Left 4 Dead 2

O Lords is I in Heaven?

Not really no, however life on earth has certainly been made more interesting with the recent release of Left 4 Dead 2. To the untrained eye it appears to be a simple rehash, but a close look reveals the amount of work was put in to make this game greater than the previous. First, let’s talk about characters. A new game brings new people to fight the infection and I believe that the developers at Valve did a great job. The characters seem more like normal people this time around, from Ellis’s (a typical southern car mechanic) random stories to Coach’s (a high school football coach. Obvious, ain’t it?) angry shouts of wanting armor these small voice sequences really add to the game.

Of course there has been a lot of talk about the new infected and they don’t disappoint in game play. The interesting addition of “Uncommon” infected (variants on standard hoard infected) is a real twist. Nothing was more annoying than seeing a riot officer in full armor as my bullets bounced off. While the first game taught players how good it was to stick together, the new special infected present a new challenge to new and old players. Mostly their offensive capabilities are made to drive a spike in the party. For example, the Jockey (an insane midget that jumps on survivors and can start to move them) will force players away from each other and by proxy, safety. Another great one is the Charger (a massive critter built like the Tank) smashes into the group, forcing a rethink on the idea of camping for safety.

While talking of camping, Valve has come up with interesting strategies to combat this tried and true gaming habit with more changes to the norm. Climax Events are no longer about simply holing up till the zombies stop coming, some events require the group to run to an objective. For example, opening an alarmed door then racing to shut it off. Ideas like this keep the fighting of the infected fresh and fun.

New items and weapons continue the innovation of the zombie outbreak. Melee weapons are great simply because they require no ammo (except the chainsaw…sadness) and new firearms make more combinations within a group of heroes. Guns are now semi-upgradeable with special ammo and laser sights, these lasers are a godsend for stopping friendly fire. New items, how about new modes too? With the scavenger mode players must gather supplies while playing against infected players who are trying to stop them, more outside the box thinking.

Overall this is a great game for anybody who liked the first and anybody thinking of playing it. Maybe I just think too much but the little details of the game really made it a great experience for me. If I am to have one complaint it is the AI is still rather… sub par the computer survivors don’t really stay close and are prone to walking off cliffs, as I found out, but this won’t stop me from getting together with my friends and playing (as they still walk off cliffs…Maybe it is accurate of human behavior) Left 4 Dead 2 Gets my full support

B. Kielian

Tales of Vesperia Review

When I think of a good Rpg that incorporates originality and with a sharp curve, but is satisfying and fun Kingdom Hearts will definitely come to my mind. Though, after playing Vesperia, which is the longest game a person can play, I don’t know how much of my life I lost. In reality though, its over 50 hours without counting extra missions, just the main story folks. Rpg’s may not be the most rave in the United States, those without the hype or buzz as others like Final Fantasy, but there are some pretty dang good ones, and this has to be one of the best ones I have ever played in my entire life and I am going to tell you why.

Story

Other than game play this is the most important topic to me, as far as Rpgs go. The setting of the story takes place on the planet Terca Lumireis and the technology of this planet is advanced in places yet behind in others. The story at first is very simplistic a young trouble maker named Yuri quits being a knight to have a free life. Right as he is just relaxing on being a new man, the protection of the City, their blastia an object with almost a catch twenty-two plot to it, is a substance or orb than sets out a barrier around a city and protects from any monsters from roaming in, has disappeared. He seeks out the who’s, what’s, and whys, and before the gamer knows it you have a whole team that is on the verge to save the world.

Game play

To get around the large and vibrant world in this game, you at first walk around the world with Yuri and It will lead to you having a ship to get around and when gotten even further in the game you will have the ability to fly on a special creature. Fighting, at first may seem dull, that for the most part is that the characters are not skilled, but within the first twenty or so hours you’ll be slaying bosses with an arsenal of skills, weapons and items. The actual fighting is real time, no turn based action here( Im no fan of turn based either) so have fun with using Yuri’s Azure Edge and other abilities, and you can switch characters as well nice touch if you ask me, I don’t want to play the same character for 50 hours.

