Bioshock Infinite released tomorrow!! This is one game I really can't wait to play from all in 2013 so far. Steam and some stores around the UK will get it in around an hour and a half. Lucky. When I went in to work this morning I saw that we had all the editions in and had a look at the Songbird statue, so jealous! I've pre-ordered the premium edition and just can't wait to get my hands on it. I'll take some photos and post them here to show ya. One thing I really want if I like Infinite that much, is the Sky Hook replica, wish we had some in stock!
As previously said before, out Thursday are: Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel, Lego City: Undercover & Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon. So this week is doing quite well between all consoles!
Next big releases after Thursday are:
2nd April:
Defiance - One game that not many people are hyped about but needs some attention since it's taking all of it's qualities from some of the best games! An online co-op/MMO style sci-fi game that you can create your own character in any style with any skills using guns. Borderlands style co-op with an MMO style character creation, Halo style vehicles in a game that reminds me of Quake to be honest.
19th April:
Injustice: Gods Among Us
Fire Emblem: Awakening - It's done extremely well in the states and I just can't wait to get my hands on this either. Nintendo are on a roll this year.
26th April:
Dead Island: Riptide - Same characters, different island with more story. You can't go wrong with smashing zombies with everything you can grab. I just hope that the engine's improved because it wasn't the best, even in the DLC's. One other thing that's a let down, even after loads of complaints, they still haven't added split-screen co-op. Sucks.
Star Trek - The Video Game.
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen - For those that haven't played the original Dragon's Dogma, now's your chance because this is includes the original game packed with loads of extras, weapons, areas and an option to swap to Japanese voices.
Assassin's Creed IV:
New news about Assassin's Creed IV: Black flag too. There are 2 new editions to be released - ACIV: Skull edition and Buccaneer edition available to pre-order on the GAME website!
That's it for now!
Tomb Raider - 2013
Created by Crystal Dynamics
Published by Square Enix
Consoles: Xbox 360, PS3 and PC
This Tomb Raider is a complete reboot and origin story, depicting how Lara Croft became the 'Tomb Raider'. Surviving on her own, solving puzzles and using her initiative to do the right thing. Many have waited for a chance to be Lara again, here it is.
Story:
A young Lara (21) and her friends go on a journey to explore an island called Yamatai in search of mysteries, the boat Lara is on, the SS Endurance gets torn apart and shipwrecked during the night. Lara and her friends are stranded on an isolated and apparent uninhabitable island within the dragon's triangle off the coast of Japan (much like the Bermuda triangle). Trying to stay alive and find her friends she explores different parts of this island. This island was once ruled by a queen called Himiko, the 'Sun Queen', with powers to control the weather. There isn't much to say about the story as anything I tell will give away major plot points.
Gameplay:
There's a load action, rocks to climb, ropes to dangle from and a lot of ledges to cling to. Save points just happen (auto save) throughout the story and whenever you get to a camp which is nice, because playing the game without saving makes it so simple. Camps can fast travel to other major areas on the island. The hunting part of the game is good, because everything you kill, be it bird or boar you will gain experience, and it's no where near as important as in Assassins Creed 3 or Far Cry 3. It does seem a bit silly that you get more experience killing a rat, than a human though.
In the game you will gain access to a bow, pistol, machine gun and shotgun. They are not overpowered but will be realistic in the way you can get an instant kill with a headshot. The way you upgrade your weapons is also not too taxing, you scavenge for parts in any wooden box, container or chest you see giving you a currency-like amount to then spend on upgrades. Although it's simple to upgrade, how does she do it? Somehow scavenging useless things, even using your imagination I have no idea how Lara creates extended magazines and silencers for her pistol etc. I mean seriously, for an isolated island in the dragon's triangle, with constant deadly storms that smash any aircraft or boat near the island, where it hasn't been accessed in centuries, no way of getting resources. How?
With a tap of a button you can access Lara's survival instinct, making everything you see black and white apart from important objects and loot which is glowing gold. This feature is extremely helpful in certain circumstances because it will show you the pieces of the puzzle, and leaving the rest to you. Colours, graphics, motion capture, the lot are amazing. It plays really smoothly and is really easy to get used to.
Compared to other TR's:
Having played all of the other Tomb Raiders and seeing Lara in a different light this was, rather unexplainable. The action side of the game had escalated with awesome weapons that are given to you on your journey, especially the bow, but the game is completely lacking in story and imagination.
