Bioshock 2, I know, late to the party again...

So, Bioshock 2 isnt exactly new, but I just finally got around to playing it after a long summer in D.C.

This game brings back all the fun story line you know from the original game, the plasmids, tonics, but this time your armory is expanded with some interesting new weaponry. Since you are a Big Daddy now, you get the fun attachments on your arm, and they are by no means light armament. You start the game with just your Drill, but soon you come into possession of a Rivet gun, and different types of Ammo. A Heavy Rivet to the face is enough to kill most of the more common enemies (known in the game as Splicers), and if they are wearing a mask you get the added effect of seeing the mask fly across the room as their head pops like a balloon.

Along with the fun of the Rivet gun I greatly enjoyed another of the new weapons, the Spear gun. The Spear gun had 2 types of Ammo that I had fun with. First off was the regular Spear ammo. Nailing one of the common Splicers in the head will send them reeling back, and on to the ground, or if they are near a wall, it literally nails them to the wall by the spear straight through their cranium. I had tons of gorey and gruesome fun pegging Splicers to the walls throughout the game. The second ammo type for the Spear gun is the Rocket Spear. This ammo attaches itself into an enemy, and after 3 seconds explodes, the explosion is enough to remove all 4 limbs from a Splicer, and fun to watch.

Another thing that caught my attention was the change to the look of the Little Sisters. In Bioshock 2 they dont look like sad little zombies anymore, they look more childlike with happier eyes. I was glad to see the children look less creepy, but still creepy enough to belong with the atmosphere. Along with this change, there is a fun addition to the game near the end. You actually get to play, and see through the eyes of a Little Sister. It's very interesting to me because I always wondered why the Little Sisters dont see how terrible things look, or how the place is falling apart. What you dont realize, if you dont think too deeply, is that the children have been mentally conditioned in combination with the ADAM, and the whole of Rapture looks like a shiny Ball to them. Not the round bouncy kind, but the kind of Ball where people are dressed in nice tuxedos and elegant evening dresses. And the "Angels" as they call them do actually look like angels to them. It was interesting to see the world of Rapture through the eyes of a Little Sister.


Over all, the game had some fun new features, new weaponry, and stayed true to the story and atmosphere of the first game. I'd have to give this one a 4/5 on the Brawlking scale. Pick it up if you enjoy good old fashioned FPS games with puzzles, yeah, I forgot to mention that there were some fun puzzles in the game too.

Duke Nukem Forever!

Alright, after 12 years this mythical beast of a vaporware game was finally finished, and I loved it! The amount of pop culture references, and even poking fun at himself, and the game's history make this game instant gold to anyone with a sense of humor. It also packs a good action punch, and drops in some old fashioned FPS style puzzles into the game for good measure. While the game doesnt really feature anything ground breakingly new, it does the original Duke Nukem 3D proud, and brings furious, mind numbing action back in crude style to the masses.

After such a long development (12 years), countless engine changes, and going between 4 or 5 different game studios Duke Nukem Forever has come out on top. This game gets a 5/5 on the Brawlking scale. Sheer hilarity, and action give this game all it needs to stand up to the legacy laid before it.

Age of Conan Unleashed and Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising

Tonight I started a couple monstrous downloads. One, Age of Conan Unleashed, it's been a while since I've played this MMO from one of my favorite game companies, Funcom. I want to take a look, see if the F2P version is different from the P2P version, and what the limitations are, etc.

Next, I am downloading a 3 day trial of Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising. I haven't heard much hype about this game, I've been watching its development for a long time, and it had some interesting concepts. Now I'd like to see if they were implemented well, or at all.

Expect a new post soon!

Been A While... Might Be A Little Longer...

So since my last post a lot of things have happened. I started going back to college in January, shortly after my last post a lot of things were going to get that under way, and I was working quite a bit in November and December. Since then I havent had any time to review any games, or do much of anything else computer related, besides check Facebook and random weekend bouts of World of Warcraft. Last weekend being a long weekend off of work I had some free time, and played a bit of WoW.


There are a few things I'm kind of excited about that are coming down the pike. First, Duke Nukem Forever, one of the longest awaited pieces of vaporware is about to coalesce into an actual playable game. Thats not to say it will be any good, but for the sake of just saying I bought it, and it's real, I'm pre-ordering it this weekend, and I will be doing a review on that. Also coming will be a review on Crysis 2, and Brink, some other new FPS type games that I've been looking forward to giving a shot. At this moment I've only got my old laptop here, I moved down closer to DC for the summer to save myself time commuting to work, and I had to leave my newly built desktop back at home, well, my other home. Its a pretty nice rig, 8GB of some nice RAM, a Quad core Phenom which I cant recall exactly which model, a middle of the road graphics card which will be upgraded later, and 2TB SATA6 drive, to list the major parts. Cant wait to get these games installed and see what they are like. Also, I know it's a little old, but I will be doing Bioshock 2, it's already installed, I just havent had time to play it through.


