Games that dont suck

L.A. Noire

2011-06-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

A game that took ages to make but totally changes the image Rockstar games has created with GTA and Red Dead Redemption.

It will draw you in and keep you in its grip till you finish the game.

Starting off with as a low level cop and making your way up the ranks with a number of good busts L.A. Noire gives you the impression that decisions you make affect the world. Well in all honesty they just affect how the chief reacts at the end of a case. Your actions have no real impact on the outcome of the game.

It provides about 10-12 hours of good game play with case after case becoming longer and more complex.

The motion capture used to give the characters life is amazing and keeps you on your feet in order to determine if the person you are interviewing is telling the truth or just playing you for a fool.

The story of the game creates a sense of mystery like a movie would keeping you at the edge of your seat wondering what happens next.

The hunt for clues can sometime be frustrating as they play music in the back ground if there are clues to be found and the controller vibrates when you can interact with objects from the environment and examine them for clues. The story of L.A. Noire gives an insight into the dark side of L.A. life in the 40's.

With some stunning visuals and a decent sized city to explore with street crimes to stop and cars to unlock the game provides enough to keep you busy for a while even after you have burnt through the story.

There are times when it can get annoying as you can jump over some objects and not over others which may be the same size or smaller. Also the controls can be a little picky about reacting to certain actions. You have to position yourself just right in order to examine clues and even slight deviations will result in you running around the object getting a bit annoyed.

There are a few action sequences but like i said few and far apart. You also have the option to skip them completely and just move on with the very intriguing story.

I give the game a 9/10 it lost that 1 point coz of the controls and the annoying objects that you cant jump over but should be able to...

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

2009-11-12T10:42:00.001-08:00

Probably the BIGGEST release this year Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a direct sequel to Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare. The advertising that was done for this game created such a media hype and had gamers sitting at the edge of their seats biting their nails awaiting the release of the game.

Activision threw a release party on Nov 9, 2009 at Union Square, NYC where fans could come in and play the game with developes giving out autographs. Followed up by a midnight release of the game at 4200+ gamestops across USA.

After the bitter taste Call of Duty: World at War left in our mouths the expectations from Modern Warfare 2 sky rocketed. The great part Modern Warfare 2 actually meets all these expectations and goes above and beyond to provide an amazingly immersive gameplay experience that draws the played in and makes them feel everything around them.

Once you start playing this title you dont want to stop. The story line is great, weapon choices many, little bit of choice making like kill or sneak past and some major badass multiplayer. You have the option to play through the single player campaign, multiplayer game modes and also a set of custom missions that you can either do alone or with a friend. With so much to do this title will keep you busy for a while.

The AI is smart but there is a great deal of linear gameplay. Enemy troops will always appear in the same place making it static to a great extent. The multiplayer component covers up for this with a variety of gameplay modes and maps. Custom classes with abilities that help you style of gameplay as well as the challenges to level up and unlock new weapons and attachments will keep you busy for a long time....

For all the work thats gone into the game and the final result i give this a 9/10. (Static AI -1 *sigh* perfect 10 if only...)

Screenshots:

Wolfenstein 2009

2009-09-27T11:59:00.000-07:00

OLD NAME NEW GAME.

If you have grown up playing games then Wolfenstein is definitely one of the game that you will have played. This version of the game is set in world war II with the Nazis performing experiments on their prisoners and citizens of the town.

B.J. Blaskowitz an agent for the allies comes across a medallion that give him special abilities. Its kind of like the crysis suite. These abilities can be upgraded and used rather effectively along with an element from the good old days when we could carry many different weapons. Its a very uncommon feature in the games these days where realism is the focus.

The gameplay is rather engrossing inspite of it being fairly linear since you dont have much choice of where to go and sometime how to get there. You will however, have a lot of gun fights and the many weapons with tons of upgrade opportunities combined with the many abilities allow you to play the game in your own way giving it a slight personalization. Choose to be a silent sniper taking out your enemies from far away or charge in with a shield and take them all out real quick and loud.

