I think I was one of many who were captivated by the awesome teaser trailer released for Dead Island several months back. The trailer looked too good to be true, and it appeared that the PS3 would finally be getting something it was lacking…a FPS zombie kill fest. One of the 360′s advantages is it’s hold on this genre with the Left 4 Dead series. So does Dead Island live up to the hype? Does it succeed in matching the awesomeness that is L4D? Read on to find out.

Dead Island takes place on an island resort in New Guinea where a zombie infestation suddenly occurs. The peaceful, beautiful, lush island is soon overrun with the undead and the player is given the simple task of surviving. That’s about all the story you’re going to get. There are four different characters to choose from, each with his/her own backstory. Yet these backstories seem pointless as there is very little story otherwise. There are some cutscenes here and there to coincide with completing a quest but they are more filler than worthwhile content. Now many times you will hear be complain about how a game is lacking due to a lack of story, but not with Dead Island. It’s the kind of game that doesn’t need a true story, as it’s more important (and fun) to explore the huge environment on your own. In this respect the game reminds me of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, in that I could really care less about a story as I was too busy doing whatever the heck I wanted to do.

The game can be played with up to four players online (no local co-op), and in fact, playing in co-op is encouraged. As you venture through the island you will get messages indicating there is another player working on the exact same mission as you and is right where you happen to be. With a quick press of the directional, you can join in that players game and go zombie stomping together. If you don’t like talking to strangers, you can set it up so that there will be three private slots in your game, and that way other players will only join you by being invited. The game also encourages co-op by not being all that competitive. Everyone gains cash and XP for turning in a quest so if you’re on one part of the island and your friend completes a quest somewhere else, you will receive the XP automatically, and the cash (and other rewards) will be waiting for you with the NPC who issued the quest. Whenever players pick up cash everyone gets the same amount, so finding $50 gives everyone $50. It is also easy to trade items with other players through a menu, so there is no need to drop items on the floor for your buddies to pick up. It’s a really great co-op setup, and the only drawback is the lack of split-screen for those couch buddies.

For the characters themselves, they are slightly differentiated, though no where near as different as in Borderlands. Each character has a skill set that is centered around their favorite weapon type, which consist of blade, blunt, throwing and gun. For example, the character that prefers blunt weapons will have skills that increase the damage of blunt weapons or make blunt weapons degrade slower (that’s right, weapons do indeed degrade with use.) Each character also has a “fury” skill, which is basically a special attack that gets charged up as you dish out regular combat damage. The gun wielder’s fury skill has her firing off a flurry of pistol rounds, and the blade wielder gets some extreme speed and stabs enemies extremely quickly. The third set of skills fall under the “survival” class and everyone basically shares the same skills, be they lock-picking or more max health. So while each character is not 100% unique from the others, there is enough differentiation involved to make multiple playthroughs with each character a blast and not a chore.

Weapons are obviously a big part of the game, but there are some key things to note. First off, any character can use any weapon type. While each character will have a proficiency towards certain weapons they can still equip any they want (as long as their character level is the same as or higher than the weapon level.) So even though one character gets her blade weapons boosted, she can still equip a gun if she has one. Most of the weapons in Dead Island are melee, and any of these can be tossed by anyone. There are some guns, but ammo is very hard to come by which makes them unreliable. As weapons are used they deteriorate, so you will constantly be having to run back to a work bench to repair your favorite ones. At the work bench you can also create new weapons using items you find around the island, and this creation aspect of the game is a heck of a lot of fun. Do you have a bat and some nails? Then you’re got a nail mace! Do you have a plank of wood, some glue and rags? Then you can make a burning torch. How about a machette, some batteries, wires and other components? You can construct an electrified blade. These weapons with elemental attachments deal extra damage to the zombies and are a heck of a lot of fun. In the end, hacking away at hordes of zombies with a sword of fire is a lot more satisfying than blowing them away with a shotgun…and I never thought I would diss a shotgun when it came to zombie killing!

