Wii U. and New Super Mario Bros. U

Well, we're at my final review of the year (GOTY blog notwithstanding) and I've decided to let you all know about the first step into the new generation of gaming, the Wii U! Also New Super Mario Bros U. Because I'll probably only fill a paragraph on the console.

THE WII U
So right out of the box, some of the best things about the Wii U are it's backwards compatibility features. What I mean by that is, not only do your old wii games work, your wii remotes and the sensor bar are also compatible. Backing up all your Wii data is also pretty straight forward, once you find out how to, you know, START the process.

Now, Nintendo has graphically finally caught up to the competition. Games as simple as Scribble-Naughts unlimited and Super Mario Bros U all look surprisingly smooth. It's a big step up from the Wi's capabilities, but on top of this, the wii emulator on the console also looks smoother than it used to, for both Wii games and virtual console games.

The main event, so to speak, is the Gamepad; the tablet with buttons that's been the main selling point since it's reveal. Does it live up to the hype? For the most part, yes. It's not as responsive as an ipad, and it can only handle one point of contact at a time, but generally, the touch screen is accurate. It's implemented quite well in most games, with it being used to add platforms in NSMB U, as a keypad in scribblenaughts, as a live inventory in ZombiU, really, the possibilities are endless. At the moment, I'm most psyched about being able to seamlessly swap play between the tv and the gamepad, but so far only a few games support this.

Is the Wii U a big step up from it's predecessor? Hell yea it is. Do you need one if you already have a PS3 or 360? Well, no. But it does offer new and interesting play experiences, as well as some of the most fun party games I've played in a long time.

NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. U
STORY
Ok, at this point this is like pissing in the wind. There's a party at Peach's castle, everyone's invited. Then Bowser and the Koopalings show up and shit gets real. Mario, Luigi and two toads get booted a dozen or so worlds away, and they have to work their way back. Is it too much to ask for some narrative, Nintendo? I'm currently replaying paper mario, and while Bowser shows up to be a prick, at least he seems to have some motivations and goals.

PRESENTATION
As I mentioned above, New Super Mario Bros. U looks fantastic. The graphics are smooth and surprisingly crisp, and the visual style is colourful and full of personality.
Unfortunately though, I struggled to spot anything even remotely new to the series here. Sure, theres a flying squirrel suit, but there have been similar powerups (both visually and practically) before.

The music is still great, but it's just so similar to the other New Super Mario Bros. games! Very cheerful, full of life, A Capella styled tunes fill the game, and it always brings a smile to my face.

GAMEPLAY
While the story leaves much to be desired, the gameplay of NSMBU follows the Presentation's suit. It's all very familiar, but it's polished to a mirror shine. Jumping, bouncing, sliding, sprinting,wall jumping; it all feels smooth and fast and fun. Nothing feels better than nailing a sequence of jumps without missing a beat.

Co-Op is still fun, yet frustrating. Platforming in the New Super Mario Bros. multiplayer games feels more like it should be a competitive mode, because I've died more from my co-op partner bouncing on my head, or knocking me off a ledge, than I have due to the enemies or level design!

For the future, it'd be great to have this in as a competitive co-op mode. If it's co-op for fun, then the bouncy ass physics need to be an option, not the standard. It just ends in agony for one (or more) of the players.

The gamepad is utilized for a couple of features here. In Boost Mode, up to 4 players plus one on the gamepad, can play co-op Mario. The catch is, the gamepad player can make platforms, to either help or hinder their friends. Alternatively, playing singleplayer on the gamepad allows for you to use the Gamepad ONLY.

I wish I had more to talk about with this game, I do. But it's just so insubstantial. And what makes it worse is that it's so similar to all those who came before. All it is, is minor tweaks and some polish!

REPLAYABILTY
The amount of secret coins in this game is a decent incentive to play it over and over, but if collectible hunting isn't your thing, the coin rush and challenge modes are there for you. They basically provide small tweaks on the base gameplay, so nothing too special.

OVERVIEW
As I'm sure I said with the last New Super Mario Bros game, I do enjoy these titles. I do. But there's just so little to talk about, especially when each iteration doesn't even add anything to those that came before. At least Call of Duty can boast a new story, or something small like that. What does New Super Mario Bros U add? A platform creating fifth player?.... Woo.

Next time, GAME OF THE YEAR TIME!!!! See ya!

Hitman: Absolution

Those who frequent this blog or know me personally will know I'm a huge fan of stealth gameplay as well as choice in games. So when it comes to the Hitman franchise, you can bet I'm a huge fan. Hitman: Blood Money provided many a fond memory in my gaming history, one such involving a Santa costume and a glass spa bath suspended over a 50 foot drop. So what about Absolution? Does it maintain that memory-making quality of previous installments?

STORY
Absolution picks up with Agent 47 on assignment to take down his former handler, Diana, after she goes rogue and steals agency property. After completing the contract, a letter from his former handler informs 47 of the nature of the stolen property, a girl named Victoria, and the treachery of the man who ordered the contract, Benjamin Travis. After rescuing the girl and going rogue himself, 47 stumbles upon a plot by dubious business-man Blake Dexter, to kidnap Victoria and sell her back to the agency for millions.

Over the course of the narrative, Victoria's true value is revealed, and 47 will kill any who threaten the girl to whom he has committed his services.

Hitman games have always been on the line between serious and goofy, but Absolution seems to completely commit itself to the grindhouse style. Over-the-top, cartoonish villains, contrasted by the stone-faced viciousness of Agent 47. I can guarantee that you've never wanted any gaming character dead, moreso than some of Absolution's baddies.

PRESENTATION
Few games have ever looked as good as Hitman: Absolution does. It's slick graphics present the grimy, gritty world in which 47 inhabits perfectly, and characters receive the same treatment, from Agent 47's trademark scowl and suit, to the giant man-beast Sanchez. Hitman: Absolution is filled with so many cool and interesting characters, that you'll be eager to meet the next one. And murder them viciously.

The soundtrack is suitably atmospheric, but nothing too special to write home about. The use of Ave Maria near the end adds a nice touch, but otherwise, it's pretty average. The voice acting on the other hand is brilliant. 47's monotonous drone is perfect, while Travis sounds like the controlling bastard that he is. Really, the cast sell their parts perfectly.

GAMEPLAY
Now here's where Hitman: Absolution will be divisive. Old fans may be put off by it's simplistic gameplay changes, but newcomers to the series should feel right at home. Now, at it's core, Absolution is still a Hitman game. It's still about picking off your target it any way you choose.

Now onto the changes. Alot of Absolution's levels are very linear, and don't have you assassinating specific targets Some have you trying to get to your target, or escaping an area. I suppose if you took out the mid chapter checkpoints, they could all be seen as one huge level. As it stands though, each chapter is split into four or so levels.

Also added to the formula for this game are the cover system and the instinct system. Now, this might just be me, but I feel that all stealth games need a cover system. It makes it so much easier to know when you're hidden by cover and when you're not. The instinct system on the other hand, I could take or leave. It's reminiscent of Eagle vision or Detective Vision in Assassin's Creed and Arkham City respectively.

It's handy to know where NPC's are moving, or where they're located in the area, or what is special nearby, but overuse of it feels like cheapening the experience. Along with this is the point shooting ability, which is much like mark and execute from Splinter Cell. I can see a lot of players just forgoing this feature, apart from the moment's when using it is actually required.

All these changes aside, Hitman: Absolution still feels like a Hitman game. Scouting the area you're in, finding objects that can be used to form elaborate assassinations, and tailing your mark until the situation lines up perfectly, then BAM! Electrocuted while pissing! Or pushed into a storm water drain! Or crushed by building equipment! Or scorched by sabotaged Barbeque! Or Sniped into a grave so no-one finds the body! It's a nice level of freedom. Also, you can do it all dressed as a chicken.

REPLAYABILITY
The addition of challenges, as well as a more visible score tracker, the ability to choose a level from the list becomes more inviting because, hey, I'll just kill those guys a different way, or hey, I'll just shotgun everyone in the area. Because I can.

But if replaying story scenarios isn't your cup of tea, Contracts mode is there for you. In it, you can create or play custom contracts set with standard NPC's in the story maps. You might have to poison a man's sushi while wearing a chicken suit. Or shotgun a woman while dressed as a samurai. It adds a nice level of replayability.

OVERVIEW
Hitman: Absolution provides most everything I ask for in a game. Functioning stealth, decent gunplay controls, wide maps to make use of, inventive forms of assassination, and a wide variety of choice. Sure, things have changed since past games, but while many will say it's too simple, I say that accessibility is better than having a frustratingly hard game that no one can play. What matters is that the franchises imagination, freedom and brutality all return for Absolution.

Next time, I review New Super Mario Bros U!! And the Wii U!... Unless I finally finish Halo 4.

Far Cry 3

Ok, after many a setback, I'm... well.. back! I've had so many games to try and finish for reviewing that I'm finding it hard to just focus on one. But, one game stood head and shoulders above the rest. And it was Far Cry 3. Let me delve into why exactly this game tickled me in that very special way.

STORY
As the game starts, you're treated to jet-skiing, skydiving, a montage of insane shenanigans performed by yourself. As the camera pans out, it's revealed that your jailer is taunting you with the footage of your vacation up until this point. You are Jason Brody, and the paradise of Rook Island has just turned into hell.

After escaping the insane clutches of the pirate known as Vaas, Brody befriends the island natives and strives to become strong enough to save the rest of his friends. But as he gains strength and progresses along the path of vengeance, will he go too far? Will he ever leave the island as the man that first arrived there? These are the questions that Far Cry 3 asks players.