So, until next time!

Resident Evil 5

Alright, I've thrown in the towel on this one. The game is just going too slow, I cant force myself to finish it right now. My biggest problem with this game is the things that kill you in one shot and end your game. There is a part where you are walking through some Marsh in Chapter 3, and Alligators come after you, and if one gets you it's game over. Annoying... they don't even let you fight with it. So the game is killing me, I'm giving it a 2 out of 5 on the Brawlking game scale, and moving on.

Resident Evil 5 and things going on...

Well... I was working on Resident Evil 5 to throw up a review, but some work has been thrown my way and I haven't been home in 7 days to even touch the game. So, I haven't stopped, just on hold until I get back home and have some free time.

On a non-gaming related note there are a few things that I would like to talk about.

Today, I was at the Four Seasons in DC and we were setting up for a show (I work for a company that does "event based communication", multimedia stuff, hard to explain) we were checking the size of a freight elevator when I leaned down to measure, and my phone slid out of my pocket, hit the floor and fell apart, the back plate fell down in the crack between the elevator and the floor. I was standing there watching my battery teetering on the edge, but I grabbed it. So I asked if there was any way someone could get it out for me... I told them not to bother calling the elevator company just for the back plate, but it seems they did anyway and they fished my back plate out from under the elevator. Now THAT is customer service, I can't believe they went that far just to get a piece of a cell phone back. I could've kissed that girl, and I definitely would've, not only was she getting things done, she was very pretty. Where can I find a girl like that?

So after that debacle the day continued and more problems came our way. We were setting up a secondary display for this conference room and we couldnt get a signal down to the other end of the room for the display. Every time we plugged in both displays the secondary would only show a rainbow colored staticy grid. So we finally got that fixed about 2 minutes before it needed to be ready, I didn't fix it, it was Bill and some A/V techs to the rescue on that one, I'm just the computer guy. So we got that all done, and the show continued. We had a little session with some CEOs from large companies - I wont specify - in which the members in the room discussed ways to improve the public's opinion of big companies. I got the idea that the CEOs in the room think that the public in general has no idea what it takes to run a big company the way it needs to be run to make company. The specific words were that they wanted to "give the public an ecenomics course". I found that to be fairly condescending. On the flip side one of the members - this one I will specify, the CEO of Snap-on Tools -  suggested that one way to regain public trust would be to "stop worrying about what share holders want, and focus on customer needs". This is something that we as normal people want to hear. Most of the other suggestions weren't so simple, and were things that would take time to implement and to see the effects, but were some good things that I thought would actually work. Something I thought was interesting was that they mentioned trying to make the public see the value in moving certain jobs to other countries, and how it actually benefits the typical middle class person. There was some math behind it, a McKinsey report that actually showed how this business practice helps the middle class in general. Maybe it's true, but those people that got screwed out of a job are still screwed no matter how much cheaper that new TV they want is.

Over all, this week I beleive I've worked harder than I ever have in my entire life, but I'm making some good money and I really do enjoy this job. Oh, except when I've got 5 people asking me to do 8 different things at the same time and one of them gets mouthy with me about me not fulfilling their request first when I had asked someone else completely capable of doing it to help, so I could get one of the other 8 things done. But whatever, everything got done, and I was only slightly agitated at the situation.

After an 18 hour day, I am ready to sleep, and ready for the huge check I'll be getting in 2 weeks. Good night internet!

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (SWTFU2)

If at any point during this post I need to actually say the name of the game, it will be abbreviated as SWTFU2, because the name is just too damn long to type out.

That being said, I really enjoyed this game, even though on my computer I had to use "low" graphics settings in order for it to perform well (Yes, I played this on PC, I'm not a big console gamer). Other than that, and one other REALLY annoying graphical glitch, as I said I really enjoyed the game. The glitch I'm referring to is that during some of the ingame cut scenes Darth Vader's cloak, or the dangly part between the legs of my Jedi outfit would FREAK OUT. Darth's cloak would look like a huge puffy filly collar around his neck, and it would bug the sound so everything sounded like it was being said in a hollow metal tunnel with a tinny echo. I'm sure there is a patch for it, maybe I should have downloaded it, but I didn't.