Achievements:
Throughout the game you will eventually get achievements linked to how well you are doing in terms of kills and upgrades. Apart from actually finishing the game, there are no other story achievements which was a bit of a let down, I wanted some kind of 'physical' acknowledged accomplishment. I'm also a bit annoyed that there are 15 multiplayer achievements, since I don't have XBL gold at the moment their inaccessible all together, lame.
Pros:
Fun action sequences
When Lara gets a hold of a second pistol.. right at the end.
Cons:
Getting home and eager to play with family, we put the disc in,
installed the update and got it roaring. Within an hour of playing the
game, it froze the console completely. Apparently this has happened to a
few people I know on the 360 version, so I think it'd be a bit better
to play on PS3 or a decent PC. Not off to a good start.
Seemingly Inconsistent - In one clip where a friend is in trouble and bleeding, Lara pulls out a bandage and wraps it around his limb. Where did she get this from? She didn't have it, it wasn't on the floor and he didn't have it either. 'kay..
She's climbing a majorly tall broadcasting transmitter, right. And as she climbs, thing are bending and snapping off as she gets higher and higher. When she reaches the top, where it should be the worst as it's subject to weather wear, it shouldn't even hold her but she pushes herself away from the tower on this tiny rusted crows nest, yet nothing happens. And here I thought this game was supposed to be extremely realistic.
Slightly glitchy at the moment. A few times while playing, Lara has froze or moved to another spot on the floor and people have found a glitch that makes her look as if she's not wearing a top!
Blobs in your face. ALL THE TIME. I mean they're not even blood splatters! Just random red, slightly opaque hexagons filling the screen when getting shot, injured or walking through blood pits etc. It gets really annoying and distracting. Like the photo but a tad more.
Characters. They're cool and all but without reading all the journals picked up on your way through, you don't really get to know them. I think this is needed improvement. I didn't feel attached to the characters so whenever something bad happened I wasn't upset.
My Rating:
7.5/10
Notes:
I really thought this reboot was going to be totally re-imagined, but with new publisher Square Enix (formerly Eidos) looking over Crystal Dynamics' back, I think it lacked majorly in the story department, as with most other recent Square Enix games. The game was fairly short considering there are optional tombs to explore, but another major thing lacking in the game, these small majority of tombs will only last around 5-10 minutes each. I finished the game within 7 hours at 78%, all I have left are the other couple of tombs, a few hidden items and 1 upgrade on 2 of the 4 weapons. The game is said to take around 13 hours if you want to gather everything and play a bit of multiplayer too, but ended up a short for me because I skipped a few cut-scenes I had seen earlier on in the day.
If you are considering purchasing Tomb Raider, please do so on PS3. The multiplayer is free, graphics ever-so-slightly better and the game is (Apparently) less glitchy making the game a bit more enjoyable.
New big releases out:
22nd (Friday) - Gears of War: Judgement (360), The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (360, PS3 & WiiU) & Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (3DS & WiiU).
26th (Tuesday) - Bioshock Infinite (360, PS3 & PC)
28th (Thursday) - Luigi's Mansion 2 Dark Moon (3DS)
I'm sure there are many people waiting for each of these games, but I'm most excited about Bioshock and Luigi's Mansion 2! Seriously can't wait. I put off the first Bioshock because I tend to stay away from blockbuster games apart from massive titles like Halo, when I changed my mind and gave it a chance I mentally slapped my old self. Bioshock 2 was a slight let down, fun for an hour then bland and lacking imagination. Things changed, Infinite seems totally re-mastered with a new perspective, a great colour palette and epic story.
It's been near 11 years since Luigi's Mansion on the GameCube! That long! I just hope that team Nintendo have put that time and the 3DS' capabilities to good use. By the looks of the vids so far, they have.
This week will be a good one!
Other news:
If you're a fan of the epic Square Soft, creator's of the old Final Fantasy games 1 through 10, good news! If you didn't know, Square Enix are releasing a HD re-make of Final Fantasy 10 and Kingdom Hearts. FF10 HD will be on PS3 and Vita, KH 1.5 ReMIX will be on PS3 alone. There are a few bonuses with the HD re-makes: FF10 includes 10-2 on the PS3 disc and Kingdom Hearts 1.5 will have the final mix version of the game, Re: Chain of Memories and a collection of HD remastered cinematic scenes from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.
There's some new news for Elder Scrolls: Online. On release it will play
as a first person, which is awesome, just what I wanted when Oblivion
was released!
The creator's of Bastion (SuperGiant Games), an arcade game on 360 have created a new game called Transistor. It look awesome.
If I had to make a game, the style and gamplay will be alot like this.