It's one of those great games of recent days that takes the copious violence of your standard video game fare, and puts a mirror up, forcing players to look at themselves. Now, it doesn't pull this off quite as well as Spec Ops: The Line, but it gives me hope for the future of games stories.

PRESENTATION
One thing you're bound to hear from gamers is that Far Cry 3 looks gorgeous. And that's because it does. The island is a bright, colourful paradise on the surface, littered with temples, shantytowns and strongholds, populated by NPC's who feel like they're actually living in this world. As well as the human denizens of Rook Island, there's a whole menagerie awaiting Brody's machete. Mountain Lions, Tigers, Bears, OH MY! And manta rays. So cool.

Character models are decent, but nothing too special. More fascinating is the amount of detail put into the first person animations, from tumbling after a fall, swimming, climbing, hang-gliding, it feels more like you are the character, and not just a camera attached to him.

The soundtrack is filled with dubstep-styled tracks, jungle drums and tribal chants, which really sells the feel of the island and its residents. The voice work is also really great, with Brody's cast of friends sounding like the spoilt douchebag 20-somethings of today, nailing the stupid tourist in a nightmare situation vibe. Characters like Vaas and Buck constantly remind you of how insane everything is. Also, theres a variety of kiwi accents on display for the NPC's, which is AWESOME!

GAMEPLAY
On the surface, Far Cry 3 is a first person shooter like so many other games. But look beneath that and you'll see it's sublime stealth mechanics, it's super cool skill tree and it's crafting system that borrows a little from Assassin's Creed 3 and Red Dead Redemption.

The basic gameplay is most definitely the shooting. Guns feel good to use, they have a nice weight and power to them. Especially the Desert Eagle. Goddamn is that thing powerful! The cover system works nicely, with just a button push seperating you from crouching behind a wall and aiming over it. The weapon variety is fantastic, from pistols and assault rifles, to flamethrowers and a recurve bow. It all plays into how you want to attack a situation.

The stealth mechanics are nicely implemented; it's easy to know when an enemy can see you, and there are systems in place to allow you to distract guards, as well as take them down silently. Takedowns in this game are awesome, as well as super violent. And the skill tree allows you to customize those to your every whim. Whant to stab a guy and silently take his friend down with a thrown knife? Go ahead. Want to steal your victims weapon after and shoot the rest of his patrol? Do it! Aerial assassinations and ledge takedowns all visit from Assassin's Creed too.

Now, as I mentioned, there's a skillt tree as well. The most noticable (and cool) part of it is that with each skill, Jason's arm Tatau gains a new symbol. With each skill learnt, Brody get's inked up like a badass!!!

The hunting system is fantastic, and having to use animal hides to upgrade wallets, loot sacks, holsters and ammo packs encourages the use of the hunting system.

Now Far Cry 3 is not perfect. But to be honest, aside from a few glitches, the biggest issue I found was with the enemy AI. Sometimes it can act as though it grew up drinking paint, other times it's einstien with a gun! But, it's only on rare occassions that the inconsistency of the AI is shown.

REPLAYABILITY
With strongholds to attack, Radio towers to scale, animals to hunt, bounties to cash in and minigames to play, Rook Island has a digital fuckton of things to do. And if you finish with that, theres a multiplayer mode. Though I'm not a huge fan, it feels like it was tacked on to tick a corporate box.

OVERVIEW
Here's the rundown: Far Cry 3 has excellent visuals, entertaining characters brought to life by immaculate voice acting, solid gunplay, satisfying stealth play and a living breathing world that you can get lost in for hours. It's not only high quality, it's also value for money, as I can see myself spending hours more exploring the island.

Next week, hopefully Hitman: Absoloution. If not that, then maybe a Wii U review? WHO KNOWS?! See you next time!

Playstation Allstars: Battle Royale

I know what you're probably thinking. Oh, I'm not going to play that, it's just a Sony rip off of Smash Bros, I'm not supporting plagiarism. Well I have some news for you. PS All Stars sets itself apart from its obvious inspiration. But, I'm getting ahead of yourself. Allow me to do my thing, and I'll let you know what I think of it.

STORY
Playstation All Stars doesn't seem to have an overall canonical story to call it's own. However, across the wide array of franchises and characters, each have their own reasons for competing in the battle royale. For instance, Dante goes in search of demons to hunt, whereas Jak and Daxter follow the trail of a new source of eco. As well as this, all the characters are paired with another in a sort of rivalry. It's adds an interesting spin to each Arcade mode playthrough.

Aside from that though, there's really no explanation of why the battle royale exists or why exactly the main nemesis has brought the combatants here. What is here are interesting spins on the cast's individual stories, and not much else.

PRESENTATION
To sum up PS All stars in a few words, I'd call it a Love letter to Playstation. The character roster is vast, and each character remains true to his or her own franchise, even with their various outfits. Drake has ouutfits from all three main series games, and all his moves pull straight from them too. For instance, most of his moves involve guns; one even brings up a piece of cover, adding a little bit of Uncharted's signature play style.

The music also draws from all this amazing source material, from the orchestral scores of God of War, to the heavy metal of Twisted Metal. It really does well in utilizing the great properties that have come together for this project. In fact, each characters voice is spot on, from Cole McGraths gravely voice, to Kratos' godly roar.

Last but not least, the environments have a cool feature where they take two properties and mash them together. You get sweet mash ups of things like Uncharted and Bioshock, God of War and Patapon, and Resistance and Ratchet and Clank.

The biggest downfall of its presentation is in the Arcade story mode. Each character begins and ends with a bunch of stills with a voiceover, while midway through they have an in engine cutscene with their specific rivalry. I feel like more could have been done with this, if only to flesh out a proper storyline here.

GAMEPLAY
Now we get down to the meat of it. Is Playstation Allstars Battle Royale fun? Hell yeah it is! Is it a shameless rip off of Smash Bros.? Well, it's obvious that Nintendo's mascot brawler was inspiration for it, but PS Allstars differentiates itself enough to carve out a name for it in the fighting game scene.

In Battle Royale, your main goal is to build up your AP meter so you can perform supermoves to score KO's. Performing moves successfully builds AP, pulling of bigger combos builds higher levels of AP, and falling off the stage or getting hit by stage hazards can cause you to lose AP..

Each character is a joy to play, with their own pros and cons. Characters like Kratos, Raiden and Nariko are heavily melee focused, while Drake and Radec play it better from afar. The roster is nicely varied and their moves are all nicely pulled from their respective franchises.

Probably the best feature of the gameplay is the risk/reward aspect of the Super meter. Do you use your level one and aim it to score the maximum amount of KO's? Or do you build up the level 3 super and activate it for a guaranteed multi-KO move? It all depends on how well you know the character's super moves, and just how quickly you can build up the Super Meter. It's a fantastic dynamic that keeps fights tense and interesting.

Now I would have preferred a larger roster, but as DLC characters have been announced (and will be free for the first week or so) it's not such a deal breaker. Otherwise, I find the gameplay to be immensely enjoyable, and a whole different beast to Smash Bros.

REPLAYABILITY
PS Allstars may not be as similar as one may think to Smash Bros, but it certainly has the fantastic party mentality that Smash has. Even without that, it's a fun game to practice and becoming amazing at character after character is truly rewarding.

OVERVIEW
Playstation Allstars is a brilliant game. I've been wondering for years why Sony didn't bring out a Smash Bros clone, and then when they finally do, it's actually quite different to the mascot brawler we all love. That said, it's simple to learn, difficult to master combat system, tense risk/reward Super Meter feature and it's amazing cast of characters and list of levels make it a joy to play. Playstation veterans should get in on this, as should fighting game fans. Smash Bros fans may find something they aren't expecting, and they may just like it.

Next week, it's looking like Hitman Absolution. Or maybe Far Cry 3. Or New Super Mario Bros. U. My Wii U is my new best friend. It hands down has the best Youtube capability out of any item in my home. And I'm not talking about it's Youtube app. I mean the browser version.
Anywho, see you next time!

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

First of all, I missed out on the last couple of weeks because I was on holiday. I was amazed that I actually got a review posted at all with Assassins Creed 3. Now that I'm back, however, it's time to jump straight in with Black Ops 2. Yes, it's that time of year again: will Black Ops just repeat the successes and shortcomings of its predecessors or will it go above and beyond to bring some much needed freshness to the somewhat stagnant franchise.

STORY
Straight off the bat, Black Ops II surprises with it's story, set in a surprisingly believable near future with a somewhat sympathetic, yet easy to hate villain. It's the first CoD I can remember that tries to tackle some of the horrors and mistakes of war without making it feel like it's just there for shock value.

Set in the year 2025, you control David Mason, son of Black Ops' protagonist Alex Mason, as he and his JSOC squad try to capture the leader of Cordis Die, Raul Menendez. During the campaign, you also play as Frank Woods, and Alex Mason in flashback missions, detailing some of Menendez's past and his involvement in the Mason family history.

The historical jumping around could have been terribly confusing, but it's handled well, and the story isn't affected badly by it. It's by far the best CoD story since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

PRESENTATION
Despite running on the same engine for so many years, Black Ops 2 manages to still look quite impressive. The colour range seems to have increased however, with one particular mission in the Cayman Islands standing out in my memory, just because it was so bright and colourful. Way better than the usual grayish brown levels.

Character animations remain smooth and clear, and facial animations in particular have increased in quality; it's most noticable in cutscenes, with wider ranges of emotion being shown than in any previous game in the series.

The adrenaline pumping score keeps up with the action on screen and the theme (composed by Trent Reznor of NiN fame) is pretty cool too. All in all, Blacks ops 2 is presented quite well. I'm still not sure that it's not time for an engine upgrade.

