Many of you may not have even heard of this game. Overstrike was revealed at E3 2011. It was beautiful. The trailer looked like a fun, campy, actiony, shooter with Team Fortress style graphics, and funny unique characters. Y'know what just see for yourself.
Doesn't that look like fun? Doesn't it look awesome? I got so excited for this game. It has everything that's missing from most shooters today. It looks like fun, and it looks like its not taking itself seriously. On top of that, it is developed by Insomniac, the company that brought us the fun and lovable Ratchet and Clank. How could it go wrong? Well, a few months ago, I heard about FUSE.
FUSE was released last week, and it is a 3rd person shooter with guns that use advanced technology. These guns can do any number of things, like freeze people, light people on fire, and cause small singularities that explode. At first I just thought that this was yet another shooter that would come and go with a small fan base but not actually cause any impact on gaming culture. Then I heard that it was developed by Insomniac and EA. This made me worry a little, but I dismissed it thinking it must have been a side project. Then, well, I saw the trailer.
The exact same characters, the exact same weapons, but it isn't the same game. Its like they sucked all the fun out of the game and replaced it with everything it takes to be a Gears of War clone. This made me so depressed. Well, not really, but I was sad ok! I even played the demo in hopes that the characters would at least feel like they did in Overstrike, and they didn't. I have yet to play the final product, and I want to like it, but I do not have any faith that I will enjoy it as much as I would have enjoyed Overstrike.
What is it these days with game companies taking a concept that is unique and fun and making it just like everything else? When did color, and goofy but fun character designs become something we should be ashamed of? Why does every character have to look like a bad ass? What do you think? Should games start to stray away from this norm? Would you still play games that have slightly goofy characters? Let us know using the comment box below.
That's it for this week's At My Limit. On Saturday I'll be bringing you more gaming news with another Breaking News. Also next week Zach and I will both be posting reviews, and we'll be adding another new post to our schedule. Don't forget to subscribe for notifications whenever we post new content. And especially don't forget to reply to the questions we asked in this post!
Soul Sacrifice is a action adventure game developed Sony Computer Entertainment Japan. It was released on April 30th, 2013 for the Playstation Vita. The original concept was created by Keiji Inafune, the co-designer of the Megaman and Dead Rising franchises. Upon the release of the game, Vita sales tripled in Japan. Soul Sacrifice can be compared to games like Monster Hunter or Dark Souls, though the combat is significantly easier.
Story - 9.5
Librom, the Sorcerer's Journal
Captured by an evil sorcerer you are going to be sacrificed to fuel his immortality. You are thrown into a cell to await your demise, but you soon run across something quite peculiar: a talking book. This book, who calls himself "Librom", offers to help you escape and defeat this evil sorcerer. He explains that he is the journal of a deceased sorcerer, but not just any journal, a magic journal. Through reading his pages you can actually experience the events written within. Any knowledge you gain inside the world within the journal stays with you when you come back to the cell. As you read Librom, you learn spells and abilities that will help you defeat the evil sorcerer. You flip through the pages, one after another, learning more and more about the world you are experiencing, the past of this mysterious sorcerer, and gaining the knowledge you need to make your escape.
Overall the story is very well written, and quite emotionally charged. The story is told from the perspective of the sorcerer who wrote Librom. There are several chapters to the main story, and between twenty and thirty side quests for other adventures. Soul Sacrifice starts off slightly slow, and confusing, but as you play the characters develop well and you find yourself quite attached to Librom's author. The story is told mostly through narration as you read through the pages of the journal. It is done well, but it would be nice to see more actual interaction in or outside of the journal to help flesh the story out more.
Audio - 6
There are literally know big name voice actors in Soul Sacrifice. I can't even find information as to the cast for the English version. The voice acting for this game is not bad, but its not really that good either. Librom and the msyterious sorcerer who wrote the journal are the only voices that really stand out at all. I really wish I could find who played them, but it seems that they're pretty new to the voice acting industry. The music is also pretty un-noteworthy. The boss battle theme added to the intensity the first few times, but after that it was just background noise and I hardly noticed it.
Video - 8
Like the audio, the video is fairly disappointing, but has more redeeming qualities. In the few cutscenes that do exist, there are no mouth movements. When Librom speaks he has mouth movements, however, his lips randomly stop mid sentence. The game does have very interesting and beautiful environments going for it. They range from waterlogged castles and deep forests, to molten volcanoes and quaint towns. The enemies and bosses are grotesquely beautiful to look at as well. All of the basic enemies are all deformed versions of actual creatures, like cats, birds and mice. Bosses are twisted versions of mythical creatures, like elves, centaurs and hydras. Though it has its downsides, the overall appearance of the game is still nice to look at.