I have yet to write a bad review and have a rant, but now is not the time. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a vast, colourful and engulfing game. Created by 38 Studios & Big Huge Games, 2 truly epic companies that have now gone bust, upsetting because of how awesome this game is. Upon completion (Finally), I feel complied to write my thoughts to let everyone know that this is a must play.
Story:
The story begins by telling you a short lore of the game, followed by a couple of gnomes carrying a covered corpse on a stretcher. They're jabbering on and for some reason want to give this corpse a name...'kay? (If you've played the game or demo, you'll know). Next, they want to take a look at this said body. Pulling back the cover, it brings you to a screen where you get to edit your character, picking between 4 races (2 types of humans, light elves and dark elves) with a good selection of hair and faces. The customization is very pleasing, selecting presets and altering them as you will.
After creating your character and naming him/her, you find that the corpse is you! You're then dumped down a chute, landing on a pile of rotting bodies. Sounds like a great start to any story right?! (Sarcasm) Waking up, getting to terms with what's going on, you're then given control of your protagonist. It's a third person RPG much like Fable, so easy to control. There is a beginning section of the game, which will give you clothes and a selection of weapons, training you with a taster of every battle choice available - Sorcery (Mage), Might (Warrior) and Finesse (Thief). After this not too lengthy stage, you will be released into the wonderful woods, bursting with colour. This is where your journey begins.
Your character, being reborn is now a fate-less. You will be the 'one' who will change the world at his/her's will, causing chaos or being a saint is completely down to what you do from here on out. This isn't like your usual Fable-esque game, but more like one of Bethesda's titles where you will choose what you will want to become as the game progresses.
It has a very good leveling system because you don't have to be a set warrior or mage, you can decide whether you want to be a mixed solution of the above, mixing and matching as you please. It has talent trees that you follow, spending points in any one of them as you level. Reckoning is never boring, if you don't like what you play as or want a change, you can talk to the main character whom you meet early on and he will change your fate, causing you to re-spec (Resetting your talent points back to 0 and starting over on the talent trees). Once you get near to the end of the game you can re-spec and go for Jack of All Trades, quite awesome because it gives you a bit of everything to play with at a good strength, being able to wear anything and use everything as a weapon.
The map is huge, with over 30 smaller areas. Running around each area discovering everything possible would probably take around an hour and a half if you wanted to finish all side-quests available. Being a completionist I spent around 30 hours getting maybe around 35% through the game trying to do everything and every quest, this was tiresome because I wanted more story. I then went for the main story full speed ahead, completing it in half a day and being so pleased with what the story left me with! The good thing is, also like Bethesda's Skyrim etc. after you finish the main story-line you can continue playing after finishing it, being able to do much more than just exploring and finishing side-quests.
Crafting:
Very reminiscent of World of Warcraft and yet again, Skyrim. You collect materials on your journey from left right and center to use with the games' crafting system which will become very helpful. You can become a blacksmith, sagecrafter or an alchemist creating everything possible to equip and help your hero. Reckoning takes the idea of gems from WoW, so when you get to a certain level of skill, you can socket created or found gems into your armor and weapons to increase your stats. This is helpful and very easy to understand.
Battles:
As said earlier on, the battles play like a Fable, but more fluid. With your weapons of choices you will be able to blast through enemies with brute force, ranged weapons or sneak up behind them with critical damage. Potions at the ready from a click on the d-pad left or right, simple.You can also roll to escape being smashed to the ground by a giants' great hammer, but spending points in the Sorcery tree will give you an ability to 'Blink' (Teleport) away from an opponent, I love it.
Things To Keep You Entertained:
Owning a house, endlessly
killing, changing your appearance mid-game, making fun of gnomes,
rolling, running around naked (There's an achievement in it for ya),
smashing every pot in sight through the whole game (Another
achievement), hunting down lorestones (Stones around the map that give
you a brief history lesson and a stat boost), crafting, achievement hunting, certain fun side-quests & being amused by the pretty colours!
Conclusion & Thoughts:
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an amazing game in every way. A great story-driven RPG with stunning colours and eye-pleasing graphics. It is so easy to pick up and get used to, so addictive you'll be on for hours and feels so familiar that you'll feel badass the second you find or create an awesome weapon.
It takes all the best from every game people love, backed with incredible concept art and music to create a masterpiece. If you're a fan of any titles mentioned above, give it a go. You won't be disappointed, this game doesn't need all the fancy distractions like multiplayer. I just want more of this!
They made two DLC's for Reckoning - The Legend of Dead Kel & Teeth of Naros for 800 MS points each on the marketplace along with some useless weapon and stat bonus packs. Totally worth
getting according to IGN, but because of what happened to the
company as stated earlier on, there will not be any other DLC's for
Reckoning. Sad times.
