Tag Archives: co-op

PSN Review: Deathspank

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Posted by Rob on August 21, 2010 – 2:53 pm
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I am a huge fan of hack-and-slash, dungeon crawler RPGs, so when Deathspank came out and I saw that it fit the genre nicely, I just had to check it out. Deathspank is a solid game for the PSN…that being said, it would not have held up well if it was a PS3 disc-based game. While the game succeeds in many ways, there are a few factors holding it back from being an extremely epic RPG experience.

You take on control of Deathspank, a hero for hire (who wears  a magical purple thong) who sets out to claim a magical artifact, which he believes will make him the strongest hero in the world. Deathspank will explore a somewhat small world that does have a few unique environments, but at the same time is limited in the amount of space given to play in. Like any good hack-and-slash dungeon crawler, Deathspank will dispatch countless hordes of enemies with a wide variety of weapons, armors and magical potions. Up to four weapons can be equipped at a time and are hotkeyed to the controller, and potions and other items can be hotkeyed to the directional pad. As enemies are slain and quests are completed, you will gain xp. When Deathspank levels, he is given a choice of three stats and can raise one of them up a level. For example, at level 2 he may choose to raise his melee damage, ranged damage, or speed at which he moves by 5% (this is just an example, I don’t recall what the exact three choices were at level 2.) Other stats to be raised include amount of money dropped by enemies and the ability to equip weapons and armors that are up to two levels higher than your character.

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My First 24 Hours of 360 Goodness: The Games

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Posted by Rob on August 7, 2010 – 9:42 am
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So I previously went over my first impressions of the system itself, and what it offers. Now I’m going to spend some time talking about the great games I have gotten to play, and there are some great ones indeed!

Castle Crashers:

This is one of the games that had me drooling for a 360, especially since first getting to actually play it at PAX. It’s still in the works for a PS3 release, but it took so dang long so this was one of the first games I snagged. Castle Crashers is a beautiful, colorful, BLOODY beat em’ up, straight out of the old school days. Up to four players (locally or online, which is awesome) can team up with a character of their choice and lay the smackdown on dozens of minions and giant bosses. The leveling system is great, where if you die on a level you maintain all the gold, weapons, creatures, and XP you earned, and it all adds in to the awesome replay value of the game. This is the game I was waiting for, and now that I have it, I see that it’s everything I thought it would be and more. If you have a 360 and don’t have this game, then you’re a fool!

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 1989 Classic Arcade

This game is straight out of the old school arcade we all know and love. The graphics and gameplay are all down right as they were…no lame “revival” like Turtles in Time Re-Shelled was. There is really little to say about the awesomeness of this game: old school arcade beat em’ up! The only thing they did was make it so that you have unlimited continues, so no worries about losing your last quarter by being turned into a little turtle by Shredder!!!

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Mass Effect:

After playing the crud out of Dragon Age: Origins through four different play-throughs, I was extremely jealous of Biowares sci-fi RPG Mass Effect. I didn’t think it was a game to own, so I rented this one from Gamefly so I could play through it and then send it back for Mass Effect 2. I am about an hour or two into the game, and so far it is a great combination of RPG goodness in a sci-fi environment. It has everything that Dragon Age had: several backgrounds and classes to choose from, a ton of weapons and equipment to keep checking on, and special abilities for you and your party to make short work of your enemies. I can’t say too much more since I’m still in the beginnings of the game, but I’m impressed by what I’ve seen so far.

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Crackdown 2:

Crackdown 2 is an interesting third-person shooter that takes place in a city overrun by zombie-ish creatures (referred to simply as “freaks”.) Your mission is to help clear them out of the city by running or driving around and fulfilling various missions. I have not personally played online yet, but when you do your friends can come and join in your world to help you on your missions. I haven’t put much time into the game yet, so I don’t have too much to say about it yet, but when I do a full review will be forth-coming.

Left 4 Dead:

This is hands-down one of the definitive games for the 360. Left 4 Dead is a FPS that sticks you smack dab in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. You and three allies (either actual players or AI) must race through the level and try to survive to the end, where rescue awaits. The typical weapons of pistols, rifles, shotguns, and machine guns are what stands between you and hordes of various zombies, all of which move extremely quickly (no shambling here.) I played through two levels (each level contains five stages) with some people online last night and had a true blast. This is a game that I can’t see ever getting old, and was definitely something I was missing on the PS3.

