Portal 2

Portal 2 the sequel to the ground breaking Portal 1, Portal had the element in surprise of the first-person physics-based puzzle gameplay. GLaDOS the robotic villain, was one of the most interesting and also one of the most pleasant bosses I have ever faced. Valve didn't unlike most development teams hit every key note they did with Portal 1 and added even more in portal 2.

From the first moments waking up in the same old Aperture Science facility. Portal 2 feels bigger, the story a bit thicker, and the character detail more surprising. While GLaDOS, the facility's operator, does what ever she pleases and pokes and prods you with jokes it's a great experience all in all to keep on progressing in the game just to hear what GLaDOS has to say. GLaDos has a very sarcastic sense of humor and when you're not starting at your screen blankly trying to figure out which laser goes where you can expect to be laughing.

You play as Chell, the same as Portal 1*, dragged back into Aperture after the end of Portal 1, how sad. You meet Wheatley almost like the oracle in Halo who helps you through the early stages. It's difficult to not see how well crafted all the lines are in Portal. All of Wheatley's lines are very witty and are all consistently clever. While there is several verbal battles between GLaDOS and Wheatley, I often ignored them seeing as I just walked into a new room that has a puzzle awaking to be solved. At the start of Portal 2, Aperture's labs are all but normal, everything is in a state of disrepair seeing as how Portal 1 ended. Once GLaDOS is rebooted again in the sequel, and whirs back into action, the facility follows. As you progress through the game a lot the test chambers become more complex, until you finally come face to face with the final boss.

Gameplay- you'll spend a lot of time trying to finish puzzles as quick as you can and hopefully will not become tangled in trying to solve it. Valve brings back the epic same portal gun while greatly expanding upon it's capabilities. While in Portal a lot of the chambers you will get annoyed and will become frustrated while others are a simple I got it solution. What Portal is great about is even the hardest levels don't make you feel stupid, it's more of a challenging event because the levels have become bigger in portal 2. As good as the single-player is in Portal, the co-op is the real highlight of Portal 2, while instead of just using the single player recycled levels Valve decided to let the players create their own levels and share them on PSN or Xbox Live. This was a genius idea, and to make it better and more communication oriented 1 robot gets one side of the portal and friend the other side. While it is fun to play with your friends it's not all about completing just the chamber, you can look at who took the least amount of steps to complete it and so forth to keep the fun up.

Closing Comments: Portal 2 is an extremely fun game that starts from the very beginning, while the story takes a while to get into, I can safely say it's a ton better than any Call of Duty single player which is just shooting and progression. Portal 2 was everything I expected from Portal 1, a crazy play at your own pace first person puzzle. The best part about portal 2, once you're done with the single player you don't have to stop there and can continue your adventures with your friends in this never ending puzzle.

Borderlands

Borderlands, a cartoonish animated game that was hand drawn you don't see very many of those anymore. well for those that aren't aware of what Borderlands is, it's a game that similiarly mimics a loot style game like Bilzzards Diablo. The game starts and you're on a bus ride going to who knows where and you're pretty much a mercenary that will do whatever stands in their way between them and their reward. Getting off the bus you can select one of four different characters all with unique abilities. after selecting your character that's where the fun begins. you recieve a handful of quests and countless "baddies" will do whatever it takes to prevent you from stealing their goods and killing their leader. The main reason why you're on the planet in the first place is because there was a tale of a mysterious vault that contained important artifacts and technology that no one had ever seen before. While just starting out there will be an imagine of a woman several times providing you with further detail on certain situations including what may lie ahead for you in your journey. You'll begin with corrded pistols and shuttering machine guns but the more time you've put into the game and the further you get you won't be as bogged down by harsh enemies because you've have found new weapons and shields that fit your play style. Borderlands is by far different from any other game on the market right now. the design is a very relaxing one that isn't over complex and that's what really makes the game fun for me. Borderlands is full of different color and the development team did a great job making this game look anything but dull. all the fights are very fluid, frantic, and exciting all at the same time. From time to time you'll come across "Badass" guys which are just version of the normal guys just harder and bosses that each have a little funny caption before you fight them.

