When I think of hack and slash games, one of the first things that I always associate with them is a sense of style. Generally games that are classified into this particular genre of video games are a visual spectacle, juggling enemies in DMC looks amazing, perfecting the dodge mechanic in Bayonetta and learning the combat intricacies is a visual delight and the fast paced over-the-top combat featured in Metal Gear Rising, in addition to the game’s blistering soundtrack, is a treat for all the senses. At times Killer Is Dead looks like it deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as these games, the cel-shaded visuals look gorgeous and the combat on the surface looks awesome, but Killer Is Dead is a game that ultimately, flatters to deceive, like a footballer’s wife, it looks good but contains little substance. Continue reading Killer Is Dead Review→
It’s no secret that a huge amount of gamers love obtaining achievements and trophies. Since their introduction during the last console generation, entire communities and websites have appeared, devoted to helping achievement hunters hear that satisfying ping noise on their TV screen. For a long time, I belonged to this group of people. Continue reading Do You Still Care About Achievements/Trophies?→
Shadow of Mordor always has a lot of ambition in what it was trying to do. A brand new story line that doesn’t tie into the Lord of the Rings movies in anyway, you play Talion, a former Gondor Ranger, who is seeking revenge on an entity known as The Black Hand of Sauron who led an attack on the Black Gate killing his family and also (in an interesting twist) Talion himself. Paired up with a mysterious Wraith, the two of you set out to undermine the forces of Mordor until The Black Hand can be located. What makes Shadow of Mordor standout is a a couple new features to help make the open world feel alive. Continue reading A Look At Shadow of Mordor’s Unique Nemesis System→
Many of us have been there. You know that some gaming time is coming your way, be it an hour or seven, and you psych yourself up for it. You plan to jam through game after game after game! Defeating old bosses, facing new ones! Finishing that one game from your backlog that’s been bothering you, starting up that new game that you’ve been meaning to get to! You know that your gaming session is going to be EPIC!
But then that fateful hour arrives AND…you feel a little bit meh about the whole thing. Maybe you’re feeling distracted. Maybe you’re feeling tired. Maybe you just can’t get your head in the game ( no pun intended). Whatever the reason, you simply don’t feel like playing. Yet you know you just can’t let the time go by doing something else. You had it all planned out that you were going to use this time to game, and by golly, that’s what you’re going to do! Maybe all you need is a little push. Something less monumental than that heavy action shooter or 60-hour RPG to get your gaming gears greased and rolling. There are plenty of games out there that can be easily stopped and started, that don’t require a ton of brainpower off the bat, and that can serve as the perfect segues into more massive gaming showdowns. When I’m not quite in the mood to game despite having set aside time to do so, here are a few tactics I use to get the gaming juices flowing.
Sometimes, the past makes me sad. I look back at years that have gone by, and I notice that there were once so many great games back then, of series that are no longer around or have since gone bad. Like cheese. Old cheese. One such series that greatly saddens me is “Banjo-Kazooie”, which held a place of utmost glory during the Nintendo 64 era and has since become…old cheese. Fuzzy, old cheese.
Not long ago, I published a post discussing what I like and dislike about the Wii, and seeing as the next console of this particular generation that I bought was the XBox 360, it makes sense for Microsoft’s console to be the subject of the second post in this series. It’s a funny thing, though, how I got this console in the first place, because I am more of a PlayStation fan than an XBox fan, so it would stand to reason that I would have been much more inclined to purchase a console made by Sony over one made by Microsoft. Unfortunately, at the time, the PS3 was much too expensive, and it didn’t have any games I really cared for yet that weren’t already on the 360 (this was obviously before I became a “Ratchet and Clank” fan…). Since the games I wanted at that time were all on the 360, plus that console would also allow me to play any new “Halo” games, this became the next console I added to my gaming family.
And when I first started playing the 360, I was immediately impressed with the graphics, which were way ahead of the Wii, and even though the first two games I played were not as good as I was expecting (“Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts” and “Sonic the Hedgehog”, the 2006 version, shudder, gag, shiver), I did have a good time playing “Halo 3” (even though it was short) and “Final Fantasy XIII” (despite its flaws), the latter of which came with my console. (I even got this little waste of time thing on one end of the console that says “Final Fantasy XIII” on it. Jealous?) Plus, I was just pretty thrilled that this new XBox had “Final Fantasy” games as part of its library now, as during the last generation, only the PS2 had such an honor. My game collection was further improved with the addition of “Halo: Reach” and “Halo 4”, which were awesome, and I even had the pleasure of expanding my game library with over 40 Sega Genesis games on “Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection”. In the end, I ended up really enjoying my 360, and I loved it way more than the original XBox. And now, anymore of my thoughts on this console will be listed below. (As usual, my main focus is on gaming, not the other features the 360 has to offer, and extra info was found on Wikipedia.) Continue reading The Duck Discusses the Wii, 360, and PS3 Generation: Part 2-360 Boxes→
After having loved this game ever since picking it up in 2007 (has it really been that long?!), the thought of never having played it almost doesn’t seem possible. Yet this is true; Back when it first came out I very nearly passed it over. And the thing is, I almost did so without a second thought. Continue reading UWG Top 10: #8 – BioShock→