There are pieces of gold and intelligence scattered through out the game. These are the key to getting upgrades for the weapons. Totems are pieces of ancient technology that are also scattered but always hidden in the wall behind a breakable plate. collect these to unlock upgrades for you abilities.

The game play time isnt too large but on completing the game you are given access to the cheats menu. The pumpkin head cheat adds a new element of fun to it almost making you want to play the game over just to see them pumpkins explode.

The physics and graphics of the game are kind of a let down but the game is still a lot of fun.
I give it a 7.5/10.

FUEL

2009-09-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

There isnt much to say about this games. It gives u the options of using various off road vehicles for races on varying tracks. Has the largest map on a game world ever.

Allows upgrades, custom paint jobs & custom suits for the drivers like most other racing games. You can play the races by selecting them from a safe house or go into free roam and just cruise around.

However, apart from the huge map this game is just another racer. Personally i preferred PURE as that had a major fun element with the mid air trick. This is like play an off road Need for speed : undercover. Its a been there done that kinda things. Not really original now is it.

For the scenic beauty and vast expanse I give it a 4/10 coz its nothing special.

Batman Arkham Asylum

2009-09-16T19:22:00.000-07:00

Well Its been a while since i posted a review but now im back its that time of the year again when games come out in batches and parents have to sadly deny the pleasure of playing every games that releases to both themselves and their children.

Batman Arkham Asylum was a release that everyone was waiting for since the 1st teasers released. Arkham Island is host to the psychopaths that Gotham city managed to lock away. However, the Joker was up to his old tricks plotting while in captivity in the correctional facility. His single motive to unmask and kill his arch enemy BATMAN.

Obviously you take on the role of Bruce Wayne as Batman as he has just brought The Joker in who managed to escape with some inside help. Once the Joker lures Batman into the lower levels of Arkham Asylum he springs his trap with the help of some friends on the inside.

The versatility of moves and choice of vantage points helps keep the game interesting allowing you to play either as a shadow in the night or hack away. The good part you dont have to stick to one. The combos are fairly simple to execute and do sometimes seem monotonous however, with upgrades you can change them up to keep things interesting.

For all the stealth loving gamers out there the gargoyle hanging and silent kills will add to the fun of creating terror in the Joker's goons.

The AI does get rather predictable and there is a great deal of linear game play. But with the large number of trophies that you can collect it can take a while before u clear out an area completely.

The Detective vision that has been introduced into this game makes for some very interesting observations giving you vulnerabilities in the environment, character stats, identifying enemy vitals even marking out armed enemies from unarmed ones.

There are a lot of different ways to play this game and the visual effect are pretty high up. For all the action/adventure and entertainment this game is absolute value for money. I give it a 9.5/10.

SCREEN SHOTS:

Silet Takedowns can get you out of some pretty tight situations.

One of the silent kill cut scenes.

Get a good view of the area.

Use detective mode to see what ur up against.

Choose a target and find out their vitals.

Just taking in the view.

Grapple to a vantage point then...

...Swoop down on ur unsuspecting enemies.

Hang from the gargoyle and wait...

...Watch him walk into ur trap...

...Pick em up...

...and let em hang :D

Mirror's Edge

2009-01-24T06:58:00.000-08:00

This is a game that u could call a very good counter for the Prince of Persia that came out recently. The whole free runners thing that they have come up with is actually more realistic than the running that is done in PoP. The shacky camera while running actually give a very good effect on the whole. If u want to really enjoy this game u must have excellent reaction time as u have to jump run slide and dodge ur way through a lot of stuff. there are almost always alternate routes available incase u dont wanna go melee on guys with guns or u could disarm one of them and go guns a blazing. The choice is urs and its a lot of fun.

The Melee fighting in 1st person takes a little getting used to but its nothing someone who has played Condemned: Criminal origins cant master. The bots get progressive tougher and depending on the uniform u no if ur gonna knock them out easy or they are gonna really put up a fight.

The whole concept of this game and the way it has been implemented is simply amazing and results in some amazing gameplay. It has been very well executed however the character response in the game could have been slightly better there are instances where the response time is delayed by 1ms and can lead to some very tight situations.

