Halo: Combat Evolved /Halo: Anniversary

Halo: Combat Evolved /Halo: Anniversary

Plot:

Spartan super-soldier- John-117- Master Chief of the United Nations Space Command, and last of his kind. Crash-landed on Halo - an ancient mysterious ring-world- he and Cortana (His advanced AI companion,) are the first and last defense against the Covenant. The Covenant are a conglomerate of alien races banded together under one genocidal regime. Will Master Chief defeat them, or will the Covenant destroy the universe as we know it?

Rating:

Graphics 5/10 - 9/10
Acting 8/10 - 8/10
Plot 9/10 - 9/10
World 7/10 - 7/10
Online 9/10 - 9/10
Character 10/10 - 10/10
Game-play  8/10 - 8/10
Customize-ability NA/10
Camera 8/10 - 8/10
Controls 9/10 - 9/10
Difficulty )Varies) 5/10 - 5/10
Replay Value 5/10 - 9/10
Soundtrack  10/10 - 10/10

Review:

This review is two-in-one, but both games are essentially the same game. The only differance is that "Anniversary" is a High Definition remake of the original "Combat Evolved." Well "remake" isn't exactly the right word, as all they did was overlay HD graphics over the original template. This is proven by the fact that there is a button to switch between the two graphics and compare them while playing. When Halo: Combat Evolved first came out, it was all the rage. It was said to redefine first-person shooters, multi-player games, and the gaming world as a whole. While it didn't really feel that impactful to me, I was younger when I first played it. Hours spent trying to best my older brother in multi-player led to no end of frustration and "I quit's." Having grown up, and having played the sequels- and prequel- this game stands not as a "redefinition" to me, but as a stepping stone to something greater. This was only solidified further when the Anniversary remake came out. I originally bought Anniversary because it came with map packs for the latest Halo, Halo: Reach (The prequel in question.) It was cheaper to buy anniversary with the map packs, than to just buy the map packs off of the market stand-alone. Interested in Anniversary's claim of better graphics, and the fact that I needed to put the disc in to install the map-pack, I decided to give it a try. The graphics looked great, but until I pressed the button to switch back to the original graphics, I didn't realize how mind-blowingly different they really were. I can never put my original Halo disk into my Xbox, that is how bad the graphics look in comparison. The bright side is, Anniversary does look good, and is the exact same game.
     Halo's storyline is rich and really makes you root for the characters. Master Chief- the person you play as- doesn't speak a lot, but when he does, his voice is like gold, and his words poignant. He was human, and now is part machine as well, giving him a sort of robotic emotional standing. Cortana, his ever-present and guiding companion, is an AI yet somehow is the one that adds the level of emotion to the story that balances things out.
     The multi-player in Halo allowed you a new level of fun, with a jump sending you into the air like your on the moon, and a great weapon selection. Like all online communities there are annoying people, but a simple LAN party solves that. Just play with the people you know. Consequently, I met one of my best friends when I was younger by playing Halo multi-player. He came over to my birthday party, and we played Halo for a while. So I guess you could say "Halo: It brings people together," but seriously, it's a great game with a lot to offer. The best thing about this game, however, is all of its successors.

Minecraft

Minecraft

Plot:
There technically is no plot in Minecraft, as it is a sandbox game. There has, however, been several nice theories as to what the plot could be, and my favourite is; That there was an apocalypse-level event that involved in some way zombies, and everything was destroyed. You are alone and are trying to rebuild. The reason why this one fits is that the zombies in the game are the same skin as the character, but overlaid with zombie-ness.

Rating:
Graphics 4/10
Acting NA/10
Plot NA/10
World 6/10
Online 7/10
Character: 3/10
Game-play 8/10
Customize-ability 10/10
Camera 7/10
Controls 7/10
Difficulty (varies)/10
Replay Value 10/10
Soundtrack 5/10
Overall 10/10

