James Noir's Hollywood Crimes

I got my Nintendo 3DS at the beginning of the year, along with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This is my favorite game of all time and, I'll admit, the only reason I traded in my DSi for the 3DS was to play Ocarina again. While I love Ocarina, it's also a huge commitment. It takes dedication, and then there are all the little side quests you can do. Then once you've completed the game you get to play the "Master Quest" version. Needless to say, I got my sword and shield at the beginning of the game and.... That's as far as I got. I wasn't prepared to dive into a game that I knew would consume my life for the next several weeks. So I began my own real life quest to find a decent 3DS game that I could pick up, play for an hour or so, and then tuck away without going into withdrawal. That game was James Noir's Hollywood Crimes.

You are a contestant in an early 1960s game show in which you compete to solve puzzles. The first week your competitor plays the game and sees how many points he can score by solving puzzles of varying difficulty. The harder the puzzles, the more points you can earn. You get to play during the second week to try to top his score, or at least garner enough points to move onto the next round. Oh, and there's a serial killer on the loose killing former contestants and you're helping the FBI solve puzzles left at the crime scenes. Everyone involved with the show is a suspect. Heck, you're even a suspect even though you're trying to help catch the murderer. Who is the killer, and will you beat your competitor to claim the top prize? Or will you die trying?

Okay, the drama here isn't exactly riveting, but more like when a sitcom tries for a heartfelt episode when the family pet dies or something. There are two reasons to play this game: the puzzles and the graphics. If you're a fan of the Professor Layton series for the DS, this may be up your alley. Granted, the Professor Layton puzzles can be a bit more difficult and offer more variety, the Hollywood puzzles can be enjoyable, if not predictable after a while. Oh gee, another puzzle where I have to slide puzzle pieces around to move one particular piece into a highlighted spot? The fun never ends! But seriously, the puzzles aren't half-bad - just don't expect a huge variety.

This is only the second 3DS game I've played, but I must say that I was very happy with the graphics. Real actors are used in the video game so it plays out almost like a movie. When they talk, their mouths move, but their words (if you can call them words) don't match the audio. It's as if you were watching a dubbed foreign film. The style is definitely 1960s from the clothes, the hairstyles, and even the opening credits of the fake game show. The 3D effects aren't as impressive as, say, Ocarina, but they were decent enough.

Although James Noir's Hollywood Crimes is worth a go-around and I've enjoyed playing it, it's not a keeper. Besides the puzzles being repetitive, there are also loads of typos throughout the game and the game itself is pretty short (you could probably knock it out in five to six hours). Sure, you could play it again to solve all the puzzles you passed up during the first run-through, but after that you're going to want to trade it in (at Slackers, of course) for something different.

Review - Dead Island

What originally turned me onto this game was one of the best trailers that I have ever seen. It depicts a reverse time scene of a man and his wife trying to save their daughter from the infected in the hallways of the hotel where you start. Even better, is that in the beginning of the game, you can find this couple, dead on the floor, holding hands. Which is nice, in that it adds a touching moment to an otherwise brutally violent and kind-of silly game. What worried me about it was the fact that it was a CGI trailer and I worried that the game wouldn't really look that good.

Not only did it meet my expectations, it surpassed all of them. Dead Island is a game that somehow manages to blend the feel of an RPG, the hack and slash of an adventure game, the loot grabbing of a dungeon crawler, and the feel of a George Romero film. All of this is wrapped in an idyllic setting that lulls you into a false sense of security before throwing hordes of infected at you. As you wander the lush beaches and beautiful jungles you must always be on the lookout for an infected lying in wait. Even amongst the turmoil of the infection and slaughter, you will find yourself pausing just to stare at the beautiful scenery.

Unfortunately for Dead Island, this beauty is both a blessing and a curse. It is plagued with laggy visuals, horrendous texture pop-ins, and numerous graphical glitches. Whenever you exit a loading screens, you will have to deal with texture pop in that can take up to a minute to take full effect. Even after this time, you'll come across alleys with stuttering floors, or zombies that rapidly switch colors. Unfortunately, this mars the otherwise beautiful game and can really break your immersion and bring you out of the gameplay.

Fortunately for Dead Island, these graphics glitches don't really impact the mechanics of gameplay in any way. They frequently look beautiful, and when they look bad, usually you can get over it. I say usually because several times in the course of my game, the textures would not pop-in at all and I would have to quit and reload in order to make them work. Other than that, all of the graphical glitches are not game breaking at all, just immersion breaking.

Primarily a melee based game, you are able to target specific limbs and cripple them either through breaking or cutting, allowing you to limit your enemies combat abilities. To cut, you use a bladed weapon, and to break, you use a blunt weapon. Every time you perform these crippling moves, you earn extra experience than you would if you had just cut its head off. The best part of this system are the animations that accompany these moves. When an arm is broken, it just hangs limply down, flopping around uselessly whenever they try and use it. Break a leg and the zombie will collapse to the ground. If you don't do this, you will find yourself overwhelmed very easily, maybe a little bit much so. The reason for this, is the fact that the enemies level with you, so no matter what, the zombie you are fighting is going to be plus or minus two levels from you, making every fight the same.

In addition to the melee combat, guns are available later on in the campaign. The guns are broken down into three categories: rifles, pistols, and shotguns. When you finally do acquire one of the guns, you will find that ammo is exceedingly rare, and really the only way to acquire any amount of it is to buy it, make it, or scavenge it off of the dead humans. The downside is, these guns are ridiculously underpowered, sometimes taking as many as five shotgun shells to the chest to kill one zombie, where a single machete blow will do the job.

Normally this combat system works fairly well, but after a while, the combat becomes slightly repetitive and stale, broken up only slightly by either a firefight with some uninfected humans, by throwing weapons, or by using your "rage" ability. This ability is unique to each of the four characters and allows you to enter a super human-esque killing spree for several seconds after you "rage" meter fills up. For example, the character I played as was a throwing specialist, so when his meter filled up, I pulled out a handful of throwing knives and went to town. Another character pulls out a pistol and guns down everything in front of her, and a third uses something reminiscent of a beserker from Borderlands, forgoing weapons and using his fists to beat down his enemies.

These powers are unlocked through a skill tree, which is basically the same as any skill tree you've ever used. There are three separate columns, with each either benefitting your combat skills, rage skills, or survival skills. Combat usually increases damage, rage increases the duration and damage of your rage, and survival increases heath, rare loot chance, and luck. These trees allow you to slightly customize the way you play, allowing you to either DPS, tank, or maybe be more of a ranged character. No matter what, it's up to you.

One of the most important things in a Diablo type game is the loot, and here it is as plentiful as I've seen in any game, save Borderlands of course. The weapons are color-coded by rarity, with white being the most common, and orange the most rare. Usually, the more rare items are received as quest rewards or found in containers that are scattered around the world. Once you have these items, you can bring them to workbenches and customize them to the way you play with various weapon modifications that range from fire, electricity, and poison. With these modifications come millions of possible ways to customize your load out, and you obtain these mods either as quest rewards or in prespecified locations in the game world. Each requires certain bits of items, from batteries to duct tape, in order to build them.

The quests really can be broken down into either fetch quests or kill quests. Hey, ________ (insert player name here), I need you to go _______ (location) and get/kill/talk to _________ (item/zombie/NPC). But even with that dynamic, I find myself falling into the one more quest mentality, spending hours playing when I had originally planned to spend only minutes. I just wish that there was a little more variety in the mission type.

Add a shoddy driving mechanic, where it is nearly impossible to steer anything at top speed, and a okay voice acting cast and you get what seems to be a terrible game on paper. But it's not. I love this game. For all of its fault, I love it. I love the repetitive quests and combat, I love the bad driving, and I love the voice acting. I dumped hours upon hours into it, and I don't regret a single second. It's a good game on the brink of being great, but graphics glitches and repetitive game play mar this game irreparably. I love it, but that doesn't disguise the fact that it is flawed.

The Amazing Spider-Man Review - The Web Won't Let You Go

How do we review a game that has already been hailed as a stunning success by one and all?

To return to a recognized classic is always a risky business!

Angry Birds. Super Mario. Grand Theft Auto. Now add one more game to the list of classics: The Amazing Spider-Man. The wait is finally over. The eagerly anticipated, enthusiastically awaited game has finally hit the marquee. Gameloft's The Amazing Spider-Man has been released and is ready to sweep you off your feet!

The Amazing Spider-Man is undoubtedly one of the best movie based mobile games to have been released in the last few years. It has a story to tell, a mission to accomplish and a task to fulfill. The game is set as an epilogue to the movie, The Amazing Spider Man, which released in theatres across the globe with excellent critical and commercial success. The game is going to repeat history as it has everything it needs to rule the charts.

If you've seen the movie, you'll love it even more. And, if you haven't seen the movie, it will make you watch it! It is a third-person action adventure that keeps you glued. The game is designed to serve only one purpose, which it to entertain the players. And it passes the test with flying colors.

The game features excellent graphics. They are flawless, and it's a pleasure watching Spider-Man swing between buildings and rooftops. Watching spidey doing his things, the somersault and acrobatic moves perfectly, is a treat to the eyes.

The game is Peter Parker's quest to defeat the evil and save the city. However, for some this might be a negative thing. The game gives out the plot of the movie. Once you've played the game, you are well aware of the storyline. The game covers every aspect of the movie, from Peter Parker's childhood to the lab experiment that resulted in Dr. Alistair Smythe going bad. It definitely spoils the movie for those who aren't familiar; however, some would find it the best thing about the game as it creates that strong connection between the two.

The gameplay is exciting with different missions involving evil scientists and the lizard. The game is Spider-Man's quest to get the antidote and stop the evil scientists from destroying Manhattan. You also get to play the real hero by saving the damsel in distress from the evil goons.

The controls are simple, but stylish. Spider-Man is in form this time, hitting aerial moves and swinging like you've never seen him swing before. The developers deserve an extra star for this thing alone. It takes the game to a new level, altogether. Initially, all you can do is punch and kick, but when you move in the game, you get power and get the ability to hit combos. Eventually, it's all about hammering the bad guys with your combo tricks. This thing is so fun, we kept on doing it tirelessly.

