graphical prowess.

Far Cry 3 just scares me. It’s far too well designed, far too addictive, too immersive. It’s… it’s just far too dangerous. Interestingly enough, this makes it hard to review. On every level, it delivers a well crafted experience. If you’re on a budget, this is easily the biggest bang-for-your-buck game, that I have ever seen. The amount of time that you can spend (and want to spend) in this game, is ridiculous.

Gameplay: 9
Stretching across all game modes, Far Cry 3 remains consistent in its polished, masterful mechanics. I just wish there was more strategy involved with fighting the different enemy types.

Graphics: 9
As an open world game, there are certain limitations that must be set on the graphical prowess of a game. Having said that, it’s still an incredibly beautiful island.

Sound: 8
I hated the music in this game. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but due to the complete and utter lack of sound options, I couldn’t turn it off. As a result, hearing actual dialogue became really problematic at time, especially when the music blared and explosions were going off all around me.

Presentation: 8
The sociological experiment, that is the main story, is certainly not for everyone. In a bit of a twist, I actually found the madness more engaging upon retrospect, than I did while playing the game.

Value: 10
I can’t think of a game that gives you this much content, this well polished. Everything in this game is designed to keep you playing, and playing, and playing (even when you’re not playing).

Verdict: 9
The multiplayer, singleplayer and co-op are all, equally addictive and fun in their own, unique way. As I’ve said before, this game is so good, it scares me.

The post Far Cry 3 Review – Addictive and Fun appeared first on SegmentNext.

Somehow, someway, 343 Studios has done just that. Not only is this their first game within the Halo franchise, it’s their first game – period. To think that they’ve managed to recapture and even improve upon the winning formula of the first Halo game, on their first try, is simply astonishing.

Indeed, Microsoft spending more money on the game than America’s national defense budget certainly had its effects, but one can merely look to Star Wars: The Old Republic and see that just throwing money at a game isn’t enough to make it magnificent. So what makes Halo 4 just so, well, magnificent? To better understand that, it’s best to look into the past.

What made the original Halo so spectacular, was its introduction of each enemy type. Everyone remembers the first time they fought Hunters, or the first time they learned how to properly kill an Elite on legendary.

What Halo 4 does so well, is that it re-imagines that first Halo play through, by largely doing away with your old friends and introducing brand new baddies to do battle with.

And just like that, you’re no longer going through the motions of using your refined strategies to dispatch your foes mercilessly while manically laughing.

Now you’re back to experimenting with every weapon there is (of which, there are many) to try and find which weapons and tactics are best when dealing with this new race.

While facing the Prometheans, it became painfully apparent why it is that most shooters are boring me to tears. Killing Russians and Terrorists is as easy as a few bullets to the chest, but when dealing with Halo’s brutal AI and unique tactics, each battle becomes an orchestra that you must conduct with flawless rhythm.

Passive or aggressive, each easily identified alien must be taken out with different play styles and strategies.

There’s a certain bliss to organically changing your tactics in a drastic manner, depending on how the battle is flowing and who you’re fighting.

It’s fun to kill target A with weapon Z, only to toss weapon Z in favor of target A’s weapon, because target B just deployed onto the battlefield, and target A’s weapon is perfect for taking them down. This flow continues on and on until you’re left victorious, your heels on the skulls of your fallen foes.

My only complaint about this, is that weapons “disappear” from the ground far too quickly. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve strategically placed weapons around the battlefield, planning to pick them up the moment I need them again; only to find them no longer there. This made my multi-step tactical planning feel very unrewarding, but it’s a minor complaint at best.

While the gameplay is certainly the highlight of Halo 4, there is much to be said about the setting and story. Like most Halo games, the scenery is so much more beautiful than your average corridor shooter extravaganza. The area for fighting is generally much larger, enabling you to take on multiple tactical roles as you see fit.

Want to hijack a ghost with an EMP blast from your plasma pistol? Done. Want to headshot a grunt and grab his fuel rod cannon to start unloading explosive death upon friend and foe alike? Done.

Alternatively, perhaps, snipin’ is more your style – that can be accommodated with the plethora of precision weapons at your disposal at almost every turn.