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PS3 Review: Trine

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Posted by Rob on July 15, 2010 – 9:23 pm
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The game received quite a bit of hype when it was released, but I was dissuaded due to the price sticker at the time. Now that this game can be purchased over PSN for $10, I decided to give it a whirl and see what all the fuss was about. I was quite pleased with the results.

Trine is a platformer at heart, with some RPG elements thrown in. The main gist of the game is that a warrior, thief, and wizard have to join forces to save the kingdom. Together, they venture across a variety of different platforming environments, overcoming puzzles and undead forces. Combat is only a small part of the game, and the puzzles (many of which are physics-based) and level navigation definitely take precedence. It is in this where you see the differences between the three characters.

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Now before I get into the individual characters I want to explain how the game works. You can play either by yourself or with up to two buddies locally only…there is no online play, sadly (it will be a shared screen, so no running off on your own.) All three characters are necessary to get through each level. That being said, if there is only one player playing the game, you can quickly swap between the characters with the touch of a button. So let’s say that you are the thief, and you are walking down a hall, and all of a sudden the ceiling collapses. If you are quick enough, you can swap to the knight and pop your shield up to protect yourself. If there are two players playing, a player can swap between their current character and the other unused character (so that no one is fighting back and forth for control of the knight or whatnot.) While you can swap out the characters, they each have their own health and energy bars, if someone is on the verge of dying, you can switch to another character with more health. Also, if a character dies, heading to the nearest checkpoint will resurrect all dead characters, as well as give them about 80% health and energy. Read More »

PS3 Review: Transformers: War for Cybertron

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Posted by Rob on July 8, 2010 – 8:31 am
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First off, yes, I know the above image is for the 360. Oddly enough, it was the best picture I could find for the game’s cover art, so I had to make due. But enough of that…onto the review!

When I first heard about the game, I was nervous. There had been a few Transformers games previously, and they all sucked. I assumed that this one would also. Then I heard that it was an original story, independent of the films, and set before the Transformers ever set foot on Earth. That was interesting, and got my attention. Then I heard that there was going to be co-op and other multiplayer modes, and I made sure that my Gamefly queue was totally empty so that I could have it shipped out release date. In the end, Transformers: War for Cybertron totally lives up as a great, engaging game and also removes the stain left by previous movie-based games. I can only hope this is the start of a whole new series of games!

War for Cybertron is a third-person shooter which takes place exclusively on Cybertron, thus there are no humans to be seen…only awesome robots. The game’s campaign mode is short but very, very sweet. There are ten chapters, and each chapter has a several sub-chapters, and each chapter ends with a boss battle. The first five levels are Decepticon levels, where you control Megatron and his minions as they strive to develop the ultimate weapon, kicking Autobot butt along the way. The fifth chapter ends with Megatron acquiring his weapon, and it appearing that all is lost…until a new hero emerges. Chapters six through ten of the game are played from the Autobot point of view, as Optimus Prime and his allies fight to stop Megatron’s plans by staging a series of counter-attacks. It is done very well, in that there are two totally different campaigns (not just different versions of the same stage for each side.)

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Yet Another Successful Resistance 2 Co-Op Night

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Posted by Rob on May 15, 2010 – 12:57 am
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It’s Friday night, which meant it was time to play some Resistance 2 online with some of the folks over at co-optimus. I got a little under three hours when when the fatigue started to hit me, but in that time I was able to get my Soldier from level 15 to 17, which is pretty good. Leveling up characters takes one heck of a long time in this game, which only adds to the great replay value.

I really want to start playing this game more, to get more xp for my classes, but it’s tough with all the other games I have, especially with Red Dead Redemption coming my way Tuesday!

I headed off early since we have a busy day tomorrow. After grocery shopping in the morning, we are heading over to the mall to do some shopping, then hit up Butcher Block for dinner, and end the night by finally getting to see Iron Man 2. I’m pretty excited!!!