There are certain area where the textures and layout seem to repeat themselves but thats ok since it is a city and there will be similarities among areas in a city.

If u like Prince of persia this game will certainly give u new hope considering the failure of the last release. For some stunning views and motion blur combined with great level design and game play this game get a 7/10 since it only provides about 6-7 hours of game play time. However, its a real fun 6-7 hours.

Some Screen Shots:

Prince of Persia (PC-2008)

2009-01-24T06:37:00.000-08:00

I really dont thing that this game could have been any worse. I never thought i would say this but the original Dos based Prince of Persia game that i played 15 odd years ago was more exciting and fun. How could they mess up so bad I have no idea. They took one of the best series of games and turned it into a failure talk about doing a 180 the wrong way and landing flat on ur face.

The previous saga consisting of The Sands of time, Two thrones and Warrior Within had made the PoP series one of the most addictive and entertaining. Thus the new release had a bar to match up to and lets just say the bar was tooooooooo far out of reach. Where to begin with the terrors....

Lets start with the character models...
There is a black outline around the characters...How and y would u want that... there is no way to change the graphic settings so good luck there... While playing the game u feel like u are in some photoshop version of a very cheap animated movie. This totally sux even the old engine would have been good.

The fighting style... The free form fighting style where an action lead to many different opportunities and options was an amazing way to play the game making it unique to the played and leaving them to option to hack and slash in a way they felt was fun. The new combo fighting system seems fun initially but it has too many limitations and is too simple for veteran PoP players. Not Fun at all and highly monotonous after a point.

You will spend maybe an hour running around collecting orbs of magic for ur companion that is trying to rebuild the sacred land and get rid of the darkness that is spreading. This also again get boring since it is the same thing over and over again. The puzzle solving has been made slightly annoying now and is going towards the tomb raider complexity which is not a good thing at all. PoP is not a Puzzle game its an action/adventure game why would u want to make it a puzzle game. Moving on u have spent an hour running up walls and swinging off ledges and stuff and u have finally come to an enemy and ur like aite lets kick some ass. You start ur combo and co-incidentally after 3 hits u have reached the end of the platform that u are fighting on and boom it goes into a cutscene where ur combo is broken the enemy who may have been in the air courtesy of ur combo is standing on the ground in front of u and u stab him. So all the fun has been squeezed out of the game.

There are no hoards of enemies to fight and multiple attacks to chose from its all running around trying to heal the land. I mean WHAT THE FUCK!!!!! This latest installment of PoP is so Bad that i dont think it even deserves a rating but since thats what im here to do I give it a 3/10 for Scenic Beauty. The gameplay is crap and the game is no fun at all.

Grand Theft Auto 4

2009-01-22T21:47:00.001-08:00

This is a long overdue Review.
Well now this is a game that there is so much to say about and so little time. The mass amount of detailing that has gone into this game is not even funny. Its like picking up a pack of games for the price of one. There is a lot of options from going out on a date to just hanging with friends at a bar, going bowling, shoot some Pool etc... One of my favorites go for a chopper Ride. How Cool is that...

Normally the driving in GTA isnt too realistic however with this one the have worked very hard to provide a good driving experience where the guy flies out of the car if u hit something that is not movable (like a wall) at very high speeds.

One of the best features is the fact that u can hitch a ride with a cab instead of driving to places. Its quite an excellent enhancement. Well the taxi Driver AI isnt that good but its not easy to make one so im not one to complain.

There are so many details in the game that u simply have to play it to find out what the fuss is about. There are so many options available to u when u play that u dont even have to follow the story all the time to be able to have fun.... Strip Clubs FTW!!! ;)

This game without a shadow of a doubt gets a 10/10 even though there were a lot of glitches initially with the servers being down and bad memory optimization. Lets look over that since the patch came out fairly soon after the game released.

Some Screen Shots:

Fallout 3

2008-12-02T22:20:00.000-08:00

Warning: This is not a game for the impatient.