The post Halo 4 Review – A Masterpiece appeared first on SegmentNext.

When playing this game, one can’t help but sing along to the lyrics to a fairly infamous Team America song, while murdering Redcoats and Templars, all in the name of freedom, apple pie and the American way. What makes it worse, is that the game seems to be completely cognizant of this fact.

When Connor assassinates a key target, a cut scene begins, where both party explains their perspective. Only, regardless of who he’s talking to, the pattern is the same: the victim backs up his perspective and actions with reason and logic, whereas Connor, bordering on levels of irony that only Stephen Colbert could match, always responds the same way, “b-b-but freedom!”

It’s almost as if they’re trying to appeal to both audiences; providing a story line that pumps out more blind patriotism than the tea party, while being so over the top (in a bad way) that the rest of us can’t help but laugh and mock the supposed target audience for liking it.

The problem is, not even PETA likes bald eagles enough to enjoy the story, while the writing isn’t smart enough to make the irony work. Instead, you just end up playing as a childish character who commits mass murder over infantile ideals.

If I’m going to be playing as a mass murdering psychopath, I’d at least like to be doing it under the pretense of something awesome, like obtaining skulls for the skull throne, or blood for the blood god.

Continuing on the patriotic express, Assassin’s Creed III somehow managed to rewrite history in a way that caused me to exclaim an audible guffaw at many, if not all of its exploits. Throwing crates of tea off boats in the Boston Harbor was humorous.

Giving Paul Revere a piggy back ride on your horse, while you warned everyone that the British were coming, was irritating. However, when the game cuts to a scene where Connor was hanging out with the Founding Fathers, while they signed the Declaration of Independence, implying that he helped them write it, was downright insulting.

Honestly, to this day, I still don’t even know what’s more insulting about that, the horrendous writing, the perversion of history, or the fact that they thought anyone would actually enjoy such a storyline.

I’m not even going to touch the Desmond story arc, for fear that my brain might suddenly start hemorrhaging uncontrollably. Although, there was one redeemable fact about that story line; the sweet taste of irony derived from an interview with Alex Hutchinson, the creative director of Assassin’s Creed III.

Yeah. Just think about how many Japanese games are released where their stories are literally gibberish. Literally gibberish. There’s no way you could write it with a straight face, and the journalists say ‘oh it is brilliant.

Then Gears of War comes out and apparently it’s the worst written narrative in a game ever. I’ll take Gears of War over Bayonetta any time.

It’s patronizing to say, “oh those Japanese stories, they don’t really mean what they’re doing.

I just think the simple question should be; is the story any good?

Unfortunately, the rest of the game was just as confusing as the story. Little to nothing was explained about the game and anything that was explained was either done poorly or inadequately.

The new combat system, which was one of the few good things about the game, was almost directly ripped from Arkham City (a game that I love). However, AC3 forgot to do what Arkham City did so well: explaining how to counter specific targets, while making those targets very visible.

It’s easy to understand how to change your combat style when fighting a guy with a big shield, or a tazer that illuminates the darkness of night with a very visible intensity.

In Assassin’s Creed III, the different troops are only identifiable by slight changes in their outfits that are hard to notice, especially when you’re fighting a screen full of enemies all wearing the same vibrant colors.

You’ll find the combat to be frustrating, unless you’re part of a revolutionary war re-enactment. Otherwise expect to learn the intricacies of battle through a process of trial and error (mostly error). The brilliance of Arkham City’s combat was in how fluid it was.

Racking up 100+ hit combos was fairly easy because there were no complex move sets, and you knew how to properly engage every opponent. You get that same exact feeling in AC3; it just takes a lot of frustrating encounters to get to that point.

The feeling is perhaps even better in AC3, because of the way Connor slays his enemies with a certain elegance that is fairly reminiscent of the choreography found in the latest urban teen dance movie (playing in theaters near you), once you’ve mastered the combat system.

In retrospect, the combat system and how the developers treated it, probably represents how you’re supposed to experience the entire game – exploring it slowly, over a very long period of time.

The post Assassin’s Creed 3 Review appeared first on SegmentNext.