My Rating:
9.5/10 - The colours gave me headaches.
Before 38 Studios & Big Huge Games dissipated, the teams were working on an MMO called Project Copernicus and it looked stunning:
Right, where to start?! Ni No Kuni is a PS3 exclusive port of a Japanese DS game, created by Level 5 (Professor Layton series and White Knight Chronicles) and scenes animated by the legendary Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle). It was release Feb 1st 2013, and right now not many people know of it! It's a light-hearted, charming and simple RPG with a lengthy plot and tons of re-play value.
Story:
If you didn't know, it's a single player game but awesome if you play it with others, as I did with my wife. It starts with a young 13 year old boy, Oliver in his home town of Motorville. I don't want to give away too much as you'll all have to play the game! But I'm sure you would've already found this out by now, his mother dies. This is a major plot point in which Oliver gets taken into another world, Ni No Kuni. Lead by his tiny companion Mr Drippy: King of the fairies, you adventure deep into this unknown and wonderful world exploring every inch of colourful awesomeness. Oliver is a wizard, being able to cast spells with his stick-wand and spell book, The Wizard's Companion. This book will be practically empty as you start the game, but as you progress you will be able to restore the pages one by one, gaining knowledge and spells. You'll meet loads of new and different characters on the way, my favorite being King Tom, the cat ruler of his kingdom Ding Dong Dell. Everyone calls him 'His Meowjesty', genius.
Through the game, you will meet a few main people having their own problems who will eventually join you on your quest. The game starts off simple and gets really good with loads of things to do, but probably about half of the way in, it dips and adds a load of 'filler'- time where you get to do whatever you want and not much story-wise happens. This soon picks up and gets better, so hold in there as the ending is what you're playing the game for. During the times where you get to socialize with townspeople, you'll find that all around the world, there are people with broken hearts, where the Dark Djinn Shadar has stolen a piece of their heart that you'll have to restore. Each individual's story is unique and interesting, so be sure to explore in towns and the world map!
Familiars:
In the world of Ni No Kuni there are creatures born from the emotion of a persons soul, these are called familiars. You will encounter so many of these creatures in your journey that you won't know what to expect. You will shortly gain a spell to form one of your own familiar, helping you with everything that Oliver can't do in battle. You will be able to tame these creatures and 'metamorph' them into stronger versions, no, not Pokemon. My favourite is a cat, named Sir Purr, pirate lord. Ha, just look at him!
Battles:
The battles aren't random, which most of you'll remember since other games (Old style Final Fantasy's) used them all the time. In Ni No Kuni you will see familiars roaming around on the world map and in dungeons alike. It depends on your characters/familiars' levels whether these roaming beings will charge straight into you or run away screaming. Upon starting battle it's fairly simple, each character in your group gets three familiars of your choice, and you can choose who you want to control. What I like about the battles are:
- You don't feel restricted - You can run around, attack and cast spells without being glued to a spot.
- You can choose your own play style - Since you are allowed to pick the familiars, you can decide on spells, defense or all out attack.
- They're often, but not all the time - This has been a pet hate in most other games. There's more to the story telling and gameplay than fighting!
If you control Oliver himself, you will learn multiple spells throughout the story which will help in every aspect of the game. The good thing is - since there are so many, they don't spring them on you all at once, they gradually give them to you with a chance to understand what they do and how to use them. This will make you feel like a right wizard yourself when you'll be blasting through them like nobody's business!
Save Points:
Not so interesting, but necessary. As this isn't your usual game that auto saves every 2-5 minutes, you'll want to know that there are many instances in which you will have to play for at least 15-30 minutes without saving. This didn't bother us RPG veterans, but may be annoying for some. Other than that, you will be able to press start and save at any given point in towns and on the world map!
Graphics & Animation:
The rendering and quality of the game is amazing and colourful, with a great frame rate and literally no loading time. Attractive and appealing comparing to a vast majority of other games today. Most of the story will be told with in-game graphics, and just like other great RPG's of our time it's filled with text that you'll have to read. I'd say about a third of the game you'll actually hear the characters talk with subtitles and clips which is plain awesome, since we loved Drippy's accent and some of the things they say!
What you all want to know is; how often to we get to watch good old Japanese animation? At major plot points like right at the start, leading up to events and obviously a couple of times at the end, this is where it'll grab your attention and feel like more than a game. Taking up roughly an hour of animation, it fits in nicely without being spoiled and/or boring, I just wish there was a bit more of it.