This is a brilliant FPS-RPG with a lot of detailing into character development and choices. Taking into account that its an RPG u no what to expect a lot of Chit-Chat with some very very annoying NPCs...

Starting off in a vault which was a place of sanctity post nuclear war period. U have to run away and get out into the radiation filled world with not much to go on except trying to find your father in a world that has been unknown to u for the duration of the 19 years that u have lived.

The character Development starts with Chosing ur Sex M/F then ur Name and then what u would like your character to look like ingame with a lot of detail involded. The initial part of the game can be quite boring and irritating as u dont do much except talk to ppl. Its only after ur father runs away and leave the vault that the real game begins. Escaping the vault is another headache all together but once ur out ur free to either follow the main story line or just run around exploring a huge landscape. Something that i feel is unique to this game is the existence of radio if u dont feel like playing u can just sit down and listen to the radio. Also the Signal Strength varies so u might not get a particular radio station everywhere u go but there is always a substitute.

The Choice u make affect how the game plays out and where u go and what quests u do im certain that there are an extremely large amount of options available since u have multiple choices to move in different directions with different ppl and varying quest.

If r Weapon skills are very important in this game as they determine ur chances of hitting a person. Also the trajectory of the weapon is not straight but slightly angled since thats the way the gun is held. Its Quite the piece of work this one.

The Graphics Detailing and Shadow effects as well as the night and day cycles are well done. There is even a sleep feature but it not as well done as the sleep feature in Farcry 2.

I give this game a 8/10 and that a lot considering i particularly dislike RPG game coz there is too much chit chat in them.

Some ScreenShots:

This is the view when u 1st exit the vault.

DIE DIE DIE

Thats some awesome lighting effect

Need For Speed: Undercover

2008-12-02T21:58:00.001-08:00

A HIGHLY anticipated title by me and a lot of other Gamers around the world.
This latest installment in the NFS series had the mammoth task of wiping out the prejudice and impudence created by its predecessor Need for Speed Prostreet.
Taking into consideration that the last title brought nothing but abuses from everyone EA decided to take the action back to the streets and give the players what they expect from NFS.

I dont know how this story ends but being an undercover cop infiltrating street racing gangs is quite a bit of fun. Considering the amazing improvements in graphics and effects in this game there is great pleasure to be sought in just driving around in the car of ur dreams even though it may just be in the virtual world. There are however, certain points at which we can see or atleast it seems like the cars in front of u is floating in the air.

The Cop chases are back and somehow seem simpler than ever I dont no if it me or has the AI gotten a lot dumber than NFS:Most Wanted. In any case u still have the usual cost to state, Cop car knockout and Escape from the cop game modes that are fun at certain points but still seem a bit toooo easy for my liking. There is a lack of the free roam challenges that made driving around town way more fun in NFS:Underground those have been replaced by these new game modes called Highway Battles that require u to either get a lead of 1000+ feet or keep the lead for 60+ seconds.

The usual game modes include Circuit, Sprint & Checkpoint. I dont understand why cant EA just Keep the Drags and Drifts im sure a lot of ppl will agree that those were the most fun races specially the drifting style that was implemented in NFS: Carbon.

Well all in all its a pretty fun game and if ur a car enthusiast by all means go get this coz itll keep u occupied. If u want to get over Prostreet i would advise u to get Carbon coz its way more fun and tougher even. But still its NFS and its always fun. :>

As a Gamer i give it a 5.5 coz of repetitive gameplay.
Cheers :>

James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace PC game

2008-11-21T08:38:00.000-08:00

OMG I CAN NOT BELIEVE THIS....
The Games is soooooooo bad i just cannot understand how they managed to pull this off it makes no sense at all. They used the call of duty 4 engine so that was a lot of load taken off the developers hands. All they had to work on was the basics of the game and enhancing some of the features of the original CoD 4 game. Inspite of that they made a mess of it. I mean come on u go into melee battles and all u have to do is click inside a circle. What the point of having it in the 1st place u might as well have made it into a cutscene and left it at that. Most of the game quite repetitive: take cover-> aim-> shoot. Atleast in gears of war and rainbow Six Vegas when u are taking cover u cant take precise shots in this one u can sit behind a brick wall and take accurate shot without having to come out and aim. seriously u have got to be kidding me. The character response isnt that good either u will suddenly find that instead of running towards cover the character is running towards the enemy or might just leave cover and stand there while getting shot inspide ur best efforts to try and make him run for cover....