Gameplay - 9
The gameplay is one hundred percent action oriented. There is no real exploring, or roleplaying, just spell slinging and sacrificing. Soul Sacrifice is made up of a series of quests, mainly to hunt down large monsters. When you accept these quests you choose which spells to bring with you. As you use your spells, they lose charge, and as things die, their souls become exposed. You then have the choice of what to do with them. You can either save them, and regain some of your health, or sacrifice them and regain some charges for your spells. This also yields experience depending on which option you choose. If you sacrifice, you gain "magic" experience. Magic levels give you boosts to your spell attack power and make you good at killing things faster. Life levels give you better defensive abilities and effect the potency of your healing spells. You can have a combined total of 100 levels divided between the two trees.
Save or Sacrifice, You Choose
When you start Soul Sacrifice, you may also customize your name and appearance. You may choose between several different heads, and various costumes. This is especially important because there is an online multiplayer feature, where you can team up with other "sorcerers" from around the globe to hunt down more difficult monsters. You can party with up to 3 other players and fight monsters that you do not see in the single player mode. The the multiplayer lacks story, but is quite fun.
- - -
Overall, I think Soul Sacrifice is a very enjoyable game. If you have a Vita, get this game. It is definitely one of the most fun games on the Vita. Soul Sacrifice is rated M for Mature for blood and gore, suggestive themes, and violence. I would consider this one of the borderline Teen games. It has a lot of blood and gore, but it doesn't really look realistic. The atmosphere and story is dark, and there are minor sexual conversations that fly by, but there's nothing you don't really see watching Lord of the Rings. I'd say that this game is ok for someone at least 13-14 years old, with your own parental discretion of course.
Soul Sacrifice gets a final score of 8.1, but personally I'd say its a 9 on the fun-o-meter. I really enjoyed this game, and if you enjoy games like Monster Hunter, you will too. Don't forget to check back on Thursday for another At My Limit where I'll talk about the game Overstrike, and what it turned into. Also check back on Saturday for Breaking News and you'll be sure to get new info on the upcoming Xbox One. Next week, Zach and I will both be reviewing games. If you have a Google account, you can subscribe for updates whenever we post new content.
As many of you know the Xbox One was announced earlier this week. I'm not going to be focusing on that today, but you can click here for my special report on it, or here for my personal commentary on the presentation.
Back in January Atari announced they were going bankrupt. Soon after they tried to auction off their complete catalog of games as a whole and failed. Earlier this week, they announced they are going to be auctioning off their game franchises in July. This time they will be auctioning the titles separately. The auction will take place over 4 days. To read the full story click here.
Need for Speed Rivals was teased this past week. It will feature seamless transitions from single player to multiplayer gameplay, using a system they call "Alldrive". I expect that it will work similar to the system Journey used. Rivals is going to be an open world racing game. You will be able to choose whether to be an underground street racer, or a cop and each faction will unlock different cars. This will also be the first Need for Speed game in 7 years to feature Ferraris. Click here for more information.
Bungie's upcoming title "Destiny" showed off a new trailer this week. It shows a few human and alien vehicles, some enemies, and the dynamics intended between the 3 different playable classes: Titan, Hunter and Warlock. Destiny will be an MMOFPS (massive multiplayer online first person shooter). More information, and a full gameplay trailer will be revealed at Sony's panel at E3 on June 10th. You may watch the new trailer below.
EA games clarified that they intend on not only supporting the upcoming next generation consoles, but they will also continue to produce games for the current generation until at least 2017. The CFO of EA games, Blake Jorgensen also teased a potential revive of the Star Wars Battlefront series. When asked about their rights to produce Star Wars games Jergensen also stated that they want to develop games that are independent of the movies, but they will try and piggyback off the movies' success. We will have more Star Wars games to look forward to as the new movies approach. Here is the original story.
Those of you looking forward to the racing game Grid 2 might want to save up a lot more money. In the UK you can buy a 125,000 pound ($188,700) special edition of the game. This special edition includes the PS3 version of the game, a PS3, a special in game BAC mono supercar, a special BAC brand helmet, racing suit, gloves, and boots for your personal enjoyment, and a limited edition BAC mono supercar to enjoy around town (and yes, it is street legal). Not only that, but you'll also be invited for a tour of the BAC factory, and you get a meeting with the techs to customize your mono before you leave. For the full story click here.
Battlefield 4's release date was officially announced for current generation consoles. It will be released on October 29th in the US, and November 1st in the UK. You can watch the 17 minute gameplay trailer for battlefield 4 below.
That's it for this installment of Breaking News. This week I'll be reviewing the PSVita game "Soul Sacrifice". Don't forget to check back on Thursday for another At My Limit. This week I'll be talking about the disappointing transformation the game Overstrike went through before its release. If you haven't already check out my posts about the Xbox One and tell us what you think of the new console. You can also subscribe for notifications whenever we post new content.
Yesterday I made a post about the Xbox One. I did my best to be as kind to it as possible. Today, the gloves are off, I'm going to tear this console a new one. The presentation was awful, the game line up thus far is really bland, and the console itself seems to be, well, not a console. I know that E3 is right around the corner, and Microsoft will probably show off their games, but that doesn't seem like that great of an idea either. At E3, Nintendo will probably be showing off the newest installment to the Smash Bros. franchise, and Sony has their supposed exclusive Final Fantasy game to get people to buy their console. Microsoft's plan seems a little flawed to me.