GAMEPLAY
As with every year, Call of Duty has delivered once again with some of the most solid gameplay mechanics in the FPS genre. If you've played a game in the franchise previously, then it'll all be very familiar. The action runs at a smooth 60 fps, theres a wide variety of loadouts to customize, and the AI is intelligent enough to provide a decent challenge.

The biggest change this year, at least as far as the campaign goes, is the level of customization. This year, you're able to customize your loadout before each mission, allowing you to try out a new piece of kit in each assignment. And the gear is all really cool, from target finding scopes, to collapsible stocks, to silencers, to scopes that provide an almost radar like view, showing you heat signatures through walls. Near future tech is sweet!

Continuing on the theme of choice, there are branching paths in the campaign, as well as multiple endings, all depending on the choices you make, conscious or not. Some choices are binary, allowing you the chance to kill or capture a target. Some are less voluntary: allowing a target to escape, instead of killing him and securing his hostage.

So to sum up the big changes to the CoD formula, I would say it's all about player choice. What gear you take into battle, how the story is affected. It's all up to you.

MULTIPLAYER
Instead of replayability, for this I'd like to mention the Multiplayer. The maps are nicely varied, the guns are cool, everything works as you'd expect. The big new feature is called Pick 10, and I'd like to praise it's inclusion. Creating classes with preset fields (main weapon, secondary, 3 perks, etc) is all well and good, but true customization is available when you can go without certain things, so you can add more features to your class. It allows for true personalization and flexibility with the multiplayer.

Add to that some robust zombie modes, where teams travel around multiple maps in search of clues, or grief each other, and you have more than enough reasons to come back to Black Ops 2.

OVERVIEW
If Black Ops 2 had only improved it's narrative, I'd recommend the hell out of it. As it turns out, however, it does so much more than that. It puts the focus on you, whether in the campaign, or the multiplayer. It puts itself in your hands and says "go wild". And you will. And you'll love it.

Next week, Playstation Allstars Battle Royale. Or Halo 4. Or Hitman Absolution. I don't actually know.

See you next time!

Assassin's Creed 3

I'm posting this from an IPhone, so we'll see just how well this goes. I played and finished AC3 in the few days I had before I went on holiday, so here's the review. Now be damn happy you're getting it!!

STORY
Assassin's Creed 3 picks up The story of Desmond Miles, former abstergo/Templar captive, now fully-fledged assassin, as he and his companions hunt for the key to stopping Earth's impending doom. To do this, Desmond relives the memories of Revolutionary assassin, Connor Kenway as he battles Templars in America's revolutionary war.

As a non-American, I must admit that my knowledge of the American Revolutionary War is limited at best. To the end of education, I found AC3 to be surprisingly helpful. For entertainment value, I strongly believe that it holds up against AC2 (the previous strong story in the franchise). Connor is a genuinely likable hero, a man who fights for what he believes is right, even calling out the founding fathers for owning slaves, whilst fighting for their freedom from British rule. Achilles Davenport provides the stern father figure for Connor, and their disagreements are filled with true emotion.

Speaking of father figures, AC3 has a fair share of big twists, the least of which involves Haytham Kenway, the heroes father. I won't spoil any more than that, but theirs more than enough in the games plot to keep you guessing.

PRESENTATION
Assassin's Creed has always been known for detailed settings and bustling crowds full of realistic looking citizens. AC3 takes the ball and runs with it, making 1770's New York and Boston come alive with people and animals alike. Suprisingly, however, the Frontier is the best environment in the game, with beautiful forests, winding rivers and wildlife to populate it. Helping the environments is the AnvilNext engine, which provides the game with seasonal weather changes that really top off the look of the game.

Voice acting in the game is great as always, with Nolan North reprising his role as Desmond, playing the now accepting hero exceptionally well. Connors voice helps to convey his strict adherence to his personal code of honor, and Achilles' has a very world weary (and fitting) voice.

The soundtrack is pitch perfect, ramping up in the massive battles with huge orchestral scores including pounding percussion, and then contrasting in the lonesome frontier with sparse music played with guitars and flutes. It all adds to the lone hunter feel of Connor, as the stalker of prey, and the wild beast on the battlefield.

Occasional pop-in of graphics and some rare poor voice syncing occur, but aren't prevalent enough to detract from the otherwise stellar presentation.

GAMEPLAY
The last big evolution in Assassin's Creed's gameplay was with Assassin's Creed 2. Coincidentally, with the first NUMBERED sequel since then, we also have the biggest departure in gameplay.

The previously smooth combat has been revamped to show off Connor's wild style of fighting. Brand new animations show off his vicious nature, while a simpler combat system means faster, and often more satisfying, battles. Instead of swapping between offense and defense, Connor only has one stance. From here, he can attack with primary and secondary weapons, break defense or counter. Four buttons, four possible actions.
Adding to this, after you counter, you can throw your enemy, disarm him, or kill him with his primary or secondary weapon. It's a simpler approach to combat, and like Batman: Arkham City, it's easy to learn, but difficult to master.

World traversal has also improved, but with less change, and more additions. The odd thing about The AC series so far, is that you can run all over walls and buildings, but climbing a tree can't be done. All that has changed. Tree running works surprisingly well, and you'll be seeing paths through the trees in no time. It makes a huge deal when the ground is under 4 feet of snow, which also impacts on traversal. Otherwise, building free running is just more of the same, with a little more shine to it.

With last year's Revelations, Ubisoft added the Den Defense mechanic, and it fell a bit short. This year, they're trying their luck with Naval Combat. This time, however Ubisoft have hit the jackpot. The controls are tight, the visuals and water mechanics are amazing and the mission constraints are nicely varied as well.

Hunting mechanics factor nicely into the economic systems, much like in Red Dead Redemption. It all works in favor of the living breathing world of AC3.

REPLAYABILITY
Once the main story is done, there are a hundred different things to do. Hunting Clubs, Frontiersmen and Boston Brawlers all offer side missions, while there are also courier missions and assassination contracts to take out. Once all this is done, you can go hunting, find Captain Kidd's treasure, liberate areas of New York or Boston and find Ben Franklins Almanac pages. There is so much to do in this game.

OVERVIEW
I can't speak highly enough about this game. It's highly reminiscent of one of my Favourite games of all time, Red Dead Redemption, whilst retaining the qualities that make Assassin's Creed such a unique property. With so much to do, there are most definitely things worth talking about more than others, but there's so much gold in this game. Assassin's Creed fans, go in with the warning that there are some big changes here.
I may have found my game of the year.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter

This is probably going to be my last review for a while, as I'll soon be going on holiday for a few weeks. Just thought I'd give you all a heads up.
Now, I'm hoping that I'll be able to post an Assassin's Creed 3 review before I get back, but if I don't, I promise I'll be making up for it when I get back.
As for right now, I'll be reviewing Medal of Honor: Warfighter. So let's get this started!

STORY
Medal of Honor: Warfighter picks up an undisclosed amount of time after 2010's reboot of the franchise, and follows the actions of Tier 1 operators as they try to foil a terrorist plot involving public bombings using high explosives. There's also a subplot involving one of the main operators, "Preacher", and his efforts to rekindle his troubled marriage. When his former professional life intersects with his family life, he must make a choice as to whether he can live without Tier 1, and the ability to protect his family.

The plot tries to differentiate from it's action movie inspired brethren (CoD), and you really get the sense that the guys at Danger Close have a deep respect for the Tier 1 operators. It's admirable, but it doesn't stop the story having problems. One thing about CoD campaigns is that you always know where you are, why you're there, and when in the timeline you're there. MoH:W doesn't achieve this, as the dates of each mission is set at various intervals in the past, and the destination of each mission is only ever mentioned once or twice. It makes the game seem like one big blur.

Adding to this is the lack of memorable or likable characters. No one has their own personality. They're all the typical sort of bro's that you might expect, and no one has any recognizable or relatable traits.

PRESENTATION
The most blatantly obvious thing about Warfighter is that the sound design is amazing. Guns sound like they pack a punch, while explosions and war-machines sound exactly as powerful as they should. Voice acting is rather bland on the other hand, but chances are you won't even hear any dialogue over the concerto of war as it is.

The graphics in engine are quite good, with lighting effects in particular something to be amazed with. Character animations are good, but the models themselves could use a bit of work. The landscapes are all fairly varied, with Flooded towns in the Phillippines contrasting with Terrorist inhabited caves in the Middle East.

Overall, the game looks pretty great, and it sounds fantastic. The cutscene graphics however are really impressive. The only problem is that certain characters fall pretty deep into the Uncanny Valley. The characters are so close to looking human, without looking perfectly human, that it looks a bit weird. Still impressive though.

GAMEPLAY
So we all know how FPS games work these days, right? You run from cover to cover, popping out to shoot enemies in some twisted version of whack-a-muslim, all the while following your invincible team-mates. MoH does little to differentiate from the formula, but when it does deviate, it really shines. For example, one mission requires you to chase down a sniper who has killed a contact that you were watching. This involves chasing him through the busy roads and back streets of Pakistan. It's a standout moment of the campaign, and to be honest, they're some of the best driving controls I've used in a First Person Game.

Other standouts include play metal gear solid in a car, as you try to avoid detection while escaping Dubai, chasing down a VIP on foot through OpFor bases as you dodge bullets and return fire, and hunting down a terrorist cell one by one like an American Military Batman.

Otherwise, the gameplay is pretty standard, and it works well enough. Guns are more modular, and the ability to switch between iron-sights and scope, full auto and semi-auto is nice. It gives a nice amount of freedom when approaching situations, but the fact that you can only approach from one direction kind of defeats the purpose.

Player characters have a nice sense of weight to them, as vaulting over cover and sprinting/sliding all feel and look natural, and adds a much needed sense of realism to it (if only to differentiate it from it's competition).