So far the game sounds pretty damn sweet. But I didn’t get to the bad news yet, so let me lay it on you: the game is buggier than the home of an entomologist. I’ve put about three hours into the game offline and at least ten hours online so far. I haven’t experienced any bugs whatsoever offline on my own, but once you go online it’s kind of a downer. It sometimes two-three attempts before an invite to a friend actually goes through. There have been times when the voice chat suddenly gets staticy and jumpy for a bit. Worst of all is the game freezes…we’ve experienced at least five different game freezes during out time playing online. Oh, and don’t get me started on the day three patch to address these problems. Not only did it NOT fix these issues, but it also reset our trophy stats. If you already had the trophy then you’re fine and it didn’t affect that, but if you killed 240 zombies and only need ten more to get the trophy, your kill count will be reset to a big fat 0 after you patch. Is it a pain in the ass? Yes. Does it break the game? Hell no! Sure, you will be complaining and bitching and it is frustrating. Yet at the same time, the game does oh so much right that I can overlook these technical flaws. It’s like Fallout…you get this huge expansive area to explore at will and do what you want, but you’re going to experience plenty of glitches along the way that are just plain ridiculous. You play, you love, you find a glitch, you play more and then fall in love all over again. Don’t let the glitches scare you away from this awesome game.

To put it simply, Dead Island is one of the best games I’ve played in a long time. While it doesn’t have the depth that Borderlands did, it has everything else to make it an excellent title. Dead Island is a four player online co-op FPS (Borderlands) with zombies (Left 4 Dead) where you explore the open area and speak with NPCs for quests using primarily melee weapons (Oblivion) and encounter the occasional glitch or three (Fallout.) Dead Island takes what made L4D amazing and then increases it all ten-fold to make what is not only the best zombie FPS on the market, but also one of the best FPS I’ve ever played.

It’s been a very busy, yet relaxing, couple of days, as I have been visiting with the in-laws in Las Vegas, NV (well, technically Henderson, NV, but it’s pretty damn close to Vegas.) Both of Shell’s sisters live out there so we don’t really get to see them too often…the last time we were out there was almost two years ago. So we decided to take a bit of a break and head out there for a five day weekend. We left from Albany on Wednesday at 11:55 EST and arrived at 2:20ish PST (thanks to Southwest it was a direct flight), so what was a five and a half hour flight technically got us to Vegas in under three hours.

Since this was more of a visiting family trip, we didn’t really hit the Strip. Shell and I did head down on Tuesday for a little while and checked out some of the casinos and what not. So while there wasn’t any gambling, there was a lot of good eating, as we went out for every lunch and almost every dinner. Some of the highlights included Sonic’s (I really wish one would open up near Albany…the closest one to us is in Kingston), Lucilles, The Yard House (which had quite a large collection of beers on tap…I went for the Spaten Oktoberfest), Raising Cane’s, and many more.

As for the family, we had a great time staying with Shell’s younger sister and her boyfriend at their apartment. Lucky for me her boyfriend also owned a PS3, so I got to get my gaming fix in while away from home. Her boyfriend is into a lot of the competitive online FPS, which many of you know is not exactly my cup of tea. I still had fun as I got pwned time and time again playing Call of Duty: Black Ops. I was even happier as long as I got at least one kill per match, though I was embarrassed of my average 18 deaths a match. I also got to check out UFC 2009, which was pretty interesting. I definitely see myself enjoying that game series, so I added UFC 2010 to my Gamefly queue. We also spent many meals eating with Shell’s older sister, who has two cute little kids…a six year old boy and a two year old girl. It took the girl most of the trip to warm up to me (even though she knew my name and called me “Unky Wobby”), as she finally waved to me Tuesday and then FINALLY gave me a hug when we left Wednesday to head to the airport. The two of them are cute and I wish that we could see them more.

We had a nice relaxing time visiting with family and enjoying the 78-81 degree weather, which was a welcome change to the 30s and 40s we were experiencing in New York before leaving. We left Vegas at 4:10PST and arrived in Albany at 11:50ishpm, so while the ride to Vegas wasn’t too bad, the ride home was insane. Also, this huge time difference is why I’m up right now at 1:46amEST writing this blog instead of sleeping in bed.  Still, it was a great trip, and it was nice seeing Shell’s family and just enjoying some time off before returning to real life in Albany.

So that’s why my blog has been inactive the past few days. There’s a lot of stuff I need to write about, so expect a lot of blogs in the next day or two as I play catch up. Tomorrow (Thursday) will be a busy day, as not only will I be blogging away on various things, but I also have to go out grocery shopping in the morning to grab our St. Patricks Day dinner and then chuck it all in the crockpot AND I have an orientation at my new job later in the afternoon (which will be a blog tomorrow.) So it’s good to be back in chilly ol’ NY, and hopefully it will start warming up as April begins to roll near.

Last weeks new releases were mainly FPS (Killzone 3 and Bulletstorm) and I wasn’t feeling any of that. So I decided to gamble on a action beat em’ up that was getting little attention in the gaming media. I believed that I would enjoy this type of game over a FPS, but I was indeed wrong.