Microsoft Exec Don Mattrick Showing Off the Xbox One
Lets start with the presentation itself. People talked, a lot, but not a lot about games. They seemed to have a bigger focus on television then on gaming itself. They talked about the new Halo TV series that's being directed by Steven Spielberg. They talked about how they were partnering with the NFL so you can watch football on your Xbox and manage your fantasy football team. They had interviews with sports athletes regarding the Xbox One. They talked about how you can use your Xbox as a TV more. Is this a gaming console or a fancy DVR? It almost feels like Microsoft wants to compare gaming to Hollywood and say "see we can do that stuff too!" It seems like its trying to make gaming the little brother of the movie and television industry, chasing the heels of its older brother, trying to aspire to be like him.
What about the games they announced? Oh yeah, Madden, like I haven't seen that before. Forza 5, looks just like every other racing game from the current generation, shiny cars going really fast. How about this new game from Remedy? They did some cool survival horror games in the past. Oh, wait, this trailer is so vague I can't discern anything about the game. Wait, is that a live action cut scene? Yeah, that's a real step forward, its not like we can't render near human images that move on computers... oh wait. Finally, at the end of the presentation they talk about a big title for their console. I get excited, what could this be, something that actually makes this console look appealing? Nope, its just footage for the next Call of Duty game, and its not even stuff that's exclusive to the Xbox One. And with this new Call of Duty, they use such advanced AI that fish move out of the way when you approach them!
The Xbox One User Interface
The rest of the information on this system is just as abysmal. Yeah, we can use fancy voice and motion commands to do everything. It makes us feel like we're in some awesome sci-fi movie. I give it a week before that loses its glamour. All right, we can use Skype, or Netflix, or surf the web, or watch youtube videos on our new game system. Wait, can't I do all those things on say, an iPad, iPod, Smart TV, or computer? Hell, even the 3DS can surf the web and use Netflix, and it isn't even the most powerful handheld on the market right now. Seriously, this console is trying to make itself appeal to me by showing me that it can do everything my other stuff can do. What else can it do? Can I put it on the floor and have it roll around my house vacuuming like the Roomba?
What about these restrictions on gaming? You have to pay a fee if you want to use a game registered on someone else's account? So basically, your trying to piss off used game retailers, rental stores or websites, and people who like buying their games used all at once. Oh, and being required to connect to the internet every day because of the cloud? This is a great idea, every person who would have one of these consoles has to have a stable internet connection. Ever want to have a console accessory that you can't ever disconnect? Well then the Xbox One with Kinect 2 is for you, because you can't operate the system without having this bad boy connected, its that revolutionary. And if it couldn't get worse, you aren't supporting standard definition televisions? What are you Microsoft, some multimedia snob that can't have your games played on anything but the best?
You did a real nice job putting your foot in your mouth too Microsoft. Having the Xbox Live General Manager advertise the ability to support always online games. Then having him say that he hopes that developers take advantage of this feature. That sure doesn't seem like there's any ulterior motives there. Or how about putting restrictions on indie developers on your console. It must suck up so much money to have aspiring game developers make small games for you. Oh, and when you addressed the lack of backwards compatibility, it was totally smart to say "If you're backwards compatible, you're really backwards." Also, nice arbitrary figure saying that only 5% of gamers actually play games from previous generations. I am the 5%.
Well, if you've made it through my long winded, sarcastic rant, I congratulate you. So far the Xbox One, or Xbone as the public has dubbed it, does not impress me in the least. Maybe E3 can bring some hope to the console, but they need to really show off a big exclusive to win my favor. At this point, even if I got an Xbone for free, I'd either sell it or it would collect dust. Even the Wii U has more appealing titles than this. Saturday I'll be doing a full edition of Breaking News, you can click here for yesterday's special report detailing the Xbox One presentation. The ball is in my court again next week, and I'll be reviewing Soul Sacrifice. Feel free to comment telling us what you think about the Xbone, and who you think will come out on top this console war.
Yesterday Microsoft unveiled their next generation console, the Xbox One. The system features 8 core
processors, a 500gb hard drive, and 8gb of ram. It will be packaged with the "Kinect 2" and upgraded version of the current motion and voice controller, as well as an upgraded controller for the Xbox One itself. The Xbox One will not be backwards compatible with Xbox 360 games, or controllers. The 500gb hard drive is permanent and will not be able to be replaced by the user. Like the Playstation 3, and upcoming Playstation 4, the Xbox One will use Blu-Ray discs.
The Kinect 2 offers several new features, like navigating your entire user interface with voice commands. It also has a much better reception for better voice and motion gaming. The downside, your Kinect 2 will always need to be connected to your console. The user interface for this new console is quite similar to that of Windows 8. You will also need to connect your Xbox One to the internet at least once each day to operate it. The price for the console has yet to be announced.