That said, MoH is very short, and most of the time, it follows the same pattern as every other modern war shooter today. When it strays from the path, it achieves moments of brilliance, but it doesn't do it often enough to make it worth playing the whole 5 hour campaign. Yeah. It's short.

REPLAYABILITY
MoH: Warfighter doesn't have a lot to keep people coming back for more. Yes, it's gameplay is solid enough to make me want to play it once or twice more, but at the end of the day, it only has multiplayer. And while it's a decent multiplayer suite (if you liked the last installment's, you'll enjoy this), it doesn't scratch the surface of what some other games are doing.

OVERVIEW
With a fairly weak and hard to follow story, unrelatable characters and a mostly by the books approach to gameplay, Medal of Honor doesn't do a lot to make me want to suggest it as a full price retail purchase. I mean, it does have its pros. The sound design is brilliant, the flexibility with most weapons is a welcome addition, and at certain points, the campaign becomes really amazing.

So if you've been waiting on the edge of your seat for Shooter Season 2012 to hit, then by all means, pick this up. It's not a bad game, but it misses some opportunities to claim the FPS throne. Mad shooter fans will get a kick out of this, but keep in mind my little niggling complaints.

Next week, HOLIDAY TIME! Hopefully, sometime over my break, I can get an AC3 review away. I hope to see you all reading again soon!

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

My busy weeks of gaming before my holiday (for my 21st birthday) continued this week with XCOM: Enemy Unknown. While it's no secret that I don't like RTS games very much, XCOM: Enemy Unknown struck me as far more personal experience. And so here we are!
Lets find out just how good XCOM EU is, shall we?

STORY
The premise of XCOM is that alien invasions have started popping up all across the world, and you are positioned as the commander of a multinational special ops force known as XCOM. The super secret Council of Nations tasks you with finding out the reason for these invasions, while also trying to keep all these involved nations calm.

As far as narratives go, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is pretty barebones. What makes it special is the emergent storytelling that comes with this kind of game. By naming and customizing your soldiers, you get a personal attachment to them, and thus their exploits and failures in combat make for great "watercooler" stories. You'll be sharing stories with mates about how your sniper held the line as your squad retreated with a VIP, or how your Heavy cleared the room before any enemies could get a shot away.

This may just be me, but I felt it difficult to just carry on when a squad member died. I'd always go to the memorial and take a moment to reflect on their exploits. Just a suggestion, you may find it more fun to name your squad after friends, family and coworkers. Alternatively, favourite musicians, authors, you get the picture.

PRESENTATION
There's no denying that XCOM isn't the most graphically amazing game. That said, the visuals do a decent enough job of establishing the mood. Tension is a constant feeling in XCOM, and the dark, rundown environments sell this really well. The remnants of vapourized civillians etched into the ground, the wrecked cars lining the streets, the fires that light the environments; they all add to the feeling of hopelessness and the tension.

The music also plays a large part in this. Generally, there are alot of high pitch string arrangements when the action is just on the horizon. When a bunch of aliens is encountered, a disjunct piano melody plays, and it amps up the creep factor. And then when the battles pick up, the music follows suit. It's all an effort in adding to the mood, and it works.

The character models are somewhat cartoonish, but visually interesting, and the voice acting is surprisingly good for the characters who have multiple lines of dialogue. The Council representative particularly speaks with an air of authority that sells him as the person you need to impress with your efforts.

Presentation-wise, there are a few things I have to complain about. The first thing is that, despite a large variation in map LAYOUT, the actual locations don't really vary. For example, I was tasked with stopping an alien abduction in Sydney, Australia. Later on, I was sent to stop an abduction in Leon France, and I could've sworn they were the exact same place.
Second, while your squad members don't talk ALOT, there's no accents that you can choose. Which is weird, because you've got a multinational team. A small gripe, but it did bug me.

GAMEPLAY
XCOM's gameplay is split into two halves. The first is the bigger draw of the two; the turn-based combat. If I was to compare it to something, I'd compare it to tabletop gaming (ala Warhammer). You take turns to move your squad and shoot with them, adhering to each class's specific rules. For example, some heavies can fire for their first move, and not have it end their turn. Snipers are unable to shoot after moving, support soldiers have smoke grenades, etc.

Making a well rounded squad full of Heavies, Assault soldiers, Support Soldiers and Snipers is truly rewarding, and having squad members survive long enough to become Colonels is awesome, because they absolutely destroy everything in their wake. It's like hitting the level cap in an RPG, with all your chosen skills.

The combat itself is surprisingly fun. It's also difficult. Lining up a shot on a flanked enemy and taking him down feels just as good as getting a headshot in an FPS. That said, care needs to be taken. Death is permanent, and one wrong move could prove disastrous. While flanking to get that killing shot, you could leave yourself open to an enemies killing shot.

The difficulty does ramp up a fair bit, as enemies become more dangerous and harder to kill as the campaign goes on. Add to that, the fact that losing an experienced veteran can be difficult to recover from, and the game can seem a little unforgiving.
If it's your first time playing, I would take the first playthrough as a learning experience, to make your second playthrough better.

The other half of XCOM revolves around building up your base, performing research and managing your resources. You're able to build labs to gain more scientists, workshops to gain engineers, satellite uplinks to be able to monitor more nations with your satellites. Your scientists allow you to research new ideas, and your engineers allow you to create and upgrade these ideas. This all flows into the combat half of the game. Then, the results of combat affect your international panic levels. This then flows into the funding available to manage your base.

The systems that make up XCOM all flow into each each other, and it really gives you a good look at the big picture. While many will probably give up once the difficulty sets in, I think the strategic, cinematic battles and base management will entertain both strategy fans and action fans alike.

Before I finish, I'd like to bring up a few small niggling complaints. Line of site is hugely important in this game, and MOST of the time, it's easy enough to figure out who you can and can't see. Occasionally, however, an overwatch shot will see you try to shoot through a wall. And that may actually work. Then sometimes you can physically draw a line of sight between two combatants, and you won't be able to shoot. It's weird, and I do hope it gets patched out.

REPLAYABILITY
XCOM: Enemy Unknown strikes me as the sort of game I could play over and over. Since the scenarios are randomly generated, it makes the game highly replayable. The option to play ironman mode (which restricts loading), the varying difficulties, and the multiplayer mode all give you value for money.
Speaking of the multiplayer, it gives you and a friend a chance to go head to head, alien vs human. It seems like more of a diversion than a fully fledged game mode, but it's fun enough.

OVERVIEW
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a refreshing game. It's graphics aren't stellar, and it's probably not at the top of anyones wishlist, but you'll get few experiences like it. The tense atmosphere, the strategic, thinking-man's combat, the detail in the base management; it all combines to make a game that requires care and thought, while still delivering action-packed sequences to get the adrenaline pumping.

It's gameplay is solid, with a few small cracks, and the story (while barebones) is enough to frame your own stories with your own soldiers. It makes XCOM feel like YOUR organisation. You are the Commander.

So, next time, I'm thinking Pokemon Black/White 2. See you next week!

Dishonored

This week, I was flooded with new games to review, as well as finally getting my hands on all of the GBA Pokemon games (jealous?), so the fact that I have a review ready to go is amazing to myself (especially when all these new releases hit shelves on Thursday). So, let's get on with it!

STORY
Dishonored takes place in the steam-punk, alternate world Victorian-London-esque city known as Dunwall, where the population is being overrun by plague infested rats. Those who have succumb to the plague become weepers; zombie-like beings who weep blood and attack uninfected citizens.

In this world, you control Corvo Attano, former royal protector to the empress and her daughter. After an assassination attempt sees him framed for regicide, it's up to Corvo to regain the missing heir to the throne and take revenge on all those who put you in prison. Along the way, Corvo enlists the help of a band of Loyalists, and a mysterious being known only as the outsider.

It's refreshing to be presented with such a unique world that feels as though it could all be real, while still maintaining an air of fantasy and wonder. It's citizens all feel like a product of this cursed City, and there are some really memorable characters to meet, such as Slackjaw and Granny Rags.

There's really no complaints that I feel I can level against the story told here. A lot of games use stories purely as the scaffold for the gameplay, but Dishonored has a great story to tell, and it compliments the gameplay, instead of being tacked on.

PRESENTATION
Dishonored has a great visual style that fits somewhere between Fable and Bioshock, with character models being stylized, but not quite cartoony. The level design is intelligent, allowing multiple approaches to any given situation, while still making sense visually.
The stages all have a victorian-london vibe to them, while some also have a very industrial look as well. There's a distinct feeling of hopelessness and ruin in the City, and it really sells the state of Dunwall.

The voice acting is superb in Dishonored; all characters, main or supporting, sound like real people who exist in this depressing society, from the creepy Granny Rags, to the snooty aristocrat Lord Pendleton. The game also features such talent as Susan Sarandon and Chloe Grace Moretz.

The music is fittingly tense, and picks up nicely once your cover is blown. To describe it in a word, I'd call it Tension-Building (it's one word If I hyphenate, so shut up).

GAMEPLAY
Dishonored's gameplay is based around Corvo's quest for redemption, which is presented as a series of attempts in getting rid of anyone who had a hand in his framing. Each of the game's missions is set in a mini sandbox, complete with multiple approaches to the mission, side missions and collectables.

The game provides you with a vast array of weaponry with which to take on the evils of Dunwall. Mini-Crossbows, Swords, Pistols, Proximity Mines and Grenades are all provided to make mincemeat of your enemies. That said, however, you're completely able to do a non-lethal run, with the use of strangle-holds and sleeping darts.

Corvo, as a player character, feels fast and fluid, due to his own personal agility, and the special powers bestowed upon him by the Outsider. Being able to jump, mantle and sprint across the mini sandboxes is a perfectly acceptable form of traversal, whereas you could also Blink (teleport) across the rooftops in a stealthy approach.

