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SSX is back, more DEADLY than ever!
SSX (2012)
Snowboarding games don’t come much better than SSX, and it has been this way for a long time now. Ever since the original SSX came out the reception of the open world, realistic and fast-paced game has been immense as EA Sports continue the series into 2012 with another revolutionary SSX game.
When it was announced that SSX would be released in 2012 under the same title of the first game created, it was assumed that it would be an instant reboot or even a copy of the original game itself. However, all these ideas were vanquished immediately as the whole entire SSX franchise has now been revolutionized and made more realistic than ever. The newest title brings together nine Deadly Descents where you control a selected character to combat the worst fears imaginable for a Snowboarder on the most dangerous and treacherous mountains on the world. Threats rain in from Trees, Cold and even go as far as Avalanche. And yes, there is an Avalanche survival mode…you will be running from one of man’s greatest threats alive with you in the thick of the action.
The control schemes have been revamped with the new game however veteran SSX players can easily switch back to the older controls with a simple click of a button making it a game for newer players and older ones as well. The mountains feature include: Alaska, Antarctica, Patagonia, The Alps, Africa, The Himalayas, Siberia, Rockies and also New Zealand. They have been recreated from images directly from NASA and coated/edited for gaming usage. The game also includes the increased use of Helicopters to travel the player instantaneously to a variety of mountain tops to prevent wait time. You will always be riding at any given time with the game also being entirely online as well.
In terms of the multiplayer, it makes up for the lack of Split Screen the former games has. You can enter into Global Events and take on everybody in the world in a variety of competitions that are public and also private as well. The flexibility is yours, and you are able to enter and leave whenever you want. As long as you lay down your best time or trick score, that number will be saved and also a recording of your performance so other players can play against you even when you’re not actually there. This revolutionary multiplayer options gives the player the freedom to race online or concentrate on getting gold on all 150+ drops around the world on Explore mode. Geotags have been added to the game: collectibles that you can find and place at random places on any drop of any mountain. These will be added to the online world so other players can search for them, and the longer your Geotag stays elusive to other players; the more points you will get to spend in-game.
SSX is available on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, and is definitely a definitive game in the SSX franchise. It brings older characters back along with new ones and places you at the helm of some of the most insane tricks, jumps and diverse mountain ranges ever seen in a game. Not only is SSX going to exceed expectations, it’s going to grow larger than ever before. So grab your board and ride the slopes of your dreams on: SSX Deadly Descents.
Gameplay Video
Gameplay videos with commentary on old and upcoming games and demos will appear on my Channel several times a week.
Starting off on the Channel is the classic Gameboy Advance game: Megaman Battle Network 4 Blue Moon, Infamous 2 for the PS3 and FIFA 12!
http://www.youtube.com/reviewthe1
The game of 2011...
Skyrim
The open-world video game has just gone one big step forward as Bethesda Game Studios released Skyrim in late 2011 to immediate applause and anticipation of the many fans of the Elder Scrolls series. In modern times the open freedom of gameplay was normally left to Rockstar Games and their releases of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, but Skyrim takes it beyond anything anyone would have thought of. A game where you are the literal character yourself and it’s your decisions that create the outcome of the game, will you be a hero with your Dragonborn powers? Or a villain across the whole of Skyrim? The choice is yours.
It takes place 200 years after the events in Elder Scrolls Oblivion, released 2006, and places yourself as a descendent of the Dragonborns. A group of individuals that lived in the olden ages slaying Dragons that threatened to destroy the lands. The game begins with you heading to your death before Alduin, the World-Eater Dragon, appears suddenly sending chaos into the lands. Dragons had not been seen for years until then, and with you slowly learning the powerful words of the Thu’um, the Dragon language where certain powers in the forms of Shouts, can be used. You face adversity and pure heroism as you travel the massive landscape in search for the Elder Scroll to give some information to end the treacherous reign of Alduin in Skyrim.
The main ingredient to the game’s success is the value of freedom that is placed upon the player. You are able to literally travel anywhere in the extremely large diverse landscape around you, and every item or weaponry is available if you look closely. You can talk to anyone you want, and go off on tangents exploring dungeons and caves freely without the need for particular quests or anything of the sort. The game is created for you to decide your path through the storylines and questlines portrayed. In a game that contains over 250 hours of gameplay, it is never-ending to the limits of what you can do and what you want to become.
The trailer evoked many fans and people to demand the game as soon as possible, with main designers and creators of the game explaining how every mountain, hill or monument you see is definitely reachable and accessible completely. This follows the trend of the other Elder Scroll games but takes it to another level with exemplary graphics and gameplay that all future open-world games will have to somehow compete with to overcome it. There is freedom in choice of weapons you carry, the clothes you wear and what you do with the power in your hands.