If you've always fantasized about hitting the bad guys in the head and thrashing them, then this game is tailor made for you. The takedowns are very enjoyable, and you see a new move every time. Once you're accustomed with the controls, you'll have more fun playing and kicking the baddie where it hurts the most.

There's so much to write about this game, but not without some drawbacks. No doubt, the story is excellent with unmatchable game play and execution. However, one drawback that really stands like a sore thumb is the missing voices of the real star cast. The one-liners are witty, but they don't leave the desired impact due to poor voiceover artists. How we wish they had paid a little more attention to this department.

Another big problem that we faced was the lag. However, this might have more to do with the device and not the game (We played it on an iPhone). I usually have the patience of a saint, but one thing that totally brought me to the edge is the game's irritating habit of restarting the whole mission when you can't catch the escaping villain. This thing is so bad, it looks like a bug.

The best thing about the game is that it doesn't bore you. There's always something new. Once you finish the task, which takes six hours, the game doesn't end. You get in the normal zone, saving people and hopping around.

Over all, The Amazing Spider-Man is undoubtedly one of the best movie based games to have released in the last few years. It has its drawbacks, but the positives seem to overshadow the negatives in this one. Give it a try, because it's totally worth it!

Games That Redefined the Survival Horror Genre

There are not a whole lot of quality horror games out there since, developers and publishers feel that, the market for horror games is pretty limited, as compared to other genres. But the fact remains, that even though the fan following is pretty limited. It is loyal. Over the years, we have seen a lot of horror games come and go, but there were some, that have been able to leave their mark on our psyche. And not only that, these games have truly established themselves as milestones in the gaming industry.

Resident Evil

The franchise is one of the oldest games in the survival horror genre and was the first of its kind to attract gamers. The whole concept was fresh, original and gave the players a chance to explore a somewhat post-apocalyptic scenario, which had been overrun by the living dead. The whole idea behind the series was to give the player a chilling experience in a world with few allies and formidable enemies. The franchise has gone through a lot of facelifts, since its inception in the 90's, but hasn't lost its charm nonetheless.

The developers of the game, 'Capcom' have recently made it clear, that they want to revive the game, and make it more action-oriented than survival horror. The reason behind this statement seems to be the same, as discussed in the beginning of the article. But whatever the reasons, one thing is for sure, and that is the franchise, in my opinion is not going to lose its luster anytime soon. And gamers all over the world are still eagerly awaiting the next installment in the series from the developers, which is already under production.

Silent Hill

The Silent Hill series, truly gave the survival horror genre a new innovative approach. And unlike Resident Evil, the Silent Hill franchise actually tapped into the gamers psyche, and introduced them to a world of true horror. Developed by 'Konami', the first title in the series came out in the year 1999 for the PlayStation, and established itself as a tough competitor. Silent Hill was not your typical run-of-the-mill horror game, the game's amazing use of narrative, character progression and the-never-seen-before monsters were enough to give anyone, sleepless nights. Even today, the game has massive fan following, and the latest game in the series titled 'Silent Hill Downpour' has a rating of 7.5 on a leading online gaming magazine, which is pretty good according to game rating standards.

Alan Wake

This game is truly a gem and to be really frank, is one of the only games of its kind. 'Remedy' has nailed the coffin with this title and everyone who has played this game, including me, will undoubtedly be vouching for it, "As a potential game of the year". Alan Wake is basically a psychological thriller, and every aspect of the game is topnotch. Although, this particular game took a whole lot of time to be released. The title was worth the wait.

The stunning visuals, amazing storyline, character progression and the chilling atmosphere is enough to engross the player and will actually make them feel, as if they are in 'Bright Falls' (The place where the story takes place). Alan Wake is all about exploration, and fighting dark forces, which seem to have overtaken the otherwise sleepy town. The game was originally meant to be released only for the Xbox 360. But, was later rolled out for the PC as well, which is pretty neat, as PC gamers would have otherwise missed out on one of the most epic games in the survival horror genre.

Although, there are a whole lot of other games that have redefined this genre of gameplay. I believe that these three games deserve to be here, not only because they are amazing, but because they had something new to offer... Something fresh, inspiring and creative, which I am sure, will offer inspiration to a whole new breed of game designers and developers in the near future.

Amulet of Time: Shadow of La Rochelle Review

Amulet of Time: Shadow of la Rochelle is a hidden object and adventure game coming from Big Fish Games. From the name itself, you can already sense on what this game has in store for you. You get to travel back in time. And since I get to see a colon on the title, it seems that this game will probably pave the way for numerous sequels to come in case it becomes successful. But will this game become successful? Well, let us see through the rest of this review.

The story of the game takes place in 16th century France, during the time of King Henry II's reign. Well mostly, because originally, you are from the present time, but the ghost of Diane de Poitiers appeared in front of you and transported you back in time. If you do not know who Diane de Poitiers is, she is actually the most favorite mistress of King Henry II. The task that was then set for you is for you to find the real cause of her death and find the conspirators to her murder before you get to go back to the present time.

Even though the story of Amulet of Time: Shadow of la Rochelle is based on historical accounts, I suggest you do not learn history from the game since most of the storyline is inaccurate. Well, that is quite understandable really, because in order to successfully sell a game, the story should have more drama and should grip you to play as long as possible. Amulet of Time: Shadow of la Rochelle does this very well. And I should say that this is one of the best hidden object game stories I have experienced this week.

In terms of game play, I must say that overall, the game is very beautiful. The overall graphics is very nice. I especially loved the beautifully illustrated journal that keeps track of your progress through the game. The sounds are subtle and not annoying like most games and the puzzles range from pretty easy to moderately challenging. Amulet of Time: Shadow of la Rochelle is mostly hidden object scenes though, so there is few adventure gaming involved. Anyway, this does not make the game less addictive, as I enjoyed every moment of playing while the story unfolds.

Overall, I say that the game is definitely a must buy. However, you should always check it out through the free trial run first and draw your own conclusions if it is also an enjoyable experience for you.

The Top 5 Basketball Video Games of All Time

5. NBA Live 04

Live 04 was a great addition to the NBA Live series. The dribbling in this game is just a blast, you have complete control over the crossover moves and spin moves easily with the freestyle control scheme. This was also the first in the series to introduce the dynasty mode. The dynasty mode was great to it had cut scenes and even kept track of all your records. One more thing that was pretty cool is that it was one of the first games to feature Lebron James.

4. NBA 2K5

NBA 2K5 was a great game and it was released for only 20 bucks, a definite steal. The game had a nice ESPN presentation and the gameplay was really solid. The isomotion controls were ahead of their time. The game allowed for you to import your players from college hoops 2K5into the association mode. But the real gem of this game is the 24/7 mode which was one of the closest things we had to a basketball simulation that was like a RPG mixed together. This game was a classic.

3. College Hoops 2K8

Out of all the college basketball games I've never played a game as deep as College Hoops 2k8. It featured an intricate legacy mode which allowed players to recruit players from high school, junior colleges, and even international players. The game even allowed you to import whole draft classes to that years iteration of NBA 2k. The gameplay was fluid in typical 2K fashion. College Hoops 2K8 has a realism that has yet to be repeated by another college game as this was the last version. Hopefully 2K could get the license back and bless us with College Hoops 2k13.

2. NBA Street Vol 2

Easily the best streetball video game of all time. This game is nothing but fun straight smash mouth basketball. Gamebreakers make a return but this game also allowed for players to pocket their gamebreakers for the craziest basketball cut scenes with gamebreaker 2's.

1. NBA 2K12

Not only is this the newest basketball game out it is also the greatest. 2k sports delivered the goods on this one as they improved on the already stellar gameplay. They also pulled out a new and improved my player mode with press conferences and endorsements. The defense is stifling the computer is no pushover on hall of fame anymore. This game will most definitely be a iteration remembered for years. That is until 2K13 raises the bar again.

Dragon's Dogma Review

We begin our story with a petty fisher. Your typical nobody main character whose village is attacked by a murderous dragon. Naturally, you attempt to kill the massive beast yourself with your rusty sword. How noble. The dragon takes notice of your courage and gruesomely rips out your heart and eats it. Yet you wake up later, breathing and moving. As you leave your village a mysterious man falls from some sort of wormhole and you're informed he is a Pawn - someone who lacks emotion and dwells in the Rift, a place that connects Pawns to various Arisen. Pawns have no true free will of their own and follow the Arisen, the one chosen by a dragon. Why does the dragon choose people? So they can seek out the dragon at a later time for mysterious reasons.

The story is a pretty big, jumbly, tangly mess of a plot and is most definitely not the main focus of the game. While interesting at times, the small bit of plot in the game isn't strong and often leaves you with plenty of questions. The ending does well to wrap up a lot of the major concerns, which is nice, but you're still left wondering about a lot of the smaller elements throughout your playthrough. In fact, a lot of plot points are easily missed in random side quests. Just know that if you want the whole story, it's safer to do every single quest you can.

Pawns are easily one of the two selling points of this game, the other being the combat. Not far into the story, you'll create your first pawn. This pawn will follow you around forever, so it's crucial to make sure it's something you can stand looking at, which is made extremely easy with the amount of detail you're able to put into creating characters. Choose a class for your pawn that compliments yours and go to town.

The best thing about pawns is the "rental" sort of system they've got going on. You have the ability to enter the Rift and find various pawns created by other players. You can hire up to two pawns [not including your main pawn] to travel with you. The cool thing about this is that you'll always have a unique party since all pawns are different in a lot of ways. Depending on where the owners of these pawns are in their own games, the pawns you hire could have a ton of knowledge you don't have on certain quests. When this happens, the pawns will take the reins and show you how something is done. Whether it's showing you the location of something or telling you how to take down a huge foe depends on the quest at hand. When you're done with a pawn - and we're assuming it didn't die - you can send it back with gifts and a message for its owner.