It’s hard not to compare Torchlight 2 to Diablo 3, given that Blizzard North (Runic games) should have been the ones developing it. Given the end result of both products, it’s equally hard to wonder why events unfolded the way that they did, that lead to the employees of Blizzard North departing from the company.

Indeed, Runic Games knows how to forge a flawless action role playing game experience When playing Torchlight 2, you will immediately recognize it for what it is, Diablo 2: Remastered Edition. It plays, feels, sounds exactly the way I want it to, identical to Diablo 2.

While the game does get increasingly more difficult as you progress through it, you never lose that sense of being an extremely powerful character. Indeed, the pacing is pitch perfect in this game and is an essential core element to any action rpg. The beauty within this finely tuned experience is that while your foes become substantially more dangerous, your potency never wavers.

This results in a super-fast paced, think fast, react faster gameplay that I find absolutely addicting. Instead of feeling bored and reliant on random number generators, I employ strategies to deal with certain situations. For example, if I just lunge face-first into combat, I’d get destroyed in a second.

Instead of succumbing to overwhelming numbers, I can thin the ranks with powerful AoE abilities that cost a lot of mana, but devastate low hp targets. While I can only cast around three of these before I need to drink a mana potion, it usually only takes one to two casts to clear an entire room of swarm based enemies. With this new-found breathing room, I can isolate and debuff the harder to defeat enemies.

While I do die, I always feel like there was something I could have done better. Deaths are never frustrating, they’re learning experiences that I can reflect on and then improve my play upon.

Another thing that I absolutely love about the gameplay, is that just about everything is dodgeable by simply moving your character.

Projectiles have a set amount of time/distance before they dissipate, so you can use a quick movement skill to get yourself to safety, and then use the same skill (perks of mana, contrary to cool downs as a resource) to nearly instantly get back into the fight to wreck some faces.

I don’t think it’s possible to create a better pacing for combat, than the one found in Torchlight 2. However, I feel as if the isometric view, loot frenzied, action role playing game genre isn’t very fun, without a few buddies to go questing with. While I don’t think this is a bad thing, it is important to note that without friends to slay and trade with, the game does get a bit repetitive.

“Burn, maim, kill, pillage” can only be done for so many hours without friends, before it gets tiresome. The thing is, I’ve never seen an environment more conducive to doing just that, playing with friends. Many games struggle to find that perfect point where playing with friends becomes adequately more difficult, without becoming a frustrating experience. Torchlight 2 somehow manages to pull it off flawlessly.

One of the biggest surprises for me, in Torchlight 2, was the skill tree. After playing Diablo 3, I thought I wouldn’t be able to go back to spending points on skills. However, I was soon reminded why the old model was so much better.

In Torchlight 2, I can either go crazy and put points into multiple skills, to have a large arsenal at my disposal. Alternatively, I could specialize and use about six super powerful skills. Both options worked and felt equally rewarding.

The way Runic Games pulled this off, was by removing the old tier system that required you to dump points in a particular tree, to get access to all the skills in that tree in favor of a new individual skill tier system. What this did was allow players to have an unparalleled level of customization.

The new individual skill tier system gave abilities additional effects, for every 5 points into them. So not only do you gain an increased effectiveness for every point into the skill, but you’ll gain bonus effects for each tier you unlock for that specific skill.

The post Torchlight 2 Review appeared first on SegmentNext.

The era in which several of the more developed nations embarked on gigantic quest for the control and exploitation of land, natural resources and people; and the tensions caused by this behavior.

The game is substantially simulation in nature with a bewildering selection of information stored about territories, armies, naval fleets and other aspects of the world.

The depth of choices and decisions and by extension the complexity of the interface makes for a game that has huge detail but great room for confusion.

In a situation like this a strong tutorial is absolutely vital otherwise the game itself can become impenetrable simply by overwhelming the player with too much choice. The tutorial spends too much time simply giving you text to read, rarely telling you to do anything.

It seems like it would’ve been far wiser to teach a person how to play the game through learning by doing in a specially created small tutorial world with faster loading times.

Instead it refers to a manual on several occasions (In an age where many games are sold through digital download places such as Steam this seems unwise) and talks up the grand campaign which I felt the tutorial leaves players ill equipped for.