Review:
            Minecraft is a game that anyone can play. I bought the 360 version just the other day, and I let my niece and nephew play, and they are only 7 and 6 years old. They probably don't get as much out of it as I do as far as what I can accomplish. But my nephew can play that game without looking away for countless hours. Unless he has to use the restroom, he even forgets that he hasn't eaten. Now that is both a good and bad thing, but take it as you will. First I'd like to talk about Minecraft for the PC, however. You purchase the game once, and own it forever. Anyone you want to play with will also have to own their own copy, but it is not expensive. With the purchase of the official game, you also can access all the mods for it. Tekkit is the main Minecraft, but there is honestly endless modding possibilities. I have seen Minecraft with Pokemon; you can catch, train, and trade them. If you don't like the blocky graphics the game comes in, you can download HD realistic texturepacks that look very well rendered(provided you have an adequate computer). Without the mods, Minecraft is a sandbox of unlimited creativity. Because the game is in 3x3 blocks, anything that can be seen in pixels can be made to scale. I have seen replicas of the USS Enterprise, and have made my own replica of the Tower from Lord of the Rings that has the flaming eye. I admit I could talk for hours about the creative functions, but there is more to it than that. "Craft" is only one part of the name. "Mine" is what it means, mining. You get a pickaxe, find some rock and mine. You may ask yourself "Self, why the frakk would I want to mine? No one wants to do it in real life, why would I here?" But your forgetting one thing. Farmville. I don't want you to think Minecraft is like Farmville...I hate Farmville, but the idea is there, why would anyone want to farm? Well people get strait up obsessed with that game. For me mining in Minecraft is therapeutic, relaxing. Just mining away, creating tunnels through the ground, collecting precious minerals. The best part about mining is that what you mind in turn gets used to craft. You need higher levels of materials to make better equipment. The monsters in Minecraft- while some are based off of other types of creatures- take on a personality and type of their own in this strange world. each bringing with them their own level of difficulty and unique needed for crafting.
             Basically this all comes back to the game being for everyone. I like to mine, my fiance likes to build structures, my nephew likes to kill monsters. Some people play in peaceful and spawn no monsters, some like a bigger challenge. Play by yourself, or with many others on a server.
              The Xbox 360 version of the game isn't that different. Buying the game gives you the ability to play with up to 4 people on the same disk, or up to 8 online. Modding is not available yet for the 360 version. But texture packs are, at a price. That's not to say it's all bad. It just has some downfalls, but it is cheaper to buy the game outright, without add-ons. The add-ons are also not very expensive.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

 

Plot:

In the Final chapter of the Metal Gear Solid saga, legendary hero Solid Snake infiltrates all new battlefields with all new gear.

Rating:

Graphics 10/10
Acting 9/10
Plot 10/10
World 9/10
Online 7/10
Character 10/10
Game-play  9/10
Customize-ability 5/10
Camera 10/10
Controls 9/10
Difficulty 5/10
Replay Value 10/10
Soundtrack  10/10

Review:

So much to say about this game, but don't want to spoil the whole game and bog down readers with a essay. This is the only game in the series to rival Metal Gear Solid. You are finally back to playing snake full time, but he is old due to rapid aging. Seems the ones who created him didn't want him to be able to live a full life and have the change of him captured. Though making him rapidly age would make it easier for him to be captured... If you unlock the cool outfits like "Altair's" outfit from Assassins Creed, not only does it look cool, but gives benefits and hides snakes aged face. The graphics for this game are amazing, even with having come out quickly with the release of the PS3 they did a very good job. Best graphics of the entire series. They even included some HD eye candy, like Naomi and her never buttoned shirt. This is increasingly "fan-serviced" as you are able to look up skirts and at breasts with special L1 moments during videos. Another set is the all female B&B squad. Beauty and the Beast. They are beastly fighters with personas to match other bosses from older games. When you defeat their "Beast" portion they shed their outer armour and come at you as sexy models(no seriously the motion capture models were actual female models) complete with secrete posing sequences resulting in a nice set of photos. One of the largest improvements on this game is the ability to freely control the camera. no more of that annoying sticky camera looking from whatever angle the developers decided was best. This makes it significantly better in that respect. The controls are fluid and smooth, no more of the old MGS sweeping while you shoot to try to aim, or weird turning motions while you run. With ever in depth plot and cut scenes, this game could be called Metal Gear Solid: The Movie, they just threw in some game play to spice it up =P. They have added the ability to add things to your weapons like scopes, sights, and handles, along with purchasing items, gear and ammo. This makes the game a little easier and "leisure" but definitely gives it some good customize-ability. Maybe if they made you have to access terminals to buy the things at certain points in the game, to make it harder, that would be better. 

      This game is so full of nostalgia, it will bleed out of your pores. Act 4 is a return to Shadow Moses. This is the location of the first MGS game, done up in full HD and made to resemble the layout flawlessly. They did so well that when you come over the ridge to see the facility for the first time-and they played my favourite game song The Best is yet to Come, which I mention in my review for the first game- I actually cried. Yes this game made me cry. I was so overwhelmed with my feelings of nostalgia that i set down the controller and just watched the screen as the song played at a volume overtaking the games sound effects. I have been playing the first Metal Gear Solid since it came out, 14 years ago. This whole chapter is by far my favourite, and the most well done. You also get the added bonus of piloting a Metal Gear for the first time ever, and as an added bonus... its REX! Do yourself a favour and play this game.I would recommend this game to everyone.