Now on to what I enjoyed about the game, keep in mind that I didn't play the first game so if I list something that was also in the first game then that's cool too. The ability to change your lightsaber's color was really nice, and the effects that they added were cool as well, such as the Wisdom (white) saber granting extra Force power from kills. Or the Healing (dark green) saber, I bet you can't guess what that one does! Those were the 2 I used most often, kept one main hand and one secondary. I liked the interactivity in some of the ingame cut scenes, and the actual cut scenes were well voice acted. I enjoyed the special types of boss fights, having to use certain force powers to take a boss down, and all the cool force powers and light saber tricks you can use in the game. I also LOVED getting to toss Stormtroopers over the side of tall buildings or hanging walkways, just launching them into an abyss was very amusing. As well as using Force Lightning on the Jetpack Troopers, and watching them fly around randomly like a bottle rocket out of control, oh that gave me some lols. Overall, glitches aside, I liked the game a lot. Part of the story line got kind of hokey, near the end before you fight Darth Vader, you're wandering through the cloning labs and you hear him breathing... Yeah, that was so B movie.

I enjoyed the game, some bugs made parts pretty bad, but I was able to get through, and parts of the story being cheesey were what brought this title down to 4/5 on the Brawlking game scale.

Fallout: New Vegas... I wouldn't quite say complete...

If I thought Fallout 3 was going to take a long time to finish, then Fallout: New Vegas was going to take years. The exorbitant amount of side quests, and optional objectives give this game tons of play time outside of the main story. I am going to have to go back through and actually take some time to do all the side missions, and get the cool extra stuff when I have time, but right now... I just dont.


So, take everything that you loved about Fallout 3, wrap it in a new, larger desert, with a lot more groups to fight with, a faction system, more crafting, and what you get is a lot more fun and play time in the form of Fallout: New Vegas. Sitting here, trying to rush my way through the main story, I was awe struck by the amount of quest... ok, I keep calling them "quests", but the game calls them "Objectives", its the RPG player in me. Anyway, the side objectives take you to so many places, with so many different things to do, it's just amazing to me. 


Dislikes... There weren't many, my biggest complaint was the game freezing up, it did it probably 9 times over 3 days of playing, and usually right after I used the instant transport to some place I had already been. The running speed was still too slow for me, but there was a perk you could get to help with that a little bit. One part of the main story I did find to be pretty confusing. The part of the story where you go into the Gomorrah and run around the place doing things for the Cachinco guy. That place got a little confusing, and one of the doors in particular was easily missed, even with the arrow guiding you, since there are 3 floors to the place, it got bad for me. Maybe others didnt have trouble, but man I ran around that place for an hour trying to remember where Troike, and Claden were.


Likes... All the same stuff as the original plus... There are more plot twists in this one than a head full of dreadlocks. There are so many points in the story where you can choose to go one way or another, and it affects the final out come of the game. I chose to help Mr. House this time around, I managed to save my game right before a lot of the important story decision parts so I could go back and see where each path went, so some day I'll go back and follow each path to its completion, but damn it would take forever to get them all done through... One of the new weapons I really enjoyed were the Gauss Rifle, and I really liked the idea of being able to disguise myself to sneak into enemy camps, I wore Brotherhood Power Armor in the first one so I would fit in, the whole noble paladin thing, it just fits me.


Just wanted to share this... at one point I was so annoyed with the Legion guys that I decided to sneak into their camp and just kill everyone. I took my sweet time, slinking around, sniping everyone I could see in the head, and even climbing up or down rocky hills and cliffs to keep myself hidden and snipe from far away. It was tons of fun...


Over all this game gets a 4.9/5 on the Brawlking game scale. Only reason I didnt give it a 5 was because of the bugs. Oh, I played on "Hard" difficulty, dont think I'm gonna bother going above that, I'm a huge noob :P

Fallout 3 done! Not sure what's next...

Well, there were a few things about this game that I despised, but I found some codes to deal with them. My biggest complaint was that your character just runs too damn slow, and no I wasn't over-encumbered, I just felt like a fat man running through a pool of melted marshmallow. Hmmm... that sounds yummy... Uh, but back to the game. At first I thought that because of the slow running, that the game was going to take a looong time to complete, this turned out not to be true, because after you've been somewhere once you can use the World Map to travel there instantly, thank god.

The game had a ton of weapon choices, and even some really fun ones that you could find, like Experimental MIRV... It's like a Nuke on your shoulder, loved just blowing the crap out of cars and watching the HUGE explosions... I guess that means I'm not a cool guy, cuz cool guys don't look at explosions. Oh well.

The puzzles in the game were fun, sometimes having to figure things out, such as in Tranquility lane figuring out the sequence of objects to activate to bring up the Auxiliary terminal. The idea of Karma in this game was really cool, I typically like to play the good guy, where most people like to be as evil and destructive as possible, but I find it more challenging to be good in games that offer a choice like that. It's easy to run around just blowing everyone's brains out and blowing things up, but making hard choices is... well, hard, and to me much more rewarding. I also very much enjoyed sniping in the game, not many games pull off the sniping very well, but I enjoyed it in this game. Only other wish would be a silenced sniper rifle, but I hear that is available in New Vegas.