Gameplay is divided up into four main gameplay modes that you switch between during each turn, these are Economic Mode (Managing empire production, factories, etc), Decision Mode (Particularly playing decision cards on the map), Colonial Mode (Managing what your colonies are doing and handles the challenges of creating colonies) and Military Mode (Ordering and building armies) and each of these has its own sub-mode. The names are pretty self explanatory as to their purpose so you might still be wondering how this game is supposed to be so complex.

A game like Civilization will typically start you off with a settler wagon (effectively this is your first city) and you build up from there. Pride of Nations will give you an existing pre-built civilization and though it may be setup so that there is nothing to be massively concerned about at the outset of play taking over an existing established empire can be daunting in itself.

The interface has 8 different map filters that serve different roles, the collection points filter (CTRL-1) gives you an overview of places suitable for storing collected resources and where resources have to travel a long way before they can be collected up as part of your nations resource pool.

The trade status filter (CTRL-2) which deals with trade connectivity such as access to trade via land or sea. You’ll have to compete for some trade resources by offering more for the trade or having faster/better trade fleet.

CTRL-3 brings up a display of trade areas/regions, for instance all of the United Kingdom is one trade area but a larger continent like Africa has several trade areas.

The colonial penetration display (CTRL-4) shows how far along you are on a path of a region being a protectorate or even complete dominion. The CTRL-5 key gives a display of colonial status, including if the region is a protectorate, colony (etc) and who the owner is.

CTRL-6 displays the value/worth of making a territory a protectorate or colony (which gives you prestige points) as some territories are historically considered as having greater worth, though this can be disabled when creating a game.

The remaining two map filters are CTRL-7 which informs you of any riot risks (Your activities may cause riots in a territory, putting any soldiers stationed in the area at risk) and CTRL-8 which gives a display of contentment among the populace in that area along with information on ethnic groups on a per-territory basis.

There are a lot of buttons on the interface that may be rarely used, the depth here is astounding so whilst it is clear that there are plenty of interesting decisions to be made and consequences to be dealt with, getting past the interface will be a huge undertaking.

It’s difficult for me to recommend this game to anyone who has a shortage of the spare time required to learn such a complicated setup of mechanics, setting and interface. Consider yourself warned.

Gameplay: 5
Presentation: 7
Overall: 6

You can check our Reviews FAQ for details on our review ratings.

The post Pride of Nations Review appeared first on SegmentNext.

Parents should be aware that this game features both nudity and can depict sexual acts (There’s a brothel in the third place you visit for instance).

For the sequel, they’ve continued with the ongoing story of Geralt of Rivia, a special kind of monster slayer who is part of a group of mutated fighters known as The Witchers. The presentation is great both in the stunning visuals and the telling of a story (Amnesia though, really?).

It is however very long form, if you do the side quests as well as the main story you’ll find that it will take a long time to feel like the story is really going anywhere after the first few sequences involving the attack of a fortified city.

You’ll get to meet a variety of interesting characters both good and bad that you’ll talk to, get missions from, trade with, arm wrestle, fight and so on. Expect plenty of conversation sequences and cut scenes (all games continue to struggle with dodging the bullet that is the cut scene) to help explain what is going on, along with environmental story telling such as dead bodies in the road.

You’ll also be able to take sides on occasion and have a reasonable amount of agency over the fate of many characters. Though sometimes I might choose a dialogue option and the result I get is not at all what I was expecting (e.g. the option says “Very funny…” and when selected Geralt says “Fuck you” instead).

The gameplay has changed a little bit, with more of an emphasis on direct control instead of timed clicks; moving your character around in real-time and attacking in third person combat using a mix of swordplay (and other weapons including throwing daggers), potions, poisons, traps, bombs and magic.

Unfortunately, this is where everything starts to go south and I found myself picking up on a litany of issues that can drain the joy out of the experience. Let me be clear, the presentation of the game is wonderful but it’s let down by gameplay that is merely ‘functional’ and is therefore sometimes hugely frustrating instead of fun.

Here goes. The first fight you encounter is fine as you will be fighting alongside around 10 allied soldiers, soon after you’re sent to capture a ballista in order to breach a defensive position… This is where you’re sent into a solo fight with 3 soldiers and behind them are another 6 (or so) soldiers with shields, crossbows and you’ll likely die several times.