PS3 First Impressions: Lost Planet 2

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Posted by Rob on May 13, 2010 – 11:15 pm
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I received Lost Planet 2 in from Gamefly today, and actually got the chance to put a little over an hour into it. I’m still a little on the fence with it, but it is definitely too early to make a final verdict, especially since I haven’t actually gotten to play with anyone online yet. Still, here’s what I have seen from the campaign so far.

The campaign mode of the game is interesting. There is technically no “single player” mode that you just continue from the last save point. From the campaign menu, you can either jump into someone else’s campaign, or you can create your own campaign. If you start your own, you can start it at any point you wish, up to any point you have already unlocked in the game. The campaign mode supports up to four players, and they can be online buddies or AI. I played two campaigns…one with the AI and one with the online. Unfortunately, no one decided to join in my game, so I was basically getting my butt kicked around. That was one of the first annoying things…it’s hard to play online with random people. I can see it being a lot of fun with some friends who you know will be playing alongside with you, but if you’re hoping to have someone join your game, you could be in for a bumpy ride.

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Lost Planet 2 on the Way from Gamefly

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Posted by Rob on May 11, 2010 – 7:50 pm
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About a month ago, I was tossed up on which game to rent from Gamefly when the time came…Lost Planet 2 or Red Dead Redemption. Both were promising some interest online co-op, and I couldn’t be sure which to set my Gamefly account for. In the end, I ended up buying Red Dead Redemption from Amazon, which cleared up my Gamefly queue to be all about Lost Planet 2.

I’ll be honest…I wasn’t a huge fan of the first one. I don’t know squat about this one. All I know is that it’s a FPS that offers online co-op, so I’ll be checking it out. I have heard some bad reviews about the game so far, so I’ll try and write up a quick first impression when I get the time.

Plugging Along

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Posted by Rob on May 5, 2010 – 11:33 pm
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Now that the bachelor party is over, it’s been a slow week thus far. Work has been lame, with work consisting of either mind-numbing boredom or intense madness. Today I was assigned the job of typing of people notes, which proved to be a difficult task. It’s quite hard to make sense of a person’s notes, especially when they are in-depth and quickly scribbled in no particular order.

I got to watch the second episode of America: The Story of Us. It was a pretty good episode devoted to the expansion and industrialization (to a degree) of America, which plant the seeds for the Civil War (which is next weeks episode, and I’m excited.) I loved the attention they gave to the Donner party and John Brown, though I was upset with the lack of Zebulon Pike. Still, it was good stuff indeed. I’ll definitely be picking up the DVD set at some point.

I finished reading The Hobbit today. I must have read that book over ten times throughout my life. It’s just such a simple, well-written fantasy story. Plus it’s relatively short, making it a quick read. I probably got through it within two weeks, and could only read at short intervals. I’m really hoping the new movie does the story more justice than the 70s cartoon movie did (though now I feel like watching it again…). Now I need something else to read. The only thing that makes sense is The Lord of the Rings, but that is such a huge undertaking…

Nothing else really going on. The weeks coming up will begin to get chock full of last minute wedding details and whatnot, so I’m definitely going to be taking any relaxation time where I can. I’m gonna try to get some gaming in tomorrow evening (around 6-7pm), and hopefully will be able to get my Resistance 2 co-op night on Friday.

Hope everyone else is running smoothly. Be good to your mother.

Another Successful Resistance 2 Co-op Night

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Posted by Rob on April 24, 2010 – 1:14 am
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I met up with some of the folks over at co-optimus, and I played for about three and a half hours, until I was near exhaustion, while the rest of the guys carried on. I’ve been enjoying getting back into Resistance 2 these past few Fridays, and look forward to continuing this trend on a nightly basis, if I’m available. With my medic being maxed at level 30, I have been working on getting my spec. ops up in levels. I’ve been getting better with him, and have been getting some nice xp. He is at level 12 now, and I also have my soldier at level 15. I doubt I will ever max either of them, since it took me long enough to get my medic maxed, but it’s fun to play a different class than I used to.