Knights Contract has a very interesting story/premise, but it just is not delivered well. You play as Heinrich, a knight who was charged with executing women accused of being witches. One of the witches you execute curses you, making you an immortal who just wants to die and move on. Eventually you meet up with this witch, Gretchen (who has returned from the grave), and the two of you become unlikely allies as you team up to take down the other resurrected witches who are trying to get revenge on mankind. The two of you will travel through a variety of bland environments where you walk to an area, beat up some enemies, walk to the next area, beat up more enemies, and rinse and repeat until you reach the boss. The catch in the game is that while Heinrich can’t die, Gretchen can, so you will be defeating enemies while ensuring that Gretchen is safe. If Gretchen dies, it’s game over. If you die (ie- lose your health), you will be downed for several seconds and need to rapidly pound on the x button to resurrect yourself and hope that Gretchen doesn’t die during this time.

Combat is relatively basic. Square, triangle, and circle are your basic melee attacks. Holding down R2 will open up Gretchen’s spell window, and the spells are keyed to the controller. These spells are either direct magic attacks that Gretchen will cast against opponents or a spell that will give Heinrich a boost to one of his attacks. If Gretchen takes damage, you can pick her up and carry her around. While in your arms, both of you will regenerate lost health. Defeating opponents will net you xp (in the form of souls) and you can spend those souls to upgrade Gretchen’s spells. There is also a meter which fills up during combat, and once it is full you can either cast a spell for Gretchen which kills all opponents on the screen or you can transform Heinrich into a hulking armored mass that will basically freeze all enemies while you pummel them.

The bosses in the game are generally giant monsters. Once you track down and corner one of the vengeful witches, they tend to transform into these huge bosses, and this is where you will really see the frustration in the game. Each boss has a huge health bar, and once you whittle it down to the end, you will be engaged in a quick time event (where you have to push the corresponding button as it appears onscreen.) These QTE’s are very annoying as they happen very quick and give you little time to prepare. Also, if you happen to mess up one of the prompts, you will be thrown back into the thick of the battle, and the boss will have regained a sizable portion of their health, while you and Gretchen have not. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the camera tends to focus directly on the boss, so one of two things will happen; either you will be stuck against an invisible wall and not be able to move out of the way of a bosses attack, or you will not see the ledge you are so close to and suddenly either you or Gretchen will fall off, resulting in an instant death. This makes for a very frustrating time.

If the bosses and their QTE’s weren’t bad enough, there is one more aspect to the game which basically breaks it…Gretchen’s AI. She is not very powerful on her own offensively or defensively, yet her AI is that of a “tank” character in that she will charge headlong into ranks of enemies. This is particularly accurate when you are tapping x like mad to get Heinrich back up…while you are immobilized it’s almost as if Gretchen gets this thirst for revenge and will run right into enemy attacks which usually result in her death and you having to start over at the last save point. One of the worst experiences I had with Gretchen was during the boss battle with the witch Holda. Holda is a fire-based boss, and constantly summons up these pools of lava. For whatever reason, Gretchen is drawn to these pools and she will stand in the middle of them and get burned. She is unresponsive to your attempts to call her over (an action done my pushing R1) and you will be unable to pick her up yourself since she is in the middle of the lava. After literally my 50th attempt to defeat this boss (mind you, I was playing on the second of five difficulties, so I would hate to play this game on the hardest one), I reached the point where I ejected it from the PS3 and sealed it back up in it’s Gamefly case.

Knights Contract had a great premise and storyline, and even the general controls were good. Unfortunately, the unforgiving boss battles, the crappiness of Gretchen’s AI and a broken map system (it’s impossible to use it for any navigation purpose, and thus has no point to even be a feature in the game), as well as a very repetitive gameplay for each level, just doesn’t do the story justice. If you are looking for a game that will have you shouting at the television screen in anger, this is the one for you. My only recommendation is that you stay as far away from it as possible.

I’ve been waiting a few days for Gamefly to ship a new game to me, and I think it was disrupted a bit due to Sunday and Presidents Day. So I figured that instead of waiting for them to get one of the older games on my queue shipped out to me, I would just get one of today’s new releases. I had three choices: Killzone 3, Bulletstorm, and Knights Contract.

I tried Killzone 2 and did not like it. I’m very picky with FPS, and one of the only ones I really enjoy is Resistance. When the Killzone 3 demo launched last week I gave it a whirl, and could not complete it. It’s a very intense FPS, which ends up being too intense for me. I did enjoy the Bulletstorm demo, but I wasn’t sure it was a game I would enjoy. While it was a fun FPS, it felt to me that the game concentrated too much on massing up major bonus points by performing “trick kills.” This was even more evident when I read an interview by one of the developers, in which he said that co-op was taking out of the main campaign because they didn’t want people rushing through the level and not amassing major points. Bulletstorm just doesn’t sound like my kind of game.