That's the beauty of Dishonored's gameplay. While many games will attest to being all about player choice, very few deliver. Dishonored does however. Do you spend all your Runes on powerful abilities like the Wind blast or killer swarms to kill all who stand in your way? Do you upgrade your blink and dark site to disappear and reappear across the city without alerting anyone?

Now most games would give you at least that much choice, but Dishonored also gives you multiple ways of dealing with Key targets. Non-Lethal playthroughs are truly non lethal, and Dishonored rewards you for exhausting all options. Do you poison your targets drink? Wind blast him out a window? Or do you brand him a traitor and have him shunned by the community, effectively neutralizing him.

It's one of the best games I've seen, not only when it comes to player choice, but also when it comes to first person stealth. It's clear when you're being seen by enemies, and just because one guy saw you, doesn't mean all his mates will too.

In all, Dishonored's gameplay is a good mix of simple stealth, solid combat, robust upgrades that tie in with your choice of play style, and the great level of choice that's on offer. Occasionally the controls will make you accidentally expose yourself to guards, but that may have been partly due to user error. My bad.

REPLAYABILITY
Dishonored isn't the longest game, as there are really only 9 main missions. The lastability of this game comes from the sheer amount of choice available to you, as far as how you approach these missions. Multiple variations exist on each mission at different aspects. How do you infiltrate the area? How do you make the assassination? How do you escape? Plus there are side missions that offer new information relating to each mission.

For example, I went for a non lethal first playthrough. Next time, I intend on cutting a bloody swathe through Dunwall. And it'll be awesome!

OVERVIEW
I want to cut straight to the chase here. Dishonored is shaping up to be my favourite game of this year. I love a great stealth game, and Dishonored is just that. It's also a solid First Person Action game. It's also a decent RPG. Add to that, the fact that the tale of Corvo Attano is an interesting one, and the City of Dunwall is a unique, living, breathing place to play.

The depressing, run down visuals really sell the feeling of desperation that the citizens of Dunwall have to be feeling, but the visuals are stylized enough that it doesn't just become grey and boring. It truly is a great game. It's an example of the best that games can be in this day and age. The choice, the solid mechanics, the story; I found it all to be quite superb.

Next time, I'll be reviewing XCOM: Enemy Unknown. See you next week!

EB GAMES EXPO 2012

Well well, another year's EB Expo is done and dusted. This year, I thought I'd make a short list of games I truly enjoyed, or games that really surprised me, and write little bit about my experience with them. So here were my best in show, in no particular order!

ASSASSINS CREED 3
So I played two different demos of Assassin's Creed 3, one at the Ubisoft booth, and one at the Wii U area. Now, the Ubisoft Demo took place during a mission for Connor to find a map fragment, a mission that can be found via the new naval gameplay system (allegedly). During my short time with the game, I saw Connor climb a cliff face, take enemies down silently with a number of different weapons, and got a feel for him as a character (via his new animations).

If the new animations are anything to go by, Connor is far more aggressive. His free running style seems a lot more fluid and natural, and the revamped combat system tries to keep you on the offensive.
It takes a little bit to get used to, but I found the new combat system to be fun and fast, as well as a refreshing change from the previous titles.

Now, the second demo took place on the sea. When I first heard of the Naval Battles, I had mixed feelings. Fearing that it would be a repeat of the tower defense, I hoped I would be proved wrong. And this demo has sold me on it. Lining up a power barrage of cannons and sinking an enemy is immensely satisfying, as is the ability to place one great shot into their munitions stack (and causing a sweet explosion). This experience was marred slightly by a few bugs that messed up Connor's combat animations after the boarding sequence. If we attribute these issues to the early build Wii U, then the Naval demo was surprisingly satisfying.

PLAYSTATION ALL-STARS: BATTLE ROYALE
While I would have joined most gamers in calling PS All Stars a shameless Smash Bros clone, after last weekend, I don't think I can. There are enough differences to say that, while still definitely influenced by Super Smash Bros, Playstation All Stars is it's own game.

The first difference is in the scoring system. While in Nintendo's fighter you score by getting opponents off the screen, PS All Stars forces you to hit enemies with your characters various supermoves. These supermoves are built up by wailing on the other combatants as hard as you can.
Another difference is in the fighters actual moves. Instead of having plain attack moves and special moves (based on their respective series), each character has 3 attack buttons that are completely unique to them.

Overall, the game is slightly more difficult to get straight into than it's Nintendo brother, but mastering a character feels that little bit more rewarding. The characters and their animations look great, as do the mash-up levels. I'm really quite excited for this game, as I've been wishing for a Sony Character Brawler since the very first Smash Bros, and it's shaping up to be something fantastic.

Aliens: Colonial Marines
At the Expo, 2K games came to showcase Aliens: Colonial Marines in the form of a number of multiplayer face-offs between Expo-goers and pro-gamers, marines Vs. Aliens. Instantly drawing similarities between it and Left 4 Dead, theirs a distinct tension in the air.

I gotta say, despite being up against Pro-Gamers, our team went suprisingly well, only losing by 4 kills. The gameplay is smooth and easy to pick up and go (assuming you've played a shooter before) and the teams are surprisingly well balanced. The marines get a nice array of weaponry, including assault rifles and shotguns, while also having access to motion trackers to keep an eye on any unseen foes. On the other hand, however, the Aliens can leap impossible distances, stick to walls, bleed acid, and kill quickly with melee attacks. The balancing factor here is that in a frontal assault, the xenomorphs are weak as hell.

This game is so atmospheric, with the dark and eerie hallways, the scrambling noise of Xenomorphs, and the beep of your motion tracker as an unseen enemy draws every closer. It's a whole lot of fun, and perfectly captures the essence of the Alien movies.

RAYMAN: LEGENDS
If there was any Wii U title to make me believe that the new Nintendo console was worth a buy, this was it. I loved the last Rayman game, believe me. The art style, the music, it had so much pure soul. Rayman Legends appears to be no different.

The platforming is smooth and quick, with intelligent level design and near perfect controls (using a wii U pro controller), Rayman Legends is as good as, if not better than, its predecessor. The biggest addition, however, is Murphy, Rayman's new green winged friend, who is controlled by the player holding the Gamepad. Using it's touch screen, you're able to manipulate certain platforms or walls, and using it's gyroscope, you can tilt hazards any way you choose. It works great, whether you're helping your friends, or griefing them.

Also worth a mention are Rayman Legends' more rhythmic levels, which make me think of a mix between good ol' platforming fun, and guitar hero style button timing. And the soundtracks are great!

FAR CRY 3
Given multiple attempts at a 15 minute open world demo for Far Cry 3, I'm left with one clear thought on it. Far Cry 3 is beautiful. Unlike Far Cry 2 (brown and desperate Africa), FC3 looks unbelievably good. The colours are bright and powerful, with lots of bright blues and greens. The tropical setting is amazing, and the fact that the setting is also open world makes me want to explore every inch of it.

Also there are tigers. And goats. And sharks. And fucking Manta-Rays!! The world of Far Cry 3 feels alive and breathing, and the gameplay fit's it perfectly, as your character's movements feel swift and wild, as well as accurate and easy to use. First person driving returns, and it feels a lot more natural than last time around, while hang-gliding and ziplining gives you multiple ways to travel the island. The variety of weapons is also great, with bows, pistols and various arrows to shoot from your bow.

GOD OF WAR: ASCENSION
This one's going to be short for one reason. We all know that the God Of War games provide a certain level of quality gameplay. So here's my biggest praise of the GoW:A demo. IT LOOKS AMAZING! The visuals are so breathtaking and colourful. That is all.

BLACK OPS 2
Ok, so we got to try the multiplayer of Black Ops 2, and while it's mostly the same, one thing really felt amazing for me. The pick 10 class customization allows for deeper personalization of classes, and lets you ignore items you normally don't use. Only knife? Take out your two guns and explosives and spend the extra on more perks! Want a sniper rifle and a shotgun, but no equipment? Go right ahead!

So that was just a small taste of what we saw at the EB Expo. I hope when these games come out, they're just as amazing for you guys as they were for me when I got a sneak peek. See you next time!

Borderlands 2

For those of you who haven't been reading these reviews for long, let me summarise my thoughts on the original Borderlands: not enough variety, no story, not that fun single-player.
So obviously, I wasn't a fan. But let it never be said that I don't give second chances. Since then, I played another notable 2K Published game. Look how that turned out (It was Duke Nukem: Forever, by the way). So now on with the Borderlands 2 review! Will 2K redeem themselves in my eyes?

STORY
Borderlands 2 picks up 5 years after the opening of the vault in the first game. Since then, a rare alien element known as Eridium has spread across Pandora, and Hyperion's owner, Handsome Jack, has almost conquered all the land in order to mine as much of it as he can.

The game begins with a failed assassination attempt on the four main vault hunters of this game. After being dug out of their snowy grave by Claptrap, the Vault Hunters make it their mission to take revenge on Jack; meeting a familiar cast of characters along the way. Also guns. A lot of guns.

The fact that Borderlands 2 actually has a coherent story, with a clear enemy to focus your efforts on, makes it infinitely better than the previous game already. Whether you're playing by yourself or with friends, you'll always have the goal of shooting Jack in his smarmy face leading you on like the proverbial carrot on a stick.
Not only does the story exist, but it's actually pretty good, with lots of twists, interesting characters and interesting locales, as well as a plethora of side stories.

It's still not quite Mass Effect, but it's an epic improvement on Borderlands. And it's really funny. It's almost Portal level in it's humour.