Skyrim has been given fantastic reviews sending it into the upper stardoms of the gaming world even so soon after release. The game has smooth gameplay allowing full realism and freedom into your actions. Anything that pops into your mind is available for you to do, and the consequences and rewards are there to reap or to simply run from. No matter what console Skyrim is played on, the experience will be beyond any game you would have played before. A certain recommendation for a landmark game that will hopefully spark an even newer generation of open-world games.
The E3 Demo!
FPS action in its purest form
Bodycount
First Person Shooter (FPS) games have changed over time, but yet can still be found in their purest form. The form of picking up a gun and firing nonstop at waves of enemies approaching for no apparent reason, and with the objectives of simply killing everyone in sight. The most popular FPS in the last five or six years is arguably the Call of Duty series which shot to stardom after the Modern Warfare segment of the franchise was released. It gives the aspect of FPS a strong storyline and purpose in the main single player campaign modes, with the pure form of FPS still continuing in the online multiplayer environment.
Bodycount was released in 2011 under the Codemasters Game Publisher Company with a large emphasis on environmental destruction. Bullets and weaponry fired will destroy blockades, shields and even buildings sending explosions off randomly in different directions repeatedly. This gives the game a dynamic environment and terrain where anything you use as cover can be quickly destroyed and left to nothing. You are a single solider recruited by an organization known as “The Network” to infiltrate and discover the secrets behind the Militia and the mysterious individuals controlling it.
The game contains multiplayer and co-op modes along with a Team Deathmatches in the online world. In the campaign single-player mode, there is a new slightly experimental style of using cover whilst within a gun battle. You are able to duck behind anything in front to reload or to avoid heavy damage, and to peek out from around corners to fire accurate shots at the enemies nearby. Skillshots are prime part of the game, bringing in different points for the type of kill you decide to endeavor. These include the massively popular headshots, stealth kills and even surprise kills as well. All of these aspects add up to your final score at the end of each supposed level ranging in a grade system from A downwards. With these scores, you are able to compete with other players around the world with leaderboards being prevalent for each level played.
Bodycount has been given moderate to worse reviews that highlight its attractive environment and gameplay techniques. But also criticize the incredibly weak storyline and short campaign mode that only extended out to just over six hours. As the player, you are limited to what you are able to do compared to what the game expects such as fighting off an extremely large wave of enemy using the few skills and weapons available at the time. Many critics also attacked the lack of entertainment factor that other FPS games had instead such as the Battlefield and Call of Duty franchises.
Bodycount did not fare well in the gaming world, but it does bring back the purest form of First Person Shooter action with colourful visuals, awards for adventurous and stunning kills and simplicity in the missions. The highest let down of the game unfortunately come with the lack of story that is needed to become a success in the mainstream gaming world today.
E3 trailer in 2011
Could be one of the biggest games of 2012
Mass Effect 3 – Demo
I first have to explain that this is the first Mass Effect game that I’ve played in the now trilogy of games that have been released by Bioware and Electronic Arts. The demo is stunning alone, with fantastic graphics during action scenes and gameplay allowing smooth gun battles and movement. You control Commander Shepard in his quest to destroy the Reapers invading the worlds around you. Your task is to gather the support of other alien races and species to stop the robotic invasion from taking over completely in their destruction.
The demo begins with a long, but in depth, cut scene which immediately explains the scenario ahead. You are whisked away as the world around you collapses, and a gun battle begins against alien creatures with melee combat also integrated along with pistol and machine gun action. The intense destruction with the robotic colossals approaching sends you into the situation of running for your life as red hot laser beams strike the world. Buidlings are falling, meteors from the sky and you evade them all.
Overall, the down point of the games comes in the poor cut scenes where the display is slightly jumpy between individuals with slightly out of sync audio and gameplay. But the actions scenes make up for it against the odds with the combat system using a successful method of finding cover and shooting using an array of guns and special weaponry. You get incendiary firepower leading to exploding results, with other weapons including machine guns and long-range shotguns of the like. Each different gun has its own specific strong points for a scenario, and it’s up to whether you want to depend on pure power alone, or to work the angles with accuracy.
In conclusion, the demo reveals a lot about the gameplay and graphic engine that the official release will have. It gives subtle hints about what to expect further down the main plotline whilst also revealing the vast depth of the weapons and action scenes portrayed within. Mass Effect 3 could be one of the biggest games to hit the shelves in 2012.
Single player game play!
A mysterious crime appears in Los Angeles...
L.A. Noire
Rockstar Games are no amateurs to the gaming world by any means. With their highly successful commercial exploits of the award winning, but yet controversial, Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead series. This video game developer hasn’t shied away from the world with the introduction of L.A. Noire – a film noire-esque crime game based in the late 1940s of Los Angeles. The game continues the trademark open world environment of many of the other series created by Rockstar Games, but brings in new perspectives and technology in using the stylistic effects of an actual film noire movie and brings to life the aspects of crime during that time.