That left me with Knights Contract. I hadn’t heard much about it, but the name sounded good enough for me to consider it. Researching it a bit online, I discovered it was an action beat-em-up of sorts akin to God of War as far as combat and Enslaved as far as having to protect another character throughout the game. That kind of game is more up my alley than a FPS, so I decided to give it a rent. I am a bit nervous about it since I don’t know much about the game, but we shall see. I’ll write up a review after I get some time with it.

I have been interested in getting the PlayStation Move for quite some time. I do like the Wii, but I was intrigued by the possibilities for the Move, particularly with the more accurate controller and the higher quality, HD graphics. However, at the price I was not about to buy it for myself. So I placed it on my Amazon Wish List, and I found out Christmas Day that my parents had purchased it for me. I already had the Eye, so all I asked for was the basic Move controller. After Christmas, I went to the PlayStation Store off of PSN and was happy to find that pretty much every Move-enabled game currently available had a demo. So I went ahead and downloaded all eight demos, and spent the next few days trying them all out. I want to share my thoughts on the demos for the games, but I’ll start with my initial view of the controller itself.

PlayStation Move Controller

Like the Wii, there are actually two controllers which “complete” the Move experience; the Move controller, and the Navigation controller. Luckily, the Navigation controller is not necessary for any of the current games (it will be when some FPS come out), so I haven’t bothered spending the $30 to pick one up. The Move controller may look like a giant lollypop/ ice cream cone, but it really is quite the interesting piece of gaming technology.

The ball on top is initially a white, soft plastic material. Once you start a game up, you will need to calibrate the controller with the system. It only takes less than ten seconds, but it’s totally worth it. Basically, the PlayStation Eye will detect the ball on the Move and sync with it, and the ball will change to the color that is most appropriate (ie: that will be the easiest to track given the current lighting of the environment.) So far I’ve only seen it turn pink, so I guess the generic daytime/evening lighting in my living room constitutes using the color pink. I’m curious to see if it is a different color at night, when it’s pitch black aside from the glow of the TV. You don’t need too much room to use it, and it’s recommended that you have at least eight feet of space between yourself and the Eye. We have a fairly small apartment, and I have plenty of space in the living room to use it.

The button placement on the controller does take some getting used to, particularly because the buttons from the PS3 are present on there. The main button is now the Move button, which does work as the primary button most of the time. But to do other little actions here and there, you will need to hit either the triangle, circle, square, or x button. Since they are all in different positions, it takes quite some getting used. The select and start buttons are also present, but they are located on either side of the controller, which was weird. Finally, there is a T button on the bottom of the controller which is used for Move games.

The controller may have some odd button configurations, but it is pretty darn comfortable. It’s extremely lightweight, and it feels lighter than a Wiimote does. Also, not only is it lighter, but it’s a heck of a lot more accurate. It detects the most subtle movements you make, and this really shows off best in Sports Champions, where there is a sword-fighting gladiator game which is, hands down, the best thing I’ve seen on the Move to date (more on that later.) Another plus is that if you do have the urge to grab the Navigation controller, they are not tethered together like the Wiimote and Nunchuck. Basically, the Move is a lighter, more accurate, and more comfortable motion controller that has the ability to play beautiful-looking games thanks to the HD ability of the PS3.

Now on to the games!

Sports Champions

I’m starting with Sports Champions because that’s the only Move game I have purchased so far. I was fairly pleased with the demo, the game has gotten good reviews, and friends have had nothing but good things to say for it. So with my Gamestop gift card I was able to get the game cheaper than I expected (it was actually $30 in the store, which was a price I wasn’t expecting.)

Sports Champions, much like Wii Sports, is a basic game made to show off what the system and the controller can do. There isn’t anything fancy or in-depth, but the simple controls make the game fun and accessible for all. My favorite sport on the game is Gladiator, and just as it sounds, it pits you and an opponent off in a duel in which you each wield a sword and shield (though some of the characters have an axe, hammer, or mace instead of the sword). The movement is pretty spot-on, so if you want to make a left to right slice at their legs, you will. Thrusting and stabbing is also easily done by simply shoving the Move controller forward. Holding the T button will allow you to switch from controlling the weapon to controlling the shield, so you can easily (and accurately) block your opponent’s attack. I’m really having a blast, and I really wish the game was online so that I could duel my friends.

