Fallout : New Vegas Review

Now I know this isn’t everyone’s cup-of-tea but I’m loving it. I’ve tried to do as many of the side quests as possible but I’m slowly getting to the point where I am going to have to make my way to the end of the game.

I’ve just met up with the Enclave again. Working on a few missions for them and then I’ll be off trying to explore some more of the un-marked landscape.

If you like your free-roaming games then this one is definitely for you. I enjoy playing it as a first person shooter with some role-playing built in. I’ve probably put about 30-40 hours in so far and I’m loving it.

I think you could probably finish the game with about 20 hours game-play but where is the fun of that? I do need to try to improve me luck and win big at some casinos. I have got some very cool weapons now – a Heavy Incinerator which fires flaming balls at people like a long-distance flame thrower!

I remember Fallout3 being huge but this game seems larger and more involved.

It can even be had for about £20 brand new in one of the high-street shops so if you want something which will help you stay in on those broke January/February evenings – I recommend this.

One Hundred and One Hours later….. I’ve completed FallOut New Vegas.

Its been a hard slog…. I know I’ve put in 12 hours since I got home from work yesterday.

Once again its an amazing game they’ve created. there are plot twists and side missions which really do draw you into the game.

If you only really like multiplayer online action then this might not be for you, but I’m sure that I’ve had my moneys worth from this. If you love RPG and you like good story-lines then this is a must.

It doesn’t share any plot arcs (except maybe the ‘vaults’ and a few of the bugs/baddies) from the earlier FallOut 3 so you don’t need to have played that to enjoy this game.

Really – get this.

p.s. The only caveat is that be prepared for it to crash – a lot! In the last 24 hours I’ve probably had to reset my PS3 about 10-15 times! but I kept playing, thats how much I enjoyed it!

Assassin’s Creed II Review

VFM this game will be hard to beat.

Following on from the 1st Assassin’s Creed – Platinum Edition (PS3) game you are venturing round Italy in the 1400’s. Of course….although this is where the Game is set, this only exists in the Animus. The real time line is ‘in the future’….just.

You spend the first part of the game building up your Assassin skills. As you progress and find codex you improve your weapons. Your weapons get improved by none-other than Leonardo Da Vinci. He seems happy to upgrade and alter your hidden blade with a number of cool additions not seen the first game.

To start with you complete missions to earn cash (florins) and these can be spent in various shops on art/maps/weapons/armor/health/poison. After the first mission you are taken to your uncle’s Villa where you can spend money with an architect who will rebuild the run-down town and make it thrive again. The more item’s you buy, the more money your town earns in tourism. This money can be collected and then spent in the shops/upgrades.

Like the first game your missions generally follow on from one-another. Once you kill the main ‘boss’ on the level he tells you who he was working for and you then go after them. Each location has a number of side missions which earn you more money to spend. These can be races, assassination contracts, beating up an unfaithful husband. Each completed mission gives you extra cash and more cash means you can restore more of the village…which then gives you more cash! There is a limit to the amount of tourist florins that can be stored so you need to head back to the villa to collect your ‘earnings’ on a regular basis.

Like Assasin’s Creed (the first one) you can also hunt down the feathers, which are collected at the villa and, like weapons & artwork, earn you additional tourist money. You can also look out for Assassin’s Tombs. These give you seals which are needed to release Altair’s costume from his secure crypt. These tombs are hidden through-out Italy and are usually accessed through a number of dramatic climb/swing/free-running courses.

The storyline at the start of the game flips between their future (now) and the past in the Animus but as you progress you spend less time in the ‘now’ and more in the past. I did think that one of your helpers in the future looks a lot like Danny Wallace!

The end of the game features a dramatic climax which goes into a mind-blowing set-up for the 3rd game. I’ve not mentioned some key parts of the game as I don’t want to ruin the storyline.

There are boats you can control as well as horses (like the first one!) but the inclusion of travel locations means you don’t spend days riding a horse between 2 locations. The travel agents (!) do cost money but make moving between cities a breeze.

Get yourself this game. It is a massive improvement of the original Assassin’s Creed and you will certainly get your money’s worth from this title.

It can be bought from Amazon Here – > Assassins Creed 2: Game of The Year – Platinum Edition (PS3)

inFamous Review

I was looking for a ‘cheap’ PS3 game to play as not a month would go by without another ‘must have’ £40+ game being released.

Infamous had some great reviews so I thought I would take the plunge.

The Game is set on an Island (or a couple of islands really) where you do get the opportunity to explore and discover every last inch of it. Other reviews have touched on the Sandbox/GTA-type layout and it definitely gives a more organic feel to the game. You see that building…just climb to the top of it which-ever way you want!

The storyline develops as you play the game. You can choose to do good deeds and bad deeds. Sometimes you don’t get a choice and your actions can have a negative affect (or positive) without you having an input. Your ‘Karma’ level alters while you play the game. You can choose to be ‘Nice’ or ‘Naughty’ and it really does change how the game plays. Being a city it is full of Citizens and these guys also react differently depending on your Karma level. Your ‘Karma’ can also affect your power upgrades – some are only available with either good or bad Karma ratings.