Asinine Character List:

No new characters were added that I hated, though the only cool members of Rat Patrol are Meryl and Johnny. For this review the shout out goes to Vamp and Liquid dually. They both come back, as douchey as ever, though you finally...finally...kill them... for the last...time! No seriously.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Plot:
In 1964, a U.S. government operative codenamed "Snake" must infiltrate mountainous Soviet territory to rescue a scientist building a weapon of terrible power.


Rating:
Graphics 9/10
Acting 9/10
Plot 10/10
World 9/10
Online Didn't Try
Character 10/10
Game-play  9/10
Customize-ability N/A
Camera 8/10
Controls 8/10
Difficulty 5/10
Replay Value 9/10
Soundtrack  9/10
Overall 10/10


Review: 
You take control of snake, not Solid Snake, but Naked Snake. (Warning: Spoilers later on) Your in a whole new (older) Era, being set decades before MGS 1. You are participating in a mission during the "Cold War" called "Operation Snake Eater", Fighting against Russians-because we all know everything is better with Russians. Ocelot makes a return... prequel role, where he does strange things like meow loudly into the sky, but still manages to be pretty awesome. You fight against rogue betraying agent "The Boss" not to be confused with "Big Boss"- Solid's Daddy. This game still features the overhead camera set up where the developers want you to look from, but you are given a little bit of breathing room as you can move that back and forth a bit, adding to the area you can see when your not in First Person View. This game features a new system for snake-previously implemented on bosses in MGS 2- called "Stamina". If you run or flip too much, or just from being in the field for too long, you lost stamina, and have to regain it with food. Low stamina results in slower healing, so its important to watch out for. You have to catch food by shooting or stabbing snakes and frogs, or fruit from trees. A real Solo Survival mission. This turned out to be really fun to do. I loved the realism and activity that it added to the game. This game introduces one of my favourite boss fights against an enemy called "The End". A full-on sniper battle. You have to move around slowly and try to pin point this really old patient sniper, while he does the same to you. It is one of the best boss fights ever. It is not supremely difficult- disregarding the cliché MGS overpowered bosses- just keep in mind there are goodies to get if you play it right. In MGS 3 you get bonuses for defeating enemies without killing them- I.E. Tranq guns and the like- and an added bonus, if you are able to sneak up on The End and old him up from behind, you are awarded a very special prize. And now for the spoiler! If you ever thought to yourself "I enjoy MGS as a series, but I'm not sure about this new 'Snake Eater' game"...PLAT IT! You are BIG BOSS! You are the legendary hero, in his prime, well before he is cloned into Solid and Liquid. When I realized who it was, I jumped out of my seat with a shriek of pure Fan-orgasmic joy. And I have no shame in this. This is one of the best in the Metal Gear series, and when I'm done with them all ill give a list of order in which I think they are the best. With good graphics, the requisite amount of cut-scenes and dialogue, and somewhat improved game-play and controls, this Metal Gear game is one of the best. Offering a more in depth look at the series' storyline and inner workings, the world just continues to grow in depth and richness.

Asinine Characters List;
Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin
Volgin is a buff-as-shit Russian with the (never explained) ability to produce up to 10 million volts of electricity from his body and output it. He does this with bullets in hand to shoot them, and sometimes encases his body in a...web?...of it to block bullets. This is explained as a "physical anomaly"...Seriously? He also has enhanced strength to the point of knocking people back 10-20 ft if not more,which also carries no explanation like 'nano-machines'. I want to mention that he is homosexual, not because I am against homosexuals, but because he grabs snakes crotch and I AM against that. He has the makeup to be a really cool character, but where he fell short was in the lacking of WHY he was so bad-ass. I don't like that. So he gets my Asinine Character shutout even though no one in this game royally pissed me off like Vamp, Liquid, or Reaver.

Note:
I would recommend this game to everyone. I love it and so should you!

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Plot:
Two years after the supposed death of Solid Snake, a rookie FOX-HOUND agent -Raiden- on his first mission, infiltrates an offshore decontamination facility to rescue the President. Only things are not what they seem, and a soldier must adapt to new situations. A new Metal Gear project seems to be underway, and with the threat of a nuclear strike, will Raiden have enough time and skill to stop it all?