The other games are also entertaining. Bocce ball was interesting, and very simple. You simply throw out one ball, and then try and throw four other balls as close to that first ball as possible. The controls were pretty much the same as the bowling game from Wii Sports, so I was comfortable playing it, even though I had no idea what bocce ball was until today. The archery game was interesting, but a little too basic, with a simple point and shoot, and adjusting for the distance (aiming higher than the target to allow the arrow to come down a bit.) The volley ball game was my least favorite, as I couldn’t get the controls to really respond to what I wanted to do. I think it will take some time to get used to the timing. Frisbee golf was a fun new spin on golf, and I was glad to see it here. Basically you have to throw a frisbee until you reach a tower (which acts as the hole in a normal game of golf.) This little twist makes the game more interesting since it’s not just a rehash of Wii Sports golf.

All in all, if you pick up PlayStation Move, you should definitely get Sports Champions. Also, the bundle is a good deal, in that you get Sports Champions, a Move controller, and the Eye camera all for about $100.

The Shoot

The Shoot is a very basic rail shooter, which is a genre that I love for these motion controls. The main premise of The Shoot takes you through several stages based on stereotypical settings. You will get a taste of this with the demo, which takes you through the first stage…a western shoot out. The controls are very simple, as you just point and shoot. Occasionally you will come across an event (such as a dynamite explosion or a chain gun) where you will need to quickly move the controller down so make the camera jump down, thus avoiding the danger. Also, at one point you had to waggle the Move controller up and down as you pumped a mine cart alongside a train. Like any good rail shooter, there are enemies to shoot(who appear more as cardboard cutouts rather than live enemies) while you try to avoid shooting civilians. I enjoyed the demo, and I’m sure I’ll give it a rent from Gamefly, but I think it’s too early to tell if there is any replay value in The Shoot to warrant a purchase.

Start The Party

The Wii had it, and as is to be expected with any console’s attempt to hit the “casual gamer”, there is shovelware. Shovelware is basically a company going ahead and making a cheesy, lame, simple game in the hopes that it’s promising exterior convinces parents and families to buy it, not knowing that all they are getting is a game of “wave the controller around the room.” This is not the first shovelware game I’ve seen for the Move, and I’ll be mentioning others throughout this review.

Start the Party tries to be a family board game. I will admit that the initial concept is a good one…each player gets their picture taken and their name recorded, and then they start off across several events to see who gets the best score. Sadly, this novelty does not make the game too enjoyable. Some of the games I played against my sister included one where you had to swat flies, one where you had to color in shapes, and one where you had to…well, I forget. It was such a horrible mini game that my mind eliminated it from my memory. But it was the same basic thing…each player grabs the Move controller and waves it around, and whoever waves it faster (or is luckier, since there is little skill involved) wins. Start the party is definitely one of the downfalls of the Move, and should definitely be avoided.

Kung Fu Rider

When I first heard the premise of the game, I was a little hopeful…you play a guy rolling around town on an office chair fighting ninjas. Sadly, the demo did not give me that much enjoyment at all. I found the controls clunky, and I had difficulty steering the office chair around the tutorial stage. I was quickly frustrated, and the demo was deleted just as quickly. Based on my limited experience with the demo, I wouldn’t recommend the game to anyone.

Tumble

Tumble is one of the only non-retail Move games (meaning it’s only available on PSN.) Though I have not bought it, the $10 price tag is tempting for a game with a lot of potential. When I first heard of the game, it reminded me of Boom Blox. Tumble is quite different than Boom Blox, as there is a lot more tower building than tower destroying. Like Boom Blox, physics take a big part in the game, as you must use different blocks of differing shapes, sizes, and materials to build as large a tower as you can. I did also come across a demolition mode in the demo, in which you have to plant explosives on a pre-made tower and then destroy it to earn points.

The controls were a tad too sensitive in my opinion, but it was something that I think would be easily remedied with extended play (ie- getting used to it.) The simple game mechanics and graphics definitely make the game worth the price of admission, and I’m pretty sure I will be picking it up at some point in the near future.

EyePet

This is one of those games that I’m embarrassed to say that I was intrigued by. Though in my defense, everyone else who I showed it too enjoyed it as well. As the name and the box art implies, EyePet is basically a cute, lovable virtual pet. The demo is very limiting as to what the game is capable of, but it was interesting enough to peak my curiosity, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I rented the game at some point to see what else it could do.

