smi1ey

I was pleasantly surprised by this game. Not only is it gorgeous, and probably the most "next-gen" looking game I've seen on the Xbox One, but it's actually a lot of fun. The sides seem really well-balanced, and the different abilities and special versions of each class are great. My biggest issue is the lack of variety in the gametypes, and the ability to create your own custom multiplayer matches. This is the kind of game that could take a lot of advantage of custom games, and a few more game modes. A 50 kill deathmatch (which lasts around 10 minutes or less) is way too short, and the Gardens and Graveyards mode is fun, but that's it. The "Garden Warfare" hoard mode gets old fast, like any hoard mode. Hopefully new game modes will be added to future versions.

Dead Space 3 does a fantastic job continuing the journey of Isaac Clark to a climactic (if not entirely unbelievable) finish. There's a lot of hate towards this game right now, and I have no idea why. I played through the first two Dead Space games on the hard difficulty, and decided to do the same with DS3. I was definitely challenged, but not frustratingly so, which is more than I can say for Dead Space 2. In fact, I think DS3 is actually better at balancing challenge and fun, as DS2 was focused more on overwhelming the player with enemies, where in DS3 the enemies are still in great numbers, but not as much as the first two games. The complaints about boring, repetitive side missions in DS3 are completely unwarranted. Each mission offers great nuggets of the DS story, and all of them feature custom VO work, unique combat situations, and in some cases other little gems. They aren't any more repetitive than all Dead Space games are repetitive; yes, you're going to be shooting necromorphs while traversing corridors... that's what every one of these games has been about, and Dead Space 3 doesn't change that. If you came to Dead Space 3 expecting a different game, you came with bad expectations; Dead Space 3 is just as much Dead Space as the first two games. There are some great jump scares, fantastic zero-G areas to explore, some messed-up new enemies, and more Unitologists screwing everything up. However, Visceral has really streamlined the ammo and upgrade systems in this game, and thrown in something more complex, but also more fun. The ability to gather resources to craft different weapon combos is awesome. There are in-game purchases available to boost your resources, but these are completely unneeded as the game throws plenty of resources your way. In fact, I was able to buy two of the DLC resource packs (the normal pack and the "elite" pack) using currency that I found in game before I finished it! Being able to create your own weapons truly allows you to play the game as you see fit, whether it's up close and personal or as far away as possible. I should mention that all of my experience was from playing the game solo, which works almost perfectly in DS3. There are a couple awkward moments that were obviously intended for co-op, where your partner is next to you one second, then suddenly somewhere else, but those are few and far between. In addition to it's side missions, DS3 also offers co-op only missions, so there is no shortage of content whether you want to play alone or with a friend. In summary, DS3 is everything that was great about the first two games, with a bit more action and a focus on customization. It's still scary, it's still brutal, and it kicks the action up to a whole new level with it's crazy ending. I can't wait to play it with a friend.

Incredibly fun, but limited by it's launch bugs. I have never been a fan of DotA, er, "MOBA" games in the past. Well, that's not entirely true, as I picked up Monday Night Combat when it was released on XBLA and still play it to this day. For the record, MNC was probably the first console DotA game out there, but most people missed it as that type of game due to the 3rd person view. That said, I did enjoy this game immensely, and since I hate using a mouse and keyboard to play games, I have been subliminally waiting for good console DotA/LoL clone to arrive. I never expected that game to also use the LotR license! After two weeks of playing this game, I am completely hooked. The guardians (champions) are all unique and fun to play, and everything seems shockingly balanced for a launch title. There is currently only one 3-lane and one 1-lane map, which is a little disappointing, but those who play games like LoL know that if you've seen one MOBA map you've usually seen them all anyways. The 3-lane games are fun and very strategic, but the 1-lane games are just ultimate ability spamfests, and are pretty terrible in my opinion. They rely a lot of guardians that have massive AoE damage abilities, and while these guardians are balanced fine in 3-lane maps, they tend to be OP in 1-lane. Simply solution: don't play 1-lane! It's not very fun anyways. The game comes with a surprisingly deep upgrade system that relates to filling relics with gems that provide various buffs. The gems unlock as your guardian levels up in each game, and when all the gems in a relic unlock, the relic's larger buff will go into play. This unlocks unlimited possibilities with customization which sees many guardians going above and beyond their assumed class. Sadly, it can also cause some balance issues in games, but as with other MOBA games, it because about finding the best load out for your character, which is part of the fun. The biggest issue with GoME right now is the flawed P2P matchmaking. I'm not going to detract score for this, because it is something the developers have actively stated they are working on. Monolith actually designed these game to work around Microsoft's crappy XBLA title update system, so that they can patch the game directly via a cloud update service. This means that updates don't take months to release, but sometimes just days. They release balance fixes for characters all the time, and have a larger patch planned to fix matchmaking issues. The thing is, even with more time spent waiting in queue than playing games, I still have a blast with GoME, which says a lot. If you're someone who hasn't jumped into the world of MOBA (Multiplayer Open Battle Arena) games before, and you're a console gamer, give GoME a try. It's a damn solid game, and quite the pleasant surprise.