Your main pawn always has a copy of itself in the Rift for other players to hire it, even while you aren't playing. It's quite possible you can come back to your game with your pawn bearing loads of gifts [If you're in my shoes, it's likely lots of skulls. People love giving me skulls for some reason...] and messages for you. The pawn system kind of gives you that Dark Souls sort of feel. You always have the option of help from another player, but they're never fully there.

Personally, I can't say many games revolutionize something. Dragon's Dogma has indeed revolutionized combat though. More specifically, fighting large enemies. All it took was a combination of a couple different games - Devil May Cry and Shadow of the Colossus. The combat in Dragon's Dogma is fast and fluid. There are toooooooons of skills and abilities to learn from nine different classes [Called vocations in-game] to choose between. Once you hit a certain point in the game, you can switch your classes using Discipline points. Once you've bought a class, you have it forever. This game is very friendly when it comes to finding your niche. You have plenty of time to experiment.

So, you've found the class you like. It's time to go fight something big and scary. There are multiple options when you've found something large that wants to destroy you. You can stay back and ping it with tons of arrows or you can get close and slice it up with some blades. You can even go the route of spells. There are spells in this game that cover large areas. There are spells well suited to taking down large foes. There are lots of spells, okay? But a lot of enemies will require to jump onto them and hold on for dear life just as we did in Shadow of the Colossus. More often than not, you'll find yourself on the back of a large enemy, slicing away at a weak point or just preventing it from flying away with your weight - all the while your pawns down below are exploiting other weaknesses. Sometimes your pawns will even climb up there with you. Dragon's Dogma shows us what boss battles SHOULD be in games these days. There are no Quick Time Events to deal with. The game doesn't hold your hand. There is a huge monster with a few weaknesses. Everything is done beautifully.

The unfortunate thing is getting to those enemies. Some, like cyclopes or chimeras, are fairly common. Other large foes are far and few between, requiring tons of walking to get to them. Dragon's Dogma has no reliable fast travel system. This factor does not bother me, but has a lot of people up in arms. Some are even demanding DLC that gives us mounts or better fast travel. I think the weird fast travel system encourages exploration of the world, which is vast and lively. There are plenty of things to see and do - plenty of things that you'll miss out on with fast travel. The only way to fast travel in this game is using ferrystones and portcrystals - items that are rare as they are expensive. There is one portcrystal in the main hub of the game and another to be found in a far off place. Ferrystones range from 10,000 to 20,000 gold, which can really add up. On New Game+, you can buy more portcrystals for a whopping 200,000 gold. So fast travel can cost you an arm and two legs. You're going to find easy ways to get money by late game though. NG+ hands you all the money in the world, so fast travel isn't an issue later. You just need to earn it.

Dragon's Dogma is a game that rewards us with extremely satisfying combat [if a bit dull after slaying the same enemies in the same places over and over], epic and challenging boss battles that have never been seen done in such a proper manner before, and a dynamic world to interact with. You'll see your fully customized character and pawn with their equipment you chose in cut scenes. You'll interact with each other in combat by holding an enemy down and letting your pawn get some critical blows in [or vice versa]. You'll hire other pawns who could have more knowledge than you, helping you in your quests.

The largest and really unfortunate flaw is the story. As said earlier, it's a mess. You'll likely lose sight of what's going on since you'll spend so much time exploring or just getting these small tidbits here and there. What you will be getting is a satisfying experience with tons of gameplay. This game can easily suck the hours of your life away if you aren't careful.

I want to recommend this game to everyone, but I highly [Read: HIGHLY] recommend you go read more reviews and watch some gameplay. It really is up in there whether people love it or hate it here since it's an odd mix-up of Dark Souls, Devil May Cry, Shadow of the Colossus and maybe even some Skyrim. Play the demo, but don't play it expecting a proper example of the full game.

Dragon's Dogma is easily one of my favorite games of the year and I almost hate to say this, but I've finally found a game that is competing with Dark Souls. I know a ton of people will think I'm crazy for that, but Dragon's Dogma really does offer that much of a unique feeling. Its combat and boss battles are that well done.

Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari for Famicom Review

All video games released today have their own roots that have greatly attributed to its production over the years. This also includes every beat 'em up video game that is released in modern times, such as Castle Crashers and especially Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Video Game. In the case of these two, Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari is the main influential game that defined the genre.

Concept

Released in North America under the name River City Ransom, Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari is a beat 'em up style video game released for the Famicom in April 1989. There are a number of properties that greatly set this game apart from other beat 'em ups, but the primary one is its non-linear nature, allowing players to fully explore an open world instead of following a set path like Double Dragon. Players take on the role of Alex and Ryan, two high school students traversing River City in an effort to rescue Cyndi, the girlfriend of the latter as she is captured by gang member Slick.

Gameplay

As players travel across River City to rescue Cyndi, they come across a host of different enemies looking to stop them, each of which are a part of their own named gang, such as The Squids, The Jocks and The Frat Guys. While this was hardly the first beat 'em up to feature unique characters, the way Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari differs is that each group of gangs actually have some varying personality to them. Perhaps the most notable way of proving this is in the way certain gang members would shout Barf! once the player had defeated them. As enemies are defeated, money is collected.

Every so often, the player can enter the town and use their collected funds to purchase power ups and other items that can assist them along their journey. This is something also used heavily with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Video Game as Scott goes to prove his love for Ramona. Similarly, Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari brings you face to face with the leaders of the gangs you are fighting, and these leaders act as sub-bosses or regular bosses, adding an extra challenge to the game.

Though it is not inherently necessary to purchase the Famicom version of Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari, it is still a nice piece to add to a collection for those interested in expanding their Famicom collection. Those on a budget can instead choose to purchase the Virtual Console version, available in America since April 2008.

Fate Extra Review

Fate Extra, Type-Moon's latest RPG game centered around Japanese Anime -Fate Stay Night. Just like the anime, the video game features an exciting story which is all about masters, servants, Holy Grail, and stellar boss fights that bring the story's central struggles to life. Regrettably, lousy exploration and monotonous fights undermine the adventure. The result is a video game with much more uniqueness than game material and far more plot than actual game play.

Fate Extra's original story encourages you to keep playing regardless of some clichés. After twenty years of harmony on Earth, an alien super-computer concealed on the moon has invited you to battle through a competition for the Holy Grail, computer that grants wishes. The issue is that it's actually a competition to the death. Using your legendary soul - servant that fights in your stead, you have to defeat several other masters in weekly elimination fights to survive. Activities resulting in these battles are extremely fascinating, with each competitor challenging you in various ways. Master-Servant interactions are also enchanting, since you're offered three servants to select from, and each has a different character. Dialogues keep things engaging, motivating plot decisions which affect the game's final.

Fate Extra RPG Elements

Living in this aggressive and ruthless world is tough enough for any participant, but your memory loss (main character has an amnesia) greatly weakens your servant. In order to win your competition, you must level the arena by unveiling the other competitor's skills and strategies within 1 week prior to the fight. This investigation is vital for you to unlock enemy techniques, which usually happens in fascinating ways, for instance, by stealing items, snooping and sparring. Discovering the opponent servant's personality also unveils element of its attack style, which might imply the gap between victory and loss.

Apart from scouting your opponents, you have to investigate, but this feature is drastically reduced for a RPG Game. You're limited to fourteen basic mazes which are a breeze to plow through. Each maze includes dull item retrieve missions. Outside the dungeon, the competition field is limited to a 3 story high school, which is a little bit disappointing if you're planning to investigate a huge world from the actual Anime Fate Stay Night. Fortunately, several mini-bosses prevent investigation from turning into utterly meaningless.

Apart from PC and Console versions of Fate/Extra, there are several RPG Flash Games too. Flash editions of the game are rather fun only. On the bright side, they are available to play or download for free.

The End Review - Your Ultimate Survival Handbook

When we first heard about The End, we actually didn't pay any attention to it.

"Seriously, what kind of name is it?" we thought. However, when we got to see a video on YouTube, highlighting the game play, we were intrigued.

Let's start with the beginning; it is an over-the-shoulder-endless-runner game. You enter the game in a nameless city as the only survivor (the world has come to an end), wearing a back-pack running around collecting green gold. Bravo, for thinking out of the box, geniuses. Green Gold!

If you're wondering what you are doing in a destroyed city with vans scattered around, you have no option but to read the hints that splash on your screen across the main menu. All you are supposed to do is dodge the obstacles and continue running, collecting green gold. Since, money is not useful post-apocalypse, you use the green gold to buy items that you wish to.

Does it remind you of something? Well, we indeed had a sense of deja vu when playing it. Temple Run, anyone? Those who are familiar with Temple Run will find this game to be a cousin of the now-famous game that has similar features as this one.

The controls are very simple. Swipe to turn, slide and jump; tilt to run towards the right or left side of the road. The uncomplicated controls make it easier to play. No complaints here.

Another very positive point is the tilt that actually works wonder. Unlike several other games, the backward and forward tilts are available, showing the world from different angles. This is a really good thing as it allows you to play with the angle you are most comfortable with. It also guides you about the cracks in the road and the stuff ahead. A sigh of relief!

However, now that we're talking about complaints, let's talk in details. The game gets tiring and mediocre after a point. Running aimlessly on ruined roads is not exciting. It indeed is fun initially, but eventually you get bored of doing the same thing again and again.

The game has different levels and you move on to different stages, but the change you witness in the task isn't substantial. Later stages introduce mission coins that one can use to prolong runs. However, the game seems to have no end as one continues to run... run... but what are you running for? How we wish it was a little clear!

You don't come across any damsel in distress to rescue or any human to save. You are running from something. Once you come to know what that something is, do let us know too. Another major problem with this game is that it has the "sharing" option, which requires you to post your results to Twitter or Facebook. This, in our opinion, is a huge drawback. You cannot continue to play unless you go social. If we want to go to Facebook, we'll log in from our computers. Why insert the option there?