After a short tutorial, the little EyePet comes out, and you can begin to interact with it. The game is played with the Eye camera pointed at the floor, which is where the EyePet will come out and play. Basically the Eye camera takes in you and your surroundings, then displays the video feed onto the TV, only there is now a little animal running around and that you can interact with. One of the great things is that you don’t always need the Move controller…the EyePet will often be able to respond to anyones hands, not just the controller. The EyePet knows if you pet it, or if you are trying to get its attention by tapping the floor or wiggling your fingers. With the Move controller, you can do more advanced interactions such as making drawings for the EyePet to play with and giving him a bath (it was fun the first time, but if it is a constant activity I could see it getting old fast.)

EyePet is one of the games that not only appeals to families and children, but even I got a kick of this little monkey-like thing running around my living room and jumping into my sister’s lap as she sat on the chair. I was sad to see that the demo was so limiting, but I could see the game having some potential…the question is whether I’m man enough or not to add it to my Gamefly queue.

TV Superstars

If I really wanted to, I could probably just copy and paste what I said about Start the Party right here. On the outside, it’s got a great premise. Players take their picture, record their voice, and participate in mini games. To its credit, TV Superstars tries a little harder, by setting the mini games within television shows, and you must take your character through reality shows and commercials to eventually get your own talk show. However, the mini games are once again fairly drab and not very fun. One of the mini games in which you had to spray deodorant on your character did not work in the least, and was extremely unresponsive to your actual movements. So while TV Superstars tries a little harder than Start the Party, in the end it’s just another piece of shovelware for the Move’s game library.

Beat Sketch

I didn’t like the sound of the game as I installed it, and after playing the demo, I am still not a fan. In fact, I don’t think I can say whether or not I’m a fan, simply because I couldn’t figure out what the point of the game was. After reading through a ton of tutorial screens, I finally got into the main game. However, once there I couldn’t figure out what to do. They had me choose some background music and sound effects, then give you a blank canvas (which is actually the view from the Eye.) Then you use the Move controller and wave it around to draw in the air. So I drew…and I drew…and I drew. But that’s all I did. There was nothing telling me what to do next, and I couldn’t find a menu screen to get the hell out of there.

I don’t think I can give this demo a fair review since I didn’t know what the heck to do, but the fact that the demo was this unclear is not a good sign as to what the rest of the game has to offer.

Racket Sports

I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t have much expectations for this game. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that the game was actually quite enjoyable. It definitely feels a lot like Wii Sports Tennis, in that there aren’t any crazy advanced controls. You just use the Move controller to serve and to hit the ball. The sports included in the demo were tennis and badmitton, and the full game had a few more, including table tennis.

I was happy with how simple the controls were. Not being a big tennis fan, I don’t want a complicated tennis game that is authentic to the sport, much like how I love the complexity behind EA’s NHL series since I’m a huge hockey fan. The controls proved to be very responsive, and I was able to serve, hit forehand, and backhand with no problem. The other thing that caught my eye was that it there is an online option, though it was locked out of the demo. I’m definitely interested in this game, and I’ll be renting it in the future to check the full game out. Heck, I might even end up buying it at one point, I enjoyed the demo so much.

Games I Missed

There were two Move games I was curious about, but sadly they did not have a demo available on PSN. The Fight looked interesting, but it has received some pretty nasty criticism. Still, I would have liked to have been able to check it out to see how it was. The other game I’m interested in getting my hands on at some point is Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest. It looks like a very simple and basic game geared to younger gamers, but I think I would enjoy renting it just to see what it’s all about.

In Conclusion

The PlayStation Move is indeed a large upgrade over the Wii. The controller is definitely superior, with more accuracy and comfort than the Wiimote has. Also, the fact that the Wii can’t process HD games is quite a disappointment, so it’s nice that Move can now allow for HD motion controlled gaming. Also, the price of admission is quite cheap, with you only really needing the Move controller and the PlayStation Eye. So long as you rent from a place like Gamefly (which I always recommend) you will be able to get your mitts on a bunch of different Move games without ever really having to buy one. There were some shining games I checked out like Sports Champions, Tumble, EyePet, and Racket Sports, and some of the others were either a little out there or just plain sucked. That being said, renting is the way to go with this, as many of the games that are either already out, or are coming out, will be nothing but gimicky shovelware. Always rent before you buy, unless you’ve done your research and know exactly what the game will be able to deliver.

WWE SvR 2011 continues to take up a good chunk of what gaming time I have…or at least it was, until I finally unleashed Borderlands this weekend. I had forgotten how much fun it was, and I decided to start from scratch and re-roll a new character. I’m currently playing a Hunter, focusing on the Rogue skill set. The thing I realized today is that Borderlands is has many similarities with Fallout 3 and New Vegas, in that it successfully merges the FPS and RPG genres into one neat, awesome package. I’m pretty addicted to Borderlands right now, and I’m regretting taking a year to finally buy it. This one will be lasting quite some time, between four distinct characters and all the juicy DLC which I have but have not touched yet.