By this point, the game should’ve taken some time to explain how to do well in combat, I’m sure the very first fight was intended to give you time to get used to fighting but in order to learn the controls for the game and the actions you take it is necessary either to go into your journal, select the tutorials section and read the combat basics or to quit the game to look at the controls. That’s right, you cannot change the games controls within the game, nor can you look at those controls without restarting it.

In addition to this, the movement controls in combat can be painfully unresponsive, I’ll attempt to try and manoeuvre away from a cluster of enemies only to get hit by them in the over 1 second it takes for Geralt to even respond to my movement attempt. This is further compounded by the seemingly random target selection system that will frequently decide that I no longer want to attack the monster right in front of me, instead launching Geralt at the monster just behind your current opponent – Putting you right into the middle of the cluster. The game has several difficulty spikes and eventually I just gave up and brought the difficulty down from normal to easy – I’d already quit out once due to the frustration caused by the above.

There are also occurrences of my favourite most-hated-gameplay-concept in the form of rapid button mashing. It’s something a lot of games have done and every time it seems to me as though the button tapping has little to no relation to the action you are doing on screen. For instance, turning a wheel surely would involve a circular motion with your control method, not rapidly tapping a key/button.

There’s also the occasional sequence of die-repeat-die-repeat Quick Time Events, such as being chased across a bridge by a dragon. It disrupts the experience by gratuitously throwing an extra gameplay mode at the player that frankly seems unnecessary. Finally, I’ve found on several occasions that the game will crash when accessing either the character or inventory menu screens so remember to quick save (you’ll need to do a lot of that too, checkpoint placement is a little rare sometimes) before loading either of those menus.

It’s such a shame that I’ve found the gameplay so aggravating so often. It is better now that I’ve set the difficulty to easy; I still find the movement controls infuriating at times, though it’s not so terrible that I don’t want to continue exploring the story. Should there be a Witcher 3 (and to give the game some credit – it is ambitious, very well presented and thus deserving of another iteration) I would recommend focusing on improving the gameplay, particularly in terms of smoothing out the control of your character(s).

Gameplay: 5/10
Presentation: 9/10
Overall: 7/10

You can check our Reviews FAQ’s for details on our review ratings.

If you find it difficult to play the game on normal settings, do check our guides on Abilities, Skills and Talents, an overview of Alchemy, Potions, Oils and Bombs, which will give you a head start with the game. If you get bored, check out our Romance Guide.

The post The Witcher 2 Review appeared first on SegmentNext.

Combat essentially revolves around getting good timing in your attacks, get it right and your attacks can take on a red glow indicating increased damage.

Just make sure you’re ready to block any incoming attacks, denoted by a pair of crossed swords (or other weapon) above an enemies head. You may need to change direction to face your attacked if he isn’t already in front of you.

Your available attacks will change depending on which of the three main characters you play and all have upgradeable abilities such as a wide circular sweeping of your sword, a shield bash or a healing prayer ability.

You’ll get to see a fantastic selection of killing moves, including one in which you throw an opponent to the ground and stab the pointed base of your shield through his neck.

You can also assemble weapons & clothing found in chests to change your appearance – though it’s not clear if equipping the clothing and weapon upgrades is merely cosmetic or not.

I’ve noticed that for the most part enemies will often use the ninja film shtick of patiently waiting for your current opponent to die before moving in, but this doesn’t apply just enough that you are kept on your toes.

Be particularly wary of enemy power attacks that can knock you on the ground (You can roll from side to side as well as simply getting up) and war dogs that might need countering as they charge you down.

There are a good variety of enemies available to fight including soldiers who wield swords, sword & shield combination, dual wielding sword users and others will attack you with axes, spears or pikes and archers (Who are particularly deft at interrupting your attacks unless you take them out first).

There are also war dogs as mentioned above which actually can be a little annoying to fight against, I found it was generally best to use the shield swipe move which was also conveniently the counter dog move. Lastly there are some large brutish beasts with charge attacks and really hefty knock down attacks.