Xbox One games must be partially installed on your hard drive. When they are installed they are registered on your account. Once a game is registered, you may only play this game while logged into your account. If you lend the game to a friend, he will have to log in on your account, or pay a fee to play the game. None of your downloaded games from Xbox 360 will transfer over to the Xbox One, but your Xbox Live account and Achievements will. The Xbox One also features the ability to support always online games. Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten hopes developers will take advantage of this feature. I wonder why...
During the presentation Microsoft also teased 2 exclusive titles for the Xbox One: Quantum Break and Forza 5. Quantum break is the next game by the developers of Alan Wake, Remedy. Remedy wants to create a "revolutionary entertainment experience that blurs the lines between gameplay and television." Tell you enough about the game? Well then watch the trailer above, though its just about as vague. You can also check out the trailer for Forza 5 below.
That's it for the Breaking News Special Update. For the full Xbox One presentation, click here. In case you were wondering, yes, Nerd News Update will now be called Breaking News. Check back tomorrow for another At My Limit, and don't forget to watch for the full Breaking News on Saturday.
For
my first review for Limit Break, I've taken on the task of reviewing
the reboot of the Tomb Raider series. The latest of Tomb Raider games
was released worldwide March 5, 2013 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
Just like the old Tomb Raider saga, the new game allows the player to
take control of Lara in a third person adventure. While Tomb Raider
(2013) is the newest installment, it's also a reboot of the series.
Personally,
I grew up with the original Tomb Raider games and boy were they
frustrating. Ol' Lara didn't seem to do exactly what you wanted her
to. Either that or the objective was so convoluted that you had no
idea where to go or what to do. My first experience with Tomb Raider
was a demo for the Tomb Raider II game on the PSX.
While
being among one of the most confusing games I've ever played, because of the mechanics, I don't support players having
their hand held throughout the entire game. A demo should at the very least offer some kind of direction for the player. Unfortunately, because of
such a bad experience, I was hesitant to try the new Tomb Raider.
While knowing that things have changed over the years and
games have been revamped to appease the players, I was still worried
that Ol' Lara wouldn't co-operate with me.Thankfully,
this was not the case, although I did end up yelling at Lara
several times.
The
story opens up with Lara and friends on a ship, the Endurance. This
would be Lady Croft's first adventure, but things go wrong when the
ship is breached and starts to sink. Our heroine manages to make it to an unknown beach, only to be knocked out and taken away. She
regains consciousness, now upside down in a cave. Lara manages to
escape, suffering a major wound in her side. Fleeing from her captor,
she leaves the cave. From here on out, the Lara we were shown at the
start of the game changes.
Being
forced to hunt, to kill, turns Lara from being innocent to a
survivor. Just having escaped her captor, Lara must hunt for food,
find shelter, and meet up with her friends. Only, things don't go as
planned. Without giving too much away, the game is highly
suspenseful, full of action, drama, and blood. This game, I would
say, isn't for people with a weak stomach. Rated M for Blood
and Gore, Intense Violence, and Strong Language, Tomb Raider lives up
to the rating.
The
game itself is really linear, which for a Tomb Raider game is really
expected. There are some side missions, which the player is
encouraged to go find and complete as it provides experience for
Lara. That brings me to the next element that is new for any veteran
Tomb Raider player out there. Lara levels with experience, acquired
from progressing through the game, hunting animals, picking fruits,
finding hidden tombs, completing quests and so on. The player then is
allotted one skill point per level, which they can use to develop
their own style of fighting for Lara. Granted, the style will never
be unique as the player can eventually acquire enough skill points to
max out all three skill trees for Lara, in the beginning to middle of
the game, each tree can define her fighting style.
The
three trees are: Survivor, which consists of skills such as Animal
Instincts which allows Lara to spot animals and food sources easier; Hunter, with skills such as Steady Shot which allows Lara to aim her bow more
accurately; and finally Brawler, with skills such as Pain Tolerance which
allows Lara to take more of a beating before going down.
Along
with skill points being added to the game, the player has the ability
to customize their weapons and Lara's Survival Instincts ability.
Throughout the game, the player can collect 'Salvage' from crates,
boxes, animals, fallen enemies, just about anything. The Salvage
allows Lara to customize her weaponry, strengthening the damage dealt
or lowering the recoil on a gun. Lara's Survival Instinct skill
changes the screen to a black and white scheme, while lighting up
certain parts of her environment in yellow, such as animals, quest
items, ropes, doors, level exits and more.
The
visuals for Tomb Raider are absolutely breathtaking. I was amazed
with how seamless the game went from cut scene to game play Water,
trees, even Lara's clothing are animated perfectly. As the player
progresses and Lara comes to be the woman she is known for, her
clothes get dirtier, ripped, torn, scars are left behind, blood and
muck coat her form. Absolutely stunning, and it's just the beginning.
