Tag Archives: PC
Fable 3: Well, shit.
Like I’ve said lately, I’ve been really into Fable 3. I like open RPGs. I like being able to wander around and do silly side quests.
On the other hand, I don’t like Fable 3. It was such a chore, and no game should be a chore! Let me bring it in, so I can give you some real reasons, instead of just rambling.
‘kay. This game is for xbox 360 and computers running a Windows OS. I’ve heard through the grapevine that its way choppier on the PC, but I didn’t play via PC, so I can’t verify that. It is, obviously, the third installment of the Fable series of open RPGs.
The purpose of this game is to take our money *cough* I mean, the purpose of this game is to de-throne our hero’s big brother, become the King/Queen and rescue Albion. Seems legit, right? I have to say that I actually enjoyed the main storyline for the most part. It was a bit rushed, and needed to be fleshed out some more, but I dug it. The opening scene was especially nice. The escape attempt of the chicken made me cry. Go here, you can see it on youtube.
Anyway, up through about the first half of the game, I was okay with the story, but then it all just went downhill out of no where. I don’t want to spoil the crappy ending for you, but it sucks, and I’m sorry.
The gameplay is what I need to address right now. Ugh. I’ve been putting it off. Even now I’m stumbling instead of addressing the issues. Okay. I’ll do it.
The gameplay sucks. It’s so bad. The character moves glitchy, the game randomly lags, the bread-crumb trail disappears, there are no menus. Like at all. Everything is managed through this ridiculous “sanctuary” but there’s no way to see what items you have, what gifts you have, or anything like that. Changing clothing has become a chore, and weapons are just as bad. In a time where we have the custom designs of Mass Effect and the story and depth and menu screens of Skyrim, I feel like they could have stepped it up a notch. What the story made okay, the gameplay destroyed. It made the game awkward and frustrating. I couldn’t even pick my expressions to use on the locals! Arg!
The graphics are decent, but you’ll never notice them because we have our eyes on the breadcrumb trail the whole time, rather than paying any attention to the pretty scenery. I like the trail, though, because I’m the kid who gets lost EVERYWHERE I go… I mean, like, all the time. I’m the reason people used to make those awesome text based maps of JRPGs back in the day.
As for the expansions.. There was only the one expansion. It sucked. Once again, the story is okay, but not great, and the achievements are disturbingly easy to go in and get. I finished this expansion at 100%, and this is only the third game I’ve been able to do that for. I didn’t get 100% on the full game (yet) but I’m working on it. There are some achievements that may require that I play through again for, and I’m not so sure that I’m in the mindset to try this again right now. I really liked the last one, and was looking forward to this blowing my mind. No such luck.
There is no replay value. None.
I picked this up at Half.com for about $1 plus shipping, so it wasn’t a bad price, and I think it was worth that much. I like the characters. (I don’t like the knight guy, but other than him they’re good.) I like that most of the achievements weren’t crazy hard. I liked half of the story. I do still have issues with closure, which I addressed in the last post, but for the most part its worth a dollar.
2.5 out of 5 stars. For anger. And no menus.
Earth’s Final Hope
Every legend of course has a beginning and ending. It’s unfortunate for us to say that this bad ass game has to come to end, but all good things must have that ending. This game, Mass Effect 3 of course, will not have an ending that’s not short of epic.
For those of you dedicated gamers who have played through the Mass Effect series, you already know what’s going on, what Commander Shepherd is up against, and realistically what his odds are. But, for those of you gamers that haven’t played through this amazingly beautiful series, let me catch you up a little bit (if you haven’t already read our reviews).
Essentially back in Mass Effect 1,we get introduced into this world where aliens exist, space travel is possible and there’s always something going on. We also meet our hero, Commander Shepherd of the Alliance military, who actually gets considered to be a Spectre (basically a galactic peacekeeper that can do anything for their mission deemed necessarily, even outside the bounds of galactic law), but the plans are initially foiled by a rogue turian Spectre by the name of Saren Arcturus. Shepherd eventually becomes a Spectre for the Council and his mission is to stop Saren. Shepherd is successful with his mission but not without some trials along the way.