Graphics/Models/Environment

Graphics are shell shaded and to say it with as much bluntness as possible, BEAUTIFUL. Characters are spot on and very unique as there are more than one type of Civilization on the planet, and the monsters are portrayed well with distinct colors. The environments are so lush and full of life, the vibe off the environments are stellar. I won’t say you will get lost in the world but all the colors gel so well together it’s like they were meant to be like true love, almost unexplainable art and detail. I loved every minute of the graphics.

Difficulty

I don’t consider myself a hardcore gamer, unless it comes to sports games, but I do enjoy hard games, I did buy Devil May Cry 3 and I won’t speak on how well that went. Vesperia, at first can be one of the hardest games you have played, well at least to me. The first few boss battles had me cussing at my screen and I HATED hearing the game over quote, “And they were never heard from again.” I won’t lie to you guys; I replayed one boss battle for over an hour because I couldn’t beat it. I was so pissed, I was on the brink of giving up but hey few level ups and an hour later I beat it. But, to the hardcore gamer he/she may just run through this like it was as easy as tying a shoe. To anyone else it will definitely be a challenge. At least early on, once you gain some skills, you run through enemies’ fairly easy to where it goes from hard to plain annoying. Learning curve is also 5-30 minutes depending on playing style.

To Conclude

The greatest 50 hours of rpg gaming I have ever had. Characters develop, well the main characters. You won’t feel like they are pointless or worthless or think why he/she even belongs on this game. The game is good I would advise any fan of this series or rpg gaming to check it out, though problem is that copies of this game are impossible to find. I’m no fan of giving scores I just tell people to go for it or stay away; you guys have to get this, if you can find it though.

Brief Game play

Madden 2k10

       As we all know Madden 2k10 is just upon us. The long awaited EA Sports title will be released in a few days from now (August 14) to those who have pre-ordered long in advance.  To help tie over those who couldn't wait that long, EA released a demo ( or major heart-breaker as i call all demos) earlier this year on July 23 for those lucky Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers. That so called "demo" demonstated some of the best things about the Madden franchise of games and did nothing to soften the bow of having to wait,  instead it fueled the flames burning inside of all true Madden fans.

      EA Sports has done a fantastic job putting together this new addition to the Madden family tree. As most of us demo players have seen already the graphics are great! The demo consisted of a four quarter demo which included new Madden NFL  features such as the Pro-Tak technology and broadcast-style presentation. Pro-Tak all on its own is a huge improvement to the characteristics of the game play. This new installment provides more dynamic tackling on the defense, allows players to fight for fumbles at the bottom of the pile,better evasion maneuvers for the Quarterback, and defenders can even gang up on an offensive player, allowing up to 9-man tackles!! Mini games are still standard as always, having the ability to edit players and uniforms etc. still exist, according to EA this will be the most customizable Madden made so far... we will see. Game play is different and the fell of it is to but its extreamely easy to pick up on. Everything is a lot smoother and the players actually appear to have weight, meaning that the 350+ lineman isn't floating around as easy as the running back.

      Again this is just our take on the demo which was released July 23 and already we can see the major improvements and features of the Madden series. Other features included with the final production game will include things like dynamic player towels, single-digit helmet numbers, Super Bowl patches, team colored gloves and shoes, season based field designs, better number spacing on jerseys, new player equipment and uniforms, weather based clothing, hundreds of new cameras, new broadcast graphics, and a hundred new cut scenes, and along side that many stadiums have had renovations to their edge walls, fields, and structure to be as accurate as possible.(coming directly from EA.)

     With all the talk and anticipation of Madden 2k10 this will certainly paint a picture that we have all seen way to many time. People will be camping out a few days in advance waiting for the doors of the nearest video game retail store to open up to get their hands on the game. My advice would be to pre-order the game to prevent yourself from ending up as one of those unlucky customers(unless you like to camp in parking lots or on sidewalks, we all have our idea of fun) there is still a few days left. I would recommend shopping with Amazon.com, really whats better than pre-ordering and not having to take time out of your day or waste gas money which could be saved for the pizza and delivery guys tip for the game play parties... right? here's the link for those of you who haven't ordered yet-

Ps3-Madden NFL 10-Ps3

Ps2-Madden NFL 10-Ps2

wii-Madden NFL 10-Wii

Xbox 360-Madden NFL 10-Xbox 360

In hopes for a great Madden 2k10 launch, "unleash your inner gamer!"