I as someone who has played Halo since it's historic launch on the original Xbox, and who has anticipated it since it was coming to Mac, I may seem too biased to write an objective review for the game. Giving a Halo 4 a 10/10 would be a no-brainer for a lifetime fanboy, right? Well, that's not the case with me. Like many former Halo fans, I started losing interest in the series when ODST was released, and after Reach pretty much gave up on it. I moved on to CoD, and recently, to Battlefield for my competitive online FPS hunger pains. When Halo 4 details started showing up, it looked very samey to me, and I was far from excited. Then E3 gameplay demo was released after I learned that many people working at 343 were the same who worked on the incredible Metroid Prime series. The new weapons and enemies looked cool, and the story seemed familiar but unique enough to work. Then I watched the Forward Unto Dawn series. Sure, it was cheesy at times with semi-decent acting at best, but damn it was cool. Last night, I found myself, a 28-year old married guy who hasn't played Halo in years, standing outside of a damn gamestop with a bunch of teens waiting for Halo 4. I played last night until 5am with no regrets having to work in the morning. This game absolutely **** any expectations I had, and has rekindled my love for Halo. The campaign has so far kept me on my toes almost the entire way through, and the enhanced enemies and AI is often jaw-dropping. Speaking of jaw-dropping, I have no idea how 343 made Halo 4 look this damn good on a current-gen console. Is that FXAA I see? WTF?! Pairing with the amazing visuals is the absolutely visceral sound design. The guns are so incredibly satisfying to shoot and behold, probably more so than any other FPS game I've ever played. All of these great sounds and weapons spill over into an incredibly robust multiplayer experience that comes along with everything you loved about earlier Halos and a lot less of what you hated. I personally was disappointed to see absolutely every customizable aspect of the game locked as I started playing, but the game very quickly throws the basic options at you so you're not waiting too long for the simple stuff. After just a few games I hit level 8 and had access to more than one load out, plenty of armor abilities and better armor customizations. It really blows my mind that 343 hit the nail so hard on the head with Halo 4, as I was going in completely planning to be disappointed. It's a shame so many haters have come to metacritic to force the user score down low, because that's not an accurate representation of this game's quality. If you are like me, and are someone who loves remembering the Halo glory days, but lives with regret that they are no longer here, go pick yourself up a copy of Halo 4. The glory days are back.

As someone who did not play the original Borderlands, I really didn't know what to expect from the sequel. In fact, the only reason I even started playing Borderlands 2 on PC was that I got it for free when I bought a new Nvidia video card. I don't know how the original compares, but my friends and I are having an absolute blast shooting our way through the planet of Pandora! From what I've heard, the original game was a rather pathetic PC port, but the sequel brings the joy with a huge amount of graphical options and tweaks, including PhysX support for liquids. This also is one of the first PC games I've seen that let you completely customize Xbox controls. Seriously, I don't know why ALL games, console or PC, include this option. There are a lot of little features like this that have surprised and delighted me throughout the game. Sure, the game looks gorgeous, despite it's "simplified" cel-shading, but the real appeal of Borderlands 2 is the characters, writing, and most of all, the GUNS. The characters are often absolutely hilarious, and some of the dialogue and missions have just been outright wrong- in a good way! But the massive variety of guns are really what cause B2 to shine. In most RPGs, back tracking to past mission areas ****, but in Borderlands 2 when you back track you're generally far enough along that you're doing so with a completely different set of weapons. This changes your experience dramatically. In fact, one thing that really impressed me about B2's gunplay is the fact that so many different fights require different gun tactics. You're going to have a tough time with different encounters if you always lean on one gun. I always found myself using my entire arsenal in different situations. It's this variety that really sets B2 apart from many other shooters, and especially from RPGs that tend to get very repetitive. I could go on about the fun character design, unique enemies, challenging "badasses" and bosses, fantastic vehicle combat, or any number of other features, but this review would grow too long. If there was one thing I could say that was remotely negative, it would be an improved matchmaking system. At the moment it takes quite some time to load the list of games to join, and oftentimes when trying to join a game, the connection will time out. This could be related to network setups on the people I have been trying to join, but I know that my own network isn't the issue (ethernet with fiber 50down/75up). Not sure if anyone will actually read this review, but I have to say that if you didn't try out the original game, like me, don't miss out on this one. It's fun as hell! If there's one tip I have for you, it's to play the game with a friend, or two, or three. Playing with randoms is fun for alternate characters, but for the main class you plan on playing through the story with, I suggest doing so with someone you know. It makes the game that much more fun.