PRESENTATION
Like Borderlands, Borderlands 2 stands out from the competition with a cell-shaded visual style. Unlike it's predecessor, however, Borderlands 2 features a wide array of colours and a variety of different environments, keeping the visual style of the game interesting. In the same way, it's characters are all visually distinct an interesting, from the volumptuous Moxxxi, to the short, funny looking Claptrap, and interacting with these characters is equally interesting.

The soundtrack is very dubstep/electronic/rock filled, and fits the "shoot things in the face" mentality of the game. It's not too serious, but it gets you in the right mood for the gun filled violence to come.
The voice acting is pretty good, with characters like Handsome Jack coming across as both a maniacal douchebag AND a suave leader at the same time. Overall, the major characters you interact with are endearing, in part due to the perfectly cast voice acting.

Finally, the games animations vary. In combat, enemy animations are varied and smooth, whereas in conversation, characters seem very rigid.

GAMEPLAY
It's here that I found quite a large departure from Borderlands. I mean, yes, there are some substantial improvements that I've already mentioned, but the gameplay also gained a massive overhaul.

For starters, the new classes all work really well. The turret flinging Commando, the dual wielding Gunzerker, the phaselocking Siren and the cloaking assassin all have their own roles to play, but they're all surprisingly diverse. Their individual skill trees (of which there are three each) allow for multiple different approaches, from support, to offensive play styles, and defensive tank play styles. Playing in a group or playing solo are both viable as you'll have enough skills to combat any situation.
I found that this was more intuitive than the original Borderlands, as that often got quite overwhelming when playing solo, no matter how I approached the situation.

In keeping with the boost in variety seen in other areas (the characters, colours and locations), the combat also keeps you interested by throwing a larger amount and variety of foes your way. From the standard Skags, to Badass Bullymongs, to suicide robots and robots that make other robots.

There's also a larger emphasis on the changing statuses of enemies. For example, bandit Goliaths get enraged when you shoot there helmets off, causing them to attack their allies. On top of that, with each person he kills (friend or foe) he can level up, making him more difficult to kill. At the same time, it makes the experience and loot drops better. It adds a layer of strategy to Borderlands that didn't really exist before. The way that enemies interact with each other also keeps combat varied. Do you take on the legions of EXP Loaders and GUN Loaders, or do you take on the Constructor robot to stem the tide.

With all these great changes or additions to the formula that made Borderlands a favourite for so many (other) people, the base game still remains fairly unchanged. Unchanged, but refined. The gunplay feels smoother and faster, the rpg elements allow for multiple approaches to any fight, and maybe most important of all, the inventory system is vastly improved. Being able to sort by weapon type, mark junk items or favourite items and compare weapons easily makes the loot-fest undeniably fun. This coming from someone who isn't all that into loot-fests. While these aspects are good, the RPG and shooting aspects have been done better elsewhere. But, not every game has to be CoD or Dragon Age: Origins, and Borderlands 2 reinterprets these genres in a perfectly functional way.

HOWEVER, the fun of the loot-fest is diminished somewhat, by the claim of "bajillions of guns" that Gearbox have totally made good on. The problem here is, you'll often come across a randomly generated weapon that makes everything else you have look like crap. OK, fair enough. But then you take down a particularly difficult boss, and the loot is very mediocre. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but that makes the prospect of an upcoming boss battle that much less exciting.

The driving is still kind of shitty too. Just saying.

REPLAYABILITY
As of writing, I'm on the verge of finishing the main mission. I'm level 30, which is only just over halfway to the level cap. That took at least 16 hours to get to. Now add to that the advent of new game plus, allowing you to hit that level cap. Then after all that, you can always try out a new character. Then there's the multitude of challenges and trophies/achievements to get. And side quests. There's a lot of replay value here.

OVERVIEW
So, I didn't like the first Borderlands. It was repetitive, boring by yourself, and the only up side was that the gunplay was pretty good. There was no story to keep you going and alot of the game was just boring. I must say, Borderlands 2 has improved in almost every aspect. The addition of a central villain with which to focus your efforts on, as well as an interesting story surrounding a cast of fascinating characters keeps me wanting to play Borderlands 2. The loot-fest, RPG and shooting gameplay all work well, but have been done better elsewhere. As a combination of these elements, however, it's great.

In all, Borderlands 2 is what a sequel should be. It takes what the original was lacking and added to them, while taking the parts that sort of worked and polishing them to a mirror shine.

If you enjoyed the original, I would assume that Borderlands 2 would be more of the same fun for you. If, like me, you disliked the original, then I still wouldn't write this one off. It may not be the best game out this year, but it may be the best value for money you'll get.

LittleBigPlanet Vita

Two handheld platformers in one month? What's going on?? With Nintendo's flagship character recently jumping back into the handheld scene with New Super Mario Bros. 2, it's only natural that Sony would not only want a platformer that can stand up to the moustached one, but also a game that would make gamers say "I need a Vita, NOW".
So how does Sackboy's on-the-go outing stand up to the classic might of the mushroom kingdom? Is it worth a buy? Read on and find out!

STORY
LittleBigPlanet Vita builds upon the improved story features of the 2nd console game. Sackboy is transported to the world of Carnivalia, where a mysterious and malevolent force known only as the Puppeteer is sucking all of the Happiness and Joy from the world. Using his minions, the creepy Hollows, he tears parts of the world apart as revenge for the world booing his performances.

It's actually kind of an enthralling story, with the mystery surrounding the Puppeteer being one of the driving forces for wanting to continue the story. The character's are entertaining, particularly the Wannabe action star Shawn Brawn and the redneck daredevil, The Unbelievable Otis.

PRESENTATION
Despite being on a much smaller screen than it's console counterparts, LBPV is near indistinguishable from it's older siblings (visually, at least). The same craftwork visual style applies here, and the graphics are surprisingly smooth and detailed. The worlds all have their own unique vibe and interesting visual flair; from the action-movie inspired Jackpot City, to the junkyard themepark.

Keeping with the unique visual styles, the main characters (the creator curators) are all interesting and fun to interact with. The uber macho combination of Popeye and Snake Plisken that is Shawn Brawn, the insane sentient crash test dummy known as The Unbelievable Otis, the overzealous ringmaster Colonel Flounder; these are all interesting characters that I truly enjoyed spending time with.

The music, as ever, is varied, and perfectly suits each level it's on. The action movie score of the Jackpot City levels, the generic rock guitar in the junkyard rollercoasters and the circus music style of La Marionetta; they all add to the personality of this game.
Add to that, the pitch perfect voice acting that really sell the characters and the world itself.

I have no issues with the presentation in this game. Sure, alot of people may call it childish... But I think this is a breath of fresh air, in a gaming landscape filled with greyish brown shooters and by-the-books RPGs.

GAMEPLAY
Now this is where LittleBigPlanet Vita really sets itself apart from the rest of it's franchise. It's mainly because of it's change in platform, but before I get to that, I'm going to cover the basics.

The platforming feels as good as ever. If the floaty jumping put you off previous games, then it won't change your mind here. That said, I still find it easy enough to make precision jumps. The swinging and speed attack elements do their bit to keep you on your toes, while the puzzle sections keep your mind sharp without being frustration.

Now, with the move to Vita, LBP gains some new mechanics. While features introduced in LBP2, such as the creatinator and the grabinator, are still prevalent, alot of the game's focus is on the magic of "Touch".
Using the system's front and rear touch pads, blocks can be pushed in the background and foreground, respectively. They also allow you to move certain blocks, and pull mechanisms to use them as catapults. The uses are so varied and so well implemented that it never feels like the mechanic was JUST shoehorned in there. It works well, and doesn't detract from the main experience.

Other features, such as tilt, play into manipulating certain objects (swings) or vehicles (like a rolling ball).

So the core mechanics work as well as the older brothers of the LBP family, while also introducing system specific mechanics that aren't just shoehorned in. They make sense in the context of the game, and they're actually fun to use.

But, as I said earlier, if the floaty platforming mechanics are enough to turn you off the LittleBigPlanet games, then this will be no different.

REPLAYABILITY
Much like the previous LBP titles, there is potentially unlimited replay value here. Not only are there a multitude of costumes, stickers and decorations to unlock, but there are also the huge amounts of Player Created Content that will soon flood the servers. And if that doesn't do it for you, then there's the diverse, easy to use, difficult to master, level creation kit. The world is your sandbox. It's up to you to make it fun.

OVERVIEW
LittleBigPlanet Vita may just be the DEFINITIVE version of LittleBigPlanet, if only because it has the tightest controls out of the main games. On top of that, it inventively uses the unique ways to play without detracting from the main experience. The game oozes with personality, much like it's predecessors, and this game is honestly pure fun in the palm of your hand.
While he may not have the world renown of the Mario Bros, Sackboy is carving a name for himself in the Platforming arena, and I for one welcome the innovative, creative, personality driven games that continue being made around this lovable sack person.

In short, if you love LBP, and you don't have a Vita, it's time to get one, I think. If you have a Vita, LBPV is a must have for any self respecting game catalogue.

The next review will be Borderlands 2. Will it succeed where it's first installation failed in my eyes? We'll find out. See you next time!

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

You may remember that I reviewed War of Cybertron when it came out, and I remember it quite fondly as the only truly great transformers game. Two years have passed, and High Moon Studios are back to follow up their pre-cartoon game with a sequel. Which is also pre-cartoon. Will High Moon strike the same sweet spot? Will they surpass the previous awesomeness of War for Cybertron? Or will it disappoint on all points?

STORY
Following on for WFC, Fall of Cyberton begins at the end of the campaign, as the Autobots and Decepticons each try to flee their Dying homeworld of Cybertron. After some stunning battles, it flashes back to six days prior, where the War for Cybertron is in it's final days.
The campaign plays out the Autobot's and Decepticon's plans to escape their home, in order to find a way to save it, and dominate it, respectively.