Rating:
Graphics 9/10
Acting 9/10
Plot 10/10
World 9/10
Online N/A
Character 10/10
Game-play  9/10
Customize-ability N/A
Camera 8/10
Controls 8/10
Difficulty 5/10
Replay Value 9/10
Soundtrack  9/10
Overall 8/10


 Review:
I write this review-as with Metal Gear Solid-A long time after playing it the first time, and well into yet another play-through. I am also writing it after some of the "plot" in this game was explained by Hideo Kojima. If you are a fan of Metal Gear Solid and have not played this one yet, then prepare to be pissed off by the "twist ending". This game has improved mechanics from the first game, smoother movements and you don't have to swing back and forth to try to aim your automatic weapons. The old crouch and crawl are back with added things like rolling as Snake, and doing a sort-of cartwheel flip as Raiden. Many of the guns return as well, with the addition of the Tranquilizer pistol and sniper rifle, to let you go through without killing. They are massively useful.
       Anyone hoping to play Solid Snake again will be sweetly swept up, only to be thrown back down as 95% of the game is played with a different character, Raiden, the androgynous silver haired rookie. I am not overly fond of Raiden, he is a bit whiny, unsure of himself, and generally lacking where Snake was awesome. You'll just have to suck it up and try not to think about whether your character actually has a package or is just lacking breasts. You'll be rewarded with a rather fun game. This game like most has its ups and its downs, but its all well worth the play-through. Metal Gear has a habit of making really bad villains, at least in my eye. I love having great heroes and great villains in a game, and it seems that they spent all their creative points on the world and on the good guys. These villains are pretty cut and paste, always faster or stronger than you, doing more damage with the same attacks, and always boasting your inevitable defeat, regardless of how many times you've killed them. (I think we are on death number 4 for Liquid? And as you play through up to Metal Gear Solid 4, he has many more deaths left in him. He must be a F***ing cat! That's it! He is Cat-folk...always hated them.) The only villains I tended to like were Revolver Ocelot; who is taken over by liquid to continue surviving, thus ruining that character, and The End; who is I think the best boss fight up until Metal Gear Solid 4 (Spoiler for that in my review for that game). I have to make mention, however small, of the fact that you will have a retarded escort mission. Where you must pull-by the hand- another one of this games retarded characters. So watch out for it.
         Considering I seem to find one character in every game I play that I hate righteously, and pisses me off wholeheartedly, I am going to start doing a shout out in each review for those called the "Asinine Characters List" Where I will pretty much have a spot just for naming and explaining the completely stupid and annoying characters traits that make them that way. For this game we have Vamp. Vamp is a take on "Vampires", in which he has apparent immortality, or as I like to call it "Bosses that just won't f-ing die!", His however is explained by nano-machines that heal him. He wears an outfit that makes him look like a human flying squirrel, and not in a cute way. He also has some annoying attacks, like throwing a knife at your shadow that prevents you from moving and then dealing an almost fatal blow to you. There is no blocking this. He runs on water and up buildings. These things all eventually get explained, but he is still annoying, he makes a reoccurring role in MGS4.
        I would recommend this game to everyone. There are some frustrating parts, things that get under your skin, but stick it out. Its a fun game.

Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid

Plot:
your are Snake, a government agent on a mission to regain control of a nuclear weapons base from terrorist hands. A crack government anti-terrorist squad takes over an obscure Alaskan nuclear disposal facility with the aid of an army of genetically-modified 'genome soldiers'. They have threatened to launch a nuclear missile if the US government does not hand over the preserved body of 'Big Boss', the greatest soldier that ever lived. The only person who can successfully infiltrate the facility, rescue the two hostages and thwart the terrorists' plans is the legendary Solid Snake - you.

Rating:
Graphics 9/10
Acting 9/10
Plot 10/10
World 9/10
Online N/A
Character 10/10
Game-play  8/10
Customize-ability N/A
Camera 7/10
Controls 7/10
Difficulty 6/10
Replay Value 10/10
Soundtrack  10/10
Overall 10/10