Enough of the rant! The game actually has something good to offer too, other than the controls. The graphics are good for an Android/iOS game. The city is colorful and bright, with variation in the weather. The makers have paid attention to details in this department. As you move ahead in the game, the graphics only get interesting. They actually present a picture, which is good to watch and goes very well with the mood of the game.

Overall, The End offers nothing new. Its biggest drawback is the fact that it makes you say, "Oh! I have played it before." Download it if you are a fan of Temple Run and want to play it in a different atmosphere (Yes, it's that similar). However, if you aren't aware of Temple Run, then you can surely try this one. In some departments, it outdoes the game it looks to be based on.

Review - Faerie Solitaire Mobile HD

Faerie Solitaire Mobile HD is a different spin on the usual solitaire game for the iOS, but is it worth you hard earned money especially for $6.99? Read on to find out.

Faerie Solitaire Mobile HD is a golf-style solitaire game. By golf style solitaire, I mean that you have a layout of cards on the table and you have one card up in front of you for example an eight of clubs. Now you can place a nine or a seven on that card and so forth. It took me a bit to get used to it, but now I kind of prefer playing the golf style solitaire instead of my usual Klondike.

Faerie Solitaire Mobile HD and it's sister app, Faerie Solitaire Mobile, are a port of the popular PC game of the same title. I've sunk way too many hours playing my copy to be comfortable in admitting my playtime. Since this is a port, some things did get left out, but more about that in a bit.

The general plot is that you are rescuing faeries from imprisonment by playing. The reason why you are rescuing them it that you have been charged with a quest to rescue them all. After you complete ten hands in the game, you can release a faerie from captivity. At least that is what I vaguely remember from playing the PC version since the cut scenes aren't really in the game. Well, they are but are external YouTube links that take you out of the app.

Graphically Faerie Solitaire Mobile HD looks good, but it really doesn't have much in the way of flash.The same with the sound, nothing really special. The background music is nice for a while, but to be honest I usually have it muted.

As for IAP, Faerie Solitaire Mobile HD doesn't have any. This is nice especially considering the rather high cost of the game.

I have managed to drain the batteries in both my iPad and iPhone several times playing this game, usually with the idea of "just one more hand." I have also managed to have both my legs fall asleep while playing it in a waiting room. There is just something about the game that scratches an itch that keeps me playing it.

My only issues with Faerie Solitaire Mobile HD are some crashes while playing and the fact its missing one of the parts of the PC version I liked. The pet raising mini game is not present, although the publisher does say that it will be added in a future patch.

The only other thing that bothers me about the game is the absurdly high number of wild cards I have. In other games like this, I might have four or five stocked up, in Faerie Solitaire Mobile HD I have almost 100. This seems like overkill and has made the game far to easy in my opinion.

I will admit that I was shocked by the price of both Faerie Solitaire Mobile HD and Faerie Solitaire Mobile. I believe I got them both for free or at least much lower than that. But I believe that they are both great games that are worth it. If you like solitaire, then give Faerie Solitaire Mobile HD a shot. Now if you will excuse me, I'm off to play some more before my next meeting.

Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting Review

Exclusive to the Xbox 360, Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting lands on the Xbox Live Arcade. Considered to be the greatest in the Street Fighter franchise, this is the third installment in the series adding hyper speed to the world renowned Championship Edition. This is an arcade port of the original; no graphical changes and no remixed soundtrack. This is the classic just like we remember with a raw tiger knee to your face.

Appreciate this port for what it is, a higher difficulty adjustment for the vets and 4 player lobby matches online, making it the closest you'll get to being at the arcades looking over my shoulder with your bag of quarters. Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting because of its timeless game play, the equation is simple: nostalgia plus online game play you can't go wrong.

Concerning the nostalgia factor, I wasn't too fond with the graphical changes in SSF II Turbo HD Remix. It made it look too cartoony. SSF2THD Remix is a great game though, and has a wonderful balance system but because it looks cuter people over look Hyper Fighting. Hyper Fighting hits with greater impact by keeping it all-original separating this game from all the rest. I mean this game alone made me buy an arcade fight stick; you HAVE got to buy an arcade stick. I adjusted my entire room just for the arcade fight stick. It adds so much more fun to the game or you can yourself the Street Fighter pad. I'm just trying my best to keep you away from that FPS d-pad on the Xbox. When I mention controllers I'm only talking to the Street Fighter fans anyway. Casual gamers might not even notice. These accessories were not even around when this game was released back in '06. To own the Hyper Fighting cabinet would be awesome. But trust me, you'll have just as much fun as before when you played it on the Super Nintendo. This is an awesome video game and one that any old and new school gamer would appreciate.

Yeah, you remember playing on the Super Nintendo, when you used to wrap your thumb inside your shirt just to throw a hadouken. Because of how loyal I am to the series, I would have easily given 40 bucks for this game but lucky for us its only 400 points on XBLA. Nowadays the online players are scattered around, a lot of them moved to HD Remix and the Street Fighter IV series. Both of those series are great, but this is the game that keeps me coming back, even now I have memories of when my Xbox Live friends list was filled with Hyper fighters.

To put it all into perspective, Capcom released Street Fighter IV almost ten years after their last 2D SF game. This is what the Street Fighter community is all about, it reminds me of 2008 when Mega Man 9 was released in 8-bit graphics, that's crazy influence! Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting is just not going away. So until next time gamers, charge back, forward, sonic boom!

The Surprising Adventures of Munchausen Review

The Surprising Adventures of Munchausen is another Big Fish Games exclusive that graced me initially as possibly another hidden object game that is like all the others that came before it. However, this game also teaches me to not judge a book by its cover, because as I soon found out, it is not a hidden object game. This game goes beyond hidden object as it is more an adventure, and a whimsical, crazy and humorous adventure at that.

The story of the game starts as some evil wizard destroyed the Heart of the Kingdom. Without any light and prosperity in his kingdom, the king was offered a solution to marry his daughter to a strange and evil man that can bring the king an enormous amount of money. Desperate and hating her predicament, the princess calls for Baron Munchausen for help. The Baron is eager to do so, and as he enters the scene, prepare to have so much fun unlike nothing the crazy Munchausen can.

For those who do not know yet, the origins of The Surprising Adventures of Munchausen game predates to an actual living man that lived from 1720 to 1797. He told many outrageous and farfetched stories of his adventures that lived to this day on books and movies. Well now, you can experience a made up tale of the famous Baron through this game. And true to his many adventures, this game is also very unique, very funny and full of Munchausen's comical braggadocio that you will definitely enjoy playing it until the end.

Really, this game started quite amateurish to me and I was expecting no surprises, but all that impression blew away the instant that the game play starts. You see, the hidden object scenes follow a different kind of game play. Well, you still need to find objects, but instead of a list, you need to associate other items on your list with these hidden objects. Other than this, other game play mechanics include helping Munchausen by following listed instructions and the usual adventure game play where you need to use inventory items to keep Munchausen progressing in his adventure.

In my opinion, The Surprising Adventures of Munchausen is really one fine game that if you are a seasoned hidden object player, you definitely need something like this to change your perspective, that not all games like these are gritty, dark and eerie, but can also be simple and fun. Too bad that the adventure is quite short, but I am looking forward to a sequel just the same.

Dead to Rights Retribution Reviewed

Presentation: I played the original Dead To Rights when it launched on the original Xbox back in 2002. Fast forward to 2012 and I just finished playing through Dead To Rights: Retribution via the PlayStation 3. Much like its predecessor Dead To Rights: Retribution is a gritty action brawler that features gun play while taking out hordes of mindless thugs. And I do mean mindless thugs since the AI is practically non-existent in this action game. The enemies will do either three things. Sit back and let you kill them or they will mindlessly rush you then you kill them and lastly they will occasionally shoot and kill each other. The latter is obviously a glitch but did happen throughout my playthrough.

of the game. Nothing about Dead To Right: Retribution's story will impress you or keep you engaged.

Visuals: There is nothing that stand's out texture or special effects wise in this 2010 game. However, the game does have a nice setting. Grant City looks pretty cool with its rain soaked neon lit city scape featuring a plethora of skyscrapers. There are different settings throughout the game that breaks up the murky dark metropolitan setting. Jack looks like Chris Redfield's clone from Resident Evil 5. Lay off the steroids Jack geez! A nice graphical sequence takes place near the end of the game when you put on a Heavy GAC Armor suit and wreak havoc down on GAC headquarters. You can see the Japanese influence of this game while in the suit. It was really neat and fun to use. The best way to describe the visuals in Dead To Rights: Retribution is static and washed out with a good atmosphere.

Sound: If I made a nickel each time I laughed after Jack said one of his one liners after killing somebody I would be rich. The writing and especially the voice dialog is cheesy. Its borderline comical is so bad and cliche. One voice actor who had an odd southern accent stood out (the news report lady). Her accent didn't even fit the game at all. The music was decent. It's mostly dramatic action music which goes fine with this type of game. Sound design overall not something to write home about here.

Gameplay: Dead To Rights: Retribution is a brawler beat 'em up with gunplay. The gunplay comes in the form of cover based shooting. During combat you can use Shadow to attack thugs and GAC soldiers. After they are dead you can have Shadow retrieve you fresh weapons using the d-pad. Weapons range from shotguns, pistols, SMGS, LMGS, assault rifles, sniper rifles, a weird gun that shoots electricity. Each gun runs out of ammo quickly unless you happen to be near a weapon bin. The second Jack runs out of ammo he discards the weapon. You can take hostages and use them as a meatshield to avoid taking gunfire. The enemies range from Triad thugs and GAC thugs. There are more advanced bad guys later in the game like the GAC combat fighters who have big robotic fists like fisto. Heavy enemies have a tank on their backs that you must destroy aka Killzone. There is a VTOL boss fight scene late in the game which was pretty nice.

Sleeping Dogs Game Review

At first this game puzzled me because I thought it was set in America. A lot of people are speaking in American accents. But it turns out Hong Kong is it's actual setting (there's even a British guy in there as well.) Spotting the genuine Asian person is the challenge. Anyway that doesn't really matter, my job is to give you a game reviews light sprinkle of words and wisdom as to whether or not you should buy the game, so we shall begin.