The story is just as interesting, if not more so, than its predecessor, as it jumps between multiple characters and factions. One mission will have you playing as the Autobot Leader, Optimus Prime, as he scrambles to hold back a wave of Decepticons, or as the Decepticon "Combaticon" Vortex, as he attempts to sabotage an Autobot convoy. It adds a nice amount of variety, instead of just giving you control of only a couple of characters (or multiple characters who don't vary much at all).

I will say, however, that the game (however interesting) is quite short. A little under 8 hours. It's not quite "Homefront" bad, but it sure ain't "Darksiders 2".

PRESENTATION
Like the previous game, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron looks great. Unlike War for Cybertron, however, there's a lot more variety in the visuals. From the dark void of space, to the red, dusty visuals of the Rusted Ruined Autobot City, each level has it's very own feel, which I appreciated alot after the samey metal corridors of the last game.

The music is largely forgettable, but serves it's purpose well enough, helping the combat scenes feel suitably epic. The voice acting on the other hand is spot on. Peter Cullen reprises his role as Optimus, as Fred Tatasciore does with Ratchet and Megatron. And in a move that fanboys will love, I'm sure, Gregg Berger voices Grimlock for the first time in twenty five years. Also lending their talents are video-game mainstays Nolan North and Steven Blum.

GAMEPLAY
While much of the gameplay remains the same between the War and the Fall, there are some differences that I feel benefit the sequel. For example, each new chapter features a different Transformer. This allows for unique gameplay in each section, whether that be Optimus' ability to call down airstrikes and control Metroplex, Grimlock's Dinobot form, Starscream's sabotage abilities or Swindle's grappling hook.

Much like with the story, this keeps things varied and fresh, and it definitely made me want to keep playing to see who or what came next.
There are a couple of cool variations on the multi-character feature. Swapping between characters/chapters is almost seamless in certain chapters (like changing from Starscream to Grimlock [play it and see what I mean]) and the finale features so many different Transformers and transitions that it really stands out in my mind.

Overall, the shooting feels quite a lot smoother, but it's sad to see that no Transformers have a signature weapon. Weapons are free to switch out, but it makes me feel like the gunplay aspect of each character is NOT unique.
Vehicle sections, on the other hand, feel alot more smooth and deliberate, as certain situations just call for you to transform and get the hell out ASAP.

Minor problems still persist, there isn't a huge variety of enemies. There's a few more than in War, but still not many. And there's no boss fights! Trypticon was fantastic in War for Cybertron. The end fight is close, but still not fantastic as far as boss fights go.

REPLAYABILITY
Unlike the first game, there are no collectibles here (as far as I could tell), so unless you're replaying the campaign for the sake of it (which I will be), you'll find most of the replay value in the multiplayer. Which is OK, because the online game is some of the most fun I've had with an internet connection .
Normally, I wouldn't go on about multiplayer, but Transformers: Fall of Cybertron has some of the best I've seen in years. Tight controls, fun vehicle(ish) combat, great customisation, excellent battlefield traversal and just enough emphasis on class tactics. Each class is a viable option to compete, and they're all fun to play.
Good stuff, really.
It also has the obligatory horde mode, but if you've seen one, you've seen them all.

OVERVIEW
I enjoyed War for Cybertron two years ago. And now, with the long awaited release of it's sequel, I can honestly say Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is the superior game. The main improvements all have to do with variety, whether that be of the scenery, the characters or the actual gameplay itself. The story is interesting, the voice acting is great, and the gameplay (for the most part) is improved in subtle ways. Transformers fans should get this game, as should fans of a good shooter.

Next week, I review... I don't know. Perhaps Borderlands 2? Or LBPVita if it's out.
Anyway, see you next time!

New Super Mario Bros. 2

Hooray, it's time for my first 3DS review! While not my first 3DS game, this IS the first 3DS game I've had to review soon after it came out. Woohoo relevancy! So yes, I've played New Super Mario Bros and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and still, the title "New Super Mario Bros" anything seems like a misnomer. But whatever, semantics aside, it's time for the review!

STORY
Assuming you've played one of the New Super Mario Bros games (or any Mario game, really) this should be old news to you. Bowser's kids (the Koopalings) decide to kidnap Princess Peach, and being two of the only capable beings in the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and Luigi set off to rescue the damsel.

Sound familiar? I know that people complaining about the lack of innovation in Mario games (or Nintendo games in general) is not a new thing, but a little bit of change wouldn't go amiss. I mean, while pretty much a different game, didn't people enjoy the original Super Mario Bros 2? Obviously they did, because it got remade for the GBA. Why not add some of those features into the New Super series? Sure, it's not necessarily innovation, but it's different from the Bowser kidnaps Peach story.

Aside from the bare basics of the game, there really is no story here. It's terribly disappointing.

PRESENTATION
As with the others in the "New" series, the graphics are pleasing, and the 3D update to the old sidescrollers is still a good look. Despite that, I'm yet to see any real new environments or visual themes in the game. If it wasn't in the original Mario Bros. series, then chances are it came from somewhere in the "New" Franchise.

Similarly, the music isn't anything new. Super Mario #D land had some cool audio ideas, but NSMB2 just uses the familiar old tunes. Sound effects are pretty much ripped from your childhood. The A Capella style for the music is charming, but tends to get old fast.

For the most part, the 3D effects don't detract from the game, but they don't add much to it. They just blur the background, giving you a sense of distance. I will say, however, that during the final boss, the 3D effects look pretty sweet.

GAMEPLAY
Here's where things get a little new, but I'll get to that in a moment. For the most part, NSMB2 plays just like the Mario platformers of recent times. You'll run, jump, ground-pound, wall jump and collect power ups to reach the flagpole or boss battle at the end of each level.

The raccoon tail makes a return via the superleaf, allowing you to take a run-up and fly, as well as series staples: the fire flower and the invincibility star. There is a new power-up however. The Golden Flower allows Mario to transform whatever he shoots into gold coins. And here-in lies the biggest new "feature" in the game.

New Super Mario Bros 2 is the first Mario Bros game I've ever played that had an actual focus on collecting your everyday golden coins. I mean, they've always been there to give you a life per 100 coins, but have you ever gone out of your way to get coins?
No. You haven't. Unless you really needed a life.

NSMB2, however, spurs you on your money grubbing adventure by having a persistent coin counter. Every coin you collect over the course of the game comes here, and the overall goal of the game (Past beating bowser and his kids) is to get one million coins. It certainly makes coin collecting seem alot more important, and new features like the Golden Flower or golden ring (which makes enemies produce coins) give you opportunities to fill your wallet.

But what do you get at the end of it all? Honestly, without wanting to spoil it, your reward seems hardly worth it (though I'll leave that up to you guys to determine).
At the end of the day, you probably aren't here for the coins. Though you can't count on Mario for interesting stories or innovation, you can always count on the fat little Italian for solid platforming action.

REPLAYABILITY
Like any Mario outing, the gameplay is fun enough for you to come back just on the gameplay's merits. That said, there are still plenty of star coins to collect, as well as secret worlds to visit. And if that's not enough, theres always the million gold coin challenge. Replay value is quite high here.

OVERVIEW
Like many recent Mario games, Nintendo has decided to rely on the past again for a few quick bucks. Mario games will always sell, if only because the gameplay is always fun. In saying that, however, the game just doesn't seem to have a soul of it's own. It's only new features seem to concern the collection of money, which I guess could be saying a thing or two about Nintendo at this stage.

What I'm trying to say is that New Super Mario Bros. 2 is fun. It plays well. But if you've played the other 2 "New" games, or even any of the older titles, then you've already played this game. If you want something fresh, this is not the game for you.

Next time, we take a look at Transformers: Fall of Cybertron.
See ya!

Darksiders 2

Running a bit late on this review and I apologize, but there is a reason for this. Darksiders 2 is a BIG game. Most sources say its about 20 hours, but it's not quite that long. Factor in personal commitments (you know, work and stuff), and that leaves me with less time than I'd like to get into a game of this size. BUT, all that said, I have completed it, and I can safely say I'm ready for this review.

STORY
If you played the first Darksiders, you should be ready to pick up and play Darksiders 2. If not, here's what you need to know. As the forces of heaven and hell collide on earth, War (the horseman of the apocalypse), rides in to fulfil his responsibilities. However, the last of the Apocalyptic Seals was not broken, and the Horseman's interference is blamed for causing the end war too soon. The events of Darksiders take place roughly 100 years after the accidental apocalypse, after War has been held captive by the Charred Council (keepers of order in the universe).

Now, while this has been happening, what of the other 3 horsemen? As War strove to prove his innocence, his brother, Death, went about clearing War's name another way.
To exonerate his fellow horseman, Death seeks a way to restore humanity to the balance, thus reversing one of the most noticeable effects of the End War (humanity's extinction).

As epic as the story sounds, it seems to take a while to gain traction. While Death's goal remains the same over the duration, it barely get's mentioned after the first few conversations. Despite all his efforts aiding in his search for a way to restore humanity, Death seems to get sidetracked with other peoples problems, which is standard fare for video games, but those stories tend to take centre stage.
In particular, Death's main goal is overshadowed by the ever present Corruption, which hinders the Journey at every turn.

In all, while the game does flesh out the world a bit better, the main story is unfocused, as what would appear to be a minor plot point seems to take up most of (if not all) the story, while the overarching goal really only comes to the forefront around halfway through the quest.