Review:
As my ratings should indicate, I love this game. The Metal Gear franchise is one of my top favourite game series of all time. Metal Gear Solid came out in 1998, 11 years after the original Metal Gear and 8 after Snakes Revenge. This game will forever be in my memory, and I have replayed it so many times it would be impossible to count. It takes roughly 10 hours for a normal person to beat this game on normal if they are good at it. I usually beat it in 3. Every single game with the exception of i think 1 character is always voiced by the same people, who have become iconic for the series. David Hayter and Paul Eiding esspecially. With a storyline that is connected with each game and is rich and deep, and a game play style that revolutionized  the gaming world, this game is a must play for any true gamer. I rarely have the patience necessary to play through a game using stealth. But in this game series it is not only enjoyable, but I would rather be stealthy. Solid Snake -who is the series main protagonist- is named after Snake Plisskin in John Carpenter's Escape from New York movie. They of course share many character traits and similarities. He is so full of badassery that he ages quicker than other people (This is of course not true he ages do to his genes and how he was made). He is one of the coolest video game characters of all time, and you will see him on many such lists. With a face modeled after Christopher Walken and a body modeled after Bruce Lee, It's hard to go wrong. It also introduced a couple or really cool reoccurring characters-Revolver Ocelot, Ninja, Meryl Silverburgh, etc.- but also introduced a reoccurring boss who will show up in almost every Metal Gear game, and is one of the most annoying of all time. He does things like dieing in a helicopter crash, being inside a Metal Gear when you defeat it, and blowing up in a car. It is, however, the fact that he is a gene clone of Big Boss-the legendary warrior- along with Snake, like brothers. Snake got the good genes, and Liquid got the bad, yet liquid always seems to be better, faster, and stronger. You fistfight on the top of Metal Gear and he specifically says to Snake"The fall will kill even you!" and when you knock him off... he comes back to fight you later in the game, fine and dandy.  The game play is a bit weird, as it is an early game in the series, but is fun nonetheless because of how use to it I am, I grew up on these games. The games story is highly developed, a sort of staple for the series. Some people call them Movie/Games. You spend a lot of time listening to CODEC calls and Cut-Scenes. But for all of us who know the words verbatim you are able to skip them if you want. The soundtrack is a very important part of this game series, as it helps give you a feel for how you should...feel. With great boss-battle music, good espionage music, and the most beautiful song ever put into a game- End Title-The Best is Yet to Come - Aoife Ní Fhearraigh - This song makes you feel so much, such a relief to hear at the end of all the hard hard work you put into the game play and story. This game holds all the best elements of good games. Don't you just love it when developers put Easter-eggs in games? This game series is full of little things to find or see; From women in their underwear if your willing to take your time to see it, to getting your box peed on by a wolf instead of attacked. Come and fall in love with Metal Gear with the rest of us! I recommend to everyone.

Metal Gear

Metal Gear

Plot:
After Gray Fox, FOX-HOUND's best agent, goes missing, rookie Solid Snake is sent to the South African fortress "Outer Heaven" to rescue him from terrorists armed with a nuclear-equipped bipedal tank. 

Rating:
Graphics NES/10
Acting N/A
Plot 10/10
World 7/10
Online N/A
Character 10/10
Game-play  8/10
Customize-ability N/A
Camera Overhead
Controls NES
Difficulty NES
Replay Value 5/10
Soundtrack 10/10
Overall 10/10


Review:
The first thing you have to keep in mind is that this game came out in 1987. This is of course before I was born. Hideo Kojima had a very awesome game idea that Konami wasn't originally very excited about, saying that it wouldn't be very good, and not very liked. This of course turned out to be very wrong. The Metal Gear franchise would turn out to be their bestand most popular -let alone making the most money- game series to date. Metal Gear was the start of it all, Its 8-bit graphics don't take away from the awesome story that Hideo would tell over the years. The music is classic NES 8-bit music and sticks with me to this day. The music of Metal Gear games is a staple of the series. The fact that i played Metal Gear Solid long before I ever played Metal Gear is a little upsetting in the fact that I like to play games in order, but be that as it may, it is still good. The game has some strange controls, and very difficult game play, which is normal for NES games. Its easy to get lost as almost every area looks the same as the one that came before it. Even as a more new-age gamer, I still found this game very fun. This is of course partly due to the fact that I love the series. I would recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of the Metal Gear series. Anyone who has played any of the other games should play this at least once for story purposes.

Fable III

Fable III

Plot:
Your journey to rule the throne of Albion begins 50 years after the events of the last chapter, and you play as the child of your hero from Fable II.

Rating:
Graphics 8/10
Acting 8/10
Plot 4/10
World 9/10
Online 5/10
Character: 9/10
Game-play  4/10
Customize-ability 8/10
Camera 6/10
Controls 7/10
Difficulty 5/10
Replay Value 2/10
Soundtrack 10/10
Overall 4/10