You control Detective Cole Phelps, a revolutionary cop, which moves through the ranks of the police force in chase of crime and the meaning behind why criminals act in particular ways. Phelps is a World War II veteran, still haunted by his past of killing with the events of L.A Noire happening afterwards. The game focuses heavily on interrogating and asking the right questions based on evidence found in a particular area. Your scores for each particular mission depend on how much evidence you find, and how you choose to answer your clients. It comes down to figuring out if they are lying or telling the truth using your knowledge and visual clues to determine results.
However, the action doesn’t die down by any means with car chases, high action cinematic shoot-outs and intensive hand-to-hand combat appearing randomly throughout the game. Rockstar Games keeps the open world element alive but more focussed on the storyline away from the destruction clearly viable in the Grand Theft Auto series. The best way to approach the gameplay is through following the storyline, as there isn’t much to do away from it apart from finding the collectible items or simply exploring the extremely large Los Angeles area. Killing random people is not something accepted by the gameplay by any means due to you being part of the Police, and weaponry is restricted compared to the other series by Rockstar Games.
Many fans of the games had complained about the lack of content upon the completion of the main storyline and the lack of additional features available. Freezing occurs randomly and textures fail to appear at random intervals leading to disruptive and frustrating gameplay at times. People have complained about the repetitive nature of the game in missions, and the lack of actions. However, this is backed up with clinically dashing and accurate portrayals of the Los Angeles area inducing fantastic graphics with true detective and crime work. It brings the atmosphere of a mysterious killer in the air, and allows the mainstream world to understand how crimes were solved back in the 1940s and 1950s. A very new perspective on games that stood out amongst all others in 2011.
L.A. Noire is a compelling and exciting game with a moving and attractive storyline coupled with graphics and a fantastic engine to solving crimes. Using evidence to help in investigations brings a new perspective to games overall, with many fans wishing for a sequel in the upcoming months ahead. This is a recommended game for those a fan of the crime and investigation, and even the open world view that the Rockstar Games company has trademarked over the years.
Some gameplay from L.A Noire
Survival Horror at its very best!
Dead Island
First person, melee combat and zombies. Dead Island brings these three factors to the next level as the survival horror game took the world by storm in 2011. The opening trailer to officially announce the game was immediately given positive reviews by gamers and reviewers due to its cinematic imagery and gentle brutality which brought it alive. Even though the game was approximately pushed back 4-5 years, the reception for the game was very positive with many of the top gaming websites commenting on the realistic combat and environments of the actual game.
As with most survival horror game with zombies, you are one of the few to evade a zombie infection which has rotted over the local area – in this case the fictional island of Banoi. As an individual completely void of any infection you are sent by other remaining survivors to complete tasks and missions to help them escape the island alive. You travel from the beach, to the city and even into the depths of the jungle discovering more about the mysterious infection and the single contact with the knowledge to escape from the island. You encounter rebellious forces that are selfish with the remaining food and life still remaining, and help to save those who require it.
The emphasis on melee combat was a large attraction of the game, with the first-person viewpoint gave a very realistic image. The intensely real graphics also add with the darkness of many rooms giving off a powerful horror and suspenseful aspect. You feel as if you really are in the position of the characters you control in the game, picking up any scrap of weapon you can find early on to give you protection. You search and create your own weaponry at the same time, honing your skills with experience points and learning new powerful techniques to take on the zombie army approaching you.
There are guns in the game, but they are strangely ineffective compared to other known zombie games where guns are mostly the main choice of weapon to use. You can pick anything up from a paddle to an iron pipe, from meat cleavers to even fire axes. There are heaps of different weapon choices and even more ways to modify them to help in your quests. You can give an electric shock to your weapon if you choose, or even add nails and bolts to a baseball bat or something else. The options are at the plentiful, and you simply have to search for the ingredients for it all as you play through the game. Everything has to be done manually and that is what makes the game fully realistic, and emphasizing the survival aspect beyond anything ever seen before.
Glitches appear repeatedly during gameplay, however, with textures not appearing quick enough or at all sometimes with online originally bugged completely with freezes constantly appearing with the co-op play. Most of the game needs the help of someone online to complete it as going solo makes the difficulty much too difficult for the average gamer at times. Technical flaws rummage through the game in its original state with a patch created on the day released to deal with over 35 flaws and issues already noticed by gamers.
Corrupted save files were massive problem, but most were sorted out instantly but some still remain.
Dead Island recently was given an extra boost with the release of the add-on as the Ryder White Campaign was released in early 2012, with many complaints that it took beyond too long for its appearance. However, the game continues to stage a large fan base with the hopeful anticipation of a sequel in the near future.
Official Trailer for Dead Island
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