While
I've gone and highlighted the really good aspects about the new Tomb
Raider game, time to talk about the less lovable aspects. The music,
while it works well with the environment, gives away the suspense
before it happens, more times than not. Having Lara walk into a room
only to have the music quicken and have her draw her bow, even when
you see nothing there, gives away the fact that there will be a shootout soon.
Game play was another aspect that bothered me from time to time. I loved
playing through Tomb Raider, though the side quests seemed to just
really prolong the inevitable. The tomb raiding in itself was sort of
exciting, though really lacked in luster as there were only five
tombs accessible (for those who did not reserve the game at
Gamestop). I would have liked to see more tombs, though being that
the game is supposed to be about Lara's origins, that can be
forgiven. Apart from the lack of tombs to raid, the maps are utterly
confusing when you end up in an area with three to four levels and
can't find your way around,. Not only that, but certain quests you
have to drop and come back for in another hour. For gamers who go
for the platinum, like myself, it's torture to leave an area
incomplete without ever knowing if you can return.
Thankfully,
there is a nifty ability that Lara has when she's sitting at
particular camps. A camp is used to allot skill
points, power up guns, and Fast Travel! During my play through, I only used fast travel twice as it can be a saving grace
for those who really don't care to explore everywhere. That's
it as far as single player goes~ but don't go yet! Multiplayer was
also installed in this Tomb Raider.
The
multiplayer allows players to take control of their favorite, if any
at all, survivors and play them against each other. I don't feel like
a multiplayer aspect was really needed for Tomb Raider, though it's
interesting to have. I'm glad, however, that the multiplayer aspect
didn't take away from the game itself. Sitting down and playing
through Tomb Raider on Hard, it took me about two days nonstop, adding up to about forty hours of action packed enjoyment.
Taking
everything into account I rate Tomb Raider with an 8.5/10. Some of
the maps felt like they were made larger simply to prolong the game,
not so much for a free roam feeling or for entertainment. The
graphics and vocals were great, and the music had some flaws. I
enjoyed my play through of the game, but it's not a game I would play through multiple times. Tomb Raider walks away, close to a 9/10 but not
quite. I suggest the game to any gamer however, it's a really great
experience, and there is much fun to be had.
Welcome to the first weekly Nerd News Update. Every Saturday on Limit Break we'll be summing up the week's gaming news for your enjoyment.
On Tuesday, indie developer Krillbite games released the alpha of their current project "Among the Sleep". Among the Sleep is a survival horror game where you experience the nightmares of a two year old boy from his perspective. Studio Jory, (the studio that worked on Knights of the Old Republic, and Tell Tale Game's The Walking Dead) will be mastering the sound and recording for the game. To download the alpha (supported on Windows, Mac and Linux) click here. If you would like more information on Among the Sleep click here.
Capcom officially announced that Ace Attorney 5 would be headed to North America and Europe this fall. It will be only available on the 3DS via the e-store, and will be titled "Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies". Dual Destinies will be set 8 years after the last Ace Attorney game, and Phoenix Wright will be returning to the courtroom alongside Apollo Justice and new character Athena Cykes. It will also feature a brand new fully 3D crime scene investigation mechanic which will allow you to view larger areas of the crime scene and zoom in and out for different perspectives. Capcom also released a demo that you can play in your browser, the bad news is, its only in Japanese. If you'd like to check it out and give it a try anyways, you can play it here.
Ace Attorney won't be the only game to point your finger at on the 3DS this fall. Pokemon X and Y are also coming this October. It will be the very first Pokemon game with a fully 3D environment and an over the shoulder camera. This week Nintendo released information on 4 new Pokemon that will be featured in the newest game. In this new installment, you will also be able to ride some Pokemon as mounts. For more information, check out the official website.
A few weeks ago Disney sold exclusive rights to develop Star Wars games to EA games. This past week, EA has confirmed that they have opened up a new DICE studio in Los Angeles for the sole purpose of working on Star Wars titles. They have not announced any specific plans but here's hoping for a Battlefront 3. In other EA related news, they took a step in the right direction this week when they decided to stop using using online passes with their games. This will allow easier access to online features for players who prefer to buy used games.
New Borderlands 2 downloadable content was released this past Tuesday. The DLC features a new playable character "Krieg" the psycho. 2k games also announced plans for another new DLC coming June 25th called "Tiny Tina: Assault on Dragon's Keep". They didn't include much information other than Tiny Tina becoming another playable character. Assault on Dragon's Keep should cost between $10 and $15.
Sony has announced Gran Turismo 6 as a tentative release title for the Playstation 4 this holiday season. It will supposedly feature 71 tracks and over 1,200 different cars. Here's the announcement trailer, enjoy.
That's all for this week's Nerd News Update, don't forget to come back next week for more news, and check back on Tuesday for Zach Phillips' first review for Limit Break.