I found I enjoyed most the occasional one-on-one duel with some of the games champion like characters, such as the general Muzaffar. Firstly the interplay between the timing of your attacks and defence against a single opponent stand out clearly – you can put your full concentration into this one opponent; as I timed my actions correctly I caught a smile appearing on my face.

Secondly, when you land a successful hit on standard enemies, you can see you’ve done some damage but it is not always clear how many more hits an opponent needs – with the boss fights you get a health bar which makes progress much more visible to the player.

When playing in single player mode you’ll be able to switch between the two characters, should one fall you’ll need to revive him/her with the surviving character, there is a time limit in which you can do this and you’ll need one zeal orb (used for special abilities, which can be gained by hitting enemies) to do this.

There are two brief escort the defenseless non-player-character missions, risky because they can be annoying (Enemies ignoring you to attack the NPC or can run ahead and get itself killed) but fortunately the relative shortness of these missions prevents them from becoming irritating.

The integration of the setting into the game is quite strong and it pulls a lot of enemy types and locations from the period and details some of the major events of the time. You’ll visit cities under siege, forests, coastal encampments, crypts and more as you fight your way through the game.

The central plot revolves around the grail and the search for this mystical artifact that grants long life and good health to the user. You’ll find many tablets that provide context and character to the setting (and make far more sense as records of history than your typical recorded audio-logs that make an appearance in some games).

Sadly, I was disappointed by the handling of the ending to the game, being asked to make a choice wasn’t a problem but once I made that choice I was presented with some text and a camera moving around a cathedral. As a reward for making your way through around 20 hours of play, it really felt lacking, especially when you compare it to the likes of Deus Ex which put action alongside words.

This is probably my greatest criticism of the game which otherwise, I really enjoyed beating. I’ve often struggled to enjoy many third person fighting games so it’s nice for me to say that I definitely enjoyed this.

Presentation: 7
Gameplay: 9
Overall: 8

You can check our Reviews FAQ’s for details on our review ratings.

The post The First Templar Review appeared first on SegmentNext.

You have plenty of options to customize your character, you can change how they look and feel at start by playing with several modifiers the game offers. This is by far the most shining feature of Brink since it allows players to create unique characters for their teams. You can create a set costume and have all your team mates follow it to make your team look alike.

As you progress through the 20 levels of character progression in Brink, you will be unlocking new abilities and weapons of the class you have chosen. Though every weapon is available to all the classes, it requires a specific body type to use certain weapons so you need to keep that in mind when creating your character.

Each class in Brink is assigned 20 abilities and they can be unlocked with experience points earned by playing more of the game. Most of the class specific abilities are more or less addons. They don’t really provide much of an advantage to a player in public matches, but if you consider playing a tactical 5 Vs. 5 private match then they do come in handy.

Brink features class oriented objectives in multiplayer so you will be switching between classes at least when playing against bots but you can play your favorite multiplayer class when playing with Humans, hoping they know what they need to do. Challenge mode in the game puts you against waves of enemies to fight for a set objective, but doesn’t really test your skills considering the bots really push for the objective in the last minute.

Multiplayer matches can be really frustrating when your team members have no idea of the objectives and you are left with no option but to change your class just because of the nature of the objective.

Another unique feature of Brink is the SMART system (Short for Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain) which lets you jump up and across obstacles in the map. You can slide, jump and get in cover using SMART movements and it is a fitting feature considering the gameplay mechanics of Brink.

Another core feature of Brink is its focus on team play. Rewards for helping the team more are provided to encourage greater teamwork throughout the multiplayer aspect of the game. Helping teammates by reviving, healing, and ammo replenishment, all reward you with extra experience points and in turn help you unlock weapons and abilities.

Brink’s Campaign can be played online with friends as well as offline with bots. The cut-scenes in between the missions which you can choose to play in any order try to narrate the story but at any point, they hardly engaged me or held my interest.

Multiplayer features eight maps with different objectives for each map depending on the faction you opt to play with. If your first objective is to escort a VIP then the opposing faction’s objective would be to stop you from escorting the VIP. One concern here is the questionable A.I. that comes into effect when your VIP starts moving in between the fire fights. They just keep moving to the escort point, it doesn’t seem to matter if you are outnumbered or overpowered.