However, on a down note, my headset seems to be acting up. I can communicate just fine in the lobby, but later in the night my headset wasn’t allowing me to talk during missions, but it was fine once we got back to the lobby. I don’t know what’s wrong with it, but it’s pretty sad…

Friday Night = Resistance 2 Co-Op Night

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Posted by Rob on April 17, 2010 – 12:20 am
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I joined up with a bunch of guys from co-optimus.com to play some Resistance 2 tonight. It’s funny…I always forget how great the co-op in this game is until I play it again. A total of six of us joined forces to drive back the Chimera horde, and we definitely ended up having one of the toughest missions I’ve ever been privvy too (probably since a few of the guys characters were maxed out at level 30.)

Still, a good time was had by all. Resistance 2 may not have campaign co-op, but the missions really breath unlimited replay into the game. Even though I always forget to mention it, I think Resistance 2 is one of my favorite online games to play on the PS3. And now that it’s become a greatest hit for $30, there’s no excuse for any PS3 owner to not get in on the fun.

Just Picked Up Ghostbusters on the PS3 for $7.23

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Posted by Rob on April 13, 2010 – 1:53 pm
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I enjoyed the single player campaign and the online co-op modes for the Ghostbusters game. However, I wasn’t keen on dropping $40+ for it. Today, Gamefly sent me a list of their April Bargain Bin games, and Ghostbusters was listed for $11.69. After my $5.00 coupon I had for them, the total for the game came out to $7.23 (including .54 for tax.) $7.00 is totally worth it for such a fantastic game! I look forward to playing through the game again and picking up trophies I missed out on during my first playthrough.

PS3 Review: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

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Posted by Rob on April 13, 2010 – 1:29 pm
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I got Uncharted 2 in from Gamefly early last week, but I had a busy schedule and had little time to play it. Luckily with the weekend spent at home, I was able to get in a few hours in the mornings, and got a good feel for the game. All I can say is, like the first Uncharted, it is a must-have!

The game continues the adventures of Nathan Drake, pro treasure hunter. The story takes you from Africa to Nepal and other locales as you search for clues to lead you to the lost treasure fleet of Marco Polo and eventually to the fabled city of Shang-ra-la. Along the way you meet up with some old friends from the previous game (Sully and Elena) as well as some new buddies. The game is totally beautiful, and boasts the best graphics you have seen yet on the PS3. The game uses cutscenes not just to help tell the awesome and in-depth story, but also serves as loading time in between levels. Thus, once you start up the game, you will never have to suffer though a load screen, which I was very pleased with. The voice acting is also top-notch, and does a lot for moving the story along.uncharted2cinematic Read More »

Wii First Impressions: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

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Posted by Rob on April 3, 2010 – 8:48 am
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Yeah, I will admit that it has been awhile since I turned on the ol’ Wii. But once I picked up New Super Mario Bros. Wii, I had reason to go back to the white console. Mario Bros. Wii is genious, much like its DS counterpart, in that it brings back the simplicity of old-school Mario platformers with some new twists and gorgeous graphics to make a truly awesome and fun game.

The game’s story is nothing new, and even harkens back to the days of Super Mario 3…Princess Peach is kidnapped by Bowser’s kids (all the guys from Mario 3, along with Bowser Jr.), and it’s up to Mario and friends to save the day. I say “and friends” because one of the best features of Mario Bros. Wii is the addition of co-op…up to four players can take part in the game AT THE SAME TIME! So think old school Mario platformer, but with four buddies being able to play together (as Mario, Luigi, and two toads.) Now I’m not as big a fan of the inclusion of toads, and I think it would have been cooler if they threw in Wario and Waluigi, or didn’t have the Princess kidnapped so she could be a playable character. Also, if the characters all had unique abilities a la Mario 2, it would have been cool too. But in the end, I can’t complain about a game that allows four friends to go platforming together.

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Now I Want a 360

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Posted by Rob on March 29, 2010 – 4:49 pm
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So as I have saying over the weekend and today, I was able to finally check out the 360 at PAX, and I liked what I played.