Straight away it gives signs of being heavily story orientated which is a good thing in my opinion! I like the story, I'm not going to give a big break down of the whole thing because that's what makes Game Reviews long and I don't want to spoil things for you. But, the story gets a thumbs up from me.

I'll talk about the things which I like about Sleeping Dogs, first off there is a pretty nifty game mechanic where you have 2 different experience systems. You gain experience as a cop and as a triad (saying cops and triads shouldn't be a spoiler, you should be aware of this.) So you gain experience as a cop by completing undercover cop cases and not killing innocents and wrecking the place. You level up as a triad by beating down bad guys and the usual gang related things. I really like the combat though, the fist-fighting seems quite fluid and I actually get beaten a lot of the time which to me, shows that the combat is a challenge (which not a lot of games are these days.) The developers have done well to keep weapons out of your hands as much as possible. So you do have to fight with your fists most of the time, it makes a refreshing change from every man and his dog packing heat in other games.

Things I don't like so much about the game include - the graphics, they're OK but that's as good as they get. Also some of the driving controls are very unrealistic. I get that they wanted to put some extreme stuff in there, like hijacking cars by jumping out of one and into the other, fine. But ramming other cars is just plain bad, there's a button to ram car's and when you press the button you seem to get a boost of speed in the direction of the car you want to ram. I mean ANY direction, even if it's parallel to your car, it's bad design in my opinion. Finally the only other gripe I have is the fact that every female you meet in Sleeping Dogs wants to be intimate with you as soon as they meet you. Now I've heard a few things about Hong Kong but this is just starting to look like Bangkok.

Video Game Review Conclusion

Overall I think its a good game, you'll get a lot of hours of game play for your money and it's very entertaining with a good story.

Video Game Visuals - 75/100 (The graphics just aren't as good as they could be really, I think they could have done better.)

Video Game Gameplay - 92/100 (There is a good story also the map is a good size for exploring without feeling too big)

Video Game Sound - 80/100 (Not much to report on the sound, except all the people sound American which I find a little bit strange being set in Hong Kong

Top 3 Paid Games For The iPad and iPhone

Through our detailed review of hundreds of games for the iPad and iPhone we have identified 3 games which we feel are the top paid games for the iPad and iPhone.

Infinity Blade 2 - Continues to Slash the Competition

Infinity Blade 2 is a perfect representation of what iOS games are capable of. Chair has created an amazing combination of visuals and touch-controlled gameplay. Infinity Blade's touch-powered sword-slashing combat has always been a blast to play, but the sequel imparts it with much more depth. Each and every enemy encounter felt fresh and fun.

Infinity Blade II picks up right where the original left off. Our hero needs help from The Worker of Secrets - the titular blade's creator. The Worker has been imprisoned and can only be released if three "Deathless" are defeated. Each resides in the Vault of Tears, at the end of a lengthy gauntlet of enemies. Along the way players learn much more about our hero's true nature, and why he is seemingly doomed to repeat a never-ending cycle of violence.

Great iPad and iPhone game although the price is a little steep in comparison to other iPhone and iPad games.

Chaos Rings II Game Review - King of the Ring

Chaos Rings II has the same basic mechanics as the first. Battles are turn-based with roaming parties of just two. There are random encounters that initiate battles in the wild and, like other recent Square Enix RPGs, the end of each battle fully refills HP and cancels any status ailments. The Genes of the first game have now been replaced by magic skills called Sopia, as well as Advent abilities, which are essentially typical RPG summons. Characters can also fill a meter during battle for their own special Awake skills, which allow for attack damage or rapid healing. Chaos Rings II is a beautiful, full-featured RPG that highlights what Square Enix can do on iOS.

Superborthers: Sword & Sworcery Game Review - Stabbing the Competition

Sword & Sworcery's tale of exploration and discovery follows the troubled adventures of a lone warrior and her sidekick Dogfella as they attempt to find a mystical tome and unlock ancient powers capable of thwarting an evil force Sword & Sworcery also delivers a deep and alluring sense of atmosphere. The pixel art environments are meticulously crafted, paired with believable animations to help bring the blocky characters and game world to life, Jim Guthrie's intense soundtrack plays a major role in the mood of each phase of the story. Simple and elegant, a lot of thought was put into making this a striking gaming experience all around. This is a great paid iPhone and iPad app to add to your iPhone or iPad.

Mario Kart 7

Mario Kart 7 is essentially Mario Kart Wii without the bikes. Which is unfortunate, because I loved the bikes! However, it is a good game. It's not hard to take an already good game and make it portable, but there isn't a lot to offer when the series has already offered so much. This is not the problem though, since it doesn't try very hard to offer anything new.

Single Player

Before we get into what's new, let me rundown the game for you. It is essentially an arcade style racer. It always has been and from what it looks like it always will. The single player takes place on 8 different cups with 4 tracks on each. Half of the tracks are re-mastered tracks from the previous games and the other half is all new. You will race amongst 7 other racers in a competition to place first in each cup. Very simple.

You have access to 3 different speeds that determine difficulty and an additional un-lockable mirror version of the hardest difficulty. The formula is tried and tested, although it may feel a bit dated, there really isn't any successful competition to Mario Kart. It hasn't changed because it does what it does and it does it well.

The game is fun, you can pick it up for a quick 15 minute play and have a blast without investing hours of your time. However, if you are looking for a deep racer then this is not for you.

Gameplay

The gameplay is quite hectic, the way the game is structured is that no matter what position your in, you still have a chance to come first. This is because of the items you are given randomly in the race. The worse your position, the better the items. Again, that's nothing new for MK veterans, and you will find that the new items aren't game changers at all. So lets go over what is really new; gyro controls, fire flower, tanooki tail, gliding sections, underwater sections, coins and vehicle customisation.

The Gyro Controls are a novelty; similar to the Wii, except you use your entire 3DS as a steering wheel and your view switches to first person. It can be entertaining playing in this fashion, but it's more or less for kicks.

The new items being the tanooki tail and fire flower aren't particularly special. The tail allows you to spin attack nearby opponents and deflect items, where else the fire flower allows you to shoot fireballs for a limited amount of time. There is, however, another cool item, known as "7". It gives you seven items at once that will circle your kart, which you can use at your leisure. It's definitely a cool novelty, but that's all it really is.

The gliding and underwater sections don't provide any real change to the core gameplay of the game. I cannot put a finger on why, but the whole concept doesn't feel new at all. It may that it was so seamlessly integrated that the experience is just that fluid, or it's just a gimmick. Nonetheless, it's still a nice feature to have.

Another new feature, for better or worse, is that coins are scattered around the track. Yes, veterans will remember there were coins Super Mario Kart for the SNES, but I can't for the life of me remember what they do. In this game, however, they are used to unlock new vehicle parts and speed up your vehicle. Some may enjoy this, but I don't care much for it. I preferred unlocking my items by achievements; now you are given a new part every time you collect 100+ coins (yes, you can't chose what you unlock) and only characters are unlocked inside the GP. Making the GP kind of redundant as you can earn coins online. However, making you earn 20,000 coins to complete the game is just ridiculous for me.

This brings me to the next new feature, customising your vehicle. As I mentioned earlier, you unlock parts with coins. These parts are separated into 3 categories: the body, wheels and the glider. They all affect multiple stats, which allow you to mix and match to get the stats you want. This is a neat feature, but what it also doesn't explain very well is that your character's weight class also affects your vehicle; there are 17 characters that are separated into different weight classes. You can easily beat the single player section with whatever combination you want, but unfortunately not all stats are equal, so you may and will find yourself unlocking a lot of useless parts that you will never use until you get something you like.

Multiplayer

This is where Mario Kart 7 shines, and where the series always have. You choose between battle or VS, you can play online or locally and you rack up VR points and Coins by playing multiplayer too!

If you ever wanted to know just how good you are at Mario Kart, online is the place to do it, and the replay becomes near endless because of this feature. Although you can't add people you play with randomly, or talk to them (come on this is Nintendo, you should know they won't allow that), it's still fun leaving real people in the dirt, as they act very different to the AI.

If you want to get this game, you won't be getting it for the GP, because online is where it's at, and if you have friends to play with; even better. There's nothing like kicking butt and getting competitive with people you know. There's nothing new here, but there's nothing missing either. If you enjoyed the experience on the Wii, you will enjoy it here too.

Batman: Arkham City 3D Review

3D saves a PC game plagued with bugs and a missing DX11.

Chances are you know who Batman is. If not, he's this dude who wears tights and likes to swing around tall buildings. Not to be confused with Spiderman, who also wears tights and likes to swing around tall buildings. Chances are you have also played Batman: Arkham Asylum and know the score. If not, Batman Arkham Asylum is a third-person action-adventure game based on that Batman guy. Batman: Arkham Asylum was developed by Rocksteady Studios and was released in 2009. It was a good year to be a Bat, and the game was met with rave reviews and its fair share of awards.

Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to the successful Arkham Asylum. Arkham City is a maximum security prison for the nastiest criminals that Gotham City has to offer. As chance would have it, Bruce Wayne gets his ass tossed into Arkham City for opposing the new prison's existence, and is forced to go all "Escape from New York". Within moments, Bruce manages to score his crime-fighting equipment and become his alter ego, Batman. We all watch TV, anything can be got in prison if you know the right people. I don't want to get all nuts with spoilers, so let's sum up the story by saying that Catwoman drops in, Batman runs into an old flame, fails to get laid, Robin makes a brief appearance and Alfred is only a radio signal away. On "team naughty", Batman bumps into a load of our favourite baddies, including Harley Quinn (damn, she's annoying), Two-Face, Mr. Freeze (possibly the toughest boss fight of the game), The Joker, Penguin, Hugo Strange, Poison Ivy, Clayface and plenty more crazies.

