xHEISENBERGx

Fun and interesting gameplay, good balance between the deadites and the survivors. Looks great as well. A few bugs here and there, and some areas could be fleshed out a bit more post-launch, but a great base to add content

Initially, Bioshock Infinite caught my eye in a passing manner. I was certainly interested, but didn't really anticipate it like some prior releases. As soon as I picked it up, though, it was immediately clear this game went above and beyond the expectations set forth by the current generation of FPS games. I admit, I was a fan of the first Bioshock. The tone and atmosphere were great, and the concept captured my imagination. Though I had some minor gripes with some gameplay mechanics, and polish issues, it was and still is a great game. Bioshock infinite on the other hand, blew me away with its great storytelling and fluid gameplay. First off, the look of the game. Its certainly not as gritty and textured as some games, but I really don't feel that is the point. Its stylized, and for a purpose. To encapsulate the bright and floaty feel the city should take, and to emphasize the time period. From the characters, to the city, to the machines; it all fits within the confines of the look and feels natural. Though it initially starts off bright and scenic, the colors dampen and darken as you turn the stones to reveal the dark underbelly of the cities politics. The story and setting are amazing. The city is a wonder, and its great to explore. It is filled with voxophones (audio diaries) and other historical items to expand upon the universe, but even when I had collected all of them I wanted to learn more. The story, without any real spoilers, isn't limited to the fantastical and faces very real issues of the time. From religious fanaticism to racism, the human element is very prevalent. But it is all centered around the main character, Booker Dewitt. A veteran and former Pinkerton, who is hired to bring a girl to New York in exchange for wiping clean his gambling (and other) debts. And from the girl, Elizabeth, to the prophet Comstock, to the rebellion leader Fitzroy, everyone has a part in the story, and everyone is as colorful and thought out as the next. Game-play, I found, was very fluid and in my experiences cinematic. If you have played the first Bioshock at all you would know that tandem use of plasmids (known as Vigors in Infinite) and guns were difficult and unwieldy. You had to either equip weaponry OR plasmid. In Infinite, thankfully they are more seamlessly combined. Though a similar layout is used (left trigger vigor, right trigger gun), you can now keep your weapon equipped and use left trigger to instantly blast out a vigor. Weapons themselves are your standard affair: pistol, machine gun, shotgun, etc. But the vigors are the standouts. This time around, vigors are a bit more refined, as Bioshock had many great vigors, they were too varied and too specialized. The creators have now smartly combined traps and instant use as a secondary and primary fire, and thus vigors can be used several ways each. Lastly, the sky lines. These things are GREAT. Not only for travel, which is fun to zip through areas anyway, but in combat it is awesome to lunge onto one to get a birds eye view of the battle or to buy some time and heal up. I could go on for MUCH MUCH longer about the companion aspect with Elizabeth, which Infinite may be credited with being the first game to get it right, to Songbird, the Infinite Big Daddy equivalent, to the thought provoking story-line, but I have limited words on this tiny box. One thing I can say is, PLAY THIS GAME! You wont regret this purchase!

Trials Evo is fun. Very fun. The only problem is, Trials is also VERY VERY frustrating. Its a simple premise, ride your bike from point A to point B without falling off. The thing is, your going to fall off. ALOT. trials is a trial-and-error style game, which may turn off some who have a lack of conviction. Heck, even I wanted to throw the controller at the screen a few **** maybe a few hundred times. But still, its relaly alot of fun, and you definitely feel accomplished in finishing each and every course. Especially the extreme maps

Minecraft XBLA got me introduced to this great indie game by Mojang. Its simplistic at the surface, but once you start to get further and further into it, Minecraft can become an addicting game that will evolve into an experience as complicated and intricate as you let it. Its completely based on your imagination; want to build it? Go find the materials and get to work. Unfortunately, the XBLA version did not launch coinciding with the latest PC update, so it may be a while before we get some of the awesome features present on that version (food bar, enchanting, brewing, adventures, and NPC structures just to name a few) But overall a faithful port that will only get better as updates continue to come out

Lollipop Chainsaw is a game about a high school cheerleader who tears through zombies with a pink chainsaw, and it knows it. A game that never takes itself too seriously, it is definitely a helluva lot of fun. In no way will it win big in story telling, but the narrative is ridiculous enough to set the tone which the visuals and gameplay aptly follow. If anything, its a fun time. And really, what more could you want from a zombie hack n slash?

As a huge fan of the Max Payne series, I can honestly say I love MP3. From the great story telling, to the awesome visual style, to the execution of gameplay, MP3 is a great game that deserves praise in almost every area. I say almost because having been such a big Payne fan, I still have not touched multiplayer since that has never been the push of the series. I have no problem with it, but still cannot bring myself to dive into it as I fear it may not live up to the how great the campaign is. Still, I would expect it to be as action packed as the rest of the game.

Though not a fan of the first game, I gave this a try because a few friends recommended it highly. I found,, as with the first AC, it was highly repetitive and overall a lackluster experience. It kept some of the great mechanics, but lacked to improve in some of the areas I feel made the first one a chore to trudge through. Overall, I would recommend a demo or a rent, and if its your thing, cool. But personally I cannot get into the series, and could not advise a purchase

This game has both positives and negatives, but overall it left me wishing it could have been more. The positives? Awesome stream of movement. It can be very gratifying to lunge from rooftop to rooftop, to parkour rush through crowded streets, and to use ninja-like abilities to scale buildings and traverse cities. In the earlier stages, combat is fluid and exciting, but quickly fades into a frustratingly benign experience that had me going through the motions to just get it over with, or to view some of the cool finishers. Unfortunately, where it thrives in some gameplay choices, it lacks in keeping things fresh. I found within an hour or two that everything had a wash-rinse-repeat style. One mark didnt weight differently from the next because of such similarities in process of hunting him down. Overall, it didnt stick with me. I had to motivate myself to keep going forward with the game, rather than the game itself motivating me to continue on. I would say it is worth a rent to get some of the experiences associated with original game mechanics, but in no way does it justify a purchase.