With the release of the latest patches, most of the graphical issues have been fixed, the A.I is more responsive and consistent online lag which was a nightmare at first has also been fixed. After these few patches the game looks and plays better.

Brink reaches for greatness but falls short of delivering the goods with its new innovative multiplayer gameplay. Its repetitive gameplay, questionable AI, and average graphics are a let down.

It seems the developers were more focused on the characters looking cool, but honestly, I feel the last thing someone cares about in a fast-paced first person multiplayer shooter is how they look.

Had these issues been resolved it could have been a potential contender for achieving greatness.

Presentation: 7.5
Gameplay: 7.5
Overall: 7.5

You can check our Reviews FAQ’s for details on our review ratings.

The post Brink Review (PC) appeared first on SegmentNext.

Its origins lie in a student project called Narbacular Drop, where firing two portals at certain types of surfaces would allow to travel between those portals in order to navigate environments that would otherwise be impossible to get through.

The first Portal had more of an emphasis on momentum in its puzzles – where one portal placed on a wall and another in a deep well would result in the player gaining the momentum of falling into the deep well, launching you clear across an entire room upon exiting the portal positioned up on the wall.

You can also launch objects (such as turrets and blocks) in a similar manner, or just carry them through. Sometimes these objects are used to weigh down buttons, others might redirect laser beams that activate doors or somehow allow you to progress further within the game.

Portal 2 goes beyond the original formula, it concerns itself less with the use of portals to launch the player character and more with some new additions, such as jump pads, energy based walkways like those seen in the citadel in Half-Life.

The sequel also introduces three different types of gel that can get sprayed onto various surfaces, one boosts your running speed, the next makes jump/bounce much higher into the air and the third allows you to put portals on surfaces that otherwise wouldn’t be useful for portals.

The structure of the story has changed since the original Portal, with a greater emphasis on characters and the conflict that goes on between them (particularly Wheatley & GLADOS). The original was more about first completing the test chambers created for the player (a subtle yet fun form of long tutorial) before an escape attempt and a showdown with GLADOS.

Jokes about cake are a thing of the past. Instead the humour is more centered around the daftness of Wheatley and snide remarks from GLADOS over her death. Eventually you’ll encounter some other characters that fill in some of the background to the creation of the facility and add some humour of their own to send you on your way.

There’s a strong usage of environmental story telling as well, with the facility showing a great deal of disrepair and nature gradually taking hold over some locations. You’ll often get to see distant glimpses outside the facility along with large vistas that allow you to see the inner workings of the place you’re trapped in. There’s so much space I wanted to see it all.

The puzzles are about as strong as those of the original, with the player going through the stages of trying to figure out where the exit or next area is, then working out how to reach the next set of puzzles. The game is not weaker for this, but I felt quite a bit more constrained in terms of the variety of possible solutions to each puzzle in the sequel, as though the designers had pre-determined specific solutions for you that were less free form. I suspect that some will disagree with this perception.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the relaxed pace, the humour and the challenge of figuring out the solutions to the puzzles. Sometimes the jokes would feel ever so slightly repetitive being broadly along a limited selection of themes. The payoff at the end of the fun single player campaign is worth the effort of completing it.

There’s also a co-op campaign that requires two players to team up and work on solutions together but be aware that this is best experienced by two players who don’t know the solutions and thus aren’t dragging each other around as much.

Mod tools are now available for Portal 2, allowing you to create new places in which to do your portal traversing or play the creations of other people, so there’s bound to be plenty of further challenges waiting to be created.

Finally, here’s a treat, but only click this if you’ve completed the game.
Surprise.

Presentation: 9
Gameplay: 9
Overall: 9

You can check our Reviews FAQ’s for details on our review ratings.

The post Portal 2 Review appeared first on SegmentNext.

It takes place in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean that stretches from Sweden to the Ottoman Empire. All the major cities in the area are shown on the map and you can zoom in and out of each to learn more about the people that live there.

Behind the combat, there is a rather basic leveling system, where you can level up your character and put points into your attributes, skills (stuff that affects other aspects of the gameplay) and proficiencies (how well you can use different kinds of weapons).