Massive Multiplayer Online games have accumulated quite a following over the years. Games like World of Warcraft, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Guild Wars have been flooding the market since mid 2000. Over the years I've played many different MMOs: Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, EVE Online, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, DC Universe Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Perfect World, Forsaken World, and City of Heroes. I used to try to enjoy MMOs, not anymore.
I fully understand the appeal of most MMOs. For some people its enjoying a world they are familiar with on a larger scale. Others get enjoyment out of playing with friends, or competitive gaming against players around the world. But this doesn't really appeal to me anymore. I've been finding more and more MMOs to be too similar to their predecessors. Because of the lack of decent storytelling it seems like all you do is grind 24/7. It might be just me, but I don't really find grinding online so I can play competitively to be worth a monthly fee. I know, I know, there are free MMOs, but in free online games there are always an astounding number of annoying players who use the game as a really fancy chatroom. I just can't enjoy MMOs anymore.
The last MMO I tried to play was Star Wars: The Old Republic. I followed the game through out its development and was really excited for it. It was the first massive multiplayer online game that actually seemed to have as much work invested into the storytelling and role playing experience as in the competitive experience. Unfortunately, they didn't release enough new content fast enough to keep their players playing. Personally, I would have been fine with the game, but because of its emphasis on storytelling and role playing, I was actually trying to role play a character in game. I created a character on a role playing server and started to explore. I soon found that no one really role played in this game, even on the proper servers. This was a huge disappointment for me.
The Old Republic was my last hope for this genre. I really wanted it to work because there's no other game like it with a emphasis on multiplayer storytelling. I thought of it as a game where the group that I played Dungeons and Dragons with could do the same type of thing. But it didn't end up working that way. If storytelling and role playing were to become an important part of every MMO, then I would probably enjoy them much more. But I can't motivate myself to play a game and do bland quests like "Kill 5 Bears" or "Collect 10 Flowers" just so I can eventually play competitively with or against other players.
One of my problems with this type of game, is that once you buy the game you still have to pay for it month after month. I realize that many MMOs are becoming free to play, but the ones that are include micro-transactions. So basically, you have two choices: You can play something and pay for it over and over again, or you can play something and always be sub-par to the people that spend ridiculous amounts of money on it. It really bothers me that in some of these games you can even pay to level your character. What's the point of playing a game if you're going to skip half the game?
The biggest beef I have with MMOs, is the people that play them. People get so obsessive over games like this that they will hack other people's accounts to steal their gear and money. Some of these people will also use others accounts to pay actual money for in game items to send to their own account. Instances like these do happen, but are fairly rare. The game companies usually make a decent amount of security available to you to prevent these type of situations. Still, it doesn't sit right with me to have the constant worry of your hard work being taken advantage of.
As I mentioned before, the players also rarely role play in MMOs. This is something that disappoints me greatly because there is such potential for great role playing in the realm of online gaming. You have avatars, and a battle system all set up for you. All you need to do is create a character and give him a backstory and a little bit of personality and you can help create an interesting world for yourself and other players. Instead most people sit in the chat spouting out the usual random nonsense you can find anywhere on the internet. For those of us that actually tried role playing, it really ruins the immersion and believability of the world.
Its not that I don't understand the appeal of MMOs. And I'm definitely not saying that if you play them you are just ruining my experience and are stupid. This is just a long winded explanation about why you won't see me review games like Defiance or the Elder Scrolls Online. Yeah, they look really cool, but I know they aren't going to be the way I want them to be because of the reasons I listed above. I don't like MMOs. Now I'll step down from my soap box and let you continue with your daily lives. Remember to check back on Saturday for the Nerd News Update. There has been a lot of interesting goings on in the world of gaming this week!
I have returned once again to take on the task of reviewing video games! This time, I recruited some help. Next week we'll be welcoming some new talent to Limit Break: Zach Phillips. The two of us will be alternating week after week reviewing games. The new schedule will be Tuesday reviews, Thursday At My Limit, and Saturday's Nerd News Update, where I'll be summing up interesting news of the week.
This week I'd like to talk about a game that really "wowed" me: Bioshock Infinite. Released on March 26th 2013, Bioshock Infinite has had a great reception on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC. It is a first person shooter with many action adventure elements and a very deep story line. Infinite is the third instalment in the Bioshock series, though you don't really need to play the previous games to enjoy it. I really enjoyed playing it and found that the setting was not only beautiful, but also quite interesting.
Not only will you be getting a review of the game, but I'm also going to compare the settings of both Bioshock Infinite, and its predecessor: Bioshock. I will also be including an additional feature this review, a family rating. In the family rating, I'll explain the game content that may not be appropriate for younger audiences, and compare the content to popular movies so that parents can make more accurate judgments when deciding if their child should be able to handle said game.
Story - 10
Take yourself back to 1912. Now put yourself in the clouds, on a floating city. Welcome to Bioshock Infinite. Bioshock Infinite takes you to the city of Columbia, a floating city with some fancy advanced technology. You are Booker Dewitt, a man who has accumulated a large mysterious debt, but hope is not lost. A strange couple approaches you and offers you a solution, "Bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt." They want you to go to Columbia, and bring them a girl named Elizabeth.