Flash forward two years from Mass Effect 1 into Mass Effect 2. Shepherd is aboard the SSV Normandy when it comes under attack by a group of aliens called The Collectors. Shepherd dies trying to save the pilot to the Normandy, Joker and is brought back to life by a pro-human organization called Cerberus, also a hated enemy amongst many in the galaxy. Shepherd’s mission now is to gather a crew and destroy the Collectors. After Shepherd is successful, a warning comes, that a group of older aliens, called the Reapers, that wiped out an ancient civilization known as the Protheans now have a new target: Earth.
Flash now to Mass Effect 3, Earth’s attack from the Reapers is imminent, now is essentially the last stand. Shepherd must now gather all the allies possible to bring an end to the Reapers destruction and keep the galaxy spinning so to speak.
First off, I fucking love the Mass Effect series, I mean it is literally phenomenal in everything that it does. My favorite thing of all time about is that every choice a player makes in the game affects its total outcome of how the game is going to end or even progress for that matter. Decisions made in the first game create this sort of “butterfly effect” for the second game, and then even in this game, yes players will be able to continue their Commander Shepherd all the way from the first Mass Effect.
With that being said, some new features of course are in this conclusion of the Mass Effect series. First off, the graphics seem to have been updated just a little bit more so they look a bit nicer than even Mass Effect 2. Second, if you loved the combat system that was used in Mass Effect 2, you’re going to love combat in Mass Effect 3 and here’s why: The cover system that caused some frustration within the second game actually got a bit of an upgrade so it’s definitely better now. Last but certainly not least, Mass Effect 3 includes the option of using a Kinect if players are using the Xbox 360. Yes, players will be able to give their squads commands as well as say what Shepherd is going to say in the game, and probably other things that we don’t know about yet.
Sometimes It’s More Than Just 1′s and 0′s
It often comes to us that we get the stories where robots think that they are human, I mean we’ve seen I, Robot, there’s been the movie A.I. all that kind of fun shit. But even in that case, the robots may think they are human, but they still don’t look human or have any of those kinds of functionalities. Binary Domain kind of puts that into more of a perspective.
To set it up a little bit, it’s the sort of distant future (around 2040 or so, maybe more), and there has been a ban on research of robotics in the development to make them look human calling them “Hollow Children.” What set this more as a threat though was an attack by a Hollow Child on the Bergen Corporation headquarters. The person behind the development and breaking the clause made was a man by the name of Yoji Amada in Tokyo, so now a team has been dispatched to take out any existing Hollow Children along with bringing Amada to justice.
The game itself from the videos has seemed to be extremely interesting. First off, what really catches my attention is that players are faced with moral decisions in the game, and I am a huge HUGE fan of that. Another thing is that the combat system is all team-based and in order for players to have AI assistance in battles, the AI has to be able to trust the player, and that comes from the player’s moral decisions.
With all that bullshit being said, hands down I WANT this game, I love games that follow this kind of structure where there are multiple outcomes based on player choice. Let me just say again, I fucking want this game, because of all this in it, and the fact that it’s a pretty interesting story.
Every Corporation Has an Agenda…
So we all know that corporations are like their own entities and all that bullshit (that’s only if you study business). But here’s where this gets twisted: In the future, every corporation has an agenda, but some corporations have takeover as their agenda, with agents that can generally make the situations hostile.
First off, this game is a reboot of a Syndicate game that came out in the early to mid 90’s for PC (and even had a follow up). The only problem with these games to me, is they didn’t really look like they were as strong and just looked like they fucking sucked to be honest. So, essentially the game is set in the year 2069, where players are an agent of this massive corporation. Badass weapons, a DART chip which has a ton of different functions and a mission at hand are the main premise. There’s weapons that have different functions, also including the way players aim down the scopes, but the weapons themselves are unique, which makes this cool.
Players are able to upgrade throughout the game, which include chip implants, and things of that nature. Also at their disposal, players will be able to access things like breach or doing other things with the use of the DART chip. The way to recharge these actions faster after use is by charging adrenaline essentially. Adrenaline can be charged by killing enemies, getting more into the fight, etc. But it all does pay off I can say that much because it looks totally dope when powerups go off.
So with this being a first-person-shooter, Syndicate totally got my attention, because I like first person shooters, but also that the display looked different than most first-person-shooter games did, and just had like this really badass looking story and gameplay. So, with that said, I’m psyched to try this game out, I want it, I want it to have my children.