While it may feel like you're often going through the same place, You instead are traveling through swamps, docks, clustered close quarters urban areas that add a sense of variety to the game. You'll also be treated to awesome cliff views and distant images that are still well drawn and thought out by the develops that thought of everything. while Borderlands is a vast open world game in which you can pretty much whatever you'd like in, luckly they have added convenient transportation systems (like a dune-buggie) and quick travel systems which allows you to travel anywhere in the entire game which the push of a button.

Gameplay.This is main event and the best part of Borderlands. There are Snipers, Shotguns, Machine Guns, you name it and not only that they have said there are over 11 million different types of guns including design and stat features. As you level up and progress in borderlands you're frequently change your shield and weapons so you're always in your prime for when those baddies come rushing at you. Another really cool feature to Borderlands is that each class has three different talent trees each specializing in their own thing. This is cool and all but there is a down side, Each class gets one and only one primary action skill, which you'll be using a lot when you're quickly reloading. The Hunter which was chosen class throws out a falcon and dive bombs the enemy, which is cool and all but I would rather have like a insta headshot skill. As you level in Borderlands you also aquire points to allocate where ever you'd like in your desired skill tree, which in return can increase your damage, or make you survive better. In borderlands like I stated there are a ton of guns to choose from and really that's what gearbox was aiming for, better customization so you could find the right gun that fit you. But this is like every first person shooter, it's just mindless firing and fast-paced gameplay. One thing I would have liked to see Gearbox do was add in some armor collection, seeing as all you can do is choose a character name and change the color of your clothing. While I'll admit that would make the menu very cluttered and it doesn't bother me that much it just feels like something is missing.

The shooting mechanics of borderlands is that to be admired. Like Call of Duty and many first person shooters today you can aim down the sight or scope on any weapon, but why this is amazing on Borderlands is because every gun is different and the different colors of your gun and the firing rate really plays a cool factor while playing. In Borderlands you will face many different enemies aside from humans, you will fight bugs, spiky dogs, robots, even zombies. Gearbox was very smart adding different monster type and behaviors to the game as well. Some enemies prefer to attack in groups while others just go with a full out bonzi charge. All the fights in Borderlands are very fluid, frantic, and exciting all at the same time. From time to time you'll come across "Badass" guys which are just version of the normal guys just harder and bosses that each have a little funny caption before you fight them.

Closing Comments:

While playing Borderlands is fun alone, like any game this game is ten times better when playing with friends. Playing with friends adds benefit, the more characters you add the harder the enemies come which adds a big of strategy, but in return you receieve rare loot more often. all in all borderlands is a one of a kind game that its unique style will not go under the radar. Borderlands will be a smash for a while to come as well as the upcoming Borderlands two

Batman Arkham Asylum

Batman... where to begin, Adam West? Cartoons? Movies?.... Video Games? I'll be honest I am not a fan of DC comic character video games. but playing Batman Arkham Asylum I'd say my boycott of their video games is lifted. There was just something about the idea of batman revisiting all the villains of his past not only that but all in one game? I picked the game up from best buy for $19.99 and in this review I will tell you why this game is one of DC's best creations.

The game begins with Batman in his rad Batmoblie.. clever name.. racing to Arkham which is Gotham's prison for the criminals. Batman's special cargo this time is none other than the joker. from the dialog it seems that the joker broke out a few weeks ago, but Batman was there to save the day and subdue him... again.. as you get into the prison you hear many of jokers goons chanting his name and there was a supposed fire at their prison so they all went to where the joker is now heading... Holy Ironic, Batman! as you could have guessed the joker breaks free and you have to save the day, once again.