First off, remember that I am not a 360 hater. I don’t necessarily believe that the PS3 > 360, or that I hate the 360 simply because I have a PS3 instead. When I was ready to jump into the current-gen consoles, I was tossed up between the PS3 and 360. My friend and I had lengthy conversations about the pros and cons of each, and for awhile it looked like I would get a 360, for the lower price and the far-superior online service. However, one of the biggest problems was that I had never touched a 360 before. None of my friends ever had an Xbox or a 360, so I never knew how it was. Also, I was skeptical of the 360′s life due to all the RROD reports, and I didn’t want to think about the chance that I would have to worry about getting my console fixed. So when Wal-Mart happened to have a $100 deal on the PS3, I was quickly sold, and that laid it to rest. Read More »

Games Played at PAX East

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Posted by Rob on March 29, 2010 – 12:16 pm
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Obviously one of the major draws of PAX is the games. I got the opportunity to play quite a few. Of all the games I played, only a small handful were unreleased…many of them are games that are already available that I have never had the opportunity to play. So heres the games, in no particular order:

  • Crackdown 2 (360): We waited on line a little under an hour to check it out. It was a free for all game with men in armor suits who carried rocket launchers. The object of the game was to grab an orb and then run away and stay alive for as long as possible. So the main target of the game was always whoever had the orb. I was not a fan of the game. The controls were pretty bad, and navigating the city was horrible. The player cannot fly or run up the side of buildings, so you have to jump to latch on, but you can only latch on at particular spots, so a good chunk of the game was spent trying to get over a building so I could continue on in the match. Overall, I wasn’t a fan of what I played, which was only the versus mode. Apparently there is a single player and co-op story mode, but I was not able to play that.
  • Charlie Murder (XBLA): Charlie Murder is a fun four player beat em up a la Castle Crashers. The four playable characters were basically punks, and ran around beating the pulp out of other punks. Each character had a special move involving a guitar, as the character I was using summoned forth saw blades that ran across the screen cutting down enemies in their path. The game looked pretty good, with large, cartoonish characters and enemies, and I would definitely purchase it if I had a 360 when it comes out. Definitely keep an eye out for it.

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PS3 Review: Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce

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Posted by Rob on March 3, 2010 – 6:08 pm
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Once of my most favorite games from the PS2 was Dynasty Warriors 4. I had never played any of the previous games in the series, and it was by far one of the best co-op games the PS2 had to offer. It was a perfect hack-and-slash game where you and a friend could just run around with swords and cut up minions and tough bosses. I’m not joking when I say that one of my most fond gaming memories was when Steve and I first laid eyes on the badassness that is Lu Bu. That being said, I have played the older and newer games from the series, and I have always compared them to Dynasty Warriors 4. The older ones were a bit too slow, and the newer ones tended to focus more on strategy and unit management more than just tried and true mindless hack-and-slash action. Luckily, Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce is extremely successful in focusing a lot on the action, while at the same time intergrating a great RPG aspect, bringing the game to be the best in the series.

For those who are not familiar with the series, let me just take a moment or two to explain why it’s so awesome. Dynasty Warriors is loosely based on actual Chinese history, and you take control of one of many historical figures who were in China when the game takes place. To be more specific, it is based on the text “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” Now, I say loosely because there are near-invincible characters, magic, and, depending on which faction you play as, may not be entirely accurate (ex- your faction lost a battle historically, but you won that battle when playing.) So the game revolves around you choosing a faction (Wei, Wu, Shu), and taking their officers into battle against rival forces. Since it takes place in ancient China, the weaponry is basically swords, spears, bows, etc., with some other ones thrown in (like fans and clawed gloves.)

But enough of that. Let’s get into what makes Strikeforce such a great game!

dws

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Tuesday Night = Uncharted 2 Co-op Night

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Posted by Rob on February 24, 2010 – 9:14 am
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The past couple of weeks, after Lost (which is 10pm), I have been meeting up with a couple of guys from co-optimus, and we have been playing Uncharted 2 online. For the last two-three weeks there have only three or six of us, so we broke into teams of three to play either the survival mode or the gold rush mode.

Last night started out with just three of us, and we played through one mode of survival. After that, four others joined us, and we started playing a variety of different team elimination matches. Unfortunately, all the true co-op modes only support up to three players, so with seven we had to abandon co-op for the greater good of everyone playing together.

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All in all, Tuesdays prove to be a fun night where I get to play with some fun people. I have been having a blast playing Uncharted 2 online (which I haven’t been doing so much before I started playing with the crew), and it is a great game to play online with friends. The co-op modes are definitely best played with people who you know and can talk to, because communication is key.Whether you need to be saved from a “ninja attack” or you need to be warned of incoming chain gun-wielding enemies, communicating with the others is the only way to successfully survive the co-op modes.