Gotham Really Does Have a New Face
In Gotham City, most commonly we usually see the Batman and Joker play cat-and-mouse until finally Batman gets a hold of him and pummels the crap out of him. But, what exactly happens if Batman’s not in Gotham? Well, essentially the Joker would wreak havoc and carnage and Gotham would be in turmoil. But, a better question to ask, what happens when the Joker even leaves Gotham? That’s a good question, to put it simply; all of their imposters come out, which brings forth the game of Gotham City Imposters.
Gotham City Imposters actually takes a bit of a different spin in the Batman Universe. It works on the principles of two factions, the vigilantes which are the Bats and then the villains which are the Jokerz. Each team has six members, and basically have a good old-fashioned shootout, with of course some twists thrown in for the Batman universe. The characters on fully customizable, plus there are traditional weapons in the game, as well as some that are a bit more elaborate. There are other gadgets and weapons that make the game a little more interesting with their creativity, even for the DC Universe.
Gotham City Imposters will actually be available for download for PC, Xbox Live through the Marketplace, or through the store on the PlayStation Network. Despite the fact that it is a downloadable game, Gotham City Imposters really does not look like a title that would have been developed for that but for something more. At Gamer’s Dish, we do have some Batman fans that cannot wait to try this game out, so stay tuned!
Preview: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
First off, I have to say that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is going to be insanely huge. Alright, you gamers are probably going to ask yourself and probably ask me, “Why the hell is this game going to be so big?” Here’s your answer. First off, R.A. Salvatore, who is a very famed and renowned author of fantasy series created the universe and the lore that makes the constructs of this game. Second, Todd McFarlane, famed for his work in the Spawn series worked on the art. Next, Ken Rolston, who has his claim to fame with the Elder Scrolls series is the executive producer for Kingdoms of Amalur. Last, but not least, Grant Kirkhope, who has done musical scores for GoldenEye, Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark, and many, many more composed the soundtrack. With this superhero kind of team, we here at Gamer’s Dish know that this game is going to be simply epic and badass.
With a game that features five distinct regions, four playable races, three class trees, and twenty-two abilities per tree, there is certainly going to be a lot of re-playability with this game. Players are given the ability of four races to choose from at the beginning: the Almain, which are civilized humans, the Varani, who are humans of a nomadic background, the Dokkalfar, the Dark Elves, and the Ljosalfar, the Light Elves. It appears that whichever faction that players choose in the game will actually affect their class as well. There are also “Fateweavers” who help the hero with sort of forging their path as well in this game.
Players in this game play the hero known as the “Fateless One”, who actually died before the game takes place, and is revived in the experimental Well of Souls. Being the one person without a real fate, the hero is actually unbound by any laws that exist in the realms of fate. The hero also collects fates from enemies that they kill throughout the game and eventually can go into a “god mode” for a period of time, much usually like in God of War and similar games along those platforms. When players level up in this game, it will affect quests, interactions with NPCs (Non-Player Characters), and shape the hero’s path. What also makes me very excited for this game, is that decisions do affect the outcome, and being a fan of this, I am very excited to get my hands on it.
So, with an amazing line up of people working on this game, and seeing some of the trailers for this game, which we will feature, I myself, am extremely excited about getting my hands on this game and cannot wait to lose myself in R.A. Salvatore’s world. So get out there, collect your fate, and delve yourself into this world until we come out with a new article for you guys to read!
Preview: Star Wars: The Old Republic
“A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…” Let’s face it, any of us who are fans know this famous quote that shows up in blue at the start of each film. Now, we get to experience a fully-immersive world that is set in the Star War Universe with Star Wars: The Old Republic. Developed by Bioware, The Old Republic will feature some of the Star Wars universe that fans are familiar with, but also give us options to shape the Republic and the galaxy.