You can recruit units from villages, and other places and they have their class tree where they’ll upgrade to stronger units. You can embark on a journey to write your own story, since it is an unscripted RPG. With Fire and Sword provides you with lot of options how you can play the game.

You can be a trader, you can sell prisoners that you capture in combat, you can become a lord in another one of the games factions, and later in the game you can start your own kingdom and conquer other ones.

It’s about as much of a sandbox as you can get in an RPG which in my book is a good thing.

A definite change in the setting from the previous titles. Not only is it set in historical Eastern Europe, but its storyline is also based on a novel of the same name. ‘With Fire and Sword’ makes it prominent that the game not only features traditional sword fights but also the weapons of the gun powder age. The introduction of firearms adds another dimension to the gameplay mechanics of the game.

Though there are few changes incorporated when compared to Warband, you can neither marry a noblewoman in order to become a noble, nor can you create your own kingdom.

The ability to play as female character is also gone. Instead of recruiting peasant from different villages and making the soldiers out of these, you can now recruit mercenaries in mercenary camps.

There about 5 camps in the game, each one for the major different factions in the game, and there is an endless supply of mercenaries coming from each of them. You can upgrade the mercenary specific equipment which costs a ton of money but any other mercenary you recruit of that type at that camp will have that bonus.

I feel like this feature should have been retained considering this is what has made Mount and Blade series fun and different. The mercenaries aren’t bad either, but still, either completely removing the ability to recruit villagers and training them into soldiers, the developers should have retained along with the option to recruit trained mercenaries.

Money is hard to earn, you will have to do whole lot of quests and side quests to be able to pay for your army or mercenaries and buy Talents to upgrade your mercenaries and your skills.

The visuals for the Mount & Blade series have always been rather mediocre but in exchange for that you have huge battles with hundreds of units with minimal lag. The customization system of character is highly detailed.

Multiplayer is also fun. There’s the basic deathmatch modes you can find in other mutliplayer games, but there’s also a good variety of other modes. The siege mode has a team defending a castle while the other team tries to take it from them. Captain Team Deathmatch mode lets two players fight each other with an army of AI bots at his/her command just like as in campaign mode.

Overall I think the game is a mixed bag with its mediocre visuals but terrific horseback gameplay, good fun which should be a must have for all Mount & Blade fans.

Presentation: 7/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Overall: 7.5

You can check our Reviews FAQ’s for details on our review ratings.

The post Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword Review appeared first on SegmentNext.

In Sanctum players assume the role of a female protagonist called Skye. Your objective in the game is to protect the core from ground as well air-born enemies. You carry around 3 weapons: Gatling gun with a grenade launcher as an alternate, Sniper rifle and a Time freeze gun which stop enemies dead in their tracks for a short amount of time.

The weapons also have an overheat meter which lists how many bullets you can fire before the gun overheats. You can upgrade your weapons to enhance their ability to get upper hand against your enemies.

You start out the game with building towers on the playing field. As you are building your defense towers, enemies will be approaching to reach out to your core, you will have to stop the incoming enemies by using all the arsenal at your disposal.

A tutorial Option is also present for people who have just ventured into the tower defense genre.

Sanctum also has a Co-op feature which enable you to play with your friends. It can be really fun to play with your friends, devising different strategies in an attempt to survives incoming waves of enemies.

For me the game is wonderful gesture to other independent games such as World of Goo and Super Meat Boy. However the difficulty varies from player to player.

It has a few drawbacks though which include The A.I. being either too easy or very hard and choices of weapons being dull. Especially in Co op mode, A.I. can surprisingly make the game annoyingly difficult at times.

The attractive visuals and easy learning curve immerses you in the game but the lack of content becomes the downside as soon as you realize it only has just three levels and two gameplay modes.

The varying difficulty settings for these game modes provide you with an opportunity to test your skills and try out different strategies against now tough enemies but it isn’t enough.

Overall, it’s a good game and does a great job in combining two genres into one game. It’s a must buy for those who want to try a creative and imaginative game to take some time off the AAA titles.

Presentation: 6.5/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Overall: 7.5/10

You can check our Reviews FAQ’s for details on our review ratings.

The post Sanctum (2011) PC Review appeared first on SegmentNext.