Graphically the game is excellent. Cut scenes are done in a comic book style but this complements the look and feel of the game. I’ve had no slow down effect when playing and when you blow stuff up it looks realistic and has real-time affects on the environment also. You spend a lot of time blowing stuff up as it is a fun way to dispatch the enemies!

The enemies are split into 3 main types…each appearing on the different islands. The first island has nice and easy Reapers who can be taken down with very little effort. You then move onto the Dustmen who are a bit harder and then finally you are against the First Sons who are much more challenging and will certainly have you thinking of different ways to beat them. Each of the main types of enemy then have sub-groups which can attack you back in different ways. You will have to use your skills (and upgraded energy attacks) to take them out.

You learn more ways to attack while you are in the sewers getting the power-grids restarted. It is interesting that the developers built into the game that the lights are off to start with and that all the lights (including shop signs and neon advertising) jump into life once you get the power back on. It is the little touches like that which shows that the developers have put the extra nice touches in which raise this game to the level it is.

Sometimes people focus too much on the new games and there are plenty of games on the playstation 3 which not only give great gameplay and value for money, but they remind you of the standard you should expect from developers. Everyone can churn out ‘realistic’ looking games but it is the little touches you don’t often think about which Infamous has plenty of.

Buy this and book out the next couple of weeks in your calendar as once you complete it with ‘Good Karma’ you’ll have to complete it on ‘Bad Karma’ just to enjoy the difference in gameplay!

As part of the sandbox nature of the game you are able to collect ‘Blast Shards’ which when you have collected enough, increase your ‘battery’ level. As well as extending your lightening abilities these also can be spotted all over the place and will have you thinking of different ways to get to a challenging ledge or almost impossible to get to tower!

You can get it from Amazon Here – > inFamous – Platinum Edition (PS3)

Batman: Arkham Asylum Review

I’m a Batman Fan – And my Brother is to blame as I read his comics of the Nineties and the Graphical Novels of the same period. My only other experience of Batman was the 60’s version with Adam West. The Comics introduced me to the real Gotham. Not only real Gotham but to the real villains in the Bob Kane universe.

To start with, Batman: Arkham Asylum isn’t like Lego Batman. I was reminded of this when my wife watched me playing and asked what Rating it was – This is not a game for kids.

I think it would be fair to say this is a Batman based version of the Splinter Cell games, with stealth and cunning winning over the ‘ATTACK’ style of many 3rd person games. Batman starts out equipped with his trusty Baterang and through building up his points earns upgrades. These can be ‘spent’ on additional toys (the explosive gel / grapple) or upgrades (better armour / faster decoding). You get to choose what you’d like but they aren’t all available at once and get unlocked as your get further into the game. Ignoring the ‘end of stage’ bosses (these are your main villains such as Poison Ivy, The Croc, The Scarecrow,etc) there are only 2 other types of baddies. Inmates and ‘Venom’ injected inmates. Although this sounds limited the normal inmates come in a variety of guises which make them harder to defeat. Some are armed with knives and have to be stunned before attacking and others get armed with Cattleprods which can’t be attacked face on otherwise you get stunned!

I’ve just completed the main game with about 50% of trophies. This has taken me about 20 hours. I so far have about 20 bronze and 9 silver. I did this on the ‘normal’ setting and I’m looking forward to re-visiting some areas to get all the bonus items and unlockable features. I’ve got loads of Trophies still to collect and many of these are on the challenges, not the main story line. I chose to ignore these until I had completed the game and I must say they are very hard. There are 2 types of challenges, one based on beating up gangs of thugs and the other on taking down thugs.

The Beat-Up challenges gives you the opportunity to get 1,2 or 3 bats depending on the scores you get. These rely on you building up combos and repeated attacks over 4 rounds. You get additional points if you aren’t hit at all during a round and also extra points for varying your attacks.

The Takedown challenges place you in one of the many halls with Gargoyles and as the challenge name implies, you get your ‘Bats’ from various takedowns. Pressing the ‘Select’ button gives you the full breakdown of what the 3 takedowns are and they vary in each challenge.

I’m still working my way through these and have about 8-10 ‘Bats’ but will keep working towards them all. It adds another side to the game which would otherwise just be the normal single player campaign.

I give this game 4 out of 5 stars. It has massive re-playability and the scope to challenge even the most skilled gamers. The Graphics are excellent and the sound effects/voice work is amazing – Mark Hamill reprises his role as ‘The Joker’ from the animated series. I’ve found it is the little touches which have made this game as good as it is. The time spent in development has really paid off in the finished product. This game is a must for all PS3 owners and is up their with Bioshock and Half-life2 in the immense detail that has gone into polishing the game.

Treat yourself – you deserve it.
It is available from Amazon Here – Batman: Arkham Asylum