The Old Republic is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) where players are able to create a character, pick a class they would want to play as, follow a path on that class that is an expertise, and level up to become more powerful in The Old Republic. Players will either play as the Galactic Republic or the Sith Empire. The classes that have been revealed so far include Sith Inquisitor, Jedi Knight, Smuggler, Bounty Hunter, Jedi Counslar, Imeperial Agent, and Sith Warrior. Along with these numerous amounts of options that are available players will be able to travel to several planets including Korriban, Ord Mantell, Nal Hutta, Tython, Coruscant, Balmorra, Alderaan, Tatooine, Dromund Kaas, Tatris, Belsavis, Voss, Hoth, Corellia, Ilum and Quesh, as well as the moon Nar Shaddaa. There are also many races available including Human, Chis, Cyborg, Miraluka, Mirilan, Rattataki, Sith Pureblood, Twi’lek, and Zabrak.
So with all these neato customizations you see, there’s still more awesome things to come out of the Old Republic. For instance, those of you that are Mass Effect fans or if you just like to have choices and outcomes to stories, will get those kinds of options playing The Old Republic. And if that wasn’t cool enough, each class has their own set of starship, and players can have crew actually working on the ship. Crew members will have what is called “crew skills” and can specialize in one of three are: Mission, Gathering, or Crafting. Crew members that specialize in the Mission skill will be able to accompany players on a mission or players can choose and designate to have crew members complete certain missions for them and still be rewarded the experience and any other rewards. Another nice thing is that the crew will actually keep working even when players are offline, which is definitely a nice feature.
So, The Old Republic does have a lot to offer and a lot to do with this quite expansive MMORPG, and we here at Gamer’s Dish are very very excited for it and want to watch as the Star Wars world blossoms even more. Until next time gamers, “May the Force be with you…always.”
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Preview: Saints Row: The Third
We believe that sometimes with video games that do come out, sometimes it feels like it’s either the same as the game that released before, or some are just not setting that mark that some of us want for gaming. Well, that’s definitely about to change with the soon-coming arrival of Saints Row: The Third. That’s right gamers, Saint’s Row: The Third is coming and is going to definitely be over the top.
One of our new favorite open-world action/adventure games has returned with this installment in the series, and this time, the Saints aren’t starting on some street-corner block with a small time operation. No my gamers, the Saints are on top of their game this time around, with being one of the top criminal organizations in the world, but also going legal, in the sense of, they have products, stores, even a movie being made for them.
Saints Row: The Third brings the 3rd Street Saints gang to the lovely new city of Steelport. Steelport has taken a love for the Saints because essentially they are like celebrities. But having the celebrity status does come at a price, and the Saints are soon quick to find this.
The Syndicate has their sights on the Saints as they are now the new flavor of Steelport, and the Syndicate doesn’t want to share their already marketing enterprise. So, the Saints go back to their roots of gangbanging and taking out their opposition if they want their respect. With Saints Row: The Third, this is no exception, it goes far over the limit than what many other games in the past have done. With such things as weapons, vehicles, and the like, Saints Row has enough for everybody to get in on the action and take everything now to the extreme. So get on out to Steelport and get yourself that metaphorical marketing pie!
Be sure to check out our Youtube page at: www.youtube.com/gamersdish for more coverage on Saints Row: The Third!
Preview: Need For Speed: The Run
We here at Gamer’s Dish have a new need. And that need is the Need for Speed. That’s right gamers, the developers of the Need for Speed series have set to release another installment of the Need For Speed Franchise with Need For Speed: The Run. This will be the 18th installment in the franchise, and has definitely marked itself as being unique amongst the rest.
Black Box has been working on Need For Speed: The Run for roughly three years now, and we finally get to see why. You gamers probably remember the old Need For Speed games, where the driver wasn’t visible, and basically just racing from one track to the next. Well, this time around, take that concept and throw it right out the window. This game has been totally revamped, in a few ways.
First off, in this installment of the Need For Speed series, there is actually a story that was built around this game. Players will take on the role of the protagonist Jack, who has got himself into a fair amount of trouble, mostly with the mafia. A contact of his, Sam, informs him of a way to be able to make a little bit of “fast” cash. To do this, Jack must put his skills to work, his racing skills that is. The challenge of course is for him to drive across the country in a nationwide race from San Francisco to New York in an event called “The Run.” The reward for achieving first place in New York is $25 million. But of course, something like this doesn’t come easy. With the long arm of the law and the mafia to deal with on this nationwide adrenaline rush, Jack also has to overtake spots from the other 200 members of “The Run.”