Batman: Arkham City is a single-player game with a main storyline which sees Batman seeking a cure to a disease which could wipe out a superhero or two. In addition to the main story, you will regularly unlock side missions, which can either be completed right away or put aside for later. The side missions are just as good as those that are included in the main story, which makes for a lot of awesome added game play. In addition to the side missions, you've got the Riddler to contend with. Cataloging and collecting Riddler's trophies is an addictive game within the game. Then there are the challenge maps, which make for some excellent mindless melee fun. Challenge maps are unlocked as you play through the game, and more are available in DLCs. There are three funky flavours to hone your Bat-skills with, including ranked leaderboard combat, timed campaigns, and custom rules.

Technical

In Arkham City there is always a superhero around when people need one, in real life there certainly was no superhero around to help me gain access to the game. First you enter your key on Steam, then you enter your key for SecuRom (if you're lucky it accepts it the first time; I was not lucky), then you have to tie it all together with Games for Windows Live. GFWL was the primary bottleneck. I spent an hour trying to log in to GFWL as it gave me some song and dance about needing to update. Like really, what's the point of this kind of layering? The games are going to get pirated all the same, and according to many, the reason the PC version of Arkham City was delayed was so that they could maximize sales from the console versions first.

When Batman: Arkham City was released just over two weeks ago, PC gamers were disappointed to find out that DX 11 was buggered. Upon launch Rocksteady immediately recommended DX 9, as reports of DX 11 performance issues began making the rounds. People wondered how something like this, a selling point like DX 11, could have made it through testing and out the door for launch. It took a couple of weeks, but a DX 11 patch was finally released. The outcome was not really worth the wait, and many are still plagued with low FPS and game-breaking bugs. I consider myself one of the lucky, as I only spent about four hours dealing with crashes and bugs that would not allow me to proceed further in the game.

Arkham City comes with a built-in benchmark tool, so using both that and Fraps I grabbed some quick stats to share. Right before publishing this review a patch was released for Batman: Arkham City, which in part addresses the DX 11 issues. Running Alienware M17x laptop /w NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M and 6GB RAM / 3D Vision (not 3D Vision 2), at 1920 x 1080. Both DX 9 and DX 11 were run with all settings max, including detail level, tessellation and PhysX.

The DX 11 patch seems to be hit and miss. For many people it solved the issue of poor frames while running DX 11. For others it buggered things up even more. For me, the patch DID improve FPS in DX 11, but oddly lowered frames with DX 9. Go figure.

On my system the best settings for performance and aesthetics are DirectX 11 (very high) and PhysX set to "Normal", this works out perfectly both with and without 3D Vision enabled.

Combat

Combat in Arkham City is ridiculous, while also being ridiculously fun. Here's the ridiculous bit... there were very few times during the game that I needed any sort of strategy in order to win an encounter. A couple of bosses had an attack pattern that had to be learned in order to defeat them, but outside of that you can literally finish the game by repeatedly hitting your left mouse button. In fact, I broke a mouse playing Arkham City. Yup, button-mashed it to death. While using special attacks makes combat more fun, it isn't actually necessary. Now for the ridiculously fun part... combat is an absolute joy to watch, and even if you don't have mad take-down skills, the simple act of punching, kicking and evading is wicked fun. That said, if you want to kick ass on the challenge maps then you'll need a bit more than button-mashing. The challenge maps are slightly more skill-based and if you want to rank then you'll have to use combos and special moves.

Sometimes I thought I preferred combat while playing as Catwoman, because she's mean, lean and fast as hell. But after a while I'd sort of start missing the Bat. Both characters have their own missions, skills and gadgets, but the character I really would have liked to play is Robin. While the Robin Bundle DLC will allow you to play the Boy Wonder, you will only be able to do so on challenge maps. I'd rather be able to play him in side missions, like you can with Catwoman. Sadly, Robin's appearance in the game was very brief, and although he was looking buff, tough and not at all like the Robin we all grew up with, Batman simply bitched him out and told him to piss off. So that was that.

NVIDIA 3D Vision

One of my first experiences with 3D was seeing Friday The 13th Part 3 in 3D. I walked five miles through the snow with no shoes to see it at the theatre. It was crap, but exciting at the same time, and it was the best we had. For the next quarter century I would associate 3D with eye strain and headaches. Whenever I post about 3D Vision on VE3D the post is met with comments like "I'm too old for 3D, I don't need the eye strain" or "3D gives me headaches". Exactly the things that I had always associated with it. Well Toto, it looks like we're not in Kansas anymore! This ain't grandma's 3D. I'll admit that I've reached the age where reading glasses come in handy. I didn't have much interest in 3D. Mostly I was afraid to try it because I thought my head would explode. I guess I had read into the old school hype a bit too much. But I survived 3D, and am loving every second of it. Eye of the tiger baby, eye of the tiger. Plus I look cool in the glasses.

Since I just recently began gaming in 3D, my experiences are limited. What I have noticed so far is that 3D Vision adds an extra layer of realism to games. 3D games come alive, giving you a greater feeling of actually being there. In Batman: Arkham City this is especially true, particularly when grappling around the city and using gadgets. Even cut scenes are great in 3D. All of the villains in Arkham City look amazing and force you to keep watching, even if you don't normally enjoy cut scenes. Graphics look sharper, and cleaner, and flaws that you would see while out of 3D tend to get smoothed over. If I was to slap a number on Batman: Arkham City without 3D Vision, the game would land a 7/10 (70%). While Arkham City is a truly entertaining trip through the gutters of Gotham, the bugs and the graphic issues that the game shipped with are not acceptable. Waiting over two weeks for a half-assed patch is also not acceptable.

Because 3DV enhanced my Arkham City experience, Batman: Arkham City 3D is a 9/10 (90%), and worth its weight in guano.

What I Liked:
Gloom and doom atmosphere makes for some very immersive gameplay.Story is actually interesting, you'll want to watch the cut scenes.Both Batman and Catwoman show wear and tear in their costumes as the game goes on.Catwoman side-missions, it was fun to take a break from Batman and spend some time crawling on ceilings.Challenge maps are a good workout and a nice change of pace, actually requiring some combat skill.Voice acting is great.I can't wait to get back in and collect more Riddler trophies.Arkham City is totally engrossing, and the experience is even further enhanced when playing in 3D.

What I Didn't Like:
A three-layer activation process.No side-missions for Robin.Getting stuck to my Batarang on a block of ice for two hours.Spending another two hours trying to figure out why I couldn't dive-bomb.I would have loved to see Arkham City in the daylight.A little too much travelling back and forth across the city.Combat, while fun to watch, requires no skill.Crashing during the closing cinematic.Finishing the game before a DX 11 patch was released.Trying to find a good tutorial on 3DV video rendering.

Battlefield 3 - Xbox 360 Beta Impressions

Today I will give you some early impressions detailing the Xbox 360 version of the Battlefield 3 beta. Lets get some formalities out of the way early, shall we? Battlefield 3 is a modern first-person shooter developed by EA DICE and published by Electronic Arts. It releases October 25, 2011. This particular article is specifically detailing my early experiences regarding the Xbox 360 version of the Battlefield 3 beta.

Gamemodes - One game mode and that is Rush.

Rush - I played Rush many times in both Bad Company games. Attacking forces must advance through enemies defenses and destroy M COM Stations throughout the map. The defending team must protect all M COM Stations from the attackers. It's a simple game of defense versus offense and it can be quite entertaining sometimes. Most times defenders win and it seems to be that way in Battlefield 3 on Operation Metro map.

Operation Metro Map - Operation Metro map is the only map on the Xbox 360 version of Battlefield 3 beta at the moment. This map starts out in a park in sunlight but quickly turns into a underground subway battle. The early part of the subway portion is very linear. Actually, many sections of Operation Metro are linear which makes for Attackers in Rush really difficult. There are open areas in the subway section featuring escalators and open lobbies. But most of the map is train cars and linear passageways. There are also quite a few backroom hallways in the Operation Metro map.

Classes - There are four different classes in the beta including Assault, Engineer, Recon and Support. What primary guns you start out with in default depends on if your Attacker or Defender. Every class give or take has a Primary, Secondary, Gadget 1, Gadget 2 and Specialization slot.

Assault - This class starts off with either M16A3 or AK-74m for primary weapons. Sidearms are MP443 and M9 with the Medic Kit. I played with this class early and often. It feels sorta like the medic class in other games the way you can just toss around health packs to squad members and other teammates. I would say it's a good class to start with in Battlefield 3.

Engineer - Not much use for this class in the beta due to no vehicles being available. However the Engineer class has always been a favorite of mine in Battlefield: Bad Company 1 and 2. Primary weapons are M4A1 and AKS-74u. Sidearms are the same as all of the other classes. Gadget 1 is SMAW and RPG-7U2.

Each weapon in the Battlefield 3 beta has a detailed stats page showcasing everything you need to know about each gadget and weapon.

Support - I played with the Support class and it seems like a good class to lay down suppressive fire with. Primary weapon is the M27 1AR and RPK- 74M. Secondary guns are the same as above. Ammo Boxes are the "Gadget". If you want to keep supplies from running out for you're squadmates and teammates, pick the Support class.

Recon - Sniper class, need I say more? Primary guns MK 11 MODO and SVD. Secondary guns are the same as above. The Gadget is Radio Beacon. If you played with the Recon class in Bad Company it's quite similar.

Controls - Feels similar to Bad Company 2. Only difference so far is the prone option. To prone press down the Right Thumb Stick all the way till you're prone. The controls as to be expected aren't that good due to it being a beta. Seems aiming is kinda off. It seems clunky and wunky and or jerky if I can say that. Sprinting and doing the automatic parkour moves are nice.

Custom Kits - The menu is there but I can't confirm yet if you can make custom loadouts. I haven't played it enough to unlock many options to be frank. I will let you all know later if there are Custom Loadouts in the beta.

Glitches - First game I played on my Xbox 360 it simply froze ten minutes into the match. I had to restart the console. Not a good first impression if I must say. That's not all, almost every match I played had stuttering issues and framrate drops. Connections issues in game are apparent. Finding matches were easy to find on the Xbox 360. Battlefield 3's beta does have quite a bit of issues on the Xbox 360 regarding freezing, glitching and stuttering. Good thing, it's a beta and DICE has time to fix the kinks before the game ships in a few weeks.