Bring Us the Girl and Wipe Away the Debt
When you arrive at Columbia you can immediately tell that something is off. It is a beautiful city, but it seems to be centered around some bizarre religion that worships the American forefathers. Soon enough, the rest of the sights blind you to what is really going on. Skipping ahead a bit so I don't reveal too much of story, you find out that Elizabeth is the daughter of Columbia's leader, Zachary Comstock. This doesn't deter you, though the legions of his soldier really try to. When you finally find Elizabeth, you find that she has an unexpected ability: the power to rip holes in dimensions.You bring her, and attempt to escape Columbia to finally be rid of your debt.
To do so you head after a blimp like airship so you can return to deliver the girl. Seeing that the law isn't able to stop you, Comstock sends his personal army after you to reclaim his daughter. However, you find that the airship is captured by the "Vox Populi", a group of ruthless rebels trying to start a revolution. These guys aren't too friendly though, and soon you are not only being hunted down by the Comstock, but also the Vox Populi. And after finding out that you've got the founder's daughter tagging along, they also want to take Elizabeth alive.
That's all you get folks. I don't want to spoil the plot for you guys. Bioshock Infinite's story is extremely interesting. As the plot develops it brings forward many deep philosophical and psychological ideas. And at the end it wraps this great story with a plot twist and tops it with a bow after the credits roll. My only complaint is that most of the story is told through a narrative using "vox recordings". These recordings are basically just audio journals scattered throughout the game that set up the background information of various characters, and the setting. It didn't bother me too much, but it could have been better executed.
Audio - 9.5
Bioshock Infinite may not feature a stellar voice cast like some games, but decent number of big names. Troy Baker, who also played Kai Leng in Mass Effect 3, and Robin in Arkham City. It also features another Mass Effect alma mater, Jennifer Hale, who more recently has played Hawkgirl and Killer Frost in Injustice: Gods Among Us. Some new talent is also introduced such as Courtnee Draper, and Kiff Vandenheuvel. Infinite's cast does a great job at conveying great, tone setting emotion, which really helps intensify the experience.
Background music is a very important feature in video games, and Bioshock Infinite's soundtrack nails it. Infinite does a great job at setting an appropriate atmosphere through music. The game also features remakes of modern classics in an early 1900s style. Hits like Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, God Only Knows, Shiney Happy People, and Fortunate Son, are twisted in a fun and amusing way. The sound effects are also fantastic. The one that really jumps out to me is the sound used for the creature "Songbird". Songbird is a giant steam powered bio-mechanical bird, and when I heard it coming it was intimidating.
Video - 10
Steam-punk is a pretty popular genre, but visually it can be very bland. It usually focuses on brown leathers and metallic colors like brass, copper and silver, but Bioshock Infinite offers us a brilliant variety of colors. The environment is a lush floating city with early american architecture next to strange mechanical contraptions. Beautiful flowers grow in small fields and gardens, rivers and ponds are scattered through out the city. The buildings and clothing is filled with great color and character, and set in front of a beautiful blue sky. It doesn't stop there though, as you progress through the game the city of Columbia becomes a darker place. The chaos caused by yourself and the civil war raging in the streets causes society to deteriorate. Buildings burn, beautiful gardens turned to battlefields, the sky clouded by smoke.
At Least in an Alternate Dimension Lucas Got it Right
Bioshock Infinite has very impressive visual effects. Human's facial expressions and movements are very believable. Not only that, but the special effects are really cool looking. The visuals for the vigors vary from a murder of crows swarming an enemy, to a tentacle shooting from your arm and throwing someone. Elizabeth's ability to open rifts in dimensions also presents some interesting sights. To the left you can see the special effect, with the Eifel Tower in the background. If you look carefully enough you can see that on the theater's sign it says "La Revanche du Jedi". Go ahead and pop that into google translate and enjoy. This game is extremely beautiful to look at, if you really like an emphasis on good visuals, you will definitely enjoy the way this game looks.
Gameplay - 9
One of the things that disappoints me about Bioshock Infinite is that it doesn't really introduce something new to the shooter genre. It also doesn't really expand on the controls of the previous two games. It reduces the number of weapons you can carry to two, but that honestly doesn't really change the gameplay all that much. In fact it adds to the challenge at times. Infinite has a decent variety of weapons too, all of which are pretty much the usual suspects in first person shooters (machine gun, burst gun, sniper, shotgun, etc.), but they don't take anything away from the game. The game also poses a decent challenge the first time around, even on the normal difficulty.