I didn't think I would like SWTOR. When it was first announced I was extremely excited, but as more and more information spilled out, it looked to me like it was going to be like any other MMO out there. I'm sure that copies some features from other MMORPGs, as all modern MMORPGs do, but I have to say that SWTOR is the most fun I've ever had playing an online RPG game. If you enjoy the Mass Effect series, and you like Star Wars, this is the game for you. The influence of Mass Effect on this game is extremely obvious, from the conversation choices, to companion relationships, to the immersive storyline. I've put around 40 hours into the game so far, and am a little over half way to the level cap. From what I've heard, I will be playing for around 40-60 more hours until I reach that. 100 hours in one game is a pretty damn long time, especially considering that I have no even touched PvP, and there will be plenty more content opened up when I do hit that cap. I don't want to go on for too long, because there are so many other reviews for this game already out there, but I just want to say that SWTOR is a game-changer IMO- this coming from someone who's not a big fan of MMORPGs, and who has never played WoW. My fiancee and I have fallen in love with this game, and look forward to furthering the story and progressing our characters each day. It's just plain fun, without that terrible grinding feeling that many MMOs give.

I am not a comic book/super hero bufff, and I don't play a lot of MMORPGs (I've never played WoW). However, DCUO has kept myself and my girlfriend thoroughly entertained for hours now. There are so many choices when customizing your hero/villain, that I have yet to come across any two heros or villains that are alike. The quests are unique, and relate to the story... even side quests! It's awesome to fight with/against popular DC characters, and for the most part the voice acting is superb, with many favorites returning to reprise their roles (Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamil as the Joker, etc). I really like the idea of having multiple roles you can switch between, each with their own customizable power loadout. I played as a magic character, and while using my damage roll my abilities will do damage or provide damage buffs. However, if I switch to my healer roll, the same powers will heal or provide defensive buffs. It's a cool idea, and makes the game all that more flexible. I also like the ability to hide all gear that you wear automatically, allowing you to always look like the super hero or villain that you initially created. Many players will spend tons of time making their MMO character, only to have them hidden under ugly armor that is statistically superior. Not so in DCUO. As a final note, I want to mention that I strongly suggest using a gamepad (I'm using an Xbox 360 controller) to play this game- even if you're normally a mouse and keyboard player. This is a beat-em-up brawler styled game, and it's quite hard on your mouse and fingers if you play it that way. You'll notice that, unlike every other MMO, you don't have a mouse cursor during gameplay to click on abilities or other objects. The mouse is only used for targeting and looking. This game was obviously created for the PS3 first, and not the PC, which some may see as a bad thing. All my worries of this development choice were instantly set aside the moment I picked up a controller to play the game. It's easier to play, and the controller preset is surprisingly good. All in all, as two people (my gf and I) who don't play a lot of MMOs or follow super hero lore, we are having a blast, and looking forward to every moment we get to play together. Obviously there is plenty of room for improvement in things like the chat and friend system, but the core gameplay is fun, and the quests are interesting and varied. I'm playing as a villain right now, and I can wait to start up a hero to play through that content as well!

Oops! I meant to review the PC version. :( I can't find a way to delete reviews! I'm going to keep adding characters to make this 150 characters long. Wish I could delete this!

While not without it's flaws (like any brand new MMORPG), Lego Universe is wonderful game for both young and old alike. Young kids will like the bright colors and "simple" combat system, while older folks will enjoy collecting all the items and achievements in the game. Unfortunately, at the moment it will only take you about month to complete pretty much everything the game has to offer, but I'm expecting new content in the future.