My Unlocks - Not much, but for leveling up to Private First Class I attained the 870 MCS shotgun.

So what do I think about Battlefield 3's beta running on the Xbox 360? It's a gorgeous game with great sound design. I do like the Operation Metro map, it's not a great map but it's a solid map. The game does have glaring issues relating to glitching, stuttering and freezing. Thanks for reading.

Gaming Then and Now

Recently I decided to go back into my collection of video games. I hooked up my Sega Genesis and plugged in Sonic the Hedgehog. This is one of my all time favorite video games. There is no doubt that Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis is a classic that every gamer should play. I realize there are a lot of games out there similar to Sonic the Hedgehog. One of the more famous ones is Super Mario Brothers for the NES.

These games were not the first games ever created but are defiantly Iconic. When a gamer hears the name Sonic or Mario they immediately know who they are. My question is though they know who they are; do they know what their original games were like? Most veteran gamers know the answer to this question. However for the younger generation of gamers who are growing up playing Wii or Xbox 360, this answer might not be the same. In this day in age technology has increased rapidly. Now we have hand free and motion games. We have games with 3D graphics. The thought of where the gaming industry will be in the years to come blows my mind. Although games are advancing, we should not forget the classics and what these games started out as. The Sonic the hedgehog series for the Sega Genesis is a good example of this. Even though these games are so basic, they are still great games to play. They did not need to be complex to be fun and addicting.

In Sonic the Hedgehog you have your basic controls for running, jumping, and spinning. The music and sound effects are simple and catchy. The art and animations are all 2D, detailed, colorful, and enjoyable to see. The story is about a giant blue hedgehog named Sonic who is after an evil master mind who is terrorizing the world with his mechanical monsters in seek of controlling the world with the Chaos Emeralds. All of these elements come together to create a strong but basic game that was very catchy and fun to play. The team that developed Sonic the Hedgehog was made up of less than ten people. Of course the technology back in the Sega Genesis days was nowhere near what we have today, but the game developers worked with what they had and created outstanding games.

I am not trying to say in anyway that today's video games are bad. We should not forget about the classic games that started and impacted the industry as we know it today and teach the younger gamers about these games that we grew up playing. Whether you are veteran or a new age gamer, dig up or find a classic game like Sonic the Hedgehog or Mario and relive its experience.

LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

I must admit, I've never been that into DC Comics. Sure, I love the Nolan-directed Batman movies and the animated Justice League show but when it comes to the actual characters, my heart belongs in the Marvel Universe. After spending some time with LEGO Batman 2, I must say I'm now more than interested in getting into DC's roster- it was awesome to see these familiar characters interact with each other in the LEGO world. There's just something too charming about the juxtaposition of a dark and brooding LEGO Batman with the ever so squeaky clean Superman. All in all, this game rocks.

Traveller's Tale has been known to not diverge too much from the standard LEGO gameplay. This changes with LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes. For starters, it has voice acting (a first in a LEGO game) and it works incredibly well. Don't get me wrong- I was always a fan of the grunts and growls of the previous games but the voice work made the story that much more fun. I loved how Batman and Superman interacted and how Robin was constantly star-struck by the Man of Steel.

With LEGO Batman 2 I really felt engaged in the story. Unlike other LEGO games this one isn't based on a movie- which is awesome because it creates an actual original tale that piques your interest and keeps you wondering what will happen next. In the beginning of the game you'll just be playing as Batman and Robin but when Lex Luthor (voiced by the returning Clancy Brown) enters the picture you'll need back up. That's right, legendary heroes like Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and even Superman himself will help you. Though the main focus is Batman, so don't expect too much time with the other characters in the story.

I've played my fair share of LEGO games and I can confidently say LEGO Batman 2 is by far the best yet. It's blatantly obvious that Traveller's Tales has perfected the tried and true gameplay of past LEGO games. If you're familiar with their past outings like LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Indiana Jones you'll remember that breaking everything in the world to get more studs can be blissfully addictive. In this particular game, however, I was more focused on completing the actual missions to get to the next segment because the story was so well put together. The parts where you have to switch suits between Batman and Robin to progress with the puzzles are especially fun. Sometimes you'll have to charge up Batman's electricity suit to open a switch or use Robin's acrobatic ability to climb to a hard to reach spot. These parts flow extremely well, especially towards the end of the game.

That's not to say this is a perfect game. There are some problems with the open world gameplay. The map you're provided with isn't quite fleshed out and it can be a little bit confusing to get to a specific point. Also, if you're playing split screen and you're exploring Gotham City you'll notice that there's a little bit of a framerate issue. Sometimes I felt like the game was just too easy at parts; sure, this is a kid's game but a little challenge here and there wouldn't hurt. Also, just remember that this is mainly a Batman adventure so don't get too bummed out when you can't play as your favorite Justice League hero from the get-go. Once you progress through the story your favorite hero is bound to show up.

The graphics are surprisingly beautiful in a LEGO sort of way. This isn't Crysis 3 by any means but the little details add up. When I was finished the campaign I was running around Gotham City as the Flash and it was really badass to see his signature red and yellow lightning bolts following him as he zipped down the gloomy streets. Also, you'll get Superman and Batman musical themes playing every now and then and you'll feel especially heroic blasting enemies with their unique power sets as the music echoes.

Admittedly, when I heard about this game I didn't really feel the desire to pick it up. I played the previous LEGO Batman and it was fun but I felt like it kept too closely to the LEGO gameplay formula. After beating this game in about 9 hours and continuing to explore the mean streets of Gotham long after I finished, I can assure you that this is not your typical LEGO adventure. This game has minor issues but they are easy to overlook. If you want a game that has stellar co-op, exciting and memorable characters and also a high level of replayability, you'd do no wrong in trying this heroic adventure.

Maestro: Notes of Life Review

Maestro: Notes of Life is a hidden object and adventure creation of ERS Games. For those who know ERS Games, they are the developers of some of the best hidden object games available in the market today. Maestro: Notes of Life is no exception to being a great game as this sequel after Maestro: Music of Death takes the player to another dark musical ride with a new story, new scenarios, and creative puzzles that is certified to be loved by many.

The story of the game opens up with a nicely produced cut scene of a young girl kidnapped by some magical music. Your task in the game is of course to save the girl, but it will not be easy as magic and puzzles hinder your path. The magical music came from a young and talented musician, but is he the mastermind behind all of what is happening? Or is he another pawn to a much more evil entity?

As for the graphics of Maestro: Notes of Life, I can say that ERS Games once again did a great job in this installment's development. The introduction cut scene is already gripping and amazing to watch that you will be sure to get hooked to playing from start to finish. Game play is very good. Hidden object scenes are nicely done with little to no pixel finding involved, even with most of these scenes piled with so much junk.

The atmosphere of the game is eerie which is to be expected of the Maestro series and ERS Games in general. As a matter of fact, ERS Games is so much known for making dark themed adventure games that I am currently wondering if they have the ability to expand further in more unique hidden object game themes. I say more unique since most of the hidden object games being developed nowadays are those with dark themes, making you scurry and find items in purposely scary places. I am not against these kind of games but it can get really standard sometimes that I stop getting surprised on supposedly new gaming experiences.

Review - Draw Something

OMGPOP's Draw Something one of the newest hits to come from the app store.

As the title suggests Draw Something is a drawing game, which would usually put it into the "will not play." But surprising to me, I'm actually a fan of the game especially since my drawing ability is that of a two-year-old child. It is probably because the person I'm playing with can somehow realize that my stick figure drawing with what looked like a red hula-hoop is the word belt.

After a game starts, you are given three words with varying levels of difficulty with the coins earned going up as well. You choose the word you want and then it's drawing time. The game has four brush sizes along with somewhat limited choice of colors. Make a mistake? The you can wipe the board clean or just use the eraser tool to clean up a bit.

What is nice about Draw Something is that the game isn't time intensive. You draw your word and then send it to your partner. They have as long as they want to figure it out and then send back a drawing for you. You can even nudge them as a way to remind them about the game in progress.

The graphics in the game are minimal, but that doesn't matter all that much since you are the ones doing the drawings. But the user interface is not cluttered and everything is presented well. Draw Something's sound is also sparse, but once again it shouldn't matter or have an impact in the game.

In-app purchases do mitigate one of my main issues with the game. To start, Draw Something only gives you a limited choice of colors. But you can buy more color packs with coins earned in-game or buying a bundle of coins with IAP. You don't really need to buy the color packs, but it does help to create better drawings.? I recommend buying the Mardi Gras pack once you have earned enough coins because it has most of the missing colors.

The Amazing Spider-Man

If you know anything about me you'll know that I'm a huge Spider-Man fan. In fact one could label me as a fanboy. My room is littered with Spider-Man action figures, posters and I'm proud to say his comics. As both a Spider-Man fan and a video-game enthusiast I'm no stranger to his video games- my Xbox Live Gamer-Score attests to the fact that I've played them all. So like everyone else I was not surprised that a new game was announced to go with the new movie. And you know what? It's actually the best Spider-Man game ever made.

Beenox, the developer, recently released other Spider-Man titles like Shattered Dimensions and the extremely disappointing Edge of Time. Luckily for us, Beenox decided to return to Spider-Man's roots and have a free-roaming New York to explore. This is where The Amazing Spider-Man absolutely shines. The outdoor battles are incredibly engaging and web-slinging through the Big Apple has never been more fun. I really enjoyed how they adjusted the camera. Instead of having the hero barely in the frame, Beenox pulled the camera in closer so you can get a better sense of speed.

Nothing is better than free-falling off a skyscraper then launching a web right before you hit the streets, letting the momentum sling shot you off. Also, this game features a new mechanic called "Web Rush": basically you hold down one of the shoulder buttons and it slows down time to show you different options on where to zip to. It's a nifty feature and it more than once saved me in a scuffle. It's certainly a welcome tool to help you find those pesky Comic Book pages hidden around the city.