Gameplay

With the Joker in charge of a whole prison it's quite scary, he controls everything, the intercom, the T.V.'s I mean everything. In the game there will be several times that you have to swing over gas filled rooms, save medical staff, blow up walls, pull off grates.. you have no idea how much you do that., and find plenty of different ways around locked doors, as quick as Batman can to stop joker for the ten thousandth time. Looking through the Asylum it's a bit eerie, every criminal batman has ever faced is in there in a small little facility with guards littering the halls and green smiles painted on walls. When playing the game you meet cool villains like The Riddler, Ivy, Zsasz, etc. but after a while I thought is this game suppose to happen all in one night? really? that must be the longest night in Batman's life. Other than that the Gameplay is awesome, it's dark, creepy, and the controls are simple. the concept of the game is to be sneaky and attack your enemies with a flying kick but you can fist fight as well whatever suits your needs. I prefer to just stalk my prey but it the game makes it quite hard when you open a door and they are all just sitting there ready to kill you. While Batman is a very fun game when you're trying not to get caught the mechanics for fist fights are just plain. It's a common smash X type that sometimes you add B but it's an easy to learn hard to master combo system. While it's a bit boring the healthy set of animations of drop kicks, elbows, and even flipping someone over your shoulder is satisfying to see every once and a while. When in combat the higher the combo you get the more powerful attacks you can use like a spinning kick. another incentive to get combo's is after you finish your last move you will receive a bonus depending how high you got on your combo. But another thing to consider is you also get a bonus for taking out enemies silently. I prefer this method because it really makes you feel like Batman and actually badass. unlike Robin. While I enjoy the silent knockouts a lot the henchmen almost feel too stupid, they don't notice that one of their buddies is on the ground I get that but when I plop down from 20 feet up you I feel as though it's a bit hard not to be seen. Anyway the game is great because there are various ways to approach enemies and how to take them out, which adds a little replay value into the game for you to test out other methods on your favorite moments in the game. After completing the campaign the developers decided to add challenge rooms into the game just to make you play a bit longer, I actually enjoyed these more than the original game but that's just my opinion. On another note finding data collectors is also fun because you can unlock character bios that tell you a little bit more about each villain, this was obviously nice for me because I don't play any batman games or watch the shows all that much.

                                                                                 Closing Comments-

While it's a DC comic game and I'm not a huge fan of them this game really opened my eyes a bit. The game feels like a movie within itself and it shows that they really put a lot of time into this game. while the game is a bit ironic and you have to constantly save everyone, it's a fun game and that shouldn't ruin the big picture of the game the developers had in mind. Batman is maybe my favorite superhero now that I've played this game but I still can't understand what he's trying to say. maybe I'll buy him a Darth Vader Mask instead.

L.A. Noire

L.A. Noire takes place in the 1940's, The game is published by Rockstar and surprisingly you're the cop and not the guns blazing rebel in this game. You as a cop are sworn to protect the citizens of L.A. from the already mob infected streets. Being a cop you are the lowest of the low, you need to find all the evidence as quick as you can because detectives are always around to take the glory of reporting your case completed. The first mission starts out with a bang. The cut scene fills you in with everything you need to know up up to where your character was standing. The siren turns on and you answer the radio there's been a case of a shooting, you arive at the scene and your boss tells you to find the evidence but he doesn't expect much because this case isn't very important. You it begins, you can search everywhere and I mean everywhere you can possible imagine. The tip that the game gives you is that it'll make a little bing or a suspenseful sound when you pass an object that you can interact with whetheror not it's just a cup or even a bloody pistol there is a lot that you cna pick up and sometimes it's irrelevent to your case thus making it a true dectective almost mystery like game.

Gameplay

Team Bondi did an amazing job creating this game with their new technology called MotionScan, what MotionScan does is takee very wrinkle, twitch, downward glance, grimace, and hard swallow is from an actor playing a part, not an animator manipulating things from behind the scenes. Adding this to the game not only adds more depth into the game but adds almost a movie like trait. When playing video games it's easy to fall into your old habits like going to get food or responding to a text message, but when it comes to L.A. Noire you have to pay complete attention to who you're talking to and what their reaction is to the questions asked. As a decective you are at the crime scene quite a bit finding clues and questioning people, there are always 3 choices "truth" where you believe what they are telling you, "doubt" implying they are telling you the right thing but not how they explained it or they were missing some details or "lie" this is just a blunt action that can either go really well or really badly. Chosing the "lie" option normally you are required to show them why you think they are lying upon request of the person. sometimes they will just come out with it or maybe not. The trouble and struggle is if you chose the wrong action several times they can lie to you and send you into loops with your case while other times you might not get anything at all and they might say "get out". The nice thing they included in the game was that there is no abrupt failure if you fail to catch an important clue or accuse wrongly. The only game over screen comes from when you obviously die in a gun fight or fail to catch someone fleeing. the only part that is a little on the downside about the game, after a couple cases solved I felt like it was just a chapter book, solve one case go to the next and it felt a little repetitive but not so much that it's boring. L.A. Noire isn't all about cases though, it's still an open-world game like GTA4, you're free to do what ever you please in this recreated 1947 Los Angeles setting, and every once in a while take on 40 different radio call-in missions that are more action oriented including car chases and shoot outs. L.A. Noire is a bunch of fun filled with many landmarks that are well known as well as hidden cars, and intuition points (which help on interrogating). Finding certain areas and objects like these gain experience and help you level up thus giving you even more intuition points and more clothing options.