This game I'd have to give a 4.5/5 on the Brawlking game scale, one little hitch that made the game play not sparkle completely, but a great game none the less.

Prototype finished, next Fallout 3

Finishing this game made me some what sad, I really enjoyed the rooftop jumping once I got the hang of it, and all the disguising and hijacking/skyjacking military equipment was tons of fun. Flying around NYC in a Blackhawk, buzzing the tower (the Empire State Building), watching burning choppers crash to the ground, or pelting zombies and copperheads (huge ugly snake monsters) with death from above it was all enjoyable, and not difficult to master. Hijacking Tanks and APCs was another enjoyable part of the game, and sometimes a necessity to the completion of a mission(Good tip: if you are having trouble with a mission, try jacking some armor).

After some more plot twists mid-story line, your character gets some really cool upgrades like the armor suit, looks pretty bad ass when you morph your arms into some weapons, but as I said before its very Spawn-esque, but doesnt make the effect any less enjoyable. I skipped most of the extra events, side quests you can do to get extra EP (Evolution points) which can be spent to purchase new powers, or upgrade existing ones.

Over all this game gets a 4.5/5 on the Brawlking game scale. I would highly recommend this one if you like SciFi and RPGs.

Now on to Fallout 3 (I know, it's old, but I havent played it yet).

Dead Rising 2 Complete... now Prototype

Dead Rising 2


After days of cutting, machine gunning, and head exploding I have finished Dead Rising 2. There were some interesting plot twists (not unexpected on my part) and a couple rather unfortunate casualties, but all in all the story turns out for the best, as expected. I wont spoil it in case someone that reads hasn't played yet, but the end left me a little... unsatisfied. Over all, on the Brawlking game rating scale I'd probably give it a 4 due to its creative weapons, and massive amounts of blood, guts, and carnage. Now... on to Prototype...


Prototype


This game is not exactly new, in fact it was released over a year ago, but I hadn't played it yet, and the concept - while not completely original - sounded cool to me. A dude with morphing arms that can turn into cool weapons (a la Spawn and the Necro-goo), and an Infested... (Kerrigan?) I mean Infected red head that wants to destroy the universe. Four missions in to the game so far it reminds me of a SciFi version of Assassin's Creed, not really surprising, this type of game has become very popular and many different flavors of this genre have been developed over the last 5 years or so.  Being so early in the game I don't have access to all the cool powers yet, in fact I only have 2 so far, but more on that later. I do like the consume and disguise features, I feel like Hannibal Lechter putting on the skin of another human being, its pretty... creepy, lol. The cut scenes aren't too poorly voice acted, and there haven't been any awkward pauses in the dialog as I've noticed in some other games. So far, so good...

Dead Rising 2 and WoW 4.0.1

Dead Rising 2


If you're not tired of all out zombie slaughter fests yet, Dead Rising 2 has something fun for you! The game puts you in the guise of Chuck Greene and starts you out on the T.I.R. game show, after a few short cut scenes you jump into action riding around mowing down Zombies with dual chain saws attached to a stunt street bike, followed by a few more cut scenes that set up the story for the rest of the game.


One of the features I found most interesting is something that the game was advertised for, namely creative ways to decapitate, destroy, or other wise dismember some Zombies. Weapons you saw on the commercials such as the Chainsaw Paddle are just one of the many interesting weapons you will find in the game. My personal favorite is shown below... Have you ever wanted to be a Zombie slaying Jedi? Well, Dead Rising 2 gets you as close as possible, they call the weapon a "Laser Sword", but all us true SciFi geeks know what it's supposed to be.


(I am getting FRAPS to make better quality movies in the future)



Over all, a fun game, with some interesting features, but still contains classic RPG features such as character stats, level based progression, and questing. Pick it up if you're in the mood for blood, guts, and motorcross mayhem!


World of Warcraft 4.0.1


Recently Blizzard released the Talent, Skill, and UI update to get players ready for the upcoming expansion Cataclysm. A lot of people like the changes, but as always there are those who are unwilling or unable to adjust, or just plain dont like changes. Human nature I supposed, but one thing that I've found is that the only thing that is sure and constant in life is that things will change, nothing ever stays the same. If you want to see a list of the most recent changes, a lot of them are listed in the patch notes. There have been a lot of changes to almost every class, if you haven't tried out your new Talent specs yet, its time to get moving. The new expansion is coming December 7th, 2010!