Another great feature to this game, is that players aren’t just racing across from one developed track in the game to the next, what they’re actually doing this time is racing in actual areas in the United States! Gamers will be racing from areas like San Francisco, going through Chicago, and some of the other great places that have twists and turns along the way.
Need For Speed: The Run definitely has put a new twist on the racing series. We believe here at Gamer’s Dish that The Run will set a new mark in the Need For Speed series. We’re very excited to have a non-stop adrenaline race to the finish. Gear up for this one gamers!
Be sure to check out www.youtube.com/gamersdish for more videos for Need For Speed: The Run!
Preview: Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
There’s nothing like the feeling of taking a blade and impaling it into that nasty Templar is there? No, there definitely is not, which is why Ubisoft has graced us with another installment of Assassin’s Creed with Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.
That’s right folks, Ubisoft has given us another chapter in the Assassin’s Creed saga, featuring a now older Ezio that also has a family. In Revelations, Ezio is on a personal quest to seek the secrets that were left behind by the legendary Altair. But Ezio is not the only one that has made uncovering these secrets his goal, for the Templars are after these secrets as well. Ezio is then brought to Constantinople, the early melting pot of all civilization while finding the quickest way to unlock these secrets.
As with the other Assassin’s Creed installments in the series, it’s no surprise that Ubisoft has brought something new to the table with this game. But, what they brought this time has actually been an effective tool that will affect the overall gameplay. What new device you gamers ask? It would be the Hookblade. The Hookblade can not only be used as a weapon while in combat, but also can be used to glide Ezio across the city. As if having this new nifty tool at his disposal, Ezio now has the ability to craft bombs. It is said now that players will be able to have Ezio craft 300 different bomb variations all at his disposal. Also what has been added, and expanded upon are seizing the districts. While very similar to its Brotherhood predecessor, the difference in Revelations will be that the Templars will actually attempt to recapture districts, which Ezio must defend.
For the gamers that knew and still love the multiplayer that came from Brotherhood, Ubisoft has brought it back for Revelations and has made it even better than its predecessor. The multiplayer expands the basics of the online modes from Brotherhood with new characters and locations. Players are now able to customize their characters’ appearance and have more choice at hand on how they plan on dealing death to their opponents. Of course, in getting these weapons for multiplayer, players now have to have currency in the form of Abstergo points in order to be able to do so. But, at the least, it definitely looks quite immersive and impressive.
Of course there are always perks to pre-ordering games, and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations was no exception to that. In North America, pre-ordering at GameStop automatically upgraded purchasers to the Signature Edition of the game. The Signature Edition features exclusive packaging, a bonus single-player mission (Vlad the Impaler Prison), an exclusive multiplayer character (Ottoman Jester), weapons capacity upgrades, an animated short film (Assassin’s Creed: Embers) and the original games’ soundtrack.
In Europe however, there were different versions of the game available, these versions include:
- The Animus Edition which features the Animus box, an in-depth encyclopedia, an animated short film (Assassin’s Creed Embers) and the original game’s soundtrack. Also, the in-game content included an exclusive mission (Vlad the Impaler Prison), an armor from Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (Armor of Brutus) in single-player, weapons capacity upgrades, and two additional multiplayer characters (The Crusader and Ottoman Jester).
- The Collector’s Edition features Special Collector’s Edition packaging, a 50-page art book, an animated short film and the game’s original soundtrack. In-game content include is an exclusive mission and two additional multiplayer characters (both mission and characters the same as the Animus Edition).
- The Special Edition consists of a standard box with exclusive artwork and the original game’s soundtrack. The in-game content included is a Turkish Assassin Armor in single-player and two additional multiplayer characters (both characters the same as the Animus Edition and the Collector’s Edition.
For those of you gamers that are interested in these other editions, it’s always best to check your favorite online retailer to see if these have been made available for purchase in North America.
With Assassin’s Creed Revelations though, we do unfortunately have some bad news. This will mark the end of the tales of both Ezio and Altair. But the good news though is that we don’t believe this is the end of Assassin’s Creed just yet (of course also Ubisoft has not really said anything about it). But, for now, let’s all enjoy assassinating Templars and unlocking more of Desmond’s memories. Happy hunting gamers.
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Release Date: November 15, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1a-nJxO__s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-fu7Qzctng
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