Closing Comments:

L.A. Noire is a fun action, mystery, detective game. it's a game that you will talk about for a little bit but it's not really a game to remember. Playing the game I find certain missions really have a certain stature but other times I just feel like it's just a 2nd rate case of just finding the suspect and chasing them down either on foot or in an ally. While L.A. Noire isn't perfect, Rockstar is taking the proper steps into making another great game.

Splinter Cell Conviction

Tom Clancy Renowned author in recent years has been tapping into the video game industry, this time with his game Splinter Cell Conviction. The game has been out for a while now and can be purchased at GameStop for a mere $19.99 new.

In this game Sam Fisher (main character) is back and he is not in a good mood. Every line spoken is a representation of how he feels down to the very word. The way Sam walks could be described as determined, and aggressive, not only does this play into the way you feel about what your doing but how sam progressively wants to kill everything in sight. Tom Clancy took a big step into the unknown by changing the mechanics of the game but in the end and my opinion it was a huge risk that was for the better.

The story itself starts after his previous game "Double Agent" in which Sams daughter was kidnapped and supposedly murdered. also during this time Sam turned rogue and killed his best friend and split apart from a branch of the government in which he has considered home for many years. Sam shell shocked has gotten quite a few leads on those who killed his daughter and later on finds out are planning an attack on the white house, something sounds a bit cliche, anyways like 90% of games it's your job to save the day and stop the terrorists.

What I love about the game play in Splinter Cell most importantly this one is that it's continuous you have non stop action and it's not repetitive partly due to the vast environment changes, and different guns and customization's. Another praise that I will give the game is that there are absolutely no loading screens. that is unless you die, but other than that there is nothing that is holding you back from playing a level that could be an hour long without instant gratification because you don't have to wait to play part 2 of the mission. Ubisoft was genius in this game integrating your objectives on things like flags, sides of buildings and placing them in the direction your next objected is located. Unless previous Splintercells and having to keep glancing at your stealth meter they revamped everything, when you are stealthed all the color bleeds off the screen and everything turns black and white. This concept really helps sell the agent concept that you're shadowing your enemies and waiting for the right time to strike and really helps the gameplay when it's very obvious to tell if you need to find cover quickly and when you're hidden. Convictions took everything they learned from the previous games and added more, Splintercell included a cover system which is very easy by just bumping the left trigger you silde jump dash into immediate cover. Switching between barrier to barrier is also a very simple system and I feel as though it's so flawless no other game compares to their technique used in the game. While in most stealth games once you're found it's incredibly hard to continue the game because you have a little pistol and you have to blast through waves of enemies. Splintercell on the otherhand took a completely different approach to this tactic. They figured you should run away, doing this in the game creates a shadow of where your character was last seen and that causes guards to scramble over to that position, unload their guns, and even through grenades at your last known position. Playing the game after a while I came up with a couple of my own tactics you can decide to flank the enemies and attack them or just avoid them totally. The last outstanding part of this game is the mark and execute feature, what it does is when you decide to get up close and personal and perform a hand to hand combat takedown by pressing B when in range of an enemy, you gain a 'Mark' with a mark you can point your gun on an enemy and press the right bumper. This causes a red arrow on their head and when you decide to shoot your gun it's almost like an automatic kill, with this feature each gun has it's set amount of marks which can be upgraded to 4 marks or 4 easy kills and when you're trying to sneak around it's very handy.

Closing Comments:

While single player even on the hardest difficulty will only last you around 7 hours, it's only a part of the bigger package. There is a Co-op mode that you are allowed to play alone or with a friend and I can safely say it never gets old. Playing with a friend is obviously more fun and requires a bit more communication and percision but when it's all said and done Tom Clancy did a great job with this game doing everything and more that was expected from the gaming community.