Now that we've covered the Free-Roam gameplay, let's talk about the combat and indoor portions. If you've played the recent Batman game you'll instantly be familiar with the combat in The Amazing Spider-Man. It's not as polished but it's just as fun. I never got bored achieving blisteringly fast 50 hit combos with Spider-Man's agility-based fighting style. If you're more into stealth gameplay, Beenox has you covered in this area as well. You can hang from a ceiling and paint your target and you'll instantly web the poor sap up. To me, this wasn't the way I played the game. With the stealth portions it seemed too easy to just web a guy up and zip away from detection. I found it more challenging to get inside the fray and go toe-to-toe with the bad guys. Spider-Man isn't made to take a lot of punches so if you're not fast with your Spider-Sense you'll find yourself in a heap of trouble.

I was really surprised that Beenox put so many unlockables in the game. There are around 700 comic book pages to find across New York. I beat the game in around 10 hours and I only found 200 or so. Also, throughout the city there are Spidey symbols that you can photograph to unlock new costumes. Most of them are disappointing unless your favorite color is black. No need to complain too much- we're extremely lucky to have any at all in a movie game. I also really enjoyed how the costumes would rip and tear when you suffered heaps of damage.

With movie tie-ins you really can't expect magic when it comes to the visual and audio aspect of the games. The Amazing Spider-Man is no different; there's constant screen tearing in the distance and you can only listen to a generic yell YAAA so many times before you start to go crazy. Here lies one of the faults with this game- unlike other Spider-Man movie tie-ins the movie cast doesn't voice any of the characters in the game! It would've been incredible to have Rhys Ifans, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone reprising their movie counterparts but unfortunately we're left with sound-alikes (if you even want to call them that as Dr. Connors is particularly bad).

Chances are, you've already seen the movie- if not, I suggest you wait to play the game till after you've seen it. The story-line in The Amazing Spider-Man takes place right after the movie ends and it won't take long before the spoilers start trickling in. About 40 minutes into the game you'll learn about a major character's death. So if you don't mind spoilers then swing away.

Bikkuri Nekketsu Shinkiroku: Harukanaru Kin Medal Famicom Game Review

Japanese developers have certainly had innovative ideas when it comes to creating likeable characters that go on to form long-running, popular series of video games. For example, the Mario and Zelda series have both gone on to form thirty year long legacies that gamers of all ages can recognize. While the Kunio-Kun series may not have reached quite the same level of success, it still maintained great popularity in Japan and to some degree in America. This is seen in the numerous sports games that spawned within the series, including Bikkuri Nekketsu Shinkiroku: Harukanaru Kin Medal.

Gameplay

Bikkuri Nekketsu Shinkiroku: Harukanaru Kin Medal, which roughly translates to The Astonishing New Records of Nekketsu! Distant Gold Medal, is a Famicom video game released in June 1992. The purpose of the game is to compete in a number of amateur Olympic events that feature no rules or regulations, including events like Fighting Scene, Rooftop Jumping, Swimming, Hammer Throw and the 400 meter hurdle set between five teams as a part of a challenge issued to Jeff Crash Cooney by humiliated high schooler Theodore Todd Thornley IV.

The events are divided into two primary cateogries: Individual and head-to-head events. In the former, all players take their turns one by one with the winner ultimately decided by whoever earns the best score for the event. In the latter, the player faces off against a series of players one by one by way of single elimination gameplay. If the player can defeat both of his opponents, he will have succeeded, and he can compete against Thorley for the top prize.

Up to four human players are capable of playing Bikkuri Nekketsu Shinkiroku: Harukanaru Kin Medal, even with the limitations of the controller ports. However, the game never features more than two players competing at a time, allowing the remaining two players to alternate whenever it is their turn.

Localization

Unlike most of the other titles in the Kunio-Kun series, Bikkuri Nekketsu Shinkiroku: Harukanaru Kin Medal saw a release in North America four months later, more aptly titled Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge. The only real changes the NES version saw to the game were plot and scenery changes, as well as the roster for the two teams. Outside of this, the game remains the same.

Purists who enjoy playing original games would do well to pick up Bikkuri Nekketsu Shinkiroku: Harukanaru Kin Medal for the Famicom. Not only is it a fun game to play, but there is something more interesting about playing the original plot than the altered version that American Technos brought to America.

The Scruffs: Return of the Duke Review

Way back in 2007, hidden object aficionados encountered The Scruffs, a fun and quirky game that features equally fun and quirky characters as they try to unfold a family secret and prevent their beloved family home from being sold. Fast forward to present 2012, a sequel to this game appears. The Scruffs: Return of the Duke features a completely different storyline, but brings back the comical family from the original game. And this time, they are involved in a bigger adventure which we will be tackling with the rest of this review.

Grandpa Scruff is actually a duke, and after discovering this fact, the entire Scruff family returns to Scrufford but soon encounters an evil impostor that wants to take Grandpa Scruff's rightful position. Well, that is the entire gist of the story as you try to thwart the impostor's evil plans and help the old man get back his title. Simple, right? Well, that is because the entire game is very simple as well. But it makes up for it with pure, lighthearted fun, lots of humor and possibly the cutest hint system you will encounter in the hidden object genre.

The game play of The Scruffs: Return of the Duke is straightforward hidden object. You try to find items in various cluttered scenes with some of them turning into inventory items you can use to progress the storyline. It is much like the first installment of The Scruffs, but definitely better and more refined. I could say it is funnier too, bringing me lots of laughs even with just the hidden object scenes. And while the puzzles may not be so unique, they are very well made, with some taking quite a lot of time to complete (Sudoku, anyone?).

What I really loved best though is the game's hint system. The Scruff dog located at the lower right side of the screen will give you hints whenever he is available. What he does is bark whenever you get to approach the needed object. Absolutely cute and very fun to use. Kudos to the developers for putting such an element oftentimes neglected on other hidden object games.

All in all, The Scruffs: Return of the Duke is certainly a must try, must buy game. But of course, it is much better for you to try it out first if comic style graphics and storyline suits you well. As a bit of trivia, the original The Scruffs game won second runner-up best hidden object game of 2007 at the Big Fish Games portal. Just so you know how fun this game really is to play.

Warriors Orochi 3 Review

The third game in the Orochi universe is now out and it's the most satisfying of the three by far.

Warriors Orochi already had a unique story when it came to the Warriors series. It starts with the Serpent King, Orochi, wanting to test the might of the warriors from the Three Kingdoms era of China and the Warring States period of Japan. He opens up time and space and pulls them into his realm. Naturally, he gets beaten. He gets beaten once again in Warriors Orochi 2 when he pulls off a resurrection.

That brings us up to Warriors Orochi 3 - and the Hydra. Once the land has settled into a relative time of peace and everyone is learning to coexist, the Hydra shows up and brutally destroys just about everyone we know and love in the series. Just a handful of officers and a small army survive. This is the opening level where we take control of three characters in a desperate war that makes it very apparent we're going to die quickly. Just when you thought you paid $60 for a game with one level, the series' new mechanic is introduced: TIIIIIIIIIIME TRAAAAAAAVEL!

Our three warriors are ripped to the point in the story to just before the last battle with the Hydra and are introduced to Kaguya, the woman who has the power to make all this happen. She tells them to venture back to different points in time, saving their comrades and bringing them back to this time to fight the Hydra together. It's a fairly cheesy gimmick that is surprisingly refreshing in the Warriors series.

There are several new characters exclusive to the Orochi games to make their debut here as well as some familiar faces from other games, most notably Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden. These new characters bring the roster up to a whopping 132 playable death machines, each with a fairly varied move set and specific quirks. We're lucky we get to use teams of three in this series because picking just one person would be terrible.

As all the others, this Warriors game isn't without its faults. Between armies full of clones and pretty bad draw distance, Warriors Orochi 3 really is a grind to the top. While it has been like this in every installment of the Warriors series, I find myself beginning to get tired of it, mostly because I feel like there is a lack of variety in all the things I'm killing. More than ever, those armies with nothing but thousands of people who look the same are starting to wear against me and make me go about things with a bitter mood.

But, when I stop to smell the roses, Warriors Orochi 3 truly is a wonderful game. We have so much more than we used to between small tweaks to the gameplay mechanics down to the new and interesting characters. Even something I once thought insignificant - how many enemies are on screen - has the ability to make me smile with murderous glee since it is now so easy to get several thousand kills in one level when I struggled with all my might in previous games to just hit that one thousand mark. It's the small things that count sometimes and Warriors Orochi 3 is chock full of the small things that really add up and elevate it so much higher than almost any other Warriors game out there.

The absolute largest gripe I find with a lot of players that must be mentioned is the voice over work. There simply are no English voice overs in the game. See, we're lucky this game made its way out of Japan at all. We weren't supposed to get it. Ever. Luckily for us, we did - at the cost of English voice over. I know for a fact some people were completely fine with this since the English voices really do suck sometimes. I'm only a tad disappointed simply because there is a lot that happens in-game. There is a lot on the screen and sometimes, I can't be bothered to look down at the speech bubbles popping up to understand what is being said. So I miss stuff from time to time, which kind of blows, but it's something I take in stride since I'm grateful to be able to play the game at all.

Warriors Orochi 3 really delivers a powerhouse of a game that is set apart from the rest of the series. Hardcore fans and newcomers alike can find something here, whether it be the new battle tweaks, the tons of characters, the quirky story, or even the odd [and yet so fitting] soundtrack that every Warriors game boasts.

It's a downright fun game that can easily kill a few hours of your time. With online gameplay it's easy to connect with other friends and get that old co-op you used to have in the old games on your couch.

As seen on Empty Apartment. We plan on bringing you content in our own words and style, from the view of an everyday gamer, just like you. Expect to see reviews and previews of newly released and backlogged games, our opinions on news and announcements, live streaming of Empty's gaming antics and much, much more. We're constantly looking for new ideas to bring content to you in interesting ways.