Bioshock 2 = Great Multiplayer Experience

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Posted by Rob on February 22, 2010 – 6:29 pm
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Now I know that in the past Ive said that I hate playing FPS in online competitive matches. This is due to the fact that I tend to just really suck. I don’t have enough experience playing against other players, and that leads to me generally getting killed more than I kill others. Now I received Bioshock 2 when it came out, but I had not checked out the multiplayer mode since I hate playing online. But I was bored last night, so I decided to give it a whirl. I was not disappointed.

Between last night and today, I have logged in close to two hours online. I have definitely been doing well, and often come in within the top three places in the team-based deathmatches. Since I do fairly well, I enjoy playing it. There are a few traits to the online mode which I think are what attract me to it.

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PS3 Review: Aliens vs. Predator

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Posted by Rob on February 20, 2010 – 5:27 pm
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As you may know, I had some real issues with the AVP demo that came out two weeks ago. While the demo proved the game had a good premise and some great ideas, complex controls and the fact that it was impossible to get a game going left me a bit concerned for the final product. Well, I received the disc from Gamefly on Thursday, and have since then given most of the different game modes a whirl. Unfortunately, the demo gave a very accurate pretense on how the finished game would be…a game with great ideas, but executed badly.

First off, the story/background to the game is virtually non-existent. The game takes place shortly after the events of Alien 3, but I would not have known that had I not read it somewhere online. There is no background story at all, and the cut scenes, while looking and sounding good, do little to explain what the heck is going on. Im going to take a stab at it and say that humans find some ancient Alien/Predator temple and start creating mutant Aliens. The Marines and Predators come in to put a stop to it, resulting in a three-way battle royale to be the last species standing.  There are three single player campaigns (Marine, Alien, Predator), and each three tell the same story through the respective species point of view. For example, as an Alien you are defending the hive from the invading factions, and as a Marine you are called in to clean up the mess. That being said, I’ll start this review up with the single player campaigns.

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Frustrations with Aliens vs. Predator Demo on the PS3

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Posted by Rob on February 5, 2010 – 5:28 pm
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Ive been anxiously awaiting the release of AVP. I love the Alien/Predator series, and played the AVP game on the Atari Jaguar back in the day at my friend’s house in middle school. The game is right up on my Gamefly queue, so I will definitely be snagging it when it releases in two weeks. However, the demo released yesterday on the PSN, and I was excited to get my hands on it and try out the three races (Alien, Predator, and Colonial Marine) in the deathmatch demo. Unfortunately, the demo is plagued with failure, and I have been unable to enjoy it.

Apparently, the game servers were not prepared for the amount of people who downloaded the demo yesterday. As a result, it has been impossible to find a game to join. I tried at four different intervals to get a game going yesterday, and succeeded in getting two matches total going. After each match was over, the initial host left, so I was booted out and then unable to find another game. This inability to find a game to play is very annoying and frustrating. I hope it gets fixed so I can start checking out the game more.

My other complaint is with choosing a race. Both times I was unable to choose a race, and was stuck playing as the Marine. This is upsetting because the Marine is the least original. Playing as the Marine is just like playing any other FPS. While the Aliens crawl around and go in for melee kills and the Predator stays invisible and hunts, the Marine plays as you would in any other FPS.

But enough of my complaints. From what I did see and experience, it was a blast. It is a very intense FPS, and very fast paced. The Alien players are able to move extremely quickly, and can climb walls and hang from ceilings. Their main attack is melee based, and playing as the Marine I suffered several tails through the torso and eating of my face. The speed of the Aliens is what allows them to get up close for these devastating attacks. Oh, and in case I didnt make it clear, these are one-hit kills. So yeah, the Aliens are nasty.

I didnt see much of the Predator, and from what I did, he was just invisible. Well, not totally invisible, as you can faintly make out his outline. However, I killed quite a few Predators, and I didnt meet death from any, so I dont know how their attacks are. What I do know is that many of the Predators stronger weapons are scattered throughout the map, and you have to track them down to use them.

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