Category Archives: Video Games
Gears of War 3: First Impressions
I knew jumping into a new Gears of War game would be fun, but I didn’t realize it would be this much fun! Gears of War 3 is exciting, fast-paced and deliciously frantic. But the skills garnered from previous Gears games means I’m good enough to keep up with the frenzy! Armed with my chainsaw lancer and shotgun, I’ve been tearing it up on the Versus Multiplayer. I definitely haven’t been winning all the matches, but I’m more than holding my own in these no-holds-barred matches of blood and testosterone. I’ve only been playing for half an afternoon, but the joy and excitement of tearing it up in Gears of War 3 is just so energizing!
I mentioned the chainsaws, right?
And the big, burly space marines? Ladies...
Anyway, this isn’t a full review. That will come in a few weeks once I’ve beaten the campaign. I just wanted to tell everyone my first impressions of the game so far. I was only able to play for a few hours Tuesday night, but they were beautiful hours. I’m already Level 10. I’ve dropped and chopped over 100 bodies. And at one point I was playing as a giant spider/crayfish killing people with my massive mandibles! The game is chock-full of different game modes. The weapons have been tweaked. The Retro Lancer charge is sweet!
If Gears of War 2 was any indication, I’ll be immersed in this game for hours/days/months to come.
This Spinal Tap cliche is a classic, but if the Gears 3 beta earlier this year was a 10 (and it was!), then the developers turned the dial up to 11 for the actual Gears 3 game!
I suppose it’s hard to describe the energy I’m feeling just from playing the game. It’s one of my favorite games to play with my friends, and one of the few games where I actually have a real team I play with, so just booting up the game and knowing what fun awaits is a blast. But actually getting into the game and being right in the thick of the chaos is exhilarating! This energy and excitement is why I game! As I’ve written before, Gears of War is an action-oriented game that has real weight to it. You move, shoot, dodge and run as if you really are a hefty Space Marine wearing massive Space Armor. In space! And most of the time you’re playing against real people out there in video game land. So they’re smart, and victory over them is doubly rewarding. The Versus Multiplayer is a true test of skill and ability, so to see me rake up the points and be at the top at the end of the match is a treat. I’m good, and I know I’m good.
Gears of War 3 is already living up to the hype and excitement. And I haven’t even started playing the 4-player campaign yet!
The Revving of Chainsaws: A Review of the Anticipation of Gears of War 3 from a female critic.
Gears of War 3 is due to release in the Americas, Australia and Europe on 20 September. By all accounts, the game is truly incredible, with crisper graphics, smoother gameplay and new weapons, finishers and all of the blood-soaked combat that fans have come to enjoy. Sadly, this isn’t a review of Gears of War 3.
Not a review of Stand By Me's gritty reboot, either.
This game has been in production since late 2009, and originally slated for release in April this year. The full release, however, never came, but faithful fans of the series were rewarded with the multiplayer beta of the game, which lasted for four weeks before it was cruelly taken away from us again.
At least I had you for a little while...
I’ve been a fan of Gears of War since I first chose X-Box over PS3 all those years ago. I’ve always loved its deep storyline, gritty combat system, hard-edged dialog, and the depth of its characters. It’s consistently fun to play, especially in multiplayer games, and there are rarely any slow points.
Not to mention chainsaw high-fives
I was at the midnight release for Gears of War 2, nearly two years ago, and the anticipation was heavy in the air (as well as body odour). As one of the only women there, I was a creature of awe to most of the other gamers, who I assumed had never actually seen a woman before.
How men see me when they realise I'm also a gamer.
Gears of War 2 was well worth the wait and the smelly crowds and the awkward compliments and come-ons. It was worth standing out in the freezing cold, worth staying inside for long periods of time afterward, simply slaughtering all comers in online deathmatches (Except for laggers, hosts and cheap-killers. Because those sorts are the only players who can kill me!)
Now, that anticipation has grown tenfold. It looms over nearly every gamer in the civilised world tonight, and it is stifling. I can hardly sit still, waiting for the opportunity to rejoin the fray once more. It’s one of the most anticipated games of the year, and me and every other gamer are salivating for it.