PRESENTATION
The overall feel of Darksiders 2 seems to be, let's make it bigger and better. While Darksiders felt suitably epic at the time, Darksiders 2 blows it's predecessor out of the water. The environments are huge; instead of the Hub world that connected all of Darksiders' levels, Darksiders 2 is made up of 4 or so huge, open world maps. These act as the Hub world between dungeons, but it's so huge that it all feels like one big organic world. Sometimes, however, it feels a little too big. It's not as densely populated as it should be, giving the game a rather empty feel at points.

The game is accompanied by a suitably epic orchestral score, and the slashing and smashing sound effects of combat all add to the visceral feel that is essential to a game like this. And whenever you aren't killing something, you'll be treated to some suitably larger than life voice acting as Death deals with beings older than time itself. Death in particular is more likeable than War, if only for his highly sarcastic, narcissistic tone of voice and way of interacting with others.

GAMEPLAY
If you were of the impression that Darksiders ripped too much off from games like God of War, Zelda and Portal... Well, I have some bad news. Darksiders 2 is all that, and more. It's combat is highly reminiscent of God of War, it's just as fast paced and visceral as the game it's paying homage to. Where it falls short in this aspect is the depth of the combat. D2 does have some timing based combos, where shorter or longer pauses can affect how the combo plays out, but there just doesn't seem to be a whole lot of variety.
Luckily, D2 also borrows from games like Diablo and Borderlands, giving players access to copious amounts of loot with which to customize their Death. Being able to choose different weapon combos does provide a certain amount of variety that it would be sorely lacking otherwise.

The Zelda style exploration and back tracking returns, forcing players to utilize many skills and gadgets along their journey. The grappling hook style Deathgrip and Portal-gun-esque PhaseWalker are similar to features in the previous game, but new toys such as the Soul Splitter make some of the puzzle work quite interesting and refreshing, especially when certain gadgets are combined.

As I said before, the over world can feel somewhat underpopulated, and because it's so big, traversal can get annoying. On foot, it would take forever to get from point A to point B, but with Despair (Deaths Horse), things speed up a little. In the Dungeons, where Despair is unavailable, it's a different story. Death moves so slowly while walking, and there's no sprint button. I found myself dodge rolling forward to go a little faster!

With that in mind, Death isn't always slow. Unlike War, platform traversal with Death is swift and fun. Wall running, climbing, swinging and jumping all feel natural after a little moment of adjustment, but I still feel like something as simple as a double jump would have made the game flow a little smoother (if only in the beginning stages).

So with some features from God of War, Portal, Zelda, Diablo and Prince of Persia, there were alot of possible outcomes. Instead of being a schizophrenic mess, or shameless rip-off, Darksiders 2 becomes it's own game that utilizes it's gameplay elements well together. It may not be as good as the some of it's parts, but it is it's own unique game because of them.

REPLAYABILITY
As I said at the top of this review, Darksiders 2 is a long game (at least by today's standards). I completed the main questline in somewhere between 13 and 17 hours, but there are quite a few side quests to complete as well. In fact, four of the best boss fights in the game belong to one such questline.
On top of that, there's collectible book of the dead pages, as well as special artefacts and stones of power.

OVERVIEW
While many could say that Darksiders 2 is highly derivative of alot of other games, I'm of the camp that says, yes, it features mechanics prevalent in other games, but Darksiders 2 brings them together in such a way that it feels like it can stand on it's own two feet. Puzzle solving and platforming are played out quite well with the use of various gadgets, and the combat is fast and visceral and fun.

Problems like and empty overworld, controls that take some getting used to, a truly painful run speed and an unfocused story do take away from the experience, it's true. But after spending such a long time on this game (comparatively speaking) I can honestly say that I don't feel like I've wasted time here.

As always, thanks for reading to those who are, and next week it's either New Super Mario Bros. 2 or Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. See you next time!

Sleeping Dogs

As promised, this weeks review is for United Front Games' open world crime sandbox, Sleeping Dogs. And if you haven't heard alot about it, you aren't the only one. Sleeping Dogs flew under the radar of all but the most news-hungry gamers. Sleeping Dogs began as the third instalment of the True Crime series, but a long series of setbacks and the game changing hands, it eventually fell to Square Enix and United Front Games as Sleeping Dogs. So is it a hidden treasure, or is there a reason for it to be so far off radar? Find out below!

STORY
Sleeping Dogs takes place in crime-ridden Hong Kong, where the police struggle against the triads for order, and the triads struggle with each other for power. Into this struggle, enter Wei Shen, former Hong Kong native, turned American undercover cop. Wei returns home to infiltrate the triads by way of his childhood friends (who all conveniently run with the gang), and rises through the ranks to take down the Red Poles (leaders) of the group.

This may just sound like a unique twist on the same old "go into sandbox, tear shit up as a criminal, win all the shit" story that is Saint's Row or GTA, but the undercover aspect of Wei's adventure is a far more interesting take on the formula than I originall thought. Alot of the game deals with who Wei gets close to, and as the line between enemy and friend blurs, Wei gets deeper into triad territory. There's alot of character development on Wei's side as he deals with the pressures of being undercover in this dangerous situation.

PRESENTATION
First thing's first; while Sleeping Dogs isn't the most graphical pretty game around, I find that it brings an Authentic feel to the sandbox of Hong Kong. On top of that, while the people don't look amazing, the blood and sweat effects (especially when combined) look great, and give Wei the look of having won a hard fought battle.
The colours are bright and vibrant, and it all looks really cool.

The animations (especially during the hand-to-hand combat and free-running) look really cool and fluid, as if they were pulled straight from a kung fu movie. As well as that, when the tyres on vehicles are shot out, they do a sweet barrel roll. It looks great and it feels rewarding as hell.

The soundtrack is great, filled with a whole lot of sweet metal (Thank God for the Roadrunner records channel), and also a lot of classic rock, and some more asian sounding stuff. Sorry I don't have a technical term for that. And the voice acting is pretty fantastic, though it's a shame to see the voices of stars like Lucy Liu and Emma Stone used so little. But, the actor for Wei is so passionate and emotional in his delivery of lines that it's hard not to like him, or at least sympathise with him.

It's not all great though; the occasional texture pop-in, and glitch where people are halfway through the geometry, but they don't occur often enough to be distracting.

GAMEPLAY
Now when you read Open-world crime sandbox at the top, did you immediately think this was going to be a GTA clone? Fair enough, but would you be surprised to hear me say that it's not? Or at least, it isn't completely. Yes, you have an open world. Yes, you drive cars. Yes, you shoot and kill other people. But there are many differences that make it something more than a GTA Clone.

For one, it's hand-to-hand combat is miles better than the last GTA. If anything, it's more reminiscent of Arkham Asylum, where it's simple to use, but deep enough that it takes practice to master. You're able to strike, counter and grab opponents, while also being able to utilize weapons and environmental hotspots (for quick and gruesome executions).

The driving is also a bit more arcade-y than GTA, with a lot more of an action movie feel. While the basic driving mechanics are the same, you're also able to action hijack other cars, while still in motion (a-la Just Cause 2). Your ability to powerslide around turns is much better than GTA, which may be an after effect of UFG's last game, Modnation Racers.

The gunplay takes a backseat to the rest of the action, as guns are surprisingly scarce in Hong Kong. But when Wei does get his hands on firearm, you know shit's about to go down. The aiming feels precise, and surpisingly fast, while the guns themselves sound awesome and look like they pack a punch. The highlight of the gunplay however, is the bullet time mechanic. Not a simple case of switching it off or on, like in Max Payne, Sleeping Dogs triggers slow motion whenever you vault over cover and aim. It's then possible to chain multiple kills to keep the slow motion going until everyone but Wei is dead.

Last of all, the free running feels about as exciting as the car chases. Whenever a chase on foot occurs, you can expect to slide over chest high objects, leap off of tall structures and climb over walls. It all looks fantastic and is really quite simple.

The last real point of interest for Sleeping Dogs is the levelling system. Because of the dual nature of Wei's story, you have multiple Experience trees. One is the cop tree, rewarded for being cautious and careful; while the triad tree rewards players who are vicious and dangerous. It's possible to get all three stars in both trees, but it adds a nice level of challenge to the proceedings. On top of that, with each skill tree, you get new unlocks to change up how Sleeping Dogs plays.
Add to that the Face Exp tree, which allows for better car and clothing purchases.

On the downside, Sleeping Dogs seems to lack the freedom of GTA or Saint's Row. You can't hold more than one weapon at a time, and despite having the ability to go insane and homicidal, the fact that Wei is a cop makes it feel weird. This might just be me, however.

REPLAYABILITY
Like any good sandbox game, Sleeping Dogs has a lot of shit to pass the time. Want to bet on the cockfights? Go ahead. Street Racing? Hell yea! Karaoke?.... I suppose. Sure. On top of all this, there are drug busts (chances to be an actual cop) and face missions (where you get your face out there and help people).
There's also the opportunity to replay story missions and increase your cop/triad rankings.

Add to this the multiplayer-esque score rankings (for most kills in a row or clean driving etc) that compare your scores to the online community, and you have an assload to do in Hong Kong.

OVERVIEW

While Sleeping Dogs isn't the perfect game, it is one of the best I've seen this year. No it doesn't have the best graphics, yes some of the voice acting seems terribly racist, and yea, occasionally some of the controls feel a little awkward. But for the most part, these aren't problems. Despite the graphical quality, Sleeping Dogs is still visually interesting, and the bad voice acting is heavily outweighed by the great voice acting, and 90% of the time, the controls work well.

The game is a lot of fun, the parts that make it up are truly fantastic to play. The story is also a must see. It's far more interesting than the standard sandbox crime game fare. Sleeping Dogs has flown under the radar, but after reading this review, I hope that it appears on most of yours. Because it's the type of game that truly deserves to be played.

Next week, Darksiders 2. Then either Fall of Cybertron or New Super Mario Bros. 2.
See you next time!