Not since Morrowind have I thrown so many hours at a single game. Even Oblivion didnt mesmerize me as Skyrim has. From the visual improvements to the streamlined leveling system to the improved magic and combat, all the way into the story-telling as a whole, Skyrim never ceased to amaze me. A fantastic journey and a milestone in the gaming industry. There is so much I could go into, from the reworking of the smithing and alchemy, to the mysteries of the dwemer ruins, all the way to the bad-assness of the dragon battles, Skyrim leaves me awestruck and wanting more time and time again

Borderlands is a fantastic ride through the cut-throat planet Pandora. Whether its blowing midgets faces of with a shotgun that launches rockets, or that awesome gitty feeling of opening a weapon chest, Borderlands always keep you battling for the next great loot. First off, I love the cell-shaded art style. It fits nicely. At times, it seems wasted on some of the more barren landscapes in the beginning of the game, but later on it really shines in both landscape and character design. Second, the level based RPG style works great as well. The skill trees arent too involved, though its not a deal-breaker by any means, its something I hope is fixed in future installments. The only reason, as a fan, I dont want to give it a 10, is that the story is flimsy at best; no more than an excuse to shuffle you to new locations with new enemies and bosses. All of which can be accomplished by the numerous side-quests that, at times, outshine the main story. Tack on a cop-out ending, and the narrative suffers a bit. But honestly, you didnt come to Pandora for the story, you came for the carnage, and of course the bajillions of GUNS!! ------->additionally, I would highly recommend the DLC packs. They really develope the atmosphere of Borderlands, and as with a game that consistantly brushes the hilariously outrageous, it doesnt take itself too seriously. I cannot stress enough that you must play the Dr. Zed, Mad Moxxi, or Robo-lution DLC's

I was initially very excited about brink, but in the end it was a dull, forgettable experience. I really enjoyed the concept of parkour shooter. Hell Mirrors Edge was great, how can imporiving upon the combat component and allowing online matches be anything other than amazing, right? Wrong. It's lackluster experience just starts to wear the more you play. First, some praise. I love the art style, its sleek and futuristic while still chaotic. Second, the SMART movement aspect works great most of the time, though occasionally I would find myself lunging over boxes or jumping on walls when I did not mean to do so. Some of the gripes I have are toward the gameplay as a whole. The weapons are fun at first but most of them start to blend together due to very similar playstyles. The gametypes are bland at best, all the same blend of CTF/territory or escort, not even a death match mode! Supplemented by some terrible A.I. Tie it all together with a virtually non-existant story, which plays as more a pregame cutscene than a driving force for the game, and it makes for a game that is very difficult to enjoy. I really wanted to love Brink, but honestly, in a market flooded with FPS clones, there are plenty of better substitutes the Brink

I have been a huge fan of the series since Silent HIll 2 and I havent given up yet, even though there were a few missteps in the series as of late. Silent HIll Downpour is a welcome addition to the series and is a great step toward revitalizing Silent HIll. I was initially put off by the mixed reviews, some favorable, some not so much. I usually go by IGN standards, but I really feel they dropped the ball on this one. Not to say I dont have some issues with the game, as there are a few. I will start with those to get them out of the way. A: the combat is a bit frustrating at times. Yes, it adds to some of the general tenseness, but at times it had me gritting my teeth. B: Not as much a complaint as a request, the moral choices should have been more involved. I wont ruin anything, but I feel there could have been a bit more to it. And really, those are my biggest problems with downpour. Now, the positives. One thing I have to say I enjoyed, was the voice acting for Murphy. Awesome. From his frightened screams to his comments, it seemed as though Murphy's tone and responses were natural and convincing. A few times the voice acting was shaky at best, but overall great. (side-note: Daniel Licht, who creates the soundtrack for Dexter as well, fits in nicely to the SH atmosphere. I hope he continues to work on the series musically). Also, I really loved the dynamic town. From side-quests to general exploration, as a HUGE silent hill fan I really enjoyed strolling the town, dodging otherworld patrol cruisers. Speaking of which, the otherworld is back and as twisted as ever. Including some dizzying moments and chase scenes that really create a sense of tension. All of this supported by some great visual effects and good graphics, notably most of the water-effects. But of curse, all of this is for not without a good plot, and I feel Murphy's journey has been the most engaging since James Sunderlands. I cant tell you how much I enjoyed the switch from town lore back to letting the town do what it does best: serving as ones personal hell. I feel the writers really encapsulated the roots of SH2 and what made it so engaging. It is not as great as the Sunderland love story, but it is definitely one of my favorite storylines, as I was growing tale with the towns cult storylines. Overall, aside from the few issues mentioned above, Downpour is great and a worthyaddition to any Silent Hill lovers collection. From the well told story, to the great story elements, to the towns atmosphere I would recommend this whole-heartedly. I would give it a solid 8 or 9 out of 10 for anyone willing to play it, but personally, as a HUGE fan to the SH universe, I give it a 10 for renewing my love of the series after a few lackluster installments.