Review:
Fable III is the worst of the Fable games, not the "not best" but the worst. It took everything bad from each game, and made it worse, and took some good things and ruined them. With its ever cliche ending, and annoying side quests, it holds little replay value for me.I will start with what I remember to be good about this game. The graphics are somewhat improved since the last game, and the world looks beautiful as ever, and with its loveable Fable soundtrack, it definitely has the feel of a fable game. the character of the game looks great, ages well, and doesn't have a strange annoying bulge even when your skinny. The clothes look great too, and they even give you armour, though still no armour rating. The clothes in this game don't melt into your body when you run though, which is nice. The story for the first 2/3 of the game is pretty cool too. They made a grouping of rather likable NPCs; Elise, Sabine, Jasper, Ben, Walter, and Swift. The online play was rather enjoyable as well. Some of the side quests were quirky and funny, especially the Dungeons & Dragons one. But honestly its hard to sit here and come up with what was good about this game.
    To start on what was wrong with this game I will simply point out that Reaver has made a comeback, and not a small one, but is a major part of this game. The dog in this game seems to have the same programming as in Fable II except it was kicked in the head a few too many times I guess. The only treasure he notices before me is Dig Spots. All other treasure, he doesn't alert me until I'm already in possession of. Then there is one of the worst parts of this game; it has been made into what is referred to as "leisure". This is where a game is so easy, your grandma could probably beat it without too much effort. At the very beginning of the game you are given magick, and this magick is a kill all button. Run through the game pressing the "B" button on your 360 controller, and you'll be fine. Tired of magick? Just shoot the enemies, they will never endanger you as long as you back up a little bit. Even the Balverines- who were very adept at kicking your ass in the first game- are easy kills. They removed the "Follow & Wait" commands and replaced it with grabbing someones hand and dragging them around. If they like you they will run with you, though don't expect your hands to actually be touching unless you aren't moving. If they don't like you, you will drag them along as they throw a tantrum, as your grip as a hero is much stronger than theirs. This whole thing just seems childish and stupid. Then there is the matter of getting people to like you. You used to talk to people, give them gifts and slowly work up their attitude towards you. Now you must do stupid actions like dancing or tickling random villagers-even after you become the king or queen- then at each new interval from hate> fear> neutral> friend> Best friend or Lover, you have to do a courier quest for them. This is tedious and retarded. I am the Queen of Albion and I have to take your sack of potatoes to Frank in Brightwall in order for us to be friends? Screw you. It doesn't help that almost all the NPCs in this game are just like all the other ones, and they all look kind of ugly to me. The only respite from this is Elise, and only if your male- which I hardly am- and even then she has problems. Your character is always white, regardless of gender, and this is probably due to the fact that they probably didn't want to take the time to animate each race. This is common, get over it. At least there are black villagers in Bowerstone. However if you marry your lifelong love Elise and have sex with her, you almost always get an STD and you almost Always have a black child, that means they made the only decent looking NPC in the game a cheating whore. Good job Lionshead. The other leisure part of the game is that the pause menu has been replaced by a "Sanctuary where you can choose new weapons and magick spells to equip, save, invite Xbox Live players, hang out, count your gold, while in the regular game the enemies just wait for your return. Along with this comes the problem of the map. When you pause it takes you about 3-5 annoying seconds before you can run forward to the map and when you open it to find something, it turns out to be set up very retardedly. The map loos nothing like where you are, especially in the cities, where they have popup looking building set in a pattern nothing like the actual game, how can you find anything. That, and the fact that when you "fast travel" you cant "Fast travel" where you want, no chosen destination. You fast travel to a city, and most of the time you end up 50 miles out and have to fight 5 legions of bandits or balverines or hobbes to get to the city. That isn't fast-travel, that is slightly-faster-than-running-from-where-you-started travel. If the enemies were challenging as apposed to tedious, this might be okay, but as it is, you have no real gain from fighting them, its usually easier to run through, which begs the question; Why can't i fast travel into a city instead of outside? And why can't I choose a destination for my magick fairy dust to tell me where to go? Instead I have to look at this crude children's map and hope I can find my destination. The last part I will talk about is the plot. They, once again, laid out a very nice plot with a buildup which turns out to be a twist. (Spoiler ahead) This turns out to be "only the beginning" as you have a new much more sinister and bad ass enemy. You have one whole year to prepare your kingdom for the coming war against "The Darkness" , OOOooo "The Darkness" sounds awesome doesn't it!? Well it isn't, so sit back down. The year of preparing can be done in about 30 minutes. It is an annoying bit of Financial decisions. It is not revealed that you need to have over 10,000,000 gold to be good, until this point, and now you don't really have the time to make it up. Thanks Lionsgate. But even so, whether you are good or bad barely affects the game and doesn't affect the storyline at all. You must not sit and choose whether to keep your promises throughout the game and spend a lot of money to do so, or side with Reaver and make a lot of money while being evil (I add that Revear is always on the evil side of each choice regardless of which it is). You are on the eve of war, and they want to know whether or not you should rebuild the school, or fix up the orphanage, or abolish drinking laws, or what colour the drapes should be. Honestly I liked the purple castle theme and didn't want blue or red. But are these honestly the decisions I should be given while i am preparing for war?(Major Spoiler)With the added angering point that you stand by and watch your friend be taken over by the darkness at the end, instead of pulling out your gun during the cut scene and shooting it or blasting it with lightning infused ice. I was so annoyed I didn't wait to attack him and it wasn't even a hard battle, meaning I could have killed it before it ever took control of my friend but instead my character stands there with a dumb look on her face. "Oh no its taking him over whatever will we do!?" This game was not good. I will only replay it once more to be evil. Then it will forever sit on my shelf and collect dust. I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone.