Over all unless u are a real die hard james bond fan and must absolutely play this game I would not recommend it. Well if u are a james bond fan and dont want to get disappointed then i would recommend that u dont play the game at all or watch the movie for that matter. But again thats just my opinion :>
To each their own.....

I give this games a 3/10 just coz the graphics quality of the game is somewhat decent and since the scale has been raised to new heights by Farcry 2 well lets just call it the benchmark that all games that come out now will be compared to.

Command And Conquer: Red Alert 3

2008-10-31T14:16:00.000-07:00

Ahhh... Its Finally here the long awaited Command And Conquer: Red Alert 3 game.

Quite the exceptional Job on this one i must say. As a person who had played every C&C game that has ever some out i can say that ok i quite know the series...

RA 3 Has topped all the other C&C games to date. The smooth animation for the structures being build and the the motion of the carious components in the structures almost make u feel like something is being constructed everytime u give the build command.

So Far i have finished the soviet campaign and its been quite a bit of fun. The added Top Secret Abilities of every Race have replaced the super weapons even though they are still accessible i would rather use the Top Secret Abilites since there are numerous of those and the super weapon just gets added to it...Rather overshadowed.

The New Race "The Empire of the rising sun" has an amazing technological advances compared to the allies and soviets with transforming robots and the huge super robot.

The Crushing feature that was one of my favorite features in the previous versions that was implemented by pressing the alt+Ctrl keys and issuing a force move order has now been accepted as a viable option to get rid of large masses of annoying infantry.
Also larger vehicles can crush smaller ones.

The best feature that has been introduced in this version of the game is the Co-op campaign mode that allows you to play the entire campaign with a friend and plan out how u will knock out the PC.... This feature was remotely introduced in a different form in Red Alert 2 where they had an entirely different co-op online campaign but that was rather boring since there was a lot of limitations this way u get a lot more freedom and variety in the way u can play the game.

Most Structures are no longer restricted to being constructed on land they can be built on water as well and there are a lot more vehicle options available since there are a lot of amphibious vehicles as well as land and air transforming vehicles that changes the way the map is navigated by the units. Alternate Fire mode on most Units or special abilities is something that has never been seen in any other game in the series...

The only feature that is missing in this game is that u can no longer zoom into the game to view a detailed explosion of a final objective and for this reason i give this game a 9.5/10. But Other wise its an amazing game....BRAVO EA ONCE AGAIN.

Spider Man: Web Of Shadows

2008-10-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a game that is totally worth a play atleast for the simple reason that its Spider man...

This latest installation in the spiderman series breaks off from all the others to give u a new look and feel on the gaming front. The new combat style has no parallel so far the Dev team has completely outdone themselves on that front. There is a certain addiction that this new combat style brings into the game. Although the number of moves are restricted the capability to be able to switch between the red and black suite within an instant give u a whole new moves list at your disposal.
The animation of the characters is pretty good in comparison to the other games in series this one is way smoother and realistic. The alternate endings to the game are good depending on the path that u choose the red or the black path. This is another new element to let the player decide the fate of the City. There are a bunch of friends that u can choose from to help u out if u really want but that not something great. Help is rarely necessary. The large number of boss fights is nothing that we dont see too often these days so that nice even thought they are extremely simple.These are the good points that i think are worth stating.

The camera view that has been adapted in this version has a chance to give a person a headache if u are running across buildings alot. The graphics used for the city could have been better and also the partially breakable glass on the buildings is quite the let down. The game difficulty could have been higher it took me only 10 hours to finish the game. These are the bad points that i noticed.

For these reasons i give this game a 7/10.