On the DS front, I am getting into Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure. The game is a surprise hit, and is also a combo of genres, to a degree. The meat of the game plays as a platformer, as you control Professor Hatsworth in a quest for a golden suit. One of the great features of the game is that Hatsworth is a British chap, and has the look of an aristocratic, eccentric British adventurer, complete with elephant gun, sword, cane, and monocle. Oh, and the bowler hat! The twist is that while the platforming action is going on the top screen, the bottom screen contains an advancing puzzle of blocks, kind of like Bejeweled. Eventually, if the blocks get to far up, they will begin to invade the platforming screen and can cause trouble. Thus, as you run around the main level, you will continually have to stop that and switch to the puzzle screen to clear it out. Doing this is also what gives Hatsworth health, extra lives, and “energy” which is used to more powerful projectiles, as well as for donning a gigantic robotic suit. It’s proven to be quite the addictive game so far.

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.

So on to the actual gameplay. I played the original game a long time ago, and remember very little of it. Basically, you are on a planet infested with aliens, and you have to shoot them up. Oh yeah, and space pirates. So your enemies are alien creatures and space pirates. Guns and ammo are plentiful, and come in a variety of choices from normal machine guns and shotguns to large infantry guns which you can remove from battle suits and wield on your own.

The health system of the game is interesting. You have a said life force, and also a bank of T-Energy. T-Energy can be found all over the battlefield, as it’s either stored in containers or bleeds from enemies. So long as you have T-Energy, pushing start will regenerate your health, at the expense of T-Energy. So if you run out of the T stuff, then you will not be able to regenerate health. Also, if you run out of T-Energy your health will gradually decrease, so definitely make sure you have an ample supply of the stuff. Also, there are no lives in the game per say, but “battle points.” So long as you have enough battle points, you will be able to respawn at a marker after you die. However, run out of battle points and it’s game over.

The game controls are pretty tricky, and take some getting used to. For example, R3 is the reload button (not square), and if you want to crouch, you have to constantly hold down L3. Switching alternate weapons (grenades) is a bit odd also, as you have to hold down the triangle button and then press L1. Oh yeah, and pushing L2 and R2 will cause the camera to turn 90degrees to one side, which gets annoying fast, so you don’t want to be pushing those buttons. One of the more interesting controls is the fact that square lets you use a grappling hook device, which allows you to climb up and down ledges, which was fun.

All in all, the game is promising. A four-player online co-op campaign where you and friends bust up aliens (and there are some pretty big bugs out there too!) There is also a competitive mode with different character classes and other stuff, but I didn’t delve into that yet. One of my biggest complaints is the game install. It’s a huge 3GB install, and after it’s installed (which took my PS3 about 15 minutes), there are still a bunch of long load times. I mean, come on, if you’re installing game data onto the PS3 directly, there should be no need for long load screens. Dynasty Warriors Strike Force did it, and it is one heck of a smooth game, with almost no down time. One of my other complaints isn’t directed at the game necessarily, but at my standard def. TV. I can’t read any text in this game. I hardly know what weapon I have equipped, and when I looked at the five character classes for competitive mode, I couldn’t tell what each class was. It was pretty bad and frustrating…almost on par with the frustration I have with playing Sacred 2 on a standard TV. I really need to upgrade…but I digress.

As I said, the game is promising, but I’m still on the fence. I’ll definitely need to pop some more time into it and check out the online modes before I decide if I like the game or hate it.

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.

Jurassic: The Hunted was a game that received mixed reviews. It has a few flaws that people really picked up on, and this game has gotten little recognition. However, I beg to differ. I really enjoyed this unique FPS, and I highly recommend it to FPS players, dinosaur lovers, and trophy whores.

One of the first things to mention is that the game is seriously lacking in the story department. Basically you play a security guard who gets sucked into dinosaur times, and must shoot your way through the giant reptiles to survive. Eventually you will come across some other people, and will help them build some machine that returns you to present day. The game does not go into detail on the story, and I was constantly confused if I was on some island lost to time (kind of like Jurassic Park…with dinos living in the modern day) or if I had traveled back  in time. Luckily, the lack of story did not ruin the game play one bit.