Angry Birds Space

Is there really anyone out there that hasn't heard or even played Angry Birds at this point? By now I'm sure everyone gets how it works: just pull the slingshot to the left and release and away your bird goes. The single touch-screen input sends your bird hopefully on a collision course with the evil pigs. Angry Birds has always been one of my top games being very simple and polished, but after several hundred levels and multiple different Angry Bird season games it's beginning to be a bit stale and boring.

Space of course features two major innovations: Gravity Wells and Zero Gravity. In Zero-G, the birds seem to only fly in a straight line. Hitting a dynamite box sends debris flying in almost every way possible, while nudging a green swine sends it floating through space. Most of the stages in Angry Birds Space feature tiny moons that have their own gravitational pull that will suck in birds and pigs/objects alike. This can pose a challenge when obstacles are in the way, but as long as you're an adaptive player you can use the gravity effect to your advantage to hit hard-to-reach pigs or dynamite. In Angry Birds Space sometimes you'll even has to sling birds around a planet to attack from the back.

Rovio's newest sequel is the first to actually feel like a sequel as sad as that sounds. Angry Birds Space adds new elements to the game right from the start and that's always a plus, and with the increase in difficultly later in the game with more planet gravitations it's a challenge and with 60+ stages and more coming soon it's almost too much to ask for. Not to mention the two new birds introduced into the game which keeps the stages fun and fresh. A square like ice bird can be detonated like the black bird to freeze any blocks or near by pigs to set up the little blue bird for a clean shot. The Yellow dive-bombing bird has also had a little tweak in color and use, instead of doing a straight dive you can now send him anywhere on the mission just by tapping the target, this includes going backwards. Angry Bird Space adds a new style of Physics to the game and it does kinda bring down the experience down a little. you can fling the same bird five times and have totally different results which can be very frustrating when you want to snipe the last pig on a level.

Should you buy it?

Angry Birds Space is the kick in the pants Rovio needed. Everyone was burnt out on the same birds flinging and flying concept. Angry Birds Space however brings a whole different idea to the table, it's action filled and you need a bit of skill combined with luck in order to complete missions and with 60+ levels it's going to take you a long time to beat, but an entire third chapter with 30 more levels is only available via a $.99 purchase (in my opinion I wouldn't get it). Additionally, the "Mighty Eagle" isn't as Mighty anymore. The level-cleaing bird used to be a one-time purchase, but now can only be purchase as a consumable aka you can only use it so many times*. Each 20 uses of this last resort now costs player an additional $.99 bummer...

Beat Sneak Bandit

Beat Sneak Bandit

Iphone/Ipad

Price - $2.99

Beat Sneak Bandit is the only game in my library that requires the player to have a certain level of thought before moving his character as well as having a sense of rhythm. The game itself starts with a short caption to breifly explain why your charcter is a bandit. The story goes that where is an evil millionire, that he has stolen all the clocks in the world, his name ironically is 'Evil Baron Von Clockface' and the main objective is to get as many clocks as you can while not getting caught.

Beat Sneak Bandit combined the challenge of a puzzle with the simplicity of a one finger tap to move your character. The whole experience of the game is that to be remembered, the beats are different and varied from each level and that provides a little toe tapping fun as you try to collect all the clocks.

The gameplay of Beat Sneak Bandit is an area where no puzzle game has gone before. Beat Sneak is very challenging in that fact that if you screw up your beat you will instantly destroy any clocks that are on the same floor as you. As well as if there is a security guard he will easily discover you if you don't move quick enough. the main idea of the game is to collect all the clocks on the level without getting any destroyed or getting caught. While some of the puzzles are frustrating and not as clever, Later levels rely on complex network of teleports and wheels to get you to your destination. Beat Sneak Bandit shines the brightest when players have to use their logic and sense of rhythm to complete the mission.

Should you buy it?

One word, yes. Simogo really showed how to create a true master piece that is mind boggling but remain polished. The game itself is very original and a lot of fun to play around with, it's a perfect example of presentation and how to get the gamer really involved, and with the corky sounds it's a extremely fun game. while there are over 65+ stages you can tap your way through at a price of $2.99 it's a for sure steal.