Game play pictures:

The Spider man grind

Empire State Building Central Park View

View Of the City From the Top Of the empire State Building

Spidey Goes Splat after a big fall

Just slidin UP the wall

Now Slidin Down The wall

Spider man Specal Move BeatDown on a very annoying Mini Venom

Spider Man Vs Venom Wolverine

Venom Black Cat Doing a number on Spider man

The Final Boss- 5 headed Giant Venom
(A good Exploit in this part or any part of the game is swing around in circles at a decent height and u can regen ur health. Also when venom spits out his minions u can run over to the other side of the ship and then wait for the minions there and then run back and take out venom before they have a chance to even touch u.)

Game that have recently come out

2008-10-26T10:33:00.000-07:00

OK NOW....

FARCRY 2- 8.5 from me reasons. totally love the gameplay the elimination of the crosshair makes for good realism the ingame map adds to it Healing ur wounds tahts really fresh and makes for awesome game play...Blowing up of weapons, jamming and wear and tear are really awesome gameplay elements. The modes of transport available are quite fun boat bus or car bus is fast but takes u only to specific points. The Sleep feature they have put in is really kewl giving u an animation of how the outside changed when u are sleeping from sunrise to sun set. its all there and it works in real time except for when u sleep ofcourse, good stuff.

The Bad the trees and grass look like stick figures. U cannot damage the grass or trees like cutting it. Bullet holes in the windshield of a car disappear after some time. The AI is not too great even on hardcore mode which is what im playing at there is insane but then its 1 shot kill im guessing.The AI on farcry 1 seemed better for some reason. U have to really pick ur shots in this game u cannot go guns a blazin u will die...... Also the sniper is perfectly steady which isnot possible unless u are leaning on some surface for support COD 4 had that feature and made it harder to play but was definately more realistic.

Dead Space...

DEAD SPACE IS LIKE TOTALLY FREAKY TO TOTALLY ENJOY IT PLAY IT IN A DARK ROOM WITH HEADPHONES OR LOUD SPEAKERS AND U WILL FREAK OUT. I played it only done like 20 min of game play and there were some really scay scary parts. The creatures come crawling towards u its freaky shoot them and they dont die shoot legs and they crawl wtf awesomely done EA!!!!

This game i liked even more than farcry 2 even though it may not have a free roam environment considerably linear but again ingame map no tabbing out for inventory or anything everything is ingame so u need to be careful or u will die. The interface they have developed is somewhat like splinter cell on the camera front not something that i enjoy but this game has made it worth the extra effort to try and get used to it. Again there is no crosshair but there are 3 laser pointers that come into play when u are using the gun again making for good realism. The creature behaviour and gore in this game is totally awesome. I no its too early to comment on the AI but i think its really good. there was a scene where there is a walkway above me i heard a sound so i point the gun up and there was a creature there it immediately runs off into some other dark area very very good shit there.

The Bad its linear not too many options but considerable amount of shocks and surprises this game deserves a 9.5 for the innovative creature responses and environments they have come up with.

Brothers in arms Hells Highway: OK now i would call this Rainbow Six meets Gears of war/COD 4 Although its fun in the beginning thinking of how u will take out the enemy by flanking them and what not after a points the repetitive nature of this game gets very annoying. There arent too many weapons or options open to u but the gore that this game provides is fun in the beginning but again that too gets repetitive. With a linear playfield with specifically marked objectives and possibly at max 2 options of how u will flank the enemy at any given point of this i call this a pretty cheap effort and give it a 5. The battle intensive battle system is well executed though this game has a lot to be desired. If ur going to compete with Farcry 2, Crysis and Dead Space u better make ur shit worth it rite....

Anyways let me know what u think and order in which u should get games is Dead Space, Farcry 2, Brothers in arms hells highway(IF u want to that is Otherwise the 1st 2 are enough to keep u occupied till 28th oct when C&C Red Alert3 comes out.)

After which ofcourse the long anticipated of the only game to get a perfect 10 on game spot GTA 4 releases for the PC on 18th Nov. Will keep ull posted. Later.

Arioch Out

Rapidshare links for the above coming soon.