The anticipation, in short, is maddening. I rate it 2/5, and I’m only being generous here because we were treated to the beta earlier this year. This is among the worst anticipations I’ve ever been through, and I would not recommend it.
Arkham City Continues to Impress
By releasing a Robin action figure! Readers may already know me as a comic book and video game geek, but I also have a fondness for action figures. So at the risk of sounding especially dorky to all the hot babes who are reading this blog, I’m definitely going to be trying to order this action figure.
Also, I continue to be impressed by Robin’s Arkham City costume.
The hood is a nice touch, though I'm a little miffed on the super short cape
Key Largo, Montiego, Baby why don’t we go…
Nothing bad could possibly happen here.
Welcome to Banoi. If the natives had a term of their own for Murphy’s Law, they’d have called it that instead.
Dead Island is gorgeous, particularly if you’re playing in high definition. You can practically feel the wind brushing your cheek, the sunlight warm on your face…And, of course, the hordes of decaying undead rushing forward to tear you to bits.
Whatever CAN be infested with zombies WILL be infested with zombies
Dead Island more or less explains itself. You’re on a tropical island in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. But that’s not what you’re here to read about, is it? You want to know how it plays.
That one’s easy. I’ll assume most of you have played Valve’s unforgettable Left 4 Dead before. If you took that game, gave it a better graphics engine, made it longer and gave it a storyline, you’d have something very similar to Dead Island. This game also incorporates the particularly brilliant Dead Rising 2 addition of creating or modifying your own weapons. Cover a baseball bat with razors, create explosive ammunition, run an electric current through a katana-sword, or make a flaming axe–You can do it. Finding the components to do so, however, can be a long process indeed.
Dead Island takes everything that was great about previous zombie games like Dead Rising and Left 4 Dead, and blends it all into a gorgeous, fluid open-world experience. Quests in this game range from finding supplies for survivors to escort-jobs. And the escort missions, as opposed to many other open-world games, really aren’t terrible in this one. Each playable character has his or her own skillsets, and a level-up system that allows the characters to earn better, more effective moves or stats throughout the game, giving that RPG elements that we all love.
The game has its flaws, however. It lacks the nugatory fun of L4D, focusing on a much larger campaign, rather than smaller, more bite-sized ones that can easily be played with friends and strangers. Dead Island’s multiplayer is brilliant, with each player contributing specific character skills to the group, but it’s not a game that complete strangers are likely to play through together.
The game also has numerous glitches that act up from time to time. Walls and floors open into black, swirling limbos for no apparent reasons. Motorcars get stuck, the GPS leads you astray, and people that you try to lead to safety can sometimes lose track of where they’re supposed to go. And the AI, of course, can be truly idiotic (I like to forgive the designers for that, however. They’re zombies, after all).
I'd be suspicious, but everyone knows zombies are too stupid to write.
The game is tremendous fun in multiplayer, but single-player zombie-slayers will find this game enjoyable as well. Everything this game does well, it does exceptionally well. I found it monstrously addictive. Hack, slash, shoot, stab, and throw your machete into a running zombie like Jason Voorhees on his best day.
Best Day EVER.
It’s a bloody good time, if you’ve got about 20+ hours. My final score: 4/5.
Review: Dead Island
Zombies to the left of me. Zombies to the right of me. Zombies fucking everywhere, man! The resort island of Banoi is crawling with zombies! But thankfully I’ve got a Tijauana Machete strapped to a car battery, and they’ve got such squishy heads. Wave after wave of the undead are struck down by my mighty weapons and awesome throwing arm, but Dead Island is far from a perfect game – even though killing zombies is one of my favorite past times.
That’s where I’m a viking!
Dead Island is messy, more than a little annoying and the only real joy is just having another co-op game to play with my friends. There are a lot of good aspects to the game, like the large maps and the skill trees, but those are overshadowed by the fact that the basic act of killing zombies can be so damn frustrating!
Henchman-4-Hire 