Fable II

Fable II

Plot:
Beginning as a penniless street-urchin, your destiny is to become Albion's greatest Hero. But will your power lie in kindness or cruelty? Choose your own path to glory and experience how those choices change you and the world forever. A new life, a unique adventure - every time.

Rating:
Graphics 8/10
Acting 9/10
Plot 6/10
World 10/10
Online 4/10
Character: 9/10
Game-play  7/10
Customize-ability 8/10
Camera 7/10
Controls 8/10
Difficulty 5/10
Replay Value 6/10
Soundtrack 10/10
Overall 8/10




Review:
      Fable II is in the future of Fable and you are a descendant of the Hero of Oakvale (The character in Fable 1), yet you start off in poverty. Interesting but its not hugely bad, as anything can happen as the generations go on. You get to choose your gender (Yay!) as I tend to enjoy playing as females more. Something about a woman with a sword, maybe some armour, kicking some ass... Oh yeah... the review. Your character looks decent regardless of gender, though as you get older, with the females at least, you get a strange bulge under the breasts regardless of your weight as its displayed in your stats. They removed the armour rating system so that you can wear whatever you want instead of what would give you the best armour. This is nice but takes away from the realism, and the fact that they didn't put any suits of armour in the game to wear, which I rather enjoyed the look of in the first game, kind of sucks. Then they implemented the reaction of all townsfolk as negative if you pull out your sword, ranged weapon, or, magick , which is particularly annoying if you are defending them from impending death. If you have to fight in order to defend them... they hate you and fear you. Last on my list of things wrong with the game (there is more, just not going to mention everything) is the best idea Lionsgate had that they pulled of very badly, your dog. Its fun to have a furry companion follow you around and find treasure for you, but he is very glitchy and tended to be annoying later on in the game. If there was a way to have your dog stay at home and come with you when you wanted, it would be much better. All in all, they had a lot of nice ideas, but I guess they were rushed or something. The world of Albion in II looks much better and is much larger than in 1. With many more choices to make, and side quests, you'll have a lot to do and experience. With great Fable-like voice acting and the talents of some great actors like Ron Glass, Julia Sawalha, Stephen Fry, and Zoë Wanamaker
, they really made that portion of the game very enjoyable. This game was not better than Fable, but was definitely a great game.
      It is however again in the ending that has come to be expected now of Fable games that they have truly failed. They have a greater build up towards the end than the first game, with a less "cool" bad guy, who's boss battle is so easy, it shouldn't be considered a battle. Its more like hold a button for a minute and a half and your done. Then there is the thing I must mention though is a huge spoiler, so beware, your choice at the end of the game. This is another thing that fable wants you to have, a choice at the end of the game between good and evil. In this game, I was very annoyed, as you are given three choices, two good and one greedy. The first choice is "Sacrifice" in which you choose to save all the lives of the people who were involved in the construction of the Tower in the game, "Love" in which you save your sister and dog, who died because of the towers construction but somehow don't count, and "wealth" in which you get less money than you can make in an hour if you own most of the buildings in Bowerstone. The Tower is supposed to give you the ability to make a wish, and these are your choices, i understand that the games creators couldn't come up with a way to let you actually "wish" whatever you want, but these choices are stupid. And with it, another bad ending to a rather good game, in which whether you are evil throughout the game has no correlation to the main storyline.
    With this game came the creation of another NPC I hate, probably as much as Thunder, Reaver. Reaver has an even cooler name, larger part, and more annoying personality than Thunder. He is selfish to the point of sacrificing an entire town to gain eternal youth, and has to sacrifice another human every once in a while to keep it up. He is the type of character present in many forms of entertainment, perhaps to give viewers someone to hate. He even goes so far as to kill an NPC I liked because the picture they took of Reaver would take a little longer to develop than what he might have liked. RIP Barnum.
      I would, however, recommend this game along with the first one, because despite its many faults it is pretty fun and I replay it sometimes to play the different paths of good and evil.

Fable

Fable and Fable: The Lost Chapters
 

Plot:
Create your life story from childhood to death. Grow from an inexperienced adolescent into the most powerful being in the world. Choose the path of righteousness or dedicate your life to evil. Muscles expand with each feat of strength; force of will increases with each work of wit. Obesity follows gluttony, skin tans with exposure to sunlight and bleaches bone-white by moonlight. Earn scars in battle and lines of experience with age. Each person you aid, each flower you crush, each creature you slay, will change this world forever.