A Handyman is a Strange and Intimidating Opponent
There are 4 different types of special enemies featured often in the game. The first you encounter is the "Fireman". These enemies Have many fire based attacks, such as an explosive grenade, and self destructing when they are low on health. The second is the "Crow". The crow is a melee based unit which becomes disappears until it gets into medium range and then reveals himself to attempt a painful melee attack. Next is the Motorized Patriot, the robotic, mini-gun wielding, founding father of doom. The Patriots are very dangerous when you try and engage them in ranged combat, and are also quite durable. Though if you get behind him, you can shoot some exposed gears for extra damage. Finally, the "Handyman" is a devastating enemy. He is a large steam punk cyborg who is extremely lethal in all forms of combat. His only real weakness is the chamber that holds the human heart which powers the suit. These three enemies add a good challenge to the encounters throughout the game.
If you've played the previous Bioshock titles you'd be familiar with the term "plasmids". Well, in Bioshock Infinite they're called "vigors". While plasmids are powered by ADAM, vigors are powered by salts. They do basically the same effect, and could in fact actually be plasmids from subtle hints in vox recorders, but for some reason they seem a bit out of place in this universe. Maybe its the fact that they aren't well explained and seem more like items there to explain new enemies. They're still a lot of fun to use, and are each useful in different situations.
Through a good portion of the game you are escorting Elizabeth through Columbia. Normally this would irritate me to no end, but unlike other escort characters, Elizabeth is extremely useful. Using her abilities she can bring objects into existence from other dimensions. This can help you defeat enemies, and access other areas of the world. Elizabeth also will throw you salts, health packs or ammo while you fight. She'll also randomly find more money while you are exploring.
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Bioshock 1 and Bioshock Infinite are two very similar games, though they are quite different. If you look at the gameplay you can see slight differences, mainly in the weapons available and the number that you can carry. However the atmospheres are quite different. In Bioshock you only experience a decaying society bought to the brink of disaster. Where as in Bionshock Infinite you begin the game in a stable society, and watch it slowly deteriorate into chaos. The atmosphere in the first Bioshock is dark and eerie, while the atmosphere in Bioshock Infinite is bright and slowly darkens, but it always has this feeling of mystery and wonder about it.
Bioshock - Rapture
In Bioshock, Andrew Ryan builds the underwater city of Rapture so that the "elite of society" can live outside of the US government's control. It takes its name from the Biblical idea of the rapture, when Jesus returns to take his followers to heaven. Rapture's utopian society soon deteriorates due to their objectivism. Through their desire for self perfection, they began to toy with DNA, which caused new social classes to develop. To cope with the new demand for enhanced abilities, brutal experiments were conducted and war broke out between Andrew Ryan and a contesting leader. This civil war turned this underwater utopia, into a crumbling dystopia.
Bioshock Infinite - Columbia
In Bioshock Infinite, the US government commissions the plans for a floating city, which is named after the American exceptionalism. The city was designed to be a flying worlds fair, but was eventually revealed to be a massive weapon. This causes an "international incident" and the city is disavowed by the government. A civil war then breaks out on Columbia which splits the upper and lower class. Gregory Comstock then comes into power and an extreme theocratic government is established with Comstock at the head. The civil war eventually plunges Columbia into a dystopian society.
female personification of the United States, Columbia. The city was meant to symbolize the ideas of
As you can see the two games have similar themes that vary enough to make them both equally interesting. Rapture, the art deco underwater capitalistic city for the elite, and Columbia, the air borne steam punk theocratic city drowned in white supremacy. In both cases, society falls apart and civil war breaks out. I truly believe that Bioshock Infinite is the legitimate successor to Bioshock. Though the settings are different, the themes are similar.
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Bioshock Infinite is rated M for Mature, for blood and gore, intense violence, language, mild sexual themes, and use of tobacco and alcohol. Blood and gore is shown pretty much everywhere in the game, but especially when using a melee execution. Blood and chunks fly everywhere, its gruesome. Just as with blood and gore, there's a lot of violence. Half the game is about killing your opponents, and through some of the events in the game, you witness people being shot in the head, or drowned. As for language, there's a bit here and there but for the most part I didn't even notice it. There are some sexual themes, but most of the time its just people talking about "fornication", or referencing various sexually transmitted diseases like the "clap". Through out the game you can find alcohol and tobacco as recovery items, they each restore a small bit of either health or salts.
In the end, Bioshock Infinite is only inappropriate for those under the age of 16. The only thing in this game that wouldn't be seen in a PG-13 movie is the blood and gore, and some of the violence shown in events. The game also has a lot of intricate commentary on society so to fully appreciate them it should be experienced by an older audience. If you have watched a movie like "The Matrix" or "The Patriot" with your son or daughter, they should be able to handle this game.
I sincerely enjoyed Bioshock Infinite. It is my favorite game thus far for the year of 2013. The plot twist at the end really threw me for a loop, and even now I'm still discovering new twists that I missed. Personally, I'd love to give this game a 10, but it was not a perfect game, so its going to have to live with a 9.8. This game is definitely worth picking up, and I definitely expect this game to be nominated for a game of the year award. Next week will be Zach's premier review on Limit Break, I'm really looking forward to seeing his perspective on some of this year's games.