Should You Get Ni No Kuni?:
Definitely, if you own a PS3 and even remotely like RGP's, Ni No Kuni won't let you down. It's a well told, perfectly laid out game with loads of fun errands to do, amazing music, land to explore and characters that you'll love.
The main story will, on average take up just under 40 hours. But!.. If you get to that point and want more, you would've got a quarter of the trophies so there are tons of errands and extras to satisfy your needs. Post-game hours will clock up an additional 40-60 hours depending on your style of gameplay, totally worth the platinum though! This is one game all PS3 owners need, and one that made me proud. Get it here.
My Rating:
8.5/10
SO it's been a while since i've blogged, but i'm going through all my to-do list and it's BIG.
EA's SimCity was apparently a huge disaster, causing loaads of people to not connect to a server to even play the game! So EA have thought of a way to say sorry. They cannot simply refund people until the server issue is fixed, they have said that people that bought the game will be able to download a free game of their choice on PC from the EA catalogue. This Im sure wont be appealing to the hardcore gamers since there's not much available.
Microsoft are being 'kind' to Mums this weekend and keeping the kids busy with FREE XBOX LIVE GOLD for the weekend! If you didn't know about this, get on it now because that's not the only thing they're offering. To further keep the kids and male partners glued to the TV's Microsoft have teamed with multiple game companies to give freebies just to play the games! If you play an hour of Halo 4 online, you'll get a free Spartan avatar costume, awesome. Games like Black Ops 2, Far Cry 3 etc. will get double experience over the weekend, further awesomeness. Square Enix launched a Tomb Raider competition too if anyone's interested.
For the release of Tomb Raider on Tuesday, which has been a HUGE success! (Some dislike it but that's only diehard fans that don't want changes ((Or smaller boobs)). Review-wise has done better than every other game released in the past 4 months including big hits like Dead Space 3, Ni No Kuni, Halo 4 or even Black Ops 2.
I've recently started playing Aion. An MMO somewhat recently gone free-to-play that it oh so much better than most MMO's i've played in my time. It's great fun, the character creation is better than any Bethesda game (Oblivion & Skyrim) and the world is lively enough to keep you playing for hours. Playing with friends in their guild makes it that much better! There will be a new update in a few months with a whole new area, quests and three new classes. Apart from the default warrior, scout, mage and priest there will be a gun wielder, ultimate tanker and a bard! If you're a fan of MMO's or just any RPG's and your computer
can handle it, give it a go!
Bungie have been keeping up to date with everything Destiny released publicly. Read these articles. Sooooooo cannot wait. I just want Halo, with the explorability (It's a word now) of Skyrim in a Mass Effect universe with the social visits of random players like Journey. I Want. I got my pre-order the other day, along with my free poster too!
Speaking of Journey, my sister-in-law got and finished The Unfinished Swan yesterday. Great game, I loved the feel and emotion of the gameplay and it's story. She found a Journey easter egg which I had no idea about! You get near the end ish, look through a telescope at the moon and when it zooms right in, you see this.
Pretty awesome. I wish there were more easter eggs in games!
GearBox teased at a new character.
Steam are allowing pre-purchases for Bioshock Infinite. Also, if you pre-order in GAME or online, to get a copy on PC or PS3 you'll get a free download code for the first Bioshock.
GAME Hastings is dedicating a couple of awesome staff members to it's Facebook page, which is in dire need of love and attention. So like, follow and keep up to date with deals, competitions, tournaments etc.
WE FINISHED NI NO KUNI. Since I hadn't said yet. It's amazing. People's statements online are just awefull. I am currently writing a review for it which will be posted on IGN, GAME's website and other deserving places on the net to rectify it's current status.
Tired. Mothers day tomorrow. Will be a chilled day.
So GAME are taking pre-orders for Destiny! Knowing Bungie (Creators of Halo) & after watching all the vids on Youtube I can't wait to see how the finished product will be. If you're not keeping up to date, Bungie have said that it will be on 360, PS3 and PS4 but no news about the new xbox. It's a £5 deposit but I'm gonna go trade in a game to afford it.
If you don't already know when you pre-order, you'll obviously get one put by for you (Since we're only allowed so much stock), double reward points and a free Destiny poster! There may be more exclusive content or freebies nearer the time of release, but for now i'll be happy with my free poster and knowing that i'm that one step closer to Destiny!
Watch this:
Keep up to date with Destiny & other gaming news at:
http://www.destinythegame.com/ - Official Destiny website
http://www.facebook.com/pages/GAMEhastings/387400121324522?ref=ts&fref=ts- GAME Hastings Facebook
https://twitter.com/GAMEhastings - Game Hastings Twitter