Jurassic: The Hunted is a FPS, where you are killing dinosaurs rather than Nazis, terrorists, zombies, etc. I never played the Turok PS3 game, but I heard it was lacking in the dino department. This game is nothing like that…all you will face is dinosaurs (oh, and some giant scorpions too.) The dinos range in size from Velociraptors (which mind you, are their true size in the game, not the six-foot monsters from Jurassic Park for were called Velociraptors) to Deinonychus (the dinosaur that the Jurassic Park raptors was based on) to dilophosaurus (which are based on JP’s spitting dinos, not the actual dinosaur) to the ever-impressive Tyrannosaurs Rex and more. It may sound ridiculous to have these dinos as your enemies in a FPS, but it works, and it works well.

To take on these dinosaurs, you will come across a variety of weapons. Most of them are your traditional FPS guns, such as shot guns, machine guns, pistols, and rocket launchers. There are also some more obscure weapons like a black powder rifle (which is a pain since you have to pump and load it like it was done in the 1700s) and a plasma rifle (has unlimited ammo, and is acquired after completing the game the first time.) Your character can carry up to four weapons at a time, and when you come across a new one you can swap an old one out for it. Now obviously the dinosaurs don’t carry ammo on them, so to get it you will have to fine gun chests that are strewn across the levels. I must say that ammo will not be a concern for you, as there is plenty to come across. Of course, if things get hairy, you can always use your gun as a melee weapon and pistol whip any nearby dinosaurs. Oh, and there is also an adrenalin mode in which you can kind of slow down time, and the dinosaurs will become transparent for a bit, highlighting critical organs on them (such as brain, heart, and lungs) which will cause more damage when shot.

This being said, it all makes sense. I can see these large dinosaurs being taken down by a couple of blasts of machine gun fire, or a point-blank shotgun blast. But what about the T-Rex, or the even bigger Spinosaurus? These two big beasts make up the boss battles of the game, and they are a lot of fun. The T-Rex is interesting, as you use the mounted heavy-duty machine gun on the back of a boat to ward him off. In between his charges, you will have to defend yourself against a swarming flock of Pterosaurs. It really does well as a boss battle. When you take on the Spinosaurus numerous times, you will need to use the  rocket launcher to keep pushing it back. It makes for a somewhat realistic dinosaur FPS, and the inclusion of boss battles is a fun little treat.

So the game has some flaws. There is little story. There is little replay value (since there are no online options). The graphics aren’t the best. The gameplay introduces nothing new and exciting to the world of FPS (aside from the fact that there are dinosaurs). Oh, and the game is incredibly short, and I probably beat it within ten hours.

All that being said, the game is still totally worth a rent.First off, it’s a blast to run around and kill dinosaurs. Killing mutants and terrorists is one thing, but I got a really satisfying feeling killing off dinos as they lunged at me. Secondly, there are a ton of easy trophies to get. I got 71% of them on my first playthrough without really trying. They just come very easily and naturally through the course of the game, and they include quite a few silver ones. I love dinosaurs, and I love Jurassic Park. I’ve played most Jurassic Park games available, from the NES to the PS2, and NONE of them did the series credit like Jurassic: The Hunted would have. Had they simply taken the gameplay of this game and popped it into a JP storyline, it would have been the best Jurassic Park game ever made, hands down.

The game is not a keeper by any means, but it definitely should not be left out, if you’re a dino-nut like me. Give it a rent…you will finish it up in a matter of days and you won’t regret it.

“I guarantee it.”

I wanted to be able to just back and enjoy a simple game. These ideals brought my attention to Jurassic: The Hunted, which is a dino-killing FPS, that has received some pretty crummy reviews. However, I for one am really enjoying it. There is almost no story to the game at all, and the little that is revealed makes no sense. But that’s just fine for me…I just pretend I’m on Isla Nublar, protecting Jurassic Park from rampaging killer dinosaurs.

The game is definitely a guilty pleasure. I never thought I’d enjoy a FPS that didn’t have mutants or Nazis, but I was wrong…dinosaurs definitely top the list. Most of the dinosaurs I know of, either from Jurassic Park, or from my childhood fascination with dinos. The usual enemies are velociraptors, deinonychus, and dilophasaurs, but of course there are others at particular levels such as the Tyrannosaurs Rex, Utahraptor, and pteradons. Grabbing an assortment of guns, including pistols, shotguns, and machine guns, you basically run around killing any of the giant lizards you come across.

The game is a lot of fun, if you are looking for a brainless FPS. Having dinosaurs as the enemies was a great change of pace (aside from the horrible Turok game that didn’t have nearly enough dinos), and the game is simple enough. The addition of a bunch of fun silver and gold trophies also makes the game a blast to play through. Despite the relatively negative reviews the game received, I am enjoying it so far. I will definitely be making up a full review when I’m done, simply because the game deserves that much.