Rating:
Graphics 8/10
Acting 8/10
Plot 9/10
World 8/10
Online N/A
Character: 9/10
Game-play  8/10
Customize-ability 8/10
Camera 6/10
Controls 7/10
Difficulty 5/10
Replay Value 10/10
Soundtrack 10/10
Overall 10/10

Review:
      Fable is a game that will become close to your heart, it is definitely a classic, and the expanded content just emulates that perfectly. Fable is a great family-fun, funny, loveable game. Its humour has become genre defining. With it's staple "British Humour" mixed with fun game play, its hard to not enjoy this game. You don't get to pick your gender (Which is fixed in the sequels) but you are given a rich back story and tend to love your character. This game series is built on being allowed to choose your path, to an extent. Your main choice is morality, and this is reflected on your body as you will glow and have blue butterflies and a halo if you are good, and will be dark with horns and flies if your evil, this is seen all the way down to the blue or red eye colour.You also get the choice of how to customize your characters fighting style, whether you choose to wield magick, shoot bows, swing a melee weapon, or any combination of the three, the choice is yours. The only place that your choices don't seem to be able to affect is the main storyline, which occurs regardless of whether your good or evil. There is no real "evil ending" except for a choice you get to make after killing the main bad guy. This is the real only way in which this game failed. You have to kill the main bad guy regardless of being good or evil, and then on top of that the fact that they created a really awesome bad guy, with a large build up to beating him, and then he turns out to be the easiest boss in the game. It is a little disappointing and turns out to be a staple in all Fable games, to have a rather enjoyable game and then disappoint at the end. There are very few things wrong with this game, but all tend to be shadowed in the rest of the games enjoyable nature. Small things like villagers dropping boxes when they notice you, strange map interface, and rapid aging of your character. Then there is of course the worst NPC ever created... Thunder. He is a Hero who no matter how far you progress always looks down on you. His sister is in the Heroes Guild with you and even when you beat her at every turn (Which is easy to do) he calls it luck. If your able to dominate with a perfect score and without taking any damage in The Arena, he still calls it luck. He talks crap all the way up to his optional fight where he turns out to be a very very easy cookie cutter boss fight. His counter is Brier Rose, who starts out looking down to you and then learns that you are awesome. (Spoiler...kinda) in the final boss area you have to wade through enemies, when its her turn to fight beside you and then stay behind she says "Its time these people learn who Brier Rose is!" which is cool. When you fight alongside Thunder, and he has to stay behind he says "I am exhausted, you go ahead I'm going to rest for a bit" I feel so strongly about this NPC that I would erect a statue in his visage just so I could destroy it with a sledgehammer. The world of Albion is great, however, with humourous people and guards, to either funny or annoying enemies. This games enemies aren't too far fetched, except for the Balverines, and Hobbes. Hobbes are fabled to be stolen children converted to a plump short ugly creatures, and Balverines are a new take on "Werewolves" though I tend to like Balverines better. I would recommend this game and plan on replaying it in the future as I have done since its release.

Note:
F*$% Thunder for having such a cool name and being such a stupid NPC. 

Bioshock 2

Bioshock 2

Plot:
The Undersea city of Rapture stands in ruin. Somewhere deep within, your Little Sister awaits. Once, you protected her and now, amongst hordes of genetically-altered maniacs, she is your only hope for salvation.

Rating:
Graphics 9/10
Acting 9/10
Plot 9/10
World 10/10
Online 3/10
Character: 10/10
Game-play  9/10
Customize-ability 4/10
Camera 7/10
Controls 8/10
Difficulty 5/10
Replay Value 9/10
Soundtrack 10/10
Overall 10/10

Review:
Bioshock 2 far exceeded its predecessor in as many ways as one can hope. Starting with the fact that you play as one of the iconic Big Daddies from Bioshock, you know your in for a real treat. If for nothing else playing a Big Daddy makes this game infinitely better than number 1. The story in this game was much easier to follow and actually led me to fully understand the plot of the first game.  The graphics didn't see much of an improvement, though were still really good, the only place that this differs is in the videos, in which its more like a movie than a game. The fact that they were able to let you play as the hardest enemy in the first game, and still give you an engaging game-play and difficulty is amazing. I felt much more part of the world, story, and character in this game. I felt attached to the main character and empathized with his situation and wanted him to succeed for more than just being able to continue to the next area. With a fully explored back story and closer feel, they greatly improved in this respect. I felt much more sucked in and part of the story than ever before. This game deserves its Game of the Year and 1001 Games You Must Play Before You Die awards. With that being said, however, it must be preceded by Bioshock in order for you to fully grasp all that makes this game magnificent. You must first have been brutally beaten by a Big Daddy protecting his Little Sister in order to understand all that you hold in your hands when you play as one. I would place this game high on my shelf and recommend it